Might or Might Not (Judges 5:24-31)

We pray. We're going to continue today in our

series in the book of Judges. Before we go there,

we have a couple of illustrations, a couple of

things I want to share with you to make sure

that we're kind of thinking along the same lines

as we read the text. It's not a very long text

today. In fact, in my practice, in my preparations

of being here, it's really not a very long sermon

overall. I hope that remains true for you and

it remains still the power of God to work in

our lives. So that is what the gospel contains

and I pray that this sermon will be in line with

it. So the word dynamic. has a noun. And the

noun means a force or system of forces that causes

change or movement or the ways in which people

or things interact. So a dynamic is a thing that

impacts other things or people. It changes the

way we interconnect with each other. It causes

change or movement in our environment. And so,

for example, if I say... A dynamic might be I'm

walking down off the stage and I push the chair

back toward Caitlin. Caitlin touches the chair.

So the dynamic is every time probably I walk

down off the stage and push the chair toward

Caitlin, she's going to respond in a certain

way. So the dynamic would be the fact that my

pushing the chair toward her causes her to respond

in a certain way. That's the dynamic. So as we

look at the text today, That's what we're going

to look for. We're going to look for some dynamics,

some things that exist in the text that change

our understanding or that affect the way we relate

to other people and the way we respond to life

in general. It impacts us toward a certain movement.

Let me give you a couple of illustrations. So

Ariana, who is 11 years old and has been able

to tell time for probably about eight years,

picked up Zoe's watch this morning, which Zoe

had forgot to look at and left at our house.

And she picked it up and she said, there's something

wrong with this watch. She said, I don't think

it's set correctly. It says the time is 9501.

There's no way. I mean, there's no such thing

as 9501, she said. And she was really struggling.

She had a look on her face like she was absolutely

baffled and amazed that any watch actually could

show the time 9501. So Sherry's like, what are

you talking about? She walked up and she grabbed

the watch and she held it upright. And she said,

it's 1056. You're looking at it upside down.

And it was indeed 1056, and that's what Time

the Watch said, but Ariana was looking at it

upside down. So as we look at the text today,

it would be possible to come through to the text

with your own perceptions, thinking of it the

way you might like to think of it because of

your current situation, thinking of it the way

you might like to think of it because of things

that have happened to you in the past. Thinking

of it the way you might like to think of it in

light of the fact the person sitting next to

you is distracting you, the person sitting next

to you is tempted, or the person sitting next

to you thinks differently than you do and you're

wondering what they'll think. Thinking of it

in a way, I wish so -and -so were here because

they really need to hear this today. All of those

kinds of things. And I submit to you that all

of those kinds of things will not allow you then

to see the dynamics that we're going to point

out in the text. So I need you to commit to come

to it. Open bare. Open your heart and just say,

okay, God, work in me however you want to today.

I know I may or may not have the best understanding

of the universe, the best understanding of who

you are. Even if I'm saved, even if I have Christ

in me, I am willing today to be influenced by

this text and by God's working in me. Also, another

illustration of the dynamic, if you will, that

can happen is I have a dear friend of mine who

is a chemical engineer. I didn't ask him if I

could share this illustration, but I have shared

it in the past, and we joked about it, and so

it's not really a problem. His name is James.

Some of you know him, James Lynch. He's been

around. He served as the judge for Grand Prix

a couple of years. He's involved in the Christian

Games Ministry through New Heights and like that.

James is an extremely intelligent individual.

He's been a chemical engineer for... over 20

years, approaching 30 years. I don't actually

know how long it's been now. He was going to

retire about five years ago and just decided

not to because that seemed boring and he wasn't

really ready to live on what he could make in

retirement or whatever, so he decided to stick

with it. James went to the University of Toledo

in the chemical engineering program. He completed

his degree in five and a half years, which is

about how long it takes to complete a chemical

engineering degree, so that was actually pretty

impressive. went into chemical engineering, has

been there for a long time. So he was sitting

in my house, we were playing a game, and he picked

up a calculator and he wanted to calculate, divide

a large number by a smaller number to figure

out what it was, and it was a little too big

of numbers for him to do it in his head. And

so he picked the calculator up and he put in

the numbers, about seven digits long, and he

pushed a button, and then he tried to put in

the second number, and he said, something's wrong

with this calculator. And he did it like five

times. He put in the number, and he pushed a

button, and he put in the next number. He said,

every time I push the divide key, It gives me

an answer. You can't do that. You can't have

a divide. You can't say it was like 95 ,750 or

something. You can't push the divide key and

get an answer. I haven't told it what to divide

it by yet. And he goes, oh, wait, that's not

the divide key. That's the square root button.

So he was pushing the divide key. It looks a

little bit like a long division sign. For those

of us who remember what a long division sign

looks like, kids don't even use that anymore,

really. But it looks a little bit like it. And

he was pushing the square root button, not the

divide key. Now, he would have thought that he

could never make that mistake. James had done,

by that point in time in his life, more math

than probably you or I will ever do, unless you

also go into a career like accounting or chemical

engineering, and then even then, more and complex

trigonometry and so on, many variables, all kinds

of complicated things. But it took him five times

to realize that he was pushing the square root

button. So what I'm saying to you with regards

to this text is, as much as you think you know,

as educated as you have become, whatever your

IQ may be. We could have somebody in this room

whose IQ is over 160. Whatever it may be, I'm

asking you to come simply. Come to the text that

we're going to look at simply today. Look for

the things that are in the text that, specifically,

this is the nature of our sermon, that are designed

to change the way we interact with other people

and the way we respond to God. All right, here

we go. Beginning in Judges chapter 5, we're beginning

Judges 5 · chapter mention

in verse 24. Could you give me an amen? Somebody

say amen. Somebody say hallelujah. All right,

Judges chapter 5. This is the word of God. Whatever

Judges 5 · chapter mention

I get wrong or right from here on out, God will

change your heart and your life if you allow

him to. Judges chapter 5 verse 24 says, Most

Judges 5:24

blessed of women is Jael, the wife of Heber,

the Kenite. Most blessed is she of women in the

tent. And so we know who Jael is. For those of

us who have been looking at this past for a while,

for the rest of us, I'm going to fill it in.

Jael was a Kenite, a woman who was a nomadic

woman. They moved their tents around and lived

in different places. And it so happened that

they had set up their little community near the

battle. And they were in the vicinity. And when

Sisera, the general who was in charge of the

enemy forces, fled the battle, he left his chariots

behind and he was on his own, he fled to the

tent of Jael. Long story short, Jael... kind

of lulled him into a sense of false security,

and then killed him with the tent peg. And now

she's said to be most blessed. If you remember

last week, we talked about the word blessed and

how it kind of has two meanings in the Hebrew.

And the first is that a person blesses God, right?

So we do the things that will honor the Lord.

We praise him. So the worship that we just sang,

when you praised God, I hope you did. in your

heart, in your mind, with your mouth out loud,

that kind of thing, you're focused on God, that

blesses the Lord. That is giving the things that

the Lord would have us to give to him if your

heart is in the right place. When God blesses

us, it is that we receive either resources, status,

whatever. So our great blessing, we receive the

Holy Spirit, his presence, his promise of eternal

redemption. But you can be blessed financially,

you can be blessed in your health, you can be

blessed relationally, you can be blessed in your

situation, you can be blessed with courage, and

so on. So now we have Jael, who is this woman

living in a tent. I want to say to you that she

felt cursed, not blessed, when Sisera showed

up on her doorstep. But now she is most blessed

of women who live in the tent. That's a pretty

awesome thing to say. But notice that it's not

all women. The Israelites were not nomadic anymore.

They predominantly lived in the promised land.

They lived in houses that were blessed to them

by God. They weren't built by them. The crops

weren't initially grown by them. The seed is

not theirs. It was the Canaanites, and they were

all taken from them. They were blessed with their

houses. But Jael is a woman who lives in a tent,

and now it is said that she is most blessed of

women who live in tents. Verse 25. He asked for

water. Talking about Sisera the general, he asked

for water. She gave him milk in a magnificent

bowl. She brought him curds, excuse me. The magnificent

bull, that word magnificent there means fit for

a king. It's a Hebrew word that means fit for

a king. So she brought him milk that was fit

for a king. I think that's interesting because

that means that Sisera was getting something

that was bigger, better, fancier than what he

was worthy of. Even though Sisera was an awesome

dude, he was a general over an army that could

have, should, by all rights, should have ruled

that region for decades more to come, as long

as he lived at least. But he received his milk

in a bowl fit for a king, not fit for a general.

And that happens to people sometimes. It is the

kind of thing that people want sometimes. They

want to be elevated. They want to be lifted up

beyond what they are capable of. They want to

be praised beyond what they are worthy of. He

received milk in a bowl fit for a king. She reached

out her hand for the tent peg and her right hand

for the workman's hammer. Then she struck Sisera.

She smashed his head, and she shattered and pierced

his temple. And so this is all about how blessed

Jael is. And I submit to you, there is a conflict

taking place between two types of people. We

talked about that a little bit last week. We're

not going to go heavily into it, but you'll see

it a little bit when we talk about the dynamics

that are occurring in the text. She shattered

and pierced his temple, verse 27. Between her

feet he bowed, he fell, he lay. Between her feet

he bowed, he fell. Where he bowed, there he fell,

dead. Now this is poetic. It's not the telling

of the history exactly the way it went. But you

can see, in fact, this is actually one of the

greatest Old Testament examples of parallelism,

or what we call step -up parallelism. So in other

words, when it says, between her feet he bowed,

he fell, he lay, that's a statement. And then

you see it repeated, essentially. Between her

feet he bowed, he fell. Between, or where he

bowed, there he fell, dead. And so it is escalated

to the point he fell, and now he fell not just

down, but out. And then 28. Out of the window

she looked and lamented. Now this is a different

person, because tents don't have windows. In

that day, anyway, they didn't have windows. Out

of the window she looked and lamented. To lament

is to be sad. Oh, woe is me, woe is us. This

is a difficult situation. The mother of Sisera

threw the lattice. And so now we see that she

is in the fine. building somewhere, probably

where he would be coming home to or near where

he lived, looking out, lamenting. She is sorrowful.

She's looking through the lattice in her fine

palace. Now, she's got more initially than anything

that Dale has, right? She's got a big, beautiful

house. She's got windows to look out. She's got

a lattice. She has a son who is a general. Dale

did not have that. They are wealthy from all

the spoil that they've taken for decades. Dale

did not have that. But now today, even though

she has everything she has, she is sorrowful.

She is lamenting. She is weeping visibly. Why,

she says, why does his chariot delay in coming?

Why do the hoofbeats of his chariots tarry? In

other words, she's begun to realize something

terrible has happened to Sisera even before any

news has reached her. And she is lamenting, why?

Why is his chariot not coming? Why? Why are the

hoofbeats not heard? Her wise princesses would

answer her. Indeed, she repeats her words to

herself. Are they not finding? Are they not dividing

the spoil? In other words, so good is the spoil,

so good is the riches that they've taken. That's

why he's delayed because they're still dividing

out how awesome all the riches that they've stolen.

That's their suggestion is why it's true. Are

they not finding? Are they not dividing the spoil?

A maiden, two maidens for every warrior. So they're

going to take women. From the fallen Israelites,

they're going to take their wives, their young

women, right? And men are going to bring home

one, maybe two even, maybe two women, a maiden,

two maidens for every warrior. To Sisera, a spoil

of dyed work. So in other words, cloth that's

been made very fine, that's going to go to Sisera

the general. Dyed work of double embroidery on

the neck of the spoiler. So the idea is that

he'll take it on his neck. He'll be decorated

by the great things that he has taken. Verse

31. Thus let all thine enemies perish, O Lord.

And I submit to you that that's a big statement,

let all the enemies of the Lord perish. But the

thus packs a lot of power in that statement.

Thus is saying in this way, just like this, let

all thine enemies perish, O Lord. But let those

who love him, the him is capitalized because

it's God, but let those who love him be like

the rising of the sun in its might. And the land

was undisturbed for 40 years. And so the end

of the chapter is the great success that the

Israelites needed. A land undisturbed so that

they could prosper themselves for 40 years. That's

longer than any period of peace they have thus

far had in the book of Judges. Thus let all thine

enemies perish, O Lord, but let those who love

him be like the rising of the sun in its might.

Okay, there's a couple of things I want you to

see in here. Remember, we're looking for dynamics

that will change the way we interact with other

people and the way we respond as a people. The

first one that I see in the text is when the

author says, let all the enemies perish thus.

In this way, just like this. Not just to perish,

but to perish in a certain way. To his mom, Sisera's

mom, And their country, Sisera, just faded away.

They weren't there in the tent. They weren't

there at the moment of his destruction. They

don't know about the spike or the hammer or Jael

at all. They don't know about his flight. They

don't know about him leaving behind the chariots.

They don't know about the God -empowered destruction

of the army. They don't know about any of that.

They just know that Sisera no longer comes. Sisera

has come so many times before with much spoil.

He has taken many men's wives. He has taken many

women from the people that he has defeated and

dyed cloth and riches and paid for many more

chariots, perhaps. Their question is, why this

great loss after so many victories? The people

in his kingdom in his realm, that have prospered

by his previous victories, are asking themselves,

why, how could he lose? Why has he lost after

so much time? They thought Sisera was not able

to be defeated. To God's people, we know what

caused it. We look now back historically after

thousands of years, and we see that he is destroyed,

he is defeated. By God's intervention. It's akin

to asking God to forever be clear. To forever

divide clearly. Those who have gone into destruction.

Those who are refusing to receive God's grace.

Those who are refusing to receive God's love.

Those who refuse to love Him back, though He

loves them immensely. Those who seek for other

definitions of what it means to be a good person.

What it means to love. What it means to be kind.

What it means to be gracious. And rather, define

for themselves a method by which they will live.

And the writer of this song, calls out that God

would always be very clear. He can do so because

God is clear. He can do so because God is making

it clear that God will side with His people and

ultimately He will stand against those who are

against Him. We too were once objects of wrath.

Which means if you're here today and you are

a saved believer, if you know Christ personally,

if you know God personally, then you recall what

it was like when the things of your life were

sort of working against you because they were

under the auspices of God. You recall how you

had to get out of bed each day and ramp up your

decisions. Think more clearly or profoundly.

Think more intentionally about certain things

in your life. Redefining certain words in your

life in order to resist the wrath of God. In

order to resist the teachings of the Lord. In

order to resist God's definitions of certain

words. God's definitions of certain actions.

In order to resist God's declarations of certain

sin. You had to have a process by which you continually

redefined in order to make God unclear. But the

writer of this song is saying, let all the enemies

perish thus. Clearly for God's people, clearly

that we might see it. Why is this necessary?

Because God's people have a tendency to look

at the things that they're going through and

say, well, if God is clearly putting it into

his enemies and he's clearly blessing his people,

where are the blessings of God? How is it that

my situation is what it is and I have a hard

time? fathoming how I got here. I don't understand

why exactly things are going the way they are

if God is so clearly putting an end, putting

an end thusly to his enemies. God's people even

start to ask, have I been found faithful? Have

I been given access to this success that God

says will be available to his people? Am I in

competition? with the Lord for the throne of

my life. See, but godly sorrow then brings about

repentance. So when you discover that indeed

you are in competition with God, when you discover

that indeed you are trying to mar the image,

you are trying to make it unclear that God has

proposed and will bring about a victory for His

people and an ultimate defeat for those who stand

against Him, then you indeed are in competition

with the Lord and you will repent. And you will

say, no. I will not run my life the way the world

runs their life. I will instead submit my whole

life to God and allow God to run it the way God

wants to run it. God allows a certain economy

to persist where his unfaithful are punished

by outsiders. Now ultimately, they will be defeated

just thus. They will fade away. In my lifetime,

I have been attacked verbally. in relationships,

a number of times by people that I was helping.

I have been physically injured, but I've also

been psychologically, emotionally attacked verbally.

There was a man that we helped in the church

who we were helping him, and basically he was

a recovering addict, and we were holding some

money for him so that he wouldn't spend it on

drugs. And then when his bills would come due,

we would make sure that the money made it to

his bills. And he would come and he would put

more money there. and his wife, and she would

put more money there when they needed to, and

we kept track of how much money was there, and

then we would dole out from that money. So at

one point in time, they visited our house. We

had them over for a number of meals. We don't

refuse to fellowship with addicts or with folks

that are living lifestyles that we don't approve

of or whatever. We love them nonetheless. So

we had them over to our house on a number of

occasions, and one of the times they were there,

they found out where we were storing the money

and stole it. Then they proceeded to go to all

of our family and friends, In the church, some

of you know because you were there and they told

you. And tell you, tell all of our family and

friends that we stole the money. They told all

their family and friends. People that I have

known only just a little bit. And they said that

we had stolen the money. And so my character

was assassinated across the spectrum. Probably

a thousand people. Social media. Wherever they

could. Wherever they could find an audience.

Now we replaced the money. Not because it was

true that we had stolen it, but because they

needed it. We also then said, well, we'll not

hold money for you anymore. You're going to be

on your own. Now, some months later, they were

scrapping, earned a bunch of money, scrapping

about $450. And they were in their truck, and

they drove to their old neighborhood and spent

that $450 and all of their savings, and they

went right back into drugs. In the space of about

three months, they spent about probably $4 ,000

in drugs. Then they got evicted. Started sleeping

on couches and not in the same place anymore.

And they asked themselves, how is it that I was

living for the Lord, or seemed to be, and I was

doing the things I was supposed to be doing,

as far as anybody could know, and now all of

a sudden my life is a shambles. I have no place

to live. I have nothing. And they realized it

was because that they had taken over the throne

of their own life. They had begun to do the things

that they wanted to do. And they had marred the

clear definition of what was right by God. So

they repented. He called me up and he said, I'm

so sorry. And I said, that's fine. He said, I'm

hurt because it hurt my reputation. It hurt people

that I love to hear that about me, even if they

didn't believe it and so on. And he said, I know.

And he was crying and tears. And I prayed, God,

forgive him. And God, forgive any wrongdoing

that we might, either one of us had. And he came

back to the Lord by his own profession. And they

got away from drugs again. And they, ultimately,

he stood in front of the church several months

later. I didn't prompt him to do so. But he stood

in front of the church in our worship time. He

responded to the invitation. And he stood up

there and he told the tale, essentially, as I

have just told it to you. Tears streaming down

his face, begging God for forgiveness. I submit

to you that it happens that in that period of

time, people will come into your life and you

will face suffering. You will face difficulty.

You will wonder, how is this person doing this

to me? How is it that they are prospering? For

two decades and more, Sisera punished Israel.

They took their wives, they took their riches,

they took their wealth, and they thought, how

is it that we are God's people? But they were

refusing to repent of their falseness. They were

refusing to repent of their idol worship. They

were involved with Baal while all that was going

on. They continued to sacrifice their sons in

the fire to Molech, and their daughters, firstborns,

in the fire to Molech, burning their babies alive.

They continued to mar what was right, to redefine

what was right. But we have to understand that

it is true. that God's enemies will thusly perish.

They will go away from you and they will fade

into their own wrongdoing and they will suffer

in their own wrongdoing and they will pay a price

that they are not willing to pay. And ultimately,

if they do not accept Christ before they die,

they will spend eternity away from God by their

own choice because they have redefined God and

they have said, I want nothing to do with God

the way God actually is, the real God. This is

part of why good things which come to people

cannot automatically be assumed to be an answer

to righteousness. This is part of what's wrong

with the prosperity gospel. Because it doesn't

always work out perfectly. Sometimes crashes

happen. It says the righteous man falls seven

times but gets up seven times, which means the

righteous man falls seven times. And does he

want that he would never fall? Sure. But he falls.

Bad things happen. Suffering's come to people.

And then we say, well, that person over there

is doing real good. Their bills are all paid

up. Their money's in good shape. Their relations

are in good shape. They're intelligent. Their

eyes are bright and wide. And they're not down

in the dumps with addiction or whatever. But

the reality is, those good things do not come

to people because they are righteous. Now, Malachi

says that the sun, S -U -N, of righteousness

rises with healing. In its wings, which means

when you live in righteousness, you will get

good things, right? If you are a person of integrity,

people will recognize that and they will want

to pay for that. They'll want to reward you for

your integrity. If you're hardworking, they want

to reward you for your hardworking nature. But

the dynamic that's in this text is we must now

respond to one another and we must now respond

to the God of the universe and we must find this

truth in ourselves that how we live Make us either

a friend or an enemy to God. And God's enemies

will perish thusly. They will just fade away.

The second thing to see in the text then is that

we are part of the whole. We're part of the mass,

if you will, of humanity. Every person has to

make his or her own decision inside his or her

own tent. inside his or her own household, etc.

But the decisions made there inside their own

tent will then cumulatively determine the outcome

for all. Others are affected in the short term,

in the long term, and the decisions that they

make there inside their own tent create an impact

in the lives of everyone around them. Now maybe

if you don't know them very well or know them

at all, that the impact on you may be small.

If it's your brother or your sister or your mother,

your father, your husband or your wife, then

the impact on you will be greater because you're

closer to them. I submit to you that no addict

overdosed ever that someone who was close to

them did not receive a broken heart. That no

person strayed into immorality and stayed there

and faded away without someone who loved them

receiving a broken heart. Now I think a lot of

times we think that we're in those situations

and we're doing that. Nobody loves us. Nobody

cares. Nobody's going to be impacted. But the

fact is that sin spreads. It doesn't just spread.

I do something, like if I would lie, then that

lie impacts the people that I lied to. It's far

worse than that. Because sin makes a person unclean,

makes them unusable by God. And then an unclean

thing makes other things that it touches unclean.

If you try to wash your face with a dirty old

dish rag that's been used for 40 sinks of dishes

and now is full of grease and growing mold, your

face is not going to get clean. There is no way.

And it's not that we have to sin a whole bunch

of times in order to be made unclean. It's just

once. And you can make a dishrag very dirty by

cleaning just once. Clean the road grime off

of your car with a dishrag and you'll no longer

want to clean your dishes with it until it is

at least properly laundered. In fact, I've thrown

several away. It just takes one act of sin, one

thing that is not right in God's eyes, to make

us unclean. And God will not use you while you

are doing that for a positive thing, for a godly

work. And so therefore, that uncleanness spreads

to those who are close to us, and it spreads

in lesser dimension to those who are further

away. So we have to realize that we are part

of a whole. And yes, you have every right to

make the decision that you're making. You have

freedom. You can choose to lie, to cheat, to

steal, to be immoral. You can choose to murder

or be angry in your heart at others. You can

choose to lust in an ungodly way toward a member

of the unmarried or toward somebody who is married.

You can look at models online and people who

have shrunk themselves down to earn their millions

and shrunk their clothes all the more. And in

doing that, nobody is there with you. It's just

your mind. It's just your heart. Right? And you're

the one that's making that decision, and you

have the freedom to make that decision. Until

you don't have the freedom to not make that decision.

Because the Bible says, the one who sins is slave

to sin, Jesus speaking. But the fact that you

become slave to sin, you might go, that's fine,

that's me, I get to do that, right? I can choose

to do that, I can choose to be whoever I want,

you can't tell me who I can be. And that's a

reality. That is exactly right. Because you were

made in the image of the God of the universe

who created everything. And you can willfully

choose to be whatever you choose to be. Now,

once you get started, the effects on it are going

to be... I apologize. That's me. The effects

on you are going to be transmitted to others

whether you like it or not. So if you are doing

things that do not honor what you were created

to be, then the impact of those things will change

people around you. Dads who lie to get ahead

at work, and then they go home and raise their

children, and they would never lie to their child.

Never lie to their wife, or so they say. But

they lie to get ahead at work. And they bring

their uncleanness home to their household. And

that child will never know. They'll never know

what it is that dad does at work that's causing

something to be wrong in the house. It doesn't

line up. They just know that when dad comes home

from work, sometimes... he feels a little different.

He seems a little different. It doesn't quite

work. So what I'm saying to you is there is a

dynamic in this passage of Scripture that reminds

us that we are part of a whole. That the enemy

will come knocking. Many a household has suffered

for the choices of one man or woman or child.

A man who does something in secret that he'll

never tell his wife about or his kids about.

But they suffer nonetheless. A man who won't

step up and be the man for his wife that he is

supposed to be, to submit to the Lord, to be

that example, to govern, to guide, to lead religiously,

faithfully forward. And she's left languishing.

Not fertilized, not nurtured, not cared for,

not watered, not given the opportunity to be

everything that she could be for the Lord because

he refuses to be who. He's supposed to be Lord.

A woman who refuses to submit to her husband

or she just can't lift him up. He's too much

for her to bear. And so she gives up on him until

God can do something more. And she fails him

and her children from the moment that she gave

up in trying to lift him up to the Lord. A child

who is in rebellion. A child who is malty. A

child who refuses to accept the truth once they've

heard it and old enough to understand. A child

who walks a certain road that they've chosen

for themselves, thinking, well, it's my right.

I'm allowed. And they're right. Except they have

not realized that it will put them in slavery

and affect everyone in their life. And the family

goes through needless turmoil and the enemies

keep telling you that The time in which you did

your secret thing that was your right to choose

in your tent, in your house, away from everybody

else, it's not theoretically going to impact

anybody else. And the struggles that you're having

in your relationships, the struggles that you're

having in your ministry, the struggles that you're

having in serving, the struggles that you're

having in choosing, that those are unrelated.

When I was a young Christian, and even as really

hasn't been all that long ago, that I was tempted

to do something that was wrong, and I knew it

was wrong. And I actually heard a voice in my

head say, if you do this, it's not going to have

any impact on this, this, and this. It's not

going to affect your wife. It's not going to

affect your children. It's not going to affect

your finances. It's not going to affect your

home. Nothing will be affected. And you want

to do it. So why not just do it? I submit to

you that that voice was lying to me. Because

we are part of a whole. And God will let. his

enemies perish thusly. They will fade away. And

so we must choose to be part of the whole that

chooses to do things God's way so that that uncleanness

does not settle on us and then by extension on

others whom we love or care about. Or even that

you may never meet. This is the thing. The uncleanness

that you put on somebody, then they go and they

meet a perfect stranger. You have no idea who

they are. They go to the store, they go to work,

they work alongside them. Whatever. And that

person receives the effect of your uncleanness

because you put it on. If you don't think it'll

work, just watch when you sin, how it impacts

the people around you and wonder to yourself,

doesn't that then go on impact the people that

they impact? Well, sure it does. We are part

of a whole. Notice then there is another dynamic

in the text that is that some are waiting and

some of those who are waiting are waiting in

vain. The question is, will they be waiting for

you? Will you fade off, burn out, and they'll

be waiting for you to return? They'll say, well,

he did so well for so long, I thought everything

was fine. Yeah, he made some choices, she made

some choices that didn't seem to be right by

me, but they were doing great. They were healthy,

they were strong, they were having success. Got

plunder, got finances, got education, got relationships,

everything seemed fine. And now they're just...

Fell out. They're gone. Will they be waiting

for you? Longing for you? Trying to think the

best of you? As long as your track record speaks

or they have hope beyond hope, then yes, they'll

be waiting. The people who love you will be waiting

for you to turn into something that will last.

But if and when you fade to black, their hopes

will be dashed down and out. The righteous man

falls seven times and gets up seven times, but

the less than righteous man falls. and does not

rise eventually. An aside, if you will, if you'll

give me this liberty. If you were born to be

strong, if you're born to be decisive, then your

task is even greater. If you were born into a

wealthy family, your task is even greater. If

you were born into a family that by nature loves

God or is very intelligent, for example, and

they trained you to love God, to be a discerning

thinker, to be intelligent, then your task is

even greater. The task becomes not simply to

prosper, because you were literally made for

that. You come from a background of that, right?

Could be old family money, or a spiritual background,

or whatever. But you must know that that prosperity

comes not from your own strength. You must continually

attribute it to the God of heaven denying yourself.

Jesus said, deny yourself, take up your cross

daily and follow after me. He also said that

it is harder for a rich man to come into the

kingdom of God than for a camel to go through

the eye of a needle. And they said, well, then

how can come into the kingdom of God? And he

said, with God, all things are possible. You

see, so if you're that intelligent or that rich

or that capable or that decisive or that creative,

you have a greater responsibility. If you're

that strong, that healthy, that fast, then you

have a greater responsibility to submit because

denying yourself means looking at how awesome

you are and realizing that no matter how awesome

you are, God is more awesome than that. In fact,

God is the one who instilled the awesomeness

in you. The text kind of wraps up or ends out

with the final dynamic. And it says, let those

who love him. be like the rising of the sun in

its might. And I thought, and I kind of meditated

on, prayed about what that means to rise like

that, to be faithful. See, the sun keeps coming

up every day, right? So it's to be faithful,

so we stay the course. We are indeed unstoppable

in its course. Nothing that mankind has ever

been able to create would touch the sun. We have

enough nuclear weapons to destroy the earth,

but if we launched all of our nuclear weapons

into one exact pinpoint on the sun, it wouldn't

make a blip. There wouldn't be a bit of static,

no electromagnetic wave that would someday reach

Earth. Because if you take the Earth and make

it as big as you possibly can, think about how

large it is, and then you compare it in reference

to the sun, the Earth would be like that tiny

pinprick, that tiny little dot, and the sun would

be a thousand times bigger than the Earth. It's

so big. And so it's unstoppable in its course

by anything that man has ever done. And that's

what we're said to be. That's what we're supposed

to be, unstoppable in our course. Continuing

this day as God made it, we are supposed to continue

as God made us. The sun is life -giving. In fact,

if you think about it just so, and that's what

I've asked you to do today, all life on the earth

is empowered and impacted by the sun. We eat

animals. Animals eat trees. Trees grow because

the sun shines. Coal. Coal is packed full of

energy that initially came from where? Ultimately,

the sun. The sun to animals, animals to the ground,

the ground to coal, and so on. Life -giving.

That's what we're supposed to be. Life -giving.

And if this dynamic is ignored, then it is ignored

at the peril of the ignorant. We are supposed

to be like that. We think a lot of times about

being light. Jesus says, you are the light of

the world. We sang, we're the light on a hill,

right? Just, we think how it shines and dazzles

when focused on. If you take a potted plant and

put it in the closet and shine a spotlight so

bright, that you can't see, it blinds you, you

don't dare look at it, and you shine that spotlight

at that plant, it'll not grow. Because spotlights

don't produce what the sun produces. If that

plant gets sunlight from the sun, it'll grow.

We think about light that shines or dazzles when

focused on, but this is more than that. This

is sunlight. This is people, family, friends,

coworkers, followers. They should all prosper

under your shining. If you're not going around

making people's lives better, then you've missed

this dynamic. If something in your life needs

to be dealt with in order that anyone that you

would bump into, you could make their lives better,

then you need to learn to deny yourself and get

to making people's lives better. Jesus literally

begged God and cried the night before. He wept

tears and sweat blood over the fact that he had

to go to the cross. But he knew for the joy set

before him, he must submit to a death, even death

on a cross. So shall we be. Your people in your

life, whomever God has brought you into contact,

your family, your friends, your co -workers,

your followers, whoever they might be, they should

prosper under our shining. You should say daily,

I'm going to get up. I'm going to be a blessing

to others. I am unstoppable. I am life -bringing.

For those who stand against me, God has made

me victorious in His time. To stand against me

is to stand against God as long as I stand with

God. To stand against me is to stand against

God as long as I stand with God, and I will leave

the outcome to Him. In the morning, I will still

be rising. When God once and for all drives the

enemy to his knees at my feet, the enemy shall

never rise again. I will not forget that man

shall never be my real enemy. Knowing the outcome

means I don't have to increase my efforts to

bring about the outcome. Are you hearing me now?

If you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ

and God has promised you heaven, If the God of

heaven has installed in you the Holy Spirit,

and if you hear Him in you now saying, you belong

to me and I'm taking you where you cannot possibly

imagine how good it will be. I'm taking you to

a place where I want you to be. And if you hear

that promise of the Holy Spirit in you now, then

you need to understand there is nothing that

you can do to make that outcome more likely.

Knowing the outcome means I don't have to increase

my efforts to bring about the outcome, but rather

I repulse the enemy by knowing this end and proceeding

in faithfulness until the end is forthcoming.

This is the exact opposite of the dynamic for

those who will fade away, because in their hearts

they know. That they do not have a relationship

with God. In fact, they don't want it. They probably

hate God. It's ironic how many people who believe

that God does not exist actually hate God. That's

pretty ironic. And then they will redouble and

triple and quadruple and even a hundredfold their

efforts to get good outcomes. And in many cases,

they will get good outcomes until they eventually

fade away and they will go away from us and we

will never see them again. For all our wanting,

we cannot make the outcome different. Those who

love the Lord should be rising with strength

like the sun now. That brings us to our conclusion.

Those who have their thirst satiated now, outside

loving the Lord, will eventually experience a

moment in time when they will pay back many fold

what they have stewarded poorly. We have a tendency

to believe that things will go on just as they

are. Like, it's okay I'm doing what I'm doing

because it's still working. In fact, I like it

better. I like it better the way I feel. I like

it better the way it's working out for me. So

it's okay that I continue to do these things

even though God has said it is not okay. We think

that the results that others have achieved by

their track record of choices are available to

us as well. We say, well, it seems like it's

working for them. So we go after it. This is

what's super ironic. We go after the way other

people are behaving because it seems like they're

working for them. Then they fade away and they're

out of the picture now and we're still following

that method thinking that's going to be good

for us in the long run. That doesn't make any

sense. Because they faded away. The method for

them, how did it work? Well, they fell away.

And maybe you can have it if you want it, but

I'd suggest you be very certain in your understanding

of where the road of destruction that you're

on, that is actually littered with low -hanging

fruit, stuff that you can enjoy all the while,

leads. The low -hanging fruit will begin to make

you think that you are on a different sort of

road. See, I'm prospering. See, God is rewarding

my righteousness. See, God is being good to me.

Or you take God out of the picture of completeness.

See, I'm doing well. This is what I want. But

the Lord determines how long that road runs and

its destination has already been set. Your only

choice is to get off that road and get onto one

that goes where you actually want to go. The

road that goes where we want to go. is also plagued

with landmines of suffering as it was for Jesus.

In fact, the word says if we will suffer as he

suffered and suffer with him as he suffered,

that we will ultimately receive a crown. And

it's also filled with new occurrences of his

mercies morning by morning rather than low -hanging

fruit or the trappings of this life. You may

not get everything that your flesh wants. You

may not get all the money or all the desserts

or all the relationships. But the road that you

will be on that is not littered with those low

-hanging fruits will take you to where you want

to go. Perhaps this is why it's a wide road accommodating

many people. The correct road is a narrow road,

refusing the trappings of this life, even the

ones that you're completely allowed to have.

So I'm on the road following Jesus, and something

comes along, and I can take it or not. It's easy,

and it's not even sin for me to take it. But

the word says deny yourself, take up your cross

daily and follow after him. So you deny yourself

and you do it to honor the Lord and you receive

the blessings that God really desires for you.

The correct road is a narrow road, refusing the

trappings of this life, disciplining oneself

in submission to the Lord, being willing to suffer

as opportunity permits and following a true king

into eternity. In this effort, the Lord will

make us. The might of the rising sun. I want

you to hear the prayers of the righteous. Understand,

this was a prayer. Thus let all thine enemies

perish, O Lord, but let those who love him be

like the rising of the sun in its might. That's

a prayer to God, that it would be so. This is

praying the will of the Lord, and we pray every

day, do we not? Or at least prayers like this.

Thy will be done. It's how God set it up. It's

how creation works. It's how the kingdoms work.

Thy will be done. This is the will of the Lord.

This is the economy of the kingdom. I'm not here

to argue today that we can choose a different

result. A false gospel often says, if you'll

choose Jesus today, you can be saved. And I'm

here to tell you that that's not really true.

Did you hear that? That's not really true. You

don't get saved by choosing Jesus. So if you're

cynical, if you're skeptical, if you're debating,

if you have questions, if you're in doubt, self

-doubt, God -doubt, path -doubt, faith -doubt,

doubt, realize that choosing Jesus is not enough.

Jesus said, you have not chosen me. I chose you.

If, on the other hand, you realize that he has

chosen you and desires to put you on a road that

honors him and use you for something greater

than you can ever imagine, ultimately, including

an eternity with him in heaven. If you realize

that's true, if you believe it, then he will

do what he has promised to do. We are saved by

grace and that through faith. We believe and

God shows up and he chooses us. He does what

he wants to do and then we are saved. It's not

by works. You can't get there by works. So I'm

not here today to argue that we can choose a

different result. Rather, having a certain result,

we can choose to rise with the might of the sun.

A loyal soldier is prepared to follow an order

that leads to his apparent death, even one that

he doesn't understand. In Luke chapter 5 and

Luke 5 · chapter mention

verse 1, they've been out fishing all night long

and caught nothing. A boat full of ten professional

fishermen. They've been out fishing all night

long and caught nothing. They start to come back

into shore and Jesus sees them and he's standing

on the shore and he says, put out into the deep

water and cast your net one more time. Now it's

the heat of the day. Fish don't come to the surface

in the heat of the day. You don't net fish in

the heat of the day. These are professional fishermen.

They know that. All they had to do was decide

to do what they were told. And the great blessing

was in store for them. And there are two men

in that boat. Really, there are how many ever

men? Two men in each body in that boat. Two types

of men. One is to say, no, we've already tried

all night long. We're professional fishermen.

We know what we're doing. All logic, all reason,

all decision making says, we're done. We're coming

in. We'll try again tomorrow. How many times

in the past have they said, we're done. We're

coming in. We'll try again tomorrow. I don't

know. It doesn't say. But there's another man

in the boat. A man who understands the dynamics

that we've been talking about. Men, two men in

each body. One of them, Peter embraces. He says,

I understand the dynamic. And he says, okay.

And they put the boat back out into the deep

water and they drop the net one time. One more

time. As commanded. And the net is filled to

bursting. And they get a greater haul than they've

ever gotten. Do you know that the rebel against

God lives in you? The lust of the flesh, the

lust of the eyes, and the pride of life doesn't

go away even if you get saved. It's still your

human condition. You're going to have to get

close to God and realize that God wants to be

close to you. And then in so doing, follow the

commands even when they don't seem to make sense,

even when they're hard. You can do whatever you

want in your own tent. There's nobody there.

Now, in the church building, if you do it, others

or believers around, somebody might hold you

accountable and say, hey, why are you doing that?

That's sin against God. Somebody might do that.

But on your own, all alone, it's just you. You're

going to have to decide to rise in the might

of the Lord and do what it is that you're supposed

to do. In the book of Genesis in chapter 50,

we see the story of Joseph, boiling it down to

one point when Joseph has now met his brothers

again. They're the ones who threw him in a pit,

sold him into slavery, lied to his father and

told him he was dead. Now he's been exposed to

them again and they think, oh, he's probably

going to kill us, he's going to hurt us, whatever.

And Joseph says, you meant evil against me, but

God meant it for good in order to bring about

this present result to preserve many people alive.

See, in the moment when he could have exacted

his revenge, he realized, no, God was doing something.

He rose with the might of the Son. I submit to

you, he'd been kind of doing that all the time.

If you look back at his history, he had quite

a few opportunities, and he did it over and over

again. Now hear me. This is your key with the

dynamics. As long as your might, as long as your

might, as long as your might, Might. It also

might not. You understand? As long as your might

might, it might carry the day. I might do what

I'm supposed to. I might make a change in my

life. I might show up for church. I might show

up for Bible study. I might schedule God in 168

hours a week and schedule everything else out.

I might find time to read my Bible. I might find

time to pray. I might find time to serve. I might

encourage, I might walk around with the actual

intent of bringing life and happiness to anyone

and everyone that I possibly can. I might share

the gospel. As long as your might might, it also

might not. And if it might not, then it is not

the might of the Lord. I'm asking you to be decisive,

creative, intelligent, faithful. Whatever it

is that God has made in you to understand that

as long as your might might, It also might not.

And if it might not, then it is not the might

of the Lord. If you want to read your Bibles,

go through every single story and look for this

dynamic. When God is the one who determines the

outcome, what happens? God always gets the glory.

The kingdom always advances. Souls get saved.

People get healed. Evil gets overcome and fades

away. That is the end of the story. Jesus is

going to come again. And every single person

is going to answer. For how they use. Now, Jesus

didn't come to judge people. He didn't come to

condemn you. Neither do I. But we are condemned

already by what we do with the Son of God. Who

died on a cross for us. Who lived a sinless life.

Died, buried, rose again. And he can save your

soul. The question is, have you been too endeared?

Have you become too entrapped by the things that

you believe in? The things that you want in this

lifetime? By the teachings that someone else

gave you? Your education, your wealth, your personality,

your culture, your background, your track record.

But just remember, we don't live alone. There

is a greater investment. I had a woman that I

was witnessing to, and I'd been witnessing to

her for a long time. She was a professing Christian,

and she kind of didn't want to live in it, but

I don't judge people's salvation. That's not

my job. That's God's job. But I continued to

witness to her because her lifestyle was such

that it didn't line up with what Jesus was teaching.

And so I said to her one day, I said, you do

realize that these choices that you're making

do not line up with what Jesus is teaching, what

the Bible teaches. And she said, yeah, she said,

I figure ultimately God will just kill me. I

was like, whoa. She said, he'll probably just

take my life. Ultimately, he'll just take me

out. I do believe in him. I also believe the

Bible says there is a sin unto death. That's

a sermon for a different day. And she said, I

think God will just take me out. And I said,

I hear you. I understand what you're saying.

You want what you want. You're going to do what

you're going to do. You have every right to do

that. And you say you'd be okay if God just taken

you out. And then I asked her a question and

it stopped her in her tracks. I asked her a question

and she had a look on her face like she'd seen

death himself. I said, what if he doesn't? What

if he doesn't take you out? What if he allows

you to walk this road that you're on for as long

as you want, picking that low -hanging fruit,

always thinking in ignorance that you're getting

away with it? Always continuing, always staying

in the course, thinking you're getting away with

it, with no realization of how awesome it could

be if you were walking with him instead. What

if he puts you in a wheelchair? Or puts you on

dialysis? What if he takes away... Family members.

Relationships. What if he doesn't kill you? And

she said, I hadn't thought about that. About

a year later, that woman called me up and she

was in an absolute dark. She was in an ignorant,

hurting place. And she said, I need to accept

Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I know I

do. I can no longer stand against God. So she

was professing that she had never been saved.

I said, how can it be that you've never been

saved? I've shared it so many times. I've talked

to you. I know people, you were a church member,

all these kinds of things. And she said, you

know, nobody really ever asked me. And I said,

I asked you during every sermon. I submit to

you, she was pushing the square root button thinking

she was pushing the divide sign. I submit to

you, she was holding the watch upside down. I've

asked you not to do that. I've asked you not

to do that. I've asked you not to do that today.

I've asked you not to do that. Have you heard

the dynamics of the Lord in this message? You're

not alone. You're part of a whole. You're meant

to rise with the might of the sun and change

everyone's life around you for the good. Refusing

to do so, you will at least create a vacuum of

your presence if not spread uncleanness to everyone

around you. Repent, turn to the Lord, and let

Jesus lead your life. Let him sit on the throne.

And let it change how you interact with other

people and how you respond to God. I ask the

praise team to come forward at this time and

lead us in our closing song. As we do that, If

the Lord has touched your heart and you want

to give your life to the Lord in earnest today,

that would mean you're going to repent from your

sin. It means I'm turning away from the things

that I'm doing that I should not do. I'm turning

to God. I realize that he's chosen me to be saved.

And if that's you, then as we sing this song,

you walk forward, take my hand, we'll pray together.

We'll share with the rest of the group what it

is that decision that you're making today. Whatever

it might be. Maybe God's calling you to a very

specific thing. Say, I think I'm already saved,

but God's calling me to do something specific.

And you're willing to say, okay, I'm going to

do what God's calling me to do today. Maybe God

opened your eyes. This is something you haven't

seen before. And you say, I just want to dwell

on that. I want to think on that. I want to grow

from that thing I learned today that I didn't

previously know. Whatever it might be. And as

we sing.