Harvest Detroit West
Sunday Sermon - Psalm 46 - “The Wisdom of Knowing God”
July 14, 2024 In this week’s sermon Elder Randy Hall, focuses in the the comfort of knowing God as our sanctuary, sustainer, and salvation, especially in the mist of our world fallen apart. Psalm 46
[MUSIC PLAYING] We hope and pray that you are blessed by the Word of God as it's preached. It is always a pleasure and a honor to stand before God's people and to be used by God to rightly divide His Word. It has been a blessing with these-- the series in wisdom from above. Reagan started with the proverbs. And I do like proverbs. If you hang out with me long enough in the C20s, you can hear me over and over. Recommend the power of proverbs, the wisdom of proverbs. And so I do love proverbs. And so I was wrestling with because Reagan got the good ones. So I was like, oh, man, I want those. But as I'm praying to God and I say, God, I like proverbs. But what do your people need? And looking at the prayer requests that I get and feeling that the temperature in our congregation, I was like-- I was drawn to Psalms 46. Psalms 46 is a powerful song. Interestingly enough, it is in my research, I found out that it is nicknamed Luther's song. And so this is where he gets the song. We're just saying a mighty fortress is our God. And the story goes is that I guess it was the Black Death is what they call it, has spread, re-emerged in Europe. And Luther was burdened. There were some people who were going to safety, so they wouldn't be infected by the plague. And there were many who could not move and Luther, along with his wife who was pregnant at the time, felt the urge to remain in Wittenberg and to minister to those who were sick, most responsibly. And as he was doing that, realizing that even his son almost died, he was confronted. As he read the Psalms, and he was encouraged by what the song brung to him. And that story hit home because I realized that a lot of times that we are suffering catastrophic things in our lives. There are some times where we have discomfort that we don't like, and we'll talk about it. You see it all the time on social media. People complain about the order not getting right, a little things, but sometimes life hits you hard. And we as Christians heard. And Luther shows us that we can turn to the Scriptures. And we can find solace, peace, a God who cares. And so the title of this is "The Wisdom of Knowing God." I think it's important that we realize now, granted this is a topic that I don't have months that's preaching on, so there's a lot to knowing God. But there's an aspect of what 46 pulls out that I want us to engage and to think and to meditate on as we experience life in all of its ups and downs, in all of its painful occasions that happens our way. And so when we look at Psalms 46, it starts off with a subscription. It's the choir master of the Psalms of color, according to the Ahmauth, a song. And so all my research shows that this is a song sung by the choirs in Jerusalem, and it was sung either on a harp. That's what Ahmauth means, either on a harp, a high-pitched string instrument, or in a high, like, soprano type voice song. And so this is what we call the Elohim song, which is a song focusing on who God is. And probably, among many of your subscripts, I don't know if this was post Luther's song or after, it reads, "God is our fortress." And so it begins with the first ones. And the first point I want us to look at, I think it begins with this idea that God is our sanctuary. It says, "God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help and trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives away, and though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea." So we see that God is our refuge, and he's our strength, and he's a very present help. He's our sanctuary. So sanctuary is where you go for safety. And so the Psalmist paints the idea of what the Jews would know in that time of there is these great cities. And so Jerusalem is this great city, and it has these walls built around Jerusalem. But Jerusalem is-- the cities of Judah is not all contained within Jerusalem. There are some on the outside where the farmers and hand workers live. And what happens is when threats of warring kingdoms come, these people on the outside of the walls gather their necessities that they need. And they come to the inside of the wall to find sanctuary. Because inside these walls is protection. Inside these walls they are provided for. And so God is our sanctuary. And so we see even in Deuteronomy before 7, as the people of Israel are being ushered into the Promised Land, they have this ammunition from Moses. And he first he tells them to first and foremost follow the law, follow all that God it says. But he gives them a good reason to be tailored to the Lord. It says, "For what God-- what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him." And so this nation, which was stuck in Egypt, cried out to God. And he heard their cry. This nation, as it goes along, continues to have testimony after testimony of God hearing their cries and ever present near them. So not only is he's our strength, but he's present with us. God is there in the tough times. It's always an interesting story I heard in the church when I grow up. I always found it. I don't know if it was the truth or not. But I think it makes a great point is that there was a preacher, a faithful preacher of God word. And then one year, his son got sick and died. And his heart was hardened. And he cried out to God, "Where were you when my son died?" And God says, "The same place I was when my son died. God is ever present. There is nothing that we can experience that God separates himself for us." And it's very interesting when we look at this, that the presoneness of God is that this psalm that we're reading often, we read psalms. And we kind of have an idea of what happened. You read Psalm 53, and David after his in distress with Bathsheba. With this psalm, there was a bunch of commentaries I searched, and then we couldn't figure out exactly what was going on. But there was so much that it actually speaks to the very robust needs of the psalms. So there was a time in which we were looking at King Azahiah in Isaiah 7. And that day, Azahiah the son of Jonathan, who was the son of Isaiah, the king of Judah, had the king of Syria, and the king of Israel come up to war against him. And so here is Azahiah just trying to be a faithful king in God's kingdom, and a tragedy strikes him. These these Israel, which is supposed to belong to God with him, sides with Syrians to come up to war against him. And so he cries out to God, and God quickly sends Isaiah to give him the message that this will not happen. He reassures them that actually in 65 years, that Israel will be no more, and that these will not prevail against God's people. And interesting, there's also another parallel that is possibly where this psalm draws from. And that's talking with King Jehosephat. We find that in the second chronicles, the 20th chapter. And what happens with poor Jehosephat is that Jehosephat is simply trying to bring reform to Jerusalem. Reform to Judah, Judah has messed up. It has allowed idols and things to get into the way. And Jehosephat, we see in 19, is setting up just judges. I mean, he's not perfect. He was trying to-- he was hanging out with Ahab and trying to-- and God told him, don't watch who you hang with. But at the same time, he was a man after searching to do what God has called him to do. When he gets a message that the Moabites, the Amorites, and the Men Unites are coming against him. So here is him and Judah trying to set reform. And he hears that three people groups are coming to try to destroy him. And like it has, he cries out to God. Him and all of Jerusalem cry out to God. And God lets them know that this will not happen, that he will fight for them. As a matter of fact, as you unpack the story, this is where you get a famous Sanon. If you've been in church long enough, you probably heard it, that the battle is not yours. It's the Lord. And so we have that story of God going before and being strong to the battle. And lastly, one is probably popular. And when it comes to a lot of commentaries, this is between Joe Hasephat and King Hezekiah in Second Chronicles 32. And so Sennacherith, King of Asserith, came to invade Judah and encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them for himself. So Sennacherith is filling himself because he was the tool that God used to have Israel conquered. And so he figured I will go and conquer Judah as well. And Sennacherith was a very evil ruler. He felt that he was able to conquer whatever he wanted to conquer. As a matter of fact, he sent a messenger when he's besieging Jerusalem to cry out to Jerusalem that they need to surrender because God will not save them. He has the accusation that, hey, I've conquered many nations. None of their gods were able to save them. What makes you think your God will be able to save you? He even goes so far as to say, don't listen to the king, the God has the point for you, who is he trusting in? Is this the same God whose high places he has torn down? And so I think he goes way over the line when he says, as a matter of fact, who do you think sent me? God sent me to destroy Jerusalem. And now that he say that, trying to dissuade the believers there, but he also sent a letter that has a guy and his people. And so they lay the leather out before God, and they see God, and saying, God, they recognize that this man has blasphemed you. His mischaracterized who you are. He has likened you to these false gods of this nation. We know that you are the true God. And God lets them know that he will fight the battle. And then we see God do what he's going to do. And so in all of those stories, there's one key line that goes there is that the people trusted in God. God was their refuge. They didn't go to other nations and other kings and make alliances. Even the snackers thought they might have been worried about Egypt, not about Egypt. It's about the God of Israel, who is able to deliver. He is a very present help in trouble. God is there. And because they have this knowledge of who God is, because they have the knowledge that God is a present help, he is our refuge, he is our sanctuary, they behave a certain way. They say, therefore, we will not fear. So their lives are being turned upside down, trying to be men of God, ordering God's people, bringing reform to God's people so they may honor the true and living God and calamities, nations, armies, war against them. Armies within the physical, they have no ability to repel. But they're not troubled, or they don't fear because they know God as a refuge and as a strength. I think often we want to say that, hey, I'm fearless. I'm saying, whatever God sends my way, I'm ready. I'm saying, even if I don't get that good parking spot, I know God is good. Even if I don't get that raise, God is still going to exalt me. Even if she doesn't like me, I'll find a wife one day. And all these things that we ready to say, I'm going to embrace without fear. I'm going to be bold. But these are not the little things that sometimes we like to throw up. This is the big things. The psalmist says, though the earth gives away, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and fall and the mountains tremble at its swelling. So the picture here is not simply a bump in the road of my plans, but a total turning around of what I thought God wanted, where God was taking me. A lot of times we have a vision. We telling, yes, God, this is where I want us to go. And I think this is where you're taking me and Lord and see me there. And a lot of times he'd be like, no, no, I got this way for you. So this is when the picture is the mountains are crumbling. The earth is quaking and they're falling into the sea. The tsunami of waves are just so high to the point where they encult the mountain. This is travesty. This is not a mere inconvenience. This is life threatening things. This is things that turns our life upside down. This is things that, hey, you probably should be afraid. But they say, therefore, because of who God is, he is my strength. He is the creator of the ends of the earth. He has delivered Israel over and over and over again. He's the God who's able to part a sea so that we may walk on dry land. He's the God who's able to have his servant speak to a rock so that we can have water in the wilderness. He's a God to be able to give us the lands of giants for our inheritance. God is our strength and our refuge is what Israel knows. And so they are not easily dissuaded. And so our next point is we find that God is our sustainer. God sustains us. And so it says, there is a river whose stream makes glad to city of God the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God will help her when the morning dawns. And so we see here that God is personified as a river. And this is something we've seen before in Psalms 36, 7 through 8. It says, how precious is your steadfast love, O God. The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house and you give them drink from the river of your delight. We also see this in Revelation 22, one in the first part of the second verse says, the angel showed me the river of the water of life, being a crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb through the middle of the street of the city. God is in the midst of her. He is the sustainer, He gives her the water of life. Christ says to the woman at the well, if you knew who spoke to you, then you would ask me for living water. So God is the sustainer, He makes them glad. He makes them glad because they are in habitation. God is there, He is present. He can be depended on. He is in the midst of her and because God is with them, because God is their sustainer, they shall not be moved. Because they understand this one truth, God will help them when the morning dawns. At an interesting phrase that says, when the morning dawns gives you the idea of the contrast. So when we go back to Hezekiah and Jehovah fact, especially the Hezekiah incident, they go out at the dawn and they see that after the darkest night, the dawn comes and it shows that God has taken care of those enemies who came against them. They have been put to death. And so all they had to do was spend the rest of their days collecting the spoils of war. God had worked. He came when the morning dawn. After the darkest night, God comes. And they experienced this over and over again. And in times when they were feeling hopeless, in times when they are needing God the most, He is always there. They have that testimony. As a matter of fact, they go so far to say in six, the nation's rage, the kingdom's totter, He utters his voice and the earth melts. The Lord of Host is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. And this, imagine this, I mean, even in some, I believe it's 26, they ask the question, why do the nation's rage? And God understands and we should understand and Israel understand that there's gonna be nations who rage, kingdoms are gonna raise up and kingdoms are gonna fall down, but God remains. And in his powder, he utters and the earth melts. Reminds me of the song who sings, "Our God is a mighty warrior." He's a consuming fire. In victory, he reigns. We triumph in his name. God does not worry about what the nations think of him. God does not worry about what the nation's plot against him or his people. At the very utterance of his voice, the earth melts. No one can stand against our God. The Lord of Host is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Now, interestingly, the Lord of Host, we see a lot of no testament times, which only makes sense because it's a military term. So it means that the God is the general. He have a host of armies and God himself is with us and Jacob is our fortress. So God is our sustainer and we need not fear. And lastly, as we come to our last stanza, it lets us know that God is our salvation. God is our salvation. And in church I've grown up, we've have a saying that I am saved, I'm being saved, and I will be saved. And so it speaks of God saving me from the consequences of sin. God saving me and sanctifying me into the image of the Son Jesus Christ. And finally, God's glorifying me to be with him. And so what I'm thinking when I say is that this is God thank us as our salvation. He says, "Come and behold the works of the Lord. "He has brought distillation on the earth. "He makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth. "He breaks the bowels and shatters the spears. "He turns the chariots into fire." God now speaks, "Be still and know that I am God. "I will be exalted among the nations. "I will be exalted in the earth." And so the picture that the psalmist is painting is what the Hebrews love to call the last days. This is the day of judgment. This is the day in which God will judge, and these things will come about. As a matter of fact, hold your place there and turn with me to Isaiah 2. There we go. Isaiah 2, we're gonna read a few scriptures there. And we'll see this picture that is painted. In Isaiah 2, starting at verse two, it reads, "It shall come to past in the latter days "that the mountains of the house of the Lord "shall be established as the highest of the mountains "and shall be lifted up above the hills. "And all the nations shall flow to it. "And many people shall come and say, "Come, "let us go to the mountain of the Lord, "to the house of the God of Jacob, "that he may teach us his ways, "and that we may walk in his path. "For out of Zion shall go the fourth law, "and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. "And he shall judge between nations, "and he shall decide disputes for many peoples. "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares "and their spears into pruning hooks. "Nation shall not lift up sword against nations, "neither shall they learn war anymore. "O house of Jacob, come, let us walk "in the light of the Lord." And so we see this idea of final judgment where God is ruler overall. It is these last days when God will judge and these nations will be subject to God and peace will reign. And God felt this message was so important for Israel that he said it again. Turn with me to Micah 4, if you will. And Micah 4, it's gonna sound like I'm reading Isaiah, but I promise you, it was Micah 4. It says, "It shall come to pass in the latter days, "that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established "as the highest of the mountains, "and it shall be lifted up above the hills, "and it shall be lifted up above the hills. "It shall come to pass in the latter days, "that the mountain of the house of the Lord "shall be established as the highest of the mountains, "and it shall be lifted up above the hills. "And people shall flow to it. "And many nations shall come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, "to the house of God of Jacob, "that he may teach us his ways, "and that we may walk in his path. "For out of Zion shall go forth the law, "and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. "He shall judge between many peoples, "and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away. "And they shall beat their plows into, "there should beat their swords into plow shares, "and their spears into pruning hooks. "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, "neither shall they learn war anymore. "But they shall sit every man under his vine "and under his fig tree, "and no one shall make them afraid "for the mouth of the Lord of host has spoken." And so, God, in this last chapter, is speaking what we would call eschatologically. We even see it in a song that Luther wrote as he looks for that fine today when God will bring us home. And so, eschatologically, he's letting us know that we can look forward to a God who will make a war cease. That's just a thought that sometimes probably foreign to us in our day and age. We see reckless wars and all across the world for whatever reason they come about. And we have this hope that God will stop the wars. The Jerusalem is sitting there and we went through as a hire. We went to Jehazah Fat and we went to Hezekiah. It was probably plenty of other kings that we read to who were threatened with the war. And the idea is that this won't always be. The God is able to bring salvation to his people and to save them from constant wars. There is a day in which we will all be with our Lord and Savior in heaven. Not worrying about conflict of war and who we offended or whatever crazy things going on, but just simply basking in the presence of the Lord. And so, the following question we ask ourselves as we go through this is like, this is great. The Jews have this great testimony and that's awesome, but what does that mean for us? What does that mean for us? Well, I'm glad you asked. And this, what we see is a picture of a God who cares. He says that he is, if we look at the, there it says God is our refuge, therefore we. And so, God is for his people. And so, the question is, who are his people and when we look at Psalms 145, we get an answer of what we can look forward to and what we can rejoice in. Starting in 14, it says, the Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food and do seasons. You open your hand, you satisfy the desires of every living thing, the Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call upon him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him. He also hears the cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. And so, we see the ideas not that this promises, it's just for ethnic Israel. When we see the person of God, it's God's desire for all who call upon him in truth. And so, this is where I pause to anyone here who does not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And telling you the bad news, it's already been given to you, we're blessed to hear Bob sermon last week, that if you haven't accepted Christ in your saver, the sad news is that you're just one breath away from facing God in judgment and being condemned to hell. The good news is that God has given you this opportunity to hear the truth of his word. To harden not your heart, to turn from rebellion against God, to accept Christ as Lord and to have life, to have sanctuary, to have a God who sustains you and who promises you to bring you to be with him in the last days. And this lets us know that this is just not for Israel, it's just for us. But also, what we do notice is that this is a, kind of what I would call a collective Psalms, we see that it's about God and his people. The Bible says when two or three are gathered together, God is in the midst of them. So this is why God has given us the body and so that we can come and be edified, so we can come and know more about who God is. He has knitted us together to encourage one another in times of trials and tribulations. Not to pull away because I'm going through and people just don't understand, but to push in. To push into making sure I'm at my small groups and sharing with my small group leader or sharing with a brother I trust or a sister I can confide in knowing that God has knitted us together and he is for us together. He has provided for us united. God cares for us in our darkest moments. This means that when I suffer betrayal in my life, God is there. When the sacred institute of marriage has been disrespected in my life, God is there. When I go to the doctor for what I think is a routine checkup and I find that I have life-threatening disease or even worse, my wife has a life-threatening disease or even worse, my child has a life-threatening disease. When I know God, God is there. He's my refuge. He is my strength. I don't know what God is doing when these things happen, when my life is upside down, but what I do know is that God has let me know that these things will happen. Our brother James wisely tells us, counting our joy if you fall into, not if, when you fall into diverse situations. These things will happen. Christ warns us that these things will happen. We will be faithful employees. We will be thinking we have favor in our job. We will be commended and have, and stuff talked about us. And then, because of our Christian stance, because we do not bow the knee to this world, maybe our job is taken away from us. Or God forbid, we God has blessed us and financially so that we're just so grateful and able to take care of our family. And then all that can be destroyed. It's come falling down. These things happen and they are happening in our lives. We're trying to live like Christians and we're betrayed. We're trying to live righteously and work as God and the person that God yoked me up with has now decided that they don't want to walk this walk no more with me. So my only hope is that God is with me. He will never leave me nor forsake me is the promise that he gives. And in this, we've learned that the character of God is not too abandoned. The character of God is that even in the midst of turmoil, even when it seems like the world is going crazy and people are doing crazy stuff and stuff that I thought never would happen in my place, in my nation and in my family. It happens as a God who was my refuge, who was able to comfort me, who was able to give me peace that surpasses understanding. I'll be finished when I tell you about Horatio Spaffert. Horatio Spaffert was a Presbyterian layman back in the day, I forgot the year that he gives me. And I want to say 1800s, like 1800s around that time. And so he lived in Chicago and he was co-hearts with people like Dale Mouli. And so he was a very successful businessman, but he was not free from the trials and tribulation that attacked our lives. One year his son died. And then the very next year there was this, that was that great fire in Chicago. And he was invested in a lot of real estate. And so he lost his fortune that he thought he had ascribed, was burned up, it was gone. And so he worked hard and was faithful to God and rebuilt it. But he believed that all the works taken a toll on his families, what he had left was his wife and his four daughters raging from two, I believe, to 11. And so within three years after the fire, two years after the fire, he decided it would be good to send his family on holiday to London. He knew his friend Dale Mouli would be preaching a revival there. And he just thought it'd be a great getaway from him and his family. Unfortunately, a business caused him to have to stay. So he went and had and sent his wife and his baby girls ahead along with them. Well, unfortunately, their boat collided with another boat in the midst of the sea and the daughters perished and the mother was found fully on the piece of wood. And once she made herself to the other side of the shore, she sent a telegraph to her husband that said, "Save alone, what shall I do?" And like a good husband, he gets on his, he sets up his ride to go out there and to be with his wife. And as he is on the boat going to meet his wife on the other side of the sea, the captain of the ship knew his story and knew what had happened and had called him up when he got to around the location with which his children had perished. And so as he comes on deck and just there in the presence of location where his children had now perished, these words came to him. He said, "When peace, like a river, attended my way, when sorrows like sea bellows roll, whatever my lot that has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul." Though Satan should buffet, though trials shall come, let this blessed assurance control, that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul. My sin, all the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. Lord, to this, for thy coming we wait, the sky, not the grave is our goal. Oh, Trump of the angels, oh, voice the Lord, blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul. And Lord, hast the day, when the face shall be sight, and the clouds be rolled back as a scroll. The Trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, even so, the Lord shall rise, and even so, it is well with my soul. And so, my hope is as we think of the contemplating things that are going on our way, the complications that life throws our way, the horrific things that she may say, "Randy, you just don't understand." I just don't know what to do next, that we can have the same testimony as her ratio. When looking at the place with which his beloved daughter Parrish, and I granted, I guarantee you, was not in his plan. It was not on his list, to do list of, you know, one day my daughter's a parish, and he still recognized that God is real. God is with him. God is his sanctuary, and his refuge, and Christ has died, and given him the right to be in heaven one day, with our Lord and Savior. I love the psalmist, and says, "Whom have I in heaven, with you, and earth has nothing not desire but you." And so, even a loss of loved ones, and treasure relationships, hopefully we can have the same testimony as her ratio. Dear most gracious and heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for being our God. We thank you, Lord God, that you brought us to your house, Lord God, that we were able to look into your word, and we pray, Lord God, that we would come to know you, to know personally, experientially, the love of what it means to be cared for by you, to know that even in our pains, even in the portrayals of relationships, even in the betrayal of the body, and the hurting, and the disc, and the way it just betrays us. We have a God who loves us, who cares for us, who draws us near, who is able to give us victory, even in the midst of defeat, that we don't have to listen to the lives of Satan, who tries to question us, and ask us, "Does God really love us?" We know who you are, Lord God. We know that you're a God who does all things for the good of those whom you love, who you've called according to your purpose. We may not understand your ways, but we understand that you are good. We thank you Lord God, that when life gets crazy, when our plans are thrown awry, when pain weighs us down, we have the truth of who you are. Pray all these things that you darlin' send Jesus' name. Amen. (upbeat music) - If you want any more information about our church, you can visit our website, harvestsattroitwest.org. [MUSIC]