If you have your Bibles turn
with me to the third chapter of 2 Samuel. This chapter deals with the final
end of Abner. And we'll be dealing with that
in the weeks to come. And the kind of person that he
is is really revealed. But tonight I want us just to
look at the first verse of this chapter and consider some things
about how the life of the child of God is going to turn out. The title of my message is, The
True Result. The True Result. Verse 1 says,
Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house
of David. But David waxed stronger and
stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. Let us pray. Our Father, we bless
you and thank you for your great grace and mercy for ruined sinners,
helpless sinners, who are without hope in this world in and of
themselves. We thank you, Father, that you
have saved your people and you have redeemed them by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that their sin debt has been paid,
and that you have sent your Holy Spirit into this world to take
the things of Christ, His accomplished work, and apply it to their hearts
and teach them what Christ has done for them. We thank you,
Father, that we can bow to you tonight with hearts of thanksgiving,
knowing that had you left us to ourselves, our career would have ended up
in eternal damnation We thank you for interrupting and interfering
with us, for changing us, for giving us a new heart and a new
mind, for taking away the heart of stone and giving us a heart
of flesh, for awaking us from the dead
by your Spirit in regeneration, and for teaching us the truth
and giving us faith to believe it. All glory belongs to You,
Father. You're worthy. We are just worms
of the dust, and yet You have condescended to be so merciful
and so kind to us, sparing not Your own Son, but freely giving
Him up for us all. And how shall You not with Him
freely give us all things? Fathers, as we look at this passage
of Scripture tonight, we pray that You would help us to understand
about this life that we have, this struggle that goes on, and
the end result of it. Help us, Lord, to know and understand
that struggles and trials are part of our existence here because
we need them. We need them so that we'd always
keep our eyes fixed upon You. We would pray for those of our
company who are sick. For Jenny, if she's still recovering
from the car wreck and also with her cancer, we pray you, Lord,
you'd be with her. We pray you'd be with those who
are troubled in heart and mind and afflicted in the body. We know that you know. And we
ask, Lord, for you to help them and strengthen them in Jesus
Christ. We pray for ourselves tonight, Father, that you would
truly give us worship as we consider the greatness of your great scheme
of salvation and your kindness and your mercy
you show to poor sinners like us. Help us, Lord, now to worship
you. Get glory for yourself. We pray
in Christ's name. Amen. As I read this verse of scriptures. I read the chapter and was looking
at the chapter and preparing to preach a major portion of
the chapter. I kept coming back to this first
verse because it reminded me of something that was written
in Job. It says here in this passage of scripture, and this
is simply a historical account of the fact that All the opposition
against David, the rightful king, is diminishing. David is increasing
in power. David is growing stronger and
stronger in his kingdom as the former king is dead and those
who followed him are growing weaker and weaker. As we studied
these chapters beginning with 1 Samuel, we saw that Saul represented
several things. Saul represented the flesh. Saul represented carnal religion. Saul represented Satan in many
ways in his struggle against Christ. Whereas David, as the
anointed of God, represented Christ, he represented that spirit
in man, that is his spirit, the spirit that he has put in man,
and he represents the one who has victory over Satan and sin. Now, in this particular passage
of Scripture here, I was reminded of a word that was in Job. Let me read that to you over
in Job chapter 17 and verse 9. It says, The righteous also shall
hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger
and stronger. He that hath clean hands shall
be stronger and stronger." Now we know righteous, when it talks
about the righteous, it's not talking about those who have
got their life in order and straightened out their business where they
appear to be holier than someone else. That righteous one is that
one who's been made righteous by the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ went to the cross
of Calvary, He was made to be sin for His elect, and His elect
were made the very righteousness of God in Him. We have that righteousness. Christ is said to be in 1 Corinthians
1 and verse 30, God has made Him to be unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. So when you read the word righteous
in Scripture, Don't ever start looking at yourself, you're looking
in the wrong place. Look to the throne of God. Look
to the throne of the majesty on high. His right hand sits
our righteousness and our only righteousness. Also, when it
talks about having clean hands, and also it references the scripture,
clean hands and a pure heart, It's first talking about the
one who had clean hands and a pure heart, and that's the Lord Jesus
Christ. But it's also talking about you and I who have been
washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose sin debt
has been paid, in whom God sees no sin and remembers no iniquity. So the righteous and those of
clean hands, it's talking about the children of God. Talking
about you and me, if we are believers on the Lord Jesus Christ. That
verse says, "...the righteous will hold his way, and him with
the clean hands shall get stronger and stronger." Our text says
this, "...there was a long war, A long war between the house
of Saul and the house of David, but David waxed stronger and
stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. Now, in this particular passage,
it's talking about the flesh and the spirit. That's what the
spiritual understanding of this passage is. It's talking about
the flesh and the spirit. Surely it's talking about the
historical fact that David's house did ultimately defeat Saul's
house altogether and saved but one and that was Mephibosheth
who broke his body in a fall from birth and he was invited
and in fact fetched and brought to the king's table to sit at
the king's table forever. Everybody else in that family
was destroyed But this is a picture of our life as a child of God. We are one person. We are one person who has two
vital living principles working in us at every moment. And I'm talking only to those
who know Christ. Those who don't know Christ, they've got one
principle working in them. And so there's no real struggle.
There may be struggles of conscience. because we're born with a conscience
but Christ's sacrifice answers the conscience and gives a person
a clean and clear conscience if he's looking to the Savior
which is the perfect sacrifice. Well we have as a believer we
have the spirit and the flesh and that's throughout the scripture
beginning in Genesis all the way through Revelation that principle
is carried out and taught us over and over again. This text
declares This text declares, especially in unison with the
text in Job, this text declares that the child of God will have
victory. Will have victory. Now I know
in our experience, as we live in this life and as it goes on,
it seems that we falter and fall more than we rise up. Isn't that
right? That's our condition. That's
our state. We just feel that. We sense it in our own lives.
And these falls that we experience, these low-down places we experience,
they are always an end of trying to do something for God in the
flesh. They always end up that way. Our sins always have to
do with our relationship with God, and when we sin against
God, we're trying to do something for God in the power of our flesh. And it's doomed to fail. It's
doomed to fail. And God sends for us trials. Trials and tribulation. Those
are not anomalies in the child of God's life. Those are the
natural course of the human being who's been saved by grace. That's
the natural course. Not something strange. If you
find yourself never in a trial, then you should be worried. Because
every one of God's children are tried, every one of God's children
are chastised. And when I say chastisement,
I'm not talking about punishment. God's children, once they are
brought to a knowledge of Christ, are never punished. They're never
punished. In fact, they're never punished
anyway. Their punishment was in Jesus Christ on Calvary Street.
He was punished for our sins. He died for our sins according
to Scripture. He bore the full wrath of God
upon sin for us. No wrath of God has ever touched
a child of God's life, even before he knew Christ. No wrath ever
touched him. None whatsoever, because he was
always in Christ in purpose, and Christ bore his sin in his
body on the tree. What comes to the child of God
is because of this struggle continually with the flesh and the spirit,
and because we're so prone to look at everything and see stuff
rather than believe, And act upon what we see rather than
believe what God has taught, we find ourselves often falling
and faltering and failing in this world. And it's all about
what we're looking at. It always has been and it always
will be. These trials, however, are not
about events. They are about results. That's
what trials are about. They're not about events. They're
about results. God is going to bring His children,
always is going to bring His children back down into the dust
at the feet of Christ, suing for mercy and grace and help
in time of need. That's always going to be the
case. Now, it may take a while to do it with some people. You
may immediately do it with others. I talked with a fellow last night,
he called me out of the blue, a fellow named Terry from Pennsylvania. I don't know him, I've never
met him, and unless God providentially brings us together, I probably
never will meet him. But he talked about the fact that he had been
in religion all his life. And I mean seriously, this fellow
had been in every kind of religion you could imagine. He's been
in the Charismatic, he's been a MacArthurite out on the West
Coast, he's been a Presbyterian, he's just been in everything
you could imagine. And he called me to talk about
the Reformed faith. Well first I told him I wasn't
a Reformer, I wasn't a Reformer. I told them I wasn't of the Reformed
faith. See, most people equate Reformed faith with Calvinism.
They say that's where it started. It didn't start there. It didn't
start there at all. When the Reformers came on the
scene, their idea was to reform the Catholic Church. They were
all Catholic priests. Zwingli, Huss, Calvin, all these
men were Catholic priests and they pulled out of the Catholic,
well they didn't really pull out, they brought about what
they called the Reformation intending to reform the Catholic Church.
But the problem was, there was this group at the time that were
meeting in these little houses and little places. They were
first called the Donatists, and later they were called the Heretics,
and later they were called the Reformer Stepchildren, these
historical people. They were preaching the gospel.
They were preaching the gospel in these little groups of people,
and they believed this was the church of the living God, that
it was made up of believers who had come to a knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and not because they were members of some governmental,
religious, ecclesiastical body by which they had gained entrance,
because they were sprinkled when they were born. These were people
dotted up and literally they wore the name of Heretic for
many, many years. Then when the Reformers came
along and pulled out of the Catholic Church, some of these people
decided they was going to join up with the Reformers because
they were hoping that they'd be against things like this sacral
idea of church community, which meant that a church was really
the influential governmental body of a community. And that's
still, that's called sacralism. But at any rate, these fellas
were preaching the gospel. Now this fella said to me, he
said, you're a reformer. And I said, no I'm not. I said,
I'm not a reformer. I'm not interested in reforming
the Catholic Church. And I'm still not interested. He said,
well you're a Protestant. I said, I'm not protesting anything.
I'm not protesting anything. I'm declaring the glories of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation of sinners. That's
my job. He said, well, I know that. And
I said, you do? He said, well, I just thought
since what you preach is probably a reformer. I said, well, I'm
not. He said, I've been listening to you on Sermon Audio for several
years. I've got over a hundred of your CDs and I've burned them
and I've handed them out to people and we're meeting on Thursday
nights with several people and we sit down and we listen to
one of your messages. Listen to one of your messages." I said,
I don't know this guy from nowhere. I don't know him from nowhere.
But he's one of God's children, because he's latched on to the
gospel. He said all that stuff before wasn't nothing. It was
in the flesh, it didn't mean anything to me. He said, for
the first time in my life, he said this to me, and this man's
probably in his fifties now. He said, for the first time in
my life, I'm a free man. I'm free. I'm not bound by any
of this religious mess. I'm a free man. I can worship
Christ as He is. Now this fellow said, and every
day is a struggle. He said, every day is a struggle.
I said, join the club. I said, that's what the Christian
life is. God causes us to struggle. These aren't anomalies. Causes
us to struggle. Gives us these trials. And these
trials have to do with the result. This fellow went through a whole
mess for his life. And one day he heard the gospel.
One day he heard the gospel. What a wondrous thing. He heard
the gospel. Same thing happened to me. I was in religion all
my life. I was a Calvinist and a reformer,
I thought. And I was a legalist. And lost
as a goose in a snowstorm. Didn't know God from a goose.
And somebody told me the truth. God sent someone to tell me the
truth. And since then, since that day,
I've had nothing but struggles. And it ain't struggles with the
world. The world don't interest me a
whole lot. It ain't struggles with money. You know, if I got
it, I spend it. If I don't have it, I don't.
That's what money's for. That's why it's called a dream to go. That's
why it's, you know. It's not with struggles. The
struggles are in here in my heart and in my mind. And the struggle
is basically this. Why don't I keep my eyes on Christ? Why do I look away from Him?
And I look away from Him because of the flesh. And when I look
away from Him, God sends me a trial to bring me back home. This struggle
is real. It's a real struggle throughout
Scripture. Let me show you that. Look at
a few passages of Scripture beginning in Romans chapter 7. You're familiar
with this. Paul, the Apostle. Now some people have actually
said because they believe that when a person is saved he becomes
this person that walks around in some kind of ethereal plane
of spirituality and never has any problems. Well, that's a
lie. But some people who believe that,
it actually said in the 7th chapter of Romans that they don't think
Paul was a saved man when he wrote it. You can read actually
commentaries that say that. But here's what Paul said about
life, and this is life. I remember preaching a message
years ago, and I entitled the message, Would You Hire This
Man? Would you hire this man? If this guy came to your office
to apply for a job and said this about himself, would you? You'd
probably say, well, this guy needs to be arrested or put out,
needs to be down at Camp Button or something. Here's what Paul
said about his life. As a child of God, as an apostle
who met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, who was converted
and was told that he was going to go preach the gospel, this
man wrote these words about his life. Now, he wasn't no, when
he wrote this, he was not a novice. He had been preaching the gospel
for a while and he wrote the book of Romans and he said this.
He says verse 15, for that which I do I allow not. Now that word
allow means no. He said, I don't know what I'm
doing. Would you hide that from me?
I don't know what I'm doing. That's what he said. Wait a minute,
you're one of God's child. You're a super Christian. You
got all your ducks in a row. You know how you're going to
live your life. You're going to pray through. He said, I don't know
what I'm doing. He said, for that which I would,
that means what I want to do, I don't do it. And what I hate,
that's what I end up doing. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent that the law is good. The problem's not with
God's law, the problem's with me, I'm a sinner. Now then, it is no more that
I do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." And he's not excusing
himself and placing this on something, because he says, what I do. What
I do. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present
with me, but how to perform that which is good, I can't seem to
find it. For the good that I would, I do not. But the evil which
I would not, that I do. Now, if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. This
principle. I find then a law, a principle of life, that when
I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the
law after the inward man. Inside I know what's right. I
know God's right and I delight in His Word and what He says
is true. I love that. Every child of God
loves God's Word. But I see another law. I see
another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and
bringing me into captivity to the laws of sin which is in my
members. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? And would you
hire that man? Then he says, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with my mind, I myself
serve the law of God. That is the inward man. I seek
to do that which is right in God's eyes. But with my flesh,
I serve the law of sin. That is your life. That is my
life as a child of God. You think, well, there just ain't
no hope for a fellow like that. Read the next line. is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. With my mind, I serve God's law. With my flesh, I serve sin. But
my salvation is based on the fact that Jesus Christ died for
me. That's my salvation, not on anything
I do or don't do. It's based on that. This struggle
is real. This is an apostle who wrote
these words. It's a real struggle. In Galatians
chapter 5, Paul, speaking about the law and grace, said this,
In Galatians chapter 5 and verse 16 and 17, he said, verse 16,
"...walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of
the flesh." Now that's just true. When your eyes are upon Christ,
you're not going to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. The minute
you take your eyes off Him, you will. But look what it says,
"...for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh." And these are contrary to one another so that you cannot
do the thing that you would. That's your situation. That's the struggle. I can't
do what I want to. And that goes both ways, doesn't
it? Driving down the road and somebody pulls out in front of
you, you think, I ought to kill that guy. That's what you think. What if you had a gun? You might
even have a little closer idea about killing a guy. But let
me tell you, if you're a child of God, it ain't going to happen. You
ain't going to get what you want. You say, well, I want to be a
perfect man. It's a good thing to want to
be. But you ain't going to get it. Because the minute you want
something worthwhile, there's a part of you that fights against
that tooth and nail. And the minute you want to do
something evil, there's a part of you that fights against that
tooth and nail. You cannot do what you would.
This is a real struggle. This is a real struggle. In James
chapter 1, James talks about why these trials come our way.
There's a reason for them. In Hebrews chapter 12, our Lord
said that He chastises every son whom He loves. And then in
James chapter 1, and that's what the book of James is about from
start to finish, it's about the trials of the believer. He said
in verse 2, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into
divers temptations. The word temptation is trial.
You may be happy about something like that. He said, count it
all joy, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh
patience. But let patience have her perfect word, that she may
be perfect and entire, and that word is mature and entire, wanting
nothing. And if you lack wisdom, that
is understanding while you're going through the trial, ask
God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, it shall
be given him. It shall be given him. That's the life of the child
of God. And if you don't believe that, read the book of James.
We just finished studying it in Sunday school and I was, nobody
was more amazed at that study than I was. Because I had a whole
different idea of what the book of James is about until we studied
that. This is a real deal. This is
a real deal. Look what Peter said in 1 Peter.
In 1 Peter chapter 1 he says this in verse 5, the glorious
fact that we are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. He says wherein
we greatly rejoice. We rejoice in this salvation.
We rejoice in the fact that we are kept by God. Though now,
for a season, if need be. Ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious
than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might
be found in praise and honor and glory at the appearing of
the Lord Jesus Christ." The trying of your faith, a necessary thing. On a personal level, when we
look at our lives, We feel defeated more than we feel victorious.
I don't think I'm speaking only for myself. I think most believers
feel that way. They feel more defeated than
they do victorious. It's just a fact of life. But
that's not the case. It's not the case. Remember what
Paul said, I just can't do what I would. And then as he finishes
that whole argument with these words, there is therefore now
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Because
it ain't what we see and what we think about and what we feel
in this life, it's who we see and who we trust. And it's the
one Jesus Christ who has saved us from our sins. We will falter. Read the Psalms. the sweet psalmist of Israel
of whom it is written. Now David grew stronger and stronger
and Saul's house grew weaker and weaker. David who wrote the
Psalms talked often about faltering and depression. He said, my soul
is disquieted within me and I will not be comforted. You ever been
that way? Got down and somebody tried to comfort you, you just
won't leave you alone, you want to water in it for a while. That's the
human being. That's the human being. We will
falter, we will fall, we will not cease to struggle. It says
this is a long war between the house of Saul and the house of
David. We're not discharged from this
war, the preacher said in Ecclesiastes. We will not cease this struggle.
But let me tell you this, if you're a child of God tonight,
if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not lose
this battle. It may seem like you're losing
it, but you're not going to lose the battle. You're going to win. That's the declaration of Scripture.
David gets stronger and stronger, and Saul gets weaker and weaker.
Your spirit will get stronger and stronger, and your flesh
will get weaker and weaker as time goes by. And that's the
clear declaration of Scripture. I'm not taking this text and
trying to make it mean something it don't mean. That's exactly
what it means. Let me show you what I'm talking
about. Look over Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. Paul says in verse 11, Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed to sin. Now what
does that say? That calls for you to do something.
The root of this word is the same root word as impute. That means you're going to have
to charge this to your own mind. Reckon yourself that you're dead
and say, Why do you have to reckon it? Because you have trouble
with sin, don't you? Sin seems to be alive and well
in your body, doesn't it? Sin seems to be alive and well
in your Holy Spirit. So you have to reckon yourself
to be dead. What does that mean? You have to believe that what
Christ did on Calvary's tree actually accomplished your salvation.
That you died when He died. But you are alive unto God through
Jesus Christ. Now He says, Let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lust thereof. Neither yield your members, that
is your body, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from
the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
to God. Your body can be used for God. It can be. It can also be used against God. But you yield it to God. Why
would you do something like that? Why would you let sin no longer
reign in your body? Why would you yield your members
to righteousness, that is, unto God? Why would you do that? Look
at the next verse. 4 means because. Because sin shall not have dominion
over you because you are not under the law. you're under grace. That says a couple of things
right there. First of all, if you're under the law, sin has
dominion over you. Do you realize that? Sin has
dominion over you because the law works by sin. Do you realize
that? Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter
15. Verse 56 says, "...the sting
of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law." The strength
of sin is the law. Now the only way you can yield
your members is to reckon yourselves to be dead, and the only way
you're going to do that is to realize you're not under the
law anymore. The law has been satisfied for
you. Because Paul said, Whosoever is under the law, whatsoever
the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that
every mouth might be stopped, and the whole world become guilty
before God. But you're not under the law, you're under grace.
You've been freed from the curse of the law, because the curse
of the law is death. And in Galatians 3.13 it says,
We have been delivered from the curse of the law, because Christ
has made a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. We are not under the law, we
are under grace. And if the clear statement of
this is that sin will not have dominion over you, It will not have dominion over
you. Now that word dominion doesn't mean that it won't whip you up.
It don't mean it won't knock you down. It don't mean like
in certain circumstances it won't win. What it means, it has neither
right nor warrant to rule you. So if it rules you in any way,
it's because you have given over to it. I use this example, in
1970, June 6th, I believe it was, 1970, I mustered out of
the armed forces. I'd been serving four years between
1966 and 1970. In 1970, I got on my Honda motorcycle
and I strapped my knapsack to my back because that was all
of my belongings. I gave all my uniforms away. I was done
with the service. Now, for four years, I'd come
up to the rank of sergeant, but for four years I had been what
was called a grunt. That's a person who does all
the lousy work. And I remember being in the service three and
a half years, three years and nine months, and a second lieutenant
would come around the corner, been in the service 90 days.
And I knew more about airplanes than this guy would ever know,
because I'd been crawled in them, which he'd never do. But I had
to stop, snap two, and salute that guy because he was my superior. He had a right to dominate me
because he was my superior. And I couldn't do anything about
that. I didn't like it. That's why I quit after four years.
I said, that's enough for me. But that day I got out, they
signed a paper that said I was free. I was no longer a member
of the armed forces. No general with four stars could
have stopped me anywhere that day and said, you have to salute
me. He didn't have the right to.
I was no longer under his dominion. But you know what? If one hadn't stopped me, I'd
have probably saluted. You know why? Because the memory
of that dominion is real. Sin has no right to have dominion
over you, but you remember how it dominated you, don't you?
And sometime when it says, snap to, you snap to. Sad to say,
but it has no right to. You are free from its domination. You're free from its domination.
Sin shall no longer have dominion over you. You're getting stronger
spiritually, and your flesh is getting weaker. Your flesh dominated
you all your life. Now the Spirit dominates you.
That's the language. You say, well, it don't feel
that way. Well, believe the Scripture instead of how you feel. Do that. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter
8, verse 36, 37. Listen to this language. And it is written, for thy sake,
for the Lord's sake, we are killed all the day long. That's your
trials, that's your troubles. Persecution, famine, nakedness,
peril, sword, all these things happen to the children of God.
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. You say, well
that don't seem like much of a life. But that's the true life
of the child of God. Read the next verse. No, in all
these things, what things? persecution, tribulation, distress,
famine, nakedness, peril, sword, being killed, being accounted
as sheep to slaughter. In all these things, we are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us. Now, it may not feel
like it, but trust me, David is growing stronger and stronger
and Saul is growing weaker and weaker. Paul said to the Galatian
church in Galatians chapter 6, Now if you want a motto to put
on your wall, because people like religious mottos, here's
a motto, but it ain't too religious, but it sure is a good one. Paul
said, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross, that
is the crucifixion of the one crucified, our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I am crucified unto
the world. You want a road to live by? There
you go. That's a good rule to live by.
He says that down in verse 16, "...and as many as walk according
to this rule, peace be on them and mercy, and upon the Israel
of God, which is the church of the living God." How does the story end? We are privileged as children
of God to know how the story ends. We are. In Revelation 7, it says this
in verse 9, After this, I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which
no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and
tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed
in white robes, and palms in their hands. And they cried with
a loud voice, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne,
and or even unto the Lamb." Now here we find a whole group of
humanity, all born in sin, but these are redeemed by the blood.
And we find them all standing before God. That's an odd thing. You don't find people in Scripture
standing before God. In fact, this phrase is often
used, when God shows up, who will stand? People don't stand
before God. People fall down before God.
Everybody does in Scripture. They fall down on their face
before God. But we find these people standing
Robed in white robes before God. They're standing up. They've
got palms in their hands, symbols of peace in their hands. There's
peace between them and God. Peace bought by and made by the
blood of Jesus Christ's cross. They're standing there. What
does that tell me? It tells me this. First of all,
they're welcome. God wouldn't have them stand
if He didn't welcome them. Secondly, there's no iniquity in them.
We know they were born sons of Adam. But David said, Lord, if
thou should mark iniquity, who could stand? Evidently, there
ain't no iniquity in these people. They've been washed in the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And before God, they are perfect
and whole and just and righteous and holy. Now, they've been struggling
all their lives. But now the flesh is gone. It's
buried back in some hole on Yellow Hill in Turkey. And they're standing
before God. Standing without iniquity, holy
and righteous before God. I'm telling you, if you believe
the end of the story, the struggle is real. But you'll
win the battle. You're getting stronger and stronger.
Your spirit is, your flesh is getting weaker and weaker, weaker
and weaker. How do I know we'll win? Because
God says so. How will we win? We'll win by
trial, by struggle. We'll win by persecution. We'll win by a sword. We'll win by peril. We'll win
by distress and we'll win by famine. We'll win by being killed. We will win by being counted
as sheep for the slaughter every day that we live. We will win.
We'll win by losing. He that loses his life for my
sake shall save it. Shall save it. How do these trials come? manifold ways, in different ways
to each person. God knows His people and knows
what buttons to push. We know sickness is a trial.
Those of you who are going through sickness, it's a struggle. When
your body hurts and when you're in pain, it affects every portion
of your being. It affects your spirit. It affects
your heart. It affects your mind. It affects
your affections. I get sick enough, I hate everybody.
Don't you? Don't want nobody around, don't
want nobody to see me, don't want nobody to talk to. Now I've
been to the hospital, folks didn't want to see me. It's too sick. Oh preacher, go home. Why? I'm just too sick. Sickness is
a trial, but sickness is not an anomaly. I know there's a
whole religious group of people in this world that says, if you're
sick, you just speak out against that sickness. You challenge
that sickness in the blood of Jesus Christ and it will go away.
What did Martha say to the Lord Jesus Christ? He whom thou lovest
is sick. And Christ said, not only that,
he's going to die. And it's all going to be for the glory of
God. old age. One way that David grows stronger
and Saul grows weaker is that God weans us from this
world. Now growing up, this world's
pretty fantastic. Isn't it? I still like it a whole
lot. I like having stuff. I still have pipe dreams of being
a multimillionaire. I know it's never going to happen,
but I think about it once. What would I do if I had a million bucks?
I'd buy two weeks' worth of health insurance. I'd spend every bit
of it probably. What would I do? I still like
it. The world still loves being here.
But I'll tell you what, it's not as precious to me as it used
to be. I now have to wear these to see
it. Y'all are just a blur. Y'all look a lot better. Y'all
are just a blur. I mean seriously, I look at you.
You're a blur. I put these on and I can see
you clear. But I need these down here to read this. My eyes are
growing dim. Without the aid of science, this
world wouldn't even be pretty for me no more because I couldn't
see except in a blur. I couldn't see except in the
bird. Darryl Inslee come over to see
me today, and Darryl talks kind of quietly. He's got a deep voice,
talks kind of quietly. I was sitting on one side of the living
room, he was sitting on the other, and finally I said, Darryl, I've
got to get up. I can't hear a word you're saying. I went there and sat right next
to him, and I said, turn your mouth toward my ear and talk to me. I can't hear the way I used to
hear. Unless the birds are singing loud in the morning, I can't
hear the birds. I can't hear the bird. I can't
hear the river flowing unless it's really flowing real loud.
It's not precious to me anymore. I can't hear it. Things that I used to love to
taste, you know, I used to love a double whopper. Got one yesterday. It was all right. It was all right. But I remember
the first one I ate, I thought, I could eat 40 of these right
now. We get older. That's a trial,
isn't it? Me and Deb went to Haywood County
the other day and went to, I think it was a game stop and then went
to Walmart, just to Haywood County. And we come back through Silver
and stopped at the food line, or back in Cherokee and stopped
at the food line and got out of the car and went I looked over at her, and I was
bent over like this, and I looked over at her, and she was bent
over like this, and we just started laughing, because we were just
bent over. We're getting older. You know what? This world is
not what it used to be. It ain't sweet like it was. Let me show you something in
Scripture. Turn over to 2 Samuel chapter 19. Barzillai was an old man who
helped David out when he was fighting with Absalom. We'll
run into that here along the way pretty soon. But after Barzillai had helped
out David, David said, won't you come back to the house with
me? Come back to the palace. Come back to the castle. I'll
treat you right. I'll treat you right. And here's
what Barzillai said. Chapter 19 and verse 34. And Barzillai said, Now this
is an opportunity to go live with the King now. It ain't no
small thing. Barzaleh, I said, how long have I to live that
I should go up to the King and to Jerusalem? I ain't got that
long to live. I'm 87 years old. Lay was 86.
He said, I am this day four score years old, and can I discern
between good and evil? He said, I'm too old to even
figure that out. Can the servant taste what I
eat or what I drink? taste buds ain't what they used
to be. Can I hear any more of the voice of singing men and
singing women? Wherefore then should thy servant
be yet a burden to the Lord my King? Thy servant will go a little
way over Jordan with the King, and why should the King recompense
me with such a reward? Let thy servant, I pray thee,
turn back again that I may die in my own city and be buried
by the grave of my Father. That's the way it is, get old. That's the way it is. You're
being weaned from this world. That's a trial. It's a trial. But our text says this. Back
in our text. Now there was a long war. A long
war. between the house of Saul and
the house of David. But David waxed stronger and
stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. Christ in you. Christ for you. Christ with you. You will not
lose. John wrote his epistle in 1 John. He says, I write to you young
men who have overcome the evil one. I write to you old men who've
overcome the evil one. And all of you have overcome
the world by believing. By believing. I'm glad that I'm not in this struggle alone. I'm glad that I have brothers
and sisters in Christ who understand what I'm talking about. and who
are there to help me along the way. And we can complain together. We can complain together. But
the children have got to go win, because they're in Christ. And
He's our spiritual David. And He's growing stronger and
stronger. And our flesh is growing weaker and weaker. Father, give us grace to appreciate
the fact that the end result has already been settled, and
that these things that come our way are by appointment, and they are for Your glory and
for our good, and to turn our eyes upon Christ. Help us, Lord,
to see Him. in everything that takes place,
knowing that He's the sovereign ruler and appoints all things
for His people, directing their very steps and working all things
together for good to them that love God to them of the call
according to His purpose. Father, give us an appreciation
for You, a love and a heart of thanksgiving and praise in Christ's
name. Amen.