Psalm 46:1-11 God Will Save His People

Good Morning

I Welcome you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

God's Greeting (From the New Testament)

Ephesians 1:1–2 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

God Call Us into His Presence for His Worship to Bless Us.

Our Call to Worship Revelation 22:13–14

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.”

LET US RISE FOR THE SINGING OF GODS WORD

Turn in your TPH 244

*Hymn of Praise………………..………...#244 A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Let us Pray

INVOCATION:

Father we now call upon you to be with us and be in our presence.

And illuminate our minds by your Spirit and Word.

We thank you Father in all things in Christ name Amen.

Responsive Reading….TPH Q40 & Q41pg. 944

Prayer of Confession and Repentance………TPH Q60 Heidelberg page 882

Assurance of Pardon. Hebrews 8:10-12

Hebrews 8:10–12 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.””

*Psalm of Thanksgiving 47A O Clap Your Hands    

Congregational Prayer

We make our prayers to you, O Lord God, most merciful Father,

You have revealed your wonderful love to us in Christ,

and offered us pardon and salvation in him.

in your mercy, your Son, and your promises is our hope.

Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father. Be reconciled to us, and let the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse us from all our sins.

Take us for your children, and give us the Spirit of your Son.

Sanctify us wholly, shed abroad your love in our hearts and cause us to love you with all our hearts.

Make your face to shine upon your servants;

save us from our sins, and from the wrath to come.

We Pray for the Members of Living Stone specifically ...

Father we Pray for _____________ and we ask for all these things in the powerful, glorious, majestic, and wonderful name of Jesus Christ Amen.

*Hymn of Preparation….…275 Arise, My Soul, Arise

NT Scripture Reading …….………Rev 1:1-20

Revelation 1:1–20

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

Greeting to the Seven Churches

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

5 and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood

6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Vision of the Son of Man

9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet

11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,

13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,

15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.

16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,

18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

OT Scripture Reading….…… Psalm 46:1-11

To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.

1 God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy habitation of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.

6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,

how he has brought desolations on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

he burns the chariots with fire.

10 “Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!”

11 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

HP - God Will Save His People

Verses 1-3 God is Our Shelter and Refuge

1 God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,

though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah

Psalm 46 is an amazing Psalm.

It is a true comfort to all that call on the and living God of the Bible.

Becasue only God can promise such amazing things

God is Our Refuge

God is Our Strength.

And so when you are in trouble

And when you need Help

The True and Living God Yaweh can help you.

But he can only help you if you are one of His Sheep

One of His Elect

Ephesians 1:4 “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love”

So when verse 2 says We will not fear though the earth gives way.

The We is his people

His Sheep

Those who have been given a saving knowledge of the one and only True and Living God.

Gods Elect should not fear thought he earth Gives way why?

Becasue our home is not this current earth.

but rather it is in the New Heavens and the New Earth with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Becasue when the earth gives way

when the mountains are moved into the heart of the sea as verse 2 proclaims.

And Beloved its going to happen

God is going to destroy and remake everything around us.

God is going to return as the book of Revelation proclaims

And those who are evil in Gods sight will be punished.

And those who are in Christ can find refuge.

Can find peace

Can find strength if they are in Covenant with the True and living God.

The true and living God is a God who keeps his promises.

And even though in this life we sometimes find ourselves in trouble.

We might find ourselves being persecuted by unbelievers

Or maybe just the normal troubles of life.

Marital difficulties

Financial difficulties

Living can be a struggle sometimes

Raising children can be a struggle sometimes.

When the young ones in your household that are not yet converted and are asking the hard questions.

Of who God is

And why should I serve him

Why should I submit to the God of the Bible?

And these are good questions?

Becasue The God of the Bible gives us and them answers to why

We should only rely on God as our Refuge

Why God is Our Stength

The one who can help us when we are in real trouble.

Becasue God gives us answers in our Psalm today but also in what is to come in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 22:11–17 “Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

So Those who Come to the Lord Jesus

Those who heed the call of the Spirit of God

Who look to the Redemption which is only found in Jesus Christ

Who say Come.

Those who head the Gospel call

Have nothing to Worry about

though the mountains tremble and fall into the sea.

Thought the Land the earth the mountains that we live on and build our homes on

Falls into the sea.

We should not Fear Brothers and Sisters

We cannot Fear.

Because of Jesus Christs finished work on our behalf.

Those who deserved to be thrown in the sea will not find this rest Psalm 46 promises.

But we who have been shown Mercy and Grace by our Great God.

Our Great Redeemer.

The one who has conquered the grave.

Jesus who conquered sin on our behalf.

Jesus is why we should not Fear.

Though the unimaginable happen.

The thing all unbelievers would scoff at the earth is going to fall into the Ocean.

This world is going to burn up and be remade.

Unbelievers would say thats a fairytale.

But to those who have been called by God

Chosen by God

Redeemed by God

We know its True and So

We should not Fear

Cannot Fear

And can find Comfort in the Promise of our King who will one day return to reclaim everything that was lost in the Fall

And make all things new.

We will have a sinless nature

instead of a sinful nature.

We will have a body that won’t die and decay

unlike the one we currently have that will die and decay.

So we should look forward to the Eschaton

To when Christ fulfills all that he has promised to all those who trust in Christ and his finished work.

And what can we look forward to

Verses 4-7 of our Psalm describe what it will be like for believers found in Christ.

Verses 4-7 God dwells with His People

English Standard Version (Psalm 46)

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy habitation of the Most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;

God will help her when morning dawns.

6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

So instead of Destruction

We now find refreshing streams

Instead of waters of destruction

We mind a peaceful river

And this river runs to our final resting place.

the City of God

The Habitation of the Most High according to verses 4

And the true and living God is in the midst of this City

And How could this city be moved?

The creator himself who sustains all is the focal point.

The God who said let there be Light and there was light.

The God who said Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.”

The God who created Heaven out of the expanse when he was separating the waters.

We see this imagery again described in Revelation 21:23-27

Where God Says

English Standard Version Chapter 21

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,

25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.

26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

So we have a beautiful picture in Revelation of what Psalm 46 is promising us that

even though the nations have raged against God and against his anointed.

God merely speaks

The Word is proclaimed.

And the earth melts.

But are we to fear Brothers and Sisters?

NO

We cannot Fear We should not fear

because as verse 7 proclaims

The Lord of Hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our Fortress.

and who can over come the Lord of Host

No one can over come Yaweh

The Lord referred to in verse 7 in the Hebrew is the name of God.

The name of Yaweh

And if we desire to be protected by the hand of God,

we must be concerned above all things that he may dwell among us;

for all hope of safety depends upon his presence alone.

And how does one come into God’s presence?

How does one know that they are safe.

We must be trusting in the finished work of Christ Jesus.

That one who was promised to be with us.

The Lord of Host

Came to earth and took on flesh.

That the Lord Jesus lived a sinless life.

The Lord of Host did Battle for us while he was in the flesh.

And then Lord of Host went to battle for us on the cross to secure our safety.

To pay for the sins of all his elect who could not live a sinless life.

Who would be swept away with the mountains and the earthquakes into the ocean.

Apart from being secured by the God of Jacob who is our fortress.

The God of Jacob is mentioned here to remind us that this is the God of the Covenant.

The God who promised to be a God to all those who spiritually descend in Faith from Abraham Isaac and Jacob.

So we have that covenant language the God of Jacob is our Fortress.

And those who are the elect of God should not Fear

Because there names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Those who trust in Christ will not be swept away though the mountains fall into the oceans

Though the earth and everything and everyone on it that does not Know the God of Jacob will be swept away with this Old World.

God did it with water once before int the times of Noah

God will do this again with Fire and all those who are not in Christ will swept away into Hell with Satan and his Angels.

As Revelation 21:27 said

But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

And so verses 8-11 we see that works of the Lord will be triumphant

Verses 8-11 The Works of the Lord will be Triumphant.

English Standard Version (Psalm 46)

Come, behold the works of the Lord,

how he has brought desolations on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;

he burns the chariots with fire.

10 “Be still, and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!”

11 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

So we see that God not only is the Covenant Making God.

But a Covenant keeping God.

And he does not promise us that it will be an easy life.

We still will have struggles

We still may suffer persecution

We may have much in this life

or we may have little in this life.

2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”

But even through persecution

We are not to look to ourselves

But Rather We are to as verse 8 tells us

vs 8 Come Behold the works of the Lord.

He will bring theses desolations on the earth

He will end all wars

He is the Lord of Hosts

He breaks the Bow

He shatters the spear

He burns the charr-riot

And what are we to do?

What is our part in this?

Vs 10 Says We are to BE STILL

BE STILL

AND KNOW that I am God.

And isn't our God great in that He not only fights for us

Destroys all his and our enemies.

But calls us to himself

Makes Covenant with us as he did with Jacob

Writes our names down in the lambs Book of Life.

He informs us of all this

And does all this for us.

And all we have to do is BE Still

And recognize GOD IS WHO HE SAYS HE IS

BE STILL AND KNOW THAT Yaweh is God.

And know other so called gods that men make up with their sinned darkened eyes can save

But our God Saves

Our God shatters all their idols made with their minds and hands.

And we are to do exactly what WSC 1 says

What is our Chief End?

To glorify God and to enjoy him forever

1 Corinthians 10:31 “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

And God promises us in verses 10 & 11

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!”

11 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

So Beloved I hope you can now take comfort in Psalm 46 in that it points us to the Fact that

Christ WILL Save His People

Christ is Our Shelter and Refuge vs 1-3

God Dwells with His People Vs 4-7

The Works of the Lord will be Triumphant Vs 8-11

God Will Save His People

BE STILL Brothers and Sisters and Know this

Let us go to the Lord in Prayer.

Father we thank you for this time to study and meditate on your Word

We ask that you would make this sermon meaningful in the minds of us your children.

Father we ask that we would be so on fire for you Lord that your Word and our time in it would be on our lips today

with our children and with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

We ask for all this in Christs name Amen

*Psalm of Response……..…..…..#46C God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength

WE ARE DISMISSED WITH GOD’S BLESSING

*Closing Prayer

Let us Pray

Father in heaven be with and keep this your people throughout the week.

Father in heaven encourage these your people to discuss with their families the sermon and how they can apply this to the people who they run into through the week.

And father help them through your spirit to have a stronger walk with you and to make this word preached effectual in their lives.

*Closing Hymn…….………...#567 Doxology