Address—D. Nicolet
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And love and all that we need to go through this scene for thy honor and glory and for our joy and happiness. So we pray as we open my precious word tonight, Father, that we might be helped, that we might be.
That there might be something for each heart for Father, that is perfectly know the needs of each one here. Let us know the burdens on each art here.
And Father, thou dost care about each one. And in thee is all love and all wisdom, and all light to meet and to satisfy every longing, every desire and every burden. So we pray and ask these things now with Thanksgiving, Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Well, it's a real joy to be here in a place we've never visited before. But what a joy to be here and be with our dear brother. What I would like to.
We begin with tonight is a very well known passage.
In Luke. In the Gospel of Luke.
And the.
24th chapter.
Luke chapter.
24.
And we'll just read a few verses. This story is very well known to each of us here.
But we'll just read a few verses.
We'll start with verse 13.
Luke 24 and verse 13 and behold.
Two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus.
Which was from Jerusalem, about 3 score furlongs, and they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together had reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
Now verse 17 he said unto them, What manner of communications are these?
That she have one to another as he walk and are sad.
Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad? Now let's turn to another very well known portion in the Gospel of John.
And Chapter 2.
The Gospel of John in chapter 2.
Verse one and the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee.
And the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus was called.
And his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus savan, and they have no wine. What manner of communications are these as you walk together and are sad and repeating from Luke now what manner of communications are these as you walk together and are sad?
And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto them, They have no wine.
And then down in there's five, his mother said unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you.
Do it.
And they were set there 6 water pots of stone, after the Manor of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three Farrakhan's apiece. Jesus saith unto them, fill the water pots with water.
Fill the water pops with water, and they fill them up to the brim. And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bear it, when the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was.
But the servants which drew the water knew the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, and saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk, and that which is worse but.
Thou hast kept the good wine until now. Oh, you know, beloved brethren, this to me is very, very precious.
First of all, we will start by in our minds going back to.
That portion we read in Luke, and there in Luke we read of one.
Of two who are on a journey.
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Everyone of us in this room tonight is on a journey.
We're on a journey.
And the journey they were on obviously was one that they experienced difficulties in trials and problems.
Everyone of us who were on the journey, if I may say of life, know what it is to have trials, difficulties, problems, broken dreams, hopes and desires and wishes that you desire to have fulfilled. And they're not fulfilled. Things that you have burdened upon your heart, and they're not fulfilled.
Or so it seems. And so in the journey of life we can easily relate to those times when, like the two on the way from Emmaus, or the way to Emmaus, rather from Jerusalem, it says the Lord Jesus drew near and went with them. But he looks at them and he says, why are you sad?
I suspect that if I were to ask each one in the room tonight, have you ever been sad that there would be an agreement from probably everyone sitting here? There's been at least one time in my life when I've been sad.
And you know, it says that when the Lord Jesus drew near and walked with those that he knew was sad.
And they didn't realize he was there. They didn't know who it was.
And I don't want to presume to know how you feel. So if you don't mind, I'll tell you how I feel. When I'm sad, I often don't recognize the Lord.
With me?
It's when there's problems and difficulties and trials that I don't recognize the Lord with me.
And so here in Luke 24, we find 2 who were leaving Jerusalem. Their fondest hope, she might say. Their most precious dreams had been broken, crushed. What were they dreaming about? What were they hoping for? What was their fondest wish? What it was was that Jesus, who they knew by faith, was indeed the Messiah.
Would then at that time set up the Kingdom in power, but they looked at that blessed man hanging on the cross.
Can you dance on the cross? And all of their hopes and dreams for a Kingdom set up in power were dashed.
And what they saw, had thought and believed and hoped and longed for that this one, the Messiah, they had no doubt of that the promised one had come and everything was going to be okay. Have you ever felt that way, beloved young people? Have you ever felt like, oh, finally the Lord is going to do something and everything is going to be OK, And then it just seems like it's dashed that the Lord isn't there after all. That's how it seems.
And you go on that journey.
Walking Feeling like you're walking alone and you're sad.
But it's so precious. The Lord knew where they were going. He knew what was on their hearts. He knew what they had desired, and He drew near and walked with them. They didn't realize it, and you and I often don't realize it when some of the difficulties in trials and shadows come into our life, things that we have prayed earnestly for, and they haven't happened yet.
And this journey of life.
And it seems like we say, like we were mentioning last night in Kirkland, that we say what the disciples said, Lord, Hearst thou not that we perish? And we find ourselves saying to the Lord Jesus, Lord, you know what's going on in my life, don't you care?
Now I'm saying we.
I know it's true with me. I suspect it's true with you, not, perhaps in those words, but the feelings, the disappointments.
Being downcast and sorrowful. Because Lord, I've prayed so hard for this. I've wanted it so badly. And it seems like the harder I prayed, the more opposite things became from what I really wanted to see happen. Lord, don't you care? Jesus drew near and went with him. Jesus, he said. I will never.
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Leave thee nor for safety do I believe that? Do you believe that, beloved brother and beloved young people? Do you believe that?
I said this so many times I want to say it again.
In your minds, come back with me to Calvary's cross.
And see him hanging there.
He spit in his face.
They beat him with a stick.
They beat him with their hands.
They took a crown of thorns.
You know, Peter took us on a walk tonight through the paths here and Gordon and I.
Had a lot of fun picking those blackberries and eating them, but we didn't have fun when some of those BlackBerry brambles.
Got caught in our shirt or hit our hands, It hurt.
They made a crown out of those things and they put it on his head and then they hit that crown.
And then he hung him on a cross.
And then, most unspeakable, they sat down and watched him as we said to be entertained.
By how much he was suffering.
Now here's what I want to ask you. Beloved young people, beloved brother, here's what I want to ask you.
Do you think she went through all that?
To make you miserable.
That's what Satan's been telling me. That's what the world tells you.
This Jesus that you trust in that religion stuff, all it's going to do is make you miserable. You can't have this. You can't go there. You can't do that. You can't say this. You can't, can't, can't.
Oh, what a lie.
He hung on that cross and suffered in a way that in all eternity will never understand. And he didn't do that. So you would be a miserable Christian.
He did that.
So when the joy of this world runs out.
And you find, as every single person in this world finds the joy I thought was going to be there and life is gone.
And he says, yeah, but I'm not gone because I said I'm never going to leave you and I'm never going to forsake you.
And I'm saving the best to the last. He believed that.
He believed that's what it meant for him to hang on that cross and suffer so that he could give you the very best kids. Look at your dad's and mom's. Do you think they aren't giving you the very best they can give you? Could you go to your dad or your mom and say dad, you're just trying to make me miserable?
A lot of kids are saying that in the world tonight. A lot of young people are saying that. Mom, you're telling me no because you want me to be unhappy. You don't love me.
And you know that's not true. Dad and mom love you with all their hearts and that's why they say sometimes no.
But sometimes, if they're like me and my dear wife, they make mistakes.
But that's OK 'cause they still have the right to say no.
Jesus never makes a mistake, yeah.
And so.
Here, these two on this journey, and they're sad because what they thought was going to happen didn't happen.
They didn't get their way, did they?
Have you ever had that happen? You don't get your way. You're not very happy about it.
I thank God I have a dad and a mom who didn't let me have my way.
So let me have something else, but they didn't let me have my way.
Thank God for that.
Thank God for a God who loves me so much that, he said. The best I have is what I'll give to have him with me. Think about no other young people the next time you think you're being cheated by Jesus.
Just remember that he's the best God could give.
For you and if he gave you the best.
If he gave you the best, if he gave you that, there's nothing he won't give you.
If you'll give him a chance, And what I mean by that is if you'll just say, OK, Lord, I'm all done fighting and reasoning and arguing, I'm going to submit, I'm going to submit and let you do what you want to do for me. So what do you think he wants to do? What do you want to do at that wedding? Do you know beloved young people, Beloved brother, can you think of one time in life naturally speaking that is full of more joy or more excitement than a wedding? That's.
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The symbol of the greatest joy and happiness. Know and demand a wedding.
And wine, as we all know in the Bible, is a symbol of joy, and it's fit that at a wedding there would be joy.
You generally at weddings don't see the bride and the groom frowning at each other.
God had the joy of speaking at several weddings, and I have yet to see a groom scowling at the woman he's going to marry.
Generally, he's looking as awestruck as I've ever seen a man look in his life when he's looking at the other woman that he's fallen in love with and she's been walked down the aisle by her father and she's standing there looking at him.
I look up Joy and radiance.
That's what the world knows, and it's right and proper. But you know something? Pretty soon, you know, wedding the Tulsa gets burned or the front door doesn't get fixed, The faucet and the sink doesn't get fixed when it's supposed to. And all of a sudden what happens in the world that we live in, Is it? Someone recently said 50% of every marriage in the United States ends in a divorce.
Wine runs out fast, doesn't it?
The joy is gone.
And then there's a divorce.
But when the faucet doesn't get fixed and when the toast does get burned, and when it is kind of discouraging, who's walking with us? The one who said, I'm never going to leave you the Lord Jesus, and what does he have? He says I've got the best line.
And I say that for right now.
Oh, believe that you love the young people. It doesn't matter what the world says they'll do for you. They can't even come close. It's no contest.
Lord Jesus is going to do so much better because they can give you the very best. We drove when we came out here.
Past the casino.
And all sorts of promises of wonderful wealth are in there.
Excitement. Buy a ticket when at least $10 million. Wow, Can't Jesus do better than that?
Of course he can. He's saving the best wine until you turn around and say, Lord, there isn't anything here I want to be really happy like you want me to be.
And oh, is he gonna give you good joy, The best joy? Well.
We're on that journey, and one way or another, the Lord wants you and me to see, to realize that he's got the very best for us.
He wants us to trust him and to prove him.
I suppose there are some young people here that have some some real earnest desires about things on their heart before the Lord. That's wonderful. See the Lord Jesus is interested in him, you think, the one that created this universe with the words spoken into being. You think he's interested?
In what you have to face at school tomorrow.
Or the job you'd like to get. Or the person you'd like to start paying attention to. You seem interested in that kind of stuff. He sure is.
Because you mean more to him than that whole university hung up there because that beautiful universe, the moon, the stars, the planets and all that he hung there can't satisfy his heart.
That every person who accepts him as Lord and Savior, trusting in His precious blood, that satisfies his heart, that gives him joy.
And he wants you to be happy. Don't buy into this business that the world has that says I say again, before we turn to the Old Testament to look at a little example of what we're talking about. Don't buy into it. It is a lie.
And always ask yourself this when the temptations to be discouraged or frustrated or unhappy or say it's just not worth it.
I tried this Christian stuff and it's dry and it's dull and justice. Ask yourself this.
Ask yourself if you can go back and think about what he went through on the cross and still think.
I think he wants you to be bored and unhappy.
Let me tell you a little story. I've told this so many times, I'm sure somebody here has got to have heard this already, but bear with me.
Some years ago when I was teaching in high school.
A young lady was saved. Truly, really saved.
You, before she was saved you, who were parents. The last thing in the world you would want was to have your kids associate with her.
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And any of you kids here who want to please the Lord Jesus, last thing you want to do is be found as a in the company of this young lady before she was saved.
But boy, did she make a turn around. Not a turn around. There's something new started the day she asked the Lord Jesus to come into her heart and it was very evident.
But I'll never forget something that happened about two weeks after she was saved. And I was sitting at my desk in my room before school started, and she'd gotten off the school bus and she came in and came into the room and came up to my desk. And she said that she looked at me. She said Mr. Nick, that's what students called me. Maybe, you know, I didn't argue with him. That was better than a lot of things because he got called. So Mr. Nick.
Do you ever just sit there and think about him?
Beautiful. Do you ever just sit there and think about him? This is a girl that didn't, before she was saved, sit for 10 minutes anywhere, not even 5 minutes, constantly on the go doing and trying everything that this world had to offer. And she came into me and she said you ever just sit there and think about him?
Now the next time.
You know the brothers, You know other young people. The next time you feel you're getting short changed.
Give about two minutes or three minutes of your time and just sit and think about him.
And then see if you still feel shortchanged.
See if you still can say I think he's cheating me.
No way, No way.
We're going to go to the Old Testament now and we're going to look in at a story, a very well known story, of a man who loved the Lord and he had a lot of trials and he had a lot of discouragements and a lot of problems. We're going to look at one of the most discouraging episodes in his life and see it from the last few minutes of our little time together. We can't be encouraged in the Lord to go on seeking to walk with the Lord and really taste the good wine to find out what the real joy.
Is really all about Let's turn back and read a story in the life of David and hits back in First Samuel.
You know, there's nothing new that we one has on his heart tonight. These are just like that him tell me the old, old story and it's just wonderful to go over the old, old story of Jesus in his love.
Sure, Samuel.
Chapter 3.
And we'll just start, We'll talk about these verses and we'll see what the spirit of God can give us to encourage our hearts tonight from this story. Remember now.
We determined that we're all on a journey, a journey that has difficulties. We're in a day that's very dark and very confusing, very contrary to anyone that wants to live for the Lord Jesus.
And sometimes it can seem like we're all alone. Lord, I was trusting. And where are you? And then we find out after a while, just like those two on the way to Emmaus did. He's right there with him. He's right here with me. You think? Of course, that's what he promised. He'd always be with me. And so, remembering that, let's go back to a time in David's life when he got very discouraged verse one of chapter 30 of First Samuel. And it came to pass on David and his men were come to Zikri on the third day. And the Amalekites had invaded the South and zip rag and smitten Ziglag and burned it with fire and had taken the women captives that were therein.
They slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away and went on their way. So David and his men came to that city, and behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taking captives. Now what I'd like to ask you, my beloved brother, is that you will come with me on a little journey through this story, and we're just going to apply the principles that we read about to our lives today.
Then we can do that because it says all Scripture was given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, referring proof for instruction and righteousness for exhortation. All of those things the word of God is profitable for and whatsoever things it says. In another place, whatsoever things were written before time were written for our learning. And so we can take this story back in the Old Testament that happened several thousand years ago.
3000 years or more ago, and it was written that we might learn something from it today.
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And so let's start seeing what we can learn. First of all, we find out that there was a place that belonged to a man named David, a city.
It was his possession.
And we find out that he had an enemy that came to his possession and destroyed it and took away everything in it that belonged to him.
And we're going to find one more thing. We're going to notice one more thing. That possession that he had was in the South.
Now, beloved young people, I want to tell you something. You've heard this before, but will you allow me to tell you again? There is not one word in the word of God that is unimportant. Whether it's a one letter word or a 10 letter word, Not one word in the divine inspired word of God is unimportant. Some people say yes, but you don't have that because you just have a translation of it. I know I do. And it's a wonderful translation.
And in fact, I have, and you can have them too, if you want them to, translations, that wonderful translation called the King James Bible. And then one that's even more accurate, written by a man who was a brilliant, perhaps without equal Greek scholar. And why that's important is because that's what the New Testament scriptures were written, the language of Greek, and a man named Mr. Darby, who was an absolutely brilliant scholar of the Greek language.
Went through the Bible and he didn't try to change it, but he said I want to give people.
Who want to study the Bible as accurate a translation in English as they can possibly have of the original scriptures.
And so we have two wonderful translations. And so I submit to you that in those two wonderful translations, whether you read the King James, whether you read the J&D, perhaps there are other good translations. I sure sure wouldn't say there weren't, but I'm. I'm having enough trouble just understanding these two without getting into a lot of others. But every word is significant and don't ever just rush through scriptures, even if you can only read one or two verses, if that's all you have the time for.
Read them carefully and slowly and think about them. Think about him and think about them because.
So let's go back. We find that this invasion came in the South. What's significant about that? Well, you know, in the Bible, directions have meanings. The North, for instance, are often symbolizes the time of problems and difficulties in our lives. I don't know about you folks out here. I understand that you don't have quite as cold the winters out here as we get in Iowa. But the worst cold, what we get in Iowa is when it's below 0 and then the north wind blows real hard. When the wind comes out of the north, we get bitter cold temperatures. They have something called the wind chill factor.
And sometimes we hear the wind chill factors down around 70° below 0 because it may be 20 below and there's a strong north wind blowing. And they say don't go out, don't go out without grubs, keep your face covered. You'll get frostbite within 30 seconds. And so it's a very bitter cold time. And so the north is a is a thing in the Bible that symbolizes coldness and problems and difficulties. But you know in Iowa, and I suppose here too, we like it in the spring when the South wind starts blowing because then the warm breezes come and before along the flowers start popping up.
You know it's wonderful around March and April and those nice S winds are blowing. We get such pleasant, beautiful days. Well, this was in the South, It was in a beautiful place. And I want to tell you that what the Lord Jesus wants to give you, dear believer, each one of us here, the possession he wants to give you, he's got something for you to enjoy and to have not cane city, but a city. The assembly gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He wants you to enjoy.
City The assembly gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He wants you to enjoy, perhaps now as children. And if he leaves us here, he may not. We hope he doesn't. But if he does, those of you who are young will have someday your own families. That's like a city, too, that we don't have time to go into those differences. But these are these are things that God has instituted. He's created the assembly. He's created families. Why? To make him miserable. No. So you'd be happy. So I can be happy. It's in those places we find this wonderful wine, this wonderful joy.
And so it's in the South. It's a place in the South, and everything that's going to be there for our breasts and enjoy and happiness we'll find in that city. And that's what David had. There was this possession and it was in the South, and it was a wonderful place, but not only that, there was somebody in that place that he loved.
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He and his men had their wives and their sons and their daughters there. You know, the world wants to make a play for your affection. And in the word of God, oftentimes when we think of a wife, we think of affection. And so David had something that his heart loved in that city. And then it says, sons. What about sons? Well, I don't want to in any way belittle my beloved sisters.
But in the word of God, sons often speaks of strength.
And so there in that city.
Not only was that which belonged to David that had captured his heart, but there was strength there. And then the daughters. What does that speak of? That speaks of fruit, you know, affection, strength and fruit. How this world wants that for themselves. They want beloved young people, your heart's affections, so that they can cause their city, which is a city that says to God, we don't want you.
And but they can take your heart's affections and cause you to love what they love.
And be involved in what they're involved in. And they want your strength. You know, I don't think there's any stronger person in this world, man or woman, boy or girl, than one who loves the Lord Jesus. Because one who loves the Lord Jesus and wants to live for him has a string and a fruitfulness that you can't find anywhere else. And the world wants to take that and use it. It wants to steal it, and it wants to use your heart's affections and your strength and your ability to produce fruit, to produce something good.
For itself.
And so here's an enemy that came along and said, and took from what belonged to David and said, we're going to take that and use it for ourselves. And they stole what belonged to David, beloved young people.
Do you think Jesus cares about you? Well, here's a good verse in the Old Testament to tell you how much he cares about you if your heart and your life is stolen away from him by this world, so that instead of seeking to live for the Lord Jesus, you live for this world. It grieves him worse than King David, who wept so much that he finally couldn't even weep anymore. That's how bad it hurt David when he lost his loved ones to the world.
How bad do you think it hurts, Jesus?
Who already knows, I say irreverently. He already knows what pain is, doesn't he?
He already knows what real pain is.
And then he looks down into this world that he sees a heart that said yes to him.
Stolen by the world.
Oh, it hurts him.
And I want to say very reverently that it's no small thing to the Lord Jesus.
When someone gets stolen away from him by this world, you know too often, beloved brother, we allow a little word of exhortation. Too often when we see those that we love with all our hearts, that we so long that they might go on with the Lord, when we see them drifting away, we take it personal.
Yeah, it is a loss to us. We do feel it, but we don't even come close to feeling it like Jesus does, like the Lord Jesus does.
David wept until he had no more power with people. Who was it that was weeping so much that he couldn't even weep anymore? It's a man who faced down a 10 foot giant that had stopped the whole army of Israel.
And this man is a young man, perhaps a 1516 year old boy.
Had faced down Goliath, was he? May I speak in the language of the world. I know you kids hear this at school. Was he a wimp? Was David a wimp?
Now, far from it. He didn't just walk to that giant, he ran at him. I wouldn't run at a 10 foot giant, but David did and he overcame him. And now we're finding this very same 1 weeping until he has no more strength to weep anymore. That's how broken his heart was, because what he loved had been stolen from him.
Let it happen, beloved brother. Don't let this world steal from you.
And more importantly, don't let this world steal from Jesus what belongs to him, what he died for, what he suffered for.
But it gets worse. Let's read the next verse.
David's two wives were taken captives. We don't have time to go into it, but I'll just suggest the possibility that we could see the Jewish earthly people of God and the heavenly people, the bride of Christ, pictured in these two They're taken captive.
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Verse 6 And David was greatly distressed.
Wept till he had no more power to weep. He was greatly distressed. And it gets worse.
For the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people is grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters.
I will stop there. Remember we talked earlier about that ship That was that little ship that was out in the sea and the storm came and the Lord Jesus was asleep on a pillow and the disciples said, Lord, we're perishing. Don't you care that we're going to perish? Don't you care about us?
That's what we do and when we do.
We're not one bit better.
Than those people who are getting ready to pick up stones and throw them at David.
That's a pretty terrible thing to do to the one man who was able to defeat an enemy that the whole combined armies of King Saul couldn't defeat.
That's what they were going to do. They were going to stone him. Because basically they were saying, David, look at the mess you got us into. Look what happened. Because we followed you. Now, beloved brethren, can I ask you with my own heart to be real? Very real. Now, before the Lord, have you ever had that spirit? Sometimes when things don't go right, Lord, I followed you. I did what you thought you wanted, what I thought you wanted me to do. I tried to be faithful to your word.
And look what it's gotten me into.
Isn't that kind of like what those men are going to do to David? They're going to pick up stones and stones because they were so grieved, the only man who had ever shown them real love and leadership and care. Now things didn't seem to go right. They were on their way to Emma, as you might say, and it was getting pretty discouraging. And they didn't recognize, just like those two disciples in a later day didn't recognize, that the one among them that they were going to stone because they were so unhappy was God's key, the man of God's choosing.
And so they say, let's just get rid of him. He's made a total mess. Everything we held there is gone.
Now for a little bit of sunlight breaking through the clouds, David encouraged himself.
Those crowded kids in his strength.
David wasn't he strong, He was the guy that got that great big sword from Goliath after he chopped Brian's head off.
Wasn't he a strong man? He killed a lion and a bear. Wasn't he strong? Isn't that something to encourage yourself in? I'm strong, I'm tough. I can handle this. That's what the world tells you. You go out and give your heart to the world. Then when things go wrong, they say, hey, you're tough, you can make it.
Don't be. Don't be a Sissy. Be tough. That's not what David did. David encouraged himself in the Lord. You know why? He encouraged himself in the Lord.
Because.
Over 3000 years ago, before it was ever written, David who loved Jehovah his God knew that he would never leave him or forsake him.
He was always with you and he said if God is with me, who can be against me, including people who ought to be loving me?
And they're against me. But that's OK, because God isn't against me. And so, beloved brethren, when the times come in our lives and the difficulties are there, let's just remember that God hasn't changed one bit. He is not. I say, oh, I love this. I heard this from a dear old brother. I don't know which one of them it was. It was in the era of Mr. Brown and Mr. Hale and Mr. Wilson and some of those beloved older brothers that I remember. Many of us here remember as young people. He said something to the phrase or something like this. The Lord Jesus is never disappointed in you.
What?
No, he's never disappointed. He already knows. He already knows everything about me and I failed today. Bad. And I had to go tell the Lord Jesus. Was he disappointed? He said, oh, you did it again. No, He loves me with an unchanging love. Isn't that something to encourage yourself in? You could disappoint the world real easy. And if you want to go out there and love the world and give them your energy and your strength and your affection, you'll find real fast how quickly you disappoint them.
You know, I'm going to tell you something in 32 years of teaching.
20 of it in public high school. I don't know that I ever saw anything cooler. I don't know if that's even a proper English word. I don't know if I saw anything more cruel than the way kids could treat each other sometimes.
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The horrible, painful, hurtful ways they could treat each other. That's the world.
Jesus going to treat you that way.
If you fail the world, they're going to let you know about it real fast.
How come is it that CEOs, the heads of huge corporations making millions of dollars a year, all of a sudden don't have a job anymore?
Because they didn't meet the expectation of the people that hired him. Why is it that every eight years at least we get a new president in this country? Because no matter how good he is.
If it were a combination of the five best presidents that ever ruled in this country, we'd still want to get rid of them after at least eight years, because they don't need our expectations.
You don't disappoint the Lord. You might grieve his heart, and I do, but we don't disappoint him. And so David knew he had that resource and he could turn to that one, and he could encourage himself in the Lord. And even when the Stones were getting ready to fly, he could say, I'm not giving up.
I'm not going to stop and turn around because I've got Jehovah God with me. Now let's finish up here.
So we'll skip over? He asked the Lord what to do? Shall I try? Shall I go after them?
The day the part was to recover. But he wanted the Lord's will. Sometimes we miss that things go wrong in our lives and we say, well, I'm going to go set this right. Don't forget to talk to the Lord about it first. But David didn't. He inquired after the Lord because he encouraged himself in the Lord. So he had confidence. He got confidence in somebody when there's a problem and they'll talk to him. That was the thing they always told me as a teacher, get your kids to the point where they have some sort of confidence in you. Then they're going to listen to you when you try to teach them something. And that's the way we are. Well, that's the way David was with the Lord.
He had confidence in what he was encouraging the Lord. And then he asked the Lord what to do, and that goes on. And the Lord says yes, go after him. Well, they pursue. Now verse 11 real quickly they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David and gave him bread. And he did eat, and they made him drink water, and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two crust of his raisins. And he when he had eaten his spirit came against him. Before he'd eaten no bread, nor drunk any water. 3 days and three nights. Let me tell you a little experience that happened to us we came up from.
We were able to visit our brethren in Gresham in Vancouver and when we were done there, we flew into Portland and then we took the train up here to Kirkland.
And as we got into Seattle, we saw what we often see in large cities. We saw some homeless people. One was laying out on the grass. It was about to.
You see, I suppose, not new. There is this poor man laying out in the grass, face down.
Dirty, disheveled crows.
He was.
I would suppose in some sort of a drug induced alcoholic induced snooper.
You know something? He was all alone. I didn't see the world out there showing compassion. I know. And you know personally.
I thank God for those who, for the sake of compassion, and perhaps many of them are Christians, try in some way to relieve that condition.
I'm not going to get into a philosophical argument about whether all homeless people have to be that way. I think we all know the answer to that. But in any case, here is a man who was in pretty serious condition, but nobody is out there giving him water, especially the President of the United States. This is King David, and King David and his followers found this Egyptian who is not necessarily one that the Israelites would want to find their company with.
And King David and his followers give him water and bread, and they don't stop there with the basic necessities of light bread and water. That's what a person gets fed in prison when their solitary confinement is red and water. But they gave him that. But they gave him something else. They gave him fruit.
Sweetness.
No one was out helping that homeless man. We saw another under a bridge. We passed on, and there was a woman. She had a grocery cart. She was picking up and carefully folding. Man, she's just slept on bare dirt in a filthy part of a of the city under an Interstate bridge, and she's very carefully folding everything up and putting it into a shopping cart to move on. Nobody was giving her bread and water. Nobody was offering her soap and towels. Nobody was giving her fruit, sweetness, anything like that. No, beloved young people, when the world is done using you and they've got everything out of you, they can.
They've gotten your heart's affection, they've gotten your strength, they've gotten your fruitfulness. Everything you can give them. When they've got what they want, they will do to you what happened to this man. They'll leave you sick and dying, and there won't be anybody that's going to come along and offer you anything because you can't do anything for them anymore. But the Lord Jesus came along because we couldn't do anything.
And he gave us everything.
And that's what happened to this Egyptian servant. David gives him everything and it says, Think of this, David said, to whom belongeth thou?
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What a question, David, that slew Goliath.
Who had battles with the Egyptians as well as with all the other enemies of Israel? And he said to this Egyptian servant, who do you belong to? What is he going to say? And not all that? He says. Once I thought, where do you come from?
And the Egyptian servant? He said, I am a young man of Egypt. Here's his death sentence.
Servant to an Americite and my master left me because three days ago I felt sick. We made an invasion upon the South of the Cherubites and upon the coast that belonged to Judah and upon the South of Caleb, and we burned Zikrag with fire. I don't know of anything the word of God more calculated to bring down the sort of judgment than this confession. Who is this being made to? A man who had just wept until he couldn't weep anymore because his wife and children were stolen from him? A man who was so grieved in his heart because his followers were going to stone him because their lives and children were stolen from them.
And here, laying at his mercy, sick.
Is one of the guys that helped steal.
He didn't make excuses.
That's repentance. Sometimes, kids, when you hear somebody talk about repentance, this is a man that's repentant, he says. I'm guilty, David. I did everything that has caused you sorrow.
It sound a little bit like a boss, like sorrow, but they love young people. When you sin against God, you cross him sorrow.
He is. I mean, so do I. He's. Every person going into this world by practice has sinned. All that come short of the glory of God. All of sin come short of the glory of God. You and I have sinned. We have insulted God.
And the fraternity repent is simply going to say not no. I was abused as a child and so I did it. Or I was this, or I was that or this happened, or I wasn't brought up on the right side of the railroad tractor. I didn't have the same privileges. I lived in a bad country. No, they simply say, oh God be merciful to me, a Sinner. No excuses. This guy didn't offer any excuses. He just said I'm guilty, David. And what happened?
Isn't it beautiful?
David didn't say anything. He said to this young man, if I can say it this way, he said. I want you to do something for me. What? A young man who was guilty of causing David to weep now can do something for David. Sure, if you and I repent before God. If we go tell him, Lord Jesus, I sin, He wants to use us. We're not going to throw us over dead and sick like the world will. So I got something for you to do. I got a service for you to perform. Oh, what do you want me to do?
And here's what he wanted him to do.
He said can't stop bringing you down to this company. What company was that? There were a bunch of people that were prisoners. They've been carried away prisoner by an enemy.
You got anybody to work with that's been carried away prisoner by an enemy?
Funny neighbors have been carried away prisoners by an enemy.
Got any friends, schoolmates that have been carried away, prisoners by an enemy? We all do. And so down here in the world, there are two companies of people. Let's read about it.
Verse 16 When he had brought them down, behold, they were spread abroad all upon the earth, eating and drinking and dancing. There's a group of people in this world tonight who are partying.
And the judgments about Stefan and they don't care.
The world is having one big party tonight and it's inviting all of you beloved young people to come join us and all of us come to the party.
And you can careless. It's not that it doesn't know, it's that it doesn't care that the judgment of God is about to fall. Here's a group of people who are partying, and in the center there was another group of people and they were prisoners.
And David said, will you take me down so I can deliver them?
How about it, beloved brethren?
Can you and can I answer that question to the Lord? Can we Can you say, well, I can't preach the gospel. I'm pretty scared about telling somebody about Jesus. I know what that feeling's like. I am too.
But, you know, if we can't talk about the Lord Jesus, we can live for him. We can do something in our lives. In fact, it'd be a whole lot better just to live for him than to talk a lot and not live for him, because Satan's pretty happy if we do a lot of talking and no living. So it's probably a lot better if we just live for the Lord. And then if we can, once in a while, maybe we can say something for our dinner, it'll mean something. But anyway, David says to this Egyptian there's one thing I want you to do now, after all I've done for you, I want you to take me down because I'm going to set some prisoners free.
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There's some people down there I love.
And I want to set them free. You know, God is love. And there's people in this world who are prisoner of Jesus wants to set him free. Who do you think he wants to use? You and me, people who were serving the Amalekites, people who were grieving his heart and people who repented and said, Lord Jesus, I'm ready to be used. I want to be used and owed so much more. We're going to stop now, but beloved brothers.
It's not the day to get discouraged. It's not the day to give up. The Lord Jesus is with us. He's never changed. Sure, it's dark. There's problems. I've never seen the difficulties in the trials like we're seeing today. He's probably not going to get any better that way, not going to get any easier. But our God is the same. He's never changed. He's never left us, and he never will. Everything we need to go on for his glory is ours. Let's do it, brethren. Let's not give up and let's try.
By the grace of God, to bring our David down to the prisoners in this world that he loves, that they might be set free. May the Lord help us until He comes. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank Thee, Lord Jesus, for all of us done on the cross. Blessed Savior brought a portion. We have we who were enemies.
Rightfully on our way to a lost eternity that has redeemed thy precious blood and our Jesus, My only desire is that we might be filled with joy, have the very best blessing. Lord Jesus, help us from the youngest here to the oldest to submit to the end of thoroughly in obedience that we might know what true joy and blessing is. Lord Jesus, we pray for our beloved young people that are sitting here. Lord guide them and keep them and bless them and draw them close to Thy blessed, piercing side, Lord Jesus. And for those who are older that they might set straight paths for the young who follow. For each of us, Lord, preserve and keep us, we pray.
Bless this little assembly, Lord, and preserve it. We ask you, give me thanks and thy name, Lord Jesus.