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Amen. So Deuteronomy chapter 20 is an interesting chapter. It really gets into just some practical matters about how they were going to conduct certain elements of their warfare when they're going to the land. He's saying, you know, these are the type of people that you're going to leave behind. You know, these are the type of people that you're going to have go with you. And when you get to a city, this is what you're going to do there. But there are a lot of spiritual applications that we can make, even though it is a very practical chapter on the warfare that they were going to conduct. And it begins there in verse one, where it says, when thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seeest horses and chariots and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them. For the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approached this day unto battle against your enemies. Let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be terrified because of them. The Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. So of course, you know, this would be, this is a very strong admonishment for them to not be afraid. And, you know, it only makes sense that God would have to do that because of the fact that, you know, warfare is a very fearful thing. You know, you're putting your life on the line. And, you know, obviously, it's going to be something that somebody could draw back from or not want to do, especially when it's the type of people that are described here, when they're going to be facing people that have horses and chariots and more people than them. So it's not that they were just going to go, you know, steamroll over, you know, these weak people, a lesser nation than them, but they were actually going up against, you know, cities that were, that were, you know, walled high and they had chariots of iron. And, you know, the Anakims were great people, very tall. And, you know, this was a very fearsome foe that they were, they were fighting. You know, there's a reason why these people remained in that land so long. Nobody else was able to come and take this from them. And they were in this very good land. They were able to, you know, hold dominion over this land that flowed with milk and honey all these years. And why was it? It's because they were very strong, powerful people. You know, of course, they were wicked, we understand that, but they were also very mighty. And that's why God here is just, you know, reiterating the fact that they were not to be afraid. And that's something that he brings up over and over again, especially towards the end of Deuteronomy and even the beginning of Joshua. You see Moses specifically commanding Joshua to not be afraid, to be of good courage, and over and over again. And here, even in this passage, it's just redundant about not being afraid. And he says, he says, let not your hearts faint, you know, and he goes on and says, fear not and do not tremble, neither be terrified of them. So there's this admonition upon admonition to not be afraid of their enemies. And that is a great spiritual truth that we need to apply to ourselves today as Christians in this world, is that we, just as they had nothing to fear back then, we have nothing to fear today. You know, and the truth is that we do have an enemy that we wore a spiritual warfare. We'll talk about that here in a minute. But it's a sad fact today that many preachers and Christians are fearful. They're afraid of being found out. They're afraid of any kind of conflict. They're afraid of having to take a stand for anything because of the repercussions that might come. And quite often, the things that they're afraid of don't even happen. They don't even come to pass. They're afraid of ghosts or fate of phantoms. But even if it were a real enemy, even if there were, if we were to take a stand or we were to, you know, put ourselves out there in some way for the cause of Christ, you know, we should still not be afraid because of the fact that just as God was with them back then, he will be with us today. Nothing has changed there. You know, this is a command. This command not to fear is something that's repeated in the New Testament. It's something that comes up over and over again. If you would, go over to Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four. One of my favorite chapters, Romans eight, talks about this. It says in Romans eight, what shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? You know, if God's on our side, who's going to stand against us? He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? He goes on and he says that in all these things, we are conquerors through him that loved us. He said, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Look, even if standing for Christ ended up costing you your life, you're still saved. You're still going to go to heaven. Christ is still on your side. You know, you're going to depart and be with the Lord, which is far better, as Paul said. And, you know, that's something we have to keep in mind, especially, you know, the day and age that we're living in. And we already see things kind of ramping up and, you know, this world is becoming less and less Christian, less and less friendly towards Christianity, more and more hostile towards the things of God, towards the Bible, and those that would believe or preach the Bible, they're becoming more hostile towards that, towards those things. You know, and that's only going to get worse. The Bible says that evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse. It's going to get way worse before it gets better. And so we should keep this in mind. There might even come a day, you know, where we have to maybe put our necks on the line for Christ. You know, that might not happen. You know, that might not be for many generations. We might be able to live a quiet and peaceable life in the meantime, but it's already gotten to the point now where, you know, there already is going to be instances where we have to take a stand for Christ, where we're going to say something in the workplace, or we're going to say something with family members or out knocking doors or whatever it is, and we don't know what the outcome is going to be. We're going to say something to someone. We're going to quote Bible to them. We're going to teach them a doctrine. We're going to correct them with scripture, you know, in a loving way, or even if it's a harsh rebuke, and we're not going to know how they're going to react. And a lot of people, that alone is enough to make them afraid. Just the fear of the unknown of saying, well, I don't know how they're going to take it. Well, does it matter how they take it? If it's right, it's right, and they need to hear it. But a lot of people, they draw back. Why? Because they're afraid. And the Bible tells us over and over again not to be afraid, no matter how big the enemy seems to be. Look there in Philippians 4, verse 11. Philippians 4, verse 11 says, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. He said, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. You know, if there was anybody in this world that had a reason to be afraid, it was Paul. I mean, that guy was stoned, he was beaten, he was whipped. I mean, you always just constantly see him getting in trouble with the Jews, constantly being persecuted, shipwrecked, just pursued, in jail. But yet he took a stand. He took a stand and what was it he was able to say? I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. That was the strength of the Lord. The joy of the Lord was his strength. That's what allowed him to stand, was knowing that he was in Christ. And that verse is so famous, verse 13. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. And it just bugs me when I see people use that in a vain way. You know, they use that, you know, they tattoo it on themselves somewhere and then it's like, you know, they're just like, you know, just they'd use it to, you know, professional athletes. You know, they'll say, they'll put this on them. You know, I can do all things. I can make it through this training camp. You know, I can make it through the off-season training. I can make it to the championship, whatever. That's a, and people use that verse so vainly all the time that it becomes cliche. It comes played out. But what does that, what does that really mean there? That's Paul talking about the fact that I can face anything. I don't care what the circumstances is. I don't care who the enemy is. I don't care what the circumstances are. I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. And that's the spiritual application that we can get out of Deuteronomy chapter 20 in those opening verses is that when we face a great foe, that's our opportunity to do all things through Christ. You know, when we're up against impossible circumstances, when we have, you know, an enemy before us, that's our opportunity to go to God and watch him come through for us and to do a great work. You know, these are the words, Philippians chapter 4, 13, and, you know, these are not just vain words, but these are words of a man who knew what it meant to suffer for Christ and to face truly fearful circumstances. And, you know, I'll move on from that, but let's go ahead and just jump into Deuteronomy chapter 20, verse 5. Get in there. It says in verse 5, and the officers shall speak unto the people. So he's saying, look, you're going to go into this war and the officers, they're going to speak unto the people saying, what man is there that hath built a new house and hath not dedicated? Let him go and return to his house lest he die in the battle and another man dedicated. And what man is there that planted a vineyard and hath not eaten of it? Let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife and hath not taken her? Let him go and return unto his house lest he die in the battle and another man take her? So the first, you know, this is a real interesting passage of scripture I think this really shows us you know where what God that God wants us not to just be all about warfare that there are certain things that God has given us in this life to enjoy and it's important to him that we enjoy these things and you know before we get into that you know let me let me preface this by saying you know make no mistake about it we are in a warfare you know we're involved in spiritual warfare today we're our call is not a call to physical arms we understand that but we are even a greater battle than that the battle for for the souls of men for our families for their spiritual well-being for our own walk with Christ and we have a real enemy with real weapons but it's all spiritual it's unseen and I think that's why because of the fact that it's invisible and it's not something tangible often we kind of take that for granted that we kind of think yeah I know the preacher says that I know he quotes the Bible about that but that is the reality that we're in and the longer you live this life along you try to you know live for Christ and stand for him the more true that becomes the more you see that to start to you know become a reality when you start to see people fall victim to the devil when you start to see people be snared by the devil and taken captive by him at his will you know and we see him start to get victories and also when we see in our own lives when we get victories over him when we gets a victory over some sin or we win some spiritual battle in our life that's when we start to understand that we definitely are involved in a spiritual warfare today but that's not what it's all about but again the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6 we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness and high places wherefore take unto the whole armor of God that be able to withstand the in the evil day having done all to stand so we are in warfare there's no doubt about it and these people are involved in a physical warfare that's we're talking about in Deuteronomy chapter 20 but what God is showing us here is that the battle is not the only thing that matters in this life and that's something that we have to keep in mind and you know God gave man life God gave man life to be enjoyed I mean we think about what God created man and put him in the art and put him in the garden that was a very peaceful you know serene calm set of circumstances his only job was to dress and to keep the garden he walked with the Lord in the cool of the day I mean that seems pretty good to me there wasn't you know there was no trouble there was no sin in the world that was what God intended and it wasn't until man fell until man disobeyed you know that that sin had entered in the world and death passed upon all men that's when the conflict ended was through man's disobedience but God's original intent is that that man would enjoy you know just existence that he would enjoy fellowship with with Christ and with God so God gave man life to be enjoyed and again we are in a battle but there's still more to life than just fighting and this is something that you know what we've coined the ultra spiritual in this in this life need to probably take heed to you know people that are just all about the battle you know that there's you know they want to just live this super austere life and put off these other things and even sometimes often look down their nose at others who have elected to enjoy these things that God has given man to enjoy you know they would do well to listen to what God is telling the children of Israel here I mean that is that the primary interpretation here of this verse I mean that's what God is saying to these men in in verse 5 and so on he's saying look if you if you have you know if you built a house and have dedicated go back and do that and he's saying look if you've planted a vineyard not eating it go back and eat of it if you've taken a wife and you know go back and and and take her less than and why is it lest another man do it lest another man come take her less another man come eat of your vineyard lest another man come and you know dwell in your house he says you should enjoy that you know you have I mean even a lot of the law and you know I didn't put it in my notes but the law was that if a man were to get married he was to do no business for a year it doesn't mean he was supposed to sit around and be lazy for a year he was supposed to do his daily work but he was not to be employed in warfare they would God's law said look if a guy just got married he does not go to war you know he's not the king cannot employ him in any business you know and conscript him and to go and do work for him he had to go about his daily life and cheer up his wife so you know this is something that we need to learn today too you know is that it's not all about the battle and if we make our life all about just fighting day in and day out just to fight the battle to fight the battle you know raging against the sodomites and this and you know again just every false prophet you know we have to just call out and you know and preachers can fall into this too they can turn into this just you know get in a rut where every sermon is just war fight battle contention you know those things are important I'm not saying it's not there we should do that there's got to be balance in our life there needs to be balance in our preaching you know that we there's other things to preach about besides the sodomites there's other things to preach about and remind people of there's that there are certain things in life that God has even given us to enjoy you know God's not just up in heaven trying to make life miserable for us there are things that he wants us to enjoy and I think these are great examples of it and we'll get into it you know this ties it I think greatly with Ecclesiastes if you would turn over to Ecclesiastes chapter 2 you know Ecclesiastes is a book that reminds us of this fact repeatedly that there are certain things that God has just given man to enjoy you're there in chapter 2 look at verse 22 we'll start reading it says for what what hath man of all his labor in all the vexation of his heart wherewith he labored under the Sun for all his days are sorrow and his travail grief yea his heart is not taken taketh not rest tonight this also is vanity you know life is hard enough as it is you know just living life can be difficult you know the laborers that we already have to do just to survive in this world you know people let alone having a you know a physical or spiritual enemy they have to do warfare warfare with you know some people they struggle just to survive and he's saying here verse 24 there's nothing better for a man that he should eat and drink and then he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor this also I saw that it was from the hand of God you know God wants us to eat and drink and to enjoy the good of our labor you know and we should not get into this this hyper spiritual this overly spiritual attitude that says well you know I'm just too holy to enjoy anything you know you say do people do that yeah they're called monks you know they go out and live in a monastery with a bunch of dudes and whip themselves you know and deny themselves you know the pleasures that God is that are from the hand of God you know they command to abstain from meats you know they forbid to marry and these are things that God has given man to enjoy he goes on it says in verse 25 for who can eat who else can hasten unto more than I for God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom and knowledge and joy but to the sinner he giveth travail together to heap up that he may give it to him that is good before God this also is vanity a vexation of spirit so again there's still that balance you can still go to the other extreme and just say well it's just all about enjoying life and it's about about not you know no battle you know and quite frankly probably have more people that going to that extreme than the other they're saying well you know God I'm just here to just see we're all under grace and you know God is love and God loves everyone let's not let's not rock the boat let's just get along with everybody and just enjoy life it's both folks it's both you know you got to find a balance in life where you know we battle when it's appropriate but sometimes there's a time to draw back recuperate you know go out another day not every battle has to be ours to fight go to Ecclesiastes chapter 9 Ecclesiastes talks about this a great deal and it says in Ecclesiastes 3 all go into one place all are of the dust all turn to dust again who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works for that is his portion for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him you know we should enjoy our portion you know we should enjoy our we should rejoice in our own works you know go out and work hard and enjoy our families enjoy our wives enjoy our spouses enjoy our children enjoy the fellowship that we have in the local church these things are here for us to enjoy and and that's that's something that we got to keep in mind as because of the fact is we are battling and we are still we are fighting the warfare but we don't want to get burned out on that we don't want to just make it all about that and forget that there's there's pleasures in this life that God has given to us look there in Ecclesiastes 9 verse 7 he said go thy way eat thy bread and drink thy wine with a merry heart for God now accepted thy works let thy garment be always white and let thy head lack no ointment you know these are great verses reminding us that you know it's okay to enjoy things God's giving us permission you know go thy way eat thy bread with joy you know you don't have to feel guilty about you know going down to Juanitos on a Sunday afternoon you know between church and soul-winning you know and it having a having the the the tacos and everything else that they have down there to enjoy you know eat it up you know but some people want to be like I don't know why we aren't just immediately soul-winning after the service you know why can't we just have some protein bars back there and we just everyone grabs one on the way out and we just we you know their souls going to hell and we need to be out there you know it's I know we're so we're soul-winning for three to four hours we need to be going five to six you know last time I checked evening services at 530 so we could start you know what at 12 and just go right through we could skip Juanitos we could skip Smokey Moe's we could skip brush fire and we would run that guy out of here in a rail right say no we're gonna go work why because God you know wants us to enjoy the fellowship and you know enjoy the food that he's given enjoy the good things in life that he's allowed us to have you know go there with with our hard-earned money that we've labored for throughout the week and spend it so that we can enjoy the our portion in this life drink thy wine with a merry heart for God now excepted thy works let thy garments be always white and I let thy head lack no ointment you know wash your clothes and put on some deodorant yeah I don't know if that applies apply it you know what I mean anyway go down to Ecclesiastes chapter 5 you know this cook this is brought up over and over again and I think it's a there's a reason why God in fact spent almost an entire book talking about this is because you know some people are gonna go to an extreme that sometimes we can get so wrapped up in the work in the fight of them you know of the cause of Christ that we forget that there's other things that God has given us to enjoy in this life that sometimes you just you know as the saying goes he does just stop and smell the roses you know there's nothing wrong with just stopping for a minute even you know we were out there today soul winning and I stopped for a minute and I just looked at at this mountain over here was a sunset on it I said wow that's beautiful you know and who and I gave glory to God you know God made that God did that you're there in a Ecclesiastes chapter 5 let me read to you from Ecclesiastes chapter 12 let us hear the whole can let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man what is it God what's God's will for my life you know we you know people when they especially they first get saved and when they're young they've really struggled I know this was a struggle for me you know what is it God's exact will for my life you know where does God want me to go who does he want me to marry you know what you know they want all these details and specifics to God just spell it out for them and just say here this is how it's gonna be for you you know they but that's not how it works with God well you know what's the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man you know my God's will I don't know are you are you fearing God and keeping his commandments yeah then you are that am I you know am I doing everything I'm supposed to be doing for God am I keeping am I fulfilling my duty as a man well are you fearing God and and keeping his commandments yes well congratulations you know people get really wrapped up in this and I know you know I'll just throw it out there I don't know if anybody is but you know I struggle with this like what you know this whole what is God's will for my life and I remember a guy an older Christian he sat me down one day and he said you know what you know it's kind of like this when Eve was in the garden one day you know and he told the story kind of help you understand this Eve was in the garden one day and she wanted she was gonna cook Adam dinner and she said man you know I want I want to make sure I cook what God wants me to cook you know I don't want to serve a dinner outside of God's will and this is kind of silly but she went to the Lord said Lord what would you have me to make for Adam tonight you know what what exactly you know do you want me to make for him and he said to her of all the trees in the garden now may is freely and yeah I know Lord but what do you want me to make of all the trees in the garden now may is freely you know God gives us options in life there isn't just this one thing you know and of course God gives us you know gives us standards and gives us convictions and gives us principles that guide our decision making but you know a lot of it God leaves open to us to make our own decisions you know Eve you can pick from that tree or that tree or that tree or that tree you know people they start to wonder especially young people you know who does God want me to marry well let me just narrow it down for you a saved Christian who loves the Lord that's your checklist you know and and you know obviously you know families and things they have their own standards that they can you know that they that they can work into that as well but that's generally it you know you don't have to just pray and ask God to read the exact right person you know I married the wrong person and I've heard people say this they say I didn't marry God's will and that's their excuse for having a terrible marriage and they say oh I married the wrong person oh really were they saved do they love the Lord sounds like it was the right person to me so we don't want to get so caught up in that and this you know the you know what is exactly that God wants me to do you know God's given us liberty in this life to make our own decisions and and to and to allow his word to guide us in that decision-making you know we just trust the Lord with all thine heart and he shall direct thy paths you know Ecclesiastes chapter 5 where you are look at verse 18 behold that which I have seen it is good and calmly for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he taketh unto the Sun all the days of his life which God giveth him for it is his portion you know that's your portion in life to eat and to drink of that which you you know of all your labor under the Sun every man also to whom God hath given riches and wealth and hath given him power to eat thereof and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor this is the gift of God you know our ability to go out and work and earn a living and to enjoy the fruits of our labor that is the gift of God that is something that God has given us to enjoy and I think that's something that we have to keep in mind as we live this Christian life as such you know especially as people who want to take a stand for God you know we want to go out we want to do the work of the Lord we want to go out and save souls we want to you know we want to we want to preach the hard sermons we want to you know hear the hard sermons we want to stand behind a man of God we want to you know take a stand for Christ and our families and our you know in all our relationships you know we want to we want to fight the fight we do want to do that we understand that but let's not get just so overboard on that that we forget all the good things in life that God has given us to enjoy otherwise life will just turn into this just dreary you know just grind through life of living for Christ that's not what God wants you see if we make our life all about the bed about this battle you know we're gonna miss out on a lot of what God intended us to enjoy you know I think that's something that we as men you know those that that support you know are the sole providers for a family you know that's a real important job that we have you know we have to we have to work hard and make sure the bills are paid and everything you know ever take care of a family that's a big responsibility it's important but let's not get so busy and I understand there's seasons where we have to do things and that you know dad's just got to go and he doesn't get to see the kids as much as he wants or the wife as much as he wants you know maybe it's just a few hours a day if that you know but and that's the way life is sometimes but we should make it a point not to just let our life become all about work where we forget the people that we're even providing for you know we forget to just stop and enjoy what it is that we're working for we forget to enjoy the house that we're laboring to dwell in if we get to enjoy the food that we're working to provide we forget to enjoy the children that we're working to care for you know we don't want to make our life all about that we also need to make sure we get that balance and not to miss out on what God has given us to enjoy Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7 I'll just read to you be not righteous over much neither make thyself over wise why shouldest thou destroy thyself you know if we try to be overly righteous you know you know righteous over much we're just gonna you know we're gonna we're gonna involve ourselves in every ministry we're gonna go to every single missions trip I mean I was at that conference man I wanted to go to every single missions trip and then I realized I can't you know there's a I will destroy myself you know I want to hike down with Pastor Anderson into the Grand Canyon and reach that tribe that lives down there but I can't I'll destroy myself you know that's my own fault but we can't I can't involve myself in every ministry I have plenty of stuff to do you know it's like that for all of us we have plenty of life to keep us busy plenty of duties and demands just just just living life you know we don't need to take on more than we can bear you know I'm not saying we shouldn't ever push ourselves or try to do more or reach another level but there also reaches a point where you can't bear that load and it will over time just just crush you so we don't want to be over much righteous over much you know there's nothing wrong with letting other people fight certain battles you know that's the great thing about you know that's why it's so important that we all are part of the local church and that we participate because you know what there might be a battle that I can't fight today that you can you know maybe I maybe I just got done fighting some battle I just got you know wore myself out and I'm at the point where I just can't do any more and then this other brother comes in you know he's like the tag you know like the wrestling tag team guy you know he jumps in the ring now it's his turn and I'm could step back and freshen up it's like when they change change lines in hockey right those guys are out there they're they're trying to score the goal they're working hard but their legs start to burn out and they have to run over and somebody else comes in with a fresh set of legs it's like that in the Christian life too and that's what's so great about the local church is that when there's more of us we can do more work and it's not just a smaller group of people trying to do all the work if that makes sense you know we can we can let other people fight certain battles and save our strength for another day go ahead and turn back to Ecclesiastes or not Ecclesiastes but Deuteronomy Deuteronomy so he's saying there you know look you're gonna go out to battle and if there's anybody that has you know built a house or planted a vineyard or have gotten and has taken a wife and hasn't enjoyed those things you need to go back and enjoy them and it's not because they're gonna be a distraction to you in the battlefield you know it's not because you're gonna be thinking it's because God wants you to go enjoy those things lest another man come and enjoy those things on your behalf because you're you're dead and he goes on in verse 8 and says and the officers officer shall speak further unto the people and shall say what man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted let him go and return unto his house lest his brother brethren's heart faint as well as his heart so this is another great so God's just trying to kind of he's whittling down the forces right there's only certain people that he wants to go into the battle to fight his fight and the first people are that he gets rid of he says look if you haven't enjoyed these things you need to go there's nothing wrong with that that's what God wants for those people and then there's these people which are the fearful people that are afraid to go to the battle the people that are saying I know God said he's with us but I'm still not so sure about that and he says look you need to leave and why is that let him go and return unto his house lest his brother's heart faint as well as his heart the reason why God wants fearful people out of the ranks is because fear is contagious you know one guy could be like man I'm ready to go out and fight this battle God's on our side I know there's more of them than there are of us but I'm excited to see God fight on our behalf and do a great work and they can get real excited and then another guy comes along like man you really think we're gonna pull this off I don't know and then this guy starts doubting himself well maybe that guy's onto something I don't know maybe maybe I am a little overconfident you know fear is contagious it catches on and and that's something that we have to keep in mind that that's one of the dangers of being fair a fearful person is it rubs off on other people and of course this is talking you know explicitly in the context of going to an actual physical battle you know that this is a very practical thing you know if we're gonna go fight an actual warfare a physical warfare you know fear will cloud your thinking it will you'll you'll you'll panic you won't make the right decisions you'll get distracted you'll be so worried about saving your own skin that you won't you know employ the proper tactics or whatever to in order to win the battle you'll just be afraid and that spreads to everybody and that's how armies get hats how they end up just being turned to flight and just taking off so God's saying look no fearful people it's too contagious they're not allowed to fight and then he says there in verse 9 we'll move along here it says and it shall be when the officers have made an end of speaking then under the people that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people so notice when they made the captain's it wasn't before this speaking it was after the speech after the priests came and said if anybody has it has anything to go home and enjoy go and do that if anyone's afraid leave then he says and then they shall make themselves our captains to lead the army until to lead the people and what we see from this is that you know God only wants leaders who are going to be focused on the task at hand that's who he wants the captain's to be he doesn't want people to have any fear in them you know people that you know are probably more seasoned in life people that have already had the vineyard they've already had the wife they've already had you know the house they've already enjoyed these things you know they've they've had their portion in this life you know they've got some experience that's who God wants to be the leaders that's who he wants to rise up and make the captain's well what's really I want also to see here is that you know you really don't know who leaders are until you get in a battle I mean with there's no battle there's really no need for captains right what's the point of a point of you know of choosing out captains if there's no battle fight you're like hey you're gonna be a captain of the army great when we go to fight never oh well I feel real important now because I'm fulfilling a role that's completely unnecessary but what we see is that when there is a battle that's when captains matter that's when the leaders matter and it's conflict that creates leaders conflict is what creates leaders that's what brings them to the forefront and you know that that's that's the reality is that battle you know is is the opportunity you know the reality of battle okay when people are facing battle a read that reality and then they are given the opportunity to leave you know certain people are say if you're afraid you can go no hard feelings you need to leave we want you to go and people start to back out that's when the cream rises to the top if that makes sense that's when the best of the people the the true leaders the captains come to the forefront say I'm not afraid you know I've enjoyed these things I don't have any reason to go anywhere else I'm meant I want to be here you know conflict is what creates leaders and we have people always have such a negative connotation of of battle because there is a lot of negativity goes along with it it's not enjoyable warfare was not something that is pleasurable you know but there is there is a benefit in the fact that it creates leaders it brings leaders to the forefront you know we should never we should never shy away from that you know we should never just try to make our life about never getting a bet in a battle or make our life about let's attend a church that is never going to get in hot water with the media you know let's attend a church where the preacher is never going to say anything controversial because heaven forbid we should ever get in any kind of a conflict you know and we're talking here about actual literal physical warfare you know but in in in in comparison having a picketers outside you know and by means of comparison having the news media come interview the church or film the church that's that's nothing it's not going to cost you your life you know the the the 11 o'clock news lady isn't showing up with a broad sword and a shield looking to take your head off you know they're just trying to fill a 15 minute piece or whatever five minute gap in their news and they're you know they're rounds or whatever they call it that's all they're trying to do but that right there is enough for some people to say whoa I just can't you know this isn't for me well then you know what you're not a leader you know oh I I'm gonna I might get sued by some sodomite well you know I'm too afraid to take a stand you know what then you're not meant to be a captain go back you know and don't expect to lead it if that's you so there's nothing negative you know there's good things to be found in conflict and one of them is is the fact that it creates opportunity for leaders to come to the forefront now it goes on here in verse 10 verse 10 he says when thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it then proclaim peace unto it and it shall be if it may if it answer thee if it make the ant thee the air excuse me if it make the answer of peace and openly then it should be that all the people that has found therein shall be tributaries unto thee and they shall serve thee now you have to it you're saying wait a minute I thought I told him to destroy everybody you got to keep reading okay he's talking about a very specific people here he goes on in verse 12 and if it will make no peace with thee but will make war against thee then thou shall smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword but the women and the little ones and the cattle and all that is in the city even on the spoil thereof shalt thou take unto thyself and thou shalt eat the spoil of that enemies which the Lord thy God giveth thee the verse 15 clarifies who we're talking about thus shall you do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee which are not of the cities of these nations remember again God told him to destroy the cities of these nations every man woman child everything that breathed they were to destroy of these nations but these people that are very far off he's saying look there's gonna be an opportunity to them for to have peace you know if you come in besiege their city and they answer peace and open to you and surrender everyone lives if they resist you all the men die everybody else lives so you know God isn't just out to wipe every single person out the face of the earth the reason why we've talked about it extensively on these Thursday nights if you haven't heard it already the reason why he's wiping out the Canaanites is because they were all given the most abominable filth that mankind can involve himself in right and that's something that's been preached multiple times we've mentioned already I'm sure everybody understands so God is showing mercy to these people who live far not these people far away now why why is it that these people live that far away they get the mercy because these people have not come under the influence of the Canaanites they're far enough away to where they haven't been affected by the Canaanites by their culture by their wicked society and really what we have to keep in mind the way we can apply that today is that we don't want to just lump every unbeliever in with reprobates you know we don't want it when we go out soul-winning and knocking on doors we run into somebody you know they don't answer peace unto us they don't open unto us we don't want to just say reprobate you know these people just deserve to be destroyed you know obviously you know they wouldn't even say hi to me they just shook their head say not interested clearly a reprobate clearly somebody who hates God no maybe somebody who just you know had a hard day maybe somebody who on the way to the door was in a great mood but then stubbed their toe in the coffee table or the dogs barking or they have bills to pay or you know they got a bad phone they got a bad news on a phone call that day who knows and so we don't want to just lump everybody together when they reject us at the door and say well you know that's them you know they're they're probably you know well have have fun in hell buddy you know you had your chance don't say God didn't give you a chance you know I was here you know that's not the attitude we want to have I don't know that any of us in this room have that attitude you know I'd be shocked if anybody did I've never seen it but it is out there and there is that tendency to do that to say hey you know what this guy rejected me he must be just you just must be a reprobate I've seen people just write people off as reprobates over the dumbest things you know and even even in their own families this is more common in families when people say I think my parents are reprobate why because they won't hear it they won't let me preach the gospel to them you know there's other factors that go into that into why they won't don't want to hear it from you you know I hear that a lot you know parents don't want to hear it from their kids in fact I experienced that for years too because here's the thing parents you know it's kind of an embarrassing thing when your your child has to come to you and answer life's most you know pressing question what happens to you when you die hey mom dad I figured it out let me clue you in for once you know it's not supposed to work that way and they know it so maybe that's why they don't want to hear it from you it's not because there's some god-hating reprobate that deserves to you know have the ground split open underneath their feet and fall straight alive in the pit you know but people have that attitude that they all must be Canaanites you know even these people far off over here these guys clearly you know just must be these Canaanites let's slaughter them you know let's just write them off no you know we need to be have discernment and say these people aren't like these people they're different you know you know give them a chance give them peace you know and even if they reject you you know spare the women and children you know they might reject you the first time at the door or at the you know over the over the at the coffee table with your family whoever the circumstance give a mercy you know come back again later let let time work you know give it time be a light be a witness be faithful and maybe God will make opportunity or maybe somebody else will come along that they'll hear from so we don't want to just lump all every believer together with with reprobates the Bible says in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 that the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men right why that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will when we're trying to free somebody you know get them to salvation there's a there's a conflict there you know the devil wants to keep them and I'll tell you what the devil sees you coming you know if you're if you're saved and you're on fire for the Lord and you're preaching the gospel and you're praying for your family don't you think the devil knows that the devil might be keeping tabs on who it is you're going to try and talk to you I mean he might not know who you're going to go talk to you today out there soul winning at five thirty he might not know where we're going to go and start working and trying to do that but he knows who your family is and he might be that he just spends a little more extra time on them saying giving them reasons not to listen to you they're taken captive by him at his will so that's why you should be gentle that's why you shouldn't strive and just give them another opportunity and just that the first time that they say no I'm not interested that you know that's not just that's not your opportunity to write them off and say you know the hell with you it's the wrong attitude to have I got a wrap it up here so we're just going to jump ahead to let's get back into it here in verse 16 he says in verse 16 but the of the cities of these people you know these are the reprobates right which Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance thou shalt save them alive nothing that breatheth nothing I mean everything's going the cat the dog the whole family and go in there take the fishbowl dump it out let it flop you know everything's got to die thou shall utterly destroy them namely the Hittites he's being real specific here the Hittites the Amorites the Canaanites the parasites the Hittites the Jebusites as the Lord thy God commanded thee so he's saying look yeah it's going to be you know it's going to be scorched earth for these people but it's for these people and it's not just to me that their general this wasn't there you know their foreign policy for everybody this was just to these specific people for reasons that we've already gone over which is reiterated here in verse 18 that they teach you not to do after all their abominations so God knows that if they just let them dwell in the land that sure enough they would start to teach them all the wicked things that they did and this is a principle that we need to understand as Christians is that the bad make the good bad every time it does not work the other way around you know and it's like that the proverbial you know young lady who says who's gonna marry the wrong guy I'm gonna change him no you're not I know he's not saved I know he's got all these bad habits but I'm gonna change him you know he's gonna be my project that's not gonna work it's gonna make him he's gonna make you bad now you see that all the time in Scripture and you can apply that to every in you know any any instance and a lot of Baptist churches you know I've seen people they they get this you know I remember one Baptist College I visited they had they had this huge bus route ministry huge bus I mean hundreds of these kids they're bringing in they were a big church themselves so they had a lot of you know homeschooled you know church kids that were there you know like in their in their in their schools and in their Sunday school and they had a Sunday school they had one Sunday school for all the church kids and then they had a Sunday school for all the the the brats from Gary you know the ghetto and I remember thinking why do you guys do that I thought oh what are you racist you know what's going on here they said no it's because the bad make the good bad make the good bad it's never the other way around and I said yeah I guess that's right you know so people you know that's something we need to understand in life that we're not gonna you know we shouldn't pal around and hope to change people who have bad habits you know of course you know we're gonna we're gonna have to associate you know and rub shoulders with people every now and then but we should never make it our life's ambition to you know reform other people because they'll end up teaching you their bad ways and you'll start to go well you know maybe that habit isn't so bad after all maybe that way of thinking maybe I'm the one that's wrong you'll start to question your own self and you might even end up joining them and he says that that they teach you not to do after all their abominations which they have done under their gods so should you sin against Lord your God when thou shall besiege a city a long time and making war against it to take it thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them for thou mayest eat of them and thou shalt not cut them down for the tree of the field is man's life to employ them in the siege only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat thou shalt destroy and cut them down and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city and make the war make maketh war with thee until it be subdued so what he's saying is here look when you come up against the city and it's defensed and you realize this is gonna take a long time because back then a practice was is that they would starve the people out you know and we read about that even happened Jerusalem when you know the Babylonians the Assyrians came that they besieged it and they and they you know they starved them out essentially because nobody could leave to go out into the fields of work so what he's saying is like you know if you come up against this you know go ahead and cut down the trees that are not fruit-bearing right you know don't cut down the apple tree you know come cut down the peach trees the almond trees and the olive trees whatever trees they have over there you know if they're fruit-bearing trees you need to keep those you know and this seems like it's real this you're like duh you know this just seems kind of like a well of course you know who's gonna cut these down and the reason why he's telling is like he's saying look you can I want you to eat of those trees well yeah of course why wouldn't me well if you remember in Leviticus 19 you know I'll read to you for sake of time it says when you shall come into land and shall have planted all manner of trees for that food then you shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised three years as it shall be uncircumcised unto you it shall not be eaten of right sayings look when you come to land you're not gonna eat of the trees for the first three years you're not gonna just start eating the fruit of the land right away he said you had to wait three years the fourth year it was to be the Lord's and then the fifth year they began to eat of it so that's why God's clarifying this here he's saying look when you when you're besieging the city go ahead and eat of it why because you're so busy you know doing warfare you can't think about where else you're gonna get food so he's saying you know go ahead and eat of those trees you know don't cut them down you they're useful to sustain you while you're in warfare but once they possess the land now it's time to Leviticus 19 where the you know three years it's gonna rest the fourth year is the Lord's the fifth year we eat of it so there's probably a whole nother application of that that might come in another sermon he's saying look you know don't don't eat these trees so you know we try to make application as we go through these chapters but you know they're besides the applications that we make tonight there's just some real practical matters of how to conduct an actual physical war I mean that's really what Deuteronomy chapter 20 is it's about how to go in they were to go in and defeat these enemies and what were some of the things they saw you know the fearful were not welcome they were told to leave because their fears contagious that certain of the enemy were to be given opportunity to be spared you know that not everybody was a Canaanite worthy of death that there were certain enemies that were to be given an opportunity for peace right and what we can really apply tonight though what we try to drive home is that there's more to life than just fighting battles you know this was a big part of the children of Israel's history but it came to an end God had it God had an end for it there was gonna come a time when the last Canaanite was killed and then it was gonna be a time of peace and they were gonna flourish and enjoy you know this portion of this life and the Bible says there's a time to kill and there's a time to heal there's a time to break down there's a time to build up there's a time to love there's a time to hate a time of war and a time of peace so we shouldn't make our life all about the battle we should battle when we need to fight you know when it's time to fight it's time to fight and let's not be afraid you know but let's also remember that that's not what our life is all about that there's other things that God has given us to enjoy in this life and that one day even if we're getting weary in the battle that God intends that battle to come to an end there will be a season of peace in our lives God gives you know rest and respite unto those that he loves he cares for his children he's not just gonna you know drive us into the ground and destroy us but we have to kind of use our heads about you know when is it a time to fight and when is it a time of peace let's go ahead pray