In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of crying out to the Lord in times of need. He shares a personal testimony of a doctor who was also a minister and how he experienced the power of God's response to his cry. The speaker encourages Christians to hold onto this simple truth - that when they cry out to God, He hears them. He also highlights the assurance of victory in the Christian faith, even when the journey may be slow.

Let us pray, a prayer of death for freedom's sake, of hope for future days. America, America, America, where we go, America, you're strong, America, you're strong, America, you're strong. Oh, beautiful for space and time, Forever we shall reign O purple and gold We shall always be For thee, our home and native land And we shall always Forever we shall reign Forever we shall reign For thee, our home and native land And we shall always Now I'd just like to say that you have a wonderful country, and it's wonderful to sing about America. But we have the freedom of giving out the gospel to all the corners of each one of the states. And how thankful each one of us Christians should be that we can worship, as the Lord directed. And may we even pray for our President and for the officials of our government, that they might be kinder to the Lord. Truly, we see much sin in our country, and we would not deny this. But you know, each one of us Christians, we need to live more for the Lord Jesus Christ. That the world might see an example in us as believers, setting forth what America was founded on, to serve the true and living God. May each one of us pray for our wonderful country, that it might remain free. Our next song that we're going to sing is in the twinkling of an eye. I don't know what Jim's trying to do, but as usual, I'm about to get in trouble again, and I'm going to have to make some type of announcement. It's getting tough to the best. What was that about the apostles, Jim? Something about the score of the ballgame that everybody was waiting to hear, I believe. And if he wasn't with you, you might as well have told him, Jim, that I wasn't there. And we've got to get that off our chest. Well, they said the unmarried fellows, I don't believe there was even an engaged fellow on the team, beat the married men ten to three. No wonder he didn't want to make that announcement. I don't blame him. Well, I'll tell you, we're going to be able to get back at them tonight down in the gym. I think the Fading Fossils, I don't know who that is, but I'm going to find out pretty soon, are supposed to play the flaming youths tonight in basketball, I believe, and maybe we can tip the scales the other way. I hope all of you will be able to stand by and root for the Fading Fossils, of course. They'll need it, I'm sure. You know, I have to start these announcements by saying there's just no people on the face of the earth like God's people. I don't just find that out at Bristol, I find it wherever I go. Now, there's a cantankerous one every now and then among God's people, but they don't come to Bristol, though not many of them anyway, and I don't run into them anyplace. Now, it's been my privilege, I've been saved twenty-seven years, it's been my happy privilege to be associated with the Lord's people all that time, and I'll say it's been my privilege and responsibility sometimes to have to handle some problems that come up occasionally here and there. They're not always easy to handle, but it's a lot easier to handle them with God's people than it is with anybody else. Now, I want to tell you, it wasn't real easy for us to have to pass on that announcement last Sunday regarding a rate increase in the conference, which we really had no control of, and it came after the conference was set, but I'll tell you the response has been something gratifying and encouraging, and I don't know how the conveners can say to you how much we appreciate the spirit in which you took that and the way in which you've come through with it. It's been absolutely wonderful. We've certainly tried to make it as easy as we will still on anyone or couples or families. That was our intention, that if there was any hardship whatsoever, it was not going to keep you from staying in the conference or from coming back again, but the response has simply been wonderful, and we appreciate it a great deal, and I just think it's another proof of the spirit of those who come here and the way they want to enjoy the conference. We thank you from the depths of our hearts for the way you handle that situation. Now, two or three announcements. The tour tomorrow for the Glass Company over in Kingsport, there's been a great interest in that. We have over 150 signs to go over. Now, we have to make two slight changes in it. One is that because of the last-minute arrangements, and this being a holiday, the cafeteria here and we understand that, could not provide basket lunches for that minute. They thought there'd be maybe 50, and they had enough on hand to do that, but they cannot accommodate us. They want to, but can't tomorrow, and so we will not be able to promise those of you who plan to go sandwiches and the like when you get there. That is, we can't provide, but you can for yourself if you'd like, and so the tour is still on for all those who would like to go. There will be a place where we can eat together, and there will be vending machines for sandwiches and cold drinks and so forth, and I don't think it will cost any of us very much, and you can just come back and do like we do anyway. Just make up for it and load up downstairs in the cafeteria when we get back. Wouldn't hurt us to miss a meal, some of us, but anyway, that'll be in the morning at 1030. Now, no children under 12. That's not our arrangement. Please listen to that. That is the arrangement of the glass factory, and it's just a rule of the company, no children under 12. That means those 12 and over can go. Under that, we cannot take them on this particular tour. Now, we're having a little difficulty out front with the parking. Usually, we say absolutely no parking out front, but a few people have been given special permission for a special reason to park out front. Please, everyone else, if you will, when the meeting's over, make sure your car is down on the city street. Our parking official, the executive, Mr. Parrish, says that there are a few places around behind on the back road. He also says there's enough cars parked in the no-parking area, though, where the trucks are supposed to unload, the kitchen, that they'll probably take up that space when they move the night after this service. Now, tomorrow night at about 610 in this auditorium, by request, a tape will be played that our brother H.G. McKay, a sermon that he preached in Greensboro recently on the Middle East situation, which is certainly timely with our Bible discussions and so forth. I urge you to try to be here to hear it. That'll be right after supper tomorrow night in this auditorium for those of you that would like to hear this interesting and, I think, outstanding tape. Now, the bookstore will be open tonight, spiritual food there, and then down to the snack bar for a little physical food if you still need it. Pallet night is Thursday night after the meeting, and I need to know immediately those who plan to participate. Let us know by tomorrow if you can. Now, the Wednesday night youth night has been postponed indefinitely. We aren't sure we will have that this year, where they've been going down to the library auditorium with our speakers for a special youth night. We're not certain that we will have that this year, so we are planning a very special night in here for everyone tomorrow night after the service. We have a young brother with us from Canada who simply has an outstanding set of slides that also coincides with this Middle East situation. It's a tour that was taken to the Holy Land—Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and a few other beautiful countries surrounding that. He does an outstanding job in presenting this so you feel like you're there, and I don't know if I'll ever get to the Holy Land over there, so I'd like to see it now, and you may want to see it, too. This is open tomorrow night after the service for everyone. There are lots of tracts out in the lounge to my right, free of charge, put there by the Christian Missions Press of Waynesboro. Take them and go downtown, and instead of shopping too long, give out a few tracts. The Lord bless it. Take them freely. They are there without charge. And it goes all the way down to the youth night. And we have this chorus here that we all know. They say he is one fool. I appreciate very much the cool weather that has been with us the last day or two, and a little practical tip. Some come in and are a little more cold-natured, and they forget, and sit near the window, and you get a little cool, and then they want the window down, and then that means those who need the fresh air get a little too hot. All we can say is that you just sort of have to learn to sit where it's most comfortable, and if these fans bother you, we're sorry, but when it's 90 degrees outside, we've got to have a little fresh air. And so if they bother you, I'd suggest they're a little further back, over the middle, and then that way everybody's happy. So that's a little tip. Let's keep the fresh air coming to satisfy some of us all the time, and all of us some of the time. That's the best we can do. It's fine. It's the ministers that are satisfying us all, all the time, I believe, happy. Well, it's a privilege again to have our Dr. Carl Armadine, who we've been enjoying very much, to bring a message to us at this time. Things I'd like to do before I launch into my subject for tonight, one is to thank those of you who have been so solicitous and inquiring about my health. The fact that I move around slowly, and don't do a lot of things that others do, is simply an attempt to carry out some of the commands of my doctors. In fact, when they look at my program, they just throw up their hands and say, it's no use. But this is one reason why I have to take it easy. I just had a little setback a little over a year ago, and we learned then how easy it is to, as it were, end one's days. So we thank the Lord for your prayers and for the way we are sustained. The second thing I'd like to mention grows out of our Bible study this afternoon, and the questions which have been asked me since, some on the way from the Bible study, and some since then in my room, and so on. I'd just like to refer to a few things which appeared in the United States News and World Report for April the 17th of this year, that's a few weeks before the Blitzkrieg. It says here, after nearly 20 years of explosive growth, Israel suddenly finds its future threatened on three fronts. A recession has hit nearly every segment of the economy, throwing 7 to 10 percent of the labor force out of work. At the same time, serious social problems are growing out of rifts within the Jewish community and between the nation's Jews and its 290,000 Arabs, 11 percent of the population. In addition, there is a constant military threat from some of Israel's 40 million Arab neighbors, financed in part by Russia. Of course, that we've all been aware of as a result of the news about this last war. But now, I'd like to read another little item here. The whole article is very interesting, but Israel's officials say that the sagging economy is largely the result of two developments which came simultaneously. First, a drop in numbers of immigrants, and a government decision to deflate by cutting some credits and financing. As a result, construction long geared to a new housing for immigrants dropped by about half. The number of large industrial concerns have had to slow down their production lines. From a peak of 240,000 newcomers who arrived in 1949, the number decreased to 29,000 in 1965, and the rate is said to be still falling. Relatively few immigrants, the number is generally estimated about 8,000, have come from the United States. Many of these have retained their American citizenship. Now, this leads me to a few remarks and observations. Don't let's be misled by Israel's present success, because it's very questionable whether she'd be able to support it. Her best men are now at the front, and how long she can sustain them on limited resources, that's a great question. That she will try to bargain and retain at least the holy city, at least to make it available to all nations and all faiths, that may come out of this. But don't let us be hasty in our judgments, because a lot of things can happen by next week. A lot of things. And she's in a bad way financially. She's in a bad way otherwise. The present success, I'm sure, has not for one moment satisfied the leaders of Israel, for they have expressed their fears concerning it. Let us, on the other hand, pray for Israel. I love to remind you, beloved, of those words of Paul in the epistle to the Romans. He said, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. And we're hoping that God is going to use these present difficulties to stir the heart of many an Israelite to turn again to the sacred scriptures, which under the illumination and blessing of the Holy Spirit, could lead them to a simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now for this evening's meditation, I'm asking you to turn again to the book of the Psalms. Tonight we'll take a look at Psalm 3. Psalm 3. You'll notice that this psalm has a title. It is the first psalm that does have a title. All but about 30 psalms do have titles, and I understand that the Hebrews referred to those without titles as Florphan Psalms. We're very thankful for these titles. In some of the more ancient versions of the scriptures, these titles are actually placed in as verse 1. This is especially true of Martin Luker's German translation, and you will find in concordances such as Pruden's Concordance, for example, will very frequently give you references in the Psalms, one reference as if that were it, and then another one in parentheses. And this is to indicate that they have observed the different ways in which these verses are numbered. Now here we get an historical background for the psalm. The psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son. We know how David, as it were, spoiled this boy of his. Yet how that boy turned on his father, drove him from his throne, and finally came to a sad death by hanging in the bounds of a tree, and Joab put an end to him. All of this, we believe, was part of God's retribution for sins which David had committed. As we were learning this morning, when that role enters the house, you may be sure it's going to uncover every sin that was committed there. God in his discipline is going to deal with them as he did with his servant David, even though he called him a man after his own heart. Now let us look at the psalm that grew out of this experience. We read here, Lord, how are they increased that trouble me? Many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, there's no help for him in God. But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me, my glory and the lifter up of my head. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. I laid me down and slept. I awaked, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God, for thou hast smitten all my enemies upon the cheekbone. Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the Lord. Thy blessing is upon thy people. Now you notice in the psalm he doesn't make any particular reference to Absalom, but rather he looks upon Absalom as being the leader of a great group. And he suddenly discovers that he has more than one enemy. And according to the words in the original language, and Mr. Darby has pointed this out in one of his footnotes to the Psalms, that some of these enemies are enemies from within, as well as enemies from without. And of course that is consistent with the fact that David was driven from his throne by his own son, Absalom. And likewise the child of God today finds himself face to face with his enemy. The path of the child of God has never been a smooth one. This has been the case ever since the days of Cain and Abel. All down through those years we notice that those who were true children of God had a hard fight. It was a constant struggle against opposing forces. And one of the worst of these forces of course is, as we've already said, a force from within. We hear the remarks about the world and the flesh and the devil. And we're likely to put all the blame on the world and the devil and forget that we have a lot to blame ourselves for. For enemy number one is right within your bosom. Yes, these are the enemies. And the devil is careful to take notice of this. And he tries to overawe us with the number of the enemies, which of course he would claim as his followers. And I can remember how I was tempted to be overawed by this when I became a Christian some years ago. I thought to myself, how in the world am I ever going to face all these things that are against one. The factory in which I worked at the time was filled with cursing and swearing and obscene men and women too. And how to live in a situation like this. My father was superintendent of the shop itself. I worked in the office. And I remember going to Dad one day and telling him, I said, Dad, I don't think I can live a Christian life in this kind of an environment. And he persuaded me that this was the very best place for me to give a testimony to the reality of my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He used an expression which I've never been yet been able to put to the test. But he said to me this. He said, Son, the diamond shines the brightest in the coal mine. I had thought of getting away to some place where I would be surrounded by a lot of Christian friends on whom I could lean. And who would be my support and would help me to live a Christian life all the time forgetting that God had given me as his child, had given me his blessed Holy Spirit who is more powerful than all the Christians that ever lived. So that if I had to stand alone, and I have had to stand alone, that he would be there and one with God is a majority. And this, dear friends, is one thing I've learned from this. But I remember in student days, giving witness for the Lord Jesus on the university campus. A young fellow with whom I went to school. And one day he said, Armading, he said, Aren't you up here to get a liberal education? I said, Yes, I am. Well, he said, How much longer are you going to fool around with that little bunch of funny mentalists that he referred to our Christian friends? He said, Why don't you get on the bandwagon with the majority? I looked at him, I said, Bob, I was with the majority once. He said, What do you mean? I said, Do you remember the story of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus? Yes, he said, I learned it in Sunday school. I said, Who was predominant at the cross of Calvary? Was it the majority or the minority? He had to admit it was the majority. It was the majority that said, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. The little minority stood by and waited. And I said to my friend, I said, Bob, I was with the majority long enough. But you know, while it looks as though I'm with the minority even today, and sometimes appearances deceive us, especially those of us who lived in communities, for example, like the city of Wheaton, Illinois, where I spent 14 years in service in the college. You get the idea that we're living in a sort of a Christian atmosphere. But you realize, friends, when you look at the map of the world, the missionary map of the world, we Christians are in the minority. We're hopelessly outnumbered by the Muslims, for example, and the Buddhists and others. Hopelessly outnumbered by them. If we are to win by sheer force of numbers, we've lost the battle already. But, thank God, our Lord Jesus Christ said that he was going to build his church and the gates of Hades were not going to prevail against it. And we're on the winning side. We're more than conquerors through him that loved us. And so there's no defeatism here, not a bit of it. Even though the enemy does try to make a display of the numbers on his side. But it's not only the numbers, but it's what they say. You notice it says here, they say, many there be which say of my soul, there's no help for him in God. They know it's a lie when they say it. Because they've seen God help his children, if they're aware at all of the literature which is in the world today. And which is available to them. And the testimonies of Christians again and again to the wonderful help that God has given them. Yes, there is help and they know it. They know it. But they try to make us believe that it isn't so. And you remember, there was a great leader who has now gone to his reward. He said one day, repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it. And the tragedy of it is my friends, that the devil repeats this lie in the ears of God's people and says there's no help for you in God. And pretty soon we find ourselves agreeing with him. But the psalmist didn't. You notice there's a little word seal at the end of this verse here. I never like to leave this out. This word tells us to stop and think. This word tells us to pause a while after a statement like this. Remember years ago, Dr. Lewis Perry Chaffer, founder of the Dallas Theological Seminary, was addressing us on one of the psalms and he came to this word seal and told us that it meant pause. And told of a great big raw bone country creature who was trying to make this clear to his audience. And he leaned over the pulpit and hung his big hands over the pulpit and said, Brethren, this word seal means pause. And they never forgot. Now, it isn't so far fetched as you think. Because it does mean the lifting of the hands away from the strings of the instrument, or as it might be in the case of these two instruments, from the keys. So that it does have to do with our pause. But now to the positive side and how we thank God for these conjunctions of contrast that we find in the book. In this third verse, but thou, O Lord. And he's got three things to say about the Lord here. And the first of these is, but thou, O Lord, art a shield for me. Or as Mr. Darby translates it, thou art a shield about me. There's no place of them in my whole being that is exposed when God protects. God protects. You know, for many years when I read that passage in Ephesians 6, above all taking the shield of faith, I thought that that shield was made of my faith. One day as I tried to use my faith as a shield, and I found it was more like a seer than a shield. I said there must be something wrong with this. If there isn't anything wrong with the translation, there must be something wrong with my interpretation. Then it dawned on me that there were two ways of rendering that. You could say the shield of faith as we have it in our Bible, or a little more difficult to say, especially if you have a flat list, but to say faith's shield. Now it's not a shield made of faith, but it's the shield that faith takes. It's faith's shield. And faith's shield is of none other than the person. God describes himself in just this way when he speaks to Abram. He says, Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. What do you say, in what sense could God be a shield to me? Well, perhaps a little illustration of how a person could be a shield to us. You know, of course, from our childhood days, I would like to put our parents, our father, our mother, our older brother between ourselves in some impending danger. In that sense they became a shield for us. But I think I'm thinking of one night, I was still working at my desk. In those days I used to work till close to midnight every night and get up again between 4.30 and 5 o'clock in order to get the work of the day done. The telephone rang and a woman's voice at the other end says, Oh, I'm in sore trouble, sir. I need help just now. I tried to find out what her trouble was, but she said she wouldn't tell it over the telephone. So she said, I must see you immediately. I was just a little bit suspicious. My car was still standing out in front of the house. I could have gone right out and jumped into it, gone up to the place. She lived about two miles from our home. But it just occurred to me that I better take my shield with me. So I went in the bedroom where my dear wife was sweetly asleep. And I gently awakened her. I'm not going to tell you how, because I'm sure you know. But anyhow, she woke up. Much is to say, why disturb me now? I explained to her about this call and I said, Darling, I need you tonight. Without another word, she got up and dressed. The two children were asleep in their cribs. We had no baby sitter to leave them with, but we left them with the Lord. And when I was in the car, this woman passed. When she saw my wife with me, I could see a change from over her countenance. I learned afterwards that she had it in for me, because I knew certain things about her that she didn't like. I wasn't publishing them, but she'd like to get something on me so that she could blackmail me. And I learned afterwards from a reliable source that she had a photographer in the building and she was going to put me in a compromising position and have him snap the shot. But my shield was there. Ah, what a wonderful thing. Yes, a person can become a shield. But now for you single people, those of you who have never known the joys of having such a companionship, or who have been deprived of it like your speaker tonight, there is a shield, and that is the Lord himself. You put him between yourself and that impending danger and you will find it really works. It really does. Many a man has tried to undo us until he heard us preaching the gospel. I remember a case of a student at Moody Bible Institute, a boy by the name of Joe Honkey. Joe was on an assignment to the south part of Chicago and was driving back late at night. He stopped his car for a red light. The door of the car opened and a man jumped in, put a pistol in Joe's side and said, this is it. Drive over to the curb. The light changed and Joe drove over to the curb and this fellow kept poking a pistol in his side and demanding what he had. And Joe looked at him. He said, sir, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. In other words, if you kill me, I'm the winner. This so disarmed this bandit that he took his gun down and said to Joe, what's that you say? And Joe repeated the text very slowly. For me to live is Christ. To die is gain. The fellow was thoroughly disarmed. Joe preached the gospel to him. After some 30 minutes the fellow said, I don't know what to say. He said, you don't know how bad I've been, so on and so forth. And Joe persuaded him that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He saved the chief. And Joe had the joy of leading that bandit to Christ that night. But the Lord was Joe's shield. See that? Oh, my young friends, this really works. Some of us have tried this out for over half a century. You know what we're talking about. See? We really know. We're not novices. We hadn't just arrived here yesterday. But it's more than that. You know, I like to think that there's something more than just protection here. There's also an exaltation. Look at this. Thou art a shield for me and my glory, the one in whom I boast. And the lips are up of my head. I don't have to go down of my head down as if I was ashamed of being a Christian. But I can go around with my head up because I know that everything that once stood against me is forever settled. And I'm ready to meet my Lord at any moment. And that's more than they can say. That's more than they can say. Friends, when I talk to some of these atheistic philosophers, I say, listen, I'm not going to try to argue with you about philosophy. I've read a little bit of it. I've read enough of it, dear friends, to know how unsettling it can be, what a subtle thing it is. I've read philosophy by the hour and then had to turn again to the simple pages of the holy word of God to quiet my soul. And I say to these philosophers, when your philosophy can do for you what this precious book does for me, then come along and talk. Yes, the lips are up of my head. Friends, I don't know what a millionaire feels like, but I try sometimes to imagine what it must be to have everything that you could possibly need and I've got it in Christ. I am a spiritual millionaire. I can lift up my head with joy and look the whole world in the face. But now somebody says, yes, but how do things work out in your life? I notice that the psalmist here talks about the crying to the Lord in verse 4, yes? Here we get a little testimony in verses 4, 5, and 6. And I'd just like to dwell on these for a moment to show you how sometimes the way to victory is a bit slow, but it's sure. You notice what he says here in this verse, I cried unto the Lord with my voice. And what happened? And he heard me. My dear friends, that's the simplest, briefest apologetic that any Christian can give for his Christian faith. When you can't fall back on anything else, you ought to be able to fall back on this, that you cried and he heard. Some years ago I had to consult a doctor who was also an ordained Baptist minister. He was a physician. One day he looked out in the office and saw me sitting there. There were a number of patients waiting. He popped back into his office a moment and then came out with a loose leaf book. He said, Armandine, he said, while you're waiting, maybe you'd like to look over my prayer book. I never knew Baptists could have a prayer book. My people were Lutherans to begin with and they had a prayer book. And I early obtained a copy of the Anglican prayer book from my own spiritual prophet. I love to read those prayers in that book. Many of them, I question some of the theology about them, but oh, they did furnish me with ways and means of speaking to God. I thank God for that, but I never knew of a Baptist to have a prayer book. When I opened it, I was more amazed still because it was a loose leaf book with things written in the doctor's own handwriting. This is what I discovered. On each page he had put down something he had prayed for. The date when he first prayed for it, the time that he repeated the prayer, and then down at the bottom of the page, page after page, page after page, answers. What a prayer book. This was terrific. When I got into his office a little later on, I said, Doctor, I said, in the first place, whatever gave you the idea, because you know, I was brought up among a group of Christians that were always asking for chapter and verse. You know that kind of folk? Yes sir, I had to have chapter and verse for this. So he said, Well, I've got chapter and verse. The Bible says continuing prayer. That's what I've done. And watching the same with Thanksgiving, that's what I'm doing. Well, he had a scripture for his prayer book. Well now, I said, Now, what use do you get out of this besides what you're doing just now with me? Well, he said, Every once in a while I get a skeptic in this office, and I just let him look over this book. You know, they're thoroughly disarmed. They were thoroughly disarmed before they ever got into the doctor's office. Because here he had a hundred and one proofs that God was alive and that God answered prayer. This is a wonderful thing. I cried, He heard. But you say, Yes, but he doesn't always answer. No, I know that. But you notice what it says in the fifth verse? I laid me down and slept. I awaked. He doesn't say, The Lord answered me. But he says, The Lord sustained me. Sometimes he says no. But oh, how we thank God for that sustaining grace. Just as in the case of the Apostle Paul, who besought him to remove that thorn in the flesh, he besought the Lord's grace. And the answer was, My grace is sufficient for thee. And beloved, sometimes this is one of the best advertisements for our Christian faith that there is. When we can demonstrate to the world what it means to take certain sorrows and griefs and sicknesses and not crack up under them. Oh, when I think of the number of Christians who have cracked up, and some of them are in mental hospitals today, how much different it might have been if they had just drawn upon those sources of grace, a grace that sustains and keeps it up. Friends, we've had enough to cry. I could give you a long list of things here tonight, but I'm not going to do it. We have been through sorrow. We have been through poverty. We have been through persecution. On two occasions I have stood in the circle of my would-be assassins on the mission field, both in Central America and South America, crying for my blood. We know what it means. We know what it means to be covered with dirt from head to foot. We know what it means to bleed from stones and rocks and what have you. We also know what it means to be sustained in that kind of a situation. I challenge any young man or young woman here tonight who feels that life has no challenge for him in days like these. These challenges are still there. And the enemy's forces are getting stronger and stronger in these lands. We'll go and stand up against them in the power and strength that the Lord gives. There are battles to be fought, and thanks be to God, he gives us the strength to fight them. And we can come out victorious. And as we read in the sixth verse of our psalm, I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about. This is the language of one who knows God as his shield, as his glory, as the lift up of his head, as the one who answers prayer and sustained by his grace. We challenge the world to find us a parallel to this. They haven't got anything like it. The best they can offer you these days is a tranquilizer. And here's something far better than that. Far better than that. Again, we remind you, dear friends, you didn't arrive yesterday. We've been on the road a while. But now, you see, the psalm still closes as if he's still afraid. He says in verse seven, Arise, O Lord, save me, O my God. I'd like you to notice the way it's put here, at least in our authorized version. We have trouble with the tense in Hebrew. Not quite such a simple matter as it is in English to determine what the tense should be. For example, Mr. Darby puts verse four in the future tense. But there is argument one way or the other. But I like the way this is put in our King James Version here when he says, Thou hast smitten. Notice he doesn't say thou wilt, but thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheekbones. Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. In other words, dear friends, he sees his foes as already defeated. You may walk around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But oh, you just need to remind him of things like these and he'll soon leave you. He's a defeated foe. Yes, dear friends, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ is a mighty victor. Mighty victor over death. Mighty victor over the tomb. Sits at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens tonight. And you and I who believe in him are called more than conquerors to deliver. And this accounts for the last verse of the psalm. Salvation to the Lord. Salvation here in the sense of deliverance from these enemies. It's of the Lord. And I like to think, dear friends, that this really looks on to the day when all battles will be over. And we'll join our victorious Lord in heaven. And I'm thinking particularly as I speak tonight of some of my younger friends here. You may have had a series of defeats in your spiritual life. Again and again, you've just been knocked out. Perhaps you're too ashamed even to admit it, but there it is. Listen, friend. Oh, to get back in his presence. Just confess the whole thing to him. And lean hard from his arm of almighty strength. I can promise you, dear friends, as one who has been a teenager, who confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal savior as a teenager, who went through all the process of the teenager's life, who has had children, and now has 17 grandchildren, some of whom are in the teenager's stage as well. And they sometimes come around and share their feelings with their grandfather. Wonderful to pass on to these younger people these words of encouragement that there is no need for defeat. No need for it, dear friends. You and I can win victories every day. You and I can triumph by his grace. In keeping with this, we're going to turn to hymn number 189. Hymn number 189. Some glorious morning, sorrow will cease. Some glorious morning, all will be peace. Heartaches all ended, school days all done, heaven will open, Jesus will come. Some golden daybreak, Jesus will come. Some golden daybreak, battles all won. He'll shout the victory, break through the blue. Some golden day for me, and you say for you. I'm just wondering tonight. You know, I'm a former freelancer. I'd like to just make it very personal with anybody who can't share in singing this hymn tonight. All that you might know the joy of trusting the Lord Jesus Christ, first of all, as your personal savior, to realize what a wonderful thing it is to have the Holy Spirit dwell within you as your compass and your support. These things await you as you face this question this evening. What am I going to do with Jesus? He is full of power. Hymn number 189. Let us rise. Some glorious morning, I'm going to be free. What a glorious morning, I'm going to be free. I'm going to be free, I'm going to be free.