Psalm 91 Untouchable

Rev. David Holwick B Psalms

First Baptist Church

Ledgewood, New Jersey

January 11, 2015

Psalm 91

UNTOUCHABLE

I. What happens when you don't have a parachute?

A. She had a long fall.

January 26, 1972.

The Yugoslavian DC-9 was cruising at 33,000 feet when a bomb

exploded in the cargo area.

The plane broke in two and the pieces spiraled to the ground.

After falling at least three minutes, the rear section impacted

on a snow-covered slope and slid to a stop.

A bystander who happened to have been trained as a medic in

the German army during the war found a body half out of the

wreckage.

It was pinned inside by a food cart and another body.

The 22-year-old flight attendant was unconscious but alive.

Her name was Vesna Vulovic.

She was the sole survivor.

Ironically, she wasn't even supposed to be onboard.

She shared a first name with another attendant and mistakenly

took her place.

Vesna suffered a fractured skull, three broken vertebrae that

left her temporarily paralyzed from the waist down, and

two broken legs.

She was in a coma for 27 days.

But she had survived.

After months of therapy, she regained all her physical

abilities.

Vesna is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest

fall without a parachute.

If a plane you happen to be on crashes, would you survive?

You would probably hope so.

But how realistic is that expectation?

#64700

B. The world is a dangerous place.

1) This week's multiple terrorist attacks in France.

2) Apart from terrorism, there are accidents, diseases like

Ebola, and catastrophes in general.

C. Many people turn to Psalm 91 on these occasions.

1) One website claims it is among the top 50 favorite Bible

passages.

2) It has been called the Soldier's Psalm.

a) Military personnel often carry a wallet-sized copy

with them when they are sent overseas.

b) Actor Jimmy Stewart did.

You may not know that he enlisted in the Army Air Corps

in World War II and was sent overseas.

His father, who was a veteran of the Spanish-American War,

choked up when he tried to say goodbye to him.

So he wrote a note and gave it to his son.

After being shipped out, Jimmy read the words his father

had been unable to say aloud:

My dear Jim boy.

Soon after you read this letter, you will be on your

way to the worst sort of danger.

Jim, I'm banking on the enclosed copy of the 91st Psalm.

The thing that takes the place of fear and worry is

the promise of these words.

I am staking my faith in these words.

I feel sure that God will lead you through this mad

experience.

I can say no more. I only continue to pray. ...

God bless you and keep you.

I love you more than I can tell you.

--Dad.

Jimmy Stewart returned home a decorated war hero, unharmed

even though his record included 20 combat missions.

During the height of battle, Stewart said he learned to

lean on the words of his tattered copy of Psalm 91.

#18721

3) It is easy to see why people in danger would like it.

II. God's supernatural protection.

A. His protection is broad.

1) Human/natural. Snare, pestilence. 91:3

2) Mind/body. Terror, arrows. 91:5

3) Unseen/seen. Night, day. 91:5

B. His protection is personal.

1) "You" is emphatic. "To YOU it will not draw near." 91:7

2) The metaphor of being covered by wings reflects a

mother hen protecting her chicks.

a) Jesus described himself that way in Matthew 23:37.

C. His protection is miraculous.

1) Unseen powers - angels - protect us. 91:11

a) They are sent to minister to God's people. Hebrews 1:14

b) This is where we get the idea of guardian angels.

2) God's servants are not mere survivors but victors.

a) They trample the enemy under foot. 91:13

b) The promise of God's deliverance can give us hope.

c) Our God loves us and can actively intervene to save us.

d) He truly is our refuge and fortress.

III. The problems with divine protection.

A. Miracle or just coincidence?

1) Vesna is in a very rare class of survivors, but she is

not alone.

a) At least five other people have survived long falls

from planes.

b) Some of them were not encased in wreckage like she was.

2) There have been at least 54 sole survivors of plane crashes.

a) Not all of them were believing Christians.

b) Plenty of Christians have died in crashes.

1> The Indonesia plane that went down in the ocean

recently - many passengers were members of the

same church.

2> Their relatives are still hoping for a miracle.

Do you think they will get one?

B. Common experience tells us it is not an ironclad promise.

1) The psalm certainly uses unlimited language.

a) Verse 10: "No harm shall befall you, no disaster will

come near your tent."

b) It even gives (poetic) percentages: a thousand fall at

your side, and ten thousand at your right hand.

2) The Bible and church history give another side.

a) There have been centuries of Christian martyrs.

b) The Bible teaches us to EXPECT hardship.

c) Many Bible passages reveal the same paradox.

1> Romans 8:28 - In all things God works for our good.

A> Romans 8:35 mentions persecution and famine and

sword.

2> Luke 21:18 - Not a hair of your head will perish.

A> Luke 21:16 - they will put some of you to death.

C. The selfishness issue.

1) My plane crash fantasies.

Our Hawaii trip - 14 hours, much over water.

If our plane goes down, what will happen?

Celeste and I have seats near an exit.

I fantasize we will get out.

If there is only one survivor, oh well...

2) What about the poor devils on your left and right?

a) It doesn't seem fair to be saved alone.

b) Vesna Vulovic once commented:

"I'm not lucky. Everybody thinks I am lucky, but

they are mistaken.

If I were lucky I would never had this accident and

my mother and father would be alive.

The accident ruined their lives too."

She has also said that she does not think her survival

was a miracle since 27 others died.

#64700

IV. Jesus holds the key.

A. Early Christians applied 91:11-14 exclusively to Jesus.

1) The "you" is singular, so it had to be Jesus.

2) Satan quoted this psalm to him during his temptation.

a) It was an offer to prove his relationship with God,

rather than accept it on faith alone.

1> All those angels would have made a great visual.

b) Jesus, of course, quoted Scripture right back -

don't put the Lord to a test.

3) Jesus refused the power for self-advantage.

a) Legions of angels were available, but he chose arrest.

Matt 26:53-54

b) In a way, he was delivered - from eternal death.

B. Every Christian has this same assurance.

1) Verse 11 applied in a special way to Jesus, but it applies

to all of us, too.

a) God can deliver us from any peril, though it may

be his will for us to die.

b) The one unshakable promise is that our bodies may be

vaporized but our souls cannot be touched.

1> Jesus will never lose us out of his hand.

2) Of course, we must be in his hand to begin with.

a) The promises of Psalm 91 are restricted to believers.

1> It is for people who shelter themselves in God. 91:1

2> It is for those who love and acknowledge God. 91:14

b) Faith is required to appropriate this psalm.

1> Do YOU have this faith?

2> As verse 16 says, has he shown you his salvation?

3> Some things are more important than surviving a

plane crash.

V. There is a greater goal that physical deliverance.

A. The story behind an old gospel song.

Most of us are familiar with "He Could Have Called Ten Thousand

Angels."

It has been covered by many famous country and western stars.

The chorus goes:

He could have called ten thousand angels

To destroy the world and set him free

He could have called ten thousand angels

But he died alone, for you and me.

Ray Overholt made his living as a country and western singer.

One day he thought to himself: I've written secular songs,

I'd like to write a song about Christ.

He opened his Bible.

He knew a little about it from his mom.

He began to read how Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane told

Peter to put away his sword.

Jesus told Peter that he could ask his Father and he would

send twelve legions of angels to protect them.

Ray didn't know at the time that would have been more than

72,000 angels, not just ten thousand. (Matt 26:53)

The more he read about Jesus, the more Ray admired him for what

he had done.

In 1958 Ray was playing in a nightclub in Battle Creek, Michigan,

when the Lord inspired him to start writing the song.

He wrote the first verse and put it in his guitar case.

Ray then told the club that he was quitting.

He finished the song and sent it to a publishing house, which

reluctantly agreed to publish it.

Sometime later he was asked to sing it at a small church.

Following his singing, a preacher spoke a message that gripped

Ray's heart.

He knew he needed Christ.

So he knelt there and accepted, as his Savior, the One whom he

had been singing and writing about.

Ray Overholt became a traveling singer and preacher.

Think about it - he was led to Christ by his own song.

It is a song about what Jesus could have done, but didn't,

because he had something greater to do.

#64699

B. Tragedy and glory.

July 1987.

16 year old Jennifer Cody got a special treat in being able to

attend a Southern Baptist youth camp.

She had missed the registration deadline at her church in Tempe,

Arizona, so she didn't think she'd be able to go.

However, at the last minute a boy canceled his reservation and

they were able to squeeze her in.

She not only went to the camp, late one evening she asked Jesus

to come into her life as Lord and Savior.

After returning home from camp, Jennifer went to Michigan to

visit relatives.

Then, with her mother, Jennifer boarded Northwest Airlines

Flight 255 so they could fly home to Phoenix.

It was August 16, 1987.

Less than a second after takeoff Flight 255 had its first hint

of trouble - the pilot's control column started to vibrate.

The jet climbed slowly, and began to roll to the right and the

left.

After 14 seconds it should have been 600 feet in the air.

Instead, it was only 45 feet up.

The pilot had forgotten to lower his wing flaps.

At 222 miles per hour, it clipped a light pole in a parking lot

and sheared off 18 feet of wing.

Flames burst from the left engine.

The plane struck another light pole.

It banked 45 degrees to the left and slammed into the concrete

highway embankment.

It was fully loaded with fuel and the resulting explosion

scattered debris and bodies for half a mile.

In a too-familiar scene, emergency squads scrambled over the

wreckage.

Firefighter Dan Kish thought he heard moaning.

His partners turned off their hose and listened - they spotted

a woman lying in some debris.

They checked her for breathing, but she was dead.

Then they saw an arm move beneath her.

It was a little girl, deeply burned but alive, and still

strapped in her seat.

She was the only survivor.

It was a little girl, but it wasn't Jennifer.

[She was Cecelia Cichan.]

Out of 156 dead, only 3 were in a condition to be viewed by

next of kin.

Jennifer was not among those 3, either.

Where were God's protecting angels when Jennifer's plane crashed?

I don't know.

But I can confidently say that according to the promises of the

Bible, Jennifer went to be with her new-found Savior.

If this promise is false, then Jennifer's death can never be

anything more than a senseless tragedy.

But if Jesus is really Lord, then Jennifer is in heaven with

him right now.

Jennifer had been saved at summer camp less than one month

before.

Her trust in Jesus gives a hope that can never be destroyed.

Do you have that hope?

#4343

=========================================================================

SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:

# 4343 “One Survived, But Not Jennifer,” Dr. Robert Sumner, Incidents and

Illustrations, Biblical Evangelist, November 1988, page 13.

The original source was “Anatomy of a Plane Crash.” Life

magazine, April 1988, pages 66-72.

#18721 “God's 911,” Victor Parachin, Christian Reader magazine,

September/October 2000, page 65.

#64699 “The Story Behind a Gospel Classic,” Lindsay Terry, adapted by

David Holwick, <http://www.tanbible.com/tol_sng/sng_tenthousandangels.htm>.

#64700 “The Longest Fall,” David Holwick, adapted from various sources

including:

Wikipedia.org articles on "Vesna Vulović" and "List of sole

survivors of airline accidents or incidents."

"Free Fall: The Free Fall Research Page"

<http://www.greenharbor.com/fffolder/ffresearch.html>

"40 years on, woman who survived 33,000 foot fall still faces

questions," Matthew Day, Telegraph newspaper, January 26, 2012,

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/czechrepublic/9040863/40-years-on-woman-who-survived-33000-foot-fall-still-faces-questions.html>

(article suggests that Vesna's plane was not at 33,000 feet but

was shot down by Czech interceptors at a much lower altitude;

other sources say this theory is untenable, though Guinness

apparently removed her name from the record because of it).

"Vesna's Fall, Article #4," Alan Bellows, <http://www.damninteresting.com/vesnas-fall/>.

These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be

downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html