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Will that with yonder sacred 
throng we at his feet may fall. We'll join the everlasting song 
and crown him Lord of all. Even so come Lord Jesus. It's a real joy to be here with 
you this morning and I bring you greetings from your brothers 
and sisters in Portland, Oregon. And I want you to know that you 
have been on our minds and in our hearts and in our prayers 
of late for a number of reasons and circumstances and occasions. 
And we hardly have a prayer meeting, especially on Wednesday, that 
we don't mention you in your prayers. And I want to thank 
you for the warm reception that you always extend to my wife 
and I when we come here. We look forward to being here, 
and it is a real blessing to be with you. And it is my prayer 
that I May, from God's word, bring to you some encouragement 
this morning as we, together, are pilgrims in this life. This is not our home. Heaven, indeed, is our home, 
and it is my desire to bring you some words of encouragement 
and comfort. Turn with me to the book of Psalms, 
the 91st Psalm. verses one and two. This is certainly 
one of my favorite of the Psalms. I'm always reluctant to say, 
well, this is my favorite scripture because all of the word of God 
is breathed out by God, isn't it? It's all of great value to 
us, but certainly there are passages that speak to our hearts. And 
this 91st Psalm is one of my favorites of all the Psalms of 
David. Just reading the first two verses, 
he who dwells in the shelter of the most high, We'll abide 
in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge 
and my fortress, my God and whom I trust. Let's pray and ask for 
God's blessing once again. Father, we thank you for your 
grace and mercy and kindness to us that has assembled us together 
here on this your day in this place. And we thank you, Father, 
that we have the promise of your gracious presence amongst us. 
And Lord, we confess our total dependence upon you for all things. 
Father, we can do no spiritual good without your help. And we 
pray that your Holy Spirit would come in the fullness of his power 
and that you would speak to us through your word to the end, 
that you would glorify your great name and you would do good to 
your people. Bless us, we pray for Christ's 
sake. Amen. In every age, God has always 
had a believing remnant. And in the Old Testament, the 
prophets were commissioned to bring words of comfort. They 
were to give hope and cheer and to ease the grief and trouble 
and pain and affliction of the people of God. Isaiah chapter 
40 and verse 1, comfort comfort my people, says your God." And 
Isaiah in faithfulness to that calling and commission would 
say to the people, behold your God. In other words, consider 
and know your God. So his message to spiritual Israel 
was a message that was full of gracious consolation and heavenly 
encouragement. And in the New Testament, when 
the Apostle Paul was giving his farewells to the brethren at 
Ephesus in Acts chapter 20, you'll remember how he commended them 
to God. And so as we go through this 
life as pilgrims and all that involves, it's important that 
our eyes remained focused upon the Lord. Our theme today is 
the comfort of knowing God. And as I considered and meditated 
upon this psalm, I found it interesting that in the first two verses 
there are four different and distinct names for God given 
to us. Now this is not original to me 
for sure, but just an observation. Four different and distinct names 
for God given to us. And of course these are Not all 
the names of God, there are many more. I noticed your banner, 
is it downstairs or upstairs? I get upstairs, I get confused. Upstairs in the room where we 
met this morning, you have a banner with all the various names of 
God on that banner. Well, today we're going to consider 
four of them from our passage, and I believe it'll be beneficial 
for us to think about these four different and distinct names. 
For example, First, we have the name Most High. You see it there 
in verse one. It's the Hebrew word Elyon, Most 
High. And so when you put El, the word 
for God before it, it becomes El Elyon or God Most High. You might remember in Genesis 
chapter 14, when Melchizedek came out to meet Abraham, he 
said that he was a priest of God Most High, El Elyon. which is the word in our text 
translated most high. Some Old Testament scholars have 
pointed out that in a significant number of passages, this particular 
name of God, Elyon, is used especially when the knowledge of God comes 
into contact with the Gentile world or the pagan unbelieving 
world. For example, come with me to 
Numbers Chapter 24. Numbers Chapter 24. Some of you will remember from 
Sunday school, we have the record here of a very odd event, many 
of you know of it, a strange incident where a king called 
Balak, a king of a pagan people, the Moabites, tried to obtain 
or hire the services of another odd individual, a prophet by 
the name of Balaam. And Balak wanted Balaam to curse 
the people of Israel. And so the setting of Numbers 
24 is, as it were, one of paganism or heathenism coming into contact 
with the people of God. And so it's interesting to note 
verse 16 where Balaam in this particular prophecy says, the 
utterance of him who hears the words of God and has the knowledge 
of the Most High." There it is, Elion, the Most High. And this strange prophet Balaam 
seeks to speak the words of God and God makes him to speak what 
God would say. In other words, I'm sorry, this 
king Balak seeks to make Balaam, the prophet, speak his words, 
but instead he speaks the words of God, rather than what the 
pagan king wanted him to say. But as these two things come 
together, the revelation of God as it impinges upon heathenism 
in Balak and the Moabites, God is referred to by Balaam as Elyon, 
most high. Another example. Turn with me 
to Daniel chapter 3. We have the pagan king of Babylon, 
Nebuchadnezzar, and he's seeking to destroy these three Hebrew 
young men who were faithful to the Lord, the true God. And again, 
we know the story quite well. These young men, Shadrach, Meshach, 
Abednego, they're cast into a fiery furnace and there they are miraculously 
preserved and kept by God. And of course, King Nebuchadnezzar 
is taken back by this. He's astonished as a matter of 
fact. And so again, we have a pagan setting in Babylon. And King 
Nebuchadnezzar, one of the foremost figures in the Old Testament. And notice verse 26, Daniel chapter 
three, And verse 26, then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the 
fiery furnace and he declared, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 
servants of the Most High God, come out and come here. So again, this indicates what 
many of these scholars are saying, this name, Elyon, Most High, 
is used often where the revelation of God comes into contact with 
paganism. And so this suggests this particular 
title of God is pointing to his absolute supremacy. It's telling 
us the fact that he, that the supremacy of the God of the Bible, 
that he is the only true and living God. El Elyon, God most 
high. Well, this has relevance for 
us and our children. Think of our children emerging 
from the protection of a Christian home and schooling, and there 
they go, venture out into the world where there are so many 
voices claiming to be God. The God of Islam, the God of 
the Hare Krishnas. I remember, I'll date myself 
a bit, but I remember when I was growing up, The Beatles song, 
I think it was George Harrison, My Sweet Lord. A song of Krishna. The gods of the cults, the New 
Agers, the gods of materialism and secularism and humanism. 
The point is we understand there are many voices out there in 
the world all claiming as it were to be God. And we find that 
very disconcerting. We find that troubling and it's 
more so for our young people as they begin to go out into 
the world from under the protection of the Christian home to hear 
all these claims and voices and then to be told of the value 
of being open-minded here and of being accepting to all of 
these things. And it's not just children. If 
you venture out into the public square, maybe at work, or at 
school, or the community meeting, or even in the various media 
outlets in which we live today, if you say something like, well, 
God says, I can almost guarantee that you'll hear, oh yeah, which 
God is that? What God are you speaking of? 
Or something very similar. Which God is that? Don't change 
all that much from day to day. Things aren't all that different 
from the Apostle Paul's day. You'll remember in Acts chapter 
17, they had their view that there were many gods out there, 
many gods speaking. And Paul came to them to declare 
to them, Elyon, God most high. And brethren, as we go on in 
the world, even this coming week, it's imperative that we are convinced 
and that we are fixed upon the glorious reality that the God 
who was revealed in Holy Scriptures, that God who was proclaimed by 
the Old Testament prophets and the apostles of the New Testament, 
that God who was especially revealed in the person and work of the 
Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that God as Jesus himself said 
of him is the true and living God that we see him as Elyon. Most high. And we lay hold of 
the supremacy of the God of the Bible over all others who claim 
the title of God. Most high. I appreciated the 
two hymns we sang this morning focused upon that very reality. We also observe in the first 
verse the word Almighty. Let me get back there. He who 
dwells in the shelter of the Most High and will abide in the 
shadow of the Almighty. God is described as the Almighty. I'm sure you're aware that the 
word there is Shaddai. Some of you may know the popular 
song El Shaddai. I think it goes, El Shaddai, 
El Shaddai, El Elyon Adonai, age to age are still the same 
by the power of the name. In the Red Trinity hymn book, 
the newer version of the Trinity, we don't use it, we use the blue 
one, but in the Red Trinity hymnal, that song is in there. My wife and I used to attend 
a church and on Sunday evening the pastor would ask for requests. 
And there was a young man in the church, about seven or eight 
years old, and immediately he would stand up. Invariably, he'd 
be the first one to have his hand up, and he would always 
request we sing El Shaddai. And so we sang this song almost 
every Sunday night, unless he was, by God's providence, absent. 
But certainly a wonderful sentiment. El Shaddai, 
almighty. And this is the name that God 
used when he spoke to Abraham in Genesis chapter 17 and verse 
1. Turn with me back there to Genesis 
chapter 17 and verse 1. Remember God, the setting, God 
has come to Abraham in order to confirm the promises of the 
covenant that he would indeed have a son. And so we read, when 
Abraham was 99 years old, the promise was given 24 years earlier 
when he was 75, an old man then. Still no son, and now he's 99. And the Lord appeared to Abraham 
and said to him, I am God Almighty, El Shaddai. Walk before me and 
be blameless. So I'm sure you remember the 
scene Humanly speaking, it seems utterly impossible. This is beyond 
the reach of credibility. That Abraham being so old, 99, 
and his wife Sarah, an old woman, that together they should have 
a son. And when you read the passage, Abraham almost in protest 
says to God. Matter of fact, let's read it. 
Verses 17 and 18. And then Abraham fell on his 
face and laughed, and said to himself, Shall a child be born 
to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety 
years old, bear a child? And Abraham said to God, O that 
Ishmael might live before you." Now, what is he saying except, 
Lord, doesn't this make more sense? Now Lord, doesn't this 
seem much more reasonable? For Ishmael, who was already 
in my household, he's here to be the one through whom this 
covenant that you have spoken of will be carried on. And God said to Abraham, no, 
there's going to be one yet born to you and Sarah. And his name 
is going to be Isaac. And note he says there in Verse 
21, I will establish my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah shall bear 
to you at this time next year. Unbelievable. And again, humanly 
speaking, it seems crazy. But we see how important it was 
then for God at the very beginning of this chapter to introduce 
himself by saying, I am God Almighty. And what I'm telling you, Abraham, 
it may sound in your ears as an incredible, even an impossible 
thing, but you see, here's the facts. I'm El Shaddai. I am the 
almighty God. There is absolutely nothing too 
hard for me. I am able to do all the things 
that I say. Now again, some scholars have 
suggested that the name El Shaddai might also be translated the 
All-Sufficient One, the Almighty One, the All-Sufficient One. And I think it would be good 
for us to think along those lines of thought as well. That this 
name El Shaddai conveys the idea to us of the absolute sufficiency 
of God. As El Elyon speaks of the Most 
High God, the absolute supremacy of God, El Shaddai of the sufficiency 
of God. And you see in that God says 
to Abraham and to all his people, to you and to me, he says, I 
am able to fulfill my promises. You think the apostle Paul may 
have had that in mind when in spontaneous praise, he said he's 
able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. God says, I am. I'm sufficient 
for every situation. I am sufficient for every circumstance. I am sufficient to meet your 
every need. I am El Shaddai, the Almighty, 
the Sufficient One. And brethren, again, isn't it 
vital? And isn't it comforting that we grasp that truth? We 
really need to know that the God that we've laid hold of by 
faith, the God that we have sung of this morning, the God that 
we worship and serve is an all-sufficient God. We need to grasp that there 
is nothing too hard for Him. He is able. Now think how Abraham 
needed to understand that. God was calling Abraham to a 
faraway place. He was going to leave his family, 
his home, all that he had. And he was going to live as a 
stranger, a sojourner. So as we face challenges, as 
we face various opportunities in life, as we face trials, yes, 
as we face disappointments and heartache and afflictions and 
setbacks, Or the opposite, as we face success, you know, God 
is sufficient for us. Consider, He is El Shaddai. Therefore, 
walk before Him and be blameless. And as we continue on in this 
wonderful psalm, verses 1 and 2, we see in verse 2 how God 
is referred to as Jehovah. I will say to the Lord my refuge 
and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Now your translation 
is probably like mine, and it says Lord. And you'll notice 
it's all in capital letters, which always conveys that in 
the Hebrew it's Jehovah. Or as some scholars prefer, Yahweh. And this is what we must This 
is what we might describe as the personal name of God. He is the Lord Jehovah. And this is the name God used 
when he revealed himself to Moses back in Exodus chapter three. Turn with me there. Exodus chapter three, let's read 
verses one through six. Now Moses was keeping the flock 
of his father, Logethro, the priest of Midian. And he led 
his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, 
the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared 
to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked 
and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And 
Moses said, I will turn aside to see this great sight, why 
the bush is not burned. When the Lord saw that he turned 
aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, Moses, Moses. And he said, here I am. And then 
he said, do not come near. Take your sandals off your feet 
for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. And 
he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the 
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face for he 
was afraid to look at, afraid to look at God. What an amazing 
experience. Moses saw the bush burning, but 
not consumed, not burnt up. And he thought to get closer 
to see this remarkable thing more clearly. And as he approached, 
he heard a voice from the bush saying, take your sandals off 
your feet. This is holy ground. And suddenly 
he realized that he was in the presence of God. And God declared 
that he was Jehovah. The Lord. And he said, I am that 
I am. And so this was the personal 
name of God and to the Jews it conveyed the idea of covenant 
faithfulness. Jehovah. It spoke of the commitment 
of God to his people. Of his commitment to the promises 
that he had given to them. It spoke of his commitment to 
his word. The Jehovah entered into a relationship 
with Israel in which he pledged himself to be faithful to all 
the covenant obligations entered into with Abraham and then with 
Moses as the people were constituted a nation there at Sinai. And 
the Lord declared to be faithful to all those obligations. Jehovah, a faithful covenant. promise keeping God and God remains 
faithful to every promise. We think of Israel, they proved 
to be unfaithful and yet God remained faithful because he 
was Jehovah. He's the God who pledges himself 
to keep his words. Moreover, the name Jehovah revealed 
the idea of God's redemptive love, covenant faithfulness and 
redemptive love. course you remember who delivered 
Israel out of their bondage in Egypt. It was Jehovah. He brought them out of their 
slavery and he set them free. And in Exodus chapter 20 he's 
going to give these commandments which reflect the very nature 
and character of God and define our responsibilities before him. He introduced himself there in 
Exodus chapter 20 and verse 2 by saying I am the Lord your God. I'm Jehovah. Who am I? I brought you out of the land 
of Egypt. I brought you out of the house 
of slavery. And so the name always conveyed 
to Israel, redemptive love. He was the God who set them free. And brethren, when we gather 
together at the Lord's supper, Do you observe the Lord's Supper 
monthly, brother, the first Sunday of the month? That's our practice. And when we gather together at 
the Lord's Supper as believers in Jesus Christ, as members of 
the New Covenant community, we then say, as Paul says in Philippians 
3, and don't lose this, this is a very powerful statement, 
we are the true circumcision. The spiritual Israel of God. 
We believers in Jesus are the true Israel. The real covenant 
community. We who believe in Jesus Christ. 
We who are joined to Christ by faith. The very purchase of his 
blood. Participants in the new covenant. We lay hold in of the reality 
that the God we worship. The God of covenant faithfulness. Will we lay hold of the reality 
that he will indeed do all that he has pledged himself to do 
for us in Christ Jesus? That's why the Apostle Paul can 
say to those Corinthian Christians that all the promises in Christ 
are yes and amen. That all things are yours in 
Christ. He takes our sins away. He removes 
them as far as the east is from the west. And he makes us anew 
in Christ. And then he keeps us in Christ. He ultimately will bring us spotless 
to glory in Christ. He will bless us for all eternity 
in Christ. And when we observe the Lord's 
Supper, we remember that this God our God, the God of the true 
spiritual Israel made up of all who believe in the Lord Jesus 
Christ, we remember his redemptive love. Because we look at those 
elements, those simple elements of bread and wine, which tell 
us of his body broken, savagely, brutally crushed for us. The 
blood of the Son of God, the Lamb of God poured out for us. 
And that's why Jesus says of the cup, it's the new covenant 
in my blood. Do this as often as you drink 
it in remembrance of me. The Lord's Supper, a sign of 
the new covenant. And obviously there Jesus is 
taking the cup to stand for the whole of the ordinance. And so we remember the God we 
worship, you see, is the God of redemptive love. The Lord, 
Jehovah. Love so amazing, so divine, demands 
my life, my soul, my all. And of course we have the word 
God in verse 2. The word Elohim. 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. Elohim. It's the name 
that God used in the, it's the name that's used in the glorious 
and magnificent opening chapter of the Bible. Back in Genesis 
chapter one, that wonderful account of the creation, you know it, 
in the beginning, Elohim, God created the heavens and the earth. 
And so this name conveys to us the creative power of God. So here in our passage, Psalm 
91, we have the Most High speaking of the supremacy of God. We have the Almighty speaking 
of the sufficiency of God. We have Jehovah speaking of covenant 
faithfulness and redemptive love. And we have Elohim speaking about 
the creative power of God. He is the one who brings all 
that exists out of nothing. He brings life out of death. 
He brings order out of chaos. And this God and his creative 
power, brethren, is active and at work in the lives of his people. He's God. He's not aloof. He's not far off. He is a God 
who is near. He is as close as our breath. And he is active in our lives. He is preparing our way. He is 
opening and closing doors. He is creating opportunities. 
He is bringing light and understanding out of darkness and confusion 
because he's God. And he is creatively active in 
the lives of his people. And he has the power to fulfill 
all his purposes. and all his designs. I don't 
think that, I don't know if it's said any 
better, any place in the scriptures than in the 139th Psalm. Turn with me to Psalm 139. The 
whole Psalm is so wonderful. Verses 13 through 18. For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my 
mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully 
and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My 
soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from 
you when I was being made in secret. Intricately woven in 
the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every 
one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there 
were none of them." Now, verse 7, how precious to me are your 
thoughts, O God. How vast is the sum of them. 
If I would count them, they are more than the sand I awake, and 
I am still with you. Isn't that incredible? Could 
we say it this way? We take great comfort because 
we know God. And God has the blueprint of 
the whole of me in his mind when as yet there was none of it. 
He had it all there. And then there came what theologians 
like to call those creative fiats, or commands we read in Genesis 
1. And God said, let there be light, 
and there was light. Let there be this, and let there 
be that. Let this happen, and let that 
happen. And God said it, and it was done. The blueprint, as it were, in 
God's infinite mind was brought into existence as Elohim spoke. And so it was done. Well, brethren, this is the God 
that is presented to us this morning in Psalm 91 verses 1 
through 2. Behold your God. Behold your God. This wonderful 
God, so multi-dimensional in His being and personality and 
character, supreme, sufficient, faithful, redemptively loving 
and creatively active in the lives of his people. Now with 
this in mind, note the psalmist goes on to say, or adds, he who 
dwells in the shelter of the Most High. I think the King James 
or the New King James, I believe it reads this way, he that dwells 
in the secret place of the Most High. The phrase conveys the idea of 
intimacy, regardless of the nuances of interpretation. They both 
convey the same idea, the idea of intimacy, closeness of fellowship. It's the Christian's great need. 
It's the true Christian's greatest desire. to walk in closeness 
of fellowship with this God. My favorite hymn writer is William 
Cooper. You may pronounce it Cowper. 
He wrote, There is a Fountain Filled with Blood. He suffered 
from depression for a great portion of his life. A good friend of 
John Newton. Together they wrote hundreds 
of hymns. His final hymn, God moves in 
a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps 
on the sea and he rides upon the storm. He understood the 
necessity and the desire for this closeness of fellowship 
with God. In one of his hymns he wrote, 
oh, for a closer walk with God, a calm and heavenly frame, a 
light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb. Where 
is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord? Where is 
the soul-refreshing view of Jesus and his word? What peaceful hours 
I once enjoyed, how sweet their memory still, but they have left 
an aching void the world can never fill. You see, brethren, we are also 
confronted with a great challenge, a great need, and a great desire, 
but a great challenge. I have a friend who's a missionary 
to Nigeria. And I met him probably 15, 16 
years ago. Now, mind you, this is back in 
the days before Kindles and electronic, that you could take your whole 
library someplace on your phone. And when we first met, he came 
back to my study. And he walked in, and he looked 
around at the books. And he says, oh, these look so 
familiar, good old friends. And when he said it, it sounded 
like he had parted with a lot of his books. And I asked him, 
I said, well, you still have your books. He said, well, I 
have them, but they're packed away. You can't take all that 
to Nigeria. How are you going to get all that to Nigeria, the 
cost and all that involved? That never dawned on me, all 
of that. And books are important. There's 
a great deal to learn. And we need to learn. I'm not downplaying that. But 
brethren, it's not our greatest need. It's not breadth of learning, 
though that's important. But here's our greatest need. 
It is to dwell in the presence of the Most High. And my friend 
Richard Gardner expressed to me that day that that was most 
important. That he was going to a dangerous 
place far away and he needed God's presence more than he needed 
those books. And he asked that I would pray 
for them. To walk in close, intimate fellowship with God. That's our 
greatest need. And brethren, that never changes. Day by day, week by week, year 
after year, it's true all of our life and all of our circumstances. He that dwells in the secret 
place of the Most High, or the shadow of the Almighty. And see, 
here's the thing, it also presents us with our greatest challenge. 
Because it is just that, that closeness of fellowship with 
which the world, the flesh, and the devil are set upon destroying. The world, when we speak of the 
world, I hope you understand I'm speaking of society as it 
organizes itself without God, contrary to the will of God, 
careless to the plans and the purposes of God. The world out 
there is set upon alluring us who are believers away from a 
close walk with God. All its temptations and various 
offerings, and we could list those things It's approval, it's 
power, it's influence, it's politics, it's entertainment, it's media, 
it's sports and amusement, all of it. Now, don't get me wrong. There are certainly elements 
of those things that are legitimate in their place. But all of those 
things from the world's perspective, as the world views those things, 
are set to draw the believer away from his greatest need. 
The flesh of course is a word the Bible often uses from our 
own sinful, referring to our own sinful nature as it has been 
corrupted by sin. The world, the flesh, our sinful 
nature corrupted by sin. And our flesh, our sinful nature 
is set upon taking us away from this close fellowship with God. And this morning it goes without 
saying certainly the devil himself is set on that. So we have this 
triple enemy that the New Testament identifies, the world, the flesh, 
and the devil, all joining together as it were, seeking to destroy, 
trying their hardest to disrupt our walk with God. They are set 
up on taking the believer from intimacy of fellowship and closeness 
of walk with God another way. to the way of indifference, or 
the way of spiritual dullness, or maybe it's the way of doubt, 
or worry, or fear, whatever it may be. Even the way of the world. And that's our greatest challenge, 
as believers. We have to fight with all we 
have, all our very lives, that we may dwell in the presence 
of God. And note the psalmist says, the 
one who does that, will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 
Isn't that a wonderful statement? It conveys a number of things. 
Briefly, certainly it implies the idea of protection. Verse one, he who dwells in the 
shelter, the secret place of the Most High shall abide under 
the shadow of the Almighty. Now note verses three through 
nine. For he will deliver you from 
the snare of the faller and from the deadly pestilence. He will 
cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find 
refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear 
the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day. nor 
the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the destruction 
that wastes at noonday. A thousand may fall at your side, 
10,000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You 
will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the 
wicked, because you have made the Lord your dwelling place, 
the Most High, who is my refuge." Protection. protection, but it 
also implies power. Those who walk closely with God 
will know experientially, not just in theory, not just in a 
theoretical way, not just be able to answer the catechism, 
you know, but experientially they will know protection and 
power. They will say with the Apostle 
Paul with confidence, I can do not confidence in themselves, 
but confidence in this God. I can do all things through Christ 
who strengthens me. As we come to a conclusion, I 
want you to notice the emphatic and strong affirmation of faith 
we have in verse 2. I will say of or to the Lord, 
says the psalmist, and the King James is very emphatic. saying 
he is my refuge and my fortress and my God. Now brethren don't 
miss this. Do you see those personal pronouns? My refuge, my fortress, my God. You know David could have said 
he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. True. True. But David says, he's all that 
he was to them, to me. He says, my God, I'll say that 
of Jehovah. I will say of the most high, 
the almighty, he's all that to me. Well, brethren, can't we 
rejoice as Christians? We can make the same emphatic 
and strong affirmation of our faith. We can be thankful that 
God in grace brought us to a time and a place where we could say 
just that. Baptized as a confession of its 
reality, giving testimony to that truth. That we personally 
know God through faith in Jesus Christ. What a great sense of 
security is ours. And so we give thanks in our 
comfort of knowing God, the blessings, the comfort of knowing God. Now there might be some of you 
here today, and I would be negligent as a preacher of the gospel that 
we didn't say a few more things here. Because undoubtedly there might be some of you and 
especially some of you young people, you have never come to 
a place where you can say from the heart, He is my God. You've never had personal dealings 
with Him. Now, do you realize how vital 
and crucial it is that you have personal dealings with God? Maybe you've grown up in a Christian 
home. I grew up in a Christian home. Don't imagine. Don't think for a moment that 
you can simply get by on the faith of your parents. The God 
of my mom and dad. The God of my grandparents. We 
had a man come visit us a few weeks ago and he stayed for the 
Sunday school, the worship service. He had a meal with us and stayed 
for the second service. And afterwards I asked him, I 
said, are you a Christian? And the first words out of his 
mouth was, well, you know, my grandmother, she was a real believer. I said, no, she's not here. Are 
you a Christian? So you may have had teaching 
in the home and praise God for that. I'm not making light of 
that at all. But you must come to the place where you personally 
come before God himself and embrace him as your God. To say from 
your heart, my refuge, my fortress, my God, my Lord, my Savior. You remember how Thomas who had 
heard things of the Lord Jesus and being resurrected and when 
confronted with the awesome reality of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, 
he fell down before him crying out, my Lord and my God. Have you done that? I mentioned 
I grew up in a Christian home. I went off to Bible college. 
I was going to be a preacher. And I couldn't say any of that 
from the heart. And God had to bring me down 
and bring me to a place where I had personal dealings with 
God. Repented of my sins and believed in the Lord Jesus. Now 
this is true for all of us, not just young people. Regardless 
our age, teenager or senior citizen, it is absolutely imperative that 
you have a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. And 
let me not just leave it there. That means repentance of your 
sins and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. So I ask, have you come to that? Have you come to that? believe 
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And of course 
that wonderful statement at the end of the text, note, in whom 
I trust. Verse two, I will say of the 
Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him I will 
trust. That implies only in him I will 
trust. We must go on whatever God calls 
us to do, whatever God calls us to be, wherever He calls us 
to go. We must go on trusting the Lord, 
knowing that He is constantly directing our faith and our path 
towards Him. In Him, says the psalmist, I 
will trust. The Apostle Paul says we walk 
by faith. You see, that's how Christians 
live. We don't walk by sight, we walk by faith. We are those 
who see with the eye of faith those things that the Bible sets 
before us and we lay hold of them by faith. We embrace them. And in him, the Lord, this God 
who is the most high, the Almighty, Jehovah and Elohim, God of creation, 
in Him we must continue to trust. What security. What blessed comfort. Because the going will get tough. 
I don't need to tell any of you that. There will be trials and difficulties 
and heartache. They will come. It is a lie of the devil to tell 
Christians that all they got to do is believe. And if they 
believe a little harder, everything is just going to be hunky-dory 
in this life. Trials and difficulties and heartache, 
they will come. And this must be our affirmation. 
Each one of us. In Him, I will trust. And may we all take these words 
to heart, these wonderful words. I close in reading them again. 
He who dwells in the shelter of the secret place of the Most 
High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. And by God's 
grace, may we all say of the Lord in truth, he is my refuge 
and my fortress, my God, in him I will trust. Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious and loving Father 
in heaven, we are always humbled when we come to your word and 
You have revealed yourself to us so gloriously. Yes, even as 
we look around, we see your glory in all of nature. It covers the 
earth as the waters do the sea. But you have revealed yourself 
more completely and thoroughly in your precious word. And you 
have told us of what you are like. You have told us of your 
great love and faithfulness. You have told us of our great 
need. of a Savior, your only Son, the Lord Jesus. Help us, 
Father, to take these words to heart. We pray for those who 
are here this morning who are yet lost and undone in their 
sins. We pray, Father, that they would 
repent and that they would look to what you have provided in 
the Lord Jesus, and that they would embrace by faith the Savior. 
And Father, we pray for all of us that we would be encouraged 
to press on in the things of God. Help us, Father, to love 
and to serve you with greater vigor and more sincerity of heart. Bless the consideration of these 
things to us. Grow us up in our faith and comfort 
us as we seek to serve you and love you. And we'll give you 
all praise in Jesus' name. Amen.