Psalm 18, verse 50 says this, Great deliverance giveth he to
his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David and his
seed forevermore. Great deliverance. Great deliverances. And that's what I want to talk
about tonight. The great deliverances. The God of deliverances. Many
deliverances. Look how He manifests Himself
and how He deals with people, starting with verse 25. With
the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, with an upright man
thou wilt show thyself upright. One thing about God is God reveals
Himself and deals with men as they are. As they are. Not like
they think they are, or like they hope they are, but as they
are, and as He made them. So if we're merciful, it's because
God made us merciful. What did He say in Matthew 5,
7? He said, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
And I tell you, wherever you find mercy, our Lord said, I'll
have mercy and not sacrifice. God delights to show mercy. And
where there's merciful people, God said, I'll show myself merciful
to the merciful. And when people are merciful
and have pity and kindness towards people and are moved by their
troubles, moved by their heartaches, moved by what goes on in their
life, then God said, I'll show myself merciful to you. You show
mercy, you'll show mercy. And our Lord Jesus Christ said
that, you know, with whatever measure you need, it'll be measured
to you again. And that's the way it is. That's
the wonderful thing about God. God is so merciful. He makes
us merciful. If we show any mercy at all,
if we have any mercy in our hearts, if we show any mercy to anybody,
it's God that worked it in us to do it. We all by nature are
selfish. And, you know, the fact that
we would show any mercy and hurt for people, It's because God
put it in our heart to do it. And then He'll turn around and
show Himself merciful to the people that He made merciful.
He makes us a certain way and blesses us for being that way. And then look what He says, not
only that, but He says, With the upright man, or the perfect
man, thou wilt show thyself perfect, or upright. That word upright
there means perfect. And with the perfect man, and
you know how man's made perfect? You're complete in Christ. Made
perfect in Christ. And so he shows himself perfect
to the perfect. You know, if you're perfect and
upright, God said he'll show yourself to that. And what a
man who has an upright heart. God gave him that upright heart.
He gave him a new heart. Gave him a new spirit. Gave him
a love for the Lord Jesus Christ. And he'll say, he'll show himself
perfect to that man that's perfect. That man that's upright, I'll
show myself upright with him. And I tell you, that man or woman
who's got an upright heart that God gave to them, I know one
thing about them. They desire the glory of God.
They desire to live to the glory of God. They desire to honor
Him. They're upright in their dealings
with other people. They're upright in their dealings
with God. They're upright in their dealings with the Scriptures.
They're not sneaky. I mean, they're upright. They're
above board in what they do. Paul says, you know, willing
to live honestly in all things in the sight of all men. He said,
my life's an open book. My life, my manner of life, my
preaching, my living, my way I am in your home. He said, my
life's an open book. And that's what he's saying here.
He says that man is upright in heart. God said, I'll show myself
upright to him. He makes us that way. And then
again, like I say, he blesses us with that. And then look what
he said in verse 26, with the pure, thou wilt show thyself
pure. That's a verse of scripture in
the Proverbs, and I can't remember exactly where it's at right now.
But who can say he hath made his hands clean, and that he's
pure from sin? And here God turns around and
says, you know, to the pure, thou wilt show thyself pure.
And this is over in Titus. He says this in Titus too. And
the scripture said in Matthew 5, 8, the pure in heart shall
see God. Now what is it, world, does it mean to be pure in heart?
It means that God has purified and cleansed our heart. And we're
not going to wait to have a pure heart to see God in glory. We
see God right now. We see God in Christ. We see
God in this picture. We see God in providence. We
see God is in prayer. We see God meeting the needs
of his people. So we see God. Where did we get
this purity of heart? God gave it to us. Paul said,
you know, he said, I serve God with a pure conscience before
me and have a pure conscience. And so there's a pure heart,
the pure in heart. We're going to see God one of
these days, but we see Him right now because God's purified our
hearts to see Christ. How did He purify our hearts?
With the blood of Christ. Cleansed in us and purified our
hearts with the blood of Christ. But now look what else He does
now. In verse 26, And with the proud one thou wilt show thyself
proud. Now what in the world does this word froward mean?
It means crooked. It means perverse. It means turning
away from God. You know, God's here and you
go this way. You're crooked, you're perverse.
Everything you do is crooked, perverted, froward, away from
God. And that's why Paul, you know,
Peter, and I want you to look at this. You keep Psalm 18, but
look with me over here. Look with me over in Matthew
19. I want you to see something here.
This is what I'm talking about. Peter told these saints in Acts
2.4, he says, he said, save yourself from this
untoward generation. Save yourself from it. This generation's
crooked, this generation's untoward, this generation's against God,
this generation's against Christ, this generation makes a mock
of God, makes a mock of Christ. They say that Moses is whom they're
trusting, they say that the Sabbath is whom they're trusting. He
said, just cut it off, just save yourself, save yourself from
this untoward generation. Rob Barnard's got a message on
that. And you can probably find it on Sermon Audio. Save yourselves. This generation, he said, come
out from among them. Don't get mixed up in this untoward,
this crooked generation, this perverse generation. Get out
of it. Turn, get away from it. Save
yourself. Get out of it. Oh my, and this
is what God said about the froward. With the froward, you'll show
yourself froward. And I tell you what, Look what
he said. Here's a proud word, fella. This
is in Luke 19. It's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ giving the pounds. He called his ten servants. In
verse 12, he had a nobleman went into a far country to see himself
a kingdom return. He got ten servants, delivered
to him ten pounds and said, Occupy it till I come. He gave them
the gifts. He gave them a gift. Pure grace. Pure, on his part, is pure grace. They didn't deserve it, he said,
here. And you occupy the lifetime. You take this gift that I gave
you, and you occupy the lifetime. And you know how that one got
ten, one got five, and they go on down, they go on down. And
then in verse, come to another fellow and said, verse 20, And
another came saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have
kept laid up in a napkin. For I feared thee, because thou
art an austere man. Thou takest up, thou layest not
down. Reapest thou that ye did not sow." Now this is what he's
accusing the Lord Jesus Christ of. Because this novel in Luke
19, 20. Where did I tell you all go? I'm sorry, Luke 19. I may have that. I may have that.
No, I got a Lube 19. I just, that's not the first
time that's happened, has it? Well, hope he's last either. No. Oh, boy. Yeah, one of y'all ought
to holler at me. Lube 19, 20. This is about like,
you know, you heard what I said about it. We gave the service
the 10 pounds. Verse 21 came to him and said,
Here's your pound. I'm giving it back to you. I
kept it laid up in the neck. And you gave me this gift. You
gave me this wonderful gift. And I laid it up. I didn't use
it. I didn't believe in it. I didn't believe it would bring
me any profit. I didn't believe it would do me any good. And
he said, For I'm afraid of you. I feared you. Because you're
an austere man. You're a very stern man. Stoic
man, you're a very hard man. And that you take up that you
lay not down. Now, Lord Jesus Christ did lay
this down here. And He says, you reap that you
did not sow. Christ did sow that. Christ did
lay down that pound for that fellow. Christ did do that. But
this man had an awful view of the Lord Jesus Christ. Had an
awful view of the gospel. He thought, you know, that it
wouldn't do me any good. I don't believe it. So he just
lollygagged around. He didn't knock your pie. He
never used the gifts that God gave him. He just turned around
and made, you know, and accused God, accused Christ of being
hard and mean and stern and austere. And you know what our Lord said
to him? With a frown would thou show thyself proud? Out of your
own mouth. Out of your own mouth. Well,
I judge you, you wicked servant. If it was in your mind that you
knew I was an austere man taking up a belated knockdown, why didn't
you just then take my money and put it in the bank and give me
just a little bit back? It wasn't yours, it was mine.
I told you I was coming back. I told you I was coming back
and you'd give an account of it. And God said this, is that
whatever a man says about God, that's the way he deals with
God and the way he reacts toward God, God said, that's the way
I'll deal with you. You want to be crooked with me?
You want to be austere with me? You want to be mean with me?
You want to be froward with me? You want to turn from me? If
you want to be like Cain, then turn away your face from the
Lord. He said, I'll teach you that
way. And I'll never let you in that way. You're wicked and I'll
never let you. And that's what he says. And
that's the way God deals with them. And people got to understand
that. This idea that God just loves
us all and we're all going to get to go to the happy hunting
grounds and have pie in the sky by and by. It's not so. Then
look at the purpose back over here in Psalm 18. And this is the reason that he
does this, why he deals with men this way. For you'll save
the afflicted people, those people that are poor in spirit, those
people that mourn, like that man who was at the temple and
he smoked his breath and said, God be merciful to me, the sinner,
those people who are brokenhearted, contrite in spirit. He said,
you'll save the afflicted people. Those that are afflicted with
sin, those that are afflicted with poverty, those that are
afflicted. He said, you'll save them, but
you know what else you're going to do? That fellow that's got
that high look, that fellow that's proud, that fellow that knows
everything that's going on, he said, you're going to bring them
down. You're going to pick up the weak, the helpless, the hopeless,
and you're going to bring down those who know everything and
can do everything. That's why it says, you know,
it said, the first going to be last. That fellow that brags
about all that he's done, he's going to end up at the back of
the line. And that fellow that ain't got nothing to say but,
God be merciful to me, the sinner, that fellow's going to end up
at the front of the line. That's the way God means for
it to be. And bless His name. I'm grateful it's that way, too.
I mean, what would we do if salvation wasn't of Him? And He didn't
save us in our afflictions. Psalm 59, let me see if this
is true before you turn there. I'll read it to you if it's there.
But I'll tell you what, I think it's in Isaiah 59. I'll read
it to you if it's that's what it says. No, this ain't it, but there's
a, where is it where he says, you know, in all their afflictions,
I was afflicted. In all their afflictions, I was
afflicted. I'm pretty sure Tobias would take a swear on it. But I tell you, if we are not
afflicted, poor in spirit, God won't save us. But here's another
thing that he does. He afflicts us in order to save
us. And he keeps us afflicted in
order to save us. Brother Gary came on over and
spent the night with us the other night. You talk about, you know,
we talked about things going on in our lives. And Mary reminded,
she said, remember what old Scott said? He's talking about things
going on and just happened just last week, you know, two or three
things that happened. He said, remember what Scott
said? You either, believe it was in one of three places. He's
either in trouble, going in trouble or coming out of trouble. One
or the other. And right now I'm out of it. I'm grateful. Alright, let's
go on down here now and look at His mercies. Look at all of
God's gifts and deliverances as He saves us. He said in verse
28, He said, For thou wilt light my candle. He gives light. Look at that candle in the margin.
It says, Thou wilt light my lamp. Thou wilt light my lamp. And
what He says, God will lighten my darkness. that joy, weeping
may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. And God,
He said here, Thou wilt light my light, light my lamp, and
light my darkness. When I'm in darkness, You'll
be my light. You'll be the one that saves me. Look in Psalm
36 and verse 9. This is one of my... I've quoted
this so many times over the years. Psalms 36 and 9. For with thee is the fountain
of life. Now listen to this. In thy light
shall we see light. In thy light, in the light that
you give, in the light that you bring, when you turn on the light,
it's only in your light shall we see light. When he brings
us to the light, that's the only way we'll ever see light. It's
only in his light. And look in John 12 for just
a moment. I know I've said that right.
John 12 and verse 34, talking about the light. Our Lord Jesus
Christ said He was life and the light of men, and Him was life
and the light of men. Look here at John 12, 35. Jesus said unto them, Yet a little
while is the light with you. Just a little while, the light's
with you. Walk while you have the light. Lest darkness come
upon you, and he that walketh in darkness, he don't know where
he's going. Stumbling around in the dark, I don't care how
well you know your house, how many years you've lived in it,
you get up when it's pitch dark, you still can't find your way
around your own house. You'll bump into things. And
that's what our Lord said, if you ain't got the light, you're
going to walk in darkness. And that's what He's saying here.
And then He says, while you have the light, now listen to this,
believe in the light. Believe in it. Well, how in the
world are you going to believe in light? Unless it's a person. That you may be, listen to this,
the children of light. These things fake Jesus, and
we didn't hear them sound. Now, he don't hide himself from
us, because we're in the light. We're in the light. And all he
gives light. Then look what else he said over
here, verse 29. He gives us courage and he gives
us ability and strength to fight our enemies and deal with our
enemies. He says, For by thee I've run
through a troop. And David literally did this.
Him and some of his three mighty men. He literally ran through
a troop. But he said, you know a troop,
a troop of enemies, a troop of people gathered together, things
that's gathered against us, a troop of troubles, a troop of trials,
a troop of sorrows, a troop of strong things that's against
us. He said, by you, I ran through it. And by my God, I leaped over
a wall. I leaped over all the things
and troubles and difficulties that would hinder somebody. That's
why our Lord said, you know, He said, if you had faith of
a grain of mustard seed, you could save this tree. But He's
not talking about trees. He's talking here about how that
you've got this faith and that you know that through Christ
you can overcome every enemy. And we've got plenty of them.
So He gives us courage. And then look what He says in
verse 32. He gives strength. He gives life,
He gives courage, and He gives strength. It is God, verse 32, it is God
that girds me with strength and maketh my way perfect. God girds
us with strength. Oh my. Girds us with strength. Girds us with the Word of God.
Gives us strength for the day. Gives us strength in the face
of everything to smile. deal with it, look at it, not
be afraid of it. In fact, so many places it says
that he himself is our strength. He said, without me, you could
do nothing. So he gives us strength. As we need it, he gives it to
us. You say, Lord, I just don't know if I can deal with this.
Peggy got that when it got so low. Today, And thank the Lord
for all of you that prayed for and went and visited her to let
somebody know that you care for them, you're praying for them,
you want them not to be that way. It's just such a blessing
to them. It's just such an encouragement
to know that somebody cares. And when you do that, it gives
strength to them. And they get strength. And it
just builds them up and builds them up and builds them up until
they come up in their strength. And God gives that. And then
look what else he does in verse 33. He gives us stability. He maketh my feet like hinds'
feet, and setteth me upon high places. You ever seen a deer
that wasn't sure-footed? That's what a hind is. A deer
is sure-footed. I mean, boy, they can jump over
fences. I mean, they can move, run through the woods, go over
logs, stuff like that. Just sure-footed. And they can
run real quick and get right up on the high place. God said,
He said, I'm going to make your feet just like them highs. I'm
going to make your feet stable. I'm going to make you able to
stand. I'm going to make you as sure-footed as a deer. I'm
going to make you as sure-footed, and not only that, but I'm going
to make you sure-footed, and I'm going to take you and set
you up here on this high place above everything around you. And there ain't nothing going
to hurt you. I tell you, we can walk and leap and rejoice in
Him. And then look what He said in
verse 34. He gives us wisdom. He teaches
my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
Now what in the world does He mean here? He teaches my hands
to war. Well, I'm going to show you what
I'm talking about. Look with me, first of all, in Ephesians
chapter 6 and verse 12. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse
12. You know, we need wisdom. You
go through Proverbs and wisdom, Solomon says over and over and
over and over, Wisdom, that's the principal thing. Wisdom will
establish you in the street. Wisdom will set you in high places.
Wisdom, bind it around your neck. Wisdom, that's the principal
thing. Wisdom's more to be desired than gold. Wisdom's more to be
desired than silver. Wisdom's greater price than rubies.
And oh, wisdom and giving wisdom, getting wisdom. And God gives
us wisdom to war and to fight. Now, listen to what it says here
in Ephesians 6.12. This is what we're talking about.
He gives us sense to war. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood. If we was dealing with flesh and blood, not even
our own flesh and blood, we could win. We'd know what to do. But
listen to this. But we're wrestling against principalities. Principalities. All the governments
of the world, and all the demons that's in the air, and all the
fallen angels that surround us. Against powers. Powers seen and
unseen. Against the rulers of the darkness
of this world. There's lots of Satan and all
his angels ruling in darkness against spiritual wickedness
in high places. I mean, how high does spiritual
wickedness go? It reaches to the highest parts
of government, reaches to the highest parts of religion, reaches
to the highest parts of all the demons in hell. I mean, you go
anywhere you want to, and spiritual wickedness is way up yonder in
high places. And then look what he said over
in 2 Corinthians. 10. 2 Corinthians 10. This is what
I'm talking about. He's taught us what we're into
here. We're not warring with flesh
and blood. And He teaches our hands to war.
And we know what it is to war. We war with the Scriptures. We
war by the Spirit of God. Look at what Paul said in verse
3 of 2 Corinthians 10. For though we walk in the flesh, We do not war after the flesh.
Though we're walking in this body, we're not warring after
this body. And the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. We don't have swords, we don't
have clubs, we don't have guns, we don't have knives. We don't
use words like other people use words, but the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, they're not natural, they're not fleshly,
but mighty through God. to the pulling down of strongholds,
and lots of strongholds. And I tell you what, you know
what? Some of these strongholds are strongholds that's in men's
minds, strongholds that's in our old minds, strongholds that's
in our imaginations. And he said, casting down imaginations
or reasonings. We want to reason things out.
He said, casting down your reasoning and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God. bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. We are not warned
against flesh and blood. And God said He gives us wisdom
to do that. Now look back over in our text
again. Well, it would be, you know,
Billy Sunday. And they still got some of his
messages around. I tell you, there ain't no discharge in this
war either. Ain't no discharge in it. We
just Do you know when this war will be over? When we leave this
world. We're going to fight it back.
It's going to be a war the rest of the day we leave here. Then he gives us protection.
Look what he said here in verse 35. Thou hast also given me the
shield of thy salvation. Oh my. What can better protect
you than the shield, now listen to this, of thy salvation? He
put the shield up there. He's given it around. And you
know what? The salvation of God is our shield
as long as we live. As long as we live in this world,
God's salvation will be our shield. It will be our shield against
ourselves, against the law, against justice. Against conscience,
against false accusations, against hypocrites, against everything
that's against us, His salvation will be our salvation. And look what He said. And then
look at His gentleness. He said here in verse 35 again,
And your right hand is holding me up. You're holding me up in
the midst of this, and thy gentleness has made me great. Made me great. I don't have a clue what that
means. be honest with you, made me great. I don't know what that
means. I know this, that it takes fallen
men and raises him up and gives him grace. I know this, that
it takes an old heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh.
And if he takes the nature, fallen nature, and gives a man a spiritual
nature, What an honor God bestows upon us as believers. That's
the grace of God. And then let me give you the
last one here in verse 39. He gives us the victory. For
thou hast girded me with strength unto the bow. Thou hast induced
those that are under me, under my feet, rose up against me. You girded me with strength.
You girded me with strength. And then, look what he said,
and you subdued those that were under me that rose up against
me. David didn't say, I whipped them. I defeated them. I beat
all of my enemies. He said, you should do that. Oh, thanks be unto God through
the victory God gives us through our Lord Jesus Christ. He always
causes us to triumph in Christ. And I'll close. Listen to our
response to these things that God's done for us. Listen to
what's said in verse 49. Therefore will I give thanks
unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen." Wherever I'm at, I'll
give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen. Saint praises
unto thy name. Great deliverance giveth he to
his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David and his
seed for evermore. We give thanks because of what
the Lord has done. great deliverances, great deliverances,
many of them, many of them.