YP Sing Address—R. Hiebert
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Feeling really, really wired here we were singing and it comes and puts a mic on me. I just didn't know how to sing how loud to sing after that. But anyway it's.
It's a huge honor to be able to.
Speak with you, dear young people, and it's been a great day, hasn't it? It's really been wonderful just to.
To be reminded that if the foundations.
Put the mic up higher, it gets them not wired enough.
Going higher than that, I'm going to swallow the thing.
OK, how are we? Can you hear us? We good, OK.
To be reminded that if the foundations are removed, there's still something that the righteous, there's still a resource for the righteous, isn't there? Isn't that? Wasn't that a wonderful meeting to to be encouraged in that way when we see the crumbling foundations around us, And then to be reminded as well about the Lord and his power to keep and his love for us, his care over us.
And the care that we need to have for others as well and and that was that was so encouraging and and just so many things today and then to sing together and and to to sing have I an Object Lord below and to and to think about the Lord's return and how soon it is when all the redeem will be with him in in glory. And it's and it's going to be so soon. And one of the songs we were singing, I can't remember the number, but there was a line that says I can almost hear his foot fall or faith can almost hear his foot fall.
On the threshold of the door. That's cool, isn't it almost here is football. It's just about there. It's about to happen. And you know, you feel that in a in a new way, in a special way when you're together, when we're together as believers focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then all of a sudden it just hits US. It's going to happen. It's going to happen so soon and all the redeem will be together will be there forevermore in his in his in his home where there's many rooms and never to go out, never to to have any more tears, never to have any more sadness or sorrow or suffering, but just to worship him and praise him for all eternity. It's right there.
It's about to happen and last night, I don't know why I'm telling you this and I probably shouldn't, but but last night I was, I was just, we got in late and I was just lying there.
Has about to fall asleep and I, I thought, I wonder how many young people are here. So I bet you there's a lot. I bet you they're in rooms all over talking to one another and, and chatting and having good times and things like that. And I said, Lord help them not to miss this opportunity like I did so many times when I was younger because I was so worried about so many things about who I was hanging out with.
And all the fun things we're going to do and going out for pizza and.
Knocking on doors and running away and doing all the crazy stuff that young people do. And I said, you know, and that's fine, but help them not to miss it. Help them not to miss it because it's such a great opportunity. And, and sometimes we don't realize, do we, how great an opportunity it was until we're driving home or till we go to work the next day or we go to school. And we think that was good. Wasn't my like the two on the way to amaze? Oh, it wasn't my heart burning within me while I sat in that meeting.
And heard his word being opened up. And I want to go back. I want to be because that that means so much to me.
You know, so let's not miss it. I don't. We have more tomorrow morning. We get to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to remember him in his death like he asked us to, and he's going to be there with us. And it's wonderful. And so anyway.
Let's.
I want to look at a scripture that that's going to maybe seem real random, like really out there, but it's, it's speaking to me and with the Lord's help, maybe there's something that it would say to you as well. And, and it's, it's in First Chronicles.
Corinthians. Chronicles.
Chapter 12 And I understand that by this time in the evening we start to get spiritual indigestion and there's just like almost not very much more we can take. So I'll really try to be light. When when Tim asked me if I would speak tonight, he said, you know, some of the best messages I've ever heard have been like a minute or two. I'm not sure what I was supposed to read into that, but so my reputation precedes me, I guess. So look at First Chronicles 12 and look at verse 22.
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And justice, the last phrase of that A great host.
Like the host of God, a great host, like the host of God. Okay, we'd appreciate context. Who was who was this great host, like the host of God? And I don't have a really great answer for that because I didn't really think it out very carefully before I stood up here, but I take it it was the mighty men of David's Kingdom. Mighty men in David's Kingdom. If I'm not quite right on that, you can tell me after.
Umm, don't tell me now or I'll get really nervous, but but I believe that's what it was because it talks about them in this chapter and says this mighty host and I what I want to talk about just a little bit about some of the roots of this mighty host because it makes me think of you. And I just feel like there's so much potential here in this group and this mighty host had some there's, there's just some really interesting characteristics about them and I want to talk about that.
Some of those characteristics and how those things are maybe a little bit like us and then sort of come back to this verse at the end and sort of make a parallel to our lives right now. So work with me on that.
So if we go to the first verse and I'm not going to read the whole chapter, I'm just going to pick up like two or three verses, first verse. Now these are they that came to David, to Ziklag while he was well, he yet kept himself close.
Because of Saul the son of Kish, and they were among the mighty men.
Helpers of war. They were armed with bows and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow. Even of Sauls, brethren of Benjamin. So as you know, David.
Was not always the king. I have a propensity to point out the obvious. He wasn't always king. In fact, there was a period of time after he knew he was going to be king that he was running for his life. And during that time he found himself in different places. One of those places was Ziklag, and it was in Philistine territory and there were some people that came.
And joined him through the OK, we just arranged that ahead of time to wake you up every so often. So, So what? Every so often when he was at these different places, when he was in caves, when he was in Ziklag, when he was in different places, people came to him, defected to him from Saul and they joined him. And, and it says some things about them. And, and so some of these people, it says they were armed with bows and could use both the right hand and the left, you see? So where are you going to go with that?
Well, here's what I was thinking. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ is someday going to have His rightful place and someday he is going to reign victorious over all things, just like David, right? Just like David. But right now he isn't acknowledged as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to those of us that know him as Savior he is. We own Him as Lord, we joyfully bow our knee to Him, and we long for Him to reign.
But right now he is in rejection. He is rejected. He came to this earth and he was rejected. And just like David, and when he reigns over this, when he reigns, we are those that belong to him, are going to reign with him. And we're going to have, I believe we're going to have responsibilities. It's going to be wonderful to reign with him. But just as there was certain people in David's Kingdom.
That had a particular place, a blessing. They had a particular place of blessing because they were faithful to Him during the time that he was rejected, during the time that he was in rejection. And so it says to me that if we are willing to suffer with him in his rejection now, that heaven will be all the more glorious for the blessings that are laid up for us. And it's interesting to me some of the characteristics that these people have that came to David.
Some of the characteristics they have, because it reminds me of some of you, and some of the things that David noticed when he was writing about these people, or I guess Samuel or whoever wrote it, I just can't remember some of the things that David noted, though, as being really important. And one of them was that some people could shoot a bone arrow with both their left hand. I can do that.
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But I couldn't do it that way, right? That would be really tough for me. Now, why is that so cool? Why is that? Why is that an important thing to be able to do? And, and I take it this way, like if you were out in the woods and you were fighting in close quarters and you were over here, it would be really tough to shoot that way. So you would be able to maybe work around a boulder or around obstacles or something like that. You would be very versatile, right? Very versatile. Whether I had a tree on my right hand or on my left didn't really matter because I could shoot with both hands. They were versatile. They could handle obstacles, they could handle the terrain. They they were, they were good with this, right?
And if my bow got broken, I could take a sling and I could sling things, but I couldn't only sling things with the right hand. I could do with the left hand too. And if that all fail, I just pick up rocks and Chuck them. And I was a dead aim. That's what these guys were like, right? They were good guys. They were versatile. They could handle lots of things. They could do it really well. How versatile are you as you seek to serve the Lord? Do all your ducks sort of need to be lined up before you'll serve the Lord or you sort of like if it's a rainy day, I just don't think I could get out and, and, and do anything today 'cause like it's raining And, and you know, I got, I got work to do and I got homework and, and school works really busy, you know, and it's tough these days and, and it's, and, and it's expensive. I got my job. Like I know meetings important, but.
There's a lot of things and you know, I'd love to go on that sort of missions trip there, but I got work and I understand that the food there is not that good and I wouldn't tell you that and.
It's good in Romania, though, right, Curtis? Yeah. But, you know, and and and and and sometimes it all has to be just right for us before we're really willing to give it all to the Lord. Are you like that or are you versatile? You know, there are. There's a good friend I have.
Right now his name is Jonathan and he's married and he has a little daughter and they sleep every night on the floor of the meeting room because they've been evicted from their home in India because they're believers. He told me one time, he says, you know, it's kind of hard for me, brother. He would not want me telling you this. So it's kind of hard for brother. When we go to this village, we don't want to make them feel bad, but so we drink their water and, and, and we get really sick when we do that. And it's hard to know what to do.
And they, they go through a lot of difficulties and hardships to serve the Lord in difficult circumstances. And the men that were honored in David's Kingdom and that were among his mighty men, they were willing to serve in adversity. And they were, they were versatile men. Are we versatile or does it all just have to be lined up for us, just have to be perfect? Are you willing to give to the Lord of your time and of your energy? Are you willing to take a risk?
Serve Him maybe to take some time off of work, off of school. I know it's important. I understand it's important, but we're just on the threshold where the Lord is going to be no longer rejected and those that were faithful to Him in His rejection are going to be honored at that time. It's not that we're looking for honor, but I am willing to bet anything that there will come a day when you will give you would be willing to do anything to have another opportunity.
To live for the Lord Jesus faithfully in his rejection. And me too.
Because you won't get to do that in heaven, because he won't be rejected there. It won't be hard to stand for him there, and we will long for that. We had taken advantage of the opportunity to be faithful to him in his rejection. You know, David had a great friend. Great friend never caused him that. We read of a single sorrow in his life. His name was Jonathan. Godly man. We'll see him in glory. But you know something, Jonathan never followed David in his rejection.
He stayed in the Kingdom. I don't know why. Maybe he felt that was his responsibility to do that. Maybe.
Maybe, I don't know, but he never followed David completely. And you know, the men that joined David, they brought much sorrow to him, I'm sure in that cave of a dullum. And these were people that were discontent and they were broke and they had debts and they were a rough bunch. And I'm sure they said a lot of things that distressed him. But the difference is they were willing. They were willing to follow him in his rejection. Are you, am I, am I really willing to follow him in his rejection? Some think about.
I want to notice something else we our time is just about up, but I just want to notice another verse.
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Down at verse 8 and of the Gadites, they're separated themselves into David, into the hold to the wilderness, men of might, men of war, Fit for battle that could handle shield and buckler.
I think that means sword. Correct me if I'm wrong, no?
OK, small shield. Oh, sorry, sorry. It's a small sword. Sorry, what is it? Could handle shield and small shield. Oh, now that just blew my thought.
I shouldn't ask, right? Pick some buckets. I like the French Darby.
In a translation it's a sore, but I just want to bear with me whose faces were like the faces of lines, and were as swift as the Rose upon the mountains.
So here's the thought, maybe it was 2 Shields, maybe they could handle both kinds of Shields. Maybe it was shield and sword. But clearly there was an offensive and there was a defensive capability that these men had, right? And clearly there was a defensive. And here's in order to be Effective and be helpful to David, they needed to have both. They need to be able to be offensive and defensive. And you know, some of us.
You couldn't stump on a verse. Oh, I know where that verse is. Oh, there's, that's not quite accurate there. And we just got it down. We know the verses and we know the scriptures and we're on the move and that's good. That's like this sword. It's like the, it, it's the words like the sword. It's offensive. It's good. And we, and we can, we can do that, but some of us can't handle a shield or a small shield or a big shield. We can't handle that real well. And what do I mean by that? I mean this, that Satan gets those arrows through to us and we go around feeling guilty.
About things that have come into our lives. And we go around feeling kind of down with our heads down because we think, and I'll bet you that there is somebody here tonight that's thinking, if they really knew who I am and what I've done, they wouldn't even associate me with me. I wouldn't even show my face here if people knew what was really inside. And I feel so guilty and I feel so dirty inside and I don't know what to do with that. And maybe I know that I'm the Lord's, but I just feel so bad.
About this.
And, you know, I believe that Satan is winning a really big battle.
Among us as believers. But because he's got, and I just want to talk to young men for a second, he's got a lot of the young men feeling that you can't even lift your face because you feel so bad about things that have happened in your life or things that you've done and that I can't really participate. I sort of got to sit on the edges. So I got to sit on the sidelines and be of no real value because I know who I am and I know what I've done.
Right.
So there's two things I want to talk to in connection with that. The apostle Paul said to Timothy, take heed unto thyself.
And unto the doctrine he said, thyself first.
And then the doctrine. Both are important. I don't make light. And please don't misunderstand me. I am not making light of the importance of knowing Scripture. You know that. I'm not saying that that is extremely valuable. But we also have to be able to take heed unto ourselves because we are. You are living in a world where you are getting a shower of fiery darts every day, everywhere you go, everywhere you look. Guys, it's tough. Ladies, it is too. But I don't understand, ladies, I understand guys, and it's tough.
Right. It's tough out there. It's really difficult. And the Lord wants to Garrison our hearts and our minds with His Word and, and, and.
He wants us to resist. He's given us every resource we need to resist. But.
These men had lion like faces and what is that? What is that all about? You know, a line doesn't sort of go slinking away like sort of head down. It's like ferocious and it's sort of and it's holds its head up. It's bold, right? The Lord has provided a resource for us so that we can lift our heads, not in pride, but with the knowledge that we have been forgiven, with the knowledge that we have been cleansed.
And I'm not in these words, speaking so much to the unbeliever here tonight. I'm speaking to the believer who is dealing with a great amount of guilt. The Lord doesn't want you to go on feeling that way. The Lord doesn't want you to go on feeling you have to sit in the shadows. The apostle Paul was perhaps the greatest servant that there ever was of, of God. And yet he had to live with images in his mind of tearing families apart, of taking mothers away from children.
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And husbands away from families. And yet he was able to serve the Lord faithfully and he could say, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And he could. And the Lord helped him to get beyond that. And the Lord wants to help you get beyond to that particular thing that's dogging you in your life.
Perfect love we read today casts out fear. I don't know the answer to your particular situation, but maybe you need to talk to someone. You know, our assemblies are there to help us. It's a haven. It's a, it's, it should be a haven that we can go to and get the help we need. But maybe you feel that it isn't. Maybe you just feel that it isn't for some reason, for some reason, you know, it's, you need to perhaps talk to somebody.
Get the help you need with that particular situation and this is so much on my heart tonight.
Maybe you need to go to someone that you've hurt, someone that you've harmed, and make that situation right.
Whatever it is, the Lord doesn't want us to go around with a cast down heart. And he's made every provision. He not only has washed us from all our sins, but he's made provision through his word to cleanse us from the defilement that we pick up in the in the world. And Satan is trying very hard to bring back to us the past and the Lord wants us to get free of it. He wants us to get free of it. I hope that you won't walk away from here without.
Getting peace about that or talking to someone to get peace.
About that thing that's keeping us from moving forward in our lives. Our time is really just about gone now.
So I'm not going to talk anymore about that verse. Final thing, final thought.
Verse 19 And there fell some of Manasseh to David, when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle.
But they help them not.
And then verse 21, Speaking of the same people and they helped David against the band of Rovers for they were almighty men of valor and were captains in the host. So what's that all about? You remember when David was with the Philistines that he actually offered and was seems like he was prepared to go and fight against Israel and it seems that some people who were maybe very disgruntled at Saul.
Joined him for that purpose.
To do a wrong thing to fight against.
The Lord's own people.
And you know something sometimes.
We have our eyes on the wrong enemy. Sometimes we're looking around in our assemblies and saying, well, if it wasn't for that person.
Everything could be fine and in this situation just isn't fair. We can get very focused on the wrong enemy.
But you know something, David, when they spent time with David, David was able to turn that around. So by the end of this chapter, they're not fighting with God's people anymore. They're fighting against the real enemy, the Rovers, the bandits, the ones that were that were that they should have been fighting with. And you know, sometimes we have characteristics and qualities that aren't right. Sometimes our focus isn't exactly what it should be. But when we as we heard in the address that our brother.
Gave commit ourselves, our souls to the Lord. He's able to keep, he's able to change us. He's able to make us the people that he wants us to be and he's able to take those qualities and those things that maybe aren't quite right and he's able to put them in a right direction. And then that final verse that we started off reading.
For at that time, day by day, there came to David to help him, until it was a great host like the host.
Of God.
There is a host.
That is forming in this world.
A host that are.
Wanting to stand up and be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.
In this the day of his rejection because.
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They can almost hear his foot falls on the threshold of the door and they know it's just about there and they want to put in that last effort to give everything to the Lord in faithfulness to Him. And so they are coming 1 by 1. Some of them are black, some of them are white, some of them are from India, some of them are from Korea, some of them are from Sudan. Many, many people that are standing up to be faithful to the Lord.
In these last days.
Are you, am I among them? Are you willing to lay it all down for him? Are you willing to give everything for him, to follow him in these last remaining moments, to be faithful to him in these last remaining moments, and then to reign with him forever? The opportunity is ours. Now there's a story and I'll close with this. I don't know really where this happened. I think it was in Korea and there was a, a little gathering of Christians.
They used to meet in this little building and back then there was a, well, it was a communist regime and it was very much frowned on. It was disallowed and you could get into big trouble, imprisonment or even death for doing this. And this little group was together and all of a sudden the communist, some communist shoulders burst in the door and they said, all right, everybody.
Line up and they lined up and there was a picture. I guess we're supposed to depict the Lord Jesus.
And they took the picture and they hung it on the door and they said, all right, now everybody, you walk out of this building and as you go out you spit in the face of Jesus, and if you don't, you'll be shot. So the first man walked up, turned and he spit on that picture and he walked out. The 2nd man came and he spit on the picture and he walked out. And the third person in line was a little girl.
She walked away from her mommy and daddy and she walked up to that picture and to get her little handkerchief and she wiped the spit off and she said, Lord Jesus, I could never spit in your face. I'd rather die. Just turn around and walked out. And the communist soldiers were so touched by that that they allowed everyone to go free except for the first two men that had spit in the face of Jesus and they shot. This is stuff we talked about. Is it? Is it real to us? I know it's real to you. I know it's real to you, many of you here. And I know that you want to be part of that host.
That was faithful to the Lord in his rejection, but it starts with little practical things right here, right now, right at school, right at work. That's where it starts. Let's just bow our heads, close our eyes, and really still, you know it. It could be that there is one person here, and I think it's highly probable in a group the size that doesn't yet know the Lord Jesus as Savior at all. You don't know anything about this. And that's where this has to start, has to start at the cross. The Lord Jesus died to cleanse you from your sins and he loves you.
With all his heart and he stands here tonight with his arms outstretched in love to you. And you cannot go to hell without walking over his blood, without treading on his blood, without walking past those nail scarred hands. Tonight He reaches out to you with love. Will you acceptance, Pray Lord Jesus.