Second Kings, chapter three. And I'll read the whole chapter. To Kings, chapter three. In the 18th year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, Jehoram, the son of Ahab, became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned 12 years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless, he clung to the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. He did not depart from it. Now Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheep breeder, and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, the king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab? And he said, I will go. I am as you are. My people is your people. My horses as your horses. Then he said, by which way shall we march? Jehoram answered, by the way of the wilderness of Edom. So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. Then the king of Israel said, alas, the Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab. And Jehoshaphat said, is there no prophet of the Lord here through whom we may inquire of the Lord? Then one of the king's servants answered, Elisha, the son of Shaphat, is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said, the word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat And the king of Edom went down to him. And Elisha said to the king of Israel, what have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother. But the king of Israel said to him, no, it is the Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab. And Elisha said, as the Lord of hosts live before whom I stand, Were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. But now bring me a musician.' And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said, Thus says the Lord, I will make this dry stream bed full of pools, For thus says the Lord, you shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals. This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, and you shall attack every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop up all springs of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones. The next morning, about the time of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water. When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armour from the youngest to the oldest were called out and were drawn up at the border. And when they rose early in the morning, and the sun shone on the waters, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. And they said, this is blood. The kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then, Moab, to the spoil. But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went. And they overthrew the cities. and on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees till only its stones were left in Ker Harashech, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it. When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 swordsmen to break through opposite the king of Edom, but they could not. Then he took his oldest son, who was to reign in his place, and offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel, and they withdrew from him and returned to their own land. Amen. The deliverance of God. This is our second sermon in this passage. I think we're gonna have three sermons here. Another time as well, perhaps not next week, but sometime soon. But the focus of this sermon is this from the passage. The deliverance here is a deliverance definitively divine. The title on your sheet I put in earlier in the week when I was planning on preaching just one sermon, but this is going to be two sermons, so we're taking the first half. Deliverance, definitively divine. Just as a quick introduction, last time we looked into the early part of 2 Kings chapter 3, but also earlier in 2 Kings and in 1 Kings and in 2 Samuel, and I fear I may have confused some of you, but the nub and the gist of it is, Ahab, Jehoram's father, so Jehoram is king now, Ahab is dead. Ahab was cursed by God and so were all his descendants. So Jehoram is under the curse of God. We expect Jehoram to be defeated. We expect Jehoram not to receive the blessing of God, but the curse, and this is what we seem to be seeing in the early part of chapter three. They gather the kings, everything looks fine, but then they go into the desert via Eden, and there's no water, and they fear that they're going to be delivered into the hand of Moab before the battle has even started because they've got no water. So they go to Elisha, who speaks from God, And what does Elisha say to Jehoram, the bad king? He says to him, go away. Go to the prophets of your father and your mother, the prophets of Baal and Asherah. Why are you coming to God now? But Jehoram persists with Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom. And Elisha says, and I think we can safely speak that he speaks for God in this. He says, were it not for King Jehoshaphat. Remember King Jehoshaphat, who is with King Jehoram, is from Judah. He's the Davidic king. He's not perfect, but he's a righteous king. He has the blessing of God. And Elisha says, for God essentially, were it not for this blessed king, I wouldn't even look at you. I would deliver you into the hand of Moab right now. Is that really between the lines? But because of King Jehoshaphat, the deliverance that we're going to look at this morning was possible. So we're looking at the deliverance itself today and the aspect of it is that it is definitively divine. Deliverance means to set free, it means to liberate away from and this points in our passage this deliverance of Israel points to new covenant deliverance. It is the deliverance that we have through the gospel in the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation from sins, freedom from the devil, freedom from the punishment of God. This deliverance is all of God. Children, you have on your sheet, what does deliverance mean? To set free from something. And then the next point you have, the next question there is, underline what word you can see inside the word definitively. Now this is for us all. A deliverance, the deliverance of God is definitively divine. Is that not just definitely? Well, no, it's a variation. It's not the word definitely. It's the word definitively. Now, if you look at that word, D-E-F-I-N-I-T-I-V-E-L-Y, there is a word in there. It's missing an E off the end. The word is finite. Finite. F-I-N-I-T. Like I said, it's missing an E. Definitively means that it's been bounded off. If we think about what finite means, finite means it has bounds. Some people who come to this church like to go on the boats in the summer. And if you're coming at speed into the jetty, which is the bit where you moor the boat, You only have a finite amount of time to get the fenders out before you smash the boat up. The fenders are the things that go out on the side and protect the boat from the jetty, which is the wooden metal thing. You only have a finite amount of time. You have a limited amount of time. Finite means limited. This means that if Harry has some homework, and if Harry does all his homework, then Harry has definitively done it. It's not been done by anyone else. It's definitively Harry. And so if mummy and daddy come in and go, well done Harry, George and Lizzie for doing the homework, Harry's not gonna be happy, is he? Because George and Lizzie had nothing to do with it. It was definitively harried. You see, if deliverance is definitively of God, he does every last bit. There's no thing that we can point at and go, yeah, I did that. Deliverance is definitively of God. So the structure we're gonna have today is we have two main points, and then we're gonna have three points of application. The first main point, We're gonna see how the Israelites were delivered by God in two ways. Firstly, delivered from thirst. Secondly, delivered from their enemy. So firstly, delivered from thirst. Look at verse 15 in our passage. Elisha has agreed to get the word of the Lord for the kings. And he says, bring me a musician. Perhaps he needed a musician because his heart needed to be quieted if God was going to speak to him. And maybe he had been made angry or frustrated by King Jehoram, this wicked king who's come and asked for the word of the Lord, and so he says, bring me a musician. Perhaps the musician would play and sing a psalm, we don't know, but his heart presumably is quieted. And as a prophet of the Lord, the Lord speaks his words to him. And the hand of the Lord comes upon him, and he says, in verse 16, thus says the Lord, I will make this dry stream bed full of pools. For thus says the Lord, you shall not see wind or rain, but that stream bed shall be filled with water so that you shall drink you, your livestock, and your animals. You shall not see wind or rain, but there shall be water. Do you see, they were parched, dehydrated, they needed water. God doesn't say to them, I'm gonna send rain. He does that with Elijah, when Ahab is king. No, God says, there will be no wind, and there will be no rain, but there will be water. Do you see, the thing about the wind is, if there was a wind coming from the Mediterranean, they might expect rain to come with it. And if there's wind and if there's rain, then there will be water. And if there's water, then they'll be okay. And God says, I'm going to deliver you. But it's going to be supernatural. If there's water but no wind and no rain, where's the water come from? It's come from God. This is miraculous. When a miracle is done, that is saying to us, this is definitively God who has done this. This is not just gonna happen anyway. If there was rain, there may have been a chance for those kings and those soldiers to say, well, the rain was gonna come anyway. God says, no, no wind, no rain, but there will be water. This is a little bit like Gideon with the fleece. I don't know if you remember that passage. God is telling Gideon to be his judge, to be his deliverer of the Israelites, and Gideon says, give me a sign. If I put the fleece out, and overnight, and I come at it in the morning, and if it's full of water, and the ground around it is dry with no dew, then I'll know it was you. And he says, let me do it again. If I put the fleece out and all around is wet, but the fleece is dry, I'll know it's you. Do you see? This is a sign that could only be from God. This would be like going out in the pouring rain. It's been thundering and pouring for half an hour, and there's a jumper on the lawn, right in the line of the rain, and you go and it's completely dry. That's impossible. It would be wet. If it was dry, you know that would be a miracle. Thus it is with Gideon and his fleece. Thus it is in our passage. There shall be water, but it will come directly from God, not via natural processes. This deliverance was definitively divine. And I think this deliverance pictures the deliverance that is presented in the gospel. The deliverance from punishment, the deliverance from sin, This deliverance is also definitively divine. We read in John chapter three, didn't we? This is interesting. If you keep a finger in 2 Kings three and turn to John chapter three, read verses five to eight, Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. Verse eight, the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of The Spirit. That verse there, verse 18, and then compare that to 2 Kings 3, verse 17. Thus says the Lord, you shall not see wind or rain, but that stream bed shall be filled with water. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. This water from God in 2 Kings just appears. They've no idea where it's come from. They don't know where it would go. but the deliverance of God he brings supernaturally. John chapter three, the Holy Spirit, through whom you will be born again if you will be saved. You don't know where he comes from, you don't know where he goes. He is straight from God. In John chapter three, like we said, it's speaking of being born again, which is Regeneration. For the children's sheet, to be born again is to have God's Spirit open your eyes to the truth. To have God's Spirit open your eyes to the truth of the gospel. This is the first thing we experience in deliverance. If we talk about salvation in Christ, what is the first thing that you experience in salvation? It is having your eyes opened. to your need for a saviour. Your eyes open to your own sin. Your eyes open to the wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the first thing. And even this first thing is directly from God. God gives the spiritual life. God gives his Holy Spirit, which means that we can believe in Jesus. Our confession, The 1689 Baptist Confession speaks of this in its chapter of effectual calling. Confession, chapter 10, and paragraph two. This effectual call is of God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man. nor from any power or agency in the creature co-working with his special grace, the creature being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call and to embrace the grace offered. Do you see that? the creature being wholly passive therein, that's you and that's me, being wholly passive therein, being dead in sins and trespasses until being quickened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit comes and we are thereby enabled to answer this call to repent and believe. The first thing in our deliverance is from God. The very first thing, our faith. God enables us to answer Him. Even the faith we need to join us to what Jesus Christ has done in saving repentant mankind, even that faith that we need is from God. If you don't have that faith, pray that God would give it to you. And as Christians who have that faith and who have the Holy Spirit, pray earnestly, that God's Spirit will fill you with the strength to persevere. Being born again is more than just about having faith once and then living your life in the world. Being born again is about being awash in the Holy Spirit. It's about having that Holy Spirit for now and into eternity. And so let us pray that we will be given a greater measure of that spirit. As we were thinking on Thursday, the spirit of adoption, which enables us to persevere to the end. Pray that we may have this spirit in the measure that the apostles in Acts 4 had it. Who, when they were heavily threatened by the rulers, and they knew these rulers have power, they could beat them, perhaps even kill them, and some of them did end up dead. When they were heavily threatened by the rulers, what did they say? They said, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. Let us pray for such boldness. Let us pray for such a measure of the Spirit to live for Christ. So that's the first way in which the Israelites and we are delivered, delivered from thirst. But secondly, they were delivered from the enemy. And I'm gonna connect this to our freedom from the devil. I think that connection is there. Deliverance from the enemy. Go back to our passage, 2 Kings chapter three, verse 22. And when they rose early in the morning, this is the Moabites, and when they rose early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. And they said, this is blood, and the kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then, Moab, to the spoil. But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites till they fled before them, and they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went. God gave Moab into their hands. Israel certainly would have lost but God delivered the Moabites into their hands. It's almost like he packaged them up and sent them. There you go. We can see this passage a little bit like God In a sense, as a parallel to a big brother who sees his little brother being beaten up by some other people and then he goes, throws them all off and holds them so that his little brother can kick them and have a go at them like they had at him before. You see, God does it all. The Israelites, their strength is nothing. God delivers the Moabites into their hands. The Moabites rise up in the morning, and then they're looking over the horizon, and they see this water. But they think the water is blood. And remember how much water there was? There was a lot of water. They probably thought it was blood, because firstly, they were not expecting to see water. This place had been very dry, there was no rain, there was no wind. The Moabites knew nothing of this water. The Moabites knew nothing of the deliverance. Is that not often the case with us? The world, it may see a difference in us, but it does not know of our deliverance. It does not recognise it. It does not see it. So the Moabites rose, and they thought there would be no water there, so they see this liquid, and the sun shone on it, red sky in the morning, most probably, and because of the lighting, it made it look like blood. Sometimes you get that, don't you? Perhaps you haven't seen it looking like blood, but water or other things take a shade that is not actually their true shade in our eyes because of the lighting and the position of the way things are. So they run forward. They rise up, they see this, they think, look at all that blood! Most of them must be dead. So then they hurtle forth, Moab, to the spoil. Do you know what happens in armies when they go and conquer other armies? They plunder them. Which means they go in after destroying them and there are all the dead bodies all over the place and they start stripping them there and on nice things. Ooh, purse of gold, I'll take that. Ooh, a nice watch, although they probably didn't have watches back then. That's a great leather belt. Oh, I like that tunic. And they'd be stripping these dead bodies and they'd be going into their tents and taking their stuff. This is what they thought. See, the people at the front, they were like, we want to get there first. We can get there and get all the spoil. which means they had no formation, which means they were just hurtling forward. Do you know how much of a disadvantage that is in battle? The Romans were partly so successful in battle because they had so much order. Each of their soldiers was in the right place, in the right order to defend and to attack. The barbarians that they were fighting against were just as brave as the Romans. but they were helter-skelter. They would just go for it. Whereas the Romans were controlled and ordered, while the Moabs, no order, no form, they just ran forth and they were picked off like they were children. It was that easy for the Israelites. God delivers them into their hands. This victory points us to a greater victory. A victory orchestrated and won purely by God in Jesus Christ over the devil. By our nature of being in Adam, you see we're born into this world, we're in Adam. We are sinful, we commit sins. Our father is the devil. This means that we are in his clutches. We are sinners with Him. We are destined for judgment with Him. He is our ruler, we are in His power, and He will drag us down to the pit with Him. But God saves us from this terrible fate. We are freed from His power, freed from His clutches. Yes, we have lived as one of His servants in our wickedness, but God frees us. As Christians from this terrible captivity, we are no longer attached to him. A passage which most clearly demonstrates this is Hebrews chapter two, verse 14. Since therefore the children share in the flesh and blood, he himself likewise, Jesus, partook of the same things that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. Through his death he killed the one who has power over death, the devil. and he freed his people from slavery to that wicked potentate. The Lord Jesus Christ has a victory that is remarkable. Let us praise him. We are no longer attached to the devil if we are in Christ. We are attached to Christ. What a burden to be under such a wicked ruler. Look at the nations in this world who have wicked rulers, their people are oppressed, their people are miserable. How do you think we'd be under the devil? No wonder there is so much misery in this world. But we as Christians, we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our King. He says, come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But I've just stated this connection so far, I haven't demonstrated it. How do we see this connection in the passage? Well, the three kings who are fighting the Moabites are the ones for whom God is advocating. You see, for the sake of Jehoshaphat, God is advocating the cause of these three kings. And the Moabites are their enemies, and they are God's enemies. So we have the three kings and their soldiers. And we have the enemies of God. God's enemy is defeated by God's deliverance. Already, the framework of this picture is there. But also consider how the victory was won by the Israelites. The Moabites thought that they saw the sign of the destruction of the Israelites. What was that? That was what they thought was the blood. They saw the blood, they thought, they're destroyed, we'll go forward. But it was actually a sign of victory. because it was through the water from God that the Israelites had been delivered from dehydration and now were delivered from the Moabites. The Moabites were deceived by this. They saw the water, they thought it was blood, they thought, well, go forward, we'll take the victory. They were intoxicated with the idea that they could get all the plunder. Well, there is a similarity here with the devil and the Lord Jesus Christ. The devil tried to get Jesus on the cross, and he succeeded. Yes, God was providentially in control, but in a secondary sense, the devil incited Judas, and Jesus ended on the cross. That was the devil's choice. He wanted Jesus on the cross. He thought that would lead to his victory. He thought Jesus' blood meant victory. He was intoxicated with the idea that the Son of God made flesh could be struck upon a gibbet and bleed out. He thought that was his victory. Christ's blood, however, the blood in the Old Covenant is spoken of as the life. Christ's blood, which represents his life. Christ's blood being shed. was actually a sign of victory, not a sign of defeat. Christ's death was the ultimate final demonstration of His obedience and it was His voluntary sacrifice for His people. Do you see the Moabites? They saw the water and they were deceived. They thought this is a sign of defeat. But it was actually the sign of their victory. The devil wanted Jesus on the cross and His blood was shed But that was the sign of Jesus' victory. How wonderful God's plans are. We are freed, delivered from our terrible father of wickedness, the devil, and it is all by the Lord Jesus Christ. Like brands plucked from the fire, we have been delivered from a wicked father who would pull us down to hell. And we have been delivered by the glorious God of the Bible. are gonna have three brief points of application. The first brief point of application, do not let go and let God. We see in our passage that God was going to bring the deliverance, but did Elisha say to the Israelites, so sit back, sunbathe, and do nothing? What were they to do in verse 16? And he said, I will make this dry stream bed full of pools. For thus says the Lord, you shall neither see wind nor rain, but that stream bed shall be filled with water. So you shall drink your livestock and your animals. In the other versions, the New King James Version, the King James Version, the Israelites are commanded to dig. They are commanded to dig holes in the ground so that the ground can hold the water which is coming forth from the Lord. They were to dig ditches. and whether that is the correct manuscript tradition or whether this is, we know that we should not just sit back and do nothing. We saw the Israelites killing the Moabites, didn't we? They were delivered into their hand and yet they still went forth and had to slay the enemy. God's sovereignty is not an excuse to act unfaithfully. Now, let's qualify. The phrase let go and let God, if what you mean by that is you can't do it on your own, you must trust in God for your salvation, amen. But if what is meant, which is what is often meant, is do nothing and wait for God to do it, that is an entirely unbiblical thought. The Bible says, seek the Lord while he may be found. Seek the Lord, not sit and wait for the Lord. Seek the Lord while he may be found. The Bible says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Making no effort in our lives to have faith, to obey the Lord, undermines the idea that God works through our free will. God wants us to recognise his sovereignty, amen. but he wants us to seek faith and righteousness all the same. God does not do damage to our free will, as the confession puts it, but he works with us and in us. So repent and believe and be righteous. The phrase, God is sovereign, Therefore, do nothing and let God do everything. That is not true. Rather, God is sovereign. Therefore, take heart and have faith. The phrase, God is sovereign, therefore there's no point in trying. No, rather, God is sovereign, therefore serve him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Do you see, God's control over our deliverance is not to debilitate the individual. In fact, the opposite. That phrase before, I said, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Do you know what comes next? For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Four, that is a causal connective. Work out your own salvation because God is sovereign. Do you see? God is sovereign, therefore do nothing is absolutely wrong biblically. God is sovereign, therefore snap into it. Have faith, repent and believe. Seek God, you can, if he helps you. Seek God in faith as an unbeliever. Do the same as a believer, seeking to live in righteousness and holiness for his sake. But every single day, recognise it is God who enables you to do so. Second point of application. First one was do not let go and let God. Secondly, do kill all pride. Kill all pride. Ephesians 2 verse 8 to 9 states that salvation is of God. Ephesians 2, this is after Ephesians 1, which is the great passage of predestination. Ephesians 2, verse 8, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God. This is our phrase, not of works, lest any should boast. Not of works, lest any should boast. No boasting allowed. Pride is rebellion against the fact that God is sovereign over deliverance. What is pride? Children, this is on your sheet. What is pride? Pride is a feeling about yourself that there is something good in you and a feeling that this should be recognized. There is something good in me, and it should be recognized. I was recently reading David Copperfield, Charles Dickens' novel. Now in it, there is a portion of the book which is set in a school, and there's a headmaster, I think he's called Mr. Cricklewood or something to that effect, horrible, horrible headmaster. He beats the children with canes every day. Now in this story, there's a, young man called Steerforth and a young man called Tommy Traddles. And Steerforth laughs or jokes or does something that the headmaster doesn't want him to do when his back's turned. The headmaster turns around and thinks it was Tommy Traddles who laughed. So Tommy Traddles, he gets a beating. Does he say anything? Does he say, it wasn't me, it wasn't me? He says nothing. He just takes it. Out of pure kindness of heart, this lad in the book is a lovely child. Kind, honest, and he takes it. Horrible, of course. Nevertheless, he does it. Now, if Steerforth, who's avoided the beating, comes to Traddles and says, thank you, Traddles, that was kind of you, but I kind of deserve it, because I did this and that and the other the other week. That doesn't seem right, does it? Why doesn't it seem right? Because essentially what he's saying is, thanks, but I kinda deserved it. This is what you do, Christian, and I do, when we hold any pride before God. Thanks. Consider something you're proud of or about. You see, we're proud of so many different things. A lot of them are irrational. One of the greatest aspects of pride, I think, held in the world of all time, is which family you were born into. How can we be proud about which family we were born into? We had nothing to do with that. Yeah, we hold pride in that. But it can be other things, it can be sporting abilities, or musical abilities, or intellectual prowess, or it might be character traits. I'm kind, or I'm generous, or I do this, or that, or the other. What was it for the Pharisees? They thought they were righteous. They thought they were good. So what happened when Jesus told them, I paraphrase, you miserable wretches, you're the worst of everyone. got angry. They were furious. They eventually led Jesus to the cross and had him killed. The only perfect man. Do you see pride? It desires recognition and when somebody undermines that, how dare they? Do we not say this ourselves or hear this quite often? You know, I know I'm not perfect, but she really shouldn't have spoken to me like that. I know I'm not perfect, but do they not recognise all I've done over the years? You see, pride wants recognition every time. we think surely this gives me some standing. Believer, each bit of pride we have is rebellion against God. If we're true believers, we will love God and we will recognise in a real sense that God is the author of our salvation. You can't be a believer if that isn't the case. So as a whole, you might say, our hearts will say, yes, God has done it. God has delivered me. But every little bit of pride in a cubbyhole there is one little voice, sometimes quiet, sometimes loud, that after your heart has said, yes, God, that was all of you, and none of me, it says, but I did a little bit. But I kind of deserved it. We need to kill it, we need to stamp it out. We need to kill it properly, chop its head off, bury it six feet under, put the soil back over, and then dance on it to make sure nothing resurrects. Pride needs to be killed. Pride is the root of all evil. Pride in the Garden of Eden caused Adam to stretch out his hand and doom the human race to everlasting damnation. Thirdly, and briefly, in application, do trust in the Lord and ascribe to our God all the praise. Trust in Him. Christian, even though the storm may be raging around you, even though the enemy, perhaps you can hear their footsteps on the door, even though sin crouches there waiting to get you, even though illnesses flood upon you and you feel as if you would drown, even though your whole life for the younger ones here may be before you and you cannot imagine how you're gonna stay faithful the whole time, even though you may be going through singleness and loneliness, yea, even as the psalmist says, though the earth give way, Though the mountains be moved into the midst of the sea, though this all be so, we will not fear. God says, be still and know that I am God. Can it be that he will allow his little ones to stumble, never to get up? Can it be that he will allow one of his beloved children to be snatched away by the wicked wretch, the devil? Will that happen? Amen, it will not. Will it be that on the last day, it will be shouted forth from the rooftops, most of my lost sheep have been found, most of my children have persevered to the end, Most of those who have been washed clean in the blood of the eternal sun are here with us still. May it never be. May it never be. So trust in Him. Trust in Him. This does not mean do nothing. We've been over that already. But the point is this, trust him like a child with its father. Does that child worry about being dropped? Does that child fear its father's carelessness? No, that child can undergo anything so long as the parent is there. Deuteronomy chapter one, verse 30 to 31 says this, the Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did in Egypt before your eyes and in the wilderness. where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son all the way that you went until you came to this place. For so were the Israelites in the promised land, and you, if you have true faith, God will carry you all the way to the end. You cannot fall never to get up, for his everlasting arms shall carry you. Trust in him. Amen.