Fear God & Shun Evil — Robert B. Thompson

Christ Formed Within and the King of Glory

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Let's look to the Lord. The Lord is counseling you this morning to give attention to the Christ child that is born within you. Because he has been born in the manger of your life and you're discounting it.

And you're saying it's of none effect and it's not that important. But it is the future king you hope for. Because he wasn't born as a king that you could acknowledge and recognize. You have said it's of none effect and it's minimal.

But the Lord said it's maximum. It is because the heavens have parted and the king of glory has come into your life. Give attendance to the manger in your life and know that from it shall come the king of glory.

That shall rule the world and rule your being. And shall be of benefit to the earth. Komo Rebbe. Yes Lord. Hallelujah. Do not suppose that there are small beginnings in your life. Hallelujah.

Well Lord, we've been spoken to twice this morning about paying attention to you Lord and laying everything else aside. Oh God, give us ears to hear. Maybe you're speaking to all of us. Maybe to one person.

But whatever it is Lord, just give us ears to hear. So we do not miss the day of our visitation. Oh God, help us Lord. We get so busy sometimes we don't even see you. Oh God, help us to hear this morning what the Spirit is saying to us.

And we will not miss your perfect will in our lives Lord. Help Lord. And help Lord this morning every household that's having difficulties. Jesus, so many are being tested in these days. We've had so many die in the last couple of months.

Very unusual. We go for years and no one dies. In the last few months we've had 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 people die. Lord, I know the waters are troubled. I know the spiritual below is unsettled. I know the drums of hell are beating to the attack.

I know there's perils as we're constantly told in the newspaper. There's perils. And Jesus, we look to you Lord. Not that you're not supremely, gloriously victorious, you are. But that we should in any way be careless at this time.

So Lord, help us to redouble our vigilance at every moment. And pay attention to what you're doing Lord. Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus. And bless Lord those out in the children's church now. And as we proceed Lord, I pray you'll guide us, guide us, guide me, guide all of us Lord.

So that we hear and recognize what you're saying, what we need to know. We're careful to praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. We'll turn in our Bibles to Psalm 34. Preach on this every once in a while.

Psalm 34 and God’s Protection

I felt this morning to talk to you about God's protection. Although through the prophecies, maybe I should have continued with Revelation 12. We've been on Revelation 12 for some time and I felt to change this morning.

What we'll see as we go ahead. Revelation 12 of course is talking about Christ being formed in us. So we don't want to ignore where the burden is. Alright, we're looking at verses 1 -4 of Psalm 34. I will extol the Lord at all times.

His praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord. Let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord and He answered me.

He delivered me from all my fears. That's it. That's what we'll read for just now. I was thinking as I was meditating on this. I will extol the Lord at all times. His praise will always be on my lips.

It's so difficult to do that when we're facing problems. When there are things that come up that we are afraid. And we dread. We're upset about. Or maybe we feel are not fair. And we're trying to get justice.

Or whatever. David said, I will extol the Lord at all times. So important. To never let things enter our lives. Regardless of what they are. That prevent us from praising the Lord. We need to praise the Lord at all times.

And of course when the future seems to be solved. For a season at least. It's easy to praise the Lord. To come to church and praise the Lord. As simple as falling off a log. But when you're really concerned and upset.

Sickness. Or the threat of sickness. Or the threat of disaster. It's very easy to come down. Off of our high perch in the Lord. And begin to worry, complain and fret and blame. Instead of praising the Lord.

Right or wrong. Amen. Christmas is a minefield. We've come to that conclusion. You've got to be careful when everybody's mind is on material things. It just gives the demons all kinds of opportunity to do stuff.

We have to be very careful for ourselves and our loved ones. To be praising the Lord. Praise the Lord. To think about the good that He has done for us in time past. And realize He's brought us safe thus far.

He's going to bring us home. I'll extol the Lord at all times. And according to the note here. David was afraid of Abimelech at that time. And David says it makes no difference because I'm in peril of my life.

His praise will always be on my lips. His praise will always be on my lips. How many have problems this morning? Huh? You have problems, concerns, fears, dreads. Praise the Lord. Hasn't let you down. All things are still working together for good.

All things are still working together for good. All things. All things. It doesn't matter. The newspaper is full of terror and dread and all kinds of things. Seems like all those in leadership and other places, judges and administrators, are moving away from the values of our country.

The Old America, the New America, and the Lord’s Kingship

Someone gave us for Christmas a Norman Rockwell calendar. How many know Norman Rockwell, his pictures? I know he's an illustrator, but I think he's the painter of the 20th century. Probably Thomas Kinkade's fans would object to that.

But you have to be old to remember what he was illustrating. Life as it was. The country doctor and the little girl, and he brought her doll to be healed, and he's got a stethoscope on the doll. How many have ever seen that?

And usually there's a little dog in the picture looking up. I was looking at one in this calendar that showed kids going down a hill on their sleds. Well, I haven't seen that in a long time. That was a big part of my life once.

It's going downhill on a sled. And it seems like there's two Americas. There's the old America that I can remember, the America of Norman Rockwell. And then there's a new America, it seems, with altogether different values.

They have paintings that you can't even recognize what they're talking about. There's music with no tune. And philosophy that's crazy. I mean, what in the world are we doing? I'm so glad Jesus is on the throne, I'll tell you, and sits as king of the flood.

Because no matter what the wicked do, we're going to praise the Lord. We're not going to fret about it. We're going to praise the Lord. Hallelujah. How about that, Hal? We're going to praise the Lord no matter what comes up or goes down.

We're going to praise the Lord. Extol the Lord at all times. There's strength in that. There is strength, spiritual strength, in praising the Lord. And when you feel at least like doing it, that's the time to praise the Lord.

Remind yourself that God has never failed you, never will fail you. This psalm is about protection. That's one of my favorites. My soul will boast in the Lord. Are you boasting in the Lord today? What are you boasting about?

Your good looks? What are you boasting about? Boast in the Lord. It's safer. Because your good looks may vanish. Your ability to play the piano may vanish. Or whatever else may vanish. Boast in the Lord and then you're safe.

Because He always can be counted on. But the things you trust in can't always be counted on. Let the afflicted hear. Are you afflicted this morning? Well, if you're not, thank God. So lay this up for the future.

Let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord, David said. Let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me. Just praise His name. Lord, we praise you. We glorify as we did in the special, Lord.

We lift up the name of Jesus. We say He is wonderful, marvelous, spectacular. Lord, one thing I thank you for, Lord, is that you always come through. The blessing of the Lord makes rich. And you add no sorrow with it.

How wonderful, Lord, that you always come through. So many times you've delivered us that we don't even know about. Dangers that were averted, and I can remember throughout my life as I look back, walking so close to the edge of the cliff.

Oh, God, I thank you for your faithfulness. I will glorify your faithfulness. Your name is faithful. It can be counted on. We bless your name, Lord, no matter what the future holds. If the terrorists blow up the whole country, you're still there.

You're still there, watching over all your people. Blessed be your name. We know, Lord, the wicked make a great show. I can remember when Hitler looked like he was going to win the war. But your Word says he'll flourish like a green bay tree.

And you look again and he's no more. You can't even find him. Like Hitler, couldn't even find him. So true. We glorify you this morning, Lord. We glorify you this morning. We lift up the name of Jesus.

We say, You are Lord of us and of our country. No matter what happens, Lord, You are Lord of us and of our country. You are lifted up. We will extol Your name because You are faithful, Lord. And whatever happens, it makes no difference.

You're the same. And You sit as King of the flood. So we bless You, Lord. And we lift up Your name. And we say, Jesus is Lord of all. Blessed be Your name. I sought the Lord. Now, if you'll notice, there's been...

Seeking the Lord Rather Than Working Religious Formulas

Our generation, particularly of the Pentecostal and Charismatic moves, is very knowledgeable concerning spiritual gifts and ministries. I can remember when we never had prophecy in church. We would have messages in tongues and when we did, oh man, that was wonderful.

But maybe once in two or three months there'd be a prophecy. And that's all we talked about going home. It was not as plentiful as it is now. Nothing like what goes in. You never heard a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom.

And then in the late 40's and 50's, the gifts of healing began to be prominent. And people showed up with all kinds of gifts and things. One guy came to a church, never studied the piano, sat down, played the piano all over the place.

The Lord gave him a gift of playing the piano. And it was just wonderful. Well, now we're so sophisticated with gifts and ministry. Oh, well, of course. Oh, you only had three prophecies this morning?

What's the matter? The people backslidden? What's going on there? And when you pray, no one has the supernatural knowledge or wisdom? You know, what's coming off there? So it's becoming common. And the danger in that is we begin to work the moves.

That's the danger. We begin to work the moves. We begin to think, well, now, you know, let me find the cassette that tells me how to get out of this problem. It's important to seek the Lord. Yeah, it's important to seek the Lord when you're in trouble and not try to work the moves.

Just seek the Lord. I sought the Lord. I didn't try to use faith. I didn't try to exercise anything magical or supernatural. I sought a person. I sought a person. I went to a person. I didn't go to the great somebody up in the air that knows how to do mystical things.

I went to a person, not to a formula, not to a religious formula. I went to a person. I sought the Lord. Well, if you can work the moves, work them. But we get so often that our moves don't work anymore.

And then it's time to seek the Lord. When you're really up against it, seek the Lord. Don't trust in your gifts. Seek the Lord. And he answered me, and he always does. And he's not a God of far off. Thank God.

You know, I really think where James says, the judge stands at the door, we think of that in terms of calendar time. But in the spirit realm, even Einstein said, time goes backwards and forwards and all over the place.

We're just locked into something we don't understand at this time. But actually everything's done over here, and everything that was done, someday we'll be able to go backward and forward in time. Anyway, when you speed up and get in the spaceship and it's going with the speed of light, time stands still.

So time is not the constant that we think it is. It's subject to other forces. So God is not bound by time at all. So I don't think when he says the judge stands at the door, he's talking about calendar time at all.

I'm just talking about proximity. I think the Lord is drawing near to the church. It just seems like he's drawing near to the church. And the judge is standing at the door of our hearts. And if you'll slow down your life enough, you can hear it.

That's why people are doing journaling now. They sit down and they believe God's right there and God is right there and the first thing you know, they're hearing from Jesus. So try it sometime. Maybe he's speaking all around you and you don't believe it's the Lord or you can't hear him or you're too busy or whatever.

But try it sometime. You'll be amazed. If you keep Jesus present in your mind, you may find that he's talking to you. Now, we get so full of vinegar that we don't hear the checks of the Lord. We run right through them.

We go to do something and we're in high gear. Just a little something, a little nuance of thought as soon as something's wrong. And instead of sitting down and praying, which we usually can do in many instances, and say, well, Lord, what are you saying to me?

We just charge right on through. We don't listen. Americans are not a meditative people. We're a people of action. We're not like the Indian people who give great, assign great value to the philosopher and the person who fasts for 30 days.

We're not that kind of people. We're doers and we honor doers and achievement and things. And that's good. That's why we have our advance so much as we are, while India in certain respects is so backward.

Because they don't put the stress on that kind of accomplishment that we do. But the problem is we can't hear God. We just can't hear God. We're too busy to hear God. We're planning and scheming and using the scientific method instead of listening to God.

I sought the Lord and He heard me. When you seek the Lord, He will hear you. And then listen. And calm down enough that you can hear. And when you feel a little check, I may know what I mean when I say a check.

You know what I'm talking about? Some of you don't raise your hand. I don't think you've ever experienced it. But if you'll slow down enough, you'll feel sometimes a little nudge. Honor that. That's the Spirit of God.

Just slow down. And say, Lord, are you talking to me? Am I about to do something that's not your will or that's going to hurt me or hurt someone else? Direct me, Lord. And He will. He might explain everything, but if you ask Him, He'll direct you in all your ways.

Acknowledge Him. He will direct your paths or as the NIV says, make your paths straight. But we've got to slow down, people. If perilous times come... Now, people have got all in an uproar about the computer glitches when the millennium turns over.

Well, how sound this is, I don't know. And you just have to ask the Lord for yourself. Oh, I've asked the Lord probably 20 times. Lord, am I supposed to do something? What am I supposed to do? And I'm not hearing anything from the Lord.

But we have to be ready. You know, the Lord sometime might say, move, you know, or just get out of your house. Aunt Vera over there in the... What's that place called? Sunshine Acres. How many know about Aunt Vera in Sunshine Acres?

Well, just recently, at night she has a custom of sitting in her living room for a while and meditating, then going to bed. Well, the living room is all enclosed in glass. A lot of glass there. So, one night, recently, she felt, I'm going to go to bed early.

She went in her bedroom and wham! One of these sudden wind bursts. There's a phenomenon called a wind burst that just hits in a small area and leaves everything around it intact. It's like a mini-tornado.

And it zapped that property and blew the glass out of the front room where she ordinarily sits. And blew down how many telephone poles? A large number of telephone poles and did a tremendous amount of damage just there in Sunshine Acres.

Well, they've got such a good reputation that pretty soon there's a whole colony of people came in with earth-moving machines in order to get them back in business. But, it's just like that. Something, and if you're listening to the Lord, it might, in the days to come, save your life.

I sought the Lord. And He heard me. So, listen and don't get too wrapped up in what you're doing. Listen to the Lord. Because nothing in life is as important as God and His will. Nothing. And then it says, He delivered me from all my fears.

Deliverance from Fear and the Radiance of Christian Life

Now, that's more important than it looks. Because a large part of our problem is fear. A large part of it is fear. And what I've been doing is when something comes up that seems really dramatically wrong and something to really, you know, cause a lot of dread and terror and apprehension, first of all, I pray, Lord, until I feel from the Lord, He's got it handled.

There's no problem. But then there's another prayer you have to pray, which is, Lord, get the fear and dread out of our house. Because it's just like running over a skunk, you know, over five miles down the road, you can still smell the skunk.

It's like that. After you pray and get the victory in prayer, you've still got a house full of dread and fear. So, it requires a separate prayer to get rid of the fear. God doesn't want us living in our homes in dread and fear and all bowed down.

He doesn't want that kind of a household. He wants your household to be happy and confident in Him. And He's the only one that can do it if you have a lot of trouble happening. He's the only one that can do it.

So, it says here, He delivered me from all my fears. Not only the basis of the fear, but the fear itself. Because when we're faith and fear, it cannot dwell in your heart at the same time. And when we're fearful, we lose our spiritual poise.

We're not poised spiritually when we're afraid. And God doesn't want us living in fear. We make wrong moves when we're afraid. We make unwise decisions when we are afraid. And so, it's the first class of people in the lake of fire are the fearful.

Which always seems to me to be kind of backwards, but that's what it says. But God doesn't want us to be afraid of anything. Get it out of our homes, Lord. All fear out of our homes. Those who look to Him are radiant.

We used to say Christians have a glow on their face. And they do. You know, so much of our religion, Christianity is a religion. And Judaism is a religion. Throughout the centuries, both Judaism and Christianity have borne a false witness of God because we pay more attention to our religion than we do to righteousness.

The world today, to a certain extent, rejects Christ because His people are bearing a false witness of God by their unrighteous behavior. And this has been true for 2 ,000 years. I know the Chinese have had a bad problem when they used to...

China used to be open to the gospel, but the way the young people and others that went to college there and so on, Christians, testified about Christ the way they live. And the Chinese said, No. We do not want that.

It's a corrupt, decadent society, America is. And that's true. And we do not want it in China. We don't want it in Singapore. We don't want it in these other places. But that's not Jesus. Because the way Jesus is, He does the things that all those people honor, even the communists.

Honor, hard work. Honesty. Truthfulness. The Muslims honor this. The Buddhists honor it. I don't know if there's a religion in the world that does not honor Christian values. And Jewish values. I mean the values of the Old Testament.

Honesty and business. A just balance and a just weight. But because throughout the centuries, the Jews have given more attention to their religion and the practices and the beliefs of their religion, rather than the behavior.

And we Christians have done the same thing for 2 ,000 years. We've put more of an emphasis on our belief system and on our religious practices and the mysteries of our religion than we have on letting our light shine.

And that's why the church today, the church throughout the centuries has borne a false witness of God. And it's still going on in the United States. I tell you it's a fright. There's something, they interviewed I think five candidates for the Republican nomination.

And every one of them, every one of them, professed to be a Christian. And one of them who is notorious as a womanizer, makes no bones about it. One of the candidates says Jesus is my Savior. It's the truth.

I don't want to tell you his name. I'm not trying to run down people. But just think of the one who does the most womanizing of the Republican candidates. I mean the guy has got about as much prayer of being a Republican candidate as a snowball in East Congress, Texas.

Says Jesus is my Savior. And they all go to church. Most of them to Baptist church. I don't doubt that Bush Jr. is a sincere Christian. He sounds like one. But the testimony, I mean, is what must people think of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Where's the time for a reformation of Christian thinking? I'm telling you, we put great stress, just do the four steps of salvation and you'll escape hell and go to heaven. That isn't the gospel. Lord, the gospel is a new creation.

There's no new creation. You don't have anything. If you're in Christ, there's a new creation. And that new creation of righteous behavior, truthfulness, honor, uprightness, kindliness, compassion. That's the testimony.

Not the four steps of salvation. Oh, anyway, that's one of my favorite sayings. Well, I say all that to say this. I'm talking about their faces are radiant. You can tell a Christian by looking at them and listening to them.

Someone can say hallelujah and I can tell you right away whether they're a Christian or not. There's something about it. It's not a belief system. It's something you either got or you don't. And you can't fool people that know the Lord.

You can't fool them. It's either there or it isn't. And you can believe your doctrine can be perfect, but it doesn't bring radiance. It doesn't bring eternal life. Well, you can fool a lot of church people because they'll accept you and love you as long as you say the right things and make the right motions and everything.

But when you serve the Lord for a number of years and have suffered under the hands of God and have really had to seek Him, then I don't know whether you call it discernment. I don't think it's a gift of discernment or anything.

But when people don't got it, they don't got it. And you can tell them all you have to do is just pray and wait because I've found if you're patient enough with people, even the most unlikely candidates will finally begin to show signs of life like God has done with me.

So, you've got to be patient with people. But you can't fool a true Christian with a lot of religious words. Either your face is radiant. You can't put it on with Elizabeth Taylor cosmetics. It comes from within.

It's the beauty of Jesus. It's all over your face when you love Him. Have you ever noticed that with people? It's the truth. It says their faces are never covered with shame. We used to say there's no disappointment in Jesus.

And there is no disappointment in Jesus. Sometimes we go through situations and it seems like it's all over. There's just no use even pushing on because all is lost. All is gone. Everything is gone. And we just hang in there.

And then we come out and we think, well, what are we so upset about? There's no disappointment in Jesus. When we trust in Him, we'll come out okay. Hallelujah. There's no disappointment in Jesus. Their faces are never covered with shame.

This poor man called and the Lord heard him and saved him out of pretty near all of his troubles. Isn't that wonderful? What a promise. Notice this poor man. David calls himself a poor man many times.

But you notice when they went to build the tabernacle and David donated out of his personal treasury, there was enough gold and silver and bronze and iron to build the thing. Others chipped in. But, I mean, David was a fabulously wealthy person.

I mean, nearly today he'd be a trillionaire. But he was always before the Lord. He was a poor man. And the Bible says that the rich God sends empty away. So when you come to the Lord, it's a good idea to come as a poor person.

Just say, Lord, I don't have anything going for me. I'm a worm and no man, Lord. Look at this worm. Well, there's just something about it that's good for us because we really are. Overblown dust is what we are.

It's good to come before the Lord as a poor man. And when you do, the Lord will hear you. And it says He saved him out of all his troubles. Now, when you're a Christian for a number of years, it seems like you're going to live with trouble forever.

That's the way it just seems in this world without tribulation. And that's what the Bible says. But you know, there comes a time when God puts a little bit of faith in our heart that He's going to bless us without adding sorrow.

The blessing of the Lord, it makes rich. And He adds no sorrow with it. Because you get too much pain and it becomes counterproductive. You cease from being in prison to being a prisoner, which did not happen to Joseph.

And it's difficult. Too much frustration, too much pain, too much being beat down becomes counterproductive. And the spirit fails before God. It's easy when you're seeking the Lord and really doing His will.

And in so doing, you invite trouble on yourself. Because the Lord judges those who are closest to Him. And so after a while, it's easy to become pessimistic. It's easy to become pessimistic. And of course, if you handle your disappointments in the wrong way by blaming people, or worse yet, blaming God, you're not only pessimistic, but bitter.

And then you can't hear the Lord. And the Lord doesn't want that. He wants us skipping on the mountains of spices. That used to trouble me because I thought, how could you skip on a hill of pepper? But someone pointed out to me that it's where spices grow.

So that was a big help in my mental... I wasn't so worried about sinking in the pepper. But that's the way the Lord is. Sure, He knows our sorrows. Sure, He's making intercession before God. But there's a part of His personality that's always skipping on the mountains of spices.

And no matter how we get beat around the head, and listen, we have to be. People, we have got so much rebellion and sin and foolishness in us that it is just beyond calculation. And that's why Jeremiah says, the heart is deceitful above all things.

Deceitful. And desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. Not barely wicked. Desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins, even to give every man according to the fruit of his doings.

Well, you're starting out in the Lord. You can bet your last dollar that you've got a whole bunch of rebellion and foolishness and sin in you and maybe a lot of other stuff thrown in like dishonesty. And it's in there.

And the Lord loves you and He puts the cloak of righteousness on you. That's the way He does things. You get started off? Perfect. And then He begins to go to work. And a lot of that work is painful, as it says in 1 Peter 4, 1 and 2.

Arm yourself with a mind to suffer because when we suffer in the flesh, we stop sinning. Now, the suffering of itself won't do it. The suffering can make you bitter. And a lot of church people are bitter.

It can make you pessimistic. And a lot of church people are pessimistic. You know, you talk about the mountain spice and they go, oh yeah, that's somewhere in the Bible. I mean, life has beat the romance out of them.

And if you begin to talk to them about the dens of leopards, they figure, you know, where did you get that from? Well, it's in the Bible. And that's the way the Lord is. This whole Christian life is a love story.

It's romantic. Yeah, the Song of Solomon is hardly a legal tome. And we're never to lose that. Never to let life beat the romance and the optimism out of you. Because your life, if you stay in Jesus, is going to have a happy ending.

But it all depends on how we take our troubles. Because if we take them the wrong way, they do not produce good fruit. If we take them the right way, they take the pessimism, they take the rebellion and sin and foolishness out of us.

And that's what we want. That's what God wants. So it's a good thing. So the all-important thing is that you respond correctly. And don't blame people. And don't get a thing against people. Of course God used people.

If you remember, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. But when He came out, He was not exactly liberated. He was bound head and foot with grave clothes. The man was all wrapped with grave clothes. And I suppose spices.

I looked one time where they put spices on Jesus and it was over 100 pounds. When's the last time you lifted 100 pounds? Well, to me it was before my back began to bother me. But 100 pounds is a fairly substantial amount of weight to be hoisting around.

Well, they put over 100 pounds of spice on Jesus. 100 pounds of spice. So Lazarus was probably carting all this with him and all bound up with grave clothes and Jesus could have said, you know, and they'd be gone.

But He didn't. He said, lose him and let him go. And He wasn't talking to the Holy Spirit. He was talking to those around the situation whose jaw was somewhere down around their feet from seeing old Lazarus come fogging out of the cave.

I don't know how he smelled. Was it Martha who was concerned or was it Mary? Probably more likely Martha. One of the two was concerned about how he smells. By this time he stinks. Well, it's hot there and he probably did.

And that's the way we are. We just don't realize it. We're all bound. We don't smell so good. But Jesus didn't take them off. He didn't say, well, now I'm going to finish the job. A lot of people are waiting for the Lord to finish the job.

In other words, you call me from the dead, now deliver me completely. But He doesn't. He turns to those standing around there and says, don't loose Him. So every time somebody does something that just drives you up the wall, you can just say, thank you for loosing me.

Thank you for taking off the grave clothes. I needed that. Sure. And that way you'll keep the romance. You'll be in the dens of leopards. You'll be weeping around on that hill of spices. You won't lose the victory.

You won't lose the presence of God. And that's the way. God doesn't want us all bowed down in our religious horrors. How do I get out of that? Oh, He saved him out of all his troubles. So how big? God's going to save you out of your troubles.

Say, I can't believe it. Well, then you've got a problem. So after I'm through here, come up to the altar and pray until you believe it. You have to believe God's Word. Alright? But remember, it was a poor man that got this benefit.

So don't come before the Lord and say, really Lord, I'm better than other people and I walk righteously and I don't know what's the matter with the rest of this people in the church. Now, this is one of my very favorite verses.

Fearing God as the Condition of Divine Protection

It's verse 7. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him. Watch it. The condition. You have to watch the conditions. Who fear Him. And He delivers them. Now, how one person can surround another, how one angel can encamp round about, I don't know whether the angels have multiple presence or not, or whether this is an artifact of language, but in any case, you're surrounded if you fear the Lord.