If you have your Bibles tonight, let's turn again to that wonderful book of holy songs. The Psalms in the New Testament tells us to speak to ourselves in songs. hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in our hearts. I'm glad we've been able to do that even tonight and we never want to forget about these songs even though they're so instructive that these were songs of praise that were sung among God's people for years and years and still I believe among the Jewish communities These songs are still sung and of course many of our hymns are inspired even by the Psalms themselves. So I invite you again to turn to Psalm 105, the Psalm of promise, the Psalm of promise. In the Psalms, one of the psalmist says that the law of the Lord is perfect. converting the soul. He talks about the testimonies of the Lord, or sure, enlightening the eyes, right? And he says that the Word of God is so sweet. He says, sweeter than honey, and the what? The honeycomb, right? Now, I've always enjoyed Eating honey so sweet, but I never really had honeycomb and One of my friends when we lived in Griffin Jordan y'all remember woody his father raised bees honeybees And one time when I was there staying with him, he collected a portion of the honeycomb from the honeybees. He went out there, you know, he was covered up with his suit and his net so he wouldn't get stung. He was putting the smoke to them to make them sleepy so they wouldn't sting him. And he brought that in. He let us taste some of the honey, fresh honey, right, that had just been made, that had just been taken off, and it was so good. But then he gave us both a piece of the honeycomb, and I never tasted that, how awesome that that was as well. And so I think What I'm going to get to share with you from the Word of God tonight is that exact thing. That a lot of this psalm, the psalm of promise, is just dripping with that honey from heaven for us. I remember even it said one time you remember when Jonathan was so weak Saul had made him take that vow that they wouldn't eat or do anything until David was killed. And he said that he just took his staff and he put it into a honeycomb and he brought it to his lips and it refreshed him so much. Well, so much of this psalm is dripping with honey. But the thing and the promise that I won't to share with you tonight to me it is that sweet morsel it is even that spiritual honeycomb for the people of God so I hope you really enjoy it tonight and it does that same thing that it it enlightens the heart and and the soul makes you rejoice in your God so the title of our message tonight is the promise of protection the promise of protection. I love that song that we sang, Safe in the Arms of Jesus. That reaches us and teaches us on multiple levels, doesn't it? Safe spiritually, for sure. Safe in His covenant of grace. Safe in His love. We have another song that says, I'm safe in His love. I'm safe in His love, right? I dwell sweetly there, it talks about. We have songs about what a great shepherd the Lord is. And that's part of the great work of the shepherd is to protect the flock. The Lord Jesus even willing to lay down his own life for us to save us, to protect us from the grave, from hell, from the the guilt of our own sin and shame. What a great, great Savior. But I believe even in a very unique way that the Lord also protects us naturally as his children. I love the song. We're going to sing it at the end. His eye is on the what? Sparrow. But I know he watches me. Amen. Jesus said not a sparrow lights on the ground, but what the father knows and you're much more value to God than that. So here in Psalm 105, just want to look at A couple of verses here, mainly verse 15, but we are going to start in verse 12. When they were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and strangers in it. when they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people. So he's talking about the days of the patriarchs and how God called Abraham from the Ur of the Chaldees, right? He said, get you up out of this country and I'm gonna send you to another country, to a place where you're gonna worship me, where you're gonna serve me. And then when he got there, he was a stranger, he said, in a what? in a strange land, right? He had no continuing city, as we read in the... book of Hebrews, but he looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. But they traveled, they were sojourners in the land of Canaan, all the days of the patriarchs. They didn't own anything. They even went into different countries at different times. And he's talking about how God protected them, even when they went down into Egypt. God used that as a way to even bless His people, even in the midst of suffering. So it says here, verse 14, here comes the great promise of protection. And I think this is so relevant to us. We live in a very evil day. Crime is on the rise. It hasn't touched us as much as it has other parts of the country because we've been sheltered from some of that because of where we live. But we see that evil ever, it feels like, and that violence ever drawing nearer and nearer to our lives. And isn't it wonderful to know that as God's children, we have a protector and we have the promise of his protection. That makes me feel so good, you know, as a husband, that I know the Lord is watching over my wife when we part. You know, and I'm way down past Corinth. If she's up here, I know that the Lord is her shepherd. The Lord is the shade on her right hand. My children, I know that God has given his guardian angels to watch over them, to protect them. And we have so many protections from the Lord that we're going to talk about. That is something that really ought to be sweet to our souls, that we don't have to live in fear. Amen? The devil would like us to live in fear, wouldn't he? But the Bible says, he hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of a sound mind to the pulling down of strongholds. And so he says, verse 14, he suffered no man to do them wrong. Yay. Oh, this is powerful, isn't it? We even think about the election last night. He reproved kings for their sakes. Saying, here it is, the promise of protection. Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm. What a powerful testimony from the word of God. How did that gives us insight into the heart of God about the way that he feels toward me and you. And especially as a man of God, as a servant of the Lord that has been called out from among men to be a proclaimer of his word, to know that God has put a special hedge on his men, and he has warned the world, you better be very careful how you treat and talk to men of God. And that's a conversation that we need to have in our day. Men of God and pastors, are leaving, uh, the calling in droves in droves. We, we hear this church has to have a pastor that doesn't have a pastor. This man has, has left the ministry and it's no wonder, uh, because of the lack of respect, the lack of care, um, Just think about the way that you address and treat the men of God, even here at this church. You know, we want to be familiar with one another. We want to know one another on a friendship level. But also, there must be that honor. Those that preach the word are worthy of what honor? A double honor for the calling that God has put upon their life. And that respect should be earned. But also, we must respect the office as well. And that goes into a lot of things in life. But it's wonderful here. And I think about King David, don't you? When Saul was hunting for his life, isn't it wonderful how the Lord protected David, right? Even one time David and his men were hiding in this cave. Here comes Saul, the man who said he's going to end David's life. He's worn himself out ragging. trying to hunt David down because of the jealousy in his heart. He can't find him anywhere. And lo and behold, he goes and he lays down his head right in the mouth of the cave where David and his men are hiding. And David's men said, God's put him in your hand. Rise up, slay him, take the crown, take the kingdom, but don't you love David's heart? He said, I will not, I will not touch. The Lord's what? Anointed. It's powerful, isn't it? David had respect unto the Word of God. And you can read back into the lives of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And this is not just poetic words here where he says, I reproved kings for their sake. You remember when Isaac followed in that bad tradition of Abraham and he told people, I think it was Pharaoh, king of Egypt, Rebekah, I'm getting it right now, Isaac and Rebekah, yeah. This is my sister and the Lord came and He reproved the king and said, don't you touch her because she's special unto me and it'll cause great harm upon you. He even reproved kings. You remember when Jacob's sons with the issue about Dinah and she had been raped And they want to take vengeance. And they did take vengeance on the men of Shechem. And Jacob wasn't privy to their plan, but he saw the results. And Jacob said, what have y'all done? Now the inhabitants of this land, they're just going to come down on us and kill us. But the Bible says, but the Lord. put the fear of them on all the people around them so that they didn't harm them. They were able to be preserved. So just be thinking about a lot of those things. I've just been thinking about in my life, You know, I go back to that wreck that we had in Malawi. I mean, I still feel sometimes like I should just pinch myself. You know how it says that the fire won't burn you, the waters, they won't overflow you. I think that's in Isaiah. We'll look at that one in a little bit. What a great promise of protection. There I should have died in a fiery car accident. headed to slam headlong into a semi-truck, avoided that by a hair's breadth, and then into the water and sink to the bottom to drown and saved miraculously without even a scratch, not even a scratch on my body, not even a bruise or harm, a hair on my head. What can we say? Except we serve an awesome God. That it's not just this words here. All of you have been through things in your life. Boy, I remember getting the call that Sean and Lydia and the kids had just been crashed up there on Highway 72. They were trying to cross there to go home on a Sunday afternoon. Been airlifted. God saved them all and brought them through all of that. What a mighty God we serve. I look at you. Mama's in here. Oh man, having babies. That's a life and death event right there. It's never just guaranteed that it's all going to go perfect, but Mama, how many times the Lord saved you in childbearing? Seven times. seven children and life that he gave to you even that maybe the Who knew what all would happen you had to put yourself in the hands of the Lord Sister Regina three times God saved you in childbearing do y'all praise him? Tonight dear sisters for that and give him the glory and say this is true We have the promise of God's protection. So let's dive into this. First, we have the protection of His plan. God has planned our protection. Amen? He has interwoven our protection in His providence. Just flip with me. I know you all love this verse. We need to read it and quote it to ourselves often because You know the devil in the world would like us to convince us otherwise that that they're in charge That we better, you know, watch out for them I remember riding in the car with my uncle Jerry one time me and Aaron and Jeremy were all in the car together and we coming up onto some train tracks and We saw the train coming uncle Jerry didn't we said uncle Jerry uncle Jerry Watch out for that train and he slammed on the brakes and he said that train better watch out for me We're like, no, no, sir, you better watch out for the train, sir, right? But the devil, he wants us to fear. He wants us to live in fear, to cower down and be hindered in our lives. That's what terrorism is all about, to make us not be able to enjoy the freedoms that we have. But listen to this, in the book of Jeremiah 29, Verse 11, isn't this beautiful? For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end. That means a plan. God has a purpose and a plan. He had a purpose and a plan for Abraham. They couldn't touch him. He had a purpose and a plan for Isaac, even as much as he was hated by Ishmael. God preserved the promised seed. Remember how much Esau hated Jacob? He said, if I see my brother, I'm going to what? I'm going to kill him. And even when Jacob came back, the angels of the Lord met him before he had to face Esau, the Mahaniam. There it says, we're going to be before you and behind you, the angels of God. how it strengthened them. Does it strengthen you today to hear that? I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you, and you shall seek me and find me, and you shall search for me with all your heart. I love this in our text. Verse 14. Look at that again. He suffered no man to do them wrong. Hallelujah that this world and all the men of it that even the wrath of man shall praise the God shall praise God and the remainder he shall what? He shall restrain here. It is he suffered no man to do them on that means he did not permit it That's what that word suffered there means it means permitted. He permitted no man to do them harm You remember when the devil wanted to go after Job? He said, God said, if you consider my servant Job, there's none like him in the earth. The devil said, well, no wonder he serves you. Look, look how you've blessed him so much, but you just take away those things and he'll curse you to your face, right? God said, I'm going to allow you to test Job for his good and my glory. But you remember, he said, you can't take his life. only permits that which is for our good and for His glory. Is that a sweet part of that honeycomb to you tonight? To know that that God has your protection worked in to His plan. He has interwoven our protection in His providence. He had a plan for Abraham. He had a plan for Isaac. He had a plan for Jacob. He had a plan for Joseph. He had a plan for Israel. He has a plan for Jesus. Hallelujah. Oh man, facing crones, how debilitating that that was and how God though has kept you through that and strengthened you and given you the grace to uphold under that still give him the glory. I believe he can completely heal you of it even if he so desires, but I know he has a plan. He has a plan, and He only permits that which is for our good. Now, so we have the protection of His plan. Do y'all see that? He suffered no man to do them wrong, and He even reproved kings for their sakes. He interwove His protection through His providence in their lives, and I think that that's true for us. placing us in families where we were loved, where we had fathers that protected us and watched over us and provided for us. Do we think that we were just lucky? Or was that part of God's plan? I hope that he used me in that same way in my children's life, that they had a place where they felt loved, a place where they felt safe. Someone that was watching out for them. I hope even though Drew is still, he's a grown man, I hope that he still knows that daddy's in his corner if he needs him. Amen. I still feel that way about my father, my mother. I know they would do anything in the world to help me. I'm not lucky because of that. That was God's plan for my life and you were instruments. And His plan for me, this church is a great protection for us. Like Brother Drew talked about, how wonderful to have a fair haven to come into from the storms of life. A cleft in the rock, a hiding place with our God. Oh, His plans for us. are wonderful and full of protection in marriage. That holy union, safety for us, a safe place for our love, a safe place to enjoy our physical union, unworried by the marriage bed is pure and undefiled. We don't have to worry about getting diseases. We don't have to worry about getting caught because God is pleased. when we unite ourselves, and matrimony is their great protection for us in that. Sister Regina shared something with me this week. I'm not the biggest Megyn Kelly fan, but if y'all have time, I would encourage you to YouTube her speech that she made at the last Trump rally. And it moved me, because she realized that men, godly men, are under attack. And she said, I'm thankful for men that want to protect. She said, how can women feel like they're winning when their husbands and sons are losing? And she said, we need men protectors, right? You ought to listen to that. It was really, really, really good. So secondly, after the protection of his plan, beloved, we have the protection of his prayers. The protection of his prayers. Aren't you glad that we have an intercessor? And he didn't just intercess, you know, it's wonderful to be able to take off yesterday, spend from eight to 12 here. Let me tell y'all, me and brother Paul, brother Kevin, we had a mighty prayer meeting. Here, two or three were gathered in his name. And y'all, we poured out our hearts. before the Lord God of heaven. God met with us here. God was in our midst. He was moving on our hearts to pray for things, for our country, for our church, for ourselves, our families, our community, our world. Yeah. But how more wonderful that was just one day. He ever liveth to make intercessions for us. You don't have to turn there, but you know this one, Luke 22. Just write it down, Luke 22, 31 through 32. You remember Peter? Jesus looked at him. Peter was so full of gusto. He said, Lord, even if everybody else betrays you, I'll never betray you, Lord. I'll protect you. I've got my sword, Jesus. Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to sift you as wheat. But I have what I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not. And when thou art converted, protect, strengthen the brethren, the protection of his prayers. Oh, can we hear in this verse 14 and 15, can we hear God's heart? And can we hear in Jesus's high priestly prayer there in John 17, his care, his watching, his insulating, his little flock and praying. for them to be in the world, but not of the world, and to have that special anointing of God, His prophets. You know, this here isn't just about men like Elijah. In their own way, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob were all the prophets of the Lord. They weren't anointed Like David was or like Saul was with the oil but there is an anointing of the Lord upon all of his children all of his elect all of his ministers have that those that proclaim and hold and and Proclaim the Word of God. They are the prophets of God you even have prophetesses in the Bible And they are God's anointed. And isn't it wonderful to know that we are anointed with His intercessions? Who more would you want to have praying for you, June Pitney, than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself? And his prayers, not only does his plan protect you, but his prayers are our shield. Do you know that it said, Mary, the queen of Scott, that she says she feared the prayers of John Knox more than all the armies of Europe. You better know this pastor is praying for you every day. I'm calling your name. I'm calling out blessings and good and protection over your lives. That is because that's coming from God, putting that in my heart to pray for you. It's still coming from Him, right? Use your prayers. over your husband and wives. Pray for your husbands. Pray for your sons. Pray for your pastors. Pray for your leaders. May they be anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power. May they be prayers of protection. Thirdly, He doesn't just protect us from afar, amen? We have the protection of His presence. We have the protection of His presence. Beloved, if God before us, what? Who can be against us? Oh, I know we all love Psalm 23, don't we? The Lord is my what? shepherd he the other place David said he's my buckler he's my shield he's the shade on my on my right hand and he says in that because the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want and he goes down through there talking about how he leads them but I love that in that verse 4 he says yay Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because thou art with me. Oh, beloved, we have seen Daniel in the lion's den untouched by those ferocious beasts. And the king coming in the morning said, Daniel, was your God able to save you? And I could see Daniel just laid up on the lions like pillows. Oh, yes, king. Me and the lions had a wonderful night together. There's Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. And the men that threw them in, it was so hot that they perished. Even the men that cast them in and the king looked and it was so hot. And he said, I thought we just threw three in, but I see four. And he's like, unto the son of God. The three Hebrew children came out and they didn't even smell like smoke. And the only things that they lost in the fire were the things that had bound them. Hallelujah. Oh, the protection of His plan, the protection of His prayers. And then we have the protection of His presence. He's called our shepherd. He's called our husband. Those of you that have good husbands, don't you feel safe when you're with your husband? Oh, any wife whose husbands had to be gone and she's had to sleep by herself and, and, uh, You know, she asked for help learning how to shoot the gun before the husband leaves, but is a gun anything compared to a husband? No, but when the husband is home, the wife sleeps sweetly on his shoulder in peace because her protector is there. And so has the church throughout the ages, even though the dragon has been wroth and tried to devour her and tried to destroy her yet age upon age, decade upon decade, century upon century, she marches and rides on the wings of the morning, triumphant above all the changing tides of the earth because she has her shepherd, her husband, her friend, Also, isn't it beautiful that He has given the angelic host charge over His children to protect them? I believe in that. I believe that each one of us are surrounded by the guardian angels of Christ Himself. Yes, they might even be here tonight. They might have even prevented something from happening to us today that we don't even know about, but they were there. How the Bible says sometimes they entertained angels unawares. Abraham met with the angels. Do you remember before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, how the Lord visited him with his angels? Abraham knew who they were. Jacob, as he slept, saw the latter. Ascending from the earth to the heaven with the angels of God. Ascending and descending. And on and on and on. How they even came to the Lord Himself in the garden of Gethsemane and strengthened Him. That He didn't dash not His foot upon a stone. How He came, the angels came and woke up Peter in prison. Peter, get up and just come out of here. Everybody, I put everybody asleep and all the doors are open. Oh, how powerful that it is. And we, we forget it sometimes the protection of his plan, the protection of his prayers. We have the protection of his presence that he's with us. He, he lives within us. Yes. So we're not. Amazed them when we read that he suffered no man to do them wrong. Yeah. He reproved even Kings for their sake saying, this is the command, the divine fiat of God. Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm. Jesus said it would be better for a man to have a millstone around his neck and cast into the sea than to harm one hair of the head of one of his little ones. So great is his love. Is that a honeycomb? Is that sweet? Does that lighten the eyes to know that God feels that way towards you and has given you the promise? of his protection, the protection of his presence. Lastly, fourthly, as we close, the protection of his power. Ah, his omnipotent arms, amen? His everlasting arms. Think about how he preserved Abraham and his life. even in those great battles that he went and how he rescued Lot and all those kings and brought it back to Melchizedek. Same in Isaac's life, how he was with Jacob and that whole thing with Esau and other things that he went through in his life, the great famines. of how Joseph was preserved even through the hatred of his brethren and the deceitfulness of Potiphar's wife and the forgetfulness of the butler and baker and yet God was with him through it all and he raised him up to be second in command in Egypt to preserve many alive and he named his firstborn son Ephraim. Because, he said, the Lord has made me to forget because of how he's worked, what he's done in my life. Protected from the mouth of lions, from the fiery furnace, from prisons, from the depths of the sea, his promise of protection is our very passport through this wicked and winding world. Amen? You know, I'm always glad when I travel, I have a passport that says I'm a U.S. citizen. I can go to the embassies and find protection as an American. Oh, but beloved, the passport that we've been given right here, of his protection, His promise of his protection is the passport through this winding world. I'll close tonight in the book of Isaiah. As we read this one more time, the great promise of his protection in another place, Isaiah 45 verse two, this ought to be one of those verses that you memorize. that you know by heart. Maybe it's 43, too, is the one I'm looking for. Yes. We'll begin in verse 1 as we close tonight. But now, thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, here it is. Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Oh, what a sweet bit of honey, sweeter than the honey in the honeycomb. Thank you, Lord, for the promise of your protection. Let's stand together and turn to number five.