God Will Fight for You

Fred R. Coulter—April 5, 2010

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This book, Judaism—Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men—is going to be a signature book that everyone is going to want to have and we are going to advertise it quite well. Let me ask you a question: how many people have thought in the past, or have heard, that the Jews are just like us except they don't believe in Jesus? Wrong! Most books about the Jews are an attack upon them or a defense for them. So this is entirely different. Because Judaism is nothing more than the traditions of men, Phil Neal went to their writings and let them condemn themselves and expose Judaism for what it is from their own words. So if we quote what a rabbi says, how can that be anti-Semitism? So you have to have a fine line, be careful, but it turned out to be very easy to do, because they have condemned themselves over and over again.

If you thought that being in one of the Churches of God, you lived under an iron fist of totalitarianism, you don't know anything about Judaism. How many here have the book, Code of Jewish Law? We have renamed it, Totalitarian Oppression for Daily Living. We're going to quote about 20 pages in that as well. We're also going to put in the appendix that we put in the Bible here, Appendix Z. I think that's interesting. Appendix Z, the last letter of the English alphabet and Paul said he was the least, so there he is at the end: Understanding Paul's Difficult Scriptures, and so forth.

But what has happened is this: the Protestants read the Bible from their doctrinal point of view rather than reading the Bible to gather the Truth. Every one of their false doctrines are based upon a wrong translation and a wrong interpretation and they know nothing about Judaism and that's why this book is going to be so important, because nearly all the problems that we find in the New Testament concerning law has to do with traditional laws of Judaism and nothing to do with the Law of God.

Now for the Sabbath during Unleavened Bread I gave a sermon on that when we keep the law, we are doing it through grace. I expanded that and I'm going to add a little bit more of that today so that we'll understand it's not a matter of law or grace, it's a matter of grace and law—through grace. So once we grasp that, and really have that nailed down—and how many years did it take us to come to this? We'll all do some Columbo—it's been there all the time.

As a matter of fact we just sung part of it in one of the hymns that we sang. Just to give you a clue: How did Jesus keep the commandments of God? Perfectly, through the Spirit of God! Jesus was what? Full of grace and truth—is that not correct? So He kept the commandments of God through grace. Now we have a big sword, the sword of the Word of God.

Church at Home is going very well. We're going to continue with it. By the way, Church at Home: the past videos I've done, we're converting all of those to digital and we're putting them online with cbcg.org. So they'll all be there and you'll see my 'skunk streak' that I had years ago. One woman came up to me and said, 'Do you dye your hair?' I said, 'No, that's just the way that I'm getting grey.' Now I'm all grey.

Let's go to Psalm 92:8, since all of us are just youngsters here, we need to claim this promise. The Protestants use the word 'appropriate'; I think that gives the wrong connotation: That you initiate something and take it from God, rather God has given a promise and we can claim the promise because God has given it. Maybe some would say that's not a fine distinction between 'appropriate' or whatever, but I just don't like 'appropriate.' It's kind of like Congress appropriates funds, and so forth.

Psalm 92:8: "But You, O LORD, are on high forever, for, lo, Your enemies, O LORD, for lo, Your enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.... [We're going to see that's the theme of the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.] ...But You shall lift up my horn as the wild ox, and I shall be anointed with fresh oil.... [talking about the resurrection] ...Also my eyes shall see my desire on my enemies... [we have to wait on God to fight our battles for us and He will and He does] ...and my ears shall hear my desire on the wicked who rise up against me. The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green. To show that the LORD is upright; He is my Rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him" (vs 8-15).

In our lives we can all claim the promise of producing fruit in old age. Because old age is not a problem to God, it's a part of living. The older you get and the whiter your hair is and the less hair that you have and maybe the thicker that your glasses are, the closer you are getting to the finish line. God knows we are going to be weak when we get old. He can give us strength. God knows that we're going to have troubles and be feeble, but He will strengthen us. And even in our difficulties, Christ is in us, so He is there with us—is that not true? Yes! So we can claim those promises. This is one I claim quite often.

One other announcement: two weeks ago Monday I baptized my oldest son, Jonathan; he's forty-three. So when it says in the Proverbs, 'Train up a child in the way he shall go and when he is old...' The missing part of that is: and learn a few lessons along the way. '...he shall not depart from it.' Because that's the way that God made it.

Let's go to Leviticus 23 and let's see about this last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread and we're going to see that this has a great deal of meaning for us, and we can apply the lessons of it in our lives today, and especially when we see what's going to happen in the world around us. We're going to see things that you never thought that you would see in America. So it would be prudent to make some kind of provisions so when the 'ship hits the sand,' you will be ready—because it's going to. It's a Titanic of debt in a minefield of icebergs.

Leviticus 23:6: "On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. You must eat unleavened bread seven days.... [we've been doing that] …On the first day you shall have a Holy convocation.... [which we have done] ...You shall not do any servile work therein, but you shall offer a fire offering to the LORD seven days. In the seventh day is a Holy convocation. You shall do not servile work therein" (vs 6-8).

Let's come to Deuteronomy 16 to show that we are to bring offerings in addition to the ones that were commanded by God for the Levites and the priests to offer during all the Feast days. If you have any problems with when the Passover is—since the Passover is the central focal point of everything that God is doing, what do you suppose men in the world and Satan have done to the Passover? They have buried it with lies, half truths, false practices, wrong interpretations—right? More than any other day! Now they haven't done it to Trumpets or Atonement or the Feast of Tabernacles. They've done it somewhat to Pentecost, denounced Unleavened Bread, but not very much. But the Passover, what do you have? Fourteen, fifteen, first month, second month, which new moon—visible or calculated—or is the new moon the crescent or is the new moon the full moon? All of that, plus then you have communion, Lord's supper, and now do you take that in the morning. The sacrifice of the mass, and how do you have broken bread when you eat the whole round wafer and don't break it? Under a mountain of false doctrine covered with the sea of pollution.

Now we're doing the third edition of the Passover book and we're going to print that pretty soon. We're going to downsize it to seven by ten and the pages will remain the same as in the big book, because we had wide margins in the big book, but if we go from 13 pt to 12 pt, every page will match up with what we had before, so we don't have to worry about the index. That's a huge job to sort out the index. It will be paperback and we can thank Dolores for that. Just like we can thank Dolores for the lambskin that's on the Bible. Because when we were thinking about what are we going to cover the Bible with, we had calfskin, swine-skin, and something else. I forget what it was. We looked at each other and said, 'Can you imagine what it would be like for a Jew to pick up a Bible wrapped in pigskin?' So she said, 'What about lambskin?' So that's how we got it.

So the Passover book's going to be reprinted and if you're on the list, you're going to get one automatically. I found when I was going through editing the Passover book on a trip that I made to Waco and Houston. I was on the plane with the big Passover book and it was really hard to manage and said, 'Yup, it's got to be paperback.' So that's what we're going to do.

Now Deuteronomy 16:16: "'Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the LORD your God in the place which He shall choose..." Now today we go into all the world, so that's why we have in the New Testament and mentioned in the prayer, 'where two or three are gathered together, there I am in the midst of you.' Now I don't know how many of you saw this, but someone sent me an e-mail picture and here's a little girl on the side of her bed praying and she had her doll there and then she had her stuffed 'poochy' there and there she was praying. And it said, 'Where two or three are gathered in My name...' If God were interested in numbers, the world would be converted—right? But we are the firstfruits and that's the next Feast day that's coming up, which we'll talk about between now and Pentecost.

So when we come before God, v 16, He says: "Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the LORD your God in the place which He shall choose: in the Feast of Unleavened Bread... [so here we are] ...and in the Feast of Weeks... [that is coming] ...and in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the LORD empty…. [This is different than an offering made by fire, or a fire offering.] …Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God, which He has given  you" (vs 16-17). So that's how we should judge the things that we do. Remember, there are many, many, many other blessings that come along and even many trials, which turn out to be blessings, after you have passed through the critical stage of the immediate suffering that you're going through.

Then you can look back and see the wisdom of what God is doing. So at this time, we'll go ahead and take up the offering.

(pause)

Today we are facing problems and difficulties in the world that we have never seen, especially in the United States of America. It's almost like an inexorable path that we are on. My prayer has been, 'Lord, if there are enough of those in America that will turn from their sins'—and, of course, He judges the carnal nations differently than He judges the church, because they have not been called—'if they could and if they would that God would push the things out into the future to give an opportunity for preaching the Gospel for all the churches of God. My prayer every day is that all the Churches of God would repent and do what God wants. That's what we all need to do, everyone of us everyday in our lives.

We're going to see things come down upon us and this nation that would be unthinkable. If Russia fell, if east Europe fell, if China fell, and all those other nations have fallen, do you think that we're exempt from the judgment of God? So we're going to see it. That's why we have this day, the last day of Unleavened Bread, so we can understand that the one Who is going to fight for us, and the one Who is going preserve and protect us through these difficult times is God. It's not going to be a fortress, it's not going to be arms, it's not going to be, 'Oh, let's buy a mountain top here and we'll ring it with fifty caliber machine guns and we will have minefields out in front there and we will keep the rabble from coming to get us.' That won't happen.

So here in Exodus 14 we find the lesson for this day. Now the children of Israel left Egypt with a high hand, and they were expecting to go the easy way. They weren't expecting any troubles and trials and difficulties. Now the easy way from Egypt to the Holy Land is right along the sandy beach shore, flat, no rocks. If you look at the picture of it in the Bible, you will see there's a nice smooth shoreline going right up to Gaza and into the Holy Land, which I don't think is Holy today. There they were, expecting to go the easy way, just a nice little waltzing trip on up to what is called Palestine, or the land of Canaan at that time. Today I don't call it a Holy land, because it's the most bloody and ungodly land that there is in all the world and has been down through history.

So God decided, and He had this in mind, He was going to take them another way. But He was going to continue to lead them. Now let me ask you a question: Are any of you here today because you thought ten years ago or twelve years ago, or when you were first baptized, that you would be here today? Of course not!

• You are here because you responded to God
• You are here because you have the Spirit of God
• You are here because you see that the world out there is like Egypt

—filled with gods and demons, and pleasures, and sports, and all of this sort of thing, which God has called us out of.

Just like in our lives, we've gone through things that are most difficult. But the trying of our faith is more precious than gold, because we're dealing with eternal life. Now with the children of Israel, God led them down along beside the Red Sea. When they were traveling they were in a column. The column had to be fairly wide and then the animals on the outside of the column. So when they came along the shore of the Red Sea, they were in this long column camped alongside the beach of the Red Sea.

Then Pharaoh was back there and said, 'Hey! What have we done? We've let all the servants go.' It would be like you living in your house today and someone came in and took out all your appliances and all your lights and everything that you had—those are all your servants. All the children of Israel were their servants and they had gone. How are they going to do it? So they said, 'Hey, we're going to go get them. They're out there, they don't have any weapons.' So he got his army together, he got his chariots together, and the 600 of the elite charioteers and here they come, galloping after the children of Israel and found them alongside the Red Sea.

So what happened? Now think about this for a minute. You look back in your life and see how many times God has done things for you. And the children of Israel should have looked back in their lives and remembered all the plagues and everything that God did to release them. So when they saw Pharaoh and his armies coming, they should have said, 'Look at what's coming, dead meat.' But what did they say? 'Oh, oh, we're out here in this wilderness.'

Exodus 14:10: "And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes. And, behold, the Egyptians marched after them. And they were very afraid. And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD. And they said to Moses... [They accused God and accused Moses. How short is the memory of a carnal mind?] ...'Have you taken us away to die in the wilderness because there were no graves in Egypt?.... [You get out there in those rocky places. It's kind of hard to dig a grave—right?] ...Why have you dealt this way with us to carry us forth out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this word in Egypt, saying, "Let us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians?" for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in this wilderness'" (vs 10-12).

All the Church experiences we've had, and all of us have gone through the church wars—right? Yes! Why did God do it? It became corrupt because they turned their back on God, because they wanted to do things their way rather than God's way; and they wanted to run things without letting God lead. So God set it up. Is it all gone? Yes! The solution is to look to God.

So here's what God said, v 13: "And Moses said to the people, 'Fear not!.... [That's the attitude we are going to have to have. Because I can tell you one thing, we're going to see fearful and awesome events take place. But do not let that fear capture you and hold you captive! God is the One Who's going to fight for you.] ...Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD which He will work for you today... [Sometimes God needs to intervene and do it now! Other times He will let us go through a trial and then He will see us through it. But whatever the circumstances, here it is, it had to be now.] ...Stand still and see the salvation of the LORD which He will work for you today, for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall never see them again! The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall be still'" (vs 13-14).

In other words, don't be complaining. Cry out to God. Thank Him for His intervention. I remember there was a man who was really in deep trouble and he didn't know it, but there was someone who was really coming after him to take his business, just literally take it away. Right at the last minute he began to see and understand that that was going to happen, so he prayed to God and said, 'God, what's going to happen?' That night the opponent died of a heart attack at 43-years-old. So just keep that in mind. Whatever is necessary God will do.

"And the LORD said to Moses, 'Why do you cry to Me? Speak to the children of Israel that they go forward.... [Never go backward!Always go forward!] ...And you [Moses] lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it'" (vs 15-16). God does not need great expensive implements to do what He wants to do, because He's God. Now think of this from a human perspective. How stupid to take a rod and hold it over the sea and expect the sea to depart. God does impossible things for us. What He did, He caused the east wind to blow and I do believe that He raised the sea floor. Because in order for the children of Israel to cross the Red Sea, all being in this long column alongside the shore, the Red Sea had to go very wide, very broad. Not like you see in the movies, a little channel for them to go through. It would have taken them how many hours to go through that little channel. But you know they crossed over early in the morning, all of them together. And Pharaoh didn't know what was going on because God blinded them. He put darkness on the side of where the cloud came that was leading them and put darkness to the Egyptians and light to the Israelites. So when they had cross the Red Sea, He lifted the darkness. I wonder what Pharaoh thought, 'Oh, one of the gods lifted the darkness. Look at that. They're on the other side, let's go get them.' So sure enough, got all the troops, got all the chariots, and they started going right down into the Red Sea. And God said, 'I've gottcha!' So what did He do? Took off all the chariot wheels—didn't He?

Let's go to a sidebar here. How many of heard of the man called Ron Wyatt and his theory of the crossing the Red Sea? How do you know it's wrong? Because the wheels are still on the chariots that he found, so that was another event. If you stick by the Word of God, you'll understand.

Then God changed the dry land into mud, and when you get stuck in the mud, there's nothing you can do. It's all the way around. Then as they were looking, here comes the water! Killed everyone of them! Probably destroyed and made all of the chariots just nothing but splinters and bits of wood and things like that, and destroyed them. All the Israelites are standing on the seashore watching that. After that they were encouraged and said, 'Oh, God is a man of war. We have salvation.' All the men of war were standing there. They were happy to see that. They went down and they gathered up some of the spoil that came up on the seashore. Miriam and all the women were dancing up there, praising God for the battle, and everything like this.

Three days later they get out there and they don't have water. You know what happened there. They forgot! They forgot what happened three days ago. If God can split the Red Sea and destroy all the enemy, surely He can provide water in the wilderness. So they came to Marah, and God told them what to do and He gave them another promise after making the water sweet by throwing a tree in there.

Let's see something else that we need to understand. After they had gone through everything that they went through—came to Mount Sinai, received the Ten Commandments—God gave all the instructions to Moses on how to build the tabernacle and everything. Let's come here to Exodus 25 and here's the whole purpose. Here's the whole purpose of what God wants. Likewise spiritually this applies to us. So He told Moses to gather all these things. For what purpose? Exodus 25:8: "And let them make Me a sanctuary, so that I may dwell among them." God wants to be with His people. Today, with the Holy Spirit, God is not only among us, with His Spirit He's in us.

God never intended them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. Just like a lot of things in our lives before we're called, even sometimes after we're called, turned out to be differently than we expect because we didn't do what God wanted us to do—correct? So we come over here to Numbers 13, and they were going to enter into the 'promised land' at about the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, which would be very fitting—right? Begin dwelling in the land, the 'promised land,' during the Feast of Tabernacles, because that pictures God dwelling with us.

So they send out the spies to go out there, two from every tribe, and only Joshua and Caleb came back with a good report. They didn't remember what God had done. A giant presents no problem to God. High walls are nothing to Him. But all but two of the scouts said, 'Oh, the people are strong and tall and the walls are high, and we're just like little grasshoppers in their sight'; even though they brought back a bunch of grapes that they had to carry on a stick between two men. Can you imagine grapes as big around as grapefruits? Can you imagine what kind of wine you could make with that? Imagine trying to eat a grape. To show God had prepared the land for them, a land flowing with milk and honey. Joshua and Caleb said, 'No, let's go fight.' Well, what happened?

Here's another thing that's important, too. Let's see God's accusation after they had tempted Him ten times up to this point. Numbers 14:26: "And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 'How long shall I bear with this evil congregation which murmurs against Me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against Me. Say to them, "As I live," says the LORD... [Now when God says by His life, it's going to happen!] ..."as you have spoken in My ears... [All these complaints and all these accusations:] ...so I will do to you. Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me, You shall certainly not come into the land which I swore to make you dwell in, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which you said should be a prey... [In other words, they accused God, 'Oh, you brought us out here so our kids would die.'] ...I will bring them in and they shall know the land, which you have despised. But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall feed in the wilderness forty years and bear your whoredoms until your dead carcasses have been consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you searched the land—forty days—each day for a year you shall bear your iniquities, forty years; and you shall know my displeasure of this generation"'" (vs 26-34).

"'I the LORD have spoken it; I will surely do it to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. They shall be destroyed in this wilderness, and there they shall die.' And the men whom Moses sent to scout out the land, who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report upon the land, even those men that brought up the evil report upon the land died by the plague before the LORD" (vs 35-37)—right there, and then Joshua and Caleb lived.

This is an important lesson. God will fight for you as long as you are with Him. But if you don't love God and obey Him and presume to do your own way, and even then after God has told you one thing, and you attempt to go back and do another thing, it's not going to work. Verse 39: "And Moses told these sayings to all the children of Israel. And the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, 'Behold we are here, and will go up to the place which the LORD has promised, for we have sinned.' And Moses said, 'Why do you now go beyond the command of the LORD, when it shall not succeed?'" (vs 39-41). A very important principle—right? Yes! All who add traditions to the Word of God, take heed.

So Moses said, "'Do not go up, for the LORD is not among you. And shall you not be struck down by your enemies? For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.' But they presumed to go up to the hill top. However, the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD and Moses did not leave the camp.... [Another important thing for the nation of Israel: never go to war without God telling you to go to war, because He's not among you. When they went to war, the priests were to go first. They weren't there.] ...And the Amalekites and the Canaanites who were living in that mountain came down, and struck them down, and beat them back to Hormah" (vs 42-45). So they lost the battle.

Another good example: lots of times when people think they're doing the will of God, contrary to the will of God, what's going to happen? They're going to end up in difficulty—right? Have we seen that happen? Yes, indeed we have!

Let's see the rehearsing of this just before they went into the land in Deuteronomy 1:41: "And you answered and said to me, 'We have sinned against the LORD; we will go up and fight according to all that the LORD our God commanded us.'.... [too late] ...And when each one of you had buckled on this weapons of war, you were ready to go up into the hill. But the LORD said to me, 'Say to them, "Do not go up, nor fight, for I am not among you, you will be beaten by your enemies." So I spoke to you. And you would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously up into the hill. And the Amorites who lived in that mountain came out against you and chased you, even as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, to Hormah. And you returned and wept before the LORD. But the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear to you'" (vs 41-45).

Very profound principle: 'Call upon the Lord while He is near.' And you have to forsake your ways and your thoughts. Now when God is with them—let's come to the book of Joshua. Let's see how God fought for them there, because that's the whole theme of the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. God will fight for you. So what you need to do is say, 'Okay, how do I apply this in my life?' You don't have to list them down, you know them. All your problems you know—right? You don't have to write them down. You just get on your knees and go pray to God and ask God to help you with these problems, help you with these difficulties, and let Him fight for you, whatever the circumstances are. God can turn it around just like that.

So here they are ready to conquer Jericho. Let's come to Joshua 6:1: "And Jericho was completely shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in.... [They had surrounded it.] ...And the LORD said to Joshua, 'See, I have given Jericho into your hand, and its king, and the mighty men of war.... [Notice the secret weapon. How's this for a tactic?] ...You shall go around the city, all the men of war. Go around the city once. So you shall do for six days.... [I imagine if Patton were there, he'd say, 'That's not very smart.'] ...And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns in front of the Ark. And the seventh day you shall go around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall be when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout. The wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up, each man straight before him'" (vs 1-5). Just go straight ahead, right on into the city.

So Joshua told them what they should do, and they did it. They did it like God said, and what happened? They conquered Jericho! God said all the spoil of the gold and silver and everything belongs here. Remember the next episode. One man said, 'Well, if I take a little for myself'—Achan, remember? Then they went to fight at the next city Ai and they got beaten up. Joshua came back, 'Boo-hoo, Lord, what happened?' He says, 'Well, you get the priest. I'll let you know what happened.' So they found that it was Achan and his family. Another incident. Always do what God says.

Now let's come to 1-Samuel 3 [corrected]; this was in the days of Samuel. Now here's another lesson, too. Things got so bad in Israel and the priests were so corrupt that God chose a child, Samuel, a special blessing to a woman who did not have children. She prayed to God and vowed to give him to the priest. So she had Samuel. Later she had other sons and daughters. You can read the account how there when Samuel grew to be so old—doesn't tell us how old he was—the whole story was the priests were not doing what they should do and the Word of God.

1-Samuel 3:1: "And the Word of the LORD was precious in those days. There was no open vision." Eli was very old and his sons were corrupt and they were stealing the sacrifices before they were offered, so they could have their own meat. Then they took the women and were laying with them right at the tabernacle of the congregation. So God told Samuel what He was going to do. He said that He's going to correct Eli and his sons and all three shall die the same day.

So in 1-Samuel 4:2, they went to fight against the Philistines. "And the Philistines put themselves in order against Israel. And when the battle commenced Israel was beaten before the Philistines. And they killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. And when the people had come to the camp, the elders of Israel said, 'Why has the LORD beaten us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh to us, so that when it comes among us it may save us out of the hand of our enemies'" (vs 2-3). Another lesson: If you're living in sin and are leading a very corrupt, law-breaking, God-defying life, don't think that when you're in trouble you can come and rely on God.

Did not God say take the ark? Yes! Did He not say when you went out to battle and you took the ark you would win? Yes! But what was the other condition? God would tell them when to fight! They didn't consult with God. So they went and got the Ark and they went out there, and lo and behold, they lost the battle. The Philistines took the Ark, imagine that, the Ark of God! The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed in the battle. A messenger came back to Eli and he was sitting on a rock. The messenger came up and he said, 'How's the battle going?' And he says, 'We lost the battle. Your two sons are killed. They've taken the Ark of God.' And Eli fell over and broke his neck and died. True to the Word of God, all three died in the same day.

That's why we have to let God fight our battles. Let's do this, let's take a break and we'll come back and we'll see how God fights the battles.

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Let's look at an example that was really quite a very desperate example here. Let's come to 2-Chronicles 20 and let's see what happened here with Judah and Jehoshaphat—he was a righteous king. Let's see how God fought a battle for him. They had a war coming up between Moab, Ammon, and the children of Esau, or Mount Seir. They were ready to conquer Judah.

So God sent a prophet, 2-Chronicles 20:12: "'O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no might against this great company which comes against us.... [Sometimes you're going to be faced with odds that look absolutely impossible.] ...Nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.'.... [trusting God] ...And all Judah stood before the LORD with their little ones, their wives, and their children.... [Very desperate thing, war is ugly. If you watch on the History Channel how they depict some of these battles in the Bible, boy! those are more deadly and terrible than with shooting with weapons and guns. When they run a sword through the middle of you, that's it. They depict some of those things very cleverly to what they really would be like.] ...And the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah... [Boy! He's got a long pedigree here.] ...a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the congregation" (vs 12-14).

Now isn't that interesting, the sons of Asaph. They were the ones who took care of the Ark of the Covenant. When David brought the Ark from Kirjath Jearim back to Jerusalem and put it in a tent in his house, he had the sons of Asaph to minister to the Ark. The very first Psalm that he wrote he gave to the head priest, I forget who it was. The priests were responsible for preserving all of the Psalms and all of the Writings, and everything. Just a little sidebar as we go along.

Verse 15: "And he said, 'Listen, all Judah, and you people of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you, "Do not be afraid... [Just like we had before: Do not fear! Trust in God! Do not be afraid!] ...Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's.... [Remember that in the future. There are going to be things that will come up and what did Jesus say? When they come up if you are challenged, the Spirit of the Father in you will give an answer that God wants—correct? Yes! Because it's God's.] ...Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz. And you shall find them at the end of the valley before the wilderness of Jeruel'" (vs 15-16).

"'You shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves and stand, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem." Do not fear nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD will be with you'.... [Always remember this: With the Spirit of God, God is always with us.] ...And Jehoshaphat bowed his face to the ground. And all Judah and the people of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshiping the LORD. And the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high. And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, 'Hear me, O Judah, and you people of Jerusalem. Believe in the LORD your God, and so you shall be established.... [Always remember that in every trial. God is the one Who is going to establish you.] ...Believe His prophets, and so you shall prosper'" (vs 17-20).

"And when he consulted with the people, he appointed singers to the LORD... [How's that for ammunition? Remember what happened when Paul and Silas and the ones were thrown into prison there in Philippi? They were in stocks and what did they do? They were singing to God at midnight. What happened? Bang! There was a big earthquake, all the prisoners were loosed from their stocks. What happened? The jailer came down all afraid and was converted. So you never know what's going to happen. They went out, they were singing.] ...'Praise the LORD, for His steadfast love... [or mercy] ...endures forever.' And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir [Edomites.] who had come against Judah. And they were beaten" (vs 21-22).

All three of them went out and conquered other people and were coming back, and they had this tremendous spoil that they were carrying with them. Now let's see what happened, see how God handled this. "For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the people of Mount Seir to completely kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the people of Seir, everyone helped to destroy one another.... [God sent angels of confusion. You could just see this. Wouldn't that be something if there were a center for suicide bombers, and you knew they were going to come and have fifty suicide bombers released on the city that day. And they said, 'Oh, God, help us. They're going to destroy a lot of people.' So all fifty of them of them strapped on their suicide bombs and were getting ready to go out, and all fifty of them blew up. Have the same thing here—right? Yes!—destroy one another.] ...And when Judah came to the watchtower in the wilderness , they looked at the multitude. And behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped!" (vs 23-24).

They killed each other! "And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them in abundance both riches and precious jewels in great number among the dead bodies which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away. And they were three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much" (v 25). It's a good lesson. God will fight for us! He will stand for us!

Let's look at a couple very important Psalms here. Let's apply it to our lives. Here are the promises. This is why the Psalms are so important in our study and relationship with God, because they give us the feelings and the emotions and the spirit of what David and the different ones who wrote the Psalms, what they went through in their trials and difficulties. That's what we need. We need the encouragement of the Word of God. And here again, if you're having trouble praying, just take the Psalms, get on your knees, open up the Bible to the Psalms, and begin reading some of the Psalms as if those are your words and your prayer. Then your own words and your own prayer will begin to come from that.

Psalm 34:1: "I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall always be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears" (vs 1-4). That's why we are not to fear; confess them to God.

• He is our Strength
• He is our High Tower
• He is our Rock
• He is our Fortress

"They looked to Him and were radiant; and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried and the LORD heard, and saved him out of all his troubles" (v 5).

Why do we need troubles? When are you going to ever learn to trust in God? If everything goes smooth and nice and nothing ever happens, how are you going to learn to trust the Lord when difficulties come? When that happens, and you ask God to give you peace. Now here's another promise that God gives. What I want to mention here: 'saved him out of allhis troubles,' all. "The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.... [God will do that. In the whole thing, what is the test in every trial?

• Do you love God?
• Do you believe Him?
• Will you trust in Him?

Very simple! I still haven't come to the point that I rejoice in trials, but I understand them better.] ...The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.... [You can look back and see in your life difficult problems and all of a sudden something happened and you know an angel had to do it.] ...O taste and see that the LORD is good... [Of course, this is symbolic, just like with the Passover. We eat the broken bread, which symbolizes the flesh of Christ. We drink the little bit of wine, which symbolizes His blood, the blood of the New Covenant.] ...blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him…. [because God is going to fight the battle for us] …O fear the LORD, all you saints, for there is nothing lacking to those who fear Him.... (vs 7-9). Isn't that something?

Come down here to v 12: "Who is the man that desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it" (vs 12-14). Listen, the most important work that God is doing on earth is the work in each and every one of us. Let's understand something very clearly: What is done by the Church is not the work of God; it is the work of the ministry. What God is doing in you to develop character is the work of God.

Now the work of the ministry is to facilitate that with the brethren, to help you have a relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ; that you are established with them directly, so that God's work can be performed within you with His Spirit. So no corporate work that a church does is a work of God, it's a work of the ministry. So keep that in mind.
Verse 14: "Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.... [He will hear. Remember some of the Psalms. Remember how they start out? Sometimes you may have to start your prayer this way, 'Oh, Lord, hear.' Yes, He does!] ...The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles" (vs 14-17).

And there is another quality we need to have, v 18: "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are of a contrite spirit." Isn't that interesting how that is said that way? I think the longer that we are converted, the longer that we live and follow God's way and have God's Spirit, the more we understand how much we need to rely on Him. That's just like all the trials that we have faced in our lives, but we've been reading here in Bible, God will deliver us. The end of it is eternal life. Now there's another battle that we have which is different from what other people experience.

Let's come back here to Ephesians 6. Just like the children of Israel looked upon Pharaoh and all of the armies, Pharaoh can be likened to a type of Satan the devil, and his armies to the type of demons between them and the righteous angels rule this world. Whenever there is more evil in the land, more demonic and satanic activity takes place. If you don't believe that, do this: look on the classic movie channel and then look at the modern movies today. Are they not more—especially what's the one that's out there, you know why it's more successful, what is that, Avatar? Pure satanism, all the way through.

I remember the first time we went to see Star Wars. The whole family went. We sat there and watched it and got done with it. The kids were all excited, Star Wars, and I said, 'Oh, that's just a bunch of satanism.' 'Oh, Dad!' Well, it is. But so much so that people accept it now, because this whole society is structured on following Satan the devil. That's why we're called out of this world. Now every battle we have is not necessarily against Satan and the demons, but they are there. They've got a lot of helpers around, all the media, all the government, whatever.

Ephesians 6"10 shows us what we need to do, because our battle ultimately is spiritual. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the might of His strength.... [Now notice how this carries over from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Where does His strength come from? From His Spirit, from His Word, from God's direct intervention.] ...Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand... [Just like the children of Israel were told to stand. We are to stand.] ...may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (vs 10-11)—all the lust and temptation that is out there. Says in Eph. 2 that he's 'the prince of the power of the air.' Well, that's sure true. He owns almost all the media—right? Look at all the evil that has come upon us because of that, yet it still can be used for good like with the Internet, and so forth; we're happy about that. But look at the society we are living in. Now we're faced with the prospect of a lot of oppressive things coming down with the government through 'Obama-care.'

I have a report that they have in there to chip everyone for healthcare. So I'm trying to get the direct verification right out of the law. As a nation, we've turned our back on God. If we turn our backs on God, God is not going to be mocked. Even though they didn't have a full understanding of God, God would hold them accountable for what they knew. They've given themselves over to Satan and to evil, and now if you want that, God says, 'I'm going to give you a government which will do that.' So not only are we facing the prospect of the mark of the beast—for good, of course—that's how they're going to eliminate fraud—huh? They say, 'Oh, yes, let's eliminate fraud.' How do you eliminate fraud? By being honest. 'We'll chip everybody.' I want to find out if that is in there, for sure. It looks like it is.

'Wiles of the devil' all come along always, begins with an accusation against God that God is not fair, God is not love, God does not know what He's doing, when He does. It begins with doubt! It begins with fear!—every one of these things. Now some people may have a particular trigger point, other people may have many trigger points. So we have to understand where our weaknesses are, and ask God to give us His strength.

"Because we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities... [And there is a structure of the demon world.] ...and against powers, against the world rulers of the darkness of this age..." (v 12). Don't think for a minute that there aren't dedicated men who run this world and you can understand who they are. I'll give you a clue. Satan will always come along and tempt you with a benefit that looks like a blessing, but it's not. That's why you have to know God, know the Word of God, know Christ, understand right from wrong. All of those things come into play.

We find here the temptation, let's see how Jesus fought Satan right here, Luke 4:1: "And Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness." And that's what we have to do: be led by the Spirit. 'As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God' (Rom. 8:14).

• That comes through prayer
• That comes through study
• That comes through living
• That comes through experience
• That comes through trials

Just like Jesus going through the trial here. And this would be, what you would call, the trial of the ages.] Verse 2: "For forty days to be tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing in those days..." He fasted for the 40 days and 40 nights to rely on the Spirit of God. Remember in the book of John He says, 'I, of Myself, can do nothing.' He didn't want to rely on the flesh, so He fasted for the 40 days so that He would not rely on any physical strength that He may have had, but on the power of the Spirit of God. And all salvation for the whole world hinged upon this temptation.

"...and after they had come to an end, He hungered. Then the devil said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, command that this stone become bread'.... [Could He do that? Yes, indeed! Why did He not do it?

• Because He would have obeyed Satan and he would have become His God.
• He would have been serving Himself to feed Himself.

That was not the purpose of His coming—was it?] ...And Jesus answered him, saying, 'It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God"'.... [and Matthew records 'that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'] ...Then the devil led Him up into a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time" (vs 2-5).

Now we can picture that today because we're used to movies and television, and so forth. How many have been to these giant screen movies where you sit back in the audience and the screen is what? Sixty feet by forty feet, something like that. They project out there and it's almost like when something comes toward you like a plane that's flying, everyone moves back like this, because it seems like it's coming right at you. So just picture this is what Satan is doing to Jesus, showing Him all the kingdoms—Babylon, Greece, Rome, all the civilizations of China, and the whole world all at once.

Notice what he said to Him, v 6: "And the devil said to Him, 'I will give You all this authority, and the glory of them all; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I desire." What do they have to do to receive it? Worship him! Are there people who worship Satan the devil today? Yes, indeed!

When you really study and find out, you are going to find that they are the super-elite of the world in all nations. Let me just mention another thing that I believe is coming down the pike, which I have said before recently, which is this: I believe they're working on a world currency through the G-20, and it's going to come. The way they will bring it is collapse all the banks in the whole world at once. They'll be able to do that. Are all nations in debt? Yes, indeed! To whom? Those men! And who do they worship? Satan the devil! So we're going to have to fight that battle. How that's going to fall out, how that's going to be, I do not know. How soon it will come, I do not know. But it's going to come!

Verse 7: ...Therefore, if You will worship me in my presence... [That means worship him as God.] ...all things shall be Yours.'"

Here's another lesson we can learn from this: The devil will offer people a short cut to salvation, or a short cut to the Kingdom of God, and it won't work. Isn't that what he offered Adam and Eve? I'll give you a benefit. You eat of this tree and you're going to get a benefit. 'Jesus, you bow down and worship me. Look, you're skin and bone. You need some food. You can produce it. You don't have to wait until later on to receive the kingdom. I'll give it to you now.' You can just see what happened with people today—right? They're all trained with the television. 'Come on down.' Yes! So He rejected it.

Now we have not been confronted with the wiles of the devil to that extent, or that personally, or that powerfully, but Jesus was. And He is there to fight for us. Let's come back to Eph. 6 now. This is why we're to put on the whole armor of God, and we need to stand against it. You can defeat an enemy when you're running away, because the most vulnerable part of your body is exposed—your back. There are spiritual powers of wickedness in high places that sets the tone for all the governments of this world.

Ephesians 6:13: "Therefore, take up the whole armor of God so that you may able to resist in the evil day... [whatever trial may come] ...and having worked out all things, to stand....

• we are to be strong in the Lord
• we are to rely upon Him
• we are to believe Him
• we are to follow Him

...Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with Truth... [we have the Word of God from the God of Truth, which is the Word of Truth, and we have the Spirit of Truth, and those are the things that give us the strength and power that we need. God will help you in it. Sometimes we just have to cry out to God and say, 'God, here I am. I have all these weaknesses, all these difficulties, and all these problems.' And God's answer to you is going to be, 'I'll strengthen you. You may have to wait to the resurrection, but I will see you safely there.'] (Now here's the third time—stand): ...Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with Truth, and wearing the breastplate of righteousness" (vs 13-14). Covering the whole front of you. And righteousness is what?

• commandments of God
• righteousness of Christ in us through the Holy Spirit. Breastplate—right?
• having the laws of God written in our hearts and in our minds. We are to take the helmet of salvation
• righteousness also means right standing with God

All of those together! The Word of God is so fantastic, inspired by the mind of God, and even coming through in the translations when they're translated properly, convey exactly the same meaning as the original, because God wants us to know.

"...breastplate of righteousness. And having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.... [We're always to be doing that. That's the work of the ministry.] ...Besides all these, take up the shield of the faith..." (vs 14-16). Now the shield—the Greeks were able to defeat the Persians because they changed the way that they used the shields. The way they use shields with the Persians, they had their big shield, and then they had their handle in the middle and the back of it. Then they had their spear or their sword that they would keep in the other hand.

The Greeks, with fewer number of men, were able to defeat the Persians, because they made the shield more round, and they put an arm strap on one side of the shield, on the back side of it, so they could put their arm in there and then the handle on the other side, so they could grab the shield and move the whole shield quickly, that you couldn't do in the middle of the sword and you held it with one hand. So they were able to take and deflect the spears and deflect the swords and then with their fighting hand they would take the sword and they run it right through their enemy, right through their guts, or lop off their head. They had bloody battles.

You read in the Old Testament where they had battles and 30,000 died in one day. You get the right shield that you can move, that you can deflect it. Sometimes with the temptations that come along, what do you have to do? Just get away from it. Get rid of it. If it's on the television, turn it off. Go to another channel. No one can watch television with me, because I'm flipping from one channel to another. And I never listen to commercials. Commercials are the biggest lies: 'Take all this medicine, be wonderful, wonderful, happy, happy.' 'Drive this car. Don't worry about the twenty percent interest you have to pay. It's a good car. Come in, nothing down, sign, and drive.' Everybody's happy, everybody's smiling. You read about, 'You take this medicine, it'll really cure you, but you may have suicidal tendencies or you have aggression, or if you have liver problems, you may die. Consult your physician.' Best thing to do is not be taking all that stuff. If you are, you better consult with your physician how to get down off of it a little bit. That's why I've said if 'Obama-care' goes in, you better learn how to take care of your bodies. But those of you in Canada, you can fly to Florida and get your healthcare. Like your prime minister or whoever that was.

Now notice, "...with which you will have the power... [strength—'dunamis'] ...to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one" (v 16). Now what is the prayer? What is the daily prayer? We all know it—don't we? That's the model prayer: 'Our Father Who is in heaven, Holy is Your name, Your kingdom come, You will be done in heaven as on earth, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses or sins as we forgive others.' That's another very important part of your spiritual armor: forgiveness for others, so that you do not have an unforgiving spirit yourself. What is the next one then? 'Lead us not into temptation, but,' what? 'Deliver us from the evil one.' So daily we ask for deliverance—isn't that correct? Yes!

"And put on the helmet of salvation... [Doesn't do any good to have all of this if your head is exposed. You can get a sword haircut real quickly, take your brains with it.] ...helmet of salvation... [That's where everything that God is doing with is where? Right here [mind], and in our hearts. So we need the helmet of salvation protection for it.] ...and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" (vs 16-17). That's what's important.

• we need to know the Word of God
• memorize the Word of God
• think with the Word of God
• understand with the Word of God

That's what God wants us to do. He will bless us. Sometimes there will be blessings right in the middle of trouble, but you know that God has blessed you in spite of everything that's going on around you. Because He says and He promises He will fight for us.

Verse 18: "Praying at all times with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and in this very thing being watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints."

So that's what this day means. God will fight our battles for us. 'Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.'

Scriptural References:

• Psalm 92:8-15
• Leviticus 23:6-8
• Deuteronomy 16:16-17
• Exodus 14:10-16
• Exodus 25:8
• Numbers 14:26-37, 39-45
• Deuteronomy 1:41-45
• Joshua 6:1-5
• 1-Samuel 3:1
• 1-Samuel 4:2-3
• 2-Chronicles 20:12-25
• Psalm 34:1-9, 12-18
• Ephesians 6:10-12
• Luke 4:1-7
• Ephesians 6:13-18

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Ephesians 2
• Romans 8:14

Also referenced: Books:

• Judaism—Revelation of Moses or Religion of Men (coming soon)
• Code of Jewish Law by Solomon Ganzfried & Hyman Goldin
• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter

FRC:lp
Transcribed: 4-25-10
Formatted: bo—12-27-10