Victory Contingency

^"So the LORD was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron."

Judges 1:19

 

This verse is intriguing because it points to man's failure in spite of God's power, authority, and sovereignty.  Are chariots too hard for God to destroy?  The LORD was with Judah but they remained incapable of complete victory over their enemies.  God made the wheels of the Egyptian chariots fall off as their army pursued Israel through the Red. Sea.  God made Sisera's 900 chariots as nothing and killed every man of his army with the sword.  Joshua told the children of Joseph to drive out the Canaanites, but the people complained that their enemies had chariots of iron.  Joshua 17:18 reads, "...but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its farthest extent shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong."  The chariots were not the issue.  The issues were obedience, trust, and willingness.

Psalm 20:7 says, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the LORD our God."  God commanded the Israelites to drive out the inhabitants of the land of Canaan He had promised to them and their fathers.  If they were obedient, they would be victorious.  God would give the victory, but they would be required to fight.  They did not walk in obedience to God, and therefore could not drive out the well-established people of the land.  Because they did not believe they could succeed they did not obey.  And because they did not obey, they did not succeed.

The disciples were faced with a demon they could not cast out of a child.  Though Jesus had given them all authority over evil spirits, they were unable to drive the demon out.  When the child was brought to Jesus, He rebuked the demon and it left.  The disciples approached Jesus in Matthew 17:19-21:  "Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" ²⁰ So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. ²¹ However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." There must be faith coupled with works of obedience to walk in the victory Christ gives.  When we do not walk in obedience to God in prayer, we forfeit authoirty granted us by the grace of God.  Though God is able, we can remain unable.

 

Lack of faith and disobedience disables us from walking in victory.  Victory is contingent upon our obedience.  The more we are yielded to God, the greater capacity is available for God to work in and through us.  God will make the iron chariots of our enemies as stubble if we will be obedient, trust, and remain willing.  Isaiah 1:19-20 teaches us, "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; ²⁰ But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword"; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

 

Let us again bring to mind the truths of Isaiah 59:1-2 to bear upon us in times of spiritual and moral failure:  "Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. ² But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear."  God is only and always victorious.  How wonderful to know that God is always strong and able to save.  We need not be slaves to the cruel master of sin, though he rides upon chariots of iron.  God is able to shut the mouth of the lion; He is able to keep the flames of the furnace from scorching us, though others fall by the thousands; He is able to part the Sea so we might walk upon dry ground.  He is able to save to the utmost all who come to Him in faith.  Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ!  May we be willing and obedient that we might glorify our LORD by walking in this victory!

Never Sleep with the Enemy

In Romans 7:13 Paul says that God's commands make sin appear "exceedingly sinful."  The law is not often emphasized today because Christ has instituted the New Covenant in His blood.  We can be insulated from the severity of sin as offense towards God because we do not have to physically pay for our sins with the blood of animals or our own.  It is important that we look at each sin specifically, not in generalities.  In this way we bring attention to specific sins and through God's power put each to death without mercy.  We cannot "deal" with our sins.  We might as well deal with axe murderers and serial rapists!

There are patterns we fall into when thinking of sin.  We compare ourselves with others and "grade" on a curve.  If we seem more upright than someone else, we do not see ourselves as being in sin.  In school we are happy with an "A" grade, even though the range is from 90 to 100%.  God's justice demands complete perfection, and God gives no letter grades:  we either pass with a perfect 100%, or we fail.  And according to His righteous demands, we can't even score a 1% on His test!  In reading Jerry Bridges book Respectable Sins, the sin he emphasizes as most basic is ungodliness.  In my own strength I cannot be godly for one second.  If I could be godly for one second, then I could be godly for two seconds.  If I could be godly for two seconds I could be godly for five seconds.  If I could be godly for seconds I could be godly for minutes, hours, days, and years.  But in my flesh no good things dwells!

Sin means to miss the mark.  My sons have a Wii gaming system, and one of the activities in Sport Resort is archery.  At the beginning you start very close to the target which has a tiny dot in the middle of the bull's eye.  After completion of the first shot, the target is moved farther away and the wind begins to blow.  Then the target begins to move from side to side with wind!  I do not think it is possible to hit all four targets exactly on the bull's eye in the game, and it is even more impossible to perfectly conform to God's laws.  It looks very easy to hit a target in the middle.  Because we can see the target there is not doubt in our minds where to aim.  But actually being perfectly accurate?  That is something we cannot do.  We can be deceived to think that because we agree with the arrangement of the target, we always hit it dead center.  We criticize from the couch!  But when we stand up and try it for ourselves, we find ourselves complete failures.

I was thinking this morning of how bad sin really is.  When I allow sin in my life it is worse than having sexual relations with Satan while being betrothed to Christ!  I hope that is a abominable, disgusting thought to you.  It makes me sick to think I would be joined to sin instead of Christ.  No sane person would ever marry a notorious serial killer, and sin is the worst killer of them all.  Sin kills every time!  Sin is so horrible the perfect Lamb of God was killed and His blood shed so we can be forgiven.  We must see ourselves as sinners in the present tense before we can be saved for eternity.  Before his death the writer of "Amazing Grace" John Newton said, "My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things:  that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." (Respectable Sins, Bridges, pg. 31)  The truth remains we can never see ourselves as sinful as we really are.  Because of this, during our lives on earth we will never quite understand how great the grace of God towards us.  Praise God for the Good News, that we who are dead in sins can be made alive unto God by grace through faith!

Dear Father in Heaven, thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ shed for me.  I have sinned greatly against you and brought dishonor to your holy name.  I renounce all sin and desire to live a life pleasing unto you.  Please forgive me and present me faultless before your presence with exceeding joy.  Thank you for your love and your faithfulness to redeem, reconcile, and restore.  All praise and glory to your holy name!

Is This Sin?

I have been reading Jerry Bridge's classic, The Pursuit of Holiness.  It is a mix of education, edification, and exhortation bound together to encourage believers to fulfill our responsibility to walk in holiness before God and men.  The book contains a little formula which sums up my convictions very well in the way we define sin personally, sins not clearly described in scripture.  We have likely all struggled whether a certain attitude, thought, or action was sinful.  So often we find that even though something is not sinful in itself, that harmless thing for one person can be a enslaving idol to another.  Until we are convinced we are in sin we likely will not cease from sinning!  How can we tell right from wrong?  God does not leave us to our own philosophy or opinions, but clearly lays guidelines before us to follow as led by the Holy Spirit.

On page 91 of the book (which I recommend purchasing and reading entirely yourself!), four questions are posed to aid us when dealing with morally neutral activities or to reveal sin we justify.  I find my flesh is opposed to my spirit.  When there is a conflict within me, it is almost always the flesh warring against the Spirit of God for authority.  We like to have clear boundaries laid out and find some comfort in going back under the Law.  But now we are ruled by the Holy Spirit of God who dwells within us, and it is He who brings conviction of sin.  He holds us to a far higher standard than the Law of Moses ever could.  His rule is not only over actions, but the thoughts and attitudes of our hearts.

The first two questions we must ask ourselves are taken from 1 Corinthians 6:12:  "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."  Question 1:  Is this activity helpful and beneficial for my physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional well-being?  Question 2:  Does this activity bring me under its power?  Paul refused to be brought under the power of anything but Jesus Christ.  The next question comes out of 1 Corinthians 8:13:  "Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble."  We must resolve to love others as Christ loves us, and give them greater consideration than our own flesh.  Question 3:  Does this activity or attitude have the potential to hurt others or cause them to stumble in faith?  The fourth question is derived from 1 Corinthians 10:31:  "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."  Question 4:  Does this activity or thinking glorify God?  If we are willing to honestly ask the Holy Spirit to lead us in answering these questions, we will know the answer whether we like it or not.

Our intellect can be a great enemy of the convicting power of the Spirit.  When He puts His finger upon something wrong, we will think of many Christians or leaders in the church who do these same things and think, "Why must I be deprived?"  Our minds rush to judge others when God points out our sin.  We reluctantly and angrily obey God, gritting our teeth to hand over our sins.  We can be like Moses and Zipporah, who were negligent to obey God in circumcising one of their sons.  These are three very interesting verses of scripture not often spoken of.  Exodus 4:24-26 reads "And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him. ²⁵ Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet, and said, "Surely you are a husband of blood to me!" ²⁶ So He let him go. Then she said, " You are a husband of blood!"--because of the circumcision."  God had told Moses to circumcise his son, but it seems because of his wife's negative attitude towards it he let it go.  Then God met him in the way to kill him!  God takes disobedience seriously!  Even then the circumcision was performed with much irritation and anger towards Moses.  Circumcision in this passage is not the point:  it is the simple matter of obedience.

There is no justification for us to willingly remain in sin because Christ's blood has been shed to atone and free us from slavery to sin.  We have been filled with the Spirit of God who convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment.  We are without excuse.  It is crucial that our lives reflect our desire to walk in holiness. Hebrews 12:14-16:  "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: ¹⁵ looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ¹⁶ lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright."  Sin has the power to defile, deceive, and destroy.  Let us heed God's Word and put sin far from us.  Sin doesn't affect just me.  We need not look further than Adam!  It is time to confess sin, forsake it, receive the forgiveness found only in Christ, and walk in this newness of life. 

Our Refuge and Strength

To the chief musician, by the sons of Korah "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ² Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; ³ though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah"

Psalm 46:1-3

It is easy to lose proper perspective in this life when faced with troubling circumstances.  Like Peter who took his eyes off Jesus as he began to sink on the Sea of Galilee, we too can be overwhelmed by the difficulties which surround us.  Illness, depression, politics, relationships, anything and everything can cause us to lose heart.  But I love this passage in Psalm 46 because it brings us back to the right outlook.  God is our refuge no matter what!  Even if the earth is removed and the mountains cast into the sea, even if huge tsunamis devastate the coasts and earthquakes ravage the land, God remains our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

I find it ironic that the authors of this Psalm are the sons of Korah.  Do you recall in Numbers 16 when Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rebelled against Moses and God?  The composers of this Psalm were descendants of the same Korah.  He rebelled against the authority of Moses and God opened up the ground beneath these three, along with their possessions and families, and swallowed them up.  Yet God's grace is again revealed that not all of the children of Korah perished in His wrath.  God allowed a remnant even from a rebellious man to glorify Him with songs in the congregation.  The remaining sons of Korah were not prohibited from their roles serving God in the temple, and contributed beautiful words included in scripture inspired by God as seen in Psalm 46.  Even if the ground opened its mouth, even if the mountains were removed, God would be their refuge and help in trouble.

We all have to capacity to fear earthquakes, cataclysms, and unforeseen troubles.  Jesus tells us not to worry, for "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matt. 6:34).  It is amazing that even though the world be dissolved, we can remain unmoved upon the foundation of Jesus Christ.  The earth can shake, the waters can roar, and everything which seems secure in this can be ripped up and destroyed, and yet we can remain firm upon the promises of God.  It is for this reason Paul exhorts in 1 Corinthians 15:58:  "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."  Our world might be tearing apart at the seams, but we can remain steadfast and immovable in Jesus Christ.  That is good perspective!

When faced with trouble, our natural response is similar to Elijah's in 1 Kings 19:4:  "But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!"  When faced with threats of defeat we allow ourselves to wallow in it.  We isolate ourselves, become self-focused, forget about God and His power to save as our Refuge, and ask to escape even if it means our death!  How true are those words:  we are no better than our fathers!  The disciples screamed at Christ when the waves were tempestuous, "Don't you care if we die?"  What was the issue?  Their faith!  The issues of this life will never end as long as we sojourn here, but Christ remains our Refuge, strength, and present help in trouble.  May we never forget this!  Instead of being caught up in fear when the world crashes down around us, let us look to Christ and take refuge in Him.