Sermon Tone Analysis

“In the LORD I take refuge;

how can you say to my soul,

‘Flee like a bird to your mountain,

for behold, the wicked bend the bow;

they have fitted their arrow to the string

to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;

if the foundations are destroyed,

what can the righteous do?

“The LORD is in his holy temple;

the LORD’s throne is in heaven;

his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man.

The LORD tests the righteous,

but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

Let him rain coals on the wicked;

fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

For the LORD is righteous;

he loves righteous deeds;

the upright shall behold his face.”

[1]

Four years ago, it was difficult to imagine that we would actually witness biblical prophecy being fulfilled in our lifetime.

I am not as blasé as I might have been at one time.

Ezekiel speaks of an invasion of Israel; the invasion will be led by an individual identified as “Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.”

This vast horde includes armies from Iran, Ethiopia and Libya, but they will be led by Russia [see EZEKIEL 38:1-39:24].

The prophecy of this weird and wonderful man of God appears to be taking shape before our eyes.

Each day brings new evidence of a startling, stunning transformation in world affairs.

In 2009 the world was transformed, though few realised at that time either the transformation taking place or the magnitude of that change.

In January, 2009, an American President who had promised fundamentally to transform America assumed the leadership of what was unquestionably the most powerful nation in the world.

That man was said to be the leader of the Free World.

Convinced that America needed to be humbled before her enemies, he operated according to a philosophy dedicated to diminishing American power and influence in the world.

He has exceeded in his efforts beyond the wildest expectations even of his minions.

On September 30, 2015, a Russian three-star general entered the embassy of the United States of America in Baghdad to deliver a démarche to the American military attaché demanding that American armed forces stay out of Syria because Russian warplanes would be bombing enemies of the Assad regime beginning in one hour.

This followed on the heels of a Chinese general warning the United States to stay out of the South China Sea.

In less than seven years, American influence had been eroded to the point that they can only bluster and protest pitifully.

With the election of a Prime Minister who appears to be more “even-handed” toward Palestinians and Arabs, Israel is being deserted by erstwhile allies—increasingly the tiny nation stands alone.

While Palestinians run amok, stabbing and hacking innocent people, world leaders urge Israel to avoid aggravating Muslims—they would surely commit a crime against Muslim terrorists if they attempt to protect their own people.

The Arab world surrounds the tiny nation that now stands isolated and defiant against the darkening clouds of threatened annihilation.

Russia has formed alliances with Iran, Iraq, Syria and soon will have alliances with other nations who realise that they will be deserted and left standing in grave danger if they continue to rely on the United States as their national defender.

Eager to gain momentary advantage with the new Axis alliance, the European nations are seizing the moment to exert their own independence from the United States.

Candidly, I could never have imagined that when prophecy began to be fulfilled the end would come so precipitously.

Events are moving swiftly and ominously toward a cataclysmic, crashing conclusion that was prophesied long years ago.

However, events will not conclude as the world imagines—that, also, has been prophesied long years ago.

The question is raised, how shall the child of God respond to the changes spinning about us?

What steps should the believer take as the world sets itself against God and against His chosen people?

Those saints who dare stand with Israel can anticipate opposition—demonic minions do not appreciate anyone standing athwart their supposed dash to creating the world as they imagine it should be.

What shall the people of God do?

That is our study this day.

*THE GODLESS RESPONSE TO DIFFICULT TIMES* —

“In the LORD I take refuge;

how can you say to my soul,

‘Flee like a bird to your mountain,

for behold, the wicked bend the bow;

they have fitted their arrow to the string

to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart;

if the foundations are destroyed,

what can the righteous do?”

These are godless times; wickedness appears to be in ascendance.

The righteous are told, “Worship as you wish; but keep your religion to yourself.”

What is done in a church building is of no particular interest to the power brokers of our world, so long as we who believe do not permit what we believe to dictate how we shall live.

Samuel Clemens and his wife Olivia Langdon afford an illustration for the point I make.

Olivia Langdon was a beautiful, gracious Christian woman when she was wed to Samuel Clemens.

The story is told that he attended church with her before their marriage; however, soon after they were wed he refused to accompany her, declaring that religion was but ancient and meaningless rites.

Livy, as Clemens called his wife, loved her husband, and he was equally in love with her; however, he did not share her Faith.

As is so often true of spiritually mixed marriages, she surrendered her Faith in order to show her love for her husband.

Should a Christian marry an unbeliever, she is disobedient to the Master.

Moreover, the believer will not be better for that marriage—she will be spiritually impoverished for her disobedience.

She will never be capable of honouring the Lord as fully as if she had been obedient in the first place.

In her final years Livy experienced severely deteriorating health.

Clemens moved his family to Italy for her health.

He sought to prolong her life, but she died there in June, 1904.

As she was dying, the account is related that Clemens urged her to pray if that would comfort her.

Her response to her husband of more than thirty-six years was that she could not do so.

Despite his extravagant wealth, he could offer her no solace in her dying days; so he urged her to return to the Faith that had once comforted her in the early years of their marriage and in the death of their son, Langdon, but his urging was futile.

Clemens had no respect for the Faith, assuming it to be a mere act that could be used for one’s personal benefit and discarded at will.

In this, Mark Twain’s view was not so different from the prevailing view held in society in this day.

This utilitarian view of the Faith has gained more than a foothold among the churches of this day.

When the hard times come, the godless think to use religion as a sort of talisman for their personal ends.

We sometimes speak of “foxhole religion” to describe the sudden conversion when people are threatened with the end of life or with serious reversal in personal well-being.

While I do not doubt that God is gracious and that He receives any who come to Him through the Son, it seems abundantly clear that few actually surrender to him at such times.

In this Psalm, the Psalmist is writing of a time of difficulty, a time of personal challenge.

It is impossible to say what particular danger David is recalling in this Psalm.

He was often in danger from the moment he sprung onto the scene until near the end of his days.

Individuals who are conversant with the Word of God know that David did flee from danger on occasion.

He fled from Saul, hiding in the wilderness for perhaps as long as ten years.

Rather than fighting and endangering his rebellious son, David fled from Absalom, taking refuge across the Jordan.

The particular danger prompting the writing of this Psalm is not known, but it appears to have been a time of stress when the king’s safety was threatened.

Sensible people flee danger.

Those who are unprepared to meet danger will not only flee, but they will urge others to flee with them.

Like wildebeest or zebras in the presence of a pride of lions on the hunt, all begin to flee.

It is well-nigh impossible to stand firm when all about you are giving way to panic.

When ISIS began to invade northern Iraq, the Yazidi villages had a common response—flee for safety.

They fled to the Sinjar Mountains, the most immediate wilderness of the region.

The mountains provide a measure of shelter from the immediate attack—there are often trees, crags and caves to hide the frightened.

The mountains have the advantage of height and the rugged terrain affords a measure of shelter from the weapons of the pursuer.

However, people do not live in the mountains because they cannot grow the quantities of food on the mountains that a society requires.

Transportation and communication is more complicated in the mountains.

Fleeing to the mountains is a inevitably a short-term response to a long-term problem.

In panic, people flee the immediate danger without thinking beyond the immediate.

We see an example of the panicked response of mankind in the response of the godless during the Tribulation.

The Revelator writes, “When [the angel] opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.

The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand’” [REVELATION 6:14-17]?”