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When Is It Right To Fight - 2

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• Deuteronomy 20, and once again let's read the entire chapter. I won't get to preach all of it today, but at least I'll get another start on it. Deuteronomy 20, beginning with verse 1, "When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them. For the Lord thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. It shall be when thou comest unto the battle, that the priests shall approach, and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, you approach this day unto battle against your enemies."

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• "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, and hath not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? Let him also go and return into his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? Let him go and return into his house, lest he die in battle, and another man 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 into his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart."

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• "It shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people. When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. It shall be, if it make thee an answer of peace and open unto thee, then it shall be that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries to thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it. And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword. But the women of the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take in thyself. Thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations."

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• "But of the cities of these people which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth, but thou shalt utterly destroy them, namely the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that they teach you not to do after all their abominations which they have done unto their gods, so should you sin against the Lord your God. When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, and making war against it, to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them. For thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down."

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• "For the tree of the field is a man's life, to employ them in the siege. Only the trees which thou knowest, that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down. And thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued."

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• Now, very obviously we've been dealing with the biblical doctrine of war. For those of you who were not here last week, I began by speaking on Deuteronomy chapter 20 verses 1 through 4 on the subject of military regulations, and there are a number of regulations in this chapter. There are others throughout the Bible. But I pointed out at least four things last week, and I just want to review them.

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• First of all, fightings and wars are assumed facts in Scriptures. They are an assumed reality. For instance, Deuteronomy 20 verse 1 says, "Thou goest to battle against thine enemies," not if, but when. So it is an assumed fact. I showed you other scriptures as well.

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• Secondly, I pointed out, according to verse 1, that numerical odds are inconsequential to the people of faith. For he said, "When thou goest to battle against thine enemies and seest horses, chariots, and a people more than thou." And then I pointed out, thirdly, how superior armaments are inconsequential to the people of faith, because he talked about horses and chariots, and these were the tanks and the bombers in the Old Testament, so to speak. And then fourthly, I pointed out that the major difference or the stated advantage is this for the people of faith: "For the Lord thy God is with thee." And once again in verse four, "For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you." So the stated advantage that the people of God have over all of the enemies of God and the enemies of God's people is the fact that God is with his people.

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• Now, I'm not going to take time to develop this one point from Scripture this morning, but I want you to understand that when the Israelitish militia was mustered, every male from 20 years and up presented himself for that muster or for that census. And by the way, the mustering or the census in the Old Testament was usually always in reference to the military. Now, that does not mean that all of the men from 20 years old and up always went to the battle.

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• In fact, we will find in numerous cases, like Numbers chapter 31, only a select few were sent to some battles. For instance, in Numbers chapter 31, a thousand out of every tribe were sent, which indicated there were simply 12,000 men who went to war. In some cases, there were others sent or a larger number that was sent. But I want you to note, in Deuteronomy chapter 20, you have certain military exemptions or exclusions. And these exemptions were in effect in basically every war. So we have several exemptions.

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• Now, why in the world were some individuals exempted from military service? Well, I call your attention to verse 5, just to a phrase in it. If you'll look in the middle of the verse, actually toward the end of the verse, here's the phrase: "lest he die in the battle." If you look in verse 6, "lest he die in the battle." If you look toward the end of verse 7, "lest he die in the battle."

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• Now isn't it interesting that here is a truth that most of us do not want to face. It's a very important fact that we understand that men die in battle. Now listen to me. Even righteous men, fighting for a righteous cause, sometimes die in battle. Now, these exemptions, at least these three right here, are based upon the fact lest an individual die. Now, it is a general truth of Scripture that God protects his own in battle.

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• If you will hold Deuteronomy chapter 20, but look back in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 30. I don't want to spend much time on this because I have gone over this several weeks ago, but I want you to remember in Exodus chapter 30. Thank you, Lord. That's a private statement. I just found something I've been looking for for a week. Thank you. Exodus chapter 30.

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• I put it in my Bible. Well, I've read my Bible, but I certainly haven't read that portion of it. Thank you. That's a private joke, but anyhow, it's there. Thank you, Lord. All right. Look in your Bibles, Exodus chapter 30, beginning with verse 11. The Bible says, "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, When thou takest the sum, or the census, of the children of Israel after their number, that is, after their mustering, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when thou numberest them, that there be no plague among them when thou numberest them. This they shall give everyone that passeth among them that are numbered a half-shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel is twenty gerahs, a half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Everyone that passeth among them that are numbered from twenty years old and above shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than a half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for your souls."

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• "And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord, to make an atonement for your souls." So when the children of Israel would go out to battle, each one of them would give a half shekel of this atonement money, and it was to be given to the Lord for a remembrance, lest that individual die in the battle.

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• Now, let me just tell you that in Numbers chapter 31, 12,000 Israelitish militiamen went out against the whole cities of Midian. 12,000 men slew all the men of Midian and brought back—you can read it for yourselves in Numbers 31—but they brought back 675,500 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 asses, and 32,000 unmarried women, all without losing one soldier. In the whole war, not one Israelitish militiaman was lost, and they brought back all of this spoil.

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• So the truth is, the Lord does protect His own. Although God is able to protect all of his soldiers at all of the times, he does not necessarily do so in every battle or in every war. Why? Why would they say, in Deuteronomy chapter 20, we're going to exempt this individual lest he die? We'll exempt this individual lest he die. We'll exempt this one lest he die. Because they understood that although God sovereignly protects his soldiers and protects his armies, that does not mean that there will never, ever be a righteous or a godly man die in the battle. They understood people die in battle.

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• Let me try to explain it like this. Do you realize that, generally speaking, it is the Lord's will to heal most of the time? Do you understand that? How do we know that it's the Lord's will to heal most of the time? Because all of us have been sick and have gotten well. But it is not the Lord's will to heal all of the time. Because if he did, no one would ever die.

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• And the wages of sin are death. So that means we have to die at some point, in some time, and in some way.

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• Now, the same thing is true in reference to war. War sometimes is just a means by which death is accomplished. And let me tell you something about death. It is a part of life. You can't live without dying. And you see the truth of the matter is this scripture tells us that our Lord has taken the sting out of death for us. I can honestly say I don't want to die. But I'm not afraid to die. There's a big difference. Certainly everything that lives wants to live. But many times God, who has ordained the end, has also ordained the means to the end, and sometimes it is God's will that righteous men die in battle.

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• Now let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would please, first of all, to the book of Job, and look in chapter 7 and verse 1. Look in the book of Job, chapter 7 and verse 1. We'll look at several passages here. Job chapter 7, and notice if you would please verse 1. Look what the Bible asks. Job 7 and verse 1.

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• "Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hireling?" Now wait a minute. Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth? Did you realize that your days are numbered? You're going to die. But God has not only ordained the day that you're going to die, he has also ordained the means or the way that you're going to die.

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• If you look in your Bibles to the book of Job chapter 14, and let's begin reading there with verse 1 and we'll read through verse 5. Job chapter 14 verse 1, "Man that is born of woman is a few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes upon such one, and bringest me to judgment with thee?" Now look at this question in verse 4. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, not one?" So the question is asked, who can make himself clean before God? And the answer is, no one can do it in and of himself. Now watch verse 5, "Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass." God says, I have ordained the months, I have ordained the days, the minutes, the moments. I have appointed the bounds and you can't pass over those bounds.

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• Now, the truth of the matter is, we're not going to live any longer than God has ordained for us to live. But I want you to understand something. That does not mean you say, well, Brother Weaver, what I'm going to do then is I'm going to go out and get drunk every day and eat pork every day and eat all the sugar I can eat every day. Well, let me show you something. God has also ordained the means to the end as well. And you start doing that, you're going to bring your time very quickly upon you, you understand what I'm saying. But you've got to understand that God has ordained the end. And sometimes that end is in battle.

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• Look in your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Psalms. Look in Psalm 31 and verse 15. By the way, if you understand what I am telling you today, you will not only understand why some men die in battle, you will also understand why some men can't be killed in battle. Look in Psalm 31 and verse 15. Look what David says. "My times are in thine hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine enemies and from them that persecute me." What is David saying? My times are in your hand.

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• God, you are the one that holds my soul. And you're the one that can deliver me from my enemy. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 66 and verse 9. And I enjoy quoting this verse, Psalm 66 and verse 9. Look what he says. In Psalm 66 and verse 9, talking about God "who holdeth our soul in life and suffered not our feet to be moved." Do you know what are the names that the Indians gave to George Washington? One of the names they called him was "Him Who Cannot Be Killed in Battle." There was one time in one battle, it was when Washington was fighting the French and the Indians with General Braddock, that Washington had three horses shot out from under him.

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• He had four bullet holes in his coat. And he walked away unscratched. Also, he had his hat shot off of him. And there were several Indians who, after this battle, had got to meet Washington and was talking to him, and they said they purposely aimed their weapons at him and could not kill him. Even the enemies recognized that God was protecting Washington. Now, the point I'm trying to make is that God has ordained the end, and God has also ordained the means to the end. And the reality is, sometimes righteous men die in the battle.

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• I don't know about you, but if I were judging, humanly speaking, I'd much rather have had Stonewall Jackson live and William Tecumseh Sherman die. I'd rather have Stonewall alive and Grant dead. Grant was the drunkard. And by the way, Ulysses S. Grant never, ever freed his slaves, either. He had slaves during the war. I'm just simply pointing out. I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would please, to Isaiah chapter 57.

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• Let me show you a passage. In Isaiah chapter 57, look at Isaiah 57.

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• Sometimes we wonder why righteous men are killed. Here's a passage that is very enlightening. In Isaiah 57, verse 1, God says, "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart. And merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." Isn't that interesting? God says sometimes he allows righteous men to be taken away to protect them from the evil to come. So we find Uriah the Hittite, who was a godly man, died in the battle, and Joab, who was an ungodly man, lived. We find Stonewall Jackson killed in battle. Not actually killed in battle, he actually died of pneumonia, which was a result of a wound that he got in the battle. And Sherman and Grant and Hooker and some of the others not being killed in the battle.

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• Now, the truth is, listen to me carefully, folks, warfare is not child's play. Warfare is grim and gruesome and ugly, but it is absolutely necessary from time to time. There is a song that is sung that I wish everyone could hear. It's a song from the War of Northern Aggression. And the name of that song is "Shiloh Hill." And listen, you're talking about the men who were killed and wounded. And the song is about those men who lay there dying, praying that God would protect their wives and children back home. And when you hear that song, you can't help but realize the awfulness and the reality of death in battle. You see, in war, many people die. You've got to remember, when war is waged upon God's terms, it is waged upon the wicked who are under the judicial sentence of death from God. That is why God instructed Israel when they entered into the land to kill all of those people, not only to prevent Israel from being contaminated by the heathen, but because those heathen were under the judicial sentence of death from God.

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• Let me give you a quote from Rushdoony in his Biblical Institutes of Law. He said, and I quote, "If warfare is to punish and or destroy evil, the work of restoration requires that this be done, that an evil order be overthrown, and in some cases, some or many people executed." Now, if you are waging war against evil, he is saying that it requires not only the overthrow of a wicked and tyrannical system, but in some cases, some or many people being executed.

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• Now, while that war is going on, there is always the possibility that righteous men may die in battle. Consequently, as you look back in your Bibles, Deuteronomy 20, you have these exclusions, you have these exemptions, and I want us to go over them one at a time. I want to show you why God is giving these exemptions for military service. First of all, if you look in verse 5.

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• "And the officer shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it." So the first exemption, then, is for someone who has built a new house and has not dedicated it.

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• Now, I've been trying to share with Rob for the last week or two the importance of words. One of the problems that you and I have as we read the Bible, we assume that we know what words mean. We put our definitions upon words that occur in the Bible, and sometimes those words that occur in the Bible have absolutely no reference to what we put upon them.

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• For instance, if we read this passage and we read about a man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it, many of you probably have been to what we call the dedication of a new house, where the people of God gather around and the owner of that house is there, and usually the pastor reads some scripture and prays a prayer and gives this house, this dwelling to the Lord and to the Lord's people. And all the person is saying is, I realize God gave me this house.

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• I want to use it in his ministry. If I can lodge any of the saints of God or the missionaries or preachers of God, I'm willing to do so. And there's nothing wrong with that, but here's the point I'm making. Usually when we think about the dedication of a house, we think of a brief ceremony that lasts five or ten minutes. That is not what this means.

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• The word dedicate is the Hebrew word hanak. It literally means to narrow, to discipline, to train, to dedicate, to begin, and to initiate. The Hebrew word is Hanukkah and is translated trained in Genesis 14:14. We went over that passage in the last several weeks. You remember the Bible said when Lot, Abraham's nephew, was taken by those kings, that Abraham went and armed his 318 what? Trained servants. It's the same word.

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• Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles. Hold Deuteronomy chapter 20. We're coming right back there. But look in your Bibles to 1 Kings chapter 8 and verse 63. Let me show you the same Hebrew word. 1 Kings 8 verse 63. I want you to understand what is happening in this passage. 1 Kings 8, verse 63, Solomon has been dedicating the temple to the Lord, and the Bible says, "And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord." Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 7 and look in verse 5. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 5, you'll see basically the same truth. The Bible says, "And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep, so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God." Now, what does the word dedicated here mean?

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• Well, it has reference, number one, to a beginning, to an initiation. They were initiating or beginning the worship in the house of God. But let me tell you something. If you are offering 22,000 oxen for sacrifice and 125,000 sheep, you're not only initiating something, you are training the priests and the Levites in handling all of those offerings.

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• Now, turn in your Bibles to the book of Proverbs 22 and verse 6. Watch this carefully. Proverbs 22 and verse 6.

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• Proverbs 22 and verse 6. I'm sure many of you can pull this passage, but look at it. Help me out, what's the first word? "Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he's old, he will not depart from it." Would you like to guess what the Hebrew word is? Dedicate a child in the way that he should go. Initiate a child in the way that he should go. Begin a child in the way that he should go. Now, I told you, I'm going to tie it together for you in just a second, but I told you that the Hebrew word hanak was the word which was to train, to dedicate, to begin, to initiate.

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• Modern-day Jewry, the Jews around the world today, are celebrating a feast they call what? Hanukkah. Why are they celebrating Hanukkah? Because this feast of dedication, this Hanukkah, marks a new beginning. The Feast of Hanukkah was started in 165 B.C. after the problem with Antiochus Epiphanes, when the worship of the temple was restored. So they have what they call Hanukkah, which is literally a new beginning or a new initiation.

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• Now, let's go back, if you would please, to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 20, and let's put this together. Look at it, if you would. "And the officer shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house?" I want you to note the house is already in existence. He's through building it. "What man is there that hath built a new house and hath not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house." See, it's in existence. "Lest he die in battle and another man dedicate it." So the dedication of the house then was not a ceremony, but it was the initiation of the house. It was the setting up of the house. Are you listening?

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• It was the discipline and the training of the wife and the little children. And so God says the man has not had time to train his children. Let him be exempted, and let him go back and train his children, lest he die in battle, and another man marry his wife and train his children.

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• Now, the application, I hope, is going to be seen before I close. So God says this man is exempt. He's started a new home. He's got a wife and some little children, and they have not been trained. So God says, so he can go back and train his children.

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• Now, look in verse 6. Here's the second exemption. "And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not eaten of it? Let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it." Now, the second exemption then refers to anyone that had planted a vineyard. Of course, I suppose an olive yard would be the same thing.

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• Now, what most of us do not understand, or I should say what we do not perceive, is the long-term exemption that is implied in these two cases. First of all, when you talk about training your children, your little children, you're probably talking about something that's going to last four or five years. Here's a man that has planted a vineyard, and he has not been able to eat of it. This exemption could exempt a man up to five years from military service. You say, how in the world could it exempt a man up to five years?

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• Well, hold Deuteronomy chapter 20, but look in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 19. Leviticus chapter 19. Note, if you would, verses 23 through 25. Leviticus chapter 19, beginning there with verse 23. God says, "And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised for unclean three years, shall it be uncircumcised unto you, it shall not be eaten of you. But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy, to praise the Lord withal. And in the fifth year shall you eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof. I am the Lord your God." So God said, the first three years that you plant a vineyard, all the fruit is unclean, let it fall to the ground. The fourth year, everything on those vines belongs to God. The fifth year, he says, you may eat. So here's a man, if he just planted his vineyard, he can't serve in the military for six years.

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• If a man's already had it planted for three years, well, it's going to be another two years, at least, before he can serve in the military. So God is saying, here's an exception. Not only the man that has built a house and has not had time to train his children, but here's a man who's planted a vineyard and he has not had time to eat out of it.

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• Look, if you would please, at the third exemption in verse seven. Now, Roy, I don't want you to listen too closely. "And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife and hath not taken her? Let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in battle, and another man take her."

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• Now, God says, here's a man that's engaged. And I want you to know that a betrothal in the Bible was more than an engagement. In reality, it was. If you were betrothed in the Bible, you were really considered married, although you had not begun living together. I mean, it was that serious. So God says, here's a man. He's betrothed himself to a wife, but he has not lived with her. Now God says that man is exempted from military service.

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• Let him go back and take that woman, lest he die in battle. Now, the reason I didn't want Roy to listen too closely is I want you to look in Deuteronomy 24 and verse 5. I got so tickled, Pastor Peacock had asked me, when his sons got married, to have a talk with them, and I was more than delighted to do so. And he said, now I want you to tell them all the things the Bible says about marriage. I said, now, brother, are you sure you want me to tell them everything that the Bible says about marriage?

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• Well, he said, of course. I said, well, now let me show you this verse right here. And when I showed him the verse, he said, No, don't tell him that. You'll see why. Deuteronomy 24, look in verse 5. "When a man hath taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business, but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he hath taken." Now, brother, if I tell your kids everything, that means they're not going to work for you for a year.

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• But literally, that's what the Bible says. So that's why the man was exempt for one year. So he could spend—there goes his business down the drain. OK, you just have to have it can run it for you. No, no. All right. So once you take a new wife, God says you're to be free for a year. That even includes an exemption from military service.

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• Now, watch if you would very quickly. The fourth exemption in Deuteronomy, Chapter 20, he says in verse eight. "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 brethren's hearts faint, as well as his heart." What is this exemption? This exemption is for anyone who is scared silly. They're just afraid. The word fainthearted means tender, easy, soft, or weak. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Judges, chapter 7, verses 2 and 3. Judges, chapter 7, verses 2 and 3. Judges, chapter 7, and look at verses 2 and 3.

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• Here is what happened with Gideon's army. "And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into thine hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me."

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• "Now therefore go to proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead. And there returned the people twenty and two thousand." And there remained 10,000. So two-thirds had the courage to say, we're scared. We don't really want to fight. God said, let them go home.

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• Now you're going to find there's a reason for this. Now, it's not listed in Deuteronomy chapter 20, but I'm going to give you a fifth exemption. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Numbers chapter 1, here is a class that are always exempt from military service. Can anyone guess what that group is? I didn't hear you, priest or the preachers or the Levites. Look in your Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter one, verses forty eight and forty nine.

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• Now, in this passage, he is mustering or taking the military census out of all the tribes. But notice, if you would, verses 48 and 49. "For the Lord had spoken unto Moses, saying, Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them, according to the children of Israel." So the Levites, who were the pastors, who were the teachers, they were automatically exempt from military service.

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• But you're going to find something as you study the Bible. Although they were exempt, many of them volunteered and fought. In fact, you will go over David's list of mighty men, you will find some Levites in that list. So the Levites, or the preachers, were exempt. Let's try to draw things together. Let's ask ourselves, why in the world does God give these exemptions for military service? Let me begin with number one.

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• As important and as necessary as defense is, I mean, we have to defend our country. We have to defend our nation. We have to defend our state. As important as defense is, here's what the Bible is teaching. The family has a priority over warfare. The family has a priority over warfare. Soldiers cannot be produced without solid, stable homes. Let me tell you something, folks. If there are no families, and if there is no family, in reality, there's really nothing to fight for. For without solid, stable families, you cannot have a home, you cannot have a church, you cannot have a state, you cannot have a nation. One of the problems that we have in America today is our families are in utter chaos and confusion. There's no solidity. There's no cohesion. There's nothing binding the families together.

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• And the current practice of our military, when they will take a husband and wife and separate them for a year or more at the time, is just as unbiblical, ungodly and immoral as it can be. I mean, all it does is produce adultery and fornication and the breakup of marriages in the homes. Let me tell you something. I don't want to be separated from my wife for a year or two just because the government decides to send me across the country to fight somebody else's war. That's not right. Let me tell you something. A young husband who has just been married, I've got news for you.

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• His mind is not on fighting anyhow. He can't be single-minded in battle. And if I'm in a foxhole somewhere, I don't want somebody sitting over there daydreaming about his wife or about his sweetheart back home, when here are the enemies rushing in, I want somebody who's thinking about killing the enemy. You follow what I'm saying? So what God is doing here not only has a theological purpose, it has a practical purpose as well. So God says the man who's got his young family, he hasn't had time to train them, he's exempt. The man who just got married, he's exempt. He can't fight anyhow. Not with a single heart. Let him go home.

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• Similarly, farmers are to be exempted since someone has to feed the army. Here are three exemptions. Here's the exemption of the man who has built his home, but he hasn't had time to discipline or train his children. Here's the man who's planted a vineyard, but he hasn't had time to eat of it. Here's a man who's betrothed to a wife, but there has not been yet time to take her. God says all three of these are exempt. Why? Not only because the family has a priority over warfare, but because these individuals have not had time to experience the joys of covenant life.

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• Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles, hold Deuteronomy chapter 20, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Micah, chapter 4 and verse 4. The book of Micah. You will find this happens, this saying occurs several times in the Old Testament. Let me just show it to you one time from the book of Micah, chapter 4 and verse 4. Let me explain this. Micah 4 and verse 4.

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• Look what God says with his blessing upon the people. He says, "But they shall sit every man under his vine and every man under his fig tree and none shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it."

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• Now, the blessings of covenant life means that men enjoy their homes, their wives, and their vineyards or their wine, so the home, the wife, and wine are all symbols of the covenantal blessing of God. And God is saying, here are some young people, so to speak, that have not had time to appreciate the blessings of God. Most of you know that I enjoy hunting. I haven't got to do much of it this year, but I do enjoy hunting.

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• And I try to follow God's law when I hunt. I never kill a mother and a child on the same day, which the scripture forbids. But I have another practice that I follow, and that's this. When I see a baby or a young deer, I never kill him. I don't care if it's a buck. I don't care if it's a little duck. I just don't kill babies. And I had a little buck pass by me, oh, I don't know, a month or two ago.

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• He had antlers sticking about that high. Probably only weighed about 80 pounds. I just watched him. He said, Brother Weaver, that would have been good meat. That would have been tender meat. I know it would have. Well, why didn't you kill him? You could have legally killed him, not only according to the Bible, but according to law. That's true. I could have. But let me tell you, I just appreciate so much the fact that God has allowed me to be an adult, to be mature and have my home and my children and my food.

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• And I think, why can't he grow up and get him a wife and enjoy his life a little bit, too? You see what I'm saying? And that's what God is saying about these people. They haven't had time to experience all of this. Let me tell you, I hope God gives me another 50 years with my wife. I trust He will. But if he doesn't, I still have 34 good years. You see what I'm saying? I've had time to enjoy my home and my wife and my children. But the man who's only been married a year or two, he doesn't have to. Let me tell you, most people don't realize this, but you don't even know what marriage is all about until you've been married about 25 years. That's when you just begin to learn.

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• I want you to turn in your Bible to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 28. Let me show you the opposite. Let me show you when the curse of God is upon the people, then they do not enjoy these covenantal blessings. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 28 in verse 30. Deuteronomy 28 in verse 30. Here's the curse of God now. This is when you disobey God. This is part of the curse that comes from disobedience. He says in verse 30, "Thou shalt betroth a wife and another man shall lie with her. Thou shalt build a house and thou shalt not dwell therein. Thou shalt plant a vineyard and thou shalt not eat the grapes thereof." Why? Because the curse of God is upon you. You violated the covenant. So here are these covenant blessings that these people have not had time to enjoy. And God says, you let them be exempt that they may live lest they die in battle and not experience the joys of covenantal life.

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• Fourthly, the fearful and the fainthearted are to be released for two basic reasons. God's battles are always to be fought in faith. Fear is the opposite of faith. If you're afraid, you're not exercising faith.

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• Secondly, God says you let them go lest they discourage the heart of their brethren. I've got news for you. If I'm fighting for my life, I don't want someone quivering in the foxhole beside me saying, oh, oh, we're going to get killed. We need to get out of here. We need to run away. No, no, no. I want somebody to say, bless God, let's get them. I don't want to be discouraged, I want to be encouraged. And God said, you let the fearful and the faint hearted go. Lest they discourage the hearts of their brethren. And you've got to remember.

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• That God's battles are to be fought in faith now. I want you to understand that what I've preached this morning, not just with the exemption, but the fact that God has appointed not only our end, but the means of that end should have a great deal of significance for you. It should give you the understanding that I can't die and I can't be killed until it's God's time for me.

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• One of my favorite stories about Stonewall Jackson is he and one of his aides stopped to eat blackberries. They were in a battle and the enemy was shooting at them. I mean, bullets were whizzing by, and Jackson was sitting there eating some blackberries. And finally, one of the bullets hit near his horse, Little Sorrel, and the horse jumped. And Jackson very calmly looked at his aide and said, "We'd better get out of here before one of the horses gets hit."

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• The story is told about Robert E. Lee sitting on the front porch drinking buttermilk. When a bullet lodged in the wall right by him, he finished his buttermilk and he got up. Why? Because these men understood something about the providence of God. That's how you can fight God's battles in faith. Because if God has not ordained that you die in that battle, you are not going to die in that battle. It's that simple. That's how you can have boldness and courage.

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• How does the old saying go? A man is immortal until God is through with him. And that's the truth. The enemy can't kill you while God is protecting and using you. While some will die in battle, there will be a multitude of others who will never die in battle, for that is not the way that God has ordained their end. Let me give you one other application, and that is this. You and I had better learn to enjoy the covenantal blessings of God while we can. We better enjoy our homes and our wives, our children, our grandchildren, and the blessings of God upon us. Well, we can. Because when the curse of God is full and final on this nation, we'll not have some of these things. You better thank God for them and enjoy them on a daily basis.

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• Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for the clear teaching of Your Word. We thank You, Father, for the priority of the family, the priority of covenantal blessings and the enjoyment of those blessings. We're thankful, Lord, that your word is not only theologically correct, but is practical and full of common sense. We ask you, Father, not only to prepare our hearts to enjoy the things that you've given us, but prepare us, Lord, to fight your battles in faith. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

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• This program was produced by Dominion Ministry. For more information about Pastor Weaver's sermons, you may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn, that's A-B-E-R-C-O-R-N Street, Suite 705, PMB 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406, or give us a call at 912-925-0995. You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T15:29:47Z