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But Psalm 56 verse number 8 begins by saying thou tellest my wanderings. That's the title of the sermon this afternoon. Thou tellest my wanderings. Say what kind of what kind of phrase is that? Well just very quickly when it says thou tellest it's kind of the idea of it means God is giving an account. God is keeping accounts of the wanderings of David. Okay kind of the teller there is kind of like your you know your old-fashioned bank teller. They would keep an account that would count you know the finances of the what you deposit or what you withdraw. That's what we call them a bank teller. And so when he says look thou tellest my wanderings something is causing David to wander. He again he's been he's fleeing from persecution and he's saying look God you're keeping accounts of my wanderings. And I think this is quite an interesting Psalm but let's understand first of all why he's saying these words. If you look at the at the beginning in fact most of your Bibles again many Psalms they've got an introduction they've got some type of title. Maybe your Bible says this. Mine says to the chief musician upon Jonath Elam Rechokim. This is Mitcham of David. So it's a Psalm of David. When the Philistines took him to Gath. When the Philistines took him to Gath. So he begins by saying be merciful unto me oh God for man would swallow me up he fighting daily oppressive me. So you know as we see so many times David is being persecuted. David is being chased. And we know about the great man of God that David was. A man after God's own heart. And yet he had so many turmoil so many problems so much persecution. We had a look at Psalm 55 on Wednesday. Was it Wednesday? I'm losing track of time believe it was Wednesday. And we saw that those that were persecuting him were false brethren. You know he was praying to God that God would slay them and send them to hell and they had been in the house of God. Okay but who's doing the persecution this time? In Psalm 56. Well it's not false brethren this time. It's believers. It's actually a brother a true brother that is causing persecution in David's life. Say what is this about? Well if you keep your finger there and please turn with me to 1 Samuel 21. 1 Samuel 21. And how sad if your own brother in the Lord is doing the persecution. How hurtful how painful that would be. Yeah it's one thing to believe that someone was a brother then you find out they weren't even safe to begin with. What if it is a true brother? You know and you know I say this and as much as I want to say you know in church we're all just going to get along. In church we're always just going to be oversee each other's faults. That's not reality. You get a whole bunch of people into one location there's going to be conflicts. And even if it's not meant to be. Like even if I'm trying to even if someone communicates something and it's not meant to be offensive. We have different backgrounds. We have different experiences. We're a little bit more sensitive than others about certain things. And you know sometimes you just say something in the wrong way and someone gets offended even though that was never your intention. As soon as you get people together that's the case. And let me just strongly encourage you. You know if you're in the house of God in this church or any other church and conflicts develop please don't leave church over that. Okay if there's conflicts what do you do? You fix it. You sort it out. You go one on one and speak to one another. Okay before it starts to become an issue you know a blot on the whole church and then it you know might be affecting several people in that scenario. But this is of course a safe person that is persecuting David. So we saw earlier this is when the Philistines took him to Gath. So we have the story here in 1 Samuel 21 verse 10. 1 Samuel 21 verse 10. And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul king Saul. You know king Saul was a saved man. You know he was chosen by God to be the first king over Israel. Hey you know he was used by God to prophesy. You know and you know even when Saul caught up the spirit of Samuel by that witch in Endor. You know that Samuel said hey you know this day you're going to be with me and we know that Samuel was saved. And of course if he was going to be with Samuel, Samuel being in heaven of course Saul was going to be with him as well. King Saul was a saved man it's just a man that lost his ways. You know and we've got to be careful because you know I trust that you're all saved this today. You love the Lord you want to be in his house and you know you want to know more about the Bible praise God if that's your heart. But you know if you don't remain faithful if you don't remain walking with the Lord you know you can backslide pretty severely. Like you can get into pretty wicked sins even as a Christian. Doesn't mean you lose your salvation it just means hey you're far from the Lord and so many times even the Lord can be against you if you travel far from him. And so you can see that this was the fear of Saul. David is running away again that you know we've seen it before where he's a fugitive because Saul is chasing him and it says and not only that he fled but it says and went to Achish the king of Gath. So this is when David goes the king of Gath okay. And if you don't you know you may remember that Goliath was from Gath you know right and so he's gone to the Philistines here. Verse 11 and the servants of Achish said unto him is not this David the king of the land? They're like hey this is going to be the next king what David's come here to Gath right what's going on? Did they not sing one to another of him in dances saying Saul have slain his thousands and David his ten thousands? Hey not the people of Israel don't they love David they've been all singing about him you know how he's delivered Israel to the hands of the Philistines and he's here with us what in the world like they just can't understand why is he here? You know again David's a fugitive from the hand of Saul. Verse number 12 and and David laid up these words in his heart and was so afraid of Achish the king of Gath and look look at how he behaves and he changed his behavior before them and feigned or that's fake faked himself mad in their hands. Mad is insane. They would pretend to be insane you know when people get sometimes they might get arrested for some major crime they've committed and then they pretend to be insane they pretend to have a mental disorder so the judge can go linear on them. David's employing the same tactic he's like maybe if I just pretend to be insane you know they won't kill me they won't whatever it is right maybe they'll be linear on me so he starts to pretend that he's gone insane that he's gone mad in their hands it says and scraped on the doors of the gate so he's acting weird and and let his spittle fall down upon his beard so he's just got saliva just running down you know it doesn't look like a sane man that's what he's trying to portray right. I mean it's like this is you know you don't think about it right we think of king David you don't think of this you don't think of this person acting to acting insane you know putting on this show pretending but that's what fear can do to you like fear can cause you to behave in illogical ways illogical ways this fear he's got the fear of course of soul and he's got the the fear of the king because they recognize who he is all right he's a champion of Israel and so he's trying to pretend to be not what they're speaking about there right and it says in verse number 14 and then said Achish sorry then said Achish unto his servant slow you see the man is mad or insane wherefore then have you brought him to me have I need of mad men that you have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence shall this fellow come into my house so David succeeds in you know convincing the king that he's just mad there's not really David the king you know he's not really the hero of Israel he convinces the king by this play acting and so I guess I let him be they just leave him alone you know and so he saves saves his life in that sense and again I just wanted to read that to you so you can get the context of the psalm we're going for the psalm you know so many times as David was being persecuted as many times as David was fearful you know like what we would do when we're fearful we would run to God hopefully right we'd praise the Lord say Lord deliver us but David was a musician you know who's able to put his fears and his prayers into words into lyrics into music and this is why we have many of the psalms in the Bible the psalms is the song book of the Bible and so as we go through the psalm we can then understand what David is feeling inside even though he's pretending to be insane on the outward we can see the kinds of fears and concerns that he has within him in his heart but and so now you understand why he's wandering now you understand why he's fleeing he's being persecuted by king soul being persecuted by a brother in the Lord so let's go back to psalm 56 psalm 56 verse number two he says mine enemies who are his enemies king soul a brother in the Lord a friend you know a man that brought him into the kingdom to play his harp and to sing beautiful words to him to give him a calm soul this is supposed to be his friend okay he ended up marrying it's his father-in-law not just a friend it's his father-in-law right he married Micah which is king soul's daughter all right now he says look mine enemies would daily swallow me up for they be many that fight against me oh thou most high what i like about this psalm is that he refers to they soul and yes he's correct soul is his enemy you know soul is trying to kill him but what a sad thing when a brother in the Lord becomes your enemy that's great again you know you think of enemies as those that might hate the Lord those that hate church those that might hate you for your stance on the Bible what about when you create an enemy out of your own brother in the Lord another saved person you know but that that can happen if anyone's been in church any length of time you know that brothers in the Lord can turn against each other you guys know that families leave church over personal issues that conflicts that developed into church and it's never been sorted out and and then things become worse right it's kind of like that you know avalanche effects you know it starts to roll and becomes larger and larger and larger then you got church splits and you got people turning against the pastors and you got all kinds of crazy things that occur in churches and sometimes yeah your own church people can become your enemies it's sad if you can keep your finger there please come to Matthew chapter five come with me to Matthew chapter five Matthew chapter five and verse number 43 Matthew chapter five and verse number 43 and I preached on this passage not long ago to the church in Sydney but anyway Matthew chapter five verse 43 these are the words of Jesus he says you have heard that he has been said thou shall love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy let me assure you that that phrase hate your enemy was never taught in the Old Testament scriptures okay let me let me just show you that if you look it up in your in your Old Testament scriptures it never says God never instructs his people to hate their enemies you will find love thy neighbor 100 okay you find that in uh in the writings of Moses but you'll never find to hate your enemy okay so Jesus Christ is not saying that that was written in the scriptures he says you have heard that he had been said so people are going around half quoting the Bible yeah half quoting it love your neighbor therefore you can hate your enemies okay what does Jesus Christ say verse number 44 but I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you and I shared this I just preached about this on on Thursday I think and I started sitting in church I don't know if I can do this like especially like as a pastor like I know how much I've sacrificed to start this church and be up here with my family like how much you give of yourself I'm not trying to be a hero just I know what I've got like I know what we sacrificed and then to have a church member try to rise up against me and become my enemy I'm telling you in my flesh I don't want to love my enemies in my flesh I don't want to bless them that curse you all right I don't want to love those that hate me that persecute me you know do you want really I mean in the flesh oh it's easy for me you know you know my personal enemy is I just love them I was just praying for them I'm just always going and bringing them gift baskets you don't understand look if you're doing that praise God for you because that is the commandment that's what we should be doing all right but I'm just confessing my faults here I don't know if I could do that really especially if it's a brother in the Lord someone that you know you you you loved and you've been fellowship with it's so hard and yet that is the commandment though okay to love your enemies and of course as we see it play out in this psalm you'll see that David even though he counted so his enemy he still loved soul he still loved his enemy you know there were chances that David had to kill to kill soul and he did not take those chances okay he did actually he was the best example you know in this scenario of loving an enemy let's keep going to verse number 45 psalm 5 45 that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and on the good and send the rain on the just and on the unjust so Jesus Christ says look the father blesses you know the wicked the evil and the good he sends them rain he gives them the sun equally right verse number 46 for if you love them which love you what reward have you do not even the publicans the same let me stop that for a moment if you love them which love you so it's easy to love them that love you it's easy to love my savior Jesus Christ because he loved me gave his life for me it's easy all right people that care for you and do nice things for you it's not it's easy to love them but what reward have you in other words if you learn to love your enemies there's reward okay Christ is going to you know we know that when Christ comes back he's going to reward us well there's going to be a reward for just loving your enemies for actually becoming that spiritually mature that even when people persecute you and hate you you know you show them love you show them care you do good unto them that Christ will reward you for that love it's interesting verse number 47 if you salute your brethren only what do you more than others do not even the public and so verse number 48 be ye therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven is perfect so again the context is how you treat your enemies here those that you love those that you might despise you know you're your friends and your enemies you know what you should bless the same you should be good to both parties that's what the father does he sends the rain he sends the sun and therefore in order to be perfect or mature complete right entire you know we should be that way be ye therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven is perfect that's a high standard that's an extremely high standard and yet that is the calling of the believer okay and i'm not going to pretend it's easy okay it's very very difficult okay it's very difficult to be perfect in that sense come back with with me to psalm 56 psalm 56 verse number three psalm 56 verse number three and again i just wanted to go to the new testament because i just want to show you that the bible is consistent the bible is not this inconsistent book it's not saying the old says okay you can hate your enemies in the new testament i changed my mind you're meant to love your enemies so it's always been the same okay and david's approach even though he refers to as soul as his enemy you can see very clearly in the story that he loves king soul verse number three psalm 56 verse number three he says what time i'm afraid i will trust in thee in god i will praise his word in god have i put my trust i will not fear what flesh can do unto me so i don't know at what point he's saying these words we know that it was greatly fearful when he went to gath right he was afraid of soul he was afraid of the king there at some point though he worked up the courage and he says to the lord you know what i'm going to trust in you right i'm going to praise your word i'm going to trust in you i'm not going to fear what flesh can do unto me i like that phrase again i will not fear what flesh can do unto me it kind of reminds me of the teaching that christ gave in matthew chapter 10 i'll just read it to you but matthew matthew chapter 10 verse number 28 jesus christ says and fear not them which kill the body who can kill the body we'll punish anybody like jesus christ is saying look don't fear any man don't fear any flesh all right don't fear those that can kill the body he says but i'm not able to kill the soul you know what even if someone in the church unfortunately falls into homicide like you know gets murdered or something that's a sad thing yeah but they can't kill the soul that soul is in the hands of god okay they can't kill the soul and then christ says these words but rather fear him which is able to both to destroy both soul and body in hell who can destroy both soul and body in hell of course it's the lord god okay and again a lot of people don't love this side of god they you know they just want the god is love and of course god is love and they they love jesus christ who's sacrificed in our place and that's a great part but also you need to understand that hell and i had this conversation some more times than you probably realize hell is not the kingdom of the devil right a lot of people think heaven is like where that's where god's kingdom is and hell is the kingdom of the devil that's not the case okay god created hell okay the fires that burn in hell come from the wrath of god all right he casts those that reject his son into hell torments day and night forever and ever you read about in that about that in the book of revelation and like that's not nice like you know saying those things you say well that's not nice pastor yeah but i'm not here to be nice i'm here to just tell you the truth of the bible okay so we ought to fear god the one that can cast people into hell and that fear for many people for most people will drive them to the savior and say well lord i don't want that end result and then okay i understand his wrath i understand his anger i understand his judgment i understand hellfire but now i also understand his love that he does not want us to go there he is willing to offer sacrifice his son to die in my place reverend i've got 11 kids i'm not sacrificing any of them for you i don't love you that much and they wouldn't be able to die for you anyway so what's the point it'd be useless i say what about pastor the most disobedient kid what about him no i still want to sacrifice him okay but you understand god's love when you understand he was willing to sacrifice his son for you to take on all of our sins upon the son that he would pay the penalty okay that he would face the wrath of god and so you then understand you know you can only really appreciate and understand god's love we can also understand his judgment his anger okay against sin against those that do wickedly back to uh psalm 56 and verse number five psalm 56 and verse number five and so again just brevin we ought not to fear man okay we ought to fear the lord all right so again that's easier said than done even the great man david who wrote those words that he's not going to fear flesh was fearing flesh okay so it's it's a it's a development and then there are going to be times when you're like hey you know what i just don't feel flesh they can do whatever they want to me and then something happens and all of a sudden you fear flesh again all of a sudden you feel mad again okay but then you just got to go back to the lord and say lord no no i know what your word says i know i know i ought to fear you you know i know you are the one that is all powerful of all things lord i'm just going to make sure my fear is towards you and one thing i found out in life when you learn to fear god in a healthy manner the fear of man dies away okay the fear of man comes when you stop fearing god but you fear god properly the fear of man goes away verse number five psalm 56 verse number five every day they rest my words all their thoughts are against me for evil because every day they're just twisting rest wrestling they're twisting my words all right david is a man of peace david wants he loves soul you know he wants to serve the king he just he's just waiting for his time the lord is the one that chose david like david's not trying to rise up in power against soul david's just been patient waiting for god's timing okay like david's a good man he really loves soul okay and yet he sees that every time he tries to talk to them in peace they twist his words oh you really mean this you know you're not being honest with your words what do you mean by that the twisting of words verse number six they gather themselves together they hide themselves like an ambush they mark my steps they're following him when they wait for my soul shall they escape by iniquity in thine anger cast down the people oh god so is david going to take revenge or vengeance for himself on these enemies that are trying to hurt him he goes no he goes shall they escape by iniquity like are they going to be able to just get away by being wicked that's what iniquity means it means sin are they just going to get away with it god and it comes to realize no they're not going to get away with it god sees it all god sees the persecution i'm going through and then it says so lord in thine anger cast down the people of god god i'm leaving it up to you i'm being attacked i'm being persecuted but he says lord i know you're getting angry about it you know i know you're getting angry at those that are persecuting me even though it's a child of god even though it's another brother in the lord he says you know what even then lord i'm just going to leave it up to you i'm not going to take revenge please turn with me to romans chapter 12 romans chapter 12 verse number 19 romans chapter 12 and verse number 19 romans chapter 12 and verse number 19 the bible says dearly beloved look at this avenge not yourselves okay but rather give place unto wrath isn't that what they was asking from god in thine anger lord you take care of it okay rather give place unto wrath for it is written vengeance is mine i will repay saith the lord now look if you're saved you are a child of god you are a child of god right you belong to his family just like you love your children or i love my children god loves his children again if you see your children being persecuted being bullied being pushed around is that going to make you angry parents yeah it's going to make you angry okay and our anger is not always righteous okay you know the anger of the lord is always righteous okay listen the lord is the one that's going to step in to take care of of your enemies okay you just need to give place unto god you say god in your anger take them down lord you protect me in your anger in your wrath okay and again we often sometimes think about the wrath of god i mentioned earlier about hell etc yes you know and that's a scary thought and that's you know when you think about in that case when you understand and appreciate god's anger then you can also understand man god's going to protect me in his anger god sees me being persecuted god sees me being attacked even by brethren so i'm going to leave it up to you god god can you get angry for me can you take revenge for me i'm leaving it in your hands you say but hold on pastor you said to love your enemies should you really be saying to god god can you take care of my enemies that's the process you be good to your enemies you be kind to your enemies okay because you might win them over they might turn around say you know what you're you've been so good to me i've been i've been horrible to you you've been good to me you've tried to reach out and make peace and you know sometimes people's hearts just convict them and go man i've been wrong this whole time i'm sorry let's make peace i'm sorry brother let's sort this out that of course that's what god is waiting for like that's the ideal scenario isn't it that you make peace and then god doesn't have to take this weakness vengeance right this wrathful vengeance upon those that persecuted you but it continues in romans 12 verse number 20 after god says vengeance is mine i will repay save the lord therefore if thine enemy hunger feed him if he thirst give him drink for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head but you're not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good so when someone does you evil what do you do you do them good you don't repay them for evil evil for evil no you do them good all right like if i'm doing like a lot of good things for you maybe you're my enemy nah i'm joking but that's instruction right all right well we also do good for those that we love but we also be able to doing good for our enemies that's what we saw earlier that christ so the father sends the rain and the sunshine on the wicked on the just okay and so we are commanded to be perfect like our father which is heaven in heaven which is perfect but be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good we leave it in god's hands and again what did it say at the end of verse number 20 for in so doing thou shall heap coals of fire on his head what does that mean well it means that the more good that you do and they continue to persecute you the more loving you are to all the more trying to make peace toward them and they reject you and they want to keep the conflict going right they don't want to make peace and they continue to say things about you they continue to twist your words or whatever it is well when god's wrath falls upon them it's going to be even hotter than it was originally okay because that's what you're doing you're adding coals of fire upon their head so i i just want to see them burn god uh pastor right i just want to see them suffer for the persecution all right you want to see that do good to them okay and if they don't fix it if they don't make peace with you their judgment's going to be even heavier it's going to be hotter the judgment's going to be hotter okay and of course god does not judge his people in hell soul never went to hell okay but of course soul lost his life early okay and his whole family were destroyed in war against the philistines okay he destroyed his his reputation he destroyed his kingdom this is why god had david in preparation to take over the kingdom once soul fell back to psalm 56 psalm 56 verse number eight and this is where we get the title from the sermon thou tellest my wanderings so again david's a fugitive he's wandering he says god you're keeping accounts of my wanderings when i'm running away because of this persecution you're keeping record of this okay because he's waiting for god to judge he's waiting for god to step in and so god's keeping account all right you know i can see how much my child is being persecuted and so therefore my judgment when he falls upon the enemy there that's going to match the persecution that he gave to my children who gave to david here they'll tell us my wanderings put thou my tears into thy bottle are they not in thy book interesting so david just reveals to us that he's been weeping about this tears have been shed he says god can you keep my tears in a bottle in other words look can you remember every teardrop i've ever dropped because of persecution can you keep that as a reminder in your bottle there so you're reminded how much i've suffered how much i've been hurt by this persecution that i've gone through he says are they not in thy book now i don't know if there's an actual book as it were the point is god is keeping record god is keeping record every time you're being persecuted by an enemy god keeps record in a spiritual book or maybe a literal book i don't know okay but god keeps record of the suffering that you go through and i think this is really to me very comforting okay it's very comforting because i guess sometimes when you feel like you're being persecuted you kind of feel alone you kind of wonder lord why haven't you stepped in lord why are you allowing me to go through this right but no god's keeping a record of it all all your sufferings all right when you suffer as an innocent person you've done nothing wrong and the tears you shed god keeps an account of all of it okay for the time for the right time when he passes judgments and his vengeance falls upon those that are persecuting you okay this is why we don't need to take vengeance just leave it up to god god keeps a record of it all okay sometimes in our flesh we want to we what we you know we try to uh what's the word i'm looking for we try to yeah finally get revenge but try to justify or you know um we think maybe god's not just enough maybe god you need to step in earlier so i'm going to step in for you lord and i'm going to do wickedly to my enemy no that's that's incorrect that's not compatible with the bible at all your enemy your personal enemies you do good unto them leave it up to god god's going to see you through you at some point it's going to happen you know god has the perfect timing and don't forget maybe part of the reason it's been delayed is because god has given them time to make peace with you but you continue to do good unto them you know what this reminds me of this this uh verse here where god is keeping account of the tears and it's all been written in a book and god is keeping account of the wanderings it reminds me of the end times when god uh pulls out his wrath upon this earth so i want you to turn there please keep your finger there and come with me to revelation chapter eight revelation chapter eight and verse number one revelation chapter eight and verse number one and this is after the sixth this is after the six seals and then the seventh seal which then gives the trumpets to the angels and then uh god gets ready with those trumpets to pour out his wrath upon the world all right and and before this wrath of course there's been a time of tribulation where the saints of god have been persecuted right being beheaded they've not been taking the mark of the beast all right they've been persecuted for the cause of christ and it says in revelation chapter eight verse one revelation chapter eight verse one and we when he had opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour and i saw the seven angels which stood before god and to them were given seven trumpets so you can see god's getting ready to blow these trumpets now notice verse number three and another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer and there was given unto him much incense much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne that's interesting so there's this sensor all right uh with this incense that's coming out this smoke as it were and that is symbolically the prayers of the saints okay now let's keep going there verse number four and the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before god out of the angel's hand so all this all this smoke from the sensor comes to the lord all these prayers of the saints again following the time of tribulation when god's people are being persecuted of course they're going to the lord they're asking for deliverance they're praying to god they're telling god they've been persecuted they've been attacked they've been killed they're going to god in his prayers and notice all those prayers did not go to waste they're all they're sitting at that altar and at the right time when god is ready to pour out his wrath and his judgments the sensor comes out the incense starts to come out with the smoke with the prayers of the saints and god absorbs that as it were right because then it says in verse number five and the angel took the sensor and filled it with the fire of the altar and cast it into the earth and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake and the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound and of course then god pulls out his wrath of the seven trumpets okay then the seven vials etc all right so i just want to show you i thought it was quite interesting that you know even in these end times you know god holds back to some extent but your prayers don't go to waste your tears don't go to waste your suffering's not going to work god's not overlooked it he's just kept it at reserve at the right time and when god says all right now is the time now is the time for me to pour out my wrath on these wicked people then he unleashes it i guess then he unbottles the bottle of tears then he looks at the books that he's kept accounts of those that are wandering then he takes up the sensor the prayers of the saints the smoke that is brought before him and he says all right now it's time i just want to show you that this is how god operates all right your timing is not god's timing god has perfect timing to take vengeance for you so don't take vengeance just do good unto them and add some coals of fire upon their head okay if they don't get things right with you just add some coals of fire and leave it up to god back to psalm 56 psalm 56 verse number nine psalm 56 verse number nine he says when i cry unto thee then shall mine enemies turn back this i know for god is for me in god will i praise his word in the lord will i praise his word i like verse number nine he says for god is for me my enemy is king soul my own brother in the lord another saved person but you know what if you're a saint you know just because you're saved doesn't mean god is for you all the time if you're just wicked you just hate someone in church for no real reason okay you come envious about that person you just don't like their personality whatever it is you're like i just hate you know what and you treat people bad you think god's gonna be for you now god's gonna be for those that are being persecuted david says i know god is for me and i think what we see in david is just a uh a clear conscience like he knows i've done nothing wrong to soul i just try to be a friend i'm trying to be a support try to be an encouragement okay it's soul that's turned against me it's soul that's twisting my words it's soul that's trying to ambush me all right and destroy me he goes no i know god is for me he's got a clear conscience okay and you know one of the most precious things you can have as a believer is a clear conscience this is why when you sin the best thing to do is just go to the lord and say sorry please forgive me just clear your conscience immediately you know i do not want to be a pastor of a church with a tainted conscience i don't want to be that way i want to have a clear conscience you know and it requires me to preach the whole bible okay not just to preach to you that god is love but also to tell you that god can hate god gets angry god takes vengeance you know god casts unbelievers in hellfire i've got to tell you these things so i can have a clear conscience as well okay if i can't preach the nastiest side of the bible then i better just step down i don't want to be the pastor because i'm accountable to god you know i want to i want a clear conscience you know i don't want your blood on my hands as it were okay but one of the greatest things is that clear conscience and i'll tell you now it's so far to this day for the over five years i've been pastoring this church and then i bless it up at the church i've got a clear conscience and it's it's peaceful it's a relief all right and if there's ever been times when i've upset someone i've done all i can to make peace with that person if i did not try to make peace with issues then yeah i would have a tainted conscience okay but it's it's it's so liberating when you're not carrying regrets and you know bitterness and you know about other people and it's good when you just can sort things out and look if someone doesn't want to make peace with you you just be good to that person don't treat them wrongly you know just treat them the way they should be treated and just leave it with god leave it with god and i've gone to a point where i don't even need to see the vengeance of god i just i'm at a point where i know like god you've seen it i'm just leaving it up to you i don't even need to see it i don't even need to see how you're going to take out vengeance i just know you will if i know god is for me but again i don't know god is for me if i have that clear conscience and so if you've got an enemy or a brother in the lord which you can't an enemy okay and you haven't got a clear conscience about that you know you do what you need to do to try to make peace with that person hey if they won't have anything of it well what more can you do you've done what you can to reach out now you leave it up to god okay you leave it up to god the other thing that i like there in verse number 10 it says in god will i praise his word in the lord will i praise his word you know we're a bible preaching church you know we we preach from the king james bible as the english translation as a perfect translation from the original greek and hebrew and sometimes you get criticized or accused of being a bible idolatry idolatry that instead of worshiping god or you worship the bible what the bible is the word of god what does david say in god why praise his word in the lord why praise his word forever when we rejoice in the word when we teach from the word when we teach from the bible we're praising god by doing that that's his word and we take him at his word say lord i just praise you for the scripture thank you for the word that you've given me so you see that david's actually finding strength and courage in the scriptures in the word of god that's where his encouragement is and same thing you can apply it to yourself you know if you're fearful of man you know you've got enemies that are seeking to hurt you you know what just turn to god's word praise him for his word turn to the psalms that was my the psalms was always my go-to book right when i'm feeling a little depressed when i'm feeling a little sad when i'm feeling a little far from the lord when i feel like i'm losing my zeal for god i feel like there are enemies that were my friends or whatever it is i just loved i just opened the psalms i just i just randomly open to a psalm and read it because there's so many things that you can relate to when you're going for a time of hurts and then i just get encouraged again and i'm just reminded man someone great like david's gone through troubles well i've gone through troubles too i can relate to this there are times that i can't even not so much now i get earlier in my christian life when i couldn't even sometimes i couldn't even say a prayer you know i was just so upset so frustrated i feel even ashamed maybe to go to god in prayer which i shouldn't feel that way but you know you kind of feel that way sometimes and i'm just like god i'm just going to read this psalm and the prayer of this psalm is my prayer to you because i can't i can't word it any better than what your word says and many times the psalms have given me encouragement motivation you know peace and i encourage you to do the same well david's done the same you know he's praising the lord for his word if you can keep your finger there please turn with me to psalm 138 psalm 138 please psalm 138 and verse number one psalm 138 and verse number one the title is a psalm of david then it says i will praise thee with my whole heart before the gods will i praise unto thee i sing praise unto thee hey so he's seeking to praise god right verse number two he says i will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth and then he says these words for thou has magnified thy word above all thy name what is magnified above the name of god we know that the name of christ is the name above every name name of jesus is the name above every name and yet there's something that god magnifies even above that name it's the word of god it's the bible it's the scriptures people accuse you oh you're just a bible worshipper you don't worship god you worship the bible god magnifies his word above his own name there's nothing wrong with praising god for his word there's nothing wrong with coming to church in fact that's what church is ought to be about teaching the bible you really want to hear my wisdom reverend if you take my wisdom on board you're going to destroy your life i'm not here to preach my wisdom because it's foolishness we come to hear god's word we come to praise his word and by praising his word we praise our lord god that's where the strength comes that's where the wisdom truly comes from from the word of god back to psalm 56 psalm 56 verse number 11 psalm 56 verse 11 he says in god have i put my trust i will not be afraid what man can do unto me so again he's repeated that line thy vows are upon me oh god i will render praises unto thee thy vows or like the promises that god makes he goes god you've made vows upon me you've promised me certain things now i guess if you're thinking about david you know the promise that god has given david is that he's going to become the king okay so david's realizing man i can't perish then like i can't perish in the hands of soul i can't perish in the king the hands of the king of of gath because god's made valor to me i'm going to be a king one day so i can't perish and so he's reminding himself of the promises that he's received from the lord and you know it there is an application that we can take that upon ourselves as well i don't know which pastor i heard this from but remember it being preached that we are literally indestructible we cannot perish until god says it is your time and that's a really comforting thought that nothing's going to take me out until god says all right your day's over and then even though when our days are over i'm with the lord for all eternity anyway i'm in heaven for all eternity i'm with jesus christ and so hey yeah there are promises what's one of the promises that we love the most salvation eternal security that no matter what happens the moment you trust the christ even if you mess up your life no matter what happens you're going to be in home in heaven for all eternity no matter what happens it's a great promise isn't it so even if a man does destroy my life even if a man does slay me because god said it's a time the promises are i'm going to be living forever i've got everlasting life everlasting life how good is that eternal life look at verse number 13 for thou has delivered my soul from death will not thou deliver my feet from falling that i may walk before god in the lights of the living so he's realizing you know what god's delivered me from death so he's going to deliver my feet from falling let's apply it to us you know god has delivered us from hell he's delivered us from our sins right he's given us everlasting life and we we praise god for that we know nothing's going to happen you know eternal security we're going to be at home in heaven no matter what takes place but because he's done such a great thing will he not also deliver our feet from falling you see as we live a christian life we're on a walk you know we're trying to walk for the lord we're walking with the lord ideally but sometimes we slip right sometimes we fall it's embarrassing sometimes okay we fail we're sinners we do wrong yeah no one here is going to make never make mistakes in life you know none of you are sinlessly perfect okay we all make mistakes don't we we all fall but i like that that not only can god deliver our soul as it were you know but he can keep our feet from falling meaning that god is not just interested in the eternal destination that we're going to go to but god cares about our daily walk right now he wants us to walk in righteousness in holiness he wants us to do his commandments god gives us time he's merciful he gives us strength he gets us through the difficulties the point is this is that when we do fall we could have prevented that fall the reason we fall is because we tend to walk away from god listen if we're walking with god we're in fellowship with god and there's a trip hazard don't you think god's gonna go oh hold on come this way there's a trip hazard come walk in my path the reason we fall the reason we make mistakes the reason we is because we walk away from the lord say lord i've got it thanks for the walk thank you lord pray to be this morning we had a good time now i'm going to do my own thing that's when you fall okay but if you keep the walk of the lord you'll be fine he can keep your feet from falling please turn with me to first samuel 24. first samuel 24 please first samuel 24 and verse number one so we had originally looked at first samuel 21 when we had seen that king david was being persecuted by soul so this is later of course in first samuel 24 verse number one i'll just read this quickly but let's just get the story here because now in the psalm we see that david is trusting the lord right he counts soul as an enemy but we also know that we also love our enemies and we also learned that we should not take revenge we should leave vengeance to god and so we get to this story in first samuel 24 verse one and it came to pass when soul was returned from following the philistines that he was told him saying behold david is in the wilderness of engedy then so took three thousand chosen men out of all israel and went to seek david and his men upon the rocks and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats and he came to the sheep coats by the way where was a cave and so went in to cover his feet to cover his feet basically means that he dropped his pants because he had to go to the toilet all right so instead of doing it in front of all his soldiers he goes he finds a cave there private sitting i'll go there and need to go to the toilet okay so he drops his pants covers his feet that's where that idiom comes from okay anyway so it says there and so went into cover his feet and david and his men remained in the sides of the cave so inside the cave was david and his men all right and they're watching soul coming to the cave you know using the toilet as it were all right and then it says in verse number four and the men of david said unto him behold the day of the the day of which the lord said unto thee behold i will deliver thine enemy into thine hand thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee then david arose and cut off the skirt of souls robe privately so the men of david saying look god's delivered soul into your hand in other words go and kill soul the days come david god's delivered you he's delivered him into your hands but david no he doesn't kill soul he just cuts off a piece of his clothing like while he's at the toilet right verse number five and it look at this and it came to pass afterward that david's heart smote him because he had cut off soul's skirt so david cuts a piece of clothing off his you know he goes man i shouldn't have done that like he didn't kill so but just by destroying his clothing is like i should have done that like it bothers him again you can see the love that he has for his enemy all right so this is a good example bro we need to be like this we need to do good to our enemies and even if we do something tiny just something small that is bad it should bother us sometimes clear conscience is what we need all right clear conscience right now he doesn't have this clear conscience because he's done this verse number six and he said unto his men the lord forbid that i should do this thing unto my master the lord's anointed and stretched forth mine hand against him seeing he is the anointed of the lord because i can't do this to the king god put him in the king i can't kill him right like he said i'm not the one that's going to take revenge in this scenario right verse number seven so david stayed his servants with these words and suffered them not to rise against soul so he says to his other servants look i can't kill soul and none of you should kill so you stay away from him all right just in case one of them gets an idea tries to be the hero uh but so rose up out of the cave and went on his way like so has no idea this just took place because it's dark in a cave right it's a dark place doesn't realize this just took place listen mate david also rose afterward and went out of the cave and cried after soul so as soon as soul leaves david comes out of the cave and goes so all right i guess that would be a surprise to soul right saying my lord the king and when so looked behind him david stooped with his face to the ground to the earth and bowed himself to his enemy he's like he lowers himself he humbles himself right it's the king even though david's been promised to be the king because that's the king i'm gonna lower myself i'm gonna humble myself before my enemy can you do this i don't know if i can do this forever and so if i if i can't i'm going to be able to go to god and say god humble me you know in light of enemies help me to be like david here help me to be able to just lower myself and not to do evil toward them verse number nine and david said to soul wherefore hearest thou men's words saying behold david seeketh thy hurt because why are you listening to this that i'm trying to hurt you i'm not trying to hurt you so right verse number 10 behold this day thine eyes have seen how the lord had delivered thee today into mine hand in the cave and some bade me kill thee but mine eyes spared thee and i said i would not put forth mine hand against my lord for he is the lord's anointed moreover my father so he literally is his father it's his father-in-law moreover my father see yea see the skirt of thy robe in my hand for in that i cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand and i have not sinned against thee yet thou hurtest my soul huntest my soul to take it look at verse number 12 the lord judged between me and thee and the lord avenged me of thee but mine hand shall not be upon thee did david learn the lesson that vengeance belongs to the lord yes he did he says i'm not going to do it soul the lord is going to judge between me and you okay and of course we know that eventually you know at this at this point you know if you read on soul is remorseful you know he's trying to i'm sorry david i'm you know but then he goes back to his old ways again okay it's very short lived a period of peace for david and then souls out trying to persecute him uh once again but i think it's david's such a great example you know a man of great fears a man who's weeping goes to god and says to god i'm a man i'm afraid of dying right but then he goes to god's word he's encouraged he's reminded that god is the one that takes vengeance even when he has the chance to take full revenge to plunge that sword into his enemy and he's no longer the fugitive now he can truly be king because no i'm not going to do it lord i'm leaving it in your hands lord you judge you judge between me and soul and the only way he could do that was with a clear conscience it's anyway so brethren if you've got any enemies you're no better than these men in the bible okay if you've got enemies make peace with them don't do evil toward them do good do good all right and leave vengeance up to the lord all right psalm 56 that tell us my wonderings let's pray