of Psalms tonight, Psalm 20. We'll begin there in verse one. Psalm 20, we'll begin there in verse one. We'll run down to about verse nine tonight. Psalm chapter 20, and we'll begin there in verse one. When you find your place, you can stand with me, and we'll read the word of God together. Psalm chapter 20, and we'll begin there in verse one. I've entitled this message Victory Through Strength, Victory Through Strength. Psalm chapter 20, there in verse one. and we'll make our way down to about verse nine tonight, and let's see what the Lord has for us this evening. Before we do, let's go to Lord in prayer. Ask God for some help again, Father, we come to you tonight. Thank you, Lord, once again, Lord, for your blessings. Thank you for the good singing. Lord, thank you for the folks that are here. I pray you bless our time together. Lord, help us, God, as we get into your word tonight. Use it for your honor, for your glory, of course, and to work in our lives. God, just pray to help us to hear what we need to hear tonight. And Lord, see what we need to see out of your word. You said that you would help us to behold wonderful things, what out of your law. And so I pray that you would just open it up tonight, give our hearts that spiritual illumination that we need this evening to help us to see and understand that which you need us to understand tonight. God, I pray that you'd help me as I preach. Lord, you just bless me Lord, my body, and Lord, I pray that you would just help me to say what you need me to say. God, I pray that you bless our evening, and may we just do all we can to bring you honor and glory tonight. And this we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, you may be seated. Entitled this message, as I said, Victory Through Strength, Psalm chapter 20, in verses one through seven. The Bible says here, the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble, the name of God, the name of Jacob defend thee, send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice, say la. Grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfill all thy counsel. 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. Now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed. He will hear him from his holy heaven and from the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and stand upright. Save, Lord, let the King hear us when we call. Here tonight, as we read the word of God, we can see here this evening that the Bible's telling us in verse one, well, actually the first three verses, our very first truth tonight, and that is, of course, our petition. Our petition, and that is calling on the Lord I want you to notice some things in the first three verses here tonight. Let's begin there in that first one Whenever he says the Lord hear me the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble as the Bible would say in Psalm chapter 46 in verse 1 the Bible says that God is our refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble I'm thankful for that here tonight I'm thankful for a God that we can call out to, a God that we can rely on, and a God that has a desire to be present in the battles and the things that we face in our life. Philippians chapter four and then verses six to seven goes on to say as well, to be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known unto God. And so I'm thankful here tonight that whenever we have things that we are coming before the Lord about that we have a God that says, you know what, I'll be there with you, I'll be there for you in that day of trouble. I will be present with you. I'm not gonna be far away, but I'll be right there. So let us not mistake in our life when we feel like that we're all alone that we are actually all alone because we're not. The Bible says that God, he will never leave us nor forsake us and so we can trust and that great precious promise that we know that the Lord said. Here in our text, the Bible says, the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. I'm glad God hears me, I'm glad God sees me, I'm glad God knows about me, and I'm thankful that we have a God that cares about what we're going through in life. The Bible says, cast all you care upon him, for he careth for you. And listen, I'll just always believe in my life that if it's something you care about, I believe God cares about it too. The Bible says, cast all your care upon him for he careth for you. Listen, there's some things you care about that other people may not. But I believe if we care about, there's a God in heaven that looks down and he cares about it too. I'm thankful that God makes our problems, I'm thankful that God helps our problems to be his concern. And so I think that we have a God in heaven that cares about where we are, he sees where we are, knows the ins and outs of the situation, and he is an amazing God, one that we can lift up our petitions to, that hears all the things we have to say. We look at people like Hannah and others in the scriptures where they lifted up their voices to God. We think about Hannah whenever she was silent when she wanted a baby and was having a very difficult time in doing so, but yet she came to God continuously. And the Bible says she poured her heart out to the Lord. She, in essence, emptied herself out. How many have ever emptied yourself out to God before? I mean, just poured yourself out. Maybe you was here at the church. Maybe you was at home. Maybe you was at the workplace or somewhere else that was private. Maybe you was taking a nature walk through the woods. But nonetheless, you got to a place to where you poured your heart out to God. You just emptied yourself. There was nothing else that you could possibly say. You just gave God everything you had to say. How many of you, how many of you poured yourself out to such a degree that you was at a loss for words? You could even no longer speak. You couldn't even actually get the right words to even come out of your mouth, but we're thankful for the Bible whenever it says that the Holy Spirit of God knows what we're trying to pray and lifts those and carries those burdens and lifts those prayers into the throne room of God. When we can't even get the words out to say that the Holy Spirit of God, when our spirit groans unto the Lord, but we can't quite get the words out that the God of heaven, because he knows our hearts and because he knows what we deal with in life, is able to know and able to understand that which we are praying for. Here in our text tonight, we see an individual that is lifting his voice up to God. He is lifting his petitions up before the Lord, and the Bible says it there in verse one. The Bible says, Lord, hear thee in the day of trouble. There is a time, a moment where he feels like, listen, I'm in a moment of trouble, God, I need you, I need you at this moment, and I'm thankful that God was there. The Bible says there in verse one, the name of the God of Jacob defend thee. I tell you what, when we think about there is no other name that is greater than the name of our God, no power that exceeds the might and the authority of the God that we serve, when we call upon the almighty God of heaven and it says thy name defend thee, I tell you what, that is a powerful, a powerful name. A name that even the Bible says that even concerning the Lord Jesus, a name that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that he is the Lord. And so we can see here that he's calling upon the God of heaven of all authority, of all power. And so here tonight we see that as he brings his petition before God, he calls upon the one that is in control. The Bible says the name of the God of Jacob defend thee. He is a present help in this time of trouble in his life and he is thankful that he can call upon the name of the Lord. How many of you remember, we've talked about it before, how Jehoshaphat there in 2 Chronicles in chapter 20, how he was faced with armies that were coming up against him. And as he stood there and saw all these different armies come up against him, he didn't know what to do. The only thing that he knew to do in and of himself was to gather all the people together and say, listen, we got to go to God in prayer about this. I don't know what it is that we're going to do, but I'm thankful there's a God in heaven that already knows. Jehoshaphat was looking at a battle that was on the way. He was looking at an enemy that was coming that was unsuspected by him. but yet God the whole time saw every single move the enemy was making. God the whole time saw what was going on. And so he says, listen, I don't know what we're gonna do, but he gathered all the people together, and the people began to pray, and the people, the Bible says that as they began to pray, that God began to speak, and he says, listen, Jehoshaphat, this battle is not yours. but it is the Lord's. And so I'm thankful tonight for a God that we can come to, lift our petitions up to, who says, you know what, I'm here with ya, I'll fight for ya, I'll defend ya. He called upon the mighty name of heaven. Listen, whenever we're in battles and struggles and strife in our life, let us not be afraid to call upon the mighty name of heaven. Let us not be afraid to call on the God that we serve. He is willing and able to help. The Bible shows us in the text there in verse one, the Bible says, the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble, the name of the God of Jacob defend thee. Verse two, notice, he says, send thee help from the sanctuary. He said, how many have ever said, God, I need some help today? Man, I don't know about you, but I know I have. I don't know how many times in my life I've had to say, Lord, I think every single day, God, I need help. You know what? Lord, we wake up in the morning, God, I need help to live for you. God, I need help to walk in the way that I need to walk. Every single day with the Bible, we need God's help. As the song says, I need thee every hour. Listen, I need God every single second. I'm on total life support here tonight. And listen, there's not a second that can go by that I don't need my Savior. And so he says, here in the text, as he's lifting his petition up to the Lord, he says, send thee help from the sanctuary. He's asking that God would send help, listen, not from just any sanctuary, but the sanctuary from heaven. God, come down yourself. Lord, come down here. Lord, descend from the heavens where I met God and offer your help and give me your strength, Lord, and intervene in this situation. He says, send thee help from the sanctuary. And notice he says, and strengthen thee out of Zion. How many have ever had to pray and say, God, I'm gonna need your strength today? God, I'm having a hard time. I'm having a hard time today, and Lord, I just need you to give me some strength. I tell you what, I say all of us every single day, not only do we need God's help, but we need God's strength. I mean, sometimes we got so much that comes up against us, so many things that just seem to kind of come out of nowhere, that we just kind of get blindsided by things, and we're just like, what in the world? God, I need your help today, but listen, I'm thankful that God, that nothing takes Him by surprise, even though it may get us sometimes and kind of get us off balance. Listen, the devil loved to get us off balance and kind of get us sidetracked and distracted by the troubles and entangled in the affairs of this life and looking around at all the things around us like Peter did and try to drown us in our life. But listen, the God of heaven, just like he did Peter, the Bible says he reached down to him where he was and lifted him up and we can see that The Bible also tells us, he says that, listen, that the God of heaven, that he walks on the clouds or the dust of his feet, and he has his way in the whirlwind and the storm. Listen, I'm just trying to get us to see tonight when we lift up our petitions and our prayers to God. that we have a present God, we have a powerful God, we have a God that is able to do far above, exceedingly above anything that we ask. Listen, the Bible tells us here tonight, shows us He calls out to heaven for help, but He's also asking. God for strength. Lord, send help from the sanctuary. Strengthen thee out of Zion. He says there in verse 3, he says, remember all the offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifices. We see that as this individual came, as David came before the Lord, we see that he came with sacrifices. He's saying, God, remember. Remember these accepted sacrifices, Lord. What we see is a heart of worship. He's coming to God. with a heart of worship. We talked about in Sunday school this morning with the teenagers, and we were just talking about how there when Solomon, whenever the Bible says when he ended his prayer, there in Chronicles, that when he ended his prayer, that fire came down from heaven, and it filled the temple. It filled the temple. And as it began to fill the temple, the Bible says that the priest could not even be in the temple, that they actually had to walk out of the house of God because the presence of God had filled the place to such a degree. And when the presence of God had filled the temple, the Bible says that everybody bowed down their faces towards the pavement and began to worship. What we need is people, what we need is a praying people tonight. We need to never forget and understand the power of prayer. The Bible says that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. And whenever we push prayer off to the side, and the importance of what prayer does, and the effective power that prayer has, listen, then we set ourselves up for failure. Set ourselves up for failure. We must never forget the power of prayer, that God intervenes and God moves and God moves at the heart of the effectual prayer of a righteous man, because the Bible says it does avail of much. When Solomon got done praying, listen, the fire fell down from heaven. When Solomon got done praying, the fire fell down from heaven. The glory of the Lord, the Bible says, filled the whole temple. The priest couldn't even go in. And the Bible says that everybody bowed down their face to the Lord and began to worship. We need people that'll get back to this place of worshiping God. Get back to this place where they'll effectually and fervently pray and they'll worship God on their hands and on their knees. The Bible shows us here, he says, in verse two, he says, send help from the sanctuary strength out of Zion. He says, remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Here he was, he's coming to his God in a place of worship. in a place of worship. He's praying, he's worshiping the Lord. The second truth is, I want us to see tonight, not only do we see the petition, but we also see the power. We see the petition, the calling of the Lord in trouble, but we also see the power, the confidence in the Lord's strength. Now let's take a look at a couple things here. Notice verse 4, the Bible says, Grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfill all thy counsel. You know what he's desiring? He's desiring God in this situation. Lord, I desire your counsel. God, I desire your wisdom. I desire your way. I desire what you want. I desire what you want to take place in this situation. It's almost like he backs himself up out of it. And then he says, God, I want you to be in control. Look at it, verse four. Grant thee according to thine own heart. and fulfill all thy counsel. God, you do what you need to do. God, I surrender, I take the back seat. I'm not gonna pilot this thing. Lord, I'm just gonna let you take control. Lord, you can do what you do best. God, I'm just gonna sit back. Lord, you know I've lifted it up to you. And so God, I'm just gonna let, you got control of this thing. Whatever it is that you desire, God, that's what I want. And we have a submissive heart, a submissive, humble heart like that. Listen, there's no telling what God can do. and a heart that'll stay humble and get on their knees before the Lord. The Bible, he says, you know what, God? He says, you fulfill your purpose. God, you fulfill your will. I want you to fulfill, Lord, whatever your counsel is, whatever it is that you desire, that's what I want you to do. There in verse four, grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfill all thy counsel. Lord, I want my heart, to be in sync, God, with your heart as well. Whatever your heart is, Lord, help my heart to be the same thing. Help my heart to be the same thing. The Bible says, in speaking of prayer, that sometimes the reason why our prayers aren't answered the way we want them to is because we ask amiss. We're asking out of the wrong motive and out of the wrong heart. Listen, we want our hearts to be in line with God. We wanna be on the same place, in the same page as the Lord himself. And so he says there in verse five, He says there in verse five, he says, we will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God, we will set up our banners, and the Lord fulfill all thy petitions. We see once again, we see once again how his desire is to see the Lord's will done in what is going on. Zechariah chapter four and verse six, the Bible says, listen, not by my might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. God desires to bring victory, God desires to bring help, God desires to bring strength. And that will happen, and that will happen, listen, when we are a people that'll get on our faces before an almighty God. Listen, when we will be serious about that which we're, how we serve the Lord and how we worship in the Lord. And we can see here, he says there in verse five, He says we will rejoice in thy salvation We can see that whenever notice when he gets done with verse 5 I mean when he gets done with verse 4 and he says grant thee according to thy own heart Then fulfill all thy counsel when he when he takes a step back and he says God in essence You're the one that's in control Lord. I just take this step back Lord. You let your counsel be done Let your will be done God whatever your heart's desire is or that's what I want. I Notice what happens in verse five. He says, we will rejoice. Listen, rejoicing comes whenever we understand that the God of heaven is in control of everything. So oftentimes, man, I tell you what, we just wanna be in control of every single situation. How many of you like to be in control? Every single hand should go up here tonight because we all like to, right? So let's don't lie. Every single hand tonight ought to go up and that's just who we are. Listen, we like to be in control of things and we don't like it whenever we're not because we want things to go the way we want them to go. So it's not an easy place for us to, You know, to be in a situation where we're not in control because we like to be in control. So here we see, he says, God, I want your counsel. God, I want your heart. I want your willingness to be done in this. And when that happens, when that happens, we see that there in verse five, he says, we will rejoice in thy salvation. Because I tell you what, when our weakling selves try to do everything we can to handle things in our own power, in our own way, in our own insufficiency, it leaves us in a weak place. Because it leaves us vulnerable. It leaves us weak because we are a weak people. in and of ourselves. You know, without Christ, we can't do anything. But the Bible says that, but the Bible does tell us in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 13, that with Christ all things, that I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. And we understand the scriptures where the Bible says that, listen, that we serve a God of the impossible, that all things with God are possible. But with us, we are so weak. But when we take that step back, when we let God have control, and we say, okay, Lord, I'm not going to be in control of this situation. God, I'm giving it to you. The Bible says there in verse 5, we rejoice in the salvation. Listen, joy comes when we acknowledge that God's the one that needs to be in control in our life. Rejoicing comes when we acknowledge that the one that has all power and all knowledge and all presence that he is the one that's in control, that he is the one that is at the helm of the ship. He says in verse five, we will rejoice in our salvation and in the name of our God, we will set up banners. the Lord fulfill all thy petitions. And so we can see banners like, you know, banners like flags and you know, and like things that you would put on them. He says, but man, we'll lift up banners and banners that'll just speak of your glory and banners that just proclaim your goodness. He says, God, we will rejoice and man, we'll just, we'll worship you, we'll set up banners. He says, in the name of God, we'll set up our banners the Lord fulfill, all thy petitions and so once again praying there in verse five that God would have his way and that God would do tremendous things Lord in his life in this time of trouble that he was in. First Samuel chapter 17 we understand that David was going up against Goliath and he was in a predicament according to everybody else but I tell you what David stepped onto the scene with the power of God and he just kind of seemed to analyze this situation. It doesn't seem that whenever David stepped up on the scene that there was any, it doesn't seem like there was any inkling of any fear whatsoever. No worry, no fear. I mean he's looking around, he hears what Goliath has to say as Goliath comes down off the mountain across from him. He comes down into the valley, and he begins to hurl out these insulting things against God and against God's people. And young David there, he hears that, and he's thinking to himself, he says, who is this guy? Who is this man who defies the armies of the living God? Who is this man that's talking about our God like this? Listen, I'll go out there and take care of this guy. I mean, I defeated the lion. I defeated the bear by my own bare hands. Listen, if I can do it to them, I sure can do it to him. I mean, he went out there in the power of God. And I believe that God desires to bring us victory in our life. When lions come our way and bears come our way and Goliaths come our way, we can fight these things in the power, in the presence of God. And so we can see, there I believe that there in verse five, and in verse six that we can see how God desires to help his people. The Bible says there in verse six, he says, 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. We have an almighty God that is willing to save, a God that is desiring to save. He says, now I know that the Lord saveth his anointed. he will hear him from his holy heaven. Isn't it nice to know sometimes it seems like heaven's so far away? But I tell you what, all we gotta do is get down on our knees and it's like heaven's just right there. I mean, it seems like heaven is such a far, long, such a far, long away place that is, we can't even calculate how many miles away it is. You want me to tell you how far heaven is? Just like that. That's how far heaven is. You know how far hell is? I can't snap. Somebody help me. There we go. That's how far away hell is. But that's exactly how far away heaven is too. Sometimes we think things are just so far away, but it's really not. It's right there. And he says, so when he's calling for God's help down from heaven, when he's asking God for strength, When he says here in verse six, he says, now I know the Lord say with his anointed, they will hear him from from his holy heaven. He realizes he realizes that, listen, my prayers, it's like I'm I'm lifting up my prayers up into heaven. But the God is hearing them like he's right here in the same room. That makes sense. I'm lifting up my prayers up all the way up into heaven. But when I pray, it's like God's in the same room and he can hear me. So heaven isn't far away and hell isn't far away neither, but he's thanking God that whenever he prays that he is heard by his Lord. He will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Now let's take a look in verse seven and we'll get to our last one and this is our praise, our praise, celebrating the Lord's deliverance Our praise, notice he says, he says, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. There in verse 7, he lifts up this heart of praise. He's giving God thanksgiving. He's giving God praise, and he says, you know what? Because you see, an army back in those days, they signified their strength by how many chariots they had, how many horses they had, how many warriors that sat upon these things. And that was what determined, really, in their idea of how great and how strong an army is. When we get to people like Jehoshaphat and many others in the scriptures, we can see that they face obstacles and they face trials. And it was them, the minority, against a multitude of enemies that came against them. Did you know that you and God are the majority in God's will? Do you know that? You and God are the majority in God's will. And so it doesn't matter. Listen, numbers is not a thing that matters when we think about battles that we face. You and God make the majority in God's will. If it is God's will, and the direction that you're pursuing, and what you're doing, and where you're going, if it is in the will of God. The Bible says, if God be for us, who can be against us? And so we can see here in the text, he says, some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Listen, let us never forget the name of the Lord our God. Listen, I think in our prayers it would do us well at times. Maybe we just remember all the names of God. And in our prayers, we just start reciting the names of God. Because listen, it is at the name of God that every knee will bow and every tongue confess. Listen, I think it'd do us all really good to learn all the names that the Bible speaks of as it mentions the God that we serve. We learn all those names and then we just, in our prayers, we just pour these things out. And I believe that'll help us to have strength and I believe it'll help to set ambushments against the enemy and just push him away and build a hedge about us as we declare the mighty names of the Lord and what it is that we call the God of heaven. He says, we will remember the name of the Lord our God and no matter how hard the trouble, no matter how difficult the path, No matter how rugged the terrain, the one thing we're going to do is that we're going to remember the name of the Lord our God. We're not going to trust in the chariots. We're not going to trust in the horses. We're not going to look around at the things of this world. But when I'm in trouble, and I'm going through difficult times, and the valley gets dark, I'm going to remember the name of my God. Because if God be for me, who can be against me? I'm gonna remember the name of my God, the one that fulfills and the one that listens and the one that desires for me to live for him and walk with him. I'm gonna rejoice in his salvation. I'm gonna step back and I'm gonna say, God, you're in control. Lord, I just wanna see what you're gonna do. And when we get in this place in life, when we decide to step back and just say, God, you just do what you got to do. I'm not gonna seek the horses. I'm not gonna ride the chariots. God, I'm just gonna depend and rely We rely on your name. And I tell you what, we do that. And we just rely on the name of God. I believe God will bless, I believe God will help, and he will send strength from the sanctuary of heaven. The Bible says in verse seven, that some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Let us never forget that. Psalm 118 verse 14, those over there, that like to jot things down. The Bible says, the Lord is my strength and my song and has become my salvation. God is our strength. That's why I think it would do us well to recite the names of God in our prayers. God is our strength. He is the one that guides. His word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. He is the one that brings comfort. He is the one that brings peace. He is the one that brings strength and power into our life and so, Psalm 118 verse 14, the Lord is my strength and my song and has become my salvation. I like that when it says he's my strength and my song. The Lord will give us a song. The Bible says he pulls us up out of that miry clay, establishes our steps and puts a new song in our mouth. I'll tell you what, I think there's a lot of people that would love to sing a new song tonight. And listen, if we're gonna sing a new song tonight, may it be because we recite the powerful names of God, that we remember who God is and that he is present, that he's not far away, that heaven itself is just a snap of the fingers. It is just a millisecond, a blink of an eye away from where we are right now. A God that hears our petitions. Listen, in our prayers, let's make sure. that will lift up our praise, and we say, God, I'm gonna wave the banner flag. You're so good to me, Lord. I'm gonna rejoice in thy salvation. I'm just gonna sit back, God, and watch you work, and Lord, just let you do your thing, and I'm just gonna surrender myself to you. I'm gonna take up my cross, and I'm gonna die tonight, and Lord, I'm just gonna give you what I have, and the Bible says I'm gonna wave my banners tonight. He says there in verse seven, we will remember the name. of the Lord our God, Luke chapter 17 and verses 15 to 19. We see that the Lord, he was healing the lepers and the Bible says that there was one leper returned to give thanks. And I think it would do us well that whenever we see God do tremendous things in our life and God bless and we call out to God in these times of trouble that we lift up a voice of praise and say, God, thank you. Thanksgiving's coming up, listen, not only should we just be thankful because Thanksgiving's coming up and we have all the days we celebrate, you know, and Thanksgiving, listen, we should have a thankful heart every day. We should rejoice every day, have a thankful heart every day. Listen, the Bible says that God loathes us daily with benefits. God gives us every single day what we don't even deserve, but yet God blesses anyway. We should give a heart of praise in Thanksgiving every single day. And we understand that, of course, in that scripture that there were 10 that healed, only one came back. Only one came back to say, God, to say, Lord, thank you for what you've done. Well, let's have a heart of praise. In Thanksgiving, he says there in verse seven, some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Notice he says in verse eight, he says, they are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and stand upright. When he's speaking of the enemy that he faces, when he's speaking of the trials, the obstructions that come in his life, the things that are hindering him, He says, they're brought down and they are fallen. He says, but we are risen and stand upright. You'll notice there in verse eight, he says, we are risen. Listen, in order to be risen, that means there had to have been a place or a time when you fail. Now, sometimes we all fall, right? Sometimes there are trials in life that bring us to our knees. Sometimes there are concerns and worries and all different types of things that bring us to a place where we are on our knees and we're saying, like I said earlier, we're pouring ourselves out to God and we can't even come up with the words but our spirit itself just groaning up into heaven. We can get in those places and the devil will capitalize on those weak moments in our life just like he did the Lord Jesus when Christ was there in his physical body, though he was fully God, he was still also a man, and while he was there in the wilderness, the devil came and attacked him on day 40, not on day one, not on day five, not on day 10, not on day 20, but when the Lord Jesus in his physical body on this earth would have been the weakest. That's when the devil shows up and tries to attack him in his faith. The devil always come whenever you are weak. But he shows us here in the text, he says, they are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and we stand upright. So there are moments and there are times in our battles. Yeah, yeah, sometimes we do fall. But the difference is, is between us and a lost and fallen world, is that God's people have so much to get up for. We have so much to get up for. Hold your place right here. We're going to go to a text and then we'll come right back. Hold your place right here and go to, let's see, go to Proverbs 24 verse 16. Proverbs 24 and verse 16. And then we'll come right back and then we'll close out the night. Proverbs 24 and verse 16, we think about this idea of falling when we're facing trouble sometimes and difficulties because it happens. But notice the Bible says in Proverbs 24, 16, say amen if you're there with me. Amen, all right. The Bible says in verse 16, the Bible says for a just man faulteth what? Seven times. And what rises up again but the wicked shall fall into mischief. There in verse 16, the Bible says, for a just man falleth seven times and rises up again. What I'm trying to get us to see tonight is that, listen, because we're not perfect, because we're an imperfect people, and sometimes we're not always as strong as we would like to be, the psalmist here is praying for God's help. The psalmist here is praying for God's strength. Sometimes we are weaker than others. Listen, you may be strong today, but next week, or maybe, listen, in the morning, you may feel kind of weak. So we have to have an extra dose. God, I need your help. God, I need your strength. Lord, bring it down from the sanctuary, God, because I need it. And so listen, sometimes we're strong, and sometimes we're weak. Sometimes, man, we are walking, and man, we are doing good, and then at other times, man, we're falling off to the wayside, and we're getting kind of entangled up, and we got all this stuff going on, but he says here in the text here in verse 16, a just man falls seven times and rises up again. You know why? Because we got a lot to wake up to. There's a reason to get up in the morning. And whenever we fall, and whenever we fall, and it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of just when. And when we do, just remember that we can get up. That we don't have to stay where we are. The devil wants you to stay where you are, but we don't have to. The Bible says that a righteous man, a just man, He follows seven times. Sounds like a lot. Listen, we probably fail more than that today as individuals. The just man, the righteous man, he follows seven times, but he rises up again. He gets up again. We don't stay down. We get up because we got a lot to get up for. We got a lot to get up for. The devil will make you think you ain't got no reason to get up in the morning. The devil will make you think you ain't got no reason to sing. But this song right here speaks otherwise. This song right here says that listen, God has a new song. God desires for you to sing the joy of his salvation. God desires for you to understand and know that his help is just this far away. That his strength is just this far away. That his acknowledgement of your situation and what's going on is just that far away. But the devil would love to keep you in a place where you were in that miry clay. You know what that miry clay is? That place that just, you sink down inside of it, that miry clay, you sink down inside of it and it just kind of latches on to you and holds you like glue and you can't hardly get out. And that's why they had to pull Jeremiah out. He couldn't get out on his own. He was sunk down there in that old miry clay down in there. And they went down there and they had to pull him up out of that. And as they're trying to pull him up out of that stuff, man, that miry clay just hanging on to him, latched on to him, don't wanna let him go. He was down there in the dungeon, but yet they was pulling up out of that miry clay. And God says, listen, when you get out, I'll put a new song in your mouth and I'll establish your steps. Listen, this world will do everything it can. The devil will do everything it can for you not to sing the joy of his salvation. The devil and this world will do everything it can to keep you in a place where you're saying, look, God doesn't hear me. There's no need to pray for God's strength in heaven because it's too far away and you're too far gone. No, let me tell you something tonight. You just give yourself to God. You ask God to forgive. You ask God to help. And I believe with all my heart because you're a child of God. And because God loves you, and He cares about where you're at, and He cares about what's going on in your life, that He'll help you tonight. I really believe it, with everything that I have. The Bible says here in this text, there in verse 16, it says a just man falleth seven times and rises up again. I'm just trying to get you to see tonight. Listen, you're saved, you're a child of God, you belong to Him, you're a child of the King. That doesn't just make you just anybody. That makes you somebody. Makes you somebody. Because you belong to the king. You belong to the king. Yeah, we are gonna fall at times. But God's people get up and we keep going. And we keep waving the banner flags. And we keep calling upon the mighty name of God. And we always keep pressing forward. I'm just trying to encourage you tonight. Listen, keep on going, keep on going. Don't you quit, don't you stop. You say, well, preacher, I fell here, and I fell here, and I fell there. Listen, I get it. I understand. Listen, I've fallen quite a few times myself. How many of you can lift up your pants leg and say, I got some scars on my knees? Yeah? Yeah? How many of you can say, you know what, preacher, I got this scar here. I got this scar here. I got this scar here. Yeah, we got some. It happens in life. But you still got up and kept going, didn't you? Yeah. And that's what we got to do. A just man follows seven times, but he gets up again. Listen, you just got to keep getting up. You just got to keep getting up because there's a reason to get up. There's a reason to get up. The people right beside of you for one reason. Amen. The people beside of you are one reason. And that's just one. There's so many. There's a reason to get up. Let's go back to our text. We'll finish out. The Bible says in Psalm chapter 20, there in verse 8, he says, they are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and stand upright. We see God defending and fighting for his people. And he says, but we are risen and stand upright. Verse 9, he says, save, Lord. Let the king hear us when we call. Let the king hear us when we call. Think about Hezekiah whenever he was facing the armies, Snacarib, who was coming up against him. As he was facing Snacarib and all these armies, you know what the Bible says Hezekiah did? The Bible says he took the letter that was written to him from Snacarib. The Bible says he took it, he went up into the town, he spread it out before God. Listen, sometimes that's just what you gotta do. Sometimes you just gotta spread everything out before the Lord. The Bible says he spread it all out before God and he began to pray. He began to pray. You know what God did? God sent an angel down there and wiped out the army that was coming up against his people. Snack Rib goes on back. You know what eventually happens to him? Well, he gets killed too. He gets killed too. He goes back and he goes to the house to worship his God and while he's in there, some men come in there and kill him while he's in there worshiping. They looked at him as a loser. What I'm trying to get us to see tonight is this, is that man, God is present. God is present and God's willing to heal. Spread it out before him. You're gonna fall. Get back up. Keep on going. There is a reason to keep going. There is a reason to sing this morning, not tonight. There is a reason to sing in the morning. Listen, when you get up in the morning, maybe just start singing. You say, well, preacher, I don't sing. Well, I don't either. But you know what? Maybe I won't get up in the morning. I'm gonna sing tomorrow morning. I'm sorry, honey. But I'm gonna start singing in the morning because I got a reason to sing. I got a reason to. Don't let the devil steal your song. Don't let the world take your song. Don't let it happen. There's so much out here in this world trying to take away from God's people. Listen, don't let the world take your song. Don't let it. Let's pray. Father, we come to you tonight. We thank you, Lord, for your goodness. God, we are blessed people. The devil does so much to help us to think that we're not. and to think that you actually care more about everybody else than you do us. Lord, that's just not true. Lord, we know that you love your creation, you love us all. There's no respecter of persons. And so Lord, I pray tonight you'd help us just to glean from your strength, Lord, and I pray that you would bless the evening. Lord, I pray that you would bless our week. Lord, help us to be strong as we go throughout this week. Lord, may you send people our way, God, that maybe we're able to help throughout this week, or maybe you'd send somebody our way, God, that maybe can help us. Lord, whatever the case may be, Lord, just help us to keep getting up. No matter how many times we fall, God, just help us to keep getting up, and help us to remember that we have a lot to get up for. We have a lot to sing about. Lord, I pray you bless the evening, give us a good week, and this we ask in Jesus' name, amen.