We open our Bibles this evening to the book of Psalms, the book of Psalms, the Psalm 46, the first of several of what are known as Songs of Zion, songs that celebrate God's presence among His people and His protection for His people in the city of God in Zion. You'll find it a little bit before halfway through your Bible on page 598 in your pew Bible. We come together this evening as the people of God in this place, citizens of the heavenly city of Jerusalem, heavenly Zion, members of the body of Christ to again reflect upon a year gone by and to anticipate another year ahead should the Lord continue to tarry. We do so at a time of what seems to be great apprehension, even outright fear. If the Washington Post and ABC News poll is too believed, we live in a time that more people are fearful about the future than at any time over the last decade, and that's saying quite a lot. They say that 44% of Americans are fearful about 2013, and we're the optimists. If you count the rest of the world as 56% that are fearful about the future, in particular this coming year. And as we turn on our TVs and perhaps still read the newspaper, check our iPad, our iPhone, and whatever, and the news is always before us, it appears that we are living in very perilous times. And 2013 promises, perhaps threatens is a better word, to be a fearsome year. A year overflowing with people and things and events that incite us to fear. And so I was drawn to Psalm 46 this year. A psalm written by Old Testament saints, by the sons of Korah, who also faced fearsome things. Who remembered the onslaughts of the nations against Israel, against Jerusalem. Remembered famine and siege and death. And yet in faith, faith in the Messiah yet to come for them, they penned words such as this, as we find in our text this evening. And so we approach Psalm 46 tonight as believers, also facing fearsome things, who like they are trusting and who have faith in the Messiah, although we know His name, Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth. And so we approach this psalm with the psalmist whose God is our God, whose Savior is our Savior, whose psalm is our psalm. And I invite you to leave here tonight with this psalm as a psalm for you, a psalm for God's people as you enter a new year and face fearsome things. Psalm 46 instructs and encourages us for facing the fearsome in faith in three ways. By a very clear and bold declaration of faith. A comfort and reminder of the foundation for that faith. And an earnest summons to faith. Hear now the word of God from Psalm 46. Give your attention to this unchanging, inerrant, revealed word of God. Word of God to the Choir Master of the Sons of Kor, according to Alamoth, the song. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There's a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God will help her when morning's dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. He utters His voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Come, behold the works of the Lord, how He has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Here ends the reading of God's Word. Well, as we consider this text, it's laid out in three very clearly separated stanzas, if you will, three distinct ideas, and we will follow the text fairly closely this evening. And we find our first encouragement for facing the fearsome in verses 1 through 3 in a clear and bold declaration of faith. Verse 1 opens with a clear profession of doctrine, a statement of truth, a truth about God. God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble, a statement of fact. But what God is in view? We live in a time like all times where God comes easily to the lips of people. What God are we talking about? Well, he's identified in verses 7 and 11 as the Lord of hosts, the creator of the heavens and the earth. The Lord of hosts who created the dry land and the mountains and the waters of the sea against which he set a boundary that they may never take the land again. And by the word of the Lord, the heavens were made. And by the breath of his mouth, all their hosts, the psalmist says. Not only the sun and the moon and the countless stars, but also countless angelic beings that Psalm 103 reminds us are his hosts, his ministers who do his will. The Lord of hosts, he's our refuge and our strength and he's also identified in verse 4 as the most high God almighty ruler of all that he has made judge of all who bear his image God almighty the most high it is this God who is our refuge and our strength he's our refuge he's our shelter He's our safe haven from the storm. He's our strength. He has the almighty power to overcome all obstacles, to defeat every foe. This God is our refuge and our strength. Indeed, according to verses 7 and 11, He is our fortress, our stronghold whose walls cannot be pierced and whose walls cannot be scaled. Martin Luther got it right when he wrote, A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing, inspired by this song. But unlike any fortress of this earth that we must run to and find, if you will, our fortress, our refuge and our strength is very present, a very present help in trouble. To put it another way, he is strongly present. He is present with us, able and willing to immediately help in our distress. As one commentator said, there's no need to wait till evening prayers. When the trouble comes, we pray and God is present. Therefore, the author of Hebrews encourages everyone who is trusting in Christ to draw near with confidence to God, his throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. The Apostle Paul also assures us in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13, that no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man, not even the temptation to be overwhelmed by fear. God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. Simultaneously a very present help in trouble. And then the psalmist in verse 2 goes on to apply this profession of faith, this profession of doctrine, this truth to the life of God's people with this very bold affirmation, therefore we will not fear. We will not fear. What does he mean? Well, it can't mean that we will never feel fear. That we'll never feel that God-given emotion that exposes to us our vulnerability, that exposes to us our helplessness, and that motivates us to seek safety. There are fearsome things that we ought to fear. Most notably, the Lord Himself. Hebrews tells us that it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God apart from Christ and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom so he can't mean that we will not fear anything but we will not fear is not a positive affirmation that we can use to somehow put on a stiff upper lip and pretend that we're not afraid. We like to wear that one. Nor is it a positive affirmation that we can talk ourselves out of feeling this way. Instead of making us fearless, faith in God, who is our refuge and our strength, keeps our fears in perspective. It has us fear right. As Jesus taught us in Matthew 10, do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy body and soul in hell. Now that's rightly placed fear. And that fear is from faith. And faith in this God gives us courage to face the fearsome things. To see them as they really are. and in faith to press on. It's faith that James calls upon in James chapter 1 when he says, Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Faith in the God who is our refuge and our strength. It gives us courage to face what is fearsome. Now, as I was preparing this, I thought to myself, well, you might be thinking, Pastor, this looks pretty good on paper. But you're not sitting where I'm sitting. You don't know what I'm facing. You know, we're on the edge of this fiscal cliff. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds bad. And I think Congress is meeting tonight, and they'll probably come away with nothing done. And what will it mean? The Supreme Court's announced it's going to look at same-sex marriage, and it just seems like this can only go one way, and not in a good way. The Middle East looks like it's a meltdown. What does this mean for Israel and Iran? Maybe a little closer to home, I'm out of a job, or I'm underemployed. There's no prospects in sight. My mortgage is still underwater and I can't get refinanced. There are health problems in our family. Insurance is a mess. Treatment isn't working. The prognosis isn't good. Perhaps even I've been told that I'm dying. Or perhaps I'm afraid that I'm not saved. I can't seem to make any progress in the Christian life. The good that I want to do, I don't do. And the evil that I don't want to do, I find myself doing. These are fearsome things. Each and every one that fear takes hold of and crafts and molds and forms into a slow-playing movie. that rolls through our minds over and over again, playing the worst case scenario, each time a little worse than the time before. You know what I mean. You've been there. And the flesh cries out, how can God help me? How can He possibly help me in this trouble? I've asked Him to take it away. I've asked Him to get me out of this mess. But He hasn't. i've asked him to solve the problem but it's still here and you're all waiting for the short answer right to tell you how the psalmist doesn't answer our fears with the promise of when or how the lord will provide he answers by putting our fears in perspective He assures us that because God is our refuge and our strength, we will not fear even if the worst of all earthly worst-case scenarios were to come to pass. A worst-case scenario that we almost imagined on December 21, 2012, the end of the Mayan calendar where the people around the world thought it was going to come to an end. And they ran hither and yon to find this or this last thing to do before it was all over. But imagine that it really did. That the Lord would really undo His creation. Imagine if the flood was today. That's what the psalmist says. He says, we will not fear though. We will not fear even though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. We will not fear even if God unleashes another great flood so that the sea breaks through its boundaries and covers the world to the tops of the mountains. Nothing compares with that. And how can he say that? That just seems absurd. well because a saint of god who trusted in god has been there and done that children you know the story of noah you know the story of noah he was told that this was going to happen and the author of hebrews chapter 10 reminds us that by faith noah being warned by god concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear fear rightly placed he constructed an ark for the saving of his household and by this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. Well the temptation we fall into here is to think well I can't work up that kind of faith and you're right you can't. It's not yours to work up it's not mine to work up. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 2 that it's the gift of God and it's the gift that He gives in measure in a timely and needy fashion. And this leads us to our second point that this gift of God, there's a reason that we can have this kind of profession, this kind of affirmation of faith. And we find our second encouragement for facing the fearsome from the comforting reminder of the foundation for our faith. That's in verses 4-7. You see, when we make this declaration of faith in verses 1-3, it begs the question, why is it that the Lord of hosts, Almighty God of all creation, is our refuge and strength? What is it that He would say to us, I am your refuge and your strength? Well, the answer is not because of anything in us. The answer is found only in God, and it's revealed in the refrain of this psalm in verses 7 and 11, where we read that the Lord of hosts is with us. He is our fortress. He is the God of Jacob. And with these three words, the God of Jacob, the psalmist brings to our minds the promises of God to his people that he has made throughout the history of redemption. And we need to know this promise because we stand in this promise or we stand on nothing. The Lord of hosts made this promise to Abraham. Children, you remember the story in Genesis chapter 17. The Lord said, Behold, my covenant is with you. No longer shall you be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring, your seed. Let me reread that. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you and I will be their God. In that promise, God promised himself to a people. And the author of Hebrews in chapter 6 reminds us that God went even further and that he guaranteed this promise with an oath. Genesis chapter 15 when God walked between the split halves of the animals he took an oath that if he did not fulfill the terms of this promise may it be done unto him as was done to these animals. So the author of Hebrews says with an oath so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie we, the body of Christ we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. he wants us to hear this promise and he wants us to know that it's sure. He will not withdraw it. He will not fail to keep it. And this God of Abraham is the God of his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob. And this promise that was handed down generation after generation was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The scripture tells us that all of God's promises are yes and amen in Him. A son of Abraham according to the flesh, the Son of God in the flesh. And therefore Paul explains in Galatians chapter 3 that the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring, that is to his seed. It does not say and to seeds, referring to many, but referring to one. And to your seed. who is Christ. This promise was made to Christ. Christ received it. Christ fulfilled it. And then Paul goes on at the end of that chapter to tell us that if you are in Christ, if you have been joined to Christ by faith, if you become a member of the body of Christ, a citizen of the kingdom of God, you are Abraham's offspring and heirs according to this promise. if you believe in Jesus Christ, if you trust Him alone to save you from the worst of all worst-case scenarios, the wrath of God against your sin and the torments of hell forever, if you trust Him for that, then the God of Jacob is your God. This covenant-making and covenant-keeping God of Jacob is with us, the psalmist says. He's with us because Christ Jesus, in him we have been adopted to be his children. We are citizens of his kingdom. We reside in his city. He's our refuge. He's our strength. He's our fortress. Very present help in trouble. Now in the Old Testament, God made his presence known among his people by his presence in the temple in the midst of Jerusalem. and all that that temple represented has been fulfilled in Christ so it is no more but God still resides with his people in a temple that he is building up in Christ Paul explains it this way in Ephesians chapter 2 to all who are trusting in Christ for salvation by grace you have been saved through faith and are now in Christ Jesus you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Jesus himself the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple for the Lord in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by His Spirit. The Church of Jesus Christ is the city of God. The holy habitation of the Most High, the psalmist says. And God is in the midst of her. In her, we are set apart from all that rages and topples in this world. In the city of God, we enjoy the peaceful and nurturing presence of God that is pictured in verse 4 as a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. A very poetic picture. We missed it if we're too literal. This is a picture of God in the presence of His people nourishing, providing, strengthening. He described Himself this way through the prophet Jeremiah that he's the fountain of living waters for Jerusalem. His presence brings blessing and renewal for his city. As the Apostle John saw in the Revelation chapter 22 when he was given to behold the heavenly Jerusalem, he writes, Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either side of the river, the tree of life with his twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The city of God enjoys the presence of God. And we're told that in verse 5, that with God in her midst, the city of God shall not be moved. Even when the nations rage, even when kingdoms totter, the city of God will not be moved. and the psalmist continues in that verse to say that God will help her when morning dawns another poetic picture that's a little hard to it's a curious statement it may well mean that God will help her day by day which is certainly true there are no lapses in God's care but it seems to me that it's more likely that it emphasizes his very present help in trouble in a way saying that when all seems dark and lost at just the right time when we realize that our resources cannot do it when the resources of another man or the government or our bank account or whatever it is we want to trust cannot do it God will bring an end to the trouble in His time, in His way that we cannot force, that we cannot manipulate. But faith in this God will trust with King David that weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning. The Lord will rescue His people. And so we wonder, how does God help His people? we like to sing the song the Lord works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform it's a way of confession we really don't know all the ins and outs of how God exercises in providential care for his people but the psalmist gives us a clue when he says that he utters his voice and the earth melts and I believe he's calling to mind for us here the voice of the Lord like the sound of a trumpet that announces His coming in judgment. If you remember the story of Mount Sinai, when the Lord came down upon the mountain, the sound of the trumpet was so great that the people feared. They ran away. They spoke to Moses, speak to God. We can't hear His voice. The voice of the Lord. And it was heard whenever the Lord called for the Ark of the Covenant to go out with the people of Israel, the armies of Israel to attack his enemies the voice of the Lord the trumpet call of God went out and dread fell upon his enemies and the Lord's armies were victorious and the voice of the Lord will be heard for the last time at the return of Christ in glory when he comes again in glory he will descend from heaven with the cry of command with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God. That's what the voice of the Lord He utters His voice and the earth melts. Anything and everything that He does not set right in our lifetime will be set right on that day. We can trust Him for that. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. But in the meantime, the psalmist reminds us that God of Jacob, our God, is in control of the timing and of the means of all things. We like to sit on the throne and measure God's goodness to us. We like to assume and to see that we know all things and we know the best way to do it and the best time to do it. we trust ourselves. And here the psalmist reminds us that by the voice of the Lord, when He speaks, the earth melts, and we should bow before that voice. Just as God delivered Israel time and time again, not because of anything in them, but because of His faithfulness to His promises, we can depend on Him as our refuge and our strength to be a very present help in trouble. how quick we are to trust ourselves. I'm the chief of sinners in that regard. How quick we are to trust ourselves. And how slow we are to trust Him, the God of Jacob, our fortress. Psalm 46 makes it clear that the people of God can trust our God in Christ when facing fearsome things, especially when facing fearsome things, even when we don't feel like we can. Our final encouragement this evening from Psalm 46 for facing the fearsome comes by way of the earnest summons to faith in verses 8 through 11. This summons comes through two commandments. The first in verse 8 says, commands our attention. And the second in verse 10 commands a response. In verse 8, the psalmist commands, Come, behold, come and see. What? Come, give your full attention to the works of the Lord. Come, give your full attention to the mighty acts of the Most High, the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob. Pay attention and see, take note of how He has brought desolation on the earth. Consider the history of His judgments. The psalmist had recent ones in mind. We have the benefit of the entire Scripture to look back and to consider His judgments. How He has destroyed His enemies, how He has established His people. And all that we read, especially in the Old Testament, is a preview that rolls over and over again of the final judgment that's coming when he makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. Consider. Pay attention. See what he has done. And in the New Testament, see what he will do. wars will cease forever for he will do more than call a time out. He'll come and he'll take down all that can feed the war. He will break the bow and shatter the spear and burn the chariots with fire. There won't be anything left to make war with anymore. And now that the psalmist has our attention and has brought our attention to the judgments of God, the Lord himself issues the second commandment and he says to us, Be still. Be still and know that I am God. Be still. Literally, drop your hands. We might add, shut your mouths. Quit striving for yourselves. And stop raging against me. Be still. And know that I am God. Submit to the truth. There's only one God and you are not Him. I am God, he says in Isaiah 46. I am God and there is no other. I've spoken and I'll bring it to pass. I have purposed and I will do it. And he continues here in verse 10 to say, I will be exalted in the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. To me, he says in Isaiah 45, every knee will bow and every tongue shall swear allegiance. Be still and know that I am God. Now we know from Philippians chapter 2 that everyone will do so to his Son, Jesus Christ, who came to make Him known in this world and to accomplish the redemption of His people. There we're told that God has highly exalted Him, a God-man, and bestowed on Him the name that's above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. By these two commands we hear a summons to faith. The summons to faith calls for all men to either be humbled before Him now, receive the mercy Jesus Christ has earned for His people, and He will lift you up. Or be humbled before Him later, and receive the wrath you have earned for yourself, and He will cast you out. Now to all here tonight who are trusting in Christ for salvation, remember that you have heard this summons before and have been humbled through faith to respond. Confess, therefore, that you are forgetful by nature as I am and prone to trust your own feelings as I am and to lean on your own understanding as I am. And to confess that what you find fearsome in this world is nothing compared to the judgment from which Christ has already spared you. And turn, and if you're like me, again and again to the God of Jacob who is your fortress, your refuge and strength when facing what is fearsome and know that He is very present to help in trouble. And to any here who have not yet trusted Jesus Christ. Know that this summons comes to you today because of His mercy. The mercy of God that has allowed you to hear this warning, this summons. That you might be humbled. And that you might be saved. And understand that unless you trust in Christ to save you, so that God adopts you as His child, you remain His enemy. And know that the day is coming when God shall arise and His enemies will be scattered and those who hate Him shall flee from Him. As we leave here tonight, and Lord willing, awake in the morning to face the fearsome in 2013. It will take daily, hourly, moment by moment, faith in Christ Jesus that not only says but lives according to this truth that God is our refuge and strength. God is our very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear no matter what. And I would have you leave this evening with the words of Martin Luther ringing in your ears familiar words that have been inspired by this very psalm. A mighty fortress is our God. A bulwark never failing. Our helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing. Did we in our own strength confide our striving would be losing? We're not the right man on our side the man of God's own choosing and though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us we will not fear for God has willed his truth to triumph through us let's pray Almighty God our Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ you have revealed yourself to us anew tonight a fresh tonight as the God of our salvation the God who dwells with his people the Lord of heaven and earth almighty God the Lord of hosts the God of promise who is ours in Jesus Christ and Lord we leave here tonight praising you and thanking you that you are our refuge that you are our strength and we pray that more and more by your spirit we would be more quickly able to let go of ourselves and our own strivings to be still before you and to cling to you in Christ to know that in our weakness we are strong in him to know that you are working all things together for our good to conform us to his image and to prepare us for glory. Thank you that you give us the truth in your word that sets our minds aright and sets our souls at ease. And we pray that we would enjoy this peace that comes with you as our river flowing in the city of God day by day as we face the fearsome. In Christ's name we pray, amen.