I'm looking at Psalm 60. It says, To the chief musician
upon Shushanidath, Mektham of David, to teach, when he strove
with Aramnaharam and Aramzobah, when Joab returned
and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand. Now that's quite a title. And
I'm sure someone more learned than myself could probably spend
a lot of time in all of the ramifications and things that we might learn
from that. This is, of course, another one
of the MICFAM, means golden or an engraving of gold and surely
these words that David speaks are engraved in gold. They are those things that do
not pass away and it is the occasion of a great victory in David's
life or in the reign of David and when Joab return and smote
of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand." Now, you remember
that David desired to build a temple unto the Lord. And the Lord told
him that he wasn't going to do it because he had blood on his
hands. And we read of many battles that
David led children of Israel in, and the Assyrians, and the
Philistines, and the Edomites, and the Moabites, and all of
the other ites, and he slew thousands of them. I've often thought,
you know, what a gory history there is of mankind. You know,
of the thousands of men that have been slain over disputes
of land, power, whatever. I mean, the Lord said there would
be wars and rumors of wars until the time of the end. And people
get all up in arms about the this business going on over there
in the Mideast, and like, you know, oh, if we could just keep
this from happening. Well, you know, they've been
killing each other ever since there's been ground over there.
There's a good example of it right here. And no matter who
goes there or who stays or who does what, men are going to kill
each other. in wars and there is not a thing
in the world anybody is going to do to stop it. You can sign
all the peace treaties and cease fires and all that you want to
do, but the nature of man is going to come out. And you know
the Lord, we sang that song there a moment ago and it says, here
he exalts neglected worms to glory and to crown. And then
the next page he turns and treads the monarch down. I mean the
Lord is just using the world to demonstrate His power and
glory and show men what they are by nature. And that has just
left ourselves that we are fighting to devour and destroy one another
in a moment. And David was a man whom the
Lord raised up as a man of war. And yet he said, David is a man
after my own heart. Because we read in the Scripture
that God is a God of war. He is a destroyer. And the Lord
Jesus Christ has destroyed His enemies. And just like David,
He didn't leave any standing, but he got them all. Now Saul,
you remember, the Lord told him to kill all the enemies and the
sheep and everything else. And he said, well, you know,
I really don't want to do all that. I mean, you know, I got
this king. I got him in captivity. I can bring him back as a trophy,
and we've got all these sheep, well, we'll offer them to the
Lord, like Nadab and Abihu. They said, well, we've got something
good, we'll bring this to the Lord. Surely the Lord wouldn't
not want us to offer something to Him, I mean, but the Lord
said, kill them all. Don't leave a one. But He didn't
do it. And of course Samuel confronted
Him, And we know what the outcome of that was. And Samuel, the
prophet of God, carried out what the Lord told Saul to do, says
he took a sword and he hewed King Agag into pieces. Now, you
know, that's not for the faint of heart, is it? I mean, that
sort of stuff, but you see, that's what the Lord told him to do.
And well, the men get all up in arms. I mean, you couldn't,
you can't very well talk much about stuff like that to people
today because they just, oh, well, that couldn't be, I mean,
God wouldn't ever tell anybody to do something like that. Well,
he did do it. And he told David to go and he said, kill all these
people, men, women, and children. He said, don't leave them. He
said, slay them, destroy them. And then when it came time, David
figured he was in pretty good with the Lord. And he said, I
want to build this house. The Lord said, you can't build
this house. He said, because you got too much blood on your
hands. And the Lord was the one who
told him to do that. Now what could David say about
that? He did what the Lord told him, but nonetheless, he was
a man who had in his heart the heart of destruction. And so
Solomon, whose name means the peace, he was the one that the
Lord ordained to build the temple because he would manifest the
fact that his temple, the kingdom of God, is not a kingdom of blood
and flesh and blood, but it's a kingdom of peace. And that
is the one who did that. But David was ordained of God. And we don't think less of David
because he didn't build the temple. That just wasn't his purpose.
You see, that wasn't what God ordained for him to do. And we
need to realize that it doesn't make any difference what the
Lord calls a man to do. That's what the Lord calls a
man to do, whether we like it or we don't. That's what he must
do, and by the grace of God, he gives his people a delight
to do the will of God. Now, everybody's doing the will
of God. See, there ain't anybody in the
earth that ain't doing the will of God. Now, a lot of them don't
want to be doing the will of God. If they knew it was the
will of God, they'd probably do something else. But they can't
help it, because God is going to cause all things to come to
pass according to the good pleasure of his will. And He's going to
raise up men and He's going to put down men. And in the midst
of it all, He's going to manifest the glory of His grace and the
redemption of His people. And so we find this throughout
the Word of God. And so we read the words of David
here, and these are, again, as we say, I believe these are the
words of Christ. keeping in mind that Christ was
tempted in all points like as we are. He was a man of men. He can be touched with the feelings
of our infirmities because He was tempted in all points like
as we are, yet without sin. And so it is that He walked among
men as a man and He knows the needs of men. And the things
that He prayed for, He prayed not for Himself, But he prayed
them for us as our substitute, as that one who stood in our
room and place. O God, thou hast cast us off,
thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased. O turn
thyself to us again. Thou hast made the earth tremble,
thou hast broken it. Heal the breaches thereof, for
it shaketh. Thou hast showed thy people hard
things. Thou hast made us to drink the
wine of astonishment. Thou hast given a banner to them
that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth,
say, Lord, that thy beloved may be delivered, save with thy right
hand and hear me. God has spoken in his holiness. I will rejoice. I will divide
Shechem and meet out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine and
Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is the strength
of mine head. Judah is my lawgiver. Moab is
my washpot. Over Edom will I cast out my
shoe. Philistia triumph thou because
of me. Who will bring me into the strong
city? Who will lead me into Edom? Will
not thou, O God, which hath cast us off, and thou, O God, which
didst not go out with our armies, give us help from trouble, for
vain is the help of man? Through God we shall do valiantly,
for he it is that shall tread down our enemies. Now, The world is a place, that song
that Brother Ed wanted us to sing there when we first started, this world promises so much to
us. And we think that there's just
gonna be happiness and we just think, well, you know, why can't
things just go like we want them to go? You ever think that? Say, now why did that have to
happen? I mean, you know, everything was going along good, and we
was having a good time and everything, and then that happened, and just
messed up the whole thing. As we look at it, but the Lord,
He has designed the earth and the world and the cosmos, all
the things that go on in the world, for his people's sake. I mean, he said he would give
men for thee and people for thy life. In other words, the world
is given for the benefit of the people of God. All things work
together for good to them that love God, who are the called
according to his purpose. And all of the things that are
happening in the world are happening for the benefit and welfare of
the people of God. Now we don't see it as that.
But you know, if it wasn't for all of the heartache and troubles
and trials and what not that goes on in the world, being by
nature men who don't seek the Lord, there's none that seeketh
after God. No, not one. If it wasn't for
all these calamities and things that befall us in this world,
we'd just go on our way. I mean, if everything was just
going along right, we'd forget about God in a heartbeat, would
we not? I mean, it's only by the mercies of God that we're
caused. So, our consideration a lot of
times, and as we look at the things that happen in the world,
He says, O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us,
thou hast been displeased, O turn thyself to us again. Is it not necessary for us to
feel left by the Lord and be brought to a place of despair
in order that we might call upon Him? I mean, you know and I know,
as long as everything is going along real good, we kind of have
a tendency to get satisfied. But it is as the Lord causes
things, stirs up, well, wait a minute, that's not going just
according to plan. Lord, won't you help us please?
Why have you turned from us? See, that's what our immediate
thought is, is, Lord, you've turned away from us. Now, that's
a good thing in some ways, if we think about it that the Lord
might turn his back on us because if he smiled on us every day
we'd get to thinking everything we were doing was okay but you
see he teaches us does he not along the way and shows us what
we are and he is displeased in that respect now I believe in
one way and this is a true thing that God has never been displeased
with his people because he chose them in Christ for the foundation
of the world so he's never never been angry with his people never
hated his people he's never sought their destruction he's always
sought their good that is but He has not always caused us to
see and understand that. And He doesn't always cause us
to. Just like when David, that's a good thing that came up this
morning, about Uzziah and Ahio. I mean, David got angry. And
he was afraid of the Lord. Was he not? Now, did the Lord
love David any less? I mean, was David any less a
man after God's own heart when he did that which the Lord really
had not told him to do, but he decided he would do it? And Uzzah
was slain in that ox cart. David, he got upset about that. And then, after he got upset,
he said, wait a minute, he said, I better be careful, the Lord
is liable to kill me. You know, I don't need to be
railing against the Lord, He's liable to kill me. And so David
felt forsaken by the Lord, did he not? You read the book of
the Song of Solomon, and You know, you see the bride there,
she's gone to bed, the Scripture says. And her beloved comes and
he knocks on the door. And she says, well, you know,
I've already gone in bed and everything, and it's cold, and
I don't want to get up and go open the door and let him in.
And then she says, well, I guess I better. And so she gets up
and goes over there, but then what happened? The Lord had gone. Yeah, he left. So she went about Jerusalem and
says, Oh, have you seen my beloved? Where is he? If you hear of him,
tell me. And so she felt the pains of distress and she felt
the Lord had left her. Now, He had never left her. He
was just a convenient season. He had turned her over to herself
so she could see what she was and what her need was. And so,
O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou
hast been displeased, O turn thyself to us again. And sometimes
we do feel that the Lord has been displeased with us. David
felt like the Lord was displeased with him in the matter of Bathsheba,
did he not? Well, sure he did. I mean, the
Lord used that. Now we know that in the ultimate
picture of things, the Lord brought all these things to pass for
the benefit of David. But that doesn't change the fact
that David was brought to that place where he might call out
to the Lord, Oh Lord, don't remove your Holy Spirit from me. Now
will the Lord ever remove his Holy Spirit from those whom he
loves? No. He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. He won't, but He will cause a
man to come to the place when he sees his own sin for what
it is to have that feeling in his heart and in his mind and
that fear rise up within him because the Lord will use that.
Oh, turn thyself to us again. Thou hast made the earth to tremble.
Thou hast broken it. Heal the breaches thereof, for
it is shaken. I've never been in an earthquake
and don't really want to. But the Lord can shake the earth
and He can shake the foundations upon which we think we stand.
And I believe there is a shaking that's going to occur and is
occurring in the present world, not so
much a shaking of the ground as a shaking as the Lord said
that He would shake those things And He would cause those things
that could be shaken to be destroyed so that those things which could
not would be seen. They would be preserved. And
so it is that the Lord will do those things. He has showed thy
people hard things and has made us to drink the wine of astonishment. You know, when we look about
all these things that happen in the world, It doesn't take
long. You know, things go along for
an even keel for a pretty good while, and we kind of get to
thinking, well, you know, everything's going all right. And then we're
reading the newspaper the next morning, well, somebody bombed
something, or somebody killed something, or somebody shot up
a bunch of people, and then all of a sudden, we're brought to
the place where we're astonished. Man, what in the world is going
on? The Lord has caused us to drink
the wine of astonishment. I mean, He brings these things
to pass that we might daily be reminded what man is by nature,
what we are. Thou hast given a banner to them
that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.
Now, we've been made to drink the wine of astonishment, but
the Lord has given us a banner. He gave us a flag. See, we can
raise the flag up. Our trust is in the Lord because
we're brought there. But you see, not everybody's
there. There's a lot of people, they're really worried. Well,
they might impeach the president. What's gonna happen then? Oh
my goodness alive. What happens if he gets thrown
out of office? What if Elizabeth Warren gets elected? Well, what
if? I don't know who's gonna be elected.
I know this, it'll be the sorriest one they can get. I mean, that's what the Lord
told Nebuchadnezzar, didn't he? He said, you know, he put the
basest of men in those places of leadership. So whoever it's
gonna be, it's gonna be the one that the Lord has ordained to
be there. Now, does that mean we're not
gonna vote for the one we think we need to vote for? Well, of
course not. I remember one time old Spurgeon, I believe it was
Spurgeon, somebody asked him if he was gonna vote. And I forget
which party he was for, the Tories or the Democrats. would be like
the conservatives and the liberals. But anyway, he said that one
of the parties was his flesh and the other was his spirit
and he said he was going to vote because he wanted to subdue the
flesh, you know. And so, those things, see what men do
and what God does are two different things. Now, what God ordains
to occur and what men do is the same thing. But what men do,
men do because they do. See, you can't blame anybody
for what you do, even though God has ordained it. I believe God ordained David's
footsteps up those stairs to that roof to look upon Bathsheba
as much as He did anything else that occurred in David's life.
David's the one that took those steps. And David's the one that
sinned. Let no man say when he is tempted
that he's tempted of God, because you're not tempted of God, you're
tempted of yourself. You see, the Lord ordained Adam
to be in the garden, and He told him what was going to happen
in the day that he ate it. And He said, this is going to
occur. Could Adam have not done that? Not in the sovereign purpose
and will of God he couldn't. But did Adam do it? Yes, he did. Could Adam say,
well, it was alright because you ordained it? No. Because the Lord told him
not to do it. So you see, those two things,
there's no conflict between what men do and what the Lord says
is going to occur. You can't change what the Lord
says is going to occur. But you are indeed accountable
for every action that you take, and every decision you make,
and everything that goes on as related to those things. It's
all on you. That's a comforting thought,
isn't it? But you see, The Lord, just like
He told Peter, He said, Peter, He says, you're going to deny
Me three times. But He said, I've prayed for
thee, that thy faith fail not. And the Lord, I don't know what
things the Lord has ordained and designed to come to pass
in our lives, but I know this, if we belong to Him, He said
He would keep us. And He will bring us by a way
which we knew not, but He will bring us to that place which
is according to His purpose. That's given a banner to them
that fear Thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth.
That is the truth. Keep silence, all created things,
and wait your Maker's nod. My soul stands trembling while
she sings the honors of her God. Life, death, and hell, and worlds
unknown, hang on His firm decree. What a glorious God we serve.
That is the truth. And in that we find rest and
comfort. Thy beloved may be delivered,
save with thy right hand. And hear me, for how else would
we be delivered if He didn't do it? God has spoken in His
holiness. I will rejoice, I will divide
Shechem, meet out the valley of Succoth, Gilead is mine, Manasseh
is mine, Ephraim also is the strength of mine head, Judah
is my lawgiver, Moab is my washpot, over Edom will I cast out my
shoe, Philistia triumphed because of me." Now, we could go into
a long explanation of what each one of these countries is, and
there's a lot there. I'm not trying, but we don't
have time to do all of that, but you can study what each one
of these countries, I think there's a significance in each one of
them. But in essence, what the Lord is saying here is that all
of these nations belong to me. He said, I will do with them
what I desire to do. Ephraim, Gilead's mine, Manasseh,
Ephraim's the strength of mine head, Judah's my lawgiver. Now
that's interesting that in the midst of all of this, he says
all these nations are mine, but he said Judah is my lawgiver. Now of what tribe did the Lord
Jesus Christ arise out of? He's the Lion of the tribe of
Judah. He is the lawgiver. He is that one who is the Law
of God. And if you want to know what
the Law of God is, look at Jesus Christ. I mean, if you want to
know, when you get to asking yourself, well, should I do this
or should I not do this? Well, what would Christ do? I mean, that's the right thing,
is it not? I mean, what Christ would do.
He is the lawgiver. He is that one who is the satisfaction
of the law. Moab is my washpot. over eat
them while I cast out my shoe." I thought that was kind of interesting
in thinking about, I will cast out my shoe. Now, a custom, and
this is described over in the book of Ruth, what the custom
was in those days, and we see, I can't call his name, what was
Ruth's husband's... Boaz, couldn't even think of
that, Boaz. That's what Boaz did when it
came time to claim the property that would belong to Ruth. He claimed it and he took off
his shoe. And that was like a covenant,
and the Lord uses that very illustration. He says over Edom, while I cast
out my shoes, they belong to me. Now it's interesting that
He used Edom, because Edom is the country of Esau. It's red, that's the country.
He said Edom, that's what Edom means, while I cast out my shoes.
He says they belong to me. In the second Psalm, The Lord
said, yet if I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion, he said,
ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. The Lord throughout the scriptures,
now the Jews couldn't see this. And they didn't, they never could
see this. And this is a great mystery.
Paul said it was hid from the foundation of the world that
the Lord would make the Jew and the Gentile one. That he would
call out the heathen, as the Jews would call them, from every
tribe and tongue, all the Gentiles. You see, whether a man's a Jew
or a Gentile by natural birth doesn't make any difference.
Because the Lord will cast out his shoe over the lands of those
whom he said, what did he say about Esau? Esau have I hated. Now that was in contrast to Jacob
have I loved. And so he would indicate indeed
the great love that he had to Jacob as the chosen people of
God. But lest a man should think,
because he was born of the tribe of Esau, that he was cast out
from the presence of the Lord, the Lord said, I will give the
heathen for thine inheritance, because he has a people out of
every kindred, tribe, and tongue in the earth. No man need despair
because of his natural birth as to whether or not he could
be included in the kingdom of God. Because the LORD calls men
of old, Whomsoever the LORD our God shall call. And when the
Gentiles heard this, they glorified God, and as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. What a glorious thing! Who will
bring men to a strong city? Who will lead men to Edom? Will
not thou, O God, which hath cast us off, and thou, O God, which
didst not go out with our armies." I mean, when everything seemed
to be going to hell in a handbasket, to use that phrase. When everything
was going wrong, and we thought you'd cast us off, yet, he said,
you are the one. You who cast us off while we
thought you did. O God, which didst not go out
with our armies. We've got beat. I mean, the Lord
didn't go out with the armies of Israel, did he, one time.
Remember, they went around Jericho and the walls came tumbling down
and they took the city. And he said, don't take anything
from there. But one of them, Achan, he saw
a nice piece of gold. He said, well, you know, the
Lord wouldn't care if I, I mean, it's just a shame for that gold
to go to waste. I mean, it's just laying right
there. I mean, it couldn't be wrong to pick it up, but he took
it. And then, when they went up to
Ai to fight the battle, they said, eh, it's going to be a
piece of cake. I mean, just think of what the Lord did down here
at Jericho. What happened? The Lord, He didn't
go with them, did He? But yet, Where is the help of the people
of God? See, the Lord didn't go with
them because He would bring them to a place of repentance. And
He would uncover that sin which was against His way. which has
cast us off, O God, which did not go with our enemies. Give
us help from trouble for vain is the help of man. Lord, we'd
rather trust you who didn't go with us into the battle than
we had to trust in men. Vain is the help of man. What
can men do for you? I mean, realistically, what can
the government do? I know some of these politicians
nowadays, they would have you believe government can do everything
for you. I mean, you just turn everything over to them and they'll
just take care of you from the cradle to the grave. In fact,
they'll probably come up with a way to keep you from having
to go to the grave, if they can figure out a way to pay for it. But probably what they'll do
is start killing people off because they can't afford it. But anyway,
Vains the help of man. You know, I see this more clearly. And there's a guy, I know most
of you probably heard of this guy named Mike Rowe, and I don't
know if he's a believer or not, but he's got a lot of earthly
wisdom anyway. And he was on some show the other day, I saw
an excerpt of it, and they were talking about all these different
programs, and he said, well, you know, these things are contrary
to the nature of man. Because if you're going to give
man money, guess what? He's not going to do anything.
He's always going to seek the easy way. I mean, if somebody
would just give you money, why would you go out and work for
it? You know, but these dumb people, I mean, I can't really
believe they believe this. I think it's just kind of a thing,
kind of like a pipe dream. I think they're in delusion.
But nonetheless, you know, veins are helpful men. I mean, there's
nothing that men's going to come up with, no scheme. of man will
ever solve the problems that exist in this world, whether
it's a Republican, or a Democrat, or an Independent, or even the
Green Party. I mean, it don't make any difference
which one of them it is. They cannot solve the problems
of men. Vain is the help of men. But through God we shall do valiantly,
for he shall tread down our enemies. Oh, that we can see clearly who
our enemies are. You know, they're not those out
there. Our enemies are not anybody that the government's ever heard
of. But our greatest enemy, we look him in the face every morning
in the mirror. You know, we see him. And the
Lord's called us to a battle. And the glorious thing is, he
said, I will fight. with for the spirit does indeed
war against the flesh and if it was not so brethren we would
be overcome we'd be destroyed because that flesh in this flesh
dwelleth no good thing and it will destroy all of those whom
the Lord does not see fit to deliver. Vain is the help of
man but great is the help of the Lord