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When I ask you to open your Bibles to I Samuel, chapter 17, youwill recognize that this is the story of David and Goliath. AndI will not have to spend any time on that record to this greatcrowd, you're so well versed in these things. I merely want tocall your attention to verse 51 of I Samuel 17. The giant hasjust been slain. David has done his job. God has been with him.He is the victor. He is the conqueror. Verse 51 of chapter 17says, "Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistineand took his sword and drew it out of the sheath thereof and cutoff his head therewith, and when the Philistine saw their championwas dead, they fled." I want to call your attention to thefact that David used Goliath's great sword and cut his head offwith it. Now, as I turn the page and come to chapter 21 of I Samuel,I find out what David did with that sword. I suspect he lookedat that sword for several days, don't you? He probably turnedit and looked at its keen edges and saw its big hand grip. YoungDavid must have said to himself, "Oh, God was with me theday I grabbed that big sword and went after him. God's Spiritwas certainly strong in my muscles the day I pulled the swordout." He probably took some cloth and wrapped that swordup. When he had a lot of time to look at it and think about itand bless God for it, and all the other things that went withit, he wrapped that sword up real neatly and said, "I thinkwhat I'll do with this now is take it up to the house of God.I think I'll just lay this thing up in the house of God."He laid the sword up in the house of the Lord.
In chapter 21, verse 8, there is a day of adversity again. Thereis a day of problem again. And David said to Ahimelech, "Andis there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I haveneither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king'sbusiness required haste. And the priest said, The sword of Goliaththe Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, beholdit is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilttake that, take it: for there is no other save that here. AndDavid said, There is none like that; give it me." I'll takethat sword. I'll use that sword! And he decided he would justtake the sword that God had used in days gone by to get the jobdone with.
Beginning right here, as you follow the life of this young man,he becomes a mighty victor and a mighty conqueror. Every timehe won a victory, he'd take the spears and lay them up in thehouse of God. He'd take the armors that he had conquered in thefields of battle and put them up in the house of the Lord. Whenit comes right down to it, my friend, any victory that you andI have, the Lord is responsible for it all, isn't He? I thinkit helps our humility. It helps us to know where our victoriescome from, if we just lay our swords and spears up in the houseof the Lord when victories have been won and when battles havebeen won. David won so many that there got to be quite a collectionof swords and spears up in the house of the Lord. I'm certainthat when children walked into the house of the Lord they probablysaid, "Daddy, what are all of these?" Father would saywith a great, swelling chest of pride, "This is what ourKing David did in days gone by. These represent some victoriesthat he had." I'm sure that when men came into the templeof God fainthearted and weary with the cares of life. and wouldsee all the swords and spears lining the walls of the house ofGod, they must have quickened their step. Their hearts must havebeaten anew. They must have said to themselves, "If littleDavid could do it, so can I." And they, no doubt, went outanxious to get the job done again.
But time went on with that collection there in the house of theLord. Wicked people came to the throne. It just seems like youcan never keep them from doing it. Wicked folk had come to thethrone. Turn your Bibles to II Kings. I'm still concerned withthese same swords and spears. When you come to II Kings, chapter11, wicked people have overtaken the throne and the wicked houseof Ahab has been ruling over God's people, now, far too long.A young man by the name of Jehu started to fight against the houseof Ahab. Ahab's wicked daughter said, "I'll be sure thatnone of the royal seed, none of the seed of Judah comes to thethrone. The throne belongs to me and my sons and to my childrenafter me. My father Ahab ruled here and this belongs to us."She set out to put to death all of the royal seed. She put everyone of them less than a year old, to death, with the exceptionof one child. A godly woman took that child and fled into thehouse of the Lord and kept him hid in God's house for seven years.He got to be a fine looking lad and one day somebody said to thepriest, "Don't you think it's time we put a stop to all ofthis wickedness? Don't you think it's time the royal seed belongson the throne? I know that boy is just seven now, but God cantutor him and cause him to do great things. Let's make him ourking." So they got together and were praying, asking Godhow to make the boy king. They needed a new king. They said, "Now,look, we have problems. If we say we're going to go up and makethat lad a king, we're going to have civil war on our hands. Ifwe get some swords and spears and go up there to protect him oncehe's made the king, then we're going to lose our lives and he'sgoing to lose his. How are we going to do this thing? How arewe going to get it done?"
According to verse 10 of chapter 11 of II Kings, "And tothe captains over hundreds did the priest give king David's spearsand shields, that were in the temple of the Lord." They said,"We'll just go up there like we're going up to the houseof God, without any thought of uprising, and that wicked queenwill never know what it is all about. Once we've gotten in there,we'll distribute the spears and swords of our King David, wholived before us and we'll be ready to go. We'll bring out thisboy and make him king." So they divided up the swords andspears that were in the house of God, and verse 11 says, "theguard stood every man with his weapon in his hand, round aboutthe king, from the right corner of the temple to the left cornerof the temple, along the altar of the temple. And he brought forththe king's son, and put the crown on him, and gave him the testimony;and made him king, and annointed him; and they clapped their handsand said, God save the king." Now, this whole thing is broughtabout, this whole thing is possible, simply because somebody indays gone by had won some mighty victories and had left the trophiesthereof in the house of the Lord.
When we come here today on this very most solemn occasion in mylife, when on this grandest day in all of my existence, I lookout here and know that I'm your pastor, I think it must be thegrandest day in all of my life. I never expect to have a day ofhigher emotions than this one. I never expect to have a higherday of joy than this one. But I want you to know that it is allpossible because there have been some great victories won in daysgone by; there have been some mighty swords and spears hangingaround here that I shall be happy to use. I look back now andknow that Dr. Vick did grand and good work and has left the swordsaround here for me to use.
I am not a proud man at all. It does not humble me unnecessarilyto recognize that I'll be able to use a lot of things that hedid. I'll be able to use a lot of the work that he did. I shalldo it with gladness! I'm not so egotistical that I think all thegood ideas are in my head. I'll be glad to use all of those things.
I should like to hasten to say, though, that I do not expect tostand around here using only the weapons that Dr. Vick left. I'msaying to you this morning, I believe that this great church oughtto rise to her feet and this great church ought to rally to thecause. I think there are greater victories yet to be won by thiscrowd. And I shall be greatly disappointed if we do not rise tothe high calling that God has left this church, and if we do notwin some brand new victories. There are some more valleys of Elah,you know? There are some more Goliaths to be had! There are somemore mountains to be taken. There's other territory to be gained.I expect to be the captain over God's people. I expect to be theleader around here when we do gain some of those victories, andI expect to hang some brand new swords and spears in this placein days to come.
Now, I think I ought to make it known that I'm here by specialappointment. I think I feel like the young man who was in thefront ranks of Napoleon's troops, as Napoleon was reviewing histroops, riding his horse without the use of the reins. His horsebolted ahead right quick, and the young man stepped out of thefront and grabbed the horse's bridle bit and calmed him quickly.Napoleon was so impressed by the quickness of the youth that hesaid, "Thank you, Captain." (Well, he was just a private,but he said, "Thank you, Captain".) The young man said,"Of which regiment, sir?" And again, Napoleon was takenback, and he said, "Of my private bodyguard." The youngman broke ranks and ran down where Napoleon's elite troops werestanding, and he started barking orders. Somebody said, "Hey,you nut! Who do you think you are coming down here, giving orders?"The young man said, "I am here, sirs, by the word of theEmperor himself." I want you to know that I'm not pastorof Temple Baptist Church by any political maneuver. I am here,sirs, by the word of the Emperor Himself! I expect to make mypresence felt here, as we arm ourselves hand in hand, and go forthto greater victories for the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you toknow that I shall not make any effort, whatsoever, to be likeDr. Vick. He was one of the grandest men that I ever knew in allof my life. I nearly idolized him. I guarantee, I supported programsat Baptist Bible College that I personally did not believe in,but I supported them because Dr. Vick believed in them. I knewthat he knew more about it than I did, so I supported them. Inearly idolized that man. Be that as it may, God has made thechange. I haven't done so. I didn't request it. I was brokenheartedwhen it came about. I didn't engage in a moment's politics toget here, but now that I'm here, by the appointment of the Lord,we shall rise and go forward together. Great things will be accomplishedfor God. As soon as I've had some time to study your past recordsand some time to interview your staff, and we've had a littletime together, I expect, dear friends, that we'll be announcingsome things that will cause us to move up and to move forwardand to get the job done. I think I shall be like Moses when thepeople of God came out of Egypt and camped around that mountain.They'd been slaves for four hundred years and all of a suddenthey're out of bondage. All of a sudden, there are no more bricksto make and no more cities to build. They're just enjoying thegreat things of God. They spent thirteen months doing nothingbut enjoying it. Finally, one day, Moses came out and said, "Godsaid you've been long enough at this mountain. It's time to move."That kind of disturbed them, a little bit, and I'm sure they weresomewhat upset about it all. Just as it oftentimes disturbs usto be moved around in the program of God. But, I say to you, Godhas disturbed this church and moved us around a little bit bythe homegoing of your pastor. God has disturbed the emotionalside of this church, the physical side of this church, and thespiritual side of this church. Now that God has stirred up ournest a little bit, and put us, as little eaglets, out of the nest,let's learn to fly! What do you say? Let's go on to new heights.Let's see the green valleys of God's doings. Let's see the highmountains of the Lord's victories out there. I declare to you,just on the other side of the battlefields, there must be thesweet smell of victory that can be in our nostrils. We need topress on because the work of our God is great. The urgency thereofis unusual. I challenge you today! Let us arm ourselves, together.Let us move forward as pastor and people. Let us be sure thatsome good things are going to take place.
Now, I want you to know that I shall, probably, make some mistakesbecause when it comes to a mistake maker, I guess there's nota better qualified fellow around. I can make mistakes with thebest of them! But if you're going to keep the record, if you'regoing to keep account of how many mistakes I make, be certainthat you mark down how many victories we have, too, and we'llcount up the scores at the end of the game. That's the way youdo that thing, you know? So, I want you to know, there'll be somemistakes made. But, I want you also to know that I am not afraidto make a decision here and there. I am not afraid to be the umpireof the game and to make the decision. When I say safe, it's safe.When you debate with the umpire, you know what happens, don'tyou? The umpire has the last word. If you understand the groundrules, it just makes the game better, doesn't it? Just makes thegame sweeter as we go along. So, I'm saying to you this morning,if I'm going to be the shepherd and you're going to be the sheep,I expect to do the leading. I don't expect to walk behind thesheep and take all the dirt and all that sort of thing. I expectto be out in front looking for green grass for you all the while.I expect to be looking for fresh water for you all the while.I expect the sheep to reproduce themselves. I expect the sheepto follow leadership. I'm going to be greatly disappointed ifGod doesn't give us phenomenal, fantastic victories in the daysthat are just ahead.
I'll tell you why we're going about the business of doing battlefor God, why we're going about the business of winning victoriesand getting good things done. There are some other swords andtrophies that I want to line the walls of this temple. There aresome other things that I want left around. I want you to openyour Bibles, to the New Testament, to the book of Ephesians, chapter6. I should like to show you some of the other weapons that Iwant us to be absolutely positive are put into their places andkept in their places as we march forward together as pastor andpeople, as we march forward together as colaborers in Christ Jesus.I want us to be able to do as verse 14 of chapter 6 of the bookof Ephesians says, "Stand therefore, having your loins girtabout with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness."I want us to hang up the trophies of truth around this place andto be absolutely sure that we deal one with another on the basisof truth; that we deal with the unsaved world on the basis oftruth; and that we deal with God on the basis of truth. I wantfolks to know when they come into the halls of Temple BaptistChurch that we believe the Bible to be the absolute true Wordof God and that we make no apology for it, whatsoever. I wantthem to be able to say, "Well. that's a Biblebelievingcrowd." If we believe the Bible we'll do something aboutthese things. If we rise up this mighty army that's here thismorning, if this crowd rises up to do some things, you'll be absolutelycertain that things will be done.
Then he said, "Wearing the breastplate of righteousness."I want us to be right. I want us to be right with God. I wantus to be right with each other. I want us to deal on the basisof righteousness. There is no reason why we should undercut eachother as pastor and people. There is no reason why we should fighteach other. We are on the same team. We are going in the samedirection. We are carrying the same colors. I want us to be onthe basis of righteousness. I want folks that come in here, rackedwith sin and spoiled with sin and ruined with sin, to know thatthrough our Lord Jesus Christ, they can be righteous. Their sincan be purged away. Their iniquity straightened out. I want usto hang the trophies of righteousness on the halls of this temple.
And in verse 15, he said, "And your feet shod with the preparationof the gospel of peace." I want us to go forth from thisplace, not as from a mutual admiration society, but as from amarshalling place, as from a getting ready place. When our sonwas a captain in the Air Force, he would always take me to theready room (because I'm something of an amatuer pilot in my ownright) where they were getting the pilots ready for the flightsthat day, as well as maneuvers and other activities. I declareto you, we ought to come up to the house of God and this oughtto be our ready room! When we go forth from this place, it oughtnot be the end of activity until next Sunday. We ought to go forthfrom here storming the ports of sin and going against the battles.We ought to be able to do some good as we go out of this place.We ought to go out of here combing the community. We ought togo out of here conquering the contraries. We ought to come backcontributing the cash and counting the conquered. When we go outof here, I want us to go with our feet shod with the good newsof peace that's in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Above all, I want us to take the "shield of faith wherewithye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.And take the helmet of salvation." I want us to make thisthe crowning place. I want us to make this the throne room whereungodly sinners come in and go out crowned with the helmet ofsalvation, ready to meet the Lord. I want us to make this a placewhere people get saved, and where the saved get baptized, andwhere the baptized get ordained for service, and where those thathave been touched for service go out and get the job done. I wantevery person who is in this auditorium this morning, before you'vegone, to go wearing the helmet of salvation. You don't have togo to hell! There's a Heaven to go to. You don't have to be lost!There's a Saviour to touch your life. I want you to go wearingthe helmet of salvation, today, and carrying in your hand thesword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God and the truth thereof.I press upon you, today, don't leave this place until we lookback and rejoice in the victories that have been wrought, untilwe look forward to the things that are going to get done. It doesn'tbother me at all to look back to your historic past. It doesn'tbother me at all to talk about now. But I'm most concerned, here,about the future. I don't want to talk about the sweet by andby too much. I want to deal in the nasty now and now. But, we'regoing to do something for Christ every day that goes by. "Likea mighty army moves the church of God" ought to be the historichymn that this church sings. And we ought to move as an army ofthe Lord.
More than anything else, this morning, I desire the personal salvationof every person present. Don't leave here, today, until you'vecome down out of the balcony. Don't leave, today, until you'vestepped out into the aisles. Come and let a personal worker tellyou the simple plan of salvation. Don't leave today until you'vejoined hands with us. Mrs. Henderson and I are going to join thechurch today, and I hope the probation period is not long, becausewe want to get in, I guarantee you. I think there are, perhaps,twentyfive others out there who ought to join up today.Let's go! Let's do something for God! Get on the victory train!I'm absolutely positive God's going to do unusual things for us.I can feel His Spirit moving in my heart. I feel Him in my bones.Great days are ahead for you and me as pastor and people. I urgea great many of the others of you, come on! Let's do somethingfor the Lord. Those of you who came today without Christ, takethe helmet of salvation. We take it down off the walls of thishallowed temple and say to you, "In Jesus Christ, there iseternal life." You can be saved now. You say, "BrotherHenderson, I'm not good enough!" We're not talking abouthow good you are! We're telling you that the helmet is availablefor YOU to wear. Why not wear it? Return to Sermon Index