Capitulation After All Judges 10:17-11:11

Doing okay? Good. Okay. It happens that people

come back around. I've had a number of people

in my life that have left me. In fact, I recently

had a man who reinstituted our friendship and

we've been meeting. pretty much monthly now,

to talk and pray together, after he decided he

literally wanted nothing to do with me ever again.

And he told me as much, and I tried to explain

to him that I didn't know what I had done wrong,

and it's definitely on. Beep, beep, beep, beep,

beep. Okay. All right. Anyway, and he hung up

on me, and then I tried to call him back, and

he would never let me call him, and so I just

kind of gave up on our friendship. But of recent...

We have been meeting and praying together and

rebuilding that friendship. And I'm kind of excited

about that. And if you're on right now on Facebook,

you get to hear that. I'm not going to name your

name, but I'm grateful for that friendship. It's

happened a number of other times. We've had people

in the church who left the church, disgruntled,

and then got out there and life went really awry.

It didn't go well at all. And then they came

back. I know one woman that did it three times.

She was in the church. She left the church because

she got a job and got a van or her health got

right. I thought everything was good, so she

left. She didn't really need God at that point.

And then she lost her van, lost her health, lost

her job. It was all falling apart. She was in

the hospital for like three weeks. Come out of

the hospital, first thing she did, come back

to church. And over a space of about a year,

her life got all back in line. She got a van,

got a job, got her health back in line. She had

a mysterious health condition that went away.

And then she was in the church for a while. And

then a family member of hers had a time commitment.

It was kind of lined up. And she's like, well,

I want to be there. And I'm going to start doing

that instead of coming to church. And overnight,

it all fell apart again. And it's still falling

apart as we speak right now. But she came back

twice and had it fall apart three times. It happens

that people come back around. I've had folks

who come to me and say, you know, leave me alone.

I don't want anything to do with it. I want to

hear about the gospel. I had one friend of mine

who was a professing atheist, and he didn't want

to hear nothing about God. And I waited two and

a half years, and I wrote him a letter. He said,

don't talk to me about it. So I wrote him a letter.

He wound up accepting Christ. He's still got

a long way to go, maybe compared to biblical

standard or whatever, but he has accepted Christ

and professes to be a Christian. It happens that

people come back around. It also happens that

there are things called archetypes. Do you know

what that means, an archetype, if I say an archetype?

An archetype is a story or a situation. or it

can even be a person, right? That then other

stories, situations where people tend to follow

that model. I submit to you that the story that

we're going to hear today has that trait to it,

that it is an archetype. But the question is,

which comes first? This story as an archetype

or did the archetype already exist and this story

follows the archetype. So pay attention as you

go and you can make that decision for yourself

and then maybe I'll try to sway you a little

bit in the conclusion. Okay? So we've been reading

from the book of Judges and somebody might take

a breath right now and hold it while I'm talking

and you might say a little amen or who are you?

Yep, I'm here. Say something. Cough. Right? But

make some kind of noise as we go now to Judges

Judges 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10. Amen. I'm not going to Judges chapter

Judges 10 · chapter mention

10 on that. I need something. Come on, give me

something. All right, here we go. Judges chapter

Judges 10 · chapter mention

10. That's better. I'll take it. Thank you, Haley.

You contributed at least 50 % of the effort.

Where was Kashawn? Kashawn, were you slacking

off? You're usually my loudest person. What?

You know, I did that like four times during preparation,

and it's Judges chapter 10. I told Sherry, it's

Judges 10 · chapter mention

funny, because I'll go to make the slide, and

I'll put numbers. I don't know why I was doing

that. It is Judges chapter 10, very clearly,

Judges 10 · chapter mention

okay? Ignore the slide for that purpose. I will

fix it before it goes to the podcast. All right,

so it's Judges chapter 10. Last week, we read

Judges 10 · chapter mention

in verse 16 this beautiful kind of phrase where

they're suffering again, right? They cry out

to God, and God says, nope, I'm not going to

help you, all right? And then right at the end

of that, it says that God... could not, it wearied

God. God could not stand for them to suffer any

longer. And so they, and so they would get their

intervention, right? So in Judges chapter 10,

Judges 10 · chapter mention

beginning of verse 17, so the implication is

that they would get their intervention. Now we're

going to read about the intervention. Judges

10, 17 says as follows. Then the sons of Ammon,

ah, we know something about them, don't we? Were

summoned and they camped in Gilead. And the sons

of Israel gathered together and camped in Mizpah.

Now Mizpah is an interesting city. It was on

the east side of the Jordan, in the terrain called

Gilead. There is another Mizpah. So later, if

you're reading your Bible and you see another

Mizpah, there are two of them in the same kind

of region of the world. This one is located on

the east side of the Jordan, kind of a mountain

place where people would go to be safe from invaders.

And it's where he originally lived. The people,

the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, Who

is the man who will begin to fight against the

sons of Ammon? He shall become head over all

the inhabitants of Gilead. So they started talking

about who could be the guy. Who's going to be

the general, the king, whatever. Then we get

into Judges chapter 11. Now this is the story

Judges 11 · chapter mention

of Jephthah. And we mentioned last week how Jephthah

is one of the most interesting characters to

be a judge. And you're about to find out why.

11 .1 says this. Jephthah the Gileadite was a

valiant warrior. This guy could duke it out with

the best of them. But he was the son of a harlot,

so his mother was a prostitute. And Gilead was

the father of Jephthah. Now this is not that

original Gilead that the region is named after,

but a guy named Gilead that lived, that was his

dad, and he had a bunch of sons, right? Gilead's

wife bore him sons, and when his wife's son grew

up, They drove Jephthah out and said to him,

You shall not have an inheritance in our father's

house, for you are the son of another woman.

So the biological full brother said, No, we're

not going to let you have anything. You've got

to go. And they kicked him out. Verse 3. So Jephthah

fled from his brothers and lived in the land

of Tob. And worthless fellows gathered themselves

about Jephthah, and they went out with him. It

came about after a while that the sons of Ammon

fought against Israel. Okay, so now we're caught

back up. So that was like a little bit of a flashback,

right? Going back to how Jephthah got where he

was. Now we're back to where it says, who is

the man? All right, so verse four. It came about

after a while that the sons of Ammon fought against

Israel. When the sons of Ammon fought against

Israel, the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah

from the land of Tob. So they're going to go

out and find him. They kick him out, right? But

now they're going to be like, well, we need somebody.

Maybe he's the somebody. And they go looking

for Jephthah. Okay. Verse 6. And they said to

Jephthah, Come and be our chief, that we may

fight against the sons of Ammon. Then Jephthah

said to the elders of Gilead, Did you not hate

me and drive me from my father's house? So why

have you come to me now when you are in trouble?

Some really packed stuff in there if you listen,

right? So Jephthah. He doesn't just say, oh sure,

this is what I wanted all along. He says, look,

you kicked me out. You literally made me flee

from my life. You wanted nothing to do with me.

And now you want me to lead you in this very

important fight? So why have you come to me now

when you are in trouble, he says. The elders

of Gilead said to Jephthah, for this reason we

have now returned to you. Notice it's returned,

not turned. For this reason we have now returned

to you. that you may go with us and fight with

the sons of Ammon and become head over all the

inhabitants of Gilead. So Jephthah said to the

elders of Gilead, If you take me back to fight

against the sons of Ammon and the Lord gives

them up to me, will I become your head? So he's

putting conditions on it. So it's not just, I'll

lead you now, but I become the boss. So I'm going

to be king or ruler over all the land. They say,

the Lord is witness between us. Surely we will

do as you have said. Then Jephthah went with

the elders of Gilead, and the people made him

head and chief over them. And Jephthah spoke

all his words before the Lord at Mizpah. And

we'll see what that's about next week. So notice

that they kick him out protecting their inheritance.

They were going to lose something if they shared

it with Jephthah. And I submit to you that that

is a motivation for people in the world. People

do that. Then they come to a place where they're

in need of a solution. And they come begging,

even trading, not just what he would have gotten

in the first place that was part of the inheritance,

but now essentially everything. They're trading

him everything. Remember, a king will take your

sons, essentially as slaves, into his army. A

king will tax you to pay for weapons of war.

A king will rule over everything. So they're

not just giving him what he was going to inherit.

as being a son of Gilead, they're giving him

literally everything in order for him to come

and lead them. Because why? Because in their

minds, they were going to lose everything, right?

So there is an inheritance of the world. Well,

what does that look like? The world thinks that

they have the freedom to do whatever they want

to do, right? That they can sneak and do things

behind somebody's back and that that person will

never know or that they won't have to answer

to anybody. They can lie or cheat and steal.

And as long as nobody ever saw it, it didn't

do any damage. And that's just not true. That's

not the reality of it. But that's what the world

generally believes. And to them, that is an inheritance.

And if you come up into their life and start

living life with them and trying to help, and

you're trying to like, well, I want to be a better

person. Let's not me and you go shoplift, let's

say. But I want to be a better person. I want

to be a godly person. I want to be somebody that's

good. I want to call you to be the best that

you can be. And you try to be that person in

their life, they want to get rid of you because

you're stealing what they perceive as their inheritance.

Are you following this logic? They think they

have something. Or that they're going to have

something. And they don't want you to interfere

with what it is that they think they have. For

example, if you're a person that doesn't drink,

and they go out and drink all the time. I can't

tell you the number of times after I had given

up drinking before I got saved that I was expressly

not invited to parties because there was going

to be considerable drinking there. And they knew

that I had given it up, even though I wasn't

saved yet. Now, as a Christian, guess how many

parties were there going to be drinking that

I've ever been invited to? One. And I was invited

because I conducted the wedding, and then they

had alcohol at the reception. So pastors, as

you can imagine, don't get invited to a lot of

places. And I submit to you that if you are overtly

living as a Christian, if you are being a good

person, that anywhere where people are planning

to do bad things, They're only going to invite

you along if they think that they can corrupt

you, if they can get you to do the things, or

at least accept that the things that they're

doing are acceptable. So the world pushes away

the church, pushes away God's people, and even

God. That's just the reality of it. But frequently

there is a capitulation. A capitulation is when

you come back and you come under the terms of

the person in question. So for example, if an

army is defeated, they have to capitulate when

they surrender. We'll surrender all our weapons,

we'll become your slaves, or we'll give you all

our lands, or we'll pay payments going forward,

reparations, whatever. When they are defeated,

they have to capitulate to the demands of the

person that defeated them. So frequently there

is a capitulation. People in the world want what

the church has. People look at the church and

go, I need what they have. I need some kind of

peace in my life, or I need some kind of, maybe

I need some money. I need a safe place or whatever.

And they come to the church saying, help me.

And they want the church to pay for their situational

improvement. So sometimes they come to the church

because the church is doing okay and they want.

And generation after generation after generation.

At one point in time, we were on Main Street

and I did a calculation. I think it would probably

still hold true today. At that time, unemployment

in the nation was like 12 or 14%. It was over

double digits. And we surveyed our body. And

in the previous three years, we had not had a

time where people did not have employment. Every

able -bodied individual that wanted to work in

our church had employment except ever like maybe

one and for a very short period of time. Like

it would be a couple weeks or something. And

then they'd be working again. Even though the

nation had 14 % unemployment, New Heights had

like 0 % to 1 % unemployment. You follow? And

so people are like... When we were down in Georgia

the one time we went, and at the beginning of

the service, they announced all the politicians

that were there. They had 1 ,000 people in service,

and they announced all the politicians that were

attending their church that Sunday. You know

why they were there? Because that might get them

votes. And the church has people. And the world

over, the church has people. And if you want

to go where people are on a Sunday morning, one

way to do that is to go to church. If you want

to have relationships, go be with people. If

you don't want to have relationships, then push

the people off. But sometimes people realize

they want something the church has, and they

say, pay my situational improvement, and they

capitulate, at least for a time. Sometimes there's

a capitulation specifically to God's people.

They want what God's people have, and they say,

give it to me. Please help me. Help me with food.

Help me with my electric bill. Help me with clothing.

Help me with whatever. And they ask the church

people to provide what they need. Sometimes that's

in the form of prayer. Like, I don't think if

I pray, God's even going to answer. But would

you please pray for me? Because, you know, if

there is a God and if the church is who the Bible

says the church is, then if you pray, maybe something

cool will happen and I need something cool to

happen. And they start thinking that ultimately

they need something more than what is available.

So it's not just about clothing, food, etc. That

there is a transcendent need that they have and

the church seems to have it and the people of

the church seem to have it. They have peace when

they're in struggles or they have joy that outlasts

difficulty and so on. Sometimes there's a capitulation

to God. They realize that whatever it costs to

surrender to God, what God is offering is more.

And that's the truth. That's the kind of capitulation

that the Bible calls for, that we come to God

on his terms. They call out in earnest to God

for actual salvation. They do this in foxholes.

They do it in dark alleys. They do it in hospital

beds. The vast majority of people that get saved

do not do it walking forward in a church service.

They may eventually walk forward into her service

and kind of cement it down and publicly tell

people, look, I'm living for Jesus now. But they

may get saved reading a Gideon Bible in a hotel

wondering, whatever am I doing with my life?

And they come to God on his terms and there's

a capitulation to God. They realize that what

they need is not a resource per se, which means

they can't buy it, can't trade it, can't steal

it. They need something that God is offering

that they can't get. And so they capitulate to

God. The gospel is about the need for capitulation.

It's not unfair terms of surrender. God is asking

you to come to him on his terms. Now, the rub

might be this. At the moment of capitulation,

sometimes at the moment that that person is about

ready to surrender, sometimes we feel kind of

ashamed or even cautious because we want so bad

for their decision to be genuine. Somebody's

hurting really bad and we want them to come to

God and we want that salvation to be real. You

don't really need to just say some words today

or whisper a prayer or even shed tears. You really

need real salvation, connection with the real

God of the universe. And so this is what happens.

Somebody comes to us absolutely broken. And instead

of sharing the gospel, we share the resources

that we think will help, right? Hoping that at

some point in time, we'll get around to sharing

the gospel. I was sitting at the life station

back when my office upstairs, Janet was next

to mine. I had a woman who was staying in a hotel

down in Perrysburg and she called me and her

life had literally blown up. She was struggling

with addiction. She was in a hotel. She was about

to not have enough money to pay for another night.

They didn't have food. Her kids were going to

go to Children's Protective Services because

she was about to go homeless. She had health

concerns and debatably couldn't even work, and

she couldn't get food stamps for the Senate.

And basically the list was everything was wrong.

And I proceeded to share with her what resources

we could offer, and then I shared the gospel.

And you know what she did? Over the phone, she

prayed to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

And I said, listen, I don't know that God's going

to provide you with everything that you're asking

for. I don't know that that's going to happen.

But what I do know is if your decision is genuine,

if you're coming to the Lord, you become his

child, then the outcome will be what it is that

God wants it to be. And it will be what's best

for you somehow. Can you imagine that people

come to those situations because that's what's

actually best for them? The details, the kind

of dark details, if you will, of Josh's story

that he didn't share this morning are like that.

We've seen some things. Most of you have probably

seen something like that where you get to that

place where you're hurting and that is what brings

you to church. That's what brings you to God.

It's what brings you to the Bible. To realize

there is something more. When I was 25 years

old, I was asking myself, what on earth? This

can't be it. I had a wife. I had a kid. A kid

on the way. A house with a great big mortgage.

Two cars with loans. Working 60 hours a week.

Not enjoying my job. I didn't hate my job, but

I didn't enjoy it. And I'm like, that's it? So

I've beaten life, and this is the great victory

lap. From here on out, I'm going to spend the

next 50 years and then die in a hospital bed

with two in my nose like everybody else, right?

And I'm going to do this. This is what I'm going

to do for 50 years. And I thought, it can't be.

And so I started looking for something that was

not a resource, and I wound up finding out that

God was real, that Jesus was real, that Jesus

had truly paid the price. But I went looking

for it. I had to go looking for it because there

was nobody in my life, not one. I found out later

there were other Christians, but there was only

one person in my life who was a Christian. And

rather than sharing the gospel with me, she was

just inviting me to go to church, which was good.

And that's where I wound up getting saved. But

it's not what we're called to. On that phone

call, she prayed. We cried together. Now, I don't

know the full end of her story. I do know that

her situation got a lot better and that she got

in church and began to serve God to the best

of her ability and so on. But here's what was

amazing. When I got off the phone, Janet. who

had been working her desk, she had stopped. Stopped

moving paper. Stopped typing on her computer.

And she said, that was amazing. And I said, what

was amazing about it? She said, so many people,

when somebody comes in there hurting, so many

people just like talk about, well, we can't pay

your rent. I'm sorry, we don't have those resources.

We just tell them what you can't do and don't

share the gospel. And I thought, why would that

be amazing? Even then, I thought, why would that

be amazing? And then I'll tell you that I have

myself perpetrated the very crime that I'm talking

about at least a dozen times as I was preparing

this message. I realized people really need the

Lord. I'm going to be honest with you. People

don't really need you to pay their rent. People

really don't need you to provide food. They really

don't need you to hold their hand. They really

need the Lord. Because eventually, if you provided

food for them for every single day for the rest

of their life and they never need food, they're

going to face the judgment and face God, after

which they will not need food. And if they go

to hell, they'll never get food. And if they

go to heaven, they won't need it because God

will provide literally everything for them. So

the ultimate need is what we need eternally.

So in doing what we are doing, we are doing the

same thing. We are afraid to give up the outcome

fully into his hands. So we are protecting like

our inheritance instead of sharing it. Like we're

making it out like deathbed and foxhole conversions

are somehow unfair or unrealistic or unreliable,

except that I will tell you right now that some

of the people in this room have foxhole conversions

that are faithfully living for the Lord. They

realize I desperately need God. I can't do this

without him. And they came to him and yet they

stayed. I had a brother who served alongside

me for decades, had pastored in like a dozen

churches, and he had a foxhole conversion. He

accepted Christ in a military situation that

he thought he was going to die. And then he came

home and realized that his wife had accepted

Christ while he was gone. And then the two of

them slowly worked it out that they were serving

God together. And he went on to become an ordained

minister. Was his foxhole conversion not good

enough? No. Whatever your situation is, sometimes

people just need to get to a situation where

they will capitulate. And as a people, we need

to capitulate to God this, that he can save when

he wants to save. And your words out of your

mouth when people are hurting the worst should

include the gospel. The world must come to the

church, we think. The church is the bride of

Christ and we stand with Him and we rise with

Him and He lives in us. And so eventually they're

going to come to us, right? So we don't have

to go out and try to find them. We don't have

to be ready to share all the time, right? Because

it's all going to work out. No. We are commanded.

In fact, we are taking some part of the gospel

for our own use and keeping it for our own safety

if we're not willing to tell people. The next

time somebody tells you they're hurting, I want

you to hear at least my voice, I prefer God's

voice if possible, in the back of your mind saying,

do they know Christ? Can you imagine? If you're

a Christian in this room, I want you to think

about a recent hardship that you faced. Now imagine

facing that hardship without the help of God

at all. That's what they're doing if they're

not saved. Right? And we have to be ready then

to surrender our inheritance, what we think is

ours, even if it's our safety, our freedom, our

cost, whatever it is, your comfort, your favorites,

your benefit, your best outcome. Lay it all on

the line. When you come back, after you get done

with a month or a year of not being willing to

talk to people first thing about Jesus, after

you get done with that, you're going to come

back to God and capitulate. That's what's going

to happen. So what does it look like for those

who won't come? People are declining. Declining

God. Declining the church. Declining the gospel.

Pushing away. Going on with their own methods.

I'm good enough. I'll be okay. And there's a

special breed of won't. There are those who fake

come. There are those who will say the words.

Maybe even sing the songs. Do the work of the

Lord. The Bible says this is the worst case scenario.

Fake capitulation, faking coming to God under

his terms is worse because of a few reasons.

So the first one is the danger of self -deception.

You can think that you're saved, and then suddenly

you realize, uh -oh, all these things, and I

really never had it. Not everyone who says unto

me, Lord, Lord, Jesus says, but those who do

the work of my Father who is in heaven. There's

the lukewarm paradox. In Revelation 3, it talks

about being lukewarm. Jesus said, I know your

deeds that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish

you were either one or the other because you

are lukewarm. Gap. I am about to spit you out

of my mouth. A cold person feels the chill and

seeks heat. A lukewarm person is comfortable

in the compromise and feels no need to change.

I profess Christ. I pray to accept Jesus. I don't

really need to do anything. But the truth is,

if you didn't really accept him, then you don't

really need to do anything. But if you really

did accept him, then your faith without works

is dead. It doesn't really mean anything. You're

just making it up. It's fake. And fake is the

worst possible way of saying no to God. In fact,

God talks about a higher level of accountability.

The servant who knows the master's will, he says,

and does not get ready will be beaten with many

blows, but the one who does not know and does

things deserving punishment will be beaten with

few blows. In other words, if you're faking being

a Christian, the punishment that you're going

to receive when the time comes is going to be

worse from those who said, I want nothing to

do with God. That's pretty bad stuff. And Jesus

said it. 2 Peter 2 .21 says, It would have been

better for them not to have known the way of

righteousness than to have known it and to turn

their backs on the sacred command. God wants

people to capitulate, to come to him. He doesn't

want you to fake it. He wants you to say, okay,

God, here I am. I surrender. I throw off my arms.

I throw off my abilities. I realize I could do

a lot in my life. I could change a lot of things.

And any a lot that I'm going to do, any things

that I'm going to change, I now want to do for

you and in you and the way that you would have

me to do it. In the age of grace where we now

live, Fake capitulation looks like a functional

life. People do pretty good. They might do well

financially. They're kind of expecting it. They're

believing that things are going to go okay because

they're faking salvation. But in Revelation 6,

it talks about right at the end, right before

it's all going to be over, the people who are

not... have not followed God and not accepted

the gospel, right? And they cry, let the mountains

just fall on us. God is punishing the people

because they have no salvation because they're

not truly his people. And it's horrible. People

have died from diseases and terrible things are

going on. And instead of them repenting and turning

to God and say, okay, God, I surrender. I capitulate.

I'm willing. Instead of doing that, they say,

just let the mountains fall on us. See, so the

bottom line is there comes a moment in time.

where the rebel simply loses the war. The fake

capitulator loses the war and also the false

hope that they've spent their entire life building.

Lost people who just keep pushing God off, pushing

God off, they're going to be like, oh, this sucks.

I should have listened. But people who faked

it their whole lives are going to be like, this

really sucks. Not only should I have listened,

I actually said I did listen. Not only have I,

not followed, I've been building a life pretending

I was following. So let me ask you just real

quick, and I'm going to fill in the gaps here,

just make sure we all have the same answers.

What are God's terms? So here's a breakdown.

It's simple. There is an exclusivity of the path.

The path to God is just one. It is through Jesus

Christ. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth

and the life. No one comes to the Father except

through me. Acts 4 .12 says, God knew that people

needed to be saved, and even Moses and Noah and

David, who as far as we know were all saved,

probably, anyway, they were all saved by the

sacrifice that Jesus would eventually make. They

basically said to God, I capitulate. Whatever

way you want to do it, I surrender. And God said,

okay. Checkmark Jesus. I'll give you Jesus. I'll

give you the righteousness of Jesus. Right?