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[0:00] The words I would venture to try and make a few remarks from you will find in the 33rd chapter of Deuteronomy, the 27th verse.

[0:13] The 27th verse of the 33rd chapter of Deuteronomy. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

[0:30] He shall thrust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Oh, wonderfully, Moses was led by God to speak these things which we have been reading.

[0:56] And although they were spoken to the children of Israel, there are many things I believe that God hath determined should be for your and my help through life's journey.

[1:18] When we come into difficulties and trials and afflictions and sorrows, which are the lot and inheritance of the children of God.

[1:34] While the world know nothing of them, or those that have a false religion know nothing of them.

[1:46] But those of God hath appointed to walk a path, a which they themselves did not know or understand.

[2:01] He who hath said, he would lead them into paths they had not known. Make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight, and rough places plain, and not forsake them.

[2:20] And so there is a people on earth, this remnant of which you have been seen this morning, who he hath taught and led into those things that alone are made profitable by the Holy Ghost.

[2:46] And are known to, in the pathway that God leads his people in, which sometimes seems to be against them, seems to be as though it's going to be their final overthrow.

[3:12] And often in that path, they are wondering where the sea will end.

[3:25] And there will be in that pathway many questionings as to their state before God.

[3:39] And as to whether they did really come in by the door into the sheepfold. For they know so well, that unless they came in by the door, into the sheepfold, there cannot be any entering in through the gate of heaven.

[4:08] These are those thoughts that arise. If I know anything of a path, more or less, through life's journey, though we have professed and have some humble hope at times that we are partakers of that divine life which is hidden in Christ.

[4:45] And there can be a no being overcome by our enemies. So then, there is this daily exercise.

[5:03] I believe with every child of God, some might say, well, why is it if we have come in by the door and belong to the remnant?

[5:21] Surely, there is sufficient knowledge in that alone to give us to believe that it will be one at last.

[5:36] Well, we mustn't get too fast in these things. There will be those things that will be tried.

[5:51] For God hath ordained that faith those smallest shall surely be tried. And He will, I believe, from time to time bring us into those paths and that will enliven prayer in our hearts.

[6:21] For I believe I'm speaking to some with one soul who know that path that when things are going smoothly and things seem to be somewhat more comfortable, we're languishing.

[6:43] and we begin to get into a cold or a lukewarm condition, one being as bad as the other before God.

[7:00] Oh, what a mercy it is to be warmed a little through the leadings and teachings of God in the soul so that prayer is brought forth not from the lip-only but from the inmost recesses of the heart.

[7:27] A lamentation as it were before God as to our condition. it was with dear Jeremiah how he lamented those things that he passed through and yet God in his love and compassion was with him and leading him and teaching him even in that trying path that he passed through so like him his people in measure walk a path where their religion will be tried.

[8:09] The version of God of religion is being tried. God will try it as with fire. I believe that God had his furnace in Jerusalem and he will try his people's religion that they may know ultimately that it is a true religion and also one day prove that it have been an in warp work by the spirit in the soul.

[8:58] Well in this word here before us Moses spoke them just before he was to depart this life.

[9:15] God had told him that he should not go into the promised land but that he should see it and so that you know how it was in the next chapter we read how God buried him in that place where he died but he spoke these blessings to the children of Israel before his departure and when we consider the pathway that dear Moses had to walk as he was a leader of the children of Israel surely he could rightly speak the eternal God is thy refuge what a mercy it is if you and I as we come into his house this morning bowed down with sorrow feeling as to our condition before

[10:27] God may be a vast eternity facing us knowing that once the breath hath gone from us there is a vast eternity to spend no end to it then as we have many fields arise in our hearts as to our condition before God here is this blessed promise before us the eternal God is thy refuge well he is eternal that is to say everlasting without beginning and without end can we begin to fathom the greatness of the eternal

[11:33] God how that he had no beginning beginning I remember when I was a child how I thought upon this particular point asking my mother on that occasion concerning it well how could she answer it but I thought God he must have had a beginning but you see it was an eternal God without beginning and knows no end so that when we consider that he is so great and beyond all our comprehension yet he hath condescended to men of low estate hath in his eternal covenant appointed a people that shall know something of that truth that he is eternal that he is one that no man can comprehend or understand and yet given them that faith to believe that he is what he is eternal and faith believes too that he being the eternal

[13:13] God was that one that created the earth and men upon it and provided a refuge for him in that eternal covenant what an unspeakable mercy it is if you and I have in our hearts event to believe he is that eternal God and then to know him to be our refuge he is our refuge in every deep distress I'm sure we shall never find any other refuge we may try it

[14:13] I've tried it our wicked hearts ever would be meddling ever would endeavor to find a refuge somewhere on this earth somewhere whereby we might receive some help but my dear friends you will find that all other refuges will fail it is no use to run hither and thither with thy troubles some might say well indeed right to speak of these things well the poets that were out the bread thus vainly spent to heaven in supplication sent thy words will often be hear what the

[15:18] Lord has done for me so might say well aren't you guilty well I may be the most guilty of all for often my friends we forget the throne of grace in our troubles often we apply this and apply that unless God bless the means all will prove to be of none of our own so then is our refuge in every distress art thou in distress enough as to your never dying and immortal soul more important than all bodily things more important than all material things I say are you in distress concerning your never dying and immortal soul well you're among the blessed there's not many distressed in the day we live concerning their never dying and immortal souls

[16:29] I don't say that judgmentally but by observation but there are some who are in distress how will he be with me in the swelling of yore how shall I stand before the great and mighty judge of all the earth how shall I stand should he come in a moment of time and remove me from this time state these are the exercises of those who are being wrought upon by the holy ghost for it is the author of all those exercises that come upon the children of God so then if you are distressed I am sure you at times wind your way to the mercy seat where

[17:41] I would point such to the mercy seat that is the flames where thou will find help to be delivered from your condition there you will find there is a refuge at the mercy seat is our refuge it dwells upon the mercy seat and if you are in that condition may you be enabled to wedge your way thus to the refuge even unto the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who sitteth upon the throne to hear the cries of his elect and dear poets as he hates to put away so that if you are unable to cry unto him some might say well

[18:51] I find it difficult to cry well what are you expecting there's not a lot of noise in true prayer there's not a lot of noise with a person who's under this trial concerning their never dying an immortal soul indeed they are often very silent and those around them may not know that these things are going on in their in their souls or in their hearts indeed I believe there is a tendency to shyness for I may say that rightly to speak of those things well again here such are proving that there is no other refuge and if you are then

[19:52] I was going to say if you are expected to have a flow of words as it were before him that is not the case it is that you might have in your heart a cry under him that feeble desire and those wishes so weak tis Jesus inspires and bids he still seek the eternal God is thy refuge oh may you never my friend seek any refuge anywhere else you won't find any refuge in any other I tried one occasion to find a little of this refuge as it were in a relative of mine when I began to speak a little of what

[20:54] I felt God will shut up every refuge my friend that you will find that he is the one and Lord because he is determined if I may say that reverently to have all the praise that you may one day be able to say in your own heart and then also open thy mouth before others and say the Lord did it he brought me forth he delivered me from the bondage that I was in he delivered me from the fear of eternal death he delivered me from that condition that I felt as I stood before him and therefore you will know them for your own soul that he is the refuge well this refuge is made known in the gospel the poet says a refuge for sinners the gospel makes known tis found in the merits of

[22:11] Jesus alone so then there is a refuge in the gospel the gospel that Jesus Christ came here on earth to declare unto those around him and you know there was those that received it loved it and embraced it and there were those that rejected it some might say well that sounds a little free will it isn't you know it was ordained of God in heaven above in the eternal covenant that they should reject it and that there should be those who should receive it as a dividing line isn't it so then how God in his love and mercy made it known here or when the

[23:12] Lord and Saviour came to be made the propitiation of our sins and to be delivered up a sacrifice for sin there is the refuge even at the cross of Christ that you may see him in all that he did to put away sin so that in the gospel of Jesus Christ there is a full and free and unmerited redemption there is a deliverance from the fear of eternal death and more there is a there is a refuge as a refuge he is one that delivers from death that when we come to our journey's end he still will be our refuge even at that time oh to have them the eternal

[24:28] God as our refuge you see we read in the word their rock is not like our rock our rock Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the refuge is firm and sure there is that which whereon the child of God can stand and does stand that there is nothing that can remove them from their refuge well then is there refuge too for refuge you know is a place from danger oh aren't we surrounded with danger I don't mean we are there I know in the world we see how we are preserved from danger day by day some of us have been very close to it no doubt in life's journey but you know there's greater dangers than this oh yes we're in danger out from the great arch enemy of souls he's ever alert alert day by day to to attempt to destroy if it were possible in the very elect oh how

[26:12] I proved in the past week how he would endeavor to destroy and infuse all manner of things into the mind that we never did know anything around as regards the things of God and you've only began to preach in presumption you're only one that has perhaps got some gift of speech and you have started these things yourself or aren't we in danger when he comes with these and infuses these things into the mind and yet you know he cannot take from us though often he hath tried this grace given promise the Lord will provide he will he provide a refuge and he has so that we may come to him as our refuge where the enemy cometh in life of love that he may lift up a standard against him that he may overthrow his power

[27:28] I wanted to come into that a little later but you know he is a powerful enemy of ours well there will be dangers arise and there will be too those thoughts arise in our hearts as to the truth as in the word of God before to rise how do you know that Christ came on earth what proof have you offered it's only a record by men ah danger or these things that arise in the heart of men and in your heart and mind it may be all by Satan to try if it were possible to deceive if it were possible even his people so then we need this refuge that he may be that unto us wherein unto we may flee in the time of danger dangers of every shape and form come against us there may be sometimes arise in our hearts with regards to the separating word of

[29:05] God does it seem just does it seem right a thought will arise that some of mankind should be dealt with us and some in another way while all this carnal reasoning arises from our wicked hearts arises from the power of Satan and would indeed bring us into a place of confusion and let in that condition we should be lost but here again is our refuge you will find if I know anything of this path that at these times it will drive you God or you heard me say before Satan misses his mark he does indeed he often drives a child of

[30:06] God to the throne of grace that that's the depth isn't it I say he often drives a child of God to the throne of grace that God will have compassion upon him that he would deliver him from all these awful thoughts and these things that come against him they prove him to be a refuge there were those in the world that found him to be a refuge dear Peter didn't realize you know the danger he was in when he three times denied his lord and master not until the Holy Spirit caused him to go out and weep it to lay he was in danger but you see how he found even there in that condition the lord to be under him his refuge so that he found that even there in that awful condition right threshold of the judgment hall when his dear savior was before

[31:32] Pilate and that he previously said that he would go even with him unto death oh my friends may we be kept from speaking things that we arise from our flesh that we might never be able to accomplish that we may make no vows before God who actually see how Christ reminded him of it he said before the cock crow he shall deny me thrice how weak we are we surely we have to prove with no better heart if I know anything we have denied our dear savior many times but he's our refuge the eternal

[32:32] God is thy refuge so that those very things have been the means to cause us to run from dangers in world under him in the time of trouble well he's our refuge then in the time of trouble how many times have you found it to be your refuge in the time of trouble in the path of tribulation and sorrow well you know when we've been in trouble various have been sometimes bodily sometimes spiritually sometimes it's been in the family it may be I'm speaking here collectively not just myself but I say collectively we have been in these places and various have been but it been our refuge oh what a safety there is when we are unable to come to our refuge we have proved that he has supplied all our needs according unto his riches in glory that he hath proved to us that all things are in his sovereign hand that all things both in heaven and in earth are at his disposal they are indeed that he gives us more than ever we have deserved of his love and mercy and grace and given us of this world's goods far more than ever we ever anticipated in days gone by the eternal

[34:39] God is thy refuge refuge he's been our refuge in every deep distress when I say we have been well now overcome as we thought I say we thought we never been well now overcome not really he's our refuge but is to now thoughts our feelings and so on we feel to be well nigh overcome and on the verge of despair some might say well do we come there after our call by grace I should have thought it would all be plain sailing as it were well my friends when grace enters into the soul and one is delivered from the powers of darkness that's when your troubles begin soul troubles

[35:42] I mean I say begin you know what I mean there I mean the battle perhaps is a better word the warfare then begins so that you and I find that when we are in the warfare we continually need this refuge so that as child of God is able to flee in every time of need as I said just now we may not immediately go but we are compelled to come under him for our deliverance so then it does give us I feel at times to take a retrospective view of the past how he hath delivered in that trouble and in another trouble where he hath brought us to be able to say my

[36:52] Jesus hath done all things well every trial every trouble every difficulty hath been ordered by him and there is a blessing in it there is a blessing in it oh every trial we have proved there's been a blessing in it where we have feared that it would be our destruction the prophet is not a place to enumerate all these things but some of us can testify even here now before God and his people that he's been our refuge and if he's been our refuge personally he can be yours he's the same God as the eternal God eternal God is thy refuge so that he he who hath helped us can help you too who may be in that condition of needing his help and underneath are the everlasting arms so he's not only a refuge for us but these everlasting arms the everlasting arms of the eternal world they are such as they are underneath is there one here in a sinking condition

[38:30] I've been there many times in a sinking condition say are you in a sinking condition fearing that you shall sink where hope and mercy can never come well that is a path that I believe God's people are brought into from time to time I often feel in a sinking condition I don't know the path where there's no doubts and fears I don't know the path where there's no opposition I say there's times to come into a sinking condition like dear Peter you know oh how he fought he saw his dear saviour walking upon the waves he said bid me come unto thee the Lord permitted him to come you know but he became in a sinking condition he hadn't gotten far you know before he looked at the waves not his master have you ever done that looked at the trials the troubles the difficulties and took your eye off the refuge well that is how it is sometimes I believe well while he took his eye off his saviour the refuge and looked at the mighty waves you see began to sink in a sinking condition and then he cried out

[40:20] Lord save I perish oh what a mercy it is to have a cry in a sinking condition to cry out under him that he will deliver and you know Christ put forth his hand and delivered him underneath his everlasting arms how God's people have proved it through all ages how dear Job proved it and knew it to the full and toward the end of his life that underneath had been the everlasting arms and were also under him still when he said I have heard of thee with the earing of the ear but now mine eyes seeth thee wherefore I bore myself with dust and ashes oh what a mercy it is to then to have him to be with us and to prove that underneath are the everlasting arms well my friends with these this knowledge given unto you you will prove in all your troubles and trials and difficulties that he is with you in them

[41:50]  I know we cannot always feel it when we are in them I don't but we shall prove and see that he has been our refuge and that underneath have been the everlasting arms and may the Lord have his blessing Amen