The Names of God

If you wanna grab your bible, we're going to open up Psalm 91, and I'm gonna read it before Rory comes to preach to us. Whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the almighty. I will say of the lord he is my refuge and my fortress, my god in whom my trust. Surely he will save you from the foulest snare. And from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers and under his wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night nor the arrow that flies by day. Nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side.

10000 at your right hand. But it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If you say the lord is my refuge and you make the most high you're dwelling, no harm will overtake you. No disaster will come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra. You will trample the great lion and the serpent. Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him.

I will protect him for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.

Father, as Rory comes to preach to us now, we pray that we would listen. Our hearts would be soft and ready to to receive your word. And please help Roy as he as he speaks. Would you guide him and his words and please would the lord Jesus be glorified in his name we ask, amen? When you were growing up, you might you might have been familiar with the story, the 3 little pigs.

Now I've been trying to think how how can I make it relevant for the children? So here you go. Here's my attempt at making this sermon relevant for the children. The story, the 3 little pigs essentially goes like this. You have 1 pig who builds a house of straw, another 1 who builds a house.

Of stakes and then another 1 who builds a house out of bricks. Now when when danger comes, and they run into their house to to to flee from the danger that is the big bad wolf. What's gonna happen? What we see in the story? The wolf says, Little pig.

Little pig. Let me come in. And the pig returns, no, no, by the hair of my chin, chin, chin, what a what a sentence? Another woman replies, then I'll hearth. I'm puffed, and I'll blow your house in.

And so in the first 2, you get that pig with the straw. I mean, the Warsaw has some pretty impressive longs. He he blows down the house of straw. And in the in the the good version, he eats the pig. In the bad version, pig runs away.

I don't like that version. And then he comes to the stick. He glows down the stick 1 and he eats the pig. And then he gets to the last house, the brick house. And the same thing happens apart from this time, the pig is totally safe.

And so what I want us to think about is where do you find your refuge? What is it that you put your trust in to keep you safe? What is it that you you decide it's gonna be the place where you are secure. For these pigs, 2 of them pick the wrong thing. 1 pick the right thing.

See, when when we're in danger, we automatically try and run something to save us. I mean, for example, when I was very, very young, around the age of 4 to 5, I remember being in our back alley in the on the wheel. And we would just watch me, my we would watch my brother's play football. And then suddenly out of a house, a man came bursts out screaming his head off and started chasing after us. I have never been so terrified in my life.

And so at at the age of 4 to 5, I had to absolutely peggy down an alleyway whilst this man raged and screamed and made all sorts of noises I didn't understand. In fact, I think this is this is the fastest I've ever run even at the age of 4 to 5. And where did I run to? Well, I ran to a place of safety. I ran to a place of security.

I ran home. Now, unfortunately, my brother had locked me out of my house, so left me and my other brother in the hands of this angry angry man. Fortunately, he let us go and we got away. But where is it that we we put our refi? Where where is that we find ref huge.

Where is it that we find security? And how do you decide what you're gonna pick? Are you gonna pick the straw house? The steak house? Or the break house?

Well, usually when we try to decide what what is gonna keep us safe and what's gonna keep us secure, we we try and find something that's strong, that is powerful, that is bigger than the danger out there that that that can sort out our problems maybe. And I think if you look in in this world, you'll see that they turn to many refuges. They'll turn to many things to shell to them from what's going on in the world. I mean, you you just gotta look around. If I'm in trouble, I can just use my money to get me out of this situation.

I've I've got an illness. I can use my money to pay for treatment. Or or maybe it's an actual physical place. I can stay indoors. I can stay away from all the the problems and that'll be okay.

Or maybe it's something like, oh, look, we've got things at the NHS. That's the thing I'm gonna trust in to make sure that we're okay. I mean, really, that's the situation our world finds itself in right now. They're trying to trust in various things. But actually, I think if you look at these things closely, they're really not brick houses.

They're they're straw houses. They're stick houses. They're they're really shaky at their foundation. I mean, you just think about it. In terms of COVID-nineteen, You can't use money to stop yourself dying from that.

We couldn't even see it. And and the things and and and and the money might even run out because we could have faced of economic recession. And so we can see that the refuges and the shelters that people find themselves in actually offer no security, offer no peace, offer no rest. The good thing about this song is that he gives an alternative answer here. In this song, the writer makes the lord his refuge.

And you'll see that that those words are just lit that this song is littered with those type of words. You've got words like shelter, shadow, refuge, fortress, shield, rampant, dwelling. So he's saying I'm gonna make my refuge and he says the lord will be the 1 who I make my refuge. Look with me at verse 1 to 10. Whoever dwells in the shelter of the most high will rest in the shadow of the almighty.

I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress. My god in whom I trust. So here in verse 1 to 2, we've kind of got the the the rightest the writers feasies. It's like the thing that he's gonna be talking about. And we've kinda got his first the first voice in this in this chapter.

In fact, we've got 3 voices. This is the first 1. And he's saying, I'm gonna make God my refuge. God, most high did you notice in verse 1? In other words, the most high being the sovereign ruler of the world, the 1 who's in troll of all things, the 1 who rules all things.

And and so the writer is saying, I'm gonna live in his shelter in his house. And as I live in his house, then you get rest. In the shadow of the almighty. I mean, that's why you go to a refuge. Right?

That's why we go to a shelter. We don't go we don't go so that we feel scared. We go into a a shelter so that we feel secure and we have rest. And so The sama says I'm gonna find rest in the shadow of the lord almighty. I mean, that that you can find no more rest than here because the almighty says he's the most powerful 1 that he's he is the all powerful 1.

And so therefore as the all powerful 1, he can do all things. And he's bigger than the danger he's bigger than the trouble that's out there. And so because of these 2 things, Because he's chosen to dwell to find rest in god the most high, the lord or mighty, he can then say verse 2. I will say the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my god. In whom I trust.

Here he acknowledges that a place of safety is in god. So that's kind of his opening thesis. Okay? And then he's gonna go on to really show why the lord is his refuge and why that is good news. And he does that by painting a couple of pictures.

And so there's a couple of things I want you to see about the lord are refused. The lord are refused. The first thing is the lord are refused. You will not fear judgment. The lord are refuge.

You are not feared judgement. Look with me at verse 3 to 8. Surely he will save you from the foul of snare. And from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings, you will find refuge.

His faithfulness will be your shield and rampant. You'll not fear the terror of night nor the arrow that flies by day nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, 10000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes. And see the punishment of the wicked.

See, the reason that we run to refuge is, I mean, you just gotta look at refugee camps. Why are they all running to these camps? Well, the reason is so that they won't have to fear. That they feel safe, that they're away from the danger of maybe a a tyrannical rule than another country. And so the writer is is really trying to paint a picture here to say you don't need to fear when God is your refuge.

And specifically, you don't need a fear judgment. If you look at deuteronomy 32 32, Many people believe that this song was written by Moses, and there's good reason for that. He wrote the the the song beforehand, And in juicer army 32, it's Moses that writes these things. And we'll see how that sort of those words are really very much in this song. So if you look at tutor only 32 verse 10 to 12, it says this.

In a desert land, he found him. In a barren and howling waste, he shielded him and cared for him. He guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up his next and hovers over its young that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its opinions. The Lord alone let him know, foreign God was with him. And then if you look to 23 and to 25 it says, I will heap calamities on them and expend my arrows against them.

I will send wasting famine against them consuming pestilence and deadly plague. I will send against him the fans of wild beasts, the venom of vippers that glide in the dust. And so really a lot of that language that we see there finds itself in this song. And that's all about God's judgment. God's curses that he sends on people.

And so in the light of that, in the light of those judgments, this psalmist gives 3 pictures about why god being on refuge is such a great thing. The first 1 you get in verse 3 says he will save you from the father's snare and deadly pestilence. In other words, It's as if there's something in wait for you to try and catch you and try and trap you. And God is saying, I will save you from that. I will not let you stumble.

I will not let you fall. And then you go again and the the English changes in verse 4. He will cover you with his feathers. And under his wings, you will find refuge. You might have heard that language in the deuteronomy passage, this protective bird image.

In my in my mind it it it it couldn't use up that picture of those birds that really try and protect their young. So for instance, a hen. You can go on YouTube and see this. It's it's it's quite an amazing thing. If it feels like its chicks are in danger, it it spreads its wings out really widely.

Get all the chicks into its body and then comers them all. So that the chicks are away from danger. Or in the juicer army pass, we have this eagle this eagle, a powerful bird. Like, the the probably the the hunter, the the predator, the the the strong bird, and it looks after it's it's it's young. It catches them.

It cares for them. It puts them in a nest high above all of this so that it can't be reached. And the psalmist is saying, that's what God's like. He's this. He's like a bird who who does everything to protect his checks, his people, his children.

He'll cover them. He'll stop the judgments that cares is getting to them. And then he changes the image again, verse 4 again, it says his faithfulness will be your shield and rampant. Now, that that word shield is like a full body shield. The imager that that comes to my mind, what I think of this is like those Roman soldiers with the I think it's the the formation with the shield all around them so nothing can touch them.

And the ramper is like a a surrounding wall so that no 1 can get to them. And the psalmist is saying, well, that's what God's like. He he he protects you. He stops things, getting to you. And that's why he goes on in verse 5.

When when you have that shield and when you have that ramp it, you don't need to fear arrows. You don't need to fear the the terror of the enemy because they can't get you. They try and fire the arrows and it just gets stopped by by the shield. And that's as the cover of his chicks as the savior. He won't let the pestilence.

Get to them either. You won't let them get affected by the plague. See, it's interesting if you think about Israel. And if and if this is Moses writing, what came to my mind was the image of Caleb and Joshua. In the old testament.

Now Caleb and Joshua were surrounded by people that rebelled against God and didn't find their refuge in Him. And they were struck down by plague and pestilence and enemies. But I think because Caleb and Joshua find their refugee gods. They not only survived the pillage in the pestons, they find themselves in the promised land of gods. See, those who trusting gods are not punished by gods.

They don't get judged by God like others do. And so that's an important thing. Like, you you gotta imagine that this has been written to a people that's just been in exile and they're coming back and they would have been affected by pestilence. And they would have been affected by enemies getting them. I mean, the Babylonians are taking them captured.

Captive. But drive saying to them if you trust and you find your refuge in me. I will have my hand on you. And that that was clearly the case with people in the old test. If you think about Daniel and his friends, they find themselves in top positions.

Because their refuge and their shelter is in God. So as Christians, This is really good news because we don't need to fear the evil in this world. If we trust in the lord Jesus Christ, then we don't need to fear. We don't need to look at the the the judgments on this world. We live in a foreign world.

We live in a creation that's under a curse. That has pestilences and has plagues and has people that are against us, but we don't need to fear. God's not gonna use those things to judge us. We don't need to fear the evil in this world because we have our refuge in Christ. And the judgments on this world, things like COVID 19, things like sickness and illness and enemies, should really point us to the final judgment that God is gonna bring.

And if we trust in Christ, the bible is clear that we escape the condemnation, the judgment of God. And so we don't need to fear. We don't need to fear judgment. We don't need to fear the ultimate judgment. If we trust in Christ is our refuge.

So that's the first thing. You will fear, you will not fear judgment. The second thing The lord our refuge, no harm will overtake you. No harm will overtake you. But with me at verse 9 to 13, If you say the Lord is my refuge and you make the most high you're dwelling, no harm will overtake you.

No disaster will come near your tent. But he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against the stone. You'll tread on the lion and the cobra. You will trample the great lion and the serpent.

See, we've got a slightly different angle here in verse 9 to 13. It it's it's still in the light of the the judgments of gods. But but it's just now a slight different take on what we're looking at. Now you would have noticed in verse 9, and it says the Lord is my refuge and you make the most high or dwelling. It's basically a repetition of verse verse 1 and 2.

But it's a different voice now. The psalmist has been saying, this is what I'm saying. And now he say, you should say this too. And if you say this, if you make him your refuge, if the lord is our refuge, then we don't need to worry the harm. We don't need to worry about harm.

We don't need to worry about disaster, which is another word for plague. And why is that? Well, there's some great news in verse 11. It says for he will command as angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. She got so cares for you.

He's so committed to your safety, to your security. That he commands his angels to guard you in all your ways. We we find us, I think, a bit funny We don't really think of the spiritual word. We don't think of angels, but God commands his angels to guide you. And so in verse 12, they stop us striking our foot.

They preserve us physically. I think we we so often switch off to this, but the angels are preserving us. It's interesting if you go to the new testament and you go to Matthew chapter 4, you'll see Satan tempting Jesus. And the it's these very words that Satan uses to tempt Jesus. But he takes them out of context because context because he says, test God.

And this chapter is not about testing God. It's about trusting God. And so Jesus trusts. And he says, you will not test the Lord your God. And at the end of Matthew chapter 4, that encounter in verse 11, the angels attended him.

They look after him physically. And then and then the SARS develops his picture. In verse 13, you will tread on the lion and the cobra, you will trample the great lion and the serpent. You may have heard it heard that in in Jutaromli in the Jutaromli passage when he says, these animals will be against you. But if God is our refuge, we don't need to worry about the foes.

We don't need to worry about the strong and venomous and cunning enemies were victorious, were triumphant over these things. And so even these violent beasts cannot even harm us. And so this is the point, I think. Physically, God will totally look after you. He promises always to do so.

If you trust God as our as your refuge, you will be looked after physically. And actually, you see countless of stories in the bible where this is the case, We talked about Daniel. He goes, gets chucked into alliance then. And who who who comes and shuts the alliance mouth and angel. So he's protected physically.

Even his friends get choked in the fire, they're protected. Jesus, when they try and shock him off a cliff or try and stone him. They can't get him. Peter gets put in prison, he gets let out. There there are stories of missionaries and persecuted churches where where they're about to suffer violent crimes and something happens, it stops it.

God will look after you physically. But not only physically, but he will look after you spiritually. He will emphatically and completely look after you. He will make sure that you don't fall away. He will make sure that you stay committed to him.

And so we can say with the psalmist, no harm will ever take you, no disaster will come near your tent. Now maybe some of you are are sitting at home and thinking, hang on, Christians do suffer. Christians do get physically harmed and they all they also face death and they do die. And that's that's that's when we've got to have a bigger bigger view of what's going on. Because God says he will look after us physically and he does and he says that the things in this world aren't really harm at all.

They're actually for our goods. So we can even look at the softening and the pain that we have, and we can see that as contributing to our good. So in Romans 8 verse 28, he says, we know that in all things, God is working, are good out. It's not about judgment. We're not being punished.

We're being made more like Christ. And we also know in 1 sentence chapter 15 that that God promises a new resurrection body, a physical body that will will last forever and ever and ever. So physically, we will always be looked after. And this is the good news about about death because, yes, we will face death. But death doesn't conquer us.

Death doesn't overtake us. The good news about being a Christian is that death is merely a servant, and death merely serves us to take us to the next life. That's why Paul can say, for me for me to live is Christ, but to die is gay. There's a hope that when we die, it just takes us to glory with with with Jesus. So here we have the first 2 points.

Don't have to fear judgment. No harm will overtake us. So these curses that God says in Chuceraime 32 cannot harm us. And that goes into my third point and why that's the case. The third point is the Lord, our refuge speaks.

The Lord, our refuge speaks. Look with me at verse 14 to 16. Because he loves me, says the Lord, I will rescue him. I will protect him free acknowledges my name. He will call on me and I will answer him.

I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. With long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. So here, we have the third voice in this chapter. And it's the lord.

And what he does, he validates everything that the writer has been saying. He confirms what he's been saying. He says, yes, that is my character. And that is my actions to those who find their refuge within me. And it's just an amazing promise here, isn't it?

He promises that there will be an eternal, satisfying, saving relationship with him. And the the most glorious thing about this Psalm is it just points us to Christ. Because Christ is the ultimate picture and Christ is the why verse 14 to 60 and the whole Psalm is possible. I mean, Christ was the 1 who always sought to make God his refuge. I mean, you just need to look at his life.

He's when he's in his father's house, in in when he's at the age of 12, when he goes to after the mountains and praise, when he when he prays it, when he's doing a miracle, he's always finding refuge in God the father. And he and he's even trying to find refuge in God the father when he's on a cross. See see, God's been protecting him the whole way in his life until this very moment. It's on the cross where this doesn't happen for him. He's saying father, and there's nothing.

See, Jesus is loving him, but there is no rescue. He acknowledges him, but there is no protection for Jesus. He calls on him my father, their father, My God my God why have you forsaken me? There is no answer. And as he hangs on that cross, the father does not have him in his shelter.

And Jesus takes on those curses, those plagues, those pestilences, those evils that all those horrors of this world he takes him and he is cursed by God. That's why the Bible says curse is anyone who hangs upon a tree. Jesus hands a cursed on the cross. This isn't true for him in that moment. But that is precisely so that he could give you and me, this perfect, glorious, invincible refuge.

And that's what he says after his resurrection. I will be with you always. I was abandoned but you will not be. He's abandoned for a moment. And then he was delivered.

Interesting. At the end of end of the end, there's death in the cross. He says a couple of things. He says, it is finished. I've taken the curse.

And then he says, into your hands, I commit my spirit further. And the father delivers him and the father orders him above all after his resurrection. He is ascended and he sits on high with the law with with with the father. And the glorious news is for us is that as Christians, if we trust in the lord Jesus Christ, if we make him our refuge, If we find shelter in him, then verse 14 to sixteen's truth for us as well. He will rescue us, he will protect us he will answer as there is dialogue there.

He will deliver us and he will give us ultimate honor. The glorious news about the Cross of Christ is that these things are true for us. And what else is glorious is that we are invincible. That's amazing. Like, you think of another people group in the world that's invincible.

There isn't any. It's Christians who are invincible. And Jesus knows is that's why he tells people not to worry about the body in this life because there's want to come that will last forever. And so in verse 16, it says with long life, I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. By trusting in the lord Jesus Christ, by finding a refuge in him.

Then fear is dispelled and the hope of an eternal life of satisfaction, of relationship with with Jesus is possible. So lastly, what about you? What about you? Who what is your refuge? What is it what is it that you trust in when when we see when you find times of danger and you find times of trouble?

Is it is it the things in this world? Is it money? Is that the thing that gets you out of all the sticky situations? Is it your education? Is it your family?

What is it? What is it that you attempted to trust in rather than Christ? May I may I point you to this Psalm? And look at the look at all the words that Samus encourages us to do. He says dwell in this shelter.

Rest in God's shadow. Make him your refuge. Make him your fortress. Make him your garden. Trust in him.

Love him acknowledge him, call on him, and I hope of eternity. And the hope of utter security and the hope of rest is found in this refuge. So Maybe you've never trusted in this Jesus. Maybe you've been wondering all these things I try and find shelter in are just so shaking and there's always this underlying fear in my life will look to Christ and find your fears relieved. Trust in Christ, trusting the lord our refuge.

And if you're a Christian and you felt, I've got away from this, then come back, recommit, shorten the Lord Jesus Christ, and continue to do so until you're taken, until death does he part? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this song. And we thank you for just how amazing we see God is that he is a true self, that he is a true refuge. That he is someone that is utterly worth trusting in.

And so we pray that we will be amazed at this and that we will put our trust in the lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that he did indeed suffer abandonment and curse. So that we may not have to and so that we may have a eternal refuge in you. So, pray this in Jesus' name. Come on.