Our Abiding Faith

OUR ABIDING FAITH

Text: John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
Lesson Text: Psalm 90: Vv 1 - 12 God is our eternal dwelling place
Psalm 90:1 A Prayer of Moses the man of God. LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

A. A dwelling place is not to be visited occasionally but to be lived in.
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
1. There is peace and comfort to be had in this relationship with God.
a. Like all the people, Moses did also exceedingly fear and quake until God had hidden him in a cleft of the rock!

b. Although great fear came upon Jerusalem at the death of Ananias and Sapphira, the church grew because of it.
Acts 5:10 Then fell she down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost: and the young men came in, and found her dead, and, carrying her forth, buried her by her husband.
11.And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.
12. And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.
13. And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.
14. And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)
c. Many of our ups and downs are brought on because we use him ONLY as a refuge instead of a dwelling place.

d. It is only here, in him that we can be constant, like the North Star.

B. OUR dwelling place; God made the earth for the beasts of the field, the seas for the fish and the air for the fowls and heaven for the angels but the soul of man has no place to abide but in God alone.

1. No man who dwells in such a great place has ever been shaken, does not tremble now in the face of world events and shall not be moved even when heaven and earth flee away from his presence. [ and yet we often tremble before fools! ]

TO REALLY SEE THE VALUE OF OUR DWELLING PLACE- Let's look at Psalm 90:3-11. The contrast between natural man and God.

Psalm 90:3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
Man may boast of his deeds and his plans but God can cancel them all with a wave of his hand. (The picture of David, the mighty warrior, who in his last days was too feeble to care for himself.)

Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
While man wallows in memories of childhood and a bygone youth, and a nation remembers 200 years of history with pride (even while revising that history to fit current ideas of political correctness!) God sees Adam and Eve as yesterday. Yet our dwelling place is not the dusty, musty tombs of the past, but the bright, fresh assurance of unnumbered tomorrows!

Psalm 90:5, Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
Psalm 90:6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
Time is like a river which carries every thing before it. There is no way to halt it nor to alter it's course. There is no fountain of youth, no magic potions. Man has an appointment and it MUST BE KEPT.

Psalm 90:7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. God's righteous anger MUST consume sin. [ In my body dwelleth no good thing---sin dwellest in me. ]

Psalm 90:8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
Psalm 51:3 our sins are ever before thee.

1. He needs no other light than his own countenance.

2. Our sins ARE before him. In the committing of them and ever after, they cannot be hidden.

3. HE has set them there. They are important to God and only genuine repentance can blot them out.

4. A pig looks real nice in his pen at the fair but he doesn't belong in the parlor! The setting of anything alters it's appearance. Your sins may not look bad in the midst of a sin cursed world, but consider them in the presence of a holy God!

Psalm 90:9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
As a tale that is told---In its brevity, in its finality and in its worth. Only as it touches others has your life any lasting value at all.

Psalm 90:10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
The appointed time. Beyond it there is no joy of youth nor hope of accomplishment.
Ecclesiastes 12:1 - 7 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail:
6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit sahll return unto God who gave it.
Even in this modern day of medical 'miracles' this passage is still true for most of us.

Psalm 90:11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
You may gauge the extent of man's anger. Can you say the same of God?

Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Teach us to number our days.
a. Universities can't teach this. Only God can!

b. That we may know the value of each one and not let it slip away unused and wasted.

c. That we might know how to act our age. 'Let no man despise thy youth' and to the aged, 'Be sober' It is not becoming when children want the privileges of age and the elderly want to act like children.

d. That we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
1. The wisdom of constant obedience. Whether it be our lot to rule an empire or to sweep a street, let our aim always be "Thy will be done in me."

e. The wisdom of knowing Christ.
Psa. 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
1 Cor 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: