Deferred Obedience 1 - Part 1

Welcome to the Lord's Challenge with Joshua Daniel. The Layman's Evangelical Fellowship International is a ministry reaching people from all walks of life since 1935. After a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ at the age of 16, Joshua Daniel has been declaring the marvelous deliverance from sin, which is freely given to all those who turn to the loving Savior.

From small villages to large cities, in many parts of the globe, through revival meetings, literature, radio, internet, and television, Joshua Daniel has been tirelessly laboring, trusting God to supply all that is needed. Wherever this message has gone out, broken relationships have been restored, sickness healed, ill-gotten money returned, and thieves turn into givers. We now invite you to watch and receive the invaluable blessing that God has for you.

So friends, the burden on my heart has been this matter of deferred obedience. You know, nobody starts out saying, I'm going to defy God. I'm going to break his commandments.

I'm going to live my life. Nobody says, I want to go to hell. I remember when we were traveling 27 days around the Cape of Good Hope to Europe on one occasion, 27 days on a passenger ship with all the storms and the rough seas.

Well, it was something of the Lord. But however, at that time, my oldest child was just a little girl, five or six. And there were Japanese on board the vessel.

And she said to one of those young men, if you smoke, you will go to hell. Well, the fellow got alarmed. He didn't laugh.

He got, he almost panicked. He took it so seriously. You know folks.

Now, so nobody starts out saying, oh, I'm going to have a stint in hellfire. Nobody starts that way. So let us begin with 1 Samuel 17 chapter.

Oh, you ought to know this chapter. What have you got in this chapter? Let me ask you. David and Goliath.

My, it's quite a favorite, isn't it? David and Goliath. Now we lose, seems like, we seem like little mice before these Goliaths of today, which is because we do not walk with God. Religion has become just a thin coat of veneer and paint.

That's the trouble. Now 1 Samuel 17 chapter. Let's look at 34 and 35.

And David said unto King Saul, your servant kept his father's sheep. And there came a lion and a bear and took a lamb out of my flock. And I went out after him and smote him and delivered the lamb out of his mouth.

And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.

David said, moreover, the Lord had delivered me out of the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear. He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, go and the Lord be with you.

First, David appeared to this great king when he turned up as a challenger to challenge Goliath like a small little weak boy. What? You're going to do the job, you think? No. He is a mighty man.

He has been a fighter all his life. For you are but a youth. He is a man of war from his youth.

33rd verse. So when you meet Goliaths, you meet some of these Goliaths right in your heart. That's where you meet them.

And we have to face them right in our hearts. It is there that we see defeat. That is the real defeat.

Now just think, a lion has taken your pet sheep and he is, of course, got it firmly in its jaws and claws, powerful claws. What would your first reaction be? To run away. That's what we do from the lions we meet, run away, find some shoulder to weep on or complain.

See, I lost my sheep. The lion came after and there was nothing I could do. Blame the circumstances.

That's our reaction. But look, when a lion has caught your sheep or lamb and has its firm grip on it, to advance on the lion and say, you are not going to get away with my sheep. I am going to retrieve it.

You are not going to get away. You see, that calls for grace, which comes from an obedient heart. You see, when a man or a woman obeys God, his reaction to a crisis is different.

He does not throw up his hands. He does not say, hey, this is beyond me. It's a lion.

You don't want me to go and charge on a lion, do you? No. He's more than a match to me. I'm finished.

I had to turn the other way and run. My, think of that. But to retrieve a lamb from a lion's mouth, you have got to be pretty quick.

Otherwise, your lamb is dead. And you're going to infuriate the lion anyway. He is going to pounce on you.

Letting the lamb go, he will pounce on you. Who is this brat charging at me?