Victory: In the Name of the Lord Psalm 44:4-8

Text: “Wherefore God (the Father) also hath highly exalted Him (God the Son), and given Him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Philippians 2:9-11.

Good morning, victorious Christian!  Just like the boy, David, who went up against the giant Philistine, Goliath of Gath – you and I are victorious when we go up to fight our ‘giants’ in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of all kings, and the Lord of all so-called lords.  Hallelujah!  We have consistent victory, when our Spiritual battles are fought in and under the Name of the Lord God’s banner of righteousness.  All glory to the Lamb Who is worthy!

Verse 4. “Thou art my King, O God.  Born again Christians, can be of many and diverse nationalities, colour of skin; rich or poor; highly educated and uneducated – yet we all have this one necessary thing in common: we own the Lord God Jehovah as our Sovereign Lord and our King.  The Lord Jesus Christ is the King of all kings, and the Lord of all lords.  Praise His Name!

Verse 4.  “...Command deliverances for Jacob.  Note that it is plural ‘deliverances’ we, God’s people, need.  Our enemies are multiplied, our perils are sore; thus, because the Lord God Jehovah is our King, we pray that, as a truly Sovereign Lord God, He will ‘command deliverances’ for us.  At His will, all oppositions and powers must give way.  God’s will must, and shall be done.  Glory to His Omnipotent Name!

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.”           (Romans 8:37)

“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.”  (2 Peter 2:9)

Verse 5. “Through Thy Name will we tread them under that rise up against us.  Mark well that all the conquests of these believers are said to be ‘through Thee,’ ‘through Thy Name’; never let us forget this, lest going a warfare at our own charges, we fail most ignominiously.  Let us not, however, fall into the equally dangerous sin of distrust, for the Lord can make the weakest of us equal to any emergency.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, page 210)

“Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross; lift high His royal banner; it must not suffer loss...Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in His strength alone; the arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.”

Verse 6. “For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.  Arm of flesh, how dare I trust thee?  How dare I bring upon myself the curse of those who rely upon man?”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 210)

How often in times of blatant provocation, under extreme torments from worldlings living all around me, have I been sorely tempted to raise the arm of my flesh in order to quell the persistent provocations and annoyances of the world!  Yet, the Lord God has shown me - time and time again – that if I wait patiently for His perfect timing, He will put an stop to the ridicule, slander, and torment.  It has been truly wonderful to see the Almighty Lord God condescending to come to the aid of someone like me, the very least of Christ’s Flock.  Thanks be to God, Amen!

“The less confidence we have in ourselves or in anything beside God, the more evidence have we of the sincerity of our faith in God.”  (David Dickson 1583-1662)

Verse 7. “But Thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us.  We who are Spiritually regenerate Christians must at all times seek to apply the Word of God to the events of our day to day experience of life. 

Thus, I remember well some years ago, when living in a large Social Housing Estate here in Northern Ireland, UK;  my wife and young daughter and I were being tormented continually by unruly next door neighbours who had moved in to what had become a ‘private rental dwelling’.

 These young guys did not appear through the day but, like social vampires, only seemed to come to life after traditional work-hours had ended.  Then, they were intent on opening up their rented dwelling to every malcontent, every drunkard; everyone intent on pushing substances up their noses or into their arms or lungs in order to make them go out of their tiny minds!

It became absolutely intolerable for us as a quiet Christian family to live next door to this constant social disorder and annoyance.  Life, for us, became a mere waiting for the next inevitable ‘party’, accompanied by all-night music; noise; and often hand to hand fighting in the tiny street right outside our front door and under the bedroom where we were trying desperately to get some sleep.

Given my terrible background in extreme violence and eventual terrorism – my Christian faith in God was being tested sore most nights of the week; as the Devil and my own natural flesh tempted me to go next door with a heavy stick to clear out the malcontents from their filthy drug and alcohol-fuelled den.  So often I lay Spiritually wrestling with my old nature which lusted to go and ‘sort this situation out’ once and for all.  The extreme pressures of my self-restraint was causing my very health to fail, and I admit, I was ‘at my wits end’.

Then, just when I began to think that I had no other option but to go next door, confront and, with use of extreme violence, physically toss our tormentors out (wrecking my Christian witness and testimony for Christ in the process, of course!) – the Lord’s hand worked in a truly marvellous manner to end our torture and deliver us from our worldly enemies.

The Lord throughout Scripture often uses weather conditions to fulfil His Divine purpose.  And so it was that our tormentors were removed from the house next door.  The Lord sent a severe cold period to Northern Ireland – snow and ice and one of the coldest Christmas periods we had had in Great Britain & Northern Ireland for many decades.

Our selfish and delinquent young neighbours spent all their Welfare Benefit allowance on booze and drugs, and thus had no notion of ‘squandering’ such financial resources on ‘foolish things’ – like home-heating fuel oil, and stuff.  Thus, when the big freeze came, all the water-pipes in that house burst wide open, flooded the entire house; and made it uninhabitable for tenants!  Hallelujah!  Praise God, the anti-social next door neighbours were immediately evicted, the landlord who had carelessly rented his accommodation to those totally irresponsible young tenants, was out a small fortune in house-repairs – and the raucous drug and alcohol partying came to an end.    The Lord God is not mocked, especially when ‘His people’ are being hurt.

Verse 7. “But Thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us."    

Thought: ‘Waiting’ for the Lord’, can be difficult – but His timing is always perfect.  ‘Weeping may endure for a night...joy cometh in the morning’, when we wait on God.