It's good to be back at Emmanuel Baptist Church once again. And I sure enjoy the song services in the Lord's house wherever we go. And the song selection tonight was really a blessed one. Sang about an amazing grace. Jesus saves. He lives. I know who holds tomorrow. And take our hand and lead us right out of this life. Couldn't have been more harmonious if a whole bunch of people sat around and thought about that. And I don't know if they planned it that way or not, but I'm sure the Lord did. I'm really thankful for that. And I'm thankful for the invitation once again to come this way, although Brother Smith had to get sick and we need to pray for him. At COVID, everybody knows about that and it's still here and it's not going away soon. So be careful, do whatever you can to keep yourself safe uh... hand-washed everything else is get a good health lesson i reckon but uh... just uh... used to wait is uh... i don't uh... we've been in a situation where things will never be the way they used to be uh... hard world that we live in and it's a hard time for god's people even though we're saved by the grace of god understand everything that's going on we don't understand that we know why don't we yet we don't understand that but we know why and that's where the word of god comes in god's people to be educated how things are to be in the last days always mention this especially when uh... well i always mention it just about everywhere i go uh... and once again uh... brother charles liebrook Bless his heart, and the Lord's done took him home. And he preached about this, the last days, one time. And that message really stuck with me, and how that we are stuck in the last days. And while all the singing was going on and everything, the singing and the praying, and I was looking at that trail of blood, I've got a couple copies of that at the house. And I get one out every once in a while, That's a real good title for that book. Folks, the blood of Jesus should be a precious thing to every one of us, cleanses us, keeps us. Everything that God's people can boast in is through the blood of Jesus Christ. And folks, the church today is here in this world because of the blood of Christ. Lots and lots of saints have given their lives for the church and for the cause of Christ down through the years. Many, many years. We wanna go to 1 Samuel and chapter 17. And so you mean he's gonna come to revival and preach about David and Goliath. I always liked that. You know, a lot of people call these Bible stories, like they're just some kind of fable, like they don't have a real meaning, like nobody can prove it. And a lot of people won't believe it, believe this or not, a lot of people won't believe the things of God until the so-called scientists find something and say, that just maybe makes the Word of God right. You know, just maybe these things might've happened according to the evidence that we found. Folks, God gives us all the evidence we need in His Word. And for His people, we live in a time where our pastor mentioned it the other night, just the name, just a name or dimension of Christian. People loathe that They loathe that word. They just do. And the world out here is trying to indoctrinate God's people. Thank God he's the one that keeps us. Thank God that he's the one that saved us. He's the one that knows us. And he tells us about ourself all through the scriptures. And I think too many times when we As we live our life from day to day, we knuckle too much under the fear that the world wants to bestow upon God's people. We have been instructed by the Word of God to stand for the truth, stand for it no matter what. says, yeah, but it also tells us that we have to, we're supposed to get along, do everything that we can, everything that is in us to get along with everybody. You know, folks getting along and getting involved with everybody's two different things. And we have so many warnings in the Word of God about how the world, how the world will instill or try to instill fear in the hearts of God's people. And we need to just be on guard against that because folks, have you ever been afraid of something? Do you have a fear of something or another? I have a fear of really deep water. It's hard to swim in knee deep water, but that's about as deep as I'm comfortable with. And if my feet, if I can't touch the bottom with my feet, I panic. So it's dangerous for me to be around water so much. And you know, that's a fear that I have. And it's a terrible thing. And people with these phobias, you know, we're not gonna make fun of anybody. People afraid of the dark, people afraid of lightning, people afraid of storms and everything else. So am I. You know, God speaks through his storms. God thundereth with His voice. God directs the whirlwinds. And folks, we really need to believe that because God is mightier than all the fear the world can instill in His people. He's mightier than all things. But in 1 Samuel chapter 17, the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle and were gathered together at Shokah, which belonged with the Judah and pitched between Shokah and Azekah in Ephesus, and Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, pitched in the Valley of Elah and set the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had all of that, you know, for the sake of time, he had all of these armor on folks, he had his shield, he had that coat of mail, you know, that vest or that coat that he put on that nothing could penetrate it. Nothing could penetrate, he had a helmet and everything, folks, everything that he needed for battle, everything. And could you imagine the sight of him when the children of Israel saw him? And what did he do? He started out instilling, trying to instill fear in God's people. That's what he was trying to do. That's what he wanted to do. That was his strategy. And no matter who they sent against him, he was confident that he was greater than any of them. He was confident in that. And you know, David, just that little old boy, you know, little old shepherd that people just about take for granted, you know, he was just a little shepherd boy, but you know what? He says, God used me to take the sheep out of the mouth of the lions and the claws of the bear and all of that kind of stuff. Folks, he was a good shepherd. And he was a devoted shepherd to his calling. And he was trusted with the sheep. Does it remind you of somebody? He was trusted with the sheep. You know, David, to read down through verse 11, and like I say, I just wanna go to verse 11. It said, when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistines, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Dismayed and greatly afraid, they become fearful. And folks, when you become fearful, you sort of become unbelieving. You know, your faith gets tested real quick in the face of fear. Who do we rely on? Who do we look to when we're fearful of things? We look to our Lord, don't we? And he gives us the strength to face all the fear that this world can dish out. Say, well, you know, it takes a strong person to face the fear that this world will instill on somebody. Folks, God is greater than all of that. Don't ever forget about your God and how great He is. When the Lord saves you for His purpose, He's gonna keep you for His purpose. And folks, we better do His purpose. We really better do his purpose. You know, I sort of titled this message, If We Would, He Would. If he would, we would. Or if we would, he would. You know, once again, our pastor mentioned something, you know, with obedience comes blessing. When God's people obey the Lord, he blesses his people. More so he said, well, he blesses me every day. He blesses me too every day. But folks, the more obedient we are, I believe, the more blessings we will realize. And where they come from. And how we're supposed to receive those blessings with thanksgiving every day. Well, in verse 32 of this chapter, In verse 32, and David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him, thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, they are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him for thou art but a youth and he a man of war from his youth. He was taught to fight. He was taught to be a mighty man of war. And the whole of Israel was full of doubt about what is gonna happen. They were all full of doubt. You know, folks, if we live our life as a child of God, always doubting the things that God says, You know, poor Nehemiah over there. You know, God give these prophets and what they call a major prophet or a minor prophet, when he gave them their jobs, folks, we really should read about that and really have feel for them, you know? Really feel for them. He told one of them, he said, I'm gonna send you to a people that will not hear. But what's the use of that? Why don't he send them to somebody that will hear? because they needed to hear what God had to say to them. Just like we need to hear what God has to say to us. And if we hear what God has to say, folks, I believe our doubts and fears, our doubts and fears, well, we can deal with those by God's grace every day and by God's leadership and by God's strength. And not only that, You know, when a person is saved by the grace of God, see, David was just a ruddy youth, you know, the scriptures say, just a ruddy youth, just a child, not trained in anything except herding sheep, taking them out to pasture and taking them out to water and bringing them back in. That was his job. And when he felt of the Lord and, you know, There was a pastor down to Anchor Baptist Church in Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach. He said, you know, we read the scriptures, we talk about them and we hear them, but do we really hear them? And he used an example that fit me to a T. When your wife speaks to you, It fit me to a tee, folks. And I really have a one-track mind. I really do. I've got a one-track mind. I cannot think about two things at one time clearly. And you say, well, you have a hard time dealing with that, don't you? Yes, I do. And Deb will say something, and I'll be maybe thinking about something else. She said, did you hear what I said? I said, yeah. Did you really hear? Did you really hear? And my answer would have to be no. I heard her talk, but I didn't hear everything that she said. Hearing, listening, and paying attention is three different things when it comes to the things of God. Hearing, and listening, and paying attention. Did you ever sit in a church service? Once again, guilty. Do you ever say it in the church service when the preacher got through preaching, whether it was your pastor or a visiting preacher or something, and you sort of leave here and say, I wonder what he was preaching about. Whether it was a good message or not. Well, we heard something, but we really never heard it. We listened, but we really didn't pay attention. And we didn't want, it's not that we didn't want the blessing, it's just, The services, folks, just has to be saturated with prayer. You know, Brother John said that a couple of service ago. It just has to be saturated with prayer. That makes us prayed up and fessed up and looking up and everything else that we need to do to be ready for a service. So we'll hear and listen and really pay attention. And this young man was willing to go and do what the Lord says. And the first thing he run into was discouragement. You can't do that. You can't do that. You're too little. You wasn't trained for that. Don't ever discourage a young child of God. When they're saved by the grace of God, don't discourage them in any way. When I was saved by the grace of God, And I told all my aunts and uncles and everything. And of course, they never went to church or wasn't saved and all that kind of stuff. I thought that was the best thing that could ever happen to me. And I told them about it and they just shrugged it off, said, I'm gonna be baptized. What does that mean? They never encouraged me at all, none of them. But the Lord gave me encouragers, folks. He still gives me encouragers. So these young people are saved by the grace of God. You got a monster line of them, Brother John, when they're up here singing. You got a monster line of young people up here. They need to be encouraged, especially in the day and time that we live. Because we look back and sometimes we think our trials and tribulations was almost more than we could bear. Look what they have to look forward to. Look what they're facing. poor Nehemiah. The enemies came to him and said, well, no matter how you build the wall, even the little old foxes could come and tear it down. Folks, people will discourage you as a child of God. They really will. They'll discourage you. They'll make fun of you, but that's okay. God says that's what the world will do. So don't be surprised. And David, he said, I'm gonna go out. He said, the servant kept his father's sheep and there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him and smote him and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he rose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. The servant slew both the lion and the bear. And these uncircumcised Philistines, folks, David thought they don't have anything on God. They don't have anything on God. He wasn't thinking so much about himself. Here he was thinking about what the Lord could do through him. With just a little pouch of smooth stones and a sling. And I think the Lord directed that stone. But he used David, didn't he? He used a young'un, just used a kid. And all the men, all of Israel was over there shaking in their boots. He said, don't be dismayed. He says, we got this. He says, God's got this. Took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in his shepherd's bag, which he had even in a script. And his sling was in his hand and he drew near to the Philistines. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David. And the man that bared his shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him for he was but a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance. He got offended real quick. Goliath got offended at David. And Israel says, you're just gonna send that boy out here. Like I'm just some kind of a dog or a pup or something. Like you're gonna send him out here and he's just gonna whip me to pieces in front of all these people. God had a plan and God saw it through. And again, he used a young. He used a young man to do that. Philistine said to David, come and I'll give you, give thou flesh unto the fowls of the air and to the beast of the field. He thought he was gonna do David like somebody, like these buzzards and this deer over here in the field. He thought that's what he was gonna do to David. Big old guy, then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with sword and with a spear and with a shield, But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. Whom thou hast defied. See folks, God will take care of all of these people that defies our God. He's gonna take care of all of them. Don't make any difference how tall they are. Don't make any difference about the armor they wear. But when we get fearful, when we get, I don't know, that's probably just a good word as any, fearful and cowardly in the service of the Lord, when we get that way, then folks, we stop asking of the Lord when we get that way. When we stop seeking Him, we stop praying and we stop hearing. when we get fearful and knuckle under that fear. We can't afford to do that in the day and time that we live. You know, we've heard people pray for loved ones that are lost. Those around about us, our families, friends, it takes boldness, folks. It takes someone to be bold to present the gospel out here in this world. It takes boldness. That world, folks, is like Goliath. You know, it presents itself as something that you can't defeat because you're just a person that claims to know a God. That's all you are to the world. God shows them who we are. Sooner or later, God will show them who we are. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand and I will smite thee and take thy head from thee. He just, he just vicious, you know, he just, you know, he shouldn't say, be that, he shouldn't be that brazen, you know, to tell him he's gonna cut somebody's head off. Well, folks, Lord sent him to do that. That's what was gonna happen. That was the plan. It was God's plan. Now, over in Isaiah chapter 30, Isaiah chapter 30. And you know, folks, this has all got to do with hearing, really hearing, really paying attention, really taking in the scriptures, as God presents them to his people, by the prophet Isaiah. And the first thing he did in this chapter was pronounced a woe upon the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me, and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin. that walk to go down into Egypt and have not asked at my mouth to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadows of Egypt. And folks, I believe, I believe with all of my heart anyway, that when we read about Egypt in here, not only do we read about the enemy of God, but we read about the enemy of God's people and the world. I believe Egypt represents the world in the scriptures when you read about them in this context. There was nothing godly about Egypt. There was nothing that would cause anybody to say, oh yeah, they're a good people, you know. Nothing at all. They made slaves out of God's people. They had taskmasters that whipped them. and pronounced more work on them as they went from day to day. Made it harder and harder and harder for God's people. And you know, that happened for 430 years. I can't understand that, why God would let that go on for that long. And did it really take that long to teach them a lesson? Or did it take that long to get them ready for the journey that they made so much harder on themselves? after they left Egypt. You know, when it was said and done after all of the plagues that God pronounced upon Egypt, Egypt just about threw them out. Take everything you want and go. Just get out of our land. That's how it was. A lot of things, folks, that we can't understand in this life that we will one day, but it's amazing, isn't it? It's amazing how all of that happened and how God sustained all of that people for all of them 40 years. And as we look and read so many times, their shoes didn't wear out, their coats didn't wear out, their clothes didn't wear out or nothing, they just didn't. And they thought they were not blessed. They thought that they were taken out there and just forsaken of God. That was what was in their heart. Rebellious children. Didn't want to listen to God anymore. God said in verse seven of this chapter, for the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose. There's not anything that this world can do, folks, that will advance your knowledge of God. Nothing. Our knowledge comes from God. and God alone. And God says here, the Egyptians shall help in vain. They're going to say they're going to help. They might say they want to help and they might offer help, but it's going to be all in vain. Just going to suck them into some kind of a trap once again. And God's people would allow it. Therefore, the crowd concerning this, their strength is to sit still. Now go write it before them in a table and note it in a book, that it may be for them for the time to come forever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, lying children that will not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the seers, see not, and to the prophets, prophesy not. Never happened to me. It happened to millions of people, folks, and we're no better than they are. It happened to a nation and we're no better than they are. And we don't wanna hear the truth anymore. Folks, this is not Egypt saying that, this is God's people saying that. His chosen nation. God's people are saying that. We don't want you to see the things of God. We don't want you to prophesy. write things to us, speak unto us smooth things. And folks, let me tell you, that's exactly what the world is after today. They don't want anything concerning the truth spoken to them in any way. The last thing they wanna hear is that they need to be saved by the grace of God, but they still need to hear it. And like Brother Clarence said in his prayer, God is the one that does the saving. He's the one that changes the heart and saves the soul. God does that. We take that for granted as well. So don't speak unto us the truth. Don't tell us right things and prophesy deceits. We would rather be deceived then hear the truth. Rather be deceived. Just smooth things, easy things, Joel Osteen things, stuff like that, because he can sure make you feel good, can't he? If you ever listened to one of his messages, and one is all I ever listened to, I wouldn't listen to any more, but he sure got some good feel-good messages. He sure got some messages that will cause us to build ourself up in ourself and forsake God. He'll cause us to look at ourself and begin to pat ourselves on the back and say, look how good I am. And look how strong I am. And look where I got myself today. And we didn't do none of that stuff. Sure didn't do any of that stuff. So what happens to get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path and cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us? Isaiah, we don't wanna hear any of that stuff anymore. As a matter of fact, when you talk to God, you tell the Holy One of Israel, And I don't know, you know, I don't understand why they would refer to Him as the Holy One of Israel. To cease from before us. Now how comfortable would you be with that? How comfortable would you be with that? If pastors and evangelists and everything else, look folks, I stand here today, I'm a firm believer that God makes Baptists. And now I'm not preaching on a Baptist going to go to heaven. I never would do that. There'll probably be just as many professing Baptists, but not possessing Baptists. just go right on to the pits of hell. It's a hard thing to imagine. But when the people say, don't tell us the right things anymore, and tell God to leave us alone. I'll tell you folks, if God ever forsook us, we would be alone. We would be alone in this world. We would be alone in our thoughts. We would be alone And we would be thinking, I've got it made. You just called God to stop leading us. You just called God to cease from before us. Now folks, God has always promised to lead His people. You know, in every battle that the children of Israel, if they were in the Lord's will, He was before them. And He was with them, and He was behind them. He even fought a lot of battles for them. They didn't have to do anything. And they want Him to cease from before them. Can we get like that? The children of Israel did. Can it really happen? It really happened to them. Will it happen in the day and time that we live? Yes, it can, folks. If I could just have five more minutes, I'd like for you to turn to the book of Psalm, chapter 81, the book of Psalm, chapter 81. We'll come to a close with that. And verse eight, He says, here are my people, and I will testify unto thee, O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me. Now there's an if there. There's a lot of ifs in the scripture. Now, if Israel will hearken, said, there shall no strange God be in thee. You know, the idolatry of God's people. Do you mean God's people? They're idolaters. Folks, anytime we make something and put it in place of God, we've just created us an idol. We sure have. Something to worship other than God. Neither shalt thou worship any strange God. I'm the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Open thou mouth wide, and I will fill it. But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up to their own hearts, to their own heart's lust, and they walked in their own counsels. That's what happened. We yield to the world, folks. We'll walk to our own heart's desire. We'll give in to our own fleshly lusts, and everybody has them. Everybody has their fleshly lusts. We gotta be on guard against that. The flesh likes stuff of the world, folks. It likes stuff of the world. I gave them to their own hearts and they walked in their own councils. Oh, that my people had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my ways. Here's the part, folks, where if we would, he would. If God's people, he said, if they just walk, just hearken unto me and walked in my ways, I should soon have subdued their enemies. He gonna fight for us. And turn my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto him, but their time should have endured forever. And he should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of the rock. should I have satisfied thee." Folks, I can't get anything else out of that, but God promises the best for His people if we will just hearken unto the Lord. If we will just submit ourselves unto the words of God. Lots of warnings, but lots of blessings, folks. You see, Israel, God has given us these things for an example. Now, I'm not saying anybody's here. Anybody here tonight is like Israel was back then. But if we're not careful, we can be. I can't say that there's not anybody here that's not listening to the Lord because I don't know. But God does. And if we don't, then things can happen that we just wouldn't want. But if we do, God says, well, I could feed you with the best wheat and the sweetest honey and everything. I could just do all kinds of stuff for you. If we would, folks, I believe He would. I really believe that with all my heart. I'm thankful that we have a God like that. Speaking of a great God, that great God, folks, sent a great Savior. His name was Jesus. He entered this world miraculously. And to me, He lived a miraculous life. Anybody that can live a life without sin is a miraculous being, and Jesus did. Only one that ever did. In the flesh, anyway. The only one that ever did. And He died a miraculous death. It stumps me. to talk about the death of Jesus. What death He suffered, what pain He suffered. If He suffered my hell, folks, that would have been, that would be bad for me to go there at that terrible place, but He suffered mine. And if you're here tonight and you're saved, He suffered your hell too. So He suffered for all of us that are His. I couldn't explain a death like that. I can't explain how much pain that would be. I can't explain how one person just a few hours on the cross could endure my eternity of hell upon himself. I can't explain that to people. And he did that to save lost sinners. He came to save sinners. He came to call sinners to repentance. Folks, and as the song that we sang, He arose the third day, alive forevermore. That's the Savior we have. And that's the kind of God that we have, folks, to give us all hope in salvation and in our keeping by God's grace. It's the only way we could do it. May the Lord bless His Word. Brother John.