 Alright, we're there. Proverbs chapter number 26. Look down if you will at verse number 2 there. Proverbs 26 verse number 2, it's kind of going to be our main verse for the sermon this evening. This says, as the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. So this verse, like a lot of verses in the book of Proverbs, it's using a comparison here. The comparison it's using is saying, as the bird by wandering is the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. So it's saying, when you see a bird flying around or walking around, it's not a really complicated example it's trying to use here, but it's doing something. There's a reason the bird's flying around. Maybe it's looking for food. Maybe it's going somewhere. Maybe someone scared it off and it's flying away. But what the comparison the verse is trying to use is saying, in that same way, is when you see a bird or any animal going somewhere for a reason, so the curse causeless shall not come. The idea is that there's a purpose and in the same way what it's saying is that when hard times or hardships or problems, struggles, however you want to say it happened in our lives, there's a reason that comes. This says the curse causeless shall not come. That means no bad time is going to come in your life without a cause. Right? And so what I'd like to do tonight, the title of the sermon is the Curses Cause. And I'd like to go over just some reasons that the Bible gives for curses in our lives, because I don't know exactly if you're going through a hard time in your life right now. I don't exactly know why that is in your life, but the Bible does give us reasons that we can apply and with help of the Holy Spirit we can find out why it's happening in our life, all right? So I'd like to look at some reasons for curses in our lives and how we respond to each of them. So let's just get right into it tonight. First tonight, the curses cause may be testing from God. Turn to Deuteronomy 8. Deuteronomy 8. It may be here tonight and you say, well, I'm not going through a hard time right now. My life is great. You know, everything's going great for me. Well, I do know this. If you're not going through a hard time right now, you will in the future. You've probably heard this before, but the Christian life is a series of ups and downs, right? If you're not going through a hard time now, you will in the future. So this sermon just does apply to everybody. You're there in Deuteronomy chapter 8. Look down to verse number 1. Though the Bible says, all the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do the email live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers. And also remember all the way, which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the wilderness. Say, why did God lead them in the wilderness? Obviously, you know, a lot of everybody knows about the children of Israel. They wander in the desert for 40 years. You say, why did God do that to them? Well, the first reason is he was testing them. Let's look at the rest of the verse. He says to humble thee and to prove thee. We're going to look at a lot of verses that have that phrase in there where God's talking about proving people or testing people. To humble thee, to prove thee, into know what was in line hearts, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or know. And he humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, and neither did thy fathers know why, that he might make thee to know, that man doth not live by right only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord, doth man live. One reason that God was leading them in to wander in the wilderness was he was testing them. He wanted to know what was in their heart. And again, verse two, he said to humble thee, to prove thee. This is why God did that. But how does God test us? If God's going to test us in our life, how is he going to go about doing that? Turn to Psalm 17, 8. Psalm 17, verse 8. The main reason that I think God can test us is he can test us by bad times. And this is kind of the idea of the sermon. It's the curses cause. Why do bad times happen in our life? God tests people by bad times. That's a theme we see a lot in the Bible. Here they're in Psalm 17, verse 8. The Bible says, Keep me as the apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy wings. From the wicked that oppressed me. From my deadly enemies who compass me about. They are closed in their own fat. With their mouth they speak proudly. They have compassed us in our steps. They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth. Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey. And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. Let's just pause here. Obviously David's going through a very hard time right now. Right? Just how he's describing his life. He's saying I'm just being oppressed. People, wicked people are around me. He's not going through a good time right now. Let's keep reading, verse 13. Arise, O Lord. Disappoint him. Cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword. From men which are thy hand, O Lord. From men of this world, which have their portion in this life, whose belly thou fillest with thy head treasure. They are full of children and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with I likeness. So why? Right? Obviously it's a very hard time David's going through right now. This is a lot of Psalms in the book of Psalms are like this. But you say why? Why was he going through this time? Well look at verse 1. Same chapter, verse number 1, Psalm 17-1. Here's one reason that the chapter tells us, Hear the right, O Lord. Attend unto my cry, Give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of faint lips. Let my sentence come forth from thy presence, Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal. Thou hast proved mine heart. Thou hast visited me in the night, Thou hast tried me. See these phrases that we keep seeing. In shalt find nothing, I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. God was testing David. God wanted to know, and God does the same thing with us, God wants to know why we do what we do. Pastor Men is something he says a lot is motives matter, right? Because it's not just enough that you serve God, or that you go to church, or that you go soul-winning. God sometimes wants to know why you do what you do, right? Maybe God is testing us. Maybe God wants to know what is in our heart. Turn to Psalm 105. Psalm 105-17. Well you're turning to Psalm 105, I'm going to read you some verses from Job 23. Basically, we don't have time to go over the whole thing, but the story of Job in 30 seconds is, Job was a righteous man. The Bible says, he served God, he feared God. Satan goes to God and says, oh God, he only serves you because he's rich. He only serves you because he's blessed. He only serves you because you've given him anything he could ever want. And God said, well let's find out. So he tested Job. Job lost everything but his own life. He lost his own health, he lost his children, his family, everything he owns. God took it all from him. In Job 23 verse 8, he's talking about God and talking about how alone he feels. He says, behold, I go forward, but he is not there. And backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him. He highteth himself on the right hand that I cannot see him. He says, I don't know where God is. I don't know why he's doing this. I don't know what the reason is for why this is happening. But verse 10, he said, but he knoweth. He's saying, here's what I do know, God knows. But he knoweth the way that I take. And when he heth tried me, I shall come forth his gold. And Job ended up finding out later in the story that God was trying him. God just wanted to know, you know, are your riches, is the state of your life dependent on how much you serve God? And that's exactly what God was doing to Job. You're there in Psalm 105. We're talking about Joseph. One thing I like about the book of Psalms is you'll kind of see these Psalms where it'll just kind of recap a story of something that happened elsewhere in the Old Testament. It kind of gives us more insight on what happened. Verse 17 says, he sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant, whose feet they hurt with fetters, he was laid in iron, and so goes of course referring to the fact that he was put in prison for something he did not do. Until the time that his word came, they'll miss this, the word of the Lord tried him. You say, why in the world would God test me by making my life harder? Wouldn't I want to serve God the better my life is? If God expects me to run the Christian race and serve him, why would he put a stumbling block in front of me? Why would he try to slow me down? Why in the world would God do that? God knows that there's this trend among some people where the harder their life gets, the less they serve God. Somehow they get this idea that it's harder for me so God doesn't expect me to do it or they give up whatever it is. Maybe God just wants to make sure that's not you. Maybe God is closely observing you. You say, I'm going through a trial in my life right now or I know one day I will. Why is he doing it? Well, one cause of a curse in your life may be that God is testing you and if you are going through a hard time in your life, you should realize that God is watching you. He's observing you right now and he's watching you to see whether you're going to quit so you're going to keep going. Maybe you're not going to quit but you're just going to slow down. God wants to make sure that's not you. Turn to Psalm 66. Jesus said in Matthew 15, 18, this people drop nine to me with their mouth and honoreth me with their lips. He's saying they know who I am and they say my name and they have a sense of spirituality. If you would have a conversation with them it seemed like they're real spiritual but he said their heart is far from me. It's possible to have a sense of spirituality about you and claim to serve God and even with your actions a little bit serve God but your heart can be far from God and maybe you don't even know it but whereas if something would happen in your life if things would get harder maybe you'd back off. Some people when things get harder they don't quit because that would be too obvious to them but they kind of subconsciously back off and they slow down and it kind of makes it as things get harder they serve God less. In Psalm 66 verse 11 says this, thou brought us us into the net. Thou lays affliction upon our loins. Thou has caused men to ride over our heads. Obviously that's not literal but if you're saying people are riding over your head things are not going well for you right and keep reading it says we went through fire and through water but thou brought us us out into a wealthy place. You say why? What was in the case of these people? What was the curse's cause? Look at verse 10. The Bible gives us the answer in every single one of these situations. For thou, O Lord, hast proved us. Same thing. Thou hast tried us as silver is tried. Do you see the theme here? You don't ever hear about somebody in the Bible just their life's a mess it's a there there's a curse they're going through they're going through a hardship and there's just no reason it just happened. Right? The reason God one of the reasons we're going to look at all of them tonight but one of the reasons that trials can happen in our lives is because God is testing us he's watching us he's watching you. Every curse happens for a reason that's kind of the main idea of the sermon tonight. You don't have to turn there but 1 Peter 1 6 this is one of my some of my favorite verses says wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations you say things it's I'm going through heaviness right now why verse 7 says that the trial of your faith being much more precious than that of gold the parishes though it be tried with fire might be found into the praise and honor and glory of the appearing of Jesus Christ whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory that's where the the hymn came from that we say in this morning I love that phrase because you know what you should realize you know take that as a time if you know you're going through a hard time in your life you need to realize you want my faiths on trial right we talked about faith this morning right your faith God sometimes wants to try your faith right he wants to see how you're going to react to certain things before we move on obviously the you go back to Deuteronomy 8 obviously the the main idea of the sermon is is the curse is caused right but while we're talking about this while we're talking about God testing us I want to look at the other way God tests people because sometimes we get this idea that you know the only way God tests us is by making things harder right but there's another theme in the Bible where God can test people not just by bad times but by good times sometimes God can test you by blessing you and they're in Deuteronomy 8 so we're going to read a lot of verses here but pay attention okay there's a theme that God's trying to get across here all right and I don't I don't want you to miss it Deuteronomy 8 let's keep reading in verse 7 says for the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land a land of brooks of water of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates a land of oil olive and honey sounds like paradise to me sounds like these are going great for them a land where and thou shalt eat bread without scarceness he's saying you're gonna have plenty of food thou shalt not lack anything in it in a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills thou may stick brass when thou has eaten in art full you're saying when your life is going great then then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he give thee beware beware say I I have a great job I have money in the bank my life is awesome what do I have to be aware about I couldn't ask for anything more everything's great I am my life is amazing well let's let's keep reading beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God keeping his commandments and his judgments and his statutes which I command thee this day why in the world would I forget God when he blesses me when it be the opposite he blesses me and I you know I become a better Christian here's why lest when thou has eaten in art full when he says when you have everything you could have ever dreamed dreamed of it has built goodly houses and dwelt they're in and when I heard and I flocks multiply and I silver and I gold is multiplied and all that thou has is multiplied here's how then thine heart you lift it up and thou forget the Lord thy God which brought the fourth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought wherein was no water who brought thee forth out of the rock of flint who fed thee in the wilderness with manna which thy fathers knew not that he might humble thee and that he might prove thee to do thee good at thy latter end see how he's pointing out the fact that everything you have is from me he's pointing out that you forgot everything I I took you through and thou say in thine heart my power in the might of mine hand had gotten me this wealth you know God must be so frustrated with people he says you you messed up you failed your center you deserve to go to hell so I sent my son who was perfect he never did anything wrong to die for your sorry self to pay for your sins to stand in your place and after that I still blessed you I still gave you more I still I still give you everything you ever wanted and now you're so arrogant lift it up you serve me less than if I never blessed you to begin with talk about stabbing God in the back and you know it's it's more rare that people just stop serving God altogether when when hard times come or when blessings come but the trend is to slow down right because the devil knows that you know we we're gonna we'll subconsciously just back off right we can stop serving God less you know you'll you'll forget to read your Bible tomorrow tomorrow without even notice noticing it right he he knows that people get backslidden gradually we need to remember that verse 18 but also remember the Lord thy God for it is he that give it the power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant which he swear unto thy fathers as it is this day beware what are you blessed in this life praise God but just realize front to whosoever much is given of him shall be much quiet right God requires the more from you the more he's given you not less right turn to turn to Deuteronomy stay in Deuteronomy 8 but turn to turn to Jesus 32 I didn't originally have this in my notes but I was reading this today I thought it'd be good to go to stay in Deuteronomy 8 we're gonna come back just go to Genesis 32 so the story in Genesis 32 is so Jacob had fled from Esau he was with Laban for 20 years and now he's going back home right he's going back home and at this time he's kind of praying to God he's he's worried he's afraid of Esau if you remember when Jacob left Esau was ready to kill him Esau was saying wait I'm just gonna wait for my father Isaac to die and then I'm gonna kill Jacob so Jacob's obviously pretty afraid he you know has this idea that he's just been boiling in his anger for these 20 years and but you know when Jacob left Jacob Jacob left his family with nothing but when he came back he was actually very blessed he had he had a family he had tons of herds he had gained a lot look at verse 10 Genesis 32 10 he says I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which thou has showed unto thy servant for with my staff I passed over this Jordan and now I become two bands he's saying when I 20 years ago it was just me and my staff it was just me and my stick that's all I had I had a stick and now I'm coming back and and you know look how much you've blessed me but the idea he's trying to make is he says I wasn't worthy of your blessing when it was just me and my stick much less when I'm blessed now and this is the idea that we need to have that you know what we need to realize that even if whether we have a stick or whether God's is blessed us abundantly you know we're not worthy of the least of it right and it's ironic because you know we all we all I love this phrase where it's like I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies but yet when we have lots of mercies that's when people serve God less and that's the tendency we want to follow right we need to make sure we don't slip into that don't let what God has given you stand between him and stand between you and him right you're how ironic is that God gives you something and then that's the reason you don't do his will right so first tonight I said the curses cause may be testing from God right we looked at a couple ways that God test people but second tonight go back to Deuteronomy 8 should have kept your place there the curses cause may be correction from God may be correction from God what why else do God lead lead them through the wilderness for 40 years it wasn't just to test them that was obviously a reason we saw but it wasn't the only reason look at verse 2 we're going to reread a couple verses here and I'll short remember all the way which the Lord that I got led the these 40 years and the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee to know it was in my heart whether that would just keep his commandments or no so that's what we just looked at right the testing any humble thee and suffer thee to hunger and fed thee with manna which thou knewest not neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee to know that man doth not live by bread only but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live thy raiment wax not old upon thee neither did thy foot swell these 40 years look notice verse 5 thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chase nith his son so the Lord thy God chase nith thee therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God to walk in his ways and to fear him turn to Numbers 14 Numbers 14 so this was the other reason God tested them he was chastising them say for what they're there in Numbers 14 it's going to feel like we're kind of jumping in the middle of the story but if we wanted to get the full context we'd have to read like three chapters and I don't want to do that to anybody so Numbers 14 look at verse 32 Numbers 14 32 but as for you your carcasses they shall fall in this wilderness so really long long story short here's what happened so they came they were nearing the promised land God sent 12 spies to search out the land they came back and turned out of the 12 black faith they didn't think that God would be able to do it they were afraid with what they saw and I guess you could say that they they forgot that the Lord is able to give them much more than this right they forgot that God fights our battles you know if our if our battles we fight were up to us we'd lose all of them right and that's the idea they forgot that it was up to God and they they lack that faith so they go back and they tell everybody we're all going to die everybody freaks out they want to stone stone Caleb and Joshua and God decides to destroy them for their sin Moses decides to intercede again he says God don't destroy him you know I know I know they're bad but just have mercy on them he intercedes for them again and probably for the millionth time ends up saving their life God has mercy you know I think it's funny people read the Old Testament and a lot of atheists look kind of like use the Old Testament to show how violent God is and how mean God is and how God's so evil anybody who's read the Old Testament will understand that the Old Testament it's a story of mercy not wrath right because you know what every time God said I'm going to go destroy them I'm going to I'm going to kill everybody they deserve to die because God decided and you read what they did they did deserve that but you know what Moses what God is still merciful right if if we were God the the the Old Testament would be five five books long we we end up like killing everybody by the third by the third book right and this is what people forget it's a story of a God who yes because he loves them is going to judge them in the end but he showed them mercy and mercy and mercy and gave them chance after chance after chance right but anyway Moses intercedes and God spares them and he decides to give them another punishment instead verse 33 and your children shall wander in the wilderness 40 years and bury your hordoms until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness after the number of the days which he searched the land even 40 days each day for a year shall you bury your iniquities even 40 years and you shall know my breach of promise I the Lord have said I will surely do it to all this evil congregation do you realize that do you realize that they were evil you know when you're reading if you ever get this idea man God so mean they were evil read what they did read what they did over and over and over that are gathered together against me in this wilderness they shall be consumed and there they shall die so they were going to wander the wilderness for 40 years each day for a year so every day that the spies uh sent spent going searching out the land every day for a year was how long they had to wander and the men which Moses sent to search the land who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up slander upon the land even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land died by the plague before the Lord so those the actual spies that brought up the evil report God just killed them right away but Joshua the son of none and Caleb the son of jeffina which were of the men that went to search out the land lived still so Caleb and Joshua they were the they were the men that actually interceded and said no God you know they had the faith God did not kill them of course and Moses told these things into all the children of Israel and the people mourned greatly all that just for a lack of faith but the idea is that the reason right reading Deuteronomy 8 and how God sent them through the wilderness the one of the reasons was because he was punishing them for their sin turned to turn back to Proverbs 26 to Proverbs 26 to so yes the curse is cause and may just be God testing us right it may just be God wanting to see what's in our heart maybe God just wants to test us but do not be in denial of the fact that God may be punishing us for our sin right we need to look at our own lives and just be honest with ourselves but maybe God's trying to get your attention on something there are Proverbs while you're turning there I'm going to read to you Proverbs 312 that says this for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth even as a father the son whom he delighteth you know the the song Jesus loves me Jesus loves me this I know if Jesus loves you that means he's going to punish you right think about that that remind yourself of that right that's what that that's if Jesus loves you whom the Lord love it Jesus loves all of us that means he's not afraid to punish us when we mess up right you're there in Proverbs 26 to the Bible says this as the bird by wandering is a swallow by flying so the curse causeless shall not come but notice the connection in the next verse a whip for the horse a bridle for the ass in a rod for the fools back turn to Leviticus 26 maybe the curse in your life is a spiritual rod God is using to try to wake you up a little bit right he's trying to get your attention a little bit Leviticus 26 look at verse number three Leviticus 26 verse number three it says if you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments to do them then I will give you rain and do season in the land she'll yield her increase in the trees of the field she'll shall yield their fruit in your threshing so reach them to the vintage and the vintage shall reach into the sowing time and you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land safely and I will give you and I will give peace in the land you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid and I will read evil beasts out of the land neither shall the sword go through your land and you shall chase your enemies and they shall fall before you by the sword the blessings just go on and on right he's saying hey if you serve me and if you don't depart from my commandments here's what I'll do to you right I'm going to bless you I'm going to give you all these things we'll skip down to verse 14 because remember the title of the sermon is not the blessings cause it's the curses cause right verse 14 says but if you will not harken unto me and will not do all these commandments uh-oh here we go and if you shall despise my judgments and if your soul abhor my judgments so that you will not do all my commandments but that you break my covenant I will also do this unto you I will even a point over you terror consumption the burning ague that shall consume your eyes and cause sorrow of heart and you shall sow your seed in vain for your enemy shall eat it and I will set my face against you you shall be slain before your enemies he's saying people are going to hate you you're going to die you're going to be diseased it just it just goes on and on I'll set my face against you you shall be slain before your enemies they that hate you shall reign over you and you shall flee when I'm with you he's saying you're going to be running scared when no one's even chasing you and if you will not if you will not yet for all this harken unto me then I will punish you seven times more for your sins let's skip to verse 21 we don't have time to read all the curses and if you will walk contrary unto me and will not harken unto me here it is again I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your what's that word sins right I will also send wild beasts among you which will rob you of your children and destroy your cattle make you few a number in your highway shall be desolate and if you will not be reformed by me by all these things he's saying if you can't figure out that I'm actually trying to get your attention and punish you but will walk contrary unto me then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins he's saying you better get reformed you better get right or what just look at the rest of the chapter we don't have enough time to read it all turn to Deuteronomy 28 Deuteronomy 28 for those of you who know this chapter do not worry we're not going to read the whole thing we'd be here for hours Deuteronomy 28 start beginning your Bible Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy fifth book of the Bible there Deuteronomy 28 I want everyone to get there we're not going to read anything in it I just want to point something out about this chapter all right so you're there look at verses just you have your Bible there look at verses number 1 through 14 so those are all the blessings right those are all the blessings for if you serve God and you know if you follow my commandment so I'm going to do this for you I'm going to do that for you those are all the blessings that God has to offer for serving him okay now look at the whole rest of the chapter verses 15 through 68 that's a lot bigger of a section isn't it those are all the curses God has to offer you get the idea turn to Nehemiah 9 I just this wasn't in my notes but Nehemiah 9 those are all the curses because the curses are much more you see the comparison there that verses 1 through 14 was like this and then verses 15 through 68 it's like this that's the idea God's trying to make turn to Nehemiah 9 Daddy turn to Nehemiah 9 I just want to point out that you know the idea when God punishes you for your sin it's not just so he can wipe you out and kill you and then he doesn't have to worry about you anymore the idea of him punishing you is because he wants you to get right God wants you to live a successful happy life he wants to bless you but sometimes he just needs to correct you a little bit right sometimes he needs to kind of bring you back down to earth right and then Nehemiah 9 look at verse number look at verse number 17 so they're talking about just the children of Israel right which ironically is what we're reading about and refuse to obey neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them but harden their necks and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage bondage so they're talking about how rebellious they were right obviously we know that God punished them for that but notice the other part of this verse but thou art a God ready to pardon gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and forsook us them not God the idea is that God's ready to pardon he wants you to get right so he can just pardon you and you can move on that's the idea verse the next verse there says yet thou in thy manifold mercy see that's the theme of the Old Testament it's mercy it's not wrath and some mean God that just wants to kill people yet thou my manifold mercies forsook us them not look at verse 27 therefore thou delivers them into the hand of their enemies who vex them and in the time of their trouble when they cried into thee thou hardest them from heaven and according to thy manifold mercies see that that term is mercy manifold mercy ready to pardon merciful thou gave us them saviors who saved them out of the hand of their enemies right and then ironically if you read the rest of the chapter it's exactly what I was talking about this is how they kept turning against God and turning against God but he still had mercy turn to Joshua chapter seven we just need to realize that we're very much accountable to God for how we live our life right now right for both the wrong things we do and the things we should do that we don't right for the things that God expects of us that we don't do we're accountable to God for all that right whether it's something we should that he's commanding us to do or don't do we're accountable to God for everything that's in this book right so we're looking at what's the curses cause in our life right or curses do eventually come in our life what's the reason for that right first I said the curses cause may be testing from God second I said the curses cause may be correction from God third tonight the curses cause may be a result of someone else's sin and this part isn't really to the person who's being affected by someone else's sin it's just kind of to get across to you that your sin not only can God correct you for your sin but other people are going to face the consequences of that as well they're in Joshua chapter seven this is a story here so the context is in chapter six they just it's a famous story where they went to Jericho and they they defeated Jericho and they had their really their first great victory in in in the promised land verse two start reading verse number two the Bible says in Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI so the AI is like this next city that they're gonna they're gonna invade because God didn't tell them just to take people captive or you know to he God wanted everybody dead he wanted everything burned he wanted everything down to the ground burned to the ground they were so evil God said I don't want a single person left right that's the idea where if you remember in in first Samuel when Saul was commanded to kill the Malachites in in Saul went and he killed people and but they spared people and in the the king the king of the Malachites right uh they he Saul saved alive right and maybe Saul felt bad for him maybe he just didn't want to kill everybody maybe felt bad about it God took it so seriously that this old man Samuel this old man Samuel goes up to Saul finds out they didn't kill everybody and this old man grabs a sword it says he huge egg agon pieces before the Lord that's how serious God took it if he had to have have this prophet go and cut him in pieces right then there he was gonna do it that's how seriously God took this he wanted everything gone everybody dead because you say well that's mean well look what happened when they did what happened when they didn't what happened when they started you know living dwelling with them and in just taking people captive they became like them they fell into sin right so it makes perfect sense why God said that and Joshua sent men from Jericho to AI which is beside the faven on the east side of Bethel and spake into them saying go up and view the country and the men went up and viewed AI and they returned to Joshua and said unto him let not all the people go up but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite AI and make not all the people to labor thither for they are few so they have even more faith or they have so much faith they say you know what we don't even need God God I'll take care of us we even need the whole army let's just send you know a small portion of people up and you know there's this is a time when they're strong in their faith so they they're went up thither verse four they went up thither the people about three thousand and they fled before the man of AI and the man of AI smote of them about 30 and six men for they chased them down from before the gate even unto Shiboram and smote them into going down where for the hearts of the people melted and became his water I mean to put them put yourself in their shoes here you're going into this land you're going in faith you're going in faith that God is going to give you the victory they went they went to Jericho and they God gave them this great victory I'm sure they're very strong in their faith like I said they're even so strong in their faith that they didn't even send the whole army to AI they they they were so strong in their faith they they just sent a just a smaller portion of people up and like they people die and they lose I'm sure it makes sense which is the their help their heart melted and became his water I'm sure they're like what's going on God had just got done telling them you know that famous verse that people put in their refrigerator be strong and have a good for courage be not afraid now to be just made the Lord thy God is with thee with us wherever thou goest that's this mentality that they had and in 36 people died and Joshua verse 6 and Joshua rents his clothes and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide he and the elders of the people and put dust upon their heads and Joshua said alas oh Lord God where for has thou but all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us would do God we had been content and dwell on the other side of Jordan he's saying you know we would rather just you know stay in the wilderness than come over here and just in in be disappointed and in in lose to all these nations oh Lord what shall I say when Israel turn at their backs before their enemies for the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it and shall envious round about and cut off our name from the earth and what will thou do until thy great name and the Lord said into Joshua get the up wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face Israel hath sinned they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them for they have even taken of the accursed thing and have also stolen and disassembled also and they have put it even among their own stuff therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies but turn their backs before their enemies because they were cursed neither will I be with you anymore except you destroy the accursed from among you so this was the result of someone's sin to skip down to verse 18 basically what God ends up doing in these verses that we went over or skipped is God basically picks who it was he he shows them who it was that sin first 18 and he brought his household man by man and a can the son of Camry the son of Zabdai the son of zero of the tribe of Judah was taken and Joshua said unto a can my son give I pray the the glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him and tell me now what thou has done hide it not from me saying what have you done what what did you do to you know that that was so bad it caused all these people to die and they can't answer joshwin said indeed notice this phrase okay because this shows a fundamental misunderstanding that this man had about what he did I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel and thus and thus have I done and what he did not understand here is that yes maybe it was just the you that sinned but that doesn't your sin does not just stop with you other people will be punished or not be punished but to face those consequences of your sin here's what he did verse 21 when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonian garment and 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold the 50 shekels weight then I coveted them and took them and behold they are hidden the earth in the midst of my tent in the silver under it so when they invaded Jericho in the previous chapter like I said they were to keep nothing they were to destroy everybody everything but he he was covetous he he took some gold some treasure for himself verse 22 so God's so so Joshua sent messengers and they ran it onto the tent and behold it was hidden his tent in the silver under it and they took them out of the midst of the tent and brought them into Joshua into all the children of Israel and laid them out before the Lord and Joshua and all Israel with him took a can the son of Zira and the silver and the garment and the wedge of gold and his sons and his daughters and his oxen and his asses and his sheep and his tent and all that he had and they brought them onto the valley of acor and Joshua said why has thou troubled us see a can said I have sinned but Joshua said no you've troubled us you haven't just troubled yourself you're not the only one who's going to be punished for your sin your sin affects others as well the Lord shall trouble thee this day and all Israel stoned him with stones and burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones they raised over him a great heap of stones into this day so the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger wherefore the name of that place was called the valley acor onto this day in this story one man messed up but 36 people face the consequences of that I mean how many people do you think lost their their dad or lost their husband or lost their their brother or lost their son just because of one man who messed up and that's that's how it goes and there's tons of stories in the Bible we don't have time to look at all of them but tons of stories where one person messing up affects generations of people turn to first chronicles 21 we'll look at one more this is a story of the david there's there's a few that with david but this is just one first chronicles 21 so the context of the story is david basically counted the people and it may not seem like a big deal at first but numbering the people was something that was only to be done when God said so I mean they weren't supposed to go into a battle with the assurance of how many people they had or how how physically strong they were they were supposed to go into battle knowing that God is with them right and there were times when God did count the people but it was it was supposed to be when God said so not when people just wanted to do it out of a lack of faith and david knew he wasn't supposed to and through the story ironically joe ab who's normally a pretty bad person was actually right about it and joe ab didn't even count all the people because he knew it was wrong and there were first chronicles 21 look at verse 8 and this is after david realizes what he's done and how he sinned and david said unto God notice this we see the same misunderstanding that acan had with david I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing but now I beseech the do away the iniquity of that servant for I've done very foolishly and the Lord spake unto God david seer saying go and tell david saying thus sayeth the Lord I offer thee three things choose thee one of them that I may do it unto thee so so God came to david and said unto him thus sayeth the Lord choose thee so God gives them options on what punishment he wants either three years famine or three years months to be destroyed before thy foes well that the sword of that enemies overtake at thee or else three days the sword of the Lord even the pestilence in the land in the angel the Lord destroying through all the coasts of Israel now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me david said unto God and don't get me wrong I love this phrase that he says this is actually one of my favorite phrases in the bible he says I am in a great straight but let me fall now into the hand of the Lord for great are his mercies but let me not fall into the hands of man I love this phrase because it shows that how this understanding david had a God's mercy says you know what there is no man that that will be as merciful to me as God will be merciful so that's why he said you want let me just like I pray God would just punish me because you want God pardoned and God is merciful but you still see the misunderstanding look what he said let me fall but let not but let me not fall in the hands of man david had this understanding that it was just a punishment that was going to come upon him and I don't think he really like process this in his mind that it's going to affect a lot more people than you david it's not just you david so the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel and their fellow of Israel 70,000 men think sometimes kind of like my dad was talking about this morning we read these numbers in the bible and we kind of just you know skip over it 70,000 men 70,000 men's a lot of people and God this these are the people it wasn't just david that was punished for his sin 70 anyway david didn't even lose his life david's life was it was david still lived but 70,000 people died because of david sin who had done no wrong and the and God sent an angel into Jerusalem to destroy it and as he was destroying the Lord beheld david was right about God's mercy and he repented him of the evil and said to the angel that destroyed it is enough stay now that hand in the angel the Lord stood by the threshing floor of ornain the jebysight and david lifted up his eyes and saw the angel the Lord stand between the earth in the heaven having a sword drawn in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem then david and the elders of Israel who were clothed in sackcloth fell upon their faces and in verse 17 you kind of see it click in his mind when he understands i'm not the only one who really was and being punished for this i'm not the one i'm i got off the hook on this one and david said unto God isn't that i that commanded the people to be numbered now see now he has their mentality even i it is that have sinned and done evil indeed but as for these sheep what have they done let that hand i pray the oh lord my god be on me now my father's house but not on thy people that they should be plagued what david didn't understand until now was your sin doesn't just stop with you it doesn't just affect you don't be like david don't be like a can don't be like a whole lot of other people in the bible who had to learn this the hard way turn this to turn to chlesiastes wealth so first tonight i said the curse is caused maybe testing from god maybe god's testing you that's what the hard times in your life are are that's what that's the cause of them maybe the curses cause is god chastising you or correcting you maybe the curses cause is your this is the effect of somebody else's sin that's kind of more just a reminder that our sin affects others right but before i end tonight i want to answer answer this question what do we do once we know the curses cause right i don't know the curses cause in your life only you know all i can do is show you what the bible says and you and the holy spirit can figure that out on your own but once you figure it out once you say okay i think god's god's correcting me i think god's just testing me right now in my life what do you do once you know that layer to chlesiastes 12 says this let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear god and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man what should i do if god is testing me fear god keep his commandments keep fearing god keep serving god keep doing his commandments that's what that's what god wants from you what should i do if god is chastising me better start fearing god and keeping his his commandments it's all the same it's all the same right uh you know the term there but psalm seven nine i love this verse says oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end but establish the for the righteous god trieth the hearts and reigns says he trieth the hearts and reigns if you if you get on a horse and you're trying the reins you're pulling the reins it's because you want a reaction from it right if you pull if you pull back in the reins you want the horse to stop or to go back if you're pulling to the left you want it to turn its head this way and go this way if you're pulling to the right your guys is right you it's because you want a reaction from the horse right and in the same way when god is trying your heart when the righteous god trieth the hearts and reigns it's because he is looking for a certain reaction from you he wants he wants an action from you and like i said i don't know the curses caused in your life all i can do is to show you what the bible says and you and the holy spirit can figure that out on your own but i do know this whatever the reason is and i hope you know the sermon kind of helped you figure it out but whatever the reason is it's because god wants some reaction from you right and you know the the worst thing we can do the worst possible thing we can do when things go wrong when things get bad when the curse that is not causeless comes in our life the worst possible thing we can do is to stick our head in the sand and refuse to look at why is this christians when things happen in our life there's a reason right it's the curse causeless shall not come a curse will not come in your life without a reason and we kind of talked about this earlier but at the end of the day if we if you remember we we read nemae right at the end of the day god just wants to bless you god wants the best for you he wants you to live a successful happy life but we need to consider the curse of the the the curse is cause in our life so we can give god the reaction that he wants from us let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer dear lord thank you for this verse god in proverbs a small verse but with a lot of truth in it thank you for just this principal god that you don't send curses upon our life without a reason there's a reason you you allow these things to happen there's a there's a response you want from us i pray you help us god when things go wrong or even if things in the future go wrong we just keep this in mind that there's a reason for the curses in our life and that the end of the day we you just want the reaction that you ask of us god pray you would bless this church god bless the fellowship to come god in jesus precious name we pray amen