When Glorifying is Horrifying Judges

Not a big fan of horror movies, but I've seen

a few in my day. There is a kind of classic horror

movie scene. It doesn't appear in every horror

movie or anything, but it is a sort of classic

horror movie scene, or it can even be in a suspense

movie or a mystery movie, where the person is

in the shower. They're taking a shower and the

water's falling down over them or whatever, and

they hear a noise. We were actually watching

a police show this week, Sherry and I, a couple

days ago, and this scene took place, and I recognized

it for what it was. A lady's in the shower, you

go and see her head, and just like her shoulders

were, nothing too risque or anything, and she

heard a noise in the house. And then she slowly,

she stood there and listened for a second and

she slowly turned the shower off and went out

to see what the noise was about or did she actually

hear a noise or whatever. Maybe she was done

with her shower, that kind of thing. And I told

Sherry, oh no, if I'm in the shower and I'm supposed

to be alone. And I hear a noise in the house.

There's no calmness. I will rapidly react. I

am moving toward the nearest weapon. I am checking

what's going on. I am jumping out of the shower.

I don't care if I'm buck naked. There's a mass

murderer in there going to kill me. I am going

out there to see what's going on. There's no,

oh, I didn't actually hear anything. And the

truth is, does that really happen? If you're

in the shower and you're alone in the house and

there is a noise in the house, unless you have

a cat or a dog, you're not going like. Oh, was

there actually a noise? Oh, it was probably just

the cat, right? But if you don't have a cat or

a dog and there's nobody else home, you're thinking,

I'm in the shower, I'm alone, and there's somebody

in my house, and I'm going to react. There's

that moment at which you realize you've got to

move to action or you've got to do something,

or maybe you're going like, I'm in the shower

and I have nothing and I'm in trouble, right?

So I want to talk to you today about the moment

at which glorifying is horrifying. It's that

stunning, that scary moment in which we realize,

oops, it may actually be too late. To do so,

we're going to read a story from the Bible that

comes from the book of Judges chapter one. Amen.

Thank you. For those of you who are with me in

it, we will now go and read from Judges chapter

one. I felt like the Lord said we may be in Judges

for a while. I have not confirmed with him as

to whether or not we will preach through the

book of Judges. It could be about time. We did

Deuteronomy. We did Joshua. It would be fun.

So maybe the Lord will have us do that. I don't

actually know. We've done a number. Acts, Hebrews.

There's a whole bunch of them. We've done the

whole book. And we'll do more before we're through.

But I don't know that the Lord is saying we're

going to do the entire book of Judges. But I

do know that we're going to do Judges chapter

Judges 1 · chapter mention

1 today. So because you were with us as we went

through the book of Joshua, you know how that

kind of ended. Joshua brought the Israelites

into the promised land. led them in sort of under

God's auspices, and they began to take over all

the areas that God said they would take over,

but they did not really finish the job. At the

end of the story, Joshua told them to continue

to be strong and courageous and trust in the

Lord and follow him, and God would complete his

plan. And then it comes to Judges chapter 1.

Judges 1 · chapter mention

This is right after, essentially, Joshua is no

longer on the scene. And it says, Now it came

about after the death of Joshua that the sons

of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, Who shall

go up first for us against the Canaanites to

fight against them? So we've got a couple of

good things going on. First of all, they're inquiring

of the Lord. That's what we want God's people

to be doing. And they're asking them which tribe

will go up and fight first. So it's good that

they're not only asking what they should do,

but how they should do it. And in verse 2 it

says, And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold,

I have given the land into his hand. So God says,

That's the tribe. It is the tribe of Judah. It

was one of the biggest tribes. They would go

up and conquer and fight the Canaanites in the

league, if you will. Then Judah said to Simeon,

his brother, come up with me into the territory,

allotted me, that we may fight against the Canaanites.

And I, in return, will go with you into the territory,

allotted you. So Simeon went with them. Now,

we know this is not literally Judah and Simeon,

right? These are the, talk about the tribes.

The tribe of Judah asked the tribe of Simeon.

They are descendants of those two men, and the

tribes are thus named. So, as I was reading this,

I thought, this is sort of straying a little

bit. Who will go up for us first to fight the

Canaanites? Oh, Judah will go up first. Judah

says, well, yeah, okay, but I don't want to go

alone. So, Simeon, will you go with me? And then

when it's your turn to go, I'll go with you?

Oh, yeah, sure, we'll do that. Yes, they're doing

what God told them to do, but they asked who

would go first, and Judah was supposed to go

first, and now it's not Judah that's going first,

but Judah and Simeon. So it's not exactly, so

I'm wondering, is this going to go a little wrong?

Is there a little something that could go wrong

here if they're going to go up? Before we go

any further, let's talk briefly about the Canaanites.

So the Canaanites are the people that were occupying

the land of Canaan. It is the land that God said

he would give to his people. And so they would

be wiped out or kicked out. Those are their only

options. They're no longer going to be allowed

to live there. But we also know that there's

been a prophecy that God will use the people

of the descendants of the land as a distraction,

as a way of tempting the Israelites while they're

in the land. So we have a feeling that it's not

going to quite go the way they might hope to

totally eliminate them, even though that is what

they've been commanded to do. So they're going

to go up against the Canaanites. We now have

Judah and Simeon going up. And so in verse 3

again it says, And Judah said to Simeon his brother,

Come up with me into the territory allotted me,

that we may fight against the Canaanites. And

in return I will go with you into the territory

allotted you. So Simeon went with them. And Judah

went up. And the Lord gave the Canaanites and

the Perizzites into their hands. So when I see

that, I'm thinking, okay, good. They didn't blow

it. They didn't fall apart. Even though they

asked Simeon to go up, they still, God gives

them into the hands of Judah, of the tribe of

Judah and the tribe of Simeon, as he originally

promised he would. So it's still going okay,

right? Simeon went with them, Judah went up,

the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites

into their hands, and they defeated 10 ,000 men

at a place called Bezek. Verse 5 says, and they

found Adonai Bezek in Bezek. So Adonai Bezek

was the king. Over that entire region. And they

fought against him and defeated the Canaanites

and the Perizzites. So basically, the king is

there. Huge battle. God does what he said. He

gives victory to Judah and Simeon. Sounds great.

Verse 6. But Adoni -Vezek fled. And they pursued

him. And they caught him. And they cut off his

thumbs and his toes. That's kind of yucky. He

cut off his thumbs and his toes. And Adonai Bezek

said, 70 kings with their thumbs and their big

toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my

table. As I have done, so God has repaid me.

So they brought him to Jerusalem and he died

there. And so before we go on any further, just

a quick summary. They fought the battle. They

found Adonai Bezek there and fought. He escaped.

He flees. They hunt him down. They capture him.

They cut off his thumbs and toes. Now, this had

become a tradition of a sort or like a process.

And the idea is if your big toes and your big

thumbs are cut off, you can't what? What can't

you do? Stand or grip anything. Can't stand or

grip anything. So basically, you're going to

kind of crawl around for the rest of your life.

And you might stand like with a cane. You might

balance yourself and stuff. But the bottom line

is you're no longer a capable warrior. The king

was humiliated. And he was made inconsequential

as a military leader. He could no longer fight,

and basically he could no longer command men.

Which, on the one hand, doesn't sound terrible.

But it was a tradition or a thing that had developed

amongst the kings in that area to do to enemy

kings so that they could never rise up again.

Is it a thing that God ever ordained? No. God

never commanded that they do anything like that.

So what we see is we see the men of Judah and

Simeon practicing the disarming and defeating

of this king in a way that is the surrounding

territory's way. Does that make sense? So while

on the one hand, it looks like they have not

failed, even though Judah asked Simeon to go

up with them, which wasn't really necessary.

God said, I will do it for Judah. Judah goes

up, I'll take care of it. And he's like, well,

I'll go up, but I want to go up. with somebody

else. So Simeon, you go with me. So then they

go up together, and then they still get the victory,

which sounds good, but then immediately they

punish the king by humiliating him and making

him no longer capable in combat. By the way,

what should they have done with the king? Based

on the commands of God, what should have happened

to him when they defeated him? They should have

killed him, right? Those who stood against God's

people, it was said that they would be wiped

out. then there's nothing about humiliation.

There's nothing about eliminating their ability

to fight. There's nothing about scaring the other

people. See, when you take a king's land and

you cut off his thumbs and his toes, you scare

all the other kings, all the other armies, and

any of his men that might have been loyal to

him that might later rise up in rebellion. Now

they're terrified. Horror arises out of his persecution,

about his humiliation, about his being defeated

to the point that he can never rise again. Is

there any reason for God's people to conduct

that sort of behavior to scare the people that

are around them? We know in the book of Joshua,

what did the people think of the Israelites in

the book of Joshua? They were terrified. They

were terrified of the Israelites. Why were they

terrified? Because they might come and cut off

their king's toes? No, they were terrified because

they were God's people. And so now we see them

practicing this ritual, if you will, or this

process against Adonai Bezek. as if they're going

to somehow scare the people around them or humiliate

the king or the kings. Adonai Bezek then observes

what's been done to him and he says, So it has

come to me as I did to 70 kings before me, taking

their thumbs and big toes. So one might say the

Israelites were used to bring about God's justice

or wrath against Adonai Bezek. But at the same

time, we see that the Israelites were doing what

they never should have been doing in the first

place. Verse 8 says, Then the sons of Judah fought

against Jerusalem and captured it. That's a pretty

big deal. Jerusalem will eventually be considered

like the seat of God once the temple is built.

They fought against Jerusalem and captured it,

and they struck it with the edge of the sword,

and they set the city on fire. You might think,

well, that's kind of vengeful, but in reality,

many of the cities, not all, but many of the

cities that they captured that resisted them

in a strong way were severely damaged, and the

city was struck. So God is giving them victory

after victory, even though they first go two

instead of one, and they enact this ritual against

Adonai Bezek that was unnecessary, but God gives

them now victory over Jerusalem. Verse 9 says,

And afterward the sons of Judah went down to

fight against the Canaanites living in the hill

countries. So they go into the lowlands around

Jerusalem and south from there. into the Negev,

in the lowlands. So Judah went against the Canaanites

who lived in Hebron. Hebron's about 25 miles

from Jerusalem, the famous home of Abraham and

other some pretty famous fathers of the faith.

The name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath Arba.

And they struck Cheshire and Ahimon and Telmai.

Okay, and so we can stop there for the purposes

of today's lesson. Notice that in the finding

of Adonai Bezek, this is where it all kind of

starts to take a turn. In the finding of Adonai

Bezek, what we actually find him doing is waiting

in disobedience to God. When a person is found,

you can find a person who's hiding. He wasn't.

Or you can find a person who's waiting for you,

and a variety of things in between. Adonai Bezek

was waiting in disobedience. Do you remember

when the Israelites were in Egypt? God kept them

there for over 400 years for a reason. Do you

remember why? Because the fullness of the sinfulness

or the wickedness of the Canaanites had not yet

reached full measure. That's why the Israelites

were said they stayed in Egypt for that period

of time. So that would include Adonai Bezek and

kings like that had gone before him, the ones

that he... personally cut off their fingers and

toes, and probably his father or whoever he rebelled

against to take his kingship, etc. All the kings

of the Canaanites were waiting for their sin

to be brought to full measure, and then the Israelites

were due to come in and enact God's wrath against

them. It might have been said of him until his

day of defeat that he was powerful, that he was

free. That he was getting good results. He was

living wealthy, eating well, tons of money, conquering

kingdoms, taking slaves. He was getting good

results. No one would doubt on simple observation

of Adonai Bezek that his way worked. He was successful.

There are those like Adonai Bezek who are being

retained for the day of their defeat in a manner

glorifying unto the Lord even now. They practice

customs of men alongside of exercising supposedly

the power of God. But there is a predetermined

outcome, and all of that, customs of men, the

power of God, and that predetermined outcome

come together to land Adonai Bezek in a horrible

state. And then what is his response to his horrible

state? He says, it has come upon me just as I

did to so many others. Adoni Bezek saw the outcome

which God had delivered as promised, not to Adoni

Bezek. We don't know that God ever said to Adoni

Bezek that you will suffer the same wrath that

you have visited all the other people. But God

promised it to God's people. And so God's people

are just getting the promise that God has promised

them, and Adoni Bezek is getting the justice

that he in his own mind thinks he deserves. The

promise... as reasonable or justice, served after

he was given the same fate as the kings he had

conquered. If you are standing against the Lord,

the victory of your enemy is assured. Today,

tomorrow, or when you stand before him, if you

are standing against the Lord, the victory of

your enemy is assured. Whatever demise God has

pre -programmed into creation, Or whatever standard

that you have created, or when you judge, you

shall be judged accordingly. The Romans wanted

by their conscience that they know that they

are guilty because they make a law of their own

conscience and then break that. So by whatever

pre -programmed into creation God has done, or

whatever standard that you have personally created,

when that is wielded against you, will show that

God... can defeat you not only by his power,

but also deliver justice where previously there

seemed to be no justice. Adonai Bezek brought

down 70 kings and cut off their toes and their

thumbs, and they ate scraps from his table. And

you can imagine, he took all their wives and

children as slaves, and the soldiers of their

armies, he recouped wealth after wealth after

wealth. There seemed to be no end to his mighty

reign. But ultimately, there was. Just the same

is true today. It is appointed for every man

once to die and then the judgment. So no matter

what people think they're getting away with,

ultimately, they will answer for it. God is not

mocked, Scripture says. In Romans 1, 18 through

21, it says, For the wrath of God is revealed

from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness

of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

Because that which is known about God is evident

within them, for God made it evident to them.

For since the creation of the world, his invisible

attributes, his eternal power and divine nature

have been clearly seen, being understood through

what has been made, so that they are without

excuse. They say, how does a tree grow out of

rock? How are these things accomplished? How

was DNA ever written? How do single -cell organisms

become so complex that it's not possible that

they evolved up from anything else? They had

to be created in a state so complex that man

can barely understand them, even now, after science

has progressed so far. And the natural outpouring

of that question should be, there is a God, and

he's incredible. He's an incredible creator God

with ultimate power, and I should recognize him.

And what does that look like? I don't know. God,

how do you want me to recognize you? And God

reveals his son, Jesus Christ, as the way. But

some suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Some

experience the wrath of God as revealed from

heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.

Verse 21, it said, for even though they knew

God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks.

But they became futile in their speculations

and their foolish heart was darkened. And down

in verse 23, it says, and exchanged the glory

of the incorruptible God for an image in the

form of corruptible man and of birds and four

-footed animals and crawling creatures. Basically,

they began to worship the creation rather than

the creator. That's what the people of Canaan

did, including Adonai Bezek. They worshipped

a false god who was probably a demon named Molech

that required them to burn their firstborn child

in the fire alive. And they did it by the thousands,

by the tens of thousands, possibly by the hundreds

of thousands of firstborn children born. That

kind of sucked, wouldn't it, Nat? My brother

would think it would suck too. If we were still

living in a society like the Canaanites, We'd

be burning our firstborn children to fire, at

least a large percentage of us would be. Some

would be worshiping other false gods that had

slightly less demanding rituals. You could worship

Asherah, for example. There, when you want the

rain to come so your crops are ready, you just

go sleep with the prostitutes at the temple.

That religion would kind of suck, wouldn't it,

Alicia? Her husband was running off to the temple

all the time to sleep with the prostitutes so

he could get more cars at work. And that's the

unrighteousness that had become commonplace in

the Canaanites. And so then God said, I'm going

to send my people in and justice will be dealt.

But he didn't send them in to deal justice. He

just reserved the promises that he promised to

his people until such time as it was time to

ultimately deal justice. That's what actually

happened. And so the rituals that they had bought

into, the processes and systems that they had

built, the standards that they had judged, the

power of God that they had called upon day after

day, and God's justice all combined to bring

it down on their heads. So I ask you, when is

glorifying horrifying? Galatians 6, 7 through

10 says this, Do not be deceived. God is not

mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will

also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh

will reap from the flesh corruption, but the

one who sows to the Spirit will reap from the

Spirit, eternal life. Let us not lose heart in

doing good, for in due time we will reap if we

do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity,

let us do good to all people, and especially

to those who are of the household of faith. Now

that doesn't sound horrifying to me. It sounds

like a call to action. And I submit to you that

it's not the horror that we are seeking out today.

It's not the horror that we think God makes out

of glorifying in certain cases. When Jesus was

being arrested, he looked at Peter. He had told

Peter to make sure he had access to a sword.

And so naturally, as Jesus was being arrested,

Peter thought that's the time to use that there

sword. And he whipped it out and he cut off the

high priest's servant's ear. Jesus said, no,

no, put away your sword. For whosoever lives

by the sword shall die by the sword. And so now

we see that there is the possibility while living

amongst men to live the way men live, to even

have the right to do so, and to do so, and when

doing so, to put yourself in the position where

you will now die by the very thing that makes

you successful. And so often it has happened

that a man is strong and his strength ruins him

for life. Another man is intelligent and his

intelligence ruins him for life. The very good

things about us, the things that we bring to

the table then, that we trust in, that we place

our hope in, those very things we begin to adapt

and say, well, that's just the way I am. That's

just who I am. That's just what I can do. I can

go so far and I can't go any further. And none

of that is actually true. You were created to

be in the image of the living God. But if you

choose to live by the sword, you shall also die

by the sword, Jesus said. And all the while we

know that God is not mocked. A man will get,

will reap what he sows. 2 Corinthians 1 .20 says

this, In this confidence, I intended at first

to come to you. So this is Paul writing to the

church of Corinth, and he's telling them that

he planned to come to the church of Corinth.

He says, I did so, so that you might twice receive

a blessing, that is to pass your way into Macedonia,

and again from Macedonia to come to you, by you

to be helped on my journey to Judea. Therefore,

I was not vacillating what I intended. to do

this, was I? In other words, I wanted to come

to visit you in Corinth and then for you to help

me on to Macedonia and then me back to Corinth

and you had to help me on to Judea. That was

my plan, but it didn't happen. I didn't do what

I thought I was going to do, what I desired to

do. And it happens that people don't always get

to do what they want to do. But he says, I wasn't

vacillating, was I, when I intended to do this?

In other words, I wasn't saying I was going to

do one thing and doing another. There was no

hypocrisy in it. I wasn't ordaining. I wasn't

saying with my mouth what God was going to do,

that God had that plan. I was just saying, that's

what I really long to do. I want to come to Corinth

and then on to Macedonia and then back to Corinth

and on to Judea. That's my plan. I want to do

it, but it didn't work out. So he's saying, Realize

I wasn't saying I was going to do one thing and

then another. And so often we do that. We make

a plan and it doesn't work out. And the plan

that we made was outside God's will. Are we vacillating

when that happens? That's the question. He said,

I was not vacillating when I intended to do this.

Was I? Or what I purpose. Do I purpose according

to the flesh? In other words, when I made that

plan, did I decide just what my body wanted?

Did I decide what my desires wanted? Or was I

actually making that plan trying to make it in

line with what God wanted? So that with me there

be yes, yes, and no, no at the same time. But

as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes

and no. For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who

was preached among you by us, by me and Silvanus

and Timothy, was not yes and no, but is yes in

him. For as many as are the promises of God in

him, they are yes. Therefore, also through him

is our amen to the glory of God through us. In

other words, because God's answers are yes in

the promises through Christ, therefore, we amen

to God. We give glory to God. And we are able

to do that because of what he does. And then

we do that because it is the right thing to do

in response to what he does. Verse 21 says, Now

he who establishes us with you in Christ and

anointed us is God. In other words, the one who

chose us, the one who filled us with his Holy

Spirit, that is God. And he did it with us together.

And then in 22, it says, and this text ends here,

who also sealed us. That means he put up a wall

around our hearts. He made us safe in the world

and gave us the Spirit, that's God's Holy Spirit,

in our hearts as a pledge. Now, I read those

verses this week, Tuesday morning. I think it

was. And I wrote a devotional out of those verses,

and as I did it, I was prayerful, I was listening

to the Holy Spirit, and I thought like word for

word almost that God was giving to me. And it

says this, God does not vacillate. God's yes

is yes and his no is no. God's promises never

fail to come true, and he always says the truth.

What God has promised, he will accomplish. When

life tries to box God in or to keep him from

his goals, God can destroy all opposition. When

that opposition is the most powerful beings in

the universe other than God, he can reserve them

for punishment while carrying out a plan that

fully meets his goals and all the while leave

them deceived thinking they are somehow going

to eat out a victory. Even they may think they

are still alive and struggling when in truth

they are dead and their outcome is already determined.

God will keep his promises through Christ no

matter what. He has not said yes and left any

possibility of no. If you have prayed to Jesus

Christ as Lord and Savior, you said, Jesus be

my Lord, Jesus be my Savior, then he has saved

you. The first act of faith is for you to realize,

regardless of how you feel, that the God of heaven

never breaks his promises. Seeing God's nature

in this way, realizing that God is like that.

He does not vacillate. Not sometimes yes, sometimes

no. Always yes in Christ. Seeing God's nature

in that way brings us to a complete and hearty

amen. It is an amen to the glory of God, which

glory flows through us. It is also an amazing

thing that God is able to draw that amen from

the hearts, mouths, and minds of humans, even

after they have been dead in their trespasses

and sins. What a dirty man I was for the Lord

to use me to bring a glorious amen to him. For

this, To be possible, a man would need a fresh

start. That makes perfect sense at times. It

makes sense when the garbage has become too restrictive

or even when the blessings have become too invasive.

Sometimes starting over is the only course of

action to achieve the correct end goal. That

being said, if we have had that one start over

that equals salvation, we ought to seek to bring

our lives in line with that reality. We do this.

By removing vacillation ourselves. Do you understand

what I'm saying? Let your yes be yes and your

no be no. Let nothing stop you from doing what

it is that God has purposed to do through you.

We burn might, could, should, maybe, possibly,

hopefully. And we learn to spend ourselves completely,

utterly, totally, thoroughly, faithfully, and

without reservation. all the while driven by

the fact that there is no shadow of turning with

him, and there should not be with us in him.

Unmet desires or uncompleted plans are not necessarily

concocted in the flesh, nor are they unfinished

simply because they weren't the will of the Lord.

Longing to do something for the Lord that God

wants done, but the timing is not right or the

success just doesn't come into being, does not

equal vacillating. If a few things remain true,

the faithful Christian must have, as their greatest

heart's desire, a longing for God and his plans

to be fulfilled. They must replace whatever lost

steps, whatever didn't turn out right, whatever

didn't do what you thought it was going to do,

with faithful, arduous, disciplined, aggressive

service to the Lord, and his presence must be

daily given the highest priority. If we cannot

do something that we believe, He would want us

to do? Having the mind of Christ, we will find

ourselves comforted as we pursue our relationship

with him and practice total commitment. It makes

so much sense that it almost seems like it should

be without saying. We were dead in our trespasses

and sins and born again in new life to be lived

in him and for him and by him and through him.

And anything else will result in the world's

method of progress which is given. and takes

which is given hate and includes vacillation.

To put it another way, you no longer live for

yourselves but for the one who died for you.

There is no vacillation in him. Up the ante.

Go all in. It's not that it is the only road

to victory, but it is. It's not that we fare

better on that road, though we shall. We live

this way because this is the light and the light

that is in us. We win this way because we have

already won. And if needed, we die this way because

we already have a greater light beyond any that

we can lose in this service. Until we know this

and walk in it, we are either making our journey

more difficult or walking the wrong journey altogether.

We live no longer for ourselves. It's like Corinthians

5 says this way. The love of Christ controls

us, having concluded this, that one died for

all, therefore all died. And he died for all,

so that they who live might no longer live for

themselves, but for him who died and rose again

on their behalf. So let's break down the lightning

point for a second, shall we? The lightning point

was the proof is in the pudding, coming to the

conclusion. The proof is in the pudding. Time

will tell. And you had to be there or not. So

let's take it from back to front. Anybody ever

tell you a joke? And I just had this happen to

me. Ariana told me about a funny instance that

happened to her and Nova while they were at the

Challenger Center on their field trip. And she's

laughing hysterically. It didn't strike me as

funny at all. And she didn't say it because she's

probably never heard it. But then they say, you

had to be there. No, you didn't. You didn't have

to be there when Adonis Bezek was canceled. He

didn't have to be there when Judah and Simeon

started to stray into doing the things that the

world does to make sure that they got God's will

done in their own lives. He didn't have to be

there when they found him in wickedness and iniquity

after 430 years suffering as a nation, held back

while he stored up wrath for himself and all

the kings before him did the same. You don't

have to be there to know. God keeps his promises

and he's going to do what he said he's going

to do. And your only option is to get on board

or to get hurt in the process. That's the bottom

line. You didn't have to be there. Time will

tell. Well, you know, time will tell means we're

going to enact this plan. We think it's a good

plan and time will tell. The results that we

get will determine whether or not it's right

or not, right? No. No, because Adonai Bezek had

years, decades as a king, cutting off toes, cutting

off thumbs, years of wealth and slaves and ruling

a whole region of the most prosperous region

of the world. And God allowed him to do that.

And he remained in wickedness during that time

and ultimately suffered the justice so that he

would say, as I did to 70 kings, so rightfully

has been done to me. And he suffered until he

died. So it's not. It's not. Time will tell.

because you could suffer up to the moment of

your death. If it was time, we tell, then we

have to assume that all martyrs were actually

unsaved, right? They were burned at the stake,

drawn in court, killed, run through with spears,

etc., etc., crucified upside down. But if we

said time will tell, we'd say, man, that sucked.

They had a horrible end. So clearly their plan

was bad. Clearly God did not take care of them,

so they must have all been heretics, right? Every

martyr who ever died in the faith. Though God

miraculously healed through them, and people

got saved, and they started the church, and thousands

or tens of thousands got saved, it didn't end

well for them. I'm here to tell you today that

if you trust God and go all in for God, then

by the world's standard, by your own standard,

by your own desires, it may not end well for

you. Which is great comfort. Because if you do

that, it won't end for you at all. Your heart

will stop beating, your brain will stop waiting,

you'll stop breathing. But you'll be in heaven

for an eternity. that does not end. And that's

not just ending well. That's just not ending

at all. So it's not. Time will tell. And that

leaves the saying, the proof is in the pudding.

Now this is an interesting saying because it

began over 600 years ago and it has warped over

that period of time. It used to be about the

pudding because the idea was The proof is in

the eating of the pudding, and they just kind

of dropped out the middle phrase. Pudding used

to be a meat substance, a lot of times prepared

when not a lot of other food was available. And

they'd take the leftover meat and junk, and they'd

boil it down to make a slop out of it, and then

they'd put some other stuff with it, and then

they'd put it inside a fashioned skin, and then

they would boil that until it becomes what you

and I might think of chocolate pudding, or whatever

color, gray or brown or whatever, usually gray,

right? And then they would say, well... Did it

work? Did we get something that's edible? Well,

the proof is in the eating of the pudding. That's

where the saying comes from. And so the idea

is when you eat the pudding, you'll know whether

or not the process of making the pudding and

putting all the stuff, the seasonings and the

yuck that normally you would never touch to eat

in there made something edible or not. If you

ever want to see this, by the way, you can watch

the movie Master and Commander. It's a great

scene in which he makes the Galapagos Islands

out of pudding, which is a meat pudding. It's

actually very realistic. Bottom line is this.

The proof is not in the pudding. Because it's

not in the eating. It's not in the tasting. It's

not going to be what you taste or what you feel

or what you think or what you reason or anything

of this lifetime. The proof is in God. God alone

is God. And when he says it, that settles it.

It's done and over. So if you run your life by

reason, congratulations, tons of other people

do that. If you have excuses, if you have arguments,

if you have processes, if you have steps that

you go through that makes you a better person,

congratulations, tons of people do that. Most

of the world's religions have rules and steps

and things you have to do to get closer to God.

If that's how you live your Christianity, congratulations,

you live in the way they live, it's not going

to take you to heaven. It won't get you there

because you'll never get to be holy enough. Even

if you practice what's called true religion,

that alone is not going to save you. I say to

you that there are many Christians who have reformed

hearts, hearts that know God, hearts that are

theoretically sealed and contain the Holy Spirit,

hearts that are not going to be invaded by the

evils of this world, yet they are halfway in

the kingdom of God according to their choices.

Their day -in and day -out living puts them halfway.

I wrote this a long time before any conversation

I had with anybody today, just FYI. The bottom

line is, if you live that way, you've got a real

problem. Maybe, according to the Bible, they

will face a serious overturning, a shocking moment,

a jumping out of the... The shower to face a

man with a sharp knife stabbing you 54 times

moment. A horrible moment, like being burned

alive. They will face a horrible, serious overturning

before they are through. By all accounts, they

are doing as well or better than anyone else.

They're living with the Lord a little. Maybe

tithing, maybe not. They're giving, they're serving.

They speak about God, talk about how good he

is to them, how good it is to be in church, how

much they enjoy their time, etc. But by biblical

standards, they are securing their victories

by hedging their bets, retaining. So our relationship

stays good because we take time away from God

together to build it. Or our finances stay good

because, yes, we tithe, but we're always careful

not to give until it hurts because we might not

have enough funds down the road. Or we're raising

our kids in the Lord. We're going to have a child

dedication and commit in front of the whole church.

We're going to raise our kids in the Lord. But

when it comes time, that our kids want something

for Christmas and that's what they need in order

to be sure that we love them, then we're going

to move heaven and earth to make sure they get

the things that they need for Christmas so that

they know that we love them. Or they can do the

things that they want to do or what we think

will make them healthy. We're going to make sure,

even though it takes us away from what it is

that God has called us to. By all accounts, people

are doing well enough. Better than out there

in the world. They feel comfortable. Their marriage

might be lasting. Their relationship might be

good. They're not blowing up, maybe, or some

of them still are blowing up or whatever. They

have faults, but they say, oh, those are just

my traits. That's just like the things I'm still

fighting with, the things that are still sinning

about. But I really am living for the Lord. But

by biblical standards, they're securing their

victories by kind of hedging their bets. They

don't go unless they can take somebody along

with them that can do a better job. They don't

give unless it doesn't hurt too much and so on.

In the Psalms of Mary and Zechariah, prophesying

the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist respectfully,

Mary's Magnificat, Zechariah's Benedictus they

call it, those Psalms prominently feature the

theme of reversal, highlighting God's action

in overturning the established order and uplifting

the humble. Mary sings of God raising the humble,

bringing down the mighty, while Zechariah prophecies

the restoration of God's people and the rescue

of the oppressed. The reversal is a core element

of God's redemptive plan, showcasing his favor

toward those who trust in him. And the word says

that in the end of the day, every tongue will

confess, every knee shall bow, not just some,

not just those who believe. But those who to

bow is a horrifying thought. It's a terrible

thing to think of. But wait, because those people

to whom it is a horrifying thing to think that

they would bow, do they think about that now?

Do the wicked think about the fact that someday

they will have to bow? Do the murderers of this

world think about God at all? Most of them know.

They don't care, or they know they're opposite

God, and they think somehow they're going to,

as I mentioned before, eke out some kind of a

victory, or maybe someday they'll deal with it,

and they're not worried about it. So the horror

that I'm describing is not a horror for those

who are truly wicked and will not follow God.

It is a horror for those who say they love the

Lord, have known the Lord, and have not followed

Him with all that they are, to be 80 % or 90

% in. And 10 % of the time, in ultimate horror.

Because when God glorifies himself, there will

be an upheaval that will wake up. I just seen

a video of a meme on Facebook about 10 days ago.

And there's a church bus, and it's driving down

the road. And there's all these kids on it. There

are young kids on the church bus. And all of

a sudden, there's a flash, and all the kids are

missing. And the bus driver screeches to a halt.

They look, where did all the kids go? Right?

There's a church all singing praises, and then

all of a sudden, like a third of the church just

disappears. Now, that's not how that's going

to happen. Right? It's not going to be suddenly

there are people missing from the world. That's

not what the Bible teaches. But it's a poetic

example of what it's going to be like if a third

of the people who profess to be Christian are

saved, and the other two -thirds who are not

sold out for Jesus face a terrible upheaval they

thought they were in. They realize, wait, I never

really surrendered my life to the Lord. It's

never been about me living for Him. It's always

been about me getting The benefits of me living

for him. And the Bible requires the former, not

the latter. He died for you. And if he didn't

die for you, you're not alive. Because we were

dead in our trespasses and sins. Not only that,

if he didn't die for you, you're still an object

of wrath, Ephesians 2. We were objects of wrath.

Which means God is opposing you. And where do

we start? Those who oppose God, their enemy will

always defeat them. That's where we started at.

Even so that Adonai Besik, who had his terrible

upheaval and knew that all he had left was crawling

around under the table for scraps with no fingers,

or no thumbs and no big toes, at least maybe

no toes at all, under the table until he died,

and that's all he had left. Think of who he was.

He was the Donald Trump of the region. He was

the... Name your favorite billionaire. But more,

because he not only owned billions of dollars,

he owned tens of thousands of people. Lives.

Nobody took a breath unless Adonai Bezek said

it was okay. But one day after they found him,

one day after his mighty upheaval, he was under

the table with no thumbs or toes, eating scraps,

whatever they would toss him, like a dog or worse.

That's the kind of upheaval God's Word says is

coming when Jesus comes again and he is glorified.

That's why Jesus says in Matthew 7, Not everyone

who says unto me, Lord, Lord, what can I do in

heaven but the one who follows the commands of

my Father? Glorifying becomes horrifying today,

not for those like Adonai Bezod, was before they

took him down, but for those who know. when their

hearts, in their hearts, that God will be glorified

in the end, and they know the promises of God,

that people who humbly serve him and live their

lives for him, the one who died for them, they

will have that great victory. They know that,

and they cannot count themselves as part of that

number because they are not living that way.

Anything else, anyone else, will experience a

great disturbing turnaround. That was never in

doubt. Not even before, while Israel was still

in Egypt. It was always going to be true. God

has never lost control, never suffered a defeat,

and that their apparent victory was a little

more than a misinterpretation of the same facts

that held them in place awaiting his perfect

timing to deal justice. You get that? It's complex.

Day after day after day, Adonai Beset got out

of bed and said, I'm doing okay. And his wives,

his children, his siblings, even his higher -up

slaves got out of bed day after day saying, I'm

doing okay. I'm doing pretty good for myself.

If I want to buy a Fortune 500 country tomorrow,

I'll probably just do it. If I want to... Have

four or five or 50 other wives and pay them each

a million dollars a month after I sleep with

them for a while. I'll just do it. Who's going

to stop me? I've got it all. And that was his

thought every single day until the people of

God came in to deal with the promise of God.

Until the people of God came in because time

had come for justice to be served. Look at the

injustices of this world and ache over them.

but in no way, shape, or form ever take part

in them. If you're a follower of the Lord Jesus

Christ, you say, I'll have nothing to do with

that. No matter how good it looks, no matter

how it seems to fulfill the way of the Lord,

I will not invite a brother to go up with me

when it is my job to do it, unless it is my job

also to invite him. I'm not going to have somebody

else do it for me when I should be doing it.

I'm going to do what it is that God would have

me to do. I will not await God's perfect timing

and justice when he glorifies himself and they

come and they scream, Hallelujah to the Lord

Jesus Christ. Look at all he did in all these

people. And when they say in all these people,

look at all he did. I'm standing over here. I

will not allow that to be so. The light and the

life that is in me that is in Jesus must be delivered

into every environment I enter into. And the

Israelites went and they found him. And they

fought him. And he fled. And then they humiliated

him, took away his power, just as he had done

to so many people before. And this all happened

because God decided, because God promised, because

God ordered, and it was so. And it will be the

same way when Jesus comes again. Now, if you're

saved, I'm not talking about losing your salvation.

But I'm here to tell you today that if you're

saved and you're adding on to things in the world,

that your success can be found in I get to do

this, I get to do that, I get to have this, I

get to have that. I want to take this time away

from what God is making me so that I can enjoy

or so that I can accomplish it. Even if it accomplishes

something, you can say, you can be called a pastor

and say, I'm not going to pastor right now. God's

calling me to do that, but I'm not going to do

that. I'm going to go to seminary first. But

if God calls you today to pastor and you go to

seminary first, You are using a process or a

system to achieve the will of God while not actually

achieving the will of God. Say, well, my loved

one's sick. I know God has got me to do this,

but I'm going to stay home and take care of my

loved one specifically and not do that which

God has called me to do. You've got a problem.

Because yes, God has called you to take care

of your family, but God is telling you to do

this now. You've got to figure out how do you

do both. That's your job. Not how do you do...

the world and also do the kingdom. But how do

you follow God and also follow God? And the answer

is, you die if necessary. That's what the Bible

has called us to. We just got a little comfortable

in our flesh thinking we don't have to die because

Jesus said those who are his true followers will

not actually see death. And that's the truth

of it. And if you actually physically die for

him, you will not know that death. I guarantee

you, you will translate immediately to heaven

and the suffering of it will be forever gone.

So what has God promised? God has promised a

return. Jesus is coming back again. He has promised

his presence now in us as believers. He has promised

his faithfulness to reward those who seek him

and live for him on a daily basis. We see this

in the New Testament. There's one particular

moment in time. Jesus goes to cast demons out

of a... It's actually a person that the disciples

failed to cast demons on. And the demons recognized

Jesus. They recognized him. And you can only

say that the word isn't there, but the emotion

that they were feeling was horror. And they said,

have you come to, this is how we know, torment

us before the day? Are you sitting here today

thinking, man, this sermon, if I really would

do this, it's tormenting me. It's really messing

with my head because what if I really do take

all that money that's in my savings account,

all that time that's in my schedule, 168 hours

a week, all that strength that's in my muscles,

all the tension that's left in me, all the ability,

all the reason, all that. If I put all that on

the table and I really do use that all for God,

and people are like, oh, somebody needs 100 bucks.

And I'm like, oh, not 100 bucks. I'm going to

save it for a rainy day. Just do what it is.

If God says give it, just give it. If God says

go and serve, just go and serve. If God says

tell this person about Jesus, just do that. Whatever

God says to do, it is word. And you know it's

him. Just totally, totally put yourself out there

in every possible way. Even die if necessary

for the Lord. Man, that's torment to even think

about that. If that's where you're at, you need

to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And

put the old you behind as only God can do. And

truly live for the Lord as we're called to. He

died for us. While we were yet sinners, we didn't

deserve nothing. If you're sitting here today

thinking you don't deserve nothing, you were

created in the image of God and you can be free.

And you're not free to then sample and taste

and use the things of the world. You are not

of this world. You're free to spend every day

fully committed to the God of heavens. storing

up treasure where they really belong and can

last. That's what the word has called us to.

I think 300 years before Adonai Bezek went down,

some king in Canaan, faced with the Israelites,

might have said, whoa, hold up. God's people

are coming here to kick our butts? No, no, no,

no, we're also followers of God. We've not quite

been doing it right. We know we've been doing

things we shouldn't do, but we're repenting now.

We see God's wrath coming against us. We're repenting

now. And God said, no, we will not have that.

They have my testimony. They have all creation

testifying to the glory of God. They have the

teachings of the ancestors. These are descendants,

just the same as the Israelites are descendants.

They are descendants. They're from a different

line, but they go all the way back to Adam. They

have the teachings. We're just going to let them

go. I'm going to keep saying to them, turn to

me, turn to me, turn to me. And they're going

to keep refusing to totally live for me, to totally

turn to me. And then in 400 years, and he didn't

say it was 400 at that time, but in that number

of years, it turned out to be 400 years, when

they have stood up for themselves, then the promises

of God will be fulfilled. And out there in the

world right now, an awful lot of people claim

to be Christians. It's an awful lot. I just saw

a poll that said fully 75%. Of the world's population.

I don't agree with that. I don't think you do

either. But the poll said 75 % of the world's

population claim to be Christian and believe

in God. 75%. That's nuts. I see what's going

on. You see what's going on. But do you know

that if you went to the child molester that lives

on your street, stop by and just talk to him

and say, hey, I got the flyer. I just want you

to know, I know you're here. I don't have anything

against you. I'm a Christian. I don't believe

we know what they might say. They just might

say, oh yeah, I'm a Christian too. And if you

stop a bar fight Friday night, go into a bar

fight, you guys fight and break it up, talk to

them, you know what they might say? They might

both say they're Christians too. A Christian

is a person who lives their life for the one

who died for them. And if you're not doing that,

there is a great upheaval coming at some point

in time. And I wish that all Christians everywhere

could know that. Always. believe they can because

it's in the Lord. This time I'll ask the praise

team to come forward and lead us in our closing

hymn. If you're here today and something that's

been said or something the Holy Spirit is saying

and you've touched your life and you know you

need to make a change, then you make your change

public. You can do it. Stand right where you

are. There's no special steps. You've got to

walk. I remember when I could hardly walk the

farther road. You don't have to walk the farther

road. We don't have a very big room in that sense.

So you can raise your hand. You say, I got a

word I got to say. The Lord is really pushing

my heart on this matter. And then you tell us

what it is, and we'll pray for you. And if you're

trusting in the Lord Jesus today, we can pronounce

you forgiven, because that's a job we have. If

you know there's something you're choosing, even

if it's a method to achieve God's will, and you're

doing that, and it's not what God has called

you to, then you repent. You repent today and

turn to the Lord. I want you to turn away from

all your sins, just as you did when you were

saved, or if this is the first time, just as

you're doing right now, because that's what it

means to be saved. Return from all your sins

and turn to God alone. The Lord help us. As we

sing this song, would you all stand with me and

sing? those three little letters A -L -L I will

ever love and trust Him in His presence daily

There is no other name given among men under

heaven by which we must be saved. Only Jesus.

If it was Paul, we could live like Paul. If it

was John, we could live like John. If it was

Judah, we could live like Judah. But it's Jesus.

Because it's Jesus, we live like Jesus.