Address—David Mearns
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
So we open our meeting tonight.
By singing hymn #76 the 1St 6 verses.
Rise, my soul.
And what I want to hear is that I'm just about to say I don't know if I could do anything considering it's like a lot of other stuff and they've been through anything.
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.
Nsnoise.
OK. All right.
And the way we can surrender of the city is around the evening.
And then there's not, well, there's anything right now. I've been together and then it's blouse and then I don't want to let me.
Santa Nella.
We asked the Lord for His help, our God and our Father.
We thank Thee for our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus.
Thank you for this hymn that we've been able to sing together.
Thank you for this time we've been able to have here.
And we just would pray now as we would open up thy precious word.
Read from explicit pages.
That that was Grant us a portion from thyself.
That we would hear thy voice.
Because we find ourselves our God in this wilderness scene.
Be able to.
Find something of refreshment for our souls.
That the things that remain might be strengthened.
And so we just would commit the time into thy hand.
And pray for Thy blessing, thinking of those on the road traveling homeward with Thy journeying mercies for each of them.
We'd ask these things, our God give me thanks and the worthy and the precious name of our Savior.
The Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Turn with me to 1St John Chapter 2. I'm thankful to see these young men in the front row.
Much of what I have to say has to.
To do with young men.
In first John chapter 2.
And verse 15, we read these words, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
00:05:06
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him for all that is in the world.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father.
What is of the world, and the world passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God.
Abideth forever. Now turn over to Galatians chapter 5.
Galatians chapter 5 and verse 16. This I say then walk in the spirit. Ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary, the one to the other.
So that you cannot do the things that you would.
If he be LED of the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations or jealousy, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like, of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things.
Shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. We had a comment made to us in these meetings.
I believe it was in the first reading.
And the comment was this.
That it's impossible.
To walk.
The pathway of faith.
In the flesh, it's impossible. I appreciated that comment.
And a view of what we've just read in First John and in Galatians chapter five. I would like to look for a few minutes this evening at the history of Amalek.
The history of Amalek.
Often when we hear of the nation of Amalek, we hear of it in connection with Joshua, who did battle against Amalek.
But I would like tonight to look at 5 different times.
That there were people of God that did battle with Amalek and were victorious.
But each time, those five different ones did battle with Amalek.
There was some characteristics of Amalek that showed themselves.
And so tonight, as we go through this subject, what we're going to do is we're going to look at the characteristics of Amalek and then we're going to look at the deliverer in each case five different times. So the first characteristics we're going to look at we're going to find in Deuteronomy chapter 25.
Deuteronomy, the 25th chapter. Amalek was the nation. We're going to find out as we look at Exodus chapter 17.
And it says that the people of God were to do battle with Amalek from generation to generation.
But here we find in Deuteronomy chapter 25.
As we look at this nation of Amalek and to realize that it pictures to us the flesh.
Which we combat in our lives.
And in Deuteronomy chapter 25 and verse 17 we read.
Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt, how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee.
When thou was faint and weary, and he feared not, God therefore shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it.
That thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
Thou shalt not forget it.
You know, if we can picture.
The scene as the people of God came out of Egypt. You know, we sang this morning. I believe it was the white that gave it to him. Guide us all, thou gracious Savior pilgrims in this barren land. Here are the people of God. They found themselves in a barren land.
And we find here in the 18th verse it says about Amalek what he did unto thee by the way, how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost that's.
What characterized Amalek is they drew along alongside or they came up behind the people of God. And there were those amongst the people of God that were falling behind. They were the hindmost. And it was those that Amalek zeroed in on. You know, it's, it's been something to me to to read these words because it says here.
00:10:18
Most behind most of the even all that were feeble behind thee when thou was faint and weary.
You know, we read about the people of God, and let's do that just for a moment in Psalm 105.
We read about the people of God when they came out of Egypt and it says this about them. Psalm 105.
And verse 37.
It says he brought them forth also with silver and gold, and there was not one feeble person among their tribes.
That's interest. Interesting statement, isn't it? There was not one feeble amongst them. And yet here in our chapter it says that he smote the hindmost, even all that were feeble behind them. How is it that the people of God got to be feeble? How did that transpire? When they came out of Egypt? There wasn't a feeble one among them.
And we find, it says behind the one thou is faint, and when thou wast weary.
Yeah, we had before us today in in Hebrews chapter 12. Consider him.
Who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself? Less ye be these same words weary and faint in your minds. Is there anyone here this evening that's ever felt feebleness in the Christian pathway?
Ever faint felt faintness?
Ever felt weariness?
I'm the only one here that's ever felt that. It's not likely. We feel those things, don't we, in the pathway.
At such a time is the time that Amalek draws aside and he smites the hindmost of the people of God.
Now the characteristics that we find here in connection with Amalek is that he feared not God, His brazen character. You remember Pharaoh when he was speaking with Moses, he said who is the Lord? That I should obey his voice? Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice? That's the same characteristic that we find here in connection with Amalek. He feared not God, No Fear of God with Amalek.
And he draws alongside those that are feeble, those that are faint, and those that are weary.
Well, we know that that transpires in our own lives. Feebleness, weariness in the pathway, faintness.
In our minds, you know, that's where the Helmet of Salvation comes in. It's armor for the mind.
And I've appreciated turning to proverbs and reading about the cones. It says about the cones, you know, that they're a feeble folk. A feeble folk. But it says.
They make their dwelling in the rock. They make their dwelling in the rocks.
A female folk and yet.
There's a haven for them.
And when there's feebleness amongst us, there's weariness and there's faintness.
There's a refuge. There's a refuge just like the cones. Who are those feeble folks?
And I'd like to turn now to the account that we find in Exodus chapter 17.
When Amalek drew alongside and he smelt the hindmost Exodus chapter 17.
And verse one and all, the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched and refed him, and there was no water for the people to drink.
Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water, that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord the.
People thirsted there for water. The people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us up, that of Egypt to kill us, and our children, and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee the elders of Israel, thy rod, wherewith thou smartest the river. Take in thine hand, and go, Behold, I will stand before thee upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, and the people may drink.
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel, and he called the name of the place Massa and Meribah, because of the trading of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
Then came Amalek. You know this portion that we've just read the 1St 7 verses.
Is the portion that shows to us.
00:15:03
Provided the fertile ground for Amalek to be able to come upon them and do his work.
Chiding against Moses and against the Lord, and tempting the Lord.
Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel, and repedim, and Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out and fight with Amalek.
Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.
So Joshua did his Moses said unto him, and fought with Amalek, and Moses and Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat thereon. And Aaron and her stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people at the edge of the sword.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial and a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah Messiah. For he said, Because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Here we find this scene and we find Amalek comes to fight with Israel.
And we find now that Joshua is victorious against Amalek.
But we know that there were times when Moses hands were let down, or at least one hand was let down.
I believe it was her hand.
And at that time, we read that Amalek prevailed.
And when Moses hands were held up, we find that Joshua prevailed.
What we find here that in connection with the deliverance that Joshua was obedient, Joshua fought with Amalek, he was obedient. But I'd like to turn to a verse now in First Timothy.
First Timothy. Two chapter.
And we're going to find a picture of what transpired here.
As Moses was up on the mountain and Joshua was down in the valley fighting with Amalek.
First Timothy, chapter 2.
And verse eight we read. I will therefore that men pray everywhere.
Lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting.
In the first 7 verses of the chapter that we read in Exodus 16, what we find is wrath and doubting the people of God.
They're ready to stone Moses. They're filled with anger and wrath, and there's doubting.
And what was the doubting in our chapter? It says in the seventh verse, the end of it such a solemn thing.
The people of God tempting the Lord and saying, Is the Lord among us?
Or not. What a question, you know, that's been asked generation to generation by the people of God. Is the Lord among us or not? And that to me is a picture of the hands that are hanging down, the hands that are hanging down that we heard about this afternoon. Oh, what a marvelous thing to lift up holy hands. And as Joshua could fight there with Amalek, what an encouragement it was to look up at Moses and see those hands being held up.
And to realize that there was victory ahead for her and all, I would say that when Amulet comes into our lives, it said he met Israel in the way.
That's where he met Israel.
And there was feebleness, there was weariness, and there was faintness.
But there was victory when Moses hands were held up.
Or may this encourage our hearts to see those characteristics of EMLEC and to see Joshua victorious. Now let's turn over to First Samuel where we find another one.
Samuel, Chapter 15.
We find another event in connection with Amalek, and this is in the life of Samuel and Saul.
And in the first part of First Samuel 15, we'll find the characteristics of Amalek.
For Samuel 15 and verse one Samuel also said unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people over Israel. Now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts. I remember that which Amalek did to Israel. Now here's the characteristic how he laid wait for him in the way when he came up from Egypt, he laid wait for him in the way. And Reuben when he was speaking this morning, used that expression connection with the the Jews and how they laid wait for the Lord Jesus.
00:20:20
We find it a number of times in the word. You remember Samson when he was in Gaza, it says there about the Philistines that they laid wait.
For Samson, he took the gate and he took the bars, and he marched them up to the top of the hill.
We find that in connection with the portion that they've brought before us this morning or had brought before us in connection with the window and how Paul was let through a window.
Over the wall in a basket. But just before that it says that there were those that were laying wait for the apostle Paul. I think we find that same expression in the chapter that we had before us in UMM in Acts chapter 20. I'll just turn to it for a minute because it's the characteristic of Amalek in Acts chapter 20 and the the third verse. They're abode 3 and they're about 3 months. And when the Jews laid wait for him for he was about to sail into Assyria.
That's a characteristic that we find in connection with, with Amalek. It's that sneaky characteristic where someone lays for someone else and doesn't want them to know about it. That's what Amalek did unto Israel and he caught them by surprise. We know what it's like to be caught by surprise. Just a couple of weeks ago, I had something happen to me that caught me by surprise. I was, I was doing some work in a, in a, in a home.
And I arrived at the place and I was eating my lunches. I arrived there and I had my water bottle on the dashboard of the truck.
And I went into, I went into do my work and I came back out and I hopped in the truck and headed off down the road. And I just picked up my water bottle and, and took A and took a mouthful of the water. What I didn't realize it happened was a wasp had crawled up the side of the water bottle and gotten inside the water bottle. And I just took one mouthful and the wasp was in my mouth. You know, it took me totally, totally by surprise, totally unaware. And, and you can imagine the scene when I realized there was something in my mouth. Well.
I tried to get rid of the water as quickly as possible and I sprayed it all over, but not before, not before.
The Wasps stung me, caught me by surprise, and just had its chance. Now, what's the likelihood of that happening? You know, the enemy of our souls.
He knows our weaknesses and.
And he catches us unsuspecting every time. And we find here that the Lord spoke and his desire was that Amalek be destroyed because he laid weight for the people of God and knew that that was going to continue to happen. So now he says go and smite in verse 3, go and smite the Amalekites and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not.
Slay both men and women, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ***. And Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in to lay them 200,000 footmen and 10,000 men of Judah. And Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid weight in the valley. And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from the Amalekites. And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah. Until thou comest assure.
That is over against Egypt, and he took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
That's all in the people spared Agag the best of the sheep and of the oxen, of the fatlings and the lambs, and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and refuse they they destroyed utterly.
Now this is a sad account.
Because the word of the Lord had come to Saul saying Go and destroy the Amalekites.
Every one of them. And we find that Saul goes out and he does battle with the Amalekites, but it says he took Agag the king.
Of the Amalekites alive, he destroyed all the people at the edge of the sword, but he spared Agag.
You know that reminds me of what we had before us this afternoon in Hebrews chapter 12. Let's turn to it just for a moment.
Hebrews, the 12Th chapter.
Because this is an important.
Point as we look at the history of Amalek.
In Hebrews chapter 12 and verse one it says Seeing wherefore seeing we are also accompanied to bow with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. You know, I'd like to look at the Amalekites here as every weight, but I'd like to look at Agag as the sin which those so easily beset us.
00:25:18
You know, everyone of us here, we have strength and we have weaknesses and perhaps we have a particular weakness in our life. It's a besetting sin.
And here the apostle.
Would exhort to lay aside.
Every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us. If we turn over in our chapter, we find that Saul goes out and he does battle with the Amalekites and he cleans them all out. But there's just one that he saves a life, and that's Agag.
Now often that's the case in our own lives. We see that in the case of many in the Word of God.
Where there's something in their life.
That perhaps recurs time and time again, a weakness.
Besetting sin.
We're going to find out how Samuel dealt with Agag. We find that Samuel came to to Saul.
And.
In the 17th verse. 16th verse.
Samuel, Samuel said in the 16th verse unto Saul, say, And I will tell thee what the Lord has said to me this night. And he said unto him, Sayon. And Samuel said, When thou was little in thine own sight, was thou not made head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee king over Israel, And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners of the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then did thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and did evil in the sight of the Lord?
And Saul sent him to Samuel. Yay, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and I have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and I brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and I've utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, the sheep and oxen, the chief of the things, which would have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God. And Gilgal. Notice Now if we look back, we would find that it was Samuel with the people. You know, it reminds us of Aaron. And he said, you know, we threw this, we threw all these earrings and this gold into the fire, and it popped this golden calf.
We find that in connection here that saw that it was the people that did that.
You know Saul didn't have a relationship with the Lord. Notice what it says here in the end of that 21St verse.
To sacrifice unto the Lord my God in Gilgal, is that what it says? No, it's the Lord thy God. Twice we find that in this chapter that Saul refers to the Lord as Samuel's God, not his own God.
And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of Rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou has rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee.
From being king, no Rebellion is something that we find in each one of our hearts. I look at these young men in the front row and you know boys.
We have within our hearts rebellion. It's there.
And the word here to Saul.
From Samuel is what the Lord appreciates is obedience.
Obedience to the Word of God.
As opposed to rebellion. And the 24th verse, it says Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned. You know, he comes right out and he says I have sinned. But we find that in, in Samuel's life, we find he says that he uses that expression twice. Once he says it to Samuel and once he says it to David. He says I have sinned. But we never find Saul saying that to the Lord. Never once does he use that term. I have sinned. He says, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in my words, because I I feared the people.
And obeyed their voice.
Now turn it over to.
The 32nd verse.
And this is how a gag was dealt with by Samuel.
And this is.
The way that our besetting sin has to be dealt with, with such aggression by the word of God. And Sam then said, Samuel, bring ye hit her to me a gag. The king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, surely the bitterness of death is passed. And Samuel said, as thy sword hath made women childless soul, shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel now notice the wording. It doesn't say that he took his head off, doesn't say that he smiled him under the fifth rib.
00:30:09
Now Samuel took that sword, and it says Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
We had before us this afternoon in connection with the armor.
Sort of the Spirit which is the word of God, and that is the only way.
To be setting a sin in our life is to be dealt with.
Those characteristics that we've seen here in connection with Amalek as he laid wait for the people of God.
And how agag was spared. Agag was hewed in pieces before the Lord. Notice where in Gilgal, that place of self judgment, that place where there was no place for the flesh whatsoever. Agag had to be hewed in pieces.
Now turn with me to.
The rest of this story, which we find in the book of Esther.
The Book of Esther.
Such a solemn thing to me to see that when the Lord issued an order here for the Amalekites to be destroyed.
That it wasn't followed to the letter.
And the result was that there was someone that was spared. They don't know for how long, but we find that here in this chat, in this little book.
Which is the last mention of the Amalekite.
We find that there's a man raised up in the second chapter, the fifth verse. Now in Shushan, the palace, there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jer, the son of Shimei. Now notice this expression, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.
The Lord raised up in the book of Esther someone from the same household as Saul.
From from the from the household of Kish, a man by the name of Mordechai. And then and then in the third chapter, we read these words.
After these things did Ajay whereas promote Haman the son of Hamadassa, and now he's here we find a descendant of Agag and the Agagite and advanced him and set his feet above all the Princess that were with him.
Interesting isn't it, that the Lord would raise up someone from the household of Kish to destroy?
The Amalekites to destroy someone that escaped from the House of Agag. And we find that the characteristics of the Amalekites are here in this third chapter. In chapter 8, we read chapter 3 and verse eight. It says that Haman said unto king of Haji. Whereas there is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of the Kingdom and their laws are diverse from all people, neither keep they the King's laws. Therefore it is not for the King's prophet to suffer them.
If it pleased the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed. Now notice here, and I will pay 10,000 talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it in to the King's treasuries.
You know, Amalek is willing to pay a tremendous price. He's not willing to spare anything. And here Haman was willing to give so much to do away with the people of God. You know, we find in connection with the king of Sodom, You remember when Cheddar Lay Omar went against the king of Sodom and he came back and when he's speaking to Abraham, he says, you know Abraham.
His comment is that he wanted to keep the person. He didn't care about the good, he said. Abram, you can keep all the goods. Just give me the person.
He was willing to pay a high price for the person. And that's what the enemy of our soul is willing to do, pay a high price for the persons, for our souls.
So we would make shipwreck on the pathway of faith, and here we find that Haman is willing to pay all this tremendous amount of money.
To do away with the people of God.
Well, for times sake, if we were to go to.
The 7th chapter of Esther.
We know what transpired in connection with the banquet, and Esther spells out to the king in the fourth verse of the 7th chapter. We are sold by my people to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. We have been sold for bonds men and bond women. I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the King's damage.
And we find that the final analysis is that Mordecai is Vic.
The 10th verse it says they hanged Haman on the gallows, which he had prepared for more to chaise than was the King's wrath pacified.
And then in my chapter we would find that his ten sons were also hanged.
I'd like to look at the the very last chapter, Esther chapter 10.
00:35:02
And we find Mordecai who is victorious, it says in the very last verse. For Mordecai the Jew was next on the king of Haji, whereas I was great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.
You know, we had before us a portion today. Dave brought it up in the reading meeting. Let's just turn to it in Exodus Numbers Chapter 25.
In Numbers chapter 25, we find the story of how Zimri brought Cosby into the camp and Phineas took his spear and he slew them both.
That takes place in the 25th chapter of Numbers. But in the 24th chapter we have what promoted such a scenario. In the 25th chapter it was to do with Amalek the 20th. 1St we find in connection with balanced prophecies. When he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable and said Amalek was the first of the of the nations. But his latter end shall be that he perished forever and we don't read of Amalek.
Physically, after the book of Esther, in principle he has war with war with the people of God from generation to generation, but his end is that he will perish forever.
Let's turn now to the, umm, to the book of, uh, Second Samuel.
Second Samuel.
Where we find the third time if the amalekite is.
Is destroyed.
Second Samuel. The Beginning.
The first chapter.
Actually, if we turn to the last chapter of First Samuel, we'll find the characteristics here.
We find in this connection that it's David that's victorious over Amalek.
But we find the characteristics in in First Samuel chapter 30, which is the portion where.
David comes to Ziklag and we find that the Amalekites have invaded the South.
And they've invaded Ziklag, and they've burned it with fire second verse and taken the women captives that were there in they slew not any, neither great or small, but carried them away and went on their way.
We find that people are Speaking of stoning David.
6th verse David was greatly distressed for the people's sake of stoning him, because the soul of the people was grieved every man for his sons and for his daughters, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the priest, the himalek's son, I pray thee, bring me hit her the ephod. And Abiathar brought him, hit her the ephod. You know David here is in his wilderness wanderings, but we find that.
There's an epod that's available, and in all our wilderness travels the high priestly service of the Lord.
Is always available to us.
And we find here that David, he's bent on going after the Amalekites, and he goes and it says in the 11Th verse they found an Egyptian in the field.
And brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat, and they made him drink water, and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins.
When he had eaten, his spirit came again to him, for he had eaten no bread and nor drunk any water. 3 days and three nights. And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou, and whence art thou? And he said, I'm a young man of Egypt.
Here's the characteristic servant to an Amalekite and my master left me because three days ago I felt sick.
That's what Amalek does.
It uses Amalek uses the man of this world, a young man or a young woman for all they can get, and then leaves them in the ditch to die.
What a solemn thing in connection with Amalek. Well, let's turn over now to find in the That's a characteristic in the second book of Second Samuel, Chapter One.
We find that umm, paint the path.
After the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites and David abode 2 days in Ziklag.
It came even to pass on the third day that, behold, a man came out of the camp of Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head.
And so it was when he came to David that he fell to the earth, and did obey him. And David sent unto him, From whence cometh thou? And he said, over the camp of Israel, I am escaped. And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, The people were fled from the battle. Many of the people are also fallen and dead. And Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.
And David said unto the young man that told him, how Noah saw Saul and Jonathan his son be dead. And the young man that told him said, I happened by chance upon Mount Kilbourg. Behold, Saul leaned upon his spear, and lo, the Chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called unto me. And I answered, Here am I. And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. And he said unto me again, Stand I pray thee upon thee, and slay me, for anguish has come upon me, because my life is yet holy me. So I stood upon him and slew him, because I was sure that he would not live.
00:40:23
After that he was falling, and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and gazed and brought them hit her unto my Lord. And David took hold on his clothes and rent them, and likewise all the men that were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until even.
For Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, for the House of Israel, because they were fallen by the sword.
And David said unto the young man that told him, the young man that told him, Whence art thou?
And he said I'm the son of a stranger, an Amalekite.
And we find a sad account here where there's this man.
And the crux of the matter here is that this man had a hard time telling the truth.
Now, sometimes our tongues get us into trouble as the people of God here is a man and his tongue got him into trouble. You know, David knew that when he was speaking with this man that some of the things he was saying just didn't add up because because David said, you know, how do you know that Paul and Jonathan are dead? And the man said, oh, I just happened by chance on Mount Gilboa. You know, David knew you just didn't happen by chance on Mount Gilboa. Mount Gilboa was the scene of a raging battle.
And you just didn't go for a walk on Mount Kilboa. And the man says, well, I just happened by chance. And, well, here's Saul, you know.
That didn't transpire at all.
And David, so David, at that point, he knew that he knows that there's something wrong with what this man saying. So he asked him again and he said when Sartell, he was trying to probe, he was trying to find out what his, what his roots were, just who this man was. And the man says in the 13th verse, he said, I'm the son of a stranger, an Amalekite.
At this particular time, I want to look at the first time that Amalek is mentioned in the Word of God. And we have to we have to go back to the book of Genesis for that. So let's just for a minute look back at Genesis chapter 36.
Genesis chapter 36.
Because I believe that.
David had already known because he had asked the man who he was. He had already known that this man was an Amalekite, and he put together the things that he said. It just didn't add up. And David knew the roots of Amalek. And so we find here in Genesis chapter 36, you know, I found this so solemn in connection with what we had before us this afternoon in the 12Th chapter of Hebrews, because it says here in verse 9, verse one, it says, now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.
And then verse 9. These are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir.
And these are the names of Esau's sons. Eliaphas the son of Ada, the wife of Esau Rule, the son of Bashamath the wife of Esau. Of the sons of Eliathaz were Teeman, Omar, Zephol, and Gathem and Kines. Now notice the 12Th verse. And Kimna was concubined to Eliophaz Esau's son, and she bare to Eliaphas Amalek.
You know Amalek was the grandson of Esau. Remember what we read this afternoon?
About Esau. He was that fornicator, that profane person who was willing to sell for one morsel of meat his birthright, a man totally of the flesh.
You know, David probes this Amalekite thing. Now where did you come from? And the man comes out again. He says I'm a malachite.
And notice how David deals with this situation in Second Samuel, the 2nd chapter.
1St chapter rather.
The 14th verse. And David said unto him, How was thou not afraid?
To stretch forth on hand.
To destroy the Lord's anointed.
And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him, And he smote him that he died. And David said unto him, Thy blood be upon thy hand, for thy mouth.
Have testified again thee.
I explained the Lord's anointed.
Now this man had trouble telling the truth, and we find that he came from a long line of those that were men of the flesh.
And I would just like to reach out to those who are younger in the faith here this evening.
00:45:00
To realize back at that time when Esau came in from the field.
And Jacob was cooking that pottage.
And to realize that Esau was willing to sell his birthright.
Just for one morsel of meat, he was willing to sacrifice the entire future for just a little bit of the present.
We've seen so much with that amongst the people of God, of those that have showed such promise, and then to sacrifice the future for just a little bit of the present. You know, we see that with the in the life of Shimmy Eye, who's mentioned several times. And we find that at a time when Shimmy Eye doesn't go with Ananija, he shows such promise.
But in Solomon's day, Shimmy Eye was willing to sacrifice his life so he could spend a day with his servants. What a solemn thing to sacrifice the present for all the future.
Well, now let's turn to the last one. And we find it in First Chronicles, the 4th chapter.
First Chronicles, chapter 4.
We find this as a bright spot amongst the simianites.
Where we find very few bright spots. But here in the 24th verse of First Chronicles chapter 4, the sons of Simeon, the 39th verse, it says, they went to the entrance of Ghidor, even unto the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks. And they found fat pasture and good, and the land was wide and quiet and peaceable. For they of Ham had dwelt thereof old. And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah the king of Judah, and smote their tents.
And the habitations that were found there, and destroyed them utterly unto this day, and dwelt in their rooms, because there was pasture there for their flocks. And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, 500 men went to Mount Seir, having for their captains Palatia.
Neeraya, Raphiya, Uziel, the sons of Ishay, and they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped and dwelt there unto this day.
So in this case, this is the account. But to find the characteristics of Amalek, we have to turn to the book of Judges. So let's just do that just for a moment, and we'll get up, We'll get the characteristics of Amalek in connection with this deliverance and Judges, the 6th chapter.
Judges, Chapter 6.
You remember the story of Gideon.
Who was victorious over the Midianites? But it says in Judges chapter 6 and verse 3. And so it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the children of the East, even they came up against them, and they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance.
For Israel neither sheep nor oxen, nor ***. And they came up with their cattle in their tents, and they came up as grasshoppers. For a multitude. Both they and their camels were without number.
You know, the characteristic that we see here in connection with the Amalekites was the Amalekites didn't go into slaughter. The people of God here, it says they came in and they took the sustenance in Israel. They took everything there was to eat. They took all the grass, they took all the corn, they took the the sheep and the oxen. Everything there was to eat they took for themselves. That's what characterized Amalek and that's what characterizes Amalek today. He takes the food. You know, he does it today in a different way, the enemy of our souls. He does it by taking our appetite.
You know, Stan Jacobson shared a little something with me in connection with Anorexia.
It's a disease that, that people, they just don't have an appetite. In fact, it means that thing. The, the, when you, when you refer to someone as being anorexic, anorexic is 2 words. Ana means without and rexic means appetite without appetite. And that's what the enemy of our souls, that's the way he does to take away the sustenance from the people of God. He takes away our appetite. So there's no appetite at all for the word of God.
We find here such a solemn thing in our chapter in First Chronicles chapter 4.
Because these men of Simeon, it says that they.
They went to seek pasture for their flocks.
And you know, they found pasture with nice lush green pasture for their flocks.
But we read of the Amalekites, but doesn't it doesn't say that they pose any threat whatsoever. They're way off there in the distance. But you know, the Simunites knew. They knew that one morning they'd wake up and their pasture would be gone. One morning they would wake up and the sustenance for their flocks would be gone. And so when it says here they thought, pastor for their forest, they found fat pasture and good. The land was wide and quiet and peaceable. The MOX, the Amalekites here, they weren't threatening at all. They were seeking to be peaceable. But the Simeonites went out.
00:50:12
And it says they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped.
And they dwelt there unto this day.
Just in closing, let's go back to Galatians chapter 5.
Galatians, chapter 5.
We've looked at that which characterizes Amalek, the lust of the flesh in the 16th verse to the end of the 21St verse, but just read without comment in the 22nd verse. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the afflictions, with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Let us not be desirous of Vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.
Well, may the Lord bless His word as we've looked at this little subject of Amalek and to see those five different ones.
And now, firstly, there was those characteristics of smiting the hindmost.
And those hands were lifted up and Amalek was defeated.
And then to see how Saul went out and how he spared Agag.
And there is that besetting sin in our lives that needs to be dealt with in the same way that Samuel dwelt with Agag.
And then to see how Haman, a descendant of Agag, and how he was willing to pay a great price for the people of God.
And that Mordecai was Victoria over the Amalekites.
And then to see David.
And those characteristics of.
The young man being a servant to the Amalekite, and the Amalekites just leaving him for dead after he used them for all he could.
And to see that characteristic of not telling the truth.
And David slaying the Amalekite with the sword because his mouth had testified against him. And lastly, to see the characteristics of how Amalek seeks to take all the sustenance in Israel, to take the food from the people of God, to take the appetite away from the people of God. So there's no appetite for the things of God. We would have an appetite for anything else but the things of God.
And to see those simulates and how even when the Amalekites were not posing a threat, how they could go and defeat all the Amalekites. Oh, may these principles.
Be good in our lives as we seek to walk this pathway that's before us in a wilderness scene before the Lord. Could we sing those last year verses of that hymn #76 that we started with?
#76 starting with verse 7.
On to Canada.
Which we're doing today.
So I want to know what's my name? So I'll talk to her in his squeeze. Brilliant.
Wednesday.
Night. I wish I had a great day.
And then we're trying to hear, so I'm not going to be, no, I'm not going to do this. So I'm going to go there and get the correct experience we're going to spend.
I don't know, how much Scotland did you get? Strange. There's a lot of things for blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
00:55:04
Uh-huh. You know, Mr. Rice fell out of the green tree and his graveyard.
Life.