Psalm 18. It's good to be saved. Laughter's good. I'm glad to have joy in Jesus. Psalm 18, just to remind you by way of context, the book of Psalms is 150 individual songs. They were songs that the Jews would sing. It's not a book with 150 chapters, but it is divided by five different scrolls or books. And Psalm 1 through 41 is considered Book 1. And I think we've seen very clearly up to this point that the theme of Book 1 is human suffering and the need for divine deliverance. And over and over and over we see David asking for deliverance, asking for help for one thing or another. And Psalm 18, however, is a little bit different because it's considered a royal psalm of thanksgiving. What's interesting about Psalm 18 is we actually have a timeline for when it was written. And it was written by an elderly David toward the end of his life. And the reason we know that is because Psalm 18 is almost a carbon copy of 2 Samuel chapter 22 which David wrote toward the end of his life. And he is looking back on his life and he is just thanking God for all of his deliverance. He didn't necessarily mention a specific instance But he talked about who God was, what He did in His life. You know, David had been through a lot in his life. Some was self-inflicted, some was not. Of course, his own family really had turned against him in many ways. Absalom had conspired to take the throne, his own son. He lost a child due to his own sin. You know, he really had suffered a lot in later years, and those, as he wrote, those could have been the things that he talked about, but he didn't. The things he went through didn't make him bitter, it made him better. And I sure hope that when I get to the end of my life, looking back, that I'll talk about the goodness and mercy of God. Don't you? I mean, he serves a big God. I mean, the rhetorical language here, as we've seen, has been really incredible. And, you know, in our text today, what we're going to see is we're going to see a shift from David speaking about God, and now we're going to see David speaking directly to God. And so we're hopefully going to finish out Psalm 18 with that in mind. I won't preach all of this text, but for the sake of context, let's begin back in verse 30 of Psalm 18. He said, As for God, His way is perfect. The Word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him. For who is God? Save the Lord or save Yahweh. We know it's in all caps speaking of Yahweh here. Or who is a rock? Save our God. It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds feet and setteth me upon high places. He teaches my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. Here's where he begins to speak directly to God. He changes the type of pronoun here. Thou hast also given me the shield of my salvation, and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me that my feet did not slip. I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them, neither did I turn again till they were consumed. I have wounded them that were not able to rise. They are fallen under my feet. For thou hast girded me with strength unto battle. Thou hast subdued unto me those that rose up against me. Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. They cried, but there was none to save them, even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people, and Thou hast made me the head of the heathen. A people whom I have not known shall serve me. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me. The strangers shall submit themselves unto me. The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid of their close places. The Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God that avengeth me, and subdueth the people under me. He delivereth me from mine enemies. Yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me. Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Great deliverance giveth he to his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David and to his seed forevermore. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we love you so much and we come to you in the name of Jesus. Lord, thank you for this beautiful day you've given us to come worship you in spirit and in truth and the freedom to do so. God, we're certainly thankful for those that laid their life on the line that we could enjoy these kinds of freedoms. Lord, I pray that you be with the military service men and women all over the world. God, be with the families of those that miss them. God, I pray that you would just fill me with your Holy Spirit this morning. Enter me as sin and self. God, I pray that Christ would be magnified. And Lord, that the Holy Spirit would do the work in our hearts as I could never do that. God, we give these things to you. May we live here knowing and loving you more. In Christ's name I pray these things. Amen. So I'm going to preach on what may seem like somewhat of a unique topic, but it's certainly a theme in the Bible as we're going to see. And I guess if you were to give it a title it would be, The Lord has won the battle, now go out and fight. The Lord has won the battle, now go out and fight. Now in this text, David references the fight against his enemies and of course in the context we understand that David was talking about fighting against physical enemies. But there was a spiritual component and that he was fighting against the enemies of God both within Israel and outside of Israel, the proclaimed enemies of God. And so David goes into detail about how these enemies were fought. And so I liken this to spiritual warfare in the life of a Christian. Certainly there is some similarities here. And so I want to try to wrestle with the question, how are we to wage spiritual warfare as believers, as Christians? How do we do that? There's three things that I really want to look at from this text, and then I'll be done. Number one, if we're going to fight a spiritual warfare in our lives, we're going to have to acknowledge that the battle is taking place. We're going to have to acknowledge the battle going on. Listen, this is going to be the hardest point for me to get across to a bunch of people who live here in America with all these freedoms and every creature comfort you could possibly imagine, where we're not under the threat of persecution. We haven't had any war since the 1860s. It's going to be really hard for me to convince you that this is true, that there is a battle going on this morning. Look at verse 34. David says, He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken in my arms." And as we're going to see throughout the course of this sermon, the imagery, the weaponry that's described, the war that's going on, the enemies that must be fought and defeated. Certainly David was not far into the concept of a battlefield. And he acknowledges in no uncertain terms that a war is going on. There's a battle to be fought. As I alluded to, I want to mention this again, I think we've been at peace for so long in this nation that I think it's lulled us to sleep a little bit. We can clearly see evil, I mean there's no doubt about that, but the truth is that evil has not forced its way into our living room just yet. As I said, we can see the evil everywhere, but we can shut it off. We can get away from it. I can turn off the TV. I can cut off my phone. And I can go to the bedroom and get away from it. I can pray. I can read my Bible without the threat of any kind of persecution. I can get away from it. But for the vast majority of the world, And for the vast majority of human history, evil is in power in such a way that you can't get away from it. I mean, think about even today, places like communist China. They can't do what we're doing this morning in the public eye. They have to do it in secret. I remember reading a story about a pastor who went on a mission trip to the underground church in China. And he said it really was difficult to even get into the country and especially to get in contact with the underground church. I mean, you're not going to find them on Facebook. And he said one of the most humbling things that he ever did was he sat Indian style in a circle with this handful. They can't gather in big groups. They have to be separate. They have to be secret. That way if one of their cells gets caught, the whole church doesn't go down. And he said they sat Indian style in this person's living room and they had to sing. He said that he remembers singing Amazing Grace. And they had to sing in a whisper because they were afraid that the wrong person might hear. I thought, well, how sad. A lot of our Baptists whisper anyway and they're not worried about anybody coming in. Think about that for a minute. We had to whisper for fear of somebody breaking in the door and taking us to prison or executing us. Yeah, I think our creature comforts have lulled us to sleep just a little bit. There's a battle going on. You know it's illegal to even own a Bible in 52 countries around the world. Most of them strictly Islamic, all of them communists to some degree. I mean, just for having this. And I've got so many different Bibles, it's just an embarrassment of riches. We don't ever think about it. We don't ever think about the blood that it took to even give us the Word of God in our language. We take that for granted. I was watching a documentary even yesterday about William Tyndale who burned at the stake for trying to give the Word of God to the people in their language. And we just take it for granted. You can buy Bibles at Walmart. Are you kidding me? We often take it for granted. We don't even think there's a battle going on. But listen, by the most conservative estimates, over 100,000 Christians are martyred every year for their faith around the world. Today. Every year. For the past 20 years. Think about that. I mean, even this past week, I'm sure you've probably seen it on the news or maybe in your Facebook feed, there was a young couple in their 20s, Davey and Natalie Lloyd, they were just executed in Haiti. Christian missionaries since 2022. In fact, The gangs basically run the streets of Haiti right now. And they were breaking into the compound where the missionaries lived at. And right before the young man died, Davey, he was able to make a long distance phone call to his dad who is a Missouri state representative. And he called him and said, Dad, they're breaking in. I don't know what's going to happen. And then they got to him and that's the last his dad ever heard of him. This happened this week in Haiti for a young couple that left the U.S. to be missionaries. There's a battle going on, folks. It's happening all around us, and I think we need to be aware. Listen, I'm not a doom and gloom guy, but I am an honest guy. And if you can't see the floodwaters getting closer and closer to your front door, friend, you've got your head in the sand. It cannot continue this way forever. This U.S. experiment of all this freedom and all this protection and all these rights, this has been a bubble in the period of history. And there's a battle going on. It's all a sobering reminder that we do have an enemy of our souls that wants to destroy us. I'm talking about Satan. Ephesians 6.12 says, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 1 Peter 5 verses 8 and 9 says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren there around the world. Now think about this. Even the apostles who gave us the New Testament, All of them were brutally murdered for the cause of Christ. All of them, except for the apostle John, and he didn't get off scot-free. They boiled him in hot oil and sent him to Patmos. When he wrote 1 John through Revelation, he did it with a scarred body. And so we are fighting a battle. We do have an enemy. But listen to this. even though we're not facing persecution and even though right now we're free from that. Satan still destroys individual people, families, and nations. You know how he does it? He does it through sin. He does it through disobedience against God and His Word. Listen, this is so simple but it's so profound. Even for a lost person, I'm talking about just on a purely practical level. Even a lost person, would have a better life if they adhered to the principles of Scripture. Now, they would still die and go to hell and wish they had known God and, you know, they should have repented and put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, but I'm just telling you the basic principles in Scripture. It's just better. And if you want to destroy your life, there's a surefire way to do it. Do you all use that term? I don't even know. I've got to remember where I am. But if you want to destroy your life, there's a certain way to do it. Go against the Word of God. Go against the Word of God. You'll destroy your life to a place where you can never get it back. Proverbs 14, verse 34, it says, Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. And if you think about sin on a societal level, here's how in a society like ours that we lose our freedoms. See, it starts with individual sin. And individuals wreck their life. They wreck the lives of others. They destroy the nuclear family. That causes problems in a society. And then the government has to come in like saviors and offer regulation and taxes to fix it all. That's exactly what's happening in this country. You see, most of the time, you follow this, Most of the time, the same people who show up and offer the solution were the ones that created the problems. And so I think it was Reagan, and I'm not getting political here, but I think it was Reagan that said the most terrifying words in the English language are, hey, I'm from the government and I'm here to help. Yeah, you do that. You see, that's only in a society that values perceived security more than it does freedom. You see, George Washington once said that a Bible-reading people can never be enslaved. Because a Bible-reading people understand their rights come from God. They don't come from government. Their salvation comes from Christ, not the government. Their provision comes from God, not the government. You can't enslave a people like that. But if you can get people scared enough, they'll be willing to sign away their freedoms in order to achieve perceived security. And if you fear God, you don't have to fear anything else. But if you don't fear God, you're going to have to fear everything else. And so sin destroys individuals, it destroys families, it destroys nations, and then it has to be controlled, it has to be regulated. But get this, we can't fight spiritual battles if we don't even recognize and acknowledge that a battle is taking place. David was keenly aware of this fact because the battle was also physical and it was in his face. And I want to say this, and I'm not trying to be in the mully grubs here, I'm just being honest. Life, and listen, I love having a good time, I love cutting up, I love having joy. Look, it's okay to be happy. I met some Baptist brethren that thought it was a sin to be happy. It's okay to be happy. But let me say this, life isn't all about play. It's not all about entertainment. We should be strengthening and exercising our spiritual faculties through prayer, through Bible study, through church attendance, and intentional gospel conversations. That'll keep you sharp. I often think to myself, I had a preacher friend of mine that used to talk about this a lot. It always stuck with me. He said, I try to go about my life as if one day I will end up in a prison cell with no Bible. And I hope that at that point I have hid enough of it in my heart that it will sustain me. I thought that was pretty good. We ought to study and memorize and read this book like one day we're going to be thrown into a concentration camp without it. Think about that. You know, the sword of the Spirit is a weapon. I was teaching the teens this morning. I'm talking about the covenants right now. And I was comparing the temptation of Adam with the temptation of Jesus, the second Adam, in the wilderness when Satan came unto Him. And we know that every time that Satan tempted Jesus, what did Jesus say? It is written. It is written. It is written. He kept quoting directly from the Old Testament. Deuteronomy. I think every quote was from Deuteronomy. But what's really amazing is in that discourse between Jesus and Satan, Satan also said it is written. Did you know that Satan quoted Psalm 91 verses 11 and 12 to Jesus? He quoted Scripture to Him. But if you go back and look at it, he removed four words and it changed the whole meaning of what he said. He took out the words, in all thy ways, that the angels would keep him in all thy ways. It wasn't the way of God for Jesus to go jumping off the pinnacle of the temple. He was supposed to go to the cross. And so even Satan has no problem quoting Scripture. Has no problem twisting Scripture at all. And Satan has learned over the years, it's best to be as close as you can to the truth and still be a damnable heresy. That way you fool as many people as possible. And I am sickened. I mean it makes me nauseated. I have to cut it off. It makes me physically sick to see and hear some of the absolute garbage being spewed from so-called Christian pulpits in this country. It makes me sick. And people flock to them by the thousands because they're getting their ears tickled. And it sounds so much like the truth that they can't even discern the difference a lot of the time. And so what I'm saying is the sword of the Spirit is a weapon and if you don't know how to use it, it can be used against you. So we need to know this book because the only way that we can combat lies are with the truth. The only way we can confront darkness is with the light. And listen, this is what makes us different from every religion on planet earth. I know there's other differences we could talk about, but we're going to talk about this specifically at Calvary today. Because I'm dealing with how to share the gospel with the LDS. And the specific thing that I'm dealing with, the subject is the truth versus your truth. Objective truth versus subjective truth. And you can go look it up. Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, they all encourage you to pursue your feelings. That your feelings determine truth. That your feelings determine facts. That is absolute hogwash. We don't live our life like that. This is what separates us. We have the objective truth. This is not a truth. This is not your truth or my truth. This is the truth. Jesus said in John 17 when he was praying his high priestly prayer to God the Father, he said, sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. I'm going to preach some of this again. Y'all are going to get it twice. But, you know, they say you have to hear something ten times before you get the whole thing. Y'all just be glad I spare you and only preach it once. But subjective truth is not truth at all. It's just an opinion. based on subjective experience. But see, that's how a lot of people read the Bible. They've already got their presuppositions, they've already got their beliefs and their opinions, and they do their best to try to read that into the Bible and they cherry pick it. Listen, every time I invite LDS missionaries to my house, I know that this is what's going to happen. They're going to take select verses they've been told to cherry pick, they just rip it out from its context to make it say something it doesn't say. And every time I just calmly say, well yeah, I love that verse. Would you take your Bible app and let's go to that and let's put it in context? They don't like to do that. Satan hates context. Listen, Satan has no problem quoting Scripture. He has no problem twisting the truth. We need to know the truth because that's how we defeat lies. And so our feelings don't determine the facts. And listen, if we don't come to the Bible, and try to pull out its meaning from the text will never be changed by it. It scares me that somebody can study the Bible for 30, 40, 50 years and they don't believe any differently at all than they did when they first started. Something's wrong with that. Because I can promise you, listen, I got saved as a 14 year old. There's no doubt about that. But I feel like I know infinitely more than I did back then. And I hope I feel the same way 20 years from now and 20 years from then. I mean, I certainly didn't get saved and know everything there is to know. Listen, we don't go to the Bible for confirmation bias. We don't go to the Scriptures to try to just prove what we already believe. If the Scriptures go against something we believe, we all change what we believe. I've had to do that quite a few times as a Christian. Listen, I've been flat wrong about some things. I'm thankful Leah's not in here to hear that. I've been wrong about some things. I mean, I preached some things in the pulpit. I wouldn't say were heresy, but they were definitely not right. I take that very seriously, and listen, we ought to get in the book and allow it to change us. I've got to move on. Y'all are still listening too slow. Y'all didn't speed up any since I was gone. But, so we have to acknowledge there is a battle taking place. There is an enemy that wants to destroy us and our families and our testimony and our influence to be a witness for Christ. But number two, if we're going to fight this spiritual warfare, we not only have to acknowledge the battle, but we have to accept both the responsibility and the results. The responsibility is ours, the results are not. Look at verse 35. Now listen, as we read this, I want you to take special note of the interchange between what God does and what David does. It's so ironic that it's almost contradictory if we didn't know what he was saying. He said, verse 35, Thou hast also given me the shield of Thy salvation, and Thy right hand hath holden me up, and Thy gentleness hath made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. But then he says here in verse 37, I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them. Neither did I turn again till they were consumed. I have wounded them that they were not able to rise. They are fallen under my feet." And then he goes again, verse 39, "'For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle. Thou hast subdued under me those things that rose up against me. Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies that I might destroy them that hate me.'" You go down to verse 32, Then I did beat them small as the dust. Verse 43, Thou hast delivered me from the strivings. And it just keeps going back and forth between what God does and what David does. So who does it? Does David do it? Or does God do it? This is kind of where I get my title from. The Lord has won the battle, now go out and fight. And I'll tell you what it really reminds me of. And that is one of the great themes of the book of Joshua. Now this is really interesting. Theologians have been scratching their heads for a long time over this one. But one of the main themes of Joshua is the fact that the Lord begins the book by commissioning Joshua. And what he essentially says is that I have given this land into your hand. Now go out and fight for it. You make that make sense. Now listen, I'm going to give you this and it's yours, you can have it. Now you've got to fight for it. That's kind of contradicting the very definition of what a gift is, isn't it? I mean, because gifts are given, they're not earned, and certainly I'm thankful that salvation's not there. Why aren't you glad He didn't say, I'll save you, go fight for it? We'd all be in a lot of trouble. But I think it's really the reality of living the Christian life. So, I guess we could ask the question concerning Joshua and also concerning David here, you know, so were they given the land or did they have to go and fight for it? Yes. The answer is yes to both. And so, that is our reality though, that God has already given us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ and yet we have many battles to fight in this life. I mean, think about it. We're saved by grace, and yet we're commanded to grow in grace. We're headed for heaven, and yet we fight the forces of hell. We've been given a new nature, and yet we battle with this old flesh. And I'm thankful, you know, one of the greatest joys of heaven will be that these battles will be over with. I'm looking forward to that. But how do we find this balance between what God does and what we do? And I think the answer lies simply in doing the right thing in any given situation. To be obedient in any given situation, this is so simple, but it's so true. And here's the thing, we have to be obedient to God in whatever situation we find ourselves in, and then we have to leave the results up to God. If you don't ever learn to do that, it's going to cost you a lot of sleep at night. But if you think about it, there's really only two methods of decision making that a person can abide by. And that is what will work and what is right. What is right is pragmatism. What's going to bring the most pleasure? What's going to bring the desired result? That's pragmatism. What will work. But then biblical Christianity says what is right? And by the way, listen, I'm not throwing stones here. Please don't think I'm throwing stones at all. And if you do it, it's fine. I'm not throwing stones here. But this is why I'm not a huge fan of the whole WWJD thing, the what would Jesus do? Because it can be kind of subjective. Well, I think that Jesus would be loving and affirming toward homosexuality. Is that what Jesus would do? I tell you what, it's the wrong question. It should be, if you want to wear a bracelet, go be a rebel and get a WWJS. What did Jesus say? What did He say? Because He said that God created them, male and female created He them. That they shall leave father and mother and be joined together and become one flesh. Now we can always see what Jesus said, that's an unchanging objective standard. This is why it's so important again to study the Word of God. 2 Timothy 2.15, Study thou and show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And so ultimately, a person's actions will be guided by a desire to please self or a desire to please God. Listen, your life will always be dictated by your loves. I hope you realize that. Your life will always be dictated and governed by your loves. If you love Jesus, you're going to live for Jesus. If you love pleasure, you're going to live for pleasure. If you love money, you're going to live for money. Whatever you love is going to get your passions, it's going to get your heart, and it's going to get your dedication. So what do you love? I hope it's Jesus. Listen, here's the balance between what God does and what we do. We must be faithful and obedient to God with what's right in front of us, and leave the results up to God. Now this goes contrary to everything that society teaches us to believe. One method strives for results. The other strives for righteousness and relationship. And if you can learn to do what's right and trust God with the results, you will sleep a whole lot better at night. There's nothing like laying down at night with a clean conscience before God and knowing that God is in control. See, this is the bone that I have to pick with a lot of these mega churches in this country and even a lot of smaller churches that's trying to be mega churches. I mean, if you listen to the way they operate, you know, church is nothing but a giant marketing scheme. How can we get the most people? How can we attract the most people? I mean, it is insane. It's a circus in a lot of these pulpits. It's nothing but entertainment or as Paul Washer said, it's six flags over Jesus. It is a joke. And there's no way that somebody can actually believe the Word of God and think the Gospel is sufficient and do that kind of stuff. We just don't want to do that. But that's what they want. They want results. They want the numbers. They want the income. They want all that comes with that. And listen, we all just worry about what's right. What does God think about this? That's all that we ever have to worry about. And leave the results up to Him. That's not always the easiest thing to do. Because we're living in a time where all people want is goat food. That's all they want. They want sheep food. They want goat food. But by the grace of God, I don't want to ever serve any goat food here. Because it will attract goats. But there's nothing like laying down and out of the clean conscience and knowing God's in control. It's a skill that we must learn if we're going to fight spiritual battles. Because listen, if you get too much of an outward look, It can almost seem like we're on the losing side, but we're not. We're going to see this here. This brings me to my third point. We're going to fight the spiritual warfare. We're going to have to be in awe of the person and power of God. Look at verse 49. Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Great deliverance giveth he to his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed forevermore." Now, this is an amazing prophecy here. And before I get to that, I just want to point out that a person's external circumstances don't matter much if they aren't convinced in their heart that the cause is worthy. If you don't believe it yourself, nobody else is going to believe it for you. And listen, it doesn't matter if you've got the greatest church in the world. We've got a great church here at Grace. We're not huge, but bigness is not necessarily an indication of healthy or unhealthy. You know, you can have the greatest pastor in the world. Now you have been deprived of that, okay? Just being hypothetical. You can have the greatest Christian parents in the world. You can have the greatest upbringing ever. And if you don't have that personal relationship with Jesus Christ, if it's not real in your heart, it's not going to matter. Because the motivation is not going to be there. The desire is not going to be there. Why fight these battles against the world if you belong to the world? If you think like the world? You know, I think about the parable of the prodigal son who went off to the far country. He had the far country in his heart long before he was in the far country. And only you and God know that if you have that personal relationship, because it costs something to be a Christian. They won't have much of a desire to fight that spiritual warfare. And all throughout this psalm, I'm captivated by the way that David is captivated by God. I mean, you can look in the first few verses of the Psalm. I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength, my rock, my deliverer, my strength in whom I trust, my buckler, the horn of my salvation, my high tower. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved from my enemies. This is why the churches, I think, you can look at any mainline denomination, they are dying out. And it's because we have lost our awe. for who God is. Friend, I got it one day. I got it when He saved me. I've gotten even more of it since I've been saved. And I'm just telling you, friend, if you ever had a good, sure enough juicy ribeye steak, and don't you dare ruin it by ordering it well done, I will question your salvation. I'm talking about I'm talking about juicy. I'm talking about with somebody that knows what they're doing, who has seared it on both sides and locked the flavors in with just the perfect amount of fat. If you don't like any fat, I question your salvation. I'm talking about once you had one of those, Salisbury steak out of the freezer just ain't gonna do it. And what I see when I watch all these heretics running around like crazy on television, it's like they've taken the Salisbury steak out of the freezer and they're going, ooh, look at what we've got. I'm thinking, are you serious right now? They've never had the real thing. They've never tasted it. They don't know God. That's the only way they can be attracted to that. I've got a preacher friend of mine, he's a city slicker, but his parents were, they were really backwoods, I mean, farmers, you know. And he used to go over there during the summertime to stay with his grandparents. And he said at the time, his favorite breakfast food was pop tarts. And I'm not discriminating against pop tarts. Okay, but, but he wanted pop tarts. Well, his grandmother had fixed I'm talking about breakfast, I'm talking about all the meats, all the fixings, all the bacon, all the man, we might just need to shut it down. But keep in mind, These people raised their own bees, so they harvested their own honey. Well, his grandmother had made, I'm talking about homemade from scratch, cat head biscuits. And if you don't know what a cat head biscuit is, I will be glad to tell you after church. But made those cat head biscuits from scratch, drizzled it in that honey that they had just harvested, and put it in front of my friend Carl's name. And brother Carl said, no thanks, I want a Pop-Tart. And his granddad said, son, Just taste it. And you ought to hear Brother Carl tell the story. It's a lot better than I could do. He said, but when I took that first bite of that made-from-scratch biscuit drizzled in honey, he said the scales fell off my eyes and my heart grew three sizes that day. And he said, he said it just ruined Pop-Tarts for me. And I think the illustration is clear, friend. Once you've had Jesus Christ, the God of the universe, who came to this earth, born of a virgin, lived as fully God and fully man, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for sin, and rose from the dead three days later, who is seated at the right hand of power right now, and He is coming again to rule and reign in perfect peace on this earth. Friend, that gets me excited. I mean, that makes me plum-tickled. I may have to translate that, but it's a good thing. I mean, once you get that, once you've been born again, and you've got that spiritual life, and He saves you from your sin, and He forgives you, and He reconciles you unto Himself, friend, what in the world am I going to do to outdo that? We're going to have smoke machines, and dark lights, and strobes, and you know, that is, like I said, you know what that is? That's Pop-Tarts. It's pop-tarts. It's Salisbury steak. And so, we're all going to have to go to Texas Roadhouse after this is over with. But I'm just telling you, we're not awed by the person and power of God anymore. I mean, David, you can go back and read. We talked about this verses 9 through 17 and some of the most terrifying words about the description of God in the whole Bible. I mean, if you read it, it makes God look like a fire-breathing dragon. But he sees God in His holiness and His justice, friend. When you see God like that, like Isaiah saw Him, you've got no choice but to shiver and say, woe is me, for I'm a man of unclean lips. That's the only way that we turn church into a circus, is we don't see God like that anymore. We see David, and lastly, and I've got to close with this, but he was also, you can see, he was thankful for the salvation of God. Verse 49, therefore I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name. Listen, David always had these things in view. Who God is, what he had done, and what he was going to do. This is what makes verse 50 so important. I cannot preach this psalm and let this slip past here. It's a prophecy of the coming Christ. Look at verse 50. Great deliverance giveth he to his king. and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David and to his seed forevermore." That evermore seed is Jesus Christ. It's the greater son of David who would raise himself as a temple unto God. We've talked about that. But here's the thing. Although there were many battles in between that David mentioned, this psalm is bookended by salvation and by the coming of the Lord. But isn't that the Christian life? that in spite of all the battles, we're somewhere between the day we were saved and the coming of the Lord. Whether by death or the return of Christ, we're headed that way. Every day we're a little bit closer. In spite of the battles, and listen, I know the battles get all of our attention. We live in this flesh, we're emotional creatures, we're sensual, we live by sight, unfortunately, a lot of the time, and what we hear, and we're just constantly being bombarded with fear-mongering. But if you think about it, we're somewhere between the day we got saved and the day that we go home. We're just at the here and now. So no wonder though, the Lord was able to say to Joshua, I have given you the land, now go fight for it. And no wonder David was able to say that in spite of the battles, God is good. So if you're going to fight this spiritual warfare, you're going to have to acknowledge the battle. You're going to have to accept both the responsibility and the results. And you're going to have to be in awe of the person and the power of God. So I just close with this question. Do you know God in that way? Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? Do you know Him in the pardon of your sins? Does He have any place in your daily thoughts or your actions or your motives? What are you living for? Do you know Him today? If not, I would encourage you to just place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ to save you. And if you are saved, live for Him. I think it was Adrian Rogers who said that we ought to live as if Christ was crucified yesterday, risen this morning, and coming back tomorrow. I mean, we ought to be getting after it. Because the days are getting dark, and every day we get up, there's one less we have to serve Him in this capacity. Hope you know Him, and I hope you are serving Him. And my prayer, listen, my prayer is that I get to the end of my life, and like David, in spite of all my troubles, all I want to do is talk about how good and great and awesome God is.