The Absolute Necessity of Perseverance

Thank you for listening. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. 55, verse 22. Please join with me in prayer. Our Father in Heaven, we come before you this Lord's Day to remember your great mercies for us, the great wondrous deeds you have done in both creation and in our lives, that you have redeemed us from darkness and brought us into light. Your word here proclaimed, we pray, would glorify you today, that it would pierce our hearts, convict us, and motivate us to godliness. We pray that this Lord's Day that we come before you and celebrate your mercies, that we lift up our songs of worship, that you would be pleased with that, that we would focus our minds and our hearts on how we might live a life that's pleasing to you, not to earn your pleasure, but to give you pleasure in our lives, that we would live our lives as a thanks for what you have done for us. We pray that you would work in the hearts of our congregation to urge us on to holiness. We pray that we would remember you not only just on the Lord's Day, but every day, that each and every moment our thoughts would be captive with how we can glorify you each day, how our words and our actions could be a testimony to others of your work in our lives. We pray that you would forgive us for the times where we do forget you, that sometimes we are tempted, and we pray that you would give us your urging of your spirit to guide us on the right way. We pray that this worship service today would be pleasing to you, that you would call us to remember that we are here to give you worship, and that we would be able to focus our minds now, free our minds from the cares of the world, and bring us to a deep concentration on what you have to bring to us today through your word. We pray your spirit would work in us and, Christ, that you would be pleased with our worship. We pray that you would be glorified above all things. We do pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. This past Tuesday, the Catawba Valley Presbytery met for worship. And during that service, an older, wiser, retired minister in our presbytery, Dan King, preached a message. And in that message, he told a story of a pastor. And this pastor's name was Martin Rinkhart. He was a German Lutheran pastor during the 1600s and had just a very difficult ministry. He pastored during the Thirty Years' War. He pastored during a pandemic. And Dan shared with us that at one time in this man's ministry, he was burying 40 to 50 people a day because of this pandemic that was going through his area. One of those that he buried was his own wife. And in time, he had buried all the other pastors in the area.

He was the only minister, the only clergy left to try to carry the weight of ministry to this group. And in that setting, he writes these words that we're about to sing. I want to read the second verse of the hymn, Now Thank We All Our God, written by Martin Rinkhart. He said, Oh, may this bounteous God through all our life be near us with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us and keep us in his grace and guide us when perplexed and free us from all ills in this world and the next.

I love the background of that story. It adds so much meaning to this hymn, and it puts our challenges that we're faced with today in perspective, doesn't it? Let's think about these things as we sing a hymn of thanks to our gracious God.

Would you stand with me as we worship? Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things hath done in whom his work rejoices, who from our mother's arms hath blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love and still is ours today. Oh, may this bounteous God through all our life be near us with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us and keep us in his grace and guide us when perplexed and free us from all ills in this world and the next. All praise and thanks to God, the Father now be giv'n.

The Son and him who reigns with heaven in highest heaven, the one eternal God through birth and at the door, for the same cause is now and shall be evermore. Peace to my soul, the Lord is on your side. Bear patiently the troughs of grief or pain.

Leave to your God to order and provide. In every change he faithful will remain. Peace to my soul, your best, your heavenly friend, through forty ways leads to a joyful end. Peace to my soul, your God will undertake to guide the future as he has the past.

Your hope, your confidence, let nothing shake. All thou mysterious shall be bright at last. Peace to my soul, the wings and winds to know.

His voice to rule them while he dwells below. Peace to my soul, the hour is casting on when we shall live forever with the Lord. When this appointed grief and fear were gone, sorrow for God's purest joys restored. Peace to my soul. All safe and blessed we shall be at last. Amen.

You can be seated. Our New Testament reading this morning is from Philippians chapter 2 verses 1 through 13. A passage where Paul warns us of pride, self-centeredness, selfish ambition, and he reminds us that our model is Christ. We are to imitate him, have his mind in us, particularly as it concerns his humility and his servant heartedness.

Philippians 2 verses 1 through 13. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

This is the word of the Lord. I think we all have to admit that we don't work out that salvation nearly hard enough, but thank the Lord we have a mediator, we have forgiveness in Christ. We have a high priest we can run to. Let's run to him now as we confess our sin together.

Would you pray with me, church? Holy God, Lord most gracious, rebuke us not in your anger, nor chasten us in your wrath. You have called us to come to you. We feel unworthy, for we have failed you again and again.

We feel like running away, yet you keep calling us. Have mercy on us, O God, have mercy. Holy God, Father most gracious, rebuke us not in your anger, nor chasten us in your wrath. Heal us from our sin, for we are troubled.

Deliver us for the sake of your steadfast love. Our sins trouble us, O God. We are troubled by how they have hurt others.

We are troubled by how they have hurt us. Your ways are right, O righteous God, and whenever we have refused to follow them, we have found out how right they are. Have mercy on us, O God. Holy God, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on us for the sake of your Son, who died to free us from our sins. To you be honor and glory, amen.

Take just a moment to silently confess your particular sins to the Lord now. Listen now to these wonderful words from Romans chapter eight. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long.

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus Christ. In Christ Jesus our Lord, amen. What a wonderful, wonderful gospel we have. We're gonna learn a new song, at least new for us this morning that is a reflection on the beauty of that gospel. What a wondrous mystery it is that God became flesh to save sinners like us.

Let's meditate on that gospel as we stand together and sing. Come behold the wondrous mystery. In the dawning of the King. He the theme of heaven's praises Rode in frail beauty And in the dawning of the King. Come behold the wondrous mystery In the dawning of the King. He the theme of heaven's praises Rode in frail humanity In our longing, in our darkness Now the light of life has come From the flesh to ransom us. Come behold the wondrous mystery He the perfect Son of Man In His living, in His softly Never traced, nor stained of sin See the true and better Adam Come to save the hell-bound man Price the great and sure fulfillment Of the law in Him we stand. Come behold the wondrous mystery Price the Lord upon the tree In the stead of ruined sinners Hangs the Lamb in victory See the price of our redemption See the Father's plan unfold Bringing many sons to glory Grace unmeasured, love untold.

Come behold the wondrous mystery Slain by death, the God of life But no grave could ever restrain Him Praise the Lord, He is alive. What a foretaste of deliverance How unwavering our hope Christ in power resurrected As we will be when He comes. What a foretaste of deliverance How unwavering our hope Christ in power resurrected As we will be when He comes.

Amen. Let's remain standing in honor of God's Word as we read it together this morning. We have your Bibles with you today. Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Samuel 23 and we're going to start with verses 15-18.

And I shall be next to you. Saul, my father, also knows this. And the two of them made a covenant before the Lord.

David remained at Horesh and Jonathan went home. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, this passage of Scripture is extremely relevant to the time in which we are living in. In this passage we see how you put steel in David's backbone through testing his faith. You taught David through numerous hardships to refuse to quit. Lord, you taught David how to trust you even when it looked like his world was falling apart around him. You taught David that compromise was his enemy and yielding to temptation would destroy.

You deepened David's joy when he stood on your promises. Father, we're entering into a new era in America. It is a nonsensical, lawless, lying era. It is hard to know who to trust. It is difficult to see the right path. Open our eyes that we might see truth. Open our minds that we might not be deceived. Open our hearts that we might love like Jesus did. And open our resolve that we might persevere for your glory. For it is in the precious and holy name of Jesus Christ that we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. Several years ago a friend called me up in tears. He talked to me about his son. His son was 20 years old. He told me that when his son was 12 he had made a profession of faith and joined the church. He was involved heavily in the youth group. He was there at Sunday school.

He took the Lord's Supper. And he said his son never gave him a minute of trouble. But his son this year had gone off to college.

He had come back at the time of vacation. And he said that he noticed in first talking to his son that his language had gotten vulgar. He had started experimenting with alcohol and started smoking pot. And they had invited him to come to church. And he said, no, I don't want to do that. He said, I've renounced my faith. And he said, I'm not going to come to church and I wish I hadn't wasted all that time in church. He went on to say that he now believed in abortion that it was a woman's right to choose. That he now stood firmly on the idea of gay marriage and transgenderism.

And he said that he no longer believed in the biblical account of creation that he was now a Darwinian evolutionist. So my friend, very upset, went to his pastor and said he was just deeply burdened about this. And as he walked into his pastor's office, his pastor was very light-hearted about it. And the pastor said to him, look, you don't have to worry about this. Your son made a profession of faith when he was 12 years old. And we believe once saved, always saved. So he said, your son can stay in rebellion all his life and when he dies, he's going to heaven.

We would call him an unbelieving believer. And so he walked out. And my friend walked out shaking his head. And he said to himself, I believe in once saved, always saved.

But he said, there's something about that that just doesn't sound right. That gave me the opportunity to share with him. And I was able to share with him how wrapped up in the doctrine of eternal security we have the doctrine of perseverance.

Now people say, wait a minute, Doug, wait a minute. We're saved by grace through faith plus nothing. And if you add perseverance to that, then that perseverance is a human work.

No, it's not. Folks, if by the grace of God you had genuinely been saved, then by that same grace of God, you will persevere to the end. You see, perseverance is not a human work. It is a spiritual gift. It is a spiritual fruit.

It is a spiritual empowerment. Perseverance is part of the sanctification process that makes us like Jesus. So do I believe in eternal security? Absolutely. Do I believe in once saved, always saved?

Absolutely I do. But I do not believe in once professed faith, always saved. It was Jesus who said that not everyone who saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Folks, if you are genuinely saved, then you will persevere to the end. In your Christian life, there are going to be ups and downs. There are going to be times that are low times.

There are going to be times that are high times. You might go through a time of backsliding. But if you truly belong to the Lord, rest assured of this.

The Lord loves you so much that He is not going to allow you to go too far. He is going to chasten you and discipline you and do whatever He has to do to bring you back into right fellowship with Him. And if that doesn't happen in your life and you die in just defiant rebellion against God, then the problem is not that you lost your salvation. The problem is you never had it to begin with. Saying the right words, going through the motions does not bring about conversion.

If your heart has been regenerated by God, you have become a new creation where all things are passed away and all things have become new. Folks, I shared with that man at that point in time that if I was in his shoes, that I could not feel comfortable in feeling safe and secure for his son. I said I would pray my heart out for my boy. I said if I were you, I would witness to him every chance I got. And I would pray that God would bring Christian influences into his life to influence him for Christ's sake. And I said the next thing I would do is I'd get him out of that college.

I said you're spending thousands and thousands of dollars. And to do what? Maybe to get him a better job? But what's happening is his faith is being destroyed.

The liberal professors in that college have an agenda, and bless God that agenda is not a godly one. Folks, I told him this. Don't give up on him. Don't bank on a profession of faith that is not producing spiritual fruit. Perseverance is an absolute necessity. Today's message on David is a perfect example of this. If David had not belonged to the Lord, then he would not have been able to go through all the trials that he did.

But God gave David the grace to persevere. Folks, we are living in a time, and have lived in a time, where it was relatively easy to be a Christian. We had government protected freedoms. We lived in a community where the community was friendly to the church. Most of the people that we knew were church members.

Things are changing quickly, and they are changing radically. There's a new anger at the Christian church in America today, because the truth of God stands diametrically opposed to the cultural agenda. Now we've seen this in communist countries. We've seen this in Islamic states.

But up to this point in time, we've not seen this in America. I will never forget the chill that went up and down my spine when I talked to Harry Reader a few years ago, after he had come back from a mission trip to Uganda. In 2003, Idi Amin, who was the dictator of Uganda, died. Harry went after that, and while he was there, some Christians took him to a place called the State House. The State House in Uganda was a place where they executed over 10,000 Christians. They decapitated all of those Christians. They took their skulls and placed them in rooms in this State House, where they went from the floor all the way up to the ceiling with human skulls. They took the bodies of these Christians, and they used them for filler to fill in the potholes in the city and paved right over them. Now, what had these Christians done? Why had they been decapitated like that? Because they proclaimed that Jesus Christ is Lord. And Idi Amin says, no, that title belongs to me.

So they accepted decapitation rather than submission to Idi Amin. Folks, those Christians are in heaven today. That kind of thing was off my radar.

I couldn't imagine that kind of thing ever taking place in America. I'm at the point now where I'm beginning to imagine it. Real persecution is coming, and it's coming quickly. This passage teaches us how to be prepared for it. David has loved the Lord. He has served King Saul. He has killed Goliath.

He has written psalms. He has been anointed by the prophet Samuel to be the next king of Israel. But now he is being chased by Saul, who has the intention of killing him. David has just taken his little army up to the little city of Keilah, and they were being attacked by the Philistines, and David is the one that went to fight against the Philistines. Now that should have been Saul's responsibility, but God gave the responsibility to David. And David ran the Philistines out of Keilah and set the people free, and their hearts were absolutely filled with joy. But then David found out that Saul was headed to Keilah, and he was headed to the city of Keilah for a purpose, and that was to kill David. That was to take his life.

When David found out that, he also found out from the Lord that the people of Keilah were going to turn him in to Saul so that he would be killed. And with an absolutely broken heart, with a confused mind, David flew out of there, and he went into the wilderness to a place called Ziph. There he has time to think. Should he just give up? Should he leave the country that he loved and go off to some foreign country? Or should he stay there?

He was wondering about that. All this stuff was going on in his mind. God had promised him that he would be the next king of Israel, but it did not look like that promise was going to come to pass. So what should he do?

Should he quit, or should he persevere? Three points that I want to share with you as we look at the absolute necessity of perseverance. Point number one is the power of godly friendship. Look with me again at verse 15 through 18. David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh, and Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you.

You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this. And the two of them made a covenant before the Lord.

David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home. Quick story. There are two statues in Washington, D.C. If they're still standing, I don't know.

With this craziness that's gone on this summer, they may have torn them down, I'm not sure. But at one time they were standing, and one of these statues was a statue of Ulysses S. Grant. It was standing right beside the reflecting pool beside the Capitol building. Ulysses S. Grant was the general, union general, that fought tooth and nail against the Confederacy. He was a man who symbolized the strength of the human will. He was an icon of the strong man who would stand against the storm when others were shrinking back. Two and a half miles from there was a little park, and in that park there was another statue, and that statue was a statue of Major John Rollins.

He had been a lawyer who lived in Galena, Illinois. Galena, Illinois was the hometown of Ulysses S. Grant, and Grant knew this man well and trusted him thoroughly, and he asked this man to become his chief of staff, and he did. And John Rollins knew the flaws in the character of Ulysses S. Grant. He knew that he had a great weakness for alcohol. At the beginning of the war, he extracted a pledge from General Grant to abstain from drunkenness. He encouraged Grant and pushed him towards sobriety, and any time Grant would drink, he would not leave his side. He would follow him everywhere, and sometimes he got so intoxicated that he'd have to pick him up and put him on his horse.

Most people have never even heard of John Rollins, but John Rollins was a huge factor in the success of Ulysses S. Grant. I want you to know that Jonathan was a huge factor in David's success. Listen to Ecclesiastes 4, verses 9 through 10. I'm reading this from the Christian Standard Bible. Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up.

But pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Jonathan is one of the most amazing men in the Bible to me. If anybody had a right, humanly speaking, to resent David, it was Jonathan. He was in line to be the next king of Israel. He had been a great commander in Saul's army. He had great leadership skills. He was a godly man.

He would have probably made a good king, but he was not God's choice. God's choice was David, and when God made that choice, Jonathan shows no jealousy, no animosity, no bitterness whatsoever. The Scripture says that Jonathan loved David as he loved his own soul. But his dad, Saul, hates David. He resents David. He wants David killed. So Jonathan is worried about his covenant brother, David.

And he realizes that he's got to do something. So he leaves the camp of Saul, and he goes all the way through a dangerous desert, and he makes his way to go see his friend, David. When he gets there, David is still grieving over the deaths of all the people in Nob who Saul had killed.

He wiped out the entire town. And David is still filled with absolute confusion and frustration over why the town of Keilah would be willing to turn him in after he fought for them and won the victory and set them free. He just doesn't get it. David is emotionally spent. He is mentally fatigued, and he is spiritually exhausted. In Psalm 6, verse 3, David said this. He said, It said, Now, how did Jonathan respond to the need of his friend? Let's look at verse 16 again.

It says, Jonathan took the initiative. He's the one that went to David. He was in a safe place with the army of Saul all around him. He could have stayed there, and everything would have been fine with him, but he felt the need to leave and go into the danger.

He went into the desert by himself, for there were a lot of dangers there. But he had to go see David, and he went. Jonathan was doing what Paul commanded us to do in the New Testament reading that we read just a little bit ago from Philippians chapter 2, verses 3 and 4. Paul said this, and this was the command to us, as it was to Jonathan. So how does Jonathan encourage his covenant brother, David? Let me tell you, he didn't walk all these miles through a dangerous desert.

To give him an attaboy. He didn't walk all those ways and face all those dangers, so he could pat David on the back. The scripture says that he strengthened his hand in God.

Now, what does that mean? Well, David's hands were trembling. David had gone through some unbelievably tough, tough trials. And David was at a point where he felt betrayed by men, and he felt ignored by God. His faith had gotten weak.

His hope had deteriorated. So what did Jonathan do for him? He strengthened his hand in God. What does that mean? It means that he took David's hand and took God's hand and put them together.

Now, that's figurative language. But how did he do that? How did he put their hands together?

He did it this way. He reminded David of the promises of God. He then taught David to once again be willing to stand on those faithful promises of God. Look what he said in verse 17. He said to David, Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this. I wonder if he said to him, No weapon formed against you, David, shall prosper. I wonder if he went back to the first chapter of Joshua. In chapter 1 verse 9 where God said to Joshua, Be strong and of good courage. Be not afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

I love the story in 2 Kings chapter 6 where Elisha the prophet is with his servant Gehazi and all of a sudden they are surrounded by the Syrian army. Gehazi gets so nervous and so upset that his knees begin to knock together and looks like he's going to fall down. And so he reaches over and he hugs him. And then he says this to him, listen carefully. He said, Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Then Elisha prayed and said, O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see. So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. When the servant saw the reality of God's promise, fear just flew out the window. He wasn't concerned about fear anymore.

Why? Because God opened his eyes and he looked out and he didn't see just a Syrian army, but he saw another army surrounding them, an army of angelic warriors that were on chariots of fire. And when he saw that, fear flew out the window because he knew the Syrians could not win. I love what Richard Phillips said here.

Listen to this carefully. He said it was because Jonathan was strengthening David's grip on God's character and promises that he could say to David, Do not fear. David was in danger of being undone by fear. Psalm 54, reportedly written on this occasion, gives honest reason for David's terrible fear. Strangers have riven against me. Ruthless men seek my life.

They do not set God before themselves. Since the slaughter of the priest at Nob, Saul had shown himself willing to employ desperados and thugs to work his violence. Such men were bearing down on David if we have ever felt the looming threat of neighborhood bullies, of a malicious superior at work, or of corrupt and tyrannical government powers we can put ourselves in David's shoes.

If David was to continue, he must have an antidote for fear, which Jonathan gave him in the promises of God. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German theologian who was executed just a couple of weeks before Germany surrendered in World War II. Why was he in trouble? Why was he in prison?

Why was he going to get executed? Because he stood firm on the Word of God against Hitler's horrible Nazi domination. This man, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, knew the importance of Christian friendship. He knew the importance of Christian brothers standing with him.

And he was saying in his dying days the same thing that David was experiencing with Jonathan. He said this, The Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him. Brothers and sisters, that's why we have accountability groups here.

We have accountability groups here because sometimes we get discouraged. Sometimes we need somebody to show us a promise from the Word of God that's going to get us through that day. Sometimes we are in sin and we need somebody to chasten us with the Word of God.

This is what's going on here. He says he needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation.

Point two is testing through ungodly trials. Look at verses 19 through 24. Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, Is not David hiding among the strong halls at Horesh on the hill of Hakkala, which is south of Jeshaman? Now come down, O king, according to all your heart's desire to come down, and our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand. Saul said, May you be blessed by the Lord.

Man, that makes me sick. For you have compassion on me. Go make yet more sure. Know and see the place where his foot is, and who has seen him there. For it is told me that he is very cunning. See therefore and take note of all the lurking places where he hides.

Come back to me with sure information that I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out. David and his men were in the wilderness at Mahon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshaman, among all the thousands of Judah. And they arose, and they went to Ziph ahead of Saul. After Jonathan strengthened David's hand in the Lord and helped David to believe and stand on the promises of God, they hugged each other. And then Jonathan took off to go back to his father Saul. This would be the last time that Jonathan and David would ever see each other. But God had brought Jonathan to David's aid. It was a God-sent help.

It was a brother who would strengthen his hand in God. Well, it wasn't long before the Ziphites contacted Saul to say to Saul, David is here, come and get him, and you can kill him here. Now, when the people of Keilah took that attitude and were willing to rat on David, they did it out of fear. They did it because they looked at what Saul had done to the people of Nob, how he had wiped out that whole city. And they said, we don't want that to happen to us. So they were willing to rat on David out of fear, but the Ziphites were different.

They were just doing this as an opportunistic thing. They were saying, we're going to get on Saul's good side, and that's going to help us out politically and monetarily. And then Saul begins to talk with them using the name of God to say, oh, this is what God wants from you. He's trying to motivate them to kill David and using God's name to do it.

What a sorry thing. And now David's faith is tested even further. He's going to have to leave Ziph.

He's going to have to head out through the wilderness again, goes to a place called Mahon. But what he's going to do is have to make the decision to persevere and trust God. How does that apply to us?

I think it applies very strongly to us. God has promised never to leave or forsake the true church. Jesus said, on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Folks, I want you to know that that promise is given to the true church. It's not given to America. And I want you to know that America, over the last several decades, has been thumping their nose in the face of God. And the result of that has been that God has sovereignly, progressively, been taking His hand of sovereign grace off of us and letting America do what its wicked heart wanted to do. David, or Paul, said that this was a problem. He explained this as the mystery of lawlessness. This is a situation where God gives a people over to a strong delusion that they should believe the lie.

Folks, the anger and hostility that is being expressed on American streets today is demonic and it's nonsensical. It doesn't make sense. You look at Saul. His attitude toward David, his willingness to kill David, his desire to hate David is nonsensical.

It doesn't make any sense. David loved him. David worked for him.

David cared for him. And he wanted to kill him. The same thing is going on in America today. You ask these rioters why they're destroying property. Ask them why they are beating up old people and shooting innocent people. And they'll speak to you with anger, but they can't give you a good answer because they don't know.

It's a nonsensical, demonic act. Folks, we must not compromise with the world. We must hold up the banner of truth and we must be light in a time of deep darkness. We must put on the whole armor of God and we must stand for truth. In the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3 we have Jesus speaking to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. The seven churches represent the church age in every generation from the time of Christ until the time that Jesus comes back. Jesus gave some very important instructions to the church.

Let me read some of these to you. Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone. The one who conquers and who keeps my works unto the end, to him I will give authority over the nations and I will give him the morning star. The one who conquers I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.

Point three is the power of God's providence. Look at verse 25 through 29. And Saul and his men went to seek him and David was told so he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of man. And when Saul heard that he pursued after David in the wilderness of man. Saul went on one side of the mountain, David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them, a messenger came to Saul saying, Hurry and come for the Philistines have made a raid against the land. So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines.

Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape. And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Vengeti. David left Ziph and he went through the wilderness and got to another place in the wilderness called Mahon. Saul was told where to find David.

And Saul marched his army all the way to Mahon. And he was right there at a point where it was just almost an impossibility that he wouldn't get David and put him to death. And so he was on one side of the mountain with his soldiers. David was on the other side of the mountain with his soldiers. And you can almost see the smile on Saul's face as he's just salivating thinking, It's not going to be long before I'm able to take David and take his life from him.

He's all excited about that. David had nowhere to run. Humanly speaking, he was at the end of his rope.

There was nothing that he could do. And then all of a sudden, out of the blue, a messenger comes running up to Saul. And the messenger says, Saul, drop everything you're doing. You can't stay here any longer. The Philistines are attacking and you've got to go and fight against them.

Take your army right now and go. And Saul had no recourse. There was nothing else he could do. So he took off and he took his army with him. And what happened to David? David was left there safe and secure.

What do you call that? You call it the providence of God. The providence of God. David had no more plans. He had no more exits. He had no more hope. God said, I got this David.

I got this. And David didn't have to run because God took care of Saul. I'm a Calvinist. I believe that God is sovereign over all. That's the clear teaching of God's Word. And let me tell you, it's a calming thing in my soul. I can be watching the news at night and see these rioters that are burning Bibles, that are tearing down churches, that are knocking down statues of Christ and the people of God and dragging them through the streets. And I feel a little bit of panic. A panic of fear that will hit my flesh. And then it's like God says to me, I got it Doug.

I got it. Folks, if you go to the book of Revelation, you're going to see what we would call some futuristic prophecy in the book of Revelation. But I want you to know, it's futuristic prophecy to us. It's not futuristic prophecy to God. Because God is above time. And God is sovereign. And God controls our future.

So let me tell you what. It doesn't matter what the Democrats say. And it doesn't matter what the Republicans say.

And it doesn't matter what some liberal college professor might say. This is what matters. What the Word of God says.

That's what matters. And what does the Word of God say? It says this, Jesus wins. Praise God, Jesus wins. David made mistakes after the miracle of providence that took place at Mahan.

But this lesson, he learned and he learned it well. God is calling his people to persevere. And we are to put our eyes on him. We are to stand on his promises and say to ourselves, come hell or high water, I'm going to follow Jesus. For he will never leave us or forsake us.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you gave us the Word of God that it might change us, sanctify us, and conform us into the image of Jesus. We ask, Lord, that you help us to study the life of David with a purpose. Not just to know the history of Israel.

Not just to know the personality of David. But that we would know our God. In Isaiah 43, 10-11, you explained this to us. You said, you are my witnesses and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior. Lord, you gave that verse to Elizabeth Elliot decades ago.

And she said that you gave it to her that she would not be shaken. Father, do that same work within us. We need that hope. We need that truth. We need that promise. Help us to be a persevering people who will not be shaken. For it's in the precious and holy name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. Would you stand with me as we respond to the truth we've heard this morning.

I wait in silence. My soul is still before the Lord. He is my rock and my salvation. My fortress strong, I trust in Him. I'll not be shaken. I'll not be shaken. For all my hope is in His love. From God alone comes my salvation.

I'll wait and trust His steadfast love. Put not your hope in gate of riches. Seek not your best in empty wealth. The rich are weak, the poor are mighty.

Who turn to God alone for help. I'll not be shaken. I'll not be shaken. For all my hope is in His love. From God alone comes my salvation. I'll wait and trust His steadfast love.

Pour out your heart to God our refuge and trust in Him to hear you cry. No other hope will never fail you. No other heart will not run dry. I'll not be shaken.

I'll not be shaken. For all my hope is in His love. From God alone comes my salvation. I'll wait and trust His steadfast love. I'll wait and trust His steadfast love.

Please be here if you can. In closing, let me encourage you with these words that come right from the lips of Jesus. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one, and all God's children say it. Amen. You