And we're looking at this mighty subject that
I have termed depression.
And for the past two weeks we have
been looking at how the old devil comes
and depresses and attacks the minds
of some of the believers, to disturb their
peace and to really bring them into this
place where we call depression of mind.
And on the first week we were looking
at how the devil comes and attacks the
minds of the believers through the fear of
death.
And this, of course, he does in many
cases.
He comes, he tries to make you afraid
of death.
And I think that you got the truth
that evening, that our Lord Jesus Christ, our
Lord, is suffering over death.
When he died on Calvary it was the
death of death.
And he abolished death and he destroyed him
who had the power of death.
And that evening I think I proved that
he was sovereign over everything connected with death,
and over everyone connected with death, and can
make us more than conquerors through him.
And then last Tuesday we were looking at
the dreadful death of loneliness.
And I was pointing out to you that
sometimes when you stand alone in the shades
of sorrow, like Mary at the open tomb,
that the old devil comes to upset and
afflict and distress and annoy.
And sometimes when we're on the slopes of
suffering, like Joseph was.
For Joseph was thirteen long years on the
slopes of suffering.
Sometimes the devil comes, and he tries to
annoy and depress and upset and vex and
oppress.
And sometimes even when you're like Paul on
the stage of Sassas, and you remember on
one occasion when he stood up to witness
for the Lord, he said out of my
stressed answer, no man stood with me but
all men forsook me, and he was alone
in the service of the Lord.
Sometimes when you're alone in the service of
the Lord like that, then the devil comes
to annoy you and to distress you.
And I think I proved last week that,
you know, we should really get the truth
into our hearts, that we're really never alone.
I know we talk about being alone, and
we talk about loneliness.
But remember that the Lord Jesus has promised,
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
And that somewhere in the shadows, all the
time, you can find him.
And we must learn to lean upon this
Christ who's ever-present, like the woman coming
up out of the wilderness, leaning on her
beloved.
Now this evening we're going another step further,
and it's one that we need to pay
a great lot of attention to.
We're looking at Satan attacking and depressing and
upsetting and vexing and afflicting the seemingly insecure.
And when I talk about the seemingly insecure
this evening, you will note by the first
bit of the notes, that the company of
the seemingly insecure comprises the widow and the
orphan, and the feeble and the faint, and
the aged man and the aged woman, the
old age pensioner, and the poor and the
needy.
And we will find that Satan singles out
this company for to attack and vex and
afflict, upset and more depressed.
Now before we get on to this, I
want to talk to you for a moment
or two about a gentleman who came to
see me last week, although I wasn't too
good.
And I want to say that he's a
very learned gentleman, an intelligent gentleman.
And I want to say that he's a
Christian.
And he came to me and he said,
you see this heading that you have on
these notes, depressed disciples.
He said, you know when I'm reading in
the book of Psalms I find out that
the book says, happy is that people whose
God is the Lord.
And I can't reckon through depressed disciples with
happy is that people whose God is the
Lord.
And he said, I would like you to
answer this for me.
Now can I tell you this, that there
is in this world this evening, a little
small shot of people who call themselves God's
people.
And they believe that they should never have
a care in the world.
And they believe that from Monday morning to
Saturday night and Sunday morning, that they should
be happy all the way and singing all
the day.
And I began to think as I looked
into this gentleman's face, that he belonged to
this particular crowd.
When he looked at me and he said,
you see this book says that happy is
that people whose God is the Lord.
And you have used the phrase, depressed disciples.
And I would like to know the answer
to that.
And I said, well most assuredly I will
take the time to answer you.
And I will answer you from the Bible.
Of course I don't believe that any other
answer is any use.
Of course I said you see, I think
that you're old enough and long enough on
the road of life, to have an experience.
And experience must give you some kind of
an answer.
But anybody in this place would like to
stand up and say they never had a
care in the world.
So I'm afraid I will take you to
task.
I don't know anybody.
So you see, I could argue from experience.
I could argue from the history of the
whole church.
I could argue from Pentecost to now, in
fact I could argue from Genesis to now.
But I want to take the time to
do it just a little bit this evening,
because we're going to settle something next week.
And I want you to be here next
week, above any week of all these studies.
Because next week I'm going to deal with
that one thing.
You know I've seen people depressed and nearly
out of their mind.
And when I get down to God knows
exactly what's wrong, I find that in 99
cases out of 100, there is one thing
that they have permitted.
Maybe long ago, one lady said to me,
it's this hellish, harassing, haunting thing that I
have permitted that's bothering me.
And so I shall have to take the
time next week to go into this a
little bit more than what I'm doing this
evening about the difference between depressed disciples and
happy is the people whose God is the
Lord.
So I said to the gentleman, now where
did you find this statement?
Now I knew where it was, but you
know if you come to argue with me,
I'll put you in a fix sometimes.
I do that, you know, that's within me.
And it's my right, if you're coming to
argue, I want to know if you know
where it was.
And so he did know.
He said it's in Psalm 144.
And I said, all right, we'll look at
it.
Will we have a look at it now?
It's the, it's Psalm 144.
And it's the last verse of that Psalm,
and please note that at the commencement of
that Psalm, it does say that it's the
time of David.
And David is turning this wonderful 15th verse
and saying, happy is that people that is
in such a case.
Yea, happy is that people whose God is
the Lord.
And I said, that's a phrase that's going
through your mind.
He said, you know, happy is that people
whose God is the Lord, and the disciples
don't seem to sort of weigh up together.
I said, you're quite sure it was the
time of the appendix?
He said, yes it was.
Well, I said, that's Psalm 144.
Can I take you back to Psalm 142?
That's not very far back, sure it's not.
Now, again, you'll find it's David that's paying
in this.
And in the third verse of Psalm 142,
he said, when my spirit was overwhelmed within
me, then thou knewest my power.
So I looked at this gentleman, and I
said, you're not trying to tell me that
when his spirit was overwhelmed within him, that
he was happy.
You're not trying to tell me that, sir.
Now, that took him back a little bit,
because I don't think that you should go
around poking one or two little bits out
of this book.
I'm afraid you'll have to be able to
take it all with you, because the Bible
says, more than happy is that people whose
God is the Lord.
And the man who penned it with the
same hand, and I believe with the same
pen, and almost at the same time, says,
when my spirit was overwhelmed within me.
And I would think that if I were
asking for folks to stand up and contest,
there was a time when your spirit was
overwhelmed within you, that I would get far
more of you than the folks who never
had a chair in the world.
I think we've got to see love.
And I said to this gentleman, that's Psalm
142, and have a look at Psalm 143.
And it's David again who is penning this,
and in verse 3 he said, for the
enemy hath persecuted my soul.
And I think you know you've always got
to get the enemy into perspective.
Because I know that in a certain sense,
happy is the people whose God is the
Lord.
Oh, but we have an old enemy.
And I'm afraid you've got to get the
enemy into the picture.
And David is saying, for the enemy hath
persecuted my soul, he hath smitten my life
down to the ground, he hath made me
to dwell in darkness of those that have
been long dead, therefore is my spirit overwhelmed
within me.
My heart within me is deathless.
So I looked at him again and I
said, you're not trying to tell me that
then the enemy overwhelmed his spirit within him,
and that his heart was deathless, but he
was happy.
You're not trying to tell me that, are
you?
Now he's beginning to pull his horns in.
He's coming around with a whole conglomeration of
the wonderful fellow that he is.
I'm afraid we'll have to bring the whole
group with you when you come.
And don't betray this old stupid idea of
taking a text out and making a doctrine
out of it for everything, because we have
a whole group you know.
And I'm afraid that the experiences of the
believers doesn't stand up to this fanatical idea.
I don't know believers that never had a
care in the world.
I've known too many who have been overwhelmed.
You see, I could also take them back
to the 61st Psalm, and David had committed
a sin with Bathsheba, and he had also
murdered her husband.
And now he's coming in a broken heart
as though before God.
And he's looking into God's face and he's
praying, restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation.
You're not telling me he's happy when he
has lost the joy.
I hope you won't talk riddles to me.
You see, some people make things sound so
wonderful until you start to take it apart.
Sometimes they come round to little fellows who
are not able to take it apart, and
they get talking the nonsense.
Well, I would rather you would come to
me, because I would think I would be
able to defend myself all right.
I think that everybody here knows this, that
when the Lord Jesus was going down the
inner throat with the two, you remember Jesus
himself drew near and would listen.
And he said, what manner of communications are
these that you have one to another and
are tied?
I would think you know what the word
tied means.
You see, sometimes the enemy comes, and he
comes in a very subtle way, and he
can overwhelm you.
And sometimes when you sin, and you get
to know in the depth of your soul
that you have sinned, then you lost the
joy of God's salvation.
And no wonder, sometimes when your feet of
faith have almost gone, and you're beginning to
question if Christ is a Redeemer or not,
like the two on the road to Emmaus.
Then I'm afraid when your feet of faith
is almost gone, I'm afraid you'll be sad.
And you see, I think we could take
this out very well.
But I don't think that I need to
do any more about that this evening.
I could go on for a long time.
You know when the storm came, and his
disciples were in the boat?
It says they were in jeopardy.
Asked this fellow the other day, you know
what jeopardy means.
Oh, I get fed up listening to tripe
at times.
Especially when your mind's filled with everything else
that's truth.
Look, let's get it quite clear that in
life there's an old enemy going about seeking
whom he may belong.
Let's get that bit quite clear.
Let's get it quite clear that there are
burdens in life.
Why would the Lord Jesus say, cast all
your care upon me if you haven't got
any?
My dear friends, there are storms in life.
And the best of God's people get into
the storm at times.
And you may well be in jeopardy if
the enemy gets in on you.
And so you see, I don't think we
need to go on with that.
But next week I'll take a bit more
out of that as we come to the
subject of this one sentence.
But this is a mighty portion that we
have for this evening.
Let me say this as a sort of
introduction to it, that when you come to
consider the Apostle Paul, you know, I believe,
and I'm not always right in what I
believe, but I believe that Paul was probably
the greatest worker God ever had.
That's what I believe.
I also believe that Paul was probably the
greatest Christian the world ever seen.
And I also believe that Paul was probably
the greatest missionary that ever lived.
Of course, those are all my own beliefs,
and you can differ with me there if
you want to.
But I assure you he was a mighty
character.
And this little saved Pharisee, he penned fourteen
letters in our New Testament.
Remember, that's a big picture for our New
Testament.
He penned all Romans, and first and second
Corinthians, and Galatians, and Ephesians, and Philippians, and
Colossians, and first and second Thessalonians, and first
and second Timothy, and Titus, and Philemon, and
I believe he penned Hebrews.
And if you count them all up, you'll
find he penned fourteen letters in our New
Testament.
It's a big bit of the New Testament.
And if you look at these letters through
very carefully, I think you'll find this.
That this little man knew the Lord.
Now you only need to look through the
letters and see what he had to say
about the Lord.
He knew all about the glory of the
Lord.
It is Paul who calls him the Lord
of glory.
He knew about the humility of the Lord,
that he who was rich became poor.
And he knew more about the victory of
the Lord of Calvary than anybody else that
I know.
In fact, you know, this was the thing
that Soviets saw mostly.
God forbid that I should glory save in
the cross work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And I think that you young preachers, bless
you, you should notice in these fourteen letters
that he knew everything there was to know
about the gospel of the Lord.
And if you want to know about the
gospel, just follow the pages and mark every
place where he talks about it.
He says, Christ sent me not to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom
of words, lest the cross of Christ should
become of none effect.
And you'll find if you trace all that
he has to say about the gospel, prove
that he knew more about the gospel than
anybody I know.
And he didn't only know about the person
of the Lord and the gospel of the
Lord, but he knew all about the problems
of the people of the Lord.
He knew about the carnality that was going
on in Cairns.
And he knew all about the gospel without
growth that was being preached at Galatia.
Yes, and he knew the high hills that
the Hebrews were facing.
And he knew all about the trials of
the Thessalonians, and I don't need to go
on that he knew all the problems.
But there is one thing else that he
knew more than anything else it seems.
You know, when he is writing to a
church, or he's preaching an assembly, you know,
he seemed to know everybody that was in
it.
You know, sometimes he talks to peasants, that
is, saints, who were working for other people.
And he begins to tell them how to
go to the work, to work with single
-eyedness for Christ, just do it for Christ.
And then he knew that there were masters
in the assembly, men who owned a business,
and had other people working for them.
And he begins to come across them, how
they should really treat fellow believers in the
business.
And he knew there were husbands there.
He talks at times at a long length
to husbands.
And then he talks to, lovely and clearly,
to wives.
And then he talks to fathers, tells them
how they should bring up their children in
the admonition of the Lord.
And then he talks to the children, you
young believers who obey your parents in the
Lord.
And the more he can see the whole
congregation like this, I want to say this,
there are times that he goes further than
this.
And his fingers are giggled, which sometimes we
tell them to do.
And his fingers are laughing.
And his fingers are the weak and the
weary, and the aged man and the aged
woman.
And you'll find him talking to Timothy about
the aged man and the aged woman, and
talking to Britus too.
And you'll find that he has a word
for the stranger of it all, sir, and
Enoch Powell would need to learn it.
Yes, you see, he knows this whole company.
Now, why I'm taking the time to lead
you up to that, that Paul could see
the widow and the orphan and the saint
and the worthy and so on that we
have here.
I want to say this this evening, that
this is the company that the devil comes
against desperately, to get the hold of that.
Because that's very important for us this evening.
And I want to talk to the widows
in this assembly, and I want to talk
to the assembly about the widows in the
assembly.
I want to say to every widow and
every orphan and every stranger as it were,
and every aged man and aged woman, I
want to say this right now before we
get into this, that God is on your
side.
I want to say that God is for
you.
And I shall prove this before this is
over.
Why in every distant kitchen under the sun,
God stood up for the widow.
And God stood up for the orphan.
And God stood up for the stranger.
And God stood up for the weak and
the weary.
Ah, but the devil came against them.
And sometimes the devil needed even the hand
of the believer to touch them.
And I shall threaten you before this night's
over, that you'll never do it again.
So let's try to get this into proper
order now.
We're on the way back at the book
of Exodus, and we're at chapter 22.
The book of Exodus, and we're at the
22nd chapter please, Exodus chapter 22.
Sometimes there are verses here that we scarcely
read.
See verse 21, the book of Exodus 22
verse 21, and God is given out the
ordinances and the modern laws that the nation
should attend to.
And he said in verse 21, law shall
neither vex a stranger, let's get the word
vex in now, because that's the thing the
devil does, nor oppress him.
And I want you to get the word
oppress in too.
Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress
him, for you were stranger in the land
of Egypt.
See verse 22, ye shall not afflict, let's
get that word afflict in now.
We've got the word vex, we've got the
word oppress, we've got the word afflict, ye
shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.
If thou afflict them in any way, oh
let's get that in anyway then, and they
cry it all unto me, I will surely
hear their cry, and this is one of
the promises of God, and it's to rid
us of the orphans.
I'll tell you this, he promises before you
call, he says, listen if you call I'll
hear you.
There isn't any question in this.
This is a prayer that will be heard.
And he says, if they, if thou shalt
afflict them in any way, and they cry
it all unto me, I will surely hear
their cry, and my wrath shall wax hot,
let's get that bit, and I will tend
you with the sword, and your wives shall
be widows, and your children fatherless.
I'm just trying to lay down the thought
of law, that God at all times, in
all dispensations, and we'll prove this, was on
the side of the widows, and he was
on the side of the orphans, and he
was on the side of the strangers, and
he wasn't having them waxed, or oppressed, or
afflicted in any shape or form.
Now it's the very same when you come
into the New Testament.
Let's come to 1st Timothy, and we're at
chapter 5.
1st Timothy, and we're at chapter 5.
Now this is a very difficult chapter, and
we've got to take just a little minute
or two with it.
1st Timothy, chapter 5, and Paul writing here
to Timothy in verse 3 said, honor widows
that are widows indeed.
Now I think I've got to explain a
little bit here to you.
You see there are widows in this chapter,
and then there are widows indeed, in this
chapter, and they're different you know, and I
shall show you the difference just in a
moment.
I want you to get the word honor
into your mind, honor widows, that are widows
indeed.
See verse 5, now see that is a
widow indeed.
Let's get that all the time like that,
undefiled, trust as in God, and continuous in
supplications and prayers night and day.
And then I want you to go on
down to verse 16.
If any man or woman not believeth, talking
to young men or women that believeth have
widows, if your mother's a widow, let them
relieve them, and let not the church be
charged that it may relieve them that are
widows indeed.
And you're bound to see the difference between
widows and widows indeed now.
Because the young men have to look after
their mothers and provide for them.
And mind you it does say in this
very chapter, let's have a look at it,
you see verse 8, but if any provide
not for his own, and especially for those
of his own house, he hath denied the
faith and is worse than an infidel.
Mind you that's a terrible indictment, that a
believer could be worse than an infidel.
And mind you, unfortunately you know, there are
some old widowed mothers, and they're lying in
old homes all over the country, and some
of the nicest ladies I ever knew are
lying out in an old place like Waringfield,
and they've got sons and daughters who never
go near them.
And I'm afraid God has got a lot
to say to you, and I'm afraid you're
worse than an infidel.
And if you're here I hope you blush
and go home and get it put right.
All that I want to make out is
there's a difference between widows indeed and widows.
You see I think that sometimes we forget
when we go way back to these writings
that there were no people's homes, there were
no hospitals, there was no nothing.
And you see the Church of Jesus Christ
come to look after them.
And I think you can notice this can't
you?
Do you see verse 16?
If any man or woman that believeth hath
widows, let them relieve them, and let not
the church be charged, that it may relieve
them.
You can see the difference between these two.
That are widows indeed.
See verse 9?
Let not a widow be taken into the
number under three score years old, having been
the wife of one man, well reported of
her good works.
If she hath brought up children, if she
hath lodged strangers, if she hath washed the
saint's feet, if she hath relieved the afflicted,
if she hath diligently followed every good work.
You see when a woman was over 60
years of age, the church in those days
had to take her and look after her.
There wasn't an old people's home, there wasn't
any place to put her.
The church was looking after her.
But she must have proved herself before this.
She had brought up children, other people's children.
She had washed the saint's feet.
She had done a thousand things.
Now we don't want to go into the
discussion between widows indeed and widows just now.
It's plain enough.
All that I want to say is this.
That dear widow.
God has always been on your side.
Way back in the days of war.
He's standing up for you.
And he let Israel know that if they
afflicted or oppressed or hurt.
And he would come across them.
And he was moving through Paul in days
when there was no help at all.
And he was letting the church know exactly
where it stood and what it should be
doing.
Sometimes you know, some of the elders come
to me and say, listen you, see Mrs.
Salter, I have a remotion that you're facing
problems.
Sometimes a dear widow scarcely knows where the
money for the next bill is coming from.
And it would never do for this church
to end the year with 19,000 pounds
in the bank and let that widow go
there.
And it won't happen while I'm here.
And I'm so thankful that there's a band
of men around me ready to step in.
And dear widow, if you get anything put
in your hand, there's nobody but me and
the treasurer knows about it.
There's nobody going to know.
That's just a part of the work of
the house of the Lord.
And they should pay attention to it.
But I'll tell you this.
That widows and orphans and old age pensioners
and the faint and the weary are the
open attack of the devil all the time.
Now that is what I've got to get
around to, isn't it?
Let's go way back.
And we're way back at the book of
Exodus again.
And we're at chapter 17.
Want you to see the end of me
coming.
Book of Exodus chapter 17.
Now Israel is just coming out of out
of Egypt here.
And you know they'd never been into battle
before.
They'd been slain down in Egypt and by
the blood of the lamb and the outstretched
arm of God.
God had brought them up.
And here they are in the wilderness and
verse 8 says, then came Amalek.
What a mighty little phrase it is.
Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in
Rephidim.
And the word then, you can see the
moment.
Want you to see that moment when the
enemy came.
But I don't think you've seen the whole
picture there.
I think you'll have to go over to
the book of Deuteronomy chapter 25 to see
the whole picture.
Let's get over to Deuteronomy.
And we're at 25.
And we're way down at verse 17.
Now watch this very carefully.
God's talking to the nation now.
And he's saying in verse 17, Remember.
Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the
way.
When ye were come forth out of Egypt.
How he met thee by the way.
And smote behind most of thee.
Even all that were feeble behind thee.
When thou wast faint and weary.
And he feared not God.
Therefore it shall be when the Lord thy
God hath given thee rest from all thine
enemies round about in the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance
to possess it.
That thou shalt blot out the remembrance of
Amalek from under heaven.
And he put this little phrase in.
Thou shalt not forget it.
You see I want you to see the
enemy coming.
I don't only want you to see the
moment then came Amalek.
I want you to see the massacre.
You know this was a terrible day.
He smote behind most.
Ah yes.
He smote all the feeble and the faint
and the weary.
Now this Amalek of course is the type
of the devil.
This is how he comes along.
And I'll tell you that sometimes when the
widows in dire streets and the thorns howling.
Which is the way that the hindmosters of
the world.
It's just then the devil comes.
Now I say this to you tonight.
Make sure that your hand is never raised
against the widow.
Make sure your hand is never raised.
Make sure your tongue is never raised.
Because you'll be doing the devil's work.
Because he's going to come to attack them.
And affect them.
And back them.
And this is what he does continually.
Now I want you to see the way
the Lord took this.
He said to Israel remember what Amalek did.
And I want you to drop his name
out from under heaven.
Oh God is not putting up with it.
Look let's go over hundreds of years later
to the first book of Samuel.
First Samuel.
And it's chapter 15 isn't it?
First book of Samuel.
And I want you to get the hold
of this.
Now the old prophet is coming to Saul
the first king of Israel.
And it's hundreds of years later of course
the judges have run in between.
Verse 1 first Samuel 15.
Samuel also said unto Saul the Lord sent
me to anoint thee to the king over
his people over Israel.
Now therefore hearken now unto the voice of
the words of the Lord.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts.
I remember that which Amalek did to Israel.
Highly wait for him in the way when
he came up from Egypt.
Now go and smite Amalek.
And utterly destroy.
Let's get the utterly destroy all that they
have.
And spare them not that slay both man
and woman, and infant and suckling, ox and
sheep, camel and lambs.
You know God never forgot this.
And God is not going to forget what
is done against the widow and the orphan
and the stranger.
God is going to be on their side.
And I will tell you this first thing.
That there is not an Amalekite in the
world tonight.
We can't find one.
I think I would be right in saying
that in the book of Esther.
That Haman, wicked Haman was an agadite.
Ah he was still after the blood of
the innocent ones.
And I'll tell you this.
That when he was hung on a scaffold
his ten sons were hung beside him.
And I believe it was then that God
blotted the name of Amalek from under heaven
altogether.
I'm just trying to say you know.
That he was the picture of the devil.
And I believe the devil comes.
You remember how the tribe of Dan and
old Jacob was wise enough to call Dan
a serpent.
And the Danite went up to the people
of Resh.
A people of the nooses.
A people with no protection and no friends
and no associates.
Oh just like the poor widow of the
orphan.
I wish we could see the widow at
times.
I wish we could see her problems.
I wish you could see the orphan boy
lying in bed.
He doesn't want to talk.
Surely he doesn't.
But in the midnight hour his eye is
thin with a tear.
He's no daddy now.
Nobody to plan the future.
And the devil will come.
And how often I've sat on the chair
and I've listened to the widow and the
orphan and the feeble and the faint and
the aged man and the aged woman.
And I know.
I know the devil is after them.
No wonder the devil would love to upset
these meetings.
No wonder.
Because we're going to beard him when he's
gone.
Should it be the last thing we do.
He and I are not on speaking terms
this week at all.
I hope he never speaks to me again.
Yes.
You know I want you to get the
hold of this.
I want you to know that the devil
will be after there may be some in
this meeting now.
Just right here with us this evening.
And you know better than anybody else what
I'm talking about just now.
I want to tell you that David, David
used a metaphor once.
Let's go to it.
It's the book of Psalms and it's 119.
The book of Psalms and it's 119 and
it's verse 83 I think if I'm right.
The book of Psalms 119 and it's verse
83.
Now listen to the psalmist talking here.
He says, For I am became like a
bottle in the smoke.
Then he put the word yet in.
Yet do I not forget thy status or
thy word.
Now that's a mighty metaphor that's there.
A bottle in the smoke.
And I think if he's going to get
anything out of it we'll have to remember
that he wasn't talking about a glass bottle.
Not a lemony bottle.
Or not at all.
You see he's talking about an old skin
bottle.
They made bottles out of skin in those
days.
And if you ever go to the land
of Palestine and you get out in the
Syrian desert there somewhere and you see one
of these bedouins Now it would be a
good thing to go down very carefully of
course.
You'll have to go carefully because if they
don't want to they'll soon put you away.
But if you go down carefully I think
you'll get in all right.
You'll find it's a large black tent.
Black tent made with goat skins.
And there's a sort of canopy that comes
out in the front.
Stretches out just a piece of goat skin
that stretches well out about maybe 12 feet
out.
And it's tied up with a piece of
rope to a pole over there and to
a pole over there and you drip over.
And at the heat of the day the
old chieftain sits under the canopy in the
shade.
Now some of the boys that are out
working in the desert they come in at
the heat of the day and they'll take
off the skin bag and they'll put it
over that peg out there and just hang
it over there.
Now always they have a fire going maybe
20 feet out.
But sometimes the smoke from that fire it's
blowing directly into the bottle or into the
bag.
Now I believe the thermos must have stopped
here once upon a time.
And he could see the bottle in the
smoke.
He could see it being dried up by
the smoke.
It dries it up you know.
It's not good for them but they're careless
and they just throw it over that peg.
It also gets dirty and I'll tell you
what's more it gets stinky.
And you know as he sat there and
watched it he said you know there's a
time or there have been times when my
life has been like a bottle in the
smoke.
And I believe that this is the language
that the widow and the orphan and the
stranger and the aged man and the feeble
and the faint can use when the enemy
is coming along.
My he's like a bottle in the smoke.
Maybe he's in the smoke of some wearing
weakness.
Oh it may be mental you know.
And the old devil comes early in the
morning before the rest of the houses awake
and you're like a bottle in the smoke
and you're in the smoke of some weary
and weakness.
Or it may be that you're in the
smoke of some pressing problem.
Maybe it's financial and the devil comes.
Well it's just then you've got to remember
he says I have become like a bottle
in the smoke yet do I not forget
thy statutes.
You see you've got to get back to
the word of God.
You've got to get back that the Lord
has always been for you.
Never mind about the blast of the evil
one.
Never mind about the activity.
Never mind about the pressing problems.
Let's get the hold of this tonight.
If there's a text in the book that
the widow and the orphan can claim it's
this one.
If God be helpful.
If God was ever for anybody he was
for you.
And if God before you who can be
against you.
You see I think we've got to get
this into our minds this evening if we're
going to walk into the victory that the
Lord wants us to have.
That the Lord is just the same today.
Way back there in the old economy when
he was writing out the moral law.
When he was writing out the ordinances for
the nation.
You know he was on the good side
and he was laying down the law and
he said if you touch her I'll tell
you I'll come around and I'll do you.
And when he's writing in the new testament
he's pressing Paul.
I'm telling you this now.
You look after these widows that are widows
indeed.
I'll tell you dear I want you to
get the hold of this if he hasn't
changed.
Or lift up your head a little bit.
You know the Lord is just the same
today.
I believe that if any of the crowd
in this meeting can claim this.
Casting all your care upon him for he
cares for you.
I believe he cares for you.
I believe it's yours.
And I believe you can claim it.
I want you to get the hold of
that.
You know when he says if they pray
to me I will hear them.
I'll tell you he hasn't changed he'll hear
you cry.
You know you can go back through all
the old books of the old testament like
Jacob and Joseph and Moses and Daniel and
Zacharias and Elizabeth and Simeon and Anna.
Oh I could pick them all out and
rest the rest of the night on this
quite easily.
I'll tell you he was with them to
the very last step.
Dear friend in this meeting if you're the
one if you're the one he's coming to
then I'll tell you this he can make
you more than Tom.
Let's get this into our mind this evening
that next week it's it's a sort of
special week.
It's that one thing it's that haunting hellish
horrible thing that you committed that they come
back with all the time.
And I want to show you how you
can defeat him.
You know there was a bandage man on
one occasion he was just a boy at
the time and his mother had just buried
one of the sons and there was another
one dead and the father had died before
this.
And as the boy watched her looking into
the coffin with tears in her eyes he
scribbled it out for her.
It was mummy what a friend we have
in Jesus.
All our sins and grief to bear.
What a privilege to carry everything to God.
That was a bandage man who wrote that.
We'll just sing the one verse that evening.
319 and it's the first verse.
We have and take us
to
our homes and safe space through Jesus Christ
our Lord.
Amen.