Maybe you can do that. I'm bringing out a hallelujah
sometimes. We pour out our miseries. God just
hears the melody. Beautiful the mess we are.
The honest tries are breaking us down. Better
than a hallelujah. Excited about this word, okay?
I want you to know it changed me, so I'm going
to do the best I can to deliver it to you, so
hopefully you can make good use out of it today.
The title of the sermon is The Second Bully.
You see it up on the screen. There's a lot of
detail there. If you want to break that down
and study it some later, you can take a picture
of it with your phone if you want. Most of what's
up there you will get in what I'm about to say,
okay? So we've been working through the book
of Judges. Maybe give me a little who to holler
amen as we go to Judges chapter 12. Thank you.
This is the Word of the Lord. What I read to
you now from Judges 12, beginning in verse 1
through verse 6. It's been around a lot longer
than I have. And it understands us probably better
than we understand it. And so if you listen to
what God has to say, whether I get it right or
not, you'll get something from God today. And
that's my hope for you. Also, if I get something
wrong, then that's your responsibility, which
is why you study your Bible. It's why you pray.
It's why you listen to the Holy Spirit. It's
why you live your life for the Lord, so that
when something comes in that doesn't belong,
you would be ready. Now, I hope that doesn't
happen. I hope I get it right. So here we go.
Judges chapter 12, beginning of verse 1, says
as follows. Then the men of Ephraim, so that's
a tribe of Israel, were summoned. And they crossed
to Zaphon and said to Jephthah. Now Jephthah
is the judge who's currently leading the, I wouldn't
say the Israelite armies, but the armies from
the area of Gilead, which is really about three
or four tribes. And they're fighting back against
oppression from the Ammonites. And they've done
a really good job. They've essentially won the
battle to come home. We know that Jephthah had
a serious failing in judgment and tried to kind
of run on ahead of God. and it cost his daughter
his life. That's at the end of chapter 11. We
talked about that last week. You can look at
that again if you want. But now the men of Ephraim
have gathered together, and they come to Jephthah,
and they say, Why did you cross over to fight
against the sons of Ammon without calling us
to go with you? Now, if you've been with us,
and we took a break for Easter, but if you've
been with the study in the book of Judges before,
if you read a little bit of it before, this sounds
a little familiar. The people of Ephraim... Ephraim
came, and they did the same thing, essentially,
back in the day of Gideon. They said, why didn't
you call us out to go with you? Now, Gideon answered
with kind of a peaceful answer, and he played
it down, and he said, look, you are a great people
of God. You have an amazing army. You have an
amazing crop. You're just a great people of God,
and we need you. You can join us now. We'll do
the mopping up together, and don't fret. You
haven't missed out. And everything kind of dulled
down, and all the conflict went away. That is
not how Jephthah handles the situation. So it
says, why did you? cross over to fight against
the sons of Ammon without calling us to go with
you. We will burn your house down on you, they
say. Verse 2. And Jephthah said to them, I and
my people were at great strife with the sons
of Ammon. When I called you, you did not deliver
me from their hand. In other words, his people
were suffering. They were being attacked. They
were being pillaged over and over. And Ephraim
just kind of stayed silent. They didn't come
to their aid despite pleas for help. That's what...
Jephthah says, and when I saw that you would
not deliver me, I took my life in my hands and
crossed over against the sons of Ammon, and the
Lord gave them into my hand. So he's saying,
we went out, we fought them, and God gave us
the victory. Why then have you come up to me
this day to fight against me? So if I have defeated
the enemies of God's people at great risk to
myself, but submitting to the Lord's will, then
why would you now come against me and threaten
to burn down my house on my head? Verse 4 says,
then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead
and fought Ephraim. And so now we have a sort
of a civil war, if you will. And the men of Gilead
defeated Ephraim because they said, you are fugitives
of Ephraim, O Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim
and in the midst of Manasseh. So basically, you
don't have to dig into all those tribe names
right this second. The bottom line is, the Ephraimites
were attacking the Gileadites. And the Gileadites
were defending themselves, but now God is causing
the Gileadites to win out, and all these people
are being defeated. We're going to see in a moment
that the defeat is an incredible one. They were
calling them rebels, essentially. They were calling
them... They were saying that they were standing
against the tribe of Ephraim, and that's why
they were attacking them. Verse 5 says, And the
Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan.
That's the river that kind of divides the two
regions between Gilead and Ephraim. So for them
to go home, they have to cross the river. For
them to cross the river, you need a shallow place.
A ford is a shallow place, and there's only so
many places you can cross the river. And they
grabbed the fords, and the Ephraimites are trying
to get home. The Gileadites captured the fords
of the Jordan opposite Ephraim. And it happened
when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, let
me cross over, the men of Gilead would say to
him, are you an Ephraimite? And if he said no,
then they would say to him, say now Shibboleth.
But he said Sibboleth, for he could not pronounce
it correctly. Then they seized him and slew him
at the fords of the Jordan. So they were using
the change in dialect that had happened, the
change in the way the language was pronounced,
that had happened between Ephraim and Gilead.
to determine who was an Ephraimite, and then
they would kill them. So if they lied and said
they were not, they didn't just let them go.
They made them say Shibboleth, but they couldn't.
So they'd say Sibboleth, and then they would
kill them. Thus there fell at this time, get
this number, 42 ,000 of Ephraim. Now historians
look at that word there and say it could be 42
,000 or it could be 42 companies, but either
way, it is a massive amount of people. So you
don't have to really worry about whether exactly
42 ,000, 42 companies. Either way, it's a ton.
of Ephraimites. It probably represents their
entire army. I'll come back to that later in
the points. So the bottom line is they slew everybody
who came up. Notice that in order for them to
slay 42 ,000 Ephraimites who are trying to get
home, that means 42 ,000 Ephraimites came across
the river to threaten Jephthah. Understand? Now
that's not like somebody came to deliver a message.
They brought 42 ,000 men across the river. And
we can rightly assume probably some of them escaped
and got home, right? Maybe before the Fords were
captured or by other means. Or they went into
a foreign land so as not to face the Fords, that
kind of thing. But 42 ,000 or 42 companies of
Ephraimites slain. There's an old saying that
says, essentially, anybody can talk tough when
they're up. And actually, it was re -quoted.
I don't use a lot of sports quotes or analogy
for those of you who have seen my preaching for
a while. I just don't do that. I'm not a huge
sports guy. I think God can teach a lot through
that. Don't get me wrong. God really does use
that. There was a guy named Luke Adonik. And
he works for, tell me who he plays for. Yeah,
I know who he plays for. You tell me. He plays
for the Lakers, right? And he did back in 22
as well. And in 22, in the semifinals, they faced
the, Tony Tate? Who did they face in the semifinals
in 22? See, these guys know sports. I don't know
sports. That was the Suns, right? And so in game
five, they lost 110 to 80. That's a pretty big
defeat. I mean, first of all, it's a big score.
but not terribly unheard for the NBA, but they
lost 110 -80. And, of course, the Suns were talking
it up. They were in the lead now in the series,
and it looked like they were going to win in
the semifinals after beating them 110 -80. And
he said, anybody can talk tough when they're
up. And then they went on in Game 6 to beat them
soundly, and then again in Game 7 to win the
semifinals and go on to the finals. Now, the
point is this. When you're winning, you have
space. You have the ability to emphasize one
thing over another. There's also a guy, a friend
of mine, I'll call him a friend. I've met him
a number of times. We talked and we shared our
books with each other and things like that, who
speaks at Life Change Camp. And at Camp, you
can. He's a professional NBA. In fact, he played
professional basketball literally all over the
world. And he once stuffed Shaq. You know who
Shaq is, right? Shaq O 'Neal. He's a pretty famous
basketball player. He once stuffed him on the
court. And he went back and away from Shaq and
said, yeah, you try to shoot on me. And then
Shaq proceeded to score like another 20 points
on him and just made him look like an idiot.
So then there he is on TV, you know, professional
game, and every game that Shaq probably played
on him probably was on TV, talking smack because
he stuffed him once and then just getting walked
over. So here's what happens. Sometimes you think
you've got your army with you, you've got your
situation right, and things are going pretty
well, and you let something kind of creep in.
Like you think you're all that in a bag of chips?
And pretty soon you realize maybe you don't.
So Jephthah and the men of Gilead had just come
through war. They had already faced the Ammonites.
They had already bled. They had already prayed.
They had mourned their dead, which were probably
many. They had already trusted God for victory.
And then comes Ephraim with a 42 ,000 -man army.
Why didn't you call us out to help? Notice this
is not a foreign army. This is a people of God.
These are God's people just the same as the Gileadites,
which was several tribes, but all of them were
God's people. This is not a pagan king. This
is not idol worshipers, at least not obviously
so. We talked about how they were sort of syncretizing
the two. The second bully has now shown up. Sometimes
that second bully is harder to recognize because
he looks familiar. These guys were long allies.
They were Israelites. They were descendants from
the same family of Jacob. He talks like you,
he stands near you, he claims connection to you,
yet he is still working intimidation, manipulation,
division, pride. The devil himself could be called
another bully, but be sure of this, he likes
to work through the second bully. He wants to
come through the guy who comes after the problem
that you're actually facing. Judges 12, 1 through
6. The men of Ephraim gathered themselves together
to confront Jephthah and their army and said,
we'll drop your house on you. That's not correction.
They weren't saying you did something wrong.
We want you to apologize. We want you to make
amends in some way. It's not fellowship. We're
so glad that you were successful that God used
you to defeat this army. It's not brotherhood.
We are here in support to help you clean up,
fix up, heal the wounded, you know, take care
of the widow. This is flesh empowered by pride.
And church, we had better understand a few things
out of this text. The first one is this. The
enemy that you see is not the last enemy. Once
you have determined that someone or something
is against you and the situation is not going
the way you'd like it to go, something is beating
you up, something is taking your money or taking
your time or breaking your heart, that's not
the last enemy. It's not the last time you're
going to face difficulty. There are all kinds
of bullies, all kinds of enemies. And they're
going to keep coming until Jesus comes again.
This is like their battlefield. It's their playground.
It's happening. Some bullies use fists, some
words, some money, some guilt, some social pressure,
some manipulation. All of it is soaked in fear,
which is an enemy all by itself, soaked in intimidation
and flesh -defined relationships. The bullies
on the playground, they bully the kids. They
won't stand up. They won't fight back. And maybe
that's not a life or death matter. But spiritually,
it certainly can be. Emotionally, it certainly
can be. Bullies point to uneven capability. They
say, see, I'm big. I'm strong. Or I'm wise. Or
I'm smart. I've got better words. I've got better
education than you. I see this problem that you
don't see. Whatever. And they use that uneven
capability then to prove to you, to make you
think that the outcome is already decided. See,
you have to give me your lunch money because
I'm bigger than you. You have to back down and
hide because you'll look bad. You'll feel bad.
Someone will say something that will get under
your skin. You know that really bothers you when
people do that. And they're just going to keep
doing it. So now you've got to go and do this
instead. They say you can't win. They say you're
too weak. You'll never recover. You'll never
change. You'll never escape your past. But the
devil has lied before. You know that about him
and about the enemies of God. They lie. It's
deception. The cross, which may have been one
of the most tragic moments of mankind's history,
looks like defeat. And there were those who lied
about the cross and said that it was a defeat,
when in truth it was the greatest victory for
mankind that ever has happened. The tomb looked
final. This teacher, this traveler, the one who
healed, who brought people back to life, who
could do so much, who thought he would revolutionize
our religion and cast off the yoke of government
so that men could be free. is now defeated and
dead and gone. You see, it was always going to
be that way. But no, the grave is not the place
of a terrible defeat. In fact, it is the place
of the single most important victory where death
is destroyed once and for all, taken from the
grip of Satan as a weapon and cast aside as a
thing we need not worry about. On the third day,
Jesus Christ rose victorious. The enemy is not
nearly as powerful as he pretends to be. In fact,
Jesus said in the Gospel, and you shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Notice, truth makes you free. Free from fear,
free from intimidation, free from fists or words
or money or guilt or social pressure or manipulation,
or you could probably do the whole alphabet.
Possibly a little struggle on Z of the things
that people will try to use against you, to mold
you, to force you into some conformity. But the
truth brings victory over all of those things.
It says you are free. I understand it also means
that you are free to hate, free to manipulate,
free to intimidate, or free to live however you
want. But understand that those are not freedoms.
They are actually chains designed to be hidden,
designed to be covered, camouflaged, to trap
you. Sometimes once and for all. Sin always advertises
liberty. I can drink. I can eat more. I can spend
more. I can collect. I can hold back. I can joke.
I can laugh it off. Sin always advertises liberty.
but delivers bondage. Galatians 6, 7 says, and
I'm just paraphrasing a teeny little bit of it,
it says, God is not deceived. I'm sorry, be not
deceived. God is not mocked. Be not deceived.
God is not. So notice this, be not deceived.
What would you be deceived about if you were
deceived? It says, be not deceived. God is not
mocked. Oh, we would be deceived thinking God
is somehow mocked. that we can do what we are
free to do, whatever we have decided to do, that
God does not want us to do, and that God will
somehow then, because he's locked in, because
he sacrificed his own son, so now he must forgive,
right? He's required to let us do whatever we
want to do, to suffer in any way that we want,
and still be God, and still be giving, and still
be kind, and still be gracious, and still forgive,
and watch as we ruin our lives and the lives
of others, exercising our supposed freedoms,
and do nothing. Oh no, be not deceived. Though
the enemy may try, all the enemies may try, don't
be deceived. God is not mocked. The bully thinks
that he can sow fear and never reap judgment.
The manipulator thinks that he can sow division
and never reap destruction. The proud think that
they can sow arrogance and never reap humiliation.
But God is not mocked. You will reap what you
sow. I remember growing up. watching boys who
acted invincible on the playground and everyone
was on like pins and needles around them not
knowing what they were going to do for sure.
But then when somebody bigger shows up or a teacher
is there or a parent or somebody just refuses
to back down, suddenly, suddenly, authority trumps
being a bully and the bully realizes that he
doesn't have a place. That's exactly how Satan
operates. Exactly. He roars while he thinks nobody
is calling on God. But the moment that the authority
of Christ enters the situation, the enemy's confidence
collapses. Do not mistake his noise for power.
In this text, then, we see the fords. Remember
those? Those are the places where you cross the
river. It's not the first time. In fact, in the
book of Judges, we saw it back in Judges 3 and
also in Judges 7. We saw two other stories in
which the fords were captured and that as people
were trying to cross, they were sorted, defeated,
whatever. God uses those strategic places to
stop his enemy. There are strategic places like
that in your life and in my life. In Judges 12,
the same tactic then is used against Ephraim.
Why? To remind us that tactics that worked once
against the enemy will also work against us if
we should become the enemy. The Bible says in
2 Peter 2 .4, For if God spared not the angels
that sinned, In other words, if God judged rebellious
angels, what makes man think that our rebellion
is somehow safe? If you rebel against God, he
is able to keep you unto that day in which you
will suffer the ultimate destruction. All the
while deluded into thinking that you can keep
right on doing the things that you're not supposed
to be doing, keep right on failing to do the
things that you are supposed to be doing, living
in unrighteousness as a bully in your own midst,
or succumbing to bullies that have come to you
to force you to do what it is they want you to
do. Romans 11 .22 says it this way, Behold, therefore,
the goodness and severity of God. See, we all
like the goodness of God. God is good. We even
say that, right? God is good all the time, all
the time. God is good. They made another song
about it fairly recently. God is good. There's
no doubt about that. We like to talk about how
good God is when we're in the midst of our troubles,
when we're facing our worries, when we're running
out of resources, when we're struggling. God
is good. We want to talk about that because we
are expecting God to do something amazing. But
Paul wrote to the Romans to remember, therefore,
the goodness and severity of God. God takes very
serious man's rebellion. God takes very serious
our willful choices that go against what he does.
You do not want to simply Think about God's goodness
and forget God's severity. The author of Hebrews
says it this way, it is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a vengeful God. That's the
world that we're living in. Out there right now,
across the United States and possibly across
the world, there are churches that are pushing
an agenda. They call themselves churches anyway,
I'm not sure they are, but they have the name
church on the wall. They are pushing an agenda
that will tell you that you can live a certain
way that is completely contrary to scripture
and that the old ideas of what it means to live
according to what the Bible says are no longer.
applicable in today's world. But God has not
changed. God is not mocked. We must remember
both the goodness and the severity of God. And
it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of a vengeful God. The God of heaven has ordered.
He didn't ask. Just as he said, let there be
light, and light said, oh, here's my opportunity,
and leapt into being, so too he has ordered us
to stand up for what is right, to be good. And
if you are a Christian, and you are not acknowledging
the fact that God who is Father, who is Creator,
who is Savior, deserves your loyal faithfulness.
And day by day, you doing what it is that God
has called you to do. In service and in giving
and love and kindness and fruits expanding through
the Holy Spirit presence in your life. If you
are not doing that, it's very probable that you
are subject to chastisement. For he chastises
those whom he loves. To wrath, for we were once
objects of wrath. Wrath is not anger, not like
God's ticked off at you. It is opposition. And
he's opposing your course of action because you
have forgotten the severity of God. Notice also
in this text that there's a lesson to be retrieved
from the idea of failed tactics. Ephraim comes
complaining to Jephthah that they were not involved
in the fighting. And see, here's what happens.
When you go out and you win, you get the spoils,
right? So even though my brother died, my cousin
died, my uncle died, whatever. Those of us who
came home from the war, we now have generational
wealth. We brought home enough spoils, extra
shields and armor and pouches and money that
people carried and whatever, that we will be
wealthy. We'll take care of all of our family
expenses. It's like a savings account for generations
to come because of the success that we've had
today fighting against the Ammonites. That's
what the Ephraimites were left out of. And when
they came and they said, we'll drop your house
on you. They thought, well, we're going to take
all the spoils that you just took from them.
And they came strong. And it probably wasn't
even hard to get people to get their armor on
because they all thought we're going to come
back rich. So they came complaining. But it had
worked before. Remember back in Judges 8, the
Ephraimites confronted Gideon with similar complaints,
same tactics. And Gideon calmed them down gently.
And that tactic worked then. But notice, it does
not work now. So they came complaining then,
and it worked. They got involved in the mop -up
operations. They got wealthy. They were successful.
Relationships were mended. But now they're complaining,
and it doesn't work. Why? Because when God is
intervening in judgment, old manipulations stop
functioning. A few months ago, you get up in
the morning, I stayed up too late, watching too
much TV, reading a little too much, whatever,
maybe writing in my case, and now it's 8 a .m.,
and there is a crisis. And I'm tired because
I stayed up too late. A few months ago, staying
up too late would have been fine. But now, today,
God is doing a thing. He's not fine anymore.
So we talk about going to bed at a reasonable
time on Saturday night. Spend a little time in
the Word and prayer before you go to bed. And
get up at a decent time on Sunday morning. Spend
a little time in Word and prayer before you come
to church. Coming ready for God to do something.
Someone in this room right now is facing the
wrath of God because they misspent last night
and this morning, not preparing themselves for
that moment at which God was going to do a powerful
thing in them. Someone in this room is being
called by God right now to preach or teach or
go as a missionary, as a servant, as a leader.
And they won't answer the call because they misspent
last night and this morning in preparation for
the time that God would call them. When I was
about to be saved, and I didn't know I was about
to be saved, I was staying up late on Saturday
night. I was getting up anywhere on Sunday morning.
I was going to church. And I went, and I was
sitting in the pew, and God's calling me. And
He said, I want you to be mine. I want you to
come into the kingdom of God. I want you to accept
me as Lord, and I will lead you. And I'm like,
well, what's that going to look like? And He
didn't tell me. He said, well, what am I going
to have to do? And He didn't tell me. He said,
well, I won't have to do anything really uncomfortable.
And He didn't say. He said, but I want you to
come. And I wasn't ready. And so I went home
making excuses. And I did not accept Christ.
And someone here will probably do that today.
Because the tactics that used to work for you,
the things that you used to do, when God is about
to do a powerful and mighty thing, they don't
work anymore. God's going to call your bluff.
Christian, you're sitting in this room saying,
I love the Lord and I want to do what God wants
me to do. I'm a saved Christian. I'm a follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Indwelt by the Spirit.
I feel the testimony of the Holy Spirit in my
heart. And I know I'm saved. So I'm good. I'm
going to heaven when I die. I'm walking with
Him now. And in your strength, and in your prosperity,
emotionally, physically, spiritually, relationships,
finances, whatever. You found ways, things. You're
spending those resources on. And then God's going
to go to do something incredible. And those manipulations,
those tactics, those things that you were doing,
they're not going to work anymore. God's going
to say, but you said you're a Lord. I was in
a Seneca Lake Baptist Camp worship meeting. And
we were singing, Made to Worship. It's basically
a song that says, this is what I was made for,
to worship the God of the universe. And that
is in some way exactly true. We were all made
for that. And I'm saying to God, I'm saying,
I'll do whatever you tell me to do, Lord. Just
tell me what it is and I'll do it. And I had
said that, I don't know, at least 20 times before
in worship. Every time the Spirit was there,
I'm just like, oh, it feels so good to be telling
the God of the universe who loves me, who is
good, right? The good God. And I'm telling him,
I'll do whatever you want me to do. And God said
to me, you say that. You say you'll do whatever
I tell you to do, but you don't do it. And I'm
like, what? Of course I do. He said, you say
that you'll do whatever I tell you to do, but
you don't do it. And then images began to flash
in my head of things that I had failed to do,
things that God had prompted me to do. You know,
those little promptings that you get. I don't
know, is that God or not? Listen, when God prompts
you in your heart and you don't know whether
it's him or not, that's on you, not on him. He's
not wearing a disguise. He doesn't have a mask.
He's not like got the thing to make his voice
sound funny. He's God. And when he speaks, you
should know who he is. My sheep hear my voice
and they follow. It's your responsibility to
know who God is. So you spend time in his word.
You spend time with him. I don't want to get
ahead of myself because I'm getting a conclusion
already. Got one more point yet. The bottom line
is you have a responsibility to be diligent and
therefore not ashamed. When the voice comes in
and you go like, I don't know, that could just
be the voice of Satan. If you don't know the
voice of Satan, you've got a problem with knowing
the voice of God. And you're going to solve that
problem by actually letting go of the tactics
and the manipulations that in the moment of your
confrontation with God, they will not work anyway.
And instead clinging to the things that God has
called us to. Tactics that worked in your flesh
yesterday, I wrote may in my notes, but I'm going
to tell you it's not may, it's will. Tactics
that worked in your flesh yesterday will fail
completely when God decides to confront you.
Some people manipulate with anger. They get angry
and the people around them start doing the things
that they want them to do. And so then the anger
becomes a coping mechanism. It's not godly. It's
not what God wants them to do. But anger is how
they get it done. We go out on the softball field
and someone will say, when you go to swing the
bat, just envision so -and -so's face on the
ball. Because we all know. Or you're on the football
field and you're like, when you go through the
line, think about the guy who did this to you.
Or whatever it is that you hate. Get angry. Because
if you get angry, you can get things done. If
you get things done, you don't have to get angry.
But if you get angry, you can get things done.
That's a fact, right? And some people use anger
that way. But I'm here to tell you that when
you face God and recognize that you've not been
doing what it is that God wants you to do, getting
it angry will not get it done. You're going to
be like, God, I'm so ticked off at myself that
I wasn't faithful, that I didn't serve you, that
I didn't witness, that I didn't share the gospel,
that I didn't give the way I should. And God's
going to say, you think you're upset? I died
for you. I bled for you. When there was no one
else. You think you're upset about it? It's too
late. Be angry if you want to be angry. You can
weep and gnash teeth for an eternity. Because
I never knew you. Some people manipulate with
silence. I was talking to a married woman. She
wasn't young. I guess she had been married for
almost 20 years. They got married young. And
she said, I haven't talked to my husband in three
days. And I said, well, why not? And she began
to rattle off his list of offenses. She was communicating
with him through silence. I found out that she
had done it many times before. The blackout was
not new. She was using silence to force him to
come to her and say, Honey, what did I do wrong?
Three days. I want to say that's great self -discipline
on her part, except it's completely ungodly.
Some manipulate with guilt. If you loved me,
you'd do this. All I hear you saying is how bad
I am. All I hear you doing, all I see you doing
is not appreciating me. looking down on me or
whatever. And the other person's like, we were
just watching, Sharon and I were just watching
a TV show last night. And the lady's like, all
you ever see in me is the bad things. And so
I've come to expect it. And then as she walked
away, the other character in the show looked
all kind of downcast. She realized that that
was true. So they were doing it to each other.
Neither one is a professing Christian in the
show. They were doing it to each other. One was
using guilt, looking down on the one to force
her to do what she wanted to do. And the other
one was recognizing that now using guilt to make
her feel bad about what she was doing. They were
both doing it. Some do it with a variety of different
kinds of emotional pressure. And they say, this
always works. Until one day, God says, no more.
And you realize that you're in a trap. You can't
do it right. Because you've had so much success
doing it wrong, you don't know how to do it right
anymore. But God knows how. And God shows how.
God teaches us in his word, in the preaching,
in the church, in the brotherhood, in the sisterhood
that's required of us as part of the church.
And I'll just be frank, it's hard at times. Because
people like me, They'll rub you the wrong way.
Not because they intend to. I love you. I don't
mean to, but I'm sloppy. I screw up. I make mistakes.
Last time I checked, we all do that. So you think
you're better than everybody else? You think
you don't make any mistakes or upset anybody
else? What methods are you using to cope with
the people that live in your life? Are you loving
them, encouraging them, teaching them, giving
to them, serving them? Because those are the
methods that God used. I guess we ought to do
it that way. A man may ignore warning signs on
his truck. Or his car for months. I do it. I
got one right now. Had one for years. He keeps
driving. That's the way it's always been. It's
probably just an oxygen sensor. And then one
day he's driving down the highway and the engine
blows. The warning was mercy. The breakdown was
judgment. Do not mistake God's patience with
you for approval of your using those same bad
tactics. Because one time he's going to come.
He's going to ask you. Who do you serve? And
you better be able to truthfully say, I serve
the God of the universe through Jesus Christ,
His Son. Or otherwise, He'll let you go where
you're going. He'll let you go where you chose
to go. Notice this. The men of Ephraim crossed
the Jordan fully armed with 42 ,000 or 42 companies
of men just to express their complaints. Once
the whole army crossed over, negotiation was
basically over. There are people who become so
invested in pride or anxiety or anger or whatever
that repentance becomes harder every step forward
that they take. My encouragement to you would
be to be careful with what spirit you march across
the river. There's also lessons from the dialect
change. You remember Shibboleth and Sibboleth?
It's funny because I'm sure when they tell this
story orally and they're people, they kind of
laugh about it. that they were able to sort them
out by whether or not they could properly say
a word. This famous test came at the river. They'd
say, now say Shibboleth. And the Ephraimites
would say, Sibboleth. What had happened was the
dialect, the language over time had grown apart.
They were no longer intermixing with the other
tribes. And so the two tribes were talking differently.
And somebody realized that the different talk,
the different actions of the other tribe made
them stand out enough that they could be singled
out. They could be known to be part of Ephraim,
not part of the Gileadites. Even though the Gileadites
were from three and four different tribes. Sometimes
compromise happens one word at a time. You grow
a little bit. Sometimes it happens one habit
at a time. One. neglected prayer at a time, one
missed church service at a time, one tolerated
sin at a time. Eventually, what once sounded
right no longer sounds right. The New Testament
says, you shall know them by their fruits. And
I'm not saying we're going to judge anybody's
salvation. I am not encouraging anybody should
judge. I would encourage you this much, this
strongly. If you know somebody who is absolutely
beyond a shadow of a doubt not living for Christ.
They're a drunkard or a beater of their spouse
or they've raped small children or something
so horrible that there's no way that that could
be a follower of Jesus. I would suggest that
you leave doubt that it's possible in some small
way that Jesus actually saved their soul and
in their stupidity after that that they're wallowing
in the mud, that they actually are saved. And
if you see somebody who is so totally and completely
living for Jesus, that guy's got to be a Christian.
Absolutely. He's so excited about the Lord. He's
serving all the time. He's got to be. I would
leave doubt that it's possible that they're not.
Because what the enemy is really good at, where
do we start? Deception. And people who join the
enemy become good at deception. And so people
who are saved but using the tactics of the enemy
will look unsaved, and people who are not saved
and using the tactics of the enemy will look
saved. It confuses the issue. That way, you can't
know for sure who your brothers and sisters are.
It's like guerrilla warfare, like in Vietnam,
or it's hard to tell who's who, right? Or Iraq.
Eventually, what once sounded right no longer
sounds right. Your speech reveals your direction.
Your habits reveal your allegiance. Your fruit
reveals your root. Years ago, if you heard somebody
from deep Appalachia, which is a mountain range
and down by Louisiana and like that, speak, you
could tell where they came from immediately.
The world thinks that London has a dialect, has
a way that they talk. But truly, it's only just
one small part. in South London that actually
talks that way, and most people are normal. In
fact, when we went to London, we couldn't hardly
find people that spoke without like an Arabic
accent or French or whatever, because everybody
we saw was from all over the world. It's truly
a melting pot. Spiritually, time shapes us, just
as time shapes language. We walk with Christ
long enough, and grace just starts to show up
in the way you talk and the way you act and in
who you are, or at least it should. Bitterness
starts leaving your tongue. You would start to
go like, well, I'm going to say something harsher
because this person really just hurt me or offended
me. And you'd be like, but that doesn't sound
like something I would say. Mercy starts shaping
your actions. You pray so often to God for forgiving
the stupid thing that you did today, earlier
today, yesterday, all week, still doing, Lord,
help me with discipline. Then when somebody else
screws up, instead of an accusatory position,
which is the position of the devil, Satan is
the Greek word, satan, it means accuser. Instead
of being like him, we find mercy immediately.
Yeah, I had a girl who she blew up on the softball
field. cussed a couple of times, ran off the
softball field and punched a tree because things
were not going the way that she wanted. Immediately
afterwards, I was coaching the team and I went
over to confront her and she said, oh, forgive
me. I'm so, so sorry. I said, well, first of
all, I want to say to you, before you ever asked
me to forgive you, I forgave you. When's the
last time somebody asked you for forgiveness
and you were able to say, I had already forgiven
you before you asked me. And if you're already
going to forgive them before they ask you, why
do they need to ask again? Where's the mercy
in God's people? Truth starts affecting your
decisions. You don't say, well, I know the Bible
says this, but you know, It's kind of strict,
right? Pastor Dan preaches about this, but he's
over the top. You know, I don't really have to
be so restrictive that I have to disallow that
from my life, even though it's clearly not something
God would want. But it's not literally named
in the Bible, right? So that particular streaming
service is not named in the Bible. So even though
that particular company is spending billions
of dollars a year on satanic worship and antichrist
teachings, black occult magic and everything
else, I can still pay them. It's only 10 bucks
a month. I mean, they can't win any souls to
Satan with that, can they? If Christianity would
start to make decisions about the truth and live
for the truth, then truth would start affecting
your decisions. But if you walk with the world
long enough, the dialect changes just the same.
You hang out with enough people who are cussing
and you'll find yourself cussing even though
you gave it up years ago. That brings us to our
conclusion then. After seeing these various lessons
in this text, I could have written three different
sermons, maybe four, maybe six. But I want to
say this to you. Sometimes there's nothing left
to do but fight and win. Look at where Jephthah
is at. He was mourning the loss of his daughter,
which was really out of his own stupidity. They've
already taken so many losses. Their armies are
not gathered. The big army of the Gileadites
is not sitting on his lawn when... The Ephraimites
show up in force and they're camped all over,
all around the valleys in the area. There are
moments in spiritual warfare where compromise
is no longer possible. You've got to grab that
demon by the throat, put his face in the dirt,
and stomp his proverbial head until he's a mush.
Now that sounds kind of gruesome, but fortunately
we're not really talking about physical violence.
But I am calling you to spiritual violence. There
are moments in spiritual warfare where compromise
is no longer possible. You cannot negotiate with
sin. You cannot make peace with the flesh. You
cannot disciple the devil. Sometimes there is
nothing left to do but stand faithful and fight
through. Ephesians 6, when it talks about the
armor of God, has this goal in mind. Having done
all to stand. What is the all? You've got a sword
of truth, a sword that belongs to the Holy Spirit.
You're given the ability to use it in mighty
combat, spiritual warfare. What is the all? We
don't armor up, put on a shield, and draw a sword
to tickle people. We don't stand dressed like
that with a sword in hand that will be very marrow
of spirit that will splice a soul open wide in
order to be able to go, well, I see your point.
No. We are called to a violent version of Christianity.
Not that it takes bombs or any violent action
against people because they are not our enemies.
But why does he clarify that our enemies are
not flesh and blood? Because they are spiritual.
And we must put our armor on, take up our shield,
slap that helmet in place, grab that sword, and
kick their living tail until they're destroyed.
Which will happen when Jesus comes again. completes
the victory. And so if you are now befriending
them or dancing around them or hoping they will
not visit your household, you are being the supremest
form of what I can politely say is an idiot.
They do not want good for you. And if they give
you any form of good, if any benefit arises out
of your explosive anger, out of your excessive
worry, out of your hoarding, out of your whatever
you're using to manipulate your environment or
just kind of like... saddling up next to them
so you associate in some positive way. If that's
the tactics you choose, you're choosing to lose.
You're choosing to be chained when you were meant
to be free. You're sticking your head in a bear
trap and then triggering it yourself. Oh, that's
what they'd love you to do. Consider the enemy.
Don't join his tactics. Don't become manipulative.
Don't become cruel. Don't become bitter. Don't
adapt sinful habits just because sinful people
use them on you. Don't expect excuses for your
lack of devotion. You must say, today I know
to whom I belong. I actually know exactly how
I got here and I know exactly where I'm going.
And when I know where I'm going, I know the way
the road will go between here and there. I will
be merciful. I will be kind. I will be good.
I will be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I will be a servant like the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have this mind in you which was in him. Don't
find other things to do with your time. You think
you're doing pretty good? You got a little excess
time? What can I fill that with? What will I
enjoy? What tastes good that isn't also sin?
What looks good that isn't also sin? What is
it exactly? Don't. Don't waste your effort thinking,
how will I use my prosperity to better myself
or my situation? Rather, use your prosperity...
for the Lord, whom you said would be in charge
of everything you have. The devil loves making
wounded people become weapons for his side. Consider
the victory. The enemy's great tactic is this,
to make faithful people think victories are actually
losses. That's what Ephraim was trying to do.
They're trying to make Jephthah think, look,
we've got you now. He whispers, the enemy whispers,
holiness costs too much. Faithfulness isn't worth
it. Church doesn't matter. Prayer doesn't help.
You're losing. You're okay just the way you are.
But the devil is a liar. Every prayer matters.
Every act of obedience matters. Every moment
of faithfulness matters. Sometimes Satan comes
sideways because he knows he cannot win directly.
If he attacked openly, the church would pray.
If he attacked openly, believers would resist.
So instead, he sends distraction, laziness, compromise,
offense, and discouragement. The answer is the
same now as it has always been. It's not going
to change. There's only one plan A and there
is no plan B. It is faithfulness, diligence,
steadfastness. The difference between a counterfeit
$50 bill and a real $50 bill from about three
feet away, nothing. You can't really tell. You
can look at them from a few inches and most people
wouldn't be able to tell the difference. They
don't circulate them unless it has a counterfeit.
They're so close. And you go to the bank and
bankers, tellers, people who handle cash all
the time, they could tell you immediately. That
is a real $50 bill. That is a fake one. They
don't need the marker. They'll still use it because
that's a policy, but they don't need it. They
can tell you, right? They can say, mm -hmm, this
one's fake. This one's real. You look at it and
go, like, how can you tell? You know how a person
who handles money all the time can tell the difference
between a real $50 bill and a fake one? Because
they handle real money all the time. Get close
to Jesus. Spend more time in the Word and in
worship. and in service, and in giving, and you
will know the difference between the voice of
God and the voice of the enemy. Because they
spend time handling the real thing, they can
know what is the real thing and what is the fake.
And I say to you that you can recognize the second
bully. You can recognize the false spirit, the
manipulator, the counterfeit freedom of sin.
And you can do that by staying close to the genuine
Christ. The closer you stay to Jesus, the easier
deception becomes to recognize, the easier compromise
becomes to reject, the easier spiritual warfare
becomes to endure. Because when you know the
shepherd's voice, the counterfeit voices become
obvious. Maybe today you've been listening to
the second bully or you've even become the second
bully. Maybe pride has crossed the river in your
heart. Maybe your spiritual dialect has started
changing and instead of talking mercy and forgiveness
and kindness and love and peace and patience,
we're talking about something else. Two men meet
who haven't seen each other for a year. One man
says, hey, did you see the Super Bowl last week?
The other man says, do you know Jesus? Which
one do you think might be saved? But which one
are you? I'm not saying that you should judge
them. They might both be saved. What I'm saying
is that someday, hey, did you see the Super Bowl
last week? Ain't going to cut it anymore. Because
there will be a day at which every knee will
bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord. And I'm going to say to you that there's
a great big part of my heart that wishes that
day was today. And if you love Jesus, you can
probably resonate with that thought. Jesus Christ
still saves, still restores, still forgives,
still strengthens his people and the truth. We'll
still make you free. I ask the praise team to
come forward at this time. Lead us in our closing
song. But as they do that, I'm going to ask you,
if the Lord's been speaking to your heart today,
if either A, you said, I realize I have not given
God proper place in my life. I don't think I'm
saved. I don't think Jesus is my Lord. I don't
think I'm one of his followers. Then right now,
before we ever start to sing in your seat, you
deal with that. You say, God, here I am. I submit
myself to you. Forgive my sins. Lead me forever.
And he'll do it. And let's say you're here today
already. You say, I'm a Christian. I know I'm
not doing something that God is calling me to.
Or I am doing something that God doesn't want
me to do. I play games. I listen to deception.
I've allowed my prosperity to spread in ways
that I'm doing certain things that are not godly,
not kingdom. Then you repent. You turn back to
the Lord. Your first love has got to be Jesus
Christ every day. If there's something else on
your heart, I need to... Home church, or I need
to be baptized, or I need to start serving in
this ministry. We've got a commission, a calling.
Somebody here said, yeah, that's me. I've called
to preach, and I need to find out. I need to
figure out what that looks like. Or I'm called
to serve as a missionary, and I need to figure
out what that looks like. Whatever it might be,
if the Lord is speaking to your heart, you say
yes to Him. And you come tell us that you said
yes to Him. So we can praise Him, and so we can
encourage you. Would you stand with me then and
sing this song? And if the Lord is working in
your heart today, you can respond. I'll meet
you up front. We'll pray together, and we'll
share. Thank you. Thank you.