finish it up. Psalm 18 as we looked last time we were together at this Psalm, we noticed that David understands that he has a position of safety in the Lord. The first three verses, it says, I will love the old Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength and whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower. I will call upon the name of the Lord or I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from mine enemies. And we understand that David there is talking about the refuge that is found in the Lord. and how that is a place of safety that we can find ourselves in when we are in times of trouble. David in this psalm is dealing with Saul and he's been dealing with being chased by Saul and so he is understanding a little bit about the divine deliverance of the Lord here. In verse 4 down through verse 6 we'll notice that this psalm also contains a place of sorrow. It says here in verse 4, the sorrows of death compassed me and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about, the snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of his temple and my cry came before him. even into his ears." So we see that David here is dealing with a place of deep sorrow. Again, he's been chased unjustly, he's been attacked unjustly, he's had people that have been trying to kill him, not because of what he's done wrong, he's in fact been very good for the nation of Israel. I mean, after all, it was David that killed Goliath. It was David that began to go out and fight the battles for Saul, and that was part of what got him in trouble. He became jealous of David, and so he began to hate him, and he began to chase him. And in this text, we know that there is a deadliness that is coming around him, and they desire to consume him. Saul is not interested in finding David and shaking his hand. If anything, Saul is interested in finding David and taking off his head. That is what his desire is. He's hurled a couple of javelins at him as he's played the harp there for Saul in the court and now David is on the run and he's sorrowful. He says, the sorrows of death compassed me and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about. The snares of death prevented me. He's saying that I am in a place of utter annihilation. If the Lord does not help me and I do not have the safety that is found in the first three verses, I would be dead. That's the world we're living in today. If not for the help of God, we would be totally consumed by the circumstances of the world. There are so many out there tonight that are fretting themselves to death about what's going on in our country, what's going on in our world, and they are totally consumed with the problems that are facing them. They have no hope of tomorrow. They're totally and utterly dependent upon what's going on today. But I'm glad that we serve a God that is able to preserve us. He's able to help us. He is our rock. He is our strength. He is our help in times of trouble. He is my fortress that I can run into. But I do need to understand that walking with God, there will sometimes be places of sorrow that we encounter. They're not all joyous occasions, sometimes they're difficult ones. But I'm glad in the midst of this place of sorrow, down in verse 7, down through verse 19, you'll notice that there is a powerful Savior. A powerful Savior. Says, at the end of verse 6, it says, I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God, and look what it says, He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him even into His ears. But then look at verse 7. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken because of he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and a fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down, and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub and did fly, yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his secret place, his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before him his thick cloud passed, hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. Yea, He sent out His arrows and scattered them, and He shot out lightnings and disconfitted them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at Thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of Thy breath of Thy nostrils. He hath sent from above, He took me and drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them which hated me, for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me because He delighted in me. So I notice not only the position of safety in the first three verses in the place of sorrow in verses four through verse six, but in verse seven down through verse 19, we see this thought of the powerful savior. Now we live in a world that prides itself on power. Our nation, we would call ourselves a powerful nation, or at least we used to could. And we would call our country a superpower, if you will. But the God that we serve is much more powerful than the American government. He's much more powerful than the Russians. He's much more powerful than the North Koreans. And David is understanding here that even though Saul is chasing him with all the might of the armies of Israel, even though Saul is desiring to kill him and destroy his life, that he has a God that is much more powerful and much more capable than the enemies that he is fighting. In the world we live in, it does us well to be reminded that our God is bigger than anything else in this world. There's an old song that goes something like this. My God is bigger than any mountain that I can or cannot see. I'm glad that he is a powerful savior. I could not imagine. There's a lot of different religions in the world today. And every other religion that we find is serving a dead form of a God. You can go if there is a man associated with it, and you can see the bones where they lay. You can see the place where they've come up with the religion that they have held to. But we're the only ones that have a risen Savior. that we can serve. We're the only ones that have the power of an almighty God that is backing us up and will protect us from the things that would desire to destroy us. We see all of his measures of might here in this text. He's talking about he's shaking the very foundations of the earth out of his mouth or going hailstones and coals of fire. He's lightning and thundering and just the power of God when it comes time to save those he loves. It says he sent out his arrows and scattered them. He shot out lightnings and disconfitted them. The Lord thundered in the heavens. I'm glad I serve a powerful God. I do not serve a weak God. I do not serve a wimpy God. No, he's a powerful savior. And David understands and David recognizes that he's going to be all right. Not because of David's strength. David recognizes here in these last few verses before you get to verse 19 there. He says in verse 17, he delivered me from my strong enemy and from them which hated me. Because they were too strong. David understands there was nothing he could do to protect himself. There was nothing he could do to deliver himself, for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. David understands that even though the enemies of him there in that text are mighty, that his God is much more mighty than they ever could be. And not only did he protect David in this text, he delivered him from the hands of those who would desire to destroy him. I don't know if that helps you or not, but it helps me to know that I've got a God that comes to my defense as one of his children. I'm glad we've got the American military. and all of the technology that comes with it, and all of the skilled people that is in the military, but there's no protection like God's protection for His people. Our God can provide for us and protect us in ways that I could never imagine. That's my desire for our church. That's been my prayer for Brother Steve as he's getting ready to deploy. that he would have a divine and supernatural protection from an almighty God, because God loves him and cares for him. And he's going to be in a place to where things are not great, but there's a powerful Savior that would desire to protect. But then in verse 20, down through verse 24, we see this Psalm shift once again. Says the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of mine hands. He hath recompensed me for I've kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments were before me and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before him and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore hath the Lord recompensed. me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. So I notice a passionate service. in these last few verses that we're going to deal with tonight. David is not simply going through the motions. He's not simply going about it in a halfway sort of manner. No, David is serving God with all that he has. He says, I have kept the Lord's law. I have done what the Lord has asked. I have kept the ways that God has set before me. I've not departed from them. In other words, For what I'm receiving from those out there, I have done nothing to merit what they're doing. And I've got a God that has recognized that, and I've got a God that has preserved that in my life. I'm glad I've got a God that is good at defending His children. So many times when somebody does something, the first thing you want to do is snap back and defend yourself. We saw David had ample opportunity there in the cave when Saul came in and began to rest there and David came up behind him and in the midst of it he cut off the hem of Saul's garment. He could have killed Saul and been justified doing it but he said that's not what God would desire for me. I've got a God that is defending me in a deeper way than what my hands could ever defend. I'm glad he is my defense, as it talks about there in the first three verses. He is what is my protection. He is what is keeping me from harm. But in order for that to come to pass, we have got to be willing to stand strong in the things God has given us to do. When the Lord gives us a word that we are to stand on, We cannot waver. We cannot fail. We cannot grow weary of it. We have to stand and let the Lord do the work that is needed in our life. That's the only thing that's going to matter. We've got all these people back east that's dealing with the hurricane damage. And I was talking to Brother Robert Jones the other day and just talking with him about the devastation and he said it's just utterly desolate there now. I mean things are just completely gone and it seems like It's just overwhelming. But in the midst of it, I've gotten to watch as many churches, I'm talking hundreds of churches, have come together and have, if I can say it this way, have battened down the hatches and they've come together and they've gotten faithful in their service and they're coming together to serve their neighborhoods and try to rebuild their communities and trying to do outreach in these times. The world would say it's a good time to get out and I'm seeing God's people say it's a good time to get in. What I'm saying is there's a service that God has given for us to do. And if we'll be faithful with what he's told us to do, he's promised us protection and he's promised us provision. If we're willing to live through that and do what God would have. David could have ran, he could have escaped into a different country. He did go down to Ziklag there for a while and he got in trouble down there. But you'll find the best place to be is right where God would have you. When he writes the 23rd Psalm, It says, Thou preparest a table before me, where? In the presence of mine enemies. It isn't out there, it isn't five miles down the road, nor if God's got you somewhere and it seems like it's trouble. But you know the Lord has placed you there. The best place you can stay is right in the middle of where He has you. You'll not find safety anywhere else. You'll not find provision anywhere else. I'm sure glad that I've got a powerful God. He's much more powerful than all the things of this world that they could ever muster. I was thinking about it, that battle of Armageddon. All the armies of the world is going to come together and they're going to do their best to fight against the Lord. And all He's going to have to do is speak. And the armies of the earth are going to fall at His feet. I believe it says something like this, that the blood's going to be so deep and the bodies are going to be so much that the birds are going to feast because we serve a powerful God. In the midst of the hurricanes, in the midst of the fire, in the midst of the election, in the midst of governmental trouble, in the midst of political unrest, we've got a powerful savior that's good at what he does and he desires to protect His people and desires to show us who He is. I'm going to stop right there tonight. Has anybody got anything on your heart or comments, questions? I sure am glad I serve a powerful God. I don't understand folks that want to serve a dead God. That concept blows my mind. Why you would want to serve a dead God? But my God's alive and he's powerful. He's good at what he does. Everybody's awful quiet. All right. Father, we thank you for the day. Lord, we thank you for who you are and what you do. Lord, I'm so thankful that in the midst of my sorrow, in the midst of the places that you take us, that is, Lord, it's consuming if we don't have your help. I'm thankful that you desire to protect us and you're powerful at what you do. There's nothing bigger than you. There's nothing stronger than you. And you desire to look after your people. Lord, you have preserved this church. You have taken care of us here at this place. Lord, you've worked in our hearts and you've met with us and we're thankful for it. Lord, I pray that as the world continues to grow darker, that you'd help us to show your power even more. Lord, I do pray for all the things that's coming down the pike. Lord, I do pray for the deployment here in a couple of months. Lord, even as I was thinking about this service tonight, I'm glad that in the midst of the deployment, you're still a powerful God and you're good at what you do. And Lord, we're thankful that your hand of protection is on your children. Not that bad things never happen, but Lord, that we can rest assured in our hope because of who you are and our faith in you and what you've done. I pray that you go with us as we part ways for a little while. Lord, we're thankful for the day. and those you brought this way. I pray that you'd be with us the rest of this week. Help us to live out faith in front of those we encounter. In Jesus' name, amen. That is all for tonight. Thank you for being here.