* This is a companion article to, “THE LORD GOD IS WITH YOU”, and deals with the final part of Deut 20 and Overcoming Sin. This important second part teaches us about patience, failures, and increases our wisdom.

“UNTIL IT FALLS” [Deut 20:19-20]

“When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can get food from them. You must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human, to come under siege by you? But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce food. You may cut them down to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls.”

Here is a hard lesson for us to learn, but we must learn it: As we wage war against sin, there are trees that bear fruit and trees that don’t. There are failures that produce deep humility, patience, and waiting on the Lord - glorying in the cross of Christ. There are also failures that produce guilt, shame, and fearfulness - not the fear of the Lord, but fear that leads to disregard of the blessings. We must take the good fruit and tear down the fruitless trees.

The good fruit are lessons that we learn from failure. Yes, in the battle against sin, we have falls and discouragements, because all doesn’t go out easily. For a season, a man may return to the lusts that he’s avoided, and he is ashamed: He has separated himself from God and disobeyed the gospel that he’s been preaching. He’s preached peace to others and power over sin, and yet he’s stumbled, again, himself. What shall he do?

1 Take the forgiveness of sins. Take the help of God Almighty through Christ - the fact that He’s faithful to the covenant. Take advantage of increased humility and usefulness, as you now know more so that it’s all about Christ. Take the promises more deeply in your heart, and exalt Christ more sincerely. Take the wisdom you’ve learned in CUTTING OFF things that make you stumble [vs12-13]. You are not as strong as you thought, and now you know it. You need more of Christ, and now you understand to abide in Him and be thankful. You are just a little man with a great God.

2 You must not, however, take guilt, slavish fear, and dwell on them! You must not chase off blessings because you are unworthy. You must not say, “No,” to God’s peace, because you “deserve” to feel guilty! Salvation isn’t about your worthiness; it is about Jesus Christ and the grace of God; it is not our power and might but His Spirit - not our ability to stay away from sin, but His power to keep us [Jude 1:24].

3 Do not be deceived by Satan: he wants you to quit! Deut 20:3, says, “Listen, Israel: Today you are about to engage in battle with your enemies. Do not be cowardly. Do not be afraid, alarmed, or terrified because of them.” Satan wants your lust to stir up, and you to think it is over, saying, “I will go back unto my secret sin. I am defeated [vs5-9].” But, you are not defeated: All cities do not fall equally fast, but they will all fall in due time. “For the Lord your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory… until it falls [vs4, 20].” Satan wants you to be a coward and quit, thinking the giants are too great for you, but you are to depend on God even more, now that you know you are a sinner.

Yes, there’s a difference between knowing the doctrine of total depravity and experiencing it yourself, so that YOU are totally depraved, but this is the only way to experience the other truth of the gospel - that you are totally forgiven, you are freely chosen, and you have the Spirit’s power.

4 Do not live a life of compromise. We have Christian liberty, but if it causes us to stumble, then get rid of it. He says, “When you approach a city to fight against it, you must make an offer of peace. If it accepts your offer of peace and opens its gates to you, all the people found in it will become forced laborers for you and serve you. However, if it does not make peace with you but wages war against you, lay siege to it [vs10-12].” If television is blessed, so you can enjoy it with Christ, then enjoy the blessing… the wine, the dating relationship, the activity… but if it leads you to stumble, then kill it in it’s sleep: suffocate it, or slit its throat. Sin must be killed.

5 The gospel is the power of God, and we must use it and attack our sins. We must make holiness a way of life worth fighting for. He says, “However, you must not let any living thing survive among the cities of these people the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. You must completely destroy them - the Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite--as the Lord your God has commanded you [vs16-17].” We must not look upon personal character as unimportant or impossible: We must be patient, rely on God, and lick our wounds. We must keep believing in the face of unbelief. Some things take time, but they will fall: He has given us the blessed promise - “until it falls.”