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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Song 274, come unto me. Song 274, come unto me. Song 274, come unto me. I'm your local bear. Bring me every burden. Bring me every care. Come unto me. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed. I make you holy. Come and trust my heart. Come, my yoke is easy. And my word is light. Song 274 on the second. Are you disappointed? Wondering here and there. Praying for your love, floating down with air. You are holy. Feelings rumble in your breast. Bring your praise to Jesus. He will give you rest. Come unto me. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed. I make you holy. Come and trust my heart. Come, my yoke is easy. And my word is light. Stumbling on the mountains, dark with sin and shame. Stumbling toward the pit of hell's consuming flame. By the powers of sin, deluded and oppressed. Hear the tender shepherd come to me and rest. Come unto me. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed. I make you holy. Come and trust my heart. Come, my yoke is easy. And my word is light. On the fourth. Have you by temptation often conquered men? Has a sense of weakness brought to stress within? Christ will sanctify you if your grave is best. In the Holy Spirit He will give you rest. Come unto me. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Hear me and be blessed. I make you holy. Come and trust my heart. Come, my yoke is easy. And my word is light. Come, my yoke is easy. Come, my yoke is easy. Come, my yoke is easy. Come, my yoke is easy. Come, my yoke is easy. Come, my yoke is easy. Come, my yoke is easy. Come now, almighty King. Help us, thy name, to sing. Help us to praise. Father, how glorious for all victorious. Come and reign over us ancient of days. Come now, incarnate bird. Burn on thy mighty sword, harbor a tent. Come, enlightening, go bless and give thy word success. Spirit of holiness, on us descend. Come, holy Comforter, thy sacred witness there. In this flat hour, thou would almighty Lord, thou ruled in every heart, and there from us depart, Spirit of power to the Great One in three. Eternal praises be, hence evermore, His sovereign majesty, may we in glory sing, and to the eternity love and adore. Good morning. Thank you so much for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church. If you don't have a bulletin this morning, you can slip up your hand nice and high and an usher can come by and get you guys a bulletin real quick. Just keep your hands up. It's going to take just a second to get over there. If we can get some bulletins of those. On the front, we have our Bible memory passage, Psalm 148. We are working on verse number 12. So we're getting closer to completing this. And on the inside, we have our service and soul winning times, as well as our church stats. Also on the right-hand side, we have a list of our expecting ladies and continue to pray for all of them. We have a separate prayer request list that if you have any other prayer requests, you can please submit those to us via our email at steadfastbaptistkjv.com and we'll put those into the bulletin. Also, we kind of cover those in our midweek service. On the back, we have a list of some upcoming events. October 31st, instead of worshiping the devil, you can come here and just, you're already going to be here because you're going to be at church. It's Sunday night. I know you all go to Sunday night church. And so we'll have chili cook-off right after. And it's not just a fellowship event. It's also a competition. And so if you would like to enter a chili into the competition, it has to be Texas style. That's why it says, notice the words, Texas chili cook-off. It doesn't say heresy chili cook-off, false doctrine heresy cook-off, things that are not chili cook-off. It says Texas chili cook-off. Now there's something really unique about Texas. It's a wonderful place and that Texas chili has no fillers in it. You know, you're not allowed to put screwdrivers, hammers, nails, chocolate, or even beans. Now that offends some people, but we don't put random objects in our chili here. We just put the right ingredients, okay? And when you add stuff, it changes it. You know, like the Bible, when you add stuff, it changes it. Anybody agree with that doctrine in this room? Amen. King James only, right? Every word of God is pure. Add not thou unto his words, lest ye approve thee, and thou be found a liar. You know, just preaching a little bit this morning, okay? And so I just want to spare people the embarrassment of entering a chili with fillers and losing, so we just go ahead and eliminate those immediately. You can still bring your chili, and I'm sure other people, you know, may like to compare and realize how good Texas chili is by contrast. But for the competition specifically, it needs to meet the requirements of a Texas chili. We'll enter, we'll have judges, and I will be a judge, okay? So there will be winners and losers. I'd really encourage you to do it. We've had a lot of fun in the previous years, some good chilis and some cool prizes. So we're going to do that. My wife's making some cornbread, and there's going to be all the extra fixings, like cheese and stuff like that. So we encourage you to show up, participate. It's going to be right after the service. So if you do enter a chili, you can just bring a crock pot or something, and we'll have basically a bank of electrical outlets just set there so you can plug it in and keep it warm for the evening. Also, on November 13th, there's an Oklahoma soul-winning marathon that's going to be in the Oklahoma City area. And we need to get a sign-up sheet over here, but we're already getting this plan. We'll get the address pretty soon. But we'll probably also have a caravan of people if you would like to get a ride. So we'll try to get that put on the cabinet over here. December 9th through the 11th, there's also going to be a Brownsville-Madam Morris soul-winning marathon. Brownsville-Madam Morris is in Mexico. Brownsville is in Texas. It's right at the border. So it's like the most southern tip of Texas. It's actually a pretty long drive. I don't have to plug into my phone again. I think it's like eight hours or something like that, or somewhere in that range, depending on how fast you drive, which path you take or something like that. But if you want to fly, I think you can fly to McAllen, which is only about an hour away. And that flight's like a 50-minute flight or something like that from Dallas to McAllen. But we will potentially have a caravan for that as well. So if you're interested, you can participate. I say both cities because some people want to participate but aren't going to go into Mexico itself proper. So there will be a group that can stay at Texas-side and soul-win in Brownsville, while another group that wants to cross the border is going to be able to go into Madam Morris. And again, if you enter into Mexico, you want to return. So you need to have a passport driver, something that proves that you are actually a U.S. citizen. And you need to speak Spanish because it is strictly going to be Spanish-speaking people. As soon as you cross the border, I mean, English is gone. So you want to make sure that you are capable of communicating enough in Spanish. We also have a baby shower listed here October 30th. It's a Saturday from 12 to 2. It's for Ms. Nexus Cooper and her baby girl, Melody. And they're registered on Amazon if you'd like to get them a gift. And if you'd like to bring a snack or dessert to share, you can. You do not have to bring anything to participate, and all ladies are invited. So even if you don't necessarily know Ms. Nexus Cooper or other ladies of the church, it's a great event just to familiarize yourself with other ladies in the church and have a good time. It is nursing's only preferred, but we'd never want to turn any of the ladies away from participating in any of our events. Also, here's the Texas chili. Here's all the really specific instructions for your Texas chili. Okay, I already kind of covered that. But again, my wife's also going to be doing hot apple cider, so that's going to be a lot of fun. It's going to be hot. I mean, hot chili, hot cider, hot preaching. What else could you ask for, right? And then also if you are going to donate to our church, if you did this time, please just write checks to Pure Words Baptist Church, or you can donate online at PureWordsBaptist.com. I do want to make a couple other announcements real quick, and it's kind of about our... you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you as offering plate is being passed around please turn to your Bibles to judges chapter 20 judges Chapter 20 you you you you you I Judges 20 the Bible reads Then all the children of Israel went out and the Congregation was gathered together as one man from Dan even to beer Sheba with the land of Gilead under the Lord in Mizpah The chief of all the people even of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God 400,000 foot men that drew sword Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpah then said the children of Israel Tell us how was this wickedness and the Levite the husband of the woman that was slain Answered and said I came into Gibeah that belongeth to Benjamin I and my concubine to lodge and the men of Gibeah rose against me and beset the house round about upon me by night and Thought to have slain me and my concubine have they forced that she is dead And I took my concubine and cut her in pieces And sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel behold you are all children of Israel Give here your advice and counsel and all the people arose as one man saying We will not any of us go to his tent neither will we any of us turn into his house But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah We will go up by lot against it and we will take ten men of an hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel And in hundred of a thousand and a thousand out of ten thousand to fetch fiddle for the people that they may do When they come to Gibeah Benjamin according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel so all the men of Israel were gathered against the city knit together as one man and The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin saying what wickedness is this that has done among you now? Therefore deliver us the men the children of Belial which are in Gibeah Then we may put them to death and put away evil from Israel But the children of Benjamin would not harken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel but the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities into Gibeah to go out to battle against the children of Israel and The children of Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the city's twenty and six thousand men that drew sword Beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered seven hundred chosen men Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed Everyone could sling stones at a hairbread and not miss and the men of Israel beside Benjamin were numbered 400,000 men that drew sword all these were men of war and the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God and asked counsel of God and said Which of us shall go up first to the battle against the children of Benjamin and the Lord said? Judah shall go up first and the children of Israel rose up in the morning and in camped against Gibeah And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gibeah The children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men and The people the men of Israel encouraged themselves and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day The children of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until even and asked counsel of the Lord saying Shall I go up again to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother and the Lord said? Go up against him and the children of Israel came near against the children of Benjamin the second day Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again 18,000 men all these drew the sword Then all the children of Israel and all the people went up and came unto the house of God and wept and sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until even and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord the children of Israel inquired of the Lord for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days and Phinehas the son of Eliezer the son of Aaron stood before it in those days saying Shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother or shall I cease? The Lord said go up for tomorrow I will deliver them into thine hand in Israel set liars in wait round about Gibeah and the children of Israel went up against the children of Benjamin on the third day and put themselves in array against Gibeah as at other times and the children of Benjamin went out against the people and were drawn away from the city and they began to smite of the people and kill as at other times in the highways of Which one goeth up to the house of God and the other two Gibeah in the field about thirty men of Israel and the children of Benjamin said they are smitten down before us as at the first but the children of Israel said let us flee and draw them from the city under the highways and All the men of Israel rose up out of their place and put themselves in array at Baal Tamar and the liars in wait of Israel came forth out of their places even out of the meadows of Gibeah and There came against Gibeah 10,000 chosen men out of all Israel and the battle was sore But they knew not that evil was near them and the Lord smote Benjamin before Israel and the children of Israel Destroyed of the Benjamites that day twenty and five thousand and in hundred men all these drew the sword So the children of Benjamin saw that they were smitten for the men of Israel gave place to the Benjamites because they trusted Under the liars-in-wait which they had set beside Gibeah and the liars-in-wait Hasted and rushed upon Gibeah and the liars-in-wait drew themselves along and smote all the city with the edge of the sword Now there was an appointed sign between the men of Israel and the liars-in-wait But they should make a great flame with smoke rise up out of the city and when the men of Israel Retired in the battle Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about 30 persons But they said surely they are smitten down before us as in the first battle But when the flame began to arise up out of the city with a pillar of smoke the Benjamites looked behind them and behold The flame of the city ascended up to heaven and when the men of Israel turned again the men of Benjamin were amazed For they saw that evil was come upon them Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel under the way of the wilderness But the battle overtook them and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them Thus they enclosed the Benjamites round about and chased them and trod them down with ease over against Gibeah toward the sun rising and their fell of Benjamin 18,000 men all these were men of valor and they turned and fled toward the wilderness under the rock of Rimon and they gleaned of them in the highways 25,000 men and pursued hard after them unto guide him and slew 2,000 men of them so that all which fell that day of Benjamin were 20 and 5,000 men that drew us that drew the sword all these were men of valor But 600 men turned and fled to the wilderness under the rock Rimon and abode in the rock Rimon four months the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin and Smote them with the edge of the sword as well the men of every city as the beast and all that came to hand Also, they set on fire all the cities that they came to let's bow our heads for a word of prayer Father we thank you for the morning service at Steadfast Baptist Church and for this portion of Scripture I pray that you fill Pastor Shelley with your spirit and Enable him to preach his sermon for us boldly and also help us to pay close attention to the sermon so that we can Apply it to our lives in Jesus name. I pray amen. Amen We're here in the book of Judges And we're in chapter number 20 and we see a lot of war and we see a lot of battle in the Old Testament and a lot of people don't necessarily understand the correlation between the Old and the New Testament But in the Old Testament the children of Israel and God's people often fought a lot of physical battles And we see that recorded in the scriptures and in the New Testament. We're not called to war We're not called the physical battle, but there is still war and it's a spiritual war It's a spiritual fight. It's where we go to battle spiritually rather than physically and God gives us all of these physical battles these physical wars as Ideas as how battle works and how war operates because the same concepts are always going to be Existent whether you're in a physical battle or a spiritual battle You're gonna still go through the same emotions Experiences you're gonna have the same circumstances come and so God gave us these stories So we would know how to behave ourselves know what to expect in an actual war Even though it's a spiritual war not a physical war. And so the title of my sermon this morning is this spiritual war Spiritual war and we're gonna look through Judges 20 for a moment to identify a few different things that are gonna happen in Spiritual war but my first point is this in any war There's always going to be difficulty and I got difficult battles difficult enemies a difficult situation or Difficult circumstances that surround the war itself or just difficulty wanting to enter into war engage in battle But rest assured there will be difficulty when it comes to warfare war is not easy War is not fun. War is not something that people are gonna look forward to war is ugly war is unpopular war is Gruesome war there's casualties. There's all kinds of problems with war. Therefore. It's a very difficult matter It's gonna be a struggle. That's the point of war is that there's conflict right now Let's read a little bit again in Judges chapter 20. Look at verse 1 Then all the children of Israel went out and the congregation was gathered together as one man from Dan even a bear Sheba With the land of Gilead under the Lord and Miss P and the chill chief of all the people Even of all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God 400,000 footmen that drew sword now the children of Benjamin heard the children of Israel were gone up to Miss P Then said the children of Israel tell us how was this wickedness now in Judges chapter 19 the preceding chapter There was a man who had traveled with his concubine They entered into the town of Gibeah and they were severely mistreated the men of the city Known as certain sons of Belial beset the house in which they were so journey in they were temporarily staying with an old man and they were just having fun minding their own business doing their own thing and The certain sons of Belial came beset the house beat at the door They wanted to assault the man and a sodomite type act But they were unable to get a hold of the man so they ended up assaulting his concubine The Bible even describes this man is delivering his his concubine which means like his girlfriend or something like that or fiance He delivers this woman the Bible also calls her his wife in this in a sense He gives him this woman and they abuse her all the night they kill her So he ends up chopping her up into pieces and sending it out to all the children of Israel Just as an evidence its physical evidence to demonstrate the horrific story that happened and So all the children of Israel they gather themselves together and now they're asking this man like what happened We see the body part. We got the head, you know, we got the shoulder We got the knee or whatever. We got the foot and it's like what happened? You know, this is horrifying You know, this is terrible And so he's gonna explain to them what happened verse 4 in the Levite the husband of the woman that was slain Answered and said I came into Gibeah that belonged to Benjamin I and my concubine to lodge and the men of Gibeah rose against me and beset the house round about Upon me by night and thought to have slain me and my concubine have they forced that she is dead And I took my concubine and cut her in pieces And sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel He'll you're all children of Israel give her your advice and counsel and all the people rose as one man saying We will not any of us go to his tent neither Will we any of us turn into his house? Now what I like about this chapter is the response to this horrific act notice They describe a woman has been forced. She's been taken advantage of she's been killed and notice these people Don't just say well didn't affect me. See you later Well, that's not a big deal to me now notice all them say we're gonna do something about that Like this is a horrific act this needs to go. We need to find out what happened we need to punish those who are responsible for this type of an act and Some might ask this question Well, what is the right thing to do? Should you seek vengeance? Should you just let it go? What what do we how do we decide? well keep your finger go to Leviticus chapter 20 for more go to Leviticus chapter number 20 in the Bible and And here's the thing. It doesn't really matter what happens in the story the only thing that matters is what God said and So whenever you're gonna interpret a story You can't interpret it based on what you think is right or what society thinks is right You have to interpret a story based on what God said, okay, and to determine what you're gonna do You have to ask yourself. What did God say? What are God's clear commandments and then that's how I'm going to respond whether I want to do it Or I don't want to do it whether I agree or I disagree We're supposed to just follow God's commandments because that's always right. Not our personal opinion. Look at Leviticus 20 verse 1 and Lord spake unto Moses saying again thou shalt say to the children of Israel Who serve we be of the children of Israel or the strangers that sojourn in Israel? To giveth any of his seed in the Molech He shall surely be put to death People the land shall stone him with stones and I will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among His people because he hath given of his seed in the Molech to defile my sanctuary and to profane my holy name And if the people land do anyways hide their eyes from the man when he giveth of his seed in the Molech and kill him not then I will set my face against that man and Against his family and will cut him off and all that go a whoring after him to commit hoard him with Molech from among their people so notice God Gives us a picture here. He says someone that's you know commits this horrible act of Sacrificing their child Molech, you know in a modern connection, you know be kind of like abortion Even though they're not necessarily worshiping a false god at the same time just killing your children is a horrendous act of murder It's not acceptable and and God's saying this person deserves the death penalty for what they've done You know this person should be put to death through the proper channels through government And if the government meaning the people Notice is the people of the land in verse 4 and if the people the land do anyways hide their eyes meaning They don't want to execute anyone. They don't want to exercise the death penalty They're not willing to seek justice in this situation. How does God feel about that? Well, God then says I'm gonna hold you guilty of the same thing I'm gonna now come after you and I'm gonna want to cut you off and you're gonna be cursed So therefore if we take this principle We take the clear statements of God when they find out that a woman's been forced and murdered If they decide to just ignore that if they decide not to seek for justice in that situation God is gonna hold them guilty. God is gonna punish them for not holding that guy Responsible God is gonna hold them accountable for those actions Go to back if you would to judges 20 for a moment go back to judges chapter 20 So that tells me that the response of the children of Israel was in lockstep With what the Bible commands with what God had told them. Hey someone commits this horrendous act You need to hold them liable You need to hold them responsible even putting someone to death and all the commandments about putting people to death The Bible says thine eyes shall not pity Meaning you're not supposed to pity someone who's worthy of death. You're supposed to execute them properly That way your society can actually have peace You're supposed to put evil away from among yourselves You're not supposed to allow horrendous acts to continue and when people are allowed to kill Rape, you know commits all acts of murder theft and these things going unpunished. It's gonna continually increase They're gonna do it more and more more criminals are gonna come out of the woodwork You have to have a strong deterrent To such evil like the death penalty so as to prevent it in society By not putting a murderer to death you hate the next victim By not putting a rapist to death you hate the next victim of that rapist By not putting a child molester to death you hate the children that they're gonna molest in the future And so that's why it's important to have a strong deterrent and I'll tell you something someone who's been executed doesn't repeat offend That's what the Bible clearly teaches and look even in the state of Texas today We have the death penalty for various causes someone commits first-degree murder and and it's the right circumstances They will be executed in Texas and in fact executions happen on a regular basis in 2021 America not only that a second time offender child molester can be executed in the state of Texas Now my personal opinion is that they are leaving off some of the punishments that are worthy of death Which have been clearly outlined in the Bible America has believed it historically It's only been recently that that's even been overturned changed modified altered And if you have questions watch this movie called the sodomite deception, it'll explain everything to you Okay, but I still believe the Word of God regardless of what America says Regardless of what popular opinion is and in this situation. They have a difficult decision Do we go ahead and pursue these men that committed this horrendous act or do we walk away? Well neither sides real easy Neither sides real fun and it's gonna be unpopular to go and find these men and execute them You know what that's the right thing to do and in a spiritual war you're gonna have to make difficult decisions You're gonna have to go to difficult battles. No one wants to go into this battle No one's excited about this battle, but they know it's right, and they know that's what they should do therefore They're gonna do it look at verse 9 But now this thing or I'm sorry, but now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah We will go up by lot against it And we'll take 10 men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel and a hundred of a thousand and a thousand out 10,000 the fetch vittle for the people they may do when they come to Gibeah Benjamin according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel all the men of Israel gathered against the city knit together as one man. I love this again They're all united they all agree. They all say you know what we're just gonna randomly take a certain portion of men We're gonna go up against them. We're gonna go ahead and enforce the law here. This is their law enforcement, right? They're selecting a few chosen men to represent them as law enforcement. They're gonna get the job done It's a necessary job and everyone agrees verse 12 and all the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin saying What wickedness is this that is done among you now therefore deliver us the men the children of Belial? Which are in Gibeah that we may put them to death and put away evil from Israel Now doesn't that fall exactly what we just read Doesn't that seem really reasonable? Hey, these guys murdered this woman Bring them out and we'll kill them and notice they have no problem admitting that they're all of the devil These certain men of Belial right? They didn't say like hey, these guys are probably really good guys I know they just commit, you know, sodomite acts and murder and rape but you know, they're probably good No, he's saying hey these guys these certain sons of Belial bring them out. We're putting them to death Okay, bring these reprobates out here and we're gonna we're gonna take care of them. Okay. Now, what is the response? Let's read the rest of this verse But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren the children of Israel But the children of Benjamin gather themselves together out of the cities unto Gibeah to go out to battle against the children of Israel Now this is bizarre Think about the situation Not only are they not willing to deliver right? They're saying you know what? We don't want to just give you these murderers. We don't want to give you these reprobates We're gonna literally fight for them We're gonna literally Battle for them. We're gonna literally be on their side And if you try to kill them if you try to you know, come here and execute them properly then we will Fight you. Isn't that crazy? Now keep your finger and go to Deuteronomy chapter 13 go to Deuteronomy chapter 13 I mean if you're gonna defend someone once you want to defend someone that's a little bit higher caliber of a person I Don't you want to support someone that's not literally murdering? Strangers and wanting to commit sodomite acts and being a child of the devil. I mean these are open God haters, these are open devil worshiping God hating people yet for some reason the children of Benjamin Are gonna fight for them now the children of Benjamin are considered God's people I mean at least by name that does not mean they're all saved But what's the representation here their Christianity right and it's you know, it's bizarre today how? Christians will literally stand to fight against other Christians supporting God haters Open God haters. I mean people that just blaspheme the name of their God hate their God Committing horrendous acts like murder and sodomite acts There's Christians literally standing up and saying we're gonna fight for them we're gonna be on their team Now I'll submit to you that the majority of these people are what you would call a fake Christian. Okay, they're not real They're not sincere. That's why they you know, the Spirit of God just means nothing to them That's why when they hear the law It just means nothing to them because the Bible is so clear on this issue that it spells it out Let's look at this Deuteronomy chapter 13 verse 12 If thou shalt hearsay in one of thy cities which Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there saying certain men The children of Belial are gone out from among you and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city saying let us go and serve other gods Which ye have not known now shut inquire and make search and ask diligently and behold if it be true and The thing certain that such abomination is wrought among you thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword Destroying it utterly and all that is there in and the cattle thereof with the edge of the sword So he's saying hey you find a city they have sons of Belial in them and they're not going to deliver them They're gonna tolerate them. He says destroy the entire city verse 16 and thou shalt gather all the spoil of it and in the midst of the street thereof and shalt burn with fire The city and all the spoil thereof with every wit There of every wit for the Lord thy God and it shall be a heap forever It shall not be built again And there shall cleave not of the curse of things thine hand that the Lord may turn from his the fierceness of his anger show thee mercy now compassion upon thee and multiply thee as He hath sworn to thy fathers and thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God to keep all His commandments like men to this day do that which is right in the eyes Lord thy God notice this phrase to keep all His commandment not the ones you like Not the ones that are popular not the ones that are easy even the difficult commandments now look Admittedly, this has got to be one of the most difficult commandments to keep If you think about it, you know personal responsibility That's one thing but to have to go and assault an entire town of your brethren and to kill all of them and to say like we're taking all their money and burning it and all their goods and burning it and all their cattle and Burning it and having nothing to do with these people. I mean, this is a tall task This is a difficult task. And in fact, there could be casualties. Even you could lose your life for following God's commandment here This is serious But you know what? What does God expect you to do to keep all his commandments go back You know the Bible says in 1st Timothy chapter 5. I Charge thee before God in the Lord Jesus Christ and elect angels that they'll observe these things without preferring one before another doing nothing by partiality you're not allowed to follow God's commandments partially You have to follow all of them. And so, you know people will get mad about a certain situation Let's say I know you have that part of the Bible But what about the others and it's like why I have to follow all of it. I Have to follow every commandment the popular ones the nice ones the kind ones like giving people mercy by giving people grace You know giving people the benefit of the doubt, you know There's all kinds of things in the Bible and teach love your enemies, right? I have to follow that whether I like that or not, you know, I have to extend grace to people You know, I have to love people that don't love me I have to bless people that curse me right and despitefully use me But at the same time I also then have to look at other verses that say not I hate them a Lord that hate Am I not grieved with them that rise up against thee. I hate them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies I have to balance every single verse and say you know what? I'm not gonna cherry-pick the hate verses I'm not gonna cherry-pick the love verses I'm gonna have a good balance of love and hate and I'm gonna discern between good and evil and I'm gonna say those that Hate God, I'm gonna hate and those that love God or ignorant of God's love I'm gonna love them and give them every opportunity to be saved You know what I'm not gonna just say black and white good and evil I can't I can't balance things You know, it's easy to just say everyone's bad. Everyone's good. That's not the reality you live in Not the world you live in there's a mix of some Righteous and some wicked there's a remnant of people that are saved There's a group a remnant of the terrors amongst the wheat Okay, and then there's a whole field of just everybody else in play. Okay, and I hate the tears Amongst the wheat I want nothing to do with the terrors amongst the week the New Testament warns beware of dogs You know, Jesus Christ literally said give not that which is holy unto the dogs Neither cast your pearls before swine Lest they turn again or lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you is what the Bible says I'm literally commanded to stay away from certain people in the New Testament by Jesus own mouth and guess what I do it and You should too You should stay away from dogs because a dog will only use everything you say and do around them against you It's horrible Jesus command you to give not that which holy in the dogs and to be aware of them and stay away from them So you're violating God's commandments if you go hang around with dogs If you talk to them antagonize them and look dogs will bark when you get in their percentage in their vicinity Okay, that's why you stay away from the dog You have nothing to do with the dog. You don't talk to the dog You don't pet the dog. You don't offer him a little biscuit. Okay, you don't rub his belly You just you just stay away. All right, don't even look at it. It's weird. It's weird-looking Go view it back to judges chapter number 20 and let's look at a few more verses here. Hopefully you understood my analogy Judges chapter 20 look at verse 14 again the Bible reads but the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities into Gibeah go out to battle against the children of Israel and The children Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the city's 26,000 men that drew sword beside the inhabitants of Gibeah, which were numbered 700 chosen men among all this people There were 700 chosen men left-handed Everyone could sling stones at an air breath not miss the men of Israel beside Benjamin were numbered 400,000 men that drew sword all these men All these were men of war so notice the children of Benjamin that are coming out and fighting for the reprobates are Left-handed, I guess there's something weird about left-handed people, you know, I don't know you can never trust a left-handed person All right, I'm just kidding I mean think about it The only other left-handed person's a hood knee just comes in there and kills egg-long through to see doesn't he ever trust a left-handed person Okay, I don't know if I'm talking about anybody specific, but you know, I'm just saying but There this is what it's a shame. The Bible tells us very clearly that these men were really great at war Like they're really strong. They're really valiant and and look what kind of a waste to be such a great warrior and to be on the wrong side of the battlefield and You know what? There's gonna be people that are actually really great warriors are really valiant men that just find themselves on the wrong side of the battle And you know, it's way more important than being a great warrior being on the right side of the battlefield And I'd rather be the water boy on the winning team Than to be the quarterback for the losers You know I'd rather be just a benchwarmer or for God's army than to sit here and be on the front lines and Be their valiant champion be Goliath for the Philistines than to be in the Lord's army Okay, and at the end of the day, I'm not Emphasizing that you should be cowards or be weak or anything like that but what I'm saying is being on the right side of the battle is the most important thing and So it doesn't matter how good you are at what you do it's about being on the right side of the Lord's side, okay, and these people are in the wrong side of the battle and Admittedly, there's going to be Christian so-called that have a lot of talent. They have a lot of abilities They have a lot of things afforded to them. They can do great exploits but they just find themselves on the wrong side of the battle and We want to make sure that we are on God's side And even though it may look difficult because notice they're gonna have to go to battle where people are arguably better than them Faster stronger they can shoot better. They can sling a stone better. They're highly dangerous I mean no one wants to go to battle when you feel like you're totally outmatched But didn't David go and go ahead and defend himself against Goliath. Anyways, just severely outmatched from a carnal perspective I mean Goliath is a giant Goliath is so strong I mean you have to take a full-grown man just to hold his shield, you know, and hold his hold his equipment or whatever and Yet David wins the battle not because of his physical strength not because he's so much better of a warrior But because God was on his side That's why you know, don't sit here and be like, ooh, I want to be a cool little sniper or whatever You know, that's why he won. No, he won because God was on his side Not because he was better in battle. Okay, what makes you better in battle is having God on your side not being Eloquent on your own and in fact, I believe that there's many preachers a day that possess many attributes that are better than me You know, they're probably taller more handsome Their voice is less annoying sounding. They don't scream as much or something and they're preaching, you know They have a better vocabulary at their disposal They may have more knowledge in certain areas, but at the end of the day, you know What if I'm on the right side of the battle I'd rather be there than having all their talents and on the wrong side of the battle and Sitting up here and in preaching sermons that are the wrong sermon to be preached even though they do a great job with it You know, and I'll put out some names. How about John MacArthur? John MacArthur's voice sounds great. I mean, he's a rate. He's like on radio and stuff like that I mean, he's really eloquent with his speech. He's very sophisticated. He has many college educations I mean this guy is a guy that you would look to and say this guy's a great speaker Has a lot of talent this guy's really valiant. I mean he really knows how to use words, but here's a problem. He's an unsaved devil So it doesn't really matter You know, I'll take the guy that's tone-deaf, you know in his vocabulary I'll take the guy that has a cleft palate or something and can only make an annoying sound Preaching the right gospel then John MacArthur's eloquent damnation or damnable heresy And So I don't care who's the better warrior here I care about who's right and wrong I care about who's on the right side about so when it comes to difficult battles you have to decide Am I gonna enter in the battle because I am the strongest warrior Or because God's on my side go to Ephesians chapter 6 for a moment go to Ephesians chapter 6 and here's the thing You have to realize When it comes to Christianity, there's always gonna be false brethren Okay, the Apostle Paul warns in 2nd Corinthians chapter number 11 he says in journeys often and perils of waters and perils of robbers and perils by my own countrymen and perils by the Heathen and perils in the city and perils in the wilderness and perils in the sea and Perils among false brethren, you know the thing I like about Paul. He doesn't have one problem He has all the problems And that gives me comfort because sometimes I feel like I have a lot of problems and I'm just like, okay I still don't have as many problems as Paul Okay, like I'm still really far, you know, you look at guys like job and you're like, okay I don't have as many problems as job, right? I don't have as many problems as Paul I don't have as many problems as a lot of these guys in the Bible and so but if they experience perils among false Brethren, we too should expect they'll be fake Christians they'll be fake brethren that claim the name of Christ, but rather they're really enemies of Christ and Who are they gonna be on the team with all the other Devils in the world, right? they're gonna support the Devils and the reprobates and all those evil people and You know, there's a fake Israel. They're on the side of Belial and there's a fake Christianity out there That's on the side of Belial and say how do I know they leave their flag out in front of their church? They're God-hating flag. They're blasphemous flag They just wave it out there for all to see how much they hate God How much they're on the team with the children of Belial today, and you know what? It's a call to spiritual war for a reason There's a real battle in this world in this country in this city in this area It's a real battle look at Ephesians chapter 6 verse 10 finally my brethren be strong notice this in the Lord and in the power of His might so when I go to battle am I saying like yeah. Yeah, or am I like yeah Right here. This is the power. This is the might this is the shrink you know and some guys in this room admittedly look pretty physically intimidating Okay, but that doesn't matter because the only power that even means anything is God's power is the word of God That's the real power I'll take the skinniest punious guy in here that's on God's side than the strongest guy That's not because it doesn't matter you know and our strength is not found in flesh and bones It's found in the power and might of God's spirit Look at verse 11 put on the whole armor of God That you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil now wiles there I often associate this word with high or Wiley coyote who's sort of wiley coyote you know anything about this you got this old cartoon of the Roadrunner and Wiley coyote he's always trying to kill the Roadrunner Okay, he's always trying to get him to hurt him to harm him or danger and so he always has these tricks He's always trying to come up with some way to trap him or to deceive him or to trick him and the Roadrunner always gets the best of them But the wiles there is just showing that he's constantly setting what traps. He's being cunning. He's being deceitful He's trying to trick you and you think that's what the devil does the devil doesn't walk up and say hey, I'm the devil Come come worship with me. He's like no. I'm hey. I'm real Christianity I'm served with me come come be with me. You know we're the real church You know I have the real commandments. I'm you know the real godly person here, but he's a liar. He's a deceitful Snake according to the Bible, and we have to stand against the wiles of the devil the devil doesn't fight fair the devil is not a Warrior that's gonna. Just come to you and tell you exactly what he's gonna. Do he's gonna lie to you he's gonna deceive you he's gonna trick you and The wrestling that we have look what the Bible says in verse 12 where 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 so the Bible tells us that we're wrestling a Spiritual battle and what how do you wrestle spiritual values you wrestle with your words? You know the sword of the Spirit is our weapon which is the Word of God So we defeat them with the Bible we defeat them with the Word of God That's what has the real power and and notice who are often going to be paired against The rulers of the darkness of this world meaning what most of the most wicked people in this planet are the people that are ruling it Are the leaders notice spiritual wickedness in high places? They always are elevated positions and look they are literal ministers of the devil in high places in this country in This country the leaders and the rulers and the governors and the judges and all the people there are many of them that are literal Minister of the devil they're literally inhabited by devils and possessed with devils And they are not gonna give Christians a fair shake. They're not going to be on your side They're not gonna be on your time And we're gonna have to wrestle with them And you say how do I wrestle with them with the Word of God with the Bible with the truth? You expose their lies you expose their deceit you dispose their craftiness Go back if you would to judges chapter 20 so point one is this Spiritual war is gonna be difficult. It's not gonna be easy our enemy doesn't fight fair Our enemy is in high positions of power our enemy is constantly seeking to destroy us and they don't wait and Allow you to recuperate they don't look at you and say you know what this guy's kind of down Let's give them a break. I don't want to fight dirty. No they wait when you're down They wait when you're vulnerable They wait and they look and they try to sneak in and get any kind of opportunity to attack you to afflict you or do Whatever, that's why it's important to be constantly wearing the armor of God and constantly taking a stand and being diligent And being vigilant and being right with God and allowing the Lord to be on your side but even that all said Here's the sad reality You have to understand Even though you're on the Lord's on your side even though it's a difficult battle and God's gonna give you the victory You're gonna often experience a second thing. This is my second point. You're gonna experience defeat at times There will be defeat in the Christian life in certain battles in certain areas of your life You're gonna have to go through some defeat look at verse 19 and the children of Israel rose up in the morning in a camp against Gibeah and the men of Israel went out to Battle against Benjamin and the men of Israel put themselves in a rage to the fight against them at Gibeah And the children Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites at day 20 and 2,000 men You know, it's like we get all this build-up and we're thinking like man they're gonna rock their socks I mean they got the Lord on their side. They're in the obvious battle. The commandments are clear. They are outnumbering the enemy You know in a huge portion what happens they just get smoked I mean, this is an embarrassing defeat here, right? I mean, this is an embarrassing loss, but here's the reality sometimes in the Christian life. You're gonna go through defeat God is gonna allow you to lose certain battles and you say why? Because he wants to see if your heart is right with him God wants you to go through certain battles and lose them lose things that are precious to you lose life and Then test you to see how are you gonna respond? Are you gonna respond after you got defeated? You know, you're on the right side I mean it it couldn't be clear. We already saw the commandments. We know they're on the right side So then you got to ask this question like what's going on? Why how do we lose? What's happening here? Well, look at verse 22 in the people the men of Israel Encourage themselves and set their battle again in Ray in the place where they put themselves in a ray the first day Here's another point Sometimes you have to just encourage yourself You know the best motivator is yourself I Can try to get up here and motivate you I can encourage you to the best of my ability and I want to I want to Exhort you and I want to encourage you but at the end of the day You are in the driver's seat if you want to be encouraged you can encourage yourself And if you want to be depressed you can make yourself depressed no matter what's going on around you You are in control of yourself And if you're gonna go through defeat in the Christian life, you have to learn how to encourage yourself And you say how do I encourage myself? You get alone with the scriptures you get alone with God you get on your knees and you pray to the Lord And you say Lord strengthen me Lord give me courage Lord come alongside Lord give me peace that passeth all understanding Lord help me to fight the next battle I know I lost I know I was defeated. I know I went through horrible pain and suffering, but Lord just You know give me another day Be with me is he has new mercies every day Even though you know you're right and look some people don't get this they'll think like oh, man I moved across the country, and I got into a good church, and then something bad happened to me I guess I you know maybe I should quit church Wait a minute Maybe God's testing you to see if You're gonna keep doing the right thing or you get in the right church And you lose something or something bad happens to you And then the Lord's just saying like are you gonna still do the right thing are you gonna still go soul-winning? Maybe you go soul-winning get punched in the face Literally happened two men in this room Okay, and then you have to ask yourself. Well am I gonna knock the next door You know I mean isn't that kind of embarrassing. I don't want to be punched in the face. I don't be shoved I don't want to be lied about always land. I won't have to go through evil But you know what that's just the cost of doing business God's not asking us to always do the easy thing He's asking do the right thing and sometimes it's difficult and in that difficulty you're gonna have defeats You're gonna have losses you're gonna have battle scars You're gonna have to go through evil and these men gave their lives literally to this there was real people that died real husbands and brothers and sons and uncles and friends that died lots of them That's sad You know what they said we're good We're still on the right side of the battle here And we're gonna still do it first way during the children visit went up and wet before the Lord until even Now it's council of the Lord saying so I go up again to the battle Against the children Benjamin my brother and the Lord said go up against them You say how did they encourage themselves? They sought the Word of God and notice what the Word of God said do it again Do it again, so when you say I don't know if I'm on the right path pastor Shelly will open your Bible read it and then tell me what your Bible said it said do it again And I know your answer do it again. Hey, do I go soul winning? Well is Matthew 28 18 still in your Bible is Mark 16 15 still in your Bible Then guess what God said do it again Go you know all the world preach the gospel every creature. Hey should I still go so winning mark 16 15? Yeah? Going all the world preached the gospel every creature. It's still there You say God do I do it. Yep. Did I do it? Yep, and you say when do I not do it? when the Bible changes and You say when's that gonna happen never? Forever thy word is settled in heaven Oh Lord forever Doesn't change. That's why we're called that fast Unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord Now go if you went to Psalm 6 for a moment Let me give you more practical application how to strengthen yourself because I'm telling you if you decided you want to serve God in your life you will experience defeat and The question is not if you're gonna experience defeat or not the question is how are you gonna respond when you're defeated? How are you gonna respond when you go through loss? How are you gonna respond when something bad happens to you? Well, look at Psalm 6 verse 3. My soul is also sore vexed, but thou O Lord. How long? Return o Lord deliver my soul Will save me for thy mercy's sake for in death. There is no remembrance of thee in the grave who shall give thee Thanks, I am weary with my groaning all the night make I my bed to swim I water my couch with tears you think this guy's gone through any defeat in his life He's literally saying he's cried so much in bed. He's swimming in it That's a lot of tears and look some people in this room have probably cried all night After a horrible defeat after a horrible loss in life some people in this room have gone through really agonizing painful Horrible evil in their life, but you know what God saw every one of those tears. God was there Verse 7 mine eye is consumed because of grief it waxes old notice this because of all mine enemies Why is this guy so sad? Yes, a lot of enemies and you say why this guy has so many enemies Because he's a godly person because he loves the Lord. Yeah, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus I'll suffer persecution, you know, there's a great door and effectual open unto me There are many adversaries because the devil actually Wants God's work to be ceased. So he's gonna attack people that are doing the Lord's work. It's real obvious I mean you really think the devil has just decided you know what I'm good No more attacking Christians No more attacking God's people. I'm done. I had a good run No, he's gonna do it to the bitter. In fact, he only gets worse He only attacks more according to the Bible. Okay is that we get closer to the end He knows he has about a short time and he's gonna go full-scale attack. So, you know what the devil's not gonna Get off of the the gas and he's not gonna let go of the reins here He's gonna drive harder and so you have to realize there's gonna be evil that comes look at verse 8 Depart from me all you workers of iniquity for the Lord have heard the voice of my weeping the Lord have heard my supplication The Lord will receive my prayer Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vex. Let them return and be ashamed suddenly This is how you get yourself through the day. You say Lord. I know I'm hurting I know I'm suffering but just let my enemies be destroyed and you just pray and you just hope for the next day And you pray and you hope and let me tell you what this prayer will be answered period Whether it's in this life or the next it's gonna be answered It's gonna be answered in many cases is gonna be answered now it's gonna be answered in this life go to Another place real quick for me go to Hebrews chapter 12 go to Hebrews chapter 12 But let me tell you this you will experience defeat You're gonna have problems you're gonna have issues you're gonna be oppressed you're gonna be afflicted if you serve God You're gonna have bad things happen to you How do I handle that pastor Shelley you go to the Word of God? You read and look the Psalms are some of the greatest places in the scripture. You can possibly go for this issue Is it just I mean It's just every song is just about enemies and praying for them to die and be destroyed and break their teeth out of their Mouth oh god and just I mean, it's just great. It's really comforting because you're just like man You know what if this guy had to go through it. I bet he knows what it's like and Most the time their stuff seems way worse than what we have to go through You know what I mean like our stuff such a light affliction in comparison Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross Despising the shame and set down on the right hand of the throne of God For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest he be wearied and faint in your minds You have not resisted in a blood striving in sin And here's what Jesus is saying or this is the point of Hebrews chapter number 12 is that when you go through defeat? What is the normal reaction or what is it that you're trying to not do quit? He said hey, you're probably weary. You probably want to faint you probably want to quit you probably want to give up But he's saying look look what Jesus had to go through What a contradiction of sinners they're killing the Lord. They're killing God in the flesh for being a sinner He's never sinned in his entire life. He's never sinned in all of eternity. He never will sin He's the truth. They want to kill the truth I mean what a contradiction what a contradiction to kill your Creator what a contradiction to kill your Lord What a contradiction to kill your master What a contradiction to kill the guy that only loved you that only did good unto you that only healed you of all Your infirmities that performed all manner of miracle for you What a contradiction, but he says remember this you guys haven't even resisted unto blood And notice driving it said fighting sin. What's fighting in sin preaching the Bible? Saying thou should not kill thou should not steal thou should not bear false witness against thy neighbor That's driving. It's I'm fighting sin right we're fighting wickedness in this world And he's saying by doing that you haven't even resisted on a blood yet And you know it's sad when Christians they stop fighting when they literally have had zero physical punishment Like you're standing you're whole I mean you're perfectly healthy you have everything that you could possibly It's like they just don't want to lose things like money. Oh Can't lose all my money. Where's your heart at? Your heart in your money is your heart in your possessions is your heart in your flat What is your heart really in or is your heart in the word of God? You know what I don't want to lose this You know I don't want to lose the ability to preach the word of God To preach all of his commandments to believe all of his commandments to meet with God's people to go soul-winning the things that actually matter in this life You're gonna have defeat go if you would back to the job Chapter 20 will will finish real quickly with these two points I have a lot more in my sermon that I could preach this morning But I just want to make it clear that you're gonna go through difficult You're gonna go through defeat. You know job said though. He slayed me. Yeah, well I trust in him You know naked came I into this world naked shall I return thither You know the Lord gave and the Lord had taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Who needs only you know when I entered in this world I had nothing You had nothing you say how do you know that pastor Shelley because I've had five kids, and they had nothing with them except for a you know Something attached to them right and that placenta we threw in the trash I Didn't keep it. It wasn't of any value to me. I know it's the value some people I'm offending some people right now, but I'm just telling you I thought it was nothing okay It came in this world with nothing and you know what don't bury me with my placenta, okay? I don't want to leave with it either right you came in this world with nothing you lip everything you have right now You're closed your spouse your goods your church your money all that stuff God gave that to you at some point, and you know if God took it all away Blessed be God blessed be the name of the Lord who cares You know I'm just a passing through it's all gonna burn up anyways this body's gonna. Die this body's gonna be put in the grave It doesn't even matter in the story they lose a second battle 18,000 more more casualties Now but there's a there's a good thing that's gonna happen look at verse 27 They're gonna finally have the much-needed victory Okay, and obviously you know you can't just keep losing until y'all die That's what the whole point of the psalmist was he's like. There's no praise of the in the grave It's like we all die like what's the point? but they're not all gonna die look at verse 27 and the children of Israel and choir to the Lord for the Ark of the Covenant of God was there in those days and Phineas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron stood before it in those days saying shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother or shall I see some Lord said go up for tomorrow I will deliver them into thine hand this is hey the third day. You're gonna have something deliverance That's gonna be difficult you're gonna have defeat, but ultimately you're gonna have deliverance And you know there's so many cool pictures here because if you think about it you had two days of defeat But the third day you had deliverance. Yeah, that makes me think of something. Oh, yeah, Jesus Christ doesn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ didn't he have two days of defeat Go to the Luke chapter 22 for a moment go to Luke chapter 22 You know what Jesus said on the cross. He said my god my god. Why is now forsaken me? Why aren't those so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? What he screamed on the cross is what he cried on the cross? Psalm 22 Keeps saying oh my god. I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not and in the night season, and I'm not silent Thou art holy oh thou that inhabits the praise of Israel our fathers trust in thee they trusted And thou didst deliver them they cried unto thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not confounded But I am a worm and no man or approach of men and despise the people All they that see me laugh me to scorn they shoot out the lip They shake the head saying he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him. Let him deliver him seeing he delighted in him Mocking Jesus while he's on the cross This is what Jesus says about this Luke 22 look at verse 52 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and the captains of the temple and the elders would you come to him? Sounds like spiritual wick and his knife places if you ask me right become out as against the thief with swords and saves They treat him like he's a violent criminal, and he wouldn't harm them even one iota Isn't that funny verse 53 when I was daily with you in the temple you stretch forth no hands against me But this is your hour and the power of darkness. He says hey, you're gonna have your moment The enemy gets their moment Ain't kill table the Jews kill Stephen Jews kill Jesus I think the Jews kill a lot of people I'm just saying But you know what the third day is gonna rise again the third day he's gonna be delivered Go we went to judges 21 for a moment go to judges 21 But you know what it says in Luke and Psalm 22 It says for dogs have compassed me the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me They pierced my hands on my feet Psalm 22 is all about Jesus, and he's saying you know who you know who is against him dogs You know you know you're on the right side of the battle when the dogs are on the other side You know you're always you know you know you're on the wrong side of every battle dogs are on your side of the battle And notice how they the Bible describes them the assembly of the wicked and they have their little Church Church of Satan You Verse 19 of Psalms when he says, but be not thou far from me a lord Oh, oh my strength hasty to help me deliver my soul from the sword my darling from the power of the dog Save me from the lion's mouth Thou has heard me from the horns of the unicorn So he's constantly saying deliver me save me and when you read this psalm You know what he just saves them the Bible also says this Talking about the Lord for he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted neither They hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him he heard look God Here's your cry God knows the affliction God sees it God sees the oppression God sees the evil God sees the damage God sees the defeat You know what it says the meat shall eat and be satisfied there will be redemption there will be deliverance The only way to lose Ultimately is to quit The only way to lose ultimately is to quit and when you quit on God you're gonna be disciplined What are our points so far? Hey, it's gonna be difficult to fight the Lord's battles and spiritual war There's gonna be difficulty point two. There's gonna be defeat point three when you don't quit on God. There's deliverance But when you quit on God, you're gonna be disciplined You don't have a choice The war is raging. The question is not Do I have an option to fight you don't have an option The question is are you gonna be on the deliverance team or are you gonna be on the discipline team? And I'm telling you what I want to be on the deliverance team, even though a portion of the deliverance team died Right. Well, look what it says to the discipline team judges 21 verse 8 and They said what is what one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to miss P to the Lord And behold there came none to the camp from Jabesh Gilead to the assembly But the people were numbered and behold there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead there So he's saying hey when we all gather together and we were gonna fight them Then someone not show up then someone stay home then someone watch the sermon on YouTube Then someone just stay away they were so winning in comments online Okay They they went and they went out to some camp out in the woods and rode on some dinosaurs But they didn't want to actually go out and preach the gospel to someone they want to just go hide in the woods Now what is the Bible say that's gonna happen to these people verse 10 and the congregation sent the other 12,000 men of the valley test and commanded them saying go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead with the sword edge of the sword with the women and the children And this is the thing that you should do you should utterly destroy every male and every woman that hath lain by man You know what these men that were cowards and didn't fight. They didn't just cost their own life They cost their whole family's life by not fighting the spiritual battle and let me tell you something men They won't stand up and fight the Lord's battles are going to destroy their entire family We need men to stand up and fight the difficult fight and Experience the defeat but realize God will deliver you rather than being a quitter Rather than being weak and cowardly and staying home and then dying anyways The fear the great fear that they had the paralyzing fear of like I don't want to go to battle and die It happened to them anyways And you know what I would way rather have been killed by the Benjamites in battle Than to have been disciplined and been killed that way I mean if I'm gonna die, I'd rather go out in battle I'd rather go out in victory rather than having been punished by the Lord and God already told us what did God tell us in the Old Testament didn't he say the people that hide their eyes and The people that don't go out to battle what was gonna happen to them. God was gonna hold them accountable. Did he do it? absolutely Here's my proposition to you. Do you want to be on the deliverance team or the discipline team? Because you're gonna be on one no matter what you don't you don't get this I don't want to be in the game Guess what when you believe in Jesus you're in the game It's automatically drafted in the Lord's Army. So here's my question. Are you gonna be on the deliverance team or the discipline team? It's gonna happen. God is not mocked for whatsoever means. So if that's you also reap you're in the battle You know and not everybody has to fight physically in this battle. Some people got water Some people are just part of the reserve troops Not everybody died some people got the glorious victory, you know what there will be some casualties here and there You know what? At least they didn't die in vain The JBash Gilead men died in vain worthless Go to first John chapter 2 is the last place. I'm gonna be turned first place first John chapter number two Let me tell you something. There is gonna be a day when Christ returns And when Christ returns Your response to Christ's return is gonna be based on your actions now I'm not talking about unsaved or saved. I'm talking about only saved people, right? Saved people are gonna have a mixed reaction at the return of Christ The Bible teaches this and it's gonna be based on what you were doing when Christ returns Look at first John chapter 2 verse 28 and now little children abide in him that when he shall appear We may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming God warns Christians. Hey, you could be completely embarrassed when Christ shows up Why because you weren't serving God because you were hiding because you were the other group And when it comes to the children of Benjamin, you know, even them being on the wrong side of the battle They still had redemption You know, you could have a point your life where you're on the wrong side of the battle You know what? Why don't you just go ahead and fix it? And notice how the children of Benjamin rescued themselves I don't know if you paid attention to the chapter of the reading but the the only men that were saved How are they saved? They went and hid in the rock Remen They were saved by the rock and that rock is Jesus Christ So they fled to the rock they were safe all the men that trusted in their own might and their own power They were destroyed now, what does that symbolize salvation? There's two planes of salvation in the world trusting in yourself Trusting in what Jesus did And able and when you trust in yourself, you're utterly destroyed Even though you're super wicked, even though you deserve death because look the men of Benjamin deserve death If you flee to the rock the Lord Jesus Christ, he still will give you redemption He'll still restore your soul and look I hope that every single person in this room goes to heaven but it falls down on one question Who are you trusting? Are you trusting in the rock of Jesus Christ is your only way to heaven or are you trusting in your own might and your Own works and what you've done to save yourself and when you trust in that you'll be destroyed When you trust in the Lord, you're gonna be delivered So there's only two sides of this equation every battle there's gonna be deliverance is gonna be destruction And you know what? I want to be on the side of deliverance. Let's close in prayer Thank You Heavenly Father for this great chapter of the Bible. Thank you for giving us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ I pray that we wouldn't be ashamed of Christ and of his words We wouldn't be ashamed of what God has given us the Word of God, but that we would embrace it We'd love it. We cherish it We wouldn't be partial in our judgment and following your commandments But rather we'd follow all of them no matter how easy or difficult they are no matter what defeats we go through in this life I pray that we would encourage ourselves with the Word of God that we would strengthen ourselves by your commandments That we know that every tear shed You're there with us weeping that you wept with us that you care for us That the Bible teaches we're supposed to cast all our care upon you and that ultimately whether in this life or the next will get deliverance and I pray that you would encourage us remind us to not be ashamed at your coming but rather to rejoice and to be Confident in the Lord's return and in Jesus name we pray All right, let us turn to our last song to the song number 159 Song number 159 blessed be the name Again that's song number 159 blessed be the name All praise to Him who reigns above, in majesty's supreme Who gave His Son, your hand to die, that He might then redeem Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord In His name, my Father, He shall stand, exalted more and more That God, the Father, is Lord right here, where angels most adore Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord Deeper the Savior, greater the man, who's true in my love for all Thou hast been my salvation's plan, for Thou hast done for all Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord Whose name shall be the counselor, the mighty grace of peace Above all, our strength does conquer, whose name shall never cease Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be the name, blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord I'm really glad that you said it was the right thing to say here, and I baptize the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost Very glad to see the death, and praise the Lord, and praise the Lord Blessed be the name, blessed be the name of the Lord I baptize the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost Very nice of that, praise the Lord Brother Adam, are you trying to surprise me to see here? What? I baptize the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost Very nice of the death, and praise the Lord Thank you so much for coming this morning, make sure to congratulate all of our baptisms from your distance Thank you so much for coming this morning, make sure to congratulate all of our baptisms from your distance Thank you so much for coming this morning, make sure to congratulate all of our baptisms from your distance Thank you so much for coming this morning, make sure to congratulate all of our baptisms from your distance Thank you so much for coming this morning, make sure to congratulate all of our baptisms from your distance Thank you so much for coming this morning, make sure to congratulate all of our baptisms from your distance Thank you so much for coming this morning, make sure to congratulate all of our baptisms from your distance Thank you so much for coming this morning, make sure to congratulate all of our baptisms from your distance Thank you so much for coming this morning, make sure to congratulate all of our baptisms from your distance Thank you so much for coming this morning, make sure to congratulate all of our baptisms from your distance