1 Sam 11:13, But Saul said, "Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished deliverance in Israel." 
	This morning we are brought to the continued and reinforced reality that the Lord is our Victory. In Him, Alone, is the triumph of eternity over every foe and threat and accusation and trial and tribulation and attack. There is no other place in all the sphere of God and His creation in which there is any surety and certification of our being His triumphant family! It is in Christ, Christ crucified, Christ resurrected, and Christ eternally glorified! As much as the forces of the power of this age may try to diminish and besmirch and camouflage this bedrock truth, it cannot and will never ever be able to even dimly tarnish the reality that Jesus Christ is the Victor over the dark domain and He lives forever with His saints to reign as the hymn so vibrantly declares. 
	He has brought to the weak and meager humanity of His creation, the eternal certainty that we can count on Him to bring us through to the very glorious and supremely gratifying rest of our exaltation in the life of the Only Begotten Son of God. As our passage of this morning declares so magnificently …today the Lord has accomplished deliverance in Israel. 
This is a truth that we need to accept and cherish as the course of our walk on this earth gets seemingly more difficult and challenging. All the forces arrayed against us are trying to weigh us down with doubt and disbelief and anxiety and fear and dread. There is a campaign of disinformation which is aimed at the very heart of the Church of Jesus Christ today, making every vicious accusation through the manipulative twisting of the truth. This is in an attempt to knock Christians off their feet and away from the fact that God is the Victor and that our placement into Jesus Christ is supremely appointed and maintained by the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is as we take our eyes off Christ and His Victorious banner over us, that we allow these forces of dissention and doubt to have an audience in our thoughts. 
Rather, we need to heed the call that has gone forth in the course of the supreme and awesome victory of God, as so declared, even at the Red Sea when the freed Israelites were trembling before the forces of Pharaoh arrayed against them. Moses, in Ex 14, verses 13+14, had to call to their attention the truth that Jehovah, the Lord God Almighty Who had secured their freedom from slavery through the 10 plagues which utterly devastated Egypt, was the One Who was going before them! This was especially in this seemingly hopeless situation. They were not alone! They were not without a Savior! They just had to be still and see the salvation of God as His Great and Omnipotent Hand of Victory was displayed for all to witness.
Ex 14:13+14, But Moses said to the people, "Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent." 
	This is the course of what we, the living and stalwart Church of Christ are to present and show as the established reality of all eternity. We are to not fear, not to be anxious, not to give into doubt, not to waiver, not to be distracted or dismayed! And we are certainly not to scamper hither and yon like Chicken Little, panicking with distress at the approach of the defeated and repudiated liars of this age! 
	Please keep your fingers on this page as we are to follow the admonition of the Psalmist, as in Ps 46:10+11. We will leap forward in our Bible for a moment, but return to this account shortly. Consider the passage that so many of us have known for many years, and yet need to have presented to us again and again as the forces of darkness rage around us. 
Ps 46:10+11, "Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. 
	And then, again, as we are so forcefully and comfortingly told in the entirety of Ps 47. Ps 47, O Clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy. For the Lord Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth. He subdues peoples under us, And nations under our feet. He chooses our inheritance for us, The glory of Jacob whom He loves. Selah. God has ascended with a shout, The Lord, with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises; Sing praises to our King, sing praises. For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with a skillful psalm. God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne. The princes of the people have assembled themselves as the people of the God of Abraham; For the shields of the earth belong to God; He is highly exalted.
	The result of our view of every glorious victory of the Lord should bring us back to what the Israelites were taught as recounted in Ex 14:30+31. Ex 14:30+31, Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. And when Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses. 
	It is as we see the hand of the Lord in operation that we come into that rest in Him and His victory. We are more and more able to just be still and watch the Hand of the Lord to bring forth His Sovereignty in every situation and circumstance. As each time of trial and tribulation and necessary decision is before us, we can simply trust Him and obey as He directs. We know that He is going before us and that we do not and should not allow anything to move us from the knowledge that He has all things well in hand. 
	Again, the Israelites of old were encouraged and taught, over and over and over again, that the Lord was the One Who was fighting their battles. Yes those forces of the enemy nations were arrayed before them, but it did not matter. Jehovah was going before them and He was the One fighting their battles. Consider what we read in Deut 20:3+4, as the Lord was instructing in the reality of the coming battle plan.
	Deut 20:3+4, And he shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.' 
	Later in the history of the nation of God, they once more needed this encouragement as they were watching the flow of the conquerors of the known world swarming across the many nations of the region. There was complete chaos and fear of impending doom that was seemingly unstoppable. In 2 Chron 20:15-17, the people of Jerusalem received the same message as was before all those who had honored and obeyed and trusted in the Lord God Almighty. 
	2 Chron 20:15-17, and he said, "Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, 'Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's. 'Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. 'You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you." 
	Again, we turn to the Psalmist, beginning with Ps 27:1-6 and all the rejoicing in the power and the glory of the victorious Lord God Jehovah. He goes before those who trust in Him and seek Him to be their manner of the righteous walk as the people of God on this earth. 
Ps 27:1-6, The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread? When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. Though a host encamp against me, My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident. One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to meditate in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me; And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. 
	Now please turn to Ps 44:1-8, as we read of the testimony that the parents were to hold before the following generations. There was that teaching within the familial unit as to what the Lord would do for those who honored and loved Him. This is something that is the heritage of the people who belong to Jehovah. It is to be handed down with reverence and honor to each succeeding generation as the legacy which is to be cherished as the precious inheritance of God’s love. 
	Ps 44:1-8, O God, we have heard with our ears, Our fathers have told us, The work that Thou didst in their days, In the days of old. Thou with Thine own hand didst drive out the nations; Then Thou didst plant them; Thou didst afflict the peoples, Then Thou didst spread them abroad. For by their own sword they did not possess the land; And their own arm did not save them; But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy presence, For Thou didst favor them. Thou art my King, O God; Command victories for Jacob. Through Thee we will push back our adversaries; Through Thy name we will trample down those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, Nor will my sword save me. But Thou hast saved us from our adversaries, And Thou hast put to shame those who hate us. In God we have boasted all day long, And we will give thanks to Thy name forever. Selah. 
	Notice they were taught that they could and should trust the Lord. As He had proven Himself to the generations of old, so would He continue to show Himself mighty and awesome to the children and the children’s children as long as they would hold true to Him, trust Him and obey and honor Him. The Lord always proves Himself mighty in the daily battles of life as well as in the triumphant Victory of Jesus over all sin and death forever and forever!
	Listen as this reality is again echoed in the wonderful Psalms as in Ps 46:1-7. Ps 46:1-7, God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered; He raised His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. 
	The Prophet Isaiah then picks up the mantle of this encouraging truth for those unto whom the Lord sent him. Through all that the nation suffered because of their idolatrous and adulterous demeanor, behavior, and attitude toward God, there was still that calling forth from the heart of God to those who would return to Him and seek Him and honor and adore Him. 
Consider how the prophet cajoled the listeners of the message from God as in Isa 26:3+4. He laid out before them the reality of how their lives would be so blessed by the steadfast work of God as their place of comfort and peace.
Isa 26:3+4, "The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in Thee. "Trust in the Lord forever, For in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock. 
	And, then again, for all of us to consider what the Prophet details in Isa 59:12-20. Please turn to this merciful call from God to us today in the lives of faithfulness that we are living in the midst of the depravity of our current culture. 
	Isa 59:12-20, For our transgressions are multiplied before Thee, And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And we know our iniquities: Transgressing and denying the Lord, And turning away from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words. And justice is turned back, And righteousness stands far away; For truth has stumbled in the street, And uprightness cannot enter. Yes, truth is lacking; And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the Lord saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him; And His righteousness upheld Him. And He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle. According to their deeds, so He will repay, Wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies; To the coastlands He will make recompense. So they will fear the name of the Lord from the west And His glory from the rising of the sun, For He will come like a rushing stream, Which the wind of the Lord drives. "And a Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob," declares the Lord. 
	One, who knew the tremendous cost of his very redemption by the blood of Jesus Christ, was the Apostle Paul. As Saul, before his conversion experience, he had persecuted the very church of God. He had tried to eliminate anyone who was preaching and teaching and testifying of the Nazarene whom the priests had brought before Pilate to be crucified. Saul was the most impassioned of the early persecutors of the believers in Jesus. And yet, even he was one who would find the great salvation of Jesus Christ to be the very victory of humanity for all of eternity. Every hope, every dream, every manner of expectation of the Messiah for Whom every Jew yearned, was fulfilled in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, the Only Begotten Son of God. 
	As the Apostle Paul, he then proclaimed, from the most personal experience of the knowledge of the very Son of God, the manifest truth of Who Jesus is! Paul described all that Jesus has accomplished for those who will turn to Him and believe in Him and thus freely accept the given grace of the very Heart of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
	Please note the confident assurance as detailed in the passage written to the Church at Corinth, 1 Cor 15:9+10. 1 Cor 15:9+10, For I am the least of the apostles, who am not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 
	In all that was accomplished by the work of this Apostle, it was because of the mighty hand of God in operation to make known the great victory that seals the saints from all the elements and conniving manipulations of this defeated realm. It is the grace of God working mightily in us that shows the great and powerful difference that is in the lives of those who are trusting in and obeying and honoring and adoring the Lord God Almighty! We do so because of Who He is and all that He has done, is doing and will continue to do every moment of all eternity. We can trust Him because He has accomplished our deliverance in the wondrous and awesome work of Jesus Our Savior and Our Lord. So be it!
But Saul said, "Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished deliverance in Israel." Amen.

	
This morning’s benediction is Matt 13:23. "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit, and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty." Amen.