By the Way, the By-ways had Become the Only Way By Judges 3:31; 5:6-7

We are continuing our series through the book

of Judges today, and so what I'm about to read

you really needs no further introduction, and

yet you'll get one. After I read it, we're going

to have to break it down a little bit because

it is one of those verses in the Bible that theologians

argue over a lot. There is a lot of debate. I'm

not going to give it to you today. If you care

enough to go digging into that and try to figure

it out, there is a lot there you can find. I

can even recommend some sources for you, that

kind of thing. But I will give you the synopsis

of the debate before we are through. So we are

in the book of Judges, chapter 3. Thank you for

Judges 3 · chapter mention

those of you who are in the middle of the house

and have a little breath for Judges chapter 3.

Judges 3 · chapter mention

It is verse 31. We ended in 30 and it said, So

Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel,

and the land was at rest for 80 years. And then

it says, Now after him came Shamgar, the son

of Anath, who struck and killed 600 Philistines

with an ox goad. And he also saved Israel. An

ox goad is basically a prod. That's meant to

keep the oxen moving when they're pulling the

plow or whatever heavy load. And Shamdar took

up an ox goad and used it probably like a sword

or a club or a rod and killed 600 Philistines

who had become the military oppressors along

the edge, at least in certain areas of Israel.

Now, here's where it gets sticky. Because this

is the only verse in the history recording where

Shamgar is mentioned. But if you'll fast forward

in your Bible a little bit to chapter 5, which

we'll get there eventually, but today we're just

going to read a couple of verses. In chapter

5, the judge Deborah, who is the first female

judge and really one of the first really powerful

females prominent in the kingdom in general.

In chapter 5, Deborah writes a song, or a poem,

or we would probably perceive it as a poem, but

it was really a song. And it says, in verse 6,

In the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath. Okay,

so now we're talking about that same guy. So

we're going to get a little bit more about that

guy that the writer of the book of Judges told

us nothing about. But he does tell us about Deborah's

song, which talks about the days in which Shamgar

lived. It says, In the days of Shamgar, the son

of Anath, in the days of Jael, the roads were

deserted, and travelers went by roundabout ways.

The peasantry came to an end. They came to an

end in Israel. And then it says, until I, Deborah,

arose, until I arose a mother in Israel. So in

other words, those days lead right up to when

Deborah comes on the scene as a judge. Now, this

is where the debate begins. So the debate begins

because at the end of verse 30, it says there

was 80 years of peace or rest for the land. And

then in verse 31, it says Shamgar, the son of

Anath, who struck and killed 600 Philistines

with an ox goad, he also saved Israel. Sounds

like not very peaceful, right? That doesn't sound

restful. So the whole thing of Shamgar seems

like it takes place after the 80 years. But then

when you read what Deborah writes in verse 6,

it says, in the days of Shamgar, the son of Anath,

in the days of Jael, the roads were deserted

and travelers went by roundabout ways. Also,

it does not really sound like days of peace and

rest. In fact, this terminology of the roads

being deserted and travels going about roundabout

ways reoccurs throughout history, not only here,

but in many places where essentially a land is

being constantly hit by raiders. So what they're

saying is the borders of Israel were not sound,

and people were coming from all over the place

to raid the land, so when people would travel

from place to place, they avoided the roads.

So I don't know if you know this about medieval

and previous roads, but they were built, and

it's like this in our area, by the way, it's

not a coincidence, they were built on high places.

So if you drive in the country, you'll notice

that the road sits up, like parallel with the

second floor, almost, of many of the houses.

If you're driving, you look over there, you're

not looking at porch level. The roads are built

up high. Why? Because this is a swamp. And it

brings us up to a level where the road can be

passable always. There are ditches on both sides.

And the dirt from those ditches was used to construct

the road. And if you knew how the construction

was done when they built these roads in this

area, there are logs laid side by side by side.

If you go along a road and all of a sudden the

road goes like that, it's because one of the

logs under the road decomposed. We have one of

those in my neighborhood for the first 20 years

of my life. And you go down the road, you go

25 mile an hour, and then there was a spot where

a log had decomposed underneath, and the road

literally dropped two feet and then came back

up again. And so when everybody got there, they'd

slow down, right? There was like a reverse speed

bump. Slow down. And go again, right? And now

it's gone because they fixed it. They patched

it, all right? So now everybody just speeds down

the road, 25, 35 mile an hour, whatever. The

point is, the roads are the high places in the

open area. And if you're on the high place, what

does that tell you? So from five miles away,

people can see you traveling on the high places.

So they're sitting in their living room or working

in the fields or whatever and they see people

traveling on the high places and they say, hey,

let's get Bob and Tom and Sal and let's get our

swords and let's go attack these people traveling

on the road and they take whatever, right? And

there were people traveling in the land, brigands

and bandits and whatever that came from Philistine

and wherever else, right? And they would see

people traveling on the high place from miles

and miles away. And you say, well, but they couldn't

get there in time, right? Except travel was very

slow. Even wagons moved at barely better than

walking pace. And so to go from one horizon to

the other, and you have to basically cross about

half the distance of the horizon to be really

out of view, right? So to go from one end of

the horizon to the other would take most of a

day or half a day. And so they would say, oh,

there's somebody crossing on the road up there.

They'd go get their friends together. They had

plenty of time to rally. They'd get on horseback

or run. And they would catch up to them before

nightfall, and they would raid them. And so it

became normal for the people to stay off the

roads. And this has happened many times throughout

history. And so when people want to travel from

town to town, whatever, they would go off the

roads, through the backwoods, in the ditches,

etc., and make it safely to the other town. So

this is a historical... This is not rest in the

land. So then they begin to debate when she is

talking about... Shamgar, the son of Anak, is

she talking about a judge that rose up after

Gideon? I'm sorry, after Ehud. But then it says,

now after him came. So it sounds like it's after,

right? So the bottom line is there is some debate.

People even think that Jael, the name Jael, is

not referred to the famous Jael that we'll encounter

next chapter in the book of Judges. And even

though it says it's Jael the wife of, which is

the same person from that account, you say, no,

that's a different name. So Jael might have been

the knightly name taken by another judge, either

Ehud or Shamgar. And so we're talking about Shamgar

and Jael in this, and it's somebody that existed

in that period of time. And then there's even

debate that he was a judge of Israel, even though

it says that he was the savior. But here it says

he saved Israel, and not in every case do we

get that formula for the judges. So the bottom

line is just one verse, major debate around it.

Who was he? Was he a knight called Jael? Was

he just Shamgar? Did he arise during the time

of Ehud while Ehud was ruling and along the border?

They didn't wipe out the Philistines, so did

he rise? And they had skirmishes and stuff, and

he managed to pull an ox goat and kill 600. So

you pick which theory you like the best. But

here's what's fact. This is what we know. Shamgar

existed. May have gone by another name. We don't

know. But he existed. He killed 600 men with

Philistines with an ox goad. We know that. He

came on the scene after Ehud came on the scene.

Maybe Ehud was still alive. Maybe he wasn't.

We don't know. But he was still alive after Ehud

was alive. So either during those 80 years or

after he was fighting the Philistines. And then

we know that while he was living, the roads were

deserted and travelers went by roundabout ways.

So whether Ehud was still reigning at that time

or not, we know that while Shamgar was there,

and even though he had defeated 600 Philistines

with an ox code and was a very powerful man in

the Lord, even though that was true, we know

that the travelers were going by roundabout ways.

We know further that the peasantry came to an

end. Now, the word there is just a little tricky

the way it's worded, but it basically means they

stopped being what they were supposed to be.

They stopped doing what they were supposed to

do. That's it. They didn't cease to exist. It's

not like everybody came middle class and above,

because then you just shipped it all down, and

the middle class would be the peasantry, right?

So it wasn't that he made everybody wealthy.

It was that they ceased to have the effect they

were supposed to have. And then it says, until

I, Deborah, arose. So it lasted all the way from

whenever Shamgar came on the scene, possibly

during Ehud, all the way to when Deborah comes

on the scene. You follow? That's what we actually

know. So in there, then, is something that God

can teach us a really big deal. The first thing

I want you to see is that minor things often

frame or illustrate larger things. I'm going

to give you a couple of examples from poetry.

Is there a poet in the house? Does somebody like

poetry? I love poetry. I wouldn't say I'm good

at writing poetry. Raise your hand if you love

poetry. Okay, we've got a few. Okay, all right.

I'm glad. I'm not the only one. But I'm not really

a poet, although some have said so. I can make

word rhyme, but it doesn't really sound like

poetry. Okay? So these are examples from poetry.

So here's an example from a poem by Walt Whitman,

a famous poet. It's called, Oh Me, Oh Life. He

says, That you are here, that life exists and

identity, that the powerful play goes on and

you may contribute a verse. The metaphor is a

verse, right? It's a verse in a poem. That's

what he's talking about. It's a small thing,

a verse, a single verse in a poem. But with the

bigger idea, he's talking about a person's contribution

to the vast narrative of human existence. Someday

you're going to be gone. But in your lifetime,

you may have the opportunity to communicate a

number of verses, Walt Whitman would say. You

could make a difference. You could be remembered

for something you did and certainly remembered

in someone's life. I remember people who have

gone to be with the Lord now and saying things

that they said and did that affected me. So he's

saying a small thing for a big thing. Then, by

Emily Dickinson, Hope is the thing with feathers.

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches

in the soul. So the thing with feathers is just

a bird, right? It's a robin, a chickadee, a sparrow,

something like that. But it's symbolic of hope.

A delicate, uplifting, and persistent, despite

hardship, hope. So a small thing representing

a very large thing. The road not taken, one of

my favorite poems by Robert Frost. He says, two

roads diverged in a yellow wood. The metaphor

he's using is two roads. And we've all seen intersections,

right? And usually three, four roads. Not a big

deal. A fork in the wood doesn't seem outside

our understanding. It's just two roads diverging

in a wood. Diverging means moving in separate

directions. He uses this to represent life choices

and their consequences, which is what the poem

is largely about. One more. To the virgins to

make much of time by Robert Herrick. Gather ye

rosebuds while you may. The metaphor is rosebuds,

flowers, right? What's it representing? Youth

and opportunity. Brief and fading. Just a little

bit. If you're young in this room, you understand

you have youth and opportunity. Some of us are

going like, yeah, that was a while ago. But still,

even where you are now, to a 90 -year -old, you

have youth and opportunity. So small things often

represent big things. And that's what's going

on here in this story. The staying home or traveling

in secret. Even the unwillingness to plant and

harvest. They weren't even growing crops. The

peasantry had ceased to do what the peasantry

does. So they were no longer planting and harvesting

crops. These things make a statement about the

predicament of God's people in that day. They

were defeated. They were enduring a period of

struggle until a savior would arise. They had

become too poor and defeated to do their own

work. The work that God had given them to do.

Victory is in the preparation and application

of the tactics that God has given us, not getting

better at avoiding conflict. Jesus said, I have

not come to bring peace on the earth, but to

bring a sword. So, as we look at this story,

I want you to realize that there were God's people

in the promised land in every city. In every

city that God's people had already conquered

in just the previous couple of generations. And

yet, God's people, the peasantry, and really

at every level, were failing to do what it was

that God had called them to do. Instead, they

were languishing in sin and wickedness and following

false gods, and many of them were not. Not everyone

was following false gods. Some of them were still

following God. They were waiting for a savior.

I want to share with you an illustration from

the War of the Roses. Anybody know this? It's

from England, 1400s. A civil war began between

the House of Lancaster, which was called the

Red Rose, and the House of York, which was called

the White Rose. For control of the English...

throne. It lasted from 1455 to 1487. Born January

28, 1457, Henry Tudor lived. He was born in Pembroke

Castle in Wales. His lineage was he was the son

of Edmund Tudor and Lady Marriott Margaret Beaufort,

making him a Lancaster heir through the Beaufort

line, the descendants of John of Gaunt, son of

Edward III. After the Lancastrians lost power,

Henry and his uncle, Jasper Tudor, fled England

in 1471. So the family was being wiped out. All

their family members were being killed. And he

and his uncle fled England in 1471. He was 14

years old. The Yorkist, Edward IV, regained his

throne. They spent most of the next 14 years

in exile in Brittany under protection of Duke

Francis II. But in 1483, King Edward IV died,

and his young son, Edward V, disappeared, likely

murdered, allowing Richard III, Edward's fourth

brother, to take the throne. Richard III's rule

was deeply unpopular. Rumors of murder and usurpation

stirred public support for Henry. So now Henry's

in exile, right? He can't become king. And rumors

start to circulate that the king, a savior, might

return. But he's been in exile for 14 years.

So Henry sailed from France and landed in Wales

in August of 1485 with a small force around 2

,000 troops, nowhere near enough to take the

throne. He gathered support as he marched through

Wales and England, and on August 22, 1485, Henry

met Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field.

Richard was killed in battle. Henry was declared

King Henry VII on the battlefield. crowned king

October 30th, 1485. In January 1486, Henry married

Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, uniting

the feuding houses of Lancaster and York. This

is the end of the War of the Roses. The marriage

symbolically ended the War of the Roses and began

the Tudor dynasty, which ruled until 1603. Some

people, and you may be one of them, I might be

one of them, act as if we are kings in hiding.

I'm asking you today, and the Lord is asking

all of us today, to figure out our status. There

is a worldly time for guerrilla warfare, a time

when boldly facing the enemy only increases casualties.

Think about the Vietnam War. Think about the

French and Indian War. There is a time when going

out to boldly face the enemy only increases casualties.

But martyrs of the Christian faith know that

the time has come and gone for heirs of Jesus.

Our enemies are not flesh and blood, but demons,

evil spirits, the world system, and our only

fleshly desires and ultimate victories over these

things cannot be accomplished by hiding from

them or their effects in others. You must come

out. You must step out. Rather, our victory is

an accomplishment... I'm sorry. Is it in... becoming

impenetrable by so wielding the sword of the

Spirit, which is the word of God, and sharing

the gospel of peace between man and God that

humans may come to Christ. You've got to do the

work. We must not disappear from the world even

for a time. Drug dealers come to Christ. Sex

addicts come to Christ. Dark and vile humans

in which there is seemingly no renewable trait

come to Christ. They come and become sons of

light. And it seems that the more they have known

their own wickedness, the more they relish the

proffered salvation and even are willing to share

it despite threats of the enemy toward their

well -being. Why is it that only the truly wicked

who come to Christ seem to stay the course? Why

is it that the drug dealers who come to Christ

will go and tell everybody about the fact that

they are saved? Was your sin not bad enough to

put you in hell? It sure was. And being saved

from that sin that would have put you in hell

is not bad enough that now you can live in the

light and tell everyone about the Savior that

saved you? We are not kings hiding behind the

scenes waiting to come on the scene. We have

a king and he is already on the scene. The war

between Jesus and Satan in some sense is already

ended. The victory is determined. And yet, Christians

act as kings who are in hiding. Some people act

as defeated peasants. They've ceased kingdom

work. And if they need to travel, go on vacation,

go to the store, whatever, they do so incognito.

So no one can know. They don't wear Christian

t -shirts. They don't talk about Jesus. They

don't wear crosses openly. Right? They travel

incognito. Figure out your status. People praise

God for prosperity. We come to church and we

thank God for money. We thank God for cars. We

thank God for health. We thank God for all kinds

of blessing. Pretty much everyone who believes

that God is real praises God when they get gifts

from God. But God's gifts are his lordship. That

means he tells you what to do and you do it.

His presence. That means he is with you through

his Holy Spirit all day long, every day. His

spiritual gifts. That means He empowers you to

do things that you could not previously have

done in the kingdom, in the church, for the church,

for God's people, and for the future kingdom.

It is His granted armor, His adoption as sons

and daughters, His imputed righteousness. That

means it's His righteousness put on us. Every

good gift comes from God, James says. But, but,

be aware that gifts you think are worth a lot

in the world may only serve to distract you from

the kingdom. If you like your cell phone, if

you like your electronics, if you like your job,

if you like your friends and family, your boyfriend,

your girlfriend, even if you like the way we

worship, or even if you like your Bible, realize

that all of those things are of this world to

some extent. I understand that the Bible is the

inspired word of God and I'm not detracting anything

from that. But your limited knowledge of the

Bible is not the living Word of God. Jesus is

the living Word of God. And He is the one that

we walk with day in and day out. If you are waiting

for wealth or health or a promotion or a position

or an education or a relationship or a solution

to begin to serve the Lord, to begin to get busy

and really pour yourself into that which God

is doing. then you have no understanding of what

wealth really is. There was a young lady who

came to our youth group, Madhouse, back when

we were doing Madhouse on Friday nights in 2018

or so. She was 16. She was just about to get

her driver's license. And at Madhouse, we shared

the gospel, told her about Jesus, and she accepted

Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and openly

admitted so. She said, I believe. She raised

her hand. She told me afterwards she believed.

But she lived real far away. She lived too far

away to pick her up at the church band because

it was about a 25 minute drive out in the country.

And so I couldn't do that. I was picking up 10,

sometimes 20, sometimes 30 kids from that house

on a Friday night. And I couldn't drive to get

one student. I couldn't drive 25, 30 minutes

out of the way. But I told her, I said, we will

get you there. We will get you there somehow,

some way. Someone will come and pick you up.

And she asked her parents, and her parents told

her no. They didn't want her to just ride with

anybody. They didn't want her riding with me,

really. They didn't want her coming in all the

way up into town, East Toledo, 25, 30 minutes

to come to Madhouse. And that's all it really

was about. I was trying to get her to come to

church, begin to worship to the Lord, and her

parents told her no. And for two months, she

babysat, made money, slaved away. She got her...

driver's license, and then she bought a car,

a used car, a nice one, in fact. I think she

got a loan, like co -signed with her parents

or whatever, like 17 or whatever, and bought

the car. Maybe her parents just took it out.

Anyway, I was texting back and forth with her

trying to get her to come to church, and she

didn't come. And she had gotten her car, and

she had it for about two days. I think it was

the first time that she'd ever gone anywhere.

She was driving to Walmart, coming from out in

the country, driving into Walmart. She stopped

at a four -way stop, proceeded on into the intersection

after the four -way stop, a pickup truck coming

at a 90 -degree angle, T -boned her car and killed

her instead. Now I guarantee you that she's in

heaven saying, either A, I'm so glad I spent

that last two and a half months of my life serving

the Lord Jesus Christ, or B, I wish I had. one

or the other. Now, we don't have any regrets

in heaven. God wipes away our tears. He's going

to take care of our sorrow, etc. But the point

is, on the way in, you're going to be asking

yourself, did I serve the Lord? And you don't

want to be saying, no, but I got a good education.

No, but I got a good job. No, but I got a good

relationship. No, but I raised some good kids.

You don't want to say that. You want to be understanding

your status, working hard to accumulate worldly

trappings and finer fare, could be turning your

nose up. at the greatest blessings of God that

you have been offered, you have one moment today.

But if you have one moment today, and that moment

is washed over, missed out on, because instead

of doing what you're supposed to be doing for

the Lord in that one moment, you are watching

your phone, watching TV, playing, romanticizing

about your significant other, whatever. Now I'm

not saying all of those things we know, Galatians

says all of those things are given to us to enjoy.

What I am saying is it's very easy to come into

a place where we turn our nose up at the good

thing that God is offering us and instead desire

the things that the world is saying make us successful.

Don't choose the bitter rations that became the

undoing of Satan himself. To have much and be

nothing leads to unbridled desire to be that

which you cannot be. You cannot be king in the

kingdom of the enemy. You can't do it. Nor can

you be king in the kingdom of God. You cannot

be king in the kingdom of the enemy or in the

kingdom of God. And if you want it, you want

another promotion, you want a little bit more

of this or that or the other, you will fall short.

And you'll wind up trading everything that God

truly values and has blessed you with for everything

that you cannot have. Historically, this leads

to a vacuous nothingness that sucks up resources

and can swallow even light. without being itself

enlightened. And the gospel is preached, and

sermons are preached and taught. And the Bible

is available to us day in, day out, but just

gathers a slight layer of dust on the shelf.

And we become vacuous, desiring that which the

kingdom desires, desiring that which Satan himself

fought for and lost. Understand, you can be a

peasant in the enemy kingdom if you want. That

role is open and available to you. You can be

a peasant in Satan's kingdom today. But there

are no peasants in God's kingdom. There are only

heirs and joint heirs. In being born again, you

are no longer a peasant, but rather a child of

God. A lot of people think that Christianity

is about quiet suffering and struggling while

awaiting a Savior. Remember the verses that we

read in Judges. Remember that in the War of the

Roses, there were allies all throughout England

awaiting his arrival, hoping to partner with

him, hoping to join his army. There were women

hoping their husbands and their sons and their

brothers would join the army of the rightful

king. They were all awaiting a savior, but couldn't

do anything about that wicked king that sat on

the throne. And that's what it's like in the

enemy kingdom. If you are willing to be a peasant

in the enemy kingdom, then you will forever be

hoping that a savior will come and overthrow

the evil and wicked king you suffer under. But

that is not where we are. We are not struggling

while awaiting a savior. Some people think they

are quietly engaged in this struggle, like fighting

their own spiritual battle while awaiting the

savior. I need you to figure out your status

today. The Bible says we are to stand and stand

publicly. Are you familiar at all with Ephesians

6 .12? That's where it says we wrestle not with

flesh and blood. And he goes into giving us a

list of that which we wrestle. I was doing a

devotional discipline, whatever you want to call

it, a lesson, a plan in the Bible app, and I

discovered where they were talking about Ephesians

6 .12, and he says that the word there is pros,

and it means up close and personal. So he's talking

about wrestling, talking about being caught in

the fight, like the guy's got his arms all over

you, right? He's got his bicep on your crotch

and his hand on your face. I mean, this is what

it means, wrestling. And people have this idea

that that's a quiet, private struggle, and it's

not like that. The Bible says that we are to

stand, but it also says that we are to stand

publicly. People have the idea that wrestling

with this enemy is a thing done privately, like

you're the only one who knows about your secret

sins. It's just not like that. Listen, about

your secret sins, God knows them. The Holy Spirit

knows them. He's trying to live in you while

you're doing them, and that's really hard for

him. Jesus knows them. Demons and evil spirits

know them because they just pop in and out of

the room. In fact, they come every time you're

involved in your secret sin to see because that's

like a nice warm bath to them or inviting them

over for a beer. And they pop in to see, and

then they come and they go. And they know, the

enemy kingdom all knows about your secret sin.

And you know about it, and you know that it's

not honoring the Lord. You think this is a thing

done privately? It is exposed to the entire spiritual

kingdom. So people have the idea that wrestling

with the enemy is a thing done privately, only

out of necessity, or in your own backyard, or

in your living room. No, Acts 1 .8, Matthew 28,

19 -20, and it just goes on and on. All send

us out. Baptism as an ordinance where we say

in front of everybody, I'm now living for the

Lord. This is no longer my private struggle.

I am putting away the old me and walking in the

strength of Christ in the new me. That's why

he gave us baptism, to testify to our changed

self. The word church in the original language

being called out assembly of God's people. We

are the church. If you've become the church,

you are called out. That means you're no longer

in there, no longer private, no longer in the

dark, no longer part of the crowd, but called

out assembly of believers. The difference between

the betrayal of Peter and Judas. Peter betrayed

Jesus. Judas betrayed Jesus. Peter repented,

came back to Christ, and became the leader in

the New Testament church. Jesus went away in

sorrow, realized how stupid he was, hung himself,

and fell down in a field so that his guts poured

out. Are you like Peter? A bold, saved, former

betrayer of Jesus? Or are you like Judas, a depressed,

anxious, self -loathing disciple of Jesus according

to the world? But maybe you're just a so -called

disciple of Jesus. You say you're a disciple

of Jesus, but Jesus actually knows differently.

And you say that your weaknesses as a Christian,

the times that you're failing God, are because...

You have this private struggle. You have issues

that nobody else has ever had that you're going

through. A lot of people have had them, but they're

really what's stopping you, etc. But the Bible

says that you are in wrestling boldly, openly,

publicly in wrestling. Greek athletes in the

Olympics competed in the nude. In a place called,

in a practice called gymnas, which is where we

now get our word gymnasium from. They would strip

buck naked, oil their bodies down, and the wrestlers,

at least, would coat themselves in a fine layer

of sand for grip so the other wrestler could

grip them and also to protect themselves from

injury. Wrestling, which was called Palais, was

one of the oldest Olympic forms introduced in

708 BCE as part of the Pentathlon. Matches took

place in a sand -covered arena called the palaestra.

Wrestlers were oiled, sometimes dusted, with

fine sand to improve grip and reduce injury.

Consider that the demons you will encounter do

not care how you are dressed. They do not care

about the balance of your checkbook. If you had

a good weekend vacation or a tough time on the

job or at class, they would strip you bare and

drag you into the sand. It is he that is in you,

if Jesus is indeed in you, that is completely

mightier than they. It is Jesus that makes a

man or a woman a mighty warrior in the spiritual

realms. Man was created with the ability to conquer

over spiritual enemies. Read Psalm 8. But surrendered

it to live a life of a king in hiding. Think

about the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were given

the job to rule the garden and ultimately to

subdue how far? The province, right? The peninsula?

The continent? No, to subdue the whole earth.

They were born kings. And then they took for

themselves what it was that they thought that

they wanted. They were tempted. They took for

themselves what it was that they thought that

they wanted. They distrusted God and became kings

in hiding. Then God came into the garden. They

were naked, but they weren't wrestling. They

were naked, but they weren't public. They were

hiding in the bushes. And ever since then, people

instead of boldly publicly wrestling for what

God wants, have been hiding like kings in hiding.

Have been quitting the work like peasants when

they are actually adopted sons and daughters.

Not now. Not today. Not 2025. Not July 6th and

no day going forward. Figure out your status.

When I became a young Christian, I was attending

East Little Baptist Church. Within weeks, my

wife joined. She got saved. She joined the new

membership class and they mentioned in that class

that they needed a 5th and 6th grade Sunday school

teacher. I was like, oh no. Not me. I'm not teaching

Sunday school. I can't teach anybody anything.

I don't even know anything. I can't teach anybody

anything. I'm not doing that. And she said, I'll

take care of it. I'll do all the teaching. You

just be there in case I need you to back me up

or something, you know? And I said, no, no, I

don't think that's a good idea. We could pray

about it. I said, we could pray about it. So

come the invitation, she grabbed me by my elbow.

Sometimes now my elbow still hurts in the same

spot where she grabbed me, I kid you not. She

grabbed me by my elbow and she said, let's go

tell them that we'll teach that class. And I

said, first of all, I said, no, I don't want

to teach that class. Secondly, I said, we'll

pray about it, not we'll go tell them at the

invitation that we're going to teach the class.

And so she pulled right here, and it was like

I had a choice. Either I was going to go forward

with her to say that we'll teach the class, or

I could lose the lower part of my arm from my

elbow down. It was like that. And so I went forward,

and we said, okay, we'll teach the class. And

I was so petrified. She stood there, and I stood

kind of just a little bit back. My left shoulder

was behind her right shoulder, so that I had

some protection from the crowd of people who

loved me and wanted to see me serving Jesus and

teaching the Sunday school class. So a few weeks

later was going to be our time to first teach

a Sunday school class. And I'm like, this will

be great. She'll teach a class. I'm going to

stand in the corner and pretend I'm not in the

room. But that morning at 9 a .m., Bob O 'Hara

called the house. The house phone rang back in

the day. Pick up the house phone. He said, I

just wanted to touch base with you guys. I know

you're supposed to start teaching a Sunday school

class today. And Sherry's talking to him on the

phone. And he said, you know, you can't teach

the Sunday school class today. She prepared.

She'd read the book or whatever, I think, or

at least got the book anyway. I don't think we

read it very much back then. And he said, he's

saying, I can't teach Sunday school class today.

And right away I got mad. I'm like, don't tell

my wife she can't teach Sunday school class today.

Church said she could teach Sunday school. You

can't tell my wife what she can't do. And I'm

getting my crow up and I'm going to get up there

and I'll fix it. I'll get on the phone and I'll

tell him. And she said, he said, I have to finish

the new membership class before I can start teaching.

And so then I'm thinking, okay, well, that'll

be all right. A couple more weeks, you'll be

in the new membership class, then we'll start

teaching the Sunday school class in a few weeks.

And then he said, well, Dan will have to teach

the Sunday school class for the first couple

of weeks, and then you can join him, and you

guys can teach together after that. And my heart

liked to explode in my chest. No, no, no, I'm

just the guy standing in the corner. I'm not

the guy teaching the class. And she said, okay,

he'll take care of it, and hung up the phone.

And I'm like, call him back, call him back. No,

that's not right. That's not the way this is

supposed to go. And from that moment on, I went

into the class. I taught the class. Yes, I was

terrified. Yes, I taught what was in the book.

Half the time, I didn't know what it meant. I

mean, like, I had to process it as I was teaching

it, and I did it. And they listened, and everybody

in the class knew the Bible better than me. It

was five kids, all church kids. They'd all been

in church since they were in nursery, except

for one. And she'd been there a good five, six

years by now. And so they all knew it better

than I did. And I'm teaching a class and finally

Sherry joined me. And then, thank God, I was

able to kind of retreat back into the shadows

a little bit. But by then I'd been teaching and

they were looking to me. So they would ask a

question. Instead of asking her, they would ask

me. And so then I would have to answer. And so

I'm getting pushed into the light. I'm out on

the road. I'm being seen, right? I'm being attacked

at every turn because I don't want to do it anyway.

And we proceeded to teach that Sunday school

class for two years. Now, we taught it a lot

longer than that, but two years later, something

happened that marked a change, and we're moving

into the conclusion here. So in the Sunday school

class, occasionally they would have the gospel.

Now, most of the time they would have the gospel.

We didn't teach the gospel in the Sunday school

class because all those kids knew it better than

we did, and they'd been in there since they were

in diapers. So we didn't ever really teach the

gospel in Sunday school class. And I would go

around all the time thinking I was a Christian,

and I was praying for God to have his will in

my life. And I would go places and have the opportunity

to talk to people about things that I thought

were important and never mention Jesus. Ever.

I never preached Jesus, Jesus talked about Jesus,

never went out and said Jesus. I never said the

name of Jesus outside either the church, building,

or my home. Ever. Not to my parents, not to my

friends. Not on my job. I didn't tell the people

at my job that I'd become a Christian. For two

years I was teaching Sunday school class and

I would never mention the name of Jesus outside

either the Sunday school class or at my home.

And Sherry and I talked about it frequently as

we were trying to figure out because before we

got saved we were a horrible husband and wife.

We were not good to each other. The truth is

if she didn't kill me or I didn't kill her we'd

have probably ended in divorce which is more

likely because we were pretty docile in that

regard. Two years. And then there was a block

party coming up at the church. And they wanted

us to help flyer and promote and ask for people

to come. Well, I fancied myself a Christian.

So we went out and asked a lot of people to come

to the block party. And a lot of people came.

It was on the parking lot. We set up the snow

cone, the cotton candy, the popcorn, the moon

bounce. It was on the parking lot. And there

was probably 150, 200 people on the parking lot.

All strangers, pretty much. It was probably 30

of us from the church serving, and everybody

else was a stranger. And I'm assisting in every

way I can, Pastor Don Black. I'm assisting him

in every way I can. And then he takes the microphone,

and he begins to share the gospel, the ABCs of

salvation, which say, admit that you are a sinner.

Understand that you need a savior. B, believe

that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your

sins, and that God rose him from the dead. C,

commit yourself to follow him for the rest of

your life. It's very simple, ABCs of salvation.

And as he spoke into the microphone, and he said,

A. It's like that. Nothing fantastic. Nothing

glamorous. Not flashy. Not loud. Just A. A is

for admit. And as he spoke, my head of its own

volition went down. Now as I'm sitting there,

I'm talking with Christ in my heart. I'm saying

to God, Why is my head down? And God said, because

you're ashamed of the gospel. Because you do

not understand your status in the kingdom of

God. That you are a child of the king. That this

message that is being delivered could make any

one of these perfect strangers, some of whom

may be the wickedest people that you have ever

met in your life, and they could turn into a

child of the king right now, and you're ashamed

of the message. And then there was a little voice

off the side that said, it's okay. Everyone will

just think you're praying. Don't lift your head

up now, because if you lift your head up now,

they'll think you're done praying. And I didn't

know which voice to listen to. Was I a king in

hiding waiting for a savior? Was I a peasant

who had ceased from the labors of the kingdom

of God? I didn't even know who I was in Christ.

And I said, God, I don't want to be like this.

I don't want the gospel to be this thing that

I just try to drag out every time I'm naked and

alone with the enemy and he sees right through

me and I'm being ripped to shreds. I want to

be as a child of the king. And so I said that

day, I said, I am a child of the king. Jesus

is my Lord. I want you to think that and maybe

say that right where you're sitting today. I

am a child of the king. Jesus is my Lord. My

true wealth is stored up in heaven. My blessings

are meant for the kingdom advance. I am not waiting

or working for the wealth or status of this world,

but walking as an heir and storing up treasures

in heaven. When this life is done, Jesus will

bring me home to relish the great victory already

prepared for those who are following him now.

I will show up now. I will live boldly now. I

will rebuke the enemy, trusting he is already

defeated, and I will do it now. I will share

the gospel with any who will listen, and I will

not prejudge. Who those people might be. And

that's probably our worst weakness. Because we

think, oh, they don't want to hear it. And that's

why I didn't share it in my Sunday school class

for two years. Because they don't want to hear

it. Because by their profession, they were already

saved. I later found out that a minimum of one

of them, not only that two years, but for another

four years, would slave away and finally give

his life to Christ as an 18 -year -old young

man. After I had taught him in Sunday school

for six years, because he moved up into youth

and I moved up into youth. For six years I had

taught him what the Bible says. And at 18 he

would finally say, I never gave my life to the

Lord and now I want to. And his Sunday school

teacher never taught it to him for the first

two years plus. What I'm saying to you is you

are a child of the king and you have a message

that turns people into a child of the king. And

Paul says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel

of Christ, for it is the power of salvation unto

all that believe, the Jew first and then the

Gentile. And that's us, baby. Say, I will be

seen and I will be seen as a child, a loyal child

of the king. One from popular culture. There's

a show called Star Trek. Most of us know it.

You may or may not have watched it. Then there

was a role -playing game called Star Trek. I

played it a little bit back in the day. There

was a card game called Star Trek. Famous. The

mission of the Starship Enterprise, the five

-year mission, was to boldly go. Where no one

has ever gone before. And that was the mission

in the card game. And that was the mission in

the role -playing game, was to boldly go where

no one has ever gone before. But in the role

-playing game, there was this little paragraph

hearkening back to the movie. And it said that

the five -year mission was five years of boredom

and five years of excitement. I'm sorry, five

minutes of excitement. Five years of boredom.

And five minutes of excitement. Boldly going

where no one has ever gone before. Day after

day after day after day. And then one minute

facing an alien race. Facing off with the Klingons.

Whatever. Turns into five minutes. Turns into

ten minutes. And maybe it's the end of your ship.

Five years traveling. Nothing's happening. I

get up. Take my quick shower. Whatever their

fancy showers were. Eat some breakfast. Pair

it in the food replicator or whatever in the

cafeteria if it's an older Star Trek. And then

go to work at my station. Push the right buttons.

Work for eight, ten hours, whatever. Occasionally

get replaced. Got to do training to keep my skills

up. Day in, day out, nothing's happening. Day

in, day out, nothing's happening. And then suddenly

there's a Klingon vessel. What is it called?

A bird of prey on the big screen. And we could

all die right now. Or the captain has just triggered

the self -destruct and we're going to blow up

the Enterprise to take with us these horrible

enemies that are out there. See? Five years of

boredom for five minutes of excitement. But that's

not the life that we've been called to. In fact,

if you will go where Jesus is taking you to,

you may know conflict daily. You will wrestle

naked in one sense, but you will wrestle with

the enemy daily. Notice our lightning point.

It says that safe from view is not safe for you.

Jesus said it this way, and I'm finishing up.

Matthew 10, 34 -38 says, Do not think that I

came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come

to bring peace but a sword. came to set a man

against his father and a daughter against her

mother and a daughter -in -law against her mother

-in -law and a man's enemies will be the members

of his household. He who loves father or mother

more than me is not worthy of me and he who loves

son or daughter more than me is not worthy of

me and he who does not take his cross and follow

after me is not worthy of me. You cannot... be

a peasant in the kingdom of God. You cannot go

home and struggle in your own living room or

backyard or privately to wrestle demons and evil

spirits or wicked flesh or the world system.

That is not Christianity. You must boldly stand.

You have to go where God is taking you to and

be who God is making you to be for Christ or

realize that you are living like a peasant. who's

given up his labor, or a king in hiding awaiting

a savior. The problem is that savior has already

come. Who is the savior that you are waiting

for? If Jesus has already come, and you're waiting

for somebody to save you from your depression,

your anxiety, your poverty, your own wickedness,

your lust, your anger, your hatred, your lies,

if you're waiting for somebody to save you from

that, who is going to do it? Who is it? If not

Jesus, then who? And Jesus said, and he who does

not take his cross and follow after me is not

worthy of me. And if you're not worthy of Jesus,

you can have the enemy kingdom. You can even

be a peasant therein, but you cannot be a child

of the king. And he was saying to them all, this

is from Luke 9, he was saying to them all, if

anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny

himself and take up his cross daily and follow

me. Whoever wishes to be saved, I'm sorry, for

whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.

But whoever loses his life for my sake, he is

the one who will save it. For what is a man profited

if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits

himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and my

words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him

when he comes in his glory and the glory of the

Father and the holy angels. Know your status.

If you are ashamed to live boldly for Jesus Christ,

In front of everybody. In front of anybody who

would say, oh, I don't believe that. I think

you're a fool. I think you're not learned enough.

You didn't read this book or that book. You just

don't know. You can't do what you say you can

do. See how you didn't do what you were supposed

to do. They call out your weaknesses or your

faults. If you cannot live boldly for Jesus in

front of anybody who is looking, then how do

you expect Jesus when he comes to say, that one

is mine? Know your status. The byways, the sneaky

ways, the hiding out, the going around way, those

ways are no longer safe for you. We are children

of the king. We do not hide our face. We do not

cower from conflict or fail to stand publicly

for what the Lord has ordained. In fact, it is

not safe for us. It's not safe for us to fancy

ourselves kings in hiding, defeated peasants,

or private wrestlers. To bring the power of the

King to bear on your life, you must live in the

light and become a public figure, identifying

with Jesus in all environments, at all opportunities,

and live or die completely by His preference.

And so we shall. We could see yet in the lifetime

of many people in this room a great persecution

break out against the church. And you may be

sitting in your living room. Holding your car

keys in your hand, thinking about whether you

will walk out the door, start your car, and drive

to church knowing that out there in the world,

Christians are being killed for their faith.

You may have to decide whether to come and play

your instrument, sing your song, listen to the

preacher preach, when you don't feel fully safe

that the security guards at the door of the church

building that are meant to keep away that persecution

will stop it before it enters. We are living

in a day where such things occur, but only occur

randomly, it seems, in the U .S. But the time

may come when you will need to be able to serve

Jesus in the way that God has called you to serve

Jesus, despite threats against your life, against

your family, against your finances, against your

prosperity. If you cannot rightfully say right

now that you desire in that day to serve, Nonetheless,

then I question whether you believe in a Christianity

that is a king waiting for a savior or a peasant

willing not to do the work of the kingdom or

a private wrestler who thinks that, yeah, they're

struggling away following Jesus, but they don't

want it to be a public faith. They've seen you

naked. They've seen you at your worst. Now let

them see you at your best. Boldly living for

Jesus. The byways are no longer safe ways. It's

no longer in Christ safe to sneak around and

avoid people knowing you are who you really say

you are. You are who Jesus has made you. Be born

again and never look back. For as an heir, To

the king, this fallen world does not compare

with what he has in store. No matter how much

you want it, how much you want the things that

you can't have, all wanting them is going to

do is turn you into a vacuous hole in which light

cannot even shine. Decide today and say, no,

no. There are many good things in this world

and if they come my way by the grace of God,

if he delivers them to me by the grace of God,

I will use them all. for the Lord. But if I never

have them, if I never receive one of those things

or one or more of those things that I think I

would like to have, it's okay. Because the lust

of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride

of life, they will not rule me. I have just one

ruler who is the Lord. I ask the praise team

to come forward at this time and lead us in our

final song. If you have realized that you have

become a person who is either a king in hiding

awaiting a savior, Or a peasant not doing the

work of the kingdom when there are no peasants

in God's kingdom. Or struggling privately rather

than openly boldly speaking out for Jesus and

living accordingly. You realize, you think back

how Christianity can go. I'm telling you today,

it cannot go that way. Your private struggles,

they will never avail you because Jesus is not

just in you. He's in every Christian. He's in

the church. And the church body is his body.

And when the church steps up to do something

in your life, it'll get done. And if you do it

as part of the church, it'll get done. And if

you do it wrestling privately alone, it'll never

get done. You'll be wrestling privately alone

until you go home. Is that what you want? Just

stand with me and sing this song and let's commit

all that we are that we will only serve you wherever

you go.