Address—Mark Allan
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I'd like to welcome everyone to the address this afternoon.
It's not always easiest to talk right after you've had lunch.
But you know, I'm thankful to be here today and to spend time. You know, I appreciated the thankfulness that's come out in the last few meetings. And truly, we have an incredible amount to be thankful for when Phil called me.
A week ago to ask me about speaking.
I have to acknowledge that my first response was to want to say no.
Just with the cares of life and busyness I wasn't feeling.
Super on top of things and struggling a little bit. But you know, back in my early 20s, I remember feeling deeply convicted.
That I should preach the word and be instant in season and out of season. And I thought, well, maybe I should just say.
Sure, and trust the Lord that He would give me something. And you know, then I thought, you know, there's many, many here who?
Know the Word of God much better than I do, and perhaps have.
More consistency. And I know that focusing on ourselves is not the right thing, but you know, I, I did perhaps what's the cliche thing and said, can you give me a little time to pray about it? And I prayed about it and.
My wife was bugging me over the next day. Are you going to What are you going to say? What are you going to say?
I didn't find that particularly easy. And you know, the Lord at first didn't give me anything particular and I thought, oh, I'll sit down and open up the word of God and.
See if he has something for me to share. And I opened up the Bible to a chapter that was about the sword. It's Ezekiel 21. And I was like, am I going to talk with the sword that. And Phil had said that his burden is there be 140 young people here and.
He wanted the love of Christ to be shared with them and.
I just thought, how can I reconcile those two things, the sword and love?
But that's where I ended up. I did feel that that's what the Lord wanted me to share with you today. And it is in great weakness that I do share a few thoughts on this topic tonight. You know, in my office at home, I, my kids and wife actually gave me a sword. And it's sitting on the wall in front of the desk that I use when I'm working at home. And I think of it often actually the name Mark.
Means warlike and from a scriptural perspective, and I've often thought about the fact that.
I have a responsibility to fight for the Lord while we're here, and so I'd like to take up this topic and maybe we could just start the meeting this evening by singing 312.
Lead on Almighty.
00:05:02
So at the beginning of the last meeting, my wife nudged me and said, you know, Mark, I was talking to the young people. And some of them have been commenting that there's been a lot about death, and you have to be a lot more optimistic about that. And, you know, I thought about how am I going to talk about the sword and not talk about death?
You know.
I had been considering and when I think about a topic, sometimes I look at the bookends of it in the word of God.
In Genesis, we have this in of Adam and Eve in the garden and you have that sword, flaming sword that didn't let them in to have access to that tree of life because it would have been horrible if they did. And it was the result of sending, you know, the sword carries all the way from there.
To the other end of the Bible, which is revelation.
19.
And you see the Lord Himself.
After the judgment seat of Christ.
After the marriage supper of the lamb.
Where the Lord in His great love for us, His love for everyone who has put their trust in Him.
Is more amazing than we can imagine. You know, I thought of that verse in Ephesians. Husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. So you have that marriage, but then what do you have after that? In that chapter you have the Lord.
Coming out of heaven on a horse with that flaming sword out of his mouth to get rid of the enemies and you know it leads to the end of the Bible where there's complete victory by the Lord and that is the hope that we all have ahead of us is the Lord. That's all we just saying it says to love the prize possessed. We hear of war no more.
And oh, sweet thought for Everest.
On Yonder peaceful shore there will be a day not very far ahead where there will be no more war.
The Lord will be completely victorious and we will just bask in the sunshine of His love. And you know we can do that now and you know we'll have been given.
Rewards for the things that.
He caught, he gave us that he he worked in us that we just can't imagine. But that is that is where this story ends. And you know, it's going back into before that where we're going to take up this topic of using the sword.
And you know, I was just thinking about this last year.
You know, at the start of this year in Canada, Montreal assembly was not able to meet unless every single person was vaccinated.
They had to stop meeting in the meeting room for a little while.
You know, in March.
I went on vacation with my family and I had been under extreme stress in my work. I was doing 3 jobs.
And I knew that I was in serious trouble because of something that happened eight years ago. And I knew when I went to bed, I would probably wake up at 3:00 in the morning with the pain in my chest and knowing that I was falling apart and it wasn't going to get better.
And you know.
The Lord helped in both of those situations. You know, the Lord gave encouragement to Reno Ferry and he brought out a number of additional people and you know, there was trouble there, but the Lord allow, you know, everywhere we look, I just think of the last week.
You know this the US largely when put to the vote, it was the decision almost solely to.
Support the killing of innocent children that swung the election. And you know, I'm not trying to get into politics at all, but I just, I think of the battles that are going on around right now couple weeks from now, probably the biggest means of communication among a lot of people Facebook will be.
Banning all religious reference, How is a Christian supposed to function without?
You know, the battles that rage around us are incredibly real. I remember throughout the year.
And I'm a human being, my wife and I struggling and lying in bed and thinking how are we going to get past the issue that we were dealing with? I remember thinking I prayed and prayed and prayed for my kids in certain topics and.
I don't know how the word is going to come in. You know, these battles are real. And that's where I want to start today. So I'm going to go to a Seasons 6 and Justice. Look there at the context of this before we go to the Old Testament. I'm going to have to move very quickly.
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Ephesians chapter 6.
My grandfather and grandmother Donald the Rule gave me a shirt when shirts were first coming out with a custom prints on it and it had this verse on it. It was verse 10610. It said finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
You know, the topic we're going to take up tonight is the word of God in the armor of God. You know, it is his might that we need. We cannot do it, can't even begin to do it in our own strength. And you know, the enemy that we have is a very real enemy. And I want to look at the enemy and in the cases in the examples that we look at tonight, what does it say in verse 12? It says before we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against.
Rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places.
The enemy is real and he's attacking in phenomenal ways. You know, I never thought I'd get to the point in my life where I'd see the world's second biggest superpower backed into the corner with no men left to fight, their artillery almost gone, and the only option left, nuclear weapons. You know, God is in control everything that has happened. But this warfare that we see around us is a very real warfare.
And so I just going down and with the whole armor of God, you can spend a ton of time on it, but I just want to specifically focus on the sword. It says there verse 16. Above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. The topic tonight circles around this book.
And it's an amazing book, The Sword of the Spirit. You know, it's amazing about disorders. It's not our sword.
It's the sword of the spirit we had some comments about.
Spirit in the last meeting.
You know, it's, it's not ours, it's his and the strength comes from Him. And I think we'll see that in the references that we look at this afternoon. Well, I'd like to go actually just read one more verse in Hebrews 4. These are very well known verses, I know.
Hebrews 412.
Says therefore the word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword.
Piercing.
Even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and a joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. I'd just like to read verse 16 to let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we have made, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
The Word of God is powerful, sharp and powerful. It cuts two ways and you know in a lot of these things that we'll be looking at this afternoon.
It cuts both ways and sometimes it has to cut us.
Before it can be used in other ways and you know, there's been nothing.
I shouldn't say nothing compares, but this book is absolutely incredible and it's the actual word of God and it's power, it's living, it's powerful. You know, the fact that we haven't are able to read it is an incredible thing.
And it.
It should shape our lives. Let's just turn back. What I want to go through is 10 examples from the Old Testament, and we'll have to go through them quickly, of people who use the sword. And I want to look at how they use the use the sword and just draw some applications from that. It's not, These are very common, very common applications and I just like to share.
What I've enjoyed from them, let's turn to the first one, and this is in Exodus 32.
In each one of these, I'd like to look at what the enemy has done, and I'd like to look at the response with the sword.
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And in this situation.
Israel.
Had been cried out. The Lord had brought them out of Egypt. He had brought them across the Red Sea.
Into the wilderness and was going to lead them into the.
To the promised land and yell, the Lord himself said, I want to dwell among you.
And Moses went up into that mountain.
And he was there a long time, and, you know, the enemy was at work to help, to make them lose a sense of the Lord's love, to make them lose a sense of what incredible things the Lord had done. And you know, I realize that in my own life, how quickly I forget what the Lord has done. I was even thinking this week, you know, the Lord.
Helped me in a miraculous way. And what happened earlier this year? I was off work for five weeks.
And just this week and work, things started getting a little bit hard again and I was like, I don't know I'm going to do we forget so fast about what the Lord does in our life. Well, here Moses up in the mountain too long and what do they want to do? They want to put they want to God's Let's just read what it says. I can't replace the word of God at all. It says that when the people saw that Moses was delayed to come down out of the mount. This is Access 32 verse one.
The people gather themselves together to Aaron and unto him.
And said unto him up, Make us gods, which shall go before us. And As for this Moses, the man which brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we want not what has become of him. And Aaron said, Break off the golden earrings, which are in nine years.
Which are in the ears of thy wives, and your sons, and your daughters. And bring them to me. And the people break off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool. And after he had made it a molten calf, they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built the altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast of the Lord. They rose up early in the morning.
Borrow They offered burnt offerings, peace offerings, people. The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.
You know, this is, it's hard to imagine in the context of what's happened where God had delivered them out of Egypt and brought them across the Red Sea and miraculous preserving that they would do this. But you know, I was thinking how easy it is for us to be sucked into.
The attacks of the enemy around us, you know, there's been a downright assault.
On.
Christianity and the family in ways that we can imagine. It's done so subtly and you know.
Here Moses was coming down from the mount with the 10 commandments and the very first one.
Was thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul, and you know they had broken that very first one. And you know as we look around us, this world is trying to take.
Christianity out of everything, and they want to drag us along with it and convince us that.
That it's unreasonable not to do that and to try and sort of cover up this and you know, this is sort of AI just contemplated where it says tomorrow's a feast to the Lord. There's there's this weird mixture here that was just so awful. And what I the point of this and again, I'm going to have to go quickly is.
What happens here with the sons of Levi? They're the first ones I want to talk about with the sword, and they use the sword for consecration. And let's just read what it says. And you know, this is not the type of story that is fun to read, but it's incredibly important. It says in verse 25. And when Moses saw that the people were naked for Aaron had made them naked under their shame among their enemies, then Moses stood in the gate of the.
And said, Who is on the Lord's side, Let him come to me. And the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side.
And go in and out from the gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And there fell of the people that day about 3000 men. And Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon his son and upon his brother, that he may bestow.
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Upon you a blessing this day.
And it came to pass on the moral, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up into the Lord, perventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. Moses returned unto Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
Yet now thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, blot me.
I pray thee out of the book which thou has written. And the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. Therefore now go lead the people under the place of which I have spoken to thee, and behold, mine Angel, shall go before thee. Nevertheless, in the day that when I visit, there sin upon them. And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf which Aaron made.
Well.
Moses comes here and he says who is on the Lord's side? You know, I was thinking about Bernie's talk yesterday about a decision. You know, I think, and this is the point I want to make with this use of the sword of the sons of Levi, they had to make a decision to stand with the Lord against sin. And you know, that is a decision that every person in this room needs to make.
To stand with the Lord against sin, and this is not.
About Moses not loving the children of Israel, you know, just hear what it says here. He was willing to have.
And this is hard to comprehend Himself blotted out of the book on their behalf. He cared about them so deeply, but he recognized the seriousness of sin in God's eyes. And you know, we live in a world that doesn't even want to acknowledge that sin is even there really, except on their terms.
They don't want to hear what this book says the word of God says about sin.
They want us to sort of conform to their thoughts on it.
And to take away and you know the sons of Levi here they consecrated it says in verse 29 Moses said, consecrate yourselves this day to the Lord. You know at the end of that verse it says that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day, you know when you.
Tear down God's design and go against this book. The end result?
Is this is everything goes out of whack and self destructs and you know, I think of of what we see happening around us, we need to be to use the sword like the sons of Levi did in consecration and take the Lords side against sin. And you know, that's not always an easy thing to do, particularly in light.
Of what we hear around us today.
And so I make that comment and you know, I struggled when I first thought about this topic. This sounds like a brutal story, but you know, I realize in my own life the need for me to take the Lord's side against sin in my own life to make that decision.
To follow him.
Well, this is the first use of the sword. I'd like to look at using the sword in Consecration. The next one I'd like to look at is in.
Joshua chapter. Well, let's go to Joshua one.
Again, I'll go through these.
Fairly quickly.
You know, Joshua was one of the two.
Men who went and spied out Canaan, which God had given them and.
He and Caleb Lanton, the other ten, and they saw that the 10 saw that. They saw the Giants and were terrified.
But Joshua and Caleb tried to steal the people and convince them that they should still go.
You know Joshua and Caleb, the children of Israel.
Murmured. And they had to end up wandering around the wilderness for 40 years as a result of that. And, you know, we get to the end where they're going to cross into the land. And Joshua has given the job of leading the people of God. And what struck me here is using the sword in courage. And you know, the enemy wants us to be afraid. He wants us scared to stand up for the Lord.
You know, that's what caused Israel to end up having to go through the wilderness for another 40 years.
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I enjoyed considering a man named Nashon. Someone came to Rio Ferry and spoke about the fact that Rahab married the son of a Prince. So I went and did a little digging on the man. Nashon. He's a Prince of Judah, you know, He led the biggest tribe in Israel. He led the biggest 3 tribes in Israel. He was the first out between the Cloud and the Tabernacle.
There was 600,000 warriors, probably about two and a half million people that went out to battle. He was the first person to bring his present.
To the Lord, that tremendous present when the Tabernacle was sent up, when the trumpet blew, he was the first one to lead them out to battle. But you know, we get to when the when the the spies come back and it's just Caleb and Joshua here we have the leader and he's silent.
You know fear can cripple us if we're not careful, and yet the Lord says be strong and of good courage.
He'll help us. And you know, it's amazing what the Lord can do. And the Lord is so gracious. You know, even in that story of Nashville that I mentioned, he's brought into the lineage of the Lord through his son Salman, who marries Rahab. The Lord is so gracious. You know, I think it's nine times in the book of Joshua and end of Deuteronomy. And Joshua, we have be strong and of good courage. So I just want to read quickly.
Got to watch our time Joshua chapter one.
Read verse one. It says Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of none, Moses Sirt minister saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore rise go over this Jordan, that thou and all this people unto the land which I do, give them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the soul of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses, Just stop there for a second. You know what the enemy wants to do is he wants us to stop us from enjoying what is ahead of us.
What the Lord has already given us in Ephesians, that's the context of the armor of God. Every person in this room who has put their trust in the Lord is promised these blessings, and the enemy wants to stop us from enjoying that.
And what does it say in verse six? It says, Be strong and of good courage. For unto this people shall umm, shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Only thou be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayst observe to do according, to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. The book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. Thou shalt meditate.
Day and night thou shalt observe, thou mayst observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have I not commanded thee be strong and of good courage? Courage is the opposite of fear. The Lord is saying over and over to be.
Be strong and a good courage and not to fear. He says this to Joshua as they start this conquest of the land of Canaan. And you know, the Lord wants us to be strong and of good courage and we find that in his word through the word of God. You know, in all of these cases, it's I like thinking about it's the word of God that helps us to understand sin. That's what we had in using the sword for consecration is the word of God that gives us courage.
That's what we have in using the word of God for courage. And you know, it wasn't always easy for Joshua.
Of course, they go up and take Jericho and then they fail with AI and Joshua feels horrible at that time. I won't read it, but you know, and then.
Gibeon tricks them and then we have these massive kings that come.
And attack.
And you know, the natural response of the enemy attacking us is to be fearful, and he will attack us and He'll attack us over and over and over and over again in whatever way he can.
But you know, it's so nice to see that Joshua let's go over and this is just the verse I'd like to verses. I'd like to look at Joshua chapter 10. You know, when these 5 kings come against of the Lord helps them win an incredible battle.
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And we have here the 8th time that it says, Fear not nor be dismayed. It says in verse 25, Joshua said unto them, Fear not nor be dismayed. Be strong and of good courage, for thou shalt the Lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight. And afterwards Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hang them on five frees, and they were hanged upon the trees until the evening. And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua commanded, And they took them down from the trees, and tossed them into the.
And they had been hid, they agreed stones in the cave's mouth, which remained unto this day. And that day Joshua took Makita, smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof, he utterly destroyed them and all the souls that were there, and he let none of them remain. He did to the king of Makita, as he did unto the king of Jericho. So here we have the Lord giving victory. And Joshua could say to the people.
That the Lord would give them victory and that they should be strong of good courage. And the Lord did that. I appreciate it. I think it was Bernie who read at the end of the meeting yesterday.
Joshua's words at the end, you know, was it a reality? Did the Lord do what he said he was going to do in terms of helping? He did exactly what he said he was going to do. And we read him saying at the end of his life to the children of Israel, he says, and this is in chapter 23.
And verse six it says, be therefore very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that you turn not aside from the right hand.
Or to the left.
We should use the sword.
In courage, so we should use the sword in consecration.
We should use the sword in courage. Let's go on to the next one. This is Gideon.
Again, extremely well known stories.
Judges chapter 6 and I'm going to have to.
Just give the background. So here we have the children of Israel and the enemy comes. And what does the enemy do here? First time he attacks with?
End of the first command once in the second one.
He attacks and tries to keep them from that which the Lord gives them. Here he attacks and he steals their food and all their sustenance and they're having to hide. That's actually, let's just read it quickly. This is in Judges 6.
Starting verse one. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian. 7 years. And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. And because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made them the dens which are in the mountains, and in the caves, and in the strongholds. And so was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, 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.
Sheep nor *** for they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came up as grasshoppers for multitude, both they and their camels without number. And they entered into the land to destroy it. And Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried under the Lord.
So the enemy had taken their food and you know, one of the things that the enemy wants to do is he wants to steal.
Spiritual food from his people, you know, even the fact that we weren't able to meet in the same way for a while, you know the enemy will do anything to keep us from.
The word of God and from being fed and you know what makes me sad when I see the young people and and and recognize that that there's a need for food and you know, the enemy wants to steal it. But what what do we have here in this situation with Gideon? You know, he's threshing wheat by the winepress and the Angel appears to me. He says, he says to him, he says Gideon.
The Angel Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.
You know, Gideon lacked confidence and so this third one is using the sword in confidence. And I and I realize that I'm taking a little bit of liberty with the use of words in these cases. But you know, here we have Gideon. He just, he just he's discouraged. He's thrashing lead by the wine press. He doesn't feel like he's any strength. He lacks that confidence that we had earlier. What does he do? He puts the fleece out.
Not once, not twice, he has to take that sword and deal with himself.
Just like Israel did with their sin he had to deal with issues there first and then you know he calls together that are the Lord brings together that army starts out with over 30,000 gets whittled down to 10,000 gets whittled down to 300 the Lord wants Gideon.
00:35:16
To have confidence in him and in him alone. The Lord wants us to have confidence.
In him and in him alone. You know what's amazing to me?
When they go to fight against the Midianites, there's a host that is it says camels without number, and there's just 300 of them. And they have, well, they have in one hand they have Lantern. What do they have on the other hand, trumpet? They don't even have their sword. Well, they have it on their on their side, but they didn't even need to fight with it. What does the Lord use as the enemy sword?
To conquer the enemy, you know it's the sword of the Lord, the sword of the Lord, sword of the Lord and Gideon, you know the Lord comes in an incredible way.
The confidence was not in a person. The confidence needs to be in the Lord. Gideon needed to learn that, that his confidence was in the Lord. And you know, the people who were afraid were sent home. And you know, it's amazing to see and so.
As we face our battles and the enemy is trying to steal food from the Lord's people, we need to have confidence in the Lord. The Lord is able to give food for his people, whether it's I've heard actually several people comment on a Bible study that popped up online over the COVID that was a tremendous encouragement to multiple people. I think I've heard it three times in the last week and.
The Lord is able when we have.
When we go to him for strength.
To give us confidence and provide for us as he did for Gideon here. Well, that's the third one again. Let's go to the 4th one. This is.
Jonathan.
In First Samuel 13.
He uses the sword, and what I'm going to say is the commitment of faith here we have.
In First Samuel 13, Jonathan is with Saul, and the Philistines come.
And.
The enemy here is trying to cripple.
Israel's ability and let's just read, actually, let's just read quickly, First Samuel 13.
In verse 19 it says Now there was Number Smith found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make them swords or Spears. But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man, his share, and his Coulter, and his ox, and his matic.
Yet they had a file for the Maddox, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes to sharpen the goats. So it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan, but with Saul and Jonathan and his son was there found in the Garrison of the Philistines. Went out to the passage of Mcmash. Well, we go into the next chapter.
I just wanted to note there that the enemy here.
There was number Smiths in the land and the Philistines were trying to control and limit their ability and keep them. You know, the enemy wants to take away all of our strength in whatever way. Again, you know Jonathan, and it's nice to see the commitment of faith with Jonathan. You know, he didn't tell his father. You know, Saul through his whole life, he tried to do things in his own strength.
But Jonathan recognized that he needed.
To trust the Lord, his strength needed to be in the Lord. And so he says in chapter 14 and verse one. Now it came to pass.
Upon a day that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare the armor, come let us go over to the Philistines Garrison that is on the other side, but he told not his father. Then in verse six. I just want to read these verses that use the word COM it shows.
His confidence in the Lord, it says and Jonathan said unto the young man, his armor bearer, come, let us go over under the Garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for there's no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. Verse 12, it says the men of the Garrison answered Jonathan his armor bearer, and said, Come up to us and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armor bearer, come up after me, for the Lord hath delivered them into the hand of Israel and Jonathan climbed.
Upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armor bearer after him. And they fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearer flew after him. Well, here we have Jonathan showing that beautiful commitment of faith.
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And he puts the Lord, he wants to be sure he's doing what the Lord wants them to do. And.
The Lord chose and you know, he, he's fully committed, He's crawling on his hands and his knees, and the Lord gives him that victory, the commitment of faith. You know, it's not easy necessarily when the Lord puts us in difficult situations.
Sometimes you hardly know where to go next. Sometimes you don't understand why the Lords doing what he's doing. Sometimes it feels like it goes on and on and on. But you know, Jonathan here, he's crawling on his hands and knees, is just him and his armor bearer. He is fully committed and showing his faith in the Lord. And to me that is a beautiful, beautiful thing to consider. And we all need to have that faith like Jonathan in the Lord and the Lord and the Lord gave him the victory.
He gave him the victory.
When the enemy was trying to limit what they could do, to me, that's a beautiful thing. So here we have the the sword being used in the commitment of faith. We go to the next one, Samuel. This is in First Samuel 15, so not couple chapters over.
You know here.
They're dealing with the Amalekites and.
Saul is told to completely wipe them out. You know, that may seem harsh, but we read in Deuteronomy 25, you know what? You know what the Malachites did? They preyed on them when they were weak and weary. You know, the enemy. I know this for myself, often gets the greatest inroads in my life when I'm worn out and I'm tired and then I start whether it's wasting time.
Reading stupid things or and that's when he makes the inroads in her life. But Solomon, the Commission to completely cut him off and he didn't do it. You know, the flesh is a horrible thing and and particularly when we're weak and tired out, it can just wreak absolute havoc.
Here Samuel uses the sword.
Incomplete obedience, you know, the Lord doesn't want just partial obedience, and it's not because he wants.
He recognizes the destruction in our life if we don't do it. You know, some of these things that we see coming, whether it's we need to cut off our social media because we just, if we don't have complete obedience in that area, we'll just be attacked over and over and over again. Maybe it's something that we know we have a proclivity to do or we're we have a weakness in we need to cut off the flesh completely, not just partially, but fully. Let's just read what Samuel does, you know, Samuel, I think.
Older here and it says here in verse 30 and it says in verse 31 of chapter 15 verse Samuel 1531.
Sorry. 32 Then said Samuel, Bring hit her to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. Maggi came unto him delicately. Maggie said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed egg AG in pieces before the Lord. And give hold all you know this sounds.
Pretty brutal.
But you know.
When the enemy prays on the weak and the weary and faint, it is an incredibly serious thing.
And we need to recognize that in our own life. I recognize that in my own, that it's when I'm weak and weary and faint that I am most susceptible. We need to have complete obedience to the Word of God in those situations and ask Him for help.
That's the next one, if we could go on.
This is David for Samuel 17. Sorry to have to go through these quickly.
Who's the enemy here?
David and Goliath. Goliath comes out and tries to just completely intimidate.
Israel, you know, Saul had been given the Commission to deal with Phil Steins and he didn't do it. David ends up doing it with the Lord's help, which is an amazing thing to see. But Goliath comes out and what does he say? This is chapter 17. There came out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was 6 cubits in a span, and he had a helmet of brass upon his head and was armed with a coat of mail. The weight of the coat was 5000 shekels of brass. He had Greaves of brass.
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His legs and a target of brass between his shoulders, the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed 600 chuckles of iron and one bearing the shield went before him. And he stood and cried under the armies of Israel's, and said unto them, Why are you come out to set your battle in array? I'm not IA Philistine, and ye the servants of Saul choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me, if he shall be able to fight with me and kill me.
Then will we be your servants? But if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall ye be our servants and serve us?
And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day, give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and Israel heard the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
You know we live in a day.
When the enemy is trying to intimidate Christians like never before.
And I acknowledge that I fall prey to it myself often.
They want us completely silenced and not even to see any.
Evidence of Christianity anywhere. You know, I just thinking of what's happening with Facebook.
They don't want Christianity anywhere and he will do anything to intimidate the Christians, you know.
There's a real fear even with what happens if, what I.
What I say online is tractor. Somebody says the enemy wants to intimidate us. You know, I appreciate David. Again, I have to watch our time here. But David, where was David? He was with the sheep, spending time with the Lord.
In communion, using the sword in communion independence is what I would like to bring out about David. You know, David came and he hears this giant and he recognized this guy is defying.
The living God, He has no right to do that.
And you know, all he's ever used is a sling. It all gives him his armor. It doesn't fit him. He doesn't even need a sword. And yet he has the courage because he recognizes.
That defying the Lord is.
Horrible and foolish and you know he says I'm going to take your head off you to Goliath. He runs towards him in full confidence. Let's just read it. The word of God says it's so beautifully I love.
Just to see that confidence of David that comes from communion independence. This is verse 43 of First Samuel 17.
Says, When the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth and Ruddy, and of a fair countenance. And the Philistines said unto David, Am IA dog, that thou comest to me with staves. Philstein cursed David by his gods. And Philstein said to David, Come, and I'll give thy flesh to the fowls of the air and to the beast of the field. Then said David, under the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword, with a spear, with a shield. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.
Whom thou hast defied this day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand, and I will smite thee, and I will take thine head from thee. And I will give the carcass of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and the wild beasts of the earth, and all the earth, that all the earth may know there is a God in Israel, and all this assembly shall know the Lord saveth not with sword and spear for the battle.
Is the Lords.
And he will give it.
Into your hands, you know there's a time.
Eight years ago when I was really struggling while he Deer came to our area at a special meeting and he spoke in this chapter.
I needed to learn that the battle was the Lord's.
And not mine.
That was a turning point for me.
David had the confidence to say to the to the giant, I'll take off your head. He didn't even have a sword.
He probably didn't. Whether he thought, oh, I'm gonna knock him down, take his sword, I don't know. But he put his trust in the living God. The battle was the Lord's.
Not his.
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We need to use the sword in communion and dependence and to look at things through the eyes of God.
It changes everything and justice go to the next one. It's using the sword and defense. This is in. Let's go to First Chronicles 11.
This is David's mighty man.
A couple weeks ago.
James Ferguson commented to me, he said. You know, Mark I it's interesting. I wonder why with Davidde, Great mighty men.
Their top qualification as they killed 800 men was he was Speaking of.
I think it was Shama, but these first three and you know, I went back and read these passages just in light of.
Of that comment just to dig into a little bit and you know, it's a little hard to get things figured out with the changes in names and what exactly happened and what happened at the.
At the well in Bethlehem. But you know, I just wanted to focus on this one man, Eliezer.
You know, he let's just read what it says. This is in first Chronicles 11. It's a little clearer in terms of the point I want to bring out here versus Samuel says he was with David in sorry first 12 after him was Eliezer, the son of Dodo the oh height, who was one of the three mighties and he was with David at Pasadena and they're the Philistines were gathered together to battle where was a parcel of ground full of barley and the people fled from before the Philistines.
Themselves in the midst of that parcel.
And delivered it, and slew the Philistines. And the Lord saved them by great deliverance. The enemy here is trying to take what God had given.
And the food that was there and you know this man.
He fights with the sword in his hand, cleaving to that sword, and he kills.
It's a 301. It's 800 and the other I think it's.
Dependent on on.
Whether it's the three of them or the one of them, but you know, he clings to that sword.
And he fights to protect what God is given, and you know the Lord has given.
Each one of us. So many things, you know.
Even I shouldn't say even the simplicity of justice gathering in the Lord's name to recognize that ahead of us.
We will be with the Lord for all eternity that He's going to come and set up his Kingdom for 1000 years. He's given us so much. The enemy wants to steal that from us in whatever way he can and we need to defend it.
And I'm not here to specifically make too much of an out, but the enemy is trying to steal what the Lord has given us, and we need to defend it. We need to recognize what God has given us in His Word and value it and use the sword to fight back against the enemy when he tries to take it from us.
It is so important, you know.
Even among my own peers, I see some of them that have gotten discouraged. Maybe it's for the sake of their kids, or maybe it's for the sake of something that's happened in the assembly. Or maybe it's until they they give up something the Lord's given to them to try and fix the problem somewhere else, and it doesn't work that way.
I'm not. We need to recognize what the Lord has given us. Ask yourself that question. What has the Lord given me?
And defend it with the sword. So this is using the sword in defense or cleaving.
Using the sword and cleaving, let's go to the next one. This is with.
Solomon, let's go to.
First Kings three only in 4 minutes so I'll.
First Kings 3 Psalm is made king.
And he has this very complicated situation with these harlots who have two babies and one of them gets rolled on and killed and he's trying to figure out.
Who or what to do? You know, I'm just going to make this comment very quickly. You know, sometimes the situations that are put in front of us are very complicated.
We don't have the wisdom to know how to do it.
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Solomon uses the sword in a complicated situation with compassionate wisdom. You know I just.
It's amazing to see how the Lord can help in really, really, really hard situations if we lean on Him and on His word. Let's go to the next one. This is in Nehemiah, and I'm just.
Here the enemy.
Was attacking, you know, temple had been built and the walls were torn down. He didn't want that place defended and he was doing everything in his power to prevent those walls from going up.
You know, Nehemiah, you know, when I first thought of this, I was thinking of using the sword in protection. But yeah, I was just as I was driving here from Rio Ferry to here, we were. We drove from Saint Thomas to here yesterday morning. And I was just considering these passages and I had sort of thought of this as the sword in protection, but I was trying to think of words that started with C, just to help myself remember them so.
And you know he used his sword in his.
Career and I just use that. I know this is taking a little bit of liberty.
When he heard about the wall being destroyed, he wept. He was the king asked them why are you sad? He instantly prays as he did his work. He was instantly to go to the Lord and then when the enemy was attacking them building the wall, he got them to put their swords on their side.
And they had to be ready at any instant for the attack of the enemy. You know, we need to do that not every minute of every day. It's not just when we come to a conference. It's not just.
We need to be ready to use the word of God everywhere we go because the enemy wants to.
The last thing he wants is for us to build up and fortify the things around us. He wants to attack us in whatever way he can. So I'm going to say with that. And then the last one I'd like to just mention is in Esther.
And this is using the sword in care.
In protection.
You know the enemy wants to destroy the people of God.
In whatever way he possibly can. You know, we read in Exodus where they had sinned so horribly they need to use the sword and consecration there.
Moses loved the children of Israel. The Lord loved the children of Israel.
Read that verse in Deuteronomy. Beautiful. He loved them.
Morning Ki Whiskey is a picture of the Lord, of course.
He loved the children of Israel. And what does it say? Let's just read these few verses in closing. This is in Esther 3, verse 6.
Halfway through the verse, it says Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole Kingdom of a Hajeweres, even the people of Mordecai. You know, if we go to the end of this book and our time is up so.
Morning Ki, we know was rescued miraculously. The Lord works behind the scenes.
Providentially, and he's put into that position of power.
And Mordecai is used to protect the people of God and you know this whole book ends with for more to create a Jew who is next unto the king of Haji where's and great among the Jews and accepted of the multitude of the brethren seeking the wealth of his people and speaking peace to all the seed. You know we need to use the sword for the protection of the Lord's people. You know it's easy.
To be at each other all the time.
One of the things I, you know, whether it's in our assemblies or whether it's among the young people, whether it's in families, the enemy wants us at each other. We need to have a care for the Lord's people. Here you have Haman who had, I mean, Mordecai who had a care for the Lord's people and when he used the sword in protection of the Lord's people. All these things are so important to think that the Lord.
And I go back, we don't talk. You go back to Revelation 19.
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You have the judgment seat of Christ. You have the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The Lord has his bride.
That he died for.
He comes roaring out of heaven.
To defeat the enemy.
To set up His Kingdom and to fulfill His purposes for all eternity for His people. You know, these are things that I know I don't understand them as fully as I can.
And should, but they're beautiful. Well, I I just mentioned these things for you to consider and using the sword as we face battles every day of our life to use the sword in consecration.
Like the sons of Levi to use a sword encouraged. Like Joshua, use the sword in confidence. Like Gideon use the sword and the commitment of faith. Like Jonathan, use the sword and complete obedience. Like Samuel use the sword in communion independence. Like David use the sword in cleaving to what the Lord is given. Like Eliezer use a sword in.
Complication and compassion like Solomon. Use the sword in your career.
And use the sword in care and protection of the Lords people.