All right, so look at verse number one
there in Psalm chapter 20.
It says, the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble.
The title for the sermon this afternoon is
Day of Trouble, Day of Trouble.
Now one thing that you may not have realized
before you're saved when you heard the good news
of salvation, you knew that the Lord God loved you
and he sent his only begotten sons to die in your place
and you knew that salvation was a free gift
and you knew there would be a home in heaven.
One thing you may not have realized,
fully grasped at that point in your life
is that you're gonna have days of trouble
in the Christian life.
I mean, sometimes you think, well,
it's all gonna be smooth sailing from now on.
The Lord has saved me, I've got him at my side,
I'm a child of God, I'm never gonna go through troubles.
But actually, when you look at this,
the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble,
not if you have a day of trouble, in the day of trouble,
meaning you will have days of trouble,
you may be having a day of trouble right now,
you definitely will have days of trouble in the future.
That's just a reality of the Christian life.
And then it says, the name of the God of Jacob defend thee.
The name of the God of Jacob defend thee.
So when we are going through trouble,
we need to obviously depend upon the Lord.
We need to have faith in his name
and the name, of course,
that we know the Lord as today is Jesus Christ.
You know, in Acts chapter four, verse 12,
it says, neither is there salvation in any other,
for there is none of the name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved.
And of course, that name is Jesus Christ.
And we know that's about salvation.
We know, I suppose, you know, they have trouble,
I suppose, for the unbeliever
is not knowing their eternal security,
not knowing where they're gonna be for the rest,
you know, for all eternity.
That is troubling to many people.
And that's why it's a beautiful thing
when the soul winner is able to preach the gospel
to the lost.
And of course, we understand that
it's through the name of Jesus that we are saved.
But you know, the Bible also says in 2 Timothy 3, 12,
yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution, shall suffer persecution.
Look, you know, if you didn't know that already,
you know, you will suffer persecution,
you will go through days of trial and troubles.
Hey, why, why doesn't God just protect us from all of this?
Why doesn't he just, you know,
make sure that we never go through difficulties?
Why can't he just make sure that our life is smooth sailing?
I'll tell you why.
Because have you ever had a time period
where your life was just smooth sailing,
where everything's just working for you,
you know, you're being fruitful,
you're being productive,
you know, you're living life to the fullest,
you're enjoying life, you're full of joy,
you're never having trouble in life.
You know what happens after a while?
You stop depending upon the Lord.
You stop thinking about the Lord.
You start thinking, you know,
the flesh starts to be lifted with pride,
the flesh starts to just rejoice
in everything that it has.
And it starts to think, wow,
because I'm such a great man, right?
I'm such a good person.
Look at my life, I'm doing so well compared to others.
And quite often, you know,
when you're being filled with pride,
the Lord's just gonna have to take you a step down.
He's just gonna have to humble you.
And many times it's just going to allow
a trouble that he may have prevented in your life
if you just had set the Lord right, you know, in your life.
But because he had forgotten the Lord,
he's just going to lift that barrier up
and allow that trouble to come through
and just to humble you,
just to bring you back running to the Lord
for help and for guidance.
That's the best place to be anyway.
You know, the best place to be in life
is to be close to God.
Whether your life is going smooth
or whether your life is going crazy
and everything's falling apart,
if you have the Lord at your side, you can be comforted.
You can be sure of his mighty hand.
And so, you know, we must understand
that God will allow us to go through trouble, you know?
And there's part of that just to sometimes humble us,
to bring us back to him.
And you might say, but hold on,
I didn't depart from the Lord.
I am being faithful to the Lord.
I am picking up my Bible.
I am praying to him daily.
I am coming to church.
I am growing the Lord.
Why am I still going through trouble?
Well, sometimes God just allows you to go through trouble
to refine you, you know, to work in you, right?
To go through some difficulty.
Listen, you know, if you want to get some muscles,
you want to start, you know, building your body up,
you got to go to the gym and it's got to be painful.
All right, what's it saying?
No pain, no gain, right?
There's got to be some trouble.
There's got to be some tiredness.
You know, your muscles have to be ripped up a little bit
in order for them to grow,
in order for them to be stronger, to get bigger, right?
I mean, this is just life.
You know, if you were just always in your comfort zone,
you'll never do anything great.
You'll never be able to accomplish anything.
You'll never grow.
You need to be taken out of your comfort zone,
be put in a situation that you may not necessarily like,
but through that process, God can use you.
God can help you grow.
God can give you experience.
And then you can do greater things for God in the future.
And so when we go through the day of trouble, brethren,
please, you know, don't panic, don't become desperate.
Don't become anxious.
Just say, God,
what is it that you're trying to teach me today?
And you know, if you've been far from God,
that's number one, first thing you do,
I better get right with God.
I need the Lord to get through this trial.
But if you are being right with God,
say, God, what is it that you're trying to teach me?
What are you trying to develop in my life?
What area of my life am I lacking in
that I need to work hard at
so you can use me in a greater way in the future?
So we shouldn't, you know, shy away from trouble.
We shouldn't get upset.
Look, you will get upset sometimes with the trouble,
but maybe that's the process that God needs you
to go through to be further refined.
You know, and the Bible also says in Acts 14, verse 22,
it says, confirming of the souls of the disciples
and exhorting them to continue in the faith,
and that we must through much tribulation
enter into the kingdom of God.
Hey, of course we have entered the kingdom of God
spiritually, because we're born again,
believers, the new man is in the kingdom of God.
But one day we will completely enter that kingdom, right?
Whether we pass away or whether the Lord comes back
at his rapture, where we're taken up into heaven
with the Lord, you know, but to get to that state, brethren,
the Bible's very clear, we must enter
through much tribulation, much trials.
And so we need to be people that are prepared to fight.
We need to be people that are prepared
to go through hardship.
Listen, this whole psalm, we'll look at the context later on
is about going to war, okay?
David, you know, he was a man of war, right?
You know, the kings of old back then,
they would be the ones leading the army, okay?
They would be the commander in chief.
You know, he would be out there fighting,
he wouldn't be hiding behind the scenes,
he would be out there fighting the battle.
And so when you look at this psalm,
I don't know what battle this is, you know,
he had many battles, but this is one battle
where he's having a day of trouble,
he's having some difficulties in the war that he's fighting,
and he calls upon God to help him.
He calls upon the Lord to save him through this trial.
And brethren, you know, we're going through the series
on the armor of God, and we're talking about the trials,
we're talking about the wars that we're going through,
we're talking about the armor that we must put on
in order to be successful soldiers for the Lord, all right?
So if God calls us, you know, soldiers,
if we're commanded to put on the whole armor,
then expect the day of trouble, it's going to come.
You know, we're fighting a spiritual war.
Christianity was never meant to be easy, okay?
Salvation's easy, praise God, salvation's easy.
The hard work was done by Jesus, hey,
but living a faithful life was never meant to be easy, okay?
And actually, it's better with a bit of difficulty.
It's better with a bit of trial.
It's better to test yourself
and see how you can grow in the Lord
rather than everything just being given to you, right?
I mean, we want to be able to experience some challenge.
You know, why do you eat spicy food?
I like having a bit of chili in my food, right?
But it burns, right?
You know, it opens up the sinuses a little bit.
You get hot, you get a little bit upset.
You know, that food's biting back, but it's enjoyable.
It makes the food more alive, right?
And you know, we ought to be looking at the troubles
and the difficulties that we go through and say,
well, this is just an experience in my life.
There's coming a day when I'm going to rest.
This life is a vapor.
You know, there's a coming time
when I'm going to be in heaven with the Lord
and I can just rest from those difficulties,
from the trials that we had in this world.
And if you can please go to John chapter 14.
Keep your finger there in Psalm 20.
Go to John chapter 14.
Because the second part of that verse,
you know, the day of trouble,
we understand that's just the reality of the Christian life,
but then it says the name of the God of Jacob defend thee.
All right, so let's look at this
because Jesus speaks very much about using his name
when we need help.
John chapter 14 in verse number 12 says,
these are words of Jesus,
verily, verily, I say unto you,
hear that believer from me,
the works that I do shall he do also,
and greater works in these shall he do
because I go unto my Father.
Did you know you can do greater works than Jesus?
You know, New Life Baptist Church can do more work
than what Jesus did.
You know, Jesus in his ministry was here for three years.
He accomplished a lot, okay?
My hope is that New Life Baptist Church remains
till the day that Jesus Christ comes back, all right?
We can have many years.
We can have many decades.
I guess it all depends on when the Lord returns, all right?
And in those times, we can actually accomplish much more
even than what Jesus Christ was able to accomplish.
But let's keep going.
Verse number 13, let's understand how we do this.
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do,
that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.
Man, you know what?
Jesus wants us to be confident.
If we just ask something in the name of Jesus,
the power of his name, he says, I will do it.
I don't want you to doubt, I will do it,
just says Jesus Christ.
Do you have that confidence when you go and pray?
Do you have that confidence when you ask God for help
that if you ask it in the name of Jesus,
he's gonna step in and do it for you?
That's the confidence that Jesus wants in our lives.
Go to chapter 15 now, go to chapter 15, verse number 16.
Chapter 15 and verse number 16.
It says, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you
and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit
and that your fruit should remain.
Hey, we wanna go and win souls.
We wanna be fruitful Christians.
We wanna see other people come into the kingdom of God.
How do we do it?
Jesus says we can do, but how do we do it?
That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name,
he may give it you, okay?
So listen, we need to see more souls saved, what do we do?
We go to the Lord in prayer, we ask in the name of Jesus.
I'll never forget, shortly after we moved
into this building, was it this building?
Maybe I'm getting the timing a little bit wrong,
but there was a period where we just had
a dry spell, brethren.
Soul winning, I'm talking about, right?
I think we went like two or three months,
maybe two and a half months.
We just weren't not getting anybody saved.
Week after, we were getting out there, we were doing the work
but we just, no one, come back, did you get anyone saved?
No, no, no, no.
And then we had a time, I don't know if you're on this,
we had a time of prayer and fasting, okay?
So, and look, there was a few things
that we need to pray about.
That was one of the things we wanted to see more souls saved
we prayed and, I don't know if you remember this,
we prayed and fasted, next Sunday, two or three salvations.
Suddenly after that, more salvations,
after that, more salvations, salvation, salvation,
every week for a while.
Every week, salvation's because we just stopped
and we just said, Lord, we're gonna ask in your name,
in the name of Jesus, the power of his name,
don't tell me it's a coincidence,
don't tell me we just started to knock the right areas
and the right doors, don't tell me that.
I know it's because we asked Jesus, we took it seriously,
we even fasted about that, okay?
We took it seriously, we caught upon the power
of the name of Christ and he was able to allow us
to bring forth fruits.
Go to the next chapter, John 16, verse 23.
John 16 and verse number 23.
John 16, verse 23.
And in that day, ye shall ask me nothing.
Verily, verily, I say unto you whatsoever,
ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
Hitherto ye have asked nothing in my name,
ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
That your joy may be full.
Are you joyful when you have answered prayers?
Are you joyful when you ask something in Jesus' name
and he answers it, he gives you what you want?
You know what Jesus is saying, hey, you haven't asked.
Listen, sometimes we can go through a period
where we don't pray, we don't go to the Lord,
we don't ask anymore.
We say, well, I asked God that 10 years ago,
I asked him that five years ago, I asked him a month ago.
Hey, ask again, keep asking, ask the Lord.
Use the name of Jesus in your prayers, in Jesus' name.
That's why we end that way, right?
In Jesus' name, we ask these things.
And listen, many times we don't get what we need
just because we don't ask.
Jesus says, look, just ask.
Listen, chapter 14, chapter 15, chapter 16,
Jesus is very clear here in the book of John,
just asking his name is going to do it.
And listen, it takes faith, it takes faith to know,
wow, the God of the universe will step in
after I just mutter some words
out of these filthy lips that I have, right?
But I'm trying to serve God, I'm trying to do what he wants,
I want the will of God in my life,
and if I just ask him, his name is going to do it?
Hey, I believe it, I've seen too many answered prayers.
I've seen too many coincidences, right?
To not deny that God can answer prayers.
God is definitely a God that can deliver us
out of the day of trouble, okay?
Listen, does that mean we're not going to go
through the day of trouble?
Of course, we still will go through days of trouble,
but the Lord is there.
He is going to defend us during that day.
Back to Psalm 20, please.
Psalm 20 in verse number two.
And I like how David requests help from God.
You know, he doesn't ask God,
can you send more reinforcements to our fight?
Lord, can you make us stronger men to fight this battle?
What kind of help does he want from God?
In verse number two, he says,
send the help from the sanctuary
and strengthen thee out of Zion.
Where does he want the strength from?
The strength of men?
Is he asking for more chariots?
Is he asking for more horses?
No, he says, look, I need help out of Zion.
I need help from the sanctuary.
And of course, the sanctuary in this day was a tabernacle.
And the tabernacle was where they would sacrifice
the animals, you know, the Ark of the Covenant was there.
And of course, the sanctuary is the habitation
where God's spirit would be,
where God's presence would be for the nation of Israel.
And so what David is saying,
look, I need your help, Lord.
I need supernatural help.
I need your power.
I need your might.
I need your glory on my side to fight this battle.
Hey, he was looking for supernatural help.
And brethren, when God answers your prayers,
he stepped in supernaturally, okay,
to make something happen.
These are real miracles.
When you can ask something in prayer,
you have them answered.
It's just a miracle of God
that he's actually stepped in to do that.
And so I like that about David.
I like he's not looking for men for help,
but he's looking for God.
He's looking for the strength of God, not of men.
Look at verse number three.
Remember all thy offerings
and accept thy burnt sacrifice, Salah.
And so David's pointing back to the Lord,
so look, Lord, help me, Lord.
I need you today.
It's a day of trouble.
And look back to the offerings.
Look back to the sacrifices that we've offered you, right?
So what is he saying?
He's saying, look, can you help me in the same measure,
in the same way as I've been giving the offerings,
I've been doing the sacrifices,
I've been doing the things that you want, God,
and if I do these things that you want me to do,
then I know you're gonna come through and help me.
He points back to his service.
He points back to his sacrifices.
Now, brethren, if you're not serving God,
if you're not sacrificing,
if you're not offering things to the Lord,
how can you turn, how can you be like David
and say, God, I need your help.
Look at the sacrifices.
Oh, actually, no, I didn't do anything for you, Lord.
I mean, that's a bad place to be, right?
And so in the New Testament,
we're not offering animal sacrifices,
but we offer the sacrifices of our praise of our lips,
of our fellowship, our love for the Lord,
doing the work that he's left us to do, serving this body.
That's one of the greatest sacrifices
and offerings that you can do,
is just serve the local body
so we can be a stronger church for the Lord.
Hey, if you can do those things and God can say,
hey, you've been serving me,
you've been faithful toward me,
then there's a greater hand of deliverance,
a greater hand of defense during that day of trouble.
So please don't disregard the kind of help that you can do.
Please keep your finger there.
Go to Matthew chapter 25.
Matthew chapter 25 and verse number 31.
It says, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory
and all the holy angels with him,
then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.
And before him shall be gathered all nations
and he shall separate them one from another
as a shepherd divided for sheep from the goats.
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand,
but the goats on the left.
Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,
come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom,
prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was an hungered and you gave me meat.
I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger and you took me in,
naked and you clothed me.
I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him saying,
Lord, when saw we thee are hungered and fed thee
or thirsty and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in
or naked and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick or in prison and came unto thee?
And the king shall answer and say unto them,
verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it
unto one of the least of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me.
What's the greatest service that you can do for the Lord?
How can you feed the Lord Jesus Christ?
How can you give him drink?
How can you give him his necessities?
How can you serve Jesus?
He just served the least of these, of your brethren.
And just a little child, you know, who can't maybe,
you know, get a cup of water,
you go and help that child with a cup of water,
it may seem insignificant to you
and Jesus on the day of judgment say,
hey, you did that unto me, how you served the brethren.
Okay, this is important for you to remember,
when we serve one another, we're serving Jesus Christ.
There's a reason why the church is called
the body of Christ.
We are the body in so many ways.
Yes, the body to do the work that God has left us to do.
But we serve here, we serve Jesus Christ, you know.
I often think about how wonderful it would have been
to be with Jesus 2000 years ago.
Hey, his body's here.
I can serve Jesus, man, I wish I could have helped Jesus.
You know, I wish I could have just,
when he was tired, to give him a pillow to help him rest.
If he was hungry, to get him some food,
I wish I could be there for Jesus.
But listen, we can do it today.
When we can serve one another,
when we can just help each other, pray for one another,
edify one another, we're doing it as unto Jesus Christ.
Please don't forget that, don't forget that.
You know, there might be people in the church
that you don't completely get along with.
Hey, but if you serve them, you're serving Jesus.
Everyone gets along with Jesus, surely, okay?
He's given up his life for you.
Hey, you know, when we have that mindset
that we're serving Christ, it changes everything.
It changes the dynamics of how you serve one another.
And so what kind of sacrifices,
what kind of offerings can I bring?
Well, let's start here.
Let's start with the local body,
New Year's Life Baptist Church, let's serve one another.
Okay, the more we serve,
the more we can say to Jesus on the day of trouble,
listen, God, I've been serving you,
I've been doing sacrifices, I have the offerings,
can you deliver me now out of the hand of trouble?
You know, can you reward me
for the service that I've done unto you?
Back to Psalm 20 and verse number four.
Psalm 20 and verse number four.
And I like verse number four
because it helps balance things out
because, you know, people that hear this kind of preaching,
if we ask anything in Jesus' name, he'll do it.
And you have your Pentecostals and your Charismatics
and your prosperity gospel people says,
man, whatever you want in life,
just, you know, all the wealth, all the health,
you know, or basically just live like the world,
God can give it to you, you know,
if you're a good Christian, if you have enough faith,
that's not the balance.
Verse number four brings the balance to it, right?
It says, grant thee according to thine own heart
and fulfill all thy counsel.
He says, look, listen, Lord, I need to be defended.
This is a tough, tough war, okay?
We're struggling in this battle right now, Lord.
I need you to come, I need you to defend me.
Lord, I've been serving you,
can you please reward the service that I've done,
but at the same time, do it according to thine own heart.
Do it the way you wanna do it, Lord.
Don't fulfill my lusts.
Don't fulfill the things that I want in this wicked flesh.
Do it your way, Lord.
Your will be done.
That's what he's saying, basically.
Your will be done, not mine, all right?
And in James chapter four, verse 14,
you don't need to turn there, it says,
whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow,
for what is your life?
It is even a vapor that appeareth for a little time
and then vanisheth away, then it says this,
for that ye ought to say, if the Lord will,
we shall live and do this or that, if the Lord will.
And so when you say to me, hey, what are you up to tomorrow?
You know, I ought to respond, well, you know,
this is what I'm gonna do, if the Lord wills, right?
If the Lord wills.
You know, Pastor Kevin, are you going down
to Blessed Hope Baptist Church for 12 months?
If the Lord wills, okay, if the Lord wills.
Now listen, I know people get carried away with this,
and every time they answer something for the future,
if the Lord wills, if the Lord's willing.
Like, you know, you don't need
to be hyper-spiritual about this.
Of course, the point is, the point is,
it's not so much, you know, be careful with how you say it,
it's what you understand, is that the reason
I have tomorrow is because of Jesus.
The reason I have next week is because of God,
and I'm going to try to use these days,
I'm gonna use these months, I'm gonna use this time
that God has given me to serve him.
And listen, I want God's will in my life, don't you?
We wanna be in the center of God's will.
We live in a troubled time, we live in a wicked world,
I wanna be right where God wants me to be,
that's where I'm gonna be safest.
Listen, and if I lose my life serving God,
if I lose my life in his will, so be it.
Praise God, if you could lose your life in his will,
I'd get to heaven, and I'd have an amazing story.
Man, I was serving God, I was doing that,
and I got put to death.
How did you die?
Oh, just in my sleep.
And I got the exciting story,
we're doing God's will, and you lose your life.
And hey, for all eternity, you have a great story, right?
But we want to, yeah, we need to remember, yes,
because if we don't consider the Lord about our future,
then we're kind of boasting ourselves.
We think about the future through our eyes,
the lust of our flesh,
what we want to accomplish in our flesh,
rather than trying to look at the will of God.
And that's what, when you say these words, God willing,
it's gonna help you, again, focus your mind,
hey, if the Lord allows.
As long as the Lord gives me tomorrow,
I will do this task that he wants me to do.
In 1 Corinthians 4, verse 19,
we have a situation where Paul wanted to come
and visit the Corinthian church,
and he says these words, he says,
but I will come shortly, sorry,
but I will come to you shortly.
So you see, Paul wants to come to this church, right?
I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, okay?
So there's an example of it, right?
He says, man, I'm planning to go and see that church,
I'm coming to see you guys, don't worry about it,
if the Lord wills.
Now, if you know the book of Corinthians,
when you get to 2 Corinthians, it's much later,
sometime later, Paul still hasn't been able
to come to see them, all right?
So I guess for that period of time,
God was not willing for him to do that,
but you know, Paul had the right attitude.
He says, look, yes, it's my desire to do that,
as long as the Lord allows it,
as long as it's God's will, all right?
And so that's gonna help balance out your prayer.
It's gonna help you understand
why there are certain things you ask and you don't get.
It's just because it's not in God's will.
It'll probably destroy you.
I mean, some of the things that you ask
just may destroy your life, really,
and God's just protecting you,
and keeping you in his will.
Back to Psalm 20, verse number five.
Psalm 20 and verse number five,
it says, we will rejoice in thy salvation,
and in the name of our God, we will set up our banners.
The Lord fulfill all thy petitions.
There it is again.
The Lord fulfill all thy petitions,
all your requests, all your needs.
Hey, David says, look, I know he's gonna answer.
I know he's gonna fulfill those petitions.
And in 1 John 5, 14, it says,
and this is the confidence that we have in him,
that if we ask anything according to his will,
he heareth us.
And if we know that he hear us,
whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions
that we desired of him.
And God wants to answer your petitions.
He wants to answer your prayers.
Hey, stop praying, church.
When's the last time you seriously got a hold of God
and say, God, I've got a lot of requests.
I've got a lot of stress.
I've got a lot of worries.
Instead of just giving a five minute,
Lord, please help me today.
Hey, when's the last time you really bowed your knees,
lowered your head and asked God for some help?
When's that last time you had that sweet hour of prayer?
When you just unloaded on God and said,
God, I'm in a battle.
I'm in a war.
I need you to defend me.
I have petitions.
I need you to come through.
When's the last time?
You know, I pray, I pray a lot,
but there's been very few times
where I've really just been so anguished
where I just, you know, just for an hour,
just had to put my head down on the floor and go,
God, please help me.
I need your assistance.
But you know what?
That's healthy.
And this is what the battles do.
This is what the wars do.
It gets us to have a complete reliance upon God
and to know that, hey,
if I bring my petitions before him,
he will answer them.
All right.
Now, when it says here, I will rejoice in thy salvation,
you know, I guess we can apply that
to the salvation of our soul.
You know, of course we can apply that.
Hey, we should be happy that we're saved,
that we have a home in heaven.
But within the context of this Psalm,
this is more about salvation in the day of trouble.
So whatever troubles he's going for,
whatever needs he's going through,
this war that he's fighting,
he says, listen, God, when you come through,
I'm gonna rejoice.
We're gonna lift up your banner.
We're going to praise your name.
And brethren, that should be our attitude
when we have answered prayer,
to give God thanks.
Don't forget.
You say, well, oh man, it came through
because I prayed for it.
Okay, did you give God thanks now?
He's given you what you wanted.
He's given you the petitions of your heart.
Have you thanked him?
I don't know how many times I thanked God.
We have that story of the 10 lepers,
you know, of Jesus Christ,
and he heals all 10 of them,
and only one comes back to thank him.
You know, only one comes back to thank him.
And I think about that and I go, man,
that's so real, that's so true.
I probably have 10 things that God has answered in prayer.
And potentially, I've only thanked him
for one of those things.
I don't think I've thanked God
every time he's answered my prayers,
to my shame, okay?
But the desire of our hearts should be
that we can rejoice when he saves us
out of the day of trouble.
Look at verse number six.
Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed.
He will hear him from his holy heaven
with the saving strength of his right hand.
So of course, his anointed there
is referring to himself as a king.
He's been anointed.
He's been ordained to that position as a king,
and he knows the Lord will answer that.
But then look at verse number seven.
It says, some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we will remember the name of the Lord our God, okay?
So it says, look, my enemies, they trust in their power.
Hey, they would have had powerful chariots in this battle,
powerful horses, maybe their army
was even stronger than they were, okay?
Just look, they are trusting those chariots and horses.
Just look, Lord, I don't wanna be that way.
I don't wanna trust in those chariots,
but I will remember your name, okay?
I know there's power in your name, okay?
And so we see he's depending,
now did David have a strong army?
Of course he did.
He had a lot of trained men.
He himself was a trained soldier.
And even with the resources,
even with the skills that they had to fight a battle,
he still said, no, it's about the Lord.
The Lord will deliver me, all right?
The Lord will save me.
You know, he's an experienced fighter.
He's taken down Goliath.
He's taken down the bear and the lion.
He knows that the Lord will come through
in his day of trouble.
But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
So let's go back in history a little bit.
If you can please keep your finger,
then go to Exodus chapter 14 and verse number five.
Exodus 14 and verse number five.
And let's just see some stories here
that will help us understand how God can deliver us
out of the hands of chariots and of armies,
of enemies that might be stronger than us.
And we're going to the story, of course,
where Moses, you go into Exodus 14,
where Moses delivered the Israelites out of Egypt, okay?
And they get to the Red Sea, a very famous story, okay?
They get to the Red Sea.
Then Pharaoh's like, hey, we need them back.
Let's get those slaves back, right?
And he sends his army, he sends a full of horses and chariots
after these defenseless Israelites.
But we pick up the story here in verse number five,
Exodus 14 and verse number five.
It says, and it was told the king of Egypt
that the people fled and the heart of Pharaoh
and of his servants were turned against the people.
And they said, why have we done this?
That we have let Israel go from serving us.
And he made ready his chariots
and took his people with him.
Look what he takes.
And he took 600 chosen chariots.
These aren't just average chariots.
When he says chosen chariots,
these are like the best chariots.
He's taken like the best army he's got, right?
And all the chariots of Egypt
and captains over every one of them.
And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
And he pursued after the children of Israel
and the children of Israel went out into a high hand.
But the Egyptians pursued after them all the horses
and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army
and overtook them and camping by the sea
besides Pihathoroth before Baal Zephon.
Okay, so we have Israel, men, women, children,
their animals, their possessions, right?
Defenseless, no weapons or defenseless as we think, right?
Then you have Pharaoh, the most powerful kingdom
at this point in time with his grand army, okay?
He takes them all, all the chariots
and he goes and pursues these people.
Now from our perspective, who's gonna win that battle?
Who's going to win?
Who's gonna, there's no doubt
that Pharaoh's gonna win that, right?
I mean, just from a humanistic perspective,
just from a logical perspective, you are gonna win.
You're gonna be able to take these people back
and they're gonna be returned back to Egypt to serve you.
And brethren, in the day of trouble, you know,
there's gonna be times where just logically
you're gonna be like, man, I'm gonna lose.
This is too hard for me.
This is too difficult for me.
How can the Lord deliver me from this situation?
And I've been there, maybe you've been there
where you're like, God, I'm losing, I've lost.
There's no way for me to win this.
You know, my enemies have surrounded me.
The troubles are too great.
I can't deal with this anymore, God.
But we know that God comes through for them.
Let's drop down to verse number 21.
Verse number 21, and Moses stretched out his hand
over the sea and the Lord caused the sea to go back
by a strong east wind all that night
and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided.
And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea
upon the dry ground and the waters were a wall unto them
on their right hand and on the left.
So look, can God deliver us?
This is a miracle.
He opens up the Red Sea, dry ground,
and the Israelites can cross on that dry ground.
The waters have been pushed aside.
This is a miracle.
This is the hand of God.
Brethren, when God answers your prayers, it's a miracle.
You may not see the seas move like that, right?
But God comes through.
I'm sure, you know, if you've been a Christian
for some period of time, you've had a day of trouble.
You say, God, this is not, I'm done.
This is gonna wipe me out, God.
I can't handle this.
And he steps in, somehow he steps in and he delivers you.
I don't think, they weren't expecting God
to open the Red Sea.
Listen, and many times God will answer your prayer
and just you're not even expecting
that that's how he's going to do it.
You know, how he's going to deliver you, right?
Look at verse number 23.
And the Egyptians pursued and went in after them
to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses,
his chariots and his horsemen.
Verse number 24, when it came to pass
that in the morning watch the Lord looked
onto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire
and of the cloud and troubled the host of the Egyptians
and took off their chariot wheels.
So God's like, all right, yeah, follow them.
And then he says, all right,
now I'm taking off your chariot wheels.
So they can't ride anymore, right?
And they drove them, that they drive them heavily
so that the Egyptians said, let us flee
from the face of Israel for the Lord fighter for them
against the Egyptians.
Reverend, the Lord is gonna fight for you.
Do you believe that?
Do you believe that you have the most powerful being
on your side, the Lord God, in your day of trouble,
you call out to him, he's your father, you're his son.
Remember that.
Boy, if my children are in the day of trouble
and I can help them, I'm gonna drop everything to help them.
That's what God wants to do for your life.
But you need to go and ask.
You need to be a prayerful person.
Man, took off their chariot wheels.
Verse number 26, and the Lord said unto Moses,
stretch out thine hand over the sea
and the waters may come again upon the Egyptians,
upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.
Verse 27, and Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea
and the sea returned to his strength
when the morning appeared
and the Egyptians fled against it
and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians
in the midst of the sea.
And the waters returned and covered the chariots
and the horsemen and all the hosts of Pharaoh
that came into the sea after them.
There remain not so much as one of them.
But the children of Israel walked upon dry land
in the midst of the sea and the waters were a wall
unto them on their right hand and on their left.
Please go to the book of Judges now.
Go to Judges chapter one.
What a victory, what a victory, what a miracle.
And it wasn't by the strength of Israel.
They had no fight, they had no army, okay?
And yet God stepped in and he delivered them.
And we need to have that faith, brethren,
when you're going for trial,
just have that faith, God can step in.
You know, in accordance to his will,
how God sees fit, he can step in and answer this request,
this day of trouble.
Judges chapter one, verse number 17.
Now the reason I'm turning to this story,
this other, so this is further into history, right?
This is after the Israelites go into the promised land
and you know, Joshua leads them in
and they have great, they defeat, you know, the Canaanites.
And so we get to the book of Judges
and you know, because they did not wipe out
all the Canaanites and all the Jebusites
and all the Ammonites and all the people
that God wanted them to wipe out,
they didn't actually carry through
what God wanted from them.
So they caused themselves problems for the future, okay?
So when we get to the book of Judges,
we see some of these problems come forth
where Israel still had some enemies on the land, right?
And then we have another case here
where they're fighting several wars.
And the reason I wanna read this passage to you is,
and this might sound a little bit weird
in context of this sermon,
but there are some battles that you're not going to win, okay?
Now, he's going to see you through many battles.
He's going to see you through many days of trouble, okay?
He may even completely deliver you from many of them, okay?
But there are gonna be some troubles in your Christian life
that are just gonna be there to the day you die.
Number one, the flesh.
It's always gonna be there, brethren.
You're never, as much as we try to live godly,
as much as we try to live righteously,
there are some wars
that you're just not gonna win right now, okay?
You're going to sin till the day you die.
And I hope you sin less, all right?
I hope you live more righteously.
I hope you do more for God as you mature and grow.
But there'll always be,
and what Paul refers to as a thorn in the flesh,
there'll always be a battle,
there'll always be some difficulty that you'll never win.
Okay, or at least now, in this life, right?
Until we're at home in heaven with God,
that's a different story.
So look at Judges.
Judges chapter one, verse number 17.
It says, and Judah went with Simeon his brother,
and they slew, and by the way,
Judah and Simeon here are the tribes, okay?
And they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephoth,
and utterly destroyed it.
So they have a great battle, right?
They have a great victory in this war, right?
And the name of the city was called Hormel.
And Judah took Gezer with the coast thereof,
and Ascalon with the coast thereof,
and Ekron with the coast thereof.
Okay, so they're having all these great victories.
Different places, different towns, different cities.
They go into war, they're having great victory.
God is delivering them from the enemy.
Look at verse number 19.
And the Lord was with Judah,
and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain.
Okay, so there were people living on the mountain.
Again, God's giving them victory.
God's helping them fight these wars.
But notice the rest of verse number 19.
But could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley,
because they had chariots of iron.
And then look at verse number 20.
And they gave Hebron unto Caleb,
as Moses said, and expelled thence the three sons of Anak.
So we see other victories here, okay?
Now, I know it's just a small little sentence
there in verse number 19, but it's important, okay?
In this day, in the day of judges here,
God is delivering Israel, he's helping them in wars,
he's helping them in battles.
They're fighting these Canaanites.
They're having great victories.
They drive out the inhabitants of the mountain,
but when they get to the inhabitants of the valley,
they can't win.
It says why?
Because they had chariots of iron.
Now listen, it says, but let's read
verse number 19 carefully.
It says, and the Lord was with Judah,
so the Lord is doing this work, right?
And he drive out, who's he?
The Lord.
The Lord drive out the inhabitants of the mountain.
And the Lord's helping them fight.
And it says, but could not drive out
the inhabitants of the valley.
Now let's think about that for a minute.
Do you think God really could not
drive out these inhabitants of the valley?
No.
He allowed these inhabitants of the valley to have victory.
It says why did they have victory?
It says because they had chariots of iron.
This was a harder battle to fight.
The chariots of these days,
the chariots of Egypt were made of wood.
And I guess, I don't know,
you can light them in fire, I suppose.
But when you've got a chariot of iron,
pretty much indestructible,
and these are like tanks.
Because look, you can't win this battle
because they've got their chariots of iron.
And I'm glad that story's in there for us.
Because if all we ever saw in the Bible
was victory after victory after victory,
success after success after success,
you would think that the Christian life
is just constant victory, constant success.
You know what?
There are gonna be times that you lose.
There are gonna be battles that you fight
all the time till the day you die.
You have chariots of iron in your life, everyone.
There are sins that you've been able to overcome.
There are some sins you've had victory over, okay?
And they're like chariots of wood.
Then you have some sins in your life
that are like chariots of iron.
And you're still struggling with those sins.
And you hate it.
And you know you need to defeat it.
And you know it's a day of trouble.
You know it's warfare.
You know it's a spiritual fight.
Why do I keep going back to that same old sin?
Why?
Because it's a chariot of iron?
Because it's hard to beat?
Now listen, it's not saying here that you give up.
It's not saying that, well, it's a chariot of iron,
I just give up.
No, you keep fighting.
It's a war.
Hey, we're fighting from victory.
God's already won.
Jesus has already won.
But listen, brethren, there are gonna be things in our life
that are just constantly there.
You're never gonna have all your ducks in order.
You're never gonna have this perfect life with no trouble.
There'll always be some chariot of iron there
just bothering you, okay?
But this is important.
This is part of understanding, well, you know,
what you need to appreciate when this happens, brethren,
when you're not having victory in one little area
is just cast your memory back,
but God's delivered me from this.
God's delivered me from that.
God's answered my prayers here.
God's helped me with this sin.
God's helped me with this frustration.
God's answered my prayer here.
But I still got this one to fight.
And listen, maybe you're gonna fight that one chariot
of iron for the rest of your life, okay?
But keep fighting, okay?
Keep fighting.
God never says stop fighting.
God never says stop being a soldier.
We need to just keep fighting, even if it's a hard one.
All right?
So what else could be a chariot of iron, you know?
I mean, we live in a wicked world, brethren.
We're not going to reach this Christian utopia.
It's not like everyone's gonna get saved, all right?
You might have, you know, family that you love
and care about, friends that you care about,
and maybe you've been able to get some people saved,
and there's that one person, that one family member,
that one friend that you really care about,
and you know what?
That person may never get saved.
He might be that chariot of iron in your life.
He might be that one that you're just never going
to have victory on, okay?
But it's just, you're gonna need to understand
that that's just part of life.
There's gonna be victories that you just can't win.
You give up them, you just say,
well, God, I can't win this one, do I?
No, you keep fighting, you keep striving,
you keep working hard.
Brethren, we're always gonna be in a wicked world.
The government's just gonna get worse and worse.
This world's just gonna keep getting worse and worse.
Listen, there's plenty of chariots of iron out there.
We're not going to reform this world.
We're not going to reform Australia.
The best we can do is preach the gospel,
have the righteousness of Christ
on some people in this land,
hopefully to deter God's wrath, right?
From coming down in this nation
if we have more people of God in this land.
But brethren, listen, our prime minister,
they're never gonna go, all right, let's give up our laws.
Let's just go back to the Old Testament.
Not yet, not now, not till the millennium, okay?
Not till Christ is ruling on this earth.
There are gonna be chariots of iron in your life,
your personal sins, people that you can't ever get saved,
that you really wish could get saved.
They're just not going to, okay?
And just the wickedness in this world, okay?
Again, we're just passing through, we're so journers.
I'm looking forward to the day that Christ will come
in his millennial reign and rule,
then we can have victory over everything.
And at that point, you know,
at that point, you know,
there are gonna be no chariots of iron, really, you know?
But there's always that chariot of iron.
There's always Satan.
He's always got his devil.
He's always throwing some temptations our way.
There's always something in this life
that you need to understand.
I'm not always gonna have the victory,
but that doesn't stop me from fighting.
I'm gonna keep fighting, you know, every day that I have.
Now, please go to 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
2 Corinthians chapter 12.
2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number seven.
You say to me, Pastor Kevin, I have a chariot of iron.
You know, I keep fighting, I keep fighting.
It just seems like I can't have victory.
Something's bringing me down, and what do I do?
2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse number seven.
Again, here, the Apostle Paul speaks,
or he writes and says,
and lest I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations,
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh,
the messenger of Satan to buffet me,
lest I should be exalted above measure.
Say, why do I have this chariot of iron?
Why is it there?
It's so you don't get exalted above measure
to keep you humble sometimes, okay?
To keep you humble today, Lord,
I just don't seem to have victory.
Why can't I have victory on this one, Lord?
I'm keeping it there to keep you humble.
If you have too many victories,
you're gonna turn against me.
You're going to think that it's all because of you,
because of your might.
No, no, no, no.
We can't be exalted above measure.
Sometimes God's just gonna allow us to have some difficulty,
a day of trouble, a chariot of iron,
is just gonna be there just to be a nuisance to us.
Verse number eight.
For this thing I besought the Lord thrice
that he might depart from me.
Did Paul ask Jesus to take it away from him?
Yeah, three times.
Again, and again, and again,
it just would not be departed.
Verse number nine.
And he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee,
for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore,
I would rather glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
And again, I believe this thorn in the flesh
was an infirmity for Paul.
He says, look, yeah, okay, chariot of iron,
it's a hard one.
Don't seem to have victory over this one, okay?
But he says, you know what, I'm still gonna glorify God.
I'm still gonna give him glory.
I'm still gonna worship my God.
You know what, and if this is something
that I'm gonna battle with for the rest of my life,
to keep me humble, so be it.
As long as I'm glorifying God.
Maybe it's better this is in my life.
Maybe this chariot of iron is better for that to be there,
so I know I have to keep depending upon God,
rather than just glory in myself
and look at me, I'm such a great person.
We all have a chariot of iron,
maybe multiple chariots of iron, okay?
But don't give up, brethren.
Keep fighting.
You know, it's a warfare.
Keep fighting.
You know, just because you struggle with some sin,
some temptation doesn't mean,
well, that's a chariot of iron I'm gonna give up now.
No, no, no, you keep fighting, you keep fighting.
You know, God has delivered us from the power of sin, okay?
He's made a way of escape, okay?
He's done those things, okay?
But again, this flesh,
you wake up every morning, it's there again, okay?
It's a chariot of iron that just won't go away.
Doesn't mean you don't continue fighting, okay?
Back to Psalm chapter 20, verse number eight.
Psalm chapter 20 and verse number eight.
It says, they are brought down and fallen.
That's the enemies that is fighting, okay?
God's answered the prayer.
God's defeated the enemies now,
but we are risen and stand upright.
We are risen and stand upright.
You know, this is just like the Israelites
that passed through the Red Sea, okay?
Egyptians were brought down and fallen.
Hey, but the Israelites came out of the Red Sea,
they were risen and stand upright.
And listen, you know, one of the promises
that God gave to Abraham,
and I remember as a child just reading this
and I'm like, yes, this is so good.
And then the dispensationist tried to take it away from me.
Every time, it's Genesis 12, two.
God's speaking to Abraham.
He says, and I will make of thee a great nation,
and I will bless thee and make thy name great,
and thou shall be a blessing.
Then he says this to Abraham,
and I will bless them that bless thee
and curse him that curseth thee,
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
And I'm like, yes, that promise he gave to Abraham,
that's the same promise to me.
As a child, that's what I thought, right?
I was like, yes, this is my promise.
If people are good to me, if people bless me,
then God, please go ahead and bless them in return.
The people that curse me, people that wanna hurt me,
people that wanna fight me, people that wanna tear me down,
God, well, you're gonna curse them, praise God.
What a promise.
And then this dispensationist come,
well, that's not for you, that's for the nation of Israel.
That's for the unbelieving Jews that hate Jesus Christ.
Like, what in the world?
One thing that's made my life a lot easier
when I have had enemies, people that hate me,
is just to know God's gonna take care of it.
God's gonna curse them if they curse.
I'm his son.
Listen, if some punk wanted to pick on my kids
and beat them up and trouble them and be a bully,
man, I'd wanna beat them up.
I wanna take them down, right?
I mean, I won't do that, but you'd wanna do that, right?
But God will do it for me.
God's gonna curse them that curse me.
Say, is that really for you?
Galatians 3, 16, now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made.
Hey, that's a promise made.
He saith not, enter seeds as of many,
but as of one, enter thy seed which is Christ.
Then in verse 28, he says,
there is neither Jew nor Greek, all right?
There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed
and heirs according to the promise.
Hey, that promise too.
Yes, those that bless me, God will bless.
Yes, even if an unbeliever,
even if a wicked unbeliever blesses me, is good to me,
God's gonna reward them.
And God's gonna bless them for being good to his people.
We are his people.
We are the seed of Abraham.
We are in Christ Jesus.
You know, these promises that were made to Abraham
are made to us as well.
That means those that come up against you, brethren,
God's gonna take care of them.
Don't worry.
God's gotta, you know, at his right time,
he's gonna bring them down, okay?
They are brought down and fallen,
but we are risen and stand upright, the Psalm said, right?
And so this is the promise.
This is gonna help you through difficulties.
This is gonna help you when people are bothering you,
when people hate your faith, hate your Christianity,
just to remind yourself,
well, God, I'm gonna let you take care of it.
God, can you please curse them?
Because they're cursing me.
Hey, that's a promise that he's given us as well, okay?
Verse number nine in Psalm 20, verse nine.
Save, Lord, let the king hear us when we call.
Now, who's saying these words?
King David, one of David's psalms, right?
So he's a king, but then he says,
let the king hear us when we call.
You see, even though he was a king,
even though he had the highest position
in the nation of Israel, he says, yeah, I'm a king,
but I have my own king, okay?
I have my own king.
And in Revelation 19, verse 15, it says,
and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,
that with it he should smite the nations,
and he shall rule them with a rod of iron,
and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness
and wrath of Almighty God, and he hath on his vesture
and on his thigh a name written,
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Boy, think about that, King of Kings.
David was a king, but he had a king over his kingship.
That was Jesus Christ.
Look, our opponents, our enemies,
can be very powerful people.
It can be our local government, okay?
It can be kings, it can be magistrates,
it can be authorities.
And you know what?
There could be a day of trouble coming in the future
where we, as God's people,
just trying to do what God wants us to do,
just have church, just go soloing, just read our Bibles,
but we can get in trouble with the authorities.
But you know what we have?
The King of Kings.
The King of all authorities in this world.
You know what?
Even the authorities of the devil,
even he has to one day bow down and worship God.
Even he has to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord God.
The devil wanted worship from Jesus.
No, no, no.
He'll be down on his face.
He'll be down in hell giving glory to Jesus Christ.
You know?
And brethren, that's our God.
That's our heavenly Father.
That's the God that can help us in any day of trouble.
So, you know, don't be worried
about the wickedness of the authorities.
You know, the pandemic,
all the things that they're doing
that, you know, you're reading on YouTube,
you're getting, oh man, how do we fight this?
You know, what do we do?
Just take it to the King of Kings.
Say, God, you take care of it.
And Lord, if that means
you're not gonna take care of it right now
because that's not your will,
maybe your will is to take care of it
at the day of wrath.
When Christ comes back on that white horse
with that sharp sword coming out of his mouth
and he, you know, treads the winepress of the wrath of God,
maybe that's what he's waiting for.
Brethren, you know, you don't need to get worried
and upset and think about all the different things
that, you know, this wicked world is trying to hurt you with.
Just know that in the day of trouble, you have God.
Here's your defense.
Here's your defense, right?
Just be in the will of God.
Ask him your petitions.
If he answers them in accordance with his will, praise God.
If there's a chariot of iron
that you're gonna be battling for the rest of your life,
well, accept it, understand.
Maybe God's just keeping you humble.
God's just keeping you as a needy person coming to him.
But also understand, listen,
those that curse you will be cursed by God.
There is judgment coming at the right time in God's timing.
God's timing is always right, okay?
The day of trouble.
So, brethren, in summary,
are we going to avoid days of trouble?
No, they're always gonna be there.
Are there gonna be chariots of iron
that we can't always win, defeat?
Yeah, they're always gonna be there, okay?
But don't forget, go to the Lord.
Use his name, there's power in the name of Jesus Christ,
and bring your petitions before him.
Let's pray.