Address—E. Wilson
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I want you to turn with me first of all.
To the New Testament, to lay a little groundwork first before we look at the old to develop what I have on my heart this afternoon.
The Book of Philippians.
Chapter 4.
Let's pick this up from the sixth verse. This is Philippians chapter 4 verse #6.
Be careful for nothing.
But in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, but your request be made known unto God. I just want to quickly comment on that verse before I read a couple of others.
You know, it's a great thing.
That our lives should be characterized by carefulness. But the thought here is not to be overcharged with care.
To be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, because prayer as we know.
Is that which would express dependence upon the Lord. And that's important because that's our pathway. It's to express that dependence upon Him because we are dependent people.
And then you notice this phrase, and it's interesting that we spoke about these things this morning. It says with Thanksgiving. I suppose one of the things that characterizes the present day in which we live is the fact that people are not characterized by Thanksgiving. Now, if any people on the face of the earth should be displaying this, it's certainly believers the importance of Thanksgiving.
And I really believe, brethren, that we only cultivate thankfulness by cultivating a thankful spirit. And we do that by living in communion with the Lord. There's no question.
And then we see the wonderful result in verse seven. And this is important and the peace of God.
Now, later in this chapter, we have the God of peace.
And we can't really enjoy the God of peace until we have the peace of God. And it's very interesting, the peace of God.
Which passes all understanding. It doesn't need explanation.
We live in a day and age. We live in a world where everything's got to be explained, right? Well, there are things in this world that cannot be explained. And I like to think that this is one that's unexplainable, although it's a wonderful and blessed truth. The peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep or will Garrison is the thought here your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And that's important. You dear young people, if there's one war that's being waged today, it is for the hearts and minds.
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Of the young people.
But if you knew how active the enemy is, to get your mind to get it occupied and onto everything and anything but Christ, because we have three very powerful foes.
That's actively engaged in this work. We have the world, the flesh and Satan.
How would you describe the world?
It's that whole mass of things out there that has been devised by man. His hopes, his dreams, his aspirations, what he hopes to be, what he hopes others will be or might not be. That's like the world, you know. And by the way, in the Old Testament there's a king. I believe in the judges, who portrays that.
Kushan, Russia. Say him. Yeah. His name means double Lord of Darkness. That's just like the world around us. It's alienated from God. By what nature and by practice.
Isn't a great thing that as believers, you know, the position that we've been brought into by sovereign grace, we're hidden from that. But oh, may our state correspond with it. May we realize that we have a glorious inheritance and that we really don't have anything to do with this world because we're passing through it. Thank God we're not of it, although sometimes we act like it's ours. We should be horrified, really, to have anything to do with it.
And that's interesting. Another thing is the devil. Now that's Ephesians 2, the Prince and power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.
That's very interesting. And a king that would set that before us in the Old Testament, I believe, is Jabin, king of Hazor. It tells us in Deborah's song that the stars in their courses fought against him, you know?
And that's like Ephesians 6. You know, there's that struggle in the heavenlies. You know, it's very interesting in Ephesians 6 that the devil's only mentioned twice.
But it's delivered, and the reason is, is because people always have the tendency to think of them as a monster, which he is.
But Scriptures, careful there, I believe, to set before us the fact that He is our adversary and He's going to do everything and anything he can to keep us from enjoying that inheritance.
And then of course, the last one is the flesh.
Judges says now Moab or that Eglon king of Moab, and it says that's very interesting was a what a very fat man.
That's interesting, isn't it? I'm not poking fun of you people, you know that. Maybe you know, a little big.
God, I'm thankful that God loves big people, you know?
What's their problem? Sometimes they have a tendency to look at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. Don't forget that.
He loves me and he loves you, and the outward appearance is not what's important to him. We heard this morning That's important to take care of ourselves, but that's the important thing is the inward man. That's what God looks at.
Very interesting, isn't it? Now he was a very fat man.
That's the flesh, isn't it? That was the flesh. And by the way, when that dagger went into the belly, it says the dirt came out. That's the natural man, and that's exactly what he's like. There's nothing good about him. He's dirty.
Now I use this illustration with a kid sometimes when I speak, you know. Now I know in the other translation that it uses the word spider in.
Proverbs chapter 30, The spider taketh hole with her hands and is in King's palaces. I know JMD translates that lizard, but I'd like to just think of it in connection with a spider because the old spider has two body segments, a little body segment and a big one. And I like to think that that's like the old and the new nature, that natural part that you see, the outward, the flesh, you know, he's like that small part. And by the way, that's the part that changes the fly into mush and eats it, right? What a graphic description really that is of the flesh within us, isn't it true?
Anesthesia, that flying and it pumps in that stuff. It turns it all into mush and then it sucks it out. And that's what the old man loves to feed on. He likes to feed on garbage. But the second part of that, spiders.
Bigger. And I like to think of that as the new nature. The new nature is so much bigger than the old nature.
It's not confined, it's not limited. It's like our inheritance that we have in Christ.
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Let's go back into the Old Testament and I want to speak this afternoon on something which has been on my heart.
All my waking hours through the night last night, I was before the Lord and I.
And I just asked the Lord for a confirmation on what I should speak on. It's very interesting that the brethren.
Suggested you know Second Timothy 3:00 this morning.
And I'd like to go back to Samuel, first Samuel chapter 30, and that time in David's life when there was a day of departure.
We learned from chapter 27 of that same book, and I'll take the time to read it there in verse one. This is first Samuel chapter 27. David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines, and Saul shall despair of me to seek me anymore in any coast of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand.
Well, we find that David here has a lapse of faith.
And that we find that he goes into the enemy's land to sojourn there. And I think that's sad, but if we're honest with ourselves, we all have lapse of faith from time to time.
And so let's get over to chapter 30, because there is such a thing as the governmental ways of God.
In our lives.
Aren't you thankful this afternoon that God, in his wisdom and in his love and in His grace, will never leave us to ourselves?
Too much was paid for our salvation, for the God of all grace to simply leave us, you know, to choose our own way and our own devices. And so he comes in in a governmental way here, and he deals with David.
I don't want you to think this afternoon that these things are overwhelming. I don't want you to think of the men and women of the Old Testament.
As superheroes, the Book of James tells us that they were people who were subject to like passions as ourselves.
And that's the great thing about reading about these Old Testament worthies. There were men and women like you are a hoe. But they had a wonderful God, didn't they? Like we have?
Yeah, I heard the song too. Our God is an awesome God. I'm going to tell you something. He's more than awesome. He's good. He's great. He's wonderful.
And our poor little language can never begin to describe just exactly who this glorious person is.
Think of that. Think of being gathered to him and to his name alone.
All right, let's let's read a few verses here.
It came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day. Keep this in mind that when you read of the number 3.
The third day in scripture it's the difference between life and death because the children of Israel were to go 3 days journey into the wilderness.
It's wonderful that in First John, it tells us that we have passed from death or we have passed out of death into life. That's the third day. That's the difference between living and not living. That's the difference between having what really matters and not having anything at all.
But here it's in connection with discipline. You know that He makes all things work together for good. Even the necessary discipline in our lives, He makes that work for our good. God doesn't do these things to hurt us. He does these things to help us.
Now I know the world has got this all backwards. We're living in a day, of course, when discipline means nothing and children are left to do what they want. But children left to themselves. Proverbs tells us this. They bring their mother and their father to shame, right? You boys and girls, you want to be thankful that you have parents that have a concern for your soul and they don't let you do what you want to do. I'm thankful I had a mom who did not let me do what I wanted to do.
Maybe I wouldn't be here this afternoon.
Maybe you wouldn't be here this afternoon.
But that's one aspect of the love of God. It is faithful.
The Lord is faithful.
The Amalekites had invaded the South. Amalek is a picture of what in Scripture the flesh.
Their picture of the flesh. Remember how we mentioned that earlier, that the flesh is an enemy, one of those enemies? They had made an invasion on the South.
You know the geographical points in Scripture are important too. And why is that? What do we learn about the S country? The S country in Scripture sets before us, I believe, the idea of easement, taking it easy. Abraham drifted toward the South, it tells us. Then we find him in Egypt.
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Don't ask the Lord for an easy time in your pathway because it may not be the best thing for you.
Very often it's not the best thing for you.
Spiritually, Christians should never take a vacation.
As you can be sure of one thing, that if Christians take vacations, the devil is going to be there to suggest the itinerary, right?
I hope I got that word right. Kathy's always at me said you never say itinerary, right. I sometimes I say itinerary. She said no, Hon, that's not right. Itinerary, let's get it right. It's itinerary, isn't it? We don't get it right and sometimes we don't get it right because we're not in communion with the Lord. And by the way, we'll never get it right unless we are in communion with the Lord. That's the great thing about it.
And it's Spitzen ziklag and burned it with fire. You know what this reminds me of? This reminds me of what we have in Two Corinthians 5, right? Our lives one day are going to come in review at the judgment seat of Christ. And everything that is of the Lord is going to receive its reward. And everything that isn't is going to be, is going to be burned up. What does Hebrews tell us? Our God is a consuming fire. That's why. And so I pressed upon you, dear young people, this afternoon. Are we living our lives?
With a view to that day.
Are we living it with a view to that day? Hold your place here and let's go over to Genesis chapter 24. I touched on this the other night, I think, in speaking in Winnipeg, but I'd like to bring it out here because I believe it's important.
This is Genesis 24, and in that wonderful chapter, there's a lot of activity.
A lot of activity, but then it seems at the end of this chapter we get this verse, and I think it's very instructive.
Very beautiful. This is Genesis 24 verse 66.
It says here the servant told Isaac all things that he had done.
Just like the judgment seat of Christ, because the man here, the servant here is a picture of the Holy Spirit, OK? He's a pitcher of the Spirit of God. And as a picture of that, he tells Isaac, Isaac, here's a picture of the heavenly bridegroom. And one day my life will be unfolded there at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, what the Spirit of God did through my life and did through your life, that's what's going to receive its reward.
But if I live for the flesh, if I live for sense, if I live for time, that's what's going to go up in smoke.
Now I want to say this, that these things are important because right now, right now, even here in this room, what is our attitude toward these things?
I'm sure that everyone of us.
Would love to hear and I believe will will hear but would love to hear from the lips of the Lord Jesus that wonderful commendation. Well done.
Thou good and faithful servant.
Well, let's go down in this chapter. The women were taken captives, verse 2, but were therein.
They slew not any either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way.
May I be permitted to say this this afternoon that sometimes there are things worse than death?
There are.
And it could very well be that one of the things that's worse than death is a Christian who continues to go on.
In ways that are not pleasing to the Lord.
Made these things exercises, may they exercise the heart of the speaker too, that we will not carry on with things which we know to be a direct hindrance to others and a direct disobedience to the Lord.
Well, it's very interesting. The women were carried away captive. But you know what's interesting about this is we have a tendency to look at the enemy and say, well, they carried them away captive. Yes, but the groundwork was laid long before this. You see a believer turning out of the pathway, a dear brother, a dear sister, and you say, oh, that person made a blunder. But what about the pathway up to it? Remember this, dear ones, that departure in the things of God does not come overnight. It begins with little things. Our brethren, we're talking about those things this morning.
It begins with little things. Suppose you're asking yourself right now, well, what's wrong with this? Well, what's wrong with that? Maybe we need to ask ourselves the question. Well, what's right with it?
If it's of the Lord, it'll be right, right?
But if it's herself, we know that it isn't.
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What a pathetic thing we see in verse 3. David and his men came to the city and behold, it was burned with fire. Their wives, their sons, their daughters were taken captive.
Chester suggested that him this morning. In the little flock. In thy presence we are happy. In thy presence we're secure. In thy presence, all afflictions we can easily endure.
In thy presence we can conquer, we can suffer, we can die. Wandering from thee we are feeble.
Let thy love, Lord, keep us nigh.
While they were taken captive here and David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. Was the was the weeping a good thing? Yeah, I think it was. We read how Peter wept when he denied his Lord. And I begin, I believe that the beginning of his restoration began when the Lord turned and just gave him that one look. That's when it started right there.
It's a great thing.
David's two wives were taken captive. The Hinnom, the Jezreelite. Is Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite. How deeply David must have felt this, especially in connection with his second wife. Because I'll tell you something, Abigail was a godly woman.
I think of the dear brother that I know down in the East.
And recently his wife was taken away from Stan knows who I mean.
And he's often told us, you know, I really miss my wife now. I really do.
And I think he said to one of us not long ago, he said I really didn't value her like I should have.
I would encourage you, dear brothers, to value your wives.
Nourish them and encourage them and feed them with Christ. And I'll tell you this, you're going to be rewarded handsomely if you do.
The godly woman.
Is a crown of virtue to her husband. The world has a little saying. Behind every Goodman is a better woman. That may be true.
But I'll tell you this, that a godly wife is indispensable to a brother who seeks to go on for the Lord. Oh, you dear young people, how important it is to marry in the Lord.
I believe that three criteria needs to be met if you're going to marry That person should know the Lord, that person, if you're gathered, they should be at the Lord's table and that should be the person that God has chosen for you. You say, well, how will I know that you're going to know it if you live in communion with Him?
You're going to know.
I just want to say that this afternoon, don't look at the physical beauty.
Don't think of how handsome the young man is. Don't think how pretty the girl is. It's all deceitful. It's all I suppose. She's in an accident and she's all burned and cut up. Will you love her then?
Could happen.
No, it's the inward that's what matters. It's the inward.
Well, let's go on here. This is just a powerful chapter.
David was greatly distressed.
For the people spake of stoning him, now he's not only carrying the heartbreak of losing, you know his wives and his children, now his brethren are down on top of them.
I talk about being between a rock and a hard place.
David was here.
But I think that of all the scriptures that show us the turn of the tide, to me one of the most encouraging in the Word of God is what we read of next.
It's getting pretty bad, like Psalm 91, you know, if we live in communion, we're going to tread on the lion. And by the way, the line in Scripture I believe, is a picture of discouragement. Persecution, I suppose, could be considered. But I really think that the major thought is the fact that the roaring lion in Scripture is a picture of discouragement. And that is one of the most effective tools that the enemy is using today among God's people.
They're giving up because they're discouraged. Are you discouraged this afternoon?
As the roaring lion come into your life and as he whispered to you, just give up, it's not worth it. Is that what he said to you?
That's very interesting. In Psalm 91 it also says thou shalt tread upon the lion, and I'm skipping over a part of a verse there to get to the next part. It says this and the young lion. That's like a new discouragement boy. David had it piled up on top of him here.
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You say to yourself, I'm down under it right now. I just cannot take anymore bad news.
And then what happens along comes the second lie and the young lion, and it's like, you know, another discouragement piled on top of the first one. Oh, who's at work behind these things? The enemy, the enemy. But keep in mind, allowed of God. Now let's just drop down in the chapter. He was greatly distressed.
And David said to Abby Athar, the priest, a himalek's son, I pray thee, can't you hear the urgency in this? I pray thee, bring me what?
Bring me hit her the effort and Abby out there brought the hit her the effort to David. Now, keep in mind, at the priesthood at this time, you know, had basically been decimated by salt. The priests of the Lord had been put to the sword earlier and Abiathar had escaped. And it's just like our day, you know, things are not as they were back in the Apostolic days of the church. The Pentecostal days of the church after the church was first formed were not in those days anymore.
But we are encouraged, dear young people, to strengthen the things that remain.
We are. We're encouraged to strengthen the things that remain.
I'm sure David appreciated the fact.
That he had this this effort.
This reminder of the priesthood, you know, as far as man is concerned, everything's been ruined, but as far as God is concerned, nothing has changed.
To think this afternoon that I have access into the presence of one who loves me and loves you, that we have access into the presence of one this afternoon who is concerned, Who cares?
And knows everything that goes on in my life. Why wouldn't I want to seek the sanctuary? Why wouldn't I want to come to one who loves me perfectly and understands all my cares and all my difficulties and all my problems?
Well, David understood this. He understood this. The people who were around him didn't understand this, but David didn't. But David understood it.
He calls for this.
And. David inquired at the Lord. I want you to pay particular attention to these next few statements here, because they're beautiful. David inquired. Asked the Lord.
Saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?
Now that was pretty definite, wasn't it? The prayer here was quite definite. Shall I pursue? Shall I overtake?
Which brings me to another question. Are you and I definite in our prayers?
Are we definite when we address the throne of grace?
And I can't help but share this little story with it. I've enjoyed. Maybe I've worn it out, doesn't matter.
I think of the dear younger brother that's back home in the Newfoundland Assembly. It's quite possible that you know who I mean. All this brother is quite definite. You know when he prays. Never forget that conference in Stellerton in 1996.
Just after I went into the Lord's work. We're in the prayer for the Gospel.
And there were some lovely, lovely prayers that were raised there on behalf of sinners and the importance of the gospel that night. Anyway, his younger brother came in and he got down on his knees and this is what he said. He said, Lord Jesus, he said, someone needs salvation tonight, would you please save them? That's all he said. That's the prayer of faith, isn't it? I want to tell you, there was someone saved that night and there was a girl saved on the following Tuesday night.
Definiteness in prayer shall I pursue, shall I overtake.
What does the verse say in Corinthians? He's able to do far exceedingly above all that we ask or even think. Let's, let's see how the Lord answers this. And he answered him, pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake. Now if that had been left there, had been left there, the Lord would have been just to leave it there, right? Because that's all that David asked for. Shall I pursue, Shall I overtake?
God doesn't do that, does he? Look what else happens and without fail recover all.
This is precious, isn't it? Yeah, sometimes we may be definite in our prayers, but sometimes we still don't ask according to the mind of God. Or sometimes the character of our prayers don't really reach as high as they should or maybe could.
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But he tells David here, you're going to recover all.
Brethren, this verse is such a comfort to me when I think that we live in a day when we have an enemy that's active and there has been ravages made, you know?
But as a blessed thing isn't it, to realize and that we're with him and came to the brook visor where those that were left behind stayed.
That's very interesting, 600 of them. And they, you know, they make their way down to the torrent visa now. I just want to say something in connection with this, which I think is interesting.
They get down there, you know, and we're going to read how some of them stayed behind.
Sometimes we're not pursuing like we should, and sometimes the discouragement has made such an impact in our lives that maybe we can't pursue.
But isn't it a blessed thing to realize that though maybe we can't sometimes, our God never fails to leave us without a resource? I'd like to think of that in connection with the torrent here. Bezel or the brook never leaves us without a resource. David pursued he and 400 men, 200 abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over.
I'm just going to pause and make a comment there. I wonder sometimes if these men could have pursued if they had taken the time to encourage themselves.
As David did. Funny, I failed to read that verse earlier, and I'm going to I'm going to go back to it.
I'm going to read the end of that sixth verse.
David encouraged himself in the Lord.
His God, it could have said. David encouraged himself in the Lord, in the Lord God.
And that would have been right, right? That would have been correct. He encouraged himself in the Lord God, but doesn't say that. That's why I enjoy the little articles in Scripture, don't you? David encouraged himself in the Lord his God, his God. That's beautiful.
Like then we pass the desert too. But Israel's God is ours. He's ours.
They found an Egyptian in the field. I want to ask you a question this afternoon. If Egypt is such a great place, what was this Egyptian doing found out of his his element?
If Egypt was such a great place at this time, why does this young man found here lying in this field?
Now to ask the question is to answer it right if this world is such a great place.
Why is it that men and women are not finding the satisfaction and the joy and and so on and so forth that they hope for, if it's such a great place?
It's interesting, isn't it? They found an Egyptian, noticed this statement in the field.
They found him in the field.
Where would you find most Egyptians?
I would say probably down by the Nile fishing, right?
Because that river is ours. That's what they said. They're talking about their resource.
There are no resources for the believer. Apart from Christ there are no But this is a young man, a young man of the world, an Egyptian. My, what a pathetic thing. What a pathetic thing when you see individuals who aspire to go after the things of this world, dear young people, and they don't find any satisfaction.
Sometimes they're found like a broken heap in the field picture of the world. We had that this morning. The world.
That's where he's found. But it's lovely to hear, to see what they did here. And they brought him to David. They brought him to David.
Now to go back into Proverbs for a minute, the 30th chapter, it talks there about the Ant. It says this. The Ant makes preparation in summer. She prepares her meat in summer. Go to the anti sluggard, consider her ways and be wise. She prepares her meat in summer. Very interesting. A great naturalist. I think of his name. His name is Walter Wilson. He's no relation.
But he made this little observation about the Ant. You know, just for you boys and girls, how you listen to this.
The Ant will come into, they'll send a scouch, you know, into the kitchen and it'll come in there and it'll find where that piece of bread or that piece of sugar is. And it'll come out of the kitchen and it'll go off and it'll meet another Ant and it'll lay that piece of bread down of that sugar and it'll tell that other Ant where it's found that piece of bread for that sugar. That's what you and I need to be doing with our lives. We need to be telling others about the bread of life where we found that bread.
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Or how that bread has nourished us and how there is no true joy and no satisfaction unless we know Jesus, the bread of life. One other thing, when that piece of bread is there, no other Ant will come and take it. Isn't that interesting? Human beings could learn a lesson there. You kids don't take something that belongs to somebody else.
That's a lesson. That's a little lesson that the aunt teaches us. Interesting isn't it? That's like First Corinthians. It's the base things of the world that God has chosen and things that are despised. For what purpose? To teach us little spiritual lessons.
You don't find that in the elephant, right? You find it in an Ant.
Insignificant. Just squish the thing under foot and keep right on walk and then don't pay any attention. You know it's just insignificant really.
No, it's not. It's not insignificant. All of these things have lessons to teach us.
Well, they got him there and he did eat and they made him drink water. I just want to make a comment on this.
He ate and they made him drink water. I am really thankful that my Sunday school teacher had us.
Learn the Word of God by way of memorization. I am thankful for that, aren't you?
One time I could quote the whole first chapter Revelation. I don't know if I can do it now, but I could quote that. And I learned other verses. I learned the 23rd Psalm and I learned I learned John 14 and Ephesians one and one of my favorite chapters, 139 Psalm.
That's a great thing, you know, when you don't have your Bible handy to be able to drive down the road in the car and say in the beginning with the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were created by him and without Him was not anything made that was made in Him was life, and that life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not. Isn't it great to be able to quote the word of God, but not only to be able to quote it, to believe what you're quoting, to say this is God speaking to us from His Word.
I'm thankful that my mom and my dad and my Sunday school teacher.
Made me drink.
I think probably when I first took it in, I didn't realize what I was doing, but Oh my, when I look back on my younger days, I realize now the impact that the Word of God made the impression that it made.
I want to encourage you, dear Sunday school teachers, to do that, to set the Word of God before the children. Give them verses to memorize.
What Psalm 119 say thy word? Have I hid in mine heart, that what I might not sin?
Against these great things.
And they gave him a piece of cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. Why not bread? Because this is the food of of Canaan, that's why. And you and I this afternoon, as Christians, we have a wonderful inheritance.
There's food there, there's comfort there, there's light there, there's everything that we need for the new. We have it all in Christ. Why is it then that the young people, why is it you, dear young people, that you and I turn to the weak and beggarly elements of this world? Because we do not believe in that inheritance that we have. That's our problem. That's our problem.
Think of a dear brother years ago, he used to say, you know what our problem is? He said we're some of the most miserable millionaires on the face of the earth. He said, and we are. We have a glorious inheritance and we're not taking the time to enjoy what we have in Christ and to live in it and to walk in it and to be a blessing and a help to others. Why is that? Because.
Sometimes, I hate to say it, we're unbelieving believers. Remember how we spoke about that this morning, how Israel came up to the land for the very first time and.
There they are, and the 12 spies are sent in and the evil report is brought back. Why did they turn away from Jehovah unbelief?
Remember how we mentioned about how they came back 40 years later? Two spies are sent in, they go to rehab, and rehab tells them why the inhabitants of the land are fainting because of you, For we heard. What did you hear, Rahab? We heard what the Lord your God did to the Egyptians.
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Then you bring it down further. The ark is taken through their disobedience, you know. And what is the Philistine say? Let the ark return to Israel. We don't want to incur the wrath of these holy gods. Don't you remember what they did to the Egyptians? Oh, no, it hadn't been lost on the enemy, but it was it's, it's interesting how these things get lost on believers.
Is our God force? Of course he is. Does he love us? Yes he does. Does he want us to be happy? Of course he does. Then why is it that we're not availing ourselves of these things? It's simply rank on belief very often and self will.
What a question we have next, or what a statement we have next. His spirit came again after he had taken this in, for he'd eaten no bread nor drunk any water. 3 days and three nights. What a pathetic position. And you know, dear young people, this afternoon to say this to you. And I want to say this to my heart.
That's a serious thing when a person gets in a condition, so to speak, when they have been deprived, you might say, of spiritual food for three days and three nights.
A serious thing.
Three days and three nights.
Credible.
David said unto him, To whom belongeth thou? I hope there's no one in the room this afternoon who's without the Lord Jesus, because this question is pertinent for you, and it's also pertinent to those of us who are Christians. To whom belongest thou? What a question. But I often say that the questions in Scripture are just as important as the statements, because sometimes God asks questions to drive home a point.
To whom belongeth thou say, well, I belong to the Lord Jesus? Is our lives showing that we belong to the Lord Jesus? Or are we like this Egyptian that's found out there in the field without sustenance and nourishment for the pathway?
You know, it's incredible, really.
To whom belongest thou? Whence art thou? And he said, Look at the confession. I am a young man of Egypt, not an old man, a young man.
And that's just exactly where men and women are today. They're worldlings.
Young man of Egypt noticed this straightman right here, servant to an Amalekite. What a pathetic physician to be in a servant to an Amalekite. You know there are servants here this afternoon.
There are those who are the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I hate to say it, but there may be someone here this afternoon who is a servant to their flesh.
They're a servant to this world. They're a servant to the devil. What a solemn thing this is.
I'm a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. Look at this. My master left me because three days are gone. I fell sick in this. Pathetic.
This worse than pathetic, it's heartrending. Is a young man left to die? I'm going to tell you something, young people, when the world is done with you. When the world is done with you.
It'll leave you just like this. Amalekite master left this servant. My, this is solemn, isn't it?
The world has nothing new to give. It has no true, no lasting joy. It has nothing, nothing to give.
And when it's done with you?
You're going to be done for unless the Lord of glory comes in in grace and lifts you out of the graveyard of this world.
I said it's sad.
Now he tells them, we made an invasion upon the South. There's the South again of the Cheresites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the South of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag with fire. Now there's some pretty interesting geographical points here.
First of all, we have the South of the Cheraside. Two of the Cherasites, oh, they were part of David's bodyguard.
You know, sometimes as believers, we may be great guardians for the truth, but I'm going to tell you something this afternoon that you and I are going to get tested on the truth that we proclaim to know.
Sometimes we may know a lot of things about the Lord Jesus. That's subjective knowledge. But do we know the object for ourselves, the Lord Jesus Christ? That's objective knowledge. It's to have an object bright and fair.
And upon the coast which belongeth to Judah.
It's interesting.
What a favored place Judah was on a favored land this was. But God allowed this, you know, He allowed the enemy to do this.
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And then it says.
And upon the South of Caleb.
Now we find that this invasion has been made into Judah. Now it comes down to a family.
Sometimes the enemy does that. Sometimes he'll come in and sift an assembly, and then sometimes he'll come in and he'll sift individual families.
He's like that, you know, and God will allow it.
Simon, Satan have desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, but thy faith fail not.
You know, that's one of the things I've enjoyed about the 139th Psalm.
Is the fact that a wonderful fact that there isn't a particle of time that goes by that our great high priest doesn't think about us, pray for us, love us, and in general has made himself, you know, has made himself, as Philippians 2 Says, of no reputation, taking the form of a servant ministering to us in every way. Because I love what one among us has said. He is going to use all the resources of the Godhead to bring us home to the Father's house. Not some of us, all of them.
Now we're getting to understand a little bit about this wilderness through which we were passing, and how dangerous it really is, how difficult the days are in which our lot is cast. But we have one who is greater, my dear, more loving, more compassion, Compassionate.
And brought him down.
And we burned Ziklag with fire. David said to him, Can't thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God that thou wilt neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company. One thing becomes very, very clear in the statement of this young man to David, and it's this The human heart has very little apprehension of what the grace of God is really like.
And I have to admit that for myself, I have very little apprehension of what the grace of God is really like. David had showed the kindness to this young man and he turns around and he says to David, after this, now please don't deliver me into the hands of my master. I don't think David had any intention. Do you? Given the heart of this great man because he's a pitcher of the Lord Jesus Christ, you think the Lord of glory is going to give you up once he's purchased you with his own precious blood?
No, he isn't.
Let me take a little bit farther.
I don't I don't only think that we feel within our, you know that we we.
We don't even know what grace is. Let's take it even a little bit farther and say this that as a natural man in my unregenerate state, I despise grace. Isn't it true?
Not only do we not understand what it is, but as natural men and women, we despise it. You know why that is? It's because of the pride that's within us.
He said to the rich, he said to his disciples, Unless you humble yourself and become like little children.
You're not going to enter into the Kingdom of God. What did he mean by that? Now we know that that's important in connection with salvation.
But if we're going to learn the mind of God, if we're going to become Christ like, we must become childlike, and that is only done in humbling ourselves before him. That's a great thing. What are children like? They're trusting. They believe what they're told.
How important it is you, dear parents, to set the truth before your children because those first impressions that are made on their souls may have lasting impact through what their lifetime which we spoke this morning. How important it is to have the truth of God. Imagine little hearts being occupied with those Pokémon cards and feeding on this stuff. We have no idea the impressions that that is making on impressionable hearts and minds. See them with a pure word of God.
I said to male not long ago, my daughter. I said Mel Han, I said I can hardly wait till Michaela gets old enough. You know that I can get my little guitar out and we can sing. Jesus loves me for the first time. She said, Dad, you're too late now. What do you mean, Hun? She said. I picked that little girl up in my arms every day and I whisper the words of Jesus in her ear every day.
Don't start with what she's saying. Don't start when she begins to talk. Start before.
You dear mothers, you have such a responsibility with your children. Feed them with Christ.
And live a consistent, godly life before them, too. I think of my own mom. That's the way she was. My mom would not say one thing and do another. She was consistent in what she set before us. She would not say something and then do something else herself. There was that consistency and how important that is.
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I've got to get on because our time is just about done here.
When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread upon all the earth, eating and drinking and dancing. Why doesn't that sound like our day? And that just like what we're what we see around us today? Is there anything wrong with eating? No. Is there anything wrong with drinking? No. It's in the excess of these things that's the problem.
That's the problem. But that's what we find today. You know, it's really sad. If you see Christians caught up in these things, it's really sad.
And what else does it say? And and dancing because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah. Now that's an interesting statement, isn't it? We don't have delineated here what we had in the previous verse. It's out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah.
Do you want to be left or just, so to speak, leftovers at the judgment seat of Christ someday? Are you going to have an abundant entrance?
Are you going to be saved yet? So is by fire, which I'm sure everyone of us would want to hear the approval. Well done thou good and faithful servant.
David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day, and there escape not a man of them, say 400 young men which rode upon camels and fled. You know what David sets before us in the word of God, what his life sets before us. His life sets before us the aspect of a warrior king, because there's coming a day when great David's greater Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is one day going to come back to this world.
If he came today, all the Christians who know him, he would come in the air, he'd give one call and we'd be gone.
Isn't that beautiful?
It's going to happen any day now. Approximately 7 years later, he would come as the warrior king.
And I want to tell you this, all the filth of this world and all the blasphemy and all the hearts sentences and the heart speeches that are being hurled against the Christ of God, there's coming a day, you know, when God is going to deal with that. There's a day coming when he's going to come back to this world. And so help me, this world is going to light up with His glory.
Coming.
And when he finishes, when he starts, he's going to finish.
Every rightly instructed Christian enjoys this because the last time this world saw the Savior, he hung as a dying man.
Between 2 criminals on a criminal's cross.
But God is going to see to it that every knee is going to bow to Jesus. What a glorious day that's going to be.
What a glorious day. Only 400 young men escape here on camels.
The execution of that judgment is going to be ordered in such a way that that glory is going to be carried.
To the farthest remote is down. That's the number 4 here to every corner of the globe.
That judgment.
Couple more things and we're finished.
And David recovered all but the Amalekites had taken carried away.
David recovered all.
Faithful, faithful word of the Lord, pursue David. You're going to recover all.
That's beautiful, isn't it? He recovered all. I like this. David rescued his two wives. Now, I don't know what your thought is on this. I don't know what your thought is on this, but I'd just like to share a little thought that I've enjoyed.
Maybe he's coming for us will be almost like a rescue.
I've heard brethren say since the time I was gathered that the truth of Jude may very well be that looking for the mercy, our deliverance bodily out of this world may be just that, a mercy.
And then if he comes approximately 7 years later, he will come for the rescue of Israel.
He's going to deliver that, people.
It's like the enemy will be just ready to just crush out that name and he comes and he rescues because he's going to rise as the Sun of Righteousness. Malachi was what? Healing in his wings. Glorious day.
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Let's just drop down. I'd like to hear other thoughts on this. By the way, if some of you have other thoughts on this, what this may mean. But that's, that's what I've enjoyed. There was nothing lacking to David or to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoiled nor anything.
That they had taken.
To them.
David recovered all.
Touching brethren, David recovered all.
I can't help but feel that heaven is going to hold a few surprises when we get home sure of it.
I think of the words that J&D penned many years ago.
Our hearts, deep longings more than gained, when God is rest, shall give.
Our hearts, deep longings, more than gained, when God is rest, shall give you longing for home.
Are you longing to quit this world, this veil of tears, sorrow, suffering?
Say, well, not really. I'm having too good a time. If you're having too good a time, you're enjoying the things of this world, you're enjoying the things of this world. You're forgetting that you're a heavenly person.
May, in His grace to us and in His love, He calls us to turn to Him, that we might realize this world through which we're passing is not our home. If I feel comfortable here, there's something wrong.
One final thought.
Verse 26 David came to Ziklag, he sent out sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present or a blessing for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.
Beautiful, isn't it? Then it tells us about the different towns, you know, in this same chapter, but I'm not going to take the time to go into that. But I just want to say this in closing.
There's coming a day.
When heaven is going to be everything that I ever thought it would be and much, much more because of one glorious object, the Savior that we've come to love and know through sovereign grace. My eyes physically have never seen Him.
But I have his love letters.
I have instruction.
And the longer I live and the more that I live in communion with him, and I'm sure you can say this to everyone of you.
Who know him and who love him. He does grow sweeter as the days go by, doesn't he?
He's altogether lovely. That's my desire for each of us, especially you dear young people, that you will see this world for what it is. It's all vanity and vexation of spirit. It's all pursuit of the wind.
Think of Him we often used to sing as kids. If you want your real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart. Isn't it true? That's where the joy is, It's in Christ. It's not in the pleasures of sin for a season, it's in Christ. That's where the joy is. He says to those dear ones that he loved. Behold a present, a blessing, a blessing.
You want to be a blessing, Live in communion with the Lord. Give yourself wholly to these things, Timothy, for in so doing thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. What a great heritage we have in Christ. Well, let's let's not be so miserable. Let's enjoy what we have, unless it quaint ourselves more with Him, so that we'll be at peace, and we'll enjoy those things that He's given to us for our sojourn through this world until that glorious morning arrives.
For which the heart of His people had longed. For the coming of the Lord Jesus, in which His own large and loving heart has longed. For when He takes us home to be forever with Himself. Just want to leave these few feeble comments that it might be an encouragement to us to press on until He comes. Read this chapter for yourself. Don't take it from me, Just read it for yourself too. And you'll, you'll see some of these wonderful things. The Spirit of God will open this up to you and you'll see.
Yeah, the truth of these things, David, God's warrior king, and then Solomon, picture of the millennial reign of Christ, finished by saying this one thing, I'm going to repeat it. There was dominion in Adam. Get your pens out and write this down. There was dominion in Adam, government in Noah, fatherhood in Abraham, judgment in David, royalty in Solomon, but in Christ, all these glories will meet and shine together. He is a king.
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And yet a father.
To Solomon and to Abraham of God, that's the one we've come to know through sovereign grace, the One who has saved us and as we heard this morning, has called us to glory and virtue. Blessed be his name. May we live for the glory of His name and for the blessing of his people. Until he comes. Let's pray.