Carter Conlin from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. A mother hen, when there's any kind of a danger, she would issue a certain sound, and it would be an alarm telling them, come to me for safety. And she would open her wings, she would gather them in and close her wings and draw them close to her heart.
She would be willing by nature to fight to the death for those little ones of hers. Thanks for joining us this week on A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlin. Carter's message is titled, Seeing Jesus Under His Wings, taken from Psalm 91. It's a powerful message showing God's immense love and care for those who have become part of His family. God is a refuge, a fortress for those who put their trust in Him. If you call on His name and ask for His protection, His love will protect and shield you from harm. You'll find refuge with Him.
Now let's join Carter to discover more. I'm going to be bringing you a message today called Seeing Jesus from Under His Wings. It's what the Lord spoke to me for you. You know, there's a lot of places in scripture where the Lord uses things of this world to describe His own characteristics. For example, the lion of the tribe of Judah. When we had that image, we see the strength of God.
This incredible strength that is kind of shows us through an animal in the earth that won't back away from anything is totally fearless and will fight to the death for what it believes to be right. That's part of the characteristic of the Son of God. Then also the lamb of God takes away the sins of the world. The lamb who meekly went to the cross, in a sense, allowed himself to be rejected and beaten and bruised and all else that happened to him for the sake of our redemption. He could have fought back. He could have destroyed everybody that raised their hand against him.
He could have just spoken a word and the entire populace would have turned to dust. He had that kind of power. But nevertheless, as a lamb, he went to the cross and allowed himself to be beaten, rejected and put to death so that you and I could be here today and we could have freedom and we could have a hope for the future. We could have the power of God within our lives.
Thank God for the lamb of God. But there's another aspect of scripture and I'll get there in a little while, but it's in Matthew 23 where he likens himself to a hand. The characteristic of the hand that he speaks of in the scriptures, he said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I wanted to gather your children together as a hand gathers her chicks under her wings, but you are not willing. So the typology here is amazing. In everything he speaks, he's showing us his heart and Jesus said, I wanted to gather you. I wanted to gather your children together in the same way that a hand does gather her chicks. Now, most of the people of that time would be familiar with this picture.
We're not. There's not a whole lot of chickens in New York City as far as I can see. At least there shouldn't be anyway, but there's not a whole lot of chickens here. So we don't have the visual that the people of that time would have had, but they were aware that a mother hen, when there's any kind of a danger, if she saw, and she was more diligent than the little young ones, and if she saw a predator, perhaps a hawk or something on the ground coming towards them, she would issue a certain sound. It was a different kind of a sound than they were used to and it would be an alarm telling them, come for safety, come to me for safety. And she would open her wings, she would gather the men and close her wings and draw them close to her heart and she would be willing, even though it's not a very big creature in a sense, she would be willing by nature to fight to the death for those little ones of hers. And this is how Jesus Christ is in a sense describing himself. In the same manner, I wanted to draw you close to my heart. I see things in the world that you don't see. I see dangers that you're not aware of. And I send a voice to warn you about some of these dangers. And I'm hoping today that that's what I can be in the stead of Christ. I can be part of that voice that's sent to warn some in the body of Christ and warn all of us for the future that there are things that we don't see that will come against us. There are things in our own hearts. There are things that will try to attack and destroy the faith that we have in Christ and take away our security in God.
There are things that will try to blind our eyes to truth and cause us to create some alternate religious system. And we're going to talk about that just a little bit in just a moment. I'm going to begin with Psalm 91. Father, I thank you Lord God for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. I thank you God for the depth of your love for the men and women, young and old that you have gathered here today.
Those are online listening to as well. Lord, everything you say, everything you do is because you love us with a pure heart. You love us with a love that we can't even fathom.
We can't even scratch the depths of this love wherewith you love us. And so God, I'm asking you Lord that I can be an extension of your heart, an extension of your voice to every person, Lord, that you've gathered together today to be able to hear this word. And Father, I thank you for that anointing and I praise you for it in Jesus name.
Amen. Psalm 91, Moses writes, and he uses the same typology about people coming under the wings of God in a time of difficulty. People of God of that time were captivated in a nation called Egypt.
And they, that was the most powerful army in the world that were refusing to let them go. But suddenly God came and in a sense hovered over them, gathered the people to himself and gave them instructions. Now those who followed the instructions that he gave were made to be able to go into a place of freedom.
And those who didn't probably perished with the society around them. For example, he told them to stay in their homes one night, partake of a lamb and eat it a certain way. Don't eat it the way you think you should, but eat it the way that I say you should. And then he said, I want you to take the blood of that lamb and put it on the two sides of your door and on the top of your doorpost. So it's a type of the cross really. And he said, there's a spirit of death that's going to pass over the nation this night. And if I see when I see the blood on your door and on your doorpost, that spirit is going to pass over you. That's called the Passover.
We've come to know it as that. And he says these words, he who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and fortress, my God. In him I will trust. Surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings you shall take refuge.
His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. Some of you were back here in the year 2001. And the Holy Spirit warned us that there was going to be a tragedy strike New York City. And we shut everything down. And God brought us into a place of speaking truth, took fear out of our hearts so that when the towers were attacked, this church was ready.
We were part of the solution, not part of the problem. We found ourselves offering hope and help, not running through the streets terrified like most of the populace. And I remember the night after night, people would file into this church from all over the world.
One night on a Tuesday night, they were kneeling in the aisles all the way into the lobby and I had to ask people to stop kneeling in the aisles because they were creating a fire hazard in this church. But I thank God that we in this congregation were not afraid of the terror by night. We were not afraid of the arrow that flew by day.
We were not afraid of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday. There is a confidence if we're willing to hear the Word of God, there's a confidence from God that comes into the human heart. No matter what happens, like David, the psalmist once said, the mountains can shake and fall into the sea, the seas can can roar and over flood their borders.
But he says my heart is fixed. I trust in God. Paul the Apostle said all things work together for good to those who love God, and are the called according to his purpose. No matter what happens, no matter what happens in the days ahead. I'm hoping in my heart that we're going to have a season of peace. But nobody knows that for sure.
There's a lot of crazy people with access to crazy weapons in this world right now. We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. But I know that tomorrow is in God's hands. I know that I'm in the hands of God.
I know that with all my heart. And because I'm willing to hear his voice, I'm not afraid of the terror. I'm not afraid of the arrow that flies by death. I'm not living my life afraid that some kind of missiles going to head here from some foreign nation.
I'm not afraid of any new disease is going to mount up again in our time, nor the destruction that lays waste at noonday. Here's what he says 1000 may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. The falling is not just death.
It's a falling into fear. People will fall into fear they'll fall off of whatever pedestal they were standing on whatever foundation they thought was going to give them comfort and strength, you'll find those foundations begin to collapse in times of calamity. And you might see 1000 fall on this side and 10,000 on that hand, but it will not come near you. Because according to the Word of God, we are built on a solid foundation and the floods can come and the rains can come and the winds can blow.
But the house of the one who's put his or her trust in God is going to stand. That is our promise. We will not be taken down by the trials and tribulations of this world no matter what comes our way. No matter it and it could come suddenly it could come in an instant.
It could come gradually, I don't know. But whatever does come, our house will stand. If you are walking with God, if God speaking to your heart, if you're able to hear him, you will not fail, you will not fall, you will stand in the days ahead. It will not come near you only with your eyes you will look and see the reward of the wicked. You'll see what happens to people when they're not standing on the foundation of truth. When Christ is not the cornerstone in their life, when they're not building their lives on the truth of the Word of God, you will see what happens. They'll collapse in a heap, their foundations are gone.
Whatever they were trusting in has come to nothing. Because you have made the Lord who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. This is what Moses saw this.
He saw the plague of death pass over the houses of those who had decided to eat the lamb God's way and put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. Eating the lamb God's way is a type of saying, I'm opening this Bible and I'm not trying to make it say what it doesn't say. I'm going to read it the way it's written and that's what I'm going to ingest. That's what's going to be my nurture. That's what's going to be my strength. Thank God for his Word.
Thank God. And I pray and I hope you do. God, don't let my human heart twist this into something it's not meant to say.
Let it be truth. Let it speak to my heart. Search me God, as David once said, know me, try me and see if there's any way inside of me that's going to lead me into wickedness or lead me into this place where I'm going to collapse. Oh God, have mercy on me and let your word, let me not read your word, let your word read me when I open the books of this, the chapters of this book. Now under his wings, Moses said, you'll come to dwell. Now we go ahead into the New Testament, into chapter 23 of Matthew where Jesus said in verse 37, oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.
Almost unthinkable. God says, you're my people and because I care about you and because I want to draw you to my heart, because I want to protect you, I send messengers to you. But it's amazing when people decide to craft their own religion, they will sometimes defend it with violence. You look at religions throughout the world, I could name some religions that are just given to violence because it's the only way they can't defend it intellectually. They can't defend it. There's nothing to defend what they have crafted.
So the only thing they can do is threaten those who stand up and say, what you're holding to is not truth. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. Almost unfathomable that that could happen to the people of God of that generation. You imagine, these are the descendants of Abraham.
These are the people who are multiplied supernaturally. We're given victories in the past that can only be given by God. These are the people who understood that he cradled us and took us out of captivity and brought us on a journey into a place of promise. And now if we're straying God, it is mercy sends us a word to bring us back into line with that place that gives us strength. Why would we resist that? Especially with violence.
How often he said, I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. It's a strange affliction that I've seen over the years in even the people of God. This, the unwillingness in a sense to be drawn into a place of safety.
They're living outside that place and actually become resistant to coming into that place. I want you to give thanks as I do that Pastor Tim Delina stood in this pulpit and over a series of weeks and months, unlock something called a biblical worldview. I thank God for that with all of my heart.
I really do. He opened the text to scripture and proved from A to Z that there were the Bible, what the Bible has to say about certain things. And you know, there are people that no doubt got angry at some of these letters of the alphabet and they might agree with A, but they didn't agree with K. You understand what I'm saying? And the question we have to ask ourselves is why would I not agree if it can be proven through the scriptures? God's not sending his truth to harm me.
He's sending his truth to bring me into relationship with him, to bring me into a place of safety, to clear up wrong thinking even about God that could cause me harm in the future. And then he says, you weren't willing. He said, see, your house is left to you desolate.
In other words, because you weren't willing, the foundation that you're standing on is about to collapse. You go into Matthew chapter 24, the disciples came to him and they showed him the buildings of the temple. Look at this temple. Look at the magnificent stones.
Look at this city. And Jesus said to them, do you not see all these things? Assuredly I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down.
Behold, your house is left to you desolate. What you have formed, the religion that you have formed, the truth that you have crafted all by yourself, they're not true, but you've crafted them all by yourself are going to collapse in the day of calamity. It was only a few years later, it was about four decades later that Rome was going to come in and completely destroy the city of Jerusalem, destroy the temple, take captive all of the holy vessels of the temple. Thousands of people died and those who didn't die were led into captivity, into a foreign place.
You see, they were not established. They were actually became resistors of truth. And then he says these words, I say to you, you'll see me no more until you say bless to see who comes in the name of the Lord.
So why did they kill and stone the prophets? Isaiah chapter 55 we might get a clue. At the beginning of chapter 55 the Lord says, ho everyone who thirsts come to the waters and you have no money come by and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. In other words, I'm offering you everything you long for and the price is already paid for it. That's what salvation looks like folks.
It's living water. It's everything we've ever longed for, paid for by the son of God when he gave his life for us on the cross. And he says, now if you're thirsty, if you're hungry, if you're looking for meaning in life, come to me now, come and drink, come and eat and you don't have to pay for this.
You don't have to put human effort into this. I'm offering it to you for free. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread and wages for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem here in your soul shall live and I'll make an everlasting covenant with you. Even the sure mercies of David. I will be merciful to you. God says, I will be a friend that sticks closer than a brother. I will never fail you. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Even, even though you may struggle along, I will still confess you before my father. Just come to me.
That's all he said. Just come to me. If you're thirsty, come to me. If you're hungry, stop working for that which doesn't satisfy. Now in verse six he says, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord for he will have mercy on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not your thoughts nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
This is, this is the issue. They wouldn't come because they were governed by their own thoughts, even about what a relationship with God should look like. It is the dilemma of the human heart. Satan sewed something into humanity in the Garden of Eden and the seed that he sewed is that you can decide yourself what is good and what is evil. You don't need God to tell you. You have a mind, you have a higher purpose than just looking after this garden has given you. Use your mind and you become an arbiter of good and evil and you decide what is good. And so that's how you get the cherry pickers, I call it, going through the word of God, picking out all the nice little things, all the sweet little fruit, but putting all the sour things, all the things they don't like, they put them aside and ultimately end up crafting a God of their own making.
It's amazing. Paul himself said to the Corinthians, if somebody comes and preaches what? Another Jesus, another Christ, it might, you might find it palatable if you're not willing, if you're, if you're unwilling to be drawn by truth, if you're unwilling to let God speak to you, even speak the hard things.
Folks, not, it's, it's not just the easy things. There's something in all of us that we want to come to church and we want the preacher to tell us how wonderful we are. Oh, you're the best thing next to Swiss cheese.
You're just so wonderful. And that's what we want. We don't want to be reproved. They hate him that reproves in the gate. Every time Israel backslid, that's exactly what they did.
They don't want reproof anymore. Tell us nice things. Tell us smooth things about ourselves.
Tell us how lovely we are. Don't don't come and reprove us. Don't, don't tell us that we might be fashioning some truths that are contrary. You see, they wanted Jesus to protect them. Although Jesus wanted to protect them from wrong thinking, they chose to believe otherwise. For example, in Matthew chapter 23 verses five to seven, they started believing these things, all the works they do to be seen by men.
They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces and to be called by men, Rabbi, Rabbi. So essentially speaking, they crafted a religion. Now these are the resistors of truth, by the way.
They crafted a religion that told them or taught them that being close to God meant among other things, status, wealth and power. Does that not sound like some of what's being preached in America today? That coming to Jesus means that suddenly you've, you're not the tail anymore.
You're the head now. You're going to have status. You're going to be wealthy all the time and you're going to have power and influence. That's what these people believe. That's the Jerusalem that would not come to Christ.
They would not, they could not be turned from their thinking. But the truth is in verse 11 and 12, Jesus said, he who's greatest among you shall be your servant and whoever exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted. That's truth.
That's truth. It's not wealth and status and power. It's becoming a servant to all people. It's becoming a servant in your home to your wife or your husband. It's becoming a, I don't know, it's just serving, not striving to be called Rabbi, Rabbi in the marketplace.
It's serving. They also believed that they could redefine sin and somehow escape the consequences that came with it. Listen to what Jesus says again in Matthew 23 verses 27 to 34. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. Now these are the leaders of the people.
These are the people who are standing in pulpits and apparently teaching the people. For you're like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside you're full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you're full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tomb of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous. And you say, if we'd lived in the days of our fathers, we'd not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Therefore, your witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Fill up then the measure of your father's guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers, how can you escape the condemnation of hell? Therefore indeed I send you prophets, wise men and scribes, and some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. I send you because I love you, God says a word from heaven. I send you truth that can set you free. I send you a certain sound when I see something encroaching upon you that has the danger or the possibility of taking away your safety.
I send a word to you. But in this case they were resisting it. How often Jerusalem, he said, how often I wanted to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing to come. See your house is left to you desolate.
And that means those who choose their own way, create their own rules and are governed by their own thoughts will be left defenseless and empty in comparison to what their lives could be. The message today has been brought to you by Carter Conlon from Times Square Church. For more information, log on to tsc.nyc. That's tsc.nyc. Plan to be with us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.
