Her brother making mention of the piercing of the sword. Well, maybe there's reason for that. And her brother, Matthew, you know, is remarking, introducing ourselves, Matthew Trella. And he said, well, you're Scottish, and grew up in Ulster, Scots. And then I happened to say about, my father said that we're Armenian. He was like, oh, kind of like, you combine those two together, I guess you get a perfect storm, I think was really the response. So maybe that's why the Lord is sovereign over those things too. And thankful, thankful for his mercy. was stretched when at the last minute I was asked if you'll preach on the Lord's Day as well. And so when I informed my wife, I was, but you're off. Well, yeah, right. So we, we love being here. I say we deliberately, our entire family loves being with you here and joining in the fellowship of the saints. So thank you to the session. and the committee for the invitation to be here. Thanks to the ladies for their tireless labor and all the provisions that are put on, the joyful manner in which this church labors to put on this event. And it's been a joy to meet Dr. Sandon for the first time, and also to meet my brother Matthew Trella, who I've already mentioned as well. And you know, when last year happened, It was a few weeks before I kind of showed my cards, showed my hand, as it were, in regards to how I was observing things going on last March and the following weeks. You kind of hold your cards close to your chest for a while, but eventually, whenever those ones in Michigan were going to the that state building, wherever it was, that city hall, with their guns and so on. And I thought, I need to make remarks here. So, I started making some remarks, of course, arguing for the case of man's right to provide for his family. The state has no power, has no authority from God to intervene in these things. Let's just say not everyone was in agreement. There were other ministers that I received emails. You know, you thank God. When I turned on my phone after that morning service, I turned on my phone and the first text message that came through was from a gentleman, a member of our church. He's a state senator. Basically, praise the Lord, thanking God for the message that I brought. So all the buffeting that came afterwards was kind of irrelevant. I didn't really care. If the state senator is like thanking God for your message, well, then you can endure buffeting, even by breaking in the ministry. But one of the accusations I received was that, oh, you're just turning into those Southerners. So to say, well, not quite. The bulk of the kind of argument that was the driving force of my message, though it was a completely different message, but what was driving goes way back to a Sunday school series I taught in 2016 in Calgary. Going from Northern Ireland to Calgary, I hadn't yet been acquainted with the mentality of Southerners at that point. So, the real driving heart of it was something I'd studied years prior. And so I'm evaluating what's going on, and I have to give thanks and public recognition to my brother Matthew for the book that he published in relation to the lesser magistrate, because that was one of the books that I read in my preparation for that short series in my Sunday school, helping the congregation to understand what it means to be a Christian citizen. And reading that book was a great help to me, as well as the Magdeburg Confession and the history in relation to that and other items of history. So those books are there. If you don't own them, get them and read them and spread them abroad. Because in coming days books like that are going to be essential and It wasn't just them Rutherford James Bannerman Calvin and others fed my mind on these things as well. So, you know the wonderful thing some of these battles were facing They were ready. It's not new Like the theological battle to understand how to deal with these things has already been waged we just have to read the pages of history and what men have written and And you'll say, well, there it is. There it is. There's the solution. Thank you, Mr. Bannerman. You know, that's that's a great help to me. So anyway. I'm glad to be here and thank the Lord for his mercies. We're going to read in Romans chapter eight. And I see that we started an Ulster Standard Time this morning, which is Which is a comment that's often made in Greenville when the meeting doesn't start promptly on time. I have quite a few that are from Bob Jones and you start on time every time. So if it's delayed by 30 seconds, we're immediately in Ulster Standard Time. So we must be in Ulster Standard Time this morning. Anyway, let's get started. Romans chapter eight. Let's read from verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of a son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom he called, them he also justified. And whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? God be for us, who can be against us. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. May God write his word in our hearts and give us light this morning. Let's pray. God, we ask for help. Just help us. There are people here They are the sheep of thy pasture, the flock of God, and they need fed. They need their hearts encouraged. They need their backbone strengthened. We pray that thou wilt come this day and grant that you will mercifully close us in to a meeting with God. Help us in the Word. Give us much grace, O God, to understand thy mind in these days. And I pray that thou wilt deliver us from merely putting forth us we pray that this would be a message appointed for this season from the lord himself so fill me with thy spirit bless us all we pray we ask in jesus name giving thanks amen sometimes you have to wonder whether men really believe that the gospel is sufficient and no one will say that the gospel is not sufficient Those that are in Christ need not despair. But when men that certainly affirm their assurance of the standing in Christ and what Christ has done for them, look at the world today, there is often, and we've heard it already this morning, that sense of despair. Evil seems to prevail. God's work appears to be frustrated. So what then will be the future of the church? It appears that the default position for many in these days is pessimism. You know it's pessimism as soon as someone says, these are the worst days that ever there has been. That things, I always, you know, the misquoting of scripture. Things are waxing worse and worse. So give me book chapter verse for that. It's not there. Evil men certainly wax worse and worse. They've always waxed worse and worse. There's always been seasons of the prevailing influence of wicked men. But it never, ever should be confronted in the heart of the believer with a sense of despair or discouragement or hopelessness for the work of God. 1555, when many were burning for their faith in Christ, among them were Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer. And it is recorded that as the fire was kindled, Latimer turned to Ridley and said these well-known words. Play the man, Master Ridley. We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England as I trust shall never be put out. The faggots were lit as their lives were coming to an end. Here is the call. Here is the word of exhortation. Here is encouragement to the soul. Play the man, Master Ridley. We shall this day light such a candle by God's grace in England as I trust shall never be put out. I thought about that scene at times and wondered what others might say in such a position. The state is against them. Christians are burning. The church is suffering. What do you say? Play the pessimist, Master Ridley. Things are so bad that Jesus must be coming back. Play the Zionist, Master Ridley. It's God's work in Israel that matters, not England. Play the hypocrite, Master Ridley. You didn't really think preaching could make a difference, did you? It appears to me that those reformers who lived in bad days They did. They lived in very, very difficult days. We can look with the passing of time, we can see the waves of blessing and we kind of look at it from this step back and see the big picture. But every time there was a king that was coming near death, especially a good one, there was a frightening prospect of who was coming next and what was coming next because of them. Sometimes they had great hope and that hope was shattered. But these reformers had great optimism. They laboured. They lived. They died believing in the success of Christ's kingdom, not its demise. I believe we need to recapture that. And if you aren't getting it yet, there seems to be a theme here. So pick up on the theme. Run with it. I draw your attention to this passage. where we have this sense of great hope that the Apostle Paul, and I'm not going to be expounding this. I would love to, but I was completely changed in my direction and I'm going to go somewhere else. But let me just remark on the encouragement here and encourage you also to look back and see, for example, verse 36, when the Apostle Paul quotes from Psalm 44, to go back to that Psalm See what the psalmist is enduring, what he is going through, and why Paul is drawing from this felt experience like we're like sheep counted for the slaughter. We feel like we're just being led to be slaughtered under the hands of wicked men. But there's this great triumph, verse 37. Now in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. There's a victory in the gospel, and not just a victory for personal salvation and never being separated from Christ, but a real hope that our lives are not in vain. That we're not just moving through time without any sense of purpose, that we were just these insignificant individuals scattered across the nations of the earth. That God says when he has no real purpose, no real mind to use those lives for his glory, That's not in mind at all. And so using it as a springboard, I turn your attention to Romans 8, 31, where Paul says, if God be for us, who can be against us? If God be for us, who can be against us? I will never forget. I don't know if I've mentioned this before in this place, but I've mentioned it often because it has never left me, the power of scripture, in this particular experience of mine that I had six weeks after I was converted. And I go to a conference 20-something miles away from where I live. I hear there's this great preacher at this conference. So off I go on the Tuesday night to hear him preach. He's preaching the entire week. And I'm blown away. I've never heard anything like it. Well, I hadn't heard many sermons. You could count probably the sermons I'd heard and my fingers and toes at that point. So six weeks of Christian, comes to the Friday night, and this preacher, Dr. Alan Cairns, many of you know him, and he's preaching like a 90-minute sermon, you know. And in the midst of the sermon, in the middle of the sermon, as he's encouraging God's people, he just drops in, if God be for us, who can be against us? And I remember how that profoundly affected me. I thought, what a profound thought. Because I was afraid, I was afraid of doing evangelism. That was what I was battling with at that time. Wanting to go on the doors and evangelize. And I'm thinking, I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't. And he just drops in these words, if God be for us, who can be against us? And I thought it was, in quotes, Alan Cairns. I thought he had said this. I thought that it originated with Dr. Cairns. Well, as a profound preacher, he was. It did not originate with him. It's here in Scripture. He didn't say Romans 8. He didn't point us there. I didn't know it was Bible. I hadn't gotten to that. I was all the way through the Gospels and about the middle of the book of Acts. So I hadn't gotten to Romans. And here it was. Here it is. The Scripture in that long sermon, the Scripture was what profoundly influenced me. It motivated me the next Tuesday to stand on doorsteps and tell people about Christ. I was a Christian, six weeks old, I knew nothing about the Bible except what God had done for me. If God be for us, who can be against us? If God be for us, there's the premise. Since God be for us, since God be for us, who can be against us? So let us meditate on this thought in a number of ways. We have a message that promises reconciliation to God. We have a message that promises reconciliation to God. Just flip back a page or two in your Bible to Romans 5. Romans chapter 5. We want to see why we can be filled with hope and purpose. We have a message. You have a message, Christian. In Romans 5 verse 8, We read the well-known words, but God commendeth his love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is marvelous. A message that should fill our hearts with tremendous encouragement. The source of the message is God. It begins with God, but God. Your commission, your commission in God sending you with a message, it comes from God. It is Almighty God that has commissioned every believer to be a witness of the work of His Son and the glory of His redeeming love. It begins with God. Everything begins with God. But don't forget in terms of you being sent, an ambassador for Christ, a witness of what He has done for you. It is God. God has given you a message. And what season are we to preach this message? For what purpose or what season do we have this message? Well, but God commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners. This is a message for men in the season in which they are living as sinners. In other words, it's a message that is tailored for a world that is broken. It is tailored for men with their problems. It is tailored for the worst possible conditions on earth. God has given us a message that is for sinners. All sinners. Think of all those who are trying to destroy, christen them, wicked as they are there's a message for them they are told to kiss the sun reconcile to the king of kings the lord of lords you have someone in your family outside the scope of this text do you Is there a sinner in your life that you're burdened for, whose sin exceeds the boundaries of the message God has given to you? Hope. Hope. A dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day. There am I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away. The substance, of course, is Christ died for us. Christ died for us. That's what you go and say. He died for us. Well, who's us? We're ungodly, we're wretched, we're vile, hell-deserving, wicked. If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, This message is for you. Children, the message is for you. Christ died for us. Those of us who are yet sinners, the enemies of God. Oh, think of it. Think of it. Here's a message. Here's a message that is presented to God's enemies. Not just to give them a ticket to heaven. But to give them a new name. Adoption. Take the Father's name. Come into God's family. Could there be a greater message? It's not someone who rescues someone in peril but has no real concern or care. Not really interested whether they ever hear from them ever again in their lives. This is wonderful. And you, you are called Christian to preach it. The hope of this world depends upon you preaching it. The hope for your family depends upon your utterances of the gospel. Your communicating of the love of God in Christ. Here's what he's done. So we have a message. A message that promises reconciliation to God. That's where it begins. It's not where it ends. It's certainly where it begins. And if we get that wrong, well, what are we working for? You know, to flip round and just look from another angle, some of the things we heard from Dr. Sandlin, to flip round, and he's obviously emphasizing, if we stop here, we fall short. I agree entirely. But at the same time, if we do everything else but we don't do this, it's all in vain. We just painted up the corpses. So we have a form of Christendom. If we can force it in some way or move, and he was careful to underline that that's not what we're about, but if there was some way to force America into some kind of externalized form of Christian existence, it just painted them all to send them to hell. We have to begin here, and you must begin here. You must preach this message. This is the foundation. Secondly, we have an invitation that supplies laborers for God. We have a message to get out. We have a message to get out, but how do we get it out? Obviously, we are all involved, but turn for a moment to Matthew chapter nine. Matthew chapter nine, because this was really important in the mind of our Lord Jesus Christ. And to continue to possess hope, we must never forget what our Lord saw as the need in his day, because that need has not gone away. Matthew chapter nine. Verse 36, When Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them. So here He is, standing, observing the culture. You might put that in there. He's observing the needs of men in His day. He's taking in. He's musing upon. He's pondering, perceiving, understanding. the needs that are before him. And when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. It's not just the physical here. This is the real position they're in. Israel is apostatized, it's turned from God. There's a lack of spiritual guidance in the land and you can see it and feel it in these multitudes that are lost before him. So what's the need? What is the need? a rally, new political party, what is the need? Then saith he on to his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. There needs to be more labourers. There needs to be labourers. That's how the message gets out. message anyone can bring anyone can gossip the gospel what we cannot deny God's ordained primary way to influence a community even a nation is by heralds of his word men appointed set apart given the commission where God Almighty himself is saying go go go go to the end The multitudes of his day, he sees that the need, the burden, the concern fills his heart. He is moved by it. Think of it. He is moved by it. We tend to be moved by things when it comes new to us. When something is like fresh news. If we're always aware of some tragedy with dolls or senses to it, it's when a tragedy comes in the moment that we feel the sense of moving. Our hearts are moved. We hear the tragic news of a young person launched into God's eternity and tragic circumstances, and we feel that weight that comes into our souls. We are moved. Here we have the Son of God to whom nothing is a surprise. In the moment, in his humanity, he is feeling, he is feeling as we would feel if we could only see the real needs of men. And he has moved then to turn to instruct, to disciple his disciples. Let them know the harvest truly is plenteous. There's so much that needs to be done. Just see it. Just see it. There's so much that needs to be done. The labourers are few, so he invites them to supply. How do we supply this movement of those who will labour for God and extend his kingdom? Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest. Do you pray that prayer? Do you? Do you? A week should not pass, and I'm being generous with that, a week should not pass that you do not pray this prayer. Like make a concerted effort to pray. I don't care if your back's sore. I don't care if someone is suffering in your neighborhood. All of that, surely, pray for it, go ahead. But this, Christ looks on the world, he takes the big picture view, he invites us in to see as he sees, to feel as he feels, and he says the answer is more neighbours. Pray, pray, pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send more. Oh, it is such a burden on my heart. And God's answering it. He is. He is answering it. He is answering. Thank God. May He continue to answer. Lord, please, please make it so. Pray ye the Lord of the harvest. I'd love to see, I'd love, I'd love to see that day where you're overwhelmed. There's a small army of young men who have said goodbye to the world and turned their eyes heavenward and said, here am I, send me. Filled with the sense of God's glory. The need for labors in the work of God is always prevalent and today the need is as prevalent as ever We're almost in the days of Eli, when you read in 1 Samuel 3 verse 1, the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days, there was no open vision. The land is devoid of guidance, there is sheep without a shepherd. That's the days of Samuel, the days of Eli. So it's actually a blot on Eli that this is the case. But this is the condition of Israel. Oh yes it is. And Hannah, Hannah knows it. Hannah knows it. That's why she prays for a son. Ah, it's not to get one over on Penina. That's not it at all. Here's a woman who's going to Shiloh and worshipping the Lord. And she's looking at the land. She sees Eli and his sons. There's no hope for the future. So she falls on her knees. She begs God, God give me a son. I'll give him to your work. God answers that prayer. So we're reminded, we're reminded Samuel's born at this stage, and here it is. The child Samuel ministered. Yes, when we're told the word of the Lord was precious, that is, it was scarce. God's not speaking. The prophets aren't being raised up. There's no open vision. There's no understanding. The people have no guidance. That's the sense. They're like, Israel's like a ship without a rudder. It's no guidance, no direction, doesn't know where to go. But right at that moment, we're told, the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord. The child Samuel. There's the future! Right there. Oh, it's not today. He's going to have to grow up. In fact, he's going to have to be converted. This passage goes on to tell of his conversion when he, Speak Lord, for thy servant hears. And God hears that factual call. The young man is brought to saving faith. And he's being prepared and shaped for a future work. Yes, but we're told about it here. So pulled into the same text, we have this lamentable condition, a nation without guidance, but a child. Parents, have you given over your children to the Lord? Would you be quite happy sending them from the shores of the great nation of America? Would you send your daughters as the wives of some missionary to some foreign land that's hostile to Christianity? Would you? I think there are some Christian parents who haven't given their children really to the Lord. Their daughters came and said, I want to marry this young man. And this young man comes and tells you, I feel the call to Cambodia, Nigeria, China. We would second guess. We would actually fight against what the Lord says to pray. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest. And he would send forth labourers. Ah, but not my children. Lord, send their children, not mine. God, have mercy on us. So we have an invitation here that supplies labourers for God. And this we must, this is Monday morning Christianity. Our brother Swanson was talking about it. Monday morning Christianity. Monday morning Christianity says, as he said, Lord, what would you have me to do? And if God comes back and says, go and preach my word. To the sacrifice of some ambition and some great salary. Live in poverty. But preach the riches of the gospel. Would you do it? Oh, you can say amen here. Well, will you go? Oh, this is wonderful. And I've said this to my own folks, two families here from Greenville. They've come this time, so we're building the numbers, brother. They'll say, hey, next year we might have five families that come with us down to Alabama. Anyway, we'll see. I've said to them, the struggle that I have in waves of times of being comfortable, of ease, lie nowhere in God's work. But I do ponder, am I still willing to go anywhere? Am I? Have I lost that willingness that was there in those early years? And I would sob beside my bedside, Lord, what would you have me to do? Have I graduated from that prayer? No, here's hope. When you start seeing young men raised up and sent, There's hope. There is. Yes. The greatest curse God can place upon any community is that it has no preacher. Give it the worst politicians in existence, but a preacher. And there's an indication of the mercy of God. Give it the best politicians, but no preacher. God's judgment's upon it. Thirdly, we have a calling that directs the priests of God. Do you know that you're a king and a priest unto God? Revelation chapter one. Revelation chapter one. Our Lord Jesus Christ has so wrought a work that God is for us, not against us. And he is so for us, he is so for us that he promotes us to positions we have no right being in. So Revelation 1, verse 5, from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Okay, you know that. You're saved, you know that this morning. But don't forget, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Yes, he is glory and dominion. He has dominion. And in his authority, he says, you're a king, you're a priest on the meeting. So you have a priestly work to do. You do. And this is a wonderful thing. I want us to think about it in two ways. And I could really elaborate more on this than I have time for. But let me just give you some thoughts. First of all, the appointment, you're appointed to be a priest. When you think about the appointment of the priesthood, you think of various verses that the Lord weaves throughout scripture. We're told in Exodus 19, as Israel stand there at Sinai, therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Well, Peter takes that language and he applies it to the entire church. Makes it clear that this is true of all the church. This is not something done away by the rent bill. This is something that's still real for every believer. Hebrews 5 verse 4, No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest, but he said, He that said unto him, Thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. You see here the divine appointment of the priesthood. And he is appointed, here you have it here, he has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. It's wonderful. We are told that in doing so, Revelation 5.10, we shall reign on the earth. So he has given us position that we should exercise here and now. And here we then we see hope. We're not a people without authority or power or influence. We are clothed upon. Today, by Christ for a work. Now, while you have the appointment, then, you also have the armor. Because I'm being called to be a king and a priest, you're entering into the fray, into a battle, and you need to fight this warfare. And it's wonderful when you read scripture and you see what really the scripture is saying in relation to our position as believers in light of language that ties into the priesthood. Because then maybe you imagine yourself, okay, I'm a priest unto God. That simply means I can pray. Certainly that's part of it. But it doesn't end there. It doesn't. In fact, there's a whole expanse of study that you can give that goes right back to the Garden of Eden. You know that whenever you read of Adam in Genesis 2.15, and it tells us the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Dress it and keep it. Those verbs paired together are used of the Levites, of the priests, that this is their work. So you look at it in the context of garden dressing and keeping it. And the idea of dress, the Hebrew is to work and serve, to keep, is to guard, retain, take charge of. And so you have Adam in the garden and you see him failing, failing miserably. Because it's not just tending and keeping it like a man keeps his garden, he prunes the branches and takes the fruit. It's not just that. It's the work of protecting it, of guarding it. And so when the serpent came in, Adam, I hope I'm not overstepping things here, but it would seem to me that Adam's job should have been to decapitate when he questioned the will of God. Which he failed to do. He allowed Satan to speak his mind and influence his wife. He falls catastrophically. I don't have time to look at the references, but Numbers 1.53, Numbers 3.5-10, 3.32-38. You can see this language of the Levitical priesthood. Numbers 18.7 says, Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep, that's the same word as Adam's told, keep your priest's office for everything of the altar and within the veil, and ye shall serve or dress them. So you see these verbs coming together. And again, I don't have a lot of time. I really don't. But you can see that they were called to a form of security. You can find the reference 2 Kings 12 verse 9, 2 Chronicles 34 verse 9 as well. You can see that they have this authority. They are like security. When I was in Calgary, it was a smaller church and we had a couple of incidents in which we had to sort of battle with the idea whether we needed security for the church. There was one evening when a gentleman walked through one door while I'm preaching. He walked through one door, he didn't come into the main building. So after a couple of minutes, one of the men gets up to check who was this that came in and so on. But he had disappeared out another building of the door. We thought, just some strange person who walked in through the door, realized what it was, and then walked out another way. Well, later we found out that one of the young men had had his wallet stolen, where all the coats are hung up. Yes, this is Canada. Coats are necessary for about five months of the year. So the coats are all hung up in a particular area. This man had basically walked in one door, checked all the coats, felt the wallet, and ran out the door. You start thinking, we need security here. But there were different minds and different opinions that I was close to before I left. I came to Greenville. It's like full-on security. I mean, well-drilled, well-ordered. You don't want to walk in there, that's all I can say. And probably it's something similar here. I don't know. But it was new to me. And I had no problem with it. I thought, yeah, with this. No, it's different. The Levites were fighting to maintain the purity of the worship of God. that sense of security of the of the temple and so on the tabernacle but it's there it's there and you you are you're called to a similar thing that you're called as a priest to protect the truth that you guard it that means in your home moms and dads there is a protecting of the worship of god there's what's coming in yes you do have a right to know what the children have on their device you do And you do have a right to control and restrain in some fashion what goes on in your home. And you have a right to say no you will not have a device in your bedroom where you can do whatever you like and no one can see it and therefore you yield to temptation and do things you live to regret the rest of your life. You have a right! You're clothed with that authority. You're given that priestly authority. This is your dominion. Under Christ you say yes and no to various things. So kids, listen. You may just live long enough to realize that mom and dad know a thing or two. And the vast majority of the time you should listen and heed what they say. Maybe it's good for you to see it. Go to 2 Chronicles 23 and just see this for yourself. Maybe you'll forget or you'll wonder whether the preacher's making stuff up, which would be an awful thing. 2 Chronicles 23, verse 6. 2 Chronicles 23 verse 6. Let none come into the house of the Lord. Save the priests. They that minister of the Levites. They shall go in for they are holy. Think about that in your home. Don't let unholy things receive your blessing in your home. Cast them out. Don't let them in. You're a priest. But all the people shall keep watch of the Lord, and the Levites shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand. There, you see it. And whosoever else cometh into the house, he shall be put to death. But be ye with the king when he cometh in, and when he goeth out. And we'll read on a little. So the Levites and all Judah did according to all the things that Jehoiada the priest had commanded, and took every man as men. that were to come in on the sabbath with them that were to go out on the sabbath for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses moreover Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds spears and bucklers and shields that had been king david's which were in the house of god armor in the house of god weapons in the house of god but what's my point here they are verse 10 every man having his weapon and so on But involved in that are these priests. And so you have this calling. You're called to spiritual warfare. Do you think the enemy seeks to get inroads into your home? Of course he does. Does he try to pollute the minds of your children? Of course he does. Does he try to distract you? Of course he does. Is he going to use the various devices and screens to pull your heart into a form of coldness and indifference and lethargy and weakness? Of course he will. He is constantly waging warfare. His minions are always at your door. And if you invite them in or you're numb to the fact that you're under spiritual attack, you're going to be taken. 10 years from now you're going to be wondering what happened. I'll tell you what happened. You were a priest and you didn't understand what it meant. That you were given weapons and you didn't wage the warfare. They were called to duty and you sat in the sidelines. Learn from Adam. So here we are amidst the sin and suffering. We are encouraged then, we are encouraged to put on the whole armor of God. Do you remember that in Ephesians chapter 6? There's lots of comments that are made about that. Ephesians chapter 6 and people read it and they start telling you that here's the Roman armor and so on. Here's what the Romans wore and Paul is drawing from the Romans and saying here's the various parts of their garments. So Ephesians 6 verse 10, finally my brethren be strong in the Lord. Yes, not weak, not weak, not indifferent, not on the sidelines. Be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Okay, my question comes to Paul. Well, help me, Paul. Help me. Help me to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on, dear brother, dear sister, the whole armor of God. You may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, and so on and so forth. You have then these garments that were to put on, verse 13, the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. And you have these parts. And you think, well, is this Roman armor? Is that what Paul's saying? No, it is not. It is priestly. If you were to go to Exodus, Chapter 28, you would see what they wore and you could correlate what Paul is saying here with the garb of the priests in Exodus 28. You see the same in Isaiah 59. So I say to you that when you think about putting on the whole armor of God, it is a call to embrace your priesthood under Christ and battle. do battle. How are you doing in the fight against sin? Let me ask this way, because I know the answer to that first question. Are you in the battle against sin? Are you actually fighting? We all have our wounds. The only despair, the only hopelessness is with those that have given up. Paul writes in Romans 13, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. That is what honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ. Make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof. It's a spiritual warfare. Put on Christ, the high priest over the house of God. Put him on. Embrace your priesthood. Do battle. In this day and age, the Lord will use you. Our union with Christ equips us to be warriors for Christ. So we are to do warfare and we are to do it with confidence. We can win. We can. And we will. We will. Which is why then, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 10, though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Here's a picture again, it's a priest who's doing battle against the enemy, waging war, and we're told verse 5, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God. Yes, that's the false ideologies, humanistic ideologies, the philosophies of the world. exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. We do warfare with them, bringing into captivity every thought. Every thought. Isn't that lovely? Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that a message of hope? That the gospel and what we are called to isn't bringing into captivity all that's necessary to look like a Christian. All that's necessary to convince everyone that you're a real Christian. To tick all the boxes. Christians shouldn't do this, shouldn't do that, shouldn't do the other. Well, I can tick all those boxes. There I am. And you go into church and everyone says, oh, you're a mighty fine Christian because you tick all those boxes. And in your heart is just rife with wickedness and evil and corruption that you are cultivating insofar as you can continue your life ticking all the boxes. But the hope, the power, our message, that which Christ has purchased is to bring into captivity every thought, every thought to the obedience of Christ. I think a brother Swanson quoted this passage yesterday. Fourthly, we have a power that equips the servants of God. We have a power that equips the servants of God. So there, They're called to the service. We're equipped to be priests. As we noted yesterday morning in our time of prayer, this power first of all gives ability. Acts chapter 1 verse 8 is where we were. I'll not turn to it again, but, ye shall receive power, Jesus says, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. So his vision is global, and he's saying the one thing you need is power, and I will give it to you. So you wait for it, you pray for it, you seek me for it. We've made some remarks there, and if you missed it yesterday morning, well, nothing you can do for Thomas when he misses out on the first Lord's Day. Just make sure you're there the next time. This power not only gives ability, it also comes with ardency. When the Lord equips you with power, when he gives you power, when the power of the Spirit fills your life, Or let's put it another way, if you want to understand whether you're under the sway and power of the Spirit, ask yourself, is there an ardent fervor in your soul for the things of Christ? I mean real hot ardor. Isaiah 2, verses 2 and 3, it shall come to pass in the last days, We're living in those days, by the way. This is that. Joel said, this is that, last days. Now we're in that epoch, we're in that period, and we are hopeful for these things. That the mountain of the Lord's hosts shall be established in the tops, in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow onto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord. That's Z. Calvin writes in commenting on this, he says, when it says many people shall go and say come ye, Calvin says, by these words, he first declares that the godly will be filled with such an ardent desire to spread the doctrines of religion that everyone not satisfied with his own calling and his personal knowledge will desire to draw others along with him. And indeed nothing could be more inconsistent with the nature of faith than that deadness which would lead a man to disregard his brethren and to keep the light of knowledge choked up within his own breast. I'll just pause and say this. A dear brother said to me many years ago, really along the lines of zeal, The Christian, when he truly has the risen Christ in his heart, in his bosom, is like the tomb. It can't stay there. It can't remain hidden and veiled. He bursts forth. Does the risen Christ burst out of your life? He doesn't stay in the tomb. of your cold dead heart. It's not where he belongs. So Calvin continuing, he says, the greater the eminence above others which any man has received from his calling, so much the more diligently ought he to labor to enlighten others. This points out to us also the ordinary method of collecting a church, which is by the outward voice of men. For though God might bring each person to himself by a secret influence, yet he employs the agency of men that he may awaken in them anxiety about the salvation of each other. This is what we're to expect. That the true fullness of the Spirit, the empowerment given to the church, the hope of our future depends upon Spirit of God moving us in ardent zeal to work for Christ. Half-heartedness will not do. It never has. Contentment with a heart that is cold is a great wickedness. You know, if every one of us saw that the priority of our lives was the power of God and the eradication of all things that offend, things would look differently. It is our lethargy, isn't it? It is our coldness. Fifthly, lastly, we have a sovereign that oversees the kingdom of God. Matthew 28, you know it well. Turn there and let it burn into your retinas. Matthew 28. Verse 18. Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me. Yes, all. All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, all nations, emphasize that all power to reach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things. Note it. So, what is it? It's all power that is to send you into all nations to teach all things. There are no half measures with Christ. I'm not giving you half power. I'm giving you all power. It's given on to me to send you. The reason I have this power is not to withhold it to myself. It is to extend my kingdom on the earth. All nations to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And oh, I am with you always, even onto the end of the world. So, we have a sovereign that oversees the kingdom of God. Again, I'm going to comment on what Calvin says here regarding, I am with you always. As Christ gave to the apostles a commission, which they were unable to discharge by reliance on merely human power, he encourages them by the assurance of his heavenly protection For before promising that he would be with them, he began with declaring that he is the king of heaven and earth, who governs all things by his power and authority. The pronoun I must be viewed as emphatic, as if he had said that the apostles, if they wished zealously to perform their duty, must not consider what they are able to do, but must rely on the invincible power of those under whose banner they fight. It's given unto me. You haven't been given all power in the sense that you have unrestricted, unhindered power within yourself. This is power that's discharged, it's given day by day. It's why you must seek every day for it. It's why you come and ask the Father that he might bestow these good gifts upon you. to enable you to do marvelous things, it's amazing. A handful of men, just look at them there. There's a handful of people in the middle of the earth. And Jesus says, teach all nations. Imagine for a moment that this room was asked, teach all of Decatur, Alabama. Where do we start? What do we do? You see, that's what would come to mind. Where do we start? We look into ourselves immediately, don't we? We look into ourselves. Oh, let me find within myself the strategy, the plan, the procedure, the methods. Christ makes a plan. No, no. That's what I want you to do. But begin on your knees and stay on your knees. I keep receiving power from me. Then you go out. See, marvelous things accomplished. I'll close with this. I was struck recently, afresh, by the life of Josiah, the king. This young man, made king at eight years of age, converted at 16 years of age, begins to reform according to the best light that he has. Later on, the word of God is found In the temple, it's common it's read to him, he responds to it, and he just breaks down, he laments. In the midst of the message that's given to him is this dire, this dire message, because he's coming after Manasseh. And Manasseh's reign guaranteed the destruction of the land. And he's coming after this, and God's already said, there's no hope, you're going into captivity. Nothing's gonna change it, it doesn't matter what you do, The future is captivity, right? So that's the context. Now, an angel with a 12 foot wingspan comes down to you and says, you're going to captivity. This is the decree of God. How do most people respond? Well, okay, I'll just, the will of the Lord be done. Accept it, sit down, do nothing. When I say will of the Lord be done, I'm not saying that in any mockery. I'm saying that in the way people use it to excuse them from duty. Josiah, on the other hand, and this is what gripped me. Josiah hears this dire message of the future. I mean, it's awful. The whole nation is going to be carried away. This is tragic. This is the end. This is the end. This really is the end, as far as he could see it. least for a time so I guess you could just sit down and say well we have to wait until it takes place there's nothing we can do to change it it is what it is hopefully things will be better hundred years from now no Josiah goes on this ardent ferocious zealous relentless pursuit of reform He will absolutely not be stopped. He will do everything humanly possible before God, under God, to reform the land. He engages in the most marvelous reform so that it's told of him there was not a king either before or after like Josiah. God honors him. He honors him because in the face of despair, he has hope. Because God blesses the meek, the obedient, the faith-filled, ardor of his people, those who live with zeal. So we are called, beloved, we are called to assemble as an army to follow he who is greater than Abraham into the battle for souls taken captive by wicked kings. We are called like Jonathan's armor bearer to wage battle against today's Philistines with he who is greater than Jonathan. We are called to weep in the ashes of Ziklag and then follow He who is greater than David, who has promised to recover all. Yes. It feels like that, doesn't it? Feels like that sometimes. We're standing in the ashes of Ziklag. Our families have been robbed from us. Some of you know all about it. Don't despair. Don't despair. David didn't despair. There were no corpses in Ziklag. The place was burned, but there were no corpses. There were no women hanging from trees, children alongside them. They didn't see that. So as long as the corpses weren't there, there was a thought, where are they? Where are they? I guess before the Lord what to do and the Lord sends them. And David recovered all. Paul writes, now thanks be unto God which always, always causeth us to triumph in Christ, maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. So in all these things, the battles that we wage, The difficulties we face, the slaughters that we experience where Christians are wiped out and killed like they're nothing. Yet we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. So I say to you, Christian, play the man. Play the man. Maybe we shall this day light such a candle by God's grace that you'll never be put out. What more would we need to believe that possible than a risen and exalted Christ at the right hand of the Father who has all power. Be gone unbelief My savior is near. Let's pray. Lord, help us. The hope, all the hope we need is there. Our hearts are weak. Our hands are weary. Our feet are blistered. We want to sit down. We pray for strength to enter into the fray every day to give our attention to the little things, to labor day by day in what seems so insignificant, those battles, even with our children, trying to keep the world away from their lives, trying to instruct them in the Word of God, just day by day, day by day, day by day, doing battle. Fill our hearts with hope. Give every father, every mother, every child of God in this place a baptism of the Holy Ghost, to do the will of God here on earth as it is in heaven. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.