It begins with knowing that it is for your kingdom's
work, it is your kingdom's plan. Just bless everyone
here, just give it to those that cannot be here,
and may my prayer be with you. Thank you. Take
me places. We didn't get along great, so it wasn't
a lot of places. But my family used to go out
in the early days. This was a long time ago,
and I was pretty young. I was probably about
12 or so, 12, 13. My family would go most years
to the Apple Butter Festival out on the river.
This was before the Apple Butter Festival blew
up so big that it's hard to kind of get in there.
And I had gone one year, and they had a car bashing,
where you could take a sledgehammer and hit a
car, and you paid like, it was like a dollar
a strike, or six for five bucks, or like 15 for
$10 or something like that. And you could hit
a car, and if you busted off a piece, you got
to keep it. And that was probably when I was
10 or 11. And so by that point, I was totally
sold on the Apple Butter Festival. Well, the
next year, or the year in question anyway, whether
it was the next year or not, My brother took
us because my parents couldn't go. And I don't
remember why they couldn't go. I think my dad
was working and my mom just didn't want to or
whatever. And so my brother took myself and a
couple of neighborhood kids. Well, one of the
guys that he took with us was very large. He
was the largest ever linebacker, and he would
have the record for being the heaviest ever for
Northwood. I don't know if they keep track of
that kind of thing. But he weighed about 385
pounds as a senior in high school. and he was
pretty fast on the short run. And so he was pretty
dangerous in football, and they were champs that
year, his senior year. But he went with us. My
brother drove, he went, his brother went, and
I went. And this was during one of the times
of peace that we had with them. And there, at
the Apple Butter Festival, in the park, is a
teeter -totter. And I had played on it pretty
much every year since I was about five or six
years old. It was made of a big steel pipe like
this with seats on both sides. And when I got
there, I wanted to play on the teeter -totter,
but everybody was too grown up. Everybody was,
so Jeff, who was the younger brother, he was
about a year or two older than me. And Jerry
was my brother's age. He was four and a half
years older than me or whatever. And so nobody
wanted to play on the teeter -totter with me.
And finally, I talked Jerry into playing on the
teeter -totter. and he's the one who weighed
385 pounds. So when I was about 12, I weighed
about 100 pounds. So it really wasn't much teeter
-tottering going on. He was sitting on the one
side, and if he pulled the seat up as far as
his butt, then I could almost get my feet on
the ground. I had to climb up on the seat. So
my brother got on the teeter -totter with me,
and we still could not push Jerry to the ground.
He was 4 1⁄2 years older than me, but he was
only about maybe 20 pounds heavier than me. We
both graduated high school at about 145 pounds.
And so he was about 100 pounds or so. And so
between the two of us, we could not touch Jerry's
weight. So finally, Jeff said, well, we'll get
on with you. And so he climbed up on us. All
three of us are sitting on this one side. The
best we can, we're kind of crammed on the seat,
which really had room for about two people. And
we're all crammed on the seat, at which point
in time, Jerry got off the teeter -totter. And
we both went hard to the ground. All three of
us went hard to the ground. We hit the ground
real hard. Jerry thought it was very funny. Jeff
and Tom and my brother and I, none of us thought
it was very funny. I want you to bear that analogy
in mind and I'll come back to it in my conclusion.
We've been working through the book of Judges.
Maybe you'll give me a little bit of an amen,
a who to holler, and hallelujah, which means
praise the Lord, as we go to Judges chapter 3.
Thank you for being with me today. We're going
to see an interesting thing in Judges chapter
3 today, and I'm going to read this to you, and
then I'm going to ask you, based on what we've
studied so far, the first two chapters, what
is interesting about it, and we'll see if you
can figure it out. If you want to kind of cheat
a little bit or be a little bit more aggressive
in your studies and look back at chapter 2 and
see what we might have missed or skipped, then
you can do that. But here we go. This is Judges
chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Now, these are
the nations which the Lord left. To test Israel
by them, that is, all who had not experienced
any of the wars of Canaan, only in order that
the generations of the sons of Israel might be
taught war, those who had not experienced it
formerly. Verse 3. These nations are the five
lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites
and the Sidonians and the Hivites who live in
Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon as far as
Lebo Hamath. And they were for testing Israel
to find out if they would obey the commandments
of the Lord, which he had commanded their fathers
through Moses. And the sons of Israel lived among
the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And
they took their daughters for themselves as wives,
and they gave their own daughters to their sons
and served their gods. We're going to stop there
for a minute, because there are a couple of interesting
things to see before we get to kind of the one
big one. So the first one is, there are two lists
of peoples here. If you went back into the book
of Judges and into the history, you would notice
that there are people listed on these lists that
were not previously listed by God. For example,
the Philistines. The Philistines settled in the
area of the Promised Land a little later than
everybody else along the coast and established
five large kind of city -states there and five
lords ruled over them. We studied this a little
bit when we studied the time of David on Tuesday
nights. In any case, When God first called the
Israelites out of Egypt, the Philistines were
not listed among the people that they were to
wipe out slash chase out. And so there are some
names on this list that are not necessarily pre
-set by God that they had to be destroyed. Now
we're past that now. Remember God has twice said
that he will not lead the Israelites to destroy
everybody out of the promised land anymore. First
he said he wouldn't do it over short order. Because
that would create disease and death and bodies
laying everywhere in the promised land. That
would be bad for everybody. Then he said he wouldn't
do it at all. Because they had strayed from the
faith. They strayed from following him appropriately.
Now he's not going to chase them out. And as
this text tells us, he left them there. But notice
that on this list, God left people there who
were not formally there and said that they had
to have been cast out or killed. Okay? So that's
interesting. Also, if you knew the geography
a little bit, we're not going to drill hard on
this, but basically what we have is one of these
lists says there's somebody to the northwest,
somebody to the northeast, somebody to the southeast,
somebody to the southwest. Basically, they're
surrounded. And the other list says they've got
people all living intermixed with them. So the
next town over or sometimes the next house over.
And so what we have is the people that are surrounded
on all sides and the people that are intermixed
throughout. And that was for the purpose, as
we just read, to test them to see whether or
not they will be faithful. And then, of course,
they were not faithful. They were protesting
Israel to find out if they would obey the commandments
of the Lord, which he had commanded their fathers
through Moses. And then we read, the sons of
Israel living among them. We've got the list
again, and it says they began to give their sons
to their daughters. and their daughters to their
sons. So they were intermarrying, which was a
specific command that Moses said must never happen.
Before they were to cast them out, wipe them
out, then he said, we're not going to do that
now. But even so, that command lasts. It stays
true that they were not supposed to marry off
their sons and daughters and intermix with the
people. And the sons of Israel did what was evil
in the sight of the Lord, this is verse 7, and
forgot the Lord their God and served. The Baals
and the Asherah. So the Asherah are wooden symbols
of a certain false god. Okay? And they would
serve them. Now, interestingly enough, what were
they told to do with the wooden symbols? To burn
them all. Okay? So it's just to burn all those
wooden symbols that they are now serving in part.
So they don't do that. Then listen to what happens
in verse 8. It says, Then the anger of the Lord
was kindled against Israel, so that he sold them
into the hands of Kishon, Rishab Haim, king of
Mesopotamia. Okay? A couple of interesting things
in this verse. So the first thing is, what were
they supposed to do with the Asherah? Burn them.
Right? Burn all those wooden symbols of false
worship. They did not. And so then it says, instead,
the anger of the Lord was kindled, and the phrasing
is basically the same in the Hebrew. They didn't
burn what they were supposed to, so now the anger
of God burns against them. And I submit to you,
when it comes to righteousness, there will always
be fuel. Understand? When it comes to righteousness
and judgment, there will always be something
to burn. Eternally. Because in hell, people will
burn eternally for judgment, for righteousness.
There will always be something to burn. So they
didn't burn the Asherah. Instead, God's anger
is kindled against Israel. Then notice the Kushan
Rishathayim, king of Mesopotamia. Now this is
an interesting name because historically this
guy doesn't exist. They can't find him anywhere
in the written history. But if you translate
the name back into Hebrew and then back into
English, what you'll get is Kushan, the wickedest
king there ever was. Or the wickedest Kushan
there ever was. So what we have may not be the
actual name of the king. who was ruling over
them, or God sold them into their hands, but
the name of a type of king, but this was an actual
event. So he's saying this was the worst king,
if you will, to ever exist of that nation. All
right? Then the last thing to see in here is
notice what he did to them. He sold them into
the hands of Kishon Rishabayim. Okay? So this
terminology, sold them, is the same terminology
when a father receives a dowry for his daughter.
Okay? So in other words, as if, R .J. was going
to eventually marry off Zoe and somebody came
and gave R .J. money to marry Zoe. Well, that's
what's happening here. God is selling Israel,
his daughter, his people, into the hands of Kishon
Rishaf Haim in order to marry them off. Okay?
What did they do with their sons? They married
their sons off to daughters of the wrong peoples.
What did they do with their daughters? They married
their daughters off to sons of the wrong peoples.
And that led them to idolatry because they brought
that false worship into their family, into God's
family. Okay? And then God says, okay, well then
I marry you off. You marry your sons and daughters
off, I marry you off. And he sold them, and that's
the same terminology as if by a dowry was received,
he sold them into the hands of Kishon, Rishat
Haim, king of Mesopotamia. And the sons of Israel
served Kishon, Rishath Haim, eight years. And
so for eight years, they're stuck in servitude.
After Egypt, 430 years. After the wilderness,
learning their lesson, after following Moses
and then Joshua, after Joshua took them to the
promised land, all the pictures that they had,
one of those battles that they were in, they
couldn't stop the enemy from fleeing away, and
God rained meteors, giant rocks from the sky
to crush that army. So conclusive was it that
God had ordained what they were supposed to do
and miraculously intervened on their behalf so
many times, and yet here we are, very few generations
later, as we're going to see in a moment, This
people marrying their sons and daughters off
to not God's people. And so God gives them up
again to slavery. God says, I guess 430 years
wasn't enough. Our people, my people, did not
learn their lesson. So you want to be married
to falsehood, to idolatry, to adultery, to sin,
to wickedness that's supposed to be wiped off
the face of the earth? Fine. Do what you want.
Here you go. And he sold them into the hands
for eight years. Now we already know because
we've already looked at the pattern that there
is a pattern. Every time they get into wickedness,
they cry out to God, God responds. It says in
verse 9, And when the sons of Israel cried to
the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer. The
word there could be translated judge, but it's
not. It is a word that literally means a savior.
Somebody brings you out of bondage. Remember,
he sold them into the hands of Christian Rishabhaim.
And now God... raises up a deliverer, a savior,
if you will, for the sons of Israel to deliver
them. And it is Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's
younger brother. And the Spirit of the Lord came
upon him, and he judged Israel. And again, that
word there could be judged, but really it's best
translated as savior. He saved Israel. And when
he went out to war, the Lord gave Kishon, king
of Mesopotamia, into his hand. so that he prevailed
over Kishon Rishab Haim. Then the land had rest
forty years, and Athnel, the son of Kenaz, died.
That takes us through verse 11. So did you catch
it? Did anybody see what was just brought up
that was preluded, that was pointed to previously
in the book of Judges, but we have not yet studied
it? Has anybody read the chapter 1 and 2 of the
book of Judges since we started studying them
a month ago? This guy, Othniel, is mentioned.
He's not only mentioned in Judges, but he's also
mentioned back in Joshua, I think it's 15. And
so, if you just look briefly, we're not going
to read it, but if you just look briefly back
at chapter 1, as they were getting things going,
right? Iron chariots, oh no, we're afraid, right?
Then they're going to take certain places, places
conquered, places that were failed to be conquered,
and so on. And there's a story of Othniel. The
story is, Caleb says, whoever can conquer debris,
I'll give my daughter. And Othniel steps up and
goes and conquers debris. Caleb gives... Her
name is... I forgot how to say her name. Ak -Shah,
something like that. Anyway, gives her to Othniel.
And then Othniel goes to start to rule that land.
She's not content with the land. She goes back
to her father and says, hey, can we have water?
We've got a good land, but it doesn't have water.
And so then he gives her the high and the low
springs. The land that they inherit is called
the Negev. We studied that when we went through
the story of David. The Negev, the low, fertile
land of the promised land. Now that's not the
story for today. But the point is, he's preluded.
This guy, he's had an experience. Remember why
the people, I just told you today, remember why
the people still surround the Israelites? Why
did God put them there? The ones that still surround
the Israelites. Big long parentheses. Say that
again? Kind of, right? So that they could be
familiar with conquering. So they could be familiar
with fighting. This is a generation that did
not go through the wars. Right? So the people
that were around, it says that he left them there.
So that they could know, it was in verses 1 and
2 of chapter 3. Let's go back and see it real
quick. That is, all who had not experienced any
of the wars of Canaan, only in order that the
generation of the sons of Israel might be taught
war. Those who had not experienced it formerly.
That's why they were there. Well, guess what
Othniel already knows? He already knows war.
He already knows the lessons of God. He knows
the lesson that God left these people around
them to learn. He knows that lesson because he's
already been there. So Othniel then is called
out to rescue, to save God's people. Okay, so
we're going to work through the text. A few things
I want you to see here and then the conclusion.
So the first thing is this. Unfaithfulness to
God is the ultimate defeat because it is God
who brings the victory. So in other words, if
you're in the worst times of your life, things
are coming against you. and your finances are
getting hit, your health is getting hit, your
relationship, whatever it is, something, you
might go down the list, but everything is falling
apart. If your faithfulness holds, you win. If
you go to unfaithfulness, either to solve the
problems, or because you're frustrated, because
you're tired, because you're worn out, because
you're beat up, maybe you've got nothing left.
You barely can take another breath. Tears are
streaming down your face. You've got nothing
left. And in that moment, If you cry out to God
in faithfulness and stay faithful, you win. That's
it. And if you instead choose to go to unfaithfulness
to try to solve the problem, you lose. There
is exactly one measure that God is looking for.
It is faithfulness. That's it. Let your yes be
yes, your no be no. Show up. Do the work. Serve.
Share the gospel. When people are about to be
killed for their faith, and sometimes they are
killed, Right? You will hear them profess the
gospel. Why? Because they understand that if
they stay faithful in that moment, they win.
Why will martyrs not just renounce Christ and
not get the bullet to the brain? Why will they
not just say, well, I don't want to be burned
alive today, so I'm just going to walk away,
right? Because won't grace cover that? But what
we're learning from this text and the book of
Judges already is that unfaithfulness to God
is the ultimate defeat. It is where victory goes
to die. Everything you've ever overcome, every
success you've ever had, that time when you went,
oh man, I'm changing. God's making me somebody
new. I'm doing better. I really made a good decision
here. I'm praising the Lord today because I'm
a different person than I used to be. All of
that goes in the garbage can when you decide
you can do it better than God can. Unfaithfulness
to God is the ultimate defeat because it is God
who brings the victory in the first place. Selling
your birthright to appease your passions. Basically,
God wants to hand you the kingdom of God. He
wants to fully give you the keys. He wants to
take you home to heaven for eternity. And you're
going, but here's this stuff. Here's this thing.
Here's this problem. Here's this pressure. In
times of relative peace, peace itself becomes
a weapon of the enemy. In times of relative peace,
peace itself becomes a weapon of the enemy. Because
in other words, you want what you want. I need
it quiet in here. I need you to solve this problem.
I need you to do what I told you to do. I need
you to step up at the right time. And then they
don't, and your peace is damaged. So you fix
it. You blow up. You get mad. You steal. You
lie. You do the things that people can do to
solve problems and you think, well, grace will
cover it or whatever. In times of relative peace,
peace itself becomes a weapon. Understand that
they were at peace. They were not conquering
the lands around them anymore. They had stopped
fighting because God had already said He wasn't
going to do it. Right? There are people living
in and amongst them and they've got pretty girls.
I'd like to have a pretty girl. I think I'll
take a bride from amongst... The Hivites. Right?
She's clearly welcoming. And I don't have an
Israelite woman right now. Nobody's welcoming.
So I'll take one of these. Right? Or vice versa.
Right? An Israelite woman, a young person, says,
Dad's got three daughters. And he says, Here
is an Israelite man, but he's not asking. He's
not after any of my daughters, or only one of
my daughters has a suitor. And here I can get
5 ,000. or I can get sheep and cattle and whatever,
right? So I'll accept that dowry from Philistine
and then I'll sell my, I'll basically give in
my daughter. And yeah, I know that's me. She's
going to have to worship Dagon, you know, but
we're kind of already doing some of that anyway.
It's not really different, right? All paths lead
to God, right? It's all fine. And they sold their
daughters. Or they bought lives from amongst
those people that they were not supposed to be.
Why? For peace. For the sake of peace. The argument
goes something like this. What will it hurt?
God has allowed it to exist. All things in moderation,
right? You can do anything as long as you don't
overdo it. Just a little won't hurt. Others are
doing it, etc. And then notice that a myriad
of individual decisions. This is how righteousness
bleeds to death. One little thing after another.
One little compromise. One little step. It might
be a sin, but I did repent right afterwards and
I was cleansed of all unrighteousness and all
is good, right? And then the next time, it's
that much easier to do what you've already done
again. And then again. And again. And righteousness
suddenly is bleeding out on the floor. There
is no scale like this for measuring what's good
or bad in life. There is walking with God and
being found faithful. Notice, I understand that
this is a national direction of the Israelites.
This is not one person, one family, or one church,
or one local body of worshipers that didn't have
synagogues yet by that time. One group of people
worshiping God is talking about the country.
But each individual was making decisions letting
their own righteousness bleed off and the country
then as a whole was going away from God. I understand
that this book is talking about a national direction,
but I also see it is a good illustration of how
we can, number one, make many seemingly small
decisions and completely submit to intermingling
with the enemy. Each thing looks pretty small.
And before you know it, you're so mixed up with
them that you can't tell the difference between
them and you. Moreover, eventually we find ourselves
fully participating in defiling worship practices.
So we come to church still because that's just
the right thing to do. But we get excited about
football or our hobbies. We raise our voices.
We're willing to talk and shout. Stand up. Go
spend our money. Commit ourselves. We're willing
to go after those things. We're willing to declare
the worth of those things. Stand around talking
about what we care about. But then when you look
at the same kind of living for Jesus and you
compare, are we talking about what we care about?
Or are we talking about something else? Are we
blocking out time seven days a week to spend
time in the Word? But do we watch TV seven days
a week? Do we spend time in the Bible app highlighting
verses, thinking about what God wants us to know
today? But do we play games and apps on our phone?
Do we take notes during the sermon about what's
important, what I should do this week, how should
I respond to this? Oh no, we don't do that. But
do we use a grocery list to make sure that we
get what we're supposed to buy at the store?
See, what happens is one small decision at a
time and pretty soon your participation with
that other way of living is so much that it's
literally defiling God and your relationship
with God. And God will not allow it. He will
sell you into the hands of the people that you
think are better than Him. That's what He'll
do. Notice also, it is a good illustration of
how we can or how our decisions compose more
than judgment for our nation. In other words,
if we as a country, as a whole, accept certain
things, and it gets to grow and it rises up,
then as a nation, we will be seen as not following
God, even though there may be people inside the
nation that's following God. For an era, and
I don't know how long it was, but it's going
away now. Maybe it's coming back now, actually,
but it was going away pretty bad for a while,
and it may go away well again. But for an era,
The United States of America was known as a Christian
nation. And they would say that 96, 97 % of Americans
profess to be Christian. That is not true anymore.
But be aware that once upon a time, England was
known as a Christian nation. In fact, the Church
of England still exists today. You go to downtown
London and you can take a tour. And on the first
stop of the tour, you put the earpiece in and
it will explain to you the gospel. That's a government
entity. Right? And you sit there and listen to
the gospel of Jesus Christ and what Christians
believe. Everybody that tours London that goes
to Westminster Abbey hears the gospel in their
ear on a recording. But by last count, less than
15 % of England was calling itself Christian.
A hundred years ago, 88 % of men from England,
wherever they were in the world, went to church,
participated in an active group worship service,
and served in the church three times a week.
Not two, like Sunday morning, Tuesday night.
Three. Three services a week. 88 % of the men.
And now, not even 15 or whatever, 15, 20 % of
England would profess to be Christian. And less
than five. of England's men go to church three
times a week. We could be that. In fact, it's
been said that we are becoming that. And then
there is a revival happening and the Spirit's
pouring out and people are changing. The bottom
line is, our decisions compose more and affect
the judgment of our entire nation. If you don't
care what's going on on your block, in your neighborhood,
in your city, in your state, then you can guarantee
That unrighteousness will become the norm. You
can guarantee it. If they break into your neighbor's
house and steal your neighbor's stuff and you
watch the car pull up and the thieves go in and
the thieves come out and you don't call 911,
you can pretty much guarantee that sometime you're
going to come home and all your stuff is going
to be missing. If you don't stand up for what's
right with regards to marriage, or with what's
right with regard to anything that is laid out
in Scripture. God is the one who ordains those
things, not government. If we don't follow God
instead of government, then we need to realize
that eventually God's ways will be gone from
the earth. Now, God is big enough. He can handle
the fight. He does it here. He does it every
time. I understand that. But what will happen
is He will allow the church, such as we call
it, to be sold into the hands of the enemy. A
myriad of individual decisions. This is how righteousness
bleeds to death. One more in there. God, again,
in His great grace, in His mercy, sent a rescuer.
Now, this rescuer was qualified by an interesting
means. It was not that he married a godly woman,
although he did. He married a woman who followed
the Lord, submitted to Him, went back and asked
for water for their lands, took care of his lands.
He married a godly woman, and that's good. He
bravely completed a challenge wherein he had
to rely on the Lord, taking the lands that needed
to be still conquered, where really big people
lived, really dangerous people lived. Not the
original Goliath descendants, but very large,
very strong armies there. And he went in and
he took that land. So he completed a challenge
relying on the Lord. He had known fighting. He
was a warrior. He and the men of his family had
seen firsthand battle. Fighting on behalf of
God. He had received his wife from a very wise
and godly man. A man who had trusted God. So
his wife was trained in righteousness. He was
trained in righteousness. He had experienced
it all. And yet, it says, he was set upon by
the Holy Spirit and God made him victorious.
I don't care how good you are. If God doesn't
offer it, if God doesn't do it, if God does not
give the victory, you will lose. You may think
you are winning, but you will lose. This man,
who is probably better than any one of us, on
paper at least, received the Holy Spirit from
God for the specific purpose for which he was
called. And you and I need that. That brings
us to our conclusions already. The first one
is this. This story sounds a lot to me like fighting
temptation. Temptation is the fight that determines
the character of a man. And correspondingly,
a nation. And it comes gently. Even as a friend.
Offering options. You've got options. You don't
have to. Well, Jesus said, come follow me and
you'll be free. The truth will set you free and
you'll be free indeed. You'll be free with the
Son. You'll be free with me. Free in the kingdom
of God. So, can't you do this then? Why can't
you? Why won't you? Temptation comes. even as
a friend, offering options. It comes gently.
The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10, verses 11
-13 as follows. Now these things happened to
them as an example. It's talking about what happened
to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt
and eventually suffered in the desert. And they
were written for our instruction upon whom the
ends of the ages have come. That includes us,
by the way. Therefore, let him who thinks he
stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation
has overtaken you, but such as is common to man.
And God is faithful. God is faithful who will
not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are
able, but with the temptation will provide the
way of escape also so that you may be able to
endure it. Temptation comes. There are going
to be times where you're going to want to go
a certain way. And you're going to wonder whether
or not that way is a sin against God. And I say
to you that if you think for sure that it is,
don't go that way. And if you think it is possibly,
and you're not sure, find out first. Because
it is, as we've been talking about, unfaithfulness
that is the ultimate defeat. Temptation is the
fight that determines the character of a man
and correspondingly a nation. And temptation
comes gently, even as a friend offering options.
Notice in Matthew chapter 4, we won't go there
and read it, but the devil tempts Jesus. No weapons
are drawn, no punches thrown, no swords clanging.
Jesus even humors the devil to a point. The devil
suggests that Jesus solve his hunger problem
with a little flex of muscle. Would it even be
sin for Jesus to turn rocks into bread when he's
hungry after 40 days of fasting and the fast
is basically over? It seems like a perfectly
reasonable suggestion made in the time of relative
peace. They're not arguing. The devil's not cussing
him, striking him, crucifying him, nothing. He
just comes talking. And he says, why don't you
make these stones into bread? Jesus refuses.
He counters with a desire to receive provision
from God and God alone. And he says that an act
such as the one that Satan was suggesting would
have shown his priorities. The devil tries again.
He says, throw yourself down. Even the Bible
says angels will not allow Jesus to strike his
feet upon the ground or be hurt. Jesus says no.
He refuses. You shall not tempt the Lord. Lastly,
a flat out offer of power. If only Jesus will
worship even for a second. The devil. The devil
will give him all the kingdoms of the earth.
It's flagrant. You see, temptation has upped
its game. The devil is bold. He's swinging for
the fences. Because maybe he can get this guy
to worship him. That would be a real home run.
Now he's shown his true colors. And you know
what happens next. And Jesus said to him, Go,
Satan. For it is written, You shall worship the
Lord your God and serve him only. And the devil
left him. And behold, angels came and began to
minister to him. See, after the devil left him,
Jesus still didn't do it in his own provision
or power. God did it for him. What are you trying
to accomplish? What are your goals in life? Got
a dream? Got a career goal? Want to get something
done? Something that's been on your list for
a long time? Got a bill that needs paid? A problem
to overcome? What are you trying to accomplish?
Listen to me when I say to you that temptation
will come. And they may even say, you can do
it. You can overcome. You can do what you need
to do. When it comes silently, quietly, whispering
in your heart place, you say, go away and be
found faithful. Second thing, second conclusion
is this. Being unequally yoked is an access road.
Teenagers, listen up. This is huge, Curtis. Pay
attention. Jason, are you with me? Being unequally
yoked is an access road. The New Testament says
it this way, 2 Corinthians. Do not be mismatched
or unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what
do righteousness and lawlessness share together?
Or what does light have in common with darkness?
Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial?
That's another name for the devil. Or what does
a believer share with an unbeliever? Or what
agreement does the temple of God have with the
idols? For we are the temple of the living God,
just as God said. And then he quotes, I will
dwell among them and walk among them. And I will
be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore,
come out from their midst and be separate, says
the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean. And
I will welcome you and I will be a father to
you. And you shall be my sons and daughters to
me, says the Lord Almighty. Do you understand?
Girls, if you take a husband who does not know
the Lord the way you know the Lord, you'll pay
for your entire life and probably not wind up
in the kingdom of God in this lifetime. It doesn't
mean you'll lose your salvation. That's between
you and Jesus. But if you would take a husband
who does not know the Lord, or men, if you would
take a wife who does not know the Lord, you will
pay. That is an access road. I can tell you,
And I am blessed by the grace of God to have
a woman who claims Jesus as her Savior and serves
the Lord alongside of me. But I can tell you
with absolute certainty that if it were not so,
I would be terrified daily. Nobody exists inside
the armor that I put on daily like my wife does.
You know, understand, if you want to be found
faithful, if you want the blessings of God, if
you want the Holy Spirit at work in you daily,
if you want your spiritual gifts flowing forth,
if you want your fruit of the Spirit growing
out of you as it's supposed to, you can't have
inside you someone who does not know Jesus without
causing a lasting conflict. And so Jesus would
say, and Paul isn't quoting Jesus, but God says,
I will dwell among you and you shall be my people.
And he says, come out from their midst and be
separate. Paul says, do not be unequally yoked
with unbelievers. But we've talked about it for
marriage because that's what they were doing,
right? That's what they were doing in the era
of the judges. They were marrying people who
did not have an equal yoke with them to God.
Now, even though they were doing some false worship
too and so on, right? So I'm not saying that
you're perfect in Christ. I'm not saying that
you're perfect in Christ. But the woman that
you marry or the man that you marry had better
be at least where you are. And the truth is,
if they're way ahead of you, let's say if they're
very spiritually grown ahead of you, you also
should not marry them. Because that's still unequally
yoked. So you need to come to a point where you
can get the two of you understanding certain
things that God teaches so that you can be equally
yoked. I remember when RJ was a very young Christian.
And Alicia had all this background in the Bible
and stuff. And RJ was playing catch -up and faithful
to try to do so, to try to balance that out because
he became a Christian after they were already
married. I've seen it so many times. Men sit
in my office and talk in confidence. It's not
gossip, it's just incompetence about the relationship
they have with their wife. Or women sit in my
office with the door open and somebody's nearby,
but sit in my office and talk about the relationship
they have with their husband because they're
unequally yoked. You can't do it easily. The
person that is not knowing the Lord as much will
wind up choking because they're straining backwards
against the yoke. And the person that knows the
Lord is choking because they're pushing forward
and they're trying to do the things that God
wants them to do. So what? So what do you do?
What if it's your family? Not your husband or
your wife, but your family. Your brother, your
sister. Your mother, your father, in this lifetime.
That's what happened to Jesus. At roughly 30
years old, Jesus came out and began his public
ministry. And his mother did not believe him,
which is pretty amazing, isn't it? Because she
was there at the virgin birth. She noted what
God was going to do through him. But then as
he came out and became public about he was the
Messiah, the anointed one, he was God in the
flesh. And he was teaching the gospel and standing
firm on the truths of God. She didn't believe
him. And James didn't believe him, his own brother.
They said, Jesus has gone nuts. And they're going
to kill him. Because he's ordaining himself a
king. Because he's calling himself a leader,
a lord, a messiah. In Matthew 12, verses 46 to
50, Jesus said, this is what happens. It says,
While he was still speaking to the crowds, behold,
his mother and brothers were standing outside
seeking to speak to him. Someone said to him,
Behold, your mother and your brothers are standing
outside seeking to speak. You see, what happens
is they had come to take him home, to get him
out of what he was doing. But Jesus answered
the one who was telling him and said, Who is
my mother and who are my brothers? And stretching
out his hand toward his disciples, he said, Behold,
my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the
will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my
brother and sister and mother. So Jesus said,
in this lifetime, there will be this trouble.
In fact, elsewhere he said, I did not come to
bring peace but a sword, right? And he went on
to say, child and mother and father and brother
and sister and families will be torn apart by
the gospel. And so that peace that we're looking
for, that you can find when you embrace the lifestyle
and the sinful choices and the ungodliness of
your family, that peace is no peace at all. That
is a surrender. That is you surrendering your
faithfulness. Because there is a call to you
to stick close to Jesus and hold on to your faithfulness
regardless of people very close to you not walking
in the faith the way you know must be done. Now,
it's not sitting around judging them, saying,
oh, well, that way they must not be saved. We
stop short of that. Judge not lest you be judged.
But we can judge the actions and know that they're
wrong. Now, if they profess outwardly and say,
no, I'm not saved, then you can take them at
their profession. But guess what? That might
not even be true. That could be an evil spirit
in them saying that they're not saved when, say,
20 years ago, they accepted Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior in earnest, but they have so far walked
away from their faithfulness to God that they
don't look like a Christian and they don't feel
like a Christian and they're saying they're not
a Christian. And then on the flip side of that
coin, you have people who seem to be faithfully
living for the Lord saying they're Christian
all the time. Who may not actually be. You can't
judge that. God has to judge that. But when you
have a close family, cadre member, friends, business
partners, whatever, who are not living for the
Lord, Jesus said, you have to have a line. And
they're not in. And so what do you do when it's
your wife, when it's your husband, when it's
your friend, when it's your best friend, the
person that's been your friend your whole life,
your brother, your sister, your mother, your
father, what do you do? Jesus said, well, you
have new people to replace them in the kingdom
of God. You stand with the people in the kingdom
of God who stand with Jesus. Why? Because the
ultimate defeat would be found in unfaithfulness.
Because if you hang all the time with people
who don't love God, who don't go chasing after
God, who don't go following after Jesus, then
you will see temptation more and more comfortable
for yourself. In Luke 9, 59 -62, there was a
man with an interesting perspective on this.
And Jesus corrected him. He says this, Jesus
said to another, follow me. So he said to the
man, come follow me. So he's calling him as his
disciple. God in the flesh calling him to come
follow him. But he said, Lord, permit me first
to go and bury my father. Apparently his dad
had just died. And he said to Jesus, I'll do
it. I'm going to commit to you fully. But permit
me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus
said to him, allow the dead to bury their own
dead. But as for you, go and proclaim everywhere
the kingdom of God. So Jesus said there will
always be people in the world. who are not Christian,
who are not following God. What percentage of
people is it? I don't know. But what he said
was, to some degree, when there are major things
to be taken care of, they need to take care of
their own stuff. Do you understand that when
you take care of the problems of people who are
dead in their trespasses and sins, again, you
cannot judge who's dead in their trespasses and
sins. That's not your job, right? But when you
step up and you spend your resources, kingdom
resources, your flesh, your blood, whatever,
to solve their earthly problems, there is no
bottom to the well. At the very least, there's
a big crack, a hole in the bottom, and everything
you pour in drains out the bottom. And then you
put more in, it'll drain out the bottom. You
could go so far as taking every kingdom resource
you have and putting it in their well, and one
second later, they will be completely and utterly
impoverished and have nothing. You can pay their
rent, they'll have nothing. You can pay their
bills, they'll have nothing. You can take care
of their health, they'll have nothing. Because
they are unsaved. lost in their trespasses and
sins. They are dead in their trespasses and they're
not alive. Nobody has anything unless they're
alive. Right? A dead man goes to the grave. What
has he got? He had a car the day before. He had
a house the day before. He had food the day before.
When he goes to the grave, what has he got? A
dead man has nothing. And if you give a dead
man everything and do not give him Christ, he
has nothing. And so he's saying, let the dead
bury their own dead. Now, he's not saying, Don't
go to funerals. He's not saying don't love the
people around you. Love your neighbor as yourself.
He's not saying love everybody you possibly can.
Even love your enemies. So he's not saying don't
try to lead people to Christ. And elsewhere in
a moment we'll see that he's not saying withdraw
completely from everything that goes on in the
world. But he is saying very completely kingdom
first. Kingdom people first. Your brothers and
sisters in Christ first. Just after that, 61,
it says, Another also said, I will follow you,
Lord, but first permit me to say goodbye to those
at home. All he wanted to do was say goodbye
to his loved ones. But Jesus said to him, No
one after putting his hand to the plow and looking
back is fit for the kingdom of God. You understand?
He wasn't even allowed to go back and make niceties.
Jesus was calling him. How many times have we
said from right here in the pulpit, when you
know what it is that God wants you to do, Lock
it in. Act now. We have an invitation so people
can come forward and say, I'm living for the
Lord. I want to do what it is God wants me to
do. I want to get baptized. I want to join the
church. I want to serve in this ministry. I want
to tell this person. I want to stand up and be
found faithful. I'm going to tie it like I'm
supposed to. Whatever. Lock it in. And if you
won't lock it in and you turn and look back and
think about it for a little bit, it's all gone.
A pillar of salt. All gone. And Jesus said, no
one after putting his hand to the plow and looking
back is fit for the kingdom of God. And he said
that with regards to a man who just wanted to
say goodbye to his family before going to follow
Jesus. The world will go on around us and will
even invite us to join them, but the more we
realize that God's kingdom must be our priority,
must be our methods, and our sustenance, the
more we will be certain of our identity and empowered
to victory. One last conclusion, and it's got
parts. It is this. The character of the kingdom
of God must be not of this world. The character
of the kingdom of God, by the nature of God,
in order for God to reign over the kingdom of
God, it must be not of this world. John 18, 33
-37, Jesus is before Pilate. He's about to be
crucified. Well, taken away, beaten, and some
more things, and then crucified. He says, Are
you the king of the Jews? Jesus answered, Are
you saying this on your own initiative? Or did
others tell you about me? Pilate answered, I
am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief
priests delivered you to me. What have you done?
Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.
He didn't die, go to heaven, send the Holy Spirit,
and suddenly the kingdom became of the world.
He said, My kingdom is not of this world. If
my kingdom were of this world, then my servants
would be fighting so that I would not be handed
over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is
not of this realm. There it is again. Therefore
Pilate said to him, So you are a king? Jesus
answered, You say correctly that I am a king.
For this I have been born, and for this I have
come into the world, to testify to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.
If you would just read those verses right there,
you know everything you need to know about the
kingdom of God to know with absolute certainty
that the character of the kingdom of God must
be at all times, when you are at the wheel, when
you are sound asleep, when you are flying high
as a kite and super excited for the awesome things
that have been happening, and down and depressed
and anxious as hurting as you ever are, the kingdom
of God must be not of this world. It must also
be unadulterated. So while it is not of this
world, it also must not be mixed in. Some years
ago, I don't even remember when, probably five,
eight years ago, I bought some puzzles at a flea
market. And they came sealed in plastic bags.
There's about 500 pieces in the bag. And they
were pretty small pieces, about 500 pieces in
the bag. And then it was like a blister pack,
and there was a line, and then there was another
bag. And then there was a line. And there was
another bag. There was three puzzles. And each
one had about 500 pieces. Didn't come with a
box. Don't know what the picture was supposed
to be. That's bad. Ever tried to work a puzzle
with no picture? No idea what it was supposed
to be. That makes it really hard. Then one of
my beautiful young daughters, it was Alicia or
Molly, I don't know which one, was playing in
the playroom and opened all the puzzles and mixed
them all together. At which point in time, there
was nothing left to do but to throw them in the
garbage. That's not impossible. It is not impossible
for someone to sort out those three puzzles and
work those puzzles. I don't know how long it
would take, but it would be possible to work
three 500 -piece puzzles all mixed together with
no pictures knowing what they are. That would
be possible. But it sounds a little bit like
a miracle. And they went in the garbage, and
we never tried. I worked a lot of puzzles in
my day. We never tried. I submit to you that
the kingdom of God must not only be not of the
world, but also must be not mixed in with the
world, so that while you are walking right next
to somebody who does not know Jesus, it is very
clear that you know Jesus. Now, how is that accomplished?
You must exhibit the fruit of the Spirit. You
must speak out. Stand up. Serve. Do what no one
else would do. Be so different than when you
are walking right along, working right along,
talking with somebody who is not of the kingdom
of God that the differences are stark. I have
a friend who when we were living in Michigan
and wanted to come back to Toledo, nobody in
the church, and I'm not saying they had to or
needed to or whatever, we were doing what we
thought we were supposed to do, nobody in the
church volunteered for us to spend the nights
at their house on Saturday night. Nobody had
to. Not required. But my atheist friend who did
not know Christ and was certain, positive, that
there was no God, prepared a bedroom in the back
of his house where no one else would stand, nothing
else. He took everything out of it, got on like
a guest room, and went out and bought, wait for
it, a comforter that cost $400. Remember that
comforter? Right? Where he slept in central air,
which we didn't have. in our house in Ohio at
that time. And we couldn't stay at our house
in Ohio at that time because it was rented out.
We couldn't stay there. So we stayed in that
room. He would go to the store before we showed
up and buy all the foods that we liked. He's
a bachelor. He hardly ever ate at home. He would
just get fast food every day because he didn't
cook. But he would buy cookable foods and store
them in the house. So when we arrived, The comforter
was waiting. The central air was waiting. And
foods were in the kitchen. And he would buy foods
that Alicia and Amalia liked. Amalia was like
three and a half. Alicia was older. But foods
that they would like. Even though they weren't
going to stay with us, they were going to stay
with their grandmother. But he would buy foods
just on the off chance that they would show up.
And he's an atheist. And so when you tell that
story and you talk about how most Christians
act in life thinking about other people, caring
about other people, going the extra mile, what
do you got to be to stand out walking next to
that guy? There are a lot of pretty nice people
in the world. And you must not be like them.
You must be something so much more Christian,
so much more sharing life. And the easiest way
to get there is to start talking about Jesus
so that you stand out. So that people know for
whom you stand. 1 Corinthians 5, 6 and following
says this. Your boasting is not good. He was
correcting the church. Do you not know that a
little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
He's talking about sin and the effects of it
and how it's spread throughout the church. He
said, clean out the old leaven so that you may
be a new lump just as you are in fact unleavened.
For Christ, our Passover, also has been sacrificed.
Therefore, let us celebrate the feast not with
old leaven nor with leaven of malice. It means
like hatred or meanness toward people, wickedness,
but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
In other words, live your lives, walk in sincerity
and truth, unadulterated, not mixed with the
world, not blending in. So I wrote you in my
letter not to associate with immoral people.
I did not at all mean with the immoral people
of this world. In other words, he's saying I
didn't mean you have to step out of the world
and not know anybody who doesn't know Jesus.
This is or with covetous or swindlers or with
idolaters. But then, You would have to go out
of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not
to associate with any so -called brother if he
is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolatry,
or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler, not
even to eat with such a one. For what have I
to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge
those who are within the church? But those who
are outside God judges. Remove the wicked man
from within yourselves. The martyr who will not
compromise in the least. That's who Jesus was.
And we call ourselves Christians. Little Christs.
That's who we are. The Bible says, you shall
be my witnesses, Acts 1 .8. And the word there
is martyro. It is the same word that can be translated
as martyr. Final illustration, a couple of verses
and we're done. When Polycarp... One of the early
church fathers was 86 years old and had served
Jesus his whole life, ever since he'd become
a Christian. They were threatening to burn him
if he would not pledge allegiance to Caesar.
Now, not worship Caesar. I'm not talking about
worshiping Caesar. He wasn't required to do that.
He wasn't required to give anything to Caesar.
All he had to do was swear fealty and say, As
ruler of the land in which I live, I recognize
you as lord or boss of my life. That's all he
had to do. Polycarp said no. He said, 86 years
have I served him, and he has done me no wrong.
How can I blaspheme my king and my savior? The
crowd grew angry. The wood was piled high. Polycarp
was to be burned at the stake. The judgment came
down. As the soldiers prepared to nail him to
the post so he could be burned at the stake,
he told them it was unnecessary. He said, leave
me as I am. He who gives me the strength to endure
the fire will enable me to remain here without
moving. And as the flames rose, witnesses said,
he stood like a pillar, unshaken, unwavering,
faithful until the end. He did not even try.
To fight the fire. But Polycarp is not our standard.
He's not our standard. Rather, Jesus is our standard.
Jesus was Polycarp's standard. Jesus, who for
the joy set before him, Hebrews... 12 .2 says
it this way, Therefore, since we have so great
a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also
lay aside every encumbrance. That means anything
that would slow you down from being faithful
to God, that would stand in your way, that would
hold you back in any way. Lay aside every encumbrance.
And the sin, which so easily entangles us. And
let us run with endurance the race that is set
before us. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author
and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before
him endured the cross, despising the shame, and
has sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. For consider him who has endured so much
hostility by sinners against himself, so that
you will not grow weary and lose heart. It doesn't
say consider your situation. It doesn't say consider
your options. It doesn't say consider well, hell,
success, even teaching. But consider Him. If
we had a set of rules exactly laid out for us,
and if that's how a person could get to heaven,
then some folks would get the old college try,
get pretty close even. But we don't. You cannot
get to heaven by following the Ten Commandments.
You cannot get to heaven. by following everything
that is written in Scripture, unless, of course,
you will realize it all points to Jesus Christ
our Lord and put him first before everything.
This is why every opportunity when I hear, when
I see people being entreated to bury this just
this little bit, to take just a little bit from
the world, to enjoy just a little bit, it's why
I pray heartily about whether I can, whether
my family can, whether we can place off all.
It's why I pray and fast about whether I can,
whether our church can have a gaming ministry.
It's about how I prayed. The year before I coached
baseball, one year I coached baseball when Aaron
was U12 and there was going to be no coach, I
went to Sherry and she and I prayed and fasted
some together and I fasted separately and we
prayed and fasted as to whether or not I could
say, okay, I'll coach baseball. Because everything
that you can get from this world, much of what
you're allowed to have, much of it you're supposed
to have, but it has to come through God. And
if it comes by some other means, then all you're
doing is turning rocks into bread. And if you're
turning rocks into bread, then you've forgotten
that man does not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Do you know why the earth still spins? Do you
know why the sun still shines? Do you know why
the rain still falls? Because God has not yet
uttered that very next word which will bring
it all to an end. I get it. Lost people don't
understand that. But you tell me who is closer
to getting it right. Polycarp? Or the 88 % of
Christians in the United States of America that
confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior on the
annual census? And then only 30 to 35 % of them
show up in church at any time during that year.
The world's population that professes Christ,
but there's a statistic that says that not 15
% of professing Christians, I got that wrong,
I'm sorry, 15 % of the people of the world can
name more than one of the Ten Commandments. I'm
telling you, we've got to follow Jesus. And you
need to realize that unfaithfulness to God is
the ultimate defeat because it is God who brings
the only victory. A myriad of individual decisions,
this is how righteousness bleeds to death. God
has sent a rescuer, and because of that, we are
to recognize that temptation takes many forms.
Being unequally yoked is an access road. And
we cannot be of the world or even mixed with
it. Take heed, those of you who stand. As I look
around this room, I see a lot of people who profess
the name of Jesus. I think they're standing in
Christ. But you know better than I do. And the
Bible says, he who would stand, take heed, lest
he fall. I ask the praise team to come forward
at this time and lead us in a closing hymn. Wherever
you may be, whether you're dialed in on Facebook
or you hear this in the podcast or you're sitting
in the room right now, I'm asking you to think
about your walk with Christ. And if you'd say,
man, I'm just barely in. Just barely faithful.
You just need to realize that's just not it.
That's not walking with Christ. It's just not.
If you'd say, well, I'm pretty far in. I've come
a long way. I am a fighter like Othniel. A lion
of the Lord, I have done great things because
God has made me able. But of late, I have let
the silent creeping of temptation slip in and
I've become an adulterated Christian, partly
Christ follower, partly world participant. And
I would ask you today to repent and have him
as Lord and realize that someday you or I might,
like Polycarp, have to say, I will not bow.