Good morning, everybody. Good morning. title
today, you'll see it says, Called to Curse? Now,
immediately, in our simplistic minds, we're going
to say, well, no. Right away, you're going to
say, no, we're not called to curse. That just
doesn't seem right to me. I submit to you that
in today's text, we're going to find that question
more profoundly than it simply is, are we supposed
to or are we not? Oh, no, I don't think we're
supposed to do that. And you need... the answer
to the question that we find today in order to
have the strength necessary when that time comes
not to give in to pronouncing a curse. Before
we say we never would, we need to realize that
a curse could be everything from foul language,
which may or may not be a curse, to taking the
Lord's name in vain with regards to something
that has just happened, some surprising thing
that caught you off guard, and we say people
are... Very commonly say, oh my God, when they
don't mean to talk to God or about God. It also
could mean that you're judging someone for what
they have done. Even if you don't fully know
what they have done, you think, well, they're
not there. They didn't keep their promise. They
lied to me some way or whatever. And so you say
something negative about what they have done
or about that person. And so it can take a lot
of different forms. The one that we're going
to see in the text today is much more direct
and specific. And you have the authority to do
it, but you are not called to do it. To kind
of ruin the end of the question for you. We have
been working through the book of Judges. We have
been seeing a cycle that would happen. A judge
would rise up, save God's people. We call them
deliverers. I might actually be a better term
as a deliverer. Would rise up, call God's people
out of their terrible circumstance. Usually because
the people prayed and said, oh God, please help
us. But they were actually in their terrible
circumstance because of their sin. Because they
had taken on the sins of the people around them.
They had fallen into temptation. They'd fallen
into worshiping false gods. In some cases, they'd
already gotten wrapped up in worshiping Molech,
the worst of which worship was burning the firstborn
child in the fire. And so the Israelites who
were supposed to be following God faithfully,
Instead, we're wrapped up in all kinds of forms
of false worship. Now, whether it was as extreme
as burning their firstborn child in the fire
or just being distracted by gold or money, a
variety of ways, sex, labor, hobbies, whatever
they were involved in, whatever their distraction
was, they were not faithfully following the Lord.
Then they went into judgment. Then they cried
out for God's help and God sent a judge. That's
the cycle. The judge then comes and there will
be peace for a while. And that's the cycle every
time. The people then in their peace. fall into
their temptation, distraction, doing things they
shouldn't, and then they're persecuted again.
So we began last week to study the song of Deborah
and Barak. So if you grab your Bibles, and we
usually give a little amen, hoot, holler, hallelujah,
something, as we go to Judges chapter 5. Thank
you for those of you who are on board with that.
That means that as we read this text, if you
will listen to the word of God and allow it to
affect you, you will be affected. The Word of
God does not come back without impact. Whether
or not I get my part right, if you will listen
to what it is that God has to say through this
text, you can be affected today for the Lord.
Judges chapter 5, and we're in verse 12. We did
verses 1 through 11 last week. At that time,
we mentioned a couple of things, just kind of
putting them back in your head. The first one
was that this is a very old Hebrew text. Okay?
So that is to say that it is written in some
of the oldest Hebrew language that we have in
Scripture. And at times it can be a little challenging
to translate into English for that reason. I
think we'll see one, maybe two of those times
today as we're looking at the text. I'll try
to point them out to you as we go by, but they
will go by fairly quickly. The second thing that
we noted last week was that this ode, song, was
unique in its era. So in an era where songs were
commonly written about events to keep track of
history, the unfolding of events as they had
happened, This song was unique because the songs
were always about the people who had done the
heroic deeds. King so -and -so, prince so -and
-so, general so -and -so, the governor so -and
-so, the hero of the day. And that way they were
not forgotten. This song is all about God and
what God had done. Now it does mention through
whom God did what he did, right? So the people
are mentioned. But you'll notice that there are
things mentioned about them that are not necessarily
the things that... you would mention about God,
and the song is about God and him getting his
glory. Verse 12. This will go fairly quickly,
so hang with me. Verse 12. Awake, awake, Deborah.
Awake, awake, sing a song. Arise, Barak, and
take away your captives, O son of Abinoam. This
is post -battle. Then survivors came down to
the nobles. The people of the Lord came down
to me as warriors. Bless you. There were those
who came down to fight. This could be Barak singing,
it could be Deborah either way, but they're both
singing the song and recognizing the people of
God's people came down to fight on the day in
question. 14. From Ephraim, those whose root
is in Amalek came down, following you, Benjamin,
with your peoples. So these are the tribes of
Israel mentioned as taking part. From Machir,
commanders came down, and from Zebulun, those
who wield the staff of office. So people from
various walks of life, mostly leaders and servants
doing that role already, come down to participate,
verse 15. And the princes of Issachar were with
Deborah, as was Issachar, so was Barak. Into
the valley they rushed at his heels. Among the
divisions of Reuben, there were great resolves
of heart. That is to say, they were very adamant
to be there fighting. Verse 16. It's going to
change a little bit. Why did you sit among the
sheepfolds to hear the piping for the flocks?
Among the divisions of Reuben, there were great
searchings of heart. In other words, there were
those that did not come. They heard and thought
hard on it, but they didn't come and participate.
Gilead remained across the Jordan. And why did
Dan stay in ships? Asher sat at the seashore.
and remained by its landings. So these are tribes
that did not participate. Even though Israel
was in this great crisis, they stayed back and
they took care of other things. They didn't participate.
And so after verse 17, you're kind of expecting
a sort of a, at least putting them down a little
bit, right? Like that's not the right thing.
They didn't do the right thing. Maybe a curse
even on this people who were God's people who
didn't answer the call to come and fight God's
enemies. Verse 18, it says, Zebulun was a people
who despised their lives even to death. And Naphtali
also on the high places of the field. In other
words, they surrendered even unto death as necessary.
The high places were the places where the battle
became the most fevered or most pitched, right?
And they were surrendering their lives by the
handful, by the dozen as necessary so that God's
people could have the victory. While the people
named right there before that in the first cup,
first two verses right before that, were people
who didn't even bother to come. Some people didn't
even bother to show up. So you're expecting them
to be condemned for not showing up. Verse 19.
The kings came and fought, then fought the kings
of Canaan at Tanakh near the waters of Megiddo.
They took no plunder in silver. So the people
who had plundered so many times before came and
fought, but they didn't win. And they didn't
pull ahead. They didn't take the plunder. Verse
20. The stars, fought from heaven. That's kind
of a difficult translated from Hebrew to English.
That's one of the spots right there. But it was
common in that day to say that the gods had fought
on behalf of the people. And so this phrase means
that God himself fought on behalf of the Israelites
to win the victory. The stars fought from heaven.
From their courses, they fought against Sisera.
The torrent of Kishon swept them away. That's
an interesting word, torrent, because we know
it's actually just a wadi. It's a small river,
really. And it's only really rushing in the rainy
season, which this is not. And so what's presumed
here is that God used a sort of a flood to muck
up the land and thereby stop the chariots, which
would have been by themselves enough to defeat
the armies of Israel if God had not intervened.
So the torrent of Kishon swept them away. The
ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon, oh my
soul, march on with strength. Then the heroes'
hoofs beat. From the dashing. The dashing of
his valiant steeds. Okay? And so this is another
place where the Hebrew is challenging to translate
into the English. That word there, beat, was
usually only used in the Hebrew as the sound
of hoof beats moving away. And so best theological
understanding here is this is talking about beating
a hasty retreat that the enemies of God's people
broke into retreat. We know historically from
the chapter before that's what happened. God
won the victory and they all ran. All that cavalry.
All those chariots, they ran as best they could
and were destroyed in their retreat. Verse 23
then says, Curse Meraz, said the angel of the
Lord. Now let me be really clear. The angel of
the Lord in Scripture is a messenger from God.
Some people have undertaken to think theologically
that every time you see that in the Old Testament,
a lot of times that could be Jesus, maybe. A
messenger from the Lord. Or, God's Holy Spirit.
But probably an angel, a messenger. The word
angel meaning messenger. The angel of the Lord
speaking directly to them, curse miraz. Pronounce
a curse. The believers in the kingdom, God's
people, now told to pronounce a curse versus
this town, miraz. That's a pretty harsh command
to a people that's not supposed to pronounce
curses, right? Curse Miraz, said the angel of
the Lord. Utterly curse its inhabitants. When
you see the words utterly curse, you're talking
about pronounced a complete destruction. The
kind of destruction that came down on Sodom and
Gomorrah, for example. So he's saying, as God's
people, curse this town, Miraz, verse, because
they did not come to help of the Lord. First
of all, we know that God doesn't need help to
do... God's plans, right? God doesn't need help
to carry it out. And we see in a few verses back
in 16, 17, 15, 16 that some of God's very own
people didn't come out when called, right? But
here is Miraz, a nearby town that did not help
in the battle and God's people are being told
to curse them to utter destruction. That's a
pretty significant thing. And I'm asking you,
just based on that verse, is there a time in
which God's people might be called to pronounce
a curse? I'll begin in 23 again, and we're almost
done with the text. Curse Miraz, said the angel
of the Lord. Utterly curse its inhabitants, because
they did not come to the help of the Lord, to
the help of the Lord against the warriors. That's
the end of 23 and the end of our text for the
day. So we kind of might have expected the curse
to be pronounced after 17, when some of God's
people stayed wrapped up in their business, doing
their other things, rather than coming out when
God called them. But no, the curse is pronounced
on Miraz. There are a few people, groups in this
text I want you to see first before I give you
any points. The first one is people in the kingdom
who render courageous service. These are people
who came out and did what God told them to do.
They fought the enemy. They formed the army of
10 ,000 that followed Deborah and Barak. They
went into the lowlands where they were likely
to be destroyed. They fought an army that was
outnumbering at least three, if not 20 to one.
Who knows how many times you count a chariot
when chariots are virtually unstoppable by infantry.
It says that they despised their own lives and
for their great reward, they got to take part
in God's victory, even in this song. Then there's
the outsiders who became the enemy. Jabin the
Canaanite and his people, Sisera the general,
and other kings and royalty that came out to
fight against Israel at this case. Because if
Israel shakes off the yoke, then there's a lot
of free treasure and slaves that nobody can get
anymore. And so this became an outsider that
stepped up as an enemy in armed resistance to
fight against Israel. Notice for their outcome,
they were destroyed. They were eradicated by
divine action. Not Israel. Israel didn't destroy
them. God destroyed them. The stars fought from
their courses and the brook Kishon became a torrent
that trapped their chariots. And then when the
Israelites came down on them as they were retreating,
God empowered them to kill. And ultimately, every
Israelite there would kill in the 20s of men.
After defeating an army of 9 ,000 iron chariots
pulled by great chargers, crewed by crews of
10 or 12 men with spears, like the tanks of the
day. Oh, poor Sisera, because he didn't find
himself fighting the Israelites whom they had
persecuted for 20 years. He found himself fighting
against God. Poor Goliath, right? Killed by a
boy with a sling and a stone. But really, killed
by God. He found himself fighting against God.
Poor Sodom and Gomorrah. Fire rained down from
heaven so that the land was eradicated and probably
drenched in salt and is still not useful to this
day except for water sits there and forms a great
sea, possibly. Poor Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed
by God. Poor Egypt, plague after plague after
plague, right? And every one of their gods was
made to look to be puny compared to the God of
the universe so that they had boils and frogs
and gnats. All the water in their land turned
to blood for a while and all their people, firstborn
children, all destroyed. Every person that had
a firstborn child. And that means grown men who
had children. They were the firstborn in their
household and they were killed. Poor Egypt. Poor
Edom. The prophet Obaniah pronounced a prophecy
against Edom and Edom was eradicated to the point
that You can go there and see their great castles
carved into the side of the rock. For now, look
it up on the internet. It's a great place to
go to visit if you have a few thousand dollars
in the Middle East. But no one knows what happened
to the entire nation. Carried off into captivity.
Poor Edom. Poor flood victims in the day of Noah.
Destroyed one and all. Noah and his wife and
his boys and their wives into the ark. And everybody
else was drowned. Poor Naaman. In the days of
Esther, hung on the gallows that he built at
his own house. Poor Herod, after Jesus came and
left and the church was in, he was sitting on
the throne pronouncing great wisdoms and they
said, oh, you know, these are like the words
of God and he didn't correct them and say, no,
they're just my words, they're just the words
of men and he was eaten by worms from the inside
out. The list could go on. There are others.
And these are people that existed beyond the
line without redemption, and they are put to
destruction to show God's glory. Pity, pity.
Also in the story are people of the kingdom who
had an alternative focus. They're worried about
their ships. They're worried about their crops.
They're worried about their animals. They're
worried about their whatever, recreation. And
they didn't come. And frankly, they were excused.
They were scolded and they were left out of the
great victory of the Lord. But basically they
were excused. They're not cursed. And so here
I am to say to you that the next time you face
great trials, next time you're called to serve
the Lord and you have to make a choice between
doing what you want to do and doing what God
wants to and realigning your wants to be what
they should be, which is what God wants. That
you would be not conformed to this world but
transformed by the renewing of your mind and
follow the Lord. The next time that opportunity
arises, realize you may be excused. But you may
also be scolded or chastised by the Lord and
left out of the great victory that he intended.
There were outsiders here who chose an allegiance.
And they are blessed. We know of Jael and her
whole household was blessed and she was listed
in the song. The part that we read last week,
as Jael was the end of Sisera by putting a tent
spike through his head. And they are blessed
by choosing allegiance. But we also said Jael
had a choice to make. She was in real trouble
either way. She could have chosen Sisera's allegiance,
stuck with him, let him escape. But then she
would have paid for that heartily, surely, probably
been his slave forever. And then... She chose
to end him instead and side with the Israelites,
and her whole tribe sided with the Israelites,
and they find a place among God's people. Then
there's those of the kingdom who intentionally
lack involvement. They're nearby. They're there.
They could do it. Who am I talking about? I'm
talking about the village of Meraz. This was
a God's people village. Just they could have
failed to show up like the others did. And that's
what they did. But they were right there. They
made it as far as coming to the point that they
were at God's great victory, but they chose not
to participate. And here now we see them cursed
out of existence. So what was the end of Meraz?
Meraz was there somewhere. They were right near
the battle. But they so thoroughly disappeared
after the curse was pronounced. that nobody today
knows exactly where. They've got a border. There's
a triangle. Here's a line. Here's a river forms
a line. Somewhere in there is where Meraz used
to be, a pretty good bustling town, a metropolis
of a sort. But after this, they cease to exist.
I submit to you, if you are in the kingdom of
God and you come to where God is doing the war
and you know it's happening and you refuse to
participate, you just might wind up dismissed.
And then we see the kingdom. We see them stepping
out, doing what it is that God would have to
do. They lead others to blessing. God intervenes
on their behalf. Their lives are spared. They
are empowered and called on to glorify the Lord.
But notice that in this story, in this particular
case, they are led by the Lord, specifically
by an angel of the Lord, to proclaim the curse
on Meraz. They called out who Meraz was, what
Meraz has done, and pronounced a curse that would
utterly destroy Meraz. So the question that I
was led to then was, might we sometime have this
job to do? If you are a faithful believer following
the Lord, could you not at some time be called
upon by the Lord to curse those who are present
at God's great action? but refusing to participate.
It's a scary thought. So first we have to ask
ourselves, are we a people that are called upon
to curse at all, I guess? Notice that we have
the power and authority to do so. Jesus said,
Matthew 16, Truly I say to you, whatever you
bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall have been
loosed in heaven. Again I say to you that if
you too... If two of you agree on earth about
anything that they may ask, it shall be done
for them by my Father who is in heaven. For where
two or three have gathered together in my name,
I am there in their midst. So do we not have
the authority? Having the keys to the kingdom,
could we not pronounce curses? But blessing and
cursing and judgment are in the hands of the
Lord. Christians are called to bless, not curse.
Yet God himself will bring vengeance upon those
who claim his name, but live in rebellion. In
Romans 12, 14, it says, bless those who persecute
you, bless and do not curse. Out of the same
mouth, it says in James 3, 9 through 10, should
not come blessings and curses. It shouldn't be
like that. We have the example of Jesus, 1 Peter
2, 23. It says, he did not return insult for
insult. Matthew 5 .44 says, love your enemies,
pray for your persecutors. Romans 12 .21 says,
overcome evil with good. We have a command to
the church in 1 Peter 3 .9 where it was called,
we are called to give blessing, not repay evil.
The default Christian posture is grace, forgiveness,
and intercession. Do we not see that example
in Jesus? Even when they tried to kill him prematurely,
what did he do? He walked away because it wasn't
time yet. And ultimately, when they did kill
him, what did he do? Where every man might hang
on a cross and spew curses, it was like going
out to see WWE wrestling because they'd go up
there and they would expose everyone's secrets.
So -and -so did this. I know so -and -so had
this affair. You're a liar. You did that. There's
that politician. They stole this money. They
would expose everyone's secrets. But Jesus didn't
do that. He prayed, Lord, forgive them for they
know not what they do. Are we imitating Christ
in our speech and our attitude? Or do we wield
our words like weapons? Blessing those that we
want to. Speaking positive of those that we hope
to get things from. Speaking positively of those
that we hope will serve the Lord. And speaking
negatively of those that we see do not know God
or that say they know God but don't follow him.
Could there be exceptions, times in which we
are called? Well, in Acts 5, 1 through 11, we
see Peter, and Peter pronounces a curse on Ananias
and Sapphira. In fact, he says, you will die
here right now. And they do, both of them, because
their hearts were not right in the Lord. And
they had come faking obedience to God, faking
faithfulness, attempting to earn for themselves
a place inside the people of God, while in fact
cursing the Lord. But this was not a personal
curse. It wasn't Peter's personal agenda. In
fact, what they did didn't really hurt Peter
at all. So it certainly wasn't vengeance. But
it was a prophetic exposure of their hypocrisy.
And their sin is probably what killed them, not
the curse. We have Paul and the false prophet
in Acts 13. There they were in front of... Sergius,
the proconsul, and they're trying to win him
to Christ. This is Saul called Paul and Barnabas.
And there was a magician there. His name was
Elymas. And he was refuting what Paul was saying.
And Paul got tired of it. And he pronounced a
curse on the man. And a blinding mist fell over
him and he couldn't see. He began to seek people
to lead him about by the hand because he couldn't
see. Because his heart was not right and his
hypocrisy. He was standing up against the gospel.
And then we see what Paul's curse formula is
in Galatians 1, 8 -9. He says, let him be accursed.
But he reserves this curse for those who distort
the gospel of Jesus Christ. So then we can limit
ourselves. to people who are only really just
mocking Jesus. People who are only pretending
to be followers. People who are only slighting
and attacking people rather than actually following
Jesus. And Paul would say, let them be accursed.
But none of these things are models for daily
Christian behavior. These are spirit -initiated,
that is to say, God -led, spirit -initiated acts
of divine discipline, not personal avengence
or personal... In other words, if you would ever
want to, you cannot. But if you would ever be
called specifically by the Lord in a specific
circumstance to, then you had better, lest you
yourself fall under a similar curse for being
at that moment of the great conflict where God's
about to get great glory and refusing to do so.
In fact, the Word says that we are forbidden
to take vengeance. Never take your own vengeance,
beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God.
Romans 12, 19, paraphrased. We entrust judgment
to God. The judge sees all. Our job is to be
found faithful, not vengeful. Judgment belongs
to God alone. Personal curses... things that
you word yourself, phrase yourself, come out
of your feelings somewhere, even that you think
are right. Remember that the whole problem in
the book of Judges is not that they were in sin
or following false gods, though that's true and
it was wrong, but it was that they did what they
thought was right in their own minds. And so
we must not lean on our own understanding, but
rather be led of the Lord. And if ever you should
come to a place where you realize something is
really wrong, someone is really doing something
wrong, and you feel like you would... pronounce
a curse from God, then be sure that you are led
of the Spirit to do so and let the Spirit speak.
Judgment belongs to God alone. God's vengeance
on the faithless who claim His name is a real
thing. Hebrews 10, 26 -31 says, For if we go
on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge
of the truth, There no longer remains a sacrifice
for sins. Did you get that? If you have received
the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ, and then
you choose to willingly go on doing the things
you know you should not do, or failing to do
the things that you know you should, no matter
your excuses, reason, logic, whatever you think
is right, it all doesn't matter how you feel
about it, none of that matters. If you willingly
go on doing the things that you should not do,
or failing to do the things that you should,
whatever reason or logic may prevail, there is
no longer, there no longer remains a sacrifice
for sins. Jesus is it. He's all that there is.
And you're going to have to come back to Him
for that salvation. And because you're willingly
going on in your sin, the truth is, you probably
won't. Verse 27 says, but a terrifying expectation
of judgment and the fury of a fire which will
consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside
the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony
of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment
do you think he will reserve who has trampled
underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as
unclean the blood of the covenant by which he
was sanctified and has insulted the spirit of
grace? If you are willingly sinning, that is
what you are doing if you continue in sin. Now,
if you are unwillingly sinning, if you slip,
if you make errors, if you make errors in judgment,
you thought you knew what God wanted, but you
went the wrong way, whatever, then you come back
to the Lord and He is faithful and just and righteous
to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
But if you willingly proceed forward, know that
there is severer punishment for nothing. Nothing.
A greater crime to follow Jesus supposedly and
walk willingly in sin than mass murder, incest,
rape. All the things that we think are terrible.
There is no severer punishment for any sin that
anyone has. Because we will have trampled underfoot
the Son of God. We will have regarded as unclean
the blood of the covenant by which He was...
we were sanctified, and we will have insulted
the spirit of grace. And verse 30 says, For we
know him who said, Vengeance is mine, I will
repay. And again, the Lord will judge his people.
It's a terrifying thing to fall into the hands
of the living God. Professing believers can fall
under judgment. Those who go on sinning after
believing the truth. 2 Peter 2, 20 -22, those
who return to the world are worse off than before.
And Revelation 2, 22 -23, judgment begins in
the house of God, in the people of God, those
who profess Christ and stick in the kingdom,
that's where judgment begins. And this is what
it says in Revelation 2, 22, I gave her time
to repent, and she does not want to repent of
her immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a
bed of sickness and those who commit adultery
with her into great tribulation unless they repent
of her deeds. And I will kill her children with
pestilence. And all the churches will know that
I am he who searches the minds and hearts. And
I will give to each one of you according to your
deeds. God will not be mocked, Paul writes in
Galatians 6. Claiming the name of Christ while
aligning with the enemy brings divine chastisement.
We, on the other hand, are to walk in blessing
and stand in awe of God. We are not called to
curse. We are called to bless, to witness, and
to intercede. Our model is Christ. Our method
is love. Our message is truth. We can and will
overcome evil with good if we employ as the spearhead
of all of our offense the sword of the spirit,
which is the word of God. God alone deals with
rebellion, hypocrisy, and false allegiance. Let
us be among the faithful, not the fearful. Let
us tremble at his holiness, not test his mercy.
Let us persuade men because we know the fear
of the Lord. And let us beg God to make us everything
that is necessary. The Bible says that God is
patient with us that all men might come to repentance.
That's why Jesus has not yet returned. It does
not say that God is patient. with lost people
that men might come to repentance. It does not
say that God is patient with those who have not
yet heard or those who are wrapped up very faithfully
in some other false religion. It says that God
is patient with us. Written to the church, God
is patient with us that all men might come to
repentance. Let us beg God to make us everything
that is necessary, even despising our own lives
as they did in the story that we read. to carry
out the work of the kingdom, the kingdom of God.
Let's draw near to Him and I say, we might rightly
pray that we should never be called upon to pronounce
a curse. So if you find yourself talking bad
about someone or what they've done, be very careful
because you are approaching a line which you
cannot uncross. You are a keys of the kingdom
holder. So when someone lies to you and you call
them a liar, you have loosed on earth something
that has already been loosed in heaven and you
may make them a liar indefinitely. Now, should
you call a lie a lie? For sure. Just be careful
about calling a liar a liar. Let's draw near
to Him and rightly pray. that we should never
be called upon to pronounce a curse, but rather
leave the vengeance of the Lord in the hands
of the Lord to deal with professing believers
who choose allegiance with the enemy. A final
challenge in some illustrations, and we're through.
Ask yourself, am I using my words? When my mouth
opens and my voice comes out, am I using my words
to heal or to hurt? You were created in the image
of the being who said, let there be light. And
from just outside the boundaries of existence,
whatever that looked like at that time, light
immediately responded and leapt into being. And
you were created in his image. And then if you're
a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you were
reborn, recreated, growing to be more like him
every day. That does not mean that you usurp
his role as creator, but rather that you should
be very clear about the loving, merciful, gracious
character of the God of heaven. If you received
everything you have from the God of the universe,
why do you sometimes act like you didn't get
it from him? You earned it yourself. Or that
you made the right choices in light of the fact
that you have what you have. The truth is, when
we get to heaven, we will find our faults to
be more than we could ever judge ourselves for.
Are we using our words to heal or to hurt? Am
I trusting God with judgment? When someone says,
well, I'm going to do this, or I'm going to do
that, or I did this, do I immediately go, that's
wrong, you're wrong, that's a wrong, or do I
say, what does the Lord say about this? How could
this person come to make this decision? Why are
they acting this way? And I understand and you
understand that no answers to those questions
will ever be excuses for sin. So if the action
is sin, it's sin. And there's nothing you can
do about that. You can't change it and say, well,
I hear what you're saying. You have really good
reasons for doing this. So I pronounce this not
sin. You can't. It's sin if it's sin. But at
the same time, we trust God with the judgment
of it. And so yes, we look into scripture and
there are certain things that we see that we
don't quite perfectly understand. And here is
an example that we as a people are not called
upon. We are not created to be a people that
pronounces curses in any sort against other people.
Yet at the same time, we are the direct agents
of the Lord. And so we have to realize that there
is a curse upon evil behavior. There are associated
bad things that happen when people do the wrong
thing. And you might be wise to ask yourself,
if I am facing what feels like judgment, if I
am being chastised, if I am under correction,
small, medium, or large, ask yourself, is it
that way? Because I am not right with God. Because
I need to repent and turn unto the Lord and make
whatever control I have. submit it over into
His hands. And if that's the way you need to
do it, then that's what you need to do. But don't
expect me or any other Christian, any other real
Christian, to come into your life and say, this
is happening to you because of X. I have seen
that so many times. And every time I've ever
seen somebody do that, the Holy Spirit has always
said to me, that's an ignorant person. That's
a person that doesn't understand. And no, I didn't
go and say, okay, you're ignorant because you
said that. I went and said, listen, the Holy
Spirit is saying to me, something is desperately
wrong with what you just declared. What you just
said. Be careful, because your saying this about
that person is akin to pronouncing a curse, which
we are not called to do. We had a guest speaker
once years ago at New Heights that came, and
they came right after the Twin Towers, and it
was just after 2001. And as he was preaching,
I'm not naming the man, this is not gossip or
slander, as he was preaching, he stood up in
the pulpit, I was out of town, and he said that
that was God's judgment. on the Twin Towers and
that the people that died there and the effects
of it, all the workers that went in afterwards
and everybody that died, it all happened because
of God's judgment on our country and on that
place. And he pronounced a curse and said that
that happened because of God said so. God destroyed
the Twin Towers. He used the people, the militant
Islamic enemies of America to do that and kill
all those people. And the beauty of it was all
the people in New Heights that were there that
day immediately went, that doesn't sound right.
I don't think the Bible says that. Now, there
were great similarities to that event, to some
events that he related it to, like the Tower
of Babel. But there's nothing in Scripture that
ever would say that. And that you would be the
guy or the girl? You think you're going to be
the one? What kind of arrogance do you have to
have to think that you... above all mankind,
above all angels, above God himself, would be
the one to judge and declare the wrong of another
person. Now, sin is still sin. We have methods
of accountability. But the problem is, when we
talk about accountability, we go, Matthew 18,
accountability, a passage where Jesus teaches
us, we say, well, that's teaching us to correct
one another. That's teaching us to call people
back out of their sin. Some of that's true. But
the truth is, it is the greatest expression of
love in the church. If you think somebody is
in sin, you go to them and say, hey, this is
what I see happening. This feels to me like you
could be going in the wrong direction here. I
think you could be going into sin. I wanted to
kind of call that out to you. Could we figure
this out together? How hard is it? I know it's
hard. Because you know how many people do it
faithfully, believers? Even though it's a command
of Jesus, nobody wants to do it. You don't want
to be the one to go to somebody and say, hey,
can we talk about this because I think you're
in sin or I think this is the wrong direction.
Nobody wants to do it. But every single time
I've ever seen somebody do it, it was people
that understood that it is a great expression
of love. Do you want your family members, your
friends, the people that you love in Christ,
that you're serving alongside of in Christ, to
continue in sin? So that they themselves risk
the wrath of God? Not judgment to hell necessarily.
If they're saved, they're saved. But that they
would risk that chastisement? That they would
fall into the hands of God for correction? No,
we stand together. We unite. We hold each other
accountable in that I'm coming in love and saying,
listen, I hear what you're saying. And I'm not
going to judge you for making the decision that
you're about to make or for doing what's right.
That's not my job. Whether you're saved or not,
that's between you and the Lord. But I'm pleading
with you. I think that God will call us to do
something different. Accusations and curses are
not our job. There is an ancient being tasked
with that job. And he himself will spend eternity
away from God because he slid too far down the
slope of arrogance. Do not join him in his disrespect.
Be found faithful, stepping up and out and depending
on God to carry us through. That's our job. The
next time we see someone struggling to exhibit
Jesus the way they should or the way we think
they should, we should try speaking better things
for them. Pray God forgive them and help them.
Two illustrations, I hope. First one. Probably
completely outside your knowledge, because it
was completely outside my knowledge, there was
a thing called the Albigensian Crusade. Raise
your hand if you know what I'm talking about.
Okay, good. I didn't either, so I don't feel
too out of place about that. So the Catholic
Church declared what was called the Albigensian
Crusade. It also, by the way, sparked something
you may have heard of called the Great Inquisition.
The Albigensian Crusade was to wipe out a sect
of Christianity called the Carthars. The Carthars
had developed some beliefs that we would call
distinctly anti -Christian. They did not believe
in the doctrine of the Trinity. Get this. They
did not believe that Jesus was God in the flesh.
They did not believe that he died on the cross
to pay for the sins of all mankind the way we
understand it. They believe that all flesh is
evil and all God and spirit is good. And you
can worship good, as long as it's good, you can
worship it because that's God. And if it has
anything to do, childbirth, motherhood, nurturing,
proper marriage, relationships, telling the truth,
the mankind tell the truth, all of that is still
evil. It's all evil. It's all evil. There's no
way that Jesus could have became a human because
to do that, he would have made himself evil.
That's what the Carthaginians believed. Now,
do you believe any of what I just said? None
of it's right. It's all wrong. It's all heresy.
But it developed in large representation out
of the Catholic Church, which was also in heresy.
Right? Closer, perhaps, to Christianity, but
also in heresy. A lot of things that they were
doing that were not Christ -like. Here comes
an example. The Albigensian Crusade. They were
going to go in. and put an end to the Carthars
no matter what. Heretics, kill them all. Kill
the Carthars. So as the crusade armies approached
the city of Belziers, led by a man whose name
I have a hard time pronouncing. It's Armad Al
-Malrik, who was a papal legate, which means
he was an officer in the Catholic Church. He's
leading the army. They asked him, they said,
when we attack the city, how do we know who are
Carthars and who are not? How do we know who
we're supposed to kill and who we're not? And
his response became famous. He said, kill them
all and let God sort it out. Now that saying
didn't die there in 1209. On July 22nd. When
the siege broke and the city was invaded and
20 ,000 people, many of whom professed to be
Christians, all, most all professed to be Christians,
but many of whom were Carthars and many of whom
were not, were slain. Out of that was developed
the Inquisition where they would put people under
torture as necessary to get them to tell the
truth of what they believed of Christianity and
if what they believed was a... heretic version
of Christianity, they would burn them at the
stake. For two decades this went on. Now the
church could never do this, right? The church
could never say, we know what's right, you're
wrong, and we'll have nothing to do with you,
to the point that because we are now in power,
we will even... Kill you so that you can't infect
our children with your doctrine. Or could they?
I submit to you that the same evil spirit or
cadre of evil spirits that led the Catholic Church
to start a 20 -year crusade, which we don't even
know. The records are lost. Somewhere between
200 ,000 and a million people were slain. in
that crusade over disagreements in doctrine.
I submit to you that based on what I just shared
with you, and there was more, that probably Carthars
were not even Christian. So now what we have
is those who are professing to be Christian killing
those who also profess to be Christian but hold
a doctrine that the first group cannot subscribe
to. Christians killing Christians. Supposed Christians.
killing supposed Christians. Are you using your
words to heal or to hurt? Are you trusting God
with a just judgment? Are you living in faithfulness?
If the answers to those questions make you feel
a little nervous about the way you're following
Jesus, you say, well, I think I might be using
my words to hurt rather than to heal sometimes.
repent today and turn to the Lord through Jesus
and be healed. If you've never been saved, be
saved for the very first time so that Jesus can
teach you how to get control of your mouth. It'll
be systematic. It'll take a while. So if you
are saved and you've been working on it and you've
got a ways to go, don't panic. Just let him keep
working on you. Are you living in faithfulness
or are you living in name only? Remember that
there were groups in this story not miraz. There
were people who were part of the kingdom of God
who did not come to fight. And they were further
away and they were wrapped up in their things.
They had things that they thought were important.
And they didn't get a curse. They just missed
out on the blessings. When the opportunity comes
to serve the Lord, will you miss out on the blessings?
Or will you serve the Lord? That's the question.
Years and years ago, my side yard was the gathering
place of the entire community when I was a kid.
We were the only ones who actually had a side
yard, and the only other big field nearby was
behind my house, and it belonged to the shopping
center, and we'd been told that sometimes they
would get upset with us for playing back there,
and if you had football or frisbee or something,
it inevitably wound up down in the creek, and
you had to go and find it, and so we played in
our side yard. One particular Saturday afternoon,
and you have to understand who I was, I was the
bully of the neighborhood in my neighborhood
for years. I was bigger, stronger, and I was
willing to punch somebody in the face, and nobody
else really had that trait. And so we did what
I said most of the time. A couple months before
this day in question, a boy had moved into the
neighborhood, and he had been the bully in his
previous neighborhood, and he was faster than
me, and he was stronger than me. And he was willing
to punch people in the face, like me. And so,
right away, it became a power struggle between
him and I. Now, on this particular Saturday in
question, he wasn't there. So, needless to say,
I was in charge. So we decided we'd play Ultimate
Frisbee. Ultimate Frisbee is basically like football,
but you stop, you pass the frisbee, and you go
back and forth. It's really high endurance. It
was hot, about 80 degrees outside that day. Sunshine,
brightly, no shade. We'd taken... frequent Kool
-Aid breaks, and I was running to the house for
pictures of Kool -Aid and we're playing. And
I really wasn't bossing people around too much
or anything like that. We were just playing and
having fun. Because the other boy who was the
other in -charge boy wasn't there, we had to
select a different team captain. So I was the
team captain for one team, and there was a girl
who was the next oldest who was the team captain
for the other team, which is a problem for me
because I always picked her on my team because
she was really good at, like, everything. Now
she's the captain of the other team. So we picked
our two teams, and we let her team have one extra
person because we had a couple extra small people.
About an hour in, we're playing, having fun,
everything's going great, and that other guy
shows up. He just got home from visiting his
grandma or whatever, and he comes and he wants
to play. So we shuffled the teams. We put him
on her team. She's still the team captain. We
put him on her team. I took two of the little
guys, and it's pretty balanced, and we started
playing. Except he started getting physical.
He's pushing people around. using foul language
at people, cussing people. He was particularly
getting down on her, who she was acting as the
captain of the team and making plans and stuff
like that. And he was really being really mean
to her. So then she started looking at me to
get it to stop, right? And I already know where
this is going to go. Same place it went the last
three or four times was a fist fight. And we
both got hurt pretty bad both times. Not broken,
but pretty bad. So I said to him, I said, you
need to knock it off. We were playing just fine
before you came, so you shouldn't be here if
it's going to be like that. And he said, whatever.
Leave me alone. Shut your mouth. Blah, blah,
blah. So we went back, and on the next play,
he did it again. So then she said, I don't want
him on my team anymore. I'm the team captain.
I don't want him. So then I said, well, I think
I can handle him. So I took him over to my team,
and I gave up. one of the players that were just
about as good and one of the small guys. We balanced
and we played some more. 20 minutes later, now
he's doing the same thing on my team, and he
pushed her as she was about to go down. He just
kind of pushed her and gave her some extra momentum
so that she hit her shoulder and the side of
her face on the tree. So now we're going to go
to fist fight right away. And she's like, no,
no, no, it wasn't really an accident. We're just
playing. He didn't mean it, so no fights, whatever.
And I said, that's fine, but I'm done. We've
spent an hour and a half, two hours, we've been
dealing with this, so I'm done. you're not on
my team anymore. And he looked at her and said,
well, can I be on your team? And she said, no.
So she wouldn't take him, and I wouldn't take
him, and everybody that was on both teams backed
the captain. So our captain says, you're not
on our team, you're not on our team. And so he
went home. Hear me now. Team captains have the
authority to send people home. If both team captains
agree, and neither one will take you, you don't
play. Here's the problem. Too many people think
either they are the team captain or because they
represent the team captain, they get to make
that decision. And I'm here to tell you, you
ain't it. And I'm not. And the Pope isn't. That's
for sure. There are no team captains born of
men. John the Baptist was not the team captain.
Moses, who was both the humblest man who ever
lived and probably one of the greatest servants
of God, not the team captain. Jesus is the team
captain. Come in line with Jesus. Be found faithful.
Drop your tendency to take vengeance. Use your
words to heal and not hurt. And submit to him.
And he's going to take you to new heights in
Jesus that at this point in time you cannot fathom.
And that road ends in heaven. And that is a place
you want to be. We might not know exactly what
it's like, but we've got a decent picture. That's
where we want to be. And every other road, let's
be very clear, every other road ends in hell.
And that is a place you do not want to be. As
we have our invitation today, I'm asking you
to submit to the team captain. We're going to
submit to his judgment. We're going to submit
to His leadership. We're going to be found faithful.
Don't be distracted by the things of the world.
Be found faithful. Don't let the good things
that God has given you in your life stop you
from being a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ,
no matter how good they get. In Jesus' name.
I'll have the praise team come and lead us in
their final song at this time. Each and every
one of us, individually, uniquely, letting God
speak to our hearts. Thank you.