The eminent Reverend Ralf Erskine preached at a Communion season at Carnock, in July, 1727 from the text: “And the Lord thy God will put out these nations before thee, by little and little.” Deut. VII. 1. The following is a short extract from this sermon:
But there are greater kings and potentates than these that stand in the way of the possession of the heavenly Canaan. There are, more especially, four kings, mighty kings, to be subdued: for
(1) As sin is a mighty king that reigns in us, and over us naturally: therefore says the Apostle, Rom. vi. 12, “Let not sin reign in your mortal body; so,
(2) Satan is a mighty king in his own territories; therefore called, “The prince of this world; the prince of the power of the air, that rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience,” Eph. ii, 2.
(3) Self is a mighty king; it competes with King Jesus, and keeps His throne, so long as the loftiness of man is not brought down, and the haughtiness of man made low, Isa ii, 11, that the Lord alone may be exalted in the heart: and, even after Christ is exalted, to the throne of the heart, Self is still fighting and working for the throne. It is a king that all the World adores.
(4) Death is a mighty king; therefore called the king of terrors, Job, xviii, 14. He is a king that is the terror of kings, as well as inferior subjects. This is called the last enemy of God’s Israel; “The last enemy to be destroyed is death”: and happy they that get the sting of death removed, which is sin. See I Corinth. xv, 54-57, “Death shall be swallowed up in victory.” Christ is the victorious conqueror of this and all other enemies; however, these are mighty kings in the way; and some of them have mighty giants in their armies, particularly these three viz., king Sin, king Satan, and king Self; these three have powerful armies to fight their hellish battles . . .
(1) Amidst the multitude of enemies, their God is their Friend. And, indeed, no matter who be our enemies, if God be our friend; “If God be for us (says the apostle) who can be against us?” Rom. viii, 31. And He is a friend to all these to whom He is a God in a peculiar manner. And His being their friend imports, the removal of feud and enmity; His anger being turned away, and reconciliation made up through Christ, whatever was the former difference. It imports the acceptance of their persons into favour, and the obligation He lies under, as a friend, by virtue of the new Covenant of grace and promise, to help them in every time of need; and to do all their works in them and for them: and to fight all their battles. Therefore,
(2) Though their enemies be mighty, He being their God, imports that He is their Shield; The Lord God is a sun and shield to them, Psal. lxxxiv, 11. The shields of the earth are His; and His being their shield, is to be understood both in a defensive and offensive way.
(a) He is the Lord their God and shield, to defend them; “My defence it of God, which saves the upright in heart,” Psalm, vii, 10. Hence called a strong tower, and rock of defence; a hiding-place, a covert, a shadow, to shelter them from the assaults and attacks of the nations of enemies that are within them, and round about them; “A man shall be a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest; as rivers of waters in a dry place; and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land,” Isa. xxxii, 2.
(b) He is the Lord their God and shield, for offending all their enemies; hence He is said to have a sword of power girded on His thigh, for executing judgment on their enemies; Deut. xxxii, 41, 42, “If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold of judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and a reward to them that hate me; I will make mine arrows drunk with blood.”
Read also ver. 43, and compare it with Isa. liii, 1, 4, “The day of vengeance is in mine heart, for the year of my redeemed is come.” O! it is a happy vengeance to the Israel of God, when He, as their mighty Conqueror, subdues the nations under them, and takes vengeance on all their powerful lusts and spiritual enemies. A day of vengeance to the enemy, is a day of redemption to His friends.