6/14/26 - WiFi Land / THORN IN THE SIDE

Good morning Wi-Fi land all over the world today. We greet you in the name of he who is altogether holy and separate from sinners, and yet died on the cross that sinners might be saved. Hallelujah. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory both now and forevermore. Amen.

Well, I don't know how familiar you are with yucca plants. But one thing most yucca plants have in common is that their leaves are tapered to a very sharp point. And over the last few days, I discovered just how sharp those points are. You see, there's an island in the street in front of our home with palm trees and oleander bushes and yuccas growing. The oleanders and the yuccas had gotten very overgrown. So, I decided to save some money and prune and trim them myself. Big mistake. After 2 days, my arms looked like I had been wrestling a tiger. The tiger won. And the only reason I can see right now is that my dark glasses protected my eyes from being pierced.

And then I remembered that because of Adam's sin, God had cursed the ground and it said that it would bring forth thorns and thistles. Now, technically, a yucca doesn't have thorns. But when in close contact with either thorns or a yucca's needle-pointed leaves, they both cause pain. And it is this pain that the Bible uses metaphorically in describing the consequential hurt from disobeying the Lord.

Judges 2:1: "And an angel of the Lord said, 'I made you to go out of Egypt and have brought you unto the land which I swear unto your fathers. And I said, "Ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land. Ye shall throw down their altars." But ye have not obeyed my voice.'" "Why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, 'I will not drive them out from before you, but they shall be as thorns in your sides.'"

God had instructed Israel to drive the Canaanites from the land, Deuteronomy 9:3. But instead, Israel joined with the Canaanites in their worship of Baal and Asherah. And the Jewish men married the unbelieving Canaanite women. So God says that the Canaanites would be as thorns in Israel's side. In other words, the Canaanites would be to the godly in Israel as the people of Sodom were to Lot, a vexation to Lot's soul, 2 Peter 2:8. And to the ungodly in Israel, the Canaanites and the neighboring tribes would defeat Israel, subject them to harsh rule. And this is recorded in the book of Judges.

And what a piercing question God poses in verse two, "Why have ye done this?" And to this Israel had no answer. They had no answer for their disobedience, and neither do we. We who confess Christ, but have joined with the world in its sin. And when the professing believer joins with the unbelieving world, his or her professed fellowship with God is broken, and sin's bondage enslaves.

You see, God said of the believer, "Sin shall not have dominion over you," Romans 6:14. But of those who only profess but do not possess faith in Christ, 2 Peter 2:20: "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein and overcome, their latter end is worse with them than the beginning." What a fearful warning to all professing Christians. How all of us who profess the lordship of Jesus Christ need to walk with him.

Listen again in Hebrews 6:8: "But that heart which bareth thorns and briars is rejected and nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned." It is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Amen.

But even the true believer has no power whatsoever over their spiritual enemies. The power is the Lord's. We are exhorted to be strong in the Lord. So Israel without God was powerless over the Canaanites. They could not remove the thorn in their side.

And in this we are reminded of Samson. Samson's strength against the Philistine was never in his hair. His strength was in God. His long hair was to be a witness to his subjection to God. The same truth of subjection is witnessed in a woman's long hair, 1 Corinthians 11. And though Samson's history is given in the book of Judges, it does not seem very favorable to him. His name is recorded in the so-called Hall of Fame of Faith in Hebrews 11. So he was a man of real faith. But Samson took a nap in the devil's barber shop and got a haircut from Delilah's scissors. Nevertheless, he did not lose his strength because he lost his hair. He lost his strength because he had left the place of subjection to God. That's what his hair witnessed to. HE DISOBEYED GOD BY FELLOWSHIPPING WITH THE PHILISTINES. And the Philistines then became to Samson a sharp and most painful sword in his side.

Judges 16:21: "But the Philistines took him, put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, bound him with fetters and brass, and he did grind in the prison house." Yes, Samson lost his power over the Philistine enemy when he left the place of subjection to God. And in the same way, Israel could not drive out their Canaanite enemies. They had disobeyed God, and therefore God was not standing with them.

Perhaps you are struggling with some besetting sin. Some sin that has a hold on you. When a believer is in fellowship with God, there is no sin and no enemy which can bring them into bondage. "If the son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed," John 8:36. But if you are a professing believer and you are seeking gratification in some sin, if you are indulging yourself in sin, be warned of sleeping in this world's barber shop. That shop is run by the devil, and your sin may become the very thorn that God will use to show you just how painful it can be to dishonor the Lord.

Remember the Roman soldiers. They wove together a crown of thorns for the Lord Jesus's head. Every thorn in the believer's pathway is represented by that crown. The curse of sin was his to endure. May we honor his great sacrifice by living in obedience to him. In Jesus' name, amen.