Good morning. and sing to help the children.
They're put down below the line because they
are less important and often passed by, almost
ignored, but no one ignores them in their formation.
When the author is putting them together, it
has to make sense. It has to be valuable. That's
why it's in there. So we looked last week at
a text. We ended with verse 10 of the book of
Judges, chapter 1. And this is what it said.
So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived
in Hebron. Now the name of Heber formerly was
Kiriath Arba. And they struck Sheshai and Ehman
and Talmai. Okay? So raise your hand if you know
who those three men were. Okay. So until I've
prepared the sermon that I'm about to prepare
today, I also would have raised my hand. I did
not know who they were. But they're mentioned
in passing here as defeated during the time when
Judah was defeating Hebron and Kiryat Arba. So
now let me tell you who they are. And you'll
think, wow, this is a little more significant.
Numbers chapter 13, verse 21 to 22. So they went
up and spied out the land from the wilderness
of Zin as far as Rehob at Levohamah. When they
had gone up into the Negev, they came to Hebron,
where Ahaman, Cheshiai, and Talmiah, the descendants
of Anah, were. Notice the three names. Now, Hebron
was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt, so
we can actually, because Egypt kept a really
detailed history, we can nail down exactly when
that city was built, verse 30. Then Caleb quieted
the people before Moses and said, we should by
all means go up and take possession of it, for
we will surely overcome it. You recognize the
story now? The story is when Moses sends 12 spies
to spy out the land, of two of them, Joshua and
Caleb, right? So then they spy out the land and
they find the descendants of Anak there named
by those names. Now, whether it's exactly the
same three men who are still alive, this is over
a dozen years later. Actually, it's over 50 years
later because there were four years before this.
And then Joshua sent Caleb in and then 15 years
more passed after Caleb was supposed to take
over the region. And that's where we're at now.
So it's been a long time. Whether it's the same
three men alive or descendants of the same three
men or their clans, their families named by their
names or whatever the bottom line is, the three
names are named. And they're not a footnote.
They're not a footnote because when the Israelites
first wanted to go in, they saw the descendants
of Anak there and what did they see about them?
They were giants. What was their response to
them? They said, we are as grasshoppers in their
eyes. They were terrified of the sons of Anak,
named by these same three names. So they were
unwilling then, and they gave a false report,
really, the ten then gave a false report to the
rest of Israel, and all of Israel becomes unwilling
to go into the promised land because they saw
these three men and their families living in
the land. Now, fast forward to this point in
time, they're already in there. And they're just
trying to finish off what was started under Joshua.
Joshua was still alive at this time, but his
public ministry is essentially over. He's not
really leading Israel anymore. And they're really
just trying to bring it to a conclusion. And
Joshua said, now go and do it, right? Just finish
it off. And during that time, they go in and
conquer Hebron and destroy those three men and
thereby their families, right? And it's a big
deal. It really shows that the same people that
scare God's people when they were going to go
in the first time are the same people that they
easily conquered this time. Now that's all the
more important because we see that in other ways
they were not really being faithful. They began
to struggle in following God. In Numbers chapter
13, this was after that passage I just read to
you. Beginning in 27, it says this, Thus they
told him and said, We went into the land where
you sent us, and it certainly does flow with
milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless,
the people who live in the land are strong, and
the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover,
we saw the descendants of Anak there. Amalek
is living in the land of the Negev, and the Hittites
and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living
in the hill country. And the Canaanites are living
by the sea and by the side of the Jordan. Then
Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said,
We should by all means go up and take possession
of it, for we will surely overcome it. But the
men who had gone up with him said, We are not
able to go up against the people, for they are
too strong for us. So they gave out to the sons
of Israel a bad report of the land which they
had spied out, saying, The land through which
we have gone is a land that devours its inhabitants,
and all the people whom we saw in it are men
of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim.
The sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim, and
we became like grasshoppers in our own sight,
and so we were in their sight. In other words,
they were cowards, at least in the moment that
they saw the sons of Anak. They were terrified
to go and do what God had told them to do. Now,
it doesn't end here. If you go on with me for
a moment. Basically, the summary of the rest
of this chapter, we'll probably hit it before
we're done, but it is that they all over the
place failed to take all the lands that God ordained
for them to take. Just to give you a quick sample,
likewise the house of Joseph went up against
Bethel and the Lord was with them and the house
of Joseph spied out Bethel. They conquered that.
But elsewhere, it says, when Israel became strong,
they put the Canaanites to forced labor. But
they did not drive them out completely. Now did
Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who were living
in Gezer? So the Canaanites lived in Gezer among
them. And it just goes on. And there's always
this compromise, this they don't completely conquer
the land that God gave them. But now if you'll
skip to chapter 2, verse 1, read a few verses,
it says this. Now the angel of the Lord came.
Now there's an interesting theory here because
this person might, theologians think this person
might actually be Jesus. There's two possibilities.
It is a mighty angel of God, right? But then
also there are a few instances where this exact
phrasing in the Hebrew is used, the angel of
the Lord, and it points to the anointed one,
or the sent one of God, as opposed to just a
normal angel. We know that the Greek word angel
is messengers, so Christians can be considered
angels because they're messengers, but there
is an intonation that goes along with the idea
of being an angel that is something considerably
more. An angel is not a person. A person does
not become an angel, right? It says this, it
says, Now the angel of the Lord came up from
Gilgal to Bochum, and he said, I brought you
up out of Egypt and led you into the land which
I have sworn to your fathers, and I said, I will
never break my covenant with you. And as for
you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants
of the land. You shall tear down their altars,
but you have not obeyed me. But you have not
obeyed me. What is this you have done? Therefore
I also said, I will not drive them out before
you, but they shall become as thorns in your
sides, and their God shall be a snare to you.
And it came about when the angel of the Lord
spoke these words to all the sons of Israel that
the people lifted up their voices and wept. So
they named that place Bochum. And there they
sacrificed to the Lord. And so the responses
of the Israelites to the speaking of the angel
of the Lord is kind of good. They weep. They
sacrifice, but what don't they do? They don't
repent, turn back to God, and do what God ordered
them to do. That's what they don't do. If you
go on, you'll see that they continue. Right after
this is the story of Joshua's death, and they
continue to make deals and compromises and so
on. It all began with a certain moment in time.
We talked a little bit last week about how Judah
had already begun to compromise, but we saw Judah
and Simeon have great victory nonetheless. And
it says that they went on. Now we're back in
chapter 1, verse 17. Then Judah went with Simeon
and his brother. They struck the Canaanites.
Judah took Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon
with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.
Now the Lord was with Judah, and they took possession
of the hill country. But they could not drive
out the inhabitants of the valley because they
had iron chariots. And from then on, from the
moment that the iron chariots are mentioned,
you see failing after failing. Some successes
too, but failing after failing of God's people.
to do what it is that God's people were called
to do, which was own the promised land, cast
out the Canaanites. God held them in captivity
for over 400 years until the wickedness of the
people in this land would become so much so that
God was right in ordaining that they should be
wiped out. And then they come in there, and they're
having great success under Joshua. Joshua is
getting ready to go home to be with the Lord.
And he says, now go and do it. And the end of
his is, choose who you will serve. Right? And
they choose God. They say, oh, we'll do it. We'll
do everything God told us to do. And then they
go in and they continually fail, beginning with
the iron chariots they compromise. So let's look
then at this summary text, everything that I've
just showed you. The first thing I want you to
see there is this conflict. Iron chariots versus
Yahweh. Iron chariots versus Yahweh. Even as
the culmination of man's strength and craftiness
and hard labor. Whatever you want to think of
iron chariots as, it could be tanks or nuclear
weapons today, right? Whatever you want to think
of it as, it is nothing compared to God's power.
Iron chariots are nothing compared to God's power.
Pharaoh rushed out after the Israelites with
iron chariots. He left them all under the sea.
And now divers have located, they believe, wheels
from that army decimated under the sea where
the waters washed over Pharaoh's armies. You
can see coral in the shape of wheels of chariots
that they've discovered. The bottom line is that
no matter what you think of these iron chariots
as, symbolically speaking, it's all nothing compared
to God's power. The world's system spins up its
weapons of destruction. They build a better mousetrap,
because if you build a better mousetrap, the
world will beat a pat to your door and you get
rich. Right? So they've invented internet. They've
invented cell phones. They've invented a smaller
microchip. And it just goes on and on and on.
And all of these crafty schemes in the world
spin up as men seek victory in the world's program.
They even look for ways to find resources. Even
look for ways to find peace. If you have enough
money and no one can touch you, you can have
enough bodyguards, you can have enough control,
you own the world's oil supply, whatever, you
will have peace. No one can mess with you. And
while that whole system is working to do that,
to spin up to these weapons of mass destruction
or this installation of peace and their idea,
nothing compares to God's power. Accepting certain
tenets. then, is the equivalent to surrendering
territory won and allocated by God. They said
this. They said, well, you know, there's a people
there and they're doing pretty well. The city's
built pretty well and it's pretty fortified.
We don't technically need to conquer them because
we've got plenty of land, plenty of resources.
There they are, walled up city, plenty of armies
and so on. They've got iron chariots. That could
be messy. I get to see my son's guts splayed
across the field as he fights against them. I
don't want that. So here's what we'll do. Just
pay us tribute. If you pay us enough money, Then
we'll let you live there in our land, right?
And so we develop tenants equivalent to surrendering
the territory to them, but it's technically still
ours. If they pay us enough money, it'll be fine,
right? But God is still God, and God still ordered,
and they still did not obey. Here are chariots.
There were giants. When the armies of the Israelites,
and maybe they were a little less skilled in
combat then, when they came out of Egypt and
wound up on the border to the promised land,
after God took them through all of that, they
saw the giants, they panicked. They're going,
oh, giants. Can't go in there and fight the giants.
That'll be tough. It's going to be really hard.
People will die. Surely people will die. Lots
of people probably. Maybe God will give us a
victory. Yeah, but lots of people will die. It's
terrible. We were like grasshoppers in our own
eyes. And that's how they saw us. Giants. But
now iron chariots. What's the difference between
a giant and an iron chariot? Virtually nothing.
Both of those things require you to have an ounce
of faith that God can handle giants or iron chariots.
David said, does no one stand up against this
man who mocks God? And he believed. And a young
man, an old boy, went out and destroyed a giant
that day. Here are the chariots. There were giants.
But God's people already have the victory if
they will just walk in what God is already doing.
Arranging mercy for the world around us. Saying,
oh yeah, you do you and I'll do me. A lot of
times it's more profitable to do that. we benefit
because we don't say the thing that people don't
want to hear or do the thing that people don't
want to see. And that's what they were doing.
They said, what's more probable to us to give
mercy to this people, even though God said, wipe
them out? God already decided. God already told
them what to do. And God has already told us
what to do. And we're not fighting a war. We're
going to go kill people. We're not taking visible
terrain on the earth. That's not what we're talking
about. But God has told us what to do. And when
we don't do it in order to not offend or to not,
not cause ripples or to maybe prosper in the
world system. If you prosper in the world system
under those circumstances, you will be just like
the Israelites who saw giants or iron chariots
and stopped doing what it is that God wanted
them to do. 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3 to 5 says,
Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according
to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare
are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for
the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying
speculations and every lofty thing raised up
against the knowledge of God, and we are taking
every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.
Let's be super realistic for a second here. Let's
just get it simple if we can. Have you had a
personal experience with the living God? Have
you personally experienced God? Has God ministered
in your heart? Have you heard the words of God
in your head? Have you read the Bible and felt
such extreme conviction and realized, I've got
to do something about what I'm reading today?
Have you been affected by the God of the universe?
That when the world tries to affect you or something
tries to hold you back from being what it is
that God has called you to be, should you not
be able to look back at that moment in time in
which God had done something amazingly powerful
and say, this over here is no big deal. This
thing that would try to stop me from doing the
thing that God wants me to do is literally nothing.
A thought is nothing. A temptation, nothing.
A relationship with God, everything. Giants and
iron chariots, they're symbols of God's people
who know God, saw God do amazing things. They
just saw the very giants that chased their fathers
away from the promised land wiped out. Yet when
they see the iron chariots, they say, well, that's
another thing. They could have. They should have.
And if they were trusting in the Lord, they would
have. Hence, the angel of the Lord says, what
have you done? How could you do this? How could
you do this faced with what scares you, that
you would not follow the Lord who can handle
everything that scares you? That brings us to
the second thing. Scary things scare scared people.
That's the reality. Scary things scare scared
people. And I think the unfortunate truth is
that people who don't know the Lord are scared
people. I wasn't. For over 25 years of my life,
I was afraid of what people would think of me,
afraid of what would happen if I tried certain
things, if I had stuck my neck out. Now, I wasn't
afraid of dying in a car accident or crashing
my motorcycle or falling from an 80 -foot high
tree. I wasn't afraid of, if I did something,
it causing me physical harm. I wasn't smart enough
to be afraid of those things. But I was intimidated
by the things of the world and that I would someday
need to be a dad or someday need to be a successful
businessman or someday need to be financially
successful. I was intimidated by what people
would think of me. So intimidated that I couldn't
go and get a sandwich without ketchup or mayonnaise
because I was afraid of what the minimum wage
worker behind the counter would think of me if
I ordered my sandwich without mayonnaise or ketchup.
That's how bad it was. to the point that I went
to lunch with two friends in Milwaukee and sat
there and choked down mayonnaise, which was,
to me at that time, the most disgusting substance
on the face of the earth, because I didn't want
to admit to them that I was too afraid to tell
the person at the counter that I didn't want
mayonnaise. And the whole time, I have two brand
new friends I just met at a convention, and I'm
talking with them about stuff that we both enjoy,
and all I'm thinking about is what filthy person
I am that I can't get a sandwich without mayonnaise.
And you're like, well, no, that's not me. So
there's nothing in your life that scared you
before you got saved? I'll bet there was. I'll
bet there are things that scare you now if you're
not careful. Scary things scare scared people.
John 16, 33 says this in contrast. It says, these
things have I spoken to you that in me you may
have peace. In the world you have tribulation,
but take courage. I have overcome the world.
Jesus knew that you were going to be here amongst
things that would scare you. amongst things that
you might worry, have anxiety or fear over. And
he said this, listen to me. You can have peace.
In the world, you have trouble. There's stuff
going on here. And it isn't all good. But take
courage. I have overcome the world. And then
in John 14, 1, he says this, do not let your
heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also
in me. And John 14, 27, he says, Peace I leave
with you, my peace I give to you, not as the
world gives do I give to you. Do not let your
heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. But
what about suffering? Because, you know, that's
still something, right? Like, if we are not fearful
and we go into a situation, we could be persecuted.
If we are not concerned about choices and we
make a choice that puts us out there on the raggedy
edge, we could be dead. We could be broken. We
could be in a wheelchair for life. That'd be
terrible. We can be filleted alive, or our skin
can be ripped open, and how's it going to ever
heal? You see a doctor for years, a wound care
for months. Terrible things can happen. And Paul
said this, what then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who is against us? He who did
not spare his own son, but delivered him over
for us all, how will he not also with him freely
give us all things? Who will bring a charge against
God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who
is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who
died. Yes. Rather, who was raised? Who is at
the right hand of God? Who also intercedes for
us? Who will separate us from the love of Christ?
Here they are, right here. These are all the
things that we're worried about, right? All the
things that we're fearful of. Will. Tribulation.
Trouble. Distress. Stuff that rocks you internally.
Persecution. People are going to come down on
you because you're a Christian. Famine. You go
without food. Nakedness. You go without clothes.
Peril. Risk of your life. Or sword. They kill
you with the sword. Just as it is written, for
your sake, we are being put to death all day
long. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer
through him who loved us. Did you get that? In
those situations, which we might say are the
worst situations, that we want to avoid if at
all possible, in those things, we overwhelmingly
conquer. For I am convinced that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor power,
nor height, nor depth, nor any created thing
will be able to separate us from the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In other
words, if you go into a time of trouble and you're
suffering, you become a conqueror. Oh wait, more
than a conqueror. If you go into a time of persecution,
you stand up for what you believe in, The kids
don't like it. The workers don't like it. Teachers
don't like it. Government don't like it. Understand
it for what you believe in. And you are persecuted
near unto death, possibly. Your finances are
stolen. Your house is taken away. People throw
rocks through your windows, whatever it might
be. If any of that happens, you are more than
a conqueror. That's what he said. Unfortunately,
the people in our story, they were no more than
conquerors. They were conquerors, right? They
didn't. They took Bethel. Judah took Bethel.
That's significant. Caleb's offspring, they took
Hebron and conquered the Anak. That's huge. But
they were no more than conquerors. Do you want
to be a conqueror? Do you want to be a soldier
who conquers cities? Do you want to be a manager
who conquers employees? Do you want to be an
investor who conquers finances? That is not what
God died for. That's not what Jesus came and
lived and died on the cross for. You were made
more than a conqueror. So when you hedge your
bets trying to get victory, you're selling out.
You're coming up short. You're not going after
what God actually, he made you to be more than
a conqueror, not a conqueror. Like most of us
are like, oh, I'll never be a conqueror. I'll
never be super successful. I'm afraid I'll make
decisions and so on that don't help along the
way. I'm not quite that smart. That kind of thing.
God never made you to be a conqueror. He made
you to be more than a conqueror. Scary things
scare scared people. Knock that off. That's not
what you were bought for. Then the third thing.
If you choose to do it on your own, God will
give you what you ask for. If you choose to do
it on your own, your own way, not God's way,
God will give you what you ask for. Now they
would be plagued by the people around them and
their false gods, and that becomes the history
of Israel. Even their wisest king to ever live,
Solomon, will take hundreds, maybe a thousand
plus wives and concubines and all their gods
into his household and walk away from faithfulness
to the Lord. This curse, if you will, that God
delivers is a response to their lack of immediate
following. I want you to go back to the Garden
of Eden for a moment. When Adam and Eve stole
that fruit from the tree. Who planted the tree?
God planted it. Who made it grow fruit? God did.
Who fertilized it? God did. Who brought water
up to it from the ground? It didn't rain. God
did. Who took the fruit and ate it? Adam and
Eve did. Look at the curse. They'll be cast out
of the Garden of Eden where they might take fruit
from any tree faithfully. The work that they
had to do there was easy. cast out and now to
have to do hard work for their whole life and
all of us the same. God often uses the effects
of sin to punish the sinner. Now you can say
you're suffering, but the reality is a lot of
our suffering is because we're in sin. We refuse
to make the hard choices to give God his place.
And then we suffer and we're like, oh no, one
of the first blogs I ever wrote. I have a blog
that I don't take as good a care of as I should,
even though it's read kind of like all over the
world. It's called Thinking Crazy for Christ,
the number four. And one of the first ones I
wrote was, this is what the human beings do.
Human beings do this. They shoot themselves in
the foot, and then they spend the rest of their
life complaining about how their foot hurts.
And this is what we're doing. Instead of going,
you know, why is it like this? Am I supposed
to learn from this? Is there something I need
to repent and turn to the Lord? And it actually
doesn't even matter. If you did it or somebody
else did it to you, either way, the response
is the same. You repent and turn to the Lord
and do whatever it is that God's calling you
to do the way that God's calling you to do it.
And walk with Him daily. We shoot ourselves in
the foot. We cause our own problems. God often
uses the effects of sin to punish the sinner.
If you choose to do it on your own, God will
give you what you ask for. The only way you'll
be able to think that you're faithful, the only
way that you'll be able to think that you're
God's man or woman, if you're doing it on your
own without God, is to change who God is. You
have to change God up for an idol. Change God
up for something that will accept the course
that you've laid out for yourself. Something
that you can still enjoy and find peace and prosper
and get ahead and overcome and be a conqueror.
Something that's not God at all. If you choose
to go your own way outside God, he'll let you
go. He'll let your sin be the punishment for
you as a sinner. And you won't be unsafe. I'm
not talking about losing your salvation. There
is a way that God seals the end result. But you
can be a corrupt tree that cannot produce good
fruit. That's what the New Testament says. That
brings us to our conclusion then. As Joshua had
ordered them near to the end of his public ministry,
he basically said this, decide this day who you
will serve. In their case, that looked like not
courageously, obediently pushing on or destroying
the people of the land. There were people who
were allowed to flee, and if they didn't and
they stayed and put up military opposition, they
were supposed to be destroyed. Oh, the Israelites
are coming. And what happened was, as soon as
you start making pacts with the people of the
land, the fear of the Israelites is gone. Oh,
the Israelites are coming. Oh, well, maybe they'll
just make a pact with us. Get the tribute ready.
We'll pay them enough to leave us alone. And
so, yes, there was an intimidation on behalf
of those who lived in the land. They knew that
was God's people, but they saw that God's people
no longer were following the direction of their
own God to destroy or chase out the people of
the land. And so now nobody's leaving anymore.
They were all fleeing, and now they're not fleeing.
And it's the same way with our enemies, thoughts
and temptations and choices and things that we
face in this life. If you are not on God's side,
if you are not doing what it is, if you can't
face food and sex and drugs and bad music and
all the things in this world, what opportunity
to make money? If you can't face those things
and say, no, I am God's man or woman, and when
I come in there, it's going to suffer. Things
are going to change. It's not going to be that
way. You can't walk into a room and everybody
in the room knows that if they're gossiping,
they should stop. If that's not you, then you're
not acting like a man or a woman of God. If people
can willingly lie in your presence and tell falsehoods,
and you'll just kind of laugh it off and think
it's funny and not say anything because you know
it's not true, then why should they run? Why
should they hide? Why shouldn't they just keep
being everything that the world says will prosper
them? Because there is no alternative. There's
no reason for anybody in Hebron or anybody in
Jericho, which crashed to the ground and was
razed literally in the day of Joshua, being that
city that no one thought could be conquered,
and God did that? And when the military enemies
were fleeing from... People under Joshua, and
they couldn't catch up to them to destroy them.
God rained meteor fire from the heavens to destroy
an army that was fleeing from Joshua because
he knew they would just turn on them eventually.
And in any case, they were worthy of destruction.
Joshua ordered them, near the end of his public
ministry, decide this day who you will serve.
They should have courageously, obediently pushed
outward and destroyed the people of the land
that would not flee, but instead they began to
make pacts and compromise and so on. They found
excuses one by one to let peoples remain. And
the more remains of the world in your life, the
more temptation you will face, the more struggles
you will face, the more your mind will go in
different directions, and you will begin to select
for yourself gods that will comfort you in the
choices that you make that do not honor the God
of heaven. Excuses, one by one. Even tributes.
And soon they were an intermingled people rather
than being a people like God's people who were
designed to stand apart. In ours it looks like
at least the following. God calls us to fear
no tactics of the enemy. If someone says something
to you you don't like to hear, it doesn't have
to touch you at all. It doesn't have to mess
with your head. It doesn't have to affect you.
Do you know who you are in Christ? That the living
God sent his only son to die on the cross. You're
now bought and paid for. You belong to him. There
is literally nothing that the world can do to
touch you. If somebody says something you don't
like, does that have to mess with your head?
No, it does not. If the doctor says something
that you don't like, does that have to mess with
your head? Do you have to start wondering, oh,
no, I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring?
No. Fear no tactics of the enemy. Accept no failings
in yourself. This is a problem because even in
my own circles, people by close confidants, friends,
people in this room, I'm telling you, I'm not
naming anybody because I didn't ask any permission.
But this is what we'll do. Things go wrong. I
don't like a certain thing. A certain thing affects
me a certain way. And say, well, this is just
my personality. It's no sin for me to say that
I have to behave that way. Or for me to say that
I have to accept that kind of behavior. Or I
have to respond a certain way when somebody does
something like that. There's no sin in that,
right? There's no sin in me to say that I'm eating
a little too much on a consistent basis. Or I'm
spending a little too much on a consistent basis.
There's no sin in any of that. So we accept our
failings. But that is not the way God created
you to accept your failings. When you see something
and you start thinking to yourself, oh wait,
this could be a flaw in me. This could be a character
flaw, a struggle that I have, something that
needs to be fixed. You have two choices. You
can submit that thing to God and if God says
fix it, then you can begin to work to fix it
for the rest of your life as long as it takes.
Or you can make an excuse for it and say, yeah,
that's just the way God made me. Now you tell
me which one of those is the kingdom and which
one of those is the world. Is that not what the
world says? Oh, I'm this way because this is
the way God made me and I'm going to do what
it is? If they even accept that God exists at
all, that's what they say. That is not what the
kingdom does. We align ourselves with a risen
Savior. We overcome every challenge. And when
you find a failing in yourself, you say, okay,
we're going to deal with this. First thing we're
going to do is we're going to submit it to God.
Then we're going to say, what does God say it
should be? Then we're going to do that, whatever
that is. If we can get it out of His Word, that'll
make it easy, because you're going to look it
up like a dictionary, or Google it, and it'll
find it. All right? Easily. But if it's not that
point blank, but the Holy Spirit is convicting
me, then I'm going to get clear direction. I'm
going to search it out in prayer. I'm going to
listen to God. I'm going to get clear direction.
This is what God wants me to do, and I'm going
to do that. I accept no failing in myself. We're
going to recognize and deliberately abolish any
willingness in us or in the kingdom of God to
compromise the teachings of Jesus. Whatever he
said goes. And people are like, well, he kind
of did. You know that there are people out there
right now claiming they're Christians. And some
of them are major theologians making six figures
in some cases who will say there is no hell.
Now you know enough to know that the Bible very
clearly says there is. That God lays it out.
It cannot be doubted. And they'll just take those
texts where it cannot be doubted. And they'll
say, well, that does not have the same authority
as all the rest of Scripture. That's all poetic.
It's not actually real. Even though the Bible
is very clear that from beginning to end, it's
all what it is. There's no compromising on it.
Take it for what it is. And by the way, they're
getting very well paid, very well compensated
through that position because there's a lot of
people who want there to be no hell. And you,
as a Christian, you, as a follower of the Lord,
need to recognize and deliberately abolish any
willingness to compromise the teachings of Jesus.
It is what it is. Then, fear not. And so many
Christians living in fear, I'm so afraid of this,
I'm so afraid of that. Understand that scary
things scare scared people. Are they scary? Yes,
they're scary. Anybody here ever watch a horror
movie that sort of scared you? Like, wow, that
was something. Like, I kind of regret that a
little bit now because it kind of scared me.
Now, not everybody has. Some people can watch
it and it doesn't bother them at all, right?
But if you watch a movie, whether it's that or
maybe you watch a documentary about what's going
on in the world and how the government is doing
this and doing that and you start to wonder,
is the government really doing that or whatever?
Do these conspiracies seem serious? Really have
something. Are they really on to it? And you
start wondering. And you start to feel a little
fear about it. There's nothing I can do about
that. Scary things scare scared people. God's
got it. It's going to be fine. Let me tell you
how it's going to go. It's going to go like this.
The world is going to go to hell in a handbasket
very slowly until God decides it's going to go
a lot quicker. That's what's going to happen.
Then he's going to recreate everything wherein
those who have accepted Jesus Christ are going
to live there in the new heaven and the new earth.
You want to fly on a pony? You can do it. I'm
going to swim out of the sea without having to
breathe. If there was a sea, there probably won't
be according to Scripture. But if there was,
you can do it. I'm going to disappear in one
place and appear in another. You can do it. Heaven
will be like that. No fear. No dying. No sorrow.
No pain. All gone. The new earth will be perfect.
And that's coming someday. But it ain't here
yet. And as long as it's not, we're foreign to
this world. And yes, terrible stuff is going
to happen. And in the midst of it, you're supposed
to have peace and stand firm. Fear not. Stand
firm. We are to proclaim what we have seen and
heard. Reach new heights in Jesus. That's our
motto and our key verse for our church. That's
the kind of people that we're supposed to be.
God says so in his word. And we're to gather
as the church and act as the body of Christ without
allowing any reason, excuse, or mental struggle
to interfere. People are scared to be baptized.
People are scared to join the church. People
are scared to witness. People are scared to read
their Bibles. People are scared to preach in
public or tell their friends what they think
is true or what they thought God did. Those are
things that, they're gifts from God. They're
not even meant to be scary. Wait a minute. Those
iron chariots, whose land were they in? Where
did their resources come from? They were gifts
from God. That moment in time in which they were
needed to face iron chariots or face giants.
They were gifts from God. Goliath's head was
a gift from God to David. The sons of Anak were
gifts from God. All of it. And people are afraid.
We're supposed to gather as a church and act
as the body of Christ without allowing any reason,
logic, or theoretical wisdom of the world to
interfere. I'll give you a couple of illustrations
and then one closing thought and we're done.
The first illustration is that of a lighthouse
keeper. The lighthouse on the shore, rocky shore,
stretched for miles. Lighthouse, faithful lighthouse,
called the number of ships away from those rocks.
That's what lighthouses do. They shine the lights
out there and you realize, oh, we're getting
close to a rocky shore and the ship would veer
off and be safe. Lighthouse was there for hundreds
of years. One particular generation. there was
a very kind man running the lighthouse. The supplies
would come in for the oil to burn to run the
lighthouse. And the people of the village, it
was a particularly cold winter, and they came
and they asked if they could have just a little
oil to light a lamp or just stay warm. My child
is sick. I really need a room to be warm, hopefully
so he can get healthy. Little bit, little bit,
little bit, the lighthouse keeper gave oil to
the people around the lighthouse. Until one faded
night, a huge storm came. It was cold, freezing
rain, lightning, thunder. It was dark. And he
lit the lamp and the lighthouse to chase the
ships away from the rocks. Except sometime in
the dark of the morning, he ran out of oil. And
a bunch of ships crashed. And a bunch of people
died. And the people of the village suffered
like they never had before for want of a little
oil. We are the people of God. The resources
to do God's work have been handed over to us.
And I understand that our resources, kingdom
resources, are often called upon. by people in
the world who do not know God. And you may sometime
have to share your abundance with those who are
starving, those who are hurting, those who are
in need. And it may open the door so you can
talk about Jesus. But if you share those resources
and do not talk about Jesus, you're doing no
one any favors. For when their ship crashes upon
the rocks, when their doom comes in full, they
will simply ask, Why didn't he ever tell me?
Why does she never tell me? They helped me a
little along the way to my destruction. Are you
going to help them to their eternal salvation?
Or help them to their eternal destruction? Compromise.
There's an old illustration that goes along like
this. It says that if you take a lobster and
throw it in a pot of boiling water, it won't
stay. It'll thrash and throw boiling water all
over the place and climb out if it possibly can.
It'll get out. But if you put a lobster in a
cold pot of water, put that pot of water on a
burner and bring the temperature up, after a
while the water warms up. And guess what the
lobster does? He enjoys a nice warm bath. And
it gets hotter. And he enjoys a nice hot bath.
And pretty soon he dies in the boiling water
without ever struggling away. The church cannot
be a boiling lobster. You've got to get back
to the beginning and say, what has God called
me to do? Do not compromise on the great things
of the faith. Not even in the least. Do not take
things into your life that the world says are
good in anticipation of relishing them. You will
soon find yourself searching around for another
kind of God. A pastor who doesn't quite preach
the word. A church, maybe one growing quite large
in number. That is a little more comfortable
for you. No greater illustration exists than
the Anakim that are in this very text. They scare
the Israelites away from the promised land. But
here, they end up as basically just a footnote
to the victory in the day of the judges. People
fear that their commitment to Christ will cost
them. Fearing baptism, a public profession of
faith, joining the church, letting Christian
life and church activity be more important than
world -given activities. They fear waiting for
a godly Christian spouse or working hard to become
a godly Christian spouse. They're made by the
world to fear proper discipline of their children
or they fear the animal in them and so avoid
establishing relationships on a deeper personal
level. They fear what they have become having
known the grace of Christ and or they fear the
process of getting to where they belong. Often
they hang in there cherishing their excuses or
delaying their unleashed devoted potential, all
the while risking the great ramifications that
God will not defeat the very enemies that they
fear. The very thing that causes you to go, I
don't know, is the very thing that God will allow
to go the way you don't want it to if you fear
it. But if you will trust the Lord in the moment,
if you will trust Him to deal with whatever it
is that you face, then, He will deal with it.
We need a moment of saying no more. We need a
moment of saying I will not accept failings in
myself. I will trust God and God alone. I will
not add to myself from the world's wealth no
matter what. I will instead stand for the Lord
in the workplace, in my home, in my school, everywhere
I might be found. We need a moment of seeing
the past for what it is, footnotes to bring us
to a present as we're willing to fall on the
mercy of the Lord, repent, and propose new life
in Christ. That very moment then is provided
by Jesus in being born again. So for those of
us who have not been born again, we need only
accept his offer and begin the journey, then
begin born again. But for those of us who have
been born again, there is that. 1 John 1, 9,
confession and repentance and cleansing of all
unrighteousness because we have an advocate before
the Father taking care of it for us. And that,
when one of those two things happens, that is
when challenges faced become footnotes to history.
When I was in seventh grade, I gave a book report
in front of the class. One of the girls came
up to me afterwards and she really liked it,
but she said some things that sort of got under
my skin. made me think I looked like a fool.
I don't know if that's what started or not, but
from that point on, I avoided every book report
and public speaking I gave that I possibly could.
I missed 38 days of my junior year to miss every
time I would have been speaking in front of the
class to give a book report or anything. Because
I didn't want to look like a fool. In that time,
I gave one. I gave exactly one report. It was
on Hitler's Mein Kampf. By the time I was done,
I role -played Hitler out of his autobiography,
Mein Kampf. By the time I was done, the girls
in the class had all decided that they were going
to get me, that I was going to be punished for
my believing the same thing that he did, which
I did not believe that he did. I was role -playing
him. That was the assignment. I was pretending
to be him. So after I explained it, they didn't
get me. They left me alone. But the point is
this. That was the one oral report that I gave
between my junior and senior year. At 25 years
old, I was managing the pizza hut. And we would
have product rollouts. And I'd do my product
rollout and my mop would fill with cotton. My
palms was wet. I literally could feel the water
running down inside my shirt as I told my employees
that I hired a train how to make the new pizza
that was about to roll out. And at 25 years old,
God called me to preach. I didn't know it at
the time, but he said, Accept the new life in
me and I'll take you places that you would never
dream of. I'll do in you what you would never
do in yourself. A few years later, he specifically
called me to preach. And I thought, I don't know
how to do that. I can't do that. I went and did
it just one time and said, I'll never do it again
if I can possibly help it. And God said, oh yes
you will. Fast forward to the story. I stand
before you today and I'm telling you, the one
thing you fear, anything, whatever it is, You
have two choices. Either submit it to God and
do with it what he pleases, or continue to allow
it to plague you until you have to find another
God. You have to find another way. Build your
eyes. If it scares you, if it is you and it scares
you, if it's big and hurtful, if it's earthquakes
or iron chariots, you need to submit it to God
and live for the Lord. the way you promised you
would as a saved Christian, he will forgive you
and cleanse you of all unrighteousness, or the
way you need to do the very first time if you
never have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord
and Savior. And all the challenges that loom
so large will become just footnotes in your history.
But know this, the author took great care in
constructing those footnotes. It was for you.
Will you surrender your life to Christ in earnest
today? I ask the priest to come forward and lead
us in our closing hymn. And if you're there and
God is moving in your heart, then you say, that's
me. And you just say, okay, God, whatever you
want. And let him lead you with what happens
next.