Deliverer

[0:00] Psalm 18, to the chief musician, a psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who spake unto! the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said, I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.

[0:29] The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower. Now that word buckler means a small shield. My deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust. Now there's nearly 600 odd times the word deliver or deliverance in various forms is in the word of God. Deliverance, deliverance, deliverance is something that the word of God speaks much about and it speaks of one who is the deliverer, the deliverer. As we read, David spoke of him, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. We can say that too if we say today, we can say the Lord is my deliverer. There's many references we can look at and talk about this deliverance and how we can experience it. It's a daily battle. We've heard of these trials of late, literal trials and actual trials in the Christian life, testings, suffering. It's a daily battle, living the Christian life at times. And we read Paul saying in Romans 7,

[1:44] O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Who shall deliver me? Jesus Christ is the deliverer. He is the saviour. It's the same word, deliver, rescue, salvation, redemption. It's all interlocked and intertwined. Our deliverer, our saviour, our redeemer, our liberator, the one who sets us free. You can think back at how you could picture that, how you could illustrate that today. Maybe the slaves in the slave trade and what a deliverance that was for them, being set free from that system of bondage. Or if you were actually a slave, as we see, Philemon was set free from that slavery. And there's many cases where we can see the word of God, of the deliverance, the deliverance of God. He delivers. He delivers Daniel from the lions.

[2:48] He delivers Israel from Egypt. He delivers the three Hebrew boys from the fiery furnace. God delivers us. He saves us. Do we grasp that? I think sometimes we don't catch the we don't comprehend that or appreciate that enough. How the Lord is your deliverer. You can say he is my deliverer. It's personal. He saves us. He delivers us. There's many verses, for example, in Psalms, Psalm 34 from verse 17, it says, the righteous cry and the Lord hear heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as being of a contrite spirit. God saves those who come in contrition, in repentance, with a brokenness to him. He is the deliverer. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, it says.

[3:52] Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. What a promise. So if you're experiencing that from time to time, we all can have testing days.

[4:06] Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the but is there. The Lord delivereth him out of them all. And think of it, friends, what might the afflictions be? It could be emotional experiences. It could be testing days. Spiritual oppression. Affliction can come in many shapes and forms. We know the enemy would want to burden us and bind us and hold us captive, but our Lord delivers us from our enemy.

[4:38] Now there's a different sense of delivering here, but in 1 Samuel 17, David spoke to Goliath and he says, This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand, and I will smite thee and take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

[5:03] David claimed the delivering power of God that the Lord would deliver Goliath into his hands. And truly, the Lord was the deliverer of David. What a claim that as he faced that giant, that he would have that faith to make those claims, and God delivered him.

[5:23] Psalm 6 verse 4 it says, Return, O Lord, deliver my soul. O save me for thy mercy's sake. Have you asked him to save your soul? Have you asked him to deliver your soul? I trust you will.

[5:41] You will call upon him and know his saving power. And it happens as we trust his work at the cross, that finished work, that delivering power can be effected.

[5:53] Many other verses that talk about delivering, delivering from our troubles, as we read in Psalm 34, 17, delivering our temptation. 2 Peter 2, verse 9.

[6:05] Hebrews 2, 14, 15, delivering us from fear. 2 Timothy 4, 17, delivering from the mouth of the lion. And Matthew 6, our Lord prays in that prayer that's commonly referred to as the Lord's Prayer, Deliver us from evil.

[6:22] It's a prayer we can pray. We can ask the Lord to deliver us from evil, to keep us safe, to rescue us from evil, from harm, from trouble. Take heart, believer today, that the Lord is able to deliver thee.

[6:37] He is able to deliver thee. As there's a song that goes such like, He is able to deliver thee. From whatever faces you.

[6:48] As the Hebrew children, as they face that burning, fiery furnace, heated seven times hotter than normal, they said to the king that was throwing them in and his men, Our God who we serve is able to deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

[7:11] There was a claim of faith there, wasn't there? There was that stand of faith as they stood up in the midst of that time. They didn't bow down as the popular crowd of the day did, as the king's rock band struck the beat.

[7:24] Everyone was supposed to bow down and toe the line, but the three Hebrew children, they stood up for Christ. They stood up for the gospel, for the truth, for the Lord. And we can too, we can know that the Lord is able to deliver us from whatever comes across our path.

[7:42] And this victory, this delivering, is not just in the past at the cross, but in the present day and in the future to come. As we read, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1, verse 10, writes of the Lord, he says, So there's the sense we're delivered from death, we're delivered from eternal death by the cross.

[8:14] He doth deliver us in the here and now. He's delivering us now, day by day. And we trust he will yet deliver us in the days to come and in eternal life.

[8:26] In the present and in the future, he is your deliverer. He is your deliverer. You know, think of those verses in Psalms that you can claim. He is my deliverer.

[8:38] Just that very first one we read. Make it your prayer. Make it your confession that you can trust him. When at times you might feel bound or confined or limited, God can step in and bring rescue and bring a breaking of the grip that holds you captive.

[8:58] Psalm 91. There's that familiar passage where we know the wonderful protecting and safekeeping of the Lord. In Psalm 91.

[9:10] Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. It's the sense of a deadly or destructive pestilence.

[9:20] He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler. Now you could picture that as meaning the devil and his trapping and his tripping that he would seek to do.

[9:30] You could picture the devil as a fowler, as one who is a bird catcher is the sense of it. A fowler is one who makes some kind of contraption on some stick or other and pulls it down to catch the bird unexpectedly and to trap it.

[9:50] And the Lord says that he will deliver us from that trap of the bird catcher, from the snare of the fowler. Think of the one who is your deliverer today.

[10:03] The Bible says he's the captain of our salvation. The captain of our salvation. He is able to deliver us from evil. In Psalm 91 it goes on, verse 14.

[10:17] Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me and I will answer him.

[10:28] I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him.

[10:44] As you love him, as you love the Saviour, he will care for you. As you love the Lord, he will deliver you. He will keep you safe and sure. Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[11:00] There's so many verses we can talk about delivering, about deliverance, about our deliverer, about our victory that we have. What is victory? Victory is defined as the defeat of an enemy.

[11:15] What did Christ do at the cross? He demolished Satan. He destroyed Satan. He destroyed Satan. In terms of Satan's captivating power at the cross.

[11:26] He brought deliverance to the captives. And he brings a release, a saving, a salvation. Because of the cross, it's a finished work.

[11:37] That Christ defeated Satan there. He brought victory. He brought victory. He made it possible for us to personally realise that victory. Each one of us here today that trust him.

[11:49] And Romans 8.21, it says that he delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. So he's delivered us from the bondage of corruption, that corrupting, that chaining, that holding fast of sin.

[12:06] And he gives us liberty as the children of God. A glorious liberty. So friends tonight, be encouraged. You are victorious. Day by day. We are more than conquerors.

[12:17] There's so many verses we could lay hold of and claim and confess. That we are more than conquerors. And you are victorious today. Even though the circumstances of life might seem like overloading or overburdening from day by day, from time to time.

[12:36] The Lord says you are victorious. You have the victory. Victory over death. We know ultimately and absolutely in the here and now we have victory over death.

[12:47] In terms of the second death, if you're born twice, you don't face the second death. So we can trust the Lord in that truth. And we have victory over temptation in the here and now.

[13:00] As we're on that pilgrim walk, as we're on that pathway now, as we're walking with our Saviour, we have victory. Day by day. It says in 1 Chronicles 29.11, He has won the victory for you.

[13:25] And you wonder when you see Christians sometimes walking around in defeat, in despair, in discouragement. Not realising how we can be encouraged by the word.

[13:38] As we know, he's the lifter of our hair. And he helps us to overcome what might be very real and present testing times. Because he is with you. He will help you to walk those days of testing times.

[13:52] As we know in Psalm 23, that even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

[14:04] And he is with you, the Lord, our shepherd. Friends, just to close, there's a story about the nation of Italy. At one time, they were facing dark days.

[14:18] There was a struggle for liberty in the land of Italy. And most of the people looked upon a man called Garibaldi as their great liberator.

[14:29] And prisoners hurried away. So loathsome dungeons would be encouraged as they passed along the streets by friends whispering in their ears, Courage! Garibaldi is coming!

[14:41] Men would steal out at night and chalk on the walls and pavements. Garibaldi is coming! And when the news of his approach to the city was announced, they would shout, Garibaldi is coming!

[14:53] He came and they regained their freedom as a nation, never to be enslaved again. But someone far greater than Garibaldi has come. The great liberator, the great emancipator, the great redeemer, the great liberator of men and women, who frees us from the slave master of sin, the great redeemer, the great victorious saviour, can set men free.

[15:20] Why would you want to stay any longer held in Satan's power? Why would you want to stay any longer held captive, held in prison, when the truth can set you free?

[15:33] The truth can set you free. The Lord says, this is soul-saving truth. And friends, I urge you tonight, if you haven't trusted Him, but you do trust Him.

[15:48] And friends, Christians too, we can all be exhorted to trust Him. To trust Him. One more statement here. From a preacher called Spurgeon, he says, There once was a tyrant who summoned one of his subjects to his presence and ordered him to make a chain.

[16:08] And this poor blacksmith, that was his occupation, making such things. And he forged the chain. When he had done it, he brought it to the tyrant and was ordered to take it away and make it twice the length.

[16:20] He brought it again to the tyrant and again he was ordered to double it. Back he came when he had obeyed the order and the tyrant looked at it and then commanded the servants to bind the man hand and foot with the chain that he himself had made and cast him into prison.

[16:39] And Spurgeon says, this is what the devil does to men. He makes them forge their own chains. And then he binds them hand and foot with it and casts them into outer darkness.

[16:53] My friends, that is just what? Drunkards, gamblers, blasphemers. That is just what every sinner is doing. But thank God we can tell them of a deliverer.

[17:04] The Son of God has power to break every fetter, to break every chain, if we can only come to Him. And who is this one? He is the Saviour.

[17:15] That's His name, Jesus. It means the Lord, our Saviour. I like to Isaiah. It means the Lord brings deliverance. The Lord brings deliverance.

[17:27] The Lord brings salvation. Just to close, if you'd like to turn to Galatians 1. Friends, I urge you tonight, as ever-living souls, that you would know what it is to trust Him.

[17:47] That you would trust Him tonight. If you are a Christian and you're feeling in despair, then there's no better place to go than to Him, to the great deliverer.

[17:58] And Galatians 1, 3-5, it says, Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever.

[18:20] Amen. The Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world. Let us pray. Lord, we thank You tonight that Your Word says that You are the deliverer.

[18:34] There's nobody else who can deliver us. There's nobody else who can deliver us from the body of this death. There's nobody else who can deliver us from this present evil world. There's nobody else who can deliver us from the sinful nature, from eternal hell.

[18:51] You are the only hope. Lord, we thank You that we can trust in You for now, for time and eternity. We can know deliverance in the past, from the cross, in the present as we walk with You, and in the future to come, as we know You're coming back.

[19:09] And Lord, we know that Christ is coming. That is our hope. The great emancipator, the great deliverer, we know, Lord, that You are coming. Help us, Lord, to be active, alert, and watching, waking, working, awake, Lord, in the light of that coming.

[19:27] Lord, that we might not be found sleeping and slack. Lord, we thank You for the great victory You have won at the cross. And even in these recent days of the victory that we've seen in the liberty that we have to declare the Gospel in the city that we live, for the preachers who do that, we pray for them, that they would faithfully deliver Your Word to those who need that delivering power of the Gospel.

[19:53] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. I love to tell the story of haunting things above, of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.