When Challenges Faced Become Footnotes to History... Judges 1 and 2

Good morning. and sing to help the children.

They're put down below the line because they

are less important and often passed by, almost

ignored, but no one ignores them in their formation.

When the author is putting them together, it

has to make sense. It has to be valuable. That's

why it's in there. So we looked last week at

a text. We ended with verse 10 of the book of

Judges, chapter 1. And this is what it said.

Judges 1 · chapter mention

So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived

in Hebron. Now the name of Heber formerly was

Kiriath Arba. And they struck Sheshai and Ehman

and Talmai. Okay? So raise your hand if you know

who those three men were. Okay. So until I've

prepared the sermon that I'm about to prepare

today, I also would have raised my hand. I did

not know who they were. But they're mentioned

in passing here as defeated during the time when

Judah was defeating Hebron and Kiryat Arba. So

now let me tell you who they are. And you'll

think, wow, this is a little more significant.

Numbers chapter 13, verse 21 to 22. So they went

Numbers 13:21–22

up and spied out the land from the wilderness

of Zin as far as Rehob at Levohamah. When they

had gone up into the Negev, they came to Hebron,

where Ahaman, Cheshiai, and Talmiah, the descendants

of Anah, were. Notice the three names. Now, Hebron

was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt, so

we can actually, because Egypt kept a really

detailed history, we can nail down exactly when

that city was built, verse 30. Then Caleb quieted

the people before Moses and said, we should by

all means go up and take possession of it, for

we will surely overcome it. You recognize the

story now? The story is when Moses sends 12 spies

to spy out the land, of two of them, Joshua and

Caleb, right? So then they spy out the land and

they find the descendants of Anak there named

by those names. Now, whether it's exactly the

same three men who are still alive, this is over

a dozen years later. Actually, it's over 50 years

later because there were four years before this.

And then Joshua sent Caleb in and then 15 years

more passed after Caleb was supposed to take

over the region. And that's where we're at now.

So it's been a long time. Whether it's the same

three men alive or descendants of the same three

men or their clans, their families named by their

names or whatever the bottom line is, the three

names are named. And they're not a footnote.

They're not a footnote because when the Israelites

first wanted to go in, they saw the descendants

of Anak there and what did they see about them?

They were giants. What was their response to

them? They said, we are as grasshoppers in their

eyes. They were terrified of the sons of Anak,

named by these same three names. So they were

unwilling then, and they gave a false report,

really, the ten then gave a false report to the

rest of Israel, and all of Israel becomes unwilling

to go into the promised land because they saw

these three men and their families living in

the land. Now, fast forward to this point in

time, they're already in there. And they're just

trying to finish off what was started under Joshua.

Joshua was still alive at this time, but his

public ministry is essentially over. He's not

really leading Israel anymore. And they're really

just trying to bring it to a conclusion. And

Joshua said, now go and do it, right? Just finish

it off. And during that time, they go in and

conquer Hebron and destroy those three men and

thereby their families, right? And it's a big

deal. It really shows that the same people that

scare God's people when they were going to go

in the first time are the same people that they

easily conquered this time. Now that's all the

more important because we see that in other ways

they were not really being faithful. They began

to struggle in following God. In Numbers chapter

Numbers 13 · chapter mention

13, this was after that passage I just read to

you. Beginning in 27, it says this, Thus they

told him and said, We went into the land where

you sent us, and it certainly does flow with

milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless,

the people who live in the land are strong, and

the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover,

we saw the descendants of Anak there. Amalek

is living in the land of the Negev, and the Hittites

and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living

in the hill country. And the Canaanites are living

by the sea and by the side of the Jordan. Then

Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said,

We should by all means go up and take possession

of it, for we will surely overcome it. But the

men who had gone up with him said, We are not

able to go up against the people, for they are

too strong for us. So they gave out to the sons

of Israel a bad report of the land which they

had spied out, saying, The land through which

we have gone is a land that devours its inhabitants,

and all the people whom we saw in it are men

of great size. There also we saw the Nephilim.

The sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim, and

we became like grasshoppers in our own sight,

and so we were in their sight. In other words,

they were cowards, at least in the moment that

they saw the sons of Anak. They were terrified

to go and do what God had told them to do. Now,

it doesn't end here. If you go on with me for

a moment. Basically, the summary of the rest

of this chapter, we'll probably hit it before

we're done, but it is that they all over the

place failed to take all the lands that God ordained

for them to take. Just to give you a quick sample,

likewise the house of Joseph went up against

Bethel and the Lord was with them and the house

of Joseph spied out Bethel. They conquered that.

But elsewhere, it says, when Israel became strong,

they put the Canaanites to forced labor. But

they did not drive them out completely. Now did

Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who were living

in Gezer? So the Canaanites lived in Gezer among

them. And it just goes on. And there's always

this compromise, this they don't completely conquer

the land that God gave them. But now if you'll

skip to chapter 2, verse 1, read a few verses,

it says this. Now the angel of the Lord came.

Now there's an interesting theory here because

this person might, theologians think this person

might actually be Jesus. There's two possibilities.

It is a mighty angel of God, right? But then

also there are a few instances where this exact

phrasing in the Hebrew is used, the angel of

the Lord, and it points to the anointed one,

or the sent one of God, as opposed to just a

normal angel. We know that the Greek word angel

is messengers, so Christians can be considered

angels because they're messengers, but there

is an intonation that goes along with the idea

of being an angel that is something considerably

more. An angel is not a person. A person does

not become an angel, right? It says this, it

says, Now the angel of the Lord came up from

Gilgal to Bochum, and he said, I brought you

up out of Egypt and led you into the land which

I have sworn to your fathers, and I said, I will

never break my covenant with you. And as for

you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants

of the land. You shall tear down their altars,

but you have not obeyed me. But you have not

obeyed me. What is this you have done? Therefore

I also said, I will not drive them out before

you, but they shall become as thorns in your

sides, and their God shall be a snare to you.

And it came about when the angel of the Lord

spoke these words to all the sons of Israel that

the people lifted up their voices and wept. So

they named that place Bochum. And there they

sacrificed to the Lord. And so the responses

of the Israelites to the speaking of the angel

of the Lord is kind of good. They weep. They

sacrifice, but what don't they do? They don't

repent, turn back to God, and do what God ordered

them to do. That's what they don't do. If you

go on, you'll see that they continue. Right after

this is the story of Joshua's death, and they

continue to make deals and compromises and so

on. It all began with a certain moment in time.

We talked a little bit last week about how Judah

had already begun to compromise, but we saw Judah

and Simeon have great victory nonetheless. And

it says that they went on. Now we're back in

chapter 1, verse 17. Then Judah went with Simeon

and his brother. They struck the Canaanites.

Judah took Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon

with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.

Now the Lord was with Judah, and they took possession

of the hill country. But they could not drive

out the inhabitants of the valley because they

had iron chariots. And from then on, from the

moment that the iron chariots are mentioned,

you see failing after failing. Some successes

too, but failing after failing of God's people.

to do what it is that God's people were called

to do, which was own the promised land, cast

out the Canaanites. God held them in captivity

for over 400 years until the wickedness of the

people in this land would become so much so that

God was right in ordaining that they should be

wiped out. And then they come in there, and they're

having great success under Joshua. Joshua is

getting ready to go home to be with the Lord.

And he says, now go and do it. And the end of

his is, choose who you will serve. Right? And

they choose God. They say, oh, we'll do it. We'll

do everything God told us to do. And then they

go in and they continually fail, beginning with

the iron chariots they compromise. So let's look

then at this summary text, everything that I've

just showed you. The first thing I want you to

see there is this conflict. Iron chariots versus

Yahweh. Iron chariots versus Yahweh. Even as

the culmination of man's strength and craftiness

and hard labor. Whatever you want to think of

iron chariots as, it could be tanks or nuclear

weapons today, right? Whatever you want to think

of it as, it is nothing compared to God's power.

Iron chariots are nothing compared to God's power.

Pharaoh rushed out after the Israelites with

iron chariots. He left them all under the sea.

And now divers have located, they believe, wheels

from that army decimated under the sea where

the waters washed over Pharaoh's armies. You

can see coral in the shape of wheels of chariots

that they've discovered. The bottom line is that

no matter what you think of these iron chariots

as, symbolically speaking, it's all nothing compared

to God's power. The world's system spins up its

weapons of destruction. They build a better mousetrap,

because if you build a better mousetrap, the

world will beat a pat to your door and you get

rich. Right? So they've invented internet. They've

invented cell phones. They've invented a smaller

microchip. And it just goes on and on and on.

And all of these crafty schemes in the world

spin up as men seek victory in the world's program.

They even look for ways to find resources. Even

look for ways to find peace. If you have enough

money and no one can touch you, you can have

enough bodyguards, you can have enough control,

you own the world's oil supply, whatever, you

will have peace. No one can mess with you. And

while that whole system is working to do that,

to spin up to these weapons of mass destruction

or this installation of peace and their idea,

nothing compares to God's power. Accepting certain

tenets. then, is the equivalent to surrendering

territory won and allocated by God. They said

this. They said, well, you know, there's a people

there and they're doing pretty well. The city's

built pretty well and it's pretty fortified.

We don't technically need to conquer them because

we've got plenty of land, plenty of resources.

There they are, walled up city, plenty of armies

and so on. They've got iron chariots. That could

be messy. I get to see my son's guts splayed

across the field as he fights against them. I

don't want that. So here's what we'll do. Just

pay us tribute. If you pay us enough money, Then

we'll let you live there in our land, right?

And so we develop tenants equivalent to surrendering

the territory to them, but it's technically still

ours. If they pay us enough money, it'll be fine,

right? But God is still God, and God still ordered,

and they still did not obey. Here are chariots.

There were giants. When the armies of the Israelites,

and maybe they were a little less skilled in

combat then, when they came out of Egypt and

wound up on the border to the promised land,

after God took them through all of that, they

saw the giants, they panicked. They're going,

oh, giants. Can't go in there and fight the giants.

That'll be tough. It's going to be really hard.

People will die. Surely people will die. Lots

of people probably. Maybe God will give us a

victory. Yeah, but lots of people will die. It's

terrible. We were like grasshoppers in our own

eyes. And that's how they saw us. Giants. But

now iron chariots. What's the difference between

a giant and an iron chariot? Virtually nothing.

Both of those things require you to have an ounce

of faith that God can handle giants or iron chariots.

David said, does no one stand up against this

man who mocks God? And he believed. And a young

man, an old boy, went out and destroyed a giant

that day. Here are the chariots. There were giants.

But God's people already have the victory if

they will just walk in what God is already doing.

Arranging mercy for the world around us. Saying,

oh yeah, you do you and I'll do me. A lot of

times it's more profitable to do that. we benefit

because we don't say the thing that people don't

want to hear or do the thing that people don't

want to see. And that's what they were doing.

They said, what's more probable to us to give

mercy to this people, even though God said, wipe

them out? God already decided. God already told

them what to do. And God has already told us

what to do. And we're not fighting a war. We're

going to go kill people. We're not taking visible

terrain on the earth. That's not what we're talking

about. But God has told us what to do. And when

we don't do it in order to not offend or to not,

not cause ripples or to maybe prosper in the

world system. If you prosper in the world system

under those circumstances, you will be just like

the Israelites who saw giants or iron chariots

and stopped doing what it is that God wanted

them to do. 2 Corinthians 10, verses 3 to 5 says,

2 Corinthians 10:3–5

Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according

to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare

are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for

the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying

speculations and every lofty thing raised up

against the knowledge of God, and we are taking

every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Let's be super realistic for a second here. Let's

just get it simple if we can. Have you had a

personal experience with the living God? Have

you personally experienced God? Has God ministered

in your heart? Have you heard the words of God

in your head? Have you read the Bible and felt

such extreme conviction and realized, I've got

to do something about what I'm reading today?

Have you been affected by the God of the universe?

That when the world tries to affect you or something

tries to hold you back from being what it is

that God has called you to be, should you not

be able to look back at that moment in time in

which God had done something amazingly powerful

and say, this over here is no big deal. This

thing that would try to stop me from doing the

thing that God wants me to do is literally nothing.

A thought is nothing. A temptation, nothing.

A relationship with God, everything. Giants and

iron chariots, they're symbols of God's people

who know God, saw God do amazing things. They

just saw the very giants that chased their fathers

away from the promised land wiped out. Yet when

they see the iron chariots, they say, well, that's

another thing. They could have. They should have.

And if they were trusting in the Lord, they would

have. Hence, the angel of the Lord says, what

have you done? How could you do this? How could

you do this faced with what scares you, that

you would not follow the Lord who can handle

everything that scares you? That brings us to

the second thing. Scary things scare scared people.

That's the reality. Scary things scare scared

people. And I think the unfortunate truth is

that people who don't know the Lord are scared

people. I wasn't. For over 25 years of my life,

I was afraid of what people would think of me,

afraid of what would happen if I tried certain

things, if I had stuck my neck out. Now, I wasn't

afraid of dying in a car accident or crashing

my motorcycle or falling from an 80 -foot high

tree. I wasn't afraid of, if I did something,

it causing me physical harm. I wasn't smart enough

to be afraid of those things. But I was intimidated

by the things of the world and that I would someday

need to be a dad or someday need to be a successful

businessman or someday need to be financially

successful. I was intimidated by what people

would think of me. So intimidated that I couldn't

go and get a sandwich without ketchup or mayonnaise

because I was afraid of what the minimum wage

worker behind the counter would think of me if

I ordered my sandwich without mayonnaise or ketchup.

That's how bad it was. to the point that I went

to lunch with two friends in Milwaukee and sat

there and choked down mayonnaise, which was,

to me at that time, the most disgusting substance

on the face of the earth, because I didn't want

to admit to them that I was too afraid to tell

the person at the counter that I didn't want

mayonnaise. And the whole time, I have two brand

new friends I just met at a convention, and I'm

talking with them about stuff that we both enjoy,

and all I'm thinking about is what filthy person

I am that I can't get a sandwich without mayonnaise.

And you're like, well, no, that's not me. So

there's nothing in your life that scared you

before you got saved? I'll bet there was. I'll

bet there are things that scare you now if you're

not careful. Scary things scare scared people.

John 16, 33 says this in contrast. It says, these

things have I spoken to you that in me you may

have peace. In the world you have tribulation,

but take courage. I have overcome the world.

Jesus knew that you were going to be here amongst

things that would scare you. amongst things that

you might worry, have anxiety or fear over. And

he said this, listen to me. You can have peace.

In the world, you have trouble. There's stuff

going on here. And it isn't all good. But take

courage. I have overcome the world. And then

in John 14, 1, he says this, do not let your

heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also

in me. And John 14, 27, he says, Peace I leave

with you, my peace I give to you, not as the

world gives do I give to you. Do not let your

heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. But

what about suffering? Because, you know, that's

still something, right? Like, if we are not fearful

and we go into a situation, we could be persecuted.

If we are not concerned about choices and we

make a choice that puts us out there on the raggedy

edge, we could be dead. We could be broken. We

could be in a wheelchair for life. That'd be

terrible. We can be filleted alive, or our skin

can be ripped open, and how's it going to ever

heal? You see a doctor for years, a wound care

for months. Terrible things can happen. And Paul

said this, what then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who is against us? He who did

not spare his own son, but delivered him over

for us all, how will he not also with him freely

give us all things? Who will bring a charge against

God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who

is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who

died. Yes. Rather, who was raised? Who is at

the right hand of God? Who also intercedes for

us? Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

Here they are, right here. These are all the

things that we're worried about, right? All the

things that we're fearful of. Will. Tribulation.

Trouble. Distress. Stuff that rocks you internally.

Persecution. People are going to come down on

you because you're a Christian. Famine. You go

without food. Nakedness. You go without clothes.

Peril. Risk of your life. Or sword. They kill

you with the sword. Just as it is written, for

your sake, we are being put to death all day

long. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

But in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer

through him who loved us. Did you get that? In

those situations, which we might say are the

worst situations, that we want to avoid if at

all possible, in those things, we overwhelmingly

conquer. For I am convinced that neither death,

nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor

things present, nor things to come, nor power,

nor height, nor depth, nor any created thing

will be able to separate us from the love of

God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In other

words, if you go into a time of trouble and you're

suffering, you become a conqueror. Oh wait, more

than a conqueror. If you go into a time of persecution,

you stand up for what you believe in, The kids

don't like it. The workers don't like it. Teachers

don't like it. Government don't like it. Understand

it for what you believe in. And you are persecuted

near unto death, possibly. Your finances are

stolen. Your house is taken away. People throw

rocks through your windows, whatever it might

be. If any of that happens, you are more than

a conqueror. That's what he said. Unfortunately,

the people in our story, they were no more than

conquerors. They were conquerors, right? They

didn't. They took Bethel. Judah took Bethel.

That's significant. Caleb's offspring, they took

Hebron and conquered the Anak. That's huge. But

they were no more than conquerors. Do you want

to be a conqueror? Do you want to be a soldier

who conquers cities? Do you want to be a manager

who conquers employees? Do you want to be an

investor who conquers finances? That is not what

God died for. That's not what Jesus came and

lived and died on the cross for. You were made

more than a conqueror. So when you hedge your

bets trying to get victory, you're selling out.

You're coming up short. You're not going after

what God actually, he made you to be more than

a conqueror, not a conqueror. Like most of us

are like, oh, I'll never be a conqueror. I'll

never be super successful. I'm afraid I'll make

decisions and so on that don't help along the

way. I'm not quite that smart. That kind of thing.

God never made you to be a conqueror. He made

you to be more than a conqueror. Scary things

scare scared people. Knock that off. That's not

what you were bought for. Then the third thing.

If you choose to do it on your own, God will

give you what you ask for. If you choose to do

it on your own, your own way, not God's way,

God will give you what you ask for. Now they

would be plagued by the people around them and

their false gods, and that becomes the history

of Israel. Even their wisest king to ever live,

Solomon, will take hundreds, maybe a thousand

plus wives and concubines and all their gods

into his household and walk away from faithfulness

to the Lord. This curse, if you will, that God

delivers is a response to their lack of immediate

following. I want you to go back to the Garden

of Eden for a moment. When Adam and Eve stole

that fruit from the tree. Who planted the tree?

God planted it. Who made it grow fruit? God did.

Who fertilized it? God did. Who brought water

up to it from the ground? It didn't rain. God

did. Who took the fruit and ate it? Adam and

Eve did. Look at the curse. They'll be cast out

of the Garden of Eden where they might take fruit

from any tree faithfully. The work that they

had to do there was easy. cast out and now to

have to do hard work for their whole life and

all of us the same. God often uses the effects

of sin to punish the sinner. Now you can say

you're suffering, but the reality is a lot of

our suffering is because we're in sin. We refuse

to make the hard choices to give God his place.

And then we suffer and we're like, oh no, one

of the first blogs I ever wrote. I have a blog

that I don't take as good a care of as I should,

even though it's read kind of like all over the

world. It's called Thinking Crazy for Christ,

the number four. And one of the first ones I

wrote was, this is what the human beings do.

Human beings do this. They shoot themselves in

the foot, and then they spend the rest of their

life complaining about how their foot hurts.

And this is what we're doing. Instead of going,

you know, why is it like this? Am I supposed

to learn from this? Is there something I need

to repent and turn to the Lord? And it actually

doesn't even matter. If you did it or somebody

else did it to you, either way, the response

is the same. You repent and turn to the Lord

and do whatever it is that God's calling you

to do the way that God's calling you to do it.

And walk with Him daily. We shoot ourselves in

the foot. We cause our own problems. God often

uses the effects of sin to punish the sinner.

If you choose to do it on your own, God will

give you what you ask for. The only way you'll

be able to think that you're faithful, the only

way that you'll be able to think that you're

God's man or woman, if you're doing it on your

own without God, is to change who God is. You

have to change God up for an idol. Change God

up for something that will accept the course

that you've laid out for yourself. Something

that you can still enjoy and find peace and prosper

and get ahead and overcome and be a conqueror.

Something that's not God at all. If you choose

to go your own way outside God, he'll let you

go. He'll let your sin be the punishment for

you as a sinner. And you won't be unsafe. I'm

not talking about losing your salvation. There

is a way that God seals the end result. But you

can be a corrupt tree that cannot produce good

fruit. That's what the New Testament says. That

brings us to our conclusion then. As Joshua had

ordered them near to the end of his public ministry,

he basically said this, decide this day who you

will serve. In their case, that looked like not

courageously, obediently pushing on or destroying

the people of the land. There were people who

were allowed to flee, and if they didn't and

they stayed and put up military opposition, they

were supposed to be destroyed. Oh, the Israelites

are coming. And what happened was, as soon as

you start making pacts with the people of the

land, the fear of the Israelites is gone. Oh,

the Israelites are coming. Oh, well, maybe they'll

just make a pact with us. Get the tribute ready.

We'll pay them enough to leave us alone. And

so, yes, there was an intimidation on behalf

of those who lived in the land. They knew that

was God's people, but they saw that God's people

no longer were following the direction of their

own God to destroy or chase out the people of

the land. And so now nobody's leaving anymore.

They were all fleeing, and now they're not fleeing.

And it's the same way with our enemies, thoughts

and temptations and choices and things that we

face in this life. If you are not on God's side,

if you are not doing what it is, if you can't

face food and sex and drugs and bad music and

all the things in this world, what opportunity

to make money? If you can't face those things

and say, no, I am God's man or woman, and when

I come in there, it's going to suffer. Things

are going to change. It's not going to be that

way. You can't walk into a room and everybody

in the room knows that if they're gossiping,

they should stop. If that's not you, then you're

not acting like a man or a woman of God. If people

can willingly lie in your presence and tell falsehoods,

and you'll just kind of laugh it off and think

it's funny and not say anything because you know

it's not true, then why should they run? Why

should they hide? Why shouldn't they just keep

being everything that the world says will prosper

them? Because there is no alternative. There's

no reason for anybody in Hebron or anybody in

Jericho, which crashed to the ground and was

razed literally in the day of Joshua, being that

city that no one thought could be conquered,

and God did that? And when the military enemies

were fleeing from... People under Joshua, and

they couldn't catch up to them to destroy them.

God rained meteor fire from the heavens to destroy

an army that was fleeing from Joshua because

he knew they would just turn on them eventually.

And in any case, they were worthy of destruction.

Joshua ordered them, near the end of his public

ministry, decide this day who you will serve.

They should have courageously, obediently pushed

outward and destroyed the people of the land

that would not flee, but instead they began to

make pacts and compromise and so on. They found

excuses one by one to let peoples remain. And

the more remains of the world in your life, the

more temptation you will face, the more struggles

you will face, the more your mind will go in

different directions, and you will begin to select

for yourself gods that will comfort you in the

choices that you make that do not honor the God

of heaven. Excuses, one by one. Even tributes.

And soon they were an intermingled people rather

than being a people like God's people who were

designed to stand apart. In ours it looks like

at least the following. God calls us to fear

no tactics of the enemy. If someone says something

to you you don't like to hear, it doesn't have

to touch you at all. It doesn't have to mess

with your head. It doesn't have to affect you.

Do you know who you are in Christ? That the living

God sent his only son to die on the cross. You're

now bought and paid for. You belong to him. There

is literally nothing that the world can do to

touch you. If somebody says something you don't

like, does that have to mess with your head?

No, it does not. If the doctor says something

that you don't like, does that have to mess with

your head? Do you have to start wondering, oh,

no, I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring?

No. Fear no tactics of the enemy. Accept no failings

in yourself. This is a problem because even in

my own circles, people by close confidants, friends,

people in this room, I'm telling you, I'm not

naming anybody because I didn't ask any permission.

But this is what we'll do. Things go wrong. I

don't like a certain thing. A certain thing affects

me a certain way. And say, well, this is just

my personality. It's no sin for me to say that

I have to behave that way. Or for me to say that

I have to accept that kind of behavior. Or I

have to respond a certain way when somebody does

something like that. There's no sin in that,

right? There's no sin in me to say that I'm eating

a little too much on a consistent basis. Or I'm

spending a little too much on a consistent basis.

There's no sin in any of that. So we accept our

failings. But that is not the way God created

you to accept your failings. When you see something

and you start thinking to yourself, oh wait,

this could be a flaw in me. This could be a character

flaw, a struggle that I have, something that

needs to be fixed. You have two choices. You

can submit that thing to God and if God says

fix it, then you can begin to work to fix it

for the rest of your life as long as it takes.

Or you can make an excuse for it and say, yeah,

that's just the way God made me. Now you tell

me which one of those is the kingdom and which

one of those is the world. Is that not what the

world says? Oh, I'm this way because this is

the way God made me and I'm going to do what

it is? If they even accept that God exists at

all, that's what they say. That is not what the

kingdom does. We align ourselves with a risen

Savior. We overcome every challenge. And when

you find a failing in yourself, you say, okay,

we're going to deal with this. First thing we're

going to do is we're going to submit it to God.

Then we're going to say, what does God say it

should be? Then we're going to do that, whatever

that is. If we can get it out of His Word, that'll

make it easy, because you're going to look it

up like a dictionary, or Google it, and it'll

find it. All right? Easily. But if it's not that

point blank, but the Holy Spirit is convicting

me, then I'm going to get clear direction. I'm

going to search it out in prayer. I'm going to

listen to God. I'm going to get clear direction.

This is what God wants me to do, and I'm going

to do that. I accept no failing in myself. We're

going to recognize and deliberately abolish any

willingness in us or in the kingdom of God to

compromise the teachings of Jesus. Whatever he

said goes. And people are like, well, he kind

of did. You know that there are people out there

right now claiming they're Christians. And some

of them are major theologians making six figures

in some cases who will say there is no hell.

Now you know enough to know that the Bible very

clearly says there is. That God lays it out.

It cannot be doubted. And they'll just take those

texts where it cannot be doubted. And they'll

say, well, that does not have the same authority

as all the rest of Scripture. That's all poetic.

It's not actually real. Even though the Bible

is very clear that from beginning to end, it's

all what it is. There's no compromising on it.

Take it for what it is. And by the way, they're

getting very well paid, very well compensated

through that position because there's a lot of

people who want there to be no hell. And you,

as a Christian, you, as a follower of the Lord,

need to recognize and deliberately abolish any

willingness to compromise the teachings of Jesus.

It is what it is. Then, fear not. And so many

Christians living in fear, I'm so afraid of this,

I'm so afraid of that. Understand that scary

things scare scared people. Are they scary? Yes,

they're scary. Anybody here ever watch a horror

movie that sort of scared you? Like, wow, that

was something. Like, I kind of regret that a

little bit now because it kind of scared me.

Now, not everybody has. Some people can watch

it and it doesn't bother them at all, right?

But if you watch a movie, whether it's that or

maybe you watch a documentary about what's going

on in the world and how the government is doing

this and doing that and you start to wonder,

is the government really doing that or whatever?

Do these conspiracies seem serious? Really have

something. Are they really on to it? And you

start wondering. And you start to feel a little

fear about it. There's nothing I can do about

that. Scary things scare scared people. God's

got it. It's going to be fine. Let me tell you

how it's going to go. It's going to go like this.

The world is going to go to hell in a handbasket

very slowly until God decides it's going to go

a lot quicker. That's what's going to happen.

Then he's going to recreate everything wherein

those who have accepted Jesus Christ are going

to live there in the new heaven and the new earth.

You want to fly on a pony? You can do it. I'm

going to swim out of the sea without having to

breathe. If there was a sea, there probably won't

be according to Scripture. But if there was,

you can do it. I'm going to disappear in one

place and appear in another. You can do it. Heaven

will be like that. No fear. No dying. No sorrow.

No pain. All gone. The new earth will be perfect.

And that's coming someday. But it ain't here

yet. And as long as it's not, we're foreign to

this world. And yes, terrible stuff is going

to happen. And in the midst of it, you're supposed

to have peace and stand firm. Fear not. Stand

firm. We are to proclaim what we have seen and

heard. Reach new heights in Jesus. That's our

motto and our key verse for our church. That's

the kind of people that we're supposed to be.

God says so in his word. And we're to gather

as the church and act as the body of Christ without

allowing any reason, excuse, or mental struggle

to interfere. People are scared to be baptized.

People are scared to join the church. People

are scared to witness. People are scared to read

their Bibles. People are scared to preach in

public or tell their friends what they think

is true or what they thought God did. Those are

things that, they're gifts from God. They're

not even meant to be scary. Wait a minute. Those

iron chariots, whose land were they in? Where

did their resources come from? They were gifts

from God. That moment in time in which they were

needed to face iron chariots or face giants.

They were gifts from God. Goliath's head was

a gift from God to David. The sons of Anak were

gifts from God. All of it. And people are afraid.

We're supposed to gather as a church and act

as the body of Christ without allowing any reason,

logic, or theoretical wisdom of the world to

interfere. I'll give you a couple of illustrations

and then one closing thought and we're done.

The first illustration is that of a lighthouse

keeper. The lighthouse on the shore, rocky shore,

stretched for miles. Lighthouse, faithful lighthouse,

called the number of ships away from those rocks.

That's what lighthouses do. They shine the lights

out there and you realize, oh, we're getting

close to a rocky shore and the ship would veer

off and be safe. Lighthouse was there for hundreds

of years. One particular generation. there was

a very kind man running the lighthouse. The supplies

would come in for the oil to burn to run the

lighthouse. And the people of the village, it

was a particularly cold winter, and they came

and they asked if they could have just a little

oil to light a lamp or just stay warm. My child

is sick. I really need a room to be warm, hopefully

so he can get healthy. Little bit, little bit,

little bit, the lighthouse keeper gave oil to

the people around the lighthouse. Until one faded

night, a huge storm came. It was cold, freezing

rain, lightning, thunder. It was dark. And he

lit the lamp and the lighthouse to chase the

ships away from the rocks. Except sometime in

the dark of the morning, he ran out of oil. And

a bunch of ships crashed. And a bunch of people

died. And the people of the village suffered

like they never had before for want of a little

oil. We are the people of God. The resources

to do God's work have been handed over to us.

And I understand that our resources, kingdom

resources, are often called upon. by people in

the world who do not know God. And you may sometime

have to share your abundance with those who are

starving, those who are hurting, those who are

in need. And it may open the door so you can

talk about Jesus. But if you share those resources

and do not talk about Jesus, you're doing no

one any favors. For when their ship crashes upon

the rocks, when their doom comes in full, they

will simply ask, Why didn't he ever tell me?

Why does she never tell me? They helped me a

little along the way to my destruction. Are you

going to help them to their eternal salvation?

Or help them to their eternal destruction? Compromise.

There's an old illustration that goes along like

this. It says that if you take a lobster and

throw it in a pot of boiling water, it won't

stay. It'll thrash and throw boiling water all

over the place and climb out if it possibly can.

It'll get out. But if you put a lobster in a

cold pot of water, put that pot of water on a

burner and bring the temperature up, after a

while the water warms up. And guess what the

lobster does? He enjoys a nice warm bath. And

it gets hotter. And he enjoys a nice hot bath.

And pretty soon he dies in the boiling water

without ever struggling away. The church cannot

be a boiling lobster. You've got to get back

to the beginning and say, what has God called

me to do? Do not compromise on the great things

of the faith. Not even in the least. Do not take

things into your life that the world says are

good in anticipation of relishing them. You will

soon find yourself searching around for another

kind of God. A pastor who doesn't quite preach

the word. A church, maybe one growing quite large

in number. That is a little more comfortable

for you. No greater illustration exists than

the Anakim that are in this very text. They scare

the Israelites away from the promised land. But

here, they end up as basically just a footnote

to the victory in the day of the judges. People

fear that their commitment to Christ will cost

them. Fearing baptism, a public profession of

faith, joining the church, letting Christian

life and church activity be more important than

world -given activities. They fear waiting for

a godly Christian spouse or working hard to become

a godly Christian spouse. They're made by the

world to fear proper discipline of their children

or they fear the animal in them and so avoid

establishing relationships on a deeper personal

level. They fear what they have become having

known the grace of Christ and or they fear the

process of getting to where they belong. Often

they hang in there cherishing their excuses or

delaying their unleashed devoted potential, all

the while risking the great ramifications that

God will not defeat the very enemies that they

fear. The very thing that causes you to go, I

don't know, is the very thing that God will allow

to go the way you don't want it to if you fear

it. But if you will trust the Lord in the moment,

if you will trust Him to deal with whatever it

is that you face, then, He will deal with it.

We need a moment of saying no more. We need a

moment of saying I will not accept failings in

myself. I will trust God and God alone. I will

not add to myself from the world's wealth no

matter what. I will instead stand for the Lord

in the workplace, in my home, in my school, everywhere

I might be found. We need a moment of seeing

the past for what it is, footnotes to bring us

to a present as we're willing to fall on the

mercy of the Lord, repent, and propose new life

in Christ. That very moment then is provided

by Jesus in being born again. So for those of

us who have not been born again, we need only

accept his offer and begin the journey, then

begin born again. But for those of us who have

been born again, there is that. 1 John 1, 9,

confession and repentance and cleansing of all

unrighteousness because we have an advocate before

the Father taking care of it for us. And that,

when one of those two things happens, that is

when challenges faced become footnotes to history.

When I was in seventh grade, I gave a book report

in front of the class. One of the girls came

up to me afterwards and she really liked it,

but she said some things that sort of got under

my skin. made me think I looked like a fool.

I don't know if that's what started or not, but

from that point on, I avoided every book report

and public speaking I gave that I possibly could.

I missed 38 days of my junior year to miss every

time I would have been speaking in front of the

class to give a book report or anything. Because

I didn't want to look like a fool. In that time,

I gave one. I gave exactly one report. It was

on Hitler's Mein Kampf. By the time I was done,

I role -played Hitler out of his autobiography,

Mein Kampf. By the time I was done, the girls

in the class had all decided that they were going

to get me, that I was going to be punished for

my believing the same thing that he did, which

I did not believe that he did. I was role -playing

him. That was the assignment. I was pretending

to be him. So after I explained it, they didn't

get me. They left me alone. But the point is

this. That was the one oral report that I gave

between my junior and senior year. At 25 years

old, I was managing the pizza hut. And we would

have product rollouts. And I'd do my product

rollout and my mop would fill with cotton. My

palms was wet. I literally could feel the water

running down inside my shirt as I told my employees

that I hired a train how to make the new pizza

that was about to roll out. And at 25 years old,

God called me to preach. I didn't know it at

the time, but he said, Accept the new life in

me and I'll take you places that you would never

dream of. I'll do in you what you would never

do in yourself. A few years later, he specifically

called me to preach. And I thought, I don't know

how to do that. I can't do that. I went and did

it just one time and said, I'll never do it again

if I can possibly help it. And God said, oh yes

you will. Fast forward to the story. I stand

before you today and I'm telling you, the one

thing you fear, anything, whatever it is, You

have two choices. Either submit it to God and

do with it what he pleases, or continue to allow

it to plague you until you have to find another

God. You have to find another way. Build your

eyes. If it scares you, if it is you and it scares

you, if it's big and hurtful, if it's earthquakes

or iron chariots, you need to submit it to God

and live for the Lord. the way you promised you

would as a saved Christian, he will forgive you

and cleanse you of all unrighteousness, or the

way you need to do the very first time if you

never have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord

and Savior. And all the challenges that loom

so large will become just footnotes in your history.

But know this, the author took great care in

constructing those footnotes. It was for you.

Will you surrender your life to Christ in earnest

today? I ask the priest to come forward and lead

us in our closing hymn. And if you're there and

God is moving in your heart, then you say, that's

me. And you just say, okay, God, whatever you

want. And let him lead you with what happens

next.