The Lord, My Refuge!

Psalm 16:1 - 2----

Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge.

I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

There are times when we feel unsafe. There are times when we fear, when we are anxious or worried or threatened. King David, who wrote this psalm, had times in his life when he was running for his life. Saul wanted to kill him.

This psalm shows that we can turn to the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. He is our refuge and our safety. He is also our treasure. We see that David said that he had nothing good apart from the Lord. The Lord was his treasure.

But what is it that we need to be kept safe from? We’re not kings. We’re not running from a Saul who wants to do us in. What is it that we need to be kept safe from?

The Bible says that “It is appointed for man once to die—and after that the Judgment.” (Heb 9:27)

There is the Judgment Day. The Day when God has said that everyone will be judge according to what he or she has done. This judgment day is called “the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” (Mal 4:5) We are warned that is it a “dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb 10:31)

Why is this such a horrible thing?

Because God is a righteous God. He is a holy God—and we are unrighteous and unholy. God said that “there is none righteous—no not one!” Nothing that we have pleases God. All that we have done in our own strength has offended Him.

That is why this is such a dreadful day! That is why we should fear and be afraid. That is why we should be very concerned and seek some refuge.

That is why King David prayed: “Keep me safe, O God, for in You I take refuge!”

King David looked to this God for His refuge! This God who is a consuming fire (Heb 12:29). Yet David prays to Him—“keep me safe!” How can this be? God said there is none righteous—no not one. And His anger burns against the workers of unrighteousness everyday. Yet David who was a sinner could pray—keep me safe, O God!

How?

Because God provided a way. God provided a refuge. God provided a substitute. We deserve His wrath and punishment. Yet God punished Jesus Christ in our place.

Jesus took our sin and our punishment and then He gives us His righteousness so that we may approach the Father.

Oh! What an amazing thought! God takes dirty rotten sinners and cleans them up and gives them shelter. Shelter from the storms of life—shelter from the great and dreadful day of His Judgment.

But this is not a FIRE INSURANCE sort of escape. You know, insurance? The type of thing that you would buy and then place in your desk drawer and never think about? Maybe if you had a fire or someone else had a fire, you might think about your insurance. But basically it just sits there and does nothing.

No, this refuge that we have in God is not to be like that at all! See what King David wrote? “I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord.’”

This God who can be our refuge and our safety must be our Lord. We had not security in Him unless we make Him our Lord.

So what does that mean? Lord?

He is in control. He says what to do. He is the King. Imagine that: King David look to this Lord as his own King. We must look to Him as our King too.

But there is something more. David went on and wrote, “Apart from You, O Lord, I have no good thing.” David delighted in this God and Lord. Do we look to Jesus as our King? Do we look to Him as our delight? Do we read His word and find our joy and our comfort there?

If so, we can look to Him as our refuge and our safety—our security and shelter in the Day of Judgment.

If you are not looking to Him as our King and as our Joy, you cannot look to Him for shelter. His wrath still burns against you. You are in danger and you need to call out to this God for mercy. Save me, O God. Change my heart and wash me to make me clean. Save me, O God. I trust in Jesus who took my punishment. Save me, O God. I make You my Lord and my delight. Apart from You I have no good thing.

If we do look to Him as Lord and we find our delight in Him, we are secure. We are safe. We can stop worrying. No matter where we are in life this Jesus will be with us. This Jesus promised to be with us. He will abide with us and we will abide with Him. Even when our time comes and we leave this life, we may rest secure and safely in Him. He won’t let us down. He abides with us and we abide with Him.

How Great is the Father's Love!

I John 3:1----

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Another version says:

Behold, what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the children—the sons and daughters—of God!

In this passage we see the great and astounding revelation of God’s love. His love is great! His love is for us! We are His children! God’s love is lavished on us—poured out richly without stopping. The apostle John here expresses his great marveling at this love! God’s love for us. He says: “what manner of love”! Indeed, what manner of love is this love that God has given to us?

But in order to see how great this love is, we must first see who God is. Then we will look at who we are. Only then can we see how great this love is. Finally we will see that this great love should cause us to live and think differently.

I. Who is this God that loves me?

This is the Lord of the whole universe. He spoke and the heavens and the earth were created. He is so powerful that He can just speak and stars appear! How great is His love for us!

He is the Holy One. He is holy—completely different from us. He is holy—completely without sin. He is holy—there is no shadow of error in Him at all. And His love for us is great!

This God is our Father! –How great is the Love of the Father. Our Father. This is the Sovereign, Almighty King of the universe and we may call Him our Father. Jesus taught His disciples to pray: Our Father who art in Heaven. He wants us to come to Him.

Now I have three children. I know what joy it is when one of them comes up to me, sits next to me, sits on my lap, or when they were much younger snuggle and go to sleep in my arms. Our Father who is in heaven loves us even more than an earthly father could love his children. His heart is looking for our good—if we are really His. Oh, how great is His love for us!

II. Who am I that God should love me?

This is an important question. Who am I that God should love me? The Bible says that all have sinned. Remember that God is holy; He is without sin. He is not pleased with sin. In fact His anger burns against sin and all who practice sin. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, that “the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of all who suppress the truth by their wickedness.”

Some would say, “Oh, I’m not that bad…”

That’s not God’s opinion of any of us. He says that there is none righteous—no, not one. He is the One who said that we should be perfect even as God is perfect.

That’s the standard. Perfection.

And we are not perfect. We are sinners. –Yet God loves us!

How can this be? We should ask how could this holy God come and love us. How could He love me?

In that, we will see what this love is and just…

III. How great is this love?

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That’s how great this love of the Father is for us!

The Father saw that we could not pay this debt. We could not save ourselves. And then, in His great love for us, He sent Jesus.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ dies for us!

O how great is the Father’s love for us!

Christ took our place. He who had no debt paid our debt. He who knew no sin suffered our punishment for our sin so that we might experience the Father’s love; so that we might go to live with Him

O, and He is our Father! Think of that! He is our Father! And He calls us His children. We are children of the Heavenly King!

Now I know that earthly fathers care for their children. I take care of my three children. So I know that He cares for His children. And He cares for them better than I could ever care for mine. That’s how great His love is for us!

A father protects—and so our Heavenly Father protects us. None may take us out of His hands. How great is the Father’s love for us!

A father provides—and so our Heavenly Father gives us each daily our daily bread. How great is the Father’s love for us!

A father guides—and so our Heavenly Father has given us His Word, the Bible and He has given us His Holy Spirit who speaks to us saying, “This is the way; walk in it!” How great is the Father’s love for us!

A father also disciplines—and so our Heavenly Father will discipline us to set us back on the straight and narrow way. He does all of this in love. He does all of this for our good. We see that in all things our Heavenly Father works for the good of those who love Him. O how great is the Father’s love for us!

IV. What does this love cause me to do?

What should my response be? This King of Glory has poured out His love so what should I do?

First. Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. No one can come to this Heavenly Father except through Jesus. Trust in this Jesus. Call out to Him and say, “Save me, a sinner.” And this Jesus is faithful. He will save those who call upon Him. That’s how great His love is for us!

Then, live in thankfulness and in great joy. This Jesus loves me, this I know! And the Bible tells me that the Father loves me so! Thank you Lord Jesus for giving me salvation! Thank you Heavenly Father for Your great Love!

And then, live according to what He wants. He has given us this Bible that tells us how to live. If He loves me that much, I should love Him and His words enough to live by them each and every day. He loves us so much!

And then, speak of His love to others. We tend to talk about things that are on our mind; about things that we love; about things that we enjoy. If He loves us, we should love Him so much that he is on our minds throughout the day. We should aim to have the first words in the morning be praise and thanks to Him. Thank you, Heavenly Father for loving me so much! We should also aim to have words to speak to others about His great love for us.

Finally we know that we have His love as a shelter. He is the Rock of Ages. He is a cleft that we may hide in. When the storms of life blow about us, it is His great love that will give us peace and hope. He will not fail us. He brought us this far, he will not let us down or drop us.

So remember! Look! Consider just how great the Father’s love for us is. He has made us His own dear children. And that gives us great joy and peace.