Deuteronomy chapter 20 and verse
1. When thou goest out to battle
against thine enemies, and ye see horses and chariots, and
a people more than thou, be not afraid of them. For the Lord
thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And it shall be, when thou comest nigh unto the battle, that the
priests shall approach and speak unto the people. and shall say
unto them, Here, O Israel, ye approach this day to battle against
your enemies. Let not your hearts faint, fear
not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them. For the Lord your God is He that
goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies to save
you. And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What
man is there that hath built a new house, that hath not dedicated
it, let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the
battle, and another dedicate it. And what man is he that hath
planted a vineyard, and hath not eaten of it, let him go also
and return it to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another
eat of it. And what man is there that hath
betrothed a wife, engaged a wife, and hath not taken her, let him
go and return it to his house, lest he die in the battle, and
another take her. And the officers shall speak
further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there
that is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return unto his
house, lest his brother's heart faint as well as his heart."
Next week we are going to look at this and there is a little
bit of hint here in this passage that I read to you concerning
the church and the state. It's amazing how you follow the
Lord through His Old Testament Scriptures and then you come
to the New Testament and how He completely separated the church
and the state. And what a blessing that is that
He did that and some of the predicaments the church got itself into when
it occupied both of those positions. But tonight I just want to look
again here in the verses that I read to you. We're reminded
of two things here in verse 1. These are very, very important.
The Lord reminded Israel of these two things, the faithfulness
of God's presence. They are in verse 1. He said, The Lord thy God will
be with thee. And how faithful God was to be
with his children. The same God that brought them
up out of the land of Egypt, he was faithful to abide with
them. He had never turned away from
them. That was very important. It's
very important for them to remember that. And the second thing is
found there in verse 4. Not only would He be with them,
but He would help them. He would fight for them against
their enemies. And who's stronger than God?
I mean, He is the Almighty, ain't He? And if God was with them,
and if God fought for them, then they'd never lose a battle. because
God was stronger than all their enemies. That is two things that
they were to remember, the faithfulness of God's presence. And God would
fight for them. He would aid and strengthen them.
And they were told this for two reasons. Two reasons are given
for them doing this. They had to live by faith upon
these promises. God would be with you in His
presence. He would aid and help and fight
for you. They had to live by the faith
of that for two reasons. Here in verse 1 we are told the
first reason is because their enemies were more and mightier
than they were. There is only one way to get
the victory over their enemies, and that was by the presence
of the Lord with them and to aid them to defeat their enemies. If they didn't live by the faith
of God's presence being with them to aid them, they couldn't
whip anybody. They could not whip the least
of their enemies. We saw that last week when they
went up to Aeth. That's the first thing. They
had mighty enemies. There in verse 1, more and greater
than you are. And secondly, there in verse
3, they had to live by faith upon these promises of God's
presence and help. That was the only way they could
keep from being overwhelmed with fear and anxiety and depression. Did you notice that? He shall
say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle
against your enemies. Let not your hearts faint. Fear not, and do not tremble,
neither be terrified because of them. Why? God was with them. Your God will help you. And why
was it so important they lived in the faith of these two things?
Well, can you imagine going out and falling into unbelief before
your enemies? They wouldn't even let anybody
go out. He said that there in verse 7 or in verse 8. Speak
to the people and say, What man is there that is fearful and
fainthearted? Tell him to go home. Tell him
to go back to the house. We don't want him in this battle.
Why? Well, faith cannot overcome the
least of enemies, but I'll tell you something else faith can
do. It scares everybody else to death. You can take one unbelieving
poor man and he can cause the hearts of ten faithful men to
faint if they listen to him. And if he's got a view of the
enemy with all their horses and their chariots and their spears,
And he'll say, I've never seen anything like that, boys. We're
in trouble now. We can't take these people. We'd better hide
out someplace. And other people start to listen
to him. Hey, I heard we can't take these people. And then he
causes the hearts of others to think. So how important was it
here that these people, these Jews, Israel, live in the faith
of their covenant God's presence with them and His power and faithfulness
to fight with them. And these battles that Israel
fought were physical battles, but you know they fought by faith.
They had to fight them by faith. The Scripture says by faith they
subdued these kingdoms. By faith in what? In their faithful
God, in His presence and in His power fighting for them. I think
this is sort of self-explanatory, You and I have enemies. We have
formidable enemies. We're told our enemies is the
God of this world. Listen to what some enemies we
fight. The God of this world. The prince of the power of the
air. Wicked spirits in heavenly places. They're much older than we are.
They're more experienced than we are. They have weapons that
you and I have never seen or heard of. and can't seem to find
anything hardly that will shield us from their fiery darts except
the shield of faith. But we're told this, not to be
afraid of them. We don't live in dread of Satan
and faint because of him. Here's what the Bible says, you
are strong and the Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome
the wicked one." How did we do that? He not only is with us,
but listen to this, He's in us. Greater is He that is in you
than He that is in the world. Who's in the world? The God of
this world. The Prince of the power of the
hour. These wicked spirits are there in the world. But you have
overcome the world. Why? Because greater is He that
is in you. We have a mighty God, don't we?
And you know where He lives? In us. He's especially in us. If God be for us, He's not only
in us and with us, but now He's for us, and therefore who can
be against us? The Lord is my helper, therefore
I will not fear. I will not fear. I will not tremble
because of my enemies. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh
the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even
our faith. Who is he that overcomes the
world? But he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of the living God. And these weapons that we fight
with, they're not carnal, are they? We said last week if they
were carnal, we could war a better warfare. We could get the best of people,
couldn't we? But the weapons aren't carnal, but they're mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds. We have an enemy
just like the Jews had. Only ours are spiritual enemies. And when the Scripture says that
Abraham was strong in faith, it didn't mean he looked to the
strength or faithfulness of his believing. That's not what that
meant. But it meant that his faith was
in a God who was strong and faithful. You may not have much faith,
but if it's in a strong God and a faithful God, then it's a strong
faith. And here's what was said of Abraham.
He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God. Now listen to this. being
fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able. Where was his faith? In God's
ability, wasn't it? In God's power, in his strength.
He was able to perform. And listen to what was said of
Sarah. Through faith she received strength to conceive seed and
deliver a child when she was past age because she judged him
faithful who had promised. We live just like these Jews
of Olia. We live by these two things,
by the faith in these two things. God is with us. I will never
leave you or forsake you. I'll go with you always, even
to the end of the world. And He fights for us. He fights
in us. Without Me, you can do nothing.
But with Him, Paul said, we can do all things. We live by faith
of that. I love verses 5-7. I love these passages where they
built houses and He let them take off from the battle to dedicate
them. If they had planted a vineyard,
they took off to eat of it. Married a wife or engaged a wife,
they took off and cheered their wives for a whole year. They
got off. A whole year. It shows how mindful
God is and was of Israel in those days. These were God's chosen
people fighting the battles of the Lord, His enemies and their
enemies, and yet there was a time and a place to build a house,
to plant a vineyard, and to marry a wife, and to raise a family,
and harvest the crop. The common way we serve the Lord
is not by building cathedrals It's not by planting churches,
but by serving Him faithfully on our jobs, raising a family,
and living our everyday life in this world as good citizens
in our communities and in our nation. And we do all of this
to the glory of God. Whatsoever you do in word or
deed, do all in the name of Jesus Christ. giving thanks unto God
by Him. Here's what the Lord Jesus said
in His prayer, Father, I pray. I don't pray that you take them
out of the world. I don't pray that you send them
up to the mountains and put them in a monastery or in some commune
somewhere. Gathered up with two or three
hundred or a thousand people to get out of the world? I don't
pray that you take them out of the world, but that you keep
them from the evil. Brothers and sisters, we can
live in this world, an evil world, among the ungodly and be kept
from evil. Marry a wife, raise a family,
and work a job, all for the glory of God. He doesn't forbid His
saints from having a house, does He? or having a wife or having
a job, but He blesses them with grace that they can serve Him
and worship Him in these things. When these men stayed home and
dedicated their house, they were serving God just as well as those
who were outside Him, because they were doing what He commanded
them to do. And the apostle said, "...whether
therefore you eat, or where you drink, or whatever you do, eat
to the glory of God, drink to the glory of God, and whatever
you do, do it to the glory of God. One of the ways that grace
and patience and love in our hearts shows itself is by serving
God in these things. How does a husband show the grace
of God in his heart? Being a faithful husband. How does a wife show the grace
of God in her heart? And the love of God in her heart?
Being a faithful wife. How do children who are saved
show the grace of God in their heart? Being obedient children.
Being a good employee. Being a faithful employer and
a neighbor and a citizen. Owe no man anything but to love
one another. For he that loves another has
fulfilled the law. That's the way we serve God as
we live our lives. The world thinks the church should
be doing things that everybody can see. And the world can recognize
them for doing it and pat them on the back and brag on them.
And you know a lot of religionists have fallen for that. They're
living up to the expectation of this world. They're doing
what they think are great things that's impressive to this world.
And they'll take it up to the judgment with them. Lord, have
we not prophesied in Your name? Have we not cast out devils?
Have we not done many wonderful things? And you know what He'll
say to them? Who in the world are you, fellas?
I don't even know you. I didn't command you to go do
these great things. And He looks on His right hand.
And there stands His saints, this little flock of sheep, or
a big flock of sheep at that time. And He says to them, I
was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was naked and you gave me suit clothes. I was sick and
you was coming by my house and you stopped and visited me and
cheered me up. I was in prison and you paid
me a visit in there. It doesn't seem like much for
the world, does it? But we don't live to impress
the world. We live for God's glory in our
everyday life. And when we don't do these things,
what happens? When we're not a faithful husband,
when we're not a faithful wife, when we're not a faithful employer
and employee, when we don't live for our God and glorify Him in
these little things, then it becomes a mess. It becomes a
mess then. A Jew built a house. He married
a wife and planted a vineyard. And it took grace and faith because
he was doing what God commanded him to do. And any time that
we do what God commands us to do, it may seem little. But I'm
telling you what, it takes as much grace and as much faith
to do that because we're serving God in these things. It took as much grace to stay
home and dedicate your house, as much faith to take a wife
and love her, and as much faith to plant this vineyard and eat
of the crop, as much faith and grace as it did to go out and
fight the battle against your enemy. I love the story about Enoch.
I call him Enoch. His name is Enoch, I guess. If
he was here, he'd say, Bruce, quit calling me Enoch. My name
is Enoch. Enoch. I don't know how you pronounce
his name, but something like that. But I love the story of
him. One of the reasons I love the story of him, you know, he
went to heaven and was changed and went up to heaven. He never
did die. And some wonderful things are said about that man. It was
said that he walked with God and that he pleased God. And
by faith he was translated and we're told in the Bible how he
pleased God and how he walked with God. Without faith, it's
impossible to please God. How did Enoch walk with God and
please God? He believed God, didn't he? But
you know, when you study that man's life, what little bit we
know about him, he married a wife. He flirted with her. He won her
heart. He married her. They were intimate. And I don't know how many children
they had, but he had Methuselah. And the Bible says he walked
with God for 300 years after he had Methuselah and begat sons
and daughters. Now, I don't mean to get crude,
but don't you think he flirted with his wife? Can you see him
going in the kitchen by the stove and he slaps her on the butt
and says, Wow, man, you're built. My goodness, you're a lovely
woman. And you know what he did when he did that? He was walking
with God. He went off to the worship service
and he got up and preached. And man, people sat on the edge
of their seats. He said, the Lord is coming with
the ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon the
ungodly and convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly
deeds. And as he did that, he was walking
with God and pleasing God. He went home after the morning
service, and there he was out in the backyard, in the yard
and little kids all over his back, squealing and laughing,
him jumping and squealing like a mule, kicking and little kids
flying everywhere. He was butting them around, playing
with them. They were laughing. Do you know what he was doing
while he was doing that? Walking with God. He was pleasing
God. Can we walk with God as we marry
a wife, marry a spouse, work a job, while you ladies are washing
your dishes there at the sink? Can you walk with God-being while
you're vacuuming the floors, working in the shop, watching
your children? Can you worship God-being and
serve God-being? That's the best place and that's
the most common place that we do worship Him in our everyday
life. There's times to battle. And God calls some people to
leave their houses and their lands, their jobs. But I tell you the most common
way to serve Him is living by faith in God's presence and living
by faith in His ability and strength and power to keep us and fight
our battles for us. It took as much grace for Enoch
to serve God and worship God and please Him as he raised his
family and worked his job as it did for Noah to build the
ark, as it did for Abraham to leave his father's house. It
took as much grace for them to do that as the apostles to go
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Or John Bunyan to endure 12 years in the prison. Or Mr. Spurgeon to preach 63 volumes
of sermons. It takes the same grace and the
same faith, Sue, for you to wash your dishes and clean your house
and raise your children for God's glory as it did for Enoch to
walk with God and Noah to build that ark. It's nothing. Oh, it's something. It's something. When we walk with our God in
our daily lives, it's something. It takes grace. We must live
by faith. If the Lord has redeemed us and
delivered us from the bondage and dominion of our sin, then
believe that He is with us. Believe it. He is with you. And believe that He is your Helper.
And He will fight for you and in you, so don't fear, don't
faint, and don't tremble, because of your powerful enemies. Satan, the world, death, sickness,
the wrath of God, the judgment to come, don't fear anything
but God and live by the faith of Him. And then we can go on
the line in the help of verse 4. For the Lord your God is He
that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies
to save you. Isn't that wonderful? To save
you. We're being saved every day,
aren't we, Clarence? And you know something? He that's begun
a good work of saving us, He's not going to give up until He's
completely saved us. He don't start a work, then leave
it, does He? If the Lord Jesus has begun to save us, then trust
Him. Look to Him. Depend on Him. Follow
Him as you live your life in this world. Worship Him. Serve
Him. For He that has begun to save
us will finish that work. That's how faithful He is. He'll
finish His work. Boys, these Jews got deeper into
Canaan. The battles got tougher. They
got tougher. These people, these Canaanites,
man, they wouldn't give up. They just flat would not give
up. And they got desperate. But you know something? The Lord
was with them. And the Lord fought their battles. May the Lord bless
His Word. Clarence, would you dismiss?