Psalm 21, The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice. Thou hast given him his heart's desire and hast not withholding the request of his lips. Selah. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness, thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days, for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation, honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever. Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies. Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shall destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee, and they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. Be exalted, O Lord, in thine own strength. So will we sing and praise thy power. Here in Psalm 21, if it sounds familiar, If you go back and read Psalm 20, Psalm 21 is actually the second half to Psalm 20. In Psalm 20 they are asking for safety for their king, for deliverance for their king as he is going out to battle. As he is going out to fight, the priest is there and the nation of Israel is there and they are desiring for the Lord to protect David. In Psalm 21, we get to see the results of his people praying for him. In the first seven verses of Psalm 21, you'll notice it sounds pretty much like David was victorious. God gave David the victory in the battle that he was fighting and he was able to make it back home. He was able to win that battle and he was able to come back. And as I was thinking about these Psalms and looking at the different things, it reminded me of something that I often lack in my own Christian life. We often pray and pray and pray for things to happen, and then when they do, we forget to thank Him for it. How many times is it that we would go to God in prayer and we would desire something of Him and we're petitioning God for something over here or something over there or this or that or whatever and then God does a miraculous work. God does something in somebody's life or in a situation and God works it out and then all of a sudden we're right to the next thing we need without ever stopping. Praise Him for the victory that He just gave us. I'm reminded, I was reminded this afternoon just thinking about this. We have been fasting and praying on Wednesdays for the last year or so about different things in the church and desiring for people to get saved and desiring for people to come to Christ and desiring for folks to come to the church and desiring to have an influence out in the country and out in our town. And God has been granting some of that. In a miraculous way, I was talking earlier, who would have thought standing beside a trash trailer God would save somebody? But it happened by His divine and miraculous power. And it would be good once in a while for His children just to stop and praise the Lord for the victories that He has brought in our life. God's been good to His children. He's been good to you and I. And so often we get so consumed with asking for things. And He does say, casting all your care upon Him for He careth for you. And bringing our petitions before the throne of grace. And doing all of that. And certainly I'm a big fan of doing that. But once in a while, it's good just to stop and say thank you. You really did it this time. Thank you. You came through. Thank you. But not only praising the Lord for the victory that you're currently having, but understanding the victories that will come in days ahead. You look at verse 8 down through verse 12 there, and then you can see how there are more battles that are going to come, and there are more things that David is going to face, there are more things that the nation of Israel is going to face, and they understand the same God that brought victory here will bring victory there. It goes back to what we were talking about this morning in confidence in the Lord. Looking at what he's done and knowing he'll do it again. Knowing that he came through back here and he's going to come through on this side. That's what, if you go back and you read this psalm again down there in verse 8, he says, Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies, thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in time of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee, and they imagined a mischievous device which they were not able to perform. Therefore thou shalt make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them." He's saying, I know that there are more things that are coming. I understand there are more battles that's going to come. but the same God that brought victory in this battle will bring victory in the one tomorrow, and will bring victory in the one next week, and will bring victory in the one next month, and will bring victory in the one next year, if I will just continue doing what He's given me to do. It's a psalm of praise. A psalm of thanksgiving. Thank you for how you've taken care of me. Thank you for how you've... In this case, in the first seven verses there, it's thank you for how you protected our king. You looked after him. You've blessed him. You've granted him mercy and grace. You've given him strength and all the things that he stood in need of. There's praise that is found in this psalm. I don't know about you. I've never been much of a fighter. When you're short and you've got Steve back there, he's got a 31 inch draw on his bow. I've got a 26 inch draw. I'm going to have a hard time in a fight if I have to use my fists. Because I'm going to have a hard time getting close. I never was much of a fighter for the white. As Otis Campbell would say in Andy Griffith, I don't like injuries, they're very painful. But you know, Mark, I'd be much more prone to fight if I already knew I was going to win. If I already knew going in that the battle was already won, the victory was already had, I probably wouldn't fret too much about going to fight it. Just throwing that out there for what it is. If I knew I could whip Wyatt, I probably wouldn't worry too much about fighting him. But he wouldn't fight fair. And he's like a foot and a half taller than me, so I'd be out of luck. I'm not even going to unpack that one. But what I find in the Bible is those that are confident in the victory that God has wrought It's much easier for them to go to battle. You go back and you look at David. David understood something about that when he's standing on the side of the hill. And Goliath is out there taunting the nation of Israel. And they're all sitting there terrified and they're all upset and trying to figure out what to do. And David comes and he says, What's the matter with you bunch of pansies? Are we not God's people? Has God not given us the victory? And he goes and he talks to the king. And the king makes fun of him. He says, I don't know what you're going to do. He said, I'm going to go out and fight. It's what I'm going to do. Because I know back there God delivered me from the hand of the lion and the mouth of the bear. I've seen God do some victories in the past. An old giant ain't much different than a lion or a bear. Still the enemy and still the same God. I'm just saying it might be easier for us to know to go to battle if we understand the victory's already been won. I heard an old preacher say, and I've said it from here before, there's an old song that we used to sing. And it's a good song. I don't really have a problem with the song itself. But its doctrine is a little bit off, I guess. It goes something like this, I'm on the winning side. Yes, I know, I'm on the winning side. And he said, I just have one problem with that. I'm not on the winning side, I'm on the side that already won. The battle's already been won. Before I ever step foot on the front line, the battle's already won. I just have to be willing to get in on the victory. That's what the children of Israel are praising the Lord for here. They say, we're thanking you Lord for the battle you just brought our king through and we're thanking you for the victories that are coming down the line. But then in verse 13, If you'll notice, their attention shifts. And it goes from one or more looking at all the outward circumstances there to just focusing between them and the Lord. Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength. So will we sing and praise thy power. We see the praise of past victories, praise of future victories, and then praise to the giver of victories. Can I let you in on a little secret? He's worth praising tonight. Because all, many years ago, He did something to give me victory. On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross. He used that this morning, but it's still true tonight. When He died on that cross, He gave me victory for all eternity. And it says in Revelation that He was slain from the foundations of the world. So that means that He was already planting the cross before He ever, I was ever even a thought a glimmer in my mother's eye. It was already a cross in my life. That if I'd go to it, and He began to work in my heart, began to work in my soul, that I could have victory forever. Now I get in the flesh sometimes and I get out of line like some of them people in the army do. I go AWOL. But the victory's already been won. I've read the last chapter. And we're getting out of this thing on top. I don't know if you know that or not. I don't want to ruin the surprise. But if you're born again in here tonight, you can't help but win. at the end of this thing. All because he is the giver of victory. I'm glad that victory is not up to what I do. Brother Wyatt, we've hunted together a little bit, fished a little bit together. He's got to know me a little bit. And I figure he could probably testify if my victory relied on my personality and my Abilities, I'd be in trouble real quick. But oh, it's up to Him. He's the giver of victory. He's the giver that keeps on giving. You can wake up tomorrow and guess what? He still won. Tuesday morning, Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning, when everybody wakes up and they're all upset. Because one way or the other, somebody's going to be upset. Guess what? He still won. He's still in charge. He's still on the throne. You know, he already got this thing figured out. He didn't really need my input on it. He's just giving me the opportunity to get in on the victory. It's sort of like, if I can use this example, you got a state championship baseball team or basketball team, And usually you got one guy on there that he's just kind of there to fill the seat. He don't get much playing time because he ain't real good. But when the championship time comes and them rings are handed out, he gets a ring just like everybody else that says champ on it. I'm thankful for a God that lets me be on the team. I'm thankful for a God that has won the victory. He's already done battle. He did it all the way back in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 when he prophesied about the bruising of the head of Satan or crushing of the head of Satan. He said, I'm coming and I'm going to win this thing when it's there. But by the way, I've already won it before it gets there. A psalm of praise. A psalm of thanksgiving. looking at the victory that we've just had and the victories that will come. Sometimes it's just good to stop and thank the giver of the victory. I'm sure thankful I got to be a part of yesterday. So what'd you do? All I said, this is literally, he ain't here, but this was our conversation. I asked him, I said, did you ever want to go, have you ever been to church before coming here? He said, well, I went when I was little, but hadn't been since I was 10 or 11. I said, but I come here. I said, well, have you ever been saved? He said, no. Boy, that's refreshing to hear somebody just be honest. You ever been saved? No. You want to? Yeah. That's how it went. I said, well, all I know to do is ask him. And that's what he did. What happened? God gave him victory. Right there beside the trash trailer. I don't know about you, but that sounds like something worth praising tonight. Something worth talking about. And guess what I had to do with it? All I had to do was ask him. That's all I know to do. I don't know any fancy things to tell you. Ask Him and He will. And he got victory. Gloriously born again. And I got to see it. I got to be a part of it. God let me be just a little piece of something big. And He let you be a piece of something big. Because He said it was the love and just how this church treated Him. That's why He kept coming back. So every one of you that are here, that was here when He started coming, guess what? God let you in on the victory. We didn't even know we was fighting, did we? God let us in on the victory. That golf game, God let us in on the victory, just out on the golf course, spending time. You say, that's not anything grand. If you'd have seen us play, you'd have known it wasn't nothing grand. But God was doing something with those couple hours we were out there playing. He was doing eternal work while Steve was in the bushes hunting his ball. and in the water and in the swamp. God was given victory and He let us be in on it. He's worth praising tonight. He's good at what He does. He's good at what He does. And I'm excited that the Lord lets us see from time to time the victories that He's had in folks' lives. I don't know about you, but it helps me. I've been just mulling it over today, and it's just helped my soul to just throw my hands up and say, Lord, thank you for the victory, and thank you that I get to be on the team. I don't deserve it. I ain't no good at it. But for some reason, you let me in the team anyway. And you done the state champ. I know that's a way over simplification. But I'm just thankful to be on the team tonight. I don't know about you, but it just helps me. It helps me to know that when I get up tomorrow, if I'll just get into it, He's already got the victory laid out. He's already promised. So how do you know Churchill will succeed? If we're doing it for him and doing his will, he says, the gates of hell, they can't prevail against it. If the gates of hell can't prevail against it, Washington sure can't. We already got the victory, Brother White. That's exciting stuff. He's good at what he does. And I'm sure thankful that he cares for me. Thankfully cares for this church. Thankful for the ones he's brought in. I'm excited about what he's doing. He's such a good God. Does anybody get anything on your heart tonight before we turn you loose? That's all from me.