Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: Promises Of The Law

Turning Back In The Day Of Battle

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Covenant Theology

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2018-11-20

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver examines Psalm 78:9 to diagnose why the well-armed Ephraimites turned back in battle, identifying covenantal unfaithfulness and ungratefulness as the root causes. He applies this to modern America, arguing that the nation and its men—especially preachers—have become soft, cowardly, and politically correct because they have neglected God, rejected His law, and forgotten His works. The sermon contrasts the boldness of 18th-century preachers with today's timid clergy and calls for a return to covenantal faithfulness and thankfulness to restore a biblical martial spirit.

[John Weaver] Alright, let's open our Bibles to Psalm 78. Psalm 78. The title of the message is from the text, Turning Back in the Day of Battle. Turning Back in the Day of Battle. We're going to read the first 11 verses of Psalm 78. And I hope this will give us a good explanation of what is going on in our land today as well. Psalm 78, verse 1, give ear, O my people, to my law, and climb your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us.

[John Weaver] We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generations to come the praises of the Lord and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children. that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, and might not be as their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.

[John Weaver] The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law, and forgot His works and His wonders that He had showed them." I could begin by asking two very simple questions. Number one, have you noticed a change in our culture? And number two, have you noticed changes in the men in our culture? Generally speaking, the men in our day and age have become soft, effeminate, and cowardly.

[John Weaver] Now, I know that there are exceptions to that statement, and I'm certainly thankful for those exceptions, that is for sure. But if you want to see the real change that has taken place in America, and the real change that has taken place in the men in America, then you need to compare and study The preachers in the 1700's and compare them with the preachers that we have today. You need to look closely because those men in the 1700's who fought for liberty and freedom, who stood for truth and righteousness, these men were bold, they were fearless, they were courageous, and they were determined. Today you look around at most pastors and most preachers and you will find that they are soft, they are prissy, they are politically correct, and they never want to offend anyone or hurt anyone's feelings in any way whatsoever. They go around like they are walking on eggshells. Now I'm certainly not advocating being ugly, or unkind, or uncivil in any way whatsoever. But when you begin to look at the preachers that were around in the 1700's and 1800's and compare them with the preachers today, you're going to see a very obvious difference.

[John Weaver] remember the British dubbed the preachers in early America the Black Robed Regiment because they wore those long flowing black robes. And of course they accused the preachers of being the leaders in the Revolution in which they in reality were. And so these men stood for truth, they stood for righteousness, they stood for liberty and freedom. And like I said earlier they were bold, they were courageous, and they were certainly valued for the truth.

[John Weaver] look around today and our modern day preachers and you are going to find that they are not going to really take a stand on anything, especially if it might affect their position, their pension, their income, or their members. And the sad fact is today most preachers place truth and righteousness very low on their list of priorities. Just to give you one example, There was a pastor who preached an election sermon in 1774 by the name of Gad Hitchcock. Gad Hitchcock was chosen to preach this election sermon, and let me tell you what an election sermon was and still is. In those days no man could assume a political office without first going through what was known as an election sermon. That means the pastor then stood and preached to the official, and to all of those around him, the duties he had toward God and toward the people.

[John Weaver] He would detail the role of government, the role of government to the people, and the people's role to the government, all based upon the Bible. So Gant Hitchcock was invited and chosen to preach this election sermon to the newly appointed governor that had been appointed by King George III. So he took as his text Proverbs 29 verse 2, when the righteous are in authority the people rejoice, but when the wicked bear rule the people mourn. When Gann Hitchcock got there to preach this election sermon he discovered that the newly appointed governor was none other than General Thomas Gage himself. General Gage also had his men behind him because General Thomas Gage had been sent by Georgia Third to quell the uprising and to quieten the colonists and to subdue them and to make sure they did not revolt against Georgia Third. Well, when Gad Hitchcock saw General Gage and saw the soldier standing behind him, it did not slow him down at all. I want to read to you just three paragraphs from the sermon that he preached to General Gage.

[John Weaver] Here's what he said. If I am mistaken in supposing plans are formed and executing subversive to our natural and charter rights and privileges and incompatible with every idea of liberty, all America is mistaken with me. our continued complaints, our repeated humble but fruitless, unregarded petitions and remonstrances, and if I may be allowed the sacred illusion, our groanings which cannot be uttered are at once indications of our sufferings and the feelings since we have of them."

[John Weaver] Remember he's talking to General Gage. Let the governor and his chair of state hear it. We not only mourn, but with groanings that cannot be uttered, and all because the wicked bear rule. The castle cannot shelter him from the scorching thunderbolt. Families are divided. Brothers are right against brother. Friend against friend. Society is cut from its moorings. And hate and consternation reign on every side. And all because of the wicked bear rule. King George may say that the evils that produce this state of things are imaginary. But I tell you, and I will tell the tyrant to his face, it is because of the wicked bear rule."

[John Weaver] Now that was Gad Hitchcock. preaching to General Gage and calling George III a tyrant. And he said, I will tell him to his face. So if you really want to be impressed, you pick up a book like Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution, written by J.T. Hedley, and you read about these men and you will see the vast difference between the preachers in the 1700s and the preachers of today.

[John Weaver] In fact, the truth of the matter is, we have fallen so far that most pastors do not even want the song, Honored Christian Soldiers sung in their churches anymore. It's too militant. It's too militant. Well, however, the Bible does tell us about the church militant. And may I remind you that in Exodus chapter 15 and verse 3 the Bible says, the Lord is a man of war, the Lord is His name. And when you get to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 24 it is by means of war that God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt. And then when you get to the book of Numbers chapter 21 and verse 14 you will find out that the wars of the Lord were so numerous the Bible talks about the book of the wars of the Lord. And let me tell you something else very interesting.

[John Weaver] If you would take a Webster's 1828 dictionary and look up the word militant. Here's what you will read. Remember now, this is Webster's 1828 dictionary. Number one, fighting, combating, fighting as a soldier. Number two, the church militant. the Christian Church on earth, which is supposed to be engaged in constant warfare against its enemies, thus distinguished from the Church triumphant which is in Heaven." So when Webster wrote his 1828 Dictionary when he came to the word militant he could not think of a better illustration than the Church on earth. Because the Church is to be engaged in constant warfare against its enemies.

[John Weaver] you look in Psalm 78 and verse 9 which I'll be talking about today, the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle, the sad fact is that most preachers and most Christians today are very much like the Ephraimites in Psalm 78. We have retreated from reality. We have not only retreated from reality we have retreated from Biblical principles and Biblical truth. There are only a few today that will enter into the fight and enter into the fray and unhappily a lot of those men who are in the fight in the fray pretty soon grow weary and lose heart and then they turn back themselves because they sense that they are all alone and they realize they cannot, quote, unquote, fight the battle just by themselves. And usually men quit when they are most needed. And you would think that being armed with truth and being armed with righteousness would be sufficient for anyone, but unhappily there are many today who will cast those weapons aside and just simply give in and give up.

[John Weaver] Now the Bible says the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. One of the greatest warriors in the Bible was an Ephraimite, Joshua the son of Nun. Ephraim was the largest tribe. In fact it was only the largest tribe that often times in the Bible you will find Ephraim as a term which would represent all of the Northern Kingdom because it was indeed a leading tribe.

[John Weaver] The privileges of the firstborn were given to Joseph according to 1 Chronicles chapter 5. And then Jacob before he died assigned those to Ephraim in Genesis chapter 48 and verse 1. The supremacy of the tribe of Ephraim is pointed out in the order of marching to Canaan because they marched right behind the ark. Moreover, when the ark was settled, it settled in Shiloh, which was in the land of Ephraim. And Ephraim, of course, was given a very large, expansive piece of land that was extremely fertile. And so Ephraim had many blessings, Ephraim had many privileges, yet Ephraim we read in the Bible turned away from God. Ephraim should have been leading the tribes in courage, in valor, however now we read in Psalm 78 verse 9 it is leading them in cowardice.

[John Weaver] The question that you would have to ask is what would make a well armed people turned back in the day of battle. Ephraim was armed. In fact, they were well armed. But when they faced the enemy, they turned back.

[John Weaver] Now, before I answer that question, I want to show you a principle that generally affects all of us. Do you understand that we develop attitudes and dispositions and habits and even actions from our fathers. Our fathers will always be our fathers and yet they are not always right. It is true that generally speaking wisdom comes with age. Judgment comes with age. I did some things when I was a young man that I would never, ever think of doing now. And I look back on my life and I think, Lord, you had to preserve me because I was so stupid and doing some of those senseless things that I did. Well, we think that wisdom comes with age, but not always. I want you to hold Psalm 78, but turn back just a few pages to the book of Job chapter 32. Job chapter 32. You remember Job had three friends who tried to give him counsel. all the counsel they gave did not apply to Job.

[John Weaver] There is a fourth friend there by the name of Elihu. Elihu was a younger man and he held his peace until last. And here is what he said in Job 32 beginning there with verse 6, and Elihu the son of Barakel the Buzite answered and said, I am young and you are very old. Wherefore I was afraid and darest not show you mine opinion. I said, days should speak and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man and inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.

[John Weaver] Then look at this, great men are not always wise, neither do the aged understand judgment. So just because someone has gotten old does not mean that he's wise. And just because someone is aged does not mean really that he understands judgment.

[John Weaver] Now I made the statement that our fathers are always going to be our fathers and that is certainly true. But we must not follow them in sin and disobedience. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11 in verse 1, be ye followers of me even as I am a follower of Christ. In other words we should follow no man any further than he follows the Lord Jesus Christ.

[John Weaver] Now one of the problems is that Ephraim Followed their fathers as well Let me show you look if you would please in Psalm 78 again and notice in verse 8 look what God says and might not be as their fathers a stubborn and rebellious generation a Generation that set not their heart aright and whose spirit was not steadfast with God So look carefully the description of their fathers stubborn revolters rebellious a Generation that did not set their heart aright. They were not steadfast with God They were double-minded disobedient and daring rebels against God they were stiff-necked ungovernable inclined to revolt And nothing was more remarkable in the history of Israel than this truth.

[John Weaver] They provoked him so many times and constantly betrayed him and fell into idolatry. They were treacherous and they were treasonous. Fathers stubborn in their own ways and rebellious against God are sorry examples for their children. They bring the curse of God upon themselves upon their children. I could show you several passages but I do want you to turn over to the book of Ezekiel chapter 20 and look at verses 18 and 19 because God said this again, Ezekiel 20 verses 18 and 19. Watch carefully. Ezekiel 20 beginning there with verse 18, But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk you not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am the Lord your God. Walk in my statutes and keep my judgments and do them." Now look what God said. I said to their children, don't walk in the statutes or in the laws or the rules of your fathers. Don't observe their judgments. Don't defile yourself with their idols.

[John Weaver] Do what I tell you. Because what they're telling you is contrary to the truth.

[John Weaver] Now, it's wonderful to have fathers to emulate those that we cannot emulate. We have to make sure that we mark their bad habits and their sins as something that we should not follow in and should not do. I can think of two individuals. two families two men Both as boys were raised in bars Saloons One just recently died at a very early age from drunkenness Smoking and everything else that went with it That's the way he was raised in a bar. The other individual was raised in a bar as well.

[John Weaver] But he marked what was happening and God had mercy upon him. And that individual is a wonderful young man who is already a preacher, very talented, very enlightened concerning the truth. And yet here are two men There were both race and bars. One followed the bad example of the father and the other said, hey, I'm not going to act like that. I'm not going to live like that.

[John Weaver] So, when you can emulate your fathers in goodness, and kindness, and righteousness, do so. But if they set a bad example, then don't do it.

[John Weaver] Now, look if you would, read verse 8 and 9 together. He said, It might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the days of battle. In the day of battle. They turn back now. Let me make some observations I haven't even gotten to what I want to share with you yet, but please understand this weapons Do not make a valiant man Weapons do not make a man courageous Weapons will not and cannot make you courageous. They may make you foolish But they cannot make you valiant The Ephraimites were armed and probably with the best of weapons and yet the Bible says they turned back.

[John Weaver] The problem is many people place their confidence in their weaponry. I mean, I've heard people say things like, well, let him come to my house. Man, I'm loaded for bear. I'm ready for him. Really? Well, I got news for you. If that weapon doesn't work, it's useless. If you can't get to it in time, it's useless. If you can't use it correctly, it's useless. Weaponry will not make a man valiant or courageous.

[John Weaver] The Bible says in Psalm 20 and verse 7, some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, but we will remember the name of our Lord. I believe I'd rather trust in the Lord. than to trust in weaponry or armor. And one of my favorite verses is Proverbs 21 in verse 31, where the Bible says, the horse is prepared for the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. I think it was David who said in Psalm 140, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. And of course, you should remember Psalm 127 verse one, where the Word of God says, except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

[John Weaver] So having the latest and the greatest and the best and the most expensive weaponry that money can buy cannot and will not make us courageous and valiant. Courage is not found in weaponry. me remind you of something. In fact I want you to turn back, hold Psalm 78, but turn back in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 17. As you turn back I want to remind you of the fact that David faced Goliath with a sling. When you stop and think about this, David was probably a teenager. Goliath was a seasoned warrior from his youth Then you think about not just the age difference you think about the difference in size Because Goliath was a huge strong man and David was just a young boy Then you think about the difference in their weaponry because Goliath was covered with armor and he had this heavy sphere and he had the shield and and David just had a slain. Now when you stop and think about the age difference, the size difference, the difference in weaponry, that would be enough to cause fear and consternation in the average individual right there.

[John Weaver] Don't tell me I've got to fight this man. But yet David with a slain went and took care of Goliath. Remember Saul offered him his armor and David said I can't I can't go in this I haven't proved it now I want you to watch this look in 1st Samuel chapter 17 and let's begin reading there with verse 32 1st Samuel 17 verse 32 and David said to Saul Let no man's heart fail because of him thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine and Saul said to David not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by the beard, and smote him, and slew him.

[John Weaver] Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing it defied the armies of the living God. David said, moreover, the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, go and the Lord be with thee. Well, the Lord be with you, son, because I'm not going out there. That was his attitude. Now I want you to know David didn't say I'm an expert with a sword. He didn't say I'm an expert with a sling he may have been But he said God who delivered me out of the paw of the bear and out of the paw of the lion He's gonna deliver me from this Philistine.

[John Weaver] So his trust was not in his weaponry. His trust was in the Lord God now Let me point out a principle that's going to come to light in only in 1 Samuel chapter 17, but it is going to come to light in Psalm 78 and verse 9 as well. And that is this, a biblical martial spirit only comes to light in obedience to God and His Word. So a biblical fighting spirit Only comes to light in obedience to God and his word I could say this a little bit differently if God is not with us in us and for us Our martial spirit our fighting spirit is gone Sin dispirits man. It takes away man's heart one cannot and Will not fight courageously and bravely apart from God and his truth. I Let me point something out.

[John Weaver] Historically, Christian men have always been the greatest fighters. And the reason that is true is because, number one, they always fought on biblical principle. Number two, they were willing to die for those biblical principles. And number three, they were not afraid to die. Oliver Cromwell, of course, was known as the Ironsides of England. He gathered Christian men to go out and fight against King Charles. And they went into battle singing psalms and hymns.

[John Weaver] Their watchword was the Lord our hosts. You'll read that in the Bible. When you see God is the God of hosts or the Lord of hosts, the word host actually means armies. God is the God of the armies. And so they went into battle with these words the Lord of hosts. they went into the battle with determination to win or die. Cromwell said this, truly I think he that prays and preaches best will fight best. And that's true.

[John Weaver] Hedley Vickers himself was an excellent Christian soldier and he wrote this, listen carefully. He said, I have often heard it said the worse the man the better the soldier. facts contradict this untruth. Were I ever, as the leader of a forlorn hope, allowed to select my men, it would most certainly be from among the soldiers of Christ. For who should fight so fearlessly and bravely as those to whom death presents no after terrors?"

[John Weaver] So they said, once you die, He said, there's no terror to you. you've died in the faith and you've died in the Lord. So, when you look at Psalm 78 and verse 9 and you read this statement, the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. You would have to ask several questions. Why did the children of Israel turn back in the day of battle?

[John Weaver] Why were they unwilling to fight? What made them cowards? What made them lose their martial spirit? And by the way, once you have lost your fighting spirit, the best of reasons will not induce you to fight. If I took the time to go through the Bible, I could show you numerous reasons to fight. I could show you numerous encouragements that were given to the people. One of them you can find in Nehemiah 4 in verse 14 and I will just quote it. Nehemiah said, remember by the way they were planning a surprise attack on Nehemiah and his men.

[John Weaver] they were building the walls. And Nehemiah said, And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, and your wives, and your houses. So he said, Here is my encouragement. You remember the Lord. The Lord is great and terrible.

[John Weaver] He is a man of war. And then you remember your sons, and your daughters, and your wives, and your houses. You remember your life you remember your Lord you remember your family you remember your property here are excellent reasons to fight But once a man has lost his martial spirit None of these reasons Will prevail upon him. He cannot be goaded. He cannot be prodded. He cannot be made to fight He was just simply give in give up give out turn over and die Let me show you Look in your Bibles to Psalm 76 and verse 5 Psalm 76 in verse 5 Psalm 76 verse 5 Here's an interesting passage The stout-hearted are spoiled they have slept their sleep and none of the men of might have found their hands In that amazing the stout-hearted are spoiled What were they spoiled of? And the answer is their stout heart. They've slept their sleep.

[John Weaver] That is, they're dead now. They couldn't fight. And none of the men of might have found their hands. I want to give you two quotes. One is by Herman Venema. And he's giving a quote on Psalm 76 and verse five, and he says this. There is indicated in these words that consternation of mind which deprives of judgment and power, the valued or spoiled of their heart. That is, they who at other times were wise and courageous have now lost their heart and have been reduced to foolishness and stupidity." The second quote is from Joseph Carl, and Joseph Carl preached 40 years from the book of Job, and he says this, the stout-hearted, the strong or spoiled. The strong man may be spoiled by a stronger, that is a good sense, but it is more elegantly rendered they are spoiled of their stout heart. That is the Lord takes their heart out of their bosom.

[John Weaver] Daring men who fear nothing are turned into megar misibibs, that is men who fear everything round about. their stout hearts are taken from them. And they are so far from being a terror to other men that they run from the shadow of a man. Their courage is down. They cannot give a child a confident look, much less look dangers or enemies in the face." Now listen, as we say of a man that goes lamely or lazily, he cannot find his feet. So of a man that acts lamely or lazily, or of a soldier that fights faintly and cowardly, he cannot find his hands. So when you look at Psalm 76 and verse 5 God is talking about people who have turned into pure cowards, who are unwilling to fight and who are afraid to fight. Psalm 48 and verse 6, fear took hold upon them there and pain as of a woman in travail. Fear took hold upon them.

[John Weaver] I'm sure that you have heard the expression and probably used the expression, frozen with fear and There are some interesting videos even on YouTube and other places where People are just standing still in the face of danger Like like they're just frozen in place Well, that's what happens when you lose heart now When you look at Psalm 78 and verse 9 The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. You have to understand that there are reasons as to why they turned back in the day of battle. If you understand what I'm going to share with you in the next little while, you will understand what has happened in America. You will understand what has happened to the men in America. You'll understand what has happened to the preachers. and the churches in America. So, look at verse 9 and let's connect it with verse 10. The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle.

[John Weaver] They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law. So, the very first reason the children of Israel turned back in the day of battle, the very first reason for their faint heart and their cowardly attitude and actions is what you and I would call covenantal unfaithfulness. They were not faithful to the covenant. They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law. violated God's covenant, they were disobedient, they were rebellious, they were stubborn, they refused to abide by and walk in obedience to His covenant, and their disobedience was accompanied by obstinacy. That is they held God's law in absolute contempt. When you hold God's law in absolute contempt you also hold God who gave that law in absolute contempt. When you read the Bible these people gave way to fornication and idolatry and all the violations of God's law over and over. They lived in rebellion against God, against His rule, against His power. These people had pledged to obey God's covenant at Mount Sinai. And now they violated it over and over and over.

[John Weaver] And over and over in the Bible God warned God reminded them not to forget his covenant. Let me just give you two passages I want you to hold Psalm 78 but go back in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and Look at verse 23 You can multiply these passages But look at these two Deuteronomy 4 verse 23. Look what God says. I heed unto yourselves lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of anything which the Lord thy God hath forbidden you." Note he says, take heed unto yourselves lest you forget the covenant of your God. Don't forget Don't forget he tells you why in verse 24 for the Lord by God is a consuming fire even a jealous God So God says you better make sure you pay attention to this covenant Don't forget it if you look in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 11 Deuteronomy 8 and verse 11 Here's another warning that God has given Deuteronomy 8 verse 11.

[John Weaver] I He says beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God and not keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes Which I commanded thee this day So again, God says you beware that you don't forget his commandments his judgments his statutes. All those were bound up in the covenant So God says I'm reminding you do not forget this covenant now. I want to remind you of this the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. Why? Covenantal unfaithfulness. I want to show you a truth from the covenant. I want you to turn in your Bibles.

[John Weaver] Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. I want you to hold both of those passages because we are going to go back and forth just momentarily between these two passages. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.

[John Weaver] Now let me tell you that both of these passages happens to deal with the blessings and the curses. That is the sanctions that God gives to Concerning his covenant. So God says if you obey me if you're faithful, I'm going to bless you If you disobey me and you're unfaithful, I'm going to curse you So you have the blessings and the curses so I want you to know first of all Leviticus 26 verses 6 through 8 look at the blessing that is promised upon covenantal faithfulness Leviticus 26 verse 6 God said and I will give peace in the land and You shall lie down and none shall make you afraid And I will read read evil beasts out of the land neither shall the sword go through your land 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 So here's this blessing.

[John Weaver] God said if you are faithful to this covenant, I will give you peace in the land You will lie down None will make you afraid I'll rid the evil beast out of the land. They'll not bother you The sword is not gonna go through your land if your enemies come after you five of you shall chase a hundred and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand and Your enemy shall fall by the sword Now if you'll turn holding Leviticus 26 turn to Deuteronomy chapter 28, you'll find this blessing in verse Deuteronomy 28 and verse 7 look how he says it now 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 so God says if you are covenantally faithful when your enemies attack and One big horde thinking they're going to overrun you you will defeat them so thoroughly They'll scatter and retreat seven different ways.

[John Weaver] These are the blessings Okay. Now go back to Leviticus 26 and let's begin reading there with verse 24. I Leviticus 26 verse 24. In fact let's read verse 23. Here is where they are covenantally unfaithful. Here is the curse. Verse 23, God said, If you will not be reformed by Me by these things, but will walk contrary to Me, that is you will not keep My covenant, then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. Watch verse 25. And I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant.

[John Weaver] And when you are 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, on the one hand, I've promised you peace if you obey me.

[John Weaver] On the other hand, if you disobey me, I'm going to bring a sword against you. I'm going to send pestilence. You're going to be delivered into the hand of your enemies now Look, if you would please still in Leviticus chapter 26 beginning there with verse 36 Look what he says now Leviticus 26 verse 36 And upon them that are left alive of you. I will send a faintness into their hearts Did you hear that? You'll be cowards. You'll be afraid you'll be scared I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them And they shall flee as fleeing from a sword and they shall fall when none pursueth And they shall fall one upon another As it were before sword when none pursueth and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies And you shall perish among the heathen The land of your enemies shall eat you up. So God says if you're covenantally unfaithful You're going to fall in the hands of your enemies now turn to Deuteronomy 28 and let's begin reading there with verse 25 Here it is again Deuteronomy 28 verse 25 you remember the blessing was if your enemy came against you one way and You would defeat

[John Weaver] him and he'd flee seven ways Now the bible says if you walk contrary to me 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 shall be removed in all the kingdoms of the earth And thy carcass shall be meat into the fowls of the air into the beasts of the earth and no man shall fray them away And lords you're going to lose You can't face your enemies. You can't stand before your enemies now with that in mind Go back if you would please and look in psalm 78 in verses 9 and 10 Put these two things together children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle." Why?

[John Weaver] Here is the first reason, covenantally unfaithful. They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law. Do you realize when we deny the covenant of God and cast His law behind our backs at the same time we throw away His blessings and bring upon us His curses? remember what the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 8 in verse 31? He said, what shall we say to these things? If God be for us who can be against us?

[John Weaver] Now stop and think about that. If God be for us who can be against us? So if God is for us it doesn't matter if the entire universe is against us, because God is quite capable of whipping anyone and anything in the entire universe. But you know the opposite is also true. If God be against us Nobody's gonna help us No one will be around to help us and David certainly understood this because David said in Psalm 16 verse 11 give us help from trouble For vain is the help of man. He's praying to the Lord Give us help from trouble for vain is the help of man man can't help us and especially if God is against us man cannot help us and You see sin may make you bold and it may make you forward to commit more sin But in the time of danger in the time of testing it'll make you a coward How in the world can we plead to God for help? If we know that we're in rebellion against him and are in disobedience to him David said it like this in Psalm 68 and verse 18 if I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will hear me just Regarding it causes God not to hear how much more will he not hear if we're

[John Weaver] involved in it and oftentimes When we turn against God God just leaves us to ourselves and Lets us see how weak and helpless and foolish and stupid we really are when we start reaping that which we've sown. But one of the reasons given in scripture that the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle was because of covenantal unfaithfulness. You look at what is happening in America. You look at where in the beginning where we were faithful to God to his word. And today No one thinks about faithfulness no one even thinks about God all we think about today is political correctness and tolerance and We do not want to upset anyone or offend anyone It's all right to offend God, but it's not all right to offend a wicked sinner So covenantally unfaithfulness brought down these men pure cowards. Here is a second reason that is given in verse 11. Let's read verse 9, 10, and 11. Verse 9, the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle.

[John Weaver] They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law, that is covenantal unfaithfulness, and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them, that is covenantal ungratefulness. They forgot his works. They forgot his wonders that he had showed them Had they remembered his works had they remembered his wonders. They would have been filled with gratitude and thankfulness They would have had his works and his wonders in their hearts and minds and been deeply moved because of the grace and mercy shown to them I Told the folks this morning Alice and I are still cleaning up I still have several large trees

[John Weaver] down that I've got to cut up and carry off. We still have a lot of limbs to pick up, a lot of debris to clean up. But every time I cut a tree and every time I start carrying it off, I still thank God that He spared all our buildings, not one fell on any of the buildings. See, if you can remember God's wonders in God's work, you can have a grateful and a thankful heart. John Trapp the old Puritan said this I want you to think about this John Trapp said this forgetfulness is a grave All is lost that is conferred on an ungrateful person All is lost that is conferred on an ungrateful person each one in this room Undoubtedly at one time or another has helped

[John Weaver] someone maybe financially And that someone then turned around and stabbed them in the back or worked against them or did something to hurt them. Forgetfulness is a grave. And all that is conferred upon an ungrateful person is forgotten. I have friends. One I know particularly that helped another so-called Christian greatly financially. And then the man turns around and stabs him in the back. Anything conferred upon an ungrateful person is forgotten.

[John Weaver] Look what God has done for us. Look what God did for Israel. Look what God did for Ephraim. Look what God has done and we have forgotten His works, His wonders, and we've become an ungrateful and unthankful people. They may not have forgotten His works historically, How could you forget the history of the Red Sea? How could you forget the history of the destruction of Pharaoh and his army? But they did forget his wonders and his works practically and spiritually so that they were unthankful and ungrateful for anything and everything that he had done.

[John Weaver] They refused to love him. They refused to serve him. They refused to honor him. They refused to walk in his law. So for all practical purposes, whatever God had done for them, they just simply forgot. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 106. Psalm 106. Psalm 106. And look if you would please at verses 12 and 13 to show you how hypocritical these people really were.

[John Weaver] When you read verse 12, then believed they his words, they sang his praise. Wow, you think, finally at last we've got some folks here that believe him and sing in his praise. By the way, there is such a thing as a temporary believer. one that is genuinely saved. But you remember even in the New Testament the parable of the sower there, these believed for a while. It is what the Scripture says. But notice verse 12, didn't believe his words, they sang his praise.

[John Weaver] But look what happens next, they soon forgot his works, they waited not for his counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert. So here are people singing this praise one moment and forgetting him and refusing to wait for him and provoking him and sending his him the next moment Now I want to tell you what happened to Ephraim I want to tell you what happened to Israel And I want you to see this is what happened in America It's what happens in our churches It's what happens in our lives The first thing they did was neglect God. Anytime you neglect the reading of the word, you neglect prayer, you neglect listening to the preaching and exposition of the word of God. When you neglect God, inevitably, you're going to begin rejecting His law. You're going to be saying something like this.

[John Weaver] Well, it might be wrong for everybody else, but it's all right for me. Or I can do this little bit and I can get by. And then once you begin rejecting his law and his standards, that leads to forgetfulness. And then pretty soon you're just simply. Hog wild and rebellion against God. They neglected, they rejected, they forgot. That's what we do. We neglect God We reject his law and then we forget everything that he's done for us now Let me make some applications.

[John Weaver] The first one is this I Hope you understand this. It's very simple when we forget God and his covenant It is impossible to trust him It is impossible to trust him How can you trust in someone that you forget? How can you trust in someone that you reject? How can you trust in someone that you neglect? Hence, in our times of danger, we become outright cowards because we have nothing in ourselves, we have no power in ourselves, and all we can see is our weakness. Our forgetfulness of God His works is at the bottom of our disobedience to his laws We are facing dangerous times I can assure you of that and We better be remembering him and we better be remembering his covenant.

[John Weaver] The second application is this hypocrisy is the high road to apostasy those who do not set their hearts steadfast with God will be double-minded at the best and apostate at the worst. These men, being armed with bows, turn back in the day of battle. The last one is this, and I think you should have this one down in your hearts, and that is this, carnal confidence is worthless. Carnal confidence is worthless. When you start trusting in yourself and your power or your weaponry or what you have or what you don't have, when you trust in any of those things, it is absolutely worthless.

[John Weaver] It is not going to give you a martial spirit. It's not going to give you courage. It's not going to give you valor. It's going to destroy you. William Gurnall wrote a book I would encourage you to get it. It's very good reading. The book is just about this thick the title of it is the Christian and complete armor and Listen to what Grinnell said one quote Let the armor be what it will yea if soldiers were in a castle whose foundations were rock and walls of brass and Yet, if their heart be not right

[John Weaver] to their prince, an easy storm will drive them from the walls, and a little scare will open their gate, which hath not this bolt of sincerity on it to hold it fast." So, what did he say? If you're not a genuine believer, it will not take much to drive you away from standing for truth and righteousness. In other words, sin And disobedience will make cowards out of all of us.

[John Weaver] What happened to Ephraim has happened to America. We have become covenantally unfaithful and covenantally ungrateful. And we're a nation of wimps. and softies and cowards. We've lost the fighting spirit. And by that, I even refer to standing for truth and righteousness. Today, people had rather be politically correct than biblically correct. And when we stand for truth, we will be assailed That is for sure. But one thing for sure, it's going to take covenantal faithfulness and thankfulness to be able to stand in the time of testing.

[John Weaver] Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before thee this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. And Lord, help us not be like those who turned back in the day of battle. Give us a holy determination to be faithful unto Thee, to be grateful unto Thee, to be thankful unto Thee, to be submissive to Thee, to be obedient to Thee, to honor Thee, and to worship Thee alone. For Thou alone art God, and beside Thee there is none other. We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray, amen. you

Turning Back In The Day Of Battle

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	cS_Ne2gjt6U
Subject	Covenant Theology
Course	Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: Promises Of The Law
Genre	Sermon
Date	2018-11-20
Dictation Name
Book	Book 043: Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need — Chapter 10
Source Timed Segments	70

Formatted Transcript

Introduction and Reading of Psalm 78:1-11

Weaver opens with Psalm 78, reading verses 1-11, and poses two questions about cultural and masculine decline in America.

Alright, let's open our Bibles to Psalm 78. Psalm 78. The title of the message is from the text,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 78:1-11

"Turning Back in the Day of Battle."

Turning Back in the Day of Battle. We're going to read the first 11 verses of Psalm 78. And I hope this will give us a good explanation of what is going on in our land today as well. Psalm 78, verse 1:

Scripture Reading — Psalm 78:1-11

"Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us." "We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments: and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God." "The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law; and forgot His works, and His wonders that He had showed them."

I could begin by asking two very simple questions. Number one, have you noticed a change in our culture? And number two, have you noticed changes in the men in our culture? Generally speaking, the men in our day and age have become soft, effeminate, and cowardly.

The Decline of Masculine Courage in Modern Preachers

Weaver contrasts the bold, fearless preachers of the 1700s with today's soft, politically correct clergy who avoid offense.

Now, I know that there are exceptions to that statement, and I'm certainly thankful for those exceptions, that is for sure. But if you want to see the real change that has taken place in America, and the real change that has taken place in the men in America, then you need to compare and study the preachers in the 1700s and compare them with the preachers that we have today. You need to look closely because those men in the 1700s who fought for liberty and freedom, who stood for truth and righteousness, these men were bold, they were fearless, they were courageous, and they were determined. Today you look around at most pastors and most preachers and you will find that they are soft, they are prissy, they are politically correct, and they never want to offend anyone or hurt anyone's feelings in any way whatsoever. They go around like they are walking on eggshells. Now I'm certainly not advocating being ugly, or unkind, or uncivil in any way whatsoever. But when you begin to look at the preachers that were around in the 1700s and 1800s and compare them with the preachers today, you're going to see a very obvious difference.

Remember the British dubbed the preachers in early America the Black Robed Regiment because they wore those long flowing black robes. And of course they accused the preachers of being the leaders in the Revolution, which they in reality were. And so these men stood for truth, they stood for righteousness, they stood for liberty and freedom. And like I said earlier, they were bold, they were courageous, and they were certainly valiant for the truth. Look around today at our modern day preachers and you are going to find that they are not going to really take a stand on anything, especially if it might affect their position, their pension, their income, or their members. And the sad fact is today most preachers place truth and righteousness very low on their list of priorities. Just to give you one example, there was a pastor who preached an election sermon in 1774 by the name of Gad Hitchcock. Gad Hitchcock was chosen to preach this election sermon, and let me tell you what an election sermon was and still is. In those days no man could assume a political office without first going through what was known as an election sermon. That means the pastor then stood and preached to the official, and to all of those around him, the duties he had toward God and toward the people.

Historical Example: Gad Hitchcock's Election Sermon

Weaver recounts how Gad Hitchcock boldly preached Proverbs 29:2 to General Thomas Gage, calling King George III a tyrant.

He would detail the role of government, the role of government to the people, and the people's role to the government, all based upon the Bible. So Gad Hitchcock was invited and chosen to preach this election sermon to the newly appointed governor that had been appointed by King George III. So he took as his text Proverbs 29:2, "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." When Gad Hitchcock got there to preach this election sermon he discovered that the newly appointed governor was none other than General Thomas Gage himself. General Gage also had his men behind him because General Thomas Gage had been sent by George III to quell the uprising and to quieten the colonists and to subdue them and to make sure they did not revolt against George III. Well, when Gad Hitchcock saw General Gage and saw the soldiers standing behind him, it did not slow him down at all. I want to read to you just three paragraphs from the sermon that he preached to General Gage.

Here's what he said: "If I am mistaken in supposing plans are formed and executing subversive to our natural and charter rights and privileges and incompatible with every idea of liberty, all America is mistaken with me. Our continued complaints, our repeated humble but fruitless, unregarded petitions and remonstrances, and if I may be allowed the sacred allusion, our groanings which cannot be uttered are at once indications of our sufferings and the feelings since we have of them." Remember he's talking to General Gage. "Let the governor and his chair of state hear it. We not only mourn, but with groanings that cannot be uttered, and all because the wicked bear rule. The castle cannot shelter him from the scorching thunderbolt. Families are divided. Brothers are right against brother. Friend against friend. Society is cut from its moorings. And hate and consternation reign on every side. And all because of the wicked bear rule. King George may say that the evils that produce this state of things are imaginary. But I tell you, and I will tell the tyrant to his face, it is because of the wicked bear rule."

Now that was Gad Hitchcock preaching to General Gage and calling George III a tyrant. And he said, "I will tell him to his face." So if you really want to be impressed, you pick up a book like "Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution," written by J.T. Headley, and you read about these men and you will see the vast difference between the preachers in the 1700s and the preachers of today.

The Church Militant and Biblical Warfare

Weaver defends the concept of the church militant, citing Exodus 15:3 and Webster's 1828 dictionary to show the church is engaged in constant spiritual warfare.

In fact, the truth of the matter is, we have fallen so far that most pastors do not even want the song "Onward Christian Soldiers" sung in their churches anymore. It's too militant. It's too militant. Well, however, the Bible does tell us about the church militant. And may I remind you that in Exodus chapter 15 and verse 3 the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 15:3

"The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is His name."

And when you get to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 24 it is by means of war that God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt. And then when you get to the book of Numbers chapter 21 and verse 14 you will find out that the wars of the Lord were so numerous the Bible talks about "the book of the wars of the Lord." And let me tell you something else very interesting.

If you would take a Webster's 1828 dictionary and look up the word "militant," here's what you will read. Remember now, this is Webster's 1828 dictionary. Number one, "fighting, combating, fighting as a soldier." Number two, "the church militant, the Christian Church on earth, which is supposed to be engaged in constant warfare against its enemies, thus distinguished from the Church triumphant which is in Heaven." So when Webster wrote his 1828 Dictionary, when he came to the word "militant," he could not think of a better illustration than the Church on earth. Because the Church is to be engaged in constant warfare against its enemies.

The Problem of Ephraim's Cowardice

Weaver notes that Ephraim, despite its privileges and armament, turned back in battle, and that weapons alone do not make a man courageous.

You look in Psalm 78 and verse 9, which I'll be talking about today, "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle." The sad fact is that most preachers and most Christians today are very much like the Ephraimites in Psalm 78. We have retreated from reality. We have not only retreated from reality, we have retreated from Biblical principles and Biblical truth. There are only a few today that will enter into the fight and enter into the fray, and unhappily a lot of those men who are in the fight in the fray pretty soon grow weary and lose heart and then they turn back themselves because they sense that they are all alone and they realize they cannot, quote unquote, fight the battle just by themselves. And usually men quit when they are most needed. And you would think that being armed with truth and being armed with righteousness would be sufficient for anyone, but unhappily there are many today who will cast those weapons aside and just simply give in and give up.

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 5

Now the Bible says, "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle." One of the greatest warriors in the Bible was an Ephraimite, Joshua the son of Nun. Ephraim was the largest tribe. In fact it was only the largest tribe that often times in the Bible you will find Ephraim as a term which would represent all of the Northern Kingdom because it was indeed a leading tribe. The privileges of the firstborn were given to Joseph according to 1 Chronicles chapter 5. And then Jacob before he died assigned those to Ephraim in Genesis chapter 48 and verse 1. The supremacy of the tribe of Ephraim is pointed out in the order of marching to Canaan because they marched right behind the ark. Moreover, when the ark was settled, it settled in Shiloh, which was in the land of Ephraim. And Ephraim, of course, was given a very large, expansive piece of land that was extremely fertile. And so Ephraim had many blessings, Ephraim had many privileges, yet Ephraim we read in the Bible turned away from God. Ephraim should have been leading the tribes in courage, in valor, however now we read in Psalm 78 verse 9 it is leading them in cowardice.

The question that you would have to ask is what would make a well armed people turn back in the day of battle. Ephraim was armed. In fact, they were well armed. But when they faced the enemy, they turned back.

Now, before I answer that question, I want to show you a principle that generally affects all of us. Do you understand that we develop attitudes and dispositions and habits and even actions from our fathers? Our fathers will always be our fathers and yet they are not always right. It is true that generally speaking wisdom comes with age. Judgment comes with age. I did some things when I was a young man that I would never, ever think of doing now. And I look back on my life and I think, Lord, you had to preserve me because I was so stupid in doing some of those senseless things that I did. Well, we think that wisdom comes with age, but not always. I want you to hold Psalm 78, but turn back just a few pages to the book of Job chapter 32. Job chapter 32. You remember Job had three friends who tried to give him counsel. All the counsel they gave did not apply to Job.

The Influence of Fathers and the Danger of Following Bad Examples

Weaver warns that while fathers are to be honored, their sinful examples must not be followed, citing Job 32 and Ezekiel 20.

There is a fourth friend there by the name of Elihu. Elihu was a younger man and he held his peace until last. And here is what he said in Job 32 beginning there with verse 6:

Scripture Reading — Job 32:6-9

"And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not show you mine opinion. I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding."

Then look at this: "Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment." So just because someone has gotten old does not mean that he's wise. And just because someone is aged does not mean really that he understands judgment. Now I made the statement that our fathers are always going to be our fathers and that is certainly true. But we must not follow them in sin and disobedience. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 1,

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 11:1

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ."

In other words we should follow no man any further than he follows the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now one of the problems is that Ephraim followed their fathers as well. Let me show you. Look if you would please in Psalm 78 again and notice in verse 8, look what God says: "And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God." So look carefully at the description of their fathers: stubborn, revolters, rebellious, a generation that did not set their heart aright. They were not steadfast with God. They were double-minded, disobedient, and daring rebels against God. They were stiff-necked, ungovernable, inclined to revolt. And nothing was more remarkable in the history of Israel than this truth.

They provoked Him so many times and constantly betrayed Him and fell into idolatry. They were treacherous and they were treasonous. Fathers stubborn in their own ways and rebellious against God are sorry examples for their children. They bring the curse of God upon themselves and upon their children. I could show you several passages but I do want you to turn over to the book of Ezekiel chapter 20 and look at verses 18 and 19 because God said this again. Ezekiel 20 verses 18 and 19. Watch carefully. Ezekiel 20 beginning there with verse 18:

Scripture Reading — Ezekiel 20:18-19

"But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them."

Now look what God said. I said to their children, don't walk in the statutes or in the laws or the rules of your fathers. Don't observe their judgments. Don't defile yourself with their idols.

Do what I tell you. Because what they're telling you is contrary to the truth.

Trust in God, Not Weaponry

Weaver uses David and Goliath to illustrate that courage comes from trust in God, not in armor or weapons.

Now, it's wonderful to have fathers to emulate, but those that we cannot emulate, we have to make sure that we mark their bad habits and their sins as something that we should not follow in and should not do. I can think of two individuals, two families, two men. Both as boys were raised in bars, saloons. One just recently died at a very early age from drunkenness, smoking, and everything else that went with it. That's the way he was raised in a bar. The other individual was raised in a bar as well.

But he marked what was happening and God had mercy upon him. And that individual is a wonderful young man who is already a preacher, very talented, very enlightened concerning the truth. And yet here are two men, both raised in bars. One followed the bad example of the father and the other said, "Hey, I'm not going to act like that. I'm not going to live like that."

So, when you can emulate your fathers in goodness, and kindness, and righteousness, do so. But if they set a bad example, then don't do it. Now, look if you would, read verse 8 and 9 together. He said, "And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle." In the day of battle they turned back. Now let me make some observations. I haven't even gotten to what I want to share with you yet, but please understand this: weapons do not make a valiant man. Weapons do not make a man courageous. Weapons will not and cannot make you courageous. They may make you foolish, but they cannot make you valiant. The Ephraimites were armed and probably with the best of weapons and yet the Bible says they turned back.

The problem is many people place their confidence in their weaponry. I mean, I've heard people say things like, "Well, let him come to my house. Man, I'm loaded for bear. I'm ready for him." Really? Well, I got news for you. If that weapon doesn't work, it's useless. If you can't get to it in time, it's useless. If you can't use it correctly, it's useless. Weaponry will not make a man valiant or courageous.

The Bible says in Psalm 20 and verse 7, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." I believe I'd rather trust in the Lord than to trust in weaponry or armor. And one of my favorite verses is Proverbs 21 and verse 31, where the Bible says, "The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord." I think it was David who said in Psalm 140, "Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle." And of course, you should remember Psalm 127 verse 1, where the Word of God says, "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." So having the latest and the greatest and the best and the most expensive weaponry that money can buy cannot and will not make us courageous and valiant. Courage is not found in weaponry. Let me remind you of something. In fact I want you to turn back, hold Psalm 78, but turn back in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 17. As you turn back I want to remind you of the fact that David faced Goliath with a sling. When you stop and think about this, David was probably a teenager. Goliath was a seasoned warrior from his youth. Then you think about not just the age difference, you think about the difference in size, because Goliath was a huge strong man and David was just a young boy. Then you think about the difference in their weaponry, because Goliath was covered with armor and he had this heavy spear and he had the shield, and David just had a sling. Now when you stop and think about the age difference, the size difference, the difference in weaponry, that would be enough to cause fear and consternation in the average individual right there.

Don't tell me I've got to fight this man. But yet David with a sling went and took care of Goliath. Remember Saul offered him his armor and David said, "I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them." Now I want you to watch this. Look in 1 Samuel chapter 17 and let's begin reading there with verse 32. 1 Samuel 17 verse 32:

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 17:32-37

"And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him."

"Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee." Well, "the Lord be with you, son, because I'm not going out there." That was his attitude. Now I want you to know David didn't say, "I'm an expert with a sword." He didn't say, "I'm an expert with a sling." He may have been. But he said, "God who delivered me out of the paw of the bear and out of the paw of the lion, He's gonna deliver me from this Philistine."

So his trust was not in his weaponry. His trust was in the Lord God. Now let me point out a principle that's going to come to light not only in 1 Samuel chapter 17, but it is going to come to light in Psalm 78 and verse 9 as well. And that is this: a biblical martial spirit only comes to light in obedience to God and His Word. So a biblical fighting spirit only comes to light in obedience to God and His Word. I could say this a little bit differently: if God is not with us, in us, and for us, our martial spirit, our fighting spirit is gone. Sin dispirits man. It takes away man's heart. One cannot and will not fight courageously and bravely apart from God and His truth. Let me point something out.

The Source of a Biblical Martial Spirit

Weaver argues that a fighting spirit comes only through obedience to God; sin dispirits men and makes them cowards.

Historically, Christian men have always been the greatest fighters. And the reason that is true is because, number one, they always fought on biblical principle. Number two, they were willing to die for those biblical principles. And number three, they were not afraid to die. Oliver Cromwell, of course, was known as the Ironsides of England. He gathered Christian men to go out and fight against King Charles. And they went into battle singing psalms and hymns.

Their watchword was "the Lord of hosts." You'll read that in the Bible. When you see God is the God of hosts or the Lord of hosts, the word "host" actually means armies. God is the God of the armies. And so they went into battle with these words, "the Lord of hosts." They went into the battle with determination to win or die. Cromwell said this, "Truly I think he that prays and preaches best will fight best." And that's true. Hedley Vickers himself was an excellent Christian soldier and he wrote this, listen carefully. He said, "I have often heard it said the worse the man the better the soldier. Facts contradict this untruth. Were I ever, as the leader of a forlorn hope, allowed to select my men, it would most certainly be from among the soldiers of Christ. For who should fight so fearlessly and bravely as those to whom death presents no after terrors?"

So they said, once you die, there's no terror to you. You've died in the faith and you've died in the Lord. So, when you look at Psalm 78 and verse 9 and you read this statement, "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle," you would have to ask several questions. Why did the children of Israel turn back in the day of battle?

Reasons for Ephraim's Cowardice: Covenantal Unfaithfulness

Weaver identifies the first reason for Ephraim's retreat as covenantal unfaithfulness—they broke God's covenant and refused His law.

Why were they unwilling to fight? What made them cowards? What made them lose their martial spirit? And by the way, once you have lost your fighting spirit, the best of reasons will not induce you to fight. If I took the time to go through the Bible, I could show you numerous reasons to fight. I could show you numerous encouragements that were given to the people. One of them you can find in Nehemiah 4 and verse 14 and I will just quote it. Nehemiah said—remember by the way they were planning a surprise attack on Nehemiah and his men—

they were building the walls. And Nehemiah said, "And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses." So he said, "Here is my encouragement. You remember the Lord. The Lord is great and terrible." He is a man of war. And then you remember your sons, and your daughters, and your wives, and your houses. You remember your life, you remember your Lord, you remember your family, you remember your property. Here are excellent reasons to fight. But once a man has lost his martial spirit, none of these reasons will prevail upon him. He cannot be goaded. He cannot be prodded. He cannot be made to fight. He will just simply give in, give up, give out, turn over, and die. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 76 and verse 5. Psalm 76 and verse 5. Psalm 76 verse 5. Here's an interesting passage:

Scripture Reading — Psalm 76:5

"The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands."

Isn't that amazing? The stouthearted are spoiled. What were they spoiled of? And the answer is their stout heart. They've slept their sleep.

That is, they're dead now. They couldn't fight. And none of the men of might have found their hands. I want to give you two quotes. One is by Herman Venema. And he's giving a quote on Psalm 76 and verse 5, and he says this: "There is indicated in these words that consternation of mind which deprives of judgment and power, the valiant or spoiled of their heart. That is, they who at other times were wise and courageous have now lost their heart and have been reduced to foolishness and stupidity." The second quote is from Joseph Caryl, and Joseph Caryl preached 40 years from the book of Job, and he says this: "The stouthearted, the strong are spoiled. The strong man may be spoiled by a stronger, that is a good sense, but it is more elegantly rendered they are spoiled of their stout heart. That is the Lord takes their heart out of their bosom."

"Daring men who fear nothing are turned into Magor-missabib, that is men who fear everything round about. Their stout hearts are taken from them. And they are so far from being a terror to other men that they run from the shadow of a man. Their courage is down. They cannot give a child a confident look, much less look dangers or enemies in the face." Now listen, as we say of a man that goes lamely or lazily, he cannot find his feet. So of a man that acts lamely or lazily, or of a soldier that fights faintly and cowardly, he cannot find his hands. So when you look at Psalm 76 and verse 5, God is talking about people who have turned into pure cowards, who are unwilling to fight and who are afraid to fight. Psalm 48 and verse 6,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 48:6

"Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail."

Fear took hold upon them.

I'm sure that you have heard the expression and probably used the expression, "frozen with fear." And there are some interesting videos even on YouTube and other places where people are just standing still in the face of danger, like they're just frozen in place. Well, that's what happens when you lose heart. Now when you look at Psalm 78 and verse 9, "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle," you have to understand that there are reasons as to why they turned back in the day of battle. If you understand what I'm going to share with you in the next little while, you will understand what has happened in America. You will understand what has happened to the men in America. You'll understand what has happened to the preachers and the churches in America. So, look at verse 9 and let's connect it with verse 10. "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle."

"They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law." So, the very first reason the children of Israel turned back in the day of battle, the very first reason for their faint heart and their cowardly attitude and actions is what you and I would call covenantal unfaithfulness. They were not faithful to the covenant. They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law. They violated God's covenant, they were disobedient, they were rebellious, they were stubborn, they refused to abide by and walk in obedience to His covenant, and their disobedience was accompanied by obstinacy. That is they held God's law in absolute contempt. When you hold God's law in absolute contempt you also hold God who gave that law in absolute contempt. When you read the Bible these people gave way to fornication and idolatry and all the violations of God's law over and over. They lived in rebellion against God, against His rule, against His power. These people had pledged to obey God's covenant at Mount Sinai. And now they violated it over and over and over.

Blessings and Curses of the Covenant

Weaver contrasts the blessings of obedience (peace, victory) with the curses of disobedience (fear, defeat) from Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.

And over and over in the Bible God warned, God reminded them not to forget His covenant. Let me just give you two passages. I want you to hold Psalm 78 but go back in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and look at verse 23. You can multiply these passages but look at these two. Deuteronomy 4 verse 23. Look what God says:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:23-24

"Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee."

Note he says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:23-24

"Take heed unto yourselves lest ye forget the covenant of your God."

Don't forget. Don't forget. He tells you why in verse 24:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:23-24

"For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God."

So God says you better make sure you pay attention to this covenant. Don't forget it. If you look in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 11, Deuteronomy 8 and verse 11, here's another warning that God has given. Deuteronomy 8 verse 11.

"Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day." So again, God says you beware that you don't forget His commandments, His judgments, His statutes. All those were bound up in the covenant. So God says I'm reminding you do not forget this covenant. Now I want to remind you of this: the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. Why? Covenantal unfaithfulness. I want to show you a truth from the covenant. I want you to turn in your Bibles.

Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. I want you to hold both of those passages because we are going to go back and forth just momentarily between these two passages. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. Now let me tell you that both of these passages happen to deal with the blessings and the curses. That is the sanctions that God gives to concerning His covenant. So God says if you obey Me, if you're faithful, I'm going to bless you. If you disobey Me and you're unfaithful, I'm going to curse you. So you have the blessings and the curses. So I want you to know first of all Leviticus 26 verses 6 through 8, look at the blessing that is promised upon covenantal faithfulness. Leviticus 26 verse 6: "And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword." So here's this blessing.

God said if you are faithful to this covenant, I will give you peace in the land. You will lie down. None will make you afraid. I'll rid the evil beast out of the land. They'll not bother you. The sword is not gonna go through your land. If your enemies come after you, five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemy shall fall by the sword. Now if you'll turn, holding Leviticus 26, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 28, you'll find this blessing in verse 7. Deuteronomy 28 and verse 7, look how he says it now: "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." So God says if you are covenantally faithful, when your enemies attack in one big horde thinking they're going to overrun you, you will defeat them so thoroughly they'll scatter and retreat seven different ways.

These are the blessings. Okay. Now go back to Leviticus 26 and let's begin reading there with verse 24. Leviticus 26 verse 24. In fact let's read verse 23. Here is where they are covenantally unfaithful. Here is the curse. Verse 23: "And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me," that is you will not keep My covenant, "then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins." Watch verse 25: "And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant."

"And when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy." Now God said, on the one hand, I've promised you peace if you obey Me. On the other hand, if you disobey Me, I'm going to bring a sword against you. I'm going to send pestilence. You're going to be delivered into the hand of your enemies. Now look, if you would please, still in Leviticus chapter 26 beginning there with verse 36. Look what he says now. Leviticus 26 verse 36: "And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts." Did you hear that? You'll be cowards. You'll be afraid, you'll be scared. "I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up." So God says if you're covenantally unfaithful, you're going to fall in the hands of your enemies. Now turn to Deuteronomy 28 and let's begin reading there with verse 25. Here it is again. Deuteronomy 28 verse 25. You remember the blessing was if your enemy came against you one way, you would defeat

him and he'd flee seven ways. Now the Bible says if you walk contrary to Me: "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. And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away." And Lord, you're going to lose. You can't face your enemies. You can't stand before your enemies. Now with that in mind, go back if you would please and look in Psalm 78 in verses 9 and 10. Put these two things together: "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle." Why?

Second Reason: Covenantal Ungratefulness

Weaver explains that Ephraim forgot God's works and wonders, leading to ingratitude and further disobedience.

Here is the first reason: covenantally unfaithful. "They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law." Do you realize when we deny the covenant of God and cast His law behind our backs, at the same time we throw away His blessings and bring upon us His curses? Remember what the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 8 and verse 31? He said, "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"

Now stop and think about that. If God be for us, who can be against us? So if God is for us, it doesn't matter if the entire universe is against us, because God is quite capable of whipping anyone and anything in the entire universe. But you know the opposite is also true. If God be against us, nobody's gonna help us. No one will be around to help us. And David certainly understood this because David said in Psalm 60 verse 11, "Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man." He's praying to the Lord. "Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man." Man can't help us, and especially if God is against us, man cannot help us. You see, sin may make you bold and it may make you forward to commit more sin, but in the time of danger, in the time of testing, it'll make you a coward. How in the world can we plead to God for help if we know that we're in rebellion against Him and are in disobedience to Him? David said it like this in Psalm 66 and verse 18: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Just regarding it causes God not to hear. How much more will He not hear if we're

involved in it? And oftentimes when we turn against God, God just leaves us to ourselves and lets us see how weak and helpless and foolish and stupid we really are when we start reaping that which we've sown. But one of the reasons given in scripture that the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle was because of covenantal unfaithfulness. You look at what is happening in America. You look at where in the beginning we were faithful to God, to His Word. And today no one thinks about faithfulness, no one even thinks about God. All we think about today is political correctness and tolerance, and we do not want to upset anyone or offend anyone. It's all right to offend God, but it's not all right to offend a wicked sinner. So covenantally unfaithfulness brought down these men, pure cowards. Here is a second reason that is given in verse 11. Let's read verse 9, 10, and 11. Verse 9: "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle."

"They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law," that is covenantal unfaithfulness, "and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them," that is covenantal ungratefulness. They forgot His works. They forgot His wonders that He had showed them. Had they remembered His works, had they remembered His wonders, they would have been filled with gratitude and thankfulness. They would have had His works and His wonders in their hearts and minds and been deeply moved because of the grace and mercy shown to them. I told the folks this morning, Alice and I are still cleaning up. I still have several large trees

down that I've got to cut up and carry off. We still have a lot of limbs to pick up, a lot of debris to clean up. But every time I cut a tree and every time I start carrying it off, I still thank God that He spared all our buildings, not one fell on any of the buildings. See, if you can remember God's wonders and God's work, you can have a grateful and a thankful heart. John Trapp the old Puritan said this, I want you to think about this. John Trapp said this: "Forgetfulness is a grave. All is lost that is conferred on an ungrateful person." All is lost that is conferred on an ungrateful person. Each one in this room undoubtedly at one time or another has helped

someone maybe financially. And that someone then turned around and stabbed them in the back or worked against them or did something to hurt them. Forgetfulness is a grave. And all that is conferred upon an ungrateful person is forgotten. I have friends. One I know particularly that helped another so-called Christian greatly financially. And then the man turns around and stabs him in the back. Anything conferred upon an ungrateful person is forgotten.

Look what God has done for us. Look what God did for Israel. Look what God did for Ephraim. Look what God has done and we have forgotten His works, His wonders, and we've become an ungrateful and unthankful people. They may not have forgotten His works historically. How could you forget the history of the Red Sea? How could you forget the history of the destruction of Pharaoh and his army? But they did forget His wonders and His works practically and spiritually so that they were unthankful and ungrateful for anything and everything that He had done.

Applications and Conclusion

Weaver applies the message: forgetting God makes trust impossible, hypocrisy leads to apostasy, and carnal confidence is worthless. He calls for covenantal faithfulness and thankfulness.

They refused to love Him. They refused to serve Him. They refused to honor Him. They refused to walk in His law. So for all practical purposes, whatever God had done for them, they just simply forgot. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 106. Psalm 106. Psalm 106. And look if you would please at verses 12 and 13 to show you how hypocritical these people really were.

When you read verse 12: "Then believed they his words; they sang his praise." Wow, you think, finally at last we've got some folks here that believe Him and sing His praise. By the way, there is such a thing as a temporary believer, not one that is genuinely saved. But you remember even in the New Testament the parable of the sower there, these believed for a while. It is what the Scripture says. But notice verse 12: "Then believed they his words; they sang his praise."

But look what happens next: "They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert." So here are people singing His praise one moment and forgetting Him and refusing to wait for Him and provoking Him and sinning against Him the next moment. Now I want to tell you what happened to Ephraim. I want to tell you what happened to Israel. And I want you to see this is what happened in America. It's what happens in our churches. It's what happens in our lives. The first thing they did was neglect God. Anytime you neglect the reading of the Word, you neglect prayer, you neglect listening to the preaching and exposition of the Word of God, when you neglect God, inevitably, you're going to begin rejecting His law. You're going to be saying something like this:

"Well, it might be wrong for everybody else, but it's all right for me." Or "I can do this little bit and I can get by." And then once you begin rejecting His law and His standards, that leads to forgetfulness. And then pretty soon you're just simply hog wild in rebellion against God. They neglected, they rejected, they forgot. That's what we do. We neglect God, we reject His law, and then we forget everything that He's done for us. Now let me make some applications. The first one is this. I hope you understand this. It's very simple: when we forget God and His covenant, it is impossible to trust Him. It is impossible to trust Him. How can you trust in someone that you forget? How can you trust in someone that you reject? How can you trust in someone that you neglect? Hence, in our times of danger, we become outright cowards because we have nothing in ourselves, we have no power in ourselves, and all we can see is our weakness. Our forgetfulness of God and His works is at the bottom of our disobedience to His laws. We are facing dangerous times, I can assure you of that. And we better be remembering Him and we better be remembering His covenant.

The second application is this: hypocrisy is the high road to apostasy. Those who do not set their hearts steadfast with God will be double-minded at the best and apostate at the worst. These men, being armed with bows, turned back in the day of battle. The last one is this, and I think you should have this one down in your hearts, and that is this: carnal confidence is worthless. Carnal confidence is worthless. When you start trusting in yourself and your power or your weaponry or what you have or what you don't have, when you trust in any of those things, it is absolutely worthless. It is not going to give you a martial spirit. It's not going to give you courage. It's not going to give you valor. It's going to destroy you. William Gurnall wrote a book, I would encourage you to get it. It's very good reading. The book is just about this thick, the title of it is "The Christian in Complete Armour." And listen to what Gurnall said, one quote: "Let the armour be what it will, yea, if soldiers were in a castle whose foundations were rock and walls of brass, and yet, if their heart be not right

to their prince, an easy storm will drive them from the walls, and a little scare will open their gate, which hath not this bolt of sincerity on it to hold it fast." So, what did he say? If you're not a genuine believer, it will not take much to drive you away from standing for truth and righteousness. In other words, sin and disobedience will make cowards out of all of us. What happened to Ephraim has happened to America. We have become covenantally unfaithful and covenantally ungrateful. And we're a nation of wimps and softies and cowards. We've lost the fighting spirit. And by that, I even refer to standing for truth and righteousness. Today, people had rather be politically correct than biblically correct. And when we stand for truth, we will be assailed, that is for sure. But one thing for sure, it's going to take covenantal faithfulness and thankfulness to be able to stand in the time of testing.

Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. And Lord, help us not be like those who turned back in the day of battle. Give us a holy determination to be faithful unto Thee, to be grateful unto Thee, to be thankful unto Thee, to be submissive to Thee, to be obedient to Thee, to honor Thee, and to worship Thee alone. For Thou alone art God, and beside Thee there is none other. We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray, amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Covenantal Faithfulness and Its Consequences

Summary: Obedience to God's covenant brings blessing and courage; disobedience brings curses, fear, and cowardice.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law... covenantally unfaithfulness brought down these men, pure cowards.'

The Decline of Masculine Courage in the Church

Summary: Modern preachers and Christian men have become soft, effeminate, and cowardly compared to the bold leaders of the past.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Today you look around at most pastors and most preachers and you will find that they are soft, they are prissy, they are politically correct.'

The Church as Militant

Summary: The church is called to engage in constant spiritual warfare, not to retreat from conflict.

Evidence: Weaver cites Webster's 1828 dictionary: 'the church militant, the Christian Church on earth, which is supposed to be engaged in constant warfare against its enemies.'

Trust in God Over Human Strength

Summary: True courage comes from reliance on God, not from weapons, numbers, or personal ability.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'David didn't say, I'm an expert with a sling... he said, God who delivered me out of the paw of the bear... He's gonna deliver me from this Philistine.'

The Danger of Forgetting God's Works

Summary: Forgetfulness of God's past deliverances leads to ingratitude, disobedience, and spiritual cowardice.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'They forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them... Forgetfulness is a grave.'

The Influence of Fathers and Generational Sin

Summary: Children often follow the sinful patterns of their fathers, but God commands them to break from those patterns.

Evidence: Weaver reads Ezekiel 20:18: 'Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments.'

Key Arguments

Covenantal unfaithfulness is the primary cause of Ephraim's cowardice.

Summary: Weaver argues that breaking God's covenant and refusing His law directly led to their loss of courage in battle.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'The very first reason for their faint heart and their cowardly attitude and actions is what you and I would call covenantal unfaithfulness.'

Weapons and armor cannot produce courage.

Summary: Weaver contends that being well-armed does not make one valiant; only trust in God provides true courage.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Weapons do not make a valiant man. Weapons do not make a man courageous.'

Sin and disobedience make men cowards.

Summary: Weaver asserts that sin dispirits men, removing their fighting spirit and leaving them fearful.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Sin dispirits man. It takes away man's heart. One cannot and will not fight courageously and bravely apart from God and His truth.'

Forgetfulness of God leads to ingratitude and apostasy.

Summary: Weaver argues that neglecting God's works results in a lack of thankfulness, which fuels further rebellion.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'They forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them... covenantal ungratefulness.'

Modern America mirrors Ephraim's unfaithfulness.

Summary: Weaver applies the text to contemporary culture, claiming America has become covenantally unfaithful and ungrateful, producing a nation of cowards.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'What happened to Ephraim has happened to America. We have become covenantally unfaithful and covenantally ungrateful.'

Scripture References

Psalm 78:1-11

Context: The primary text of the sermon, read at the beginning, describing the stubbornness of Israel and Ephraim's retreat.

Proverbs 29:2

Context: The text of Gad Hitchcock's election sermon, used to illustrate bold preaching against wicked rulers.

Exodus 15:3

Context: Cited to show that the Lord is a man of war, supporting the concept of the church militant.

Deuteronomy 4:24

Context: Mentioned in passing as part of the argument that God delivered Israel by war.

Numbers 21:14

Context: Referenced to note the 'book of the wars of the Lord,' emphasizing the frequency of God's wars.

1 Chronicles 5

Context: Cited to show that the privileges of the firstborn were given to Joseph.

Genesis 48:1

Context: Referenced as the passage where Jacob assigned firstborn privileges to Ephraim.

Job 32:6-9

Context: Used to argue that age does not always bring wisdom, and that young Elihu spoke truth.

1 Corinthians 11:1

Context: Quoted to emphasize that we should follow men only as they follow Christ.

Ezekiel 20:18-19

Context: Read to show God's command not to walk in the sinful statutes of fathers.

Psalm 20:7

Context: Quoted to contrast trust in chariots and horses with trust in the name of the Lord.

Proverbs 21:31

Context: Cited to affirm that safety is of the Lord, not in preparation for battle.

Psalm 140:7

Context: Referenced as David's statement that God covered his head in the day of battle.

Psalm 127:1

Context: Quoted to show that unless the Lord keeps the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

1 Samuel 17:32-37

Context: Read to illustrate David's trust in God rather than in armor or weapons.

Nehemiah 4:14

Context: Quoted as an example of encouragement to fight for families and homes.

Psalm 76:5

Context: Read to show that the stouthearted are spoiled and cannot find their hands.

Psalm 48:6

Context: Cited to illustrate fear taking hold like a woman in travail.

Deuteronomy 4:23-24

Context: Read as a warning not to forget God's covenant.

Deuteronomy 8:11

Context: Read as another warning not to forget God's commandments.

Historical References

Gad Hitchcock's election sermon (1774)

Context: Weaver recounts how Hitchcock preached Proverbs 29:2 to General Thomas Gage, calling King George III a tyrant.

The Black Robed Regiment

Context: Weaver mentions that the British dubbed early American preachers the Black Robed Regiment for their leadership in the Revolution.

Oliver Cromwell's Ironsides

Context: Weaver references Cromwell's Christian soldiers who went into battle singing psalms and hymns.

Hedley Vickers

Context: Weaver quotes Vickers, a Christian soldier, who said he would choose soldiers of Christ for a forlorn hope.

Webster's 1828 Dictionary definition of 'militant'

Context: Weaver reads the definition to support the idea of the church militant engaged in constant warfare.

J.T. Headley's 'Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution'

Context: Weaver recommends this book to see the difference between 18th-century preachers and modern ones.

William Gurnall's 'The Christian in Complete Armour'

Context: Weaver quotes Gurnall on how a heart not right with the prince will easily surrender.

Important Quotes

The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

Significance: The central text of the sermon, used to diagnose spiritual cowardice.

If I am mistaken in supposing plans are formed and executing subversive to our natural and charter rights and privileges and incompatible with every idea of liberty, all America is mistaken with me.

Significance: Part of Gad Hitchcock's bold sermon to General Gage, illustrating fearless preaching.

King George may say that the evils that produce this state of things are imaginary. But I tell you, and I will tell the tyrant to his face, it is because of the wicked bear rule.

Significance: Hitchcock's direct challenge to authority, exemplifying the courage Weaver laments is lost.

Truly I think he that prays and preaches best will fight best.

Significance: Oliver Cromwell's statement linking spiritual devotion to martial courage.

I have often heard it said the worse the man the better the soldier. Facts contradict this untruth. Were I ever, as the leader of a forlorn hope, allowed to select my men, it would most certainly be from among the soldiers of Christ.

Significance: Hedley Vickers' testimony that Christian men make the best soldiers.

Forgetfulness is a grave. All is lost that is conferred on an ungrateful person.

Significance: John Trapp's quote emphasizing the danger of ingratitude.

Discussion Questions

In what ways have modern pastors and Christian men become 'soft, effeminate, and cowardly' compared to previous generations?

Context: Weaver contrasts the boldness of 18th-century preachers with today's politically correct clergy.

How does covenantal unfaithfulness manifest in the church today, and what are its consequences?

Context: Weaver argues that breaking God's covenant leads to cowardice and defeat.

What does it mean for the church to be 'militant,' and how should that shape our engagement with culture?

Context: Weaver defends the concept of the church militant from Scripture and Webster's dictionary.

Why is trust in God more effective than trust in weapons or human strength when facing spiritual battles?

Context: Weaver uses David and Goliath to illustrate reliance on God over armor.

How can we cultivate a heart of gratitude to prevent the forgetfulness that leads to apostasy?

Context: Weaver warns that forgetting God's works leads to ingratitude and rebellion.

In what ways do fathers influence the spiritual courage or cowardice of their children, and how can we break negative cycles?

Context: Weaver discusses the impact of fathers' examples and the command not to follow sinful patterns.

Applications

Examine your covenantal faithfulness

Summary: Weaver calls believers to assess whether they are keeping God's covenant and walking in His law, as unfaithfulness leads to spiritual cowardice.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law... covenantally unfaithfulness brought down these men.'

Cultivate gratitude for God's works

Summary: Weaver urges remembering God's past deliverances to maintain thankfulness and avoid the forgetfulness that leads to rebellion.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Had they remembered His works, had they remembered His wonders, they would have been filled with gratitude and thankfulness.'

Trust in God, not in human resources

Summary: Weaver warns against placing confidence in weapons, numbers, or personal ability, and instead calls for reliance on God.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'Carnal confidence is worthless. When you start trusting in yourself and your power or your weaponry... it is absolutely worthless.'

Break from sinful generational patterns

Summary: Weaver instructs believers not to follow the sinful examples of fathers but to obey God's statutes instead.

Evidence: Weaver reads Ezekiel 20:18: 'Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments.'

Stand boldly for truth despite opposition

Summary: Weaver encourages a return to the boldness of early American preachers who spoke truth to power without fear.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'When we stand for truth, we will be assailed, that is for sure. But one thing for sure, it's going to take covenantal faithfulness and thankfulness to be able to stand.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:37:47Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:59:55Z

Clean Transcript

Turning Back In The Day Of Battle

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Alright, let's open our Bibles to Psalm 78. Psalm 78. The title of the message is from the text, "Turning Back in the Day of Battle." Turning Back in the Day of Battle. We're going to read the first 11 verses of Psalm 78. And I hope this will give us a good explanation of what is going on in our land today as well. Psalm 78, verse 1: "Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us."
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"We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments: and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God."
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"The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law; and forgot His works, and His wonders that He had showed them." I could begin by asking two very simple questions. Number one, have you noticed a change in our culture? And number two, have you noticed changes in the men in our culture? Generally speaking, the men in our day and age have become soft, effeminate, and cowardly.
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Now, I know that there are exceptions to that statement, and I'm certainly thankful for those exceptions, that is for sure. But if you want to see the real change that has taken place in America, and the real change that has taken place in the men in America, then you need to compare and study the preachers in the 1700s and compare them with the preachers that we have today. You need to look closely because those men in the 1700s who fought for liberty and freedom, who stood for truth and righteousness, these men were bold, they were fearless, they were courageous, and they were determined. Today you look around at most pastors and most preachers and you will find that they are soft, they are prissy, they are politically correct, and they never want to offend anyone or hurt anyone's feelings in any way whatsoever. They go around like they are walking on eggshells. Now I'm certainly not advocating being ugly, or unkind, or uncivil in any way whatsoever. But when you begin to look at the preachers that were around in the 1700s and 1800s and compare them with the preachers today, you're going to see a very obvious difference.
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Remember the British dubbed the preachers in early America the Black Robed Regiment because they wore those long flowing black robes. And of course they accused the preachers of being the leaders in the Revolution, which they in reality were. And so these men stood for truth, they stood for righteousness, they stood for liberty and freedom. And like I said earlier, they were bold, they were courageous, and they were certainly valiant for the truth.
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Look around today at our modern day preachers and you are going to find that they are not going to really take a stand on anything, especially if it might affect their position, their pension, their income, or their members. And the sad fact is today most preachers place truth and righteousness very low on their list of priorities. Just to give you one example, there was a pastor who preached an election sermon in 1774 by the name of Gad Hitchcock. Gad Hitchcock was chosen to preach this election sermon, and let me tell you what an election sermon was and still is. In those days no man could assume a political office without first going through what was known as an election sermon. That means the pastor then stood and preached to the official, and to all of those around him, the duties he had toward God and toward the people.
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He would detail the role of government, the role of government to the people, and the people's role to the government, all based upon the Bible. So Gad Hitchcock was invited and chosen to preach this election sermon to the newly appointed governor that had been appointed by King George III. So he took as his text Proverbs 29:2, "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." When Gad Hitchcock got there to preach this election sermon he discovered that the newly appointed governor was none other than General Thomas Gage himself. General Gage also had his men behind him because General Thomas Gage had been sent by George III to quell the uprising and to quieten the colonists and to subdue them and to make sure they did not revolt against George III. Well, when Gad Hitchcock saw General Gage and saw the soldiers standing behind him, it did not slow him down at all. I want to read to you just three paragraphs from the sermon that he preached to General Gage.
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Here's what he said: "If I am mistaken in supposing plans are formed and executing subversive to our natural and charter rights and privileges and incompatible with every idea of liberty, all America is mistaken with me. Our continued complaints, our repeated humble but fruitless, unregarded petitions and remonstrances, and if I may be allowed the sacred allusion, our groanings which cannot be uttered are at once indications of our sufferings and the feelings since we have of them."
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Remember he's talking to General Gage. "Let the governor and his chair of state hear it. We not only mourn, but with groanings that cannot be uttered, and all because the wicked bear rule. The castle cannot shelter him from the scorching thunderbolt. Families are divided. Brothers are right against brother. Friend against friend. Society is cut from its moorings. And hate and consternation reign on every side. And all because of the wicked bear rule. King George may say that the evils that produce this state of things are imaginary. But I tell you, and I will tell the tyrant to his face, it is because of the wicked bear rule."
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Now that was Gad Hitchcock preaching to General Gage and calling George III a tyrant. And he said, "I will tell him to his face." So if you really want to be impressed, you pick up a book like "Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution," written by J.T. Headley, and you read about these men and you will see the vast difference between the preachers in the 1700s and the preachers of today.
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In fact, the truth of the matter is, we have fallen so far that most pastors do not even want the song "Onward Christian Soldiers" sung in their churches anymore. It's too militant. It's too militant. Well, however, the Bible does tell us about the church militant. And may I remind you that in Exodus chapter 15 and verse 3 the Bible says, "The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is His name." And when you get to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 24 it is by means of war that God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt. And then when you get to the book of Numbers chapter 21 and verse 14 you will find out that the wars of the Lord were so numerous the Bible talks about "the book of the wars of the Lord." And let me tell you something else very interesting.
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If you would take a Webster's 1828 dictionary and look up the word "militant," here's what you will read. Remember now, this is Webster's 1828 dictionary. Number one, "fighting, combating, fighting as a soldier." Number two, "the church militant, the Christian Church on earth, which is supposed to be engaged in constant warfare against its enemies, thus distinguished from the Church triumphant which is in Heaven." So when Webster wrote his 1828 Dictionary, when he came to the word "militant," he could not think of a better illustration than the Church on earth. Because the Church is to be engaged in constant warfare against its enemies.
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You look in Psalm 78 and verse 9, which I'll be talking about today, "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle." The sad fact is that most preachers and most Christians today are very much like the Ephraimites in Psalm 78. We have retreated from reality. We have not only retreated from reality, we have retreated from Biblical principles and Biblical truth. There are only a few today that will enter into the fight and enter into the fray, and unhappily a lot of those men who are in the fight in the fray pretty soon grow weary and lose heart and then they turn back themselves because they sense that they are all alone and they realize they cannot, quote unquote, fight the battle just by themselves. And usually men quit when they are most needed. And you would think that being armed with truth and being armed with righteousness would be sufficient for anyone, but unhappily there are many today who will cast those weapons aside and just simply give in and give up.
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Now the Bible says, "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle." One of the greatest warriors in the Bible was an Ephraimite, Joshua the son of Nun. Ephraim was the largest tribe. In fact it was only the largest tribe that often times in the Bible you will find Ephraim as a term which would represent all of the Northern Kingdom because it was indeed a leading tribe.
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The privileges of the firstborn were given to Joseph according to 1 Chronicles chapter 5. And then Jacob before he died assigned those to Ephraim in Genesis chapter 48 and verse 1. The supremacy of the tribe of Ephraim is pointed out in the order of marching to Canaan because they marched right behind the ark. Moreover, when the ark was settled, it settled in Shiloh, which was in the land of Ephraim. And Ephraim, of course, was given a very large, expansive piece of land that was extremely fertile. And so Ephraim had many blessings, Ephraim had many privileges, yet Ephraim we read in the Bible turned away from God. Ephraim should have been leading the tribes in courage, in valor, however now we read in Psalm 78 verse 9 it is leading them in cowardice.
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The question that you would have to ask is what would make a well armed people turn back in the day of battle. Ephraim was armed. In fact, they were well armed. But when they faced the enemy, they turned back.
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Now, before I answer that question, I want to show you a principle that generally affects all of us. Do you understand that we develop attitudes and dispositions and habits and even actions from our fathers? Our fathers will always be our fathers and yet they are not always right. It is true that generally speaking wisdom comes with age. Judgment comes with age. I did some things when I was a young man that I would never, ever think of doing now. And I look back on my life and I think, Lord, you had to preserve me because I was so stupid in doing some of those senseless things that I did. Well, we think that wisdom comes with age, but not always. I want you to hold Psalm 78, but turn back just a few pages to the book of Job chapter 32. Job chapter 32. You remember Job had three friends who tried to give him counsel. All the counsel they gave did not apply to Job.
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There is a fourth friend there by the name of Elihu. Elihu was a younger man and he held his peace until last. And here is what he said in Job 32 beginning there with verse 6: "And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not show you mine opinion. I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding."
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Then look at this: "Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment." So just because someone has gotten old does not mean that he's wise. And just because someone is aged does not mean really that he understands judgment.
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Now I made the statement that our fathers are always going to be our fathers and that is certainly true. But we must not follow them in sin and disobedience. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 1, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." In other words we should follow no man any further than he follows the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Now one of the problems is that Ephraim followed their fathers as well. Let me show you. Look if you would please in Psalm 78 again and notice in verse 8, look what God says: "And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God." So look carefully at the description of their fathers: stubborn, revolters, rebellious, a generation that did not set their heart aright. They were not steadfast with God. They were double-minded, disobedient, and daring rebels against God. They were stiff-necked, ungovernable, inclined to revolt. And nothing was more remarkable in the history of Israel than this truth.
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They provoked Him so many times and constantly betrayed Him and fell into idolatry. They were treacherous and they were treasonous. Fathers stubborn in their own ways and rebellious against God are sorry examples for their children. They bring the curse of God upon themselves and upon their children. I could show you several passages but I do want you to turn over to the book of Ezekiel chapter 20 and look at verses 18 and 19 because God said this again. Ezekiel 20 verses 18 and 19. Watch carefully. Ezekiel 20 beginning there with verse 18: "But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them." Now look what God said. I said to their children, don't walk in the statutes or in the laws or the rules of your fathers. Don't observe their judgments. Don't defile yourself with their idols.
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Do what I tell you. Because what they're telling you is contrary to the truth.
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Now, it's wonderful to have fathers to emulate, but those that we cannot emulate, we have to make sure that we mark their bad habits and their sins as something that we should not follow in and should not do. I can think of two individuals, two families, two men. Both as boys were raised in bars, saloons. One just recently died at a very early age from drunkenness, smoking, and everything else that went with it. That's the way he was raised in a bar. The other individual was raised in a bar as well.
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But he marked what was happening and God had mercy upon him. And that individual is a wonderful young man who is already a preacher, very talented, very enlightened concerning the truth. And yet here are two men, both raised in bars. One followed the bad example of the father and the other said, "Hey, I'm not going to act like that. I'm not going to live like that."
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So, when you can emulate your fathers in goodness, and kindness, and righteousness, do so. But if they set a bad example, then don't do it.
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Now, look if you would, read verse 8 and 9 together. He said, "And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle." In the day of battle they turned back. Now let me make some observations. I haven't even gotten to what I want to share with you yet, but please understand this: weapons do not make a valiant man. Weapons do not make a man courageous. Weapons will not and cannot make you courageous. They may make you foolish, but they cannot make you valiant. The Ephraimites were armed and probably with the best of weapons and yet the Bible says they turned back.
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The problem is many people place their confidence in their weaponry. I mean, I've heard people say things like, "Well, let him come to my house. Man, I'm loaded for bear. I'm ready for him." Really? Well, I got news for you. If that weapon doesn't work, it's useless. If you can't get to it in time, it's useless. If you can't use it correctly, it's useless. Weaponry will not make a man valiant or courageous.
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The Bible says in Psalm 20 and verse 7, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." I believe I'd rather trust in the Lord than to trust in weaponry or armor. And one of my favorite verses is Proverbs 21 and verse 31, where the Bible says, "The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord." I think it was David who said in Psalm 140, "Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle." And of course, you should remember Psalm 127 verse 1, where the Word of God says, "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."
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So having the latest and the greatest and the best and the most expensive weaponry that money can buy cannot and will not make us courageous and valiant. Courage is not found in weaponry. Let me remind you of something. In fact I want you to turn back, hold Psalm 78, but turn back in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 17. As you turn back I want to remind you of the fact that David faced Goliath with a sling. When you stop and think about this, David was probably a teenager. Goliath was a seasoned warrior from his youth. Then you think about not just the age difference, you think about the difference in size, because Goliath was a huge strong man and David was just a young boy. Then you think about the difference in their weaponry, because Goliath was covered with armor and he had this heavy spear and he had the shield, and David just had a sling. Now when you stop and think about the age difference, the size difference, the difference in weaponry, that would be enough to cause fear and consternation in the average individual right there.
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Don't tell me I've got to fight this man. But yet David with a sling went and took care of Goliath. Remember Saul offered him his armor and David said, "I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them." Now I want you to watch this. Look in 1 Samuel chapter 17 and let's begin reading there with verse 32. 1 Samuel 17 verse 32: "And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him."
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"Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee." Well, "the Lord be with you, son, because I'm not going out there." That was his attitude. Now I want you to know David didn't say, "I'm an expert with a sword." He didn't say, "I'm an expert with a sling." He may have been. But he said, "God who delivered me out of the paw of the bear and out of the paw of the lion, He's gonna deliver me from this Philistine."
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So his trust was not in his weaponry. His trust was in the Lord God. Now let me point out a principle that's going to come to light not only in 1 Samuel chapter 17, but it is going to come to light in Psalm 78 and verse 9 as well. And that is this: a biblical martial spirit only comes to light in obedience to God and His Word. So a biblical fighting spirit only comes to light in obedience to God and His Word. I could say this a little bit differently: if God is not with us, in us, and for us, our martial spirit, our fighting spirit is gone. Sin dispirits man. It takes away man's heart. One cannot and will not fight courageously and bravely apart from God and His truth. Let me point something out.
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Historically, Christian men have always been the greatest fighters. And the reason that is true is because, number one, they always fought on biblical principle. Number two, they were willing to die for those biblical principles. And number three, they were not afraid to die. Oliver Cromwell, of course, was known as the Ironsides of England. He gathered Christian men to go out and fight against King Charles. And they went into battle singing psalms and hymns.
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Their watchword was "the Lord of hosts." You'll read that in the Bible. When you see God is the God of hosts or the Lord of hosts, the word "host" actually means armies. God is the God of the armies. And so they went into battle with these words, "the Lord of hosts." They went into the battle with determination to win or die. Cromwell said this, "Truly I think he that prays and preaches best will fight best." And that's true.
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Hedley Vickers himself was an excellent Christian soldier and he wrote this, listen carefully. He said, "I have often heard it said the worse the man the better the soldier. Facts contradict this untruth. Were I ever, as the leader of a forlorn hope, allowed to select my men, it would most certainly be from among the soldiers of Christ. For who should fight so fearlessly and bravely as those to whom death presents no after terrors?"
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So they said, once you die, there's no terror to you. You've died in the faith and you've died in the Lord. So, when you look at Psalm 78 and verse 9 and you read this statement, "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle," you would have to ask several questions. Why did the children of Israel turn back in the day of battle?
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Why were they unwilling to fight? What made them cowards? What made them lose their martial spirit? And by the way, once you have lost your fighting spirit, the best of reasons will not induce you to fight. If I took the time to go through the Bible, I could show you numerous reasons to fight. I could show you numerous encouragements that were given to the people. One of them you can find in Nehemiah 4 and verse 14 and I will just quote it. Nehemiah said—remember by the way they were planning a surprise attack on Nehemiah and his men—
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they were building the walls. And Nehemiah said, "And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses." So he said, "Here is my encouragement. You remember the Lord. The Lord is great and terrible."
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He is a man of war. And then you remember your sons, and your daughters, and your wives, and your houses. You remember your life, you remember your Lord, you remember your family, you remember your property. Here are excellent reasons to fight. But once a man has lost his martial spirit, none of these reasons will prevail upon him. He cannot be goaded. He cannot be prodded. He cannot be made to fight. He will just simply give in, give up, give out, turn over, and die. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 76 and verse 5. Psalm 76 and verse 5. Psalm 76 verse 5. Here's an interesting passage: "The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands." Isn't that amazing? The stouthearted are spoiled. What were they spoiled of? And the answer is their stout heart. They've slept their sleep.
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That is, they're dead now. They couldn't fight. And none of the men of might have found their hands. I want to give you two quotes. One is by Herman Venema. And he's giving a quote on Psalm 76 and verse 5, and he says this: "There is indicated in these words that consternation of mind which deprives of judgment and power, the valiant or spoiled of their heart. That is, they who at other times were wise and courageous have now lost their heart and have been reduced to foolishness and stupidity." The second quote is from Joseph Caryl, and Joseph Caryl preached 40 years from the book of Job, and he says this: "The stouthearted, the strong are spoiled. The strong man may be spoiled by a stronger, that is a good sense, but it is more elegantly rendered they are spoiled of their stout heart. That is the Lord takes their heart out of their bosom."
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"Daring men who fear nothing are turned into Magor-missabib, that is men who fear everything round about. Their stout hearts are taken from them. And they are so far from being a terror to other men that they run from the shadow of a man. Their courage is down. They cannot give a child a confident look, much less look dangers or enemies in the face." Now listen, as we say of a man that goes lamely or lazily, he cannot find his feet. So of a man that acts lamely or lazily, or of a soldier that fights faintly and cowardly, he cannot find his hands. So when you look at Psalm 76 and verse 5, God is talking about people who have turned into pure cowards, who are unwilling to fight and who are afraid to fight. Psalm 48 and verse 6, "Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail." Fear took hold upon them.
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I'm sure that you have heard the expression and probably used the expression, "frozen with fear." And there are some interesting videos even on YouTube and other places where people are just standing still in the face of danger, like they're just frozen in place. Well, that's what happens when you lose heart. Now when you look at Psalm 78 and verse 9, "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle," you have to understand that there are reasons as to why they turned back in the day of battle. If you understand what I'm going to share with you in the next little while, you will understand what has happened in America. You will understand what has happened to the men in America. You'll understand what has happened to the preachers and the churches in America. So, look at verse 9 and let's connect it with verse 10. "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle."
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"They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law." So, the very first reason the children of Israel turned back in the day of battle, the very first reason for their faint heart and their cowardly attitude and actions is what you and I would call covenantal unfaithfulness. They were not faithful to the covenant. They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law. They violated God's covenant, they were disobedient, they were rebellious, they were stubborn, they refused to abide by and walk in obedience to His covenant, and their disobedience was accompanied by obstinacy. That is they held God's law in absolute contempt. When you hold God's law in absolute contempt you also hold God who gave that law in absolute contempt. When you read the Bible these people gave way to fornication and idolatry and all the violations of God's law over and over. They lived in rebellion against God, against His rule, against His power. These people had pledged to obey God's covenant at Mount Sinai. And now they violated it over and over and over.
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And over and over in the Bible God warned, God reminded them not to forget His covenant. Let me just give you two passages. I want you to hold Psalm 78 but go back in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and look at verse 23. You can multiply these passages but look at these two. Deuteronomy 4 verse 23. Look what God says: "Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee." Note he says, "Take heed unto yourselves lest ye forget the covenant of your God." Don't forget. Don't forget. He tells you why in verse 24: "For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." So God says you better make sure you pay attention to this covenant. Don't forget it. If you look in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 11, Deuteronomy 8 and verse 11, here's another warning that God has given. Deuteronomy 8 verse 11.
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"Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day." So again, God says you beware that you don't forget His commandments, His judgments, His statutes. All those were bound up in the covenant. So God says I'm reminding you do not forget this covenant. Now I want to remind you of this: the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. Why? Covenantal unfaithfulness. I want to show you a truth from the covenant. I want you to turn in your Bibles.
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Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. I want you to hold both of those passages because we are going to go back and forth just momentarily between these two passages. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.
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Now let me tell you that both of these passages happen to deal with the blessings and the curses. That is the sanctions that God gives to concerning His covenant. So God says if you obey Me, if you're faithful, I'm going to bless you. If you disobey Me and you're unfaithful, I'm going to curse you. So you have the blessings and the curses. So I want you to know first of all Leviticus 26 verses 6 through 8, look at the blessing that is promised upon covenantal faithfulness. Leviticus 26 verse 6: "And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword." So here's this blessing.
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God said if you are faithful to this covenant, I will give you peace in the land. You will lie down. None will make you afraid. I'll rid the evil beast out of the land. They'll not bother you. The sword is not gonna go through your land. If your enemies come after you, five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemy shall fall by the sword. Now if you'll turn, holding Leviticus 26, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 28, you'll find this blessing in verse 7. Deuteronomy 28 and verse 7, look how he says it now: "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." So God says if you are covenantally faithful, when your enemies attack in one big horde thinking they're going to overrun you, you will defeat them so thoroughly they'll scatter and retreat seven different ways.
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These are the blessings. Okay. Now go back to Leviticus 26 and let's begin reading there with verse 24. Leviticus 26 verse 24. In fact let's read verse 23. Here is where they are covenantally unfaithful. Here is the curse. Verse 23: "And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me," that is you will not keep My covenant, "then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins." Watch verse 25: "And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant."
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"And when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy." Now God said, on the one hand, I've promised you peace if you obey Me.
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On the other hand, if you disobey Me, I'm going to bring a sword against you. I'm going to send pestilence. You're going to be delivered into the hand of your enemies. Now look, if you would please, still in Leviticus chapter 26 beginning there with verse 36. Look what he says now. Leviticus 26 verse 36: "And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts." Did you hear that? You'll be cowards. You'll be afraid, you'll be scared. "I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth: and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up." So God says if you're covenantally unfaithful, you're going to fall in the hands of your enemies. Now turn to Deuteronomy 28 and let's begin reading there with verse 25. Here it is again. Deuteronomy 28 verse 25. You remember the blessing was if your enemy came against you one way, you would defeat
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him and he'd flee seven ways. Now the Bible says if you walk contrary to Me: "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. And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away." And Lord, you're going to lose. You can't face your enemies. You can't stand before your enemies. Now with that in mind, go back if you would please and look in Psalm 78 in verses 9 and 10. Put these two things together: "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle." Why?
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Here is the first reason: covenantally unfaithful. "They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law." Do you realize when we deny the covenant of God and cast His law behind our backs, at the same time we throw away His blessings and bring upon us His curses? Remember what the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 8 and verse 31? He said, "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"
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Now stop and think about that. If God be for us, who can be against us? So if God is for us, it doesn't matter if the entire universe is against us, because God is quite capable of whipping anyone and anything in the entire universe. But you know the opposite is also true. If God be against us, nobody's gonna help us. No one will be around to help us. And David certainly understood this because David said in Psalm 60 verse 11, "Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man." He's praying to the Lord. "Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man." Man can't help us, and especially if God is against us, man cannot help us. You see, sin may make you bold and it may make you forward to commit more sin, but in the time of danger, in the time of testing, it'll make you a coward. How in the world can we plead to God for help if we know that we're in rebellion against Him and are in disobedience to Him? David said it like this in Psalm 66 and verse 18: "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." Just regarding it causes God not to hear. How much more will He not hear if we're
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involved in it? And oftentimes when we turn against God, God just leaves us to ourselves and lets us see how weak and helpless and foolish and stupid we really are when we start reaping that which we've sown. But one of the reasons given in scripture that the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle was because of covenantal unfaithfulness. You look at what is happening in America. You look at where in the beginning we were faithful to God, to His Word. And today no one thinks about faithfulness, no one even thinks about God. All we think about today is political correctness and tolerance, and we do not want to upset anyone or offend anyone. It's all right to offend God, but it's not all right to offend a wicked sinner. So covenantally unfaithfulness brought down these men, pure cowards. Here is a second reason that is given in verse 11. Let's read verse 9, 10, and 11. Verse 9: "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle."
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"They kept not the covenant of God and refused to walk in His law," that is covenantal unfaithfulness, "and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them," that is covenantal ungratefulness. They forgot His works. They forgot His wonders that He had showed them. Had they remembered His works, had they remembered His wonders, they would have been filled with gratitude and thankfulness. They would have had His works and His wonders in their hearts and minds and been deeply moved because of the grace and mercy shown to them. I told the folks this morning, Alice and I are still cleaning up. I still have several large trees
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down that I've got to cut up and carry off. We still have a lot of limbs to pick up, a lot of debris to clean up. But every time I cut a tree and every time I start carrying it off, I still thank God that He spared all our buildings, not one fell on any of the buildings. See, if you can remember God's wonders and God's work, you can have a grateful and a thankful heart. John Trapp the old Puritan said this, I want you to think about this. John Trapp said this: "Forgetfulness is a grave. All is lost that is conferred on an ungrateful person." All is lost that is conferred on an ungrateful person. Each one in this room undoubtedly at one time or another has helped
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someone maybe financially. And that someone then turned around and stabbed them in the back or worked against them or did something to hurt them. Forgetfulness is a grave. And all that is conferred upon an ungrateful person is forgotten. I have friends. One I know particularly that helped another so-called Christian greatly financially. And then the man turns around and stabs him in the back. Anything conferred upon an ungrateful person is forgotten.
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Look what God has done for us. Look what God did for Israel. Look what God did for Ephraim. Look what God has done and we have forgotten His works, His wonders, and we've become an ungrateful and unthankful people. They may not have forgotten His works historically. How could you forget the history of the Red Sea? How could you forget the history of the destruction of Pharaoh and his army? But they did forget His wonders and His works practically and spiritually so that they were unthankful and ungrateful for anything and everything that He had done.
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They refused to love Him. They refused to serve Him. They refused to honor Him. They refused to walk in His law. So for all practical purposes, whatever God had done for them, they just simply forgot. Let me show you. Look in your Bibles to Psalm 106. Psalm 106. Psalm 106. And look if you would please at verses 12 and 13 to show you how hypocritical these people really were.
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When you read verse 12: "Then believed they his words; they sang his praise." Wow, you think, finally at last we've got some folks here that believe Him and sing His praise. By the way, there is such a thing as a temporary believer, not one that is genuinely saved. But you remember even in the New Testament the parable of the sower there, these believed for a while. It is what the Scripture says. But notice verse 12: "Then believed they his words; they sang his praise."
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But look what happens next: "They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert." So here are people singing His praise one moment and forgetting Him and refusing to wait for Him and provoking Him and sinning against Him the next moment. Now I want to tell you what happened to Ephraim. I want to tell you what happened to Israel. And I want you to see this is what happened in America. It's what happens in our churches. It's what happens in our lives. The first thing they did was neglect God. Anytime you neglect the reading of the Word, you neglect prayer, you neglect listening to the preaching and exposition of the Word of God, when you neglect God, inevitably, you're going to begin rejecting His law. You're going to be saying something like this:
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"Well, it might be wrong for everybody else, but it's all right for me." Or "I can do this little bit and I can get by." And then once you begin rejecting His law and His standards, that leads to forgetfulness. And then pretty soon you're just simply hog wild in rebellion against God. They neglected, they rejected, they forgot. That's what we do. We neglect God, we reject His law, and then we forget everything that He's done for us. Now let me make some applications.
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The first one is this. I hope you understand this. It's very simple: when we forget God and His covenant, it is impossible to trust Him. It is impossible to trust Him. How can you trust in someone that you forget? How can you trust in someone that you reject? How can you trust in someone that you neglect? Hence, in our times of danger, we become outright cowards because we have nothing in ourselves, we have no power in ourselves, and all we can see is our weakness. Our forgetfulness of God and His works is at the bottom of our disobedience to His laws. We are facing dangerous times, I can assure you of that. And we better be remembering Him and we better be remembering His covenant.
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The second application is this: hypocrisy is the high road to apostasy. Those who do not set their hearts steadfast with God will be double-minded at the best and apostate at the worst. These men, being armed with bows, turned back in the day of battle. The last one is this, and I think you should have this one down in your hearts, and that is this: carnal confidence is worthless. Carnal confidence is worthless. When you start trusting in yourself and your power or your weaponry or what you have or what you don't have, when you trust in any of those things, it is absolutely worthless.
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It is not going to give you a martial spirit. It's not going to give you courage. It's not going to give you valor. It's going to destroy you. William Gurnall wrote a book, I would encourage you to get it. It's very good reading. The book is just about this thick, the title of it is "The Christian in Complete Armour." And listen to what Gurnall said, one quote: "Let the armour be what it will, yea, if soldiers were in a castle whose foundations were rock and walls of brass, and yet, if their heart be not right
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to their prince, an easy storm will drive them from the walls, and a little scare will open their gate, which hath not this bolt of sincerity on it to hold it fast." So, what did he say? If you're not a genuine believer, it will not take much to drive you away from standing for truth and righteousness. In other words, sin and disobedience will make cowards out of all of us.
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What happened to Ephraim has happened to America. We have become covenantally unfaithful and covenantally ungrateful. And we're a nation of wimps and softies and cowards. We've lost the fighting spirit. And by that, I even refer to standing for truth and righteousness. Today, people had rather be politically correct than biblically correct. And when we stand for truth, we will be assailed, that is for sure. But one thing for sure, it's going to take covenantal faithfulness and thankfulness to be able to stand in the time of testing.
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Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before Thee this day. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. And Lord, help us not be like those who turned back in the day of battle. Give us a holy determination to be faithful unto Thee, to be grateful unto Thee, to be thankful unto Thee, to be submissive to Thee, to be obedient to Thee, to honor Thee, and to worship Thee alone. For Thou alone art God, and beside Thee there is none other. We ask these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray, amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:37:47Z

Turning Back In The Day Of Battle

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver examines Psalm 78:9 to diagnose why the well-armed Ephraimites turned back in battle, identifying covenantal unfaithfulness and ungratefulness as the root causes. He applies this to modern America, arguing that the nation and its men—especially preachers—have become soft, cowardly, and politically correct because they have neglected God, rejected His law, and forgotten His works. The sermon contrasts the boldness of 18th-century preachers with today's timid clergy and calls for a return to covenantal faithfulness and thankfulness to restore a biblical martial spirit.

Introduction and Reading of Psalm 78:1-11

Weaver opens with Psalm 78, reading verses 1-11, and poses two questions about cultural and masculine decline in America.

Alright, let's open our Bibles to Psalm 78. Psalm 78. The title of the message is from the text,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 78:1-11

"Turning Back in the Day of Battle."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 78:1-11

"Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us." "We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments: and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God." "The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law; and forgot His works, and His wonders that He had showed them."

The Decline of Masculine Courage in Modern Preachers

Weaver contrasts the bold, fearless preachers of the 1700s with today's soft, politically correct clergy who avoid offense.

Historical Example: Gad Hitchcock's Election Sermon

Weaver recounts how Gad Hitchcock boldly preached Proverbs 29:2 to General Thomas Gage, calling King George III a tyrant.

The Church Militant and Biblical Warfare

Weaver defends the concept of the church militant, citing Exodus 15:3 and Webster's 1828 dictionary to show the church is engaged in constant spiritual warfare.

Scripture Reading — Exodus 15:3

"The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is His name."

The Problem of Ephraim's Cowardice

Weaver notes that Ephraim, despite its privileges and armament, turned back in battle, and that weapons alone do not make a man courageous.

Scripture Reading — 1 Chronicles 5

Now the Bible says, "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle." One of the greatest warriors in the Bible was an Ephraimite, Joshua the son of Nun. Ephraim was the largest tribe. In fact it was only the largest tribe that often times in the Bible you will find Ephraim as a term which would represent all of the Northern Kingdom because it was indeed a leading tribe. The privileges of the firstborn were given to Joseph according to 1 Chronicles chapter 5. And then Jacob before he died assigned those to Ephraim in Genesis chapter 48 and verse 1. The supremacy of the tribe of Ephraim is pointed out in the order of marching to Canaan because they marched right behind the ark. Moreover, when the ark was settled, it settled in Shiloh, which was in the land of Ephraim. And Ephraim, of course, was given a very large, expansive piece of land that was extremely fertile. And so Ephraim had many blessings, Ephraim had many privileges, yet Ephraim we read in the Bible turned away from God. Ephraim should have been leading the tribes in courage, in valor, however now we read in Psalm 78 verse 9 it is leading them in cowardice.

The Influence of Fathers and the Danger of Following Bad Examples

Weaver warns that while fathers are to be honored, their sinful examples must not be followed, citing Job 32 and Ezekiel 20.

There is a fourth friend there by the name of Elihu. Elihu was a younger man and he held his peace until last. And here is what he said in Job 32 beginning there with verse 6:

Scripture Reading — Job 32:6-9

"And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not show you mine opinion. I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding."

Scripture Reading — 1 Corinthians 11:1

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ."

In other words we should follow no man any further than he follows the Lord Jesus Christ.

Scripture Reading — Ezekiel 20:18-19

"But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them."

Now look what God said. I said to their children, don't walk in the statutes or in the laws or the rules of your fathers. Don't observe their judgments. Don't defile yourself with their idols.

Do what I tell you. Because what they're telling you is contrary to the truth.

Trust in God, Not Weaponry

Weaver uses David and Goliath to illustrate that courage comes from trust in God, not in armor or weapons.

Scripture Reading — 1 Samuel 17:32-37

"And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him."

The Source of a Biblical Martial Spirit

Weaver argues that a fighting spirit comes only through obedience to God; sin dispirits men and makes them cowards.

Reasons for Ephraim's Cowardice: Covenantal Unfaithfulness

Weaver identifies the first reason for Ephraim's retreat as covenantal unfaithfulness—they broke God's covenant and refused His law.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 76:5

"The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands."

Isn't that amazing? The stouthearted are spoiled. What were they spoiled of? And the answer is their stout heart. They've slept their sleep.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 48:6

"Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail."

Fear took hold upon them.

Blessings and Curses of the Covenant

Weaver contrasts the blessings of obedience (peace, victory) with the curses of disobedience (fear, defeat) from Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:23-24

"Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee."

Note he says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:23-24

"Take heed unto yourselves lest ye forget the covenant of your God."

Don't forget. Don't forget. He tells you why in verse 24:

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 4:23-24

"For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God."

Second Reason: Covenantal Ungratefulness

Weaver explains that Ephraim forgot God's works and wonders, leading to ingratitude and further disobedience.

Applications and Conclusion

Weaver applies the message: forgetting God makes trust impossible, hypocrisy leads to apostasy, and carnal confidence is worthless. He calls for covenantal faithfulness and thankfulness.

Turning Back In The Day Of Battle

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	cS_Ne2gjt6U
Subject	Covenant Theology
Course	Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: Promises Of The Law
Genre	Sermon
Date	2018-11-20
Dictation Name
Book	Book 043: Covenant Theology: Blessings, Curses, and Sanctions: A Time Of Need — Chapter 10
Source Timed Segments	70

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction and Reading of Psalm 78:1-11: Weaver opens with Psalm 78, reading verses 1-11, and poses two questions about cultural and masculine decline in America.
The Decline of Masculine Courage in Modern Preachers: Weaver contrasts the bold, fearless preachers of the 1700s with today's soft, politically correct clergy who avoid offense.
Historical Example: Gad Hitchcock's Election Sermon: Weaver recounts how Gad Hitchcock boldly preached Proverbs 29:2 to General Thomas Gage, calling King George III a tyrant.
The Church Militant and Biblical Warfare: Weaver defends the concept of the church militant, citing Exodus 15:3 and Webster's 1828 dictionary to show the church is engaged in constant spiritual warfare.
The Problem of Ephraim's Cowardice: Weaver notes that Ephraim, despite its privileges and armament, turned back in battle, and that weapons alone do not make a man courageous.
The Influence of Fathers and the Danger of Following Bad Examples: Weaver warns that while fathers are to be honored, their sinful examples must not be followed, citing Job 32 and Ezekiel 20.
Trust in God, Not Weaponry: Weaver uses David and Goliath to illustrate that courage comes from trust in God, not in armor or weapons.
The Source of a Biblical Martial Spirit: Weaver argues that a fighting spirit comes only through obedience to God; sin dispirits men and makes them cowards.
Reasons for Ephraim's Cowardice: Covenantal Unfaithfulness: Weaver identifies the first reason for Ephraim's retreat as covenantal unfaithfulness—they broke God's covenant and refused His law.
Blessings and Curses of the Covenant: Weaver contrasts the blessings of obedience (peace, victory) with the curses of disobedience (fear, defeat) from Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.
Second Reason: Covenantal Ungratefulness: Weaver explains that Ephraim forgot God's works and wonders, leading to ingratitude and further disobedience.
Applications and Conclusion: Weaver applies the message: forgetting God makes trust impossible, hypocrisy leads to apostasy, and carnal confidence is worthless. He calls for covenantal faithfulness and thankfulness.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

Covenantal unfaithfulness is the primary cause of Ephraim's cowardice.

Weaver argues that breaking God's covenant and refusing His law directly led to their loss of courage in battle.

Weaver says, 'The very first reason for their faint heart and their cowardly attitude and actions is what you and I would call covenantal unfaithfulness.'

Weapons and armor cannot produce courage.

Weaver contends that being well-armed does not make one valiant; only trust in God provides true courage.

Weaver says, 'Weapons do not make a valiant man. Weapons do not make a man courageous.'

Sin and disobedience make men cowards.

Weaver asserts that sin dispirits men, removing their fighting spirit and leaving them fearful.

Weaver says, 'Sin dispirits man. It takes away man's heart. One cannot and will not fight courageously and bravely apart from God and His truth.'

Forgetfulness of God leads to ingratitude and apostasy.

Weaver argues that neglecting God's works results in a lack of thankfulness, which fuels further rebellion.

Weaver says, 'They forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them... covenantal ungratefulness.'

Modern America mirrors Ephraim's unfaithfulness.

Weaver applies the text to contemporary culture, claiming America has become covenantally unfaithful and ungrateful, producing a nation of cowards.

Weaver says, 'What happened to Ephraim has happened to America. We have become covenantally unfaithful and covenantally ungrateful.'

Scripture References

Psalm 78:1-11: The primary text of the sermon, read at the beginning, describing the stubbornness of Israel and Ephraim's retreat.
Proverbs 29:2: The text of Gad Hitchcock's election sermon, used to illustrate bold preaching against wicked rulers.
Exodus 15:3: Cited to show that the Lord is a man of war, supporting the concept of the church militant.
Deuteronomy 4:24: Mentioned in passing as part of the argument that God delivered Israel by war.
Numbers 21:14: Referenced to note the 'book of the wars of the Lord,' emphasizing the frequency of God's wars.
1 Chronicles 5: Cited to show that the privileges of the firstborn were given to Joseph.
Genesis 48:1: Referenced as the passage where Jacob assigned firstborn privileges to Ephraim.
Job 32:6-9: Used to argue that age does not always bring wisdom, and that young Elihu spoke truth.
1 Corinthians 11:1: Quoted to emphasize that we should follow men only as they follow Christ.
Ezekiel 20:18-19: Read to show God's command not to walk in the sinful statutes of fathers.
Psalm 20:7: Quoted to contrast trust in chariots and horses with trust in the name of the Lord.
Proverbs 21:31: Cited to affirm that safety is of the Lord, not in preparation for battle.
Psalm 140:7: Referenced as David's statement that God covered his head in the day of battle.
Psalm 127:1: Quoted to show that unless the Lord keeps the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
1 Samuel 17:32-37: Read to illustrate David's trust in God rather than in armor or weapons.
Nehemiah 4:14: Quoted as an example of encouragement to fight for families and homes.
Psalm 76:5: Read to show that the stouthearted are spoiled and cannot find their hands.
Psalm 48:6: Cited to illustrate fear taking hold like a woman in travail.
Deuteronomy 4:23-24: Read as a warning not to forget God's covenant.
Deuteronomy 8:11: Read as another warning not to forget God's commandments.

Historical References

Gad Hitchcock's election sermon (1774): Weaver recounts how Hitchcock preached Proverbs 29:2 to General Thomas Gage, calling King George III a tyrant.
The Black Robed Regiment: Weaver mentions that the British dubbed early American preachers the Black Robed Regiment for their leadership in the Revolution.
Oliver Cromwell's Ironsides: Weaver references Cromwell's Christian soldiers who went into battle singing psalms and hymns.
Hedley Vickers: Weaver quotes Vickers, a Christian soldier, who said he would choose soldiers of Christ for a forlorn hope.
Webster's 1828 Dictionary definition of 'militant': Weaver reads the definition to support the idea of the church militant engaged in constant warfare.
J.T. Headley's 'Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution': Weaver recommends this book to see the difference between 18th-century preachers and modern ones.
William Gurnall's 'The Christian in Complete Armour': Weaver quotes Gurnall on how a heart not right with the prince will easily surrender.

Important Quotes

The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

The central text of the sermon, used to diagnose spiritual cowardice.

If I am mistaken in supposing plans are formed and executing subversive to our natural and charter rights and privileges and incompatible with every idea of liberty, all America is mistaken with me.

Part of Gad Hitchcock's bold sermon to General Gage, illustrating fearless preaching.

King George may say that the evils that produce this state of things are imaginary. But I tell you, and I will tell the tyrant to his face, it is because of the wicked bear rule.

Hitchcock's direct challenge to authority, exemplifying the courage Weaver laments is lost.

Truly I think he that prays and preaches best will fight best.

Oliver Cromwell's statement linking spiritual devotion to martial courage.

I have often heard it said the worse the man the better the soldier. Facts contradict this untruth. Were I ever, as the leader of a forlorn hope, allowed to select my men, it would most certainly be from among the soldiers of Christ.

Hedley Vickers' testimony that Christian men make the best soldiers.

Forgetfulness is a grave. All is lost that is conferred on an ungrateful person.

John Trapp's quote emphasizing the danger of ingratitude.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

In what ways have modern pastors and Christian men become 'soft, effeminate, and cowardly' compared to previous generations?

[Context]

Weaver contrasts the boldness of 18th-century preachers with today's politically correct clergy.

[Question]

How does covenantal unfaithfulness manifest in the church today, and what are its consequences?

[Context]

Weaver argues that breaking God's covenant leads to cowardice and defeat.

[Question]

What does it mean for the church to be 'militant,' and how should that shape our engagement with culture?

[Context]

Weaver defends the concept of the church militant from Scripture and Webster's dictionary.

[Question]

Why is trust in God more effective than trust in weapons or human strength when facing spiritual battles?

[Context]

Weaver uses David and Goliath to illustrate reliance on God over armor.

[Question]

How can we cultivate a heart of gratitude to prevent the forgetfulness that leads to apostasy?

[Context]

Weaver warns that forgetting God's works leads to ingratitude and rebellion.

[Question]

In what ways do fathers influence the spiritual courage or cowardice of their children, and how can we break negative cycles?

[Context]

Weaver discusses the impact of fathers' examples and the command not to follow sinful patterns.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:59:55Z