Three Profiles in Courage — Lindsay Parks

Then might we just look to the Lord for his help in this hour today. Our Father, we are so grateful that the mighty, just, holy, awesome God of eternity has drawn near to a fallen race through the cross, and has now allowed us to call Thee our Father.

We thank Thee for this. We thank Thee for the relationship that we have in the person of the Lord Jesus, and for the bond that unites us from all over the world for this hour today. We thank Thee, Father, for gathering so many of us after our miraculous salvations, for gathering us to little assemblies where the Lord's name and his work and his worth and his words will be honored.

Perhaps the very highest privilege God has granted to human beings is to be in a New Testament assembly able to bring honor and gratitude to our Lord Jesus Christ. We would pray to bless these words today to all who hear.

Remember, our brethren and sisters all over the world, this pandemic for which these series had started is not done yet. There are those who have lost loved ones and those near and dear to them, and we pray for any who are battling for their lives even now.

We would pray, Father, that we might use this time to take a good look at ourselves in light of our relationship to God. We just ask for help now this day as we would look into Thy divine word. We are grateful for giving it to us, and we ask Thee to bless it in the worthy name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen. Now, before we read a few verses, I'd just like to thank Caleb for doing this. I think the people of God from all over the world are deeply grateful for what our brethren have done all of these Lord's days.

They've given up much of their afternoons and evenings and even mornings to bring this to us. And I think we can all say that we have been blessed in this time that is so unusual. We've been able to meet thus with the people of God.

Three Men Who Stood Through Extreme Difficulty

Now, if you have your Bibles, I'd like to read three short readings together. The first is found in 1 Samuel chapter 30. 1 Samuel 30. We are going to look at the events of three different men and realize that only through the grace and the power and the strength of God and his presence were they able to stand in extreme difficulty.

1 Samuel 30, and we'll start reading at verse 1. And it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire.

And had taken the women captives that were therein. They slew not any either great or small, but they carried them away and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city and behold, it was burned with fire and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captive.

Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captives Ahinoam the Jezreelites and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

And David was greatly distressed for the people spake of stoning him because the soul of all the people was grieved. Every man for his sons and for his daughters, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

Now to Job chapter 1 and this is a well-known story. We're only going to pull out a few verses here Job chapter 1 and we will read beginning at verse 20. Job 1 20 then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped and said naked came I out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away blessed be the name of the Lord.

In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly. Chapter 2 verse 9 then said his wife unto him. Dost thou still retain thine integrity curse God and die but he said unto her thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh.

What shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil in all this did not Job sin with his lips. Finally to the New Testament to Acts 27. Acts chapter 27 and verse 20. Acts 27 20 and when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared and no small tempest lay on us all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them and said sirs you should have hearkened unto me and not have loosed from Crete and to have gained this harm and loss and now I exhort you to be a good cheer for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you but of the ship for there stood by me this night the angel of God.

These are beautiful words whose I am and whom I serve. Saying fear not Paul thou must be brought before Caesar and lo God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore sirs be of good cheer for I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me.

Now look at verse 35 when he had thus spoken he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all and when he had broken it he began to eat then were they all of good cheer and they also took some meat and we were in all the ship 200 three score and 16 souls and the last verse says and the rest some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship.

So it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. And now the Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his precious word. When Caleb called me over a week ago and said, hey you did the first one and you do the last and I was looking desperately for some excuse to get out of it.

I have to be honest that before we hung up the phone together or before we got off our messaging can't remember which it was as we've done both this week. The Lord had laid these three incidents on my heart already.

I thought it was surprising that they came so quickly, but I have to tell you that I have learned myself a tremendous amount as we have considered these men and here's how I would like you to remember these incidents.

David was a man who in the midst of Calamity grew stronger. Job was a man who in the midst of carnage grew softer and Paul was a man who in the midst of catastrophe grew steadier. And in every one of these cases these men bless the men around them and the people that were with them and I was thinking as Caleb has reminded us every Lord's Day afternoon of the verse from Proverbs that we shall find a place of refuge in our God.

These men did exactly that. Now we're going to spend about as much time on Job as the other two, but let's consider David here for just a minute a man who in the midst of Calamity grew stronger. He was a man on the run.

He was looked to as the leader by his men. He was the designed King, but he really could not assume the throne. Saul and his men repeatedly sought to take David's life and here the Amalekites who were one of Israel's most repetitive and frequent enemies.

They had caused this Calamity. David was a man of war, even though he was the man after God's own heart. He was designated to be a man of war and it was for this reason that he could not see his great desire fulfilled to build the temple.

He endured some great victories, but it was often a very hard life for him. He had some losses as well that were terrible. You remember when he numbered the people against God's will and 70 ,000 of his countrymen died until that plague was stayed.

But this event was one of his particular low points. We read that the town was destroyed. The wives and children were all abducted kidnapped. Their fears were real. Their sorrows were even more real. We read that they wept until there were no more tears to weep and then they turned their anger upon David.

They accused him of something for which he was completely ignorant or innocent and he had no part in it. And as they thought and plotted and mutiny they designed to kill him. Could David at this point get much lower?

The city gone, the family gone, not knowing where they were. Then all of his men who were usually so dedicated and so devoted to him, they wanted to kill him. They turned on him and said this is your fault.

We then read these amazing words that David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. How did he do this? Well, if you know this, this word strengthened in the Old Testament is the same Hebrew word that means encouraged.

And seven chapters before David's best friend, Jonathan had made a special point of coming to visit him. He had sought him out and he drew near specifically to encourage a friend. Am I speaking to someone today who needs to be encouraged?

I thought of this wonderful hymn today and had I the courage or the voice of either one of my dear friends, Mr. Gaius Goff or Mr. Gary Sharp, I would sing this to you. But I could promise you that Daniel would cut off the video and audio feed very quickly.

But how often have we sung these words? Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? I remember Mr. Wark used to say we should sing that everywhere. We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. So understanding that Jonathan came and encouraged David and then when David faced this crisis, he was able to strengthen himself.

It reminded me that in the New Testament exhortation, which really means encouragement is a gift and Paul says seek honestly, seek earnestly the best gifts. So if I'm speaking to anyone today who is an encourager, the people of God need you.

The assemblies of God need you. Families that you know need you. And the Lord could direct your heart to an individual who perhaps today is very down, very discouraged. You could draw near to somebody like Jonathan drew near to David specifically to encourage him.

And then when David had this terrible calamity befall him, he grew strong through it. Mainly because of the help of a friend. Encouragement is listed in Romans 12 as one of the spiritual gifts and it made all the difference to David in this tragedy.

A friend had encouraged him and as a result at a very low point in his life, he was able to strengthen and encourage himself. We often say that attitude is everything but gratitude is a combination of great attitude.

The more we are grateful for what God has given to us and blessed us with the more we might be able to be encouragers. So David was a man who in the midst of calamity strengthened himself. I came across this today.

I thought this will put a smile on your face, but this is just how attitude is everything. Many of us have studied. We have books in our library and on our computers by the great theologian Matthew Henry.

I came across this at one point in his life. Matthew Henry was mugged. He was beaten up and robbed. And this is what he said after that event. This was his prayer after he was beaten up and had his money stolen from him.

He said first of all Lord, I thank Thee that I've never been robbed before. Secondly, I thank Thee that while I had enough, I didn't have a lot. Third, I thank Thee that while I was robbed of most of what I had, I did not lose my life.

And finally, I thank Thee that while I was robbed, it was not I who was the robber. Now that's just a remarkable attitude for an event in life that would really upset us all. So David, we'll leave him now, but he was a man who in the midst of calamity strengthened himself or grew stronger.

Job’s Worship and Softened Heart

Let's talk about Job. We're going to spend most of the message on Job. This is a dear man who in the midst of carnage grew softer. Did any man in the Bible have a worse day? I mean, we think of the night, the sleepless night of the trials and the beatings and the scourgings and the manhandling of the Lord Jesus that led without sleep directly to Calvary and what he went through for us that day.

Nobody ever faced hours like that. But Job, this dear man had in one day, he lost his crops, his livestock, his servants, all except for the three messengers, his three daughters, his seven sons, and shortly the respect of his wife.

It's safe to say that no other family in Scripture suffered such carnage. And when we watch how Job responded to this, and his life before the tragedy occurred, we see the singular characteristics of a really godly man.

I was touched in thinking about this that he had a tender soft heart for his children. If we had read it in chapter one, we would read that every day he offered sacrifice for his ten children, not knowing if they needed the sacrifices or not.

So Job had the burden on his heart that as the father of that home, he needed to take care of his sons and daughters. We also see his soft heart when after the carnage came to him in wave after wave after wave of tragic and horrible news, he fell on his face to the ground and he worshiped.

It's one of the most amazing scenes in all of the Bible. He followed adversity with adoration. He refused to blame God in any way and instead he honored him. We read this twice, in all this, in all this, Job did not sin.

Now, apparently he had a very forgiving heart because when he got covered with boils and was scraping his skin in misery and anguish with a hot shirt, his wife came to him and at his lowest point and we have heard the phrase never kick a man when he is down.

She kicked him about as hard as she possibly could. I was touched thinking about this as to how he reacted to her. How would most of us who are husbands, if we were in that position, how would we react?

How would I react? We're specifically told that Job did not sin with his lips. We read that he said to her, you sound like one of the foolish women. So the only thing that he took her to task for was the words that she used.

He did not say she was a foolish woman. He did not call her a foolish woman. He did not react to her in superiority or arrogance or anger or bitterness. And I'll ask you the question, why? Satan, before the second challenge, said to the Lord, you know, Job maintains he holds fast his integrity.

And Mrs. Job said to her husband, do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die. So why did Job react this way? Well, it is very obvious in thinking about this that maybe right on that spot, he forgave her.

She may have earned enough benefit of the doubt points with Job that he was willing and ready to do that. But right on that spot, he forgave her for what she said to him. How many marriages might have broken apart at this point?

I know that Caleb, in his line of work, he sees and hears this all the time. And I have seen that as a family physician. I really cannot believe how many marriages that I have tried to counsel that have fallen apart for the last straw, which was really a very small and seemingly insignificant last straw.

This was a big straw. What she said to him was about as low as she could say anything to him. But he softened himself. So you say why? This truly touched me thinking about this. This is a man who took care of his children before the tragedy.

And he softened himself in front of his wife for after the tragedy. Because this very same couple had 10 more children together. And this would have never happened had he turned his heart bitter and hardened himself against his wife.

You could almost see them never speaking again. Living in different floors of the house. So as I thought about this, and I thought of this dear man, and these phrases, take care, and he softened himself.

Elders’ Responsibility to Care for the Flock

The Lord laid it on my heart to give a word to us all. And I'm speaking to myself first about the assemblies of God in the midst of this carnage, this pandemic that we are still in. First of all, I would like to address in humility and in respect, a word to my fellow elders.

This little phrase, take care, is only used twice. The word is only used twice in the New Testament. And in 1 Timothy 3 verse 5, this is a plainly stated responsibility to assembly elders. If a man doesn't know how to take care of his home, his wife, his children, and all, how's he going to take care of the people of God in an assembly?

And we have often tagged that to spiritual growth and teaching and spiritual instruction and maturity. But you know, dear brethren, it also refers to physical safety and physical care. Because in Luke 10 verse 38, the Samaritan brought the beat up man, the wounded man, half dead on the back of an animal to an inn and paid for his lodging and for his recuperation.

And he said, take care of him. Those were all physical injuries. So there are still some assemblies who for fear or for care have not yet been able to reconvene. But I would like to very tenderly speak, if there's any listening today, to the elders of assemblies who have taken no precautions at all.

And in your local assembly, there are people that just don't feel comfortable even coming back to meeting because there have been no safety precautions taken. I must tell you that I have had the Lord's servants, several of them, call me on the phone weeping.

And I've had messages and texts and emails from dear believers in various parts of North America who cannot go to the assembly because nothing is being done to take care of the flock physically. And this has really burdened my heart over the last number of weeks.

I want to give you the words of a young man in our assembly. Carl Stevens and I have been the elders for a number of years, and we have, by the grace of God and his help, brought along two young men who are going to be a wonderful future for the little assembly here.

And they're both right around 40 years of age, young men who know their Bibles and who study it every day, young men who love the assembly and the concept of New Testament gathering, young men who are devoted as shepherds, their hearts are to the assembly.

And we had a meeting a couple of weeks ago, and we were talking about whether or not we could maybe open things up, getting back to Sunday school and stuff like this. And this one young brother, 40 years old, who has not been an elder for not even a year yet, this is what he said.

He said, listen, when I realized that my first big challenge as an assembly overseer was to try to navigate the assembly through this pandemic, he said, I spent a lot of time, he said, with my face in the book and my face before God.

And he said, God boiled it down for me to two points, two very simple points. One is to the within and one is to the without. He said, as far as the within, my responsibility as a elder in this assembly is to do everything that I possibly could to take care of them and to keep them safe in the midst of this pandemic.

He said, as far as the without, it's an absolute requirement in the New Testament that assembly elders must have a good report of them which are without. And he said this, I don't want to find out from some authority outside of this assembly that I did not do enough to keep the Christians safe.

And I really don't want to find that out from the Lord himself someday, that I did not do enough to protect the saints of the assembly. So if I'm speaking to dear fellow elders in places where maybe you just haven't taken this as seriously as other places have, and as you could, we are charged as elders to take care of the people of God that are under our responsibility.

Think again of Job without knowing whether or not his sons and daughters would ever need or require his sacrifices for them. Day after day after day, he opened his heart before the Lord, and he did what he felt he should do beforehand to take care of his family.

Guarding Unity in a Politically Divided Church

I've been equally touched with the fact this might have touched me even more by how Job grew softer with the end game in view. One of the Lord's servants told me this week, and this is a brother that many of you know, he has labored in the assemblies in the gospel and preaching the word of God for 40 years.

And this is what he said, and I want you to listen very carefully. He said he has never seen the Lord's people in God's assemblies so divided as they are right now. Never in his lifetime. So this viral pandemic has become political, and because of it, people are choosing sides.

They're digging in their heels, standing their ground, gripping tightly to a stance, a belief, a position. I believe that this phenomenon is relatively new. It has been spurred on by the increased use of social media platforms.

People are more willing to speak their peace to a brother and sister in Christ on a social platform in a way and with words that they would never, ever use face to face. Caleb mentioned to me recently that when face to face contact is reduced, empathy declines.

A generation or two, most assembly Christians were perfectly willing to leave up to the Lord. The job of placing into office a prime minister, a premier, a president, or any other ruler. Trusting the truths that are taught in Daniel 4, Proverbs 21, Isaiah 41, Romans 13, and so on, that it is the Lord's complete responsibility to put into office those that he chooses.

But now social media has encouraged us to become a political people. And since in this country, the pandemic started and now the election and the riots and the racism and on and on, all of which are political hot button issues.

We have somehow accepted the notion that we should be political as well. I speak this from my heart because this has affected me personally, and I was verily guilty of the very same thing I am telling you about.

I posted often daily medical articles on Facebook, just so believers would know what scientists and epidemiologists and physicians are finding. And I was stunned by how many people immediately would argue and dispute and disagree and deny.

And what I found was that I was arguing back. And I then found that it was very easy for me to build up feelings against my brothers and sisters in Christ. And one day I came home from the office having interacted through the day between patients with a blood pressure of 200 over 100 and a head that felt like it was going to blow off.

And my dear wife looked at me and she said, that's it, you're done. She was right and I was. But I can't begin to tell you the guilt that I felt going back over some of the things that I wrote and some of the discourse that I involved myself with.

So before I speak to all of you, I'm speaking to me. C .H. Spurgeon said a number of years ago, do not give yourselves up to a party spirit. To live for a political party is unworthy of a man who professes to be a Christian.

He also said this. There seems to be connected with politics in every country. Something that be smears the mind and defiles the hand that touches it. So I want to ask this question. And again, it's to me first.

We have wondered often why the Lord sent this this time. Many brethren on these refuge series have dealt with this very thing. And how we as assembly believers should act and react. Let me ask you this.

Did the Lord send this pandemic to have his assemblies divided? And to have his people take sides one against another. Is that why he sent it? Even more seriously. Was his purpose to give Satan a victory over assemblies and assembly Christians.

In 2020. I have lost sleep over this because this has burdened me greatly. We pray that this will soon be over. We have prayed many times, Lord, stay your hand. Remove this plague from our dwelling places.

Have we taken into account what we will be like when it is over? Suppose the Lord answers our prayers. Suppose it miraculously quits in two weeks. Will our fellowship be the same? Will our friendship be the same?

Will our families be the same? Will leftover anger or bitterness cloud our relationships? Will memories of divisions negatively affect the unity of our assembly fellowships? Have we allowed ourselves to become like the world political people?

I was reading today in 1st Timothy 6, 5. And Paul warns Timothy about the arguments and the bitterness and the divisiveness of unsaved people. And he calls it perverse disputings. And it really hit me hard.

How close have I become to be just like the unsaved people around me? Have we in ourselves been encouraged by social media to become too self-important? And at the same time, has that allowed us to forget about the sovereignty of God?

It's now up to us. It's not up to him. When applied to this pandemic and the surrounding political divide, it is serving to divide God's people and his assemblies. We seem to have become more concerned with the politics of a dying world than we are about the joys and promises of heaven.

I ask again, is this what God wants of us? If we harden our hearts against one another, if we dig in our heels, if we accentuate our differences, when this is all over, I have a great fear that this will end up very badly for us.

God's assemblies will suffer. So what is this lesson we can again learn from this dear man, Job, who was at a lower point than any of us, I believe, have ever gotten in our lives. As he bowed face to the ground to worship his God, to understand the Lord gives, the Lord takes away.

Blessed is the name of the Lord. And then the next day or so, covered with boils, his wife snarls at him, curse God and die. At that moment, Job refrained himself and held his lips and did not sin against God or against his wife, because he thought about what it might be like when it was all over.

And may I just make a plea to myself and to everyone who's listening today. Let us live today in our behavior one toward another, in our love one toward another, in our love for our God and his assemblies.

Paul’s Steadiness in the Shipwreck

Let us live today as we want to be when this pandemic is over. Finally, this dear little man, Paul, here's a man who in the midst of catastrophe grew steadier. This chapter is considered to be one of the greatest narratives in recorded literature of a shipwreck.

We know the story. We didn't take time to read it. Paul was on board as a prisoner. He was heading to Rome and he said, I'm going to Rome and I don't know what things will befall me there. He knew it would be certain imprisonment.

Don't think he had any idea that he would be kept at house arrest and be able to preach the gospel for two years to everybody that came to his home. He probably thought that he might face death, which he did.

But he went knowing that it was the will of God that he go. And in the Mediterranean, there are often these fierce windstorms. This named it's I was thinking we have named hurricanes and tropical depressions.

And here's one named Euroclid in which simply means a strong easterly windstorm. The seas were terrible, powerful, and on board this wooden ship, 276 souls that were staring death in the eye. The foundering of the ship was almost inevitable.

And with that, there was a true fear that they would all perish. We read that they were in a weakened condition anyway, because none of them had eaten anything substantial for two weeks. It got so desperate at one point that Scripture says, Dr. Luke records this.

They had not seen the sun by day nor the stars by night for many days. They all despaired of life. It says all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. So, dear brother or sister, what storm in your life may have left you with little to no hope?

How did Paul handle it? Was he looking for an opportunity to escape? I chuckled when I thought of this. Suppose Paul, as the prisoner, suppose they had released him from his bonds. Second Corinthians 11 tells us that Paul lived through three shipwrecks.

And he spent a day and night doggy paddling in the sea by himself. So jumping off this ship would have been old hat to Paul. He was a veteran of the deeps. And if it was dark and he headed off, they would never have been able to find him.

First of all, they'd be worried about their own lives. But this little man, this dear man stood and he stood tall. And the prisoner addressed the captors and his fellow travelers. He delivered a message from heaven in the midst of the storm.

He starts his words by saying, I exhort you. Remember, that word means encourage. Listen to me. I want to encourage you. He said, be of good cheer. I studied this little phrase recently because the Lord Jesus said this.

And just for your interest, when the Lord said it to somebody, it was a different Greek phrase that the Lord used than Paul used here. You remember when they brought that man to the Lord Jesus, the four friends and the stretcher and down through the roof.

And the very first thing that the Lord said to this dear man, he said, son, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you. When you look up that word cheer, the cheer part of it means joy, but it also means courage, confidence and comfort.

And the Lord delivered to that dear man all of that in the forgiveness of sins. Paul's phrase here is not as strong as we would expect. It's not as strong as one who is able to forgive sins. But he said, be of good cheer.

And then he said, none of us is going to die. He mentioned to them that he had a special visitor. The angel of God from heaven. I don't know whether that was the Lord Jesus. But he said. A messenger came to me from the God whose I am and whom I serve.

And this is what the messenger said, said, fear not, Paul, you will be brought to Caesar. You will safely come to Rome. And by the way. God has given to you, Paul, every life aboard this ship. And then Paul said these amazing words as he looked these men, if he could see them in the dark of the storm.

He looked into their eyes and said, man, I believe God. I believe God. So as the ship grew more and more unsteady, Paul grew more and more steady. In the face of what appeared to be an impending catastrophe.

Paul grew steadier and steadier in his trust in God. So as we have looked at these three dear men who each had sin in their lives. They were men who were not perfect. They were men who suffered for their faults.

They were like men to us. Same sinful natures, same fears, same shortcomings, same failures. But all three of them at these moments in their lives. The common denominator to all three was that they found refuge in the Lord.

And the verse that Caleb has started every one of these with Proverbs 14, verse 26. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. And his children shall have a place of refuge. Did David, Job and Paul all have the fear of the Lord?

Absolutely, they did. Did they have strong confidence in him? Absolutely, they did. Did all three of them find a place of refuge in the Lord? Absolutely, they did. David chose to not despair, but to encourage himself in God.

Job worshipped God and refused to blame him for anything that had come into his life. Paul believed God and he trusted his every word. So all three of these men with their failures and shortcomings. All three of them were men whose rock was their God.

They found immediate strength and refuge in the God who simply does not fail. So as we close, I trust that I will learn these lessons. That like David, we might seek to encourage others as Jonathan did to David.

So that David was then able to withstand this calamity that came his way. And when it hit and his men voiced their mutiny against him, he was able to encourage and strengthen himself in the Lord is God.

If you are an encourager, work overtime. God will enjoy and will bless your work as an encourager. If you seek that as a gift, God will give that to you. And it's maybe in these days, one of the very greatest gifts that could possibly be used in one of his assemblies.

You have trouble standing and speaking before a huge audience? Yes, we all do. Do you have trouble walking up to somebody and giving them the gospel? That's very hard. But are you able to come alongside and just give a word of encouragement?

You have no idea how much value that has in light of eternity. Might we be more like Paul to seek to grow steadier and steadier as we make our way through the catastrophe that is this dying world? And in so doing, might we be a real source of steadiness for those all around us?

Might we be able to say in any impending catastrophe, I believe God. And finally, like Job, might we more and more care for each other and especially to take care of the flock of God, which the Holy Spirit has given to our trust.

May God help us not to become bitter against one another. May we seek with his help never, never to allow Satan a foothold to come in and divide one of God's assemblies. Might my heart in the midst of this pandemic grow softer.