Pearcey, Frank: Trusting God Joy In The Lord ~ 2Chr 20

I'd like to read in second Chronicles chapter twenty. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. And we'll read from verse one. 2 Chronicles 20, verse 1. It came to pass after this also that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria, and behold, they be in Hazen-tamer, which is in Gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord, even out of all the cities of Judah, they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord before the new court, and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven, and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend forever? And they dwelt therein and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help. And now behold the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Se- Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and destroyed them not. Behold, I say, how they reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. And all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children. Now look down at the closing part of verse fifteen. Thus saith the Lord unto you, be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. This word has been coming before me a little in connection with the closing part of the conference. Not, uh, too many years ago, uh, at a conference, at one of the Bible readings, they were into quite a lot of discussion, and, uh, finally, uh, one of the brethren spoke up and he said, well, now, brethren, he said, uh, tomorrow morning I'm going to face the ungodly. I'm going to face the world. And he said, I have problems and difficulties right now. He said, how do you make this work that, uh, you brethren are talking about here today? And after the, uh, reading, Mr. Fisher Hunter said, the dear brother is still waiting for his answer. See, those brethren knew plenty about theology, but when it really came down to the basics, how to really inspire and motivate a brother, uh, uh, with trial and difficulty in his life, they really just didn't know. Now, I believe that's the crying need among us today. Right in this audience this afternoon, there are brethren and sisters with problems, difficulties in the home, in their personal life, in their assembly life, and in business. We all have problems. Now, the great thing is, how are we going to, tomorrow morning, face the world in a revived state of soul? How are we going to do it? You know, uh, it's the same when they ask you about your salvation. A lot of unsaved men have said to me, uh, uh, Frank, uh, how did you get the spark? How did all this commence? How did you have the victory over sin? How did you denounce all these former vices and sins in your life, and the old haunts of pleasure gone? How was it all brought about? And I'm delighted to tell them. You know, I don't believe for a moment that God intends us to be victimized by sin all the time. That's not the teaching of Romans six, seven, and eight. I believe that God intends us to live a victorious life. I'm not Pentecostal. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about any higher life. I'm talking about everyday Christian living. God has blessed us and invested us with a power that's able to rise above the problems and difficulties of life. Now, how did they do it in Jehoshaphat's day? Here they are, they're faced with a problem. The whole crowd of them here, a multitude coming against them, a real difficulty. And look, don't underestimate the power of the enemy, and don't overestimate the power of the enemy. But let us be aware of this fact, the devil has tremendous power. Now, Mr. Harris said one time, you know, we talk about satanic strategy, and he says we go out against him with a water pistol. That's about the size of it. My, we have no conception, we have no idea of the power of the enemy. And you know something, we as Christians, shame on us. Again, I say shame on us. We play right into the hands of the devil. We open the doors wide for him. You know, I don't know of a group of people that could move this nation like the group of people we're connected with. The evangelical word, uh, uh, world is a sham. Did you hear what I said? The evangelical word, uh, world is a sham. But we as a people do possess, and we do enjoy much from God, and we have the power, and we could move this nation and other nations if we were in the right condition of soul. Notice how they did it in Jehoshaphat's day. We have to obey the powers that be today and, and try to be down out of here in a short time. Notice the first thing, verse three. They proclaimed a fast, and they went to God in prayer. My, I like this. Here's Jehoshaphat, and he sets the example. You know, I like to see men, I like to see leaders set the example. We, you know, we hammer and wait. Oh yeah, we got to be careful about these, uh, gadgets in front of us here. Uh, yes, we talk about young people today, harping away, hammering away at young people. What about us who are older? Now come on now, every last one of us from the platform down. What about us? Do we set an example for young people? Do we? Our young people are just a reflection of older people. Did you get a hold of that one? Our young people are just a reflection of older people. Maybe they got a lot of nonsense from you. Well, here's a man, God bless him, and he set the example, and the leaders of Judah followed him. And they proclaimed a fast, and they waited upon God. My, you know, really, if we want to get our spiritual weight, I asked myself not too long ago, I really did. I said to myself, Frank Pearcy, when was the last time you retired to your room and got down on your knees and really shed a tear for the people of God? When was it? When was it? My, some of us are so out of touch with God, we couldn't even pump them up. I'm not talking about crocodile tears, I'm talking about real tears. Oh yeah, we look on, you know, there he goes, oh, he's world bordering. Look at that sister, oh, she's, she's going for a fall, all right. And when it all happens, when it all takes place and the tragedy happens, we say, well, I knew that was going to happen. I just about had that figured out. How much time did you spend waiting upon God for the dear brother and the dear sister? That's the kind of leaders we need today. Men that really have a compassion and a concern and shed a few tears in private for the people of God. Out in Vancouver there, I had a Pentecostal fella do some work for me, and uh, our brother Ralph Morton, he says, you don't need to worry about him charging you too much. He said that he, he's just the opposite. He said he far, he charges far too less for his labors, for his work. He's a good worker. So, uh, he, um, he, uh, was doing some carpenter work for me, and we used to have lunch together. He- he'd bring a little bit, and, uh, of course we would, uh, eat in the house there. Uh, this is before we moved into it. And so, uh, the day, uh, uh, that we were working together, he told me about his uncle, who was seriously ill, and he said it looks as if they're going to amputate one leg, and it looks as if he's going to lose the other. So, uh, the next day, I noticed he, uh, that he wasn't going to eat with us. I said, uh, well, Bob, I said, uh, uh, aren't you going to eat with us? Oh, he said, I didn't bring my lunch. Uh, he said, haven't you got lunch today? And, uh, oh, I s- well, I said, we got lots here. I said, uh, I said, we can share it. And I said, there's no reason for you to, uh, you know, just be sitting on the sideline. Uh, no, no, he said, it's all right. He said, I'm all right, he said. So, you know, that didn't satisfy me. And I said to him, uh, Bob, I said, tell me, is it because of your uncle that you're not eating today? Well, he looked at me kind of embarrassed, and he said, um, well, yes, it is. He said, you know, Frank, he said, I make it a policy in my life when there's any emergency in my life, any crisis, I spend the day in prayer and fasting. Now, he said, I don't know what you think about that. He says, you can take it or leave it. And he said, I'm not trying to force anything on you, but that has been a policy in my life. When there's any, uh, when there's any emergency in our family or in the church, he said, I spend that day fasting and waiting upon God. I felt downright ashamed of myself. I really did. I thought to myself, how many of us know anything about that? And the dear fellow was sincere. He was in dead earnest. Why, one of the dear men in the old country there, one of the preachers, why, he got up on a Sunday afternoon and he said, uh, he says, you know, we'll, uh, rise and sing this hymn because he says my audience on a Sunday afternoon is filled with roast beef and unbelief, and that's about the size of it. Ah, you know, we don't know too much about waiting upon God and having dealings with God. So here's how they faced the enemy. Here's how they got the victory. Here's, uh, the resources they had. They proclaimed a fast, and Jehoshaphat took it to God in prayer. Notice another thing. In verse seven. they reminded God of his words. My God just is delighted to be reminded of his words. They reminded God that he promised to hear, and he promised to help. I wonder if we go to God like that. My, it's not a, a, it's not a question of doctrine, ministry. We know far more than we carry out in the assemblies. It's not a matter of not knowing. We know. Our big problem is to apply it, to really apply it in our lives. That's the cry need. I was today, I think it was you, brother, that told me in your, in your young married life, and, uh, I was impressed with it, you know, I, you know, I said afterwards, I said, boy, that has a good ring to it. You know, our brother Ken said, you know, he said, I remember times Frank, when, uh, when we started out, we didn't know any better. You- you know, uh, uh, they didn't know anything about the context, what's in the context. They didn't know what went before, what after. They didn't know. But he says, we took those promises to God, out of context and everything, and God heard us, and God admired and rewarded their exercise. Nice way to live, isn't it? Why we talk about the promises of God. We gather in the homes, you know, we gather around the piano, we sing so lustily, standing on the promises of God, and about all we're doing is sitting on the premises. That's about all we're doing. My, we don't know anything of putting God to the test, really, uh, really putting the word of God into action. Do you know unsaved people are applying the word of God to unbelievers? We should be applying to Christians. These psychiatrists. What's his name? Vincent Peel, or whatever you call him. That's what he's doing. I said to this salesman, he was, he was all, uh, broken up, and he, uh, he, uh, said, you know, I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He said, I've got an appointment tomorrow, and I can't keep it. And he says, I can't face that man. I have no confidence. He said, everything's gone to the wall. Everything is shattered. Vincent Peale says, you'll face him, and you'll handle this appointment. He says, you quote after me. I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. The epistle we've heard from, the epistle of the Philippians. He said, say it. Say it! That salesman said to you, say it again. Now he says, look, my dear man, he says, when you leave, leave this office to go to your hotel down the road here, he says, you go over that and keep going over it. And before you go to bed tonight, you go over it once more. I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. And when you get up in the morning, say it again. I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. And when you go down to the office to meet this man, before you turn the handle of that door and before you enter that office, say once more, I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me. Winston Peel met him later on in the day. He says, how'd it work? It worked like a miracle. Work oneness. Now look, if unsaved men can apply the scriptures to unsaved people to jerk them out of their problems, what is wrong with us? Pray, tell me, where have we gone wrong? We know the scriptures. We have a knowledge of them. Why do you ever think of really taking those scriptures to God? If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything, it shall be done of you of my Father which is in heaven. They reminded God of his promises. First of all, you'll notice there, they proclaimed a fast, and then they reminded God of his word. And notice another thing farther down the chapter, uh, in verse twelve, I believe it is, they acknowledged their weakness. Ah, here's one thing that, uh, that I was encouraged about. They acknowledged their weakness. You know, they acknowledged their ignorance. They said, we know not what to do, but they knew where to look. He says, our eyes are unto thee. Ah, you know, God delights to make something out of weakness. You know, we're living in a day of age of self-assurance. I, uh, though I speak plain sure, and, uh, and I come in for a lot of criticism, but you know, when you're in the Lord's work, you got to be pre- prepared for that. It's my responsibility to get up and deliver what God has laid upon my heart. And if God lays it upon my heart, I'm going to say it. And say it, I trust in fellowship with God and in the fear of God. We're living in a day of much confidence, self-assurance, jack's as good as his master, in fact, better than his master. Nobody can do it any better than you can. It's all around us. And I heard from a brother just recently, he sent me a letter, and he says, Frank, he said, I believe we're developing a generation of theologians. There's no lack of oratory, there's no lack of self-confidence, but he says, Frank, that certainly something is lacking. My God delights to make something out of weakness. At the Toronto conference, eh, you know, uh, you know the big deal in Toronto, eh. One of the brethren came alongside of me, he says, Mr. Ferguson here? I said, no, he's not here. He said, what about Mr. McBain? He said, have you seen him? Uh, is he here? No, I said, he's not here either. Oh, he says, it looks as if we'll have to trust God for this conference. Wasn't that? I nearly took a breath. What a confession to come from one of our brethren. We'll need to trust God for this conference. My, wouldn't that be a pity if we had to trust God for a conference? My, are you depending on men? Are you looking to men? My, isn't it a shame with the Bible in our hands and the Spirit of God in our hearts, and God in the throne, and we have to look to this one and that one to supply the need of a conference. You know, sometimes I really wonder if we believe what we believe. My, we get up, you know, and we pray, Lord, without thee we can do nothing, but do we really believe it? Do we? My, we're living in great days of education and all the rest of it. Now, I'm not belittling education. I would to God add more, and I admire young people that have it and ha- have what it takes to get it. If you haven't got it, try to get it. But nevertheless, you know, I like to see an educated person and a gifted person with the right spirit to correspond with that gift, and that's lacking in many cases. Living in great days of numbers. My, there's some men among us that'll do anything for numbers. They would even put on a dogfight in our assemblies. They would advertise a dogfight if they could get the numbers. Anything for numbers. Anything for increase. Well, I want to tell you, numbers are not everything. God has done much, and he's done plenty, and he's done tremendous things with a handful. Think of Gideon and his three hundred. Think of Jonathan and his armor bearer went into the camp of the Philistines. They certainly brought a great victory that day, didn't they? My, you know, the most of us are, uh, are scared to stand alone. Well, I want to tell you, sometimes you have to stand to be counted. As they said to Martin Luther on one occasion, Luther, they said the world's against you. Well, he said, if that's the case, it's God and Luther against the world. Thank God for men of that caliber. So here's how this multitude faced the enemy. They proclaimed a fast, and they waited upon God. They reminded God of his word. They took his promises, his word to him. Lord, you have promised to help and to hear. Now here we are. And then they acknowledged their weakness. They said, we have no. They acknowledged their ignorance. We don't know what to do, but our eyes are unto thee. What do you think happened? What was the result? Not to control the whole situation. The battle's not yours, it's the Lord's. And they were commanded to stand still, and they went forth just the opposite to the way you would think they would go forth. They didn't go forth with a sword in their hand, they went forth with praise in their hearts. I believe one of the greatest preservatives in a Christian's life is praise. An unhappy Christian will never gain victory in the things of God. You show me a Christian that's lost their joy, their happiness, I'll show you a Christian that's lost their power. Show me a Christian that has lost that sweetness and that rejoicing, and I'll show you a Christian that's on the way out. Praise is an eternal thing, you know. It's something has to do with the inwards. You're hearing about the offerings. Well, praise has to do with the inwards. And praise is something that's going to go on eternally. We enjoy it now, and we're going to enjoy it eternally. Praise. The joy of the Lord is your strength. I never met Mr. Pell, the old gentleman, but they say he was quite a man. You know, he used to get up at five in the morning, he used to sing. Hope you don't just sing hymns, you know, in the assembly, in the gospel hall to the Lord. Do you ever think of getting up early and singing the Lord a hymn? Sometimes I can do things a lot better in private than I can in public. You know, I- I've had some of my best preachers when I've been in bed. That's right, I'm not trying to be humorous. Oh, you know, I've got so stirred up, I've got so worked up about a message, I said to the Lord, if I could only go to that desk now, if I could only get to that pulpit now, well, I can make a roll. And, uh, when you do get there, everything evaporates. Oh, isn't that a desperate thing when you get up to preaching? You know, like, uh, like Nephew Kanesri says, the thing has departed from me, and it never comes back to you. Dreadful thing, you know. Well, uh, you know, Mr. Pal used to get up early in the morning, about five in the morning, he used to sing hymns, you know, and, uh, didn't matter who was there, wouldn't matter whether they're preachers or who they were, he'd sing the hymn, you know. So he had to go into the hospital, you know, infirmity, old age, and so, uh, the family said, um, I guess this will put an end to all this. No, no, not the old timers, you know, they made it real tough. Sometimes you go out to Bethany Lodge, you know, meet Mr. Adams and some of these old timers, you know, you don't put them down that easy. Oh, no, no. They were brought up in the right school, and they got good smellers, you know, good discernment. And so, uh, the old gentleman went in there, and and so he said to the nurse, he says, uh, my dear, he said, look, he said, I'm accustomed to singing hymn, uh, about five o'clock every morning. He says, I hope you don't mind if I sing here. He said, I'll just give you a sample of it now, just how I sing. And he said, uh, you can tell me if it would be all right. And so he sang her a hymn. And, uh, she said, well, if you sing like that, Mr. Pal, it would be all right. He said, I appreciate that, dear. He said, I like listening to the Lord, I really do. She said, that's all right, Mr. Powell, you go ahead. The man in the next bed was a God despiser, Christ rejecter. Mr. Powell, Mr. Peter Powell, one of the sons, come into the hospital this day, and, and, uh, the head of the hospital, the, uh, the administrator said, uh, Mr. Powell, uh, we have a complaint to make. It's about the singing your father's doing, singing hymns. So Mr. Pell listened to her, and uh, he was pretty quick on the trigger. He says, well, I have a complaint to make too. She looked at him. She said, yeah, yes, he said, I have. He said, the man on the next bed blasphemes the Lord and blasphemes his name daily and hourly. Now he said, my father is not accustomed to that. My father loves the Lord Jesus. He trusted him many years ago as his savior, and that bothers him, and it disturbs him, and it's very upsetting to him. Now he said, I'll make a deal with you. He said, if you stop the cursing and swearing, he said, I'll do my level best to stop the singing. So, needless to say, it went on. But you know, there, uh, there was a Christian that was leading a victorious life, happy in soul, rejoicing in the Lord. And you know something, I, I have found in my Christian life, I really have, when I'm happy in soul, I don't have many problems. I found out this in my assembly experience. If a man's out of touch with God, he's out of touch with his brethren. When I'm happy and so, all the Christians look sweet. They all look nice. Yeah. I want to tell you, I wonder sometimes if we really appreciate the people of God like we should. I've known experiences in my life when the chips were down. I really have. And I'll tell you, the Christians that came to my help and supported me to sit in thin really amazed me. Christians that I never thought would even look sideways at me, but they did. They stood behind me. They supported me. So, you know, it is a wonderful thing to be associated with the people of God, and I believe our strength and our power lies in our happiness, our joy. You read concerning Israel, and here we have a sample of it here. Wherever Israel praised him, wherever they sang praises unto him, God always blessed them in return. Always. So God help us to go forth to the battle Monday morning, you know, and, uh, really, uh, do it with rejoicing of heart. Why, the conference surely should have done you that much good. And, uh, yeah, you know, Fred Holder told me one time, he said, you know, I was going to work, Frank, in the early hours of the morning, about half past thirty or six in the morning, and he says, I heard singing. You don't very often hear singing at that hour, you know, people are pretty groggy and bleary-eyed. And he said, I heard this singing, sweet, lovely singing, and I looked across the road, and here was a man with his, uh, uh, with his lunch pail, and he was going along, and he was singing, face to face with Christ my Savior, face to face to see and know, face to face with my Redeemer, Jesus Christ who loved me so. Oh, Fred said it was, it, it, Christ, it was a treat. He'd sing like that at five in the morning. My, Fred couldn't help but shout across the street. He said, Sir, do you know him? Do you know him? My, the man looked over at Fred, his face just beaming, just radiant. He says, do I know him? He said, he's altogether lovely. This is my beloved. This is my friend. I thank God for Christians of that caliber. My, God help us. You know, there's a lot of Christians don't know there's a battle on. They really don't. They never have any conflicts with the devil. Uh, Satan never bothers them. Sa- uh, Satan never bothers anybody that has any convictions. Now, and they hardly know that there's a battle on. And one man wrote to me recently from the West Coast. He said, I believe, Frank, there's going to be a special reward in the coming days for brethren that have held the line, holding the line. I believe that. And here's a group of people that we read today. They face the foe, and they face the enemy in the strength of the Lord, in the power of his might. May God bless his word.