In the sermon 'Do Not Turn Back in the Day of Battle,' Trent Moody emphasizes the importance of maintaining a warrior mindset in spiritual battles. Drawing from Psalm 78, he highlights the example of the children of Ephraim who, despite being well-armed, turned back during battle due to a lack of faith and obedience. Moody stresses the need for fathers and daughters to unite in faith, avoid faint-heartedness, and remember God's past works to avoid becoming weary. He underscores the significance of adhering to God's covenant and warns against trusting in one's strength, advocating instead for reliance on God's Spirit and obedience. The sermon calls for believers to prepare for moments of testing, remain faithful, and repent regularly to ensure spiritual readiness. Moody concludes by urging the audience to stand firm in faith, encouraging them to rely on God's promises and the fellowship of believers.

Last night I spoke to the fathers, this morning to the daughters, and now I want to speak to both of you, and I hope that it will be a blessing. I'm wanting to give you a biblical warrior mindset this afternoon that you will have an understanding of how to fight the battle and some of the dangers there. And so I've entitled this, Do Not Turn Back in the Day of Battle. One of the dangers of just doing spiritual warfare, the things that we have to fight against, the things that we, the devil wants to discourage us in and to attack us with, the fiery darts of the evil one, is actually aimed at us in such a way that it would discourage us to continue doing the good things to grow weary in doing well and we don't want to do we don't want to grow weary in doing well we want to continue the battle we want to We want to press forward and we want to do those things that are pleasing to God. So let us ask the Lord's help.

Our Father, we thank you for another day, another time to gather before your Word and I pray, oh God, that these words would be such an encouragement to your people. Lord that it would really galvanize these fathers and daughters together to lock arm in arm to fight the good fight of faith. Lord that you would help them, Lord to encourage one another not to turn back in the day of battle. And so Lord we ask your blessing upon it and we ask you to invigorate us and give us great zeal to persevere to the very end. We ask it in Christ's name, amen.

Psalm 78 Verse 9 says this, the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God. They refused to walk in his law and forgot his works and his wonders that he had shown them. And so again, I'm aiming at both of you this time. I really am hoping to bring a unity here between fathers and daughters so that you will see that there are dangers.

There are dangers that we all face, both fathers and daughters, of those who have started well but end poorly. That's not the trajectory that we're aiming for here. We want to be those who do not lose steam. We don't want to fizzle out in the day of battle. What could be worse than coming to the day of battle and you turn around and walk off the field?

God is actually preparing you for the day of battle. It's one thing to train hard, but it's a totally another thing to fight hard when the battle is actually there in front of you. What are you going to do when you get to that point where there's a real spiritual battle that you need to fight, a cultural battle that you need to fight, but then though you've been armed and you have all of these weapons of warfare and you just you turn around and walk off the field. That is a tragedy and I do not want that for my family and I don't want it for your family either. I don't want you to grow weary in well-doing and not finish well.

And so that, I was praying for you this morning, I was praying for each of you, that God would help you fathers to set the vision, to hold the line, to finish well. And I was praying for your daughters that you would follow your father's lead and also encourage him in that lead that both of you would fight this cultural battle, this spiritual battle together. And so in order to do this first and foremost we must not be faint-hearted. That's what happened to Ephraim. It says the children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows turned back in the day of battle.

The children of Ephraim were known to be great warriors. They had proven themselves at other times. They had all the advantages of warfare and they were well armed. Here in this passage very specifically, they being armed and carrying bows. They had the weapons of their warfare, but they had something lacking.

Not only the weapons of war, but they had the Lord of Host. So the Lord of Host obviously is the Lord of armies. That was who their God was. And there's different opinions on what exactly the psalmist is writing about the exact battle in which this happened. I don't really want to focus upon that, but just simply upon the fact that here they are, they're well equipped, and yet in the midst of being well equipped and ready for battle, they grew faint-hearted and turned back in the day of battle.

They went out with one, they went out with the possessions of warfare, these weapons of warfare, but what happened was they went out with that one, but they forgot the other. They forgot the Lord of Hosts. You don't want to go into battle without the Lord of Hosts. You read the Old Testament, you've seen this happen, the book of judges, they would go out and they were afraid to take the field, they were afraid to go and battle, and then the Lord would judge them. Then they said, oh we're gonna go out to battle, and the God says, I'm not with you.

Well we're going anyway, and they would get slaughtered. And so they would have been better off having the Lord and no weapons than having weapons and no Lord. I want us to understand that when we fight the spiritual battles, it's extremely important that we do have the full armor of God. But in having the full armor of God, We have to go in obedience to the Lord. That's what he's talking about here Just to look forward just a minute.

They they did not keep the covenant of God. They refused to walk in his law and so they they thought that they could go and do battle and Yet be compromised they they They were faint-hearted in the midst of the battle. These men were those who were again battle-hardened, they understood the acts of war, and they knew how to use their weapons, but because they lacked their God, they ended up lacking the heart, and they lacked the encouragement or the courage to do the battle and to fight well and so fathers, daughters, listen You must fight well. Arm yourselves with the Word of God. Arm yourselves with the weapons of your warfare, the shield of faith, the belt of truth, all the spiritual weapons that the scripture tells us in Ephesians 6.

But you must go in the power of the Lord your God. You cannot think that you're going to go and fight this battle, this cultural battle that is going to be just like a tidal wave coming at you. You cannot win this battle if you are not well equipped and also living in obedience to the Lord." You see they were fearful. They turned back in the day of battle. One commentator noted this.

He says, what is predicated of them, these Ephraimites, they turned around. He said, this stands in contrast with their ability to bear arms and to defend themselves as a disappointed expectation. It is what is meant thereby that the powerful warlike tribe of Ephraim grew weary in the work of the conquest of Canaan and did not render the services which might have been expected from it. Ephraim proved itself unstable and faint-hearted in defending and in conducting the calls of God. It gave up, it abandoned it.

They did not act as the covenant of God required them. They refused to walk within the limits and track of his covenant and forgot the deeds of God of which they had been eyewitnesses under Moses and under Joshua, their comrades of the same family. And so all the weapons of war failed them because they did not have the heart or the faith to do the battle with what they had in their hand to be ready for the battle. Their hearts failed them. Their heart failed them because they had turned from the living God.

And as well as we see they turned from the covenant of God. They had unconfessed and unforsaken sin in their lives. So fathers and daughters one of the first things that you need to do is keep a very short account of your sin. Any areas in which you were unfaithful or disobedient to the Lord you need to confess that, you need to repent of that, because if you do not do that you're not going to be truly equipped to fight the battle that is before you. This the cultural battle that is wanting to wash over you and and wanting to destroy your faith.

You're going to be fearful when you look at what's coming because you're going to lose heart because you realize you're actually not walking with God. Spurgeon says this, how often have we also though supplied with every gracious weapon failed to wage successful war against our sins we have marched onward gallantly enough till the testing hour has come and then in the day of battle we have proved faults to good resolutions and holy obligations." You're actually not only fighting a cultural war, you're fighting a war against your own flesh, against the sinful tendencies of your flesh. And I love how he puts this. We've been given every gracious weapon imaginable as Christians. He's given us the Spirit of God.

He's given us the Word of God. He's even given us the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage us and that we might fight this battle well but what happens is we march on gallantly until the testing hour has come and I want to prepare you for the testing hour the hour in which you have you are hit with the temptation of sin or you are hit with the temptation of conforming to the world and not being transformed by the renewing of your mind. And you are faced with that moment and you find out you turn back from the covenant of God you turn back from obedience and you embrace actually when you turn from the battle that you're supposed to be facing you're actually embracing the enemy you're throwing one you're putting your whole back towards the enemy, and you're also embracing the ways of the enemy. You're basically laying down and allowing the enemy to rule over you, and that is not what we want for our daughters. That's not what I want for you men.

I want you to be bold in the day of battle and brothers that means that you take account of your sin because there is always, you know that you've lived long enough, there are days in which you don't realize the day holds it, but what is in that day is the hour of testing. It's the hour you've been training for this moment and you don't know when the enemy is going to attack and he attacks when you least expect it most often. What are you going to do in that moment of testing? And then we must not be faithless and that's what we see in verse 10. They did not keep the covenant of God.

They refused to walk in His law. They made a covenant with God that they would obey Him. Yes Lord, Lord I want to do all that you want me to do. They made a covenant with God but it says they did not keep the covenant of God. You know Scott talked about vows earlier.

You know it's one thing to make a vow and it's another thing altogether to keep it. It's one thing to make a covenant with God and it's another level altogether to keep the covenant with God. And so they turned from that covenant which they made. It was not that they did not know His covenant, it was that they refused to walk in His covenant. They refused to walk in obedience to God.

They chose rather to believe in their own strength. Can I just encourage you never to trust in your own strength? You know I've heard people talk about areas in which they don't like they they describe certain areas in which yeah I'm not really weak in that area. I'm actually kind of strong in that area. Can I just warn you?

I heard this years ago when I was just a I think a teenager and I was listening to this man preach. I actually heard it by three different preachers in the same week and it stuck in my mind ever since then. But he said an unguarded strength is a double weakness. When you think that you can stand in the strength of your flesh in some area, you are in grave danger. An unguarded strength is a double weakness because you're not watching that area.

How many cities have been taken because they thought they were strong in this area and they didn't guard that area and yet people would climb up the cliffs and come over the wall because why would I guard the cliffs? No one's coming up there. Well let me just tell you something. That's how nations fall and that's how Christians fall. When Christians do not guard every area.

Do not think well of your flesh. Do not think you're stronger than you are. They reacted here, these Ephraimites, they reacted in fear because they were faithless. When you are faithless in an area, it actually causes you to be fearful of the enemy. And when you're fearful, you're faithless.

Faith is our shield against the fiery darts. Take up the shield of faith which is able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. And so you must be a person of faith. But being a person of faith is not just simply saying I'm a covenant I'm in covenant with God being a person of faith is actually taking the stance and doing what God has called you to do faith is acting upon what you believe It's not just saying words when someone becomes a Christian. It's not just simply, yeah, I believe in Jesus.

It's actually that you're bowing your knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, and you're living your life under obedience to Christ. And so this is the area in which so many people fall is because they do not keep the covenant of God. And so how many people have we seen just think in the last few years though they were armed for battle and strong in the flesh yet they were weak in the Spirit. Think about how many people in ministry have fallen just in the last few years and you would have thought man these people are strong these people had been walking for a long time these people they're armed for battle But yet in the moment of temptation, they turned. Not only the men, but I want to tell you there are wives who have grown weary in the battle and fearful in the battle.

And they believe the lie of the devil, they believe the news of the world, and they turn back in the moment of test after they've walked years and proven themselves in other ways and they come to this point in which now they're tired of the battle. Don't grow weary of the battle because I'm promising you the battle will last until you're even after your last breath at the moment of your last breath there will be a battle for your soul at that moment and as he who perseveres to the end shall be saved And so I want you to understand that the battle is hot and the battle will continue until the very last day. Don't be like those who turn back in the day of battle. You see There are young women who have forsaken the covenant of their God because they grew impatient. Young daughters who are not married yet still in their home they grew impatient and in the heat of the temptation of their own hearts and their own desires They turned back and followed their heart instead of following their Lord, and they refused to walk in the covenant of their God, and they've forsaken their families and thought they knew better than their fathers.

And it destroys families. Vows and promises will not keep you in the day of battle. Faithfulness to the Lord and God's grace upon your life is what will keep you. They were called to be a separate people. We are called, brothers and sisters, we're called to be a separate people.

Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. And yet, what happens so often is God's people intermingle with the nations around them they learn the way of the Gentiles and they forget the ways of God they refuse to live in obedience to God you see you must understand that if you do not keep covenant with God and if you refuse to live in obedience to God's Word, then you will not have the Lord of Host with you in that day. In that day of battle, you will find yourself weaker than you thought. Because a disobedient Christian will be a fearful Christian in the day of battle. I mean what man wants to go street preaching and stand boldly to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ when he's living in sin?

There's no power there brothers. There's no power to lead your family. I have seen this happen in families where fathers have sinned and they become fearful of every battle. They won't even do the battle of sitting down for family worship to lead anymore because they are so defeated because of their sin. That is not how we want to end.

We want to finish well. We want to fight to the very end. We want to be obedient Christians. And so I cannot impress upon you enough that the battle is not simply to the armed. You may know the scripture.

It's not simply to the armed, but it is the battle is to the faithful. The battle is to those who love the Lord Jesus Christ and are dependent upon Him. It was said to Zechariah and so he answered and said to me this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit says the Lord. It's not about the strength of your arm.

It's about the power of the Spirit of God in your life and that requires you to be a faithful believer who is keeping short accounts of sin, repenting often, repenting daily. And then lastly we must not be fearful or we must not be forgetful. Verse 11 says, and forgot his works. So Ephraim forgot the works of God and his wonders which he had shown them. One of the things that we also see in this is how many times in the Bible we as the people of God are called to remember the works of God and the wonders of God.

God is constantly reminding his people because we're a forgetful people. We forget the things of God. Spurgeon said, had they remembered them, they would have been filled with gratitude and inspired with holy awe. But the memory of God's mercy to them, listen, was as soon a faced as if written upon water. It was as if God's law was written upon the surface of the water and it disappeared in their mind.

That is not how we want to live. We want to live as if it is graven upon granite in our hearts. We want it to be galvanized in us that we do not become forgetful hearers. We want to hear the Word of God. We want to believe the Word of God and we want to obey the Word of God.

But they forgot His works. They had seen what God had done in bringing them out of Egypt, and yet they forgot what God had done. They forgot His wonders. They saw the miracles and the signs and the wonders that God had done, and yet that did not hold them. The wonders which God did, no God had ever done before or after.

And yet it says they forgot his wonders. How many things have you forgotten that God has done for you? Think about it. Think of all the things God has done for you and you've forgotten about it. The wonders of God should remind us of His faithfulness.

Yet history teaches us that God's wonders will not keep us in the day of battle. Knowing all the wonders of God, It's just like signs and wonders in the New Testament. Oh, if God would just...it would not keep you. They're there to encourage you, but seeing those wonders will not keep you. Listen, only faithfulness to his word by the power of his spirit will keep you in the day of testing." And so I want to end this by reading to you a lengthy part of 2nd Peter and then we'll close.

In 2nd Peter Chapter 1, listen to what Peter does to encourage these believers who are under persecution. Listen to what he says to them to encourage them to persevere. He says grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord, as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which having been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust but also for this very reason giving all diligence add to your faith virtue to virtue knowledge to knowledge self-control to self-control perseverance to perseverance godliness to godliness brotherly kindness and a brotherly kindness love and listen for if these things are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure.

For if you do these things, you will never stumble. You'll never turn back in the day of battle. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For this reason I will not neglect to remind you always of these things. Though you know them and are established in the present truth, yes I think it is right as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by way of reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.

Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory. When such a voice came from the excellent glory this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased and we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain so he's seeing the wonder of God but listen to what he says and so we have the the prophetic word confirmed which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation for prophecy never came by the will of man but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit you can put your confidence in your faith in the Word of God Do not forget the covenant of your God brothers and sisters and you will be able to stand in the day of battle instead of turning in the day of battle.

So by God's grace stand. Let's pray. Our Father we thank you for your word. We thank you for your faithfulness to us Lord. Lord when we are unfaithful you are faithful.

I pray God for these men. I pray for these women. I pray oh Lord that you would make them mighty warriors in your kingdom. Lord that none of us would turn in the day of testing. Lord that when that test comes upon us we have lived faithfully to you, we have remembered the covenant of our God, we've remembered your mighty wonders which you have done, and Lord that those things would encourage us and that our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ would equip us and to know for sure that he who is in us is greater than he who is in this world and so Lord please empower us to stand and having done all to stand let us stand Lord Help us to stand in the day of battle.

And I ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.