Christ Himself Our Refuge

By thee have I been holding up from the womb, thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels, my praise shall be continually of thee. I am as a wonder unto many, but thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thine thy honor all the day. Let’s pray together. Our father in heaven, we thank you again for the Psalms. Lord, thank you especially for the repetition.

Lord, that we see as we read through the Psalms where we hear the same things over and over and they cause us to think upon them and meditate upon them and and become part of our thinking and part of our words and part of our prayers. And I pray lord that you would if you would be pleased to help me to help your people. Lord, you know I have no ability except the grace that you give and so your people as well as myself. Lord, we all stand in need of your help tonight.

Help us to see you as you truly are. Help us to see you as everything that we we need and as lord, our god who is all in all, who is all sufficient And Lord, help us to draw closer to you even as we study your word tonight. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Notice notice verse number eight. You know, we’ll we’ll start in verse number one again in just a minute, but notice verse number eight as we go. Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy with thy honor all the day. You know, you think about you think about all the things we talk about, but how infrequently how infrequently the Lord is on our lips.

Right? I mean, if you were if you and I, we were to examine ourselves and our what we talk about and what we say and when we interact with others, how frequent is it that our interactions are about the Lord and about his honor and about his praise. It says his mouth, he says, let my mouth be filled with thy praise. And you know, as a believer and and I’m telling you right now, I’m I’m this is a work in progress for me and I’m sure it is for you as well but the idea that that I wanna talk about the lord more and I’m not just talking about in a in a witnessing in a in an evangelistic capacity although obviously that that goes without saying but but should not our words be more about the lord. If we if we live and move and have our being in him, if he is our savior, if he is our all in all, if he is in us and he is with us and he leads us, then should not his person, his name, his character, his praise, his honor be on our lips a lot more often than it is.

And so, you know, that’s just a challenge. David is is asking the Lord, let my mouth be filled. So, we could make that our prayer. Lord, let my mouth be filled as I’m working on the, you know, the the landscaping crew or I’m, you know, laying pipe for a for a plumbing job or crawling in an attic. Let my mouth be filled with with your praise, with your honor all the day and people should know that people should should should expect from us that we’re gonna talk about, we’re gonna talk about the Lord. They know that they’re gonna hear it at some point. Even if we’re not like, you know, brow beating them and it’s okay to brow beat every once in a while, know, when it’s proper, but even if we’re not, even if we’re just talking, right, we’re just talking, he should be a part of our words, a part of our speech. Now, back to verse number one, the Bible says this, in thee, oh Lord, do I put my trust, let me never be put to confusion.

You know, this idea of trust and we’re going to kind of hover around this idea of trust tonight, but the idea of trust is kind of you know, where where you you you stick your neck out. Your faith is is it it it walks out upon the word of god, right? On some on nothing, right? It it entrust, you know, it’s like if we’re on the stage here and we were to exercise faith in god, the idea of faith, if we were to visualize it, was that you’re taking a step out where you are not certain, right? As a matter of of fact, that there’s going to be the that something’s going to catch your foot. That’s kind of the idea of faith and so there’s a risk and so David says, transparently, he says, lord, I’m trusting in you. Let me not be put to confusion. You know what confusion is. Right? Confusion is when you trust in God and you take that step and you fall, that’s confusion.

Being confounded, being put to shame, the Bible describes it in that way. And that’s the risk of faith and that’s what God calls us to do, to put him to the test that when we step out of the boat like Peter did, that the surface of the water is gonna hold our foot. And that that’s there is no way to exercise faith. Faith is is you know, Hebrews tells us that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the what?

Evidence of things, right, this, not seen, it’s not you don’t know it’s there and you’re you’re relying totally on God’s word. You know, and even and we’re gonna talk about tonight with you know, with salvation, you know, if you just look at the idea of of putting your faith in Christ to save you, that’s what you’re doing. You can’t see Christ, you can’t see him, you can’t, you’ve not witnessed his resurrection, you know, you’re trusting in the written word of god and what it says of you and what it says of him And when we step out, know, lot of people, you know, when they when, you know, sometimes when people talk about when they lead someone to the Lord, the first question they want to ask is, how do you feel?

And I’ll be honest, when I when I put my faith in Christ, well, actually, on the night that I got that I got saved, I knelt down at a at a metal chair in a kitchen at the Gateway Bible Camp and I I knelt down at the chair and I was I I was going to call on the lord. In fact, no, I actually knelt down at the chair not knowing exactly what my problem was. Like, I had a lot of doubts swirling around in my mind. I wasn’t exactly certain whether I was saved or not and I just I so I knelt down to pray and I didn’t know a lot of people were praying for me and and so, when I knelt down at the chair, it was like the lord just it was like the light came on And mean, honestly, it was just like the Lord slapped me upside the head and said, hey dummy, you’re not saved. I don’t know what you think you are, but that’s not it. And at that moment, it was probably the first time that that realization hit me very clearly in my whole life that I can remember.

And so as I knelt down and I called upon the Lord, I remember as I was I was kneeling down, of course, look, our salvation experience is not the be all end all because there might come a day where we can’t even remember it. That’s it’s not based upon that. It’s based upon Christ and what Christ did for us but each one of us has a different experience when we received Christ, of course, but for me, when I got up, I didn’t feel any different.

I didn’t feel any different. That the feelings of it came later, right? And for me, it wasn’t long after that that that there because there was a lot going on. I won’t go into all the details of what happened that night but my point is, is that that’s the idea is is faith is not like you do something and there’s a reaction. No faith says, it’s true, my trust is in Christ, even if no fireworks happen at all.

And just because you don’t have this, you know, overcome with emotion or just because you don’t have this or that or the other does not necessarily mean that, you know, that you weren’t you weren’t saved. The truth is, the proof of it is gonna be in the evidence of the spirit of god because he is the seal of the believer. And some for some people that’s emotional, for some people it’s not so emotional.

But the point is, is there’s a risk involved in faith. Let me never be put to confusion. Lord, I’m trusting you. If you don’t come through, I I’m gonna I’m gonna have some serious egg on my face here or worse, right? Like David is talking about here or the Psalmist. Verse number two, notice this, deliver me in thy righteousness and cause me to escape. Now, I want you to note all the all the words here, different words that are used to describe salvation. Now, in this case, the Psalmist is probably referring to, in his mind, probably referring to a to a physical salvation from his enemies and things like that because he mentions that. He says, deliver me from in thy righteousness, cause me to escape, there’s another word, incline thine ear unto me and save me, there’s a third, be thou my strong habitation whereunto I may continually resort, thou has given commandment to save me, there it is again, for thou art my rock and my fortress, deliver me, oh God, there’s another time, that’s what five.

Oh my god, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man, for thou art my hope. Oh lord, oh lord god, thou art my my trust from my youth. So, there’s obviously a theme here and the theme is salvation and that’s what I want you to see see and we’re gonna kinda mix it with something else that we see here as well.

Now, notice in going back at verse number two or rather verse number one, he calls the lord, he says, in thee, oh lord, do I put my trust? Let me never be put to confusion. He delivered me in thy righteousness and caused me to escape, incline thine ear into me and save me. Now, notice in starting in verse number three, he he starts referring to god in particular ways. Verse number three, be thou my strong habitation.

Now, notice he did not say, give me a strong habitation. Provide a strong habitation. He, what is he specifically asking for? He’s asking for god to be that thing. Okay, that’s not the only one. He says, where into I may continually resort, thou hast given commandment to save me for thou art my rock and my fortress. Thou art my rock and my fortress. Again, not thou hast provided a rock and fortress but god, you are my rock. Deliver me, oh my god. Verse four, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man, for thou art my hope.

Not just you’ve given me hope but lord, you are my hope. So, we’ve seen so far that god is his, he calls god, not something god does but something god is to him. God to him is god himself is his strong habitation. God is his rock and his fortress. Now, interestingly, interestingly enough in the Psalms, my rock, this idea that god is my rock is some 20 times in the Psalms and god is my fortress is five times in the Psalms and then in verse number five, for thou art my hope, god is his hope.

Verse end of verse five, thou art my trust. God is his trust. And then if you go to all the way down to verse number seven, notice what it says, I am as a wonder unto many, but thou art my strong refuge. Now, you know strong habitation, rock fortress, strong refuge, all sound like we’re talking about the same thing. We’re talking about the same thing, right? And there, it’s mixed together and in fact, these terms that god himself is his strong habitation, his rock fortress, and his strong refuge are mixed in verse five with him being god being his hope and his trust.

You notice how personal that is? You notice how personal that is? These terms blend together and help us to understand what Christ is to the believer. It is not just that god provides salvation. It is not just that god provides protection. It is that god is that thing. And that’s a key difference. You know, and and I’m I’m going to show you an example of this in just a minute but but for a human being, if god gave us something, we are likely in our in our nature, in our corrupt nature, we are likely to take that thing and ignore god.

So, if god gave us protection, we would take the protection and leave god or if god gave us help, we would take the help and leave god or if god gave us a fortress or a refuge, we would take that refuge and leave the lord out of it And that’s just that’s just the fact of nature. That’s exactly what this world wants. I’ve said this before and it’s it’s true. It’s true and it’s true in scripture. It’s true in in in practice as well, which is mankind wants everything God gives, but they do not want God. And that tendency is in us too.

But notice the thing that David concentrates on is not what God gives him, but what God is. That God is that thing. So, you can’t separate what god gives us from from god himself. God is the thing. You get god, you get all these other things but you can’t have all the other things without god himself. Quite offensive actually to the lord.

Now, We already saw how that the all these words deliver, escape, save, deliver, and all all of those things and we’re reminded by that, you know, in the context of salvation and I’m going somewhere with this, but we’re reminded of the fact that he’s he’s asking god to deliver him and for Christ, our savior, his name actually means savior. So, and you we gotta get this right. We we have to get this right. It is not only that Christ provides salvation and gives us salvation. Is that true? Yes, that’s true. But it is not just that. It is that Christ is salvation.

That’s why his name means Jehovah saves. He himself is salvation. There is, in fact, we go a little bit further. There is like like we read here. There is no way to get salvation apart from the person of Christ.

Everybody with me? There’s no store where you can go gets god’s salvation. You get Christ and with Christ comes all these things that you need. In fact, you if you would look at John chapter 14, John 14.

John 14 verse number six. You know this verse? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, The truth and the life. No man cometh unto the father but by me. So, you know what that means? Well, first of all, that you notice the arrow, the arrow is pointed at who or what? The arrow is pointed at the lord Jesus himself. He says, show us the way, provide the way, give us the way. No, no, no. He is the way. Just like my rock, my fortress.

And he says, no man cometh unto the father but by me. In other words, he’s not gonna provide access, he’s not gonna provide a way or provide life or provide truth separate from himself. He is it. And that’s why no man can go to the father but by him. There’s no path outside of Christ himself. Look at John 11. John 11.

Of course, this is a story of Lazarus verse 23. John eleven twenty three says this, Jesus said unto her, thy brother shall rise again. Martha say it unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. You know what mistake she made? And the lord’s going to correct her. You know what she tried to do? She tried to separate the resurrection from Jesus.

You notice that? In other words, she wants her brother to rise again and she in her mind, she views Jesus Christ as something kinda kinda overhear. What she doesn’t recognize is her brother rising again, that is a question of Christ. So, let me read it in a different way. This is familiar to us because we covered this not too long ago when when we were in Matthew.

It says this, thy brother shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know that he shall rise again at the last at the in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said said unto her, I am the resurrection. He did not affirm that. He did not say, oh well, yeah, you’re right. You know, doctrinally speaking, you know, in the last day, you know, all the people, all the saints will rise. No, he didn’t say that. He said, look at me.

The thing your brother needs, the thing you need is me. It is I. You don’t need to look anywhere else for resurrection and life. He said, I am it. So, the moment a human being goes in search of resurrection and life is the moment that human being is is is distracted. Sometimes, maybe we we go and search resurrection and life but if we go and search for it outside of Jesus Christ, we will never ever find it because it is only found in Christ. Same thing with salvation.

And Jesus reminds her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. So, again, he points her to himself. There’s no life and resurrection without Christ. Colossians three four says this, Colossians three four says, when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Now, if you would go back to Psalm 71. Now, in the Psalm, the the Psalm has refers to god as his refuge, his strong habitation, his strong refuge, his rock, and his fortress and in the context of salvation. And so when you read those, when you read these words, you get this kind of, you get this kind of war scene, you know? You get this idea of where there’s a there’s a bunker, a fortress, a fort, right? That’s what he’s talking about, right? He’s talking about, he’s describing a defensive position, okay? Why do you go into a bunker? Why do you go into a fort or a strong, a fortress, or a a strong refuge, your habitation? Why do you go there?

Think about it now. Protection. That’s why you go there. The reason why you go into a defensive position. Now, think about what, you know, these these are common terms to describe god. You know, that God is our refuge. God is our fortress. He’s our rock. Those are all defensive descriptions. So, on the outside of that fortress, there’s danger.

That’s what you have to understand. So, if god is the fortress, then we go into god, into the fortress for protection. Everybody with me? That’s what he’s describing, okay?

And this is in this is talking about salvation now. This is talking about salvation. These things describe visually a place of protection outside of which there is great danger from the enemy. But if you’re inside the place of protection, the strong habitation, the strong refuge, the rock, the fortress, within there we are outside of the range and power of the enemy’s arms. But if the moment that we go outside of the fortress, we are now exposed. We’re exposed even to certain death.

We’re exposed to certain death. So, here’s the thing I want us to see about the lord Jesus Christ because he is all of these things And in in regards to salvation, when we needed to be saved, when we needed to be saved, where do we go? We don’t listen, we don’t... And this is an important distinction to make and I’m I’m not trying to quibble over words, but when we realize we’re in danger, we went to Christ.

You know why? Because he is the refuge. He is the place where if you go and you’re in him, you’re safe. You’re safe from wrath, you’re safe from judgment, you’re safe from the enemy. Now let me explain to you how this thing with the enemy works because that’s what he’s talking about, you’re being safe from the enemy, right? Here’s the way the devil uses his schemes and tactics to harm us. You think about Balaam and Balak, remember the king?

And he tried, the king tried to hire Balaam to curse Israel, right? But god refused to allow Balaam, you know, with the whole donkey thing and all that. God refused to allow Balaam to curse Israel and so instead, because Balam wanted that money that was being offered to him so much, instead of cursing Israel because God would not allow him, he secretly taught the king, King Balak, how to how to cause Israel to fall.

How to how to... In other words, how to kinda end around a direct curse and to call... And to actually cause Israel to bring the harm upon themselves because God will not allow him to do it directly. You know how he did it?

He sent Balaam told Balak to send women, the Moabitesh women into the camp of Israel to tempt them and lure them with immorality. And once they were lured, they lured them using immoral lures. And once they were hooked, they included in that practice idolatry. And that’s how they did. So it actually wasn’t and what you have to understand is Balaam and Balak are pictures in scripture of the devil and the devil’s workers.

In second Peter and Jude, they’re framed in that way, they’re devil’s workers. And that’s the way the devil, that’s the way the devil, you you think about being safe from the enemy. Here’s how the enemy works, he tempts us, he tempts our flesh, not just us but mankind, he tempts us and and he he might not be able to destroy us directly, but what he’ll do is he’ll put mankind in a place where he’s tempted and lured away so that man puts himself in a place where he is under the wrath of God.

Right? In fact, that is actually the condition of every person without Christ, of his own carnal wicked nature, he has been led away and placed himself in the wrath of God for his personal transgressions of God’s law, right? That’s the condition of every man. In other words, he’s in danger, he’s in danger, he’s in danger. You know what he needs? He needs to run to the place of safety.

You know, and there’s... When you think about when you think about the question of salvation, there’s only one place in this universe where a person can be safe from the wrath of God.

Right? There’s only one fortress or strong habitation, only one rock, only one one one refuge that exists. Where if you enter that refuge, you are actually totally and completely out of the reach of the wrath of God. You know what that refuge is? Not a thing God has given, but Christ Himself. Christ Him. And if we’re in Christ, we are absolutely and totally safe. Like as in a fortress, we’re absolutely and totally safe from the wrath of God.

Now, let me show you what I mean. Look if you would at John 14, just go through a few verses here to finish. John 14, we were just there a minute ago, but look again. John 14.

I want you to note the wording here. John 14 verse 20 says this, at that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and what does it say? Ye in me and I in you.

We’re in Christ. In Christ. Look at John 15 verse number five. The lord says this, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him. The same bringeth forth much fruit for without me, ye can do nothing. Now, here we’re talking about fruit bearing but the same truth, the same truth applies which is we are in Christ. We abide in him. He abide... You know, the word abide is related to in Psalm 71, the word habitation.

We’re in Christ. Look at Romans chapter eight and this goes directly to our point. Romans chapter eight Verse one, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Notice the condemnation, they’re shielded. They’re protected as a fortress. But the requirement is not that they’re provided protection but that they are in Christ for that is the only place of protection. First Corinthians, look at that. First Corinthians chapter one.

First Corinthians chapter one verse 30. First Corinthians one thirty, But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who is who of god is made unto us. Notice he doesn’t just give us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He is wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption to us. Notice that, the same language is in is in Psalms but notice we are in Christ Jesus. Philippians, look at Philippians chapter three. Philippians.

Philippians three. Look if you would at verse eight, Philippians three verse eight, Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. For whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found, what does it say? In him. Not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. You know, Paul could Paul could, all of the things that are in verse number verse number four, five, six, all of the characteristics of his wealth, his status, pedigree, all of these things that he trusted in, he could have all of those things, but outside of Christ, he will endure the terrible wrath of God.

Right? And then lastly, look at first John chapter five. First John chapter five. A fitting way to end this book, first John chapter five verse 20, and we know that the son of God is come and hath given us an understanding that we may know him that is true and we are in him that is true. What do you mean? Even in his son, Jesus Christ. Now, notice what it says after that.

Being in here here’s what here’s in the context, knowing him that is true and being in him that is true. That is in Jesus Christ. This is the true god and eternal life.

So, Jesus Christ himself, he doesn’t give us eternal life. He is eternal life and the only access anybody has to it is is in Jesus himself, right? And to have eternal life is to be in Christ. That’s what the verse is saying. You see that? There, in other words, it’s not possible for to for someone to possess eternal life without being also in Christ because there is the access and so when we think about this, first of all, the lord wants us to do what? He wants us to on on all of these things, not just this is this is on the subject of salvation, but not just the not just salvation and everything.

The Lord wants us to look to him. He is the answer. We don’t look for something from him, but him. We don’t look for something from him but we look to him directly. He is that thing we need. You know that song we sometimes sing four fifty one if I’m not mistaken, brother Ari probably knows. Jesus Christ has made to me all I need, all I need.

That’s true, it’s true, Christ is all, He is literally all we need and everything we need is in Him. We get Him, we get it all. But you think about you know how we describe, how we explain the gospel to people. We must be careful that we don’t just offer things to people that God offers, but that we offer those things to them whether it be forgiveness or eternal life or or the Holy Spirit or whatever blessing of salvation it be, that we don’t offer it as something that we offer it independent of of God, but we say, hey, Christ is the answer.

It is found in him to always point people to Christ, to Christ, to the person, to Christ himself. Let’s pray together.