“God You Are My Hope” (2)

Text: Psalm 71:1-6

71:1 In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be put to shame.

2 Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape;

Incline Your ear to me, and save me.

3 Be my strong refuge,

To which I may resort continually;

You have given the commandment to save me,

For You are my rock and my fortress.

4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,

Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

5 For You are my hope, O Lord God;

You are my trust from my youth.

6 By You I have been upheld from birth;

You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.

My praise shall be continually of You.

In the midst of great adversity, it is great to have hope. Thank God that as believers, we are not people without hope. For to be hopeless is to be most miserable indeed. Recently I was reading that depression and other psychological problems were on the increase due to this Covid19. Even suicides were beginning to take place. For some people what we are going through is just too much. The sickness, unemployment, isolation, uncertainty and deaths is just too much. But may we find comfort and strength today from this message entitled “God You Are My Hope”

The Lord is our hope today because in the midst of adversity, I’m sure He will hide me, help me, and uphold me.

The Covid19 pandemic has become the great equalizer because it is affecting the whole world. It is raining on the just and raining on the unjust. Whenever this happens in history God is separating the wheat from the tares and God is pruning the righteous from the unrighteous.

Sadly too many religious people are missing God in this pandemic. Some pastors are continuing to insist on having worship services when they know they are putting their members at risk of being exposed more to the virus. They say foolish things like God is greater than the virus or that the Holy Spirit in me, will drive out the virus. We all know without a doubt that God is greater than anything for that matter of fact, but this is one of those times in history that God is working on a major plan much greater that our thoughts can understand and He’s allowing it to rain on the just as well as the unjust. And those of us who are just must have hope in the midst of this adversity and be assured that He will hide us, help us and uphold us. This is not the time to tempt the Lord by being foolish. All such foolish temptations come from the devil because He tried it with Jesus. Notice: Luke 4:1-13.

4:1 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”

4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ”

5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.”

8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”

9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.

10 For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you,’

11 and,

‘In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ ”

13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

Over and over again, the devil kept trying to put doubt in Jesus’ mind concerning His relationship with God. He kept saying if you are the Son of God, you don’t have anything to worrying about. This was an attempt to get Jesus to move outside of God’s “Big Plan” or “Major Plan.”

Just like Covid19 is a part of another big plan that we don’t fully comprehend, but we do know God has not called us to tempt Him but to trust Him.

Even Governors and politicians are putting citizens at risk by opening up their economies too early without a plan to test the people, track the people, and treat the people. What everybody coming to realize is that every person in high office is not hearing from God; and many are not even using common sense. Common sense has become very uncommon.

Today I just want to leave you with a few passages that tells us that we have a blessed assurance in the midst of adversity. The great theologian and preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon preached a sermon titled “Songs in the Night.” He took his text from Job 35:10.

9 “Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out;

They cry out for help because of the arm of the mighty.

10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,

Who gives songs in the night,

He gave reasons why we should sing in the night. One was that others who travel the same dark way will hear us singing and find guidance, and receive strength. So in your night of bereavement—sing! Sing for your own welfare and for that of others. In so doing you will find help for the night and assurance for the day that will soon dawn.

Have you been singing in the night lately? I’ve been singing in the night and day, but especially in the night. I’ve been singing the old Baptist hymns like “Blessed Assurance” and “He’s My Rock, My Sword and Shield”

It goes like this:

He's my rock, my sword, my shield

He's my wheel in the middle of the wheel

He's the lily of the valley

He's the bright and morning star

Makes no difference what you say

I'm goin' on my knees and pray

I'm gonna wait right here for Jesus

Till he comes.

The Psalms give us three assurances in scripture of what God will do for us in adversity.

I have assurance in adversity because God is hiding me. Ps. 27:3-5.

3 Though an army may encamp against me,

My heart shall not fear;

Though war may rise against me,

In this I will be confident.

4 One thing I have desired of the Lord,

That will I seek:

That I may dwell in the house of the Lord

All the days of my life,

To behold the beauty of the Lord,

And to inquire in His temple.

5 For in the time of trouble

He shall hide me in His pavilion;

In the secret place of His tabernacle

He shall hide me;

He shall set me high upon a rock.

Sometimes when God is working a Big Plan that we haven’t fully understood yet, we simply need to have an assurance that in the midst of adversity, God will hide us. In the midst of Covid19, The Lord is my light and salvation. He’s leading me and guiding me. Each and every day He’s saving me from the hand of the enemy and I give Him praise. He’s the strength of my life. He makes my enemies stumble and fall. An army of viruses and sickness have encamped around me but I will not be afraid. In the midst of this pandemic war I will remain confident. My life has come down to one primary desire and that is that I may dwell in the House of Lord all the days of my appointed life, so that I can continue to inquire of His wondrous works. For in the time of trouble, in the midst of this adversity, He will hide me. He will hide us from the virus. This is what God is doing right now through stay at home and social distancing. He’s hiding us in the midst of the pandemic. Don’t be foolish and start tempting the Lord.

2. I have assurance in adversity because God is helping me. Ps. 46:1-5

1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

All of us have been through some stuff in our lives, but none of us have never been through anything like what we are experiencing right now. Our grandparents talked about the Great Depression and World War II, but most of them were too young to remember the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918. My grandfather Leronia Mullen was 12 years old and my Grandmother Beatrice Mullen was 8 years old when that Pandemic occurred. The Spanish Flu lasted almost 36 months from January 1918 to December 1920, it infected 500 million people – about a third of the world's population at that time and 50 million people died. Praise God, my grandparents and maybe your grandparents lived through it and God blessed them to live long lives before they went home to be with the Lord. We don’t know how long this thing is going to last. For our sakes, I pray it’s not 36 months. But one thing we can be assured that God will help us. He is our refuge and strength. We can run into His place of shelter and and we can trust that the Angels are fighting this virus on our behalf. Though the earth is being removed and the mountains are being carried in the midst of the sea; and the waters are roaring now and the mountains shake with its swelling.

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

The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.

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

God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

Therefore I can say it again, I have an assurance in adversity because God is helping me. God is helping you. God is helping all of us to make it through. What the devil has meant for evil God is making it good.

The Apostle Paul said:

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;

We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3. I have assurance in adversity because God is upholding me. Ps 71:5-6.

71:1 In You, O Lord, I put my trust; Let me never be put to shame.

2 Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; (COVID19)

Incline Your ear to me, and save me.(FROM COVID19)

3 Be my strong refuge,

To which I may resort continually;

You have given the (THE ANGELS) commandment to save me, (FROM COVID19)

For You are my rock and my fortress.

4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, (COVID19)

Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

5 For You are my hope,(FOR YOU ARE OUR HOPE)(FROM THIS COVID19) O Lord God;

You are my trust from my youth.

6 By You I have been upheld from birth;

You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.

My praise shall be continually of You.

Come what may, hell or high water, Lord you are my hope. The great preacher and theologian, Charles Spurgeon preached, “Songs in the Night” will help others but they will also help us. From this Ps. 71, Jonathan Nelson and others sing:

I’m not afraid For you are with me. God you are my hope. God you are my hope. All day long God you are my joy, my strength . God you are my life. My joy, my strength, My joy, my strength All day long.

The Lord is my hope and blessed assurance:I ’m sure come hell or high water, my name has been written in the Lambs book of Life. I’m sure of my position in Christ.I ’m sure that I’m seated with Him in heavenly places. I’m sure that I’m an heir and a joint heir with Jesus. I’m sure that the Holy Ghost is praying for me. I’m sure that He’s interceding for me. Most of all I’m sure that I’m destined to be like Jesus.

Therefore I can closed with an all time favorite. It goes like this: “Blessed Assurance”

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. O what a foretaste of glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. Perfect submission, all is at rest. I in my Savior am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above. Filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. Oh what a Savior, wonderful Jesus

Ain’t He alright? Ain’t the Lord Good? Ain’t He Worthy to Be Praise? Come On. Help Me Lift the Savior Up! Come On. Help Me Magnify His Name!

If He’s been good to you, you ought to say yes!

“GOD YOU ARE MY HOPE”