The Psalm 83. The 83rd Psalm. A song or psalm of Asaph. Keep not thy silence, O God. Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. For lo, thine enemies make a tumult, and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones. They have said, come and let us cut them off from being a nation that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. They have consulted together with one consent. They are confederate against thee. The tabernacles of Edom and the Ishmaelites of Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebel and Ammon and Amalek. The Philistines, with the inhabitants of Tar, Asher, also is joined with them. They have Holbein, the children of Lot, Selah. Due unto them is unto the Midianites, as to Sezerah, as to Jabin at the brook of Kishon. which perished at Endor, they became as dung for the earth. Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeb, yea, all their princes as Zeba and as Zalmunah, who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession. O my God, make them like a wheel, as a stubble before the wind. As the fire burneth the wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire, so persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O Lord. Let them be confounded and troubled for ever. Yea, let them be put to shame and perish, that men may know that thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high over all the earth. Amen. Our Father, we ask always Thy blessing upon the public reading of Holy Scripture, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Let us turn to Psalm 83, the 83rd Psalm, where we read our reading this morning. Our text is found there. Let us, first of all, seek the Lord's face and His much-needed help and His promised blessing as we come to His Word. Let us pray. Our Father, we do ask that Thou wilt give us the Holy Spirit now, His ministry in this house. We know there is a ministry of man, but we ask for the ministry of the Holy Ghost also to accompany and empower the ministry of man. We pray that he will work in that area where no man can work, even in our hearts, in our souls. in our innermost being. We thank Thee for the work of the Holy Ghost in Thy people. We pray for an increasing work in us, and we pray that the Spirit of the Lord will do His office and glorify Thy Son and make Him precious and make Him glorious to us. Bless Thy people. Give us understanding of all things give us an obedient response to, to thy word. Remember the unregenerate sinner too in mercy, awaken the dead and may there be the voice of him who says, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. May that voice be preeminent and prevail the worthy namesake of him whose voice it is, the Lord Jesus. Amen. Psalm 83 and the verse 3 is a verse that I would want to point out to you this morning. They have taken crafty counsel against thy people and consulted against thy hidden ones. It is the last three words, thy hidden wants, that really is our text this morning. I once heard the story of a painting competition, a painting competition on a theme which was the storm and peace in the midst of the storm. And one picture nearly won the prize, it was of a raging sea with a ship in the midst and those of course inside the ship, safe while battered, safe and secure. There was the first prize, it was the prize of an eagle on a nest on a cliff face, embedded in there safely. and the gust of the wind, the rain and the storm all around it, but there it was, safe and secure from all alarm. The peace in the midst of the storm. Really, these words, thy hidden ones, bring to mind such a picture, because this is a very stormy psalm. This is a psalm in which there is a great tumult. Verse 2, Thine enemies make a tumult, they that hate thee have lifted up the head. There is a storm here, a raging storm, a storm of raging hatred, a storm of hatred that flows from the hearts of many enemies. You read here of enemies that are confederate. Verse 5, they have consulted together with one consent. They are confederate against thee. The list of the enemies is very long. It flows from verses 6 down to verse 8. What a storm! A storm directed against God's people. a storm, the eye of which is focused upon the saints." Verse 3, they have taken crafty counsel against thy people. and consulted against thy hidden ones." This confederate conspiracy is against the people of God. Verse 4, they said, come and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. It is a storm directed against God's people. But let us turn from the raging wind of God's enemies. and let us go to God's nest that he has for his people. Because in the midst of this storm, in the midst of this raging, God has his holy ones, and they are called thy hidden ones. So here we have a fitting picture of the troubled church, a fitting picture of the embattled saint, a fitting picture of us individually as a people of God who have our storms to face, our world of opposition to encounter, our troubles and our trials and the winds of divine providence which sometimes seem to blow upon us contrary to us, There is God's nest where we are found in this time of trouble. And our subject this morning is God's people, God's hidden wants. They are a hidden people. The first thing that I would draw your attention to is this truth. They are hidden because God has hidden them. thy hidden ones." The phrase implies a divine activity. The words imply that God has moved into action. He has, while the world rages, He also moves, and He has His hidden ones, He has concealed them, He has hidden them. Now, they're not hidden from God, That's utterly impossible. Nothing can be hidden from God. We would not want to be hidden from God. We walk in the light of God's Word even though it exposes our sins. In the light we would be. We would not be concealed from God, but we would be concealed by God. And we are. believing in Jesus, we are thus concealed by him and hid. We are his hidden ones. So, that's the first truth. God has hid us. God has concealed us. And the second thought is this, that it is no secret to his people where they are hidden. We know where we're hidden. We know where we have been concealed by the Lord. This word hidden is used of the mother of Moses whenever she hid Moses three months. She hid Moses three months. We're not sure where. We know who was looking him. But we know this, that where he was hid, she knew and he knew. He knew where he was concealed. And the family knew where he was concealed, and we know where we are hid. And all our brethren and sisters know where we are hid, though the world knows not. We are concealed, but the place where we are concealed is no secret to us. The word is used of Rahab when she hid the spites, she hid her hidden ones, she concealed them under the stalks of flax. She knew where they were. The people of Jericho did not know where they were. They knew. Those spies knew where they were. They knew the hiding place. She who hid them knew the hiding place. And so this truth is the same. We know where God has hidden us. He knows where He has hidden us. Though the world knows it not, we are His hidden ones. It is no mystery to us where we are concealed. It is no secret where he has put us. It is an obscure place to the world, but not to us. Where is that place? Where are we concealed? The Bible tells us. It tells us in many places. You'll remember in Exodus chapter 33 and the verse 21, whenever Moses wanted to see the glory of God, and the Lord said to him in Exodus 33, He said, verse 21, the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock, and it shall come to pass, when my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. There is a place. It is by God. It is at his right hand. It is a place. It is a rock. It is a place that is the cleft of a rock. It is a glorious place. It is a place where alone we can see the glory of God. It is a place where alone we are safe from the passing storms of a divine and holy God. That place is Christ. That place is the Lord Jesus. It is in Christ that He has concealed us. It is in the blessed Savior that we hide. It is in Him who was the rock cleft for us. In Psalm 17 and the verse 8, the place is described as the shadow of thy wings. And so the psalmist prays, Hide me, It's the place where I wish to be concealed. It's the only place of refuge for me, the sinner. Hide me, hide me under the shadow of thy wings." What a hiding place it is, under the shadow of Christ's wings. It is Christ Jesus. In Psalm 27, This is an often discussed theme in the Scripture. In Psalm 27, we have another description of the hiding place. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion. The tabernacle, this tent, that's Christ. He tabernacled amongst us. God manifest in flesh. He's our hiding place. This pavilion is a place of safety. It is a place perhaps in the midst of the camp as it goes out in warfare. It is the safest place. It's the place where the king abides. That's where we're headed. in Christ with the King in the center of the church and in the center of glory. Psalm 32 and verse 7 puts it beyond all doubt, thou art my hiding place." That place is not just some abstract thought. That place is not merely a theology. That place is not just a word. That place is God in Christ. Thou, thou art my hiding place. Psalm 32 and verse 2 narrows it down even further. a man shall be a hiding place. And that man is Christ, the man of Calvary. There's no question that all these references refer to the Lord Jesus. Colossians 3, verse 3, to give you a New Testament proof text. Colossians 3 and verse 3. Ye are dead, and your life, where is it? it's hid. And where is it hid? With Christ. With Christ in God. What a place. It is a place where we are united to the Lord Jesus. It is a place where we delight to be. That flax, that stalk of flax cut down under it we conceal ourselves. That rock cleft for us, in that we hide ourselves. He is our Savior. He keeps us. He conceals us. Bless His name. But then let us think about the grace that brings us to this place, and the grace that keeps us in this place, What is that grace that brings us here? What is that which enables us to abide here? Why are we here? We're here because God has worked in our hearts, He's shown us our danger, and He's given us faith—faith in Christ. And we believe in Him. we trust in him, and we rest in him, and we are united to him by faith, and in him we are hidden concealed. It is said of Ruth by Boaz, under whose wings thou art come to trust. How did she come under the wings of Jehovah? How did she come under the wings of the Lord, who was before an idolater? What has enabled her and what has brought her under the wings of the Lord? Faith. Trust in the God of Israel. She came to Israel, but before she came to Israel, she came to Israel's God. She came to faith and trust in him, and she was put under his wings. we are hid in Christ, and that which unites us to him is faith. That's all. Trust. We're not in him by our merit. not united to Him because of our worthiness. No, we are united to Him with the bond of faith as sinners who trust and depend on His grace and rest in His sufficiency. We believe in the Lord Jesus. We rest in Him, and resting in Him we trust Psalmist put it this way, I will trust in the covert of thy wings. There is no being in that covert without faith. There is no being in Christ without believing in him and trusting in him. You remember the Lord Jesus made an appeal to Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings. The wing of Christ, as it were, were open. He would gather them, he would call them, but they had not the grace of trust. They wouldn't come. They wouldn't come under the shadow of his wings. They wouldn't believe in him. They wouldn't run. They wouldn't run under his arm and hide and conceal themselves and trust and believe in him. They refused to do it. But we that are his people have. We have run into Christ. We rest in him. He is our savior. and we trust in the covert, the covering of his wings. Let us then make inquiry, men and women, are you among God's hidden ones this morning? As we speak on this text, thy hidden ones, do you see your name here? Are you among this people? Are you in the hiding place? Have you come to Christ? Have you fled under the shadow of his wing? Are you abiding in him? This phrase reveals unto us another truth. It reveals how precious the Christian is to God. The Christian is not precious to the world. You only have to read that psalm to see that. The world hates the Christian. The world could do without the Christian, but the Christian is precious to the Lord because he hides the Christian. this place where the Lord Jesus is, this place where God has put us in faith and union to Him. This is a place that when we are in, we know we are precious to God. We are assured and know that He loves us. Being in this place, being brought to this place, we are comforted We see around us the arms of love. We see a Savior of grace. And we know we are precious to the Lord. We are precious, whatever the outside storms, whatever the rage, whatever the trials, whatever winds of providence blow our way, we are in Christ. And however we might misread providence, this is true. We are precious unto the Lord. For we are hid in Christ. And so, child of God, just because you're in the storm, you must never conclude that the Lord is against you. You must never conclude that the Lord hates you. You must never think that. Don't read your relationship to the Lord or interpret his love to you merely by his providence. Oh, the storm is raging. These ten confederate nations rise up against you. There is this perfect unity as they would overcome you and overpower you, and you would be tempted to say, Am I the Lord's? You are if you're in Christ, and you are hidden. and you are hidden because you are precious. The word hidden is in the sense of hiding treasure. It's in the sense of hiding treasure. And sometimes the word is translated in a way that speaks of something precious being concealed. And of course we don't so much be concerned about hiding treasure in our day and age, we just put it in the bank. But in Bible times, whenever enemies invaded, whenever invading states came, the people had to conceal their goods and their treasures, because their houses would be overrun and robbed. And so they would conceal their precious things. They would get their jewels and their gold, and they would find a place out in the field or wherever, and they would bury it, and it would be concealed. And that's the way in which the word is used here. God's people are precious to Him, and they have the enemies and the opposition and the storms, but they're precious to Him, and He puts His precious ones in the most precious place. He puts His precious ones in the best place. He puts them in His Son Jesus. He puts them in Christ. And if we are in Christ, we can be assured we are precious. We are precious unto our heavenly Father. So let us never say God doesn't care. Let us not run around discouraged or dejected. Let us not have faces that are cast down because we are in Christ. We are in the best place that God can put us. We are, therefore, we conclude, precious. We are precious unto the Lord. Though the tears flow, though the storm is severe, though the nest sometimes seems to be shaken, in Christ. We are precious. So look about you, child of God. See where God has placed you. See the Christ in whom ye trust. Look to Jesus, to whom you are united, and be comforted. The title reveals how precious the Christian is to God. It also reveals how secure the believer is, doesn't it? We started off with a picture of the eagle in the nest in the midst of the storm, and we tried to show something of the storm in this psalm. You can read it again yourself, and with that thought in mind, just feel the atmosphere of the storm. But here the saints are secure. Aren't they? It's a place of safety, isn't it, what the Holy Spirit is bringing out? A place of safety and security. God's hidden ones are secure from all alarms. I will not speak of the storm this morning. If I speak of a storm, I will miss your storm. If I individualize one storm, I will leave out 70 or 100 other storms. I speak of all storms. There is a place of safety for you, a place of security. It is the Lord Jesus. For no storm can reach therein. You know, the baby infant in the mother's arms is A wonderful place. It's a place that the baby soon grows up out of. But while the baby is in that place, it's a wonderful place. There can be the greatest storms outside. There can be the greatest commotions going on in the life of the mother. There can be great turmoil in the home. But that mother loves that babe. and that babe is in those arms and that babe just sees the face of the mother and feels the warmth of the embrace and whatever the trials are beyond and without She's in a safe place, or he, the babe, is in a safe place, a place of security, a place of comfort, a place where the mother will shelter him or her from all fears. What a place it is, but a faint picture of the wonderful place, Christ Jesus. We are safe and secure in the arms of our beloved Lord Jesus. We shall never perish. We see the pierced hands that enfold us, and we rest. We listen to the words of His mouth that He speaks to us through Holy Scripture, and we rest and are comforted. We see the atoning blood. We see the passion, and we are comforted. we are safe and secure. Can believers perish? No way. Jesus himself said, no man shall pluck them out of my hand. No saved today and lost tomorrow theology in this place. This is a place of security. This is a place in which Christian poets have waxed eloquent when they speak of the security of the saints. Top lady puts it, things future nor things that are now, not all things below nor above can make him his purpose forgo or sever my soul from his love. Or as William Williams puts it, why should I sorrow more? I trust a savior slain and safe beneath his sheltering cross, unmoved, I shall remain. Or John Newton, that eloquent poet, put it thus, though many foes beset your road and feeble is your arm, your life is hid with Christ in God beyond the reach of harm. It is a secure place, but the eloquence of uninspired poets does not give us the full comfort. The eloquence of the Holy Spirit only will suffice us on our deathbed, only will suffice us in the time of storm It is to the poetic eloquence of the Holy Ghost that we turn. It is to that voice that we listen. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, the love of God were the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." That's the place. In Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate us. What a place. It also reveals how obscure we are to the world, doesn't it, child of God? What does the Bible say? The world knoweth us not. The world knoweth us not. Why? Because you see, we're in Christ. We're in a place that is a mystery to them. We're in a place that they know nothing of, that they are blind to. And the world knoweth us not. If these ten confederate nations really knew and believed what God's people are, they would not have foolishly have put forth their hands to assault them. But they didn't know. It was like they didn't know the Lord of glory, and they crucified him. And the child of God is in Christ, and they just don't know. They just don't know what it means for us to belong to Jesus, and so they can abuse us, and so they can persecute us, and so they can hate us, because we're an enigma to them. We're a mystery to them. We are hid in Christ with God. We are obscure to the world. Your life is hid with Christ in God, so hid that the world cannot see it. The world cannot see that eternal life that you have. We are a mystery to them around us. They see not the atoning blood that washes us. They see not the righteousness of Jesus that covers us and conceals us from the sight of a holy God. They see not the Spirit of God that indwells us. They see not the inheritance eternal promised to us. They see not the Christ that we are married to and joined to by faith. They see not that we have royal blood and are children of the King. They see not that we are priests unto God. They see not that God hath spoken to us. They see not that we are taught of God. They don't see these things. It's concealed from them. All hid all concealed, all sheltered from their view. God's hidden ones. And what things we have in Christ, brethren and sisters. What things we have in that place where we are hid. We're hid in Christ, but we're not hid alone. We're hid with our brethren and sisters in the Lord. We're ahead with all provision. We're ahead with all promises. We're ahead with all the peace of God that passeth all understanding. We're ahead with all the wisdom and knowledge that God has given unto us in holy scriptures and hymns. or hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and we being hid in Him and being hid with Him have access to those treasures of wisdom and knowledge. What a privileged people we are. What a place is this in Christ and in Him for all eternity. It implies also a glorious revelation that awaits us. Hidden ones, but I want you to know, brethren and sisters, that they're only hidden now in the storm. only hidden in time, only hidden in this day of grace, only hidden for the duration of the storms, only hidden while the danger lasts, only hidden while the ungodly roam the earth, only hidden while the devil is outside the lake of fire. But there'll come a day when we shall no longer be hidden. A day when all the enemies shall be put down. A day when all confederate nations shall be destroyed. A day when they shall be put down by the Lord. The day of the Lord. That day is the day of the manifestation of the sons of God. the day when they are seen, a day when they are revealed, a day, as it were, when this hidden place is opened up and all revealed, and they are seen, and Christ is seen in them, and all that they are is brought forth and seen to the glory of Jesus. He cometh, you see, with all his saints. He cometh, and in that day he will be admired in and through all them that believe. It is a day of the manifestation of the sons of God. It is a day when he shall appear. We shall be like him. We shall see him as he is. Our Christlikeness will be revealed. You see, this treasure is coming out when the danger has passed. Just as when the invading nations go, the concealed treasure comes out again into the open. It is our Revelation Day. Not only the revelation of Jesus, but the revelation and manifestation of the saints of God. What a place. What a wonderful place. What a sweet place with the Lord Jesus. I'm glad I'm in this place. And you're a glad child of God, you are too. And you, sinner, you should tremble that you're not. Let us pray. We'll stand, please, for prayer and benediction. Do remember there is a communion service for the Lord's people afterwards, but we'll just close in prayer now. Our Father, we do ask thy blessing upon the word preached and proclaimed this morning. We do ask that thou wilt encourage us, thy people, and strengthen us and give us great joy and gladness in Christ. Work in the sinner, bless those that must part and go on, give journey mercies, and those that abide around the table of the Lord Jesus, do prepare our hearts and do let us feel the presence of Christ. Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God and the communion and comfort of the Holy Spirit be our portion. Amen.