Pfaff, Karl: Psalm 111; ~ Psalm 111;

And as we hear requests in prayer, such as we have heard this morning concerning our nation and concerning events, concerning changes that have taken place in the world. As for those who seem to be overly pessimistic, it seems as though everything is just about to flop about over our ears. For those who seem to be, uh, over-optimistic, it seems that nothing has changed, everything is the same. It just depends upon which color glasses you look to see whatever it is you're trying to find. The question given to us in this Psalm eleven is one that was not raised by David. David didn't raise this question. This question was one that was raised by those who were the faint-hearted friends of David. These were those who, as they looked round about, saw nothing but modified chaos and otherwise. These, as they looked about, saw absolutely nothing that lent the slightest vestige to hope or encouragement. So they asked David of this question: If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? David's fair-weather friend. Most of you know a friend of mine, George Huxter, is with the Lord now. On our gospel tour, every once in a while he'd say, well, Carl, you lead the way and I'll follow you. I'll follow through thick and thin. If it gets too thick, brother, I'll thin out. These were David's friends. Things were getting a little rough. Things were getting a little difficult. Now, no wonder the question is raised about these foundations that are being destroyed. Scripture has quite a lot to say about foundations, because foundations are important. They are political foundations, spiritual foundations, social and moral foundations and principles. Job says this, concerning those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth. Now notice David doesn't, uh, Job doesn't say which are crushed before the tank or the bulldozer. These are foundations built in the dust. Someone said dust is simply mud with the juice squeezed out, so you have nothing solid in either direction. But here are those who have their foundation in the dust. There's nothing solid, nothing permanent, nothing that's lasting. Doesn't it echo the words of the apostle when he said that we look not at the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen? For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. So these are the, these are the things upon which we have the eye of faith. Abraham, in Hebrews eleven looked for a city which had foundations, whose builder and architect is God. What was it that David was looking for, Abraham was looking for? Where did he have his eye? Not upon today, not upon the Sodomites, not upon Egyptians, not upon nations round about, but his eye upon the living God. He had his eye toward tomorrow, that future day which to him was not far away now, as it is to you and to me. But what is it that captivates our mind? What is it we think about most of all? What's the first thing we think about when we get up in the morning? What's the last thing we think about before we go to bed at night? What is it that occupies your attention and mind during the day? What is it that either brings joy and delight and liberty and freedom to your life and mind? Or what is it that brings fear and terror to your heart and mind? You'll forgive me, I, it's a little hard to become oriented somehow. I just came from Washington, DC, where I had been called upon to do the honors at a wedding, and, uh, I didn't go to see the, uh, Resurrection City, uh, went around a little bit. But you know, as we drove down the portion of fourteenth Street where the stores on both sides of the streets and the shops had been burned and destroyed, it does bring a measure of fear. You can't help but just sense a measure of fear. And as you drive round about the city and see people sitting in their cars with the windows locked, and as you see casual glances here and there, carefulness, it is a difference. It is a difference. There are those who have a measure of fear through some personal experience or otherwise. There are those who are petrified with fear and those immobilized with fear. You and I do not have to be this way at any time. As Abraham moved through his day and in his time, he had his eye upon the future day. He had his eye upon the living God, and Abraham looked for a city that had foundations. Its builder and maker is God. First Corinthians, we read, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. This is your foundation and mine. We read in Ephesians two and twenty concerning the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. There's something solid. There's something upon which to build, and a foundation is something upon which we stand and upon which we build. And today we can stand firmly and solidly upon this foundation. Perhaps we're apologizing too much for the world, to the world for what we believe and whom we believe and where we stand and why. I was listening to a lady by the name of, uh, Madeline Murphy, was it, not too long ago. She was saying that an atheist is not a person who says there is no God, but an atheist is a person who says, I don't know if there is a God or not. And upon this premise, she shakes the very foundation of our Supreme Court and all officials of an entire world upon the premise that's so unsure and you know nothing about. If one individual can shake an entire nation and almost an entire world upon a premise that is so unsure and so unreal, think of the power that's of your disposal and mine through a foundation that's solid, and a foundation that's real, and a foundation that would adhere to no apology at all. The apostle said in second Timothy, Timothy two nineteen, nevertheless the foundation of the Lord stand as sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. There's another foundation, solid and sure. When you come to Psalm eighty two and five, you read this statement, all the foundations of the world are out of course. As we read the headlines, as we look around about us today, we come to that conclusion. All the foundations of the world are out of course. Now, the friends of David said that the, if the foundations be destroyed, this verb to destroy means to pull down, or to tear down, or to overthrow. There's a great deal today that is being overthrown. There's nothing, as we look round about us in our world today, that is impossible to overthrow. When I talked by phone to a friend in Washington, this friend said, well, Carl, when you come here, you'll find that things have changed. It's not the same. It's not the same. And that's true. And in a few short years, everything has changed. There's hardly anything the same today as it was even a few short years ago. Now, what does this do to you and me? Well, notice the next verse. The Lord is in his holy temple. That was David's answer. That was his answer. That was his reply. These foundations are being destroyed, political foundations being destroyed. Kings are being, uh, uh, dethroned. Kingdoms are overthrown. Political foundations are being destroyed, torn down, overthrown. David said, the Lord is in his holy temple. Didn't excite David. He was neither petrified nor immobilized by fear, because David was so in touch with the living God that he need- he didn't need to fear. David was so in touch, having had experiences with the living God from the time he was a young man, a boy, on the Judean hillsides. He spent time alone with God. This was the secret of David's lack of fear and his lack of over anxiety, because he knew that the Lord was in his temple. You and I may be tempted to fear. You and I may become tempted to be immobilized and say, well, what's the use? This wasn't David's attitude. I call to your attention Isaiah chapter six and verse one. text we- we're well familiar with, I'm sure. In the year, says Isaiah, that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord. He said, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Notice that little verb, saw. What did Isaiah see? He saw political chaos. Uzziah had been king for about forty years. Now he was gone. The Lord removed him. Someone else was to take his place. There was political upheaval, modified chaos in the land. Uncertainty was everywhere. There were doubts as to what the future would bring. But Isaiah said that he saw something. This was not a casual glance. This was not just a casual looking at an object in passing. Isaiah uses this verb, which means to discern. An intelligent observation. He observed closely, and what he saw, he saw with a discerning eye. So the political foundations are tottering. So kingdoms are falling. So kings are being deposed, and the foundations are being destroyed. So Isaiah said, uh, he saw something else. This wasn't all that took his eye. This wasn't all that captivated his attention. He said, I saw also something he saw beside the chaos, something he saw beside the confusion, something he saw beside the disturbance and the dust that was being raised. There's something else he saw beside the fear and the doubt on the part of the people. Isaiah was in the presence of God, and this is where you and I belong. We need to spend more time in the presence of God, individually, personally. I doubt very much if we need more and more and more conferences, though conferences are fine. I enjoy every one, except for a few minutes before I have to stand up. Conferences are good. We look back upon various times when we met together and enjoyed happy fellowship with the saints and enjoyed the word of God, and we took home notebooks full of notes and helps that we had received, and we go over them through the years, and and we enjoy them so much. And we learn from the word of God. We become established in the truth. We begin to develop discernment. Someone asked the question, you know why a horse has horse heads? Well, because he's been stabilized. And that's what you and I need, to be stabilized and established in the present truth. Not only to stand, but know where we stand and know why we stand. So the children brought up in our home will know where they stand and know why they stand. And when they get to high school and college, will not need to be floundering around about this or that, and raising questions about this or that, and becoming uncertain and confused about this or that. Isaiah said, I saw also the Lord. It may not be our need for bigger and better preachers either, but perhaps what you and I need is more so develop and nurture a personal and individual commitment, dedication to Jesus Christ. More and more occupation personally and individually with him. This is what kept Isaiah steady and firm and solid and assured and reassured when everything was tottering about his ears. This is what kept Abraham. This is what kept David. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? David's answer was, they looked to earth alone. He looked up to heaven. They judged by the appearance of the moment. But in respect to David, he beheld the righteous governor upon his throne, and the fear, if there was any, was gone. This does not mean that we look out upon a world in abject carelessness and indifference. No, we should be exercised. We should be concerned, but it should not be with an over anxiety that would rob us of that inner peace and tranquility that God expects us to have as we lift our eyes above the noise and the static and see a risen Christ at the right hand of God. On earth, justice may be subverted. Someone has said, I don't know if it's the exact quotation, but right upon the scaffold and wrong upon the throne. Perhaps you recognize it. As we look about us today, this seems to be where we stand in our age and in our time. When the bases of the state are shattered, what can the righteous do? How much do we have confidence in foundations? Do we believe in foundations? We believe in divine principles. What about the Word of God? Everything in this blessed Word of God has been denied. This is your foundation and my foundation. When we were children, we used to sing, I stand upon the Word of God. Where do we stand today? Is this still our stand? The Word of God in its absolute authority? We believe this is the word of God, divinely inspired, and we would do battle with anyone who dared to take it away from us. But how much do we read it? How much do we read it? How much do we know about it? Have we learned more about it today than we knew two years ago, five, ten, fifteen, twenty years ago? Is it just as precious today as it was then, or more so? We believe in the priesthood of believers. You know, there are a lot of places where that priesthood of believers is just a, just a cause for a hollow, shallow laugh. People mock at this idea, the priesthood of believers. But we believe in the priesthood of believers. We do battle with anybody who dare to take away from us this precious truth of priesthood of believers. But do we practice it? When we get together for prayer meeting the middle of the week, do we practice it? Are we even there? In a panel discussion with young people, the question was asked, why is it that teenagers are so often absent from the midweek prayer meeting? One of the teenagers said, when we come to midweek prayer meeting, where are the adults? We don't want anyone to take away this priesthood of believers. But what are we doing with it? When you come to the midweek prayer meeting, the same two or three brethren stand up and, and, uh, and get into communication with God, who did last week and the year before and two, three, five years ago, and we believe in the priesthood of believers. When we come together on the Lord's Day morning to remember the Lord Jesus, those same two or three men who stood up last Lord's Day and a year ago, two, five years ago, they still the only ones who stand and express and exercise this truth of the priesthood of believers. What does it mean to me? What does it mean to you? Do you consider it precious? Would you let someone come into your assembly and take away this truth and this principle of the priesthood of believers? We believe that Jesus is coming again. We would not want anyone to take away from us this blessed truth of the second coming again of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Yet there is no more practical truth in all the Bible than the fact Jesus is coming again. But what does this do to you, and what does it do to me? Do we live in the light of his coming? Or perhaps have we been so concerned about getting hold of this truth that it never has gotten hold of me? I think this is the better part. Rather than I should know it so thoroughly, I should want it to take hold upon me, and that my life should be to his praise and to his glory. In the, uh, book of Amos, and our time is going by very fast. In the book of Amos, uh, the, the question that is raised there, can two walk together except they be agreed? A more accurate translation of this would be, how can we walk together with your sins between us? This is God speaking through the prophet Amos, and he's speaking now to a people who were acquainted with privileges. He was speaking now to a people who were acquainted with all the wonders of God's marvelous grace. He was speaking to a people who were prosperous, but there was social and moral degeneracy in the land. He was speaking to a people to whom materialism was in the saddle. He was speaking in respect to people among whom the mer- merchants considered the sacred day as a foolish interruption to their trade. We're coming to the place where we look upon the Lord's day as a time that interrupts our activity. And rather impatiently, and out of a sense of only obligation, we are there. When we'd rather be elsewhere. Here were people who had known in a land the hand of God. How can two walk together? A walk is a very precious activity, depending upon whom your companion may be. Alice and I used to walk through the zoo lots of times on Sundays afternoon and other times Saturday before we got married, and after we were married, we had to go back see what was there. We used to miss an awful lot. What about your walk and my walk with the living God? What about our walk in fellowship and communion with the saints? There was something here that disturbed this walk between God and his people. His people had become careless. As people had become indifferent. His people had become callous in respect to one another. Injustice in the land. No wonder that walk was interrupted. How can you walk down the road of the highway, you meet a man and you look at him with a suspicious eye? What's he have in his mind? We're going to walk together in agreement? Or what's his motive? Here were a people who were not walking in agreement with God. That kind of a walk that I have today, is my day by day walk in agreement with him? Is my day by day fellowship and communion such as would commend others to him. What about our walk, our fellowship, and our communion with God? What's it like? Enoch was a man who walked with God, and he refused to be discouraged. He lived in an evil day. I think once again, if you'll forgive me, of the Apostle Paul, who knew what it meant to walk in such fellowship and harmony with the living God that there was nothing he would allow to come in between. Here was a man whose feelings you couldn't hurt. Made a difference, made a difference what you said, you couldn't have hurt his feelings. Even if you'd ignored him, he wouldn't have had his feelings hurt, no matter what you said, you couldn't have hurt this man's feelings. Here was a man who was so dedicated, so wholly committed, out of sheer burning love for Christ. He allowed nothing to interfere with that. It's so strange. Love begets love, and yet at the slightest whim, it's all off. We don't go anymore. We don't speak anymore. Where does this leave the Lord Jesus? Where does this leave him? What about that commitment to Jesus Christ you made years and years ago? Perhaps much more ready and fit for heaven than at this time. How can we walk together with our sins, with your sins between us? This is a cry from God who longs for, who desires for, and who hungers after your fellowship and communion and mine. Think of that. And where do we leave him? Where do we leave him on the Lord's Day morning? Where do we leave him every day of the week? Do we include him in our plan? Or do we seem to feel that he is an intruder into our plan? How can two walk together except they be agreed? Here were people who had many, many privileges but were devoid of responsibility. You know what this is? This is like a child. It's like a child. A child wants all the privileges, but the child wants everything in sight, and most of what he can see at the, uh, uh, along with it. Here were people who were men and women of res- of privileges. There were no nation so privileged as this nation. In chapter three, verse two, the Lord says, you only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore I will punish you for your iniquities. A people privileged, but devoid of responsibilities. They wanted no responsibilities. Here were people who had a low estimate of sin, a low estimate of sin. But you and I conscious of all that grieves the Lord? Are you and I conscious of all that interferes and interrupts our fellowship and our communion with him? And that thread of fellowship and communion is mighty thin. Doesn't take much to sever that cord of fellowship. Discipline was lacking here, carelessness and indifference. Now I've wondered often about a question that comes to mind. Where is our power today? Why are we so devoid of power? Power in preaching, power in our testimony, power in our living, where has it gone? I look in the book of Acts and see the early church, and as, uh, Campbell Morgan suggests in his book, the power of this early church lay in its purity. It was a pure church. It was a clean church. It would not tolerate sin in its midst. Consequently, it was a powerful church. Where is our power today? Why are we so weak? In the gospel by Luke, just another minute or two, chapter eighteen, the Lord raises this question here, and he says, when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Now, if the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? How can we walk together with your sins between us, a fellowship and a communion? And here is a faith. Here is a body of revealed truth, a body of divine truth. What is our attitude toward this? The Lord is saying that before he comes again, apostasy would set in. He's saying that before he comes again, there would be men and women who would deny the faith. There would be those who would apostatize from the faith. As you and I look round about us in a world today given to confusion, upheaval, chaos, uncertainty, doubt, and fear, where's your attention and mine? Where's your attention and mine? What occupies our thoughts? What occupies our hearts? It should be this simple and yet profound trap truth. Jesus is coming again. As we see this word of God being denied on every hand, as we see all that we hold precious and hold dear being taken away from us, our liberties going one by one, we stand firmly and solidly upon a divine revelation and live every day in the light of his coming again, with a personal, individual commitment, dedication to Jesus Christ. I am his, and he is mine. Shall we turn to the third chapter of, of Judges? Judges chapter three. Judges chapter three and verse eleven. And the land had rest forty years, and Othniel the son of Kenaz died. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel and possessed the city of palm trees. So the children of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, uh eighteen years. But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man left-handed. And by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon, the king of Moab. But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges of a cubit length, and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. And he brought the present unto Eglon, king of Moab, and Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bear the present. But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king, who said, keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And Ehud came unto him, and he was sitting in a sa- summer parlor, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand and took the dagger from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly. And the haft also went in after the blade, and the fat closed upon the blade so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly, and the dirt came out. Then Ehud went forth through the porch and shut the doors of the parlor upon him and locked them. When he was gone out, his servants came, and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked, they said, surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. And they tarried till they were ashamed, and behold, he opened not the doors of the parlor. Therefore they took a key and opened them, and behold, their Lord was fallen down dead on the earth. And Ehud escaped while they tarried and passed beyond the quarries and escaped unto Serath. And it came to pass when he was come that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. And he said unto them, Follow after me, for the Lord hath delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand. And they went down after him and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. And they slew of Moab at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty and all men of valor, and there escaped not a man. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest fourscore. May the Lord bless to us the reading of his word. We have read from this book of Judges, we- which we know is a book concerning the days when every man did that which was right in his own eyes. We have a people who are brought into the inheritance of God, and we find that when they are in the inheritance of God, why, we find that there's a constant departure and a constant restoration. You know, as you read the book of Judges, you can't help thinking, well, how is it that people could fail so often and so frequently? Didn't they learn the lessons of the past generations? And then, you know, when you look at yourself and you find how much you fail, even though you may know this or that, why you don't marvel very much at the failures of the people in the days of judges. But alongside with the failures of the people in the days of the judges, it also amazes us to think how God again and again brings this people out of their trouble, and how he brings in his deliverance. While there was their constant failure, alongside of this, and greater than this, was the mercy and the kindness of God in restoration. In the portion that we have read, we have one of those incidents where are times when the children of Israel failed, and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Moabites. Now we know that these various people who had control over the children of Israel at different times picture for us different principles, you might say, that are, uh, prevalent in the lives even of us who are the people of God. You know, the Moabites, as we look at them, why, they were those who were related to the children of Israel. They were those who, you might say, had a tie with the nation of Israel, but nevertheless, they were really and truly those who were the enemies of God. And you and I have brought before us Moab. Moab, you remember, was a, the result of a union between Lot, who we know was a real child of God, and his daughters, and the result was that we have Moab. And I think that you and I in Moab, we have brought before us profession without reality, or very little reality. I think that as you and I look at Christendom today, and as we look at the Christian profession, I think that something that seems to characterize our day is this profession that has control and power over us, but there seems to be so little reality. Our brother has been speaking about the lack of the power that there is amongst us. Why is it that there is such a lack of power amongst us? I think, my brethren and my sisters, that we have brought before us in this incident that we have read this morning, we have brought before us one of the main reasons why there is so little power and so little reality and so little energy amongst us. Eglon, the king of Moab, had control over the children of Israel. Eighteen years he had control over them. Eglon, they tell us that Eglon's name means circuit or a circle. It is the word that is translated chariot and various other words, which brings before us the thought of a wheel. And as you and I think of a circle or a circuit, why it suggests to us going around and around in a circle without seeming to get very far in our Christian lives. Is that the way it is with our lives, your life and mine? Yes, we go around in a circle. We go from meeting to meeting. We go through the rites and the ceremonies. We go through the forms, but really and truly, there's not much of the spiritual energy. There's not much of the spiritual joy. There's not much of the spiritual delight. We seem to be under bondage to something that is stronger than us. What is that thing? Well, you know, it was Eglon. Eglon was a very fat man. Eglon was a lusty man. Eglon, my friends, we have brought before us here, notice in the twentieth verse it says, and Ehud came unto him, and he was sitting in a summer parlor, which he had for himself alone. Here we have the secret, here we have the index of this man's character. He had a summer parlor, which he had for himself alone. In other words, self was the character of this man's life. Selfishness was the center of this man's life. Here was a man who was characterized by the flesh. It was all centered around self. You know, you've heard of John Newton, the slave driver who was converted in a wonderful way. He lived in the days when the papacy was very strong and influential, and there was quite a bit of discussion against the papacy, and John Newton said, well, you know, the pope that I have the most trouble with is not the pope who sits in Rome, but the pope that I have the most trouble with is Pope Newton. In other words, self. You know, self is such a cunning and a deceitful thing. Self is so strong in our lives. Oh, how many things are animated and characterized by self. Oh yes, even though I may perhaps do something for the Lord, nevertheless, I'm waiting to receive some commendation or some voice of approval for something that I do for the Lord, and so self is catered to. Or perhaps when I do something and it doesn't come out just the way I'm expect- I expected it to, I become discouraged and I become downcast, I become downhearted. Why? Not because the Lord was or was not glorified, but because I was not made something of self in one form or another. How much indulgence of self there is in the life. How much indulgence and catering to self there is, and the result is, all it is is just a mass of profession. But you know, there was one man. And you know, the wonderful thing about this is, our brother has been speaking about the public testimony, but here is something, you might say, that begins in private. Here is something that is in the secret place. You notice it tells us here, it tells us in the, in the fifteenth verse or the sixteenth verse. Notice the fifteenth: But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud the son of Girah, a Benjamite, a man left-handed, and by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon, the king of Moab. You notice it tells us four things here concerning this man. First of all, it gives us his name Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamin, a man left-handed. Four things are told us concerning this man. The first thing I want you to notice, he was a Benjamite. In other words, he was of the tribe of the last son of Jacob. Remember when Jacob's son was born, Rachel, as she was passing away, she said, he's the son of my sorrow, but remember that Jacob called him the son of my right hand. Benjamite speaks to us of the person who realizes in some measure his union with our Lord Jesus Christ. You might say you and I need to realize that we are dead with Christ, that we are buried with Christ, but we are risen with Christ. But he came of the family of Gira, and you know, Gira means to us a cud. You know, that's what the cow does. It chews the cud. I knew a brother, he is now with the Lord, but we used to travel amongst the farmers, and he always used to like to go and tell the farmers which was their best cow. Now, I don't know whether he was right or not. I don't know what the farmer thought of it when he said it, but he would spend more, he would spend minutes watching the cows as they chewed their cud, and the cow which chewed the cud the most, he considered that that was the cow that was his best cow. I remember on one or two occasions the farmer said, well, that's right. But you know, chewing the cud suggests to us meditation. You know, if one of the law, if we were to speak of one of the lost arts of our day, in this day of hustle and rush, I think it's the art of meditation. Meditation upon the word of God. Meditating upon the things of God. How much time do you and I spend over the word of God? I read concerning Mr. Thomas Newberry, who was the, who was the man who spent so many hours over the Bible that he literally drained his eyes until he could hardly see as he looked at all the various dots and jots in the Hebrew originals and in the Greeks, as much as twelve and sixteen hours a day studying and looking over the word of God. We're not able to give twelve or sixteen hours a day, but the question is, how much time do you and I spend in meditation over and turning over the word of God in our hearts and in our minds. And his name is Ehud, which means he that praises. You know, that's what produces praise. That's what produces a thankful heart as you and I meditate upon and think upon and ponder over the word of God. The result is it causes us to praise. But it says he was a left-handed man. You know, a left-handed man is always a man with a defect. He's always a man with a weakness. He's a man who is a dependent man. You know, Paul himself, though he was caught up into heaven and heard unspeakable words, which it was not lawful for a man to utter, nevertheless, we find that he was a man to whom was given a thorn in the flesh, lest he should be exalted through the abundance of his revelations. That cast him upon the Lord. That made him realize he needed the Lord. Here was a man, my friends, who is a picture of a man who is spending time in secret, and in the secret place he is preparing a dagger, a dagger of a cubit length. And I want you to notice that when he is sent to bring the present to Eglon, it tells us that he keeps the dagger secreted, and he keeps it on his right side. I want you to notice he wasn't like others. He wasn't parading his dagger. You know, we're living in a day when people parade their knowledge of the Bible. There's a lot of talk about the scriptures, and sometimes you listen to people talk about the scriptures, and you think they were the most spiritual people upon the face of the earth. But, brethren and sisters, it's not our parade, it's not our public display of how much that you and I know. He kept his dagger concealed under his garment, and he kept it on the right side, not a long dagger, a dagger of only a cubit length, but a dagger that he could use. Not a whole sword of great length. You and I don't have to know all about the Bible in order to experience victory in our own personal life over the flesh. Take a little dagger. Galatians two and verse twenty, I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I have been crucified with Christ. If I have been crucified with Christ, how can I be so intent on my own things? How can I be so intent upon myself? How can I have sense self as the center of my life if I have been crucified with Christ? But that's negative. I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And you know, if you and I could only lay hold of this one word, of this one verse, and make it a reality in our lives, you know what would happen? It would be just like this man Ehud. This man Ehud goes into the presence of Eglon, and he says to Eglon, I have a present for thee. And so when he delivers that present, he retires, and he goes back to the quarries. He goes back to the place that is near Gilgal. It is a place of hallowed memories. Gilgal was the place where they erected the stones that signified their deliverance and their coming into the land of Canaan, and there is he was in that place, he would meditate and ponder and consider my death, my resurrection, and from that place he goes forth and he says to the king, King, I have a secret errand unto thee. When the king banishes everyone out of his presence, Ehud draws near and he says, I have a message from God unto thee. My brethren, my sisters, do we come to this conference with that desire? I want a message from God, a message of God unto me. Even though this message is going to do something that perhaps I don't like, something that is displeasing or des- or de- uh, destroy, destructive to the power and energy of the flesh, but I want a message from God. This is what I've been thinking about. I have a message from God unto thee. What is God's message to me? You know, when I'm speaking to you, brethren and sisters, I'm speaking to myself, because I need this myself. This is something that I feel in my own life, the indifference, the laziness, the slothfulness, the self-centeredness, the lack of power. What is it? There's that egg law. Oh, that going around in a circle, that fleshly indulgence, that lustfulness, that indulgence of flesh. And what does Ehud do? Ehud says, I have a message from God unto thee, and he pulls out the dagger, and you know... what the scripture says, the twenty first verse, Ehud put forth his left hand and took the dagger from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly, the very center of that self-centered life. And the haft also went in after the blade, and the fat closed upon the blade so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly. You know, that's significant, isn't it? So that it went in so that he couldn't draw it out again. You know, sometimes we get a word, and then out it comes. I'll cast it out of my mind. I'll cast this thing, I'll forget it. And the result is what? The result is we revert and go back to the very same thing that we did before. That's not the way it was here. It says the sword went in, and it stayed there. And it says, I would have written the blood came out, or the water came out, but it says the dirt came out. The dirt came. You know, as someone has said, really and truly, isn't that what Paul said? Paul, when he considered all that this world had to give, what did he s- how did he describe it? He described it as done. I count all things but loss for the excellency of Christ Jesus my Lord. I count all things but dung for the excellency of Christ Jesus my Lord. To Paul, the world and the things of self became just so much dung. That's what it was here. The dirt came out. It was just mere earth, mere nothing. And then notice what it says. The dirt came out, and Ehud went forth through the porch and shut the doors of the parlor upon him and locked them. When he was gone out, his servants came, and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked, they said, surely he covereth his feet in his summer parlor. And then notice the twenty sixth verse. And Ehud escaped while they tarried and passed beyond the quarries and escaped unto Serath. Now, you know, Serath is a shaggy she-goat, and the she-goat was the animal from which the skin was taken that formed the outside of the tabernacle, speaking of the separation that takes place between that which is of God and that which is not. When this man, you might say, exercised putting to death Eglon, he came to the place of Sirath. There was a public separation. You know, we need a public separation today. Years ago, there was separation. Years ago, things weren't okayed that are okayed today. I think sometimes think of some of our older brethren who have ministered the word or who lived in years past, were to come back and see so many things okayed and looked upon with relish today that were renounced and rejected and separated from in days gone by, I wonder how they would feel. I know how they would feel. They would wonder what has happened to the Christian profession. You know, there's a need today for public separation. Sirat. And when he came to that place, it says... in the twenty seventh verse, and it came to pass when he was come that he blew a trumpet to the mountain of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with them from the mount, with him from the mount. Then he blew the trumpet, and there were many who followed, and what happened? It says, and he said unto them, follow after me, for the Lord hath delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand, and they went down after him and took the fords of Jordan. They took possession of the fords of Jordan. Jordan is a picture to us of the death of Christ. My brother's been speaking about the foundations. What can the foundations... what shall we do when the foundations are destroyed? You know, today there's a turning away from the foundations. Here we find that they held the fords of Jordan. That was the only place where they could cross. And it tells us not a single Moabite. They suffered not a man to pass over. They had control of it. You know, it suggests to us that you and I need control today of the testimony of the truths that have been entrusted to us, that we might lay hold upon them. And it says they slew of Moab at that day about three thousand men, all lusty and all men of valor, and there escaped not a man. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest four score years. You know, if you and I know the reality of judging ourselves in secret and mortifying the flesh and keeping the flesh in the place that it should be, you and I will know the reality of victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, of effective testimony in a world