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Four Things That Are Needed For Renewal And Restoration - Part 1 of 2

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• First Samuel chapter 11. So the title of the message is "Four Things That Are Needed for Renewal and Restoration." So this message is going to be in two parts. The first part will be this week and, Lord willing, the second part will be next week. So since I've got four points, there'll be two today and two next week. So notice, if you would, First Samuel chapter 11, verse 1: "Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, 'Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee.' And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, 'On this condition will I make a covenant with you...'"

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• "...that I may thrust out all your right eyes and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel." And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, "Give us seven days' respite, that we may send messengers unto all the coast of Israel. And then if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee." Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul and told the tidings in the ears of the people. And all the people lifted up their voices and wept. And behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field, and Saul said, "What aileth the people that they weep?" And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was greatly kindled. And he took a yoke of oxen and hewed them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the coast of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, "Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done unto his oxen."

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• And the fear of the Lord fell on all the people, and they came out with one consent. And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were 300,000, and the men of Judah 30,000. And they said unto the messengers that came, "Thus shall you say unto the men of Jabesh Gilead, 'Tomorrow, by that time the sun be hot, you shall have help.'" And the messengers came and showed it to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad. Therefore, the men of Jabesh said, "Tomorrow we will come out unto you, and you shall do with us as all that seemeth good unto you." And so it was on the morrow that Saul put the people in three companies, and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day.

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• And it came to pass that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together. And the people said unto Samuel, "Who is he that said, 'Saul shall not reign over us'? Bring the men, that we may put them to death." And Saul said, "There shall not be a man put to death this day, for today the Lord has wrought salvation in Israel." Then said Samuel to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there." And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. And they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord. And there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

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• So remember this title: "Four Things That Are Needed for Renewal and Restoration." Let me make an observation that I think that each one will agree with, and that is this: that we're in deep trouble in this country. There are some Christians that really and truly understand the depth of the trouble that we are in, and there are others who just simply walk blindly by without even glancing around and seeing any of the warning signals whatsoever.

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• If you've been listening to, or if you have watched, or if you have gone on the internet to christianwarriortraining.com and looked at some of the things that Keith Graves has been putting out, you are far ahead of the ballgame. You're more enlightened than a lot of people. Now, Keith Graves is a retired 30-year cop. Twenty years of it was in SWAT. He has now given himself into a ministry whereby he is training Christians, and especially in church security and just security in general.

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• But each week he gives a rundown of everything that is happening in the churches in America. And you can find all the pastors that have been murdered or shot at or stabbed. You'll find all the churches that have been set on fire. You'll find all the graffiti. You'll find all the pedophilia. You'll find anything and everything that is going on in this country, and especially in regard to the churches. He will also give you information about churches in the whole world, but primarily here in America.

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• So the truth of the matter is this: the modern news media is not going to report on these things. And the average Christian today has done what the proverbial ostrich has done. He's just hidden his head in the sand and simply ignoring all the warning signs that have been given to us. So ignoring warning signs is not going to make evil disappear. In fact, ignoring warning signs is not going to make anything disappear.

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• All you have to do is ignore the warnings of cancer, a stroke, or heart attack. And just see how that works out for you. You know, it will not. You can ignore that red light that comes on on your dash when it says your motor is overheating. And you can take your hammer and even knock out that light. And it won't bother you at least for another 20 or 30 minutes. And then, of course, your motor is burnt up and you're sitting beside the road stranded. So I'm just simply pointing out the fact that we cannot ignore God's providential warnings. That is for sure.

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• So we're living in a day much like the days of Noah in Genesis chapter 6 and Genesis chapter 7. Not only are we an immoral nation, and under all—or just nation is that—but the truth of the matter is those antediluvians, that is, those people who lived before the flood, they refused to listen to Noah. They refused the warnings. They refused the preaching and the teaching, and of course that ended in their destruction. In all probability, they normally mocked; they made fun; they made jest. And the result was that they were ultimately destroyed. Now, the Bible says—and you will have to remember this—that in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 3, God said, "And the Lord said, 'My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.'" So there was 120 years while that ark was preparing, and while Noah was preaching and teaching, the people had the opportunity to listen and to observe everything that was going on.

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• Now, you have to remember, the Bible says also in 2 Peter, chapter 2 and verse 5, that God "spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly." So Noah then is classified as a preacher of righteousness. So what was he doing the 120 years? He was not only building the ark, he was also preaching the Word of God. No one took heed to what Noah was saying. No one took heed to what Noah was doing. The Bible says in Hebrews 11 and verse 7, "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith." So for 120 years he preached; he had no converts. No one listened. The only people saved were Noah, his wife, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and their wives. So obviously, the Word of God tells us that many people ignore warnings. The Bible also says in 1 Peter 3 and verse 20, again talking about the antediluvians, "which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing," so that 120 years God was patient, God was waiting, God was giving them the opportunity to hear,

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• and they certainly refused to hear. Now, the question would be this: Why would they not believe Noah when he was saying that a flood was going to come? Why would they not believe when Noah said that God was going to open the windows of heaven and He was going to break up the foundations of the great deep? Why would they not believe that?

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• Well, there is one particular reason why they would mock and jest at that. If you'll look in your Bibles—hold 1 Samuel 11—but if you'll look in your Bibles to the book of Genesis chapter 2 and verse 6, let me show you what happened up until this time. So Genesis 2 in verse 6, the Bible says, "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground." So during Noah's time, it had never rained. Water had never fallen from the sky. There had never been any great deeps broken up. And so here the people were laughing and probably mocking when Noah was preaching that God is going to send rain from the windows of heaven. And they would say, "Don't you know, rain doesn't come from heaven. Water comes out of the earth and waters everything." So obviously, if you look now in Genesis chapter 7, you will find that God did indeed do exactly what Noah preached. So Genesis 7, look in verse 11: "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights."

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• So you may mock and you may scoff and you may laugh at the Word of God all you desire. However, when the flood of His righteous anger and wrath arrives, you will be consumed. Your ignorance and your unbelief and your rejection of the truth will not save you. The only thing it will do is basically destroy you. So this brings me to the realization of where we are today.

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• We are in desperate straits. That is true. What is it going to take to renew us as a society, as a people, even as a nation? I'm going to give you four things out of 1st Samuel chapter 11. And the very first thing we must have is we must have a recognized realization of imminent danger, which most of us do not have. So if you look in verses 1 and 2 of 1st Samuel 11: "Then Nahash the Ammonite came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said unto Nahash, 'Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee.' And Nahash the Ammonite answered them, 'On this condition will I make a covenant with you, that I may thrust out all your right eyes and lay it for a reproach upon all Israel.'" Now Nahash the Ammonite despised Israel. You must remember the origin of the Ammonites.

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• The Ammonites were descendants of Lot, the nephew of Abraham, by incest with his own daughter. You will find that in Genesis 19 and verse 38. The Bible says, "And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day." Her sister also bore a child by Lot, and they were the Moabites. So the Moabites and the Ammonites both descended from an incestuous relationship with Lot and his daughters. So now there had been war between the Ammonites and the Israelites previously. In fact, the king of the Ammonites previously had falsely and wickedly claimed that Israel had stolen and taken some of their land. Listen to what he said in Judges 11 in verse 13: "And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, 'Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan.'"

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• "Now therefore restore those lands again peaceably." So he's charging Israel then with stealing all of these lands. And obviously, Israel did not steal those lands. God gave those lands, and Ammon did not even possess those lands at that particular time. Jephthah gave him all the history, and he asked him, he said, "Would you not—would you not take all the land that your God allowed you to conquer?" He said, "We did the same, but we did not take your land." And so Jephthah tried to get the king of Ammon to listen. He would not listen.

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• And there was a war. And so here's what he said in Judges 11, verse 33, because the Ammonites were really, really humiliated in defeat. And the Bible said, "And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel." So the Ammonites now have been thoroughly, completely humiliated.

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• Now, what happens in 1 Samuel chapter 11? Nahash sees an opportunity to strike back at Israel. And of course, he wants to lay a reproach upon all Israel because he has been humiliated, or at least his people have been humiliated. And so what is going on in Israel at this particular time is Saul has been chosen to be king. He has actually been anointed by Samuel, but yet he's not been made an official king, but it's been announced as such. If you look in 1 Samuel 10 and verse 27, the Bible says, "But the children of Belial said, 'How shall this man save us?'"

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• And they despised him and brought him no presents. But he held his peace. So there is a division now in the land, because some were for Saul and some were against Saul. And so what Nahash sees now is the fact that Gilead has also been weakened by war. Now there's a division in the land over the ruler. So he thinks now is the time to attack.

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• Now should be the time that Israel will fall into my hands very quickly, very easily. In other words, it'll be easy pickings to destroy them. So it's amazing to me how our enemies always recognize the advantages that they possess in the multitudinous divisions that abound. In fact, our enemies many times are the ones responsible for the divisions. So if you just stop and think for a moment about the divisions in this country, the divisions in our nation.

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• Now it is true, historically, that the North and South have always been divided. Even the Northerners, in the founding of the country, recognized this. And some northern politicians wanted a separation before there was ever a war. They just said, "We're not compatible. We're two different peoples." And that is true. Because when you realize that a lot of immigrants came from England and then from Europe, and even in England, you had divisions there.

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• You had the Royalists on the one hand, and you had those following Cromwell on the other hand. Or you had the monarchial group, and you had the Republican group. You had a division. And when those people came to America, they brought those divisions with them. The same thing when they came out of Europe. And you have to remember that back in those days, a lot of those divisions were deadly. They had wars. That's why Cromwell fought against the king. The king fought against Cromwell. That's why they fought against Scotland. That's why all these wars in Europe. It was all divisions.

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• So I want you to just stop and consider just for a moment how many ways we are divided. And I'm not going to list everything, but here we are. Think about this. It's not just simply red against blue. It's not just simply Republicans against Democrats. It's more, because now they have pitted whites against blacks and blacks against whites. They've pitted sodomites against heterosexuals, liberals against conservatives, constitutionalists against Marxists, Muslims against Christians, the far left against the far right, the saved against the unsaved.

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• the nationalists against the internationalists, the law enforcement against people, revolutionaries against the status quo, and transgenderism against creationists, and the tolerant against the intolerant. There are so many divisions. When you stop and meditate on this, it is absolutely astounding. So we're not one at all. We've never ever really properly assessed the divisions that are in this country. And our enemies want to keep it that way. Because our enemies ever know that if we ever get together and realize that most of these divisions are forced upon us and forced upon us by them, then we might come together and turn upon the real enemy and fight and destroy them and have our peace and our prosperity once again. So just like Israel did not really recognize the divisions that were going on in their country at this particular time in 1st Samuel chapter 11, we don't recognize the divisions that we have in this country and in Europe as well.

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• Now listen, we may not like, and we may disagree, and we may not even desire to have all of the illegal immigrants that we have in this country, yet we have not seen the imminent danger that they have brought to us as a country. I'm not going to sit here today and try to rehearse all the people that have been murdered and raped and robbed by all of these illegal immigrants. You can read yourself.

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• What about the one immigrant that tried to make the U-turn with the semi and basically killed, I forget, five, six, seven people. He couldn't even speak English. He couldn't read. And he got his CDL out of California. You understand that? Look at the drunk illegals that have murdered countless numbers of people on the highway. Think about the homes that have been broken into. Think about the elderly people that have been attacked. Think about all the rapes. Think about everything that is happening in this country.

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• And it's just absolutely unbelievable. Now, once you think about even Muslims, for instance, Muslims have taken over Michigan. You read about or heard about, I'm sure, where the Muslims ran the Christian pastor out, told him just because he lived there, he was not welcome there and he needed to leave. And just recently, another pastor, a prominent Southern Baptist pastor, was run out from a prayer chapel by Muslims in an airport and said that he was certainly not welcome there. So the Muslims have basically taken over Michigan, and now they're trying to take over New York.

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• And we've got to realize something. Christianity and Islam are totally opposites. They're never going to get together. The Bible and the Koran are totally opposites. We are never going to agree. The Bible says, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" Obviously, there's so much difference between the Muslims and Christians. We are never, ever going to agree. And you have to remember that the Muslims are out to conquer America.

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• They want to turn us into what they left. They want Sharia law. They want all of our women covered up. And by the way, some of the illegals over in Germany have said publicly it is their right to rape any and every white woman they see. The client declared it be their right. Why? I'm just simply pointing out the fact. No. Laura Logan reports this from a Muslim imam.

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• And he was basically speaking to England. But here's what he said: "You British guys are idiots." He said, "because your freedoms are what is allowing Muslims to take your freedoms away." And then he openly bragged about exploiting freedoms to push Sharia law and to take over. He mocks the West again. And he says, "You guys are idiots letting it happen."

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• Now the imam was actually speaking the truth, but at the same time he was gloating, he was bragging, and he was giving a reproach. You see, the name Nahash actually means "serpent." And so the imam is a serpent. In other words, he's seeking to destroy, he's seeking to hurt, and at the same time he happened to be speaking the truth. Now, you have to ask this question: Why in the world did Nahash desire to put out the right eye of the people of Jabesh Gilead? Yes, it was a reproach to Israel, that is true. But the word "reproach" is the Hebrew word krepah, and it's rendered reproach, a shame, a taunt, a scorn, and it literally means to disgrace someone. Now, once these people submitted to Nahash, they would become his slaves. They would become his tributaries. And if the other tribes did not come to save them, then this reproach then would be upon them.

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• It would show their weakness. It would also show that they allowed it to happen.

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• Now, why in the world would Nahash be so stupid as to give these people seven days to seek help? Because he knew about the divisions. He did not think anybody was going to come and save these people from Jabesh Gilead. And so he had this opportunity now to not only inflict this reproach upon the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, but to all of Israel together.

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• Now, I'm going to point something out just momentarily. And that is, it's not just a reproach upon Israel, but it's also going to be a reproach upon Israel's God.

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• Now, I want you to think about this. Why did he want the right eye out? Most warriors in the Bible, even most warriors today, are right-handed.

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• Now, I know that there were 300 Benjamites left-handed. The Bible says they could throw a rock or a stone at a hair and not miss. So they were good. There were left-handed people there. But by and large, most people are right-handed. I only know of one left-handed person in this room, and it's a woman. But most people are just right-handed.

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• Now, you have to stop and think about this. What did the men do in battle? Well, they took their left hand, and they held their shield, and it covered their left eye and most of their face, and their right eye and their right hand had their sword or a spear, and that's how they fought. And so, if that right eye is plucked out, then they cannot fight. They cannot resist. And so, Nahash is saying, "I'm willing for you to be my slaves, but I'm going to fix it where you can never resist me and you can never ever fight against me."

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• So it would be a reproach against them, that is for sure. But I want you to think about this. Here, these men are talking about the one true and the living God, the Israelites, and they say, "Our God is so powerful, our God is so sovereign. Our God is the one who defeated the armies of Egypt, overthrew Pharaoh. Our God is the one who brought us through that great wilderness, provided for us, gave us manna, kept us safe. Our God is the one who gave us power and enabled us to conquer the Canaan land. And yes, our God is the one true and the living God, and we want to give testimony to that." And the man listens his way, "Wait, wait, wait, wait."

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• "I hear what you're saying, but I have a question. What happened to your right eye? Where is it?" In other words, if God is so powerful, why did He not save them from having their right eye gouged out? In other words, what Nahash wanted was this: it's not just Israel being conquered. It's Israel being humiliated. And it's not just Israel being conquered and humiliated. It's the God of Israel, because he wants to show that the gods of Chemosh and Moloch are mightier than the one true and the living God, Yahweh, Jehovah God. So obviously, their reproach then would be upon God. Now, obviously, Nahash wanted revenge from the great defeat that Jephthah had placed upon his people, that is for sure. But here's the point I'm trying to emphasize right now.

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• If you do not recognize imminent danger, there's no way you're going to flee from that danger. There's no way you're going to prepare to defend yourself or your family or your home or your community. When you are unaware of danger, you just sail along and you walk along as if nothing has changed and everything's hunky-dory. Life is still a bed of roses. Just keep going until you get slammed upside the head.

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• So here is a good illustration of why we need what is known as situational awareness. We need to know what's going on around us. We need to know before we go into that convenience store, is that store being robbed? Is there someone standing outside with a weapon? Is there someone standing outside drunk? Is there someone standing outside or inside on drugs? We need to know, because if you are not aware of danger, you're not going to be in a position to defend yourself, your life, or the lives of others.

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• Now, here's the biblical principle. It's found in Proverbs 22 in verse 3. This verse is also found in Proverbs 27. But here's what it says. Listen carefully: "A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished." So the prudent man sees the evil and he hides himself. He gets out of the way of it. But the simple man, the foolish man, passes right on, pays no attention, and ultimately is destroyed.

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• So stop and think about this. How many Americans do you know? How many Christians do you know? Who is discussing or even thinking about the imminent danger that we are in today, not just from the illegal immigrants? How about the imminent danger from a tyrannical government? How about the imminent danger from that digital money? How about that imminent danger from fraud? Our monetary system is totally fraudulent. Real money in the Bible is silver and gold. History is silver and gold. Think about the imminent danger that we're in from the judgment of God because of our immorality and our sin and our rebellion. We hardly ever think of those things.

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• And our attitude is, "It won't happen here" or "It won't happen to us." Which, of course, is fallacious. It will happen here and it will happen to us unless there's repentance and renewal and revival and restoration. So the very first thing, if we're ever going to have a renewal and a restoration, we must recognize the imminent danger that we're in. It's interesting that the people of Jabesh Gilead didn't even recognize the animosity of those Ammonites until they were surrounded and couldn't do anything. It's too late when you're surrounded.

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• So that brings me to a second truth, and I want you to see this. You can see it in verses 3 and 4. 1 Samuel 11, verses 3 and 4. Just like there must be a recognition and realization of the imminent danger that we're in, secondly, there must be a recognition and a realization of our utter helplessness. Look in verse 3: "And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, 'Give us seven days' respite, that we may send messengers unto all the

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• coasts of Israel: and then if there be no man to save us, we will come out to thee.' Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices and wept." Isn't that amazing? So it's not just Jabesh Gilead who's now helpless. It's the people of Gibeah as well. And when they hear what is happening, all they can do is lift up their voices and weep.

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• In other words, their attitude is, "We can't do one thing about this. We can't stop this." So it appears then that the Gileadites, as well as all Israel, recognized in one sense of the word their utter helplessness, and that God's divine providence was obviously needed to deliver, that is for sure. But let me ask this question: Why does God only move in our helplessness, in our powerlessness?

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• Have you ever thought about that? Well, one of the reasons I'm going to show you is very plain. I want you to turn back in your Bibles to the book of Judges. Judges chapter 7. And let's begin reading there with verse 7. Judges chapter 7. Joshua, Judges. Judges 7, verse 7. And let's begin reading there with verse 1. And, of course, we're reading about Gideon. Look at this: "Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley." Now, before I go further, if you were to take the time to read Judges chapter 6, you find that these Midianites, as well as some Amalekites and some of the other children, came up against Israel, and the Bible said they were as grasshoppers, and as the sand by the sea. I mean, they were a multitude, and they came up to destroy. Now watch this. Look in verse 2: "And the Lord said unto Gideon, 'The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath

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• saved me.'" Wow. You know how many people Gideon had? He had 32,000 people. 32,000 is probably not many compared to the number of the Midianites at that particular time. But look what God says in verse 3.

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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 of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. So 22,000, two-thirds of the people, were basically cowards. They were afraid. They left 10,000. Look in verse 4: "And the Lord said unto Gideon, 'The people are yet too many.'"

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• "Bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, 'This shall go with thee,' the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, 'This shall not go with thee,' the same shall not go." So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, "Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink."

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• And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. And the Lord said unto Gideon, "By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place." Now God reduced Gideon's army from thirty-two thousand to three hundred. Why?

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• Lest Israel vaunt themselves and say, "This is my victory. My hand has done it. My fighting. This is all my work." God said, "I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to deliver a people who are bragging and boasting about what they are doing."

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• Now, I want you to turn right over, if you would, please, to 2 Chronicles, chapter 14. First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, and then First and Second Chronicles. Look in 2 Chronicles, chapter 14. 2 Chronicles chapter 14. And let's begin reading there with verse 9. 2 Chronicles 14, verse 9: "And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with a host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah." So Asa now is facing a man that has a million-man army and 300 chariots. The chariots were like the tanks of our day. Verse 10: "Then Asa went out against him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah."

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• And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, "Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee." So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before the Lord, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil. And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of the Lord came upon them: and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exceeding much spoil in them. Note, if you would, Asa now is facing a million-man army.

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• And what does he say? "Lord, I don't have any power. I don't have any strength. Lord, our eyes are upon Thee. You must deliver us. We cannot deliver ourselves." It's only when we reach the end of ourselves and when we realize our own helplessness and our own powerlessness that God will help us, because at that particular time we are absolutely, totally dependent upon Him. If we trust in our might, if we trust in our weapons, if we trust in our tactics, if we trust in our knowledge, we're going to fail.

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• That's all there is to it. Because we're under the curse of God. "Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." You know what the Bible says in Proverbs 21 in verse 31? It's one of my favorite verses. It's so true. God said, "The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord." You can have all the war machinery that you want, but if God does not protect you, if God does not deliver you, if God does not give you the victory, you're not going to have the victory. It's just that simple. Now, I want you to turn to another passage, because this passage to me, it's just the apex passage of what I'm trying to teach you.

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• If you will turn now to the book of Exodus chapter 5. Exodus chapter 5. You remember how God has sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh to say, "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 'Let my people go, that they may serve me.'" And of course, Moses and Aaron have been in front of the king of Egypt. And of course, they've done some of their miracles. The rod was turned into a serpent, and Moses' hand was turned leprous and then turned back. They've done some of these. But you remember what Pharaoh said in Exodus chapter 5 in verse 5—I think not verse 5—but he said, "I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." That's verse 2 and 3 and 4. Wow. What?

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• Oh, no, he said, "I'm not going to let them go. I don't recognize God." Now watch this. So Moses and Aaron have tried to get Pharaoh to let them go. He would not. So skip down to verse 17, Exodus 5.

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• Now, the elders of Israel have gone in. So look at verse 15. We'll start there. "Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, 'Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants? There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.' But he said, 'Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord. Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.' And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said, 'Ye shall not minish ought from your bricks of your daily task.' And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: and they said unto them, 'The Lord look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us.' And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, 'Lord, wherefore hast thou so

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• evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.'" So I want you to watch this. So the officers, the elders, have gone into Pharaoh. They've said, "You know, we want to go worship the Lord." And all you've done now is just make everything worse for us.

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• And you're beating us because you're telling me—and you're telling us—that we cannot do this thing. And yet we've got to make the same tale of bricks and yet make them without straw. And it's impossible. We can't do all this. So Pharaoh just simply says, "You're idle, you're idle. You're going to do it or else." So when they come out from Pharaoh's presence, look what they say to Moses: "The Lord look upon you and judge." Look what they say: "Because you have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us."

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• God has these people totally helpless. They cannot deliver themselves. They've tried, nothing works.

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• Now look in verse 23—or verse 22. "And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, 'Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.'" Here is the whole scene. God now has the officers and the elders of Israel helpless. They can do nothing. Now Moses and Aaron are helpless. They can do nothing. Moses is whining and complaining. All that has happened since I've been here has made it worse. Now look in chapter 6, verse 1: "Then the Lord said unto Moses, 'Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh.'"

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• "For with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land." Wow. "And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, 'I am the Lord.'" What God has said basically is this: Now, Moses, since you and Aaron are helpless and you realize you can't do it, since the elders are helpless and they realize they can't do it, I'm going to do it for you. I'm going to show you what I can do. Wow. Now, listen.

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• There are a number of lessons we need to learn. I think one of the simplest lessons we need to learn is this: You cannot reason with a tyrant. You cannot reason with a bureaucrat because they're petty tyrants. They will not listen to reason. They're not interested in reason. They're interested in your submission, and they're interested in their control over you. So you cannot reason with a tyrant.

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• Secondly, we have to realize it is only when we are—and when we recognize our helplessness, our powerlessness—it's then that we're totally and absolutely dependent upon God. When we realize we can't, then we have to realize that God can. As long as we think we can, God is not going to help us. So the enemy is going to prevail until we come to the realization we can do nothing without Him. I quoted this verse earlier, but you remember that passage in Jeremiah 17, because God hates pride. He said, "Whosoever trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, God curses him." He said, "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm." And he goes on to say, "He shall be like the heath in the desert." He's under the curse of God. God curses pride. God curses arrogance. God curses a headiness and high-mindedness. And God curses also what is known as a stiff neck. The Word of God says in Psalm 75 in verse 5, "Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck." Now you want to know what a stiff neck is?

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• Here we go. Jeremiah 17 verse 23: "But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction." So what's a stiff neck person? A stiff neck person will not listen. He will not receive instruction. He will not be taught. God says, "Don't be stiff necked. Don't be in the position where you will not listen and you will not learn." So Psalm 138 in verse 6 says this: "Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off." So God is not going to work for us when we are proud and arrogant, heady, haughty, high-minded, stiff-necked, think that we're capable of doing it all of ourselves. It's just not going to work. God sometimes will let us have our own way and see what we can accomplish in of ourselves, which will be absolutely nothing. So until we come to the end of ourselves, God's not going to work for us. You've heard me say this before, and I'm going to say it again right now.

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• One of the problems that we have in this country is our backs are not up against the wall yet. We're not suffering quite enough yet. We haven't seen that we're being encircled yet. We haven't seen that someone wants our right eye put out. We haven't seen that there's no escaping apart from God. So the truth of the matter is we have to come to the realization of our helplessness.

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• Now, let me make a couple of applications. The first one is this one: We must pray for seeing eyes and hearing ears that we may see and hear and understand the dangers that we are in, because we will never act in the defensive measure. We will never act to get out of the way of danger until we see it. I saw a cartoon years ago. It showed these two men with long hair, long beards, and white robes, walking up and down the road, and their sign—holding the sign—their sign said, "The end is near." Both of them had signs saying, "The end is near."

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• The next thing you heard, but you couldn't see, was a kerplush, kerplunk, slosh. And one looked at the other. And then the next scene showed a car going over a bridge. And the one looked at those and said, "Maybe we should change our signs just to say, 'The bridge is out.'" We'll stop and think about that. "The end is near." That's what they were saying. But nobody paid any attention.

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• But it was the truth. But now we need to change the bridge's out. So you're not going to try to escape from danger unless you see it, unless you perceive it, unless you know it. So we need seeing eyes and hearing ears. The second thing is this: we need to understand that we can do absolutely nothing apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to come to two realizations. Number one, I am nothing. And we are. We are nothing. The second realization we need to come to is I can do nothing. That's true. First of all, we're nothing apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, and we can do nothing apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord said it Himself in John 15 verse 5. He said, "Without me, ye can do nothing."

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• We have no strength in ourselves. We have no power in ourselves. We have no ability in ourselves. That is the ability and the power, the strength to please God and accomplish and do that which He wants in human strength and power. It's impossible. We don't have it. I've preached for 60 years and I've never saved anybody. I've never convicted anybody. Because I can't do that. That's the power of God. That's not my power whatsoever.

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• So, I'm going to admit something. I'm going to admit that I'm nothing in myself. I'm going to admit that I can do nothing in and of myself. But then, thankfully, there is another part. And that's found in Philippians 4 and verse 13, where the Apostle Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." So while we're helpless in and of ourselves, we're not helpless in Jesus Christ. While we're nothing in and of ourselves, we're not nothing in Jesus Christ. We're His children. We're His brethren. We're His servants. So we have to understand what we are in and of ourselves and what we are in Jesus Christ.

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• So, it is only the recognized realization of our own helplessness and powerlessness that throws us in total dependence upon God and His power and His strength. Now, I want to give you just three verses. Listen to this. Isaiah 41 in verse 10, God says, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." He said, "Fear not, I'm going to help you. I will uphold you." And then Isaiah 41 verses 13 and 14: "For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." Look how many times He said, "I will help thee. I will help, I will strengthen thee." Isaiah 44 and verse 2: "Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee."

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• "Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen." So fear not. God is going to help us. But—but—we have to recognize the imminent danger that we're in. That is, we have to recognize that we need His help. Then we have to recognize that we can't do it ourselves. We're powerless apart from Him. If we want our history back, if we want our culture back, if we would like to have what our founding fathers had, when everything was based upon biblical principles and biblical truths, we have to go back to where they were and rely upon the God of the Bible and live by the principles of the Bible, and live in total and complete dependence upon Him, seeking Him for His help, His grace, His mercy. If we're going to be renewed as a nation, as a society, as a church, as a family, if we're going to be restored, we have to first see the danger that we're in, and our helplessness.

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• to repair it and restore it, and call upon God to give His grace, His mercy, His strength, and His power. And He said, "Fear not, I will help thee." Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your promises. We thank You for Your truth. And we just ask, Father, You would help us to see and realize the danger that we're in, the danger that we're facing, and our utter helplessness so that we might cry unto Thee and seek Thee and see what Thou canst do. Give us Your grace and mercy. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

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• you you

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T21:25:01Z