A special word of welcome to the congregation in Ackley. But for everyone else, we certainly appreciate you taking time to come along and listen as well. We trust that everyone is keeping well and as we continue to pray together that the Lord will hear and that he will answer our prayers regarding this pandemic. Concerning the congregation at Ackley, we want to say to you again that if you have any need, spiritually speaking, and you need to talk to us, please do phone the house here. There's someone here most of the time, as we know where else to go, and we'll certainly seek to help you in any way that we can. If you have any other needs regarding practical matters, please do contact us about them too, and we will do our best to help you if we possibly can. I'd just like to remind the congregation that we are praying again on Tuesday evening. God willing, I will put up a new message And if you wish, you can listen to that. We know that many of you do. And we do trust that the Lord will give us a word from himself and that it will be of benefit to you. On Tuesday evening, approximately between half past eight and half past nine, we will be praying again. And this is one of the Tuesday nights that we had set aside to pray for the children's work, in particular, the boys and girls in Sunday school and the Tuesday night meeting. We want to pray for them regarding their well-being. being confined to their own homes so much these days, and also regarding their spiritual needs as well, that the Lord might continue to build up young Christians, and that he might strengthen them for the days ahead and save those that don't know him yet. We look to him to reach into their hearts, show them their need, and to draw them savingly to himself. So again, we do thank you for watching today, and we trust that the services will be of benefit to everyone, both this morning and tonight. We trust that you'll join us again tonight as we seek to be here with a message from the Lord. This morning we're turning to the Psalms and the Psalm number 74. Psalm number 74. I'll give you just a moment or two to turn to that passage with me. Again, I want to thank you very much for your prayers for me and my family. We appreciate them very much and the congregation. have been very supportive and encouraging. Thank you very much indeed for that, we appreciate it an awful lot at this time. Could I also say, just before it slips my mind, that of course on Tuesday evening, and it's the same every day, there are a number of people on our prayer list regarding illness, and we're not going to name them now, but we trust that as we uphold them before the throne of grace that the Lord will hear and that he will answer prayer concerning them as well. Psalm 74, verse one. O God, why hast thou cast us off forever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old, the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed, this Mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt. Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations, even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations. They set up their ensigns for signs. A man was famous according as he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. But now they break down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammer. have cast fire into the sanctuary. They have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. They say it in their hearts, let us destroy them together. They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. We see not our signs. There is no more any prophet, neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. O God, How long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever? Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom. For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength. Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan. in patience and gavest him to be meet to the people inhabiting the wilderness. Amen. We'll end our reading there and we trust that the Lord would bless his word through all of our hearts for his name's sake. Could we have a brief word of prayer just together as a congregation, please? Father in heaven, we do thank thee today for thy goodness and love and mercy. Thank you that we have the word of God to guide us. We have the Holy Spirit to teach us. and we have each other to turn to for support and encouragement in these days. Father, we pray for every family that blessing might be known. We pray that where there is special need, that whatever is required there might be granted. And Father, we pray that the good work of the Lord, preaching of his word, the uplifting of Jesus Christ, might continue in these days, and that there might be signs following the preaching of thy word. We ask, Lord, in these days, when so many have so much time to think, that the thoughts of many might be directed to thee, and that many of our loved ones and friends might seek thee while thou art to be found, and call upon thee while thou art near. Build up thy people, Lord, bind us together, Lord, encourage our hearts. Bless us now as we turn to the word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In the book of Job, there are some details given, some general details given, regarding a creature known as Leviathan. Now, Leviathan was a huge sea creature, and while there are some who believe that it may have been a whale, I think it is the mind of most people that it was a very large crocodile. And here in the Psalm number 74 in verse 14, it says, Thou breakest the head of Leviathan in pieces, Here the name of Leviathan is used to represent Pharaoh with all of his power. If you look there at the previous verse, it says, Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength. Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. And then it gives us our text in verse 14, Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces. Crocodile, of course, is a very powerful animal. It has been noted that their bite has approximately 3,000 pounds of force per square inch. They are looked upon as many by the premier as the premier predator and one that in Egypt was greatly feared and yet greatly revered as well. Now, the crocodile in Egypt that's what we're saying here. We think that Leviathan probably was a very large crocodile. The crocodile in Egypt was indeed a symbol of power. The so-called Egyptian god Selak was one who was depicted with the head of a crocodile and that so-called god was supposed to protect the Egyptian army. In fact, if you go back to the old Arabic language long ago. There are details there that show us that the word Pharaoh, I'll spell it for you. It's P-H-A-R-A-O in the Egyptian language. That word was signified by a crocodile. Some of you may be aware that there is a coin and perhaps a medal as well. with apparently the Caesar's head on one side and the crocodile's head on the other side. And along with the crocodile's head, there are the words, Egypto capta, meaning Egypt is taken. And so there's absolutely no doubt in her mind. It is, of course, a fascinating story and a fascinating history, but there's no doubt in her mind that Pharaoh is intended here in verse 14 as we read about Leviathan. There's a couple of very interesting verses over in the book of Ezekiel which would tie in with what we're saying. Ezekiel chapter 29 in verse 3 it says, Speak and say, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I am against the pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers. And of course that would tie in with what we're saying about this great crocodile, which has said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick onto thy scales. And I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick onto thy scales. And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers. Thou shalt fall upon the open fields. Thou shalt not be brought together nor gathered. I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven." What interesting words they are and how they tie in very well with the words that we've read in Psalm number 74 and the details that we've already given to you. And this morning we want together to look at Taking verse 14 of Psalm 74 as our text, we would like to look at the defeat of Leviathan. First of all, I would like you to notice that there was, on that occasion that this refers to, there was an unparalleled rescue. Now, we were with the children of Israel, whom the Lord had just delivered from tyranny in Egypt, and now we were confronted by the Red Sea, the thought would have entered her heart, I'm sure, that, well, we're easy pickings for anyone. And if we were among that great multitude at that time, we may have been those who would have had unbelief in our heart and felt, well, we've come so far, but there's no way forward for us now. There may also have been the thought of defeatism, and how vaccine that can be when our hearts are overcome and that state of, in some degree, euphoria that would have been there as they had left Egypt was now replaced by great foreboding feelings, thoughts that would come flooding in and have the people feel that, well, what we've done so far in coming here has really been a futile exercise and we haven't really achieved anything. And when defeatism comes in, seems to get firmly rooted at times. There may also have been anger as their hopes were so high when they left Egypt and Moses he of course had led them out and as was often the case they had him to turn to and to rail on him and you can imagine maybe some of them as they were but suffice to say that many of them certainly would have been filled with rage. There would also have been foolish reflection. Some of them perhaps were, in at least a little degree, comfortable in Egypt and had made their lives there. And on reflection are thinking, well, Moses said this was the Lord's doing, but it was better than what we're having now. We're confronted here by the Red Sea. There would also have been thoughts of alarm because a furious Pharaoh was hard on their heels, along with his best men that he gathered up and brought along with him. But you know, God crushed Pharaoh. He crushed Leviathan, and he crushed him with his heads. And the reverence there is believed to just refer to the little states into which the country was divided up at that time. Pharaoh and his best were completely obliterated on that occasion and what what a rescue it was and it's very understandable that when we turn to exodus chapter 15 we have the song of triumph there known as the song of moses as the the the hearts of the people are overflowing with joy in a most impossible situation the lord has come along and when defeat defeat seems to be certain for them he delivered them again and he stepped into the situation. And in that song, some of the words that they were singing are, who is like unto thee? Who is like unto thee? This was for them an unparalleled rescue. The leading out of Israel was astonishing and Egypt was astonishing in itself. But this was outstanding. And the Lord had come and he opened up a way for them. and the Red Sea, and then he closed the waters again upon their enemies. What a rescue there was for them at that time. And what a rescue from all of those thoughts that I mentioned to you. Thoughts of unbelief and defeatism and anger, finished reflection and alarm. They're all now gone. And you know, dear Christian friend, God has rescued us. The writer said that he has delivered us from so great a death and how grateful we are for Calvary and for the blood of redemption and for Christ's atoning work for us and for how when that he who knew no sin was made sin for us that we who are undeserving that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And that's what we are today, his righteousness. has been imputed to our account, and we're born again, we are saved by grace, and what a rescue there has been for us. But doesn't He rescue us every day? Doesn't He come alongside us and rescue us from our unbelief? Sometimes we feel, well, maybe there is no way ahead, and unbelief comes in, and a shadow gathers, The Word of God that we relied upon and leaned upon so much, maybe in a little degree, it tends to lose its relevance and its significance for us. And unbelief comes in, and Christian, we want to watch out for that, because unbelief in the heart can lead to many other troubles and problems. But how often he has come along, and he's rescued us again. from our own belief and also from our defeatism comes along. He gives us tokens for good. He's rescued us from times of perhaps anger. And what man or woman will say that they've never, ever been angry and felt, well, this is not something that I had expected. And I don't really know what the Lord is doing right now. Well, we could ask that about the whole nation. and say, well, we don't understand what is going on. And we can get very, very uptight about that. But isn't it suffice for us to know that he is in control and that his people are safe in his grip and that he is one who can settle our minds whenever that anger comes along? What about foolish reflection? Doesn't he give us hope for the future? Sometimes we feel, well, it was so much better years ago, but was it really so much better remembering that God hasn't changed. Circumstances change, and as far as humanity is concerned, there has been progress in a lot of things. Of course, there's been progress in sin as well, but God hasn't changed, and he is able. What about alarm? We see the sin of the world closing in around us sometimes, and our confidence can ebb away, and we can become those who are, in some way, reluctant just to put her shoulder to the wheel and to follow after the Lord as we used to do. You know, if he hadn't come along and rescued us, and if he didn't come along continually and rescue us yesterday, today and tomorrow, what an awful mess we would make of things. And you know, history has littered the stories of men and women who started off well, and then they made a mess of things. And there was shipwreck there. And even though you and I, as Christians, are saved from our sin and we are forgiven, we must always live with the consequences of what we do. And sometimes the consequences of men and women's actions have been terrible, not just for us, but for our children coming after us, something we always want to bear in mind. But what we do affects him. And I know, I'm thinking of one person, one family now who, something happened away some years back, and the talk of the child or the young person still in their teens was, I wish daddy hadn't done that. I wish daddy hadn't done that. So how good it is that God can come along and he can rescue us. You see Egypt in the Bible as a type of the world. And just as Pharaoh, the Leviathan, seemed to be set to destroy the Israelites, and it was going to be all over for them, the world has that great desire to consume you and to consume your children and to mold them and to have them follow after its system and after its way. in the Bible was a type of the world, but didn't Christ say I've overcome the world? And because he has overcome, you and I can overcome as well. There are two of the things that I mentioned there, and I just want to go into a little bit more with you. I mentioned foolish reflection. That would have been part and parcel of the thinking of the Jews at that time, thinking, you know, it was comfortable enough for us in Egypt. It was far from what we wanted, but it was better than this. We're confronted by this sea, and here comes Pharaoh. He's going to kill us all. And then, of course, the Lord rescued them. But foolish reflection is something which is not limited just to them. If I could turn you, please, to the book of Ecclesiastes and what we read there in chapter 7 of that book, Ecclesiastes chapter 7. It says in verse 9, be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. And then this is what verse 10 says. Say not thou, what is the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this. I think sometimes we've all been there. And we've read history and we've heard stories of God's working, days when many people were converted through the preaching of the word. And when righteousness seemed to reign in the land, God's day was honored and his word was revered. And his church was a force for good and being greatly used and great blessing. And sometimes we think, well, the former days, if only I could have lived then. Well, I don't say that. I'm glad I'm living now, for this time. Because as we read on down through there, it says there in verse 13 of Ecclesiastes 7, consider the work of God for who can make that strait which he hath made crooked? In the day of prosperity, be joyful. Of course, that's an easy command to obey when everything is going well. It says, but in the day of adversity, consider. Consider. In other words, don't forget God. When everything is good and prosperous and seem to be so, we can rejoice and be glad. But whenever it's not like that, for instance, even now, with this pandemic affecting our lives so much and with the spiritual climate that for a long number of years now, there hasn't been the interest in the word of God that we would like there to be. And it says in the day of prosperity, be joyful. But in the day of adversity, consider Now here's what it says, and we don't want to forget this. It says, God also has sent the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him. Do remember that he is in control. Do remember that we need to continually rely on him, whether it is in prosperity or in adversity. He set the day of adversity. over against the day of prosperity. And therefore we should not be saying, oh, it was so much better back in the time of the Nicholson's preaching in the early 20th century, or even in the 1940s and 50s, when we heard about the Lewis revival and other movings of God as well, even to go back to Bible times. We're here for now. And the Lord has called us to serve our own generation, we are to continually rely upon him. But remember that God's cause is always good. It's always great, whether it is in a day when many are listening and repenting, and the church seems to be a great attraction to people, or whether it is in hard days like these, when there's not so many that are turning to the Lord. So let's be careful. Reflection can be good when we reflect in a proper way, but let's not ever allow it to rest in our minds that it was always better back then. Let's look forward to better days ahead, even better days than there were in the days of old. Foolish reflection is one thing that I wanted to just look with at you briefly, but the other thing is anger. So much anger today. And I'm speaking about even before this pandemic. All over the place, people get angry, and none of us are going to be hypocrites enough to say that we have never got angry. Of course we have. Well, whenever Paul was writing there to the church in Colossae, he's been telling them in chapter three some things that they need to put on as men and women who are saved now. And he is showing them responsibility. God worked miracles, but only when they were necessary. Men have responsibility, and he was pointing out the responsibility. And he told him to put on, you that have put on a new man, you have to put on certain things like kindness and humbleness of mind and meekness, long suffering for burying one another, and so on. But just up in verse eight of Colossians chapter three, he tells us some things which we are to put off To put off, as you would put off a garment, and put it off not to put it on again. It says, but now ye also put off all ease. And the very first one that is mentioned is anger. Put off anger and wrath and malice. And it goes on to tell us different things which we need to put off, but one of them is anger. And also we need to Be very careful regarding anger even in our own homes. It's time again when we're all together and you have a whole mix of personalities perhaps in the home. So important, so important that this anger is kept at bay and that we see it for what it is and that we're very careful with it. Isn't it good that God is able to come along and to settle us, to calm our minds, to rescue us. In fact, his rescuing of us regarding some of the things we mentioned, unbelief, defeatism, anger, foolish reflection, and alarm. His rescuing us from those things continually is a non-parallel rescue. In fact, we can say when we look at the world and see it as Leviathan, it's conquered. It's conquered. In fact, the Lord Jesus has bruised Satan's head. He won a full victory at the cross, and you and I, Christian, have entered into it, stepped into that victory. There is a thought here of unparalleled rescue, but also there is the thought of unearned resources. Let's look again just at what it says in verse 14. I breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces, and givest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. Now, before leaving bondage, God had, in the most remarkable way, given his people great favor with the Egyptians in that the Egyptian people, they handed over their jewels and their gold and their silver, and they give all of those things to the Israelites. It's an amazing story. They give those things to them. And as they headed out of Egypt, I'm sure there wasn't one of them who ever dreamt that they would be receiving anything else from then. But now, when God has opened up the Red Sea, and Egypt pursuing, Egypt's best, strongest, pursuing Israel have been destroyed. Their corpses lie right along the shoreline there. And as the word shows us here, they're to be made, as we read in Ezekiel, for the beasts of the field and for the fowls of the air, but there was also benefit there for Israel. There was for them the benefit of clothing and the benefit of weapons. They'd already received riches, jewels and gold and silver, and now they would have the clothing, any they needed, and the weapons as well. Didn't it come from a most unlikely source, from the spoils? along the shoreline when God had worked on their behalf. There's an interesting story. There were people apparently that were inhabitants of the shoreline at that time. They were called the Zum and they lived along the shoreline and they were officiating people. And they were those who recorded history. And apparently in their records, There is record made at that time when the sea that they depended on for so much that it completely rolled away. And it's recorded that the bottom of the sea became dry. Isn't that a great proof again, if we needed any apart from the Bible, a great proof of how God's word is true. There's proof with them, details with them as to how God moved in that way and how the sea came back again just as quickly. And God provided for the Israelites, therefore, in clothing and in weapons, unearned resources. In a very short space of time, they'd gone from having nothing and just being slaves to having riches, the gold and the silver and the jewels, and being well-armed and well-clothed. And the Lord provided it all for them. And folks, hasn't he provided such unearned riches for us, and unearned resources for us who were slaves to sin? And when he saved us, he has made available to us, because we are in a wilderness too. The world is a wilderness. And as you go through life every now and again, it reminds you of that. We are reminded that it is a wilderness. And perhaps that is a good thing because It prevents us from getting caught up in its system. Disappoints. Causes disillusion. Shakes his fist in our face. Scoffs at us. Sometimes, Christine, you think, this is just a wilderness. We are pilgrims. That is what the Bible says. But the Lord has provided for us. He's provided for us clothing. Of course, he's provided Christ's righteousness. That is our salvation. and the wrath of God will never find us. But if you read Ephesians chapter six, he's provided there the whole armor of God for us to wear. Now in verse seven of that chapter, importantly, it instructs us to put on the whole armor of God. You would do well and so would I. Too often, both of us, too often look at that passage and think, well, I need to make sure that I'm living as this portion instructs me in having on the whole armour of God. It's very interesting in that chapter 6 in Ephesians that the first verses of the chapter are all in the context of a family home. You can read that yourself. Then he goes on to talk about the Christian armour. But in Ephesians chapter 6, it talks about the shield of faith, wherewith ye may be able to quench all the furry darts of the wicked. I mentioned to you there the smashing of Leviathan. Christ has overcome the world, and he's provided for us the shield of faith, that when the furry dogs come, that you and I will be able to quench them. Long ago, when shields were made, there was a type of material put on the outer, on the front of the shield, that whenever a burning arrow would strike it, that such was the material, it would go out, the flame would go out very quickly. And of course the reference here is to just that. The fairy dart is fired, the shield is there, and fairy arrows can be terribly dangerous, cause great destruction and harm. But they only cause real and lasting harm if they strike you. And if you quench them with the shield of faith, then they cannot have the effect that they might have. God has provided resources for his people, unearned resources. We call it the armor, the whole armor of God. If you look there with me and what it says in 2 Peter, it says in 2 Peter, thinking here of faith, says in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 5 and beside this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and to virtue knowledge to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity for these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing it is to have the shield of faith and how important it is to try to add to our faith. These things that Peter talks about us in the second epistle and in the first chapter, they've all been provided for us. Unearned resources, not just clothing, but there's weapons as well. Now we know that the Christian has the weapon of all prayer, and that is so important that we use that as effectively as we can, seek the Lord, but we've also have his word, which is the sword of the spirit, and how effective that can be. Paul writing to the church at Corinth in 2 Corinthians 10 says in verse 4, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Now the strongholds, it's not a walk in the park. This is serious business because it is the pulling down of strongholds and strongholds don't come down easily. But the apostle here says, the weapons of our warfare are mighty, mighty to the pulling down of strongholds and casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of Christ. And if nothing else, and of course we could apply this to a lot, think of our own minds. Because if you look there, casting down imaginations That word means reasonings that are false. You and I could be there. Reasonings that are false. And exalteth the self against the knowledge of God. That carries a thought. The thought there is of usurpers. Getting away from the word. And our thoughts, we need to remember that our mind is a seedbed. And therefore we want to be very careful what we sow. Very careful what we sow because we can reap disaster if we don't sow carefully. We need to gird up the loins of our mind. You and I have got the throne of grace where we can come before the Lord. We've got the word of God. If you read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. You will see there the Christian on different occasions when he was attacked by the enemy, he quoted the word of God. For instance, rejoice, he said, not over me, O mine enemy. And he quoted different portions, different references to the word of God. You've got the word of God and you've got the throne of grace. God has provided these resources for us. We didn't earn them and certainly we don't deserve them, but they're there. And just as it says here that while Leviathan was crushed, meat had been provided for the people inhabiting the wilderness there. But you know, not only is there the thought here of the literal feeding of the scavengers, the animals and the birds, and the feeding of the material necessities for Israel, their clothing and their weapons, didn't the whole situation and what God had done on that occasion As they were walking away from it and looked back, would you not have thought how this feeds our faith? How this strengthens our faith in the Lord. Look what he has done. And almost to a man, they did not believe that God could have done that. And you know, men and women, you and I have so much to be grateful for. Past victories to thank the Lord for, and future victories to look forward to. And God has provided for us these unarmed resources. There is there clothing, the armor of God. There are the weapons of all prayer and the sword of the spirit. But then there's the feeding of our faith. Didn't they of old cry, Lord, increase our faith. That's what needs to happen for us in these day too. days too. There's another thought here, there is useful review. Useful review, this is something that they would have looked back upon and as they look back, we're looking back that have given them hope for the way ahead. Just a wee while ago, all hope seemed to be gone. Now they're through the sea, there's no one on their heels and the way ahead seems clear enough. if they will follow after the Lord. And you know, you and I, as we review what God has done, that ought to give us hope for the future as well, as individual men and women, and as a nation and a country too, that we look forward and hope that God will do great things, even in the future. And whenever you think of how they thought that they were not going forward, how they were able now, lean upon him and to go forward at his bidding, to experience his faithfulness continually. You see this is useful review, looking back and not saying, oh the old days were far better, but to look back and see what God has done, pray more and lean upon him more for the future. You know Martin Luther, in his study, he was in his study there was for a time a little robin that often came along to the window of his study and there is a story that I once read and was called Luther's Robin and very often this little robin would come along and park itself on the windowsill and Luther he would leave some crumbs out for it and the robin would come along and it would It would eat whatever it needed and then it would fly back over to the little tree that it seemed to have made a home of outside where he lived. And it would sit there and it would sing. And Luther said that this robin was preaching to him every day because it came along and it got all that it needed from the crumbs and it went back over to the branch and the tree and it sat there and it was full of praise and gratitude for all that it had received. And then he said very often at night, he could see it there in the tree and it would put his head under its wing and go to sleep contented. And it's as though it was saying to him, I leave tomorrow with God. And therefore, Luther called it his robin because it said it, it preached to him every day be thankful for what we have today and to leave tomorrow with the Lord. And I trust that you and I continue to go on with him and we remember the story of the defeat of Leviathan, that the Lord will lead each one of us from victory to victory with himself. May the Lord bless these few thoughts that we've shared with you this morning to each and every heart.