The Exaltation of God is the Hope of the Christian

This is an encouraging sermon by David Mathis, pastor of Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, entitled: God Can Handle Your Crisis. The message is an exposition of Psalm 46.

It can be viewed on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/qAD-Z2rq_ss

 

Here are some quotable quotes from Mathis:

 

“If God’s people can be without panic when the ground shifts, and the seas rage, and the nations rage, then we can face any crisis with confidence.”

 

“Whatever trouble comes, Psalm 46 tells us, with its first word, where to turn. Not to a change in circumstances. Not to our best efforts to fix the problem. Not to our anxious strategies to avoid pain and loss. But rather, to God.”

 

“One of the overwhelming effects of Psalm 46 — perhaps the chief effect of the psalm — is that it communicates to our souls: ‘Your God is strong, with infinite strength.’”

 

“He is not only strong, with infinite strength, but he’s present to help in trouble. And not just present, but ‘very present,’ attentively present.”

 

“For every crisis we face in Christ, and all its darkness, God has a dawn designed. He will help when morning dawns. Your dawn will come. God’s help does not mean that his people are kept from crisis, but that he keeps us through crisis. In his perfect timing, when the appointed morning dawns, he rescues his people from their trouble, having preserved them through the long night.”

 

“And he speaks into the chaos, into the raging and tottering, “Be still.” Lay down your weapons. Cease your warring and deconstruction. Cease your rage and disorder. Be still, which is first a rebuke to the raging nations, to our turbulent world . . . However, it is also a word to God’s people, who hear him say it to their foes, and read it in their Bibles. Be still, church.”

 

“For God’s covenant people in Israel back then, and for his covenant people today in Christ, our God’s exaltation is our salvation. His exaltation is our refuge and strength — and very present help in trouble.”

 

 

 

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David Mathis is executive editor for desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church. He is a husband, father of four, and author of Rich Wounds: The Countless Treasures of the Life, Death, and Triumph of Jesus (2022).