Psalm 83. You could probably guess the title. The Hidden Ones. The Hidden Ones. Hide me, O my Savior, hide, till the storm passes by. Now we know that the Psalms are basically messianic. They speak of Christ and it's Christ speaking. They also have their spiritual application to us, the church. Israel in the Scriptures is a type of the church. There were wheat and tares growing together in that day, just as there are wheat and tares growing together in the church today. There were true believers in Israel in that day, but there was a lot of tares among those wheat, tares among those wheat, and the same as today. Israel had many enemies, And I don't know if you caught this as I was reading it, many of their enemies was their own relation. Moab, that's descendants from Lot, you know, his daughter, the ancestral relationship, but Moab, Ishmaelites, Ishmael, they were coming against Israel to destroy them as a nation. The Hagarians, These came from Hagar, from another husband, not Abraham, but another husband. You know, that's Hagar. Our Lord said that a man's foes would be they of his own house. They will turn against you. And if you notice as I read this, how all seem to come against God's Israel. And if you look at all these Nations that were mentioned, they were in the north, the south, the east, and the west. They came from all directions. All directions. They came to cut them off. Cut them off. It says there in verse 4, They have said, Come, let us cut them off from being a nation. That's how much hatred they had of Israel. That hatred is still around. for the church. It's truly still around for the church. That the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. That is how hated God's people are. That's how hated God is. This world hasn't changed. The true God of the Bible and the true people of God are still hated. Turn over to Revelation chapter 12. Let us get a glimpse into what's going on. You see, we can see the physical things and you and I, since we're such creatures of appearance and we judge by appearance, we actually miss what's going on. We really do miss what's going on. There's a real spiritual battle going on. And we are so given to judging by appearance. But I want you to listen to this. I'm going to read this whole chapter. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet. She's speaking here of the church. He is speaking of the church. And upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. Satan is ready to devour Christ as soon as he's born. What did Herod do when he heard about that? He had all the children from two years old and under killed. Put to death. And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up unto God and to His throne." Can you see Christ and His resurrection? This is the Lord. This is Him. But now listen. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had the place prepared of God. God had prepared her a place of protection, a place, a hiding place, a hiding place to protect her. The church would be wiped out if it wasn't for God preparing a place for her to go and hide. That they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred, and three score days. That's three and a half years, I believe. And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. Neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world." This whole world is under his deception. It's under his deception. He was cast out into the earth. Remember, God asked him where he was. He said, going to and fro, up and down in the earth. He's a very real person. And he goes up and down to and fro in his earth. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice say in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night, constantly accusing them. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, the gospel. And they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down to you having great wrath." He's angry. He's angry. He's angry that he got cast out. And he's angry that God's getting the glory. And he's taking his anger out on God's people as God lets him. Now listen, he's on a chain. The pit bull is on a chain, he's not running loose. But he's come down and he has great wrath because he knows that he has but a short time. He knows his time's short, and he's going hard at it to try and destroy God's people, God's glory. And when the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman, the church, which brought forth the man-child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood, try to drown her, and wipe her off the earth. I couldn't help but think of the Apostle Paul making havoc, wreaking havoc, in the church, trying to destroy it before God saved him. And the earth helped the woman. The earth belongs to the Lord. The earth is the Lord's, the fullness thereof, and they who dwell therein. Psalm 24. God used this earth to help her. And the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth, angry with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed. That's me and you. That's me and you. Which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, when you get up every day, you see the world differently. This is how I see the world through the Word of God. This is how I see it. When I read the Word of God, this is what's going on. Don't be fooled by looking at men and what you see going on with men. There's a spiritual war going on. Satan is angry and he's after the church. He's after God's people. You know, if somebody hates you personally, if they hate you, you know the best way they believe they can get at you? Your children. They go after your children. I was watching a movie some time ago. It was a mafia movie. And anyway, the mafia was making a threat on a guy, and they held up a picture of his family. And if you don't do what we say, we're going to take your family. We know where they live. They told them where the address, the address of the family, where they all live, what time they went to school. I mean, they did all that. And that's what Satan is trying to do. He's going after God's children. But here's the comfort we have. He's hid us. He's hidden us. Why should I tell you, this is comforting. Now listen, things have not changed because evil hasn't changed, Satan hasn't changed, men haven't changed. We do not live in a godly world and we do not live in a godly nation. We don't live in a godly nation. There's one godly nation under heaven, it's the church. It's not America. It's the church. And other than that, there's no other godly nation. And you can see this in the nation we live in now. My soul. It's awful. And the whole scheme of darkness is to bring down God's chief glory, that's His redemptive glory, and that's you. That's you. Do you have any idea how many times that Satan, the spirit of darkness, and his angels try to trip us up every day? Not only a thought, but indeed, tries to trip you up every day. Satan is subtle. He comes at the church in all directions, from the north, the south, the east and the west. He comes at you. If He'll come at you this way, then He'll come at you another way. He never stops coming at you. Never. And I'll give you an example, and this is an example that came to my mind as I was thinking of this. This country has legalized same-sex marriage. Now, this is more than a difference between liberals and conservatives. This is the subtlety of Satan, because he knows how to set this nation against the church. Because you know and I know that when it comes to the Word of God, that the Word of God is going to stand. It's going to stand if the laws that this country makes is against the Word of God. Listen to Leviticus 18.22. Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is an abomination. It's an abomination. Now, this world and even this country, they don't look at the Word of God. They don't look at the Word of God and see what it has to say about it. They don't do that. But I tell you, someone who knows the Word of God, Satan knows that. He knows that. He knows that's written in God's Word. And he knows that the way to drive a wedge between the nation and the church is to turn on God's Word. Turn on God's Word. That's subtle. That's so subtle. It's subtle. Now this prayer, let's look at this prayer. We'll look at these hidden ones. The hidden ones are the ones I want to look at. But this prayer is against the enemies of Israel. But if you'll notice in verse 2, as he prays, he calls them the enemies of the Lord. They're the Lord's enemies. You see, His enemies and our enemies are the same. They're one and the same. Christ said, if they hated Me, they will hate you. If they don't hate Me, there's a problem. Isn't there? There's a problem. If they hate the God of the Bible, as He is, if they hate Jesus Christ, who's revealed in these Scriptures, and they don't hate Me, there's a problem. The Lord said, No, they're going to hate you because they hate Me. They hate Me. So the psalmist, he speaks of God's enemies here in verse 2. For lo, thine enemies make a tumult. They're making a noise. They're rejoicing over this. They're clamoring. And they're your enemies. And they that hate thee have lifted up their head like they're somebody. Like there's somebody. But now if we look at this as a prayer of our Lord, it is no more than right that He should pray against our enemies. Does He not know who they are? I know my sheep, He said. I know my sheep. He prays for us. But in praying for us, He has to pray against those who are our enemies. You know, there are some that are not chosen. That's a fact. There are some who are the seed of Satan. I caught this reading today. I want to show you this over in Genesis 3. It just really jumped out at me. Genesis chapter 3. Listen to what God says to Satan in verse 15 of Genesis 3. "...And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between him and the church, and between thy seed..." Whose seed? Satan has a seed on this earth. Thy seed and her seed." And we know her seed is Christ, but He's against us in Christ. We are His seed, aren't we? We are His seed. But boy, I tell you, He said, I'll put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. And this is who our Lord prays against. The enemies of the church who are the seed of Satan. He knows who they are. He knows who they are. Remember He said in John 17, I pray not for the world. I pray not for them. But let me give you some comfort. Let's find some comfort tonight from the Word of God. I want to talk about the hidden ones. These hidden ones are the chosen ones. chosen by God before the foundation of the world. They are loved ones, they are loved with an everlasting love. They are the redeemed ones, redeemed by the blood of Christ. They are the holy ones, they are the sanctified ones, they are the justified ones, and these are the hidden ones. He hid us in that covenant of grace before the world began. He hid us in Christ. We'll see this here in a minute. And because we are hidden, the world doesn't know us. That's what it says in 1 John 3. Look in 1 John 3. In 1 John 3, verse 1, "...Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not." You know, when the world looks at us, let's say our old old companions, old worldly companions. When they look at us, the people that knew me growing up, when they see me, you know what they see? They see me. They don't see no difference. They see John. They don't see the new one. They don't see that new John. They don't see that new creation. They can't see that. They can't understand. They look at me and they don't see... They see a difference in your conduct. They do. They see a difference in your conduct, your conversation. They do notice that. That is a difference. I went to a doctor once that knew Henry. He grew up with Henry's son. And I went to his asthma doctor, and I went to him, and I told him, I said, Henry Mahan referred me to you. And I'd been there two or three times, and I told him finally who had referred me. And he said, oh, I grew up with Henry's son. He said, I knew there was something different about you. He said, I knew there was something different. And I know what he was saying. He knew I sat under Henry's ministry. He knew I sat there. He knew I believed the gospel. He said, I knew there was something different. They know there's something different, but as far as looking at you, they can't tell you're a son of God. All they see is just the person that they grew up with. The world knoweth us not. We're hid from the world. They can't see that. Now, let's look at the implication of this. What it means to be hidden. We all know what the definition of that is. To be hidden, you can't be found. Nobody can see you. They don't know where you are. But let me give you some implications here. The hidden ones are protected. I wouldn't have thought you and I could realize how protected we are. I wish we could realize that we have Angels protecting us. Angels watching over us. The Scripture calls them the face of their angels. Their angels behold the face of their Father. You know that Scripture. The angels watch over us. We are protected. It's like Obadiah there in 1 Kings 18 speaks of him hiding a hundred prophets in the cave from Jezebel. He hid them. She didn't know where they were at. She didn't know how to get to them. And how often God has hidden His servants. He's hid them in the wilderness. He's hid them in the mountains. Go over to Hebrews 11. They were in the mountains and hidden in the caves. God has hidden His chosen ones, His loved ones. You're hidden. You're hidden. You're protected. You're protected. And then your spiritual life is hidden. It says in Colossians 3, 3, 4, "...for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Satan can't get to your life. You know, whenever he wanted to touch Job, God allowed him to touch everything but his life. He touched his health, he took his kids, I mean, all these things were touched. But he couldn't touch his life. because his life is hid with Christ in God. And that can't be touched. My real life cannot be touched. It can't be taken. That's why the Lord said that I'll lose none of them. I'll lose none of them. As the life of the branch is in the vine, so our life is in Jesus Christ. And it can't be touched. Our spiritual life Cannot be touched. It's hidden. And it's God who hid it. God has hidden every one of His children. It's written in Psalm 31 20. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Think about this. I thought about this today. We read here in Psalm 83, all these nations, and one of them is Assyria. Assyria, at that time, became the greatest nation on earth. Powerful nation. They are surrounded. They are coming at Israel. They are coming at them. Well, here it is, 2021. And there's still a nation over there called Israel. What was it, 1945? Hitler tried to extinguish the Jewish race, and here they are today. They became a nation. What was it, 1965? Well, apply that to the church. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's God who hides them from the pride of man. He hides them from the strife of tongues. If He did not hide us, we would be goners. We would be goners. If you walked into your place of work, or wherever you go tomorrow, if you walked in there, and it was very evident, that you were a son of God, they'd kill you. I promise you they'd kill you. If they could get to you, they'd kill you. If they could see that you really are a son of God. Because darkness hates light. Evil hates holiness. It hates the very presence of holiness and righteousness. It will not come to the light lest this deed should be reproved. They would kill you if it were possible. And He hides us and takes care of us by His providential care. You remember one time when our Lord, they wanted to take His life, and it says He walked through the midst of them. And it just hit me today as I was reading this. You and I walk through the midst of an evil world every day. Every day. And then now, what does this truth suppose? What does it suppose? Well, it supposes this. If God has hidden us, We must be precious in His sight. You don't hide things of no value, do you? There's things that you have hidden, you've got them in a safe. There's things you've got hidden away because they are very valuable to you. There's things you leave out. You leave out. You don't go on vacation. You don't hide everything. But you do hide things of value. That's what you do. You hide jewelry. You hide things that are precious to you, heirlooms, things that are precious. You know, in Malachi 3.17, God calls us his jewels when he makes up his jewels. And then it is written in the Scriptures in 1 Peter that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. That's why we're precious to Him. We're costly to Him and we're precious to Him. Each one of God's children have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. And then it supposes this, that if God hides us, we must be exposed to danger. I said earlier, we live in an evil world, don't we? We don't know how evil it is. We really don't know, because God restrained the human race. If He didn't restrain the human race, God would not have His hidden ones in danger. He allows them from time to time to touch this one and this one, like the martyrs. But they still don't touch their life, they just touch their bodies. They just touch their bodies, not their life. You know, our Lord bids us to watch and pray. The world, the flesh, the devil, they're always doing us harm. Always doing us harm. I watched some something the other day. I don't remember if it was on TV or billboard or I think it was on TV or something I saw or heard it on the radio. But anyway, a couple days later, that came to my mind. It was a useless thought. It was a totally useless thought. And that came to my mind. And I thought, if I hadn't heard that, I wouldn't have thought of it. I wouldn't have thought of it. And I thought how Satan lays traps constantly for your mind, for your mind. And you think of this, and you think of that, and it's like totally useless thoughts. We're constantly exposed to danger. And our minds are constantly exposed to evil, to evil. And then what does this truth lead us to? What does knowing this lead us to? What does this knowledge lead to? I tell you what it leads to. When it's really burned into your heart that God has hid you, you're safe. You're safe. Your life is safe. We don't have to worry about losing our life, do we? It's hid with Christ in God. It leads to this, a deep, deep love for God. He put you among His hidden ones. I didn't put myself there. He did. In Psalm 100 it says, We are the sheep of His pasture. He has made us, and not we ourselves. He has made us. And then it leads to a real contentment. A real contentment. You know, not anxiousness, not worry, but a real contentment. Where we are, the Lord has put us where we are, and He keeps us. He protects us. We're safe. And here's something else it leads to. Not murmuring. Complaining. Remember this, and this struck me when I thought about this, not complaining because we're protected, we're loved, we're redeemed, our life can't be touched. Remember, I thought this, I thought to myself, I said, John, remember this, not all are chosen. What do I have to complain about? Has God chosen me? Has He given me an interest in Christ? There's a lot out there that don't. I have nothing to complain about. And then it should lead us to confess Him before men. Being hidden doesn't mean we are silent. It doesn't mean we're just like, shh, be quiet so they won't see you. It doesn't mean that. Being hidden means you're protected and cared for. No harm can take your life. And then it leads to this. Oh, it leads to thankfulness. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. That's a song, isn't it? That'd be a good one to end with. Thank you, Lord. Sometimes it just comes while you're preaching. Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Let me read, I copied this, I read it today and I thought it was good. Those whom the Lord has set apart and guarded as His own peculiar possession, those whom He has undertaken in a special manner to protect, those whom God holds in the hollow of His hand, those to whom He is a wall of fire round about them that none may do them hurt, those to whom He says, He that touches you touches the apple of mine eye, which is the pupil. The pupil. Now I want you to listen to these Scriptures, and this will give you confidence and comfort. Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings. Psalm 17, 8. Psalm 27, 5. In the time of trouble he shall hide me. He shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me. Psalm 31 20. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence, I read this to you, from the pride of man, thou shalt keep them secretly, secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Psalm 91 1. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3.3. This idea that they are the Lord's hidden ones is to be cherished by God's people and a source of rest for them at all times. That's comforting to me. That's very comforting.