Placing Your Enemies in the Hands of God — Carter Conlon

This message is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, PO Box 260, Lindale, Texas 75771, or calling 903 -963 -8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. I'm pleased if you'll turn there with me.

Receiving God's Word as a Blessing

The title of my message is called Placing Your Enemies in the Hand of God. Placing Your Enemies in the Hand of God. Hallelujah. Jesus, I thank you tonight that every time we meet, I'm aware that it's your desire to bless your church.

You have only a one-fold desire, to open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there's not room enough to receive. Lord, thank you that we have the knowledge that that's your heart. And no matter what kind of a word that you bring to us as your people, it is always in your heart to bless your church.

Now I ask tonight that this word be received as a blessing, God, that there would be a desire in our hearts to hear it, and to do what you say, no matter what the personal cost. Father, I thank you, Lord, that you will enable me by the unction of the Holy Spirit to bring this word out in the manner that you want it to be spoken.

Lord, it really doesn't matter how I deliver it. It matters how it's heard in the hearts of the people that you gathered together tonight in this house. I ask you, Father, to open the hearts. God, give us hearing ears and willful hearts.

Lord, this is going to be even a painful process for some, but there's great grace, Lord, when we obey you. Great, great grace and freedom and liberty that you give to those who make the choice to walk in truth, because you said you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

And Father, I pray tonight that before some and most leave this house tonight, that there will be a brand new testimony of freedom, and people will be able to leave this house tonight and say, I am free, I'm free, thank God I'm free.

And Father, I thank you for that. Lord, you're going to do that in this house tonight. I have every confidence because you've burdened my heart with this, Father. And God, I thank you for it. In Jesus' name.

The Period of the Judges and the Danger of Idolatry

Placing your enemies in the hand of God, Judges chapter 9. Now, before I begin to read anything in Judges chapter 9, I'll just go over a little bit of history. Now, in the book of Judges, we're in a period of biblical history called the period of the Judges.

It's the time after the death of Joshua. You remember Moses led the people out of Egypt after their 400-year captivity. They came through the wilderness. Then Joshua, the next leader, brought them in to claim their inheritance.

Now, throughout the days of Joshua, there was peace in the land. They subdued some of the land, but unfortunately, not all of it. And the tribes that were left in the land of Israel became a snare to the people.

Let that be a warning tonight to you and I, that those things that we will not let the Holy Spirit subdue will eventually become a snare to us. We will build an altar to them if we follow the pattern of the people of God through biblical history and unthinkably begin to bow down to some things that are against the will of God.

Now, some are sitting here tonight and saying, well, how could that ever happen to me? As this message progresses, you may begin to realize that you have already been ensnared by one particular thing I'm going to talk about tonight that is an idol, really, of the people of the land because they do build altars to this and they do bow down to it.

And if it's not dealt with in the hearts of God's people, we too will build altars and we will bow down to it. Unwittingly, even at times, and sometimes even think that we're doing God's services. We're doing it.

Now, I pray for great grace. I don't know if I'll preach or teach tonight because I have a weight upon me of the Holy Spirit tonight because of the importance. It's God wants to bless this church. He wants to bless you.

He wants to bless me. But if we're going to know the blessing, the fullness of what God wants to do for us, there has to be a receiving of truth. There's a condition, if I can place it as such on our part, is to desire and to receive the truth as God speaks it into our hearts.

As higher law than all of our own righteousnesses or our self-justification for what we do and all of our own thoughts and feelings and opinions. The truth of God must take precedence. And if we are the people of God, there is a desiring in our hearts for that truth.

Now, this period of judges lasted about 350 years. It began with the first judge, which was Othniel, a young man called Othniel who married Caleb's daughter. And from there progressed to the last judge was Samuel.

And then the period of judges ended when Samuel anointed Saul to be the first physical king of Israel. Now Saul, and then of course after Saul came King David. The period of judges was a time when the people would sin against the Lord repeatedly.

They would build altars to Baal and Ashtoreth and other different types of gods of the nations around them. And then they would subsequently become oppressed by the people around them as they had allowed these things that the people worshipped in that society to grip their hearts, it brought oppression.

And folks, I'll tell you something. When we choose the way of the world over the ways of God, you can be sure it's going to bring oppression into your life. Come to the house of God all you want. But if you're in your heart, you've embraced the ways of the society over the ways of God, you will begin to live under oppression.

And because of that oppression, a sigh, and it says the people sighed, they cried out to the Lord. And God in His graciousness 13 times raised up what we know to be a judge. These were people, men and a woman in one case, Deborah, who were raised up sovereignly, supernaturally, touched by the Spirit of God with wisdom.

They were hearing the word of the Lord. They directed the people and God through these judges one more time would raise up an army, would raise up a movement as it were, and lead the people away from these false oppressions that were all around them and lead them once again back into the worship of the one only and true God.

And that's a type really of what Jesus said. They once again embraced the truth and the truth set them free. I want that established in your heart tonight. Not just as a scripture we memorize and quote from time to time, but I want it to become a living reality in my life and in your life that we understand when we embrace the truth, the truth sets us free.

There's no other path that it goes on. And no matter how hard it might be to embrace when we hear it and move in it, it brings us into a place of freedom. Now one of the judges that God raised up was a man called Gideon, a young man who was just plowing at a threshing floor.

The land at that time was being mightily oppressed by a people called the Midianites, the angel of the Lord, which is Christ in a sense appearing, a pre-New Testament appearance of Christ appeared to Gideon and called him a mighty man of valor.

He said, go in this thy strength, a mighty man of valor, not a strength that he was imparting to him was really just the word that he was speaking to him. And that's our strength, folks. It's nothing has really changed.

God spoke the word to him and says, go in this thy strength. And Gideon's looking around saying, what me? My father's house is poor. I'm the least in my father's house. What influence do we have? How are we going to hire an army?

How are we going to fight against these Midianites? He failed to realize that his strength was the commission, the word that was being given to him. That was the source of his strength. And that's the way it is for the church of Jesus Christ today.

When God speaks the word and our hearts embrace it, then the Holy Spirit comes and makes it alive and quickens us to that word that God has spoken into our lives. Then we are sovereignly by God brought out of what I call the realm of the flesh and we're brought into the realm of resurrection life, which was bought for us by Jesus Christ.

Now, Gideon raised up this mighty army of 300 men. You remember that defeated 100, I believe it's 130 ,000 Midianites and just simply by the power of God. And now we're going into, we'll start in Judges chapter eight and beginning of verse 30.

And I'm just going to be skipping over some verses of scripture to build a base for the story. Scripture says, and Gideon had three score and 10 sons of his body. So he had 70 sons begotten for he had many wives and his concubine that was in Shechem.

She also bear him a son whose name was Abimelech. And the scripture says that Gideon, the son of Joash died in a good old age and was buried in the sepulcher of Joash, his father in Ophrad the Abysarites.

And it came to pass as soon as Gideon was dead that the children of Israel turned again and went a whoring after Balaam and made Baal Barath their God. Now Baal Barath, Barath means covenant. So I mean, they hear they made a covenant with Baal.

And if you remember some of the past messages on a man of conditional trust, you'll know what that is all about. Trusting and what you can see and taste and touch and feel really just like the society around them.

And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord, their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side. And neither showed they kindness to the house of Jeroboam, which is Gideon, namely Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had showed unto Israel.

So here's this man who literally lays his life down, begins to follow God. God uses him, becomes a judge of Israel in his lifetime. There's peace in the land. Then he dies. And the people turn one more time away from the Lord.

And they forget all the goodness that this man has done for them. This is a tragedy of humanity, but it happens time and again. Folks, one day, if you are among those who are looking for the praise of man, if that's your whole sense of who you are, I want to warn you, because one day they'll say Hosanna, and about three days later they'll say crucify him.

Humanity never changes. And it's such a tragedy when we begin to look for praise of man and not for the praise of God. There's only really one voice that counts and it's the son of the concubine. Not one of the 1070 sons of his wives, but the son of a concubine called Abimelech.

He went to the place called Shechem unto his mother's family, or his mother's brethren, and communed with them and with all the family of the house of his mother's father, saying, verse 2, Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, which is better for you, or whether is better for you, your bone and your flesh.

And his mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem, and all these words, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother. And they gave him threescore and ten pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-Bareth, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and like persons which followed him.

And he went into his father's house and found one stone. Notwithstanding, yet Jotham, the youngest son of Jeroboam, was left, for he hid himself. So here's this son of the concubine of Abimelech going and convincing some of the people of the land that it's better that he reign over the people than all the sons of Gideon.

And he hires with the money they give him treacherous people, and they go to Gideon's house. Now you imagine, how ungrateful can a people get? To convict a vicious act for a man who had really given his life to set the people free when they cried out to the Lord from the Midianites.

And he goes into his father's house and kills all the sons of Gideon, save for one, this young son called Jotham who hid himself. And all the men of Shechem gathered together, verse 6, and all the house of Milo went out and made Abimelech king by the plane of the pillar verse 7, he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim and lifted up his voice and cried and said unto them hearken unto me you men of Shechem that God may hearken unto you.

Now I want you to stop right there for a moment, please don't read ahead of me. Here's this young man Jotham, an incredible injustice has been done to his father's house. An incredible injustice has been done to him the plan that they had had for his life.

He was powerless in himself to do anything concerning the injustice that had befallen both him and his household, powerless. And sometimes folks that happens to you and I, doesn't it? People do things to us and we would like to fight back but we are powerless to do anything about it.

There are some of you that are sitting here tonight and there are things that happened to you when you were a child. There were people that you trusted that had leadership over your life or a place of importance and they abused that place of leadership over your life and you were powerless to do anything about it.

Just like Jotham was powerless. What can he do? All the people are following this half-brother Abimelech. All he had the power to do was to cry out against the injustice that had befallen their groups at times of people that are powerless to do anything about what was done and all they can do now is cry out against the former injustice and live and relive the things that were done to them.

Yet there is something a little bit different in this cry of Jotham because the scripture seems to indicate that there was a desire in him to have his brethren understand that he's far enough away that they really can't get their hands on him and he cried and he said Harken unto me you men of Shechem that God may hearken unto you.

And the translation of the Living Bible says it probably more simply. He said if you want God's blessing listen to me. If you want God's blessing and I don't know that sounds fairly gracious. I don't know in his position if any of us would have the power to be that gracious.

We would have taken away our whole household and had done such evil to the memory of our father. But yet he said if you want God's blessing he said listen to me. Listen to what I'm about to say and I believe this is the foundation of what the Holy Spirit has given me to speak tonight.

If you want God's blessing I want you to listen to me with all of your heart tonight. Listen to what I'm about to tell you. I'm not going to read the whole thing because it would take too long but he said you had choices.

He said you could have had the olive tree rain over you or the fig tree or the vine and all of these things represent different things. The olive tree for example is where the oil of anointing was taken from the olives and the fig tree always represents Israel God's inheritance God's heritage as divine.

You could really say if you want to take typology you could say you could have had the father the son and the Holy Spirit rain over you. You could have walked in God's way but you chose another path and then in verse 14 he says then all the trees said to the bramble the brush that type of brush that you see on a windy day in a southern town just sort of blow across the street.

You could have had this wonderful this wonderful creation of God rain over you. You could have known his blessing and his favor but yet you went to the lowest you chose the lowest path to follow and you went to that which is the lowest and you stooped to that and you said this is going to be our leader this is what we're going to follow.

When you could have aspired to height and you could have aspired to truth and you could have known the blessing of God yet you chose the lowest form of carrying on the heritage of those that have been called by God to inherit the promised land.

He said you have betrayed the house and the lives of those who have done you no harm. This is what he was telling them this is what you have done. In verse 16 now he states then what we know today to be a standing truth of God's word.

In verse 16 he says now therefore he said if you have done if you have done truly and sincerely in that you have made a Bimelech the king and if you have dealt well with Jerobel and his house and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands for my father fought for you and adventured his life far and delivered you out of the hand of Midian and you are risen up against my father's house this day and have slain his sons three score and ten persons upon one stone and have made a Bimelech the son of his maidservant king over the men of Shechem because he is your brother.

Verse 19 he says if you have dealt truly and sincerely with Jerobel and with his house this day then rejoice ye in a Bimelech and let him also rejoice in you. He was saying if what you have done is right rejoice in it but if not let fire come out from a Bimelech and devour the men of Shechem and the house of Bilo and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and the house of Milo and devour a Bimelech and Jotham ran away and fled and went to Beo and dwelt there for fear of a Bimelech his brother.

Now he basically stood up and said something that we would know in another way is said in the scriptures to us today he basically said men what you have sown you're going to reap or what you have yeah what you have sown you're going to reap if what you have sown is righteous you're going to reap righteous fruit he said if you have sown unrighteousness it's going to devour you.

This is a this is the law of the harvest. There's an immutable law of the harvest in nature that's also found in the kingdom of God and basically that law is threefold you will reap what you have sown whatever you plant that's what's going to grow whatever's in your heart that's what's going to begin to show itself in your life.

Whatever you embrace in the interior part of your life that's going to begin to show in your entire person. If your eye is single Jesus said your whole body will be full of life if your eye is focused on Christ.

If you desire Christ if you want to live for Christ if you want to honor Christ if you want the truth of Christ there will be a light come into you and the very life of Christ will begin to be lived in and through you.

There will be righteous fruit because you are sowing in truth you will reap a harvest of righteousness in your life. But the second law of the harvest is that you will reap later than you sow it. Many people have things in their hearts in the church of Jesus Christ and think that well I can hide this thing.

I can come into the house of the Lord and wave my hands and shout the songs and never have to deal with it. And they carry on in this manner. And I've seen it now. I've been around long enough to see people go a great great distance in the house of the Lord with hidden things of the heart that they know are wrong according to the word of God.

They simply will not deal with it and they go a great distance. They have zeal as Paul said but often times not according to righteousness. They have this supposed passion for the kingdom of God. But there's this area that they just simply will not yield even though God speaks and speaks and speaks and they go a great distance.

But the second law of the harvest is you will reap later than you sow it. And farther down the road 15, 20 years walking with God all of a sudden one day their life just seems to break out into this unrighteous fruit because there's been something sown in the heart that's never been dealt with.

And the third immutable law of the harvest is simply that you will reap more than you sowed. And often times the last state of a person who will not deal with truth ends up worse than in the beginning.

Didn't Jesus say that? He said the evil spirit goes out of a man and wanders through dry places. And then there's a sense of that scripture that he's saying is gone and is distanced from the man. And then comes back and says I will go back and have a look at my house that I came out of and finds it clean and swept and garnished.

In other words there's been no dealing. There's been nothing. Come in to occupy the place that the evil once had. There's a season of grace that's given to every life. But I've got to tell you folks if God changes your nature and your heart gives you an opportunity to walk with him there has got to be truth come in to replace what used to be there.

If truth doesn't replace it what used to be there will come back. As the saying goes with a vengeance it will come back even stronger than it used to be before. And you have a lot of people that after 20 years they get this bitter spirited testimony that tries to tell everybody around them that it doesn't work.

I tried it it doesn't work. I tried to walk with God. It doesn't work. Oh it works. But it just didn't work for them because they made a willful choice to reject the truth. When they could have had the vine.

When they could have had the olive tree when they could have had the fig tree they chose the bramble to reign in their lives. Proverbs 14 .22 says do they not err that devise evil. The writer Proverbs.

Paul says isn't it a tragedy that those aren't they on a path of error. Aren't they on a path of their own undoing. Paul says in Galatians 6 verses 7 and 8 he said be not deceived. God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.

For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption. But he that sows to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life everlasting. Paul says don't be fooled don't be deceived don't get into a state of mind of thinking that we can harbor in our hearts things that we know are contrary to the truth of God and somehow still reap a righteous harvest.

He said don't be deceived. It's not. It doesn't work that way. It doesn't work that way in nature. And it will not work that way in the kingdom of God. Proverbs 17 .13 says that whoever rewards evil for good evil shall not depart from his house.

Now folks these are absolutes. God spoke these things he moved upon men they were they were put by pen in the word of God. If those that reward evil for good evil will not depart from his house. And then Hebrews chapter 10 verse 31 says it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

The Law of the Harvest and Its Consequences

Now when chapter 9 verse if you go I don't have time to go through it tonight. But from verse 39 to 49 we see that the very thing that Jotham spoke came to pass. He said if what you've done is right rejoice and if it's not let fire come out and let you devour one another.

And what they had done was not right in the sight of God. And subsequently the fire of this unbridled fire this un this unrighteousness within them rose to the surface. The men of Shechem eventually rose up and challenged the leadership of Abimelech.

And Abimelech came against them. And the scripture says chased them in the field and destroyed those that came out of the city after him then went to the gates of the city went in and salted the city.

In other words destroyed the land all around made the land useless for any kind of growing. And the people that were left in Shechem went into a tower and they they went to the height of the tower and they boarded it up hoping for protection.

Abimelech called for the people around him to cut vows down from trees. They went and they put them at the door of the tower. They lit them on fire and the smoke literally from the fire killed 1000 people in the tower.

So here are the people of Shechem that initially put forward money and hired these vain persons to follow Abimelech to kill the sons of Gideon. You see them now hiding in the tower terrified and the smoke of the man that they once thought this leader that they once thought was going to bring them victory and deliver them.

This leader that they once thought was better than God's choice for their lives now is destroying them. And that's exactly the way it happens from generation to generation. If we choose something that we think is better than what God says is supposed to be the leading factor in our lives.

You can be sure that thing will come after you eventually. And no matter how high you go or how much fortification you build around yourself that thing will find you out. Be sure the Bible says your sin will find you out.

Hide in the highest tower you want and it will just be the smoke of the stench of the sin will find you out. And one thousand people died. But you see Abimelech wasn't satisfied with just that an enragement had come into his life.

How dare they challenge my leadership. And so Abimelech goes from that from Shechem he goes to the next town and he begins to destroy that town. The people go to do the same thing. So Abimelech following the similar pattern says go cut down branches.

Let's burn them out too as well. And as he gets close to the wall putting down the first branch of the next pattern of destruction a little old lady from the top of the wall cast down a piece of millstone says hit him on the head and broke his skull.

So he had one of his men run him through with a sword pried right to the end. He said lest it be written about me that a little old lady killed me. He said you run me through with a sword. And it says thus.

Verse 56. Thus God rendered. That's chapter 9. Verse 56. Thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech which he did to his father in slaying his seven deep brethren. And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads.

And upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerobel. They were rewarded as their deeds deserved. And folks I want to tell you something. One day multitudes of millions are going to stand before the throne of God and they're going to give an account of the things that they have done in this life which God has entrusted to them.

God has given us a life to live and he's only really given us one path. And Jesus said it's a very narrow path. It's to walk a path of truth and to bring glory to him to follow his will to follow his way.

Now I'm not talking about legalism. I'm talking about relationship. I'm talking about loving him. He's a gentle God. He's a tender God. He's a gracious God. He leads he guides he lifts he carries he holds.

He gives us all that we need for life and godliness. He doesn't forsake anyone who calls out to him. He doesn't expect us to even find a path on our own. He leads us in ways of righteousness. The psalmist David says for his namesake.

He leads us. He walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. He fights our enemies and prepares a table for us even in the midst of all hell that comes against us. He prepares a table for us and our cup overflows of his goodness.

This is the God that we serve. This is the one and he's entrusted to us a life. He gave us life. It wasn't your mother and father that gave you life. It was God because he gave you life. Just like when he created Adam.

And he says he breathed into him the breath of life. And Adam became a living soul. When the day God breathed into you you became a living soul and you became the property of God the property belonging rightfully owned by the son of almighty God.

Hallelujah. And there are many throughout history many in society throughout past generations and even in our generation today who have done like Abimelech and the men of Shechem. And they've taken the lowest road the lowest possible road letting self rule and reign in their lives despising the truth of God despising the ways of God trampling and wounding people along the way to gain what they think is a prize but it's really just an elusive dream.

They're looking for satisfaction. But they're looking in all the wrong places for it. And they're in for a time of the truest and purest justice in the universe. Because my Bible says in Revelation chapter 20 let me just read it to you.

Revelation chapter 20 this is what the scripture says. I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and heaven fled away for there was found no place for them. I saw the dead small and great.

Stand before God. Everyone's going to stand there. Every president every king every despotic leader everyone who ever professed the name of Jesus Christ and was not living in righteousness. Now folks because this is the white throne judgment this is the judgment of the unrighteous dead there was no place for them I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened.

And another book was opened which is the book of life. And the dead were judged under those things which were written in the books according to their works according to what they had done. What had they done with the grace that was extended to them what had they done with the promptings of the Holy Spirit to search out a path of truth.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.

This is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now folks I want to just make one statement before I go on tonight. Beloved God will deal with your enemies.

God will deal with your enemies. You don't have to fight. I don't have to fight. God will deal. There is a righteous God there is a righteous end to this world every man to every woman to every child who ever lived.

I bear responsibility for how I live my life here in this world what I choose to do how much truth that I choose to embrace in my heart and allow the Christ of this universe to be glorified through me.

Paul says in Romans 12 19 he says. Dearly beloved dearly beloved. I hear the heart of this apostle as he is pleading in his sense with this Roman church he said avenge not yourselves. In other words don't don't go and try to get back vengeance for the wrong things that have been done to you but rather give place unto wrath.

In other words Paul is saying put it away from you for it is written vengeance is mine. I will repay saith the Lord. Now Jotham as Jotham fled the face of his brother we can only hope that in his heart he had released this injustice into the hand of God.

All the scripture says about him really is that he ran away for fear of his brother. He made a pronouncement and then he ran away. And I suppose that's where many are today in society perhaps even some here tonight.

There was an injustice done to you and you made a pronouncement way back and just ran away. And in some cases you've been running ever since. Only eternity now will reveal what became of him. We can only speculate as to what might have become of him based on the thoughts of what we would do.

I suppose in similar circumstances what would you do in Jotham's situation. What would you do after you've been standing on the hill. You had the knowledge of what was done to you was wrong. What was done to your house was wrong and then you just ran away.

And behind you is Abimelech and the men of Shechem. And they're just having the living the life of Riley as if they've triumphed. It seems like for a season. Often times it seems like the wicked are triumphing.

I wonder if he went away to forever rehearse the matter in his heart. That's what a lot of people do. There are things that happen in the past and they know it's wrong. It's an injustice and they run away from it.

But forever they are rehearsing it in their heart. Perhaps imagining scenes of vengeance where the sword in his hand was exacting full payment from a trembling or dying Abimelech. You know it's so easy to justify thoughts of vengeance and even feel righteous in one's cause.

Folks I'll tell you something. There are many many people who leave a situation behind physically but they never leave it behind spiritually or mentally. They harbor it in their heart and they're rehearsing it and playing out scenes of how they would have liked it to end or what they would like it to be like in the future.

They would like to see the one who hurt them trembling and begging for forgiveness as if there's some king with a scepter making the decision whether or not they're going to give him forgiveness or have some guard cut their head off and live and relive these things in their heart thinking that because this is hidden this is alright it's not going to bring any harm to me.

But that's not necessarily true because the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 23. Verse 7 says. For as he thinks in his heart so is he as he thinks in his heart. Didn't Jesus say. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will begin to confess.