Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to 1 Samuel chapter 17, and we'll
read for our text part of verse 39. The latter part of verse 39, when
we read these words, David saying to Saul, I cannot go with these,
for I have not proved them. 1 Samuel 17 and part of verse 39. The whole, in fact if I read
from verse 38 you get more of the context. And Saul armed David
with his armour. And he put on, put an helmet
of brass upon his head. Also he armed him with a coat
of mail. And David girded his sword upon
his armor, and he is saved to go, for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot
go with these, for I have not proved them. And David put them
of Him." A very, very important time in
the history of Israel. A very important time in David's
life. Not a time in the providence
of God that a man would come to that time unprepared, unready,
to try something for the first time, to wear armour he'd never
worn before, to take a sword that he was unfamiliar with,
to have those things on him that were completely strange to him.
At such a time, such armour and such defence, that is not what
God will have. for his people. We can be sure
when God brings us into places where they are very critical
times, are very important times, that there will be a preparation. And what is implied here with
David, though he says regarding the armour that Saul was putting
upon him, I have not proved them, there was that which He had proved,
and that is what He went with, not what others thought He should
go with, but with what God had given Him already to prove in
preparation for this time. We said how important this time
was for David and for Israel. David just not long before had
been anointed by Samuel in private to be the next king over Israel. Anointed even while Saul was
alive. The Lord's next step was to bring
David into the limelight, into the public stage, not just before
all Israel, but before all the enemies of Israel as well. The Lord had seen fit to have
for 40 days, and 40 days is, 40 is always a testing time in
scripture. It's a time that it rained on
the earth with the flood first, and then the 40 years in the
wilderness, 40 days from the time Christ rose from the dead
until he ascended up into heaven, we have the 40 is a very important
time. when Jonah went to Nineveh, 40
days, that city was to be destroyed. It's a testing, it's a trial
time. And with this, for 40 days, Goliath
had challenged Israel to find one man that was able to come
against him. And none could be found. It is
very vital that where the Lord brings about a deliverance, He
first will eliminate those who think, or maybe others would
have thought, well, if David perhaps hadn't have been so quick
in jumping to offer himself, then others would certainly have
been able to do it just as well. The Lord never does that. You
think of when our Lord was on earth and we find the miracles,
many of the miracles that He did. The woman that had the issue
of blood, 12 years, she had to prove all that time that no doctors,
nothing, all her money spent was wasted. And so for then the
time when the Lord comes, then that makes the miracle even greater
and that this is the Lord's doing and what He has done. And so
for 40 days with Israel, there is Israel on one side, the Philistines
on the other, and the challenge and none is found at all. No deliverer, no saviour, no
one to challenge Goliath. And then David is sent by his
father to see his brethren. often think of the similarity
with the beginning of the account of Joseph, how that he also obeyed
his father, and he comes then into this situation. There's
nothing indicative here. David does not say, the Lord
told me before I knew why I was coming. There's nothing that
really tells us that before David came here, He knew what was going
to happen, but God knew, and God had prepared him. And so we have the picture of
the valley between the two, and there is David, that lone figure
going out against Goliath. And he goes out in the name of
the Lord and slays him. before all the armies of Israel
and the Philistines, thrust into the limelight, into the presence
of all that were there. You know, in one sense, David
is a beautiful time of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. David single-handedly defeating
Goliath And in one sense Goliath had set the terms that whosoever
won that battle, single, one to one, that it would be a conquest
that was wrought for their whole nation, not just for them. And when our Lord suffered and
bled and died at Calvary, it was for all of his people. And again, the eye if I be lifted
up above the earth. He was made a spectacle and the
transfiguration that was not long before our Lord suffered,
He was speaking with Moses and Elias of His decease that He
should accomplish at Jerusalem. The seed of the woman that should
bruise the serpent's head. And of course, this account,
the very last verse, when Saul is asking David, whose son they
are, David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse, the
Bethlehemite. And we see at the end of the
book of Ruth, the line from Judah right through to Jesse and to
David. And of course, in Matthew, the
line from Abraham to David, 14 generations, David, to the carrying
away into Babylon, 14 generations, and from the carrying away into
Babylon unto Christ, 14 generations. God is a preparing God, and He
prepares His people for what they will go through in this
life, those important times, and he will prepare them for
heaven. God's people are a prepared people
for a prepared place. And the place that they must
go to and come to before they get to heaven is death. And the last enemy, says Paul,
is death. And the Lord will prepare them
before that time. not with armor, not with that
which they are going to take actually in the hour and article
of death, but what they have proved beforehand. And so this is what is upon my
spirit this evening, where David says, I cannot go with these,
for I have not proved them. I want this word to be, as it
were, an encouragement Encouragement to those that are going through
proving times now, like David had with the lion and with the
bear, and find that those times are trial, like Peter says, the
trial of your faith, much more precious than of gold that perisheth. He said, though you may be in
heaviness through manifold trials, this will be a help to you in
that thinking of what the Lord may be giving you to prove like
David proved beforehand. And then also a word of direction. You know, if we are found in
a situation like David was, and we might say, how can we go?
What can we go with? How can we face this foe? How
can we proceed in this matter? Well, it's not something new,
like David was presented by Saul, but what had already been proved. May that word be a word of direction
to one here to think back You might think, well, this is a
new path. And David might have said, how
can I compare Goliath with a lion and a bear? But he does. And
you might also be not thinking of what is before you. So I've
never walked this path before. Well, David would have said,
I've never faced Goliath before. But he faced a lion and a bear
before. and you might be in the same
situation. So may the Word tonight remind
you to look at what you already know, what you've already proved,
and be held in a situation before you to face that. Time to look
then firstly at a proving ground for God's people. And then secondly,
for such a time as this. And then thirdly, weapons of
our warfare appointed by God and proved by His people. And we'll look there specifically
at that in Ephesians 6. But firstly, a proving ground
for God's people. If we begin with David, the context
that is here, we may say the proving ground was when he was
looking after the sheep. Very, very different than on
the battlefield with Goliath. Very different from being king
over Israel. but it was that proving ground
where he had proved that he could trust in the Lord, he could rely
on the Lord, it was not his strength. It's a wonderful testimony really
that David says to Saul and he recounts how thy servant kept
his father's sheep. There came a lion and a bear
and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went after him and smote
him and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against
me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. Thy
servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised
Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the
armies of the living God." And a beautiful summary in verse
37, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and
out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand
of this Philistine. Saul said unto David, Go, and
the Lord be with thee. And then Saul takes all his armour,
everything that he associated with what was needful in that
time, but David goes right back to what he used and what he relied
on, on that proving ground as he was looking after the sheep.
And what a good principle that that is. The Lord used that time. The Lord never wastes time for
his people. He always uses it. I always think
back to the years I had in engineering as a design engineer. And there's
many things in the ministry I use, many principles, many The things
that I learned then, the skills I learned then, both in practical
ways and in the word. And it's a good thing, it's very
reinforcing, it's strengthening to when things come and they
seem to be sudden, to think, well, there's already been a
proving time. And in one sense, there's a proving
of God's people and is a proving of their reliance on God himself. It's a two way thing really. David himself was proved as one
brought to trust in the Lord and at the same time he proved
the Lord that he was able to deliver him and he would deliver
him. There's another principle and
this is the proving ground. is that it's often in the small
things. The scripture teaches us that
he that is faithful in that which is least will be faithful in
that which is greatest. If you're a young person and
you start off on the shop floor and they give you a broom to
clean the workshop floor, you do that well. You do it with
all your mind. Don't think more, that's just
a cleaning job. It doesn't need to be done very
good. Those that are looking over you,
those that would be giving you advancement later on, they won't
think, well, it doesn't matter, that's just a broom. They will
see how diligent, how thorough what you do, and they will then
give you something better to do. When they see one faithful
in that which is least, or good and diligent at doing the menial
tasks, then they'll give more. And the Lord uses this principle
for his people. There's many that think, oh,
if I was a missionary, I'd be such a good one for the Lord,
and I'd be able to recommend the Lord and speak to these savages
and everything like that. One person comes across you in
Guildford and you run away from them and you don't open your
mouth at all. You know, a lot of the missionary
societies, if someone wants to be a missionary, they immediately
inquire what are you doing to your neighbours, your home ground.
Don't have these ideas of greatness in some distance away if you're
not working right here. And so with a proving ground,
it comes to what we're actually walking through. We may ask ourselves,
whatever trial, trouble that we're going through now, how
is it proving us? Are we in prayer? Are we relying
on the Lord? Are we looking to the Lord's
help? Are we watching His providence, even in smallest things? You
know we sing, my life's minutest circumstance is subject to his
eye. But do we walk that out and do
we learn it and see it? So that was David's proving ground
and you might say from this time right through to when he was
king, those many years pursued by Saul, that again was a preparation,
a a proving as well. We think of what the Lord did
with Moses. Moses was chosen by God and brought
into the world in a miraculous way, preserved and kept, and
for 40 years he had to be in Pharaoh's household, learning
all the ways of a king, of a statesman, of a leader, And in that sense,
it was not just a proving, but it was a teaching ground. But
it was also proving how easy it would have been for Moses
to say, what a beautiful position I've got. I'm going to stay here. I'm going to make the most of
it. Pharaoh's son, I can be over all Egypt if I want to. We read
in Hebrews it was by faith, choosing rather to suffer affliction with
the people of God than to enjoy the places of sin for a season. You know, when the way got really
hard, when he was leading the people of God in the wilderness,
when it got hard for them, they wanted to go back. You don't
ever read Moses saying to the Lord, Lord, I had such a lovely
position in Egypt, why did you bring me out here when I could
still be enjoying all of that there? He needed to be proved
in that way. And many of us that, well, many
of us in the ministry, We've, as it were, been called from
very, very good jobs, high positions, to calling solely in the ministry. And yet, it can be an easy temptation. Well, I could have got on a lot
better in this world if I stayed in my profession. But, you know,
even in that profession, there's a proving, is the Lord first? Who are we looking at first?
And so with Moses he had that, with Pharaoh, then he had 40
years in the backside of the desert. You think of what I said
about a cleaner. What a contrast! Is Moses just
looking after sheep? Is this the same one who's going
to lead Israel? Is he going to be in the position
that he is in the Word of God, representing the law of God? That the Word of God says there
is none greater than Moses, whom God spoke face to face with,
and it began with 40 years looking after sheep? But again, It's
that proving, it's that testing, it's that preparation, so that
he would trust the Lord and lean upon the Lord and look to the
Lord in all that he had to go through. And you know, when Moses
was eventually sent, he had many excuses. And some of the things
he was saying was, we'll send someone else. But would the Lord
send someone else when He spent all that time preparing and proving
Him? Would the Lord have sent someone
else other than David when David had had the preparation? See
how this can be a real strength and help to us when we may feel
our weakness and insufficiency and think, how can I go? How
can I venture? And then to remember Well, the
Lord hasn't begun right now. He didn't begin right at the
moment that Goliath was challenging Israel. He'd begun before with
David. That's when he began. And it's
good to trace where the Lord has begun in preparing. But there's another one. We said
with David, he is in the line unto Christ. And many of David's
Psalms, they speak prophetically of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. We said how David going out alone
against Goliath, defeating him, was a type of how the Lord worked
in salvation at Calvary. But we think of the Lord's life
as well. A proving time. We know when the Lord was brought
upon this earth, then from the time of His conception, we might
say, to the time of His ascension, He worked a righteousness in
His perfect life and perfect obedience to be able to give
to His people. But His also was a proving time. He was to be a nail in a sure
place. which the Prophet says was to
hang on Him all the glory of His people. If the Lord was to
bear His people's sin, He must be able to bear it. If He was
to bear His people's sin, He Himself must be spotless and
pure. And notice when He comes into
the world, and when he starts his public ministry, then we
find Satan is not Satan brings him out into the wilderness,
it is the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness to be tempted
of the devil. If thou art the Son of God, proving
our Lord, We would say, well, if he proved he was the son of
God, he'd work some miracle. He'd do what Satan was asking
him to do. But he would not be God if he
is the slave of Satan. And so in that sense, the hymn
writer says, our captain stood the fiery test. We shall stand
through him. The Lord knew who he was. You think of those times when
the Jews, they said, Thou art Beelzebub, or from the devils,
the cast of devils, by the prince of devils. And the Lord says,
I know whom I am, and from whence I came. He was so certain on
that. And through his life, in all
of the contradiction of sinners, in all the temptations, in all
that he went through, He was proved to be the Son of God with
power and always owned His Father. He testified to them that if
I were to say that He is not my Father, I would be a liar
like unto you. A consistent witness and testimony
right through His life. For the Lord to have laid on
Him the iniquity of us all, He must be able to bear that. He must be able to come to that,
nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. And we can
easily overlook it. We can say, well, He was the
Son of God. He was a true man, a real man. And He needed to be proved and
tried. And that testimony for the Church
of God to the end of time, to read how he lived upon this earth,
what his witness was before the cross, before that, you might
say, equivalent time that David had with Goliath, the lead up
to it. David says, I cannot go with
these, I have not proved them. But our Lord, he says, I have
power to lay down my life. I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my Father, and He is approaching death with His commission, with
all that has gone before, and with the preparation that He
prepared His own people with. A proving ground for the Lord's
people, a proving ground for the Lord, that the people of
God would look upon Him, look upon all that He had done, and
be able to see so clearly, this is He that truly was a near kinsman. This is He that was able to bear
His people's sin. This is He, the only anointed
of the Father, the One that was so full of grace and of truth. May we think of places in our
own lives where we may say they have been proving times for us. They've been a preparation time. It might have been a very menial
thing, a small thing, an insignificant thing, but we can look back and
be thankful that the Lord gave us that because He brought us
to have that, to face that which is greater. And of course the
very essence of what David testifies here. The Lord that delivered
me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear,
he will deliver me. This is really the sum up of
Ebenezer. Hitherto hath the Lord helped
us. This is the realization. that
it is by His strength and by His power I can do, says the
Apostle, all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. How did
He know that? Because He proved it. He proved
it time and time again. That's how He knew it. And that
is a vital thing. And I just note on this that
how personal that this is, is not something that can be borrowed
from another. In one sense, this is what Saul
was saying, here David, you borrow my armour, you borrow my trust. You borrow what I would use to
fight, but I wasn't prepared to. I was too frightened to. I can't. I'm going to jump out
of my armour and put you in my armour, and you can go and do
what I was too frightened to do." But David says, no, that's
not my armour. That's not what I approved. And
he goes back to what he had proved. Prize those times when you prove
the Lord faithful. When you've proved answers to
prayer, when you've proved the grace of the Lord, Paul said,
my grace is sufficient for thee, the Lord has said to Paul. And
he oft referred to that. What I am, he said, I am by the
grace of God. And he proved it. And so may
we look at that which the Lord has revealed to us of Himself,
of a true trust, not in carnal things, not in the wisdom of
this world, not in the helmets, the swords, the armours of this
world, but in that which God gives His people and to trust
in Him and in Him alone. Proving ground then for God's
people. We could mention Joseph and all
the time until his time came, the word of the Lord proved him. We could think of Job and all
that he went through. Many of the Lord's dear people
have been through these deep paths and they proved the Lord
faithful and good and merciful and long-suffering. and they've
proved it for themselves. So they don't just read about
this in the Word of God. They do, but they're able to
say, I have proved Him faithful. I have proved that He will answer
prayer. I have proved His goodness. I
have proved that He knows what is before me, even before I come
against it, and that He then goes and prepares me for it. The preparation to the heart
of man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. We'll want to look then at our
second point, for such a time as this. And you might recognize that
we've borrowed, as it were, the point from what Mordecai said
to Queen Esther. suddenly coming upon the Jews
at that time, the threat of extinction through the decree that King
Ahasuerus had signed and sealed at the instigation of Haman. And Queen Esther, very reluctant
to go in before the king, she says of the reasons that only
If he holds out the golden scepter, can I go in? If he doesn't, then
I will be slain. And Mordecai says to her, thinkest
thou that thou wilt escape in the palace? And who knoweth that
thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? A sudden thread, a sudden time,
and one person in a position, and she is not recognizing it,
but her uncle is, or cousin, that this is the time that she
is to speak. She has been prepared for this
time. The point I want to make in this
second point is these things that come unexpectedly and suddenly
upon us. It is not always that the Lord's
people are prepared for what comes. When we think of Elisha,
Elisha had been used by God to be the means of telling the Shunammite
woman that she should bear a child when she was barren. And she
bore a child. But when that child died of heat
stroke, that woman, she came to Elisha. She was in distress. She fell at his feet. Gehazi
tried to push her away, and Elisha refused to let him do so. He says that She is in distress
and the Lord hath hid it from me. The Lord hath hid it from
me." The amount of things that Elisha knew had been foretold
of. He could tell what was being
told in the King Assyria's bedchamber and yet now he couldn't. And
God is sovereign, isn't He? Sometimes He prepares, and sometimes
He doesn't. You think of with Jacob, when
his brothers come back with the coat of multi-colors all covered
with blood, what a shock that was. Those things that come so
sudden and so unexpectedly. like this, you might say, with
David and with the Philistine, it is then that we must really
think, what have we proved? What have we proved? It's not
then a time to look for something new. You know, when the children
of Israel were to go through the rivers of Jordan, which is,
in a way, typical of death, It was said by Joshua to them, you
have not walked this way heretofore. All right, let's try something
new then. Let's get a new design, a new
way of going forward. No. The same way, the Ark of
God carried on the shoulders of the Levites, and in fact even
more, instead of it leading the way, now there must be a long
distance between it and the people so everyone could see it. That was to show the way. Not
a new way, but our way. And that was to show the way.
There's a lot in that word that we are to seek for the old paths
and walk therein. Because many generations, all
of the people of God, right through the Word of God, through history,
they have proved these things. We read of them in autobiographies,
we read of them in the Word of God. We must prove it personally,
but there is that aspect where we read of it and we are to seek,
not some other way, but the same way, the old paths, and to walk
therein. And I think today with all its
innovations, and sometimes it's hard to discern, isn't it? You
know, four or five years ago, many of our churches, we didn't
have live streaming, we didn't have video, we didn't have these
things. Probably would have shattered
the thought of having it in our churches. Years ago, when I first
came over in 88 from Australia, In Melbourne then we never had
microphones in the chapel. I was associated then with the
world and with rock bands. When I come over here and see
every pulpit with a microphone on, it was quite a cultural shock. But if that hadn't, if we hadn't
have changed that, then I couldn't have linked Melbourne with Sydney
and we couldn't be preaching for them from here now as we
do now. Then when you think of the still
the drifts with some churches using overhead projection and
their ministers using the iPads and various things, it's just
a slow progression. I think we need to be very careful
of what is right, what is not. I think the main touchstone is
this, the Lord, it hath pleased God through the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe. that it is with the voice, it
is with the preaching of the Word that is the main thing. And other innovations, other
ways are not set before us. It is the Word. And so, when
we're thinking of a proving ground in such a time as this, it is
to go back to what has been proved and what God has blessed. And
like we said with the ark, that setting forth the Lord Jesus
Christ, always He has set forth the first. He has set forth the
only name given among men, whereby we must be saved. Is Christ first? Is Christ last? He is all in
all. My son often reminds me, when
he left home, I didn't tell him, he knew which churches I'd rather
he went to, but I didn't stipulate. All I said to him, I said, make
sure you go to a church where Christ is preached. And you know,
he went round lots of different churches, and that criteria was
the thing that he looked all the time. And the Lord was pleased
to call him where they ended up. at Salisbury. They're best
under the preaching in the market at Salisbury that brought them
to there, which was really one place where we wanted them to
go anyway. But they didn't want to go because of the long services.
But anyway, they're there and he's now an elder there. So it's
the Lord that prepares and shows us really the way we're to go
when If we have this set before us, this Christ we want, and
our ear is tuned to that, that will be such a help and such
a direction and guidance in every step that we go. Is the Lord
there or not? Is he the one that's lifted up?
Is the one that has been my helper, my strength? Is he this people's
helper and strength? And when we come then into these
times, of trial, then that is where we go. The dear disciples,
when they were persecuted, when they were brought before leaders
and rulers, being let go, they went into their own company,
and there they went to prayer, there they went to go before
their God again. And their testimony always was
that their help, their strength, their blessing, their success,
their ministry, their miracles, they were all through the Lord
Jesus Christ. They were persuaded of that. And may we be persuaded as well
that there is only one name given among men whereby we must be
saved, and that is the Lord, and that the Lord is our helper
and He is our strength. The word says that such that
trust and lean in that way, that when sudden tidings come, their
heart is fixed. They are not left to flounder
around, they know in whom they have believed. You think of the
first reaction of dear Job, the Lord gave, the Lord hath taken
away, blessed be the name of the Lord. That's where he rests
on. And as I said, I think back to
when I was, I suppose I would have been 25, and I'd been over
from Melbourne to Tasmania, and my mother had died, we'd taken
the funeral, and I got back to my own home. I'd only been there
one night, and the Lord, that night, Blessed my soul, favoured
my soul. A real sweet blessing. And in the morning I had a phone
call from my sister. My father had a heart attack
and he'd been taken into hospital. He survived it. But when I first
got that tidings, my heart sank. And then I remembered the blessing.
And it was like I just sank onto that blessing. Sank onto the
word the Lord had given me the night before. And it's nice to
remember those times where the hymn writer says, thy word that
I have rested on shall help my heaviest hours. And it is because
we have proved that word, and we have proved the Lord our God. On to lastly, the weapons of
our warfare, appointed by God and proved by his people. The Lord has not left us in doubt
as to a spiritual warfare and that we are here below on an
enemy's ground and that we must through much tribulation enter
the kingdom. But he has given us in Ephesians
the weapons of the warfare, the exhortation that we are to put
on the whole armour of God in Ephesians 6 verse 10, 11 and
what follows. The very first point in verse
10 is finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the
power of his mind. Just that one verse taken on
its own, that's what David was. As David went before the Philistine
he was strong in the Lord and in the power of His mind. That
is what He testified before the Philistine and before Saul as
well. It's a good thing that our profession
and what we are approved, that we're also unashamed of and we're
able to tell others about it, whether they understand it or
not. I remember when I had been working for five years with Darryl
Playfully. And the company was taken over,
we sold it, and the new owners, they made me redundant. I remember
the time when I knew I was redundant, and the new boss took me into
the office to apologize, and so I said there's no need to
apologize. We'd been praying for three months
that the Lord would appear because I'm in the ministry, I was finding
it too much to do the four days, and I said, I view this as an
answer to prayer. It's not what I thought, but
it is. He said, but I've just made you
redundant. How can that be an answer to
prayer? I said, well, it is. I said, the Lord orders all things.
So I said, don't feel bad. He couldn't understand it at
all. But it was the Lord's hand, and it's a good thing to testify,
even before unbelievers, where our trust and help is. Not just
to secretly say it, but actually testify of it. And especially
in times when they would think, well, you're going to be down,
you're going to be cross with me, and you don't react that
way at all. They stop and take notice. But then there's the armour that
is spoken of and before that there's a reminder that we're
not wrestling against flesh and blood but principalities against
powers, rulers of the darkness of this world. Always remember
there's that which is underneath. We're not just viewing that which
natural man can see. There are spiritual powers, there's
Satan, there's the things of this world. We need them, the
Lord who is above all and higher than all, to deliver us from
them. Now there's six things that are
mentioned, and just briefly in this passage, as the armour of
the people of God. The first one is truth. Stand therefore, having your
law in verse 14, girt about with truth. May you always hold fast
onto that. Remember Pilate said to our Lord,
what is truth? What is that time? The time when
our Lord was to suffer, bleed, and die. The greatest time in
the history of the Church of God. And the thing that is highlighted,
what is truth? That is absolutely vital. that
which is truth as part of our armoury. The second is righteousness. All of our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. Never you and I are going to
be able to prevail when we are thinking, well I am somehow better. The Lord will reward me and Lord
will bless me because of my righteousness, my goodness. No. the righteousness
is of the Lord's. And we need to remember that. Paul in Romans 10, he looked
upon his people that were ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own. That which we really must prove
through life is not our own righteousnesses. about Christ. There is our strength
and there is our helm. And then we have the preparation
of the Gospel of Peace. Again, what is the Gospel of
Peace? It's our Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ. My peace I give unto you, not
as the world give I unto you. In me ye shall have peace, in
the world ye shall have tribulation. So when we come across these
sudden times, these times the heart may sing, What is the peace? It is the peace in Christ. What
did the martyrs know? What did those in the fires know?
They knew the peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember another
time, again, secular employment, when I was still part employment
over here, and I'd just lost the... I'd just been told that
I was losing the position in Australia, and I sent my study,
and the Lord gave me such peace, And I went before Him in prayer,
and I said, Lord, I've just lost the main means of my income,
and I have peace. I'm not at all troubled. What
is this? Why is this? And it immediately
dropped into my mind, just as if someone had spoken, that will
keep Him in perfect peace. His mind is stayed on Thee, because
He trusted on Thee. Now, if someone had asked me,
where is your trust? Where is your mind? I could not
have told them. But the Lord gave me the peace
and then told me why I had it. And within under a week I'd been
given another engineering position over here. The very next day
I applied for another job. It's a remarkable time, but I
know what that is. To have what on the surface is
trouble, which you've been troubled and concerned, And on the other
hand, a real peace and the Lord having it in hand and knowing
exactly what he'd do. The gospel, the good news of
peace through the Lord Jesus Christ. If he made peace, who
then can make trouble? The next is the shield of faith
and we're to take that whereby wherewith ye shall be able to
quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." What is faith is
not that which is seen, it's that which is unseen. And it
is again faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11, all of those
they died in faith not having received the promises, but seeing
them afar off they embraced them. Those promises all centered in
Christ. Our faith is from Him, He is
the author of it, He is the finisher of it, and He is the sustainer
of our faith. That is the armour of the people
of God. Then, helmet, not Saul's helmet,
but the helmet of salvation. When this poor world is done,
what does the Christian have? have a crown of glory reserved
for them in heaven. One of the dear friends at Pilgrim
Home last Sunday afternoon, taking a service there, and they've
recently, they lost one, we lost five from Bethesda in Brighton
in the last month, but one at Pilgrim, and one of the ladies
said, we don't mourn here, we celebrate when the Lord takes
his people home. And it was such a, and she's
in her 90s, mid-90s, and it's a lovely thing for those that
are looking for heaven. Like one dear man named Rory,
when he, I was speaking there, and I'd never seen him before,
and I asked him afterwards, I said, are you in convalescent or full?
to stay. No, he said to stay now. And
his face changed and he smiled and he said, but this is not
my home, my home's above, that's where I'm going. And you could
see that salvation meant so much to him. That was before him. Whatever trials, whatever troubles
on this world, he had a home in heaven. That is our weapon,
that is the answer to whatever does come. And then we have lastly
the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Well not lastly, there's another
one as well with prayer. But the Sword of the Spirit,
the Word of God, thy Word, that I have rested on, the psalmist
he extols the Word of God in Psalm 119, and it's a blessed
thing for us to have the Word of God as that which has not
only been our meat and our drink, but that which the Lord has stayed
us up with, and we rest upon that Word. Heaven and earth,
says our Lord, shall pass away but my words. shall not pass
away. And then the last one, praying. Praying always with all prayer
and supplication in the Spirit, watching. May we be those of
prayer, those that in everything, by prayer and supplication, make
known our requests unto God. These are the weapons, these
are the armour of God. God has himself appointed and
is proved by his people. And it's a blessed thing if we
can put tried and proved over many aspects of that which God
has appointed for us in this way of tribulation, in this path. So dear David, he comes upon
this scene and he offers himself to go and fight this Philistine
But he's not presumption, he's going on what he has proved and
what I believe at that point he knew the Lord had prepared
him for and brought him to that point for. So may this be an
encouragement to those of you who may be on the proving ground,
to those of you that may be on the brink of, for such a time
as this, that what you need to do is not a fresh way, not a
new way, but to remember what the Lord has already given you,
what you've already proved of His goodness. And may we then
have those views of the Lord Jesus Christ, like David, conquering
for us, delivering for us. May the Lord have His blessing.
Amen.