In the sermon 'How to Answer Fear', Paul Carrington expounds on Psalm 46 as a source of strength and refuge in times of fear. He shares a personal experience at work where he relied on this psalm for courage amidst controversy surrounding pro-life legislation. Carrington emphasizes the importance of memorizing scripture to draw strength in difficult times, particularly highlighting Psalm 46's depiction of God as a refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. The psalm is presented as a communal resource for all believers facing fear, with God portrayed as an unwavering fortress even when everything else fails. Historical examples, such as Martin Luther's use of the psalm during the Reformation and the biblical account of Jerusalem's deliverance from Assyrian forces, are used to illustrate its power. The imagery of a river signifies the Holy Spirit's indwelling presence, providing joy and stability to the believer. Carrington concludes by urging listeners to find stillness in God and trust Him amidst life's turmoil, reinforcing the message that God is always with His people.

Well this afternoon we're going to be taking a look at one of the most beautiful Psalms, Psalm 46. And I've titled the message, How to Answer Fear. And if we consider what fear is, I think we're all going to be able to relate to much of what we're going to be reading here today. You know, it was a few months ago, just in light of embarking on the mission field in a few months, that I decided I was going to really meditate and think as much as I could on this particular psalm, just to really actually commit it to memory for my own, just my own personal benefit and for my own strength. And you know the more I thought on it, the more meaningful the Scripture actually became to me.

It just took on new life and it turns out that the Lord knew that I would need this way before going out on the mission field. I was involved in an altercation, let's say at work, where a few bills had been passed in a few states like Alabama and Georgia. And everyone was lamenting the pro-life legislation and they were all complaining and saying we need to take action as a company in order to make abortion more and more accessible. And so I made some comments and Normally what happens is, you know, in a crisis, whether it's in the world or in work or whatever, things come toward Friday and things die down and usually don't come back into the week. But this came back and it lasted for about three weeks and I kind of liken it to a hailstorm.

You know, you're just in a hailstorm that's coming down with all sorts of people saying all sorts of things Constantly and I found myself Drawing upon this psalm Over and over again while I was walking Even when I was going to bed at night or as I was just thinking I keep going back even before I received the call from HR this was the psalm that that came up in my mind and it really gave me strength It's a psalm and it begs the question. You know how how can Psalms affect us in Real life not just something that we put on a shelf afterwards. And like all scripture, by identifying who God is and what he said about himself, that's where we develop strength in the midst of all types of war and all types of difficulty. And what I want to say today is it's wonderful to hear sermons and lessons preached. It's wonderful to read it for yourself about the Psalms.

One of the things I would just encourage you to do would be to take a psalm and to memorize it, to commit it to memory, maybe one in an area that you're particularly concerned about in your own life and commit that to memory and have that as something you draw on. For me as I said it's been such a strength and you're gonna need to draw upon the Psalms deeply as you go through this this Christian life and if you struggle with fear and I think that might cover about a hundred percent of us in this room today then to me this Psalm is such a help and a strength and so we've got one of eleven Psalms that are attributed to the sons of Korah, and it's broken into three stanzas. So each one is broken out by what you call a Selah at the end of each one. So I'm going to read this together, and you can just follow along. I'm going to read it, and Hopefully you can see the beauty in it, but it starts off by saying God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Therefore we will not fear Even though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.

Though the waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah. There is a river whose stream shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved.

God shall help her just at the break of dawn. The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice. The earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth.

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. And so how to answer fear. What what do you do when when fear comes knocking?

And if you think about it, in many ways our minds, your mind and my mind, are really fear factories aren't they? They, with hardly any raw material, almost nothing, We can manufacture some of the most terrible scenarios just on a whim and each scenario leads to an even greater and more fearful scenario. We give them oxygen oftentimes by meditating upon our fears and really breathing life into them, mulling them over. And then on the other hand you have fears that are actually legitimate, things that we ought to be afraid of, things that are actually fearful. You know, it could be disease or war or all sorts of other things that are indeed worrisome.

And the reality that we have as Christians is that we're not immune from trouble in this life. In fact, for the Christian, oftentimes the storms are even more strong than, say, the unbeliever. Oftentimes the disappointments dig even deeper than they do for the unbeliever. Often times the tears flow more freely than they do for the man who doesn't know God and who's insensible to much of what we're acquainted with. And so what Psalm 46 teaches us is that when there is an earthquake, there doesn't have to be a heart quake, but there's a place to to trust.

And I mentioned my little skirmish earlier as I was talking, and to me it was big, but in the big scheme of things, it's absolutely tiny. It's a tempest in a teapot. But there was a man who faced a much stronger and perhaps more decisive battle. His name was Martin Luther, much more substantial. And we all know the story of how he went up to the Castle Wittenberg door and he took his 95 theses and he nailed those theses to the door and it it kicked off this intense firestorm that really swept across much of Europe.

And He was literally, imagine walking through the streets or walking and traveling and you've almost got literally a target on your back. People are hunting you, looking to destroy you. He had all sorts of troubles and fears, but something else happened about 10 years later, not in 1517, but in 1527. Black plague swept through Germany and one of his sons almost died. In fact, Martin Luther got really sick.

He got to the point where he felt maybe he was going to die. And out of this he began to meditate on Psalm 46. And his meditations on Psalm 46 gave way to the song that we just sang, A Mighty Fortress is Our God. It became the battle hymn of the Reformation. It's this song of holy confidence that when the storm is raging and everything is unraveling, that we can find harbor and we can find safety by turning our hearts towards the Lord.

And so looking at this first stanza, it starts off verses one to three. It says, God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear even though The earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah. And in ancient times, you could imagine this, right? Every substantial city, It was surrounded by walls to protect against invaders and it was a place where during the time of invasion people would be able from the surrounding villages and towns be able to make a beeline to the door and get in and hopefully be protected from the approaching enemy.

And notice the language in verse one. God is our refuge and our strength. This is plural. This is not just an individual psalm, but it's a psalm for the whole church. This is where we can all gain strength.

You know, not fearing circumstances is not the domain of just a few in the church, but all of us are enjoined and encouraged to be less fearful by meditating upon God because he is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble for us. And notice that he's not just a help, he's not just a present help, is it? But it says he's a very present help. See, he's not a fair-weathered friend. You might have a fair-weathered friend who's with you, but God is with you always.

See, it speaks of his constancy that When everyone else has fled, you find God still with you. And you can look at Psalm 27, and it has these beautiful words. It says, when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me. And think about it for a second, you know, when are we most movable? When are you most movable?

When are you most fractious or most prone to temptation? It's when you feel and imagine God to be far off. But when are men most immovable and most strengthened? When are they most armed for battle? It's when they feel that God is with them, God is near.

When is the kingdom of darkness most at risk? It's when men understand what we just said, that God is a bulwark, never failing. This is the God that we serve, and you see these few words, refuge and strength and help in that first verse. You see, the psalmist, he doesn't point to the nation's economy or to their military or anything like that the arm of the flesh is gonna fail but he's pointing to what can never fail and Notice what he does Rather than telling the people to just cheer up and be happy You know things will turn out kind of putting a positive sheen on things. He doesn't really do that, does he?

In fact, in order to show the trustworthiness of God, look what he's about to do. He's going to depict the absolute worst possible scenarios so that we can actually see how trustworthy God is. And this is what he does in verse 2. He almost paints this picture of a 9.5 earthquake on the Richter scale. The worst possible commotion where your life is now in free fall, where the very ground beneath your feet begins to crumble away you you can't even grab onto a root there's nothing to look to whatsoever you could imagine a city besieged by the most threatening enemy all around and and what he's doing in these verses two and three even though the earth be removed and the mountains be cast into the sea he's he's showing us these most powerful images of of the things that are most stable And even them crumbling away is God able to hold out is he able to still sustain Even in the midst of all of this he he paints the picture of everything in utter and total upheaval and collapse and calamity Could you imagine a more fear worthy situation than what he says in verse 2 and in verse 3?

But instead, what does he say? He says, therefore we will not fear. And this is because of who our God is. He paints him as a refuge and strength. He paints him as a fortress, this very present help in trouble.

And so when everything stable becomes unstable, he's saying God does not become unstable. You see, men oftentimes they make their strongholds in the mountains and all of these different types of things, but even here the mountains give way and they collapse. But our God, He doesn't waver whatsoever. Look at that language, he says, even though, again, just again, paint the worst scenario, even then, because of who God is, we're encouraged not to fear. You can imagine the temperature going higher and higher, and even in verse three, it says, though its waters roar and are troubled, this is kind of this threatening of a flood.

Not only has the earth totally dissolved underneath your feet in verse two, but then this flood begins to come upon the land. It's almost like a tsunami. You're being utterly and totally overwhelmed by the circumstances of life. Just complete devastation. Is God able in a situation like this?

You know, When I read this first stanza, I get a picture of the Apostle Paul in my mind and here he is, you know him and Silas They're there in the Philippian jail this was after their first venture into Europe as Missionaries to bring the gospel and here they were it was after midnight you can imagine rats scurrying around them, and their feet are in stalks. They're not even able to sit comfortably against the wall or anything like that. They've got whips on their back and bloody and all of that type of thing. And they're not just put in the prison, but it says they're put in the inner prison where you don't even get a single ray of light coming in and then on top of it all What in the world's gonna happen in the morning if this is how they treated us When they actually put us on trial what's gonna actually happen And what was their crime? They were simply preaching the gospel, and a girl, a girl that was demon possessed, got delivered.

And in all of this, you can imagine Paul looking over to Silas and saying, let's sing a hymn. A mighty fortress is our God. That kind of hymn where we will not fear. How is it that that could even be possible? You see, how will you answer when fear comes?

There's many fear worthy situations that are going to come upon my life. I already know that and are gonna come upon your life, but the question is how will you answer? Fear when it comes and what he's encouraging us to do is to not give way and Then we come to verse 4 to 7 after all this somehow the person is still standing. How could it possibly be that a man could endure all that we saw in verses 2 & 3? Well we get the answer in verse 4.

There is a river, so beautiful, these four words. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High goes on to say that God is in the midst of her she should not she shall not be moved God shall help her and then it says this just at the break of dawn. We've acquainted with these words in verse 6, the nations raged and the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice. The earth melted.

And then he says this wonderful rejoice, and the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge, Selah. What's one of the greatest fears that people faced in the ancient world? It was that despite the strength of their walls in this city, despite how many arms and weapons they had stored up, or how much food they had stored up, The great fear is, what if our water supply is cut off? See, what good does it matter if you have all the weapons in the world and all the food, but you don't have water?

Well, if the water source could be secured, that city could hold out indefinitely. It wasn't subject to what was happening outside the wall. If you had guaranteed water, you had the absolute best defense possible. And so, in the midst of all that we saw in verses 2 and 3, we see here that there can actually be gladness in the city of God. This is really the favorite place.

This is in the past where the temple was, where God met with his people. But in our day, in the church age, it's not physical Jerusalem, is it? But it's the new Jerusalem where you have come, where I have come. And in the last days, you remember that when Jesus was crying in John chapter 7, it says on the last day of the feast, he lifted up his voice. Almost like what we heard today, he's pleading, he's crying out to the people.

And what does he say to them? He says, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. And so you want to ask the question, well how is this person or how is this church or how is this group of people, how are they still standing? Not only just standing, but actually joyful.

Maybe not with a grin and a happy face, but there's a deep abiding joy. How is it possible? Because there is a river and You know, this is what the world tells you go within Search your heart and you'll find that there's riches there But the Bible doesn't teach you that it says the source if you're gonna be helped if you're gonna be strengthened it's gonna come from outside of you, it's gonna come from me, the living God, that's what we hear and this is really speaking of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit coming and taking up residence. You know the Holy Spirit, other titles that he uses comforter, counselor, this very present help in trouble. When you stand before governors and governments and you're going to give a testimony, don't think about what you're going to say.

Why? Because the Holy Spirit, is God departed? No, he's right there with you and will give you what to say that's what Jesus told his disciples to trust and rest when you have no reason to trust and rest when every everything's given way underneath your feet and it says this that God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved you see the mountain and the earth was moved but there's a firmer foundation than the mountains and then the earth it's the Lord himself and And so you can ask the question, you know, are the enemies of the Lord besieging your life or besieging the church, the individual believer? Well, the greatest, the best, The only real confidence you can have is in Emmanuel. And what does Emmanuel mean?

God with us. And that's exactly what we're being promised right here. And I love this verse where it says, God shall help her just at the break of dawn. You see, what causes men frustration oftentimes, what causes us, me, to lose hope so many times and to take matters into our own hands? Is delay he hasn't come when I wanted him to come and We we end up doing things that we shouldn't do or losing confidence and trust.

But it says here that he will deliver just at the break of dawn. And what many commentators believe this entire psalm is really inspired by is the time when Hezekiah and all of Jerusalem was surrounded. Do you remember that time? When you go back to 2 Kings or you can go back to Chronicles and read the account or the book of Isaiah. And what was happening?

That Assyria was closing in. It destroyed almost all of Israel. And then all of the towns, not only of Israel but of Judah were now being threatened and the water came right up to the neck what that means is that the only city Lachish wiped away all these other towns wiped away the only city still standing was Jerusalem. That was it. And I think it's very likely the case that the sons of Korah were inspired by the turn of events here because it says in verse 6 the nations raged the kingdoms were moved all the other kingdoms destroyed he uttered his voice the earth melted Remember the picture, you can imagine it.

Rabshaka, you remember the Rabshaka? There he is, outside the gates of Jerusalem. And he bellows, he shouts up to Hilkiah, one of Hezekiah's men. And he shouts up, he says, Zechariah king of Judah saying do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you saying Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria those were threatening words made all the worse when you've got almost 200, 000 soldiers scattered outside your gates. And what's God's word through the prophet Isaiah?

Because your rage against me and your tumult have come up to my ears, Therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips and I will turn you back by the way which you came." You see what we just sang as Luther said, one little word shall fell him. The enemies of God obliterated. God's not excited, he's not railing back and forth. One little word. I'll put a hook in your nose like a ox and I'll lead you back To where you came and it says in verse 7 the Lord of hosts is with us The God of Jacob is our refuge.

See the reason for our security, and you have to understand this, the reason for our security is Yahweh sabbeoth. What that means is God, He's the God over the hosts of the armies of heaven. He's got everything at His disposal. And then it says this, the God of Jacob. That's kind of strange, the God of Jacob.

One of the least Exemplary figures you can find in the Old Testament is probably Jacob his very name means supplanter. He was a trickster But but the God of Jacob being with us I think it speaks to to our imperfection on the one side and his perfection on the other side You see God specializes in taking Jacob's and making them into Israel's which means Prince with God but it's the whole process of sanctification that we're going through And he says the Lord of hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our refuge I couldn't help but thinking of the very last words of of the Great Commission After the Lord tells him to do the absolute impossible He says the only reason it isn't it is possible It's because lo I am with you always even until the end of the age. And so we come to this final stanza and I want to imagine you to imagine yourself as a citizen or at least looking on as these citizens of Jerusalem. You know the previous night there they were and the last thing you saw before you turned in for the night were the hordes of the Assyrian army scattered across the outside of the walls.

You might have heard the beating of drums and all the threat of war that's looming those words of the rabshaka He said some other things as well that might still be ringing in your ears as you went to bed and put your head on That pillow do not listen to Hezekiah Lest he persuade you saying the Lord will deliver us Have any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? That's the last thing you heard. And now it's morning and you might have been startled awake. You know the Sun rises and there's a cry in the city Had the walls been breached you might be wondering what what's going on is war already begun, but no instead of a call of war it's a call to come and mount and climb up the stairs up to the top of the wall. And look over to see what God has wrought.

And look what it says in verse 8. Come, behold the works of the Lord who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariot in the fire.

Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge, Seila." You see the invitation is to come and I can't imagine but you have to use your imagination to imagine these people running up the steps Climbing up the steps of the great walls of Jerusalem and every mouth speechless as they're looking just looking down upon the ravaged hordes of Assyria What a sight to see the ground littered with tents but but no motion.

The only motion you might see is maybe the tents just flapping in the wind and nothing else. No sound of men making ready for war and you read in second Chronicles and when the people arose early in the morning there were corpses all dead 185, 000 soldiers wiped out in a night one angel came visited and wiped out the entire mass of the most threatening army perhaps to ever threaten Israel. You see, see what God has wrought is what he's saying. The destroyer is now destroyed. And so in those days, right, nothing brought death more swiftly than the arrow there was no weapon more formidable in the hand of a trained warrior than the spear Or you think of the proud chariot being led by horses galloping and chasing down or running into battle I mean these are fearsome things, but but what happens he breaks the bow and What does it say he cuts the spear in two he burns the chariot in the fire.

All of these things are rendered utterly unrecoverable because of what God has done. And then you come to a very unique place in the psalm. We switch persons And God speaks now in verse 10. It's no longer the psalmist speaking We started off you remember with earthquakes and mountains Cascading into the sea we we saw tsunamis every possible every imaginable problem assailing the believer assailing the church And then the Lord takes over and he says these words, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth. You see, be still. This is not a call to immobility, a call to just do nothing. But he's speaking of something different. It's speaking of rest.

See, there's a big difference between sitting down and doing nothing and actually having rest. Right now you're sitting but is your heart at rest? I don't know. When you go home you might sit but your mind could be running a million miles a minute And so this is the problem right here captured for us be still you see this is your problem in mine right here There's so little stillness in our lives think about your own life for a minute You know we're living in times of great disquiet in times of great distraction in times of great Diversion It's a frenetic world that we're living in where you're constantly being hit from so many different sides and then of course we've got the tumult of materialism that many of us are victims or customers of, right? We ourselves are wrapped up in so much.

We've got now the fear of health, men in the church. We worry about things like investments, how I'm going to supply for my family. All of these things coming down upon us. You've got the political scene. What's gonna happen?

All of these things coming and then we've got you know, the turbulence of a new sale when something goes on sale Do I buy it now or do I wait later? All these things are coming against us and We find so little peace and rest in our souls, don't we? Such a problem. You know, what am I going to acquire next, even though I've got an attic full, or I've got to get some storage space, that public storage? What do I need to get next?

We rob ourselves so easily, so well, better than any external robber that might come to your door at night. So many of us, we live between the two worlds of if only, looking back longingly. And then what if, looking fearfully toward the future. This is the way most of us live We have this in our minds and so we're we have so little stillness of heart but that's what we're being called to and you say well how do you know because I'm also one of you stillness of heart is such a strange thing in our day today but the Lord is saying be still and know that I am God stop squirming in your heart and trust in me." And then he says these words, I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.

You see the Rapshaka when he was standing and screaming up to Hilkiah, he said, Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivan? Well, the people of God can now ask, looking back, where is the god of Assyria? You see, God's enemies will be utterly destroyed. By the way, Sennacherib goes back to his hometown and he goes into his temple of his god, his god Nisrock, and his sons, his two blood sons come in and they kill him with a sword and then they flee and leave.

Where are the gods of these Syrians? Where is Assyria today? Gone. But our God reigns. He sits upon his throne.

You see, we just we just looked at this one little verse. I will be exalted among the nations. This is the idea of the great commission being accomplished. No matter what man says, whatever man stands against, God will accomplish his will. And see the kingdoms of the world were promised will become the kingdoms of our Lord and Christ.

And that's why even Martin Luther, the song we just sung, says the body they may kill. God's truth abideth still his kingdom is forever and if you if you've heard nothing else here are the refrain You see a refrain is something that's said again. And it's the final verse of this psalm. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge Selah if you remember nothing else hold that in your heart Let this be your confidence see the last words of the Lord Through Isaiah Regarding Sennacherib, and he was speaking about Jerusalem, but we could apply this to the church.

This is what the Lord says, for I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for my servant David's sake. So what is the gospel in this psalm? The gospel in this psalm is that there is one trustworthy source of security that can be relied upon. You see the Christian life is a life that is probably the furthest thing you can get from a cloudless sky, just everything being peaceful. And even now, maybe there are storm clouds on the horizon in your life that are coming, but this psalm is particularly designed to banish fear From the believer the thing that assails every one of us in this room, including me God has provided a psalm that if we were to hide in our hearts, it would help you You may have fear but now you have something to combat the fear with The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob, I know I'm not great, but the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. That's the whole beauty of this psalm right here. And so looking at the worst scenarios possible, It answers the question, well how shall I answer fear when it comes? Maybe even this afternoon.

How will you answer fear when it comes? And I love how the Proverbs say it, and I'll end with this. Like the conies, remember those conies? It talks about them in proverbs as a feeble people these are little animals that you see almost like big rodents it says like the conies though a feeble people we ourselves as Christians we are weak But my my advice and encouragement for all of us here is to make our home in the rock That's what the Coney's do in the shore refuge. That is our God and always remember those four little words There is a river Amen.

Amen. Let's pray father. We we come before you here this afternoon and thank you for your word. Thank you for the sure word, Lord, these promises that are loaded up one upon another of your faithfulness. Not because of our faithfulness, but because you are faithful.

We praise you, Lord, that you are such a God that even when the worst of enemies come when fear assaults us Lord you tell us do not fear for I am with you oh Lord I pray that there would be some here today that would be impacted and would become less fearful and more trusting as they consider who you are Lord make your word real and apply it to our hearts we ask in Christ's name amen