Clean Transcript

Holy War/Just War

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• I want you to open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Joshua, chapter 4, and I want you to hold that while I give you just a little bit of information before we get started. I've been dealing with the concept or the biblical doctrine of war, especially in our day and time I think that is actually needed desperately, but I'm going to, friend, I guess go a little differently tonight than I have been going. I like to when I preach, I like to have everyone turn with me in the scripture so they can see exactly that what I'm saying is exactly what the word of God says. And we're going to do a good bit of that tonight. But in order to cover a lot of ground tonight, I'm trying to go. I'm going to try to give you three messages in one. And so therefore, I'm just going to quote a lot of scripture instead of having you turn to it. And you make sure you jot the scripture down, the reference, and then you can go back and double check everything after I get through.

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• All right. So we're going to be looking at Joshua, chapter four. I'm going to begin tonight with the concept of holy war. So Joshua, chapter four, look in verse 13, if you would please. Just one simple verse. I'll come back and explain this verse before I leave it. "About 40,000 prepared for war passed over before the Lord unto the battle to the plains of Jericho." One more time. "About 40,000 prepared for war passed over before the Lord unto battle to the plains of Jericho." Each of us have heard of Islamic jihad or holy war.

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• It is a term that the Muslims employ as they fight against the great Satan which they refer to usually as America in general and Christians in particular. In fact, the Muslims refer to all Christians as the infidels. Their concept of holy war, while misapplied, is nonetheless a biblical concept. And it's interesting that this concept of holy war is maintained by those individuals who live over in the Middle East, in the Bible lands. And yet, that same term is strange to our ears who have never lived over there and certainly have never understood the concept. When you talk about holy war, most Christians are absolutely aghast at that idea. I mean, how in the world can anything so deadly, so destructive, so devastating be classified as holy? Now, it is true that the term holy war does not occur in the Bible. But yet the principles of that are over and over in the Word of God.

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• You remember last night I dealt with the subject, God is a warrior. And I pointed out the fact in Numbers chapter 21 and verse 14 that all of those wars that Israel fought in Canaan, in the conquest of Canaan, all of those wars were designated as the wars of the Lord.

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• Now would anyone be so bold as to say or even suggest that those wars that God ordained and those wars that God commanded were unholy wars? And when you come to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 34, you don't have to turn there, but may I remind you last night we looked at it and the Bible says that God brought Israel out of Egypt by means of war. Would you once again be so bold and so blasphemous as to say that the war that God conducted against Egypt was unholy? Well, of course not. It was a holy war that God conducted against Egypt. It was a holy war that God commanded the people to conduct as they conquered Canaan land. And if you'd turn very quickly in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 19 and look at verse 11, certainly none would be so blasphemous as to say this would be an unholy war because the Bible says in Revelation chapter 19 and verse 11, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse."

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• So we're talking about Christ. "And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." So when you take the idea that all war is unholy, then you have a real problem because here is a holy Savior conducting a holy war in righteousness. And thus, if you say all war is unholy, then you have to say that you have an unholy Savior who is fighting an unholy war. Obviously something is wrong with the concept when someone just simply pronounces that all war is wrong and all war is unholy. No, there is a concept of holy war taught in the Bible. Do you remember in Ephesians chapter 6, many of you can quote the passage beginning there with verse 10, where the Apostle Paul says, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord," and he tells you to put on the whole armor of God, and we're to put on the breastplate of righteousness, and the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace, and the helmet of salvation, and we're to take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

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• And he says why, "that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Now that passage is a concept of holy war. Ah, but there's an objection. You say, "But Pastor, don't you understand? Ephesians 6, verses 10 through 17 speaks of a spiritual warfare." Well, I understand that. But may I remind you that if warfare is inherently evil and wrong in and of itself, it would be wrong to engage in it either spiritually or physically.

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• Let me give you an illustration. Is adultery wrong? Well, yes it is. God says very plainly, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Physical adultery is wrong, it's wicked, it's sin, it's rebellion against God. Ah, but what about the spiritual aspect of adultery? What did our Lord say in Matthew chapter 5? He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her in his heart hath committed adultery already." In other words, since adultery is inherently evil, it's wrong to commit it either physically or spiritually. Now, if warfare was inherently evil, it would be wrong to commit it either physically or spiritually. Here's another objection. Someone says, "Brother Weaver, don't you understand that in physical warfare, people get hurt, people get killed. And in spiritual warfare, no one gets hurt."

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• I hope that's not your idea. Because if you don't engage in spiritual warfare, first of all, you get hurt. And secondly, it doesn't matter if warfare is physical or spiritual. In all warfare, your mission, your goal, is to inflict damage upon the enemy. And you want to destroy Satan. You want to destroy his work. You want to destroy his efforts. And certainly, someone gets hurt. It is impossible to have war without having casualties, either physically or spiritually.

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• Now, let me just try to emphasize from one simple point tonight before I go any further, that there is a concept of a holy war. And I want to bring this down to what I'm going to call an irreducible minimum in order that you might comprehend the fact that there is indeed a holy war. If I were to ask you, according to the Bible, and I'll show you at least two passages, but if I were to ask you, according to the Bible, does God demand the death penalty for murder? What's the answer? Yes.

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• Alright, let's look in our Bibles to the book of Numbers, chapter 35 and verse 31. Numbers 35, and notice if you would please, verse 31. In Numbers 35 and verse 31, the Word of God says this: "Moreover, you shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put to death." God says that's it. There's no life sentence. There's no remuneration. There's no restitution. God says the murderer shall surely be put to death.

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• Now turn over just a few pages to Deuteronomy chapter 19. And look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 11. Deuteronomy 19, verse 11. God says, "But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally, that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities"—that's a city of refuge—"then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die." Now look what God says. "Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee." So God says if a murderer escapes to a city of refuge, you bring him out, give him to the avenger of blood, that the avenger of blood may kill him. And God says, "Thine eye shall not pity him." Now everyone in here knows Romans chapter 13, especially verse 4. When the Bible is talking about the civil magistrate, when God says, "He beareth not the sword in vain."

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• In other words, God has given the civil magistrate the authority and the power to execute the death penalty. So, murder then deserves capital punishment. And capital punishment is based upon the fact that man is made in the image of God. So if I were to come over and murder Greg, it's not just the fact that I'm snuffing out Greg's life. It's not just the fact that I'm harming his family and harming society. When I murder Greg, I am attacking the image of God in him. It is an assault upon God Himself. And therefore, God demands the death penalty. That's why in Genesis 9, in verse 6, God said, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." So God then demands the death penalty.

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• Let me ask you this simple question again. Does the Bible sanction the death penalty? And the answer is yes. Is it holy? Is it right to put a murderer to death? And the answer is yes. Now let me ask you. Every one of us can see this. If I went over and murdered Greg, and you were all witnesses against me, and the jury found me guilty, and I was sentenced to be electrocuted in the electric chair, no one would have a problem with that. You shouldn't have a problem with that because that is God's answer. That's what God demands. Now, let me ask you another question. Suppose there were four other men in this room with me when we attacked Greg, and all five of us participated in his murder. Should all five men get the death penalty? Well, of course. Well, let's go a little further. Suppose there were 20 men in this room that attacked Greg, and all 20 helped kill him. Should all 20 men get the death penalty? Well, of course.

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• Now, I want you to understand, once the principle of justice is admitted by enforcing the death penalty upon the murderer or the murderers, it makes no difference as to whether the murderer was one or many. So by extension, the same principle then applies to an army or even a nation. It doesn't matter if it's 1 or 100 or 5,000 or 50,000. The principle is exactly the same. This is exactly the principle that God used in waging holy war. I do want you to turn in your Bibles very quickly to the book of Genesis chapter 15. Let me just show you this one, and then I'll remind you of the others. Genesis chapter 15, beginning there with verse 13.

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• God is telling Abraham that his seed is going into a strange land for 400 years. And he's going to tell him why. Watch carefully, because here's the biblical reason why Israel went down into Egypt to begin with. Genesis 15, verse 13, "And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge." God will take care of Egypt.

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• "And afterwards they shall come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full."

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• Now what did God do? God sent Israel into Egypt for 400 years. Why? Because the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Here was a wicked people, a wicked nation, who were shaking their fist in the face of God and rebelling and sinning against Him. And at the end of 400 years, God brought Israel out of Egypt. He put a sword in their hand. And what did He say?

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• "Kill every one of them. Destroy them all." Was that a holy war? Yes, it was. And it was a war against a nation of sinners and adulterers and murderers and wicked ungodly people. It's the same principle that God used when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. It was the same principle that God used when He destroyed all the nations of Canaan. It was the same principle that God used when He destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. It's the same principle that our Lord will use when He comes back, as Revelation 19, verse 11 tells us, when He will in righteousness make war against all of His enemies and destroy every one of them. So once you understand the principle of justice, and it's right to execute those who are wicked and wrong and violate the law of God, then by extension the same thing applies to nations as well.

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• Now, may I remind you that warfare in the Bible is considered as divine activity. God was Israel's sovereign Lord. Not only was warfare a divine activity, but there was also a covenantal aspect to warfare. I want you to turn in your Bibles, first of all, to the book of Leviticus chapter 26. I will show you this in two passages very quickly. Here's the covenantal aspect. God has promised Israel that if she will obey Him, God will bless them in numerous ways. One of those ways is militarily speaking. Watch Leviticus 26, beginning there with verse 2. God says, "You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary. I am the Lord."

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• "If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and do them, then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit." So there's another blessing. "Your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely." God said, "And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall a sword go through your land." So now God says, "If you obey me, I'm going to protect you from war. I will protect you from invaders." Watch. He says in verse 7, "And you shall chase your enemies." If someone dares to rise up against you, "you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword."

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• Now God said, "If you obey me, you're going to prosper militarily. You'll not only have safety in your land, but when and if you are attacked, God said, it'll only take five of you to chase a hundred, and a hundred will chase ten thousand. You don't have to worry."

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• Now, look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 14, because here are the curses if you do not obey. He says, "But if you will not hearken unto me, and will not obey all these commandments, and if you shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that you will not do all my commandments, but that you break my covenant." And then he begins to tell them everything that he's going to do. If you'll skip down, if you would, to verse 21. Verse 21. He said, "And if you walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins."

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• "I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number, and your highways shall be desolate. And you will not be reformed by these things, but will walk contrary to Me. Then I will also walk contrary to you, and will punish you seven times for your sins." Watch. "And I will bring a sword upon you, and shall avenge the quarrel of My covenant. And when you're gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy." Now, God said, "If you disobey me, I'm going to bring the enemy to your gates. They will destroy you. They will captivate you."

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• Now, if you'll turn in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 28 very quickly, you'll see the same principle again. Notice Deuteronomy 28, beginning there with verse 1. God said, "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth." Now watch verse 2. I like this. "And these blessings shall come on thee and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God." Let me explain that word overtake. God says, "If you obey me, these blessings will overtake you." Here you are, picture this in your mind, you are obeying God. You're bringing your life into conformity to the Word of God. You're honoring Him in every area that you can honor Him. And here you are running down the highway as fast as you can run, trying to outrun the blessings of God. You know what God says?

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• "My blessings will run you down and overtake you and fall all over you. And you can't stop it. They'll catch up with you. You can't outrun the blessings of God." Now watch. He says in verse 3, here's some of them. "Blessed shalt thou be in the city. Blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body." Verse 6. "Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in. Blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out." Look at verse 7. "The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face. They shall come out against thee one way and flee before thee seven ways." God said, "If you obey me, part of the blessings is there will be military superiority and military victory." Now, let's skip down to verse 15. Watch carefully. "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee and overtake thee."

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• Let me explain the word overtake. Here you are doing your own thing, refusing to listen to God, refusing to bring your life into conformity to the Word of God. You don't want anything to do with God, and you're running down the highway as fast and as furiously as you can, trying to outrun the curse of God. God said, "My curses will run you down and knock you down and fall all over you, and you can't stop them." What are the curses?

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• Just the opposite of the blessings. He said in verse 16, "Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed shalt thou be in the field, cursed shalt be thy basket and thy store," and skip on down, if you would please, down to verse 25. Watch this carefully. "The Lord shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies. Thou shalt go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them, and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth." Verse 29, "And thou shalt grope at noonday as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways, and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee."

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• God said, "If you disobey me, I'll bring my curse upon you." And I want you to understand, the curse is for failing to obey the Word of God. This is divine warfare.

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• Now, go back in your Bibles, if you would please, to the book of Joshua, chapter 4. We begin with verse 13. I want to take a moment and explain verse 13. The Bible says, "About 40,000 prepared for war passed over before the Lord unto battle to the plains of Jericho."

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• Now I'm going to develop this a little further in just a few moments, but let me give you just a little light on verse 13. The Bible says, "About 40,000 prepared"—and you need to underline that word. We'll cover it just a little bit later. "About 40,000 prepared for war, passed over"—and here's the phrase—"before the Lord, unto battle, to the plains of Jericho." Now, the Hebrew word is the word panim. It does not mean just simply in the face of, or in the presence of, but it actually means as unto. So here are 40,000 men who passed over into the battle as unto the Lord. They were not just simply in His presence.

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• They were that, certainly, because God is omnipresent. He is everywhere, once in the totality of His being. Certainly, they were in His presence that way. But they passed over as unto the Lord. That is, they passed over religiously. They passed over worshipfully. They passed over as honoring unto the Lord.

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• Now, let me show you how emphatic this passage is. I want you to hold Joshua 4, but go in your Bibles to 1 Samuel, chapter 15. 1 Samuel, chapter 15. Every one of you knows the story how God has sent King Saul to war against the Amalekites. And God told Saul to kill every one of them. But what did Saul do? Saul spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and the best of the oxen, and the best of the sheep, but all the refuse he utterly destroyed. Well, Samuel, a man of God, starts coming to Saul. And Saul, the hypocrite, begins to say, "Blessed be thou of the Lord, I performed all of the commandments of God."

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• And about that time, something went bad. And Samuel said, "Saul, if you've obeyed God, what meaneth the lowing of the cattle and the bleating of the sheep in mine ears? If you'd obeyed God, everything would be dead." "Oh," he said, "the people spared these that we might offer them as a sacrifice to God." Samuel said, "Hath the Lord as great delight in sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken is better than the fat of rams." And then little Samuel the prophet said, "Bring Agag hither unto me." And I want you to watch this. To me, this is so, so interesting. Verse 32, 1 Samuel 15: "Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him delicately."

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• Can't you just see him kind of prissy and dancing around, you know? He came delicately. And Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death is past." I mean, nothing's going to happen to me. And Samuel said, "As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women." And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Now, wait a minute. Samuel, the prophet, took a sword and hewed Agag in pieces.

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• And what does the Bible say? The same phrase that we come back to in Joshua 4 and verse 13. He hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Now that little phrase, "before the Lord," does not mean just simply in the presence of. Surely he did it in the presence of God because God is omnipresent. But literally what it means is this: he hewed Agag in pieces as unto the Lord in Gilgal. In other words, Samuel did to Agag exactly what God wanted done to Agag. And he did it in obedience to God, he did it worshipfully, he did it reverently, he did it religiously, because that was what God had commanded.

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• You see, once you get that in your mind, when these 40,000 men passed over in battle before the Lord, they passed over as unto the Lord. They were honoring Him. They were worshiping Him. Let me give you another one. Look in your Bibles very quickly to 1 Kings chapter 18. Everyone knows what Elijah did to those prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. But in 1 Kings chapter 18, beginning there with verse 36, the Bible says, "And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench."

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• "And when the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, The Lord, he is God, the Lord, he is God. And Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. And they took them, and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and slew them there." What did Elijah do to those prophets of Baal? He killed them, as unto the Lord. What does that mean? He did to those prophets exactly what God would have done to them.

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• You see, war is not inherently evil in and of itself. There are indeed evil wars. But just because there is a war, and just because there are evil wars, does not negate the fact that there are indeed holy wars, and especially when those holy wars are there to eradicate evil and wickedness.

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• Now, I'm going to show you it is our responsibility to make sure what a holy war is before we ever engage in it. Do you understand that in ancient Israel all life was religious? All life was covenantally related unto God. Warfare was no different. And I've already told you last night, and maybe I'll get to share some of it with you tomorrow night, but there were definite regulations concerning warfare in the Word of God. War was an aspect of worship. And it had to be conducted by the rules laid out in the Word of God. Now, you and I should not think that strange, nor should we think that it was strange that everything in Israel of old was related to God.

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• Hey, what does the Bible say in 1 Corinthians 10 and verse 31? "Whether therefore you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the honor and glory of God." What does he say in Colossians 3 and verse 23? "And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as unto the Lord your God." So we are to have every aspect and every area of our lives brought in conformity to the Word of God as well. So every area, every activity, every sphere are to be regulated by the Word of God. Now, in Joshua 4 and verse 13, I want you to look back there again, because here's another word that I did not deal with earlier that I want to deal with now. The Bible says, "About 40,000 prepared for war passed over as unto the Lord unto battle to the plains of Jericho." Now I want you to look at the little word "prepared." Some of you may want to do a little research when you get home and get a Strong's Concordance and look up this word.

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• And you're going to find that this word occurs numerous times at the command of God. For instance, you may just jot the scriptures down, but in Jeremiah 6 and verse 4, God said, "Prepare ye war against her." So God gave the command and he said, "Prepare ye war against her." In Jeremiah 22 and verse 7, God said, "And I will prepare destroyers against thee, everyone with his weapons."

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• "And they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire." Now listen to what God said, "And I will prepare destroyers against thee." When you get to Jeremiah chapter 51, verses 27 and 28, God said, "Set you up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among nations, prepare the nations against her." When you get to Joel 3 and verse 19, the Bible says, "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles, prepare war."

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• "Wake up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw nigh. Let them come up."

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• Now, there's an interesting thing about this little word, "prepare." The Bible says that about 40,000 prepared passed over before the Lord. Let me tell you what the Hebrew word "prepare" is. It is the word qadash, and it literally means to be or to make as clean. That is ceremonially or morally. It means to be consecrated, to be dedicated, to be hallowed, to be holy, to be sanctified. Now, here is the interesting thing.

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• I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Genesis, chapter 2 and verse 3. Get ready for this one. Watch this, Genesis 2 and verse 3. Here's a verse that probably all of us know. Genesis 2, verse 3: "And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his works which God created and made." Isn't that interesting? God blessed the seventh day and—are you listening?—and qadash, prepared it. The word "prepared" in all of these scriptures that I just quoted, even when God said "prepare war against her," literally is "sanctify war against her." "Consecrate war against her." The same thing is used in Exodus 29 and verse 43. The same exact Hebrew word. When God is talking about the tabernacle, He said, "And there will I meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified, or prepared, by my glory." And when you get to the book of Isaiah chapter 13 verses 1 through 5, especially verse 3, God is talking about the soldiers and He said, "I have prepared my sanctified ones."

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• And there is the word used twice. "I've sanctified my sanctified ones." Now, war is holy because it is something that is used as sanctified in the Bible. It is something that has been consecrated. And so when these 40,000 men who were prepared, they were men who were sanctified. They were men who were consecrated to the war and they went over as unto the Lord. That is, they were doing what they were doing for His honor and His glory. Now, let's talk about what is absolutely necessary to have what you and I would call a holy war. I'm going to give you at least four things, and I believe that these are what, once again, I would call an irreducible minimum. There may be others that could be added, but you must have a minimum of four things to have what you and I would call a holy war. The first one is this: the cause must be holy. The cause must be holy. Now, the cause for one fighting is actually his reasons for fighting, his motivation for fighting, his goal for fighting, his aim in fighting.

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• It's that which motivates him. It's that which moves him along.

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• Now, one is not to fight without a cause. Are you listening? Neither is one to fight for a wicked cause. Do you realize there are so many wars that happen and take place just because one government or one nation wants the resources or the money or the land of another government or another nation? Let me tell you something, folks. When God says, "Thou shalt not steal," that applies to governments as well as individuals. And when you have a wicked cause, the war is wrong and wicked in and of itself.

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• Now, let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 109. And let's look at the first three verses. Psalm 109. Psalm 109, and let's begin reading there with verse 1. Look what David says. "Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise. For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me." So David is being attacked. Alright? He says, "For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me."

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• "They have spoken against me with a lying tongue." Then he says, "They compassed me about also with words of hatred and fought against me." Watch. "Without a cause." It is wrong to fight without a cause. And it's wrong to fight in a wicked cause. And the wicked fight without a cause. That's exactly what David is saying. So you and I must have a righteous cause if we're going to fight.

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• Now, I don't have to ask you to do this, but you will remember 1 Samuel 17. You remember that is where Goliath is coming out, and he's challenging the armies of Jehovah. And of course, little David goes there, and he is there with bread sent by his father, and of course, his brother begins to look at him and said, "What in the world did you come out here for?"

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• "Who did you leave those few sheep with? I know the naughtiness of your heart. You just came out here to see the battle. That's the only reason you came." And about that time he heard Goliath come out and defy Israel and David looked at his brother and he said, "Is there not a cause?" Verse 29. "Is there not a cause?" You remember what David did? David said, "Look, I'll fight Goliath. Don't worry about it."

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• "I'm not afraid of him." All the mighty men of battle were afraid of him. But David said, "I'll fight him because there is a cause. There is a reason to fight." And King Saul said, "Well, how in the world can you fight? I mean, you're just a lad. And this man has been a warrior from his youth. You're just a boy." He said, "Let me tell you something."

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• "There came a bear against my sheep. And I caught him, not killed him. There came a lion against my sheep, and I caught him, not killed him. And this uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them. There's a cause." In 1 Samuel 17, verse 36, listen to what David said. "Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing, seeing, that he has defied the armies of the living God." Here was one man challenging the Lord of Hosts and the Lord of Hosts' armies. In verse 45, when the battle actually took place, "Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield. But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, that is, the Lord of the armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied."

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• So what was Goliath doing? Goliath was not just simply defying Israel. In so doing, he was defying the God of Israel. God was being dishonored. God was being mocked, his people disgraced, his armies dismayed, and David asked, "Is there not a cause?" And the cause certainly was a righteous cause, because God's honor and God's glory was at stake. Now, I want you to understand, folks, there is a holy cause in defending the honor of God. There is also a holy cause in defending oneself.

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• and one's family, and one's property, and one's nation. Let me tell you something. When you talk about a holy cause, I want you to understand it is our responsibility, before we ever fight, to determine whether or not the cause is holy. I tell people, I'm ready to defend my country in a heartbeat. I'm not afraid to fight. I'm willing to fight. I'll defend my country, but if you think I'm going to go over and defend someone's oil wells, you're mistaken. Let the rich man hire his own mercenaries to defend his oil wells. Don't use my sons or my daughters under the pretext of defending the country and supporting someone's oil wells. There is a cause that has to be holy. Now, it's holy to defend our families. I want you to turn in your Bibles.

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• to the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah. And I want you to look, if you would please, beginning there with chapter 4 and verse 11. Let me show you what Nehemiah said. Here were some men who were planning a surprise attack against Israel. Nehemiah chapter 4, beginning with verse 11: "And our adversary said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease." So they were planning a surprise attack.

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• And he said, "And it came to pass that when the Jews who dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places which ye shall return unto us, they will be upon you." In other words, here were some people trying to discourage Nehemiah. He says in verse 13, "Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places I even set the people after their families."

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• "with their swords, their spears and their bows. And I looked and rose up and said unto the nobles and to the rulers of the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them. Remember the Lord who is great and terrible and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses." What's Nehemiah saying? He's saying it's a holy cause to defend your life. It's a holy cause to defend your family. It's a holy cause to defend your property. It's a holy cause to defend your nation. You fight for them, he said.

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• That certainly is indeed biblical. That certainly is right. When you get to 2 Samuel 10, you don't have to turn there, but verses 6-10, the children of Ammon, that is the Ammonites, now are fighting against David's men. And they've also hired Syrians to fight against David and his men. And so Joab now, next thing you know, realizes he's surrounded. He's got men in front of him. He's got men behind him.

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• And so he divides his army. He says, "You go over there and fight them while we fight them. And if yours are too great for you, we'll come help you. And if ours are too great, then you come help us." But this is what he said in verse 12. He tells the men, "Be of good courage and let us play the men for our people and for the cities of our God and the Lord do that which seemeth him good." What's he saying? "Let's fight for our people. Let's fight for our cities."

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• Now, it's certainly not my intent tonight to list all of the holy causes. I'm sure that that would be humanly impossible. Circumstances could arise that I know absolutely nothing about, but the point is, if you're going to say that something is a holy war, the very first requirement, the very first prerequisite is the cause must be holy, and therefore it is your responsibility to make sure that the cause is indeed holy. It is not your responsibility to fight for anything that is unbiblical, ungodly, and unchristian. It is also your responsibility to make sure that you don't get suckered and hoodwinked into fighting for that which is not right. So you have to make sure that you examine the cause according to the Word of God. So for a war to be holy, first of all, there must be a holy cause. Secondly, the army must be holy.

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• Look in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 23 and verse 9. Deuteronomy 23 verse 9. Look what God says. Not only must the cause be holy, the army must be holy. He says, "When the host goeth forth against thine enemies"—the host, that is the army—"when the host of the army goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing." Now, it's not enough that the cause be holy. The people of the cause must be holy as well. Therefore, God said, "Keep thee from every wicked thing." The word "wicked" is the word ra, which means bad, evil, wicked, or wrong.

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• Now, you're going to find that this term is used throughout the Bible. For instance, in Deuteronomy chapter 17, God talks about idolatry. And in verse 5 he says this, the man that is engaged in idolatry, He says, "Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman which have committed that wicked thing into thy gates. Even that man or that woman shalt thou stone them with stones till they die." Notice that wicked thing. Now, the Bible says that the army is to keep itself from every wicked thing. In 2 Kings chapter 17 and verse 11.

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• Let me read it to you. "And there they burned incense in all the high places, as did the heathen, whom the Lord carried away before them and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger."

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• Now the word "thing" is the Hebrew word dabar, which literally means a word, a matter, a thing, or a cause. God is pleased to use holy vessels. God is saying not only must the cause be holy, but He wants the army to be holy as well. In Joshua 3 and verse 5, "And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders for you." Sanctify yourselves, prepare yourselves, consecrate yourselves. That's why he said, "and 40,000 men prepared or sanctified went unto the battle as unto the Lord."

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• Now, let me give you an illustration that you certainly can understand. When God brought the children of Israel to Jericho, what did God tell them in chapter 6? God said, "You don't touch anything in this city. This whole city and all the inhabitants except Rahab and her family, all of it is cursed. It's to be burned with fire." So when you get to Joshua chapter 7, here's a man by the name of Achan.

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• And what does he do? He steals a goodly Babylonian garment, a wedge of silver and some gold, and he hides them under his tent. Shortly after the fall of Jericho, the men come to Joshua and say, "Look, the next town up the road is Ai. It's a little town. Don't make all the people work. I mean, come on. It's just a little town. Just send a few thousand up there and we'll take care of it." Nobody asked the Lord, nobody prayed, nobody sought the Lord, and so Joshua said, "Go, head on out."

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• Well, you know what happened. When they got out there, up there, the men of Ai came out against them and chased them, and 36 Israelites were killed. And boy, when they came back, oh Joshua fell on his face and he said, "Lord God, what in the world is wrong when Israel turns their back against our enemies? What's going on?" And what did God say? God said, "Get up. Get up off your face."

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• "There's sin in the camp." Then he said this, "Neither will I be with you anymore until you deal with this accursed thing." And of course, that's when Achan was found out. And Achan made his confession. And sure enough, they found the silver and the gold and the Babylonian garment. And guess what? Everything that Achan had, his wife, his children, his animals, were all stoned to death and then burned with fire. You say, "Man, killing Achan and his family just because he stole?" Oh no, it was not just because he stole. He not only dishonored and disobeyed God, but he was also responsible for the death of 36 Israelites. And God said, "Neither will I be with you anymore." Not only must the cause be holy, the army must be holy.

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• Turn in your Bibles very quickly to 2 Chronicles chapter 25. Let me show you this one. Here's another illustration. King Amaziah would go into war, and Amaziah was the king of Judah. And he hired some Israelites to fight with him. In other words, he got him some mercenaries. Now, remember, Judah is the southern kingdom. Israel is the northern kingdom. And the northern kingdom apostatized well before the southern kingdom did. And in 2 Chronicles 25, beginning there with verse 5, look at it. "Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together and made them captains over thousands and captains over a hundred, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and he numbered them from 20 years old and above, just like we saw last night, and found them 300,000 choice men able to go forth to war that could handle spear and shield. He hired also 100,000 mighty men of valor out of Israel for 100 talents of silver." So he's gotten 100,000 men now from the northern kingdom. Watch verse 7.

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• "But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee, for the Lord is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim. But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle. God shall make thee fall before the enemy, for God hath power to help and to cast down." And Amaziah, naturally a politician, said to the man of God, "But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel?" And the man of God answered, "The Lord is able to give thee much more than this." Now what did God tell Amaziah?

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• "Don't let those Israelites go with you. I'm against them. They're unholy. They're unsanctified. They've apostatized. And if you let them fight with you, you just make yourself strong and fight on. You won't, because I'm going to give you to the enemy. You'll be defeated. But you send them back home." And that's exactly what Amaziah did. But because God is telling us the army must be holy. It's not just the cause that must be holy, the army must be holy as well.

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• Now, look in your Bibles, Deuteronomy 23 again. Now watch this carefully. Not only must the cause be holy, the army must be holy, but thirdly, the camp must be holy. Deuteronomy 23, beginning there with verse 10. Deuteronomy 23, verse 10. In fact, let's go back to verse 9, just so that you can see this is still in the context of the army. God says, "When the host of the army goeth forth against thine enemies, then keep thee from every wicked thing."

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• Now, verse 10, "If there be among you any man that is not clean, by reason of uncleanness, that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp. But it shall be when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water. And when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again. Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, where thou shalt go forth abroad. And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon, and it shall be when thou wilt ease thyself abroad. Thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back again, and cover that which cometh from thee. For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the camp to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee. Therefore shalt thy camp be holy, that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee." Now the interesting thing is, not only must the cause be holy, the army must be holy, but now the camp is to be holy as well.

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• Now God says if the person has become unclean through a nightly occurrence or accident, he was to go out of the camp and remain out of the camp until evening. After he had cleansed himself, he could come back into the camp. Moreover, says God, your latrine must be outside of the camp. And he said, "You've got a paddle, you've got a shovel. If you're going to ease yourself, you go outside of the camp, you dig a hole, and you turn again, and you cover it again."

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• Maybe this is where we get that old saying, maybe this is the source of it, that cleanliness is next to godliness. I don't know. But I'm going to tell you this. These requirements were not just simply for sanitary reasons. Certainly the latrine should be outside the camp. That's very obvious. For health reasons, for sanitary reasons. But that's not the reason that God gave. Look what God says in verse 14. Here's why God says you cleanse yourself and you have your latrine outside the camp. "For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp to deliver thee and to give up thine enemies before thee, therefore shall thy camp be holy." Why? Because God is walking in it. "That he shall see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee." What God is saying is this. Jehovah Himself walks in the midst of the camp. And these requirements were to be followed out of consideration and reverence to God, and out of obedience to God, and therefore a lack of that obedience and respect for God would cause him to turn away and not deliver up the enemies unto them.

  #78 | 54:45 to 56:00 | cleaned

• Now, let me just argue, just for a moment with you, from the lesser to the greater. God is not saying that what comes of us is wicked and vile in and of itself. He's saying there's a reason here, there's a principle here. He says God is infinitely holy. And there can be nothing unclean in His presence. Are you listening to me? If it offends a sovereign, holy God to have some minute uncleanliness in man, something that man even has no control over, and the very fact that God created us so that we must go to the bathroom. If there is such a lack of consideration and reverence for God in these matters, and if such would offend God and God would turn away from the camp, oh my soul, let me ask you this, how much more would our unclean thoughts and impure motives and ungodly actions offend a sovereign, holy God? God is saying, look, if you want my blessing, if you want a holy war, the cause must be holy. The army must be holy.

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• Listen, folks, you cannot take an unholy army and accomplish a holy purpose. He said, moreover, your camp must be holy. And let me point out fourthly, the leader must be holy. You can study the Bible all you want to. And you will never find in the Bible that a war was run by a cabinet, a committee, or Pentagon official. The wars were run by prophets, by Moses-like men who stood for what was right and were holy in and of themselves by the grace of God.

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• Look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 17. Let me just show you one. Exodus chapter 17. Here's a war with the Amalekites. Beginning there with verse 8. Exodus 17 verse 8: "Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses said unto him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Watch carefully, and it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed." By the way, the rod of God was in his hand, which spoke of authority, God's authority. Now watch. Verse 12, "But Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him. And he sat there on, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side."

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• "And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword." What was Moses doing? Moses was saying, "Here's the authority of God. Here's the rod of God." He held it up, and as long as he held it up, the people were victorious. If you will turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 11.

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• Let me just show you another passage. There are multitudes of passages, but this one will be sufficient. Hebrews chapter 11. Let's begin reading there verse 32. Hebrews 11 verse 32. The author of Hebrews says, "And what shall I more say? For the time would fail to tell me of Gideon, of Barak, and of Jephthah, of Samson, and of Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets."

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• Watch, "who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of the lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword out of weakness, were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the aliens." Ah, but notice who he's listing. Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel. These aren't Pentagon officials. These are godly men. Some hardly had any military experience at all, but God used them.

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• You see, each of us must determine whether or not a war is holy or not. And the way we determine that is based upon the Word of God.

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• Now, I want to just tackle, just for a few minutes before I close, I want to tackle this issue of a just war. Certainly there is indeed a just war. But please understand something. Please understand that a just war is not just simply a defensive war. I hit upon that last night just for a little bit. But may I tell you that many times you can have a defensive war and the defensive war be unholy and unjust.

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• Do you remember in Judges chapter 20? Here are the children of Benjamin who, of course, were protecting the Sodomites, were defending their city against the children of Israel who were sent there by God to destroy them.

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• Now, the Benjamites had a defensive war, but it was certainly an unrighteous war. It was certainly an unjust war. It is unjust to protect those who are wicked and wrong and vile. And the children of Israel had a just war, although they were the aggressors in that particular war. When you get to Jeremiah chapter 27, here was Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, going to fight against Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. You say, "Well, brother, his war had to be a just war because he was defending his kingdom." But guess what? God had already sent him word through Jeremiah the prophet saying, "Fight not against the king of Babylon. You submit to him."

  #88 | 1:01:59 to 1:02:43 | cleaned

• "I've given this land into his hand." And God said, "If you submit to him, you're going to live. If you fight him, you're going to die." Well, Jehoiakim was fighting a defensive war, but his war was unjust because God had sent him direction specifically not to fight against the king of Babylon. When you get to Genesis 34, there's another war. You remember how Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, was raped by Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the country where they were? You remember that? What did the brethren of Dinah do? They went and said, the prince and his father came and said, "I love Dinah and I want to marry her." And oh, they said, "Look, we've got this religious principle and we cannot give our daughter to someone who is uncircumcised. If you want to have our daughter, if you want to have deals with us financially and every other way, then all of the city must be circumcised, all the men." And boy, they went back and Hamor and his father said, "Look, man, if we'll circumcise ourselves, all their cattle will be ours, their women will be, we'll have everything."

  #89 | 1:02:44 to 1:04:00 | cleaned

• And so all the men circumcised themselves, and guess what? On the third day, when there was a sword, they could hardly move. Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, killed every man in the city.

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• Now, let me ask you a question. Was that a just war? And the answer is no. Why not? You say, "Well, Dinah was raped." That is correct. Therefore, the rapist should have died. Right? Why should the entire city die for someone else's sin? You see, folks, just because you might be defending something, or just because you might think you have a holy cause, does not necessarily make that you have a holy cause. You see, a defensive war can be unjust if, number one, it oversteps the bounds of morality, justice and righteousness, as in Genesis 34. Or it could be wrong when defending wickedness and immorality and injustice, as the Benjamites. And it could be wrong when it's contrary to the clear will and word of God. Just like Jehoiakim when he fought against the king of Babylon. Now, let me just point this out. You say, "Well, what about the offensive wars? An offensive war is always wrong." That's not true. God commenced offensive wars against the tribes and against the nations in Canaan. He's the one that directed them over and over.

  #91 | 1:04:19 to 1:05:41 | cleaned

• David, of course, pointed out the fact that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. And as I said last night, God has the sovereign right to dispossess anyone whom he chooses. Have you ever considered the first war in the Bible? The very first time war is mentioned? You'll find it in Genesis 14. Here were the kings that were fighting against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. And do you remember? Lot was taken captive. And when Abram heard that his nephew Lot had been taken captive, what did he do? He armed 318 trained men that he had in his own house and went after them, and defeated them, destroyed them, rescued Lot.

  #92 | 1:05:41 to 1:06:29 | cleaned

• Now let me ask you a question. What did Abraham have to do with Sodom and Gomorrah? Nothing. What did he have to do with the other kings? Nothing. Nothing was stolen from Abraham. But yet he went and rescued Lot. He had a family member there. Do you realize? Although Abraham was not defending his own self, he was not defending his own property. In one sense of the word, he was defending his family because Lot was his nephew. But Abraham had not been involved in that war whatsoever. But Abraham got involved.

  #93 | 1:06:31 to 1:07:03 | cleaned

• And you know what God did? God sent Melchizedek to bless Abraham. And God honored exactly what he did. Now, the point I'm trying to make is, what Abraham did was basically an offensive move. He was rescuing his family. That is exactly what he did. Now, you know the story of 1776. Jonas Clark, Lexington Green. Shot heard around the world. Jonas Clark is one of my favorite pastors. But you know what has been said of Jonas Clark, and I'm giving you a direct quote. Here's the direct quote. "He knew his Knox." And the reference is to John Knox, a trumpeter of Scotland, because John Knox taught that only a defensive war is a just war. And so therefore, these Christian men who were members of Jonas Clark's church, there on the church house green, stood and took the first volley of the English fire.

  #94 | 1:07:05 to 1:08:28 | cleaned

• Seven were killed on the spot. And as the story goes, Jonas Clark and the others then had a right to defend themselves because they were the first to be attacked. But may I point something out, folks? As I've already said, some defensive wars are wrong. Some offensive wars are right. But there are other principles in the Bible. And here's another principle. "Thou shalt not kill." The positive of "thou shalt not kill" is "thou shalt preserve life." I have a duty and I have an obligation to preserve my life. So if Ron is trying to kill me, I must kill him before he kills me if it's necessary to preserve my life.

  #95 | 1:08:29 to 1:09:20 | cleaned

• Self-defense is obligatory according to the Word of God. Moreover, according to Deuteronomy 22, it is right to protect the lives of others. If I have to kill someone to protect the lives of others, it is right, it is biblical, it is holy. So just because someone says a defensive war is the only right war does not necessarily make it true. You may justly take the life of another if that other is trying to take your life. And that certainly is self-defense, but you don't have to be killed or allow someone else to be killed before you destroy the one who's trying to kill. You see, folks, when it comes down to a holy war, when it comes down to a just war, it is our responsibility to search the Word of God and to make sure that we're fighting for the right reasons.

  #96 | 1:09:25 to 1:10:32 | cleaned

• Let me ask you a simple question, and I want you to think about this just to encourage you to think. Of all the wars that our country has been in, why were we really in them? What was really going on? And isn't it amazing what comes out and what is brought to light many times 40 and 50 years after the fact. Like President Roosevelt knew the Japanese were going to bomb Pearl Harbor before they ever did. That's a fact. It's a fact that the Vietnam War, the Korean War, some of them were never even officially declared wars. They were police actions. The war in Afghanistan. Just stop and think. What is it really all about?

  #97 | 1:10:32 to 1:11:38 | cleaned

• We have to determine for ourselves. It is our responsibility unto God to make sure if we're engaged in a war, that it's a holy war and it's a just war. And let me tell you, if it's not holy, and if it's not just, it's nothing but legalized murder. It's that simple. Legalized murder. God said, the cause must be holy. The army must be holy. The camp must be holy. And the leader must be holy. Let's pray.

  #98 | 1:11:40 to 1:12:26 | cleaned

• Father, we ask in the name of Jesus Christ that You would help us, that You would bless us, that You would speak to our hearts. Teach us Thy Word. Teach us Thy truth. And may Thy will be done in the name of Jesus Christ we ask and pray, Amen and Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T04:49:55Z