While you're turning there, where's
Kim? I don't see her, but she's here
somewhere. Kim DeFore, they found a little
tumor in her brain. It's not Cancerous they don't
think but she's gonna have to have surgery. It's been affecting
her hearing and Everybody remember her they're gonna try to go to
Vanderbilt this week About that and he's the one that somebody
in Vanderbilt would be doing the surgery So I think I'm telling
it right, but we want to remember their family Second Samuel Chapter 22 I just
want to read one verse and Verse 30, David says, For by thee I have
run through a troop or an army. By my God have I leaped over
a wall. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in the name of thy blessed son. And Lord, we ask in his name
that you would be pleased to meet with us. And to speak in
power to our hearts. Lord, we would remember Kim at
this time. We ask that your healing hand
would be upon her and that you'd give the doctor's wisdom to bring
her through this surgery successfully. Lord, we pray and ask for your
healing hand to be upon her. Lord, you've taught us to pray
for those that are sick, and Lord, we greatly desire your
healing hand upon her. Thy will be done. Lord, give
us the grace to hear your gospel with hearing ears and joyful
hearts. Lord, we confess our sins. We
pray for forgiveness and cleansing. We pray for the grace to forgive
others as you have forgiven us. Lord, we ask that you would give
us grace to. Walk with our dear son. and to honor him in our lives.
We ask that you'd give us grace to be servants one to another
and love one another as you've loved us. And be with all your
people wherever they meet together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Have you run through any troops
lately? Have you leaped over any walls
lately? I'm going to try to speak upon
this subject. Divine enablement. Not divine assistance. Not divine help. But divine enablement. David is writing his last psalm
here. Samuel 22 is also Psalm 18. And in this psalm, he's reviewing
how the Lord has blessed him over his life. And he says, by
thee, by your supernatural power. And David did have the supernatural
power of God upon him. I was watching Planet Earth last
night. I love that show. And I was watching
the Grizzly Bears. And David with his bare hands
slew a bear." Now you can't do that simply with help. That's
a supernatural work. No man could do this. No man
helped could do this. Not with a bear. This was supernatural
enablement. Scripture says, he took a lion
by the beard and he smoked the lion and killed it. Now that
can only be done by divine enablement. And here he says, I hacked through
an army. I ran through an army, hacking
and defeating them. And when I came to the wall,
I didn't run into the wall. I wasn't stopped by a wall. I
leaped over it. And he's not talking about a
wall like this. He's talking about a walled city where he
jumped up over this great high wall into the city to continue
his fighting. Divine enablement. Now, first and foremost, these
are the words of Christ. And we always have to look at
that in the Psalms. First and foremost, these are
the words of Christ. Look in verse 5. This is Christ
speaking from the cross. He said, when the waves of death
compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid, the sorrows
of hell compassed me about, the snares of death prevented me. In my distress, I called upon
the Lord and cried to my God, and he did hear my voice out
of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears. This is
him speaking from the cross. Look in verse 21. The Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands
hath he recompensed me." Now, people said, well, he's talking
about his blameless character before men. And the Lord rewarded
him according to his blameless character before men. Is your
character that blameless? David's wasn't. I mean, ask Uriah
the Hittite. Ask Bathsheba. Ask Joab. This is Christ speaking about
His own personal righteousness, and this is the righteousness
every believer possesses. Look in verse 22. For I've kept
the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my
God. For all His judgments were before me, and as for His statutes,
I did not depart from them. I was also upright before Him,
and have kept myself from mine iniquity. And that's talking
about the iniquity of his people that became his. He said, I didn't
commit it, although it was mine. I've kept myself from it. Verse
25, therefore, hath the Lord recompensed me according to my
righteousness, according my cleanness in his sight. And that's obviously
the words of the Lord Jesus, isn't it? Very obviously. Look in verse 29. For thou art
my lamp, Lord, and the Lord will lighten my darkness. For by thee
have I run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over
a wall. Now these are the words of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He ran through the troop of his
enemies, the sins of his people, the law of God that could have
damned his people, the demons, wicked men. He ran through this
troop and he didn't run into a wall. How many times have you
said, I've run into a wall? He didn't run into a wall. He leaped
over it. And here's what is so glorious.
Everything that he did, his people did. Now let me show you this
in the scripture. Turn to Hebrews chapter 7. Hold
your finger there and look at this passage in Hebrews chapter
7. Verse 8, And here men that die
receive tithes, talking about priests receiving tithes, but
there he receiveth them, of whom it is witness that he liveth.
And as I may so say, Levi also, the great-grandson of Abraham,
the beginning of the Levitical priesthood, the high priest,
and this I may so say, that Levi also, which received tithes,
paid tithes in Abraham, for he was yet in the loins of his father
when Melchizedek met him." Now he says, Levi paid tithes. Doesn't say it's as if he paid
tithes or something of that. It says he actually paid those
tithes when Abraham paid those tithes, Levi did. He was in the loins of his great-grandfather
Abraham. Levi paid the tithes. Now, if
I'm in Christ, I kept the law. When he kept the law, I kept
the law. When he ran through a troop,
I ran to a troop. When he leaped over that wall,
I leaped over that wall. Because everything he did, I
did. What he did, he did as a representative
man. What He did, He did for somebody
else. And when He did it, they did it. Just like it says in
Romans 5.12, Wherefore by one man sin entered the world, and
death by sin, so that death passed upon all men, in that all have
sinned. Now listen real carefully. I was not charged with the sin
of somebody else. When Adam sinned, I sinned. Do you understand that? When Adam sinned, I wasn't condemned
for his sin that I didn't commit. I committed the sin because I
was in him. And when Christ ran through that
troop, when Christ leaped over the wall, I ran through that
troop. And I leaped over the wall because
I was in him. When Christ kept the law, I kept
the law. When Christ died, I died. When Christ was raised from the
dead, I was raised from the dead. By thee have I run through a
troop, and by thee have I leapt over a wall. Now, do you feel like you have been
enabled to run through a troop and leap over a wall? Do you
feel that way? No, I don't. My seeing always makes me think,
you say you're running through a troop and leaping over a wall.
I don't feel that way. But does that mean I have it
just because I don't feel that way? No, I have. Divine enablement. Now I want
to give you two scriptures before we go on to think about this
thing of divine enablement. Two scriptures. First scripture
is John chapter 15 verse 5. The Lord said without me you
can do. Does anybody know the next word?
Nothing. He didn't say without me you
can do hardly anything. He said without me you can do
Nothing. You can't believe. You can't
repent. You can't love God. You can't
even forgive anybody. Without me, the Lord says, you
can do nothing. You believe that? Without me,
You can do nothing. Why? The Lord said in John 6.44,
no man can come to Me, except the Father which has sent Me
draw him. Now that word, draw, it's the
same word James used when he says, do not rich men draw you
before the judgment seat. That doesn't mean they say, oh,
come on in, you know, I'm going to put you. No, it means they
drag you before the judgment seat. Now, you won't come to
Christ. You can't come to Christ. I can't
come to Christ unless the Father drags me and causes me to. But let me tell you this also.
When he drags me, I do so with full consent. You're glad to
be drawn, aren't you? Now, without me, you can do nothing. And the second scripture I want
to give you is in Philippians chapter 4, verse 13, where Paul
said, I can do all things. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengtheneth me, which enableth me. I can believe. I can do all things. I can repent. I can love God. I can love you. I can deny myself. I can take
up my cross daily and follow the Lord Jesus Christ because
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Now,
when the Lord said to that man with the withered hand, Stretch
forth thine hand, He couldn't. It was withered. It was impossible
for Him to stretch forth His hand. But when Christ said, Stretch
forth thy hand, the ability came with His command. When Christ
said to Lazarus, Lazarus, come forth, he was dead. But when Christ told him to come,
he that was dead came forth. Yes, without Christ, you and
I can do nothing, but I can do all things through Christ, which
strengtheneth me. Now, what I want to do with the
remainder of our time, divine enablement, I want to talk about
what Christ has done for us without our help, without our participation. And then I want to talk about
what Christ enables us to do. Now first, here is what Christ
has done. I could spend weeks upon this
and weeks upon the other, but here is what Christ has done
without our help. First, He said in John 14, 6,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the
Father but by me. You know what that means? Christ brought me to the Father. When He came to the Father, I
did as well because I was in Him. Romans 3.24, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Now what did Christ do by His
redeeming work? He justified me. Now, don't forget
what justification means. It means sinlessness. It means
He made me so that I don't have any sin. There's nothing to accuse
me of. There's nothing for me to feel
guilty about. I am perfectly righteous. I've always pleased
God. That's what justification means.
You know, it actually floors me when these people talk about
the judgment of the believers' works, how they'll be judged
according to how obedient they were on earth, or they'll lose
rewards because of their sinfulness here on earth. That's a complete
denial of justification in the first place. You don't believe
in justification if you believe something that foolish. No, I
am without guilt, sinless before God. Listen to this scripture. Hebrews 1.3, when he had by himself
purged our sins with no help from me, He purged. He put away my sins. So I don't have any sins. Romans 5.10 says, If when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son. I was an enemy. And what did
He do by His death? He reconciled me to God so that
God has no reason to be anything but pleased with me. Complete
reconciliation. Colossians 1.20, Having made
peace by the blood of His cross. He made my peace with God. God
is satisfied with me. God is at peace with me. He has
no reason to be mad. Because Christ made peace by
the blood of His cross. Now, what did I have anything?
Was my hand in on any of that? No. No, this is what He did for
me. Ephesians 1.5, being predestinated
to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ. Before I was ever
born, I was an adopted child by Jesus Christ. That's what
He did for me. He stood as my representative and my surety
before time began. Ephesians 1.7, in whom we have
redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.
Hebrews 9.26, "...Now once in the end of the world hath he
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Now, do
you see these things that the Lord did without me? Do you like it that way? I do. I like having no hand in this.
All the responsibility, I remember one time reading, Christians
are people that don't want to take personal responsibility
for their own sins. Yep, yep, I'm one of those people. You
can count me, that person described that correctly. I don't want
to take responsibility for any of my sins. I want Christ to
take it all for me. But then there's some things
he enables us. to do. Now this is divine enablement. This is just as great as running
through a troop, hacking through an army, and leaping over a wall. Listen to this scripture, 1 Peter
chapter 1 verse 21, Who by him do believe in God. The faith that I have isn't a
product of my will. Who by him do believe in God. I was reading that passage of
scripture in Acts chapter 28, where after Paul had spoken,
the scripture says, some believed and some believed not. Now, that's
always the response to the gospel. Some believe, some believe not. But I found this very interesting.
In the original language, the word believed is in the passive
voice. You don't choose to believe. You just find yourself believing.
And it's because He caused you to. And you know it. You know
your faith is not the result of your works, of your choice,
of your effort. You believe. You believe. But it's interesting, those who
believe not, That is in the active voice. You have to choose not
to believe. When you hear the truth, and
if you don't believe it, it's because you chose not to believe
it. Now you believe the truth not
because you chose to believe, you believe it because it's true.
You hear the truth and you say, I believe that. That's the truth. You don't say, I choose to believe
that. I hate it when people talk like
that. I don't choose to believe. I believe because it's the truth. But if I don't believe the truth,
it's because I've chosen. No, I'm not going that direction.
I'm not going to believe that because of all the implications
of it. But by Him, we actually believe God. Romans 1, 5 says,
by whom, I love this, by whom we have received grace. Do you
know you can't even receive grace unless God gives you grace to
receive grace? But by His grace, we actually receive grace. John 10, I am the door, by me
if any man enter, he shall be saved. Do you know I actually
enter into God's presence? Right now, I'm entering into
God's presence through the door. through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now that's a divine enabling, isn't it? It's only by His enablement
that I can do that. Romans 5.1, being justified by
faith. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. We actually have peace. The peace
of justification. The peace of knowing that God
is plumb satisfied with me through Christ. And that He's not looking
for anything else. And I have peace with Him. I
have peace with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Just peace.
Not at odds. Not fighting. Not at conflict. But peace. I have peace with
the world in the sense that I don't need the world. grasping after
the world by the grace of God, it's a dead thing to me. You
can have it. Peace. We actually experience
the joy and peace of believing. Ephesians 3.12 says, in whom, not apart from him, but in whom
we have boldness, and access with confidence by the faith
of Him. By His faith, by His faithfulness,
I have boldness. I don't have boldness in myself,
but I do have boldness in Him. By Him, we have boldness and
access. Access into the very presence
of God with confidence. by the faith of Him." Philippians
1.11, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by
Jesus Christ. Now, every believer has the fruit
of God the Holy Spirit. That's the fruit of righteousness.
The fruit of the Holy Spirit. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith. meekness and temperance, the
fruit of God the Holy Spirit, which every heaven-born believer
possesses. And those fruits are how? By
Jesus Christ. I didn't come up with these things
on my own. It's simply the fruit of God the Holy Spirit. Hebrews
7.19 says, The law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of
a better hope. The hope of grace did, by the
which we draw nigh unto God. I actually draw nigh unto God
through this better hope. This is something that I do,
divinely enabled by God. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
13. I want you to read this with me. Hebrews 13. Verse 20, Now the God of peace,
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect. This is His work, His divine
enablement. make you perfect in every good
work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing
in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen." What a divine enablement. That's God working in you to
do that which is well-pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. Now, one last scripture. Turn
to Revelation chapter 12. Verse 9, And the great dragon
was cast out, that old serpent called the devil. And Satan,
which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud
voice saying, In heaven now is come salvation and strength,
and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. For
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accuse them
before our God day and night." Now before I read the verse 11,
whatever Satan accuses you of before God, how much of it's
true? Would he have to tell lies on
you? Or would he be saying the truth, his accusations? But look
at verse 11. And they overcame him and his
accusations. How? By the blood of the Lamb. By the blood of the Lamb, every
accusation is denied. Because of the blood of the Lamb,
he didn't do it. There is no sin. Now, they overcame. That's divine
enablement, isn't it? And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony. You want
my testimony? You want to know what my personal
testimony is? Testimony night. Well, here's
my testimony. I overcame him by the blood of
the Lamb. That's my only testimony. and they love not their lives
even unto death, the gospel we believe is a gospel worth dying
for, isn't it? Now, while without him I can
do nothing, by him I've run through a troop, and by him I've leaped
over a wall. Now, the gospel we believe is
a gospel of divine enabling. Amen.