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God's Protection and Preservation

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• Bibles to 1 Samuel 23. 1 Samuel 23. 1 Samuel 23. The message today is entitled, "God's Protection and Preservation." God's Protection and Preservation. 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel. 23. It's in the Old Testament, Ron. All right. 1 Samuel 23, and let's begin reading there with verse 1. "And then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshing floors. Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said unto David, Go and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah. And David's men said unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines? Then David inquired of the Lord yet again. And the Lord answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand. So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their cattle and smoked them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah."

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• "It came to pass when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that hath gates and bars. And Saul called all the people together to war to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. And David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, bring hither the ephod. Then said David, O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And the Lord said, he will come down. Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?"

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• "And the Lord said, They will deliver thee up. Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. It was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah, and he forbade to go forth." To me, this is one of the most remarkable passages in the Bible in the sense that God had told David to go and attack the Philistines and he would deliver them into his hand. And the men of David were afraid, which is unusual because David's men were mighty men. And so David checked again, and the Lord said, "Yes, you are to go and smite those Philistines. I will deliver them into your hand." And so David saved Keilah and the inhabitants thereof. And when Saul heard that he had gotten into the city, Saul was preparing to go and assault the city in order to get David. And David asked the Lord, "Will Saul come after me?" And he said, "He will come." And then he made this amazing question, "Will the men of Keilah deliver me up?"

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• And God said, "They will." David had just saved those men from the Philistines. And now those men, God knew, would deliver David up in order to save themselves. No one has ever been persecuted and hunted as David was persecuted and hunted during the reign of Saul. Saul was relentless in pursuing David because Saul wanted David dead. He sent out spies. He laid traps. He pursued David with armies. Saul's pursuit for David was a thorough pursuit. Saul knew that as long as David was alive, that Jonathan would never inherit the throne. For instance, if you look back in 1 Samuel chapter 20 and verse 31, Saul says this to Jonathan, "For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom."

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• "Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die." So very obviously, Saul wanted David dead so that Saul could perpetuate his kingdom through Jonathan. It didn't matter what the Lord willed, what the Lord wanted, and what the Lord had already stated, Saul wanted David dead. Therefore, when Saul sought David, he sought him very thoroughly. Let me demonstrate this by showing you several passages.

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• Look in 1 Samuel chapter 24 and verse 14. 1 Samuel 24 and verse 14. And David is asking Saul this question, and he asked, "After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog? After a flea?"

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• Now let me ask you, if you are searching for one flea, how thoroughly do you have to search? Very thoroughly. And if you're searching for a dead dog or a pet that has wandered off and has died, how thoroughly would you have to search to find that pet out in the woods or out in the wilderness? So the search was a very thorough one. And if you look in 1 Samuel chapter 26 and verse 20, David gives another illustration when he asks this question of Saul. Yes, 1 Samuel 26 and verse 20, David says, "Now therefore let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains."

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• So now he's comparing his pursuit as someone hunting birds in the mountain. So Saul then sought eagerly for David as a hunter seeks for bird. The most powerful person in the land, the king, his minions and his government were absolutely powerless and helpless in finding one man. David was hunted relentlessly and yet all to no avail. David was never captured or killed by Saul or his men. Why was Saul unable to capture or to kill David? How in the world did David escape the dragnets that had been laid out by Saul for him? And the thrilling close encounters that you read, especially when Saul is on this side of the mountain pursuing David, and David and his men is on this side of the mountain escaping, all of those close encounters always fell out to David and his men.

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• So the question is, why? And the answer is because of God's amazing providential control over every circumstance and God's gracious protection and preservation of David. I want to call your attention today to this one thought and I want to demonstrate it from Scripture. Have you ever really considered God's amazing providential control over everything? There is absolutely nothing over which God does not exercise total and complete control.

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• Now we're coming back to 1 Samuel 23, but I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 10. Now I want to show you how absolutely pervasive God's providential control is. Look in Matthew chapter 10, and notice if you would please verse 30. Matthew 10 and verse 30. I'll tie these together for you momentarily. But look in Matthew 10 and verse 30, God says, "But the very hairs of your head are numbered." Now I want you to stop and think just momentarily of every head of hair that has ever lived, that is living now, and that shall live, and yet God knows the number of every head of hair. Each one is numbered and each one cannot fall apart from God. So God not only knows, God controls.

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• Now I know what you're thinking already. That God certainly has to do a lot of less bookkeeping on some of us than of others. That's alright. I'm happy to report God knows where each one of my hairs has fallen. And I'm also happy to report that I don't have to bother God with such a mundane task as keeping count of so many hairs on my head as He does other people. You know, several of us allow the Lord to do other more important things, don't we? So, very obviously. But God does know every hair.

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• Watch, if you would, verse 29. Matthew 10, verse 29, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father."

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• Now I want you to note when we read this verse we tend to automatically think of a sparrow dying and falling to the ground. Certainly a sparrow cannot die apart from God. However, the Bible does not say in verse 29, "fall to the ground," but literally it says "fall on the ground." He says, "one of them shall not fall on the ground without your heavenly Father." So there's a difference between falling to the ground and falling on the ground.

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• In fact, the Greek word here actually means to descend from a higher place to a lower place. So literally what he is saying in verse 29 is this, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not light on the ground without your heavenly Father." Anyone who has ever had bird feeders and watched birds, especially sparrows, can testify to the multitudinous times that they fly to a high branch, go to a low branch, back to the ground, pick up a seed, back to a branch, back to the ground. We feed birds right out my office window, and I watch them many times. We feed them out front, and those little sparrows are incessantly going up and down from branch to the ground, branch to the ground. And the Bible says that not one can fly up or fly down apart from the absolute sovereign control of God, the creator and sustainer of the universe. Each one is controlled by divine providence. It's amazing when you consider that not one sparrow can lie upon the ground or descend from a higher to a lower place apart from God.

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• Now, let's put it together. Look at verse 29, 30 and 31. Verse 29, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall or light on the ground apart or without your Father? But the very hairs of your head are numbered. Fear ye not therefore, you have more value than many sparrows." Now here's the argument. If God is so punctilious over sparrows and controls everything for them for their good, will He not certainly do that for His children who are worth far more than many sparrows? You see, we often forget the truth in Romans 8 in verse 28. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose."

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• Well, let me ask you a question. How do we know that all things work together for good for those that love God? We only know that because we believe in and know God's absolute sovereign control and His divine providence. He oversees, He controls, He directs, He orders all things. Do you realize that such knowledge would be impossible for us apart from the knowledge of God's absolute sovereignty? And such a thing would be absolutely impossible if God was not sovereign, and if God did not have absolute control over everything. Now I've mentioned God's providence several times. What is providence?

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• Without getting into all of the theological distinctions, such as preservation, concurrence, and government, let me try to give you just a very concise definition of providence. Listen carefully. Providence is the continual exercise of the sovereign Creator God, whereby He preserves and provides for all of His creatures, is operative in all that comes to pass in the world, and directs all things to their appointed end. Now listen to that one more time. Providence is the continual exercise of the sovereign Creator God, whereby He preserves and provides for all of His creatures, is operative in all that comes to pass in the world, and directs all things to their appointed end. Providence is the full and absolute control that God has over all things. Providence is that bringing to pass that which God has ordained and determined before the world ever began. Providence is when God directs all things, uses means and controls all things and brings them to their ultimate end. In a world that is ruled by God, there is no such thing as luck, chance, fate, or fortune.

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• There are no accidents in a world ruled by God, only incidents that God in His sovereign, all-wise providence, allows to come to pass. To show you the absolute control that God has over all things, let me just quote Proverbs 16 and verse 33. Listen carefully. "The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." What? Let me put it in a way that you and I will understand it. There's the rolling of the dice, but whatever comes up is determined by God. The lot is cast into the lap. But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. In other words, it's God who determines the outcome of absolutely everything, even the roll of dice. David's life is a wonderful example of divine providence.

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• He was preserved over and over again. And let me point out that the same which was true of David is equally true in our lives. We may not have had dramatic escapes that David had, or the close escapes that David had, but I can assure you that each one of us can point out instances in our lives that if it had not been for God's sovereign providence and protection, we would not be here. And the only reason we are here is because of God's providence and God's protection.

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• You remember that passage I quoted often in Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. "It is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Because His compassions, they fail not. They're new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness." I try to make it a habit of each night before I go to sleep of thanking God for His tender compassions and mercies, and His faithfulness and allowing me to live through the day. And when I wake, one of the first things I do is thank Him for protecting me through the night and allowing me to experience His tender mercies and His compassions and His faithfulness. That's the only reason we're alive today.

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• But I want you to understand something. It is not only God's providence that allows the sun to arise and to shine upon us, and His rain to fall upon us, but it is also God's providence that allows His blessings to be upon us and His divine providence that allows us to enjoy those blessings. In Acts 14 in verse 17, the Bible says this, listen carefully. "Nevertheless, He, that is God, left not Himself without witness in that He did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." Filling our hearts with food and gladness.

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• Let me ask you a question. What good are all the blessings of God if you're not able to enjoy them? So it's God who not only gives us the blessings, it is God who enables us to enjoy those blessings. In Psalm 66 and verse 9, the Bible tells us concerning God, "Who holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved." In 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verse 17, God says this, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." So it's God then who not only gives us His blessings and His divine providence, it's God who gives us richly all things to enjoy and enables us to enjoy them. And one of the most precious blessings that God gives us is the blessings of life. It is God who gives life, it is God who sustains and preserves life and we're alive today only by the grace of God and the mercy of God.

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• So I want you to think with me momentarily, how God graciously in his providence protected and preserved David. Do you realize long before David became the good king and the mighty warrior, God's providential hand was upon him. It was God's providence that allowed David to live long enough to become the good king and the mighty warrior. I can think back in my life and I could name two or three instances where I could have died and should have died based upon my own stupidity and my own wickedness. And yet God preserved me.

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• It's the same thing with you. You know, David was a shepherd. When you think about a shepherd, you think of someone who is just merely spending their time with the sheep. It's a lonely job, but it's not a very dangerous job, you would think. But I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to 1st Samuel chapter 17. Everyone knows the story and we'll come back to that story just momentarily where David is about to fight Goliath. But I want you to look in 1st Samuel chapter 17 and notice what Saul says to David and then David's response. 1st Samuel chapter 17 and let's begin reading there verse 33. "And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep."

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• "And there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God."

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• Now I want you to note what David said. He said, "There came a lion and there came a bear and took a lamb, and I went out after him. I took it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me," he said, "I smote him. I killed him."

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• Now I will tell you, I do not mind fighting a bear or a lion as long as I can do it with my .308 at about a hundred yards distance. Or maybe a .44 Magnum a little close. But David either only had a sling or a sword, or at best a spear, what is the chances, humanly speaking, and I'm using that word purposefully, of a young boy defeating a lion or a bear with a sword or with a spear? So God providentially preserved David, gave him courage, gave him wisdom, gave him discernment, and preserving him from this lion and this bear before he ever got to be the good king or the mighty warrior. And then here in 1 Samuel chapter 17, when he's about to go out to fight Goliath, have you ever considered how God preserved and provided for David in this fight with Goliath?

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• You can read about it in verses 40 through 51 there. And what did the Bible say? Saul said to David, "How can you fight this man?" He said, verse 33, "Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth." So Goliath had been trained in warfare since he was a young man.

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• Now he's a mature adult. David is just simply a youth. And Saul says, "It's humanly impossible. There's no way that you can win against this man." And remember, if you would, Goliath had the huge shield and the sword. He had the buckler. He had everything available to him. It was Solomon the wise man who said in Ecclesiastes 9 and verse 11, "I returned and saw unto the sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong." And in this instance it certainly was not to the physically strong one. You've got to remember Goliath came out with what you and I would term modern day weaponry. He had on what you and I would essentially say a bulletproof vest when he had his shield and his harness around him. And David went out with a sling. Do you know how David killed Goliath? After he hit him with a sling between the eyes with a rod, he went to Goliath and took his own sword from Goliath and cut Goliath's head off.

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• Now that had to be embarrassing to get your head cut off with your own sword. Can you imagine that? And yet here, David is still not a mighty warrior. David is but a youth. And God sovereignly protects him. You know how Saul then takes David into his house. David becomes a favorite because David is excellent upon the harp. And then Saul becomes insanely jealous and rages over David and tries to kill him. And he not only tries to kill him once, he tries to kill him several times by hurling a javelin at him as David is playing with a harp. Now, you've got to consider Saul also as a man of war.

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• Those men could throw javelins. You have to also consider not only Saul was a man of war and could throw a javelin, you would also have to consider how close David had to be when that javelin was thrown at him. David was playing the harp. Harps are not known for their volume, but for the softness and the sweetness of their music. I want you to look. 1 Samuel chapter 18. Look at verses 10 and 11. 1 Samuel 18 verse 10. "And it came to pass on the morrow that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul."

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• "And he prophesied in the midst of the house." By the way, I want you to note that prophesying is also associated with an evil spirit. So just because someone says that they prophesy, doesn't mean that it's the Holy Spirit that's prompting them. You'll find this on numerous occasions. Notice if you would, 1 Samuel 18 verse 10. "He came to pass on the morrow after the evil spirit from God came upon Saul and he prophesied in the midst of the house and David played with his hand as at other times and there was a javelin in Saul's hand."

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• He didn't have to reach for it. He already had it. "And Saul cast the javelin for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice." So that was twice on that occasion that Saul was going to smite him to the wall. Look in 1 Samuel chapter 19, beginning there in verse 9. "And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, and as he sat in the house with this javelin in his hand, and David played with his hand, David was unarmed, he was playing the harp, and Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with a javelin, but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smoked the javelin into the wall, and David fled and escaped that night." So you've got to consider Saul missing up close, which is almost inconceivable for a man of war to do. Again, if you'll go back to 1 Samuel 18, Saul tried to use a little trickery. He thought, "Well, if I can't kill David with the javelin, I'll get him to fall at the hands of the Philistines, and I will promise him my daughter if he will kill a hundred Philistines for me."

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• knowing that that would be practically impossible. So look in 1 Samuel 18, beginning there of verse 25. 1 Samuel 18, verse 25. After David had said, "Oh, he can't be the king's son-in-law." Verse 25, "And Saul said, Thus shall you say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, that is, not any money, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. And the days were not expired, and David rose and went out, he and his men, and slew the Philistines two hundred men, twice what Saul wanted. And David brought their foreskins and gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife." It is impossible to know how many times Saul tried to kill David. It is also impossible to know how many times or how many battles David actually fought.

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• And it's also impossible to know how many men that David actually killed. He killed a lot of them. He fought in a lot of battles. However, we know that in one instance, when Saul got so insanely jealous, the women in 1 Samuel 18 and verse 7 were singing this, "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands." But although David was a mighty warrior, and was in all of these battles, and killed a multitude of men, yet there was one time that the enemy thought that he had killed David. If you look in 2 Samuel, chapter 21, and look at verse 15, 15 through 17. 2 Samuel, chapter 21, verse 15. "Moreover, the Philistines had yet war again with Israel, and David went down in his servants with him and fought against the Philistines, and David waxed faint." So he got mighty tired. "And Ishbi-benob, which was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David."

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• "But Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, succored him and smoked the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt not go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel." So notice, if you would, here's a time when they thought, the enemy thought they'd gotten David. Nah, didn't work that way. So the question has to be asked, and it's essentially this. How in the world did David survive all of those battles? Especially when David many times was outnumbered and outgunned.

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• You look at modern day warfare. You look at the mini guns. You look at a gun that can put around in every square inch of a football field with one burst. And you think, and you ask yourself, how in the world could anyone ever survive anything like that? And yet, people do. David had only a few men. Six hundred, when he was running from Saul, was at its peak.

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• In 1 Samuel chapter 30, as you go back there, Ziklag is burned with fire. And Ziklag happened to be a city of David, while he was running from Saul. And Ziklag was burned with fire. The women and children and all the goods were stolen. And David took his men to go and recover everything. But 200 of David's men were so faint, they could not fight. And so they stayed by the river. And David pursued them with 400 men. If you look in 1 Samuel 30 and verse 8, "And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he that is God answered, Pursue. For thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all." Now watch. "So David went, he and his six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. And David pursued he and four hundred men, for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over brook Besor."

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• Now, the interesting thing is, David is after this troop, and he only has 400 men.

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• Now, I don't know how many men the enemy had, but let me tell you this. The word "troop" is also translated another way in our Bibles. It is also translated as "army." So David is asked, "Shall I pursue after this army?" So evidently, David and his men were greatly outnumbered and David was concerned because they were outnumbered and God said, "Yes, pursue them. You shall overtake them and recover everything."

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• So let's go back to my basic question. How did David survive all of these battles? If you read the Bible and if you believe the Bible, you certainly cannot ascribe David's protection to luck, chance, fate, or fortune. David survived only by God's providential protection and preservation. In fact, if you look in 1 Samuel chapter 30 and verse 23, David ascribes everything to God. Look in verse 23. 1 Samuel chapter 30. "Then David said, You shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hands." So I want you to note, David ascribes his preservation and his protection to God. Now, I want you to turn to 2 Samuel chapter 17.

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• And let me just throw something else to you that you might consider. Because David's protection was not just simply limited to the battlefield. It is true that God protected David in battle. But you remember when Absalom ran his father off the throne and sought to kill him, Ahithophel gave counsel. And Ahithophel's counsel was this, "Let me take some men, 12,000 men, and I will arise and pursue David this night, and I will kill him and kill him only, and I'll bring everybody else back." And Absalom turned to Hushai the Archite, who was David's friend, and he said, "Listen, Ahithophel has given us this counsel, what do you say?" And Hushai said it like this, "Well, the counsel of the fellow is not good at this time." He said, "You know your father. You know the men that are with him. They're men of war and they're chafed. They're mad. They're upset. They're angry. And besides that, David's not going to be stupid enough to bed down with these men. And what's going to happen is, your few men are going to attack David's men, and David's men's going to kill a number of your men, and then everybody's going to hear there's a rout, and everybody's going to be discouraged and fleeing."

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• "No, no, no." He said, "That's not the thing to do. You gather all Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and you lead the army yourself."

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• Now, let me tell you something. It's going to take some time to gather everybody from Dan to Beersheba, which is what Hushai wanted to do, to give David time to get away, and to get set up and get ready to defend himself. The counsel that Ahithophel gave was good counsel, it was right counsel concerning the circumstances. The counsel that Hushai gave was bad counsel concerning the circumstances. So if you look in verse 14, look what is said, 2 Samuel 17 verse 14, "And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, the counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel." Watch, "for the Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel to the intent that the Lord may bring evil upon Absalom." Isn't that interesting? You see, God is sovereign even in the counsel of men. God is sovereign even in the thoughts and the thinking of men. I want you to go back to our text in 1 Samuel chapter 23. Because I did not read one verse, I saved it.

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• I'm going to show you the real reason that David did not fall at the hands of Saul. I'm going to show you the real reason why David did not die at the hands of the Philistines. I'm going to show you the real reason why David did not die at the hands of Absalom or Ahithophel. Look at it. 1 Samuel 23 verse 14, "And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and remained in the mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand." Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? God delivered him not into his hand.

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• Now let me tell you, without me taking you through the book of Judges, you read it for yourself, when Israel sinned against God, you will find this over and over, "and He, God, delivered them into the hands of their enemies." And yet here David is, and God delivered him not into His hand. This truth is emphasized over and over in the Bible. It is there for our benefit.

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• Let me quote to you Romans 15 and verse 4. God said, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Everything that God wrote in the Old Testament is written for our learning to give us courage and to give us hope. You have to remember that God has not changed. God is immutable. He is unchangeable. And the God that sovereignly protected David is the same God that sovereignly protects us today.

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• Now, I want you to go in your Bibles if you would please, to 2nd Samuel chapter 5 and I want to just show you several passages and I want you to note particularly what is said concerning God preserving David. Notice 2nd Samuel chapter 5 and verse 10. 2nd Samuel 5 look in verse 10. Notice what the scripture says. "And David went on and grew great. And the Lord of hosts was with him." God was with him. Look, if you would, in 2 Samuel chapter 8 and verse 6. 2 Samuel chapter 8 and verse 6. "Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus. And the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David, whithersoever he went." Skip down to verse 14. "And he, that is David, put garrisons in Edom. Threw out all Edom, put he garrisons. And all they of Edom became David's servants. And the LORD preserved David, whithersoever he went." Turn, if you would, to 1 Chronicles chapter 18. 1 Chronicles chapter 18, over just a few books.

  #48 | 43:54 to 45:31 | cleaned

• 1 Chronicles chapter 18 and verse 6. 1 Chronicles 18 and verse 6. "Then David put garrisons in Syria, Damascus. And the Syrians became David's servants and brought gifts. Thus the Lord preserved David, whithersoever he went." And then again in verse 13, "And he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David's servants. Thus the Lord preserved David, whithersoever he went." Why did David not fall at the hands of the enemies? Because God delivered him not into his hands. Do you realize the multitudinous enemies that David had? And the multitudinous enemies that we have? And the only one who can preserve us and protect us is God Himself. Have you realized the enemies can't do one stinking thing if God's hand is upon us? You know, David summed up his protection, his preservation, and his survival in a very beautiful way in Psalm 140 and verse 7.

  #49 | 45:32 to 47:15 | cleaned

• Listen, just let me quote it. In Psalm 140, in verse 7, David said, "O God, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle." Notice, "Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle." Nothing can get through to harm or hurt us if God is sovereignly protecting us. Let me make some applications. The first one is this. It is God's providential and protecting hand that covers us and enables us to survive wars, incidents, and everyday mistakes of life.

  #50 | 47:17 to 48:07 | cleaned

• You know, we do things without thinking. And sometimes they're very costly mistakes. Alice and I had a friend who was an overall man that could do anything. He was a builder. He was a handyman. He had a swimming pool. And he went out back in his swimming pool had an electric drill, was drilling a hole in the concrete, I guess to put some type of handle in, and drilling in the concrete, the bit got hot. Without even thinking, he stuck the bit into the water to cool it.

  #51 | 48:12 to 49:06 | cleaned

• It was immediately electrocuted, burst his heart, died instantly. He knew better. But he did it without thinking. I'm just simply saying, you and I should constantly and consistently praise God for our lives, His protection, and the fullness of our life, and the continuance of His protection. I have heard of soldiers that survived serious and dangerous battles when many of their friends were killed and consequently some of them felt guilty because they had survived and their friends did not survive and somehow they figured that they should have died with their friends. And since they didn't die, consequently they're loaded with guilt. May I suggest something? Instead of being loaded with guilt, you should be loaded with a heart full of praise and thanksgiving unto God that God sovereignly covered your head in the day of battle and protected you and preserved you and provided for you.

  #52 | 49:06 to 50:24 | cleaned

• He obviously left you alive for a reason and that reason is to honor and to glorify Him. You see, David understood all of this. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 22. 2 Samuel chapter 22. And I want you to look. This is a wonderful, beautiful passage. Let's read several verses. Please understand now, David was a warrior. David was a soldier. Look in 2 Samuel 22 beginning with verse 1.

  #53 | 50:26 to 51:08 | cleaned

• "And David spake unto the Lord, the words of this song, in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all of his enemies and out of the hand of Saul," he said, by the way, there's no guilt here now, he said, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, the God of my rock, in Him will I trust, He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my high tower and my refuge, my Savior, Thou savest me from violence. I will call on the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine enemies. When the waves 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 or preceded me in my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried to my God and He did hear my voice out of His temple and"

  #54 | 51:08 to 52:04 | cleaned

• "my cry did enter into His ears." I want you to skip down now to verse 17. Look what David says that God did for him. "He sent from above. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them that hated me, for they were too strong for me. They prevented or preceded me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay." Now skip down to verse 47. "The Lord liveth and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me, and that bringeth me forth from my enemies."

  #55 | 52:04 to 52:48 | cleaned

• "Thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me. Thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name. He is the tower of salvation for his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed, unto David and to his seed forevermore." Notice if you would, there's no guilt in this psalm. And by the way, I called it a psalm, for that's exactly what it is. You will find it recorded again in Psalm 18, where David is praising God and thanking God for his providential protection and blessing. I want you to understand that survival and protection and preservation of life are not something for which we should be guilty. It is something for which we should be thankful and constantly and continually praising our God.

  #56 | 52:48 to 53:46 | cleaned

• For He has protected us and He has provided us. Here's a second application. Think about this. Consider this truth. If God sovereignly protects us in this life, shall not His divine preservation and protection continue with us into the next life. I quoted this passage last night to my mother. You know it. "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He restoreth my soul."

  #57 | 53:47 to 54:26 | cleaned

• And then David went on to say this. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me." Listen, you know there's a truth in the Bible and that truth is that we are preserved in Christ Jesus. Jude 1 and verse 1, the Bible says this, "Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, the brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Christ Jesus." We're preserved. We're not pickled. Pickled is with brine and vinegar.

  #58 | 54:27 to 55:09 | cleaned

• Preserving is with sweetness, with honey and sugar. I want you to look. I can't quote it, but I do want you to turn to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and look at verse 23. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 23. It's a wonderful, wonderful verse. You need to memorize it. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 23. Look at it. Look what the Apostle Paul says. "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly."

  #59 | 55:10 to 55:44 | cleaned

• W-H-O-L-L-Y. That means totally, completely. "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." By the way, notice verse 24, it follows, "Faithful is he who calleth you who also will do it." What will God do us? He will preserve us unto His kingdom. Our Lord has never lost any of His sheep and He never shall. He shall see the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied.

  #60 | 55:44 to 56:30 | cleaned

• And His preservation comes to light in our lives as He enables us to persevere in repentance, faith, and obedience. He will see that we continue in the faith.

  #61 | 56:32 to 56:45 | cleaned

• Now there's one last passage. I want you to turn to the book of Numbers chapter 6. Because here's the third application. In light of the message today, in light of God's providential protection and preservation, even in the times of battles, you need to consider the blessing of God that God gave to His people in the Old Testament. And you will find it in Numbers chapter 6, beginning there with verse 22. Look at it. Numbers chapter 6 and verse 22.

  #62 | 56:46 to 57:26 | cleaned

• God said to Moses, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, On this wise you shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." Now watch. "The Lord bless thee," and watch. "Keep thee." God not only blesses us, God keeps us. If we are being kept by God, all is well, for He is faithful. He will keep us.

  #63 | 57:28 to 58:22 | cleaned

• In His hand, we are safe. He will not only bless us, He'll protect us. Our protection is only in the sovereign God of heaven and earth. That is true individually, familially, ecclesiastically, and nationally. God is our protector. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee and we thank You. And we acknowledge, Lord, so many times You've protected us in sickness and in mistakes and in our own stupidity. You've allowed us to live unto this day.

  #64 | 58:24 to 59:20 | cleaned

• And life is Your blessing. And You've enabled us to enjoy each other and our friends and our family, our food, You've given to us. You've protected us. Lord, we want to acknowledge today that everything we are, we are by Your grace. Everything we have, we have by Your grace. Everything we ever will be and ever will have is only by Your grace. And we acknowledge today that every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, and we give Thee the praise for all things, in and through our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen. Amen.

  #65 | 59:22 to 1:00:13 | cleaned

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T15:38:12Z