A Lost Song and a Lost Smile

I count it a privilege and an honor to be back here with the believers and for their conference in Ankeny and thank you for your invitation to the conference. It is good to be here and I mean that with all my heart. I'd like to read with you in the book of Judges please in chapter 5. We're going to stay away from that Samson.

He was a better man blind than he was when he was seen. However, he does get honor in the Hebrews chapter 11. That's interesting.

I noticed recently that his name comes before Jephthah and yet Jephthah comes in chronological order before him. So, I don't want to have to meet him in the coming day and apologize for things I said to him that were true of myself. Anyhow, Judges please in chapter 5. Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinaham on that day saying, Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel when the people willingly offered themselves.

Hear O ye kings, give ear O ye princes. I even I will sing unto the Lord. I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

Lord when thou wentest out of Syria, when thou marchest out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled. Notice how she gives the credit to the Lord. And the heavens dropped and the clouds also dropped water.

The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the God of Israel. In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied. The travelers walked through byways because the highways weren't safe.

As we know, the inhabitants of the villages ceased. They ceased in Israel until I Deborah rose, that I arose a mother in Israel. Now the rest of the chapter is very good for reading, but we're just going to go over please to the Psalms and Psalm 39 please.

Psalm 39 and verse 13. O spare me. That's an interesting expression of the Psalmist.

O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more. Now let me read to you another rendering of that from another version. Psalm 39 verse 13 says, look away from me that I may smile again before I depart and am no more.

If you want to know which that is, that is the ESV. On one condition, do not go from this conference and say that Murray McCandless was reading from the ESV because I'm not. I'm further right from a conference where there's four preachers.

Just while I'm on this, I'm going to stake ground here and make things some clearer. Four preachers and every one read from a different version. Now brethren, if that isn't confusion, please tell me what it is, confusion.

Each one of them reading from a different version of the Bible. I have on my computer like you do likely nine to 11 different versions and I will read them, J.N. Darby a lot, but when it comes to the public reading of the Word of God, I am quite happy, quite satisfied to read from the authorized version. Now if you see that differently, that's up to you.

You want to talk to me about it after, I will talk to you. I've declined places where I know other versions are going to be read and it's sad when I have to write to a fellow younger preacher, this be a couple years ago, and say I had two people write me about your ministry. The only thing that they wrote about was the version used, they didn't know what it was.

And he was using the CSB version. Sad that they couldn't say, but he had a good word. We remember what he said.

All he could remember is that he read from something they couldn't follow in their Bible. If I go to a conference where there's going to be four different versions used that I need to carry four Bibles. If I'm going to give attendance to reading.

So if anybody even is on record or hearing this, and you want to talk to me about it, I'm open to talk about it on one condition. You pray about it before you speak to me about it. And bring the Word of God with you, or at least be able to quote from it, and support your argument.

But I'll just let that go from the way. I think I don't have to convince this audience where I stand on things. You know, I'm not trying to stroke a long beard up here.

But you get to this age, you look around. I remember when I went to the Maritime Provinces, I was Joe Jr. And now I'm so glad when Mr. Noel Burden shows up, or somebody at least a little older than I am. I look around, and I'm the oldest fellow there.

Wow, what happened? Where did those years go? But anyhow, let's get back to, let me read that to you. It is good. Look away from me that I may smile again before I depart, and am no more.

Now, again, we could read some. This, that'll suffice for now. I might read more later.

What I want to speak on this afternoon, with God's help, two things that are lost. They go together. A lost song, and a lost smile.

There are a lot of Christians today, and just to be pleasant and nice, they smile. But behind that smile is a broken heart. Behind that smile is tears.

I've met with believers, and talked with believers. You know the best smiles I've seen have come from a face that was bathed in tears. I'm reminded of what Mr. Jim Flanagan said when he was asked to visit a home in England.

He was over there visiting. They heard he was there, and this couple asked him to come and visit them. Jim went to visit them.

Keep in mind, both of them were blind. They kept house themselves, and Jim said it politely, it would have looked like it. And there was odor.

There was everything. He read with them. He visited with them.

Oh, they said, Mr. Flanagan, you ought to sing with us. I says, sure. He said, what do you want to sing? What do you think a couple like that would want to sing? You know what they wanted? Count your blessings.

Mr. Flanagan said, I couldn't sing it. I started it. They carried it through.

I sang with them. They didn't sing with me. I walked away, he said, from that home humbled.

They meant every word they were singing. And we've all been in these circumstances. You know, we can stand here in the meeting in the assemblies and sing, and I hope you do.

About the last song. Now listen, some are here and they know I've done it in their home assembly. Got up on more than one occasion.

I said, brethren, we're at about a four out of ten. Do you think you could ramp it up to seven or eight out of ten? This is terrible. And they did.

They responded to it. We do it with children. Come on.

We say, hey, come on, sing. Sing better. We need to do it with Christians.

But you know, there are times when it is hard to sing. Now some are here from Prince Edward Island. I was in Moncton, Moncton, New Brunswick, my home province, and I got a call.

I hope I never get another one like that. It was to go to the Moncton Hospital and visit a young man that had fallen off of a roof and was on life support. And they called and asked our Tim, is your dad around? We want to see him.

Give me the room number. Tim met me, went to the hospital. Don't put yourself in this situation.

He's a young man, so useful. One of our best. Lifeless on support.

His dear widow, or his wife, at that time, holding his hand. His mother literally throwing herself across the chest saying, Timmy, don't leave us. So they wanted to sing.

I said, would you like to sing? It is well with my soul. Brethren, it's the poorest singing I ever did. They did better than I did.

And we did his funeral two days later. Those are hard situations. So my point is this today.

As Christians, you know, we can, we can sing. It's nice to sing. I always remember, I think the other day, my mother used to say, I heard you singing back on the tractor.

That's where he had these cabs with all the music going and everything else, brethren. Mike Van Mill and some of these older ones know what I'm talking about. I drove a Farmall M when it took both feet to put the clutch in and put it in second gear.

And mom said to dad, I don't know why I'm even getting on this. Is he safe? He says, as long as he doesn't take out the neighbor's fence, we're all right. So anyhow, that's how we started.

But you sang, okay? Now, I got the earbuds in. I would be just as guilty. I can't, I can't accuse you of that.

But my point is this. If we could leave the Ankeny Conference singing from just a little higher note, and if we could sing with a smile, it's hard to sing and no smile. And that was the psalmist.

He had lost his smile. He didn't want to die like that. And Israel had lost their song.

And Deborah arises and leads them in songs. Beautiful. The words, I'm not going into the detail.

I'm just giving you the overrun if you like. I mean, as we look back over COVID days, I don't know about you, but I found it very hard to sing through a mask, stupid things. You know what I mean? You're trying to sing.

Come on, you can't sing in your own face. It's terrible. So we're so glad when those things got, we could go back to singing again.

So it's nice to go into an assembly and hear them sing. Yes, hear them sing. So let me speak to some of you today.

You get back home to assembly, put all you have into it. There's other things you put all you have to put it into your song. Let them know you're a happy people.

God says we're happy people. And by and large, what we have our disappointments, our heartbreaks, our challenges with our family, friends, or whoever it might be, let us sing. Okay, so Deborah, she's the one that leads this song.

And she knew exactly what the problem was. I mean, if I'd have read the earlier chapters, you could see that they had lost their song. Now I know some of the theologians are going to disagree with me that angels didn't sing from Job, Job chapter 38.

But for the sake of preaching, they sang, okay? But they lost their song. You ever read them singing again? No, not until you get to the Revelation. And there's a restored earth, and there's righteousness.

They're singing again. So here we are, brethren and sisters, people gathered to his name. And with all our failures, with all the faults that we have, we are still a people that could sing his praises.

You can never and will never convince me that it doesn't delight the heart of our God to hear his people sing. Sisters that are so good at helping us sing along in the meetings and that sort of thing. And in the home, don't lose your song.

Some of the older ones will remember Mr. Bert Dobson. And I had to take him to a ministry meeting in Grand Bend one night. And he said, he had a song.

He said, Can you start the hymn for me? I said, Well, Mr. Dobson, I'm sure there's men there that start the hymns, but you can start. No, he said, I can't start a hymn. A gospel preacher, I have a guy who says, go along in the car.

What do you do? He said, I just hum along. Well, we got there, another brother started the hymn, but I thought it was a good way. He says, I just hum along.

That's what you've got to do. Do it. Okay.

Because a lot of Christians have lost their joy. And you know, when you lose your joy, you lose your strength. The joy of the Lord is our strength.

So brethren and sisters, you're not going to feel stronger because I'm talking to you about it this afternoon. You're going to feel stronger when that revival takes place in your soul. As our brethren were speaking on that this morning, we noticed that that revival starts first with me.

Revive me, O Lord. Before there can be a collective revival, there has to be an individual revival. That's the reviving of things that we have lost.

And just for the sake of what I'm talking about today, it would be the song. So Deborah began with a song because the nation, I say, had lost their song. I could have read to you, remember where they lamented and they said they, why they'd hung their harps up on willows.

The willows had gathered their harps. And the enemies of the Lord's people, interesting, they didn't say, well, sing us one of your worldly songs. They didn't know any worldly songs.

They said, sing the songs of Zion. That's what the word is used. Let's hear the songs of Zion.

People come to our gospel meetings and on occasion the singing is, we got some good singers at home there. And people say, wow, they don't sing like that in our church. Oh, I said, how come? I said, would it be that they don't have anything to sing about? I says, we have a people, we are a people, have something to sing about and someone to sing to.

Okay. Right? Absolutely. So that was the truth of it.

Now, she's coming to my mind. Some amazing things come to your mind here. The Collingsworth were in Sussex last week and you know, they have a three bus, three or four buses and Mrs. Piano was carried, I don't know if you know this, in an air conditioned trailer.

And she's a beautiful, um, piano player. I didn't go. I was away.

I was somewhere and some of the, a number of the Christians went. It was very good, very commendable. They were dressed properly and they sang appropriate hymns.

So I said to my granddaughter, and that's one of Sarah's girls, I said, how did they ever do without grandpa there to help sing? Oh, grandpa, she says, they wouldn't want you. I said, they wouldn't want me? I can't believe it. Can't believe it.

Mark Byers singing. Yeah, absolutely. Well, I got here from Charlottetown PEI at one time.

There was a birthday party and said to the girl that asked us to go, I said, we're going to sing Happy Birthday. And she said, yeah. So, um, time brought the cake around and we sang Happy Birthday.

I started up and they sang it. Scott McLeod, I think, ducked under the table, but he was there. And we got through it.

And the manager came over. She said, my sir, can I shake your hand? What a beautiful singer. I felt so good.

I could hardly make my way out of that restaurant. That's what she said. I told the kids, I said, you've been hiding this from me all these years.

So brother, I'm just telling you that just as a little of lightness, lightness, if you like. It's interesting that when I was reading when Jehoshaphat went into the battle, remember that battle? It's all over again. Everything looks so dark.

But he gets a word of the Lord from the man beside him, Jehoshaphat was his name. He says, go with singing, go with singing into the battle. That's what they did.

And the Lord gave them a victory. Brethren, if we're going to be victorious in our Christian experience, our Christian living, we're going to have to know what it is to have a song about us. Okay, not just the collective singing and thank God that for the most part, we've been preserved from the coming in of musical instruments and that and accompaniments to help in the singing.

We can thank God for that. Do you know that the biggest bone of contention in evangelical churches today is the songs they sing. I was at a large church for a funeral and talked to one of them there and they said, well, there's two gatherings here on Sunday.

They said, we have a group that comes at nine o'clock. They're the older people. They're here at 1030.

Then the younger people come at 11 o'clock and they're here till 1230. I says, why? Because the older people don't want to sing the songs that the younger people would sing. I said, are they really that bad? She can't believe that they would sing them in a church building.

I don't even know if that man had life. But we are marked. I'm sure I'm speaking for you folks here in Iowa too.

We are marked in our funerals, the funeral directors and that will say, nobody sings like the people from the gospel hall. That's what they tell me back home. I know the directors know them very well.

And let that be people that were marked by singing. Brethren, we're going to do it up there. Isn't it nice we can do it down here and sing about the land we're going to? Absolutely.

It gives joy in my heart. And we thank God for that. And so here's a nation that lost their song.

Maybe I'm speaking to someone in an assembly today. And you have to admit that we kind of lost our song. Things have gone sideways here.

Not what they could be, not what they should be and so on and so on. Don't lose your song. Don't lose your song.

That doesn't mean that you're the choir leader in the assembly or you start the song of that. But sing brethren, sing. There's nothing that can take the place of it.

However, pretty hard to sing if you're not enjoying the Lord. Pretty hard to sing if you're not really in this book. And that's exactly what was happening here in the book of the judges.

It was a low day. I mean, the seed oil came almost to being wiped up if it wasn't for jail in this chapter. Of whom it is said, Blessed art thou above women.

Had there been no jail, the seed oil could have been wiped out. God thought it was preserved. So we can find that there was victory.

In other words, my point is there was moments of thanksgiving and gratefulness to God in spite of the fact there was so much against them. We've got a culture out there, brethren and sisters. I don't have to come this far to tell you this.

We have a culture out there that is anti-Christian, anti-the assembly, anti-everything that you've been taught as a believer in the assembly. They're against it. And some of them would even profess to take the name of the Lord Jesus, and they're opposed to it.

So thank God. Thank God for what we have today. You know, it's a miracle that any of us are here, right? Miracle that any of us are saved.

It wasn't the case while it was the course of events because I was raised in a Christian home. Not at all. It's a miracle.

This company here today. Who said it was a small conference? Don't ever say that. Okay.

I'm reminded of some of these folks from Florida know him. Come to Gospel meetings we're having in a tent. He's a charter accountant, wasn't saved.

Went up to his office to talk to him. His father was a judge in the city. He said, we had a pretty small meeting last night.

I said, it was a big one. Were we in the same tent? Yeah, he said, we were. Come on, Murray.

You don't have to be an accountant to count. What do you mean it was a big one? I said, you were there. Oh.

He said, I know. My wife Dorothy told you what our boy said to me on the way home. I said, no, she didn't tell me.

Well, he got up in between two of us, and that would be the boy that came to Florida. His son, same as his father, said to him, Dad, Mr. McCandless mad at you in that meeting tonight? No, he said, I don't think so. When are you going to get saved anyhow? You know, that never left that man's thinking.

And it's right, we maybe had 12 people in the tent, but he was one of them. Bill got saved. His wife got saved.

And so, whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. We had another one of those nights, but we had another target, as I was called there. He went out the door, he said to me, I know, it was a big night tonight.

It wasn't a big night, big night. Brothers and sisters, it was a big night or day when any of us were saved by God's grace. That's why I've got a song to sing.

Regardless of my ability to sing or not to sing, I've got one I can sing about. I've got one I can sing to that the world knows nothing about. Let our praises be unto him who alone is worthy of it.

So the Proverbs, Solomon had it right. A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken. So the sweet psalmist of Israel wants to be able to smile at the end.

Okay, that's what he's saying. Lord, he says that I might, how does he word that? I think it's like, look away from me that I may smile again before I depart and no more. In other words, there's one who wanted to leave this world knowing that he could still smile.

I know physical things can come in, or people at once smiled physically can't. Situations can come in, but brethren, as long as we are, and just go to a gas station, whatever it is. A man said to me the other day, he's always called me brother.

I said, hey, we're not the same family. I says, here, give him a track. And I says, you come and get saved and be in the same family.

You call me my brother. Well, he says, I don't know you that well, but he says, you're happy when you come in here. I appreciated that.

I'm not boasting of that. I'm sure there's times when maybe I don't look too happy, but I stand here before you today, a very thankful man, very grateful. I thank God for the rich heritage of which I was raised.

I was raised by parents who lived for God's assembly. I had no questions about where their life was and what their life was for. I thank God for that, because I've got friends that weren't raised that way.

Sad to say, I've got relatives that turned their back on that. That poohoo it. That was brutal.

It was commanding and all this nonsense. They're paying the price. They're paying the price.

Oh, that we could just be, be thankful and appreciative of what God has done and what he is able to do and able to do with us. But it's interesting that when you come to Hebrews chapter 11, it's not Deborah that gets the credit. It's Barak.

Yeah. In other words, even though he wasn't a front man, even though he wasn't the vocal man, he was still there and he must have stood absolutely in support of her. There are homes, there are families, and the wife has to take the lead, not because she wants to, but she has to.

Because the man she is married to, nothing against them, but he doesn't just quite support, just can't take that role, but he supports her. So, brethren or sisters, raise your children in a home where mom supports dad and dad supports mom. That's the most important thing that you possibly could do.

So, you know, Deborah doesn't condemn the town not stepping up or stepping out, but being there for Israel when they needed it the most, when they had come together. And they're coming together, of course, for this song that they are going to sing. Jehoshaphat, like I mentioned, look at how he won that victory, went into it singing.

Now, I have no verse to support that David went against Goliath with a song, but somehow he must have been humming something in his soul. That young man as he went over the, down into that valley to face that giant, how else could he have come to it if it wasn't for that, if it wasn't for the importance, like I say, of that. So, to be able to be recognized by our song, don't lose your song.

My point is don't lose your song, don't lose your smile. These Florida people, I don't know if Sam Seltzer's Steakhouse is still in business or not, it's been years since I've been to Florida. I remember going there one time, there's a bunch of us going there and some children and there's a group playing, a pretty, pretty capable group singing outside.

And they were watching the kids come in with me and a couple of the other parents were there and we're waiting for others to come. So I stepped up to them, they're all putting money in the jar. I says, hey, could you sing Jesus Loves Me? He says, you know, you might need your help, man.

He said, I wasn't in Sunday school too long. I said, well, we'll do what we can for you. All right.

He says, I do know the lyrics of it. He said, we'll go Jesus Loves Me. So he started it up.

Those kids sang and everybody, all these ladies out there with their wine glasses, put them down. And when those kids were done singing that song, they got a standing ovation. Wonderful.

Loved it. He said, do you have any others? I said, no, that'll do for tonight. Okay.

Their heads were high enough then. But would that be forgotten by people? No. Imagine going into eternity without Christ.

And you'll remember standing in Sam Seltzer's steakhouse, listening to children sing Jesus Loves Me. This I know. Hardly a sweeter song, brothers and sisters.

Can you sing it today? Yes, you can. No, no, I'm not a preacher who starts hymns on the platform. I sing them with the audience.

But the importance of that, like the little girl that was getting in the MRI, they had to say to her, dear, you've got to be still. Still, you can't move your lips. They brought her out twice.

And one doctor said, surgeon said, the nurse, what's she singing anyhow? He said, she's singing Jesus Loves Me. Really, he says. Well, let her sing it and then we'll put her back in.

Isn't that something? Just a little child. What a voice. What a thing that was just to him, to a doctor like that.

Would never forget, I don't think, ever that occasion. So, the importance of singing. Now, I could go through and give you all examples through the New Testament.

And the joyful noise and the singing of your hearts with praise and melody unto the Lord. But you know where it first starts? It first starts with the new birth. It starts with being genuinely saved.

I have, somebody said to me not too long ago, or they've said to me before that, I guess, that they broke bread with somebody that wasn't saved. I said, I never have in my life. Come on, what do you mean? No, I said, I may have broke bread with people who are sitting in the wrong part of the building.

I didn't break bread with them if they weren't saved. As for believers, think of the honour, privilege, and that we have of just knowing Christ, like Isaiah is our saviour, and knowing him. And to think that we have to share, and yet others do it and we don't do it.

With this I'll close. You might know or heard of a missionary by the name of Milton Cunningham. Milton Cunningham was on a flight not that long ago.

And he was placed in the center seat. Beside him was a very small girl. Her parents, I think, as I understand it, were behind.

And Milton sat down. And very quickly you could see this girl had Down syndrome. He just asked her how she was.

Flight started. She said to Milton, she said, Did you brush your teeth this morning? He said, Yeah, I did. Oh, good, she says.

That's good. She said, that was the first question that she asked him, if he had done that. And she said, Do you smoke? No, he says, I don't.

Well, that's good, he says. She says, it's not good for your health, you'll die. You know what her third question was? Do you love Jesus? He says, My dear, I do.

He died for me on the cross. That's not the end of the story. Another gentleman come and sat down in the seat beside Mr. Cunningham.

And he thought, Oh no, she's going to start asking him. But she didn't, she poked him. Ask that man beside you if he brushed his teeth this morning.

Oh, she says. Sir, he said, I got a little girl here, I got to ask kind of an embarrassing question. Did you brush your teeth this morning? And he said, I did.

Okay. So, next question come up. Does he smoke? She says, Excuse me, sir.

Another question from her. Do you smoke? No, I don't. She says, Good.

She said, Ask him one more question. Does he love Jesus? You know what that man said? He said, You have to tell that girl. I don't know anything about it.

I want to know about it. There's something missing in my life. It's knowing about this man Jesus.

Milton Cunningham testified to that man. That man trusted Christ as his Savior. How did it start? Like Naaman's maid.

How does it start today? With just a song. Yes, teach your children the songs in the Sunday school. You brothers and sisters that work hard with children's needs.

You teach them to sing. It can be very frustrating at times. But at the same time, you will grow up.

They'll grow up with those songs in their head. How many times you've heard men give their testimony? I think of a brother. No, a good brother too.

Worked for CN Rail. Left home. Went out in the world.

Would be working at the CN yard during the night. One night, a row of boxcars came sliding past him. Near took him out.

Two hours later than that, he was singing the song. Into a tent where a gypsy boy lay. Dying alone at the close of the day.

He said, That could have been me. But I don't know what that boy knew. And Gordon Brody came to trust Christ as his Savior.

And was an overseer in the London Assembly for years. So, brethren and sisters, I leave the passages for you to read and consider. But I'm just saying this in God's name.

I want to go from this conference in Ankeny, singing. Get it a little octave higher. I want to go from this conference smiling.

You know that I'm not talking about something that's fictitious or not real. Something that's genuine. The world knows it.

That's why these people today that are on this internet. That's another subject. Don't want to get on that.

You know all this social media. That's all so fake. That's why some of these can't take life in their lives.

Supposedly they're the big movie stars of the day. They're not. Because it is so empty.

But the Christian experience can be so fulfilling. Let us wear it with a smile. And let us advertise it with a song.