Let us pray, a prayer of death for
freedom's sake, of hope for future days.
America, America, America, where we go,
America, you're strong, America, you're strong, America,
you're strong.
Oh, beautiful for space and time, Forever
we shall reign O purple and gold
We shall always be For
thee, our home and native land And we
shall always Forever we shall reign
Forever we shall reign For thee, our home
and native land And we shall always Now
I'd just like to say that you have
a wonderful country, and it's wonderful to sing
about America.
But we have the freedom of giving out
the gospel to all the corners of each
one of the states.
And how thankful each one of us Christians
should be that we can worship, as the
Lord directed.
And may we even pray for our President
and for the officials of our government, that
they might be kinder to the Lord.
Truly, we see much sin in our country,
and we would not deny this.
But you know, each one of us Christians,
we need to live more for the Lord
Jesus Christ.
That the world might see an example in
us as believers, setting forth what America was
founded on, to serve the true and living
God.
May each one of us pray for our
wonderful country, that it might remain free.
Our next song that we're going to sing
is in the twinkling of an eye.
I don't know what Jim's trying to do,
but as usual, I'm about to get in
trouble again, and I'm going to have to
make some type of announcement.
It's getting tough to the best.
What was that about the apostles, Jim?
Something about the score of the ballgame that
everybody was waiting to hear, I believe.
And if he wasn't with you, you might
as well have told him, Jim, that I
wasn't there.
And we've got to get that off our
chest.
Well, they said the unmarried fellows, I don't
believe there was even an engaged fellow on
the team, beat the married men ten to
three.
No wonder he didn't want to make that
announcement.
I don't blame him.
Well, I'll tell you, we're going to be
able to get back at them tonight down
in the gym.
I think the Fading Fossils, I don't know
who that is, but I'm going to find
out pretty soon, are supposed to play the
flaming youths tonight in basketball, I believe, and
maybe we can tip the scales the other
way.
I hope all of you will be able
to stand by and root for the Fading
Fossils, of course.
They'll need it, I'm sure.
You know, I have to start these announcements
by saying there's just no people on the
face of the earth like God's people.
I don't just find that out at Bristol,
I find it wherever I go.
Now, there's a cantankerous one every now and
then among God's people, but they don't come
to Bristol, though not many of them anyway,
and I don't run into them anyplace.
Now, it's been my privilege, I've been saved
twenty-seven years, it's been my happy privilege
to be associated with the Lord's people all
that time, and I'll say it's been my
privilege and responsibility sometimes to have to handle
some problems that come up occasionally here and
there.
They're not always easy to handle, but it's
a lot easier to handle them with God's
people than it is with anybody else.
Now, I want to tell you, it wasn't
real easy for us to have to pass
on that announcement last Sunday regarding a rate
increase in the conference, which we really had
no control of, and it came after the
conference was set, but I'll tell you the
response has been something gratifying and encouraging, and
I don't know how the conveners can say
to you how much we appreciate the spirit
in which you took that and the way
in which you've come through with it.
It's been absolutely wonderful.
We've certainly tried to make it as easy
as we will still on anyone or couples
or families.
That was our intention, that if there was
any hardship whatsoever, it was not going to
keep you from staying in the conference or
from coming back again, but the response has
simply been wonderful, and we appreciate it a
great deal, and I just think it's another
proof of the spirit of those who come
here and the way they want to enjoy
the conference.
We thank you from the depths of our
hearts for the way you handle that situation.
Now, two or three announcements.
The tour tomorrow for the Glass Company over
in Kingsport, there's been a great interest in
that.
We have over 150 signs to go over.
Now, we have to make two slight changes
in it.
One is that because of the last-minute
arrangements, and this being a holiday, the cafeteria
here and we understand that, could not provide
basket lunches for that minute.
They thought there'd be maybe 50, and they
had enough on hand to do that, but
they cannot accommodate us.
They want to, but can't tomorrow, and so
we will not be able to promise those
of you who plan to go sandwiches and
the like when you get there.
That is, we can't provide, but you can
for yourself if you'd like, and so the
tour is still on for all those who
would like to go.
There will be a place where we can
eat together, and there will be vending machines
for sandwiches and cold drinks and so forth,
and I don't think it will cost any
of us very much, and you can just
come back and do like we do anyway.
Just make up for it and load up
downstairs in the cafeteria when we get back.
Wouldn't hurt us to miss a meal, some
of us, but anyway, that'll be in the
morning at 1030.
Now, no children under 12.
That's not our arrangement.
Please listen to that.
That is the arrangement of the glass factory,
and it's just a rule of the company,
no children under 12.
That means those 12 and over can go.
Under that, we cannot take them on this
particular tour.
Now, we're having a little difficulty out front
with the parking.
Usually, we say absolutely no parking out front,
but a few people have been given special
permission for a special reason to park out
front.
Please, everyone else, if you will, when the
meeting's over, make sure your car is down
on the city street.
Our parking official, the executive, Mr. Parrish, says
that there are a few places around behind
on the back road.
He also says there's enough cars parked in
the no-parking area, though, where the trucks
are supposed to unload, the kitchen, that they'll
probably take up that space when they move
the night after this service.
Now, tomorrow night at about 610 in this
auditorium, by request, a tape will be played
that our brother H.G. McKay, a sermon
that he preached in Greensboro recently on the
Middle East situation, which is certainly timely with
our Bible discussions and so forth.
I urge you to try to be here
to hear it.
That'll be right after supper tomorrow night in
this auditorium for those of you that would
like to hear this interesting and, I think,
outstanding tape.
Now, the bookstore will be open tonight, spiritual
food there, and then down to the snack
bar for a little physical food if you
still need it.
Pallet night is Thursday night after the meeting,
and I need to know immediately those who
plan to participate.
Let us know by tomorrow if you can.
Now, the Wednesday night youth night has been
postponed indefinitely.
We aren't sure we will have that this
year, where they've been going down to the
library auditorium with our speakers for a special
youth night.
We're not certain that we will have that
this year, so we are planning a very
special night in here for everyone tomorrow night
after the service.
We have a young brother with us from
Canada who simply has an outstanding set of
slides that also coincides with this Middle East
situation.
It's a tour that was taken to the
Holy Land—Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and a few other
beautiful countries surrounding that.
He does an outstanding job in presenting this
so you feel like you're there, and I
don't know if I'll ever get to the
Holy Land over there, so I'd like to
see it now, and you may want to
see it, too.
This is open tomorrow night after the service
for everyone.
There are lots of tracts out in the
lounge to my right, free of charge, put
there by the Christian Missions Press of Waynesboro.
Take them and go downtown, and instead of
shopping too long, give out a few tracts.
The Lord bless it.
Take them freely.
They are there without charge.
And it goes all the way down to
the youth night.
And we have this chorus here that we
all know.
They say he is one fool.
I appreciate very much the cool weather that
has been with us the last day or
two, and a little practical tip.
Some come in and are a little more
cold-natured, and they forget, and sit near
the window, and you get a little cool,
and then they want the window down, and
then that means those who need the fresh
air get a little too hot.
All we can say is that you just
sort of have to learn to sit where
it's most comfortable, and if these fans bother
you, we're sorry, but when it's 90 degrees
outside, we've got to have a little fresh
air.
And so if they bother you, I'd suggest
they're a little further back, over the middle,
and then that way everybody's happy.
So that's a little tip.
Let's keep the fresh air coming to satisfy
some of us all the time, and all
of us some of the time.
That's the best we can do.
It's fine.
It's the ministers that are satisfying us all,
all the time, I believe, happy.
Well, it's a privilege again to have our
Dr. Carl Armadine, who we've been enjoying very
much, to bring a message to us at
this time.
Things I'd like to do before I launch
into my subject for tonight, one is to
thank those of you who have been so
solicitous and inquiring about my health.
The fact that I move around slowly, and
don't do a lot of things that others
do, is simply an attempt to carry out
some of the commands of my doctors.
In fact, when they look at my program,
they just throw up their hands and say,
it's no use.
But this is one reason why I have
to take it easy.
I just had a little setback a little
over a year ago, and we learned then
how easy it is to, as it were,
end one's days.
So we thank the Lord for your prayers
and for the way we are sustained.
The second thing I'd like to mention grows
out of our Bible study this afternoon, and
the questions which have been asked me since,
some on the way from the Bible study,
and some since then in my room, and
so on.
I'd just like to refer to a few
things which appeared in the United States News
and World Report for April the 17th of
this year, that's a few weeks before the
Blitzkrieg.
It says here, after nearly 20 years of
explosive growth, Israel suddenly finds its future threatened
on three fronts.
A recession has hit nearly every segment of
the economy, throwing 7 to 10 percent of
the labor force out of work.
At the same time, serious social problems are
growing out of rifts within the Jewish community
and between the nation's Jews and its 290
,000 Arabs, 11 percent of the population.
In addition, there is a constant military threat
from some of Israel's 40 million Arab neighbors,
financed in part by Russia.
Of course, that we've all been aware of
as a result of the news about this
last war.
But now, I'd like to read another little
item here.
The whole article is very interesting, but Israel's
officials say that the sagging economy is largely
the result of two developments which came simultaneously.
First, a drop in numbers of immigrants, and
a government decision to deflate by cutting some
credits and financing.
As a result, construction long geared to a
new housing for immigrants dropped by about half.
The number of large industrial concerns have had
to slow down their production lines.
From a peak of 240,000 newcomers who
arrived in 1949, the number decreased to 29
,000 in 1965, and the rate is said
to be still falling.
Relatively few immigrants, the number is generally estimated
about 8,000, have come from the United
States.
Many of these have retained their American citizenship.
Now, this leads me to a few remarks
and observations.
Don't let's be misled by Israel's present success,
because it's very questionable whether she'd be able
to support it.
Her best men are now at the front,
and how long she can sustain them on
limited resources, that's a great question.
That she will try to bargain and retain
at least the holy city, at least to
make it available to all nations and all
faiths, that may come out of this.
But don't let us be hasty in our
judgments, because a lot of things can happen
by next week.
A lot of things.
And she's in a bad way financially.
She's in a bad way otherwise.
The present success, I'm sure, has not for
one moment satisfied the leaders of Israel, for
they have expressed their fears concerning it.
Let us, on the other hand, pray for
Israel.
I love to remind you, beloved, of those
words of Paul in the epistle to the
Romans.
He said, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might
be saved.
And we're hoping that God is going to
use these present difficulties to stir the heart
of many an Israelite to turn again to
the sacred scriptures, which under the illumination and
blessing of the Holy Spirit, could lead them
to a simple faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Now for this evening's meditation, I'm asking you
to turn again to the book of the
Psalms.
Tonight we'll take a look at Psalm 3.
Psalm 3.
You'll notice that this psalm has a title.
It is the first psalm that does have
a title.
All but about 30 psalms do have titles,
and I understand that the Hebrews referred to
those without titles as Florphan Psalms.
We're very thankful for these titles.
In some of the more ancient versions of
the scriptures, these titles are actually placed in
as verse 1.
This is especially true of Martin Luker's German
translation, and you will find in concordances such
as Pruden's Concordance, for example, will very frequently
give you references in the Psalms, one reference
as if that were it, and then another
one in parentheses.
And this is to indicate that they have
observed the different ways in which these verses
are numbered.
Now here we get an historical background for
the psalm.
The psalm of David when he fled from
Absalom his son.
We know how David, as it were, spoiled
this boy of his.
Yet how that boy turned on his father,
drove him from his throne, and finally came
to a sad death by hanging in the
bounds of a tree, and Joab put an
end to him.
All of this, we believe, was part of
God's retribution for sins which David had committed.
As we were learning this morning, when that
role enters the house, you may be sure
it's going to uncover every sin that was
committed there.
God in his discipline is going to deal
with them as he did with his servant
David, even though he called him a man
after his own heart.
Now let us look at the psalm that
grew out of this experience.
We read here, Lord, how are they increased
that trouble me?
Many are they that rise up against me.
Many there be which say of my soul,
there's no help for him in God.
But thou, O Lord, art a shield for
me, my glory and the lifter up of
my head.
I cried unto the Lord with my voice,
and he heard me out of his holy
hill.
I laid me down and slept.
I awaked, for the Lord sustained me.
I will not be afraid of ten thousands
of people that have set themselves against me
round about.
Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God,
for thou hast smitten all my enemies upon
the cheekbone.
Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
Salvation belongeth unto the Lord.
Thy blessing is upon thy people.
Now you notice in the psalm he doesn't
make any particular reference to Absalom, but rather
he looks upon Absalom as being the leader
of a great group.
And he suddenly discovers that he has more
than one enemy.
And according to the words in the original
language, and Mr. Darby has pointed this out
in one of his footnotes to the Psalms,
that some of these enemies are enemies from
within, as well as enemies from without.
And of course that is consistent with the
fact that David was driven from his throne
by his own son, Absalom.
And likewise the child of God today finds
himself face to face with his enemy.
The path of the child of God has
never been a smooth one.
This has been the case ever since the
days of Cain and Abel.
All down through those years we notice that
those who were true children of God had
a hard fight.
It was a constant struggle against opposing forces.
And one of the worst of these forces
of course is, as we've already said, a
force from within.
We hear the remarks about the world and
the flesh and the devil.
And we're likely to put all the blame
on the world and the devil and forget
that we have a lot to blame ourselves
for.
For enemy number one is right within your
bosom.
Yes, these are the enemies.
And the devil is careful to take notice
of this.
And he tries to overawe us with the
number of the enemies, which of course he
would claim as his followers.
And I can remember how I was tempted
to be overawed by this when I became
a Christian some years ago.
I thought to myself, how in the world
am I ever going to face all these
things that are against one.
The factory in which I worked at the
time was filled with cursing and swearing and
obscene men and women too.
And how to live in a situation like
this.
My father was superintendent of the shop itself.
I worked in the office.
And I remember going to Dad one day
and telling him, I said, Dad, I don't
think I can live a Christian life in
this kind of an environment.
And he persuaded me that this was the
very best place for me to give a
testimony to the reality of my faith in
the Lord Jesus Christ.
He used an expression which I've never been
yet been able to put to the test.
But he said to me this.
He said, Son, the diamond shines the brightest
in the coal mine.
I had thought of getting away to some
place where I would be surrounded by a
lot of Christian friends on whom I could
lean.
And who would be my support and would
help me to live a Christian life all
the time forgetting that God had given me
as his child, had given me his blessed
Holy Spirit who is more powerful than all
the Christians that ever lived.
So that if I had to stand alone,
and I have had to stand alone, that
he would be there and one with God
is a majority.
And this, dear friends, is one thing I've
learned from this.
But I remember in student days, giving witness
for the Lord Jesus on the university campus.
A young fellow with whom I went to
school.
And one day he said, Armading, he said,
Aren't you up here to get a liberal
education?
I said, Yes, I am.
Well, he said, How much longer are you
going to fool around with that little bunch
of funny mentalists that he referred to our
Christian friends?
He said, Why don't you get on the
bandwagon with the majority?
I looked at him, I said, Bob, I
was with the majority once.
He said, What do you mean?
I said, Do you remember the story of
the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus?
Yes, he said, I learned it in Sunday
school.
I said, Who was predominant at the cross
of Calvary?
Was it the majority or the minority?
He had to admit it was the majority.
It was the majority that said, Away with
him, away with him, crucify him.
The little minority stood by and waited.
And I said to my friend, I said,
Bob, I was with the majority long enough.
But you know, while it looks as though
I'm with the minority even today, and sometimes
appearances deceive us, especially those of us who
lived in communities, for example, like the city
of Wheaton, Illinois, where I spent 14 years
in service in the college.
You get the idea that we're living in
a sort of a Christian atmosphere.
But you realize, friends, when you look at
the map of the world, the missionary map
of the world, we Christians are in the
minority.
We're hopelessly outnumbered by the Muslims, for example,
and the Buddhists and others.
Hopelessly outnumbered by them.
If we are to win by sheer force
of numbers, we've lost the battle already.
But, thank God, our Lord Jesus Christ said
that he was going to build his church
and the gates of Hades were not going
to prevail against it.
And we're on the winning side.
We're more than conquerors through him that loved
us.
And so there's no defeatism here, not a
bit of it.
Even though the enemy does try to make
a display of the numbers on his side.
But it's not only the numbers, but it's
what they say.
You notice it says here, they say, many
there be which say of my soul, there's
no help for him in God.
They know it's a lie when they say
it.
Because they've seen God help his children, if
they're aware at all of the literature which
is in the world today.
And which is available to them.
And the testimonies of Christians again and again
to the wonderful help that God has given
them.
Yes, there is help and they know it.
They know it.
But they try to make us believe that
it isn't so.
And you remember, there was a great leader
who has now gone to his reward.
He said one day, repeat a lie often
enough and people will believe it.
And the tragedy of it is my friends,
that the devil repeats this lie in the
ears of God's people and says there's no
help for you in God.
And pretty soon we find ourselves agreeing with
him.
But the psalmist didn't.
You notice there's a little word seal at
the end of this verse here.
I never like to leave this out.
This word tells us to stop and think.
This word tells us to pause a while
after a statement like this.
Remember years ago, Dr. Lewis Perry Chaffer, founder
of the Dallas Theological Seminary, was addressing us
on one of the psalms and he came
to this word seal and told us that
it meant pause.
And told of a great big raw bone
country creature who was trying to make this
clear to his audience.
And he leaned over the pulpit and hung
his big hands over the pulpit and said,
Brethren, this word seal means pause.
And they never forgot.
Now, it isn't so far fetched as you
think.
Because it does mean the lifting of the
hands away from the strings of the instrument,
or as it might be in the case
of these two instruments, from the keys.
So that it does have to do with
our pause.
But now to the positive side and how
we thank God for these conjunctions of contrast
that we find in the book.
In this third verse, but thou, O Lord.
And he's got three things to say about
the Lord here.
And the first of these is, but thou,
O Lord, art a shield for me.
Or as Mr. Darby translates it, thou art
a shield about me.
There's no place of them in my whole
being that is exposed when God protects.
God protects.
You know, for many years when I read
that passage in Ephesians 6, above all taking
the shield of faith, I thought that that
shield was made of my faith.
One day as I tried to use my
faith as a shield, and I found it
was more like a seer than a shield.
I said there must be something wrong with
this.
If there isn't anything wrong with the translation,
there must be something wrong with my interpretation.
Then it dawned on me that there were
two ways of rendering that.
You could say the shield of faith as
we have it in our Bible, or a
little more difficult to say, especially if you
have a flat list, but to say faith's
shield.
Now it's not a shield made of faith,
but it's the shield that faith takes.
It's faith's shield.
And faith's shield is of none other than
the person.
God describes himself in just this way when
he speaks to Abram.
He says, Fear not, Abram.
I am thy shield and thy exceeding great
reward.
What do you say, in what sense could
God be a shield to me?
Well, perhaps a little illustration of how a
person could be a shield to us.
You know, of course, from our childhood days,
I would like to put our parents, our
father, our mother, our older brother between ourselves
in some impending danger.
In that sense they became a shield for
us.
But I think I'm thinking of one night,
I was still working at my desk.
In those days I used to work till
close to midnight every night and get up
again between 4.30 and 5 o'clock
in order to get the work of the
day done.
The telephone rang and a woman's voice at
the other end says, Oh, I'm in sore
trouble, sir.
I need help just now.
I tried to find out what her trouble
was, but she said she wouldn't tell it
over the telephone.
So she said, I must see you immediately.
I was just a little bit suspicious.
My car was still standing out in front
of the house.
I could have gone right out and jumped
into it, gone up to the place.
She lived about two miles from our home.
But it just occurred to me that I
better take my shield with me.
So I went in the bedroom where my
dear wife was sweetly asleep.
And I gently awakened her.
I'm not going to tell you how, because
I'm sure you know.
But anyhow, she woke up.
Much is to say, why disturb me now?
I explained to her about this call and
I said, Darling, I need you tonight.
Without another word, she got up and dressed.
The two children were asleep in their cribs.
We had no baby sitter to leave them
with, but we left them with the Lord.
And when I was in the car, this
woman passed.
When she saw my wife with me, I
could see a change from over her countenance.
I learned afterwards that she had it in
for me, because I knew certain things about
her that she didn't like.
I wasn't publishing them, but she'd like to
get something on me so that she could
blackmail me.
And I learned afterwards from a reliable source
that she had a photographer in the building
and she was going to put me in
a compromising position and have him snap the
shot.
But my shield was there.
Ah, what a wonderful thing.
Yes, a person can become a shield.
But now for you single people, those of
you who have never known the joys of
having such a companionship, or who have been
deprived of it like your speaker tonight, there
is a shield, and that is the Lord
himself.
You put him between yourself and that impending
danger and you will find it really works.
It really does.
Many a man has tried to undo us
until he heard us preaching the gospel.
I remember a case of a student at
Moody Bible Institute, a boy by the name
of Joe Honkey.
Joe was on an assignment to the south
part of Chicago and was driving back late
at night.
He stopped his car for a red light.
The door of the car opened and a
man jumped in, put a pistol in Joe's
side and said, this is it.
Drive over to the curb.
The light changed and Joe drove over to
the curb and this fellow kept poking a
pistol in his side and demanding what he
had.
And Joe looked at him.
He said, sir, for me to live is
Christ and to die is gain.
In other words, if you kill me, I'm
the winner.
This so disarmed this bandit that he took
his gun down and said to Joe, what's
that you say?
And Joe repeated the text very slowly.
For me to live is Christ.
To die is gain.
The fellow was thoroughly disarmed.
Joe preached the gospel to him.
After some 30 minutes the fellow said, I
don't know what to say.
He said, you don't know how bad I've
been, so on and so forth.
And Joe persuaded him that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners.
He saved the chief.
And Joe had the joy of leading that
bandit to Christ that night.
But the Lord was Joe's shield.
See that?
Oh, my young friends, this really works.
Some of us have tried this out for
over half a century.
You know what we're talking about.
See?
We really know.
We're not novices.
We hadn't just arrived here yesterday.
But it's more than that.
You know, I like to think that there's
something more than just protection here.
There's also an exaltation.
Look at this.
Thou art a shield for me and my
glory, the one in whom I boast.
And the lips are up of my head.
I don't have to go down of my
head down as if I was ashamed of
being a Christian.
But I can go around with my head
up because I know that everything that once
stood against me is forever settled.
And I'm ready to meet my Lord at
any moment.
And that's more than they can say.
That's more than they can say.
Friends, when I talk to some of these
atheistic philosophers, I say, listen, I'm not going
to try to argue with you about philosophy.
I've read a little bit of it.
I've read enough of it, dear friends, to
know how unsettling it can be, what a
subtle thing it is.
I've read philosophy by the hour and then
had to turn again to the simple pages
of the holy word of God to quiet
my soul.
And I say to these philosophers, when your
philosophy can do for you what this precious
book does for me, then come along and
talk.
Yes, the lips are up of my head.
Friends, I don't know what a millionaire feels
like, but I try sometimes to imagine what
it must be to have everything that you
could possibly need and I've got it in
Christ.
I am a spiritual millionaire.
I can lift up my head with joy
and look the whole world in the face.
But now somebody says, yes, but how do
things work out in your life?
I notice that the psalmist here talks about
the crying to the Lord in verse 4,
yes?
Here we get a little testimony in verses
4, 5, and 6.
And I'd just like to dwell on these
for a moment to show you how sometimes
the way to victory is a bit slow,
but it's sure.
You notice what he says here in this
verse, I cried unto the Lord with my
voice.
And what happened?
And he heard me.
My dear friends, that's the simplest, briefest apologetic
that any Christian can give for his Christian
faith.
When you can't fall back on anything else,
you ought to be able to fall back
on this, that you cried and he heard.
Some years ago I had to consult a
doctor who was also an ordained Baptist minister.
He was a physician.
One day he looked out in the office
and saw me sitting there.
There were a number of patients waiting.
He popped back into his office a moment
and then came out with a loose leaf
book.
He said, Armandine, he said, while you're waiting,
maybe you'd like to look over my prayer
book.
I never knew Baptists could have a prayer
book.
My people were Lutherans to begin with and
they had a prayer book.
And I early obtained a copy of the
Anglican prayer book from my own spiritual prophet.
I love to read those prayers in that
book.
Many of them, I question some of the
theology about them, but oh, they did furnish
me with ways and means of speaking to
God.
I thank God for that, but I never
knew of a Baptist to have a prayer
book.
When I opened it, I was more amazed
still because it was a loose leaf book
with things written in the doctor's own handwriting.
This is what I discovered.
On each page he had put down something
he had prayed for.
The date when he first prayed for it,
the time that he repeated the prayer, and
then down at the bottom of the page,
page after page, page after page, answers.
What a prayer book.
This was terrific.
When I got into his office a little
later on, I said, Doctor, I said, in
the first place, whatever gave you the idea,
because you know, I was brought up among
a group of Christians that were always asking
for chapter and verse.
You know that kind of folk?
Yes sir, I had to have chapter and
verse for this.
So he said, Well, I've got chapter and
verse.
The Bible says continuing prayer.
That's what I've done.
And watching the same with Thanksgiving, that's what
I'm doing.
Well, he had a scripture for his prayer
book.
Well now, I said, Now, what use do
you get out of this besides what you're
doing just now with me?
Well, he said, Every once in a while
I get a skeptic in this office, and
I just let him look over this book.
You know, they're thoroughly disarmed.
They were thoroughly disarmed before they ever got
into the doctor's office.
Because here he had a hundred and one
proofs that God was alive and that God
answered prayer.
This is a wonderful thing.
I cried, He heard.
But you say, Yes, but he doesn't always
answer.
No, I know that.
But you notice what it says in the
fifth verse?
I laid me down and slept.
I awaked.
He doesn't say, The Lord answered me.
But he says, The Lord sustained me.
Sometimes he says no.
But oh, how we thank God for that
sustaining grace.
Just as in the case of the Apostle
Paul, who besought him to remove that thorn
in the flesh, he besought the Lord's grace.
And the answer was, My grace is sufficient
for thee.
And beloved, sometimes this is one of the
best advertisements for our Christian faith that there
is.
When we can demonstrate to the world what
it means to take certain sorrows and griefs
and sicknesses and not crack up under them.
Oh, when I think of the number of
Christians who have cracked up, and some of
them are in mental hospitals today, how much
different it might have been if they had
just drawn upon those sources of grace, a
grace that sustains and keeps it up.
Friends, we've had enough to cry.
I could give you a long list of
things here tonight, but I'm not going to
do it.
We have been through sorrow.
We have been through poverty.
We have been through persecution.
On two occasions I have stood in the
circle of my would-be assassins on the
mission field, both in Central America and South
America, crying for my blood.
We know what it means.
We know what it means to be covered
with dirt from head to foot.
We know what it means to bleed from
stones and rocks and what have you.
We also know what it means to be
sustained in that kind of a situation.
I challenge any young man or young woman
here tonight who feels that life has no
challenge for him in days like these.
These challenges are still there.
And the enemy's forces are getting stronger and
stronger in these lands.
We'll go and stand up against them in
the power and strength that the Lord gives.
There are battles to be fought, and thanks
be to God, he gives us the strength
to fight them.
And we can come out victorious.
And as we read in the sixth verse
of our psalm, I will not be afraid
of ten thousands of people that have set
themselves against me round about.
This is the language of one who knows
God as his shield, as his glory, as
the lift up of his head, as the
one who answers prayer and sustained by his
grace.
We challenge the world to find us a
parallel to this.
They haven't got anything like it.
The best they can offer you these days
is a tranquilizer.
And here's something far better than that.
Far better than that.
Again, we remind you, dear friends, you didn't
arrive yesterday.
We've been on the road a while.
But now, you see, the psalm still closes
as if he's still afraid.
He says in verse seven, Arise, O Lord,
save me, O my God.
I'd like you to notice the way it's
put here, at least in our authorized version.
We have trouble with the tense in Hebrew.
Not quite such a simple matter as it
is in English to determine what the tense
should be.
For example, Mr. Darby puts verse four in
the future tense.
But there is argument one way or the
other.
But I like the way this is put
in our King James Version here when he
says, Thou hast smitten.
Notice he doesn't say thou wilt, but thou
hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbones.
Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
In other words, dear friends, he sees his
foes as already defeated.
You may walk around as a roaring lion
seeking whom he may devour.
But oh, you just need to remind him
of things like these and he'll soon leave
you.
He's a defeated foe.
Yes, dear friends, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ
is a mighty victor.
Mighty victor over death.
Mighty victor over the tomb.
Sits at the right hand of the majesty
in the heavens tonight.
And you and I who believe in him
are called more than conquerors to deliver.
And this accounts for the last verse of
the psalm.
Salvation to the Lord.
Salvation here in the sense of deliverance from
these enemies.
It's of the Lord.
And I like to think, dear friends, that
this really looks on to the day when
all battles will be over.
And we'll join our victorious Lord in heaven.
And I'm thinking particularly as I speak tonight
of some of my younger friends here.
You may have had a series of defeats
in your spiritual life.
Again and again, you've just been knocked out.
Perhaps you're too ashamed even to admit it,
but there it is.
Listen, friend.
Oh, to get back in his presence.
Just confess the whole thing to him.
And lean hard from his arm of almighty
strength.
I can promise you, dear friends, as one
who has been a teenager, who confessed the
Lord Jesus Christ as his personal savior as
a teenager, who went through all the process
of the teenager's life, who has had children,
and now has 17 grandchildren, some of whom
are in the teenager's stage as well.
And they sometimes come around and share their
feelings with their grandfather.
Wonderful to pass on to these younger people
these words of encouragement that there is no
need for defeat.
No need for it, dear friends.
You and I can win victories every day.
You and I can triumph by his grace.
In keeping with this, we're going to turn
to hymn number 189.
Hymn number 189.
Some glorious morning, sorrow will cease.
Some glorious morning, all will be peace.
Heartaches all ended, school days all done, heaven
will open, Jesus will come.
Some golden daybreak, Jesus will come.
Some golden daybreak, battles all won.
He'll shout the victory, break through the blue.
Some golden day for me, and you say
for you.
I'm just wondering tonight.
You know, I'm a former freelancer.
I'd like to just make it very personal
with anybody who can't share in singing this
hymn tonight.
All that you might know the joy of
trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, first of all,
as your personal savior, to realize what a
wonderful thing it is to have the Holy
Spirit dwell within you as your compass and
your support.
These things await you as you face this
question this evening.
What am I going to do with Jesus?
He is full of power.
Hymn number 189.
Let us rise.
Some glorious morning, I'm going to be free.
What a glorious morning, I'm going to be
free.
I'm going to be free, I'm going to
be free.