Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to the second book of Chronicles, chapter 20, and the first part of verse 17. Ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord. The whole verse goes on. The salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord will be with you.

Especially the first part of this verse, verse 17, 2 Chronicles chapter 20. You shall not need to fight in this battle.

Throughout the Old Testament, the Lord was pleased to give illustrations, occasions that were pointing to something. This is one of them. We think of the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt and they came to the Red Sea and they had the Egyptians pursuing after them. How were they going to fight? What fears they had? How would they be delivered from that multitude that would bring them back into captivity again? But they didn't need to fight. The Lord put the cloudy pillar between them and their enemies. He stood between them. He made the way through the Red Sea. They went through on dry land. They were saved. They were delivered. The enemies tried to do the same thing, and they were destroyed, and they perished in the Red Sea. And the children of Israel. They sung the song of Moses. They sung the song of deliverance. They saw their enemies dead upon the seashore. And so we have a beautiful illustration of the people of God looking on while the Lord delivers them and fights for them. And they don't need to fight. The Lord does the fighting. The Lord appears and he brings that deliverance.

Then we have another occasion when Goliath, the Philistine, the great giant, was challenging Israel. The two companies, the Philistines and the children of Israel, they were gathered together in battle, a valley between them. And Goliath challenged that if they could find one in their number to fight against him and to prevail against him, then the Philistines would be Israel's servants. But if Goliath prevailed against that one, then would Israel be the Philistines' servants. The battle was declared to be a battle between two people. And what was done there would affect all of those two armies. And there was no man found for 40 days. 40 days is a testing time. that God made it sure that there was none amongst all of Israel, even their king Saul, that was able to go out against Goliath. You could imagine that there'd be those that thought, well, I might be able to prevail against him, but if I put myself forward and I fail, it's not just me failing, I bring all of Israel with me. What a responsibility, what a sense, what a weight would be on that one that was going forth. What confidence that they would need, and none had.

But then David comes, David in obedience to his father, goes to his brethren, takes things to them, sees how they are, falsely accused by his elder brother, Eliab, that he'd come just to see the battle. But he hears Goliath's challenge, and he asks, what shall be done to the one that shall fight and destroy him? And as he's asking, what he's asking gets to the king's ears, and he's brought before the king. And he tells the king, that no man should fear because of him, that he, David, would go out against him. Saul objected at first. He said that this man has been a warrior from his youth, and David was but a youth. But David said that there came while he was a shepherd, a lion, to attack the sheep, and he slew the lion. And there came a bear, and he slew the bear. And he said, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, he shall deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.

Then Saul tried to have his own armor put on him. But David put them off. He said, I have not proved these. And all he went was just in his own clothes and with a shepherd's bag and a sling, choosing five stones out of the brook and approaching to the Philistine just with that.

But it wasn't just with that. He clearly declared that he came in the name of the Lord God of Israel, the God whom Goliath had defied. David made it very clear from the start. This battle was the Lord's battle. This was what God would do. And God did. David felled the Philistine with the stone, then ran and cut off his head with his own Afterwards, the children of Israel, they pursued after the Philistines, they fought with them.

But the battle was won before the children of Israel followed fighting. The battle was won by David's God, by a sling and by a stone. And that battle was viewed, it was viewed by Israel and also by the enemy as well. David had said this, and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. That was his testimony.

So again we have another very high profile And this time there's a significance as well. Because here is David, not yet the king, but he has been anointed by Samuel in secret, you might say. But now God is using this event to propel David into the limelight before Israel and before the Philistines. David is in the line to Christ. David in this way was a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what I emphasize this morning in the lead up to our text is that here is a battle that was won not by Israel fighting, but by viewing another fighting on their behalf, a deliverance, a miracle, that God wrought for them.

Then we have the case of Hezekiah. Hezekiah, the godly king of Judah, he had the Assyrians come against him. And it was a time when the Assyrians were taking country after country, nation after nation, and they'd already taken the other ten tribes, and they were coming to destroy Judah and Jerusalem. But Hezekiah sought unto the Lord. They spread the letters that were sent from the king of Assyria railing upon the God of Israel, and they laid the mount before the Lord, and Isaiah prayed unto the Lord.

And the answer came back, and it was this, in 2 Kings 19 from verse 32, Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this city, to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

Then we read this, It came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred, fourscore, and five thousand, a hundred and eighty, five thousand. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. Then later on he was slain by his own sons. The Lord working a great deliverance again. The children of Israel again brought into this situation where they do not need to fight. They view the Lord fighting for them. And then we have our text.

Then we have this situation where Jehoshaphat had those nations which, because they were related to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that God forbade the children of Israel coming out of Egypt to attack them, to have left them alone. But now they're coming up against Judah. And Jehoshaphat is very fearful. He knows that they cannot overcome these three, Moab, Ammon and Mount Seir. And so he sets to praying and seeking the Lord. He reminds the Lord that they were not permitted to fight against these nations. And he reminds the Lord of the prayer of Solomon, that the Lord heard that the dedication of the temple and how that a cloud filled the temple. And the Lord told Solomon, but his prayer had been heard. And so he reminds the Lord of this.

He says, the prayer was, if when evil cometh upon us as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, and thou wilt hear and help. It's a good thing. If we remember the Word of God, remember His promises, remember answers to prayer, put Him in remembrance in times of need, and do as Jehoshaphat did, and come before the Lord in prayer. This time that prayer was heard, the Lord speaking through Jehoshaphat, the son of Zechariah. And so then, they were told, as in the words of our text, You shall not need to fight in this battle." And they didn't. The Lord set one against another and they destroyed each other.

But Jehoshaphat, he so encouraged his people. He so strengthened them. He encouraged them to believe. Not to say, we'll wait and see when this comes to pass. and then we'll praise, and then we'll give thanks. He didn't do that. He believed it before it came to pass. He believed it on the word of the Lord. He trusted in the word of the Lord before it came to pass. There's a great principle here. All of those that died in the Old Testament, they rested upon the word of the Lord promising the Messiah. Those of us that believe now, before we come to death, before we come to heaven, before we are delivered, we are brought by God's grace to believe in and trust in His Word. And it's so vital that we follow this. And it's a great blessing when we are given, as Jehoshaphat was given here, such strong faith and to be able to encourage others and to go forth and praise in this way.

Because we read in verse 22, and when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon. That's when he began to work. As they praised, he worked. The Lord faithful to his word. But here again we have, in the Old Testament, another example of God's people and they don't have to fight. They see what the Lord has done. Surely we must say, as this is repeated again and again and again, that there should be that expectation that this must be pointing to a greater fight, a greater deliverance. This must have a real significance for the people of God, a message to them. There is a battle that is the Lord's. There is a fight and a battle that they do not need to fight in. And what is that battle? What is that fight? And so I want to then, in the remaining time this morning, at this, what this, these times, what they point to. Firstly, the battle fought for us. That is redemption by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And then secondly, fights that we are called to. There are several that I'd name to you. And then thirdly, a victory to see. The children of Israel here were to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord with you. It wasn't going to be hidden, it was going to be seen.

But firstly, the battle fought for us. That is the battle of redemption. No man can redeem his own soul. No man can set his own soul free from the condemnation under the fall of Adam. In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Death passed upon all men in that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And this is a battle. This is a fight that we did not, would not, could not have fought. The Old Testament saints, they really had this stamped on the expectancy of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and of that redemption from sin, setting free by the payment of a price. This is a battle that ye do not need to fight in. This shall be the Lord's battle. This shall be His doing. You will look upon it, you will see it, you will have the benefit of it, but it shall be the Lord's.

And the enemy, our sin, Satan, the sentence of death, as great are the threat of the Egyptians with the children of Israel at the Red Sea, as great are the threat of Goliath and the Philistines at that time, as great of a threat as was with Hezekiah with Sennacherib and his army. A situation that was impossible in any other way, no natural way, could have delivered and neither could it be here. that there is, as our Lord states, there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. If you believe not that I am he, you shall perish in your sins. He spoke of his decease and what he should accomplish at Jerusalem. I, if I be lifted up above the earth, will draw all men unto me. It was to be a spectacle. It was to be like David and Goliath, that not only God's people, but the enemies were to look upon what was done at that time. It was done in such a way that it was not hidden, and it is recorded in the Word of God, set forth in the Gospels, expounded through the New Testament, foretold in the Old Testament, But it all points to this one great work of redemption, this one battle that the Lord achieved and won for his people.

Fighting with the devil, he shall bruise thy heel, thou shalt bruise his head. Enduring the wrath of God, against himself because as he bore his people's sin, he stood as their representative and endured that wrath upon himself. What the Lord did at Calvary can never be repeated, does never need to be repeated. It is remembered in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper It is not, as is blasphemously set forth by the Roman Catholic Church, repeated in the Mass. It is a sacrifice once for all, once forever. He put away the sins of his people. I lay down my life for my sheep. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. He suffered in the place of his people. This is this battle fought for us, a battle that we are just to look upon, but a battle of which we had no part. We think of our Lord Jesus Christ as he's coming to that time that his disciples, they all forsook him and fled. He was so emphasised in the Gospels that he stood alone. There was none with him. He endured that alone. Foretold in the Old Testament as well. A beautiful time shown there with David alone going out against Goliath. The Lord Jesus Christ. No form nor comeliness that we should desire him. despised and rejected of men, and yet he fights this battle, and the victory was assured, and the victory we have recorded in the Word of God, and we are to see it, we are to view it, we come about that a little later.

But may we always remember this, the whole salvation of the Church of God, it hangs upon that victory, If the Lord had remained in the dead, if he had not risen, if he'd been crushed, if he'd been destroyed, then there'd be no fights afterward. There'd be no further issue. It would have completely destroyed all of the people of God.

But the Lord Jesus Christ, in his victory, he obtained that victory for every single one But it is in a very similar situation to David and Goliath, because then the children of Israel did go after the Philistines, they did fight with them. And there is still a fight to be fought, a fight that we are called to.

In pointing this out and looking at this in our second point, it doesn't in any way change that the victory is already gained. It is already achieved by our Lord Jesus Christ. The fight that we are called to fight, that in itself does not secure. It shows the reality of what has been done at Calvary, what has been done by the Lord, but it does not add. It does not put a victory crown on our head. It puts it on His head, and we trace every blessing and the ability to find. It all flows forth from that victory our Lord achieved at Calvary.

May we always remember this. May we never forget. This is why the Lord has given the ordinance, especially of the Lord's Supper, that we remember that victory. We remember what Christ did at Calvary. The battle fought for us. Redemption. Our Lord is the Redeemer. He has redeemed us from our sins.

But how is that redemption known? Well, personally, it is through calling. And we've sung in our first hymn that when the Lord calls his people, when they begin to pray, then they'll find opposition. Opposition from sin, opposition from the world, opposition from Satan. And then there is a fight. And I want to look then in our second point, fights we are called to. And there's just a few to mention.

The first is the fight of faith. When Paul writes to Timothy in his first epistle in chapter six, He says this, Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. Where the Lord has called, where he has passed by and given eternal life, where he has quickened a soul, where it's given one to feel their need of a saviour, their sinnership, and brought them to look unto Him and to look to His redemption, then those that are so called are called to fight what is called a good fight.

It's good because it assures us of our interest in Christ. It is good because it is the faith that He has given that is doing the fighting, lay hold on eternal life, were unto that also called. And so the fight of faith. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of the Lord. We said regarding Jehoshaphat, that when the word was spoken through the prophet Jehoshaphat, then they believed that word. That is an act of faith.

There was a time when our Lord commended the faith of a centurion who came to him and said to him, speak the word only and my servants shall be healed. He said, I'm not worthy that thou should come under my roof. He said, I am also one that has servants. I say to one, go, and he goeth, and another come, and he cometh. I am one under authority. And he could view the Lord Jesus Christ as having all authority. And so he just said to him, speak the word only and my servants shall be healed. And the Lord said, I have not found so great faith. No, not in all Israel. And it was because that faith was resting on the word of the Lord.

And faith is that, is not resting in our thoughts, our efforts, but what God has said and what God has done. And so it will be a fight because the world will try to pull down the Lord from his excellency. The devil will try to do as at the first hath God said, to undermine the word of God. And our own sins will rise up again and again before us, a real struggle with them. And so faith, we are called to fight that fight of faith, all the time hanging upon the Word of God.

Faith will be going back to the Word of God again and again, now sensed. And we'll be reading, looking, pleading, like Jehoshaphat was here, the Word of God. what had been said, what had been done before. That is the work of faith. That is the fight of faith. Don't dream and think, well, if we are a believer, then all doubts, all fears would just be banished. It won't be hard work to believe. It will be an easy thing to believe. No, it is not. It's a fight, a fight of faith to believe. It is that which we are. called to, but remember, that is not what is going to make us the victory.

The whole reason why we want to fight, the whole reason why we can fight, is because the Lord has opened our ear to the Word of God, because He has shown us His victory at Calvary. That then gives us that ability to fight. You think how it was with the children of Israel, at the time of Queen Esther. When there was first the decree that had the king's authority, that on a certain day all the enemies of the Jews would destroy them, there was great sorrow, there was great distress. That sentence could not be just banished, it had to stay. But what could be done was another decree made, And it was made on Esther's intercession that the Jews were able to stand for their lives and fight back. And that had the king's authority. And that made all the difference.

Even before that day came, the Jews were rejoicing, they were giving thanks, because now they had the king on their side. And we have. With our Lord's death, sufferings, and rising again, in the gospel our Lord says, the Son of Man came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. This is the King on our side. This is the King bringing the gospel, bringing the good news. And so though there is a fight, and is a fight of faith, We have the Lord on our side and the victory is already assured. It has already been accomplished at Calvary. May that be a real incentive and real encouragement to you and to me to fight this fight of faith. And when we feel waves of unbelief, waves of doubt, waves of sin, the Lord give us more faith and faith to fight. against all that comes against us. May we be really encouraged to fight this fight of faith.

Another fight that we are called to is that of resistance. Resist the devil, we read in James, and he shall flee from you. In the war years, there were those that were called the resistance. They weren't the regular army. But there were those of the population that had an underground movement. They were just in their homes. They were hidden in hiding places behind enemy lines. And they used to then cause disruption to the enemy. They'd fight their own war instead of just going along with the enemy and just bowing before his taking over their country. They resisted. They blew up their ammunition dumps. They cut their supply lines. They did all they could to harass the enemy. And so with us as well, instead of just going along with Satan's temptations, we are to resist. We are not to be passive, but we are to resist him. And though he may fail, you think of a

In the Old Testament we have the situation of a young lady that had been taken in the field and forced, and she may have resisted, struggled, cried out, but the one that was assaulting her was too strong, she failed anyway. But she is counted as not guilty because there was none to help her. And yet if one was taken in a city in that way, she was held guilty because if she had called out, there were those that could have helped. And it was an evidence that she hadn't resisted and hadn't called out.

The important thing to remember is the spirit of resistance is not whether we've succeeded or not. It's not whether we have driven the devil away and haven't bowed to that temptation, and haven't ended up sinning after all. But the Lord sees where there is resistance. The hymn writer says, my weak, weak resistance, ah, how vain. But do we have resistance when the devil comes in, when he tempts us, when our sin rises? We are called to this battle, a battle of resistance.

Then we have another. battle that we're called to, and that is keeping under our body. The apostle Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, he says how that he runs, how he strives. He says now, and he uses a picture of those running and striving for a natural prize. But he says, I therefore so run. not as uncertainty. So fight I, not as one that beateth the air, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast away.

All of us have an old nature. We have a flesh. and a natural man. A natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them, they are spiritually disowned. The apostle Paul spoke of the flesh, lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, so that he cannot do the things that he would. We must remember this. God's redeemed people this side of the grave, they still have an old nature, an old nature that is fallen, that lusts, that is corrupt, that has anger and malice and envy and hatred, and has every sin harboring in, and oftentimes it is crying for attention, crying to be gratified, crying to have its way, who told, if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. And here the Apostle says, I keep under, I keep under. It's like having rebels in our own army and we don't let them arise. We keep them under. We keep them from taking control. And so that is what we are called to as well.

Our Lord in Hebrews chapter 12, we read there that ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. That is another thing that we are called to fight, striving against sin. Sin will assail us, it is in us, but we are called to strive against it. Not that by our striving we will ever achieve redemption. That is done for us at Calvary. But we show that we value what Christ has done. We hate the sins that nailed him to the cross. We mourn over them and we resist. And we are told here in Hebrews, you're not yet resisted unto blood. That's how strong, that's how much of a fight that that is. And may we remember that this fight does remain, but does not take away what Christ has accomplished at Calvary, the victory that He's done.

So I want to look then at our last point, our victory to see the salvation of the Lord. We read in our text, set yourselves stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord with you. How do we see the salvation of the Lord? Well, there are several ways.

The first way is this, through the Word of God, that which we read, the accounts of the Lord Jesus Christ, His sufferings, death, and what He accomplished at Calvary. And as He is lifted up, as the Word of God is preached, preach the Word, we see Him then through the lattice of the Word. It is in this way our text is fulfilled, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you. Beautiful thing. When the people of God under the preaching of the Word see the salvation of the Lord, the light shines upon it, shines in their hearts, and that's a blessed thing to see it, what the Lord has done.

Another way is in experience. We are to experience the truth of God. Our Lord says, if the Son shall make you free, then you shall be free indeed. When we know what it is to be in bondage to sin, to be set free by God's grace, we see it, we realize it, the difference, the change, to be able to testify that we are what we are by the grace of God, that we are a miracle of grace. Put the crown on his head and we can see it. We have to remember the way the Lord has led us. We're not to forget what he's done for us in calling us out of nature's darkness and into his marvelous light. Every one of God's children is a monument of grace. is a testament to what the Lord has accomplished and done at Calvary.

And so it is also seen in that renewed life. We see it in others. We may have seen those that have gone astray, gone away from the Word of God, been wayward, rejected it, and then the Lord has changed them. He's turned them back again, brought them back to the Word we've seen it. And we've seen the salvation of the Lord. We've seen the grace of God like Barnabas did when he went to Antioch. He saw the grace of God and was glad. He saw the effect of Christ's salvation. Three thousand were saved under the sermon of Peter at Pentecost. These are each a monument of grace. These are the effects of this salvation of God that is seen.

And so it is also seen in that realization of power over sin, a deliverance from the power and dominion of sin. Sin shall not have dominion over you, you're not under the law, you're under grace. And so it is also seen as to who has the rule over us. on Mount Carmel, the children of Israel had gone after Baal and served him. Then Elijah brought the word of the Lord a test, two altars, two sacrifices. The God had answered by fire, let him be God. And the Lord showed very clearly who was God. Who was the one that was to rule over Israel? Who was to be their king, their ruler? It was clearly to be seen.

Now the Lord says he cannot serve God and Mammon. And it's a great testimony if we can say with Joshua of old, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. a salvation then that is seen, seen in our lives, seen in others' lives, a real effect. His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins, a peculiar people who shall show forth the praises of him that called them out of nature's darkness and into his marvellous light.

Ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you.

In closing I'd say this, may we be renewed in viewing what the Lord has done at Calvary as a finished work, and be really comforted and strengthened in that. May we be renewed in our fight, our resistance against sin, knowing that the Lord knows about those struggles. We are called to win, but the victory is assured, and that we be not discouraged. And we have many setbacks, we feel our weakness, but our captain is stronger. The very fact that we fight and resist is a real token for good for us.

May we be also encouraged to watch and to notice more the tokens that the Lord has given us of this victory. May we see it for what it really is and bless the Lord for it. Let not his mercies lie forgotten in unthankfulness and without praises dying. Amen.