May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
first book of the Chronicles, and chapter five, and we'll read
verse 20. That's the first book of the
Chronicles, chapter five, and reading verse 20. and they were helped against
them and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand and all that
were with them for they Christ to God in the battle and he was
entreated of them because they put their trust in him We're not told exactly when this
occurred, but we are told that the sons of Reuben and the Gadites
and the half tribe of Manasseh were valiant men, men able to
bear buckler and sword and to shoot with bow and skillful in
war were four and 40,703 score that went out to the war. And
they made war with the Hagarites with Gituah and Nephish and Nodab. So those are the people that
came and made war with the Hagarites. And of course the Hagarites really
is another name for the Ishmaelites. And the Israelites, Ishmael of
course, was born of Hagar. And that's why the word is Hagarites,
which were delivered. We don't read very much about
them. We don't read very much of what
they did, but we have read here of how the Lord came and granted
a wonderful victory with a relatively small number of men. Now, one
thing I want us to realize is this, the Bible is a spiritual
book. And although we read in the word
of God about many wars, and many wars are recorded in various
ways, we should try and understand that in these wars is set before
us a picture of the battle that the Church of God has as they
travel through this world and their life on this world. Because sometimes we may think,
why are so many battles, so many things recorded with regards
to these fights? But let us realize that the Christian
Life is a continual battle against the devil and all of those who
are his. It is a continual battle and
therefore we need God again and again to come and be with us. Now in this verse, this 20th
verse, we read really some very striking statements First of
all, we're told, and they were helped against and the Lord helped
them. And then we're told, the Hagarites
were delivered into their hand. And then all they that were with
them, for they cried unto the God in the battle, that means
they prayed unto the God in the battle. And he was then entreated
of them, because they put their trust in him. So to run through
this verse it's really a very comprehensive statement of the
wonderful favor and blessing of Almighty God to these people
who fought this battle with the Hagarites. We should not think
therefore that this is recorded historically just for interest.
I'm sure it's recorded for the benefit and instruction of the
living Church of God. We have battles, we have continual
battles, no doubt, and we need to realize that we have a great
God in the same way that these people, Reuben and the Gadites
and the half-tribe Manasseh, proved that God was with them. God helped them, he delivered
them, and they had to cry to God in the battle. They may have
prayed beforehand, it's right they should have done, and it's
right that we should pray our way along in life, but there
are battles and they cry to the God in the battle and he was
entreated of them. because they put their trust
in him. Now it may seem, of course, fairly
obvious for us today that we should be doing the same things,
but we're very forgetful. And so often we find ourselves
in these situations and perhaps forget to pray unto our God,
to seek him earnestly and to trust in him. Because if the
battle is a right battle, we can believe that there will be
success and that the Lord will come and the Lord will deliver
us. So first of all then just considering
it in these sequence and the first really encouragement is
and they were helped against them, God helped them. Well you
and I today need the Lord God to help us as we journey on through
life. The Psalmist in 116 Psalm, he
tells us, the Lord preserved the simple, I was brought low
and he helped me. And if we think that we can conquer
anything by ourselves, we won't be praying to God and we won't
be seeking for his help. When we are brought low, like
indeed the Psalmist was on many occasions, what a good thing
it is to read such a truth as this. I was brought low and he
helped me. Well, in our lives, let us look
back and see whether there have been those battles, those spiritual
battles against the devil and perhaps they've been very hot
and very difficult and we can now observe that in the midst
of that battle the Lord helped us, the Lord brought us through,
the Lord granted us a wonderful victory and then Again, in the
Psalms, there are many, many, many references really, but just
a few. In Psalm 28 and verse 7, the
Psalmist says, The Lord is my strength and my shield, my heart
trusted in him, and I am helped, therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth. And with my song will I praise
him. Now that's a good result, isn't
it? And it's a good thing when we can recognise and realise
the Lord has helped us. Perhaps he's helped us against
the battle of our adversary, the devil, who will always be
on the outlook to try and tempt us into some sinful avenue which
will cause us sorrow and will cause us grief and yet you see
naturally the devil knows that which is our weakness we sometimes
use the phrase our besetting sin and what a mercy it is then
to realize that the Lord helps us against such situations and
strengthens us and enables us to turn aside from them and to
concentrate on the things of God and not on the things the
devil would have us do. What a mercy that is and what
a blessing it is. And do we not have to say in
such situations, I am helped, helped by God. And then he says,
therefore, and this is a good point, isn't it? Therefore, my
heart greatly rejoices, and with my song will I praise him. We rejoice because God has helped
us to stand against the wiles of the devil. He is a very cunning
foe, and he's always on the alerts to attack us. and to try and
deceive us. Well, the Lord has given us the
victory on such occasions to be able to come then and say,
yes, my heart greatly rejoices. It wasn't just a little bit of
thankfulness. He was really rejoicing in the
goodness of God that had helped him to overcome. And with my
song will I praise him. Well, we often fail, don't we? in praise to our God. And then on another Psalm 89
verse 19, we read, then thou speakest in vision to thy holy
one and says, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have
exalted one chosen out of the people. Well, what a blessing
is to know The Lord Jesus indeed was helped, strengthened and
blessed as he traveled through his life on this earth and how
he was given that wonderful grace to do his father's will. How difficult it was, how hard
it was, And yet the Lord gave him and laid help upon the Saviour
himself, one that is mighty. Yes, a great and glorious Saviour
we have. And what a help he received against
all the opposition the devil tries to overcome and turn him
away. But bless him be God, he did
not fail. Our blessed Saviour did that
work. that his father gave him to do
in utter and completeness, so that he was able to say, when
on that cross, when he gave up the ghost, it is finished. Yes, the Lord had helped him
right to that very moment, so that he was a conqueror, a great
and glorious conqueror, and Satan was defeated. Well, may we rejoice
tonight in such a victory and to realize, as the word tells
us, and we are more than conquerors through him. Yes, what a blessing
it is that we have such a savior, such a great and glorious savior.
And may we never forget what he's done. Never forget the cost
of our salvation. Sometimes we seem to pass it
by but it is of great importance and it is of great value and
may we truly desire to praise our Saviour for redeeming us
from all our sins and bringing us at last home to glory. In the days of Samuel, Samuel
of course was a prophet of the Lord, one raised up in quite
an amazing way, and after a victory, after many victories really,
we're told Samuel took a stone and set it between Mishpah and
Shem, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying hitherto
hath the Lord helped us. Well is that your testimony tonight
spiritually perhaps naturally to be able to say in the same
words that Samuel did all those years ago because we have the
same God the same God who goes with us today as he went with
his ancient people and can we say to the glory of God hitherto
hath the Lord helped us We should understand a little then of these
words that were spoken in these days when Reuben and the Gadites
etc fought the Hagarites and destroyed them and they were
helped. Can we not say today and we have
been helped. Let us be honest in these things. Let us praise God. If there are
those evidences in our lives, when God has helped us, perhaps
there'll be mountains before us. And they flow down the presence
of God. He has helped us. You know, the
beautiful word, and they overcame through the blood of the lamb. Well, We've been helped to overcome
what a mercy that is. And what a blessing it is to
know the Lord Jesus Christ did indeed shed his blood, the blood
of the lamb. Oh, how valuable the blood of
Christ is. Let us never despise it. Let
us never thank God for it. And to recognize when the Holy
Spirit leads us into these truths, that we're being helped to consider
these things, left to ourselves, we pass them by. Bless God in
the battle of life when he helps us to realise we are indeed in
safety because of what Christ has done in dying for us upon
that cross at Calvary. And so, familiar word no doubt,
but very true, hitherto hath the Lord helped us and they The
hymn writer says, isn't he? Hitherto hath the Lord helped
us and he will help us. He who has helped us hitherto
will help us all our journey through and give us daily cause
to raise new Ebenezers to his praise. If you and I look back
every day, we will have cause to acknowledge the Lord has helped
us. Well, these people were helped
and God's people are helped. And it's a blessing if we recognize
the wonderful truth of it. Yes, the Lord has helped us.
The Lord has not left us. The Lord has not forsaken us. And they were helped against
them. And the Hagarites were delivered
into their hand and all of them were with them. What a deliverance
that was. There are many deliverances in
the Word of God that we can read of, that God gloriously delivered
his people against all odds, against all difficulties. We
can think of the times in the life of Gideon. Gideon was able
to destroy the enemy with just a mere handful of men, 300 men,
and they weren't armed, they just had a trumpet which they
were able to blow. The sword of the Lord and of
Gideon, the Lord wrought a great victory. He delivered the people
on that occasion. My friends, the Lord has not
lost his power to deliver his people today. There may be enemies
against us. We may be fearful perhaps of
what's going to happen tomorrow. We may be fearful of what's going
to happen in the weeks ahead, especially perhaps with the situation
which exists in our country today with this coronavirus going around. We don't know really what the
future holds, but may we be encouraged by words like this when we read
that they were delivered. God does come still today and
delivers us. from the situations which we
come into, the Lord is our helper, what a mercy it is to have that
confidence in our God, were delivered into their hand and all that
were with them. And so we come then to these
words, for they cried to God in the battle. how necessary
it is for us to remember to cry unto the Lord in the battle,
to cry into the Lord when the enemy is against us. We read
that chapter in Joshua really to highlight the position when
Israel cried unto the Lord and they were in distress, they come
across the Red Sea, and it had been wonderfully opened up for
them. The northern appeared, no doubt
they thought everything was going to be nice and easy for them,
but then they found the Egyptians were following them. The Egyptians
were catching up on them. What do they do? Joshua 24 verse
7 tells us. and when they cried unto the
Lord. Well, Israel had been very unfaithful
on so many occasions and yet here we have this case. And when
they cried unto the Lord, what did the Lord do? He put darkness
between them and the Egyptians and brought the sea upon them
and covered them. And said, in your eyes have seen
what I've done in Egypt. And he dwelt in the wilderness
a long season. The Lord God Almighty heard their
cry. The Lord knew what he would do.
May that be an encouragement to us. We're told he will be
inquired of by the house of Israel to do these things for them.
Let us also realize the Lord knows what he will do. He's not
in any doubt as to bringing about deliverance for the church of
God. When they cry unto him, he brings
them into straights, he brings them low, so they do cry unto
the living God. And then they realize, and then
we realize, it is only the Lord that delivers. Man cannot do
what God can do. God brings us into situations
where very clearly we are able to observe that it is the Lord's
deliverance. The Lord has delivered us in
this battle and that battle. What a mercy then to recognise
this great God that we have. He knows all about us as you
and I journey through life in this battle of life. against
the devil who is always on the lookout to deceive us and to
cause us to sin and to cause us to turn away from God and
to cause us to forget to pray. The devil is very, very active.
Don't think he's not. He's always there. But we have
these wonderful evidences in the Word of God to encourage
us. And may the Lord bring such words
to our remembrance as we may be in the midst of a spiritual
battle, to realize, yes, Israel of old cried to God in the battle. They cried to God, then we read,
and he was entreated of them. The Lord didn't turn away their
prayer. He didn't turn it and say, well,
I'm not going to answer it. And in actual fact, I'm not going
to answer it because you don't deserve it to be answered. but
we don't deserve God to answer our prayers. That's why we're
thankful we have a merciful God. A God who is compassionate toward
us. He knows, he remembers that we
are dust. He knows the temptations that
we face because he has faced all the temptations that we face. We have a God then who knows
all about us and knows all the difficulties that face us day
by day as we journey through this world. Let us not forget,
this world is not our home, this world is not our rest, we're
just traveling through it. We are pilgrims and strangers
on the earth and we're going towards that celestial city. And so here were these people
on this occasion. God was entreated of them. What a mercy that was. And we're
told why that was, because they put their trust in him. Well, let me just for a moment
speak about this being entreated. What a mercy it is if we are. God is entreated for us. Israel
were disobedient. Israel had been carried away,
captured into Babylon. We had been disobedient. We may
have been carried away into spiritual Babylon. We may have found we're
in a barren place. Yet you see, we're told in the
days of Ezra, when Israel were coming back from Babylon, he
tells us this, So we fasted and besought our God for this. They prayed to their God and
they fasted. It was something which was very
important to them and that they were concerned the Lord would
hear and answer their prayer. Therefore they fasted as well
as praying for this and we're told and he was entreated of
us the Lord graciously heard their prayer. The mercy it is
today, if the Lord graciously hears our prayer. We don't deserve
it, do we? We don't deserve God to answer
our prayers. We deserve to be cast off, just
like Israel were. Israel deserved to be cast out
and never return to Jerusalem, never return to that land. And yet, you see, the Lord was
faithful. And although they had to endure
70 years of bondage away from the temple, which of course had
been destroyed, yet the Lord was gracious and brought them
back. And he was indeed entreated of
them. And then you may remember that
case of Manoah, Manoah and his wife. You know, the angel of
the Lord had appeared unto Menoah's wife, and then the Lord had appeared
to her again and then to Menoah, and it was a wonderful occasion. And we're told, then Menoah entreated
the Lord, he asked the Lord, he said, oh my Lord, Let the
man of God which thou didst send come again unto us and teach
us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. That was a good desire, wasn't
it? It would be a good desire for all of us today to be concerned
about our children, to be entreated of the Lord and to pray As Manoah
did, he said, oh my Lord, let the man of God which thou hast
sent come again unto us and teach us what we should do unto the
child that shall be born. Well may we all be concerned
and desire to know how to bring up our children. And there we
have the word of God to direct us and that's a wonderful blessing. May we be thankful for it and
truly praise God. but have that desire to walk
out the gracious words set before us in the scripture. Well then
we come then really to these last words in this verse, because
they put their trust in him. It's a very simple statement,
not quite so easy is it to walk it out. But we have a number
of occasions, we have the words of David himself, the man after
God's own heart, the man desired to do that which is right, and
he did desire to honour his God. And in the book of Samuel, we
read this, he's speaking about the Lord and he says, the God
of my rock, in him will I trust, for the first time, of course,
David speaks of God as his rock. It's a good thing for us today
to realize we have such a God who doesn't change, who doesn't
move. He is always the same, the same
yesterday and forever, today and forever. And that's why David
has that confidence in his God. And he says, in him will I trust. Doesn't look anywhere else. In
him will I trust. He is my shield. and the horn
of my salvation, my high tower and my refuge, my saviour, who
saviours me from violence. As for God, his way is perfect,
The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all them that
trust in him. That is really the third of the
31st verses I've just read to you. But two statements there
where David desired to trust in the Lord. And he spells it
out really very clearly. What a mercy if you and I are
able to trust our God in the same way that David did. He said, he is my shield, shield
against all the attacks of the enemy, all those darks the devil
will throw at us. David had his trust in the Lord
that he would shield him. He is my shield. and the horn
of my salvation. There he was blessing God for
that salvation which God had brought to him. And he was trusting
in the Lord for it. My high tower, my refuge, my
saviour. The saviour is me from violence.
It is a comprehensive list, isn't it? What a mercy tonight, if
as we ponder these words, They put their trust in him because
they put their trust in him. The Lord delivered them. The
Lord blessed them. May we find it the same tonight.
May we be blessed with grace to trust in the Lord. That he indeed is our saviour. He is our refuge. He is the one
that saves us, as in David's case, me from violence. Of course,
David had many battles to fight, didn't he? And they were sometimes
very violent battles. You may say, well, that's all
right, that was David. Well, sometimes spiritually, you and I have a
violent battle against the devil, and it's not an easy fight. It's a very difficult fight because
our nature wants to go one way and to listen to the devil. And
gracious God directs us in another way. What a mercy then if he
gives us a humble ability to trust in him, that we might be
saved from the violence of the devil. Yes, he's a great adversary. As for God, says David in the
31st verse, as for God, his way is perfect. And that is true. Sometimes we can't understand
it. But as you and I journey on in life, and as we look back,
we will observe and be able to say, as David did, as for God,
his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried.
Yes, the word of the Lord is tried. And the reason for that
is very simply this, you and I don't want to be resting on
a word that we produced. We want to rely on the word that
the Lord has given us to strengthen us, to enable us to hold on our
way, to pursue the narrow way to him we view. His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. What a good thing it is that
we're not left then depending on that which is of the flesh,
but we're left depending upon that which God in his glorious
grace has given to us, that which will stand every fire, every
trial and live at last. He is a buckler, a shield to
all them that trust in him. This was the experience of David
and what a blessing it is that we have These words recorded
for us today to encourage us as we travel on through life. He also says, David says, commit
thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him and he shall bring
it to pass. Psalm 37 verse five, let us be
found then committing our way unto the Lord. Quite clearly
these people in this day in which these words are written, they
did commit their way unto the Lord because we're told, for
they cried to God in the battle. They committed their way unto
the Lord, that he would appear for them. And as you and I journey
through life, let us be found committing our way unto the Lord,
our spiritual way, our spiritual life, the life of God within
us, committing our way unto the Lord, praying indeed that he
will reveal himself unto us, that he is not unto the world
as that great and glorious saviour of sinners. Yes, you and I may
feel indeed bowed down with all the sin which thus so easily
beset us. Well, we have a God who understands. we can come therefore committing
our way unto him and to trusting in him that he shall bring it
to pass that means everything that shall be good for us spiritually
good he will bring to pass nothing shall fail what a mercy it is
to have such a God who hears and answers prayer. May we therefore
be found trusting in Him. And lastly, just one word on
this trusting. We have these words in Isaiah
chapter 15 and verse 10, perhaps quite well known words because
J.C. Philpott preached a sermon on
them. And this is what it says, who
is among you that feareth the Lord? He may say, well, I hope
that's me, that obeyeth the voice of his servant. I mean, he's
doing the will of God, that walketh in darkness and hath no light. You might question and say, well,
I don't think I'm on the right track. I don't think that I'm
in the way the word here is. he that walketh in darkness and
hath no light. What is he to do? The word of
God tells us, let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay
upon his God. What a blessing it is then for
us to have such words like this to encourage us as we travel
on through this difficult world. And it may sometimes seem that
we're walking in darkness It seems you haven't got any light
and yet we're trusting in the word of the Lord. We're trusting
in what he's spoken to us. We're desiring to truly obey
his voice and there we are in this situation. Can we be right? What must we do? Trust in the
name of the Lord and stay upon his God. That was a word spoken
in Isaiah. My friends, It's the same word
for us today. Let us not therefore faint. Let
us not be weary. Let us trust in the name of the
Lord and stay upon his God, because in due time he will indeed grant
the deliverance like he did to these people. He brought about
that wonderful deliverance and were delivered. Yes, that the
Hagarites, they were indeed delivered. into their hand and all that
were with them. Well may we tonight recognize
the various points in this verse. It's a very comprehensive verse
really and it just laid hold of me as I was reading through
and I thought well this is very wonderful. I didn't read the
chapter because there are a number of a lot of names in it but this
kind of this little scene stands out and declares to us the greatness
and the goodness and the mercy and the love of Almighty God
to unworthy sinners. And may we tonight therefore
rejoice in the greatness of God, in the truth of God, and as the
Lord has left on record such encouraging words which apply
to his ancient people, May they indeed apply to us and may we
take them to heart and as they were enabled to realize that
God was with them and he delivered them. May we also be able to
record such words. And as they said, and they were
helped against them. May we find we're helped against
the enemy of our souls. And the Hagarites were delivered
into their hand. Yes, God was with them. And therefore
they were delivered and all that were with them, for they cried
to God in the battle. and he was entreated of them.
What a mercy that is, what a mercy when you and I pray to God in
the battle of life and he's entreated on our behalf because they put
their trust in him. May we tonight all be found trusting
the Lord, trust in him at all times ye people pour out your
heart unto him. Amen.