The Second Bully? Judges 12:1.6

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.

Judges 12 · chapter mention

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

Judges 12 · chapter mention

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.