Focal Point

Dave Brury: Today on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Salvation is ultimately about the winning of the war, not the winning of the battle. And I know this, we should celebrate every battle that that we win, every one of them. But right now I'm saying when you lose, know this, the thing that's never going away is the win. He's going to work all things together for good in his big plan.

Dave Brury: Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike unpacks the miraculous story from Psalm 76 where 185,000 enemy soldiers were defeated in a single night. Through this ancient victory, we'll grasp why God's people can trust in both his unlimited power and his personal interest in protecting us. We're continuing our series called Israel's Greatest Hits, and I'm your host, Dave Brury. Before we begin, remember that all of Pastor Mike's daily lessons are available online at focalpointradio.org. Well, now here's Pastor Mike Fabarez with today's message, Our Strong God.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: This is what God would have us do next time we experience the relief of victory, large or small, and we say, okay God, I want to learn from this song and make sure I understand what we ought to do. Many parallels to the challenges we face, even the small ones in our lives, when we see the kinds of trials the people of God have been through. So turn to Psalm 76 and let's learn from this psalmist how you and I should respond as God's people. Verse one, let's read it. In Judah, God is known. Never before has he been known in that generation like he's known this day.

God is known, and his name is great in Israel. You can imagine the ticker tape parades going on in Israel that day. His abode has been established in Salem. What's the capital city of Israel, of Judah? What is it? Jerusalem. Uh, if you say it slowly enough, you might realize what he's saying here. Salem. Jaru Salem, Jerusalem. Salem, by the way, it's a derivative, it comes from a word we still say in Israel today, uh, or even Jews say in America today, Shalom. Shalom is peace, not just a greeting and a and a goodbye, peace.

The word Salem is the word peace. And it's not used very often in the Bible as a kind of a short nickname for Jerusalem, but it is here. Jeru probably means foundation of that that this city is the foundation of peace, but today we're just calling it peace. It's the city of peace. Why? Because no one's sharpening their swords anymore. No one's thinking about dying anymore. We're not thinking about warfare anymore. War is over. War is over. It's the city of peace. His abode has been established in Salem, in Jerusalem. Okay, his dwelling place really isn't here, and Solomon knew that.

Can't build a house where God's going to live, but it is a representation of where God lives. And so his dwelling place in Zion, which is earthly but ultimately heavenly. What did he do in Jerusalem, in the city of peace? Well, there he broke the flashing swords. Can you imagine being a daytime scout looking over the walls of of the fortified city of Jerusalem and seeing in the sunlight 185,000 warriors and and and all of them have swords in their hands? And you'd see a lot of flashing swords. And you can see a lot of sun bouncing off their shields.

The shields and the swords and the weapons of war, he broke them, broke them. Well well, how did he do it? Well, he did it because he's killed them all in their sleep. Glorious are you, verse four, more majestic than the mountains full of prey. You have here the hunters coming to hunt the soldiers and the citizens of Jerusalem that now are are going to be plundered by people getting stuff off of them, and the animals of the field are going to come and eat them up. And you just think about that. Here you have the mountains full of dead bodies, and the stouthearted, they were so brave, they were the courageous soldiers.

They were stripped of their spoil, all that they came with, all their their meals ready to eat, all their their daggers, all their swords, they get they get it all stripped away. Why? Because they sank into a sleep just like 2 Kings 19 says. They all just died in their sleep. All the men of war were unable to use their hands, they weren't even moving anymore. They were just laying still and dead. How did that happen? Verse six, at your rebuke, oh God of Jacob, going back to the patriarchs, thinking of the promises that you will be our God and we will be your people.

Both rider and horse lay stunned, even the animals were dead. This is amazing. So what do we do? Let's call a a parade, let's have a parade. Let's get let's get the bands out and and play. You, oh God, are to be feared. Now there's the first kind of interesting counter cultural response to a victory parade. We got to fear the Lord. Why? Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused? Right? Be kind of scary to walk out one day when you are hearing and seeing the clamor and flashing and glittering swords of the enemy, and all of a sudden now they're all dead.

I guarantee you, you're going to be like, whoa. Who can stand before you once your anger is roused? You're done with the Assyrians taking over Israel, done with it. From heaven you utter judgments. Like you in the boardroom of heaven just sat there and like, no no more with the Assyrians, let's just kill them. You uttered a judgment and the earth feared and was still. The loaded language of this Psalm, when you know what happened historically, they're all just they're just corpses out there. When God arose to establish judgment to save the humble of the earth, Salem, the humble of the earth.

We were outnumbered, we were outgunned, and you saved us. Surely the wrath of man, which was what the Assyrians had, a bunch of men trying to kill us, shall praise you. The remnant of wrath, what's left of wrath, you will put on like a belt. Verse 11. What do we do? Make your vows to Yahweh, your God, to the Lord your God, and perform them. Let all around him bring gifts to him who is to be feared, who cuts off the spirit of princes. All those princes that came and gave the message to scare the Judeans, they cut off.

They're they're now running back. Not only the the princes, but who is to be feared by the kings of the earth? Hey, you can think back to Sargon, Shalmaneser, Tiglath Pileser, or now Sennacherib, they're all Sennacherib literally running back to to his home. Scared. His whole his whole team had just died. Amazing. So let's think let's figure this out. I want us to understand verses one through six. But the point is we should know that God is our protector, and you should know that God is a great protector. As it says at the beginning of this Psalm, we should see how great God is.

The great great is his name in Israel. We know God is involved in this and we know God is great. That's how we should view any victory in our lives, whether it's health, financial, relational, career wise, housing wise, whatever it is. So number one, let's put it this way. You need to see the greatness of God's protection. God is our protector. The first song ever written in the Bible, think think think think think, Sunday school grads, what's the first song in the Bible when they sing the song in Exodus? And they call God the man of war.

You realize that? The first song in the Bible and the last song in the Bible in the book of Revelation are all about God being a fighter, a warrior. He's a warrior who defends his people. There's a lot of men of war that have just died out in the field because you had a decision made by the ultimate warrior, the man of war, God in heaven saying we're done with this. We're done with this. And I don't want to make too many parallels here, but you think about Germany and Japan and Italy in World War II, and it took about 185,000 people that died sadly, and you can have your views on all that, but it did end the war when the bombs were dropped.

And it came to the fact that this was done, we're done. We're done with the world dominance of what what was what was fought through in terms of of the Third Reich and ultimately Imperial Japan. We're done. And the reality is that God does this himself without any use of our bombs or our planes, and God goes, I'm going to put an end to the aggressor cuz I am the man of war. I am the defender of my people. Okay, let's break this down with a few sub points. Number one, let's start with this. God has the power to protect.

Let's just remember that. He has the power to protect and you need to think of it that way, and we don't think of it that way the way we should. Speaking of 2 Kings, let's go to 2 Kings 6. Once you write that down, let's go there. 2 Kings chapter 6. Just to make a point that you should make in your own mind every single day. And and before we read this little section of 2 Kings 6, can you please remember some of the basic promises of God? Uh, it starts with Abraham and and it continues on in every every generation just about.

And that is this, I will be with you. Okay, think about the New Testament promises, I will be with you. Never leave you, never forsake you. Hebrews 13. I will be with you. Matthew 28, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So God's people, the disciples of Christ, God is going to be with them all the way to the end, and that's us. God's going to be with us. Uh, how about John 14? Even when Jesus says I'm going to go away but I'm going to come back to receive you, but I'm not going to leave you as orphans, he says in the upper room discourse.

I'm going to send the helper, the Paraclete, you will not be alone. I will be with you. I will be with you. The triune God will be with you. Everything in the Bible reminds us that the people of God God is with us. Now here's the promise. 1 Peter 1 says you can't see him. You can't see him. But God is a man of war. He's a warrior. He's as even as the Bible says, he's a dread warrior, and he is here to protect his people. He has the power, the over arching power. We call it omnipotence.

He has omni power to protect his people. So God has power to protect. Now in 2 Kings chapter 6, after the taking of Elijah, before the eyes of Elisha, as he sees the chariots of fire come down and pick up Elijah and he goes away, Elisha now gets the ministry of being the prophet and leading the school of the prophets in Israel. And he has an assistant that's with him. And just like Hezekiah seeing the city of Jerusalem surrounded by enemies, Elisha and his assistant see the city surrounded by enemies. And look at what happens here in his context, different different geographical context, but look what happens in verse 15.

Drop down there. 2 Kings 6 15. When the servant of the man of God, that's the assistant of Elisha, rose early in the morning, he went out and behold an army with horses and chariots were all around the city. He sees the enemy. And the servant said, Alas, my master, what shall we do? That's what Hezekiah was saying, what are we going to do? And he wasn't the assistant, he was the king. I don't know what we're going to do. We can 't win this battle. And Elisha says, verse 16, the man of God says, 2 Kings 6 16, is that where I took you?

Okay, he says, do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Now there's the new math because he couldn't compute this. I don't understand. We are not more than them. There are more enemies around us than there are our people. So we're out numbered. But Elisha knew what he was talking about because he believed the promise of God that God would be with his people. So Elisha prayed, verse 17, and said, Oh Lord, oh Yahweh, please open his eyes that he may see. So Yahweh, Lord, opened the eyes of the young man, the assistant of Elisha, and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Now that's the reality. God had a special interest and power, chariots of fire that could come down and sweep Elijah away. That those chariots of fire are surrounding Elisha. I I know we're surrounded by enemies, but we're surrounded by God because God says he'll never leave us or forsake us. And his messengers, that's what the word angel means, his messengers are dispatched to protect us. That's the promise of Hebrews chapter one. His ministering spirits are protecting us, but God himself is protecting us. The general of heaven is within us, and the Bible says he has power to protect.

If you think about the simple promise, God will be with you, I need you to think we have the all powerful king of the universe who can kill 185,000 seasoned warriors with just lifting a pinky in a boardroom and saying we're done with those guys, and it'll be over. Okay, now I know this causes problems in your mind cuz you're thinking wait a minute, my my mom's got cancer, all I want is those cancer cells to go away. Can he lift a finger and do that? Absolutely he can. 100% so let's start with that, is the power.

I'm going to make this a little bit worse for those of you going through the trial, but if you've been through the trial, then you can celebrate in the present that God has the power because he's exercised some power somehow to get you out of the jam. Okay. Secondly, let it be, let's put it this way. He also has the interest to protect. He not only has the power to protect, there's some people that have power to protect me, but they have no interest in me. God has the interest to protect. I want you to think about it in terms of what we just went through in the book of Acts.

We've seen Paul retell the story twice, but it started in Acts chapter nine and repeats it all three times that God out of heaven, particularly the the second person of the Godhead says to Saul of Tarsus, soon to be Paul the apostle, hey, Saul Saul, why are you persecuting, here's a personal pronoun, me? Why are you persecuting me? Now if I want to persecute Jesus, how can I do it? I can't do it. Does he have toenails? He has toenails. What if I want to take pliers and pull one of those toenails off? I can't do that.

Well, I can't get to him cuz he's in some other weird dimension. He he blew off the top of Mount of Mount of Mount of Olives. I I can't I mean I can I can find my pliers, but I can't find his toenails. I want to stick a a nail in his eye. I can't do it. I cannot persecute. I cannot torture Jesus. There's no possible way I can do that cuz he's not here. Right? He's at the right hand of the majesty on high to quote Hebrews one. I just can't do it. But Paul was doing it when he was Saul of Tarsus.

How was he doing it? Well, you know, he was on the way to Damascus to kill Christians. He was there to imprison Christians. He was there to take property away from Christians. He was going to make Christians a really bad time, make them make them suffer. And and Jesus says you're persecuting me. Why? Because the simple theology of the New Testament, he is the head and we are his body. So he starts messing with you, you may be the toenail of Christ. Humble person, but if someone is messing with the toenail of Christ, guess what?

Messing with God, the all powerful God who has the power to protect you and he has the interest to protect you because it's like this one organism. So much so I spoke about the eye poking Jesus in the eye with a nail. Forgive me this blasphemous illustration. But you know what? That's a good illustration because both in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 32 and also in the Psalms, good to jot this one down, Psalm 17 verses 16 through 12, we have a picture of God being a person, and I am a part of him and I'm not a part of the body like the neck down.

I'm actually on his face. I'm actually the apple of his eye. An apple means the dark part of your eye, the the lens, the cornea of the eye. So put your name in here. Mike Fabarez is the apple of God's eye because through Christ I'm now integrated into the body of Christ and I am like the apple of the eye. I can do a lot of things to you in the pad, I can slap you on the back, give you knuckles, I can high five you, I can shake your hand, I can punch you in the chest, and and you probably will go that's a little too touchy for me, but whatever.

But if I take my finger out and poke you in the eye, we're going to have problems, aren't we? You I'm going to better be ready for some defensive moves. Cuz I don't care if you're the most delicate woman in the room, I poke you in the eye, you're going to respond. You're probably going to try to slap me. Because you don't mess with your eyeball. You mess with the eyeball, you're going to get a reaction. And the Bible says on multiple occasions, I am like the cornea of the eyeball of God. And you start messing with me, whether I'm a Christian in Damascus in the 1st century or a Christian in Southern California in the 21st century, it's just though God's eye is being messed with.

That's a helpful thing for me to remember. God has the power to protect, he has the interest to protect. Right? I'm a part of God. I'm not God, but I I am the body of Christ. That's helpful. But it's hurtful if you're in the middle of the trial. Now I 'm trying to preach about victories, how to celebrate in the victories. But you may be sitting here saying now this makes it worse for me because I'm losing. Right? My spouse died. I lost my job. I can't find a spouse. We're not having a baby. Whatever your problem is, I 'm not winning this thing.

You can think you just made it worse cuz you said God has the power and the interest. And if God has the power and interest and you're not doing it, I got a problem with that. Cuz yeah, we can talk about you know, Hezekiah, well good for you, Hezekiah. I'm not winning. Okay, turn with me to Lamentations. Remember this. Lamentations written by Jeremiah. Jeremiah is like the equivalent, if you will, of Hezekiah who's a king praying God please save and God saves. Jeremiah said please save. That's what he wanted, and guess what God did not save.

Finally, Jerusalem. Think about this now. 200 years later is surrounded not by Assyrians and and not not not under the direction of Sennacherib, but now surrounded by Babylonians. Same city, same walls as dispatched by Nebuchadnezzar. And they prayed, I'm sure. How many times did Jeremiah pray? I don't know. He prayed for protection and it didn't happen. And so he lost. It's like us looking at a trial, praying for the trial, and we lose. Maybe it's an irreversible loss, like the death of someone in your family. We lost, we lost. Okay, how do we deal with that?

Well, number one, we don't just start detaching God from the circumstances. Look at verse one, Lamentations chapter three. I know these are hard truths, but let's listen to this. Verse one. I am a man who has seen affliction, Jeremiah says, under the rod of his wrath. Now that that's I understand. You can think about mediation. You can think about well, when Job was suffering, as we've been reading in our daily Bible reading, he was suffering cuz Satan was attacking him. Yeah, but Satan wouldn't attack him if God didn't let the leash out. You would agree with that.

And when Job in in his in his responses to God, as we've read this week, he's shaking his fist at God, he's got a point, does he not? I mean he's better than the other people in his town. He's the best in town. He's the best moral guy around and still he sees himself suffering to be and still steal his stuff. The storms crash, the house of his kids, they die. He's got a a body with cells that are out of control. He's scraping boils off of his body. He's in bad shape and he's saying God, why did you do this to me?

And you're thinking, well, that was Satan. Stop with that. Jeremiah understands. I'm under the rod of your anger. He is driven and brought me into darkness without any light. Surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. Okay, well, this sounds like a terrible book to read. Look at the rest of this. Drop down to verse 19, we'll get to the heart of it. Remember my afflictions and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall, that's like poison. Taste terrible. My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But okay, here it is.

The battle has been lost in Jerusalem, but but but but I I'll call this to mind. This I'm going to call to mind. And therefore all I have hope. Well, I can't wait to what comes after the colon here. When are you how are you going to have hope? I'm going to have hope this way. Here comes verse 22. The hesed, the steadfast love of the Lord. Hesed. Hesed is the Hebrew word that translates the phrase steadfast love. Steadfast love is a reminder that God has put a covenant commitment to love someone, not based on feelings, but based on his promise.

He's faithful of his steadfast love. He has said I will love you. Often times he puts it for the sake of Moses, for the sake of Abraham, for the sake of David. But ultimately we know, 1 Corinthians 10 says, for the sake of Christ we are loved. We know this from the transaction in the New Testament. The only one who's perfect to be perfectly loved by the perfect God is his son. And on behalf of Christ, he's promised to forgive us, he's promised to love us, he's promised to never leave us, and he promised never to forsake us.

He promised to be our protector, our fortress, and our rock. That's what he promised. And he says because I know you've made that promise, your steadfast devotion of love to me, I know this, I'll have hope cuz that never ceases. Your mercies, your kindness, I'm still alive writing this poem, never come to an end. They're new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Now we just lost the battle, but even in this, and this is a different series, I realize. This is about the trials and the defeats. But he says in the midst of it all, Yahweh is my portion.

My soul says therefore I'm going to have hope cuz I' 'm going to lean into that. I don't have the victory in the battle, but I have him and I know if I just wait, verse 25, the Lord is good to those who wait for him. The soul of those who seek him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the here's a word, salvation of the Lord. Now when you read the word salvation in the Old Testament, usually it's tied to a temporal victory. When Hezekiah says, I want to celebrate your salvation, Lord, he's thinking could the Assyrians please die?

When Jeremiah is praying for salvation, he's usually praying for the salvation of Jerusalem against the Babylonians. You've been so conditioned because of New Testament teaching, and rightfully so, when you hear a word salvation, you're not thinking about the lawsuit, you're not thinking about your health crisis, you're not thinking about your relationships, you're thinking about something beyond the the temporal horizon of this life. And rightly so because salvation is ultimately about the winning of the war, not the winning of the battle. And I know this, we should celebrate every battle that that we win, every one of them.

You get something answered to prayer, something good, praise the Lord. I'm trying to give you instructions about how to celebrate the victory. Well, it doesn't sound like Pastor Mike, I mean I' 'm trying to. I' 'll get to that. But right now I' 'm saying when you lose, know this, the thing that's never going away is the win. And the win is you are protected all the way to the promised land. And the promised land may be filled with a lot of stubbed toes and a lot of suffering and pain and a lot of battles that you lose.

All of those are under the purview of God's sovereignty. He's got a plan for every one of those. He's going to work all things together for good in his big plan. But I know the war is never lost. You're listening to Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez and a message titled Our Strong God. It's part of our series called Israel's Greatest Hits, and you can catch up on any missed episodes from this study by visiting focalpointradio.org. On our website you'll also find this month's special resource. It's a captivating book that continues where the gospel narratives conclude, titled After Acts, Exploring the Lives and Legends of the Apostles.

Author Brian Litfin ventures beyond the biblical record to investigate what became of the apostles after Acts wraps up. Drawing from historical documentation and ancient texts, this remarkable book follows their continued journeys, ongoing ministries, and final destinies. You'll discover new perspectives on these brave apostles who transformed the world through their unwavering commitment. Secure your copy of After Acts when you support Focal Point with a thoughtful donation. To give and request your copy today, call 888 320 5885 or give online at focalpointradio.org or send your donation by mail by writing to Focal Point, Post Office Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California 92654.

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Authored by Pastor Mike, this helpful resource demonstrates how authentic faith always focuses on caring for and serving others effectively. It's our gift to you when you contact us at focalpointradio.org. Well, I' am your host, Dave Brury, and tomorrow Pastor Mike continues this compelling message about depending on our mighty God even when situations appear hopeless. We'll understand how God's steadfast love endures whether we experience victory or defeat in life struggles. That's Tuesday right here on Focal Point. Pastor Mike here. Ever wish you could corner your pastor and challenge him with your toughest questions about the Bible, about faith?

Well, now you can. Send me your questions. Head on over to focalpointradio.org and click on Ask Pastor Mike or send me a note on facebook.com/pastormike or twitter.com/pastormike. I can't wait to hear from you.

Dave Brury: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.