Deuteronomy chapter 20. Now I
will not read the whole chapter to begin with. I do plan on reading
much of it, if not all of it, as we go through this. But the
context of my message this morning is taken from the whole chapter
of Deuteronomy chapter 20. And of course, in this chapter
we read of God's law to Israel concerning their warfare. And that's basically what it's
talking about. Now, I actually have four things
I want to give you this morning. But the first one is what I want
to emphasize the most. I'm not prepared to say it's
the most important, because who am I to declare what is the most
important? Who am I to say that? But it's
what I want to try to stress the most. Therefore, for those
who are listening live or online, whatever, I mean, you'll hear
the whole message if you stay with us, but for those who hear
this on TV, they may only get the first point. It's just according
to how long that, where that timer's at. I don't want to rush
through the first point. That's what I'm trying to get.
Now, as I said, we have here in Deuteronomy chapter 20, verses
one through 20, we have God's law concerning Israel's warfare.
There's a question. What lessons can we draw from
this text? I must say far more than what
I will have time to give you this morning. And I must add
far more than what I have ability to give you this morning. For
I am sure, having done this for 36, 37 years, I read a text,
I preach from a text, I go back to that text later, and I begin
to realize how little I knew about that text when I preached
on it the first time, or second time, or third time for that
matter. So let's go. But what I want
to do is go to the end of the chapter, and then we will work
our way toward the first part of the chapter. So we'll start
at the end and work our way to the beginning. So, let's look
at these lessons. Here's the first lesson. It's
what I want to concentrate on for the most of my time. Here's
the first lesson. Israel was to not cut down food-bearing
trees for warfare. Now this was a I know this word
could be misunderstood. This was a practical command. And let's read it. Verses 19
and 20, last part of the chapter. When thou shalt besiege a city
a long time. In other words, this city is
probably fortified. Maybe a walls or something around
that city and they're besieging the city. When thou shalt besiege
a city a long time, in 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. So you see what he said. Don't
cut down, if you wanna make a battering ram, if you're gonna make a ladder
to scale the wall. Whatever, if you're cutting down
trees as a weapon, don't cut down the fruit bearing trees.
And forgive me if I mention a tree that's so little you really couldn't
do, but an almond tree, don't cut that down. Why? Because if
you do, it's like the old phrase, you'll be cutting off your nose
to spite your face. Right? So he says, 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 that maketh war with thee, and here's, I started the
title at this, but I didn't, until it be subdued. I thank God for that truth when
it comes to the gospel. I'm glad God Almighty besieged
me until I was subdued. I know there are those today
who are preaching that God has put forth his best effort or
maybe on occasion he has a big spurt and really tries to get
somebody saved but they actually believe that it's not up to God. They will actually say, and I
know we say this a lot, it seems so cliche for me to say it over
and over, but this is a common phrase that people who profess
to be Christian Jews, God has done all he can do, now it's
up to you. That is not the truth. That is a lie. God don't have
spurts. He's the almighty King of heaven
and earth. And jump to the beginning, verse
one, when thou goest out to battle against thine enemies and seest
horses and chariots and people more than thou, what is the natural
inclination? Whoa, whoa, look. Be not afraid of them, for the
Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land
of Egypt. Consider, my brothers and sisters,
what God did for you back yonder. Even in your experience, and
we don't rely on the experience. We rely upon Christ, but he gives
us experiences. And look at where you were, and
where God's brought you to today. Do you really think there's any
enemy out there that he can't conquer? And yet our old self,
our old man is prone to shrivel because of the immensity of the
enemy that's in front of us. So remember, Israel was to not
cut down food-bearing trees for warfare. We have a warfare. Paul mentions it and calls it
a warfare. He uses military language, and
it's actually recorded for us in 2 Corinthians 10, and you
could be turning there if you're following along. 2 Corinthians
10, and let me get to it as well, because I do want to look at
that some. As I said, my first point for
the TV may be the only point that makes it to the TV. In our warfare, We must never
compromise. That's the lesson I see. In this
warfare, do not compromise the truth of the gospel. You will
cut off your nose to spite your face. What am I talking about? What do I mean when I say that?
In other words, two major things here in this first point. Never
dull the gospel sword. Never dull the gospel sword.
Or, the scripture's truth. Now, the gospel is all truth. The gospel is all truth. But
this book contains truth that is not the gospel. Now you understand
what I'm saying? I think most of you do. The gospel
is all truth and the gospel is all about Jesus Christ the Lord. But in this book, this book talks
about us as well. Who we are and what we are and
it's the truth. And this book describes us like
we are. Especially like we are in Adam. Like we are by nature. But that's
not the gospel. The message this book conveys
about us is not the gospel. As I've said before, it is the
reason we need the gospel. But again, in our warfare, in
this battle, in this battle, never dull the gospel sword or
the scripture's truth. Here's the point, subjugation
is the goal. Subjugation is the goal. That's the end. Do we not read
that? God's with you. You're going
into battle. You got enemies. And some of
those enemies vary. The enemies differ. But they're
all enemies. But some are nearer than others.
Some are more an immediate threat than others. But here's what
you do in the war. And in the end, here's the truth.
Don't cut down the food-bearing trees. Don't dull the edge of
the gospel. Now think about this. You should
be at 2 Corinthians chapter 10. and verse three through five.
Remember, until it be subdued. Thousands today who profess Christianity,
who say they preach the gospel, they talk about preach the gospel.
They say on TV, radio, internet, send us money to help us keep
preaching the gospel. And like Henry Mahan once said,
and probably said it many a times, but I never hear them preaching
the gospel. They're always talking about
preaching the gospel and us sending them money so they continue to
preach the gospel, but they never get down to actually preaching
the gospel. And when they do, they distort the gospel. They
pervert the gospel. They dull the edge, they sit
there and beat that gospel sword on a rock. and dull the edge
of the gospel. Now listen to what Paul wrote.
See, I've been turned away from it. I turned back. 2 Corinthians
chapter 10. And I know this is familiar to
every one of you here. But let's read it again. Now
let's begin in verse three for the sake of time. For though
we walk in the flesh, and that's different from other places where
Paul talked about walking in the flesh. He talked, we walk
in this body. We walk in these corporeal, mortal,
corruptible bodies. And most of us have been around
long enough, we have experienced the effect of that. For though
we walk in the flesh, now here's the difference between us and
Israel as a nation back in that time. For though we walk in the
flesh, we do not war after the flesh. Israel's battles, now
there was a spiritual element to it. Don't get me wrong, don't
misunderstand me, but they took up physical arms. They were going
into a land that God had given them, that other people owned,
and they were going to subdue. Right? Subdue. I'm not here to
justify by God. Our God is in the heavens, we've
already heard this, and he's done whatsoever he has pleased.
I'm not here to argue, as some theologians have, the justice
or injustice of war. I'm not here to do that. I'm
just presenting the truth of God as it gives it in this scripture.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. We're not cutting down trees
to make ladders. We're not cutting down trees to make a battery
ram. We're not picking up guns and swords, but we have a weapon. Look at it. For the weapons of
our warfare, we have weapons, I should say. For the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God. Mighty through God. Not mighty because of our eloquence. Not mighty because of our prowess.
Not mighty because of our wisdom, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds. Casting, now we're getting it.
He's used the illustration, pulling down of strongholds. Casting
down what? What men think. What men think. But you offend people when you
preach like you do. If I'm preaching the gospel,
it's going to. It offended me when I first heard the gospel. Now, for years, I'd heard a perversion
of the gospel and knew nothing of this way or that way. But
when I first began to hear the gospel, when the two-edged sword
of God's gospel started striking me, it hurt. It hurt. It made me angry. It made me mad. Casting down imaginations and
every high thing, not just the few high things. Well, we need
to fight against abortion. That's all well and good, but
you can stop abortion and men still gonna die and go to hell.
You hear what I'm saying? Well, we need to shut down the
booze parlors, need to shut down the red light districts. Do all
that. If it's in your power to stop
all those things, then stop them. But it ain't in our power. Look
at where our country's at today. And we're a civilized Christian
nation, don't you know? Right? And know what people thought? I mean, you've got Democrats
and Republicans. Both of them claim to be Christians, and they're
on opposite ends of the pole. Casting down imaginations and
every high thing, here it is, that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of God. And bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ, and that is twofold. One, God
will conquer your heart and mind to bow down to what Christ has
accomplished. to bow down to who he is and
what he did, what he accomplished, what he secured when he first
came to this earth in human flesh and died on that tree, was buried,
raised again, and taken back to glory, now seated at the right
hand of God, expecting, expecting, that's amazing for me to even
think about. Here is God in the flesh, expecting what? Till his
enemies be made his footstool. You know, you've seen the pictures
of, especially years ago, when a king is conquered, if he's
still living, the conqueror will come and put his foot on the
neck. That's the words that's being used here. But, but it's
also this, God's people were brought to obey Christ. And the
first place of obedience is to believe him. Everything else
flows from that. That which is not of faith is
what? Sin. No matter how religious and moral
it might be, if it's not of faith, it's a sin. Thousands take the
Lord's table. Isn't that a good thing? Shouldn't
everybody take the Lord's table? No. No. Well, shouldn't everybody
be baptized? No. John the Baptist refused
to baptize some folk, didn't he? You remember that? He said,
you show me you mean business with God. I'm paraphrasing what
he said. He said, who warned you to flee
from the wrath to come? You bring forth works, meet for
repentance. You show me you mean business.
You show me God's done something for you. You tell me, you show
me God subdued you. You show me God bowed you down.
Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth
itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. Why? Because God Almighty
has a people he's going to conquer. And he will besiege them until
they are subdued. And while most that profess to
be Christians don't like that, Don't wanna hear that? Most probably
have never even heard that. Don't you figure? Most know nothing
about a conquering Christ, do they? That's Old Testament, right? Oh no, he's the same yesterday
and today and forever. And I'm glad, I'm glad that God
besieged my city. I'm glad he built up bulwarks
against me. He brought out the battering
ram of his gospel and banged and banged and banged on my castle
walls until they fell flat. And King Jesus marched in and
put me in the dirt mason and put his foot on my neck. And
it didn't feel good while it was happening, but I thank God
now that it has. What are some of these enemies?
What are our enemies? We know who Israel's enemies
was. They were named Hittites, right? Especially though that's
the ones that were close. Now there were enemies that were
out there in the periphery. But look, here's some of our enemies.
It's everything that's hostile to the truth of God. That's an
enemy. Everything that's hostile to
the truth of God. And that includes abortion, And
it includes many first Baptist churches in many towns that are
preaching a perversion of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here
it is. Let me give you this, a short
list. You may not think it's short
when I start with it, but it's a short list. Human will, that's
an enemy. Men call it free will. You know
what the scripture calls it? Self will. God's word calls itself
will. That's an enemy. And this is
what God is conquering in the person of his son. Human will,
opinion. Well, I know what I think. How
many times, especially years ago when the battle just raged,
you know? How many say, well, I know what
I believe. It don't matter what you believe. The question is
not what you believe. Three different groups of people
came to Christ and asked him what he believed about three
different subjects. He gave them a quick answer and
moved on. And then he asked them a question. What think ye of
Christ? They wanna know, should you pay
taxes? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. He answered their question,
but then moved to the question, what think ye of Christ? Now
here was the Christ asking him, what do you think of me? Now
these people believed that Christ was coming. But when he came, they rebelled
against him. All the while, still looking
for the Christ to come. And he was seated right in front
of them. Opinion. Theories. Theories. Oh, how our world is filled with
theories. It used to be called the theory
of evolution. Did we get smarter now, it becomes
now just evolution? You remember that? I was taught
the theory of evolution when I was in school, but it was called
that. At least they were honest enough then to call it that.
They found no more proof of evolution than they found proof that my
feet have set on the moon. Theories, proud reasonings, we've
heard about that this morning. Speculative arguments, well what
if? What if? You could deal with
what ifs till the cows come home, as we say, and you don't get
anywhere. Speculative argument, pride,
we heard about that, didn't we? Pride, self-righteousness. I'm a sinner, but I'm not an
ungodly sinner. In some circles, it's almost
cliche today to say, well, I'm a sinner. Oh, I'm just a sinner,
but yeah, ask somebody sometime. You're an ungodly sinner, right?
Well, I know I ain't that bad. I'm a sinner, but I ain't that
bad. And isn't it amazing how we could all, I don't care if
you're the worst whore on the street, selling yourself for
10 bucks, and I'd say you'd get a lot of business if you did
it for 10 bucks. You can always find somebody
that's worse than you. but we're not talking about somebody
else. We're talking about God Almighty and His holy law. How
do you stack up to that? That's what we're talking about.
That's what we're talking about. Self-righteousness. As one preacher
said, and I think Paul said it, or at least alluded to, we can
be proud even in our own humility. Pride of face, pride of race,
and we even get proud of grace. I ain't like, at least I ain't
like them bunch of free wheelers over there. Well, I was one one
time. I was one one time, and King Jesus came in and conquered
me. Conquered me. Self-sufficiency. Human autonomy. Boy, don't we
want that today in this country. We don't even want the police
to arrest suspects anymore. Human autonomy, emotionalism. We are filled, flooded. Christian churches, put that
in quotes, are filled with emotionalism. Here's Christ's emotionalism.
He feeds people and gives their bellies full. And then he turns
around and said, the only reason you're following me is because
you got your bellies full. Now let me speak words of truth
to you. And when he did, he had 5,000.
There were probably more than that. But he had 5,000, plus
his 12. And they all said, when he began
to speak the truth, no man can come unto me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him, and I'll raise that man up the
last day, and they shall all be taught of God, these people.
These elect people, these predestinated people. Preacher, I never heard
something like that before. You need to get to a church that
preaches those things. That's what you get. Leave where
you're at. You don't have to come here,
but go somewhere where they're preaching the truth of God. They
shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and learned of the Father, so that includes how many? Every
one of them. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and learned of the Father does what? He comes to me. That's God Almighty coming in
and besieging your city until you are subdued. And when God
does that to you, you'll be happy. You'll be happy. And you'll know
it wouldn't have worked had God tried it any other way. Here's a try Jesus, boy ain't
that a big one. You don't try Jesus, you bow
down to Jesus Christ. You submit at his feet. Now it
would be easier on us as the elect of God if we just bowed
down to the truth when we first heard it, would it not? But we've
got so much pride and rebellion in here. We will not do it and
we still got trouble with it even after he subdues us. He
knocks down our castle walls and crumbles it into powder,
and every particle reeks with pride and self-righteousness,
and that what? Autonomy, emotionalism. Here's a self-determination.
Anarchy. Anarchy. I'll tell you how I
know men hate God, because look at how men and women are doing
in this country today. They despise government. You
think they don't despise God? They despise God, but I'll tell
you, God's conquering some of them. It may to us, it may to us seem
to be nothing, and we don't see all that joke, but God's conquering
some people. And here's another thing that's
gonna get to people's goats. God's gonna bring you the gospel
through another sinner. He not gonna come down and preach
it to you yourself personally. There's gonna be a conquered
sinner that God's gonna send to you to preach to you of a
conquering savior. And that's why, because it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Let
me get to the second point in number one first. Remember, don't
take off the gospel sword, the edge of the gospel sword. Jesus
Christ accomplished some things when he died, but here's the
second edge of that sharp sword the scriptures truth Isaiah puts
it this way now. I know he's talking about Israelites
But Romans 3 Paul as Paul lets us know Jews and Gentiles were
all the same and it says we are wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores And he said, you've not been bound up, never mullified
before, and why should I strike you more? You'll just revolt
more and more. What's got to happen? God's got
to heal the wounds. He's got to heal the wounds.
God has to abase our pride. God has to show us what our self-righteousness
really is in his sight. And I thank God that he's doing
it by his spirit through the preaching of the gospel. His
spirit will come and breathe life in a sovereign act, a sovereign
fiat of God, but he will, in every case, send his gospel to
that person that he's breathed life upon, and they will find
themselves conquered at the feet of King Jesus. Now that's my
question to everyone. If you listen to me on Sunday
morning, when this tape, this actual broadcast goes out, I'm
asking you, is that the Jesus that you claim to know? I'm not
talking about this weak, feminine, sissy Jesus that's preached today.
I'm talking about Jesus Christ, who is God Almighty, manifest
in the flesh. Now, let me move on. Now, that
was all for the TV. That's all they'll get. Turn
back to Deuteronomy 20, and I'll move quickly. I won't read anymore. But I'll just make these statements.
Let me give you the other three things. Israel's enemies are
declared. We see that in chapter 20, verses
10 through 18. Some enemies are out there, they're
not in the land. And you preach what to them?
Peace. Peace. If they bow to the peace
you're proclaiming, all is well. All is well, right? You read
it, all is well. But if not, then they will be
destroyed. God will do the destroy. I don't
have to do the destroy. They will be destroyed. But there
are enemies that are inside the periphery. They're in the compound. They're in the land. And they
will lead you away because you ain't strong enough to resist
them. You'll follow after their gods. You'll follow after their
false religion. And what happened? Israel did not totally drive
out everyone. And what did Israel do? They
followed their religions, did they not? Oh, they'd give it
a good old Jewish twang, had some sheep and some goats and
some other things for sacrifices. But God said, I'm tired of your
sacrifices. He told them to offer them. But they're not worth spit
unless you do it with eyes toward the coming Messiah. And somebody
said, well those people didn't know anything about the Messiah,
yet Moses told them about him. Moses told them about him. Now
think about it. There are enemies far and wide. Not all enemies
are the same, though they all are enemies. Jude put it this
way, there are some men before of old ordained to this condemnation. And that's not before of old
God ordained them to hell. Well here's some good folks,
but God said I will send that group to hell. That's not what
it's talking about. That's not the truth of God.
They were ordained to the condemnation of what? Lying on God. Walking after false ways. Living in immorality and unrighteousness. That's the context that you,
and Peter comes along and basically says the same thing. He said
that Peter goes so far as to say it had been better for some
people not to even heard the way of truth than after they
heard it to turn from the holy commandment which was delivered
unto them. And yet Christ gave the command go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature. Don't try to figure
out God and there's no need to try to justify God. Just preach
all that God says. You know? If a tree is a tree
for battle, chop it down and let the chips fall where they
may, right? Right? But don't chop down the food
bank trees. You're cutting off. If we dull
the edge of the gospel, we may all go into apostasy. And I don't
want to go there. I don't want to go there. Not
all enemies are the same. Second, or thirdly, not every
Israelite was to be on the front lines. but to be in their God-ordained
place. You remember reading that? You
see, not everyone's gonna stand here. God didn't ordain that. And I don't wanna try to give,
because I don't wanna leave something out. Again, I said, not every
Israelite was to be on the front lines, but to be in their God-ordained
place. You see that in chapter 20, verses
five through nine. And of course, you're aware,
are all apostles? What's the answer? Are all prophets? No, and I'm neither apostle or
prophet. But I pray God, Joe, I'm not
envious of that. But some of you, I wonder, there are times
when I wonder, if I wasn't preaching, would I really come? If God took away my voice, if
something happens to me, Mason, and I can't speak no more, and
it has to be Joe and Paul, what would I do? What would I do? You don't have to worry about
that, do you? A couple of you might. But Joe, that scares me. That scares me, because I pray
that this thing is real. And let me tell you, we are members
of one body, but we are members in particular, and God puts you
where he wants you. Don't envy somebody else. Don't
envy somebody else. God is all wise. He knows. He
knows where he's going to use you. I didn't say where you'll
be best used. I say he knows what he's gonna enable you for
where you are. It may be, I know this could
be misunderstood, but it may be no more than putting $10 a
month at that plate just to help out. Do you realize, Paul, turned
me and Joe on to some information that just brightened up my day? Do you know that the past, not
this Sunday, But the past three Sundays, the messages were listened
to in 34 states and 18 countries. And some of
them are Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Brazil, Canada, 17 other countries
besides the United States. That just blew my mind. And God don't let us, have to
let us see any results, but we don't know what he's doing out
there, but I'll tell you what he is doing, whether we see it
or not, he is calling out his sheep. This little group here, that
boggles my mind. Number four, Israel had priests
and captains, and we have the priest. and de-captain, do we
not? Isn't that what Hebrews calls
Christ? Our great high priest, and he's called the captain of
our salvation. I want him to lead me. I want
him to call the shots. I don't wanna be the captain.
There are times when I don't even wanna be here, let alone
be the captain. And I definitely don't want to
try to be the captain of my salvation. I would screw it up for sure. We can compromise on some things.
Yeah. We can compromise whether we
want pews or seats like these and maybe even leave some tables
up. We can compromise on stuff like that. We can compromise
whether we sing out of this songbook or that songbook. We can compromise
on whether we want to have that piano or maybe buy another piano.
There's a lot of things we can compromise on. We sit here, and
a lot of people do it that way, and we have a person pass out
the bread and the wine. Not every grace church does it
that way. When we went to St. Croix, wasn't
done that way, was it? Wasn't done that way. I'm not
saying one way's better than the other. We can compromise
on something. It don't matter. It don't matter. We can compromise
on whether we want a bad mystery or whether we just wanna go to
the creek or the pond, right? It don't matter, but we don't
compromise the gospel. Don't dull the edge of the sword
of the gospel or the edge of the sword of this truth of this
book. There's two things that God teaches all his people, who
Jesus Christ is and who they are. And their place under, under
Jesus Christ. It amazes me. Yeah, I know we're
small in numbers. We're about as weak as you can get. You can't
get much smaller than we are other than just living in the
house with your wife or husband or something. Can't get much
smaller than that. But you folks for years, and
even longer than I've been around, have stuck with the stuff. When everything around us is
compromise the truth, compromise the truth. Don't tell people
they're that bad. Yeah, tell people they're that
bad. That's where God's gotta bring
you to. Well, I mean, that's where God will bring you to if
you're one of his. Mason, would you close us in
prayer and thank God for the food, please?