The Refuge (Part Two)

Is God a refuge to NT believers like He was to OT believers?

Are NT Christians to seek refuge in the Lord; like David did?

Even though the word refuge is not the common word in NT Scripture, the concept is of great value and is fulfilled for Christians in their personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our songs are just as full of this as the Psalms are.

Our books declare our goal of finding God as our refuge.

"God I need time to figure this out and deal with all these emotions. And I need You to keep me safe. I've been hurt and angry, but now I'm scared and I'm rushing back to You because I know You are the One who is my refuge" (p. 348, of Dee Henderson's The O'Malley Chronicles).

Every time we say:

- Rock (solid foundation)

- Rock (solid cave in which to flee)

- Cleft of the rock (crack in which to hide from the storm)

- fortress

- hiding place

- shelter

- protection from the storm

- shield

We are talking about the refuge.

Psalms has 44 of the 90 times the word refuge is used in Scripture (these are all in OT Scripture).

There are two mains ways in which this word is used:

- The Lord is a refuge

- His people seek and find refuge in Him.

2SA 22:1 David sang to the LORD the words of this song when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 2 He said:

"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

2SA 22:3 my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shield and the horn of my salvation.

He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior--

from violent men you save me.

2SA 22:31 "As for God, his way is perfect;

the word of the LORD is flawless.

He is a shield

for all who take refuge in him.

THE LORD BLESSES THOSE WHO TAKE REFUGE IN HIM.

When I trust . . . I take refuge.

When I take refuge . . . I trust.

On Wednesday night at Bible school, Bob the puppet, was telling us of how he was afraid of giant quacking ducks he encountered in Poland. So, the children memorized, "I will trust and not be afraid".

Do not doubt; do not scoff.

In order for us to get to the real refuge, we need to be aware of the false places of refuge.

There are three comparing statements we need to consider. They will help us find God as our refuge.

I. Those who take refuge in the Lord are known by godliness and contentment; the false place of refuge is money and my love for it (I Timothy 6:3-10).

Godliness with contentment is great gain - a refuge given by the Lord to those who seek Him.

II. Those who take refuge in the Lord put their hope in God and pray night and day; the false place of refuge is hope in the pleasures of this world (I Timothy 5:3-8).

Put you hope in God and pray day and night - a refuge given by the Lord to those who seek Him.

III. Those who take refuge in the Lord trust Him and His Word; the false place of refuge is trust in the multiplied religions of this world.

Central Testimony - Summer of 2006

The Supremacy of Christ - Charles A. Hauser, Jr.

"Christ is not supreme in the lives of many believers. For the supremacy of Christ they have substituted such things as entertainment, programs, or tradition. The New Testament is quite clear that this substitution is not pleasing to God."

What are some of these substitutions?

IDOL WORSHIP - which is actually the worship of demons and leads to the covetous worship of things.

FALSE IDOL GOD AS REFUGE

JER 16:19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress,

my refuge in time of distress,

to you the nations will come

from the ends of the earth and say,

"Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods,

worthless idols that did them no good.

JER 16:20 Do men make their own gods?

Yes, but they are not gods!"

HUMANISTIC WORSHIP - this is the worship of man which is powered by our flesh and intellect.

This is the fatal error of Romans 1:25 - "They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised. Amen."

C.S. Lewis in That Hideous Strength shows that the highest point of humanism is absurd and obvious folly in comparison God's wisdom.

- There is a very strange scene in That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis. A human attempt at resurrection of a body and eternal life which is quite strange indeed. It is horror film like; a head of an executed prisoner being kept alive by doctors using machines. The head spoke - but actually it was an evil spirit speaking not the supposedly resurrected head. As I read it, it was a bit creepy, but you must see it in the context that Lewis wrote it. These supposed brilliant scientists were the representative of the powers of this world in opposition to the Lord God. The whole book shows the most brilliant of this world as fools in their opposition to God. It was a strangely mixed group with economics, government, law, and spiritualists all put together. Here is what they came up with in their attempt at a human resurrection and eternal life - a taking head (slobbering and hissing with machine generated saliva) which would talk through the power of an evil spirit. To make the picture complete, Lewis threw in an English bum who these world leaders thought were Merlin the Magician risen from the dead. They were bowing down to the ragged bum and serving him like he was a king. Soon as they would leave the bum would eat everything in sight and then snooze until the brilliant scientists would return. You had to be there, but it was actually quite humorous.

Humanism (worship of the human) is tempting, but very fatal. Do not go to this refuge. Do not trust in man. Do not put you trust in yourself. We trust in God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY OR TRADITION - which, if not always being weighed and evaluated, can become a false refuge that keeps us out of the real refuge.

Mark 7:4-13

We don't disrespectfully throw out everything handed down from generation to generation; if so, we will be doomed to repeat all the same mistakes as those who went before us (that is the primary freshman Bible college lesson in History of Civilization - anyone who can't learn from history is doomed to repeat it).

We do make sure, as each generation cycles around, that what we are doing (tradition) does not work against the Word of God and the effect that we believe that it can have on each one of our lives.

"Are we playing spiritual amateur providence in other lives? Are we so noisy in our instruction of others that God cannot get anywhere near them? We have to keep our mouths shut and our spirits alert. God wants to turn our times of prayer into mounts of transfiguration, and we will not let Him. When we are certain of the way God is going to work, He will never work in that way any more" (My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers, pl. 214).

In spite of all the possibility for someone misunderstanding or twisting what I say;

In spite of the enormous amount of faith it does and will take to say this;

I am very concerned and I will seek to know the Lord's conviction so that my religious tradition does not become my refuge.

May we never make the Word of God of no effect by our tradition.

The name on the door of a church does not determine or dictate the spiritual work that is happening there. That does not mean that the name doesn't have significance - a name has great meaning.

What if we called ourselves The First Church of the Fruit Loops?

That would distract and repel people unnecessarily.

I have heard jokes about The First Church of the Refrigerator.

That meant that she was a mighty cold and icy place.

The latest thing in the Baptist General Conference is that our new churches do not contain the name Baptist. There are many established churches that have made moves to take Baptist out of their name.

I have heart it said that if the name of the church would change people will flock to it; or, because of the name of the church people steer away from it. There are times when this is true because of unfortunate events; but I have been watching this for 25 years now, and my response is still pretty much the same. Most sincere servants of the Lord and most hungry seekers for the Lord don't come or go because of the name on the church, but rather what is happening inside said church.

Don't think that just because I do not necessarily like the name over the door that God is not at work there. This only the Lord knows and is only partly discerned with much effort.

Don't think that just because I have the right name over the door that God is at work there. This only the Lord knows and is only partly discerned with much effort.

May we never make the Word of God of no effect by our tradition.

May God's Word be affecting each of our lives today.

Do we hear Him?

You can all me pastor pickle if you want; but if the Word of God is having effect you will come.

Multiplied things cause God's Word to lose its effect. Did you know that one of them is tradition?

Those who take refuge in the Lord are known by godliness and contentment; the false place of refuge is money and my love for it (I Timothy 6:3-10).

Those who take refuge in the Lord put their hope in God and pray night and day; the false place of refuge is hope in the pleasures of this world (I Timothy 5:3-8).

Those who take refuge in the Lord trust Him and His Word; the false place of refuge is trust in the multiplied religions of this world.

THE LORD BLESSES THOSE WHO TAKE REFUGE IN HIM.

When I trust . . . I take refuge.

When I take refuge . . . I trust.