As we come to the end of another year, I think it's appropriate for us to look forward, obviously, to this new year, especially in light of all that we have seen and endured and enjoyed in this last year. And as I thought about what perhaps the Lord would have me share with you this morning, my mind kept going to Psalm 91 that we just read a few minutes ago. And so I'd like to speak to you and encourage you this morning as believers, regarding the topic of God as our protector. Now we all know that the world in which we live is a sin-cursed world. It's a very dangerous and dark place, and most people struggle with great personal difficulties. A number of you are struggling even now with personal difficulties, and certainly people at large struggle in profound ways. That's why we have such a drug and alcohol problem in our culture and in every culture around the world. And our joys are always mixed with sorrow, even when we are rejoicing over something. There are other things deep within that well up within us that are difficult, that are hard to deal with. And in Job five seven, we are reminded that, "...man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward." In other words, it's inevitable. We're born in trauma, we live in conflict, and eventually we return to the earth. And if we are united to Christ in saving faith, we go instantly into glory, and if we're not, those will go instantly into hell. In fact, Solomon tells us that all is vanity under the sun, life is like a vapor, unless you know, and you fear the Lord. Our only hope is in Christ, right?

May I remind you of what Paul said in Romans eight, beginning in verse 19, "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. Not only this, but also, we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope, we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it."

Indeed, there exists in the Christian life a constant tension. It's fascinating. When you think about it, we rejoice in saving grace when, by the power of the Spirit of God, we are born again. There is that supernatural, instantaneous impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead, the miracle of regeneration. And at that point, the hope of heaven begins, and we long for that day when we will be freed from our own sin, and the sin around the world, and all the difficulties of this sin cursed world. But between our salvation and our glorification, there's life, and life is difficult. And so there is a tension, therefore, as the Spirit says through the apostle Paul, we "groan," we "long" and we "persevere." And according to Second Corinthians 4:18, we, "...look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Everything we can see with our eyes is going to go away; they're temporal. But what we see through the eyes of faith is reality, and that's what we will experience in its fullness someday.

So creation we just read, was subjected to futility, and boy, we see that in creation, don't we? Just try planting a garden and see which grows best, your beans or your weeds, right? It's a constant battle. Pestilence, mosquitoes - I read that malaria kills over 1 million people every year. There's devastating storms and earthquakes; the floods that we experience, for example, in one of our last hurricanes. There's famine, there's disease, there's death, there's endless goodbyes, there's human tragedies. I believe it was just this morning over in South Korea, I think I read 179 people died in a plane crash. We never know, do we? There's all of the immorality, the insanity like we've seen cram down our throats over the last four years in the Biden administration, all of the woke and the LGBTQ cult immoralities, government officials that are corrupt. We see rampant crime, we see violence, we see terrorism. And then, at a personal level, don't we all struggle with viruses, especially this time of the year, diseases, bacteria that can kill us, all kinds of carcinogenic chemicals that they're finding in our processed foods that make us obese and destroy our bodies. And I think about man's technological advances, they're really remarkable, absolutely astounding. But despite man's millennia of accumulated knowledge, now, even with artificial intelligence, nothing ever really changes for the better in this life, things still go on the same way with the same struggles.

So how do we find peace and joy in this short life that we have now? Certainly for those apart from Christ, there will never be any peace. In fact, there will be an eternity of horror. We read in Isaiah 48:22, "'There is no peace for the wicked,'" that is the ungodly, "says the LORD." Those who live their life for themselves, rather than for the glory of their Creator and Redeemer, live in a state of inner turmoil. They live in a state of uncertainty. They are born, they go to school, they grow into adulthood, they chase the fleeting pleasures of life, and they're constantly in search of something that will bring lasting joy and satisfaction, something that will calm the raging storms of that inner turmoil and the uncertainty about eternity. As we read in Romans, one they suppress the truth of who God is and his plan of redemption. They do so in unrighteousness. And if they survive into old age, they will do all they can to somehow find happiness, to somehow find some peace, answers to life, but there will be none. And then they will gradually, as we all will, grow increasingly decrepit, diseased. For the ungodly, they will grow increasingly angry and cynical and depressed and afraid of dying until they pass through the veil of this life into eternal conscious torment; the solitary confinement of an eternal hell will be their abode. And there they will pay the infinite just consequence for offending an infinitely Holy God. My folks, what would we do without the gospel? Right?

Jesus warned of this in John 3:36 he said, "'He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.'" In other words, they're living in a state of wrath right now that will eventually come to eternal fruition. But there's no wrath for that man or that woman, or that boy or that girl who genuinely repent and believe in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus would say this - now notice the contrast in John 14 and verse 27, "'Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.'" But friends, there is no peace, there is no joy for the unregenerate, but there is for those of us who have been saved by his grace. In fact, Jesus prayed this in John 15, beginning in verse eight, he said, "'My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you.'" Then he says, "'...abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept the Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full.'" The original language indicates that idea of being "made full" is stating that it would be as much as it can possibly be. That's the longing of our Lord's heart for each of us. What a magnificent promise and what a magnificent reality that all of us who know and love Christ experience.

Now, what happens when a believer, for some reason, doesn't experience this peace and this joy, what's going on there? People will wonder, well, has God forsaken me? Maybe there's unconfessed sin in my life - that's certainly a possibility. Or maybe I have just wandered away from him; and that I fear is the problem with many believers. And so as we begin a new year, I want to encourage you by reminding you of the importance of living in the presence of God, our protector. Living, as the Latin would say, "Coram Deo" in the presence of God. Meaning that you're living with him so closely that you not only recognize he is the source of your peace and your joy and your contentment, but you're actually experiencing that peace and that joy and that contentment.

Therefore, I want to look at Psalm 91 in fact, if you will take your Bibles, you can turn there, most of these verses will be on the screens around us, but I want you to realize that the theme of Psalm 91 is really found in verse two, "'My God, in whom I trust!" And as we look at this great text, I want you to ask yourself, Do I really trust him? Therefore, Am I willing to obey Him? Do I long to hear his voice and honor him in my life? Do I really love him?

Now, by way of background, the author of Psalm 91 is anonymous. Some believe it was Moses, since he wrote Psalm 90, that's a possibility. But its background and setting are also unknown. It would seem that it was written in the context of being prepared for some military conflict. But all the potential terrors and horrors that we read in this psalm, and all of the sorrows are deliberately undefined with any kind of degree of specificity in order to widen the potential applications of these things to really encompass all of the types of difficulties that we experience. And my goal, here this morning, is to help you see that the divine blessings available to us come only when we trust in God and we walk in intimate fellowship and communion with Him - way beyond just going to church on a Sunday morning, way beyond just reading the Bible occasionally - but literally walking in intimate fellowship with Him. Blessings are forfeited when we choose to live on our own and follow our own path and live for ourselves. And I want you to ask yourself from the outset, before we look closely at the text, is my life marked by an habitual communion with God? Can I honestly say this is part of who I am? Is it my disciplined practice and greatest joy to consistently reside in the presence of the Most High? Do I really desire spending time in the inner sanctuary of prayer as I read the Word and meditate on his Word and talk with him, and hear his voice? Not in some audible way, but through his word. Do I really dwell in the light of His glory, longing for his voice, longing to know more of who he is, abiding in the fortress of his presence that can protect us from all of the assaults of this world? And then when the storms of life bear down upon me with devastating fury, do I find myself running to him or running away from him? If the answer is yes, yes, this is really me. I do love to live in his presence, you're a very rare saint, and you're especially blessed, unlike those who just have a casual relationship with the Lord our God, which I fear is one of the great plagues of modern Christianity that is nothing more than kind of a Christ, less Christianity, kind of a cultural Christianity; churchianity, as some people call it, country club Christianity. But those who have a secret devotion to God and those who live in his presence, so to speak, are never marked by paralyzing fear when danger comes, when the dreaded news comes from the doctor. They're never marked by disobedience or some kind of long-termdebilitating depression that doesn't have some kind of organic ideology. Instead, those who possess a passion to know the Lord and to live in his presence, enjoy and experience, really a double portion of his blessing in their life. And I want you to know that these blessings are available to every child of God. This is the great emphasis of this psalm.

We're going to look at it under three headings, the assurance, the scope and the promise of God's personal protection. The assurance, the scope and the promise of God's personal protection. First of all, notice the assurance of God's personal protection. Beginning in verse one, it says, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust!'" I want you to notice there are four metaphors for security that are used here; figures depicting protection and security, frankly, dominate this entire Psalm. You will see the metaphors of shelter, shadow, refuge and fortress. And the point is, is this where I dwell in the very presence of God?

You see nearness to God is where we find safety and security against all of the inevitable assaults upon our life, upon our marriage, upon our family, upon our children, upon our community, upon our church; those things that can destroy our happiness and destroy our testimony. I'm reminded of Psalm 27 and verse five, where we read, "For in the day of trouble, He will conceal me in His tabernacle; in the secret place of His tent, He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock." My what a promise. And in Psalm 31 beginning in verse 20, "You hide them in the secret place of Your presence." The Hebrew concept there for presence is literally the idea of the covering of your countenance. "You hide them in the secret place of your presence from the conspiracies of man." And boy, don't you feel that pressing upon us all the time in our culture? The conspiracies of man? "You keep them," he goes on to say, "...secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD, for He has made marvelous His loving kindness to me in a besieged city."

Now, as we go back to Psalm 91 how comforting it is to know that God himself protects those who dwell and those who abide in him. In fact, the term "abide" in the Hebrew is from a verb translated, "spend the night." I love it when the grandkids say, "Papa, can we have a sleepover?" That's always a sign of great fellowship and love, right? They feel safe there. Sohe's speaking here of God protecting those who habitually dwell with him; abide with him, commune with him; which practically speaking, is an outworking of reading the word, studying the word, meditating on the word, praying the word, obeying the word trusting him in all things. Jesus said, "'My sheep hear My voice and they,'" What? "'They follow Me.'" Contrary to that, are those that are not his sheep, those that are not his sheep hear his voice and disregard him.

I want you to also notice in these first two verses, there are four divine titles. And here we see the emphasis that God and God alone is worthy of our trust, and he is the only one that can supply this kind of security. Notice the titles the Most High. It is "El Elyon." It focuses on divine sovereignty, his divine sovereignty, his majesty over all the world. And then he also is described as the "Almighty." "Shaddai,” which emphasizes his omnipotence, and the word LORD, which is "Yahweh," representing his covenant making and covenant keeping promises; he is the covenant making and the covenant keeping God. And then also just the word "God." "Elohim" refers to the supreme god who is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Redeemer, the consummator of all of human history and all that he has decreed.

Now you must understand that much of this imagery here is taken from the Holy of Holies. You will recall, as you think about it, that the wings of the cherubim were the most conspicuous aspect of the Holy of Holies. They were outstretched, and they hovered over the hilasterion - the place of propitiation, the mercy seat above the Ark of the Covenant. And they symbolized the protective power of the omnipotent God to shield those who have cast themselves upon his mercy, those who trust in his saving grace, those who enter into his presence and commune with him are the ones that are safe; the ones that are protected by those outstretched wings that symbolize his great protective mercies. Beloved, we cannot experience this unless we walk close with him, so close that we remain under the all-sufficient shadow of the Almighty. I think of my little children and yours - mine are all not so little anymore, but I remember when they were, and we still have one that will do this. Our little granddaughter, when she's a little bit frightened, what will she do? She'll reach over and grab my hand or daddy's hand or mommy's hand. And we all see that in our children, they grab a hold of us; they want that protection. And folks, it's the same thing - we find increased confidence in God's protective power when we cling to the Almighty, when we remain under the shelter of his invincible protection.

And notice he says here in verse two, "I will say to the Lord, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust!'" I want you to notice here the psalmist's personal appropriation of "My" he says, which denotes personal intimacy; personal possession; my refuge and my fortress. You want to ask yourself, does this really define my attitude toward him? Is this what I do when trouble comes my way, when I'm confused and I'm hurting, and I need help? Do I seek the wisdom of man, or do I run to the wisdom of God? Do I pick up the phone, or do I go to the throne? Certainly, the man who dwells in the impregnable fortress of God will feel at ease, will feel secure, will feel cared for. I think of a friend of mine who was in Special Forces Ranger, who was part of the first group in when we attacked Saddam Hussein. Maybe you remember those days. And he said, as they went in, and they do most of their fighting at night, I'll never forget what he said I felt or we all felt invincible, because with a radio call we had behind us, a C130 gunship. If you know what a C130 gunship is, it is something that can do unimaginable damage, just like that. That's how we have to see the Lord. That's how we have to see the Lord.

So we move from the assurance of God's personal protection in those first two verses to the scope of it in verses three through 13. Now here's what I want you to do. You'll notice throughout this section the Psalmist uses the pronoun "You,” but which you won't see in the English that you will in the original language is that it's in the singular, not the plural. So, the psalmist addresses individuals - you, personally, me, personally, focusing on personal trials and personal trust in God. So, as we read through verses three through 13, I want you to substitute your name for each quote "you." For example, verse three, "For it is He who delivers you." Put your name there. "For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper." Now, this speaks of God's protection from skillful enemies and cunning foes; the schemes of the devil designed to destroy us and thwart the purposes of God; those things that would seek our ruin, including those things that we are completely unaware of in our life. He's delivering us from those things.

I was thinking about, those things that the Lord delivers me from that I'm not even aware of; dangers that I don't even know are around. And it reminds me again, if I can use a parent and child illustration, think of all the things we've protected our children from, and they have no idea that there was even a danger anywhere around. It's exactly the way God deals with us. He delivers you, "from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence." This speaks of things like horrible diseases and mass epidemics and plagues that can kill millions. And it's also used metaphorically to speak of demonic deceptions; those things that seduce the naive and the ignorant and even demonic pogroms, the organized killings. It can include things like famine and earthquakes and tsunamis and on and on it goes. And it says, "He will cover you with His pinions." Pinions is another word for feather. "And under His wings, you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark."

Dwell on this for just a moment. I mean, this is so fascinating. Think about it. God protects us with his faithfulness. Now, what does that mean? It's referring to his fidelity to keep all of his promises. Second, Peter one and verse four, "He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." As I was meditating upon this, I was thinking of just jotting down promises that God has made and I quickly realized that I could just do this for another hour, right? I'll just give you a few. I mean, he's promised to never leave us nor forsake us, right? In First Corinthians 10 verse 13, he says, "No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you were able but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." In Genesis 22 and verse 14, we read how Jehovah Jireh is the Lord who provides; he's promised to provide. In fact, in Philippians 4:19, we read that, "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus."  So again, he protects us with his faithfulness.

In John 14 verse three, Jesus says, "If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also." He's going to protect me with the faithfulness that he is going to do what he said he can do. And when I have confidence in that, it's kind of like it doesn't matter what the world throws my way. This is where I'm living. He promises to come again in power and great glory and on and on it goes. So, God is our personal protector. If you have a toddler in the mall, you don't just ignore the toddler and let them wander around, you watch everything they do. If you have a toddler out on the farm and they get by the rock pile or the wood pile where the copperheads live, or they get too close to the pond, what do you do? You're their protector. You're watching them. That's what he does with us.

It's interesting, the psalmist uses this figure of a bird protecting its young with its wings, and there's a number of passages that speak about this, but maybe you've seen some of these little videos of mama birds, and they've got their wings over their little ones underneath them, while it's raining. Nancy showed me one this morning. She said, "Honey, you got to look at this." And she showed me, I think it was a swan in the water, and the swan had these massive wings up like this, and inside on her back were all of her little swans, whatever you call those. I don't think they're chicks. I don't know what they're called, but it's an amazing thing. What a picture of God's protection.

Psalm 17 eight says, "Keep me as the apple of the of the eye. Hide me in the shadow of Your wings from the wicked who despoil me, my deadly enemies who surround me." And folks we cannot again begin to imagine the innumerable ways enemies try to destroy us and the many ways that we are protected that we never even see. And then there are those times when we've seen it very clearly, and it's a profoundly humbling thing. By the way, you will recall that this first picture of of that we see here in this psalm was recorded in Matthew 23 verse 37 concerning the wings, "'Oh Jerusalem,'" Jesus said, "'Oh Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.'" The unbelieving inhabitants of Jerusalem, you will recall, rejected his protection. They would not trust in Him, and they perished in their sins.

But notice also, in verse four, the Psalmist uses the figures of a warrior protected by a large standing body shield and and also a surrounding fortress wall called a bulwark. I'm reminded of Psalm five and verse 12, "For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield." And as we look at verses five and six, we have some samplings of the inevitable threats that we all face. It says, "You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day; of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon." And here we have a four-fold description of threats that really indicates dangers that would include all of the human enemies that we have and diseases and so forth. We're all facing various threats, even right now, seen and unseen. And notice that these threats are at night, day, darkness and noon. Interesting. This is what's called a merism, M, E, R, I, S, M, where the whole of something is substituted by two or more contrasting or opposite parts. And so the whole here: night, day, darkness and noon, it's really expressing the totality of the idea of all the time, all the time. He's protecting us all the time.

Now look closely verse five, "You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day." I want you to understand that when it says, "You will not be afraid..." that is not an indicative; it's not merely a statement of fac, it is a command; it is an imperative. You will not be afraid. In the environment that I grew up in, it would be tantamount to saying, "cowboy up." You know, quit whining, quit being afraid. Man up. This is a command that means it's not an option here, it's to be expected. And the point is - what God is saying - I want you to live consistently with the truth that I am who I say that I am. And based on that, you choose to trust in me, and you do what I have asked you to do, come what may. You know when threats come, you want to ask yourself, do I shrink like a wilting violet, or do I melt like a fragile little snowflake? We got a whole culture of snowflakes these days, especially men, pusillanimous pansies for the most part. When threats come, do I cower like a like a frightened schoolgirl? And I fear that many Christians have the courage of a fainting goat. Something happens, you fall over.

Proverbs 29 verse 25 comes to mind. It says, "The fear of man brings a snare." In other words, you are ensnared, or you are controlled. You're confined by the person you fear or the people you fear. I mean, think of cancel culture and how it ensnares so many Christians who don't want to say anything. Somebody might not like me, but it says, "But he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted."

I'm also reminded of what Paul said in Second Timothy one and verse seven, "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity." "Spirit" here refers to an emotional disposition. "God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline." "Power," here speaks of divine power. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13, right?  Ephesians 3:20, Paul says "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within me." That's what he's given us. He's given us an emotional disposition, not of timidity, but of power, and also of love. And this speaks of a love for God that would cause us to be willing to sacrifice everything, to please and to honor him and to enjoy the fullness of his blessing. I think of Romans 14 and verse eight, "...for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." I jotted down another passage that came to mind. It's not on your screen, but in Romans 8:37, it says, We are more than conquerors "...through Him who loved us." It could be translated, we overwhelmingly conquer, we defeat surpassingly. It comes from a Greek word, "hypernikaō." It means we are super conquerors. And folks, you either believe this or you don't. And if you believe it, you live consistently with it. And that's what the Spirit of God uses to empower us to honor him and to persevere come what may.

He's not only given us a spirit of power, and love, but also of discipline. The original term speaks of the causing of someone to become wise. It's the opposite of a fool; one who fears God and who trusts in him to accomplish all that he has sovereignly ordained in every situation. And it also includes the idea of self-discipline we read in First Timothy four the end of verse seven, "...discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness, for bodily discipline is only a little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."

And so again, in verse five, "You will not be afraid of the terror..." the command, "You will not be afraid of the terror by night." And this, by the way, includes all the powers that threaten us both, both physical - as in nature or disease, criminals - as well as spiritual powers, the demonic. "Or," he says, "of the arrow that flies by day." I'm reminded in Isaiah 54:17, in reference to the Lord during the millennial kingdom, it says, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." And you think about it, since we are united to him by saving faith, nothing can touch us apart from his providential permission, and even in his permissive providence, when he allows us to suffer, he retains his sovereign control and his inherent goodness. And we've got to accept the compatibilism of the infinite love and goodness of God, even in the presence of great difficulty, of evil, of suffering. And God never tells us why, but we know that ultimately, he's at work in us to accomplish his purposes, and we don't deserve an answer, and we couldn't understand it if he were to give it to us.

D.A Carson said it well, quote, "God is less interested in answering our questions than in other things." And he gives a list: "Securing our allegiance, establishing our faith, nurturing a desire for holiness." He went on to say, "An important part of spiritual maturity is bound up with this obvious truth. God tells us a great deal about himself, but the mysteries that remain are not going to be answered at a merely theoretical and intellectual level. We may probe a little around the edges, using the minds God has given us to glimpse something of his glory, but ultimately, the Christian will take refuge from questions about God, not in proud, omniscient explanations, but in adoring worship. Lord, I will trust you come what may."

"You will not be afraid..." he says. And he goes on in verse six, "...of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon." This can speak of natural dangers and epidemics. It's interesting. I was looking at some of the rabbinical commentaries on this, and they would use this term "pestilence and destruction" to also describe demonic forces. And I'm reminded here again of Philippians four and verse six, it says we are to be, "anxious for nothing but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Beloved, please hear this, to fear the things that come into this world is literally to impugn the character of God, who has told us “Be not afraid." Trust in me.

Verse seven, "A thousand may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not approach you." My you talk about protection. Nothing can reach us apart from his sovereign, providential authorization, and it's always for our good and his glory, even thoughwe may not understand it. Not only does the man who trusts in God remain safe, but it's interesting he experiences, shall we say, serenity, even in the midst of the attack.

Verse eight, "You will only look on with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked." Interesting statement, "you will only look on." In other words, you're going to watch God judge the wicked in his time, in his way. "Vengeance is Mine, saith the Lord, I will repay." And we merely look on as spectators of divine judgment. And here's why. Here's why all of these promises are ours. It says, "For you, have made the LORD, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place." "For you," it's an equivalent phrase to verse three, "For it is He." Here, the Psalmist repeats the metaphors in the divine titles that he used at the beginning of the Psalm, and he goes on to say in verses 10 and following, "No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands that you do not strike your foot against a stone." I'm sure when I get to heaven, there will be some angels that will say, you absolutely wore us out protecting you. And we don't even know in what ways they do that, do we? You will recall in Matthew four, verses five through seven, and the parallel passage I believe in Luke four, Satan cites these verses in his attempt to get Jesus to perform a miracle, to sustain himself in the wilderness. And Jesus responded with Deuteronomy six verse 16, "you shall not put the Lord, your God to the test."

And then back to the text here. Verse 13, "You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down. Lions and serpents; I've been in Africa; I've been within six feet of a lion. Fortunately, I was in a caged Land Rover with the guy in the front. with a high-powered rifle, but at least we could travel around and we could see them. And when you hear a lion roar, it is absolutely deafening and terrifying. And then the serpents. Don't even get me started on the serpents, right? Nobody will want to go to Africa with me when I talk about the serpents. But the point is, there's no chance of survival with these images that are used here; and they perfectly depict the terrifying nature of the enemies that Satan uses to destroy us.

And then finally, we come to the promise of God's personal protection. Now you must understand beginning in verse 14, it is God Himself that is speaking. He says, "'Because he has loved Me...'" This is an interesting phrase, "loved me." It carries the idea of cleaving to me in love. And by the way, this is what validates genuine, saving faith - that you love Christ; not that you made some profession of faith, not that you walk some aisle and fill something out, not that you got baptized or joined some church, but it is because you truly repented of your sins. You cried out to Him for mercy and grace, and because he saved you, you love him, and that love is manifested in virtually everything that you do, and you're always convicted that you don't love him more. That's the stuff of genuine saving faith.

He says, "Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.'"  The idea of "known" is the idea of confessing who I am. You see these promises, beloved, belong to those who know who God is, and in his name, you have the infinite realities, the infinite perfections of who he is. He is, according to the old theologians, the ineffable tetragrammaton, the too wondrous to utter from the lips four letters Yahweh. And what we see here is he is going to set that person securely on high, because that person knows his name; he knows who God is, and he bows before him in adoring worship. And again, "'Because he has loved Me." It's interesting, in the Hebrew, the word "loved," - “ḥāšaq" is it's a word for love that is not the normal Hebrew word that is used; it occurs only 11 times. And the meaning here involves a strong desire, a passion. And here it is a passion for God. It is a clinging, or a deep longing for who he is, a longing to know more of who he is. As Paul said, he "...counted everything to be rubbish in comparison to the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." You want to ask yourself; Do I have a passion for God? Is that really who I am, or am I just some kind of cultural Christian? Do I have a strong desire to know him, to worship him, to serve him, to hear his voice and obey him?

Then in verse 15, "'He says he will call upon Me...'" In other words, this person will call upon me, "'...and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.'" You must understand that a long life here in the Old Testament dispensation, we see how God blessed the obedient with a long life. And I want you to notice that this is the result of a strong desire, a passion, a consuming passion to know and love and serve and worship God in verse 14, and a zealous prayer life in verse 15.

Dr William Barrick made some interesting comments here. He said that, and this is kind of a paraphrase that "God presented Israel with the choice of life or death in Deuteronomy 30 and verse 19, as well as Jeremiah 21 and verse eight. The choice," he says, "was theirs to make. They were responsible for the outcome. And this is the same choice that that the wisdom writers depict throughout the Psalter, for example, there is a choice, one of righteousness to life, or the other of evil to death." So you want to ask yourself, Does this describe me?

I want to close with a testimony from Charles Spurgeon, one that really summarizes all that we've been talking about here. He said this, “In the year 1854 when I had scarcely been in London 12 months, the neighborhood in which I labored, was visited by Asiatic cholera, and my congregation suffered from its inroads. Family after family summoned me to the bedside of the smitten, and almost every day I was called to visit the grave. I gave myself up with youthful ardor to the visitation of the sick and was sent from all corners of the district to persons of all ranks and religions. I became weary in body and sick at heart. My friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping would have laid me low among the rest. I felt that my burden was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it as God would have it. I was returning mournfully home from a funeral when my curiosity led me to read a paper which was wafered up in a shoemaker’s window in the Dover Road. It did not look like a trade announcement, nor was it,or it bore in a good, bold handwriting, these words, 'Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge even the Most High thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come night nigh thy dwelling." Spurgeon went on to say, "The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith appropriated the passage as her own. I felt secure, refreshed gird with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying and a calm and peaceful spirit. I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm. The Providence which moved to the tradesmen to place those verses in his window, I gratefully acknowledge and in the remembrance of its marvelous power, I adore the Lord my God." What a great testimony.

Folks. As you enter into this new year, I challenge you to live consistently with what you've heard today, because you will not experience the power of his presence and his protection if you live far from him. But if you dwell in his presence - if you spend the night with him, so to speak - you will experience all of the wonders of what it means to be in relationship with the living God. Don't forfeit that. Watch what God will do in and through you. And for those of you that don't know Christ, those of you who have never bowed your knee to him and honestly confess your sin and cried out to him for his mercy, I would plead with you, as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to do so today, before it's too late that you might be saved, for he is a holy God, and you are a sinful person, like all of us, the only difference is those of us who have come to faith in Christ have been reconciled to him solely because of his grace; whereas those who have not are still living separate from him. So please hear the truth of the gospel and be saved. Never let it be said in this life or in the life to come that you were not warned because you have been warned. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. Press them deep upon our souls that we might live consistently with them and enjoy all of the blessings that have been described in this passage. We thank you. We praise you in the name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen.