Not a big fan of horror movies, but I've seen
a few in my day. There is a kind of classic horror
movie scene. It doesn't appear in every horror
movie or anything, but it is a sort of classic
horror movie scene, or it can even be in a suspense
movie or a mystery movie, where the person is
in the shower. They're taking a shower and the
water's falling down over them or whatever, and
they hear a noise. We were actually watching
a police show this week, Sherry and I, a couple
days ago, and this scene took place, and I recognized
it for what it was. A lady's in the shower, you
go and see her head, and just like her shoulders
were, nothing too risque or anything, and she
heard a noise in the house. And then she slowly,
she stood there and listened for a second and
she slowly turned the shower off and went out
to see what the noise was about or did she actually
hear a noise or whatever. Maybe she was done
with her shower, that kind of thing. And I told
Sherry, oh no, if I'm in the shower and I'm supposed
to be alone. And I hear a noise in the house.
There's no calmness. I will rapidly react. I
am moving toward the nearest weapon. I am checking
what's going on. I am jumping out of the shower.
I don't care if I'm buck naked. There's a mass
murderer in there going to kill me. I am going
out there to see what's going on. There's no,
oh, I didn't actually hear anything. And the
truth is, does that really happen? If you're
in the shower and you're alone in the house and
there is a noise in the house, unless you have
a cat or a dog, you're not going like. Oh, was
there actually a noise? Oh, it was probably just
the cat, right? But if you don't have a cat or
a dog and there's nobody else home, you're thinking,
I'm in the shower, I'm alone, and there's somebody
in my house, and I'm going to react. There's
that moment at which you realize you've got to
move to action or you've got to do something,
or maybe you're going like, I'm in the shower
and I have nothing and I'm in trouble, right?
So I want to talk to you today about the moment
at which glorifying is horrifying. It's that
stunning, that scary moment in which we realize,
oops, it may actually be too late. To do so,
we're going to read a story from the Bible that
comes from the book of Judges chapter one. Amen.
Thank you. For those of you who are with me in
it, we will now go and read from Judges chapter
one. I felt like the Lord said we may be in Judges
for a while. I have not confirmed with him as
to whether or not we will preach through the
book of Judges. It could be about time. We did
Deuteronomy. We did Joshua. It would be fun.
So maybe the Lord will have us do that. I don't
actually know. We've done a number. Acts, Hebrews.
There's a whole bunch of them. We've done the
whole book. And we'll do more before we're through.
But I don't know that the Lord is saying we're
going to do the entire book of Judges. But I
do know that we're going to do Judges chapter
1 today. So because you were with us as we went
through the book of Joshua, you know how that
kind of ended. Joshua brought the Israelites
into the promised land. led them in sort of under
God's auspices, and they began to take over all
the areas that God said they would take over,
but they did not really finish the job. At the
end of the story, Joshua told them to continue
to be strong and courageous and trust in the
Lord and follow him, and God would complete his
plan. And then it comes to Judges chapter 1.
This is right after, essentially, Joshua is no
longer on the scene. And it says, Now it came
about after the death of Joshua that the sons
of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, Who shall
go up first for us against the Canaanites to
fight against them? So we've got a couple of
good things going on. First of all, they're inquiring
of the Lord. That's what we want God's people
to be doing. And they're asking them which tribe
will go up and fight first. So it's good that
they're not only asking what they should do,
but how they should do it. And in verse 2 it
says, And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold,
I have given the land into his hand. So God says,
That's the tribe. It is the tribe of Judah. It
was one of the biggest tribes. They would go
up and conquer and fight the Canaanites in the
league, if you will. Then Judah said to Simeon,
his brother, come up with me into the territory,
allotted me, that we may fight against the Canaanites.
And I, in return, will go with you into the territory,
allotted you. So Simeon went with them. Now,
we know this is not literally Judah and Simeon,
right? These are the, talk about the tribes.
The tribe of Judah asked the tribe of Simeon.
They are descendants of those two men, and the
tribes are thus named. So, as I was reading this,
I thought, this is sort of straying a little
bit. Who will go up for us first to fight the
Canaanites? Oh, Judah will go up first. Judah
says, well, yeah, okay, but I don't want to go
alone. So, Simeon, will you go with me? And then
when it's your turn to go, I'll go with you?
Oh, yeah, sure, we'll do that. Yes, they're doing
what God told them to do, but they asked who
would go first, and Judah was supposed to go
first, and now it's not Judah that's going first,
but Judah and Simeon. So it's not exactly, so
I'm wondering, is this going to go a little wrong?
Is there a little something that could go wrong
here if they're going to go up? Before we go
any further, let's talk briefly about the Canaanites.
So the Canaanites are the people that were occupying
the land of Canaan. It is the land that God said
he would give to his people. And so they would
be wiped out or kicked out. Those are their only
options. They're no longer going to be allowed
to live there. But we also know that there's
been a prophecy that God will use the people
of the descendants of the land as a distraction,
as a way of tempting the Israelites while they're
in the land. So we have a feeling that it's not
going to quite go the way they might hope to
totally eliminate them, even though that is what
they've been commanded to do. So they're going
to go up against the Canaanites. We now have
Judah and Simeon going up. And so in verse 3
again it says, And Judah said to Simeon his brother,
Come up with me into the territory allotted me,
that we may fight against the Canaanites. And
in return I will go with you into the territory
allotted you. So Simeon went with them. And Judah
went up. And the Lord gave the Canaanites and
the Perizzites into their hands. So when I see
that, I'm thinking, okay, good. They didn't blow
it. They didn't fall apart. Even though they
asked Simeon to go up, they still, God gives
them into the hands of Judah, of the tribe of
Judah and the tribe of Simeon, as he originally
promised he would. So it's still going okay,
right? Simeon went with them, Judah went up,
the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites
into their hands, and they defeated 10 ,000 men
at a place called Bezek. Verse 5 says, and they
found Adonai Bezek in Bezek. So Adonai Bezek
was the king. Over that entire region. And they
fought against him and defeated the Canaanites
and the Perizzites. So basically, the king is
there. Huge battle. God does what he said. He
gives victory to Judah and Simeon. Sounds great.
Verse 6. But Adoni -Vezek fled. And they pursued
him. And they caught him. And they cut off his
thumbs and his toes. That's kind of yucky. He
cut off his thumbs and his toes. And Adonai Bezek
said, 70 kings with their thumbs and their big
toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my
table. As I have done, so God has repaid me.
So they brought him to Jerusalem and he died
there. And so before we go on any further, just
a quick summary. They fought the battle. They
found Adonai Bezek there and fought. He escaped.
He flees. They hunt him down. They capture him.
They cut off his thumbs and toes. Now, this had
become a tradition of a sort or like a process.
And the idea is if your big toes and your big
thumbs are cut off, you can't what? What can't
you do? Stand or grip anything. Can't stand or
grip anything. So basically, you're going to
kind of crawl around for the rest of your life.
And you might stand like with a cane. You might
balance yourself and stuff. But the bottom line
is you're no longer a capable warrior. The king
was humiliated. And he was made inconsequential
as a military leader. He could no longer fight,
and basically he could no longer command men.
Which, on the one hand, doesn't sound terrible.
But it was a tradition or a thing that had developed
amongst the kings in that area to do to enemy
kings so that they could never rise up again.
Is it a thing that God ever ordained? No. God
never commanded that they do anything like that.
So what we see is we see the men of Judah and
Simeon practicing the disarming and defeating
of this king in a way that is the surrounding
territory's way. Does that make sense? So while
on the one hand, it looks like they have not
failed, even though Judah asked Simeon to go
up with them, which wasn't really necessary.
God said, I will do it for Judah. Judah goes
up, I'll take care of it. And he's like, well,
I'll go up, but I want to go up. with somebody
else. So Simeon, you go with me. So then they
go up together, and then they still get the victory,
which sounds good, but then immediately they
punish the king by humiliating him and making
him no longer capable in combat. By the way,
what should they have done with the king? Based
on the commands of God, what should have happened
to him when they defeated him? They should have
killed him, right? Those who stood against God's
people, it was said that they would be wiped
out. then there's nothing about humiliation.
There's nothing about eliminating their ability
to fight. There's nothing about scaring the other
people. See, when you take a king's land and
you cut off his thumbs and his toes, you scare
all the other kings, all the other armies, and
any of his men that might have been loyal to
him that might later rise up in rebellion. Now
they're terrified. Horror arises out of his persecution,
about his humiliation, about his being defeated
to the point that he can never rise again. Is
there any reason for God's people to conduct
that sort of behavior to scare the people that
are around them? We know in the book of Joshua,
what did the people think of the Israelites in
the book of Joshua? They were terrified. They
were terrified of the Israelites. Why were they
terrified? Because they might come and cut off
their king's toes? No, they were terrified because
they were God's people. And so now we see them
practicing this ritual, if you will, or this
process against Adonai Bezek. as if they're going
to somehow scare the people around them or humiliate
the king or the kings. Adonai Bezek then observes
what's been done to him and he says, So it has
come to me as I did to 70 kings before me, taking
their thumbs and big toes. So one might say the
Israelites were used to bring about God's justice
or wrath against Adonai Bezek. But at the same
time, we see that the Israelites were doing what
they never should have been doing in the first
place. Verse 8 says, Then the sons of Judah fought
against Jerusalem and captured it. That's a pretty
big deal. Jerusalem will eventually be considered
like the seat of God once the temple is built.
They fought against Jerusalem and captured it,
and they struck it with the edge of the sword,
and they set the city on fire. You might think,
well, that's kind of vengeful, but in reality,
many of the cities, not all, but many of the
cities that they captured that resisted them
in a strong way were severely damaged, and the
city was struck. So God is giving them victory
after victory, even though they first go two
instead of one, and they enact this ritual against
Adonai Bezek that was unnecessary, but God gives
them now victory over Jerusalem. Verse 9 says,
And afterward the sons of Judah went down to
fight against the Canaanites living in the hill
countries. So they go into the lowlands around
Jerusalem and south from there. into the Negev,
in the lowlands. So Judah went against the Canaanites
who lived in Hebron. Hebron's about 25 miles
from Jerusalem, the famous home of Abraham and
other some pretty famous fathers of the faith.
The name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath Arba.
And they struck Cheshire and Ahimon and Telmai.
Okay, and so we can stop there for the purposes
of today's lesson. Notice that in the finding
of Adonai Bezek, this is where it all kind of
starts to take a turn. In the finding of Adonai
Bezek, what we actually find him doing is waiting
in disobedience to God. When a person is found,
you can find a person who's hiding. He wasn't.
Or you can find a person who's waiting for you,
and a variety of things in between. Adonai Bezek
was waiting in disobedience. Do you remember
when the Israelites were in Egypt? God kept them
there for over 400 years for a reason. Do you
remember why? Because the fullness of the sinfulness
or the wickedness of the Canaanites had not yet
reached full measure. That's why the Israelites
were said they stayed in Egypt for that period
of time. So that would include Adonai Bezek and
kings like that had gone before him, the ones
that he... personally cut off their fingers and
toes, and probably his father or whoever he rebelled
against to take his kingship, etc. All the kings
of the Canaanites were waiting for their sin
to be brought to full measure, and then the Israelites
were due to come in and enact God's wrath against
them. It might have been said of him until his
day of defeat that he was powerful, that he was
free. That he was getting good results. He was
living wealthy, eating well, tons of money, conquering
kingdoms, taking slaves. He was getting good
results. No one would doubt on simple observation
of Adonai Bezek that his way worked. He was successful.
There are those like Adonai Bezek who are being
retained for the day of their defeat in a manner
glorifying unto the Lord even now. They practice
customs of men alongside of exercising supposedly
the power of God. But there is a predetermined
outcome, and all of that, customs of men, the
power of God, and that predetermined outcome
come together to land Adonai Bezek in a horrible
state. And then what is his response to his horrible
state? He says, it has come upon me just as I
did to so many others. Adoni Bezek saw the outcome
which God had delivered as promised, not to Adoni
Bezek. We don't know that God ever said to Adoni
Bezek that you will suffer the same wrath that
you have visited all the other people. But God
promised it to God's people. And so God's people
are just getting the promise that God has promised
them, and Adoni Bezek is getting the justice
that he in his own mind thinks he deserves. The
promise... as reasonable or justice, served after
he was given the same fate as the kings he had
conquered. If you are standing against the Lord,
the victory of your enemy is assured. Today,
tomorrow, or when you stand before him, if you
are standing against the Lord, the victory of
your enemy is assured. Whatever demise God has
pre -programmed into creation, Or whatever standard
that you have created, or when you judge, you
shall be judged accordingly. The Romans wanted
by their conscience that they know that they
are guilty because they make a law of their own
conscience and then break that. So by whatever
pre -programmed into creation God has done, or
whatever standard that you have personally created,
when that is wielded against you, will show that
God... can defeat you not only by his power,
but also deliver justice where previously there
seemed to be no justice. Adonai Bezek brought
down 70 kings and cut off their toes and their
thumbs, and they ate scraps from his table. And
you can imagine, he took all their wives and
children as slaves, and the soldiers of their
armies, he recouped wealth after wealth after
wealth. There seemed to be no end to his mighty
reign. But ultimately, there was. Just the same
is true today. It is appointed for every man
once to die and then the judgment. So no matter
what people think they're getting away with,
ultimately, they will answer for it. God is not
mocked, Scripture says. In Romans 1, 18 through
21, it says, For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
Because that which is known about God is evident
within them, for God made it evident to them.
For since the creation of the world, his invisible
attributes, his eternal power and divine nature
have been clearly seen, being understood through
what has been made, so that they are without
excuse. They say, how does a tree grow out of
rock? How are these things accomplished? How
was DNA ever written? How do single -cell organisms
become so complex that it's not possible that
they evolved up from anything else? They had
to be created in a state so complex that man
can barely understand them, even now, after science
has progressed so far. And the natural outpouring
of that question should be, there is a God, and
he's incredible. He's an incredible creator God
with ultimate power, and I should recognize him.
And what does that look like? I don't know. God,
how do you want me to recognize you? And God
reveals his son, Jesus Christ, as the way. But
some suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Some
experience the wrath of God as revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.
Verse 21, it said, for even though they knew
God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks.
But they became futile in their speculations
and their foolish heart was darkened. And down
in verse 23, it says, and exchanged the glory
of the incorruptible God for an image in the
form of corruptible man and of birds and four
-footed animals and crawling creatures. Basically,
they began to worship the creation rather than
the creator. That's what the people of Canaan
did, including Adonai Bezek. They worshipped
a false god who was probably a demon named Molech
that required them to burn their firstborn child
in the fire alive. And they did it by the thousands,
by the tens of thousands, possibly by the hundreds
of thousands of firstborn children born. That
kind of sucked, wouldn't it, Nat? My brother
would think it would suck too. If we were still
living in a society like the Canaanites, We'd
be burning our firstborn children to fire, at
least a large percentage of us would be. Some
would be worshiping other false gods that had
slightly less demanding rituals. You could worship
Asherah, for example. There, when you want the
rain to come so your crops are ready, you just
go sleep with the prostitutes at the temple.
That religion would kind of suck, wouldn't it,
Alicia? Her husband was running off to the temple
all the time to sleep with the prostitutes so
he could get more cars at work. And that's the
unrighteousness that had become commonplace in
the Canaanites. And so then God said, I'm going
to send my people in and justice will be dealt.
But he didn't send them in to deal justice. He
just reserved the promises that he promised to
his people until such time as it was time to
ultimately deal justice. That's what actually
happened. And so the rituals that they had bought
into, the processes and systems that they had
built, the standards that they had judged, the
power of God that they had called upon day after
day, and God's justice all combined to bring
it down on their heads. So I ask you, when is
glorifying horrifying? Galatians 6, 7 through
10 says this, Do not be deceived. God is not
mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will
also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh
will reap from the flesh corruption, but the
one who sows to the Spirit will reap from the
Spirit, eternal life. Let us not lose heart in
doing good, for in due time we will reap if we
do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity,
let us do good to all people, and especially
to those who are of the household of faith. Now
that doesn't sound horrifying to me. It sounds
like a call to action. And I submit to you that
it's not the horror that we are seeking out today.
It's not the horror that we think God makes out
of glorifying in certain cases. When Jesus was
being arrested, he looked at Peter. He had told
Peter to make sure he had access to a sword.
And so naturally, as Jesus was being arrested,
Peter thought that's the time to use that there
sword. And he whipped it out and he cut off the
high priest's servant's ear. Jesus said, no,
no, put away your sword. For whosoever lives
by the sword shall die by the sword. And so now
we see that there is the possibility while living
amongst men to live the way men live, to even
have the right to do so, and to do so, and when
doing so, to put yourself in the position where
you will now die by the very thing that makes
you successful. And so often it has happened
that a man is strong and his strength ruins him
for life. Another man is intelligent and his
intelligence ruins him for life. The very good
things about us, the things that we bring to
the table then, that we trust in, that we place
our hope in, those very things we begin to adapt
and say, well, that's just the way I am. That's
just who I am. That's just what I can do. I can
go so far and I can't go any further. And none
of that is actually true. You were created to
be in the image of the living God. But if you
choose to live by the sword, you shall also die
by the sword, Jesus said. And all the while we
know that God is not mocked. A man will get,
will reap what he sows. 2 Corinthians 1 .20 says
this, In this confidence, I intended at first
to come to you. So this is Paul writing to the
church of Corinth, and he's telling them that
he planned to come to the church of Corinth.
He says, I did so, so that you might twice receive
a blessing, that is to pass your way into Macedonia,
and again from Macedonia to come to you, by you
to be helped on my journey to Judea. Therefore,
I was not vacillating what I intended. to do
this, was I? In other words, I wanted to come
to visit you in Corinth and then for you to help
me on to Macedonia and then me back to Corinth
and you had to help me on to Judea. That was
my plan, but it didn't happen. I didn't do what
I thought I was going to do, what I desired to
do. And it happens that people don't always get
to do what they want to do. But he says, I wasn't
vacillating, was I, when I intended to do this?
In other words, I wasn't saying I was going to
do one thing and doing another. There was no
hypocrisy in it. I wasn't ordaining. I wasn't
saying with my mouth what God was going to do,
that God had that plan. I was just saying, that's
what I really long to do. I want to come to Corinth
and then on to Macedonia and then back to Corinth
and on to Judea. That's my plan. I want to do
it, but it didn't work out. So he's saying, Realize
I wasn't saying I was going to do one thing and
then another. And so often we do that. We make
a plan and it doesn't work out. And the plan
that we made was outside God's will. Are we vacillating
when that happens? That's the question. He said,
I was not vacillating when I intended to do this.
Was I? Or what I purpose. Do I purpose according
to the flesh? In other words, when I made that
plan, did I decide just what my body wanted?
Did I decide what my desires wanted? Or was I
actually making that plan trying to make it in
line with what God wanted? So that with me there
be yes, yes, and no, no at the same time. But
as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes
and no. For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who
was preached among you by us, by me and Silvanus
and Timothy, was not yes and no, but is yes in
him. For as many as are the promises of God in
him, they are yes. Therefore, also through him
is our amen to the glory of God through us. In
other words, because God's answers are yes in
the promises through Christ, therefore, we amen
to God. We give glory to God. And we are able
to do that because of what he does. And then
we do that because it is the right thing to do
in response to what he does. Verse 21 says, Now
he who establishes us with you in Christ and
anointed us is God. In other words, the one who
chose us, the one who filled us with his Holy
Spirit, that is God. And he did it with us together.
And then in 22, it says, and this text ends here,
who also sealed us. That means he put up a wall
around our hearts. He made us safe in the world
and gave us the Spirit, that's God's Holy Spirit,
in our hearts as a pledge. Now, I read those
verses this week, Tuesday morning. I think it
was. And I wrote a devotional out of those verses,
and as I did it, I was prayerful, I was listening
to the Holy Spirit, and I thought like word for
word almost that God was giving to me. And it
says this, God does not vacillate. God's yes
is yes and his no is no. God's promises never
fail to come true, and he always says the truth.
What God has promised, he will accomplish. When
life tries to box God in or to keep him from
his goals, God can destroy all opposition. When
that opposition is the most powerful beings in
the universe other than God, he can reserve them
for punishment while carrying out a plan that
fully meets his goals and all the while leave
them deceived thinking they are somehow going
to eat out a victory. Even they may think they
are still alive and struggling when in truth
they are dead and their outcome is already determined.
God will keep his promises through Christ no
matter what. He has not said yes and left any
possibility of no. If you have prayed to Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior, you said, Jesus be
my Lord, Jesus be my Savior, then he has saved
you. The first act of faith is for you to realize,
regardless of how you feel, that the God of heaven
never breaks his promises. Seeing God's nature
in this way, realizing that God is like that.
He does not vacillate. Not sometimes yes, sometimes
no. Always yes in Christ. Seeing God's nature
in that way brings us to a complete and hearty
amen. It is an amen to the glory of God, which
glory flows through us. It is also an amazing
thing that God is able to draw that amen from
the hearts, mouths, and minds of humans, even
after they have been dead in their trespasses
and sins. What a dirty man I was for the Lord
to use me to bring a glorious amen to him. For
this, To be possible, a man would need a fresh
start. That makes perfect sense at times. It
makes sense when the garbage has become too restrictive
or even when the blessings have become too invasive.
Sometimes starting over is the only course of
action to achieve the correct end goal. That
being said, if we have had that one start over
that equals salvation, we ought to seek to bring
our lives in line with that reality. We do this.
By removing vacillation ourselves. Do you understand
what I'm saying? Let your yes be yes and your
no be no. Let nothing stop you from doing what
it is that God has purposed to do through you.
We burn might, could, should, maybe, possibly,
hopefully. And we learn to spend ourselves completely,
utterly, totally, thoroughly, faithfully, and
without reservation. all the while driven by
the fact that there is no shadow of turning with
him, and there should not be with us in him.
Unmet desires or uncompleted plans are not necessarily
concocted in the flesh, nor are they unfinished
simply because they weren't the will of the Lord.
Longing to do something for the Lord that God
wants done, but the timing is not right or the
success just doesn't come into being, does not
equal vacillating. If a few things remain true,
the faithful Christian must have, as their greatest
heart's desire, a longing for God and his plans
to be fulfilled. They must replace whatever lost
steps, whatever didn't turn out right, whatever
didn't do what you thought it was going to do,
with faithful, arduous, disciplined, aggressive
service to the Lord, and his presence must be
daily given the highest priority. If we cannot
do something that we believe, He would want us
to do? Having the mind of Christ, we will find
ourselves comforted as we pursue our relationship
with him and practice total commitment. It makes
so much sense that it almost seems like it should
be without saying. We were dead in our trespasses
and sins and born again in new life to be lived
in him and for him and by him and through him.
And anything else will result in the world's
method of progress which is given. and takes
which is given hate and includes vacillation.
To put it another way, you no longer live for
yourselves but for the one who died for you.
There is no vacillation in him. Up the ante.
Go all in. It's not that it is the only road
to victory, but it is. It's not that we fare
better on that road, though we shall. We live
this way because this is the light and the light
that is in us. We win this way because we have
already won. And if needed, we die this way because
we already have a greater light beyond any that
we can lose in this service. Until we know this
and walk in it, we are either making our journey
more difficult or walking the wrong journey altogether.
We live no longer for ourselves. It's like Corinthians
5 says this way. The love of Christ controls
us, having concluded this, that one died for
all, therefore all died. And he died for all,
so that they who live might no longer live for
themselves, but for him who died and rose again
on their behalf. So let's break down the lightning
point for a second, shall we? The lightning point
was the proof is in the pudding, coming to the
conclusion. The proof is in the pudding. Time
will tell. And you had to be there or not. So
let's take it from back to front. Anybody ever
tell you a joke? And I just had this happen to
me. Ariana told me about a funny instance that
happened to her and Nova while they were at the
Challenger Center on their field trip. And she's
laughing hysterically. It didn't strike me as
funny at all. And she didn't say it because she's
probably never heard it. But then they say, you
had to be there. No, you didn't. You didn't have
to be there when Adonis Bezek was canceled. He
didn't have to be there when Judah and Simeon
started to stray into doing the things that the
world does to make sure that they got God's will
done in their own lives. He didn't have to be
there when they found him in wickedness and iniquity
after 430 years suffering as a nation, held back
while he stored up wrath for himself and all
the kings before him did the same. You don't
have to be there to know. God keeps his promises
and he's going to do what he said he's going
to do. And your only option is to get on board
or to get hurt in the process. That's the bottom
line. You didn't have to be there. Time will
tell. Well, you know, time will tell means we're
going to enact this plan. We think it's a good
plan and time will tell. The results that we
get will determine whether or not it's right
or not, right? No. No, because Adonai Bezek had
years, decades as a king, cutting off toes, cutting
off thumbs, years of wealth and slaves and ruling
a whole region of the most prosperous region
of the world. And God allowed him to do that.
And he remained in wickedness during that time
and ultimately suffered the justice so that he
would say, as I did to 70 kings, so rightfully
has been done to me. And he suffered until he
died. So it's not. It's not. Time will tell.
because you could suffer up to the moment of
your death. If it was time, we tell, then we
have to assume that all martyrs were actually
unsaved, right? They were burned at the stake,
drawn in court, killed, run through with spears,
etc., etc., crucified upside down. But if we
said time will tell, we'd say, man, that sucked.
They had a horrible end. So clearly their plan
was bad. Clearly God did not take care of them,
so they must have all been heretics, right? Every
martyr who ever died in the faith. Though God
miraculously healed through them, and people
got saved, and they started the church, and thousands
or tens of thousands got saved, it didn't end
well for them. I'm here to tell you today that
if you trust God and go all in for God, then
by the world's standard, by your own standard,
by your own desires, it may not end well for
you. Which is great comfort. Because if you do
that, it won't end for you at all. Your heart
will stop beating, your brain will stop waiting,
you'll stop breathing. But you'll be in heaven
for an eternity. that does not end. And that's
not just ending well. That's just not ending
at all. So it's not. Time will tell. And that
leaves the saying, the proof is in the pudding.
Now this is an interesting saying because it
began over 600 years ago and it has warped over
that period of time. It used to be about the
pudding because the idea was The proof is in
the eating of the pudding, and they just kind
of dropped out the middle phrase. Pudding used
to be a meat substance, a lot of times prepared
when not a lot of other food was available. And
they'd take the leftover meat and junk, and they'd
boil it down to make a slop out of it, and then
they'd put some other stuff with it, and then
they'd put it inside a fashioned skin, and then
they would boil that until it becomes what you
and I might think of chocolate pudding, or whatever
color, gray or brown or whatever, usually gray,
right? And then they would say, well... Did it
work? Did we get something that's edible? Well,
the proof is in the eating of the pudding. That's
where the saying comes from. And so the idea
is when you eat the pudding, you'll know whether
or not the process of making the pudding and
putting all the stuff, the seasonings and the
yuck that normally you would never touch to eat
in there made something edible or not. If you
ever want to see this, by the way, you can watch
the movie Master and Commander. It's a great
scene in which he makes the Galapagos Islands
out of pudding, which is a meat pudding. It's
actually very realistic. Bottom line is this.
The proof is not in the pudding. Because it's
not in the eating. It's not in the tasting. It's
not going to be what you taste or what you feel
or what you think or what you reason or anything
of this lifetime. The proof is in God. God alone
is God. And when he says it, that settles it.
It's done and over. So if you run your life by
reason, congratulations, tons of other people
do that. If you have excuses, if you have arguments,
if you have processes, if you have steps that
you go through that makes you a better person,
congratulations, tons of people do that. Most
of the world's religions have rules and steps
and things you have to do to get closer to God.
If that's how you live your Christianity, congratulations,
you live in the way they live, it's not going
to take you to heaven. It won't get you there
because you'll never get to be holy enough. Even
if you practice what's called true religion,
that alone is not going to save you. I say to
you that there are many Christians who have reformed
hearts, hearts that know God, hearts that are
theoretically sealed and contain the Holy Spirit,
hearts that are not going to be invaded by the
evils of this world, yet they are halfway in
the kingdom of God according to their choices.
Their day -in and day -out living puts them halfway.
I wrote this a long time before any conversation
I had with anybody today, just FYI. The bottom
line is, if you live that way, you've got a real
problem. Maybe, according to the Bible, they
will face a serious overturning, a shocking moment,
a jumping out of the... The shower to face a
man with a sharp knife stabbing you 54 times
moment. A horrible moment, like being burned
alive. They will face a horrible, serious overturning
before they are through. By all accounts, they
are doing as well or better than anyone else.
They're living with the Lord a little. Maybe
tithing, maybe not. They're giving, they're serving.
They speak about God, talk about how good he
is to them, how good it is to be in church, how
much they enjoy their time, etc. But by biblical
standards, they are securing their victories
by hedging their bets, retaining. So our relationship
stays good because we take time away from God
together to build it. Or our finances stay good
because, yes, we tithe, but we're always careful
not to give until it hurts because we might not
have enough funds down the road. Or we're raising
our kids in the Lord. We're going to have a child
dedication and commit in front of the whole church.
We're going to raise our kids in the Lord. But
when it comes time, that our kids want something
for Christmas and that's what they need in order
to be sure that we love them, then we're going
to move heaven and earth to make sure they get
the things that they need for Christmas so that
they know that we love them. Or they can do the
things that they want to do or what we think
will make them healthy. We're going to make sure,
even though it takes us away from what it is
that God has called us to. By all accounts, people
are doing well enough. Better than out there
in the world. They feel comfortable. Their marriage
might be lasting. Their relationship might be
good. They're not blowing up, maybe, or some
of them still are blowing up or whatever. They
have faults, but they say, oh, those are just
my traits. That's just like the things I'm still
fighting with, the things that are still sinning
about. But I really am living for the Lord. But
by biblical standards, they're securing their
victories by kind of hedging their bets. They
don't go unless they can take somebody along
with them that can do a better job. They don't
give unless it doesn't hurt too much and so on.
In the Psalms of Mary and Zechariah, prophesying
the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist respectfully,
Mary's Magnificat, Zechariah's Benedictus they
call it, those Psalms prominently feature the
theme of reversal, highlighting God's action
in overturning the established order and uplifting
the humble. Mary sings of God raising the humble,
bringing down the mighty, while Zechariah prophecies
the restoration of God's people and the rescue
of the oppressed. The reversal is a core element
of God's redemptive plan, showcasing his favor
toward those who trust in him. And the word says
that in the end of the day, every tongue will
confess, every knee shall bow, not just some,
not just those who believe. But those who to
bow is a horrifying thought. It's a terrible
thing to think of. But wait, because those people
to whom it is a horrifying thing to think that
they would bow, do they think about that now?
Do the wicked think about the fact that someday
they will have to bow? Do the murderers of this
world think about God at all? Most of them know.
They don't care, or they know they're opposite
God, and they think somehow they're going to,
as I mentioned before, eke out some kind of a
victory, or maybe someday they'll deal with it,
and they're not worried about it. So the horror
that I'm describing is not a horror for those
who are truly wicked and will not follow God.
It is a horror for those who say they love the
Lord, have known the Lord, and have not followed
Him with all that they are, to be 80 % or 90
% in. And 10 % of the time, in ultimate horror.
Because when God glorifies himself, there will
be an upheaval that will wake up. I just seen
a video of a meme on Facebook about 10 days ago.
And there's a church bus, and it's driving down
the road. And there's all these kids on it. There
are young kids on the church bus. And all of
a sudden, there's a flash, and all the kids are
missing. And the bus driver screeches to a halt.
They look, where did all the kids go? Right?
There's a church all singing praises, and then
all of a sudden, like a third of the church just
disappears. Now, that's not how that's going
to happen. Right? It's not going to be suddenly
there are people missing from the world. That's
not what the Bible teaches. But it's a poetic
example of what it's going to be like if a third
of the people who profess to be Christian are
saved, and the other two -thirds who are not
sold out for Jesus face a terrible upheaval they
thought they were in. They realize, wait, I never
really surrendered my life to the Lord. It's
never been about me living for Him. It's always
been about me getting The benefits of me living
for him. And the Bible requires the former, not
the latter. He died for you. And if he didn't
die for you, you're not alive. Because we were
dead in our trespasses and sins. Not only that,
if he didn't die for you, you're still an object
of wrath, Ephesians 2. We were objects of wrath.
Which means God is opposing you. And where do
we start? Those who oppose God, their enemy will
always defeat them. That's where we started at.
Even so that Adonai Besik, who had his terrible
upheaval and knew that all he had left was crawling
around under the table for scraps with no fingers,
or no thumbs and no big toes, at least maybe
no toes at all, under the table until he died,
and that's all he had left. Think of who he was.
He was the Donald Trump of the region. He was
the... Name your favorite billionaire. But more,
because he not only owned billions of dollars,
he owned tens of thousands of people. Lives.
Nobody took a breath unless Adonai Bezek said
it was okay. But one day after they found him,
one day after his mighty upheaval, he was under
the table with no thumbs or toes, eating scraps,
whatever they would toss him, like a dog or worse.
That's the kind of upheaval God's Word says is
coming when Jesus comes again and he is glorified.
That's why Jesus says in Matthew 7, Not everyone
who says unto me, Lord, Lord, what can I do in
heaven but the one who follows the commands of
my Father? Glorifying becomes horrifying today,
not for those like Adonai Bezod, was before they
took him down, but for those who know. when their
hearts, in their hearts, that God will be glorified
in the end, and they know the promises of God,
that people who humbly serve him and live their
lives for him, the one who died for them, they
will have that great victory. They know that,
and they cannot count themselves as part of that
number because they are not living that way.
Anything else, anyone else, will experience a
great disturbing turnaround. That was never in
doubt. Not even before, while Israel was still
in Egypt. It was always going to be true. God
has never lost control, never suffered a defeat,
and that their apparent victory was a little
more than a misinterpretation of the same facts
that held them in place awaiting his perfect
timing to deal justice. You get that? It's complex.
Day after day after day, Adonai Beset got out
of bed and said, I'm doing okay. And his wives,
his children, his siblings, even his higher -up
slaves got out of bed day after day saying, I'm
doing okay. I'm doing pretty good for myself.
If I want to buy a Fortune 500 country tomorrow,
I'll probably just do it. If I want to... Have
four or five or 50 other wives and pay them each
a million dollars a month after I sleep with
them for a while. I'll just do it. Who's going
to stop me? I've got it all. And that was his
thought every single day until the people of
God came in to deal with the promise of God.
Until the people of God came in because time
had come for justice to be served. Look at the
injustices of this world and ache over them.
but in no way, shape, or form ever take part
in them. If you're a follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ, you say, I'll have nothing to do with
that. No matter how good it looks, no matter
how it seems to fulfill the way of the Lord,
I will not invite a brother to go up with me
when it is my job to do it, unless it is my job
also to invite him. I'm not going to have somebody
else do it for me when I should be doing it.
I'm going to do what it is that God would have
me to do. I will not await God's perfect timing
and justice when he glorifies himself and they
come and they scream, Hallelujah to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at all he did in all these
people. And when they say in all these people,
look at all he did. I'm standing over here. I
will not allow that to be so. The light and the
life that is in me that is in Jesus must be delivered
into every environment I enter into. And the
Israelites went and they found him. And they
fought him. And he fled. And then they humiliated
him, took away his power, just as he had done
to so many people before. And this all happened
because God decided, because God promised, because
God ordered, and it was so. And it will be the
same way when Jesus comes again. Now, if you're
saved, I'm not talking about losing your salvation.
But I'm here to tell you today that if you're
saved and you're adding on to things in the world,
that your success can be found in I get to do
this, I get to do that, I get to have this, I
get to have that. I want to take this time away
from what God is making me so that I can enjoy
or so that I can accomplish it. Even if it accomplishes
something, you can say, you can be called a pastor
and say, I'm not going to pastor right now. God's
calling me to do that, but I'm not going to do
that. I'm going to go to seminary first. But
if God calls you today to pastor and you go to
seminary first, You are using a process or a
system to achieve the will of God while not actually
achieving the will of God. Say, well, my loved
one's sick. I know God has got me to do this,
but I'm going to stay home and take care of my
loved one specifically and not do that which
God has called me to do. You've got a problem.
Because yes, God has called you to take care
of your family, but God is telling you to do
this now. You've got to figure out how do you
do both. That's your job. Not how do you do...
the world and also do the kingdom. But how do
you follow God and also follow God? And the answer
is, you die if necessary. That's what the Bible
has called us to. We just got a little comfortable
in our flesh thinking we don't have to die because
Jesus said those who are his true followers will
not actually see death. And that's the truth
of it. And if you actually physically die for
him, you will not know that death. I guarantee
you, you will translate immediately to heaven
and the suffering of it will be forever gone.
So what has God promised? God has promised a
return. Jesus is coming back again. He has promised
his presence now in us as believers. He has promised
his faithfulness to reward those who seek him
and live for him on a daily basis. We see this
in the New Testament. There's one particular
moment in time. Jesus goes to cast demons out
of a... It's actually a person that the disciples
failed to cast demons on. And the demons recognized
Jesus. They recognized him. And you can only
say that the word isn't there, but the emotion
that they were feeling was horror. And they said,
have you come to, this is how we know, torment
us before the day? Are you sitting here today
thinking, man, this sermon, if I really would
do this, it's tormenting me. It's really messing
with my head because what if I really do take
all that money that's in my savings account,
all that time that's in my schedule, 168 hours
a week, all that strength that's in my muscles,
all the tension that's left in me, all the ability,
all the reason, all that. If I put all that on
the table and I really do use that all for God,
and people are like, oh, somebody needs 100 bucks.
And I'm like, oh, not 100 bucks. I'm going to
save it for a rainy day. Just do what it is.
If God says give it, just give it. If God says
go and serve, just go and serve. If God says
tell this person about Jesus, just do that. Whatever
God says to do, it is word. And you know it's
him. Just totally, totally put yourself out there
in every possible way. Even die if necessary
for the Lord. Man, that's torment to even think
about that. If that's where you're at, you need
to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And
put the old you behind as only God can do. And
truly live for the Lord as we're called to. He
died for us. While we were yet sinners, we didn't
deserve nothing. If you're sitting here today
thinking you don't deserve nothing, you were
created in the image of God and you can be free.
And you're not free to then sample and taste
and use the things of the world. You are not
of this world. You're free to spend every day
fully committed to the God of heavens. storing
up treasure where they really belong and can
last. That's what the word has called us to.
I think 300 years before Adonai Bezek went down,
some king in Canaan, faced with the Israelites,
might have said, whoa, hold up. God's people
are coming here to kick our butts? No, no, no,
no, we're also followers of God. We've not quite
been doing it right. We know we've been doing
things we shouldn't do, but we're repenting now.
We see God's wrath coming against us. We're repenting
now. And God said, no, we will not have that.
They have my testimony. They have all creation
testifying to the glory of God. They have the
teachings of the ancestors. These are descendants,
just the same as the Israelites are descendants.
They are descendants. They're from a different
line, but they go all the way back to Adam. They
have the teachings. We're just going to let them
go. I'm going to keep saying to them, turn to
me, turn to me, turn to me. And they're going
to keep refusing to totally live for me, to totally
turn to me. And then in 400 years, and he didn't
say it was 400 at that time, but in that number
of years, it turned out to be 400 years, when
they have stood up for themselves, then the promises
of God will be fulfilled. And out there in the
world right now, an awful lot of people claim
to be Christians. It's an awful lot. I just saw
a poll that said fully 75%. Of the world's population.
I don't agree with that. I don't think you do
either. But the poll said 75 % of the world's
population claim to be Christian and believe
in God. 75%. That's nuts. I see what's going
on. You see what's going on. But do you know
that if you went to the child molester that lives
on your street, stop by and just talk to him
and say, hey, I got the flyer. I just want you
to know, I know you're here. I don't have anything
against you. I'm a Christian. I don't believe
we know what they might say. They just might
say, oh yeah, I'm a Christian too. And if you
stop a bar fight Friday night, go into a bar
fight, you guys fight and break it up, talk to
them, you know what they might say? They might
both say they're Christians too. A Christian
is a person who lives their life for the one
who died for them. And if you're not doing that,
there is a great upheaval coming at some point
in time. And I wish that all Christians everywhere
could know that. Always. believe they can because
it's in the Lord. This time I'll ask the praise
team to come forward and lead us in our closing
hymn. If you're here today and something that's
been said or something the Holy Spirit is saying
and you've touched your life and you know you
need to make a change, then you make your change
public. You can do it. Stand right where you
are. There's no special steps. You've got to
walk. I remember when I could hardly walk the
farther road. You don't have to walk the farther
road. We don't have a very big room in that sense.
So you can raise your hand. You say, I got a
word I got to say. The Lord is really pushing
my heart on this matter. And then you tell us
what it is, and we'll pray for you. And if you're
trusting in the Lord Jesus today, we can pronounce
you forgiven, because that's a job we have. If
you know there's something you're choosing, even
if it's a method to achieve God's will, and you're
doing that, and it's not what God has called
you to, then you repent. You repent today and
turn to the Lord. I want you to turn away from
all your sins, just as you did when you were
saved, or if this is the first time, just as
you're doing right now, because that's what it
means to be saved. Return from all your sins
and turn to God alone. The Lord help us. As we
sing this song, would you all stand with me and
sing? those three little letters A -L -L I will
ever love and trust Him in His presence daily
There is no other name given among men under
heaven by which we must be saved. Only Jesus.
If it was Paul, we could live like Paul. If it
was John, we could live like John. If it was
Judah, we could live like Judah. But it's Jesus.
Because it's Jesus, we live like Jesus.