Brexit. I'm sure you've heard that word many times over the last number of months. And last week, it really did dominate the news. I haven't come to speak about Brexit. You'll be glad to know. But we have to accept that our nation at the present time is in a period in its history probably that happens very rarely. It's in a crisis. Men's hearts are fainting them for fear. There is tremendous uncertainty, and we just know the news is dominated all the time to the point where we can almost feel we can take no more. But it is constitutionally a critical time in the history of our nation. And people are fearful, fearful for the economy, fearful for all sorts of things in the midst of this political crisis that we're going through. We need to be much in prayer about that. But we live in an unstable world. Not only is our own nation facing this crisis as to its future direction, but we see in other nations as well unrest and disorder. We could have a catalogue of those that we could list. France is in turmoil. Other nations in Europe are suffering economic collapse. Throughout the world there are wars and rumours of wars. There are problems at every hand. Of course, there's a constant threat, isn't there, of a war that would be cataclysmic in terms of the use of nuclear weapons. And people are fearful. People are nervous. They may give an impression that they're happy, but most people are very insecure. And it doesn't take much by way of observing the world around us to realise that we do live in a world that's fragile and in considerable danger. But there's nothing new under the sun, in a sense, and Psalm 46 was written probably just after the time of conflict. The commentators vary a little bit, but most of them, I think, conclude that it may have been written in the reign of King Hezekiah, the godly Hezekiah, after the defeat of the Assyrians, when Sennacherib's army was smitten and destroyed by the angel of the Lord who descended upon them. And in the midst of chaos and crisis, and panic and fear, God intervened. It's a wonderful psalm. One that's well known to us, I'm sure, here this morning, I learned it off by heart in Balamony Primary School many years ago, in those days when you learned portions of scripture off by heart. And they never leave you, you know, you still have them. That's the benefit, too, of catechizing children and getting them to learn by rote, because it stays with them. And I could almost repeat this psalm off by heart here, because I do remember learning it in school. But it is a wonderful psalm and I want to break it down under three headings and we move around the verses as we look at the different headings that I've chosen. First of all we see crisis here and then we see confidence and comfort here. And then finally, we see God as a great conqueror here. So those are the three headings, crisis, confidence, and conqueror. First of all, we see what I've been talking about already, evidence of a world in crisis. As I've mentioned already, these upheavals occur throughout the course of history and are repeated over and over again. But there's wonderful imagery here Verse one refers to, the last word there refers to trouble. Trouble, and all around us there is trouble. And in verse two we have these pictures of the earth in cataclysmic chaos. The earth could be removed, removed from its orbit perhaps. We don't know what this means, but it's symbolic. The mountains, the solid mountains, carried into the midst of the sea. And verse three, we have the waters, the seas roaring and in a state of trouble and the mountains shaking with the swelling thereof. These three verses, especially two and three, they picture this image of a tremendous crisis in nature. And of course, God's creation was made perfectly. It's all out of shape and out of condition because of the fall. And so we do see, don't we, all around us evidence of earthquakes, volcanoes, physical disruption of one sort or another where lands are plunged into drought and famine as a result. You had the great fires this last few weeks in California. And of course, people speak of these things as evidence of global warming and of all of this. This is constantly talked about as well. There's even a report this weekend of an agreement on dealing with global warming and climate change. Most of those who push the climate change agenda in an extreme form believe the world is billions of years old, and yet they'll tell us we've got about 13 years to save the planet. But however people look at what is going on around them in terms of the state of our created world, we know that, as Paul says, the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Because of sin, we know what would have caused it. Sin and the fall has knocked the whole of creation out of joint. And these verses too are not only speaking of the literal movement of the earth as it occurs through things like earthquakes and so on, but it speaks, I think, of more than that. It speaks of political and social and moral upheaval. Look at verse 6. We're told there that the heathen raged. So in among all this movement of mountains and seas and all the rest of it, and trouble, the heathen, the godless, the rebellion, those engaged in rebellion, they are raging. They are angry. And kingdoms are moved. Not only are mountains moved, but kingdoms. Kingdoms rise, don't they? And kingdoms fall. The Roman Empire, the Greek Empire, the British Empire, they're all gone. and nations rise, nations fall, we have wars that lead to a rebalancing of political landscapes across the world. And those words in verse six are similarly the picture we have, aren't they, to the words of, or the picture in Psalm 2, where again there's this raging of the heathen and this open rebellion. And there is a rebellion. Not only is there physical disruption and political disruption, but there's moral disruption because man is rebelling against God's laws and against God's truth. And our society has been turned upside down by the heathen who rage against the Lord, against his word, and against the Lord Jesus Christ, his son, and the gospel. But again, this crisis We see it and observe it all around us, but sometimes we can feel it in our own hearts, can't we? Bringing it closer to home. We can feel within our hearts that all is turbulent. All is upside down. There are crises and worries and upheavals. And perhaps it's hard to sleep at night. You wake up thinking and worrying. You have circumstances that cause you concern, whether it's your health or finances or family or whatever it might be. Even perhaps worrying about these things. We ourselves can be far from calm. We can, within our hearts, be filled with a feeling of crisis and fear. Yes, men all around us are fearful. But even as God's people, we often find that we too are affected by many things without and within. And we can be like the image here in this psalm of turbulence and of chaos. So this crisis in many forms. Then the second heading is this that I want to bring to your attention, confidence and comfort. This contrasts sharply, I hope, with what I have been looking at so far. But throughout the samba there's this image that we've portrayed of a crisis and a chaos. There's also a wonderful warmth, comfort in this psalm. It should bring you and I comfort and give us confidence. It's natural to fear. Of course it is. People say, oh, don't worry. You know, when it's easier said than done, it's a natural thing to worry. I remember my father who was quite ill and became more ill as the months passed with cancer in the esophagus. The early stages of it were just difficult and swallowing and things like that and his voice began to go and I kept telling him not to worry. And I think back on it now and how foolish it was, just don't worry, as if that would just make it all go away. So it's natural, isn't it, to worry? And it's wrong sometimes to tell people not to worry, because that's part and parcel of what we are. But sometimes we worry unnecessarily, and we shouldn't, and we have no real grounds for fear, because the Lord is with us. Look at the first verse, well-known and well-loved. God is our refuge and strength. a very present and never present help in trouble. Therefore, verse two, will not we fear. There is a challenge to us this morning. We should not fear. That attitude was found in our nation right about 100 years ago, at the end of the First World War, and during that war, There was a feeling that God was the nation's refuge and strength, that God was their very present help in time of war and trouble, and there was a general view that there would not be fear because they would trust in the Lord. And that contrasts so sharply with what we find all around us now. Psalm 20, verse seven says, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Psalms 33, verse 12, blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Nationally, the nation can no longer, it seems, turn to the Lord because it has forsaken him in rebellion. It can't go back to him because it has no confidence or faith in him. And this is one of the great things that we observe from what's going on at the present time. Has anyone in church or state called the nation, called the people to pray at a time of uncertainty for our future? I haven't heard it. All the talk about the economy, yes, it's important, of course it is, and constitutional change, these things are important, but we need to turn back to the Lord. And it's a great tragedy that we don't see that happening in this day in which we live, because our nation is a heathen nation, raging against the Lord. But my dear friend, this morning, while the nation may be in that horribly sorry state, You and I are not. If our faith and trust is in the Lord, He is your refuge and your strength. No matter what you're going through this morning, He is with you in trouble. Therefore, you can say, we will not fear. We have no strength of our own. We have no wisdom of our own. We flee to the Lord. Where did you flee to when you became a Christian? You fled to the one who is your rock of ages, the one in whom you hide. He is your refuge, your stronghold, your protection, your strength. Isaiah 40, verse 31. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. "'They shall mount up with wings as eagles. "'They shall run and not be weary. "'They shall walk and not faint.'" Paul's words to 2 Corinthians 12, 9, his words are the words of the Lord to him when he was facing difficulties and weakness. "'My strength,' says the Lord, "'is sufficient for thee.'" For my strength is made perfect in weakness. Psalm 146, verse 5, happiest he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. Our nation has lost that confidence and hope, but today you and I and many other believers should have that hope in our hearts. We fled to the Lord. He loves us. He cares for us. Therefore, we can say to Satan and the doubts and the worries when they come in, we will not fear because God is our refuge and strength. But there's something more here in terms of comfort that I want to draw to your attention. The noise of the first three verses has been deafening. And in that noise, God has come and said, I'm with you, I am your help in trouble. But then the whole mood changes in verse four. If this was a symphony or some form of a musical presentation, the whole mood would be quiet now. Suddenly we're told, there is a river. Verse four, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early. This is a picture of the church. When you and I became believers, we became part of the church of Jesus Christ. the bride of Christ, part of the body of Christ. And throughout the Psalms, throughout scripture, there are wonderful pictures of the church, but the Psalms particularly draw out these tremendously helpful, I think anyway, helpful images and portraits and pictures of the church. And here we have the river and the city of God and God in the midst of the city. And the river is water, isn't it? And water speaks of life. Water was very precious to us today as well, as we remember from the short time we had a water shortage in the summer. It seems a long time ago now, but we had that reminder that water cannot be taken for granted. But in the days of the psalmists, it was even more precious and a commodity to be rejoiced in and to be protected. and to be preserved. And this river speaks of flourishing, of prosperity, of hope, of comfort. And the river is, of course, the river of the gospel, isn't it? The river of the word of the Lord itself as it makes its way through the world, watering and giving comfort and hope. God says in Isaiah 41 verse 18, I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water. That is the gospel flowing through the wilderness, flowing through the dry lands, bringing life, bringing hope, bringing comfort. Just reading last night, the night before John chapter four, The familiar passage where Christ meets with that lady at the well of Samaria. What a wonderful, wonderful story. It just was as if I'd never read it before. I was so taken up with it. He spoke to her, didn't he, of water and various forms. And he says to her, whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And the woman wanted more of that water that would lead to no repeat of thirst. You will never thirst again. You and I drank, didn't we, of that life-giving stream. We were in the wilderness of sin, but the river, well, we were made aware of it by the Holy Spirit, and we drank of it. And today, as God's people, we continue to drink of the flowing waters of the Word of God, of the doctrines of grace, of the great comforts that flow from it to God's people, and we are set this river. This river, it provides hope and life and makes glad the city of God. That is the church. Not a denomination or a building or a congregation, because all can rise and fall, but it is the church set in the world and watered by this glorious river. And you think of the church, if the river dries up, the church dries up. That's what happens when churches fail to drink of that water. And there are false churches, as we know, and they've developed a wandering far away from the Lord and have become degenerate and apostate because they've ceased to draw from the river. But the church of Jesus Christ will continue to draw from that river and that water. And the city of God will be made glad. And God, verse five, is in the midst of her. Oh, the church today is weak. We're weak here. Many congregations are similarly weak. The church is laughed at, either because of its numerical weakness, or very often because of doctrinal weakness. The world will laugh at that as well. People think what a nuts as it is, some of the things that are said by some of those in the established church in England. There's a lack of gospel commitment. And the church is regarded as a ship of fools, people who are not right in the head, sailing off towards some crisis because the thing is going to sink. And we're mocked continually. The church is mocked. The cause of the gospel is mocked. In this world, this world of turbulence, they can still find room to mock the church. But the church is safe and secure. God is in the midst. On heaven and on earth, God is in the midst of the church. God is here this morning. And you will not be moved. The world is moved, the mountains are being moved, the seas heaving, and all these things are spoken of. But by contrast, the weak, the pathetic in the eyes of the world, the insignificant church of Jesus Christ shall not be moved. Why? God shall help her. And that right early. He will not delay. He will come to our aid. So my friends, take heart. The cause of the Lord in this world of turbulence and turmoil will not only prevail, it will emerge victorious, for it will not be moved. Rejoice in these things. And then verse seven and verse 11, just in passing, just the psalmist reminding himself and his readers as he's reflected upon this, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob, the God of our fathers is our refuge. seal it, pause and think. And the same words then at the very end of the psalm is to reinforce the point in verse 11. So there's crisis, but there's great confidence and comfort for the people of God and for the church of Jesus Christ. And finally, God as the mighty conqueror in verses six through really to the end of the psalm. God already has spoken. We've seen his greatness in coming to the defense of his people in the midst of trouble and turmoil. But here he emerges as a mighty God, the mighty conqueror. This is our God. This is who is with us in the midst of the church. This is our God and we see his power here demonstrated very clearly indeed. He's a comforter but also a conqueror. Our children's meetings, we sing a wee chorus called Our God is so big. They do these different actions to it. Our God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. There's nothing that he cannot do. And we see that manifested here. Verse six, heathen rage. We've looked at this verse already. The kingdoms were moved. He utters his voice. Again, it's like Psalm 2. God speaks. He simply speaks. And the earth melts. What strong terminology. The earth, the earth is melting. Now, the psalmist has spoken, I suppose, here of experiences that he has witnessed or heard about or been told about. But this, I think, points forward as well to a battle that will come, a battle of cosmic proportions. Because we live, as we've looked already, at a world in turmoil. We've lived in the end times since the time of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but we're living in days of great danger. The world itself can indeed destroy itself, but God is in control, and yet these are reminders here, these words of the strength of the battle that is coming. 2 Peter 3 verse 10 says, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. There's the words again. The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Now there are different views on the end times. I know that throughout the church there are varying views and I don't want to get into that here now at the moment, but we do all agree that the battle lines between good and evil are being drawn up And dark days to lie ahead, and as Jesus says himself, except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Yes, we don't know what lies ahead, but we have taken comfort already, haven't we, that in the crisis, God is in control. In verse eight, we're told to come and behold the works of the Lord, to observe, to take note, What desolations he has made in the earth. You think of the flood where the world was destroyed except a few righteous people in that ark. What a desolation that was. And the writer of the psalm and the readers of the psalm would have known about that great destruction of the Egyptians as the Red Sea opened up and then closed over and swallowed them as the people of Israel escaped to the other side. And many other examples as well of God's great dealings with mankind and with his own people. He's made desolations on the earth. In verse nine, we're told he makes wars to cease. And in a sense, because he's God who controls all things, he does. The war ended in 1918. God, I believe,'s hand was upon the people at that time. 1945 again. And in our own province, I've just been reflecting lately upon the atrocities of 25 years ago, when we had the Shankill Road bombing, followed by the massacres at Greysteel and so on, and sectarian killings all over the place. I remember the reporters on the radio, their voices were breaking. They thought we were heading towards the, not only to the edge, but to fall over the edge into all-out civil war. That was back in 1992 or thereabouts. 93. And yet we drew back from it. We drew back from it. And I believe the Lord's hand was upon us. And the Lord brought that to an end before it got any worse. But here in verse 9 we are pointing forward to a time when wars will be gone forever. They'll be gone forever. Isaiah chapter two, verse four, he shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. He maketh wars to cease. To the end of the earth he breaketh a bow and cutteth a spear in sunder. He burneth a chariot in the fire. Yes, my friends, I don't know how it will all unfold, but I know that this old earth will be replaced by a new earth. There'll be a new heavens and a new earth. In our church, the ladies have been considering the topic of heaven in their Bible study. And my wife has come home different times from it saying, you know, it's just amazing what it's going to be like. We don't fully know what it will be like. Of course we don't. but God will destroy all these evil things and a wonderful new heavens and a wonderful new earth will be created. God is in complete control. God is conquering all his enemies. At the end of all of this, verse 10, we're told to be still. There's turbulence, there's noise, There's endless prattle, and tomorrow we'll start again with Brexit, and we'll be bombarded again with all of this stuff. But there's a command to our nation, a command to those in rebellion, a command to those who hate the church and the cause of Christ. They're told to be still and know that He is God. They're commanded to desist from their noise, and from their raging. And to remember that God is in control. I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. What a fearful message and a challenge to the rebels and to the nations of the world. But what a comfort to us. We're in Christ, he's our refuge and our strength. He is our righteousness and our hope. We're part of the church by faith in him, that city of God, watered by that river, God is with us. This God who will conquer and destroy, who makes wars to cease, this God is our God. You and I can apply verse 10 in a different way. not in a way of fear, but in a way of comfort. Be still, my soul. God is your God. He loves you. He is the one who is in complete control of your life and all that is going on around you. Reflect on these things and don't panic. Verse 11 again, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. So in the week that lies ahead, as you hear all these things and read about them in the news, think of this psalm. Think of these words that we've considered this morning, and take hope, and take comfort, and be at peace. We'll now conclude our time of worship by singing some words from Psalm 46. The first seven verses of the Psalm, Psalm 46. I can just find it here, Psalm 46, verses one to seven. God is our refuge and our strength and straights a present aid. Therefore, although the earth remove, we will not be afraid. We'll sing from verse one to verse seven, and the tune is Stridewater, 128. Stridewater 128, standing to praise God in the words of Psalm 46, 1 to 7.