The victory of the Israelites over the Amorites was like the general
deliverance which God has given us from the power of sin, but there are
certain sins which may pursue us, and from these we ought to be set
free. When the children of Israel started from Egypt and had passed
through the Red Sea certain of the Egyptians started after them, the
waters of the Sea came together and they were put to death. The next
day the Israelites camped upon the shore and they could easily go back.
Doubtless more than one could say as he turned over the body of a dead
man to see his face, "Why, this is my old tax master who used to beat
me. He will never have power over me again." Is such a deliverance as
this from individual sins possible? I think it is. I can think of
five sins which stand in the way of men and which maybe likened to the
five kings shut up in the cave.
First: Sinful imagination or secret sins. I doubt not but that almost
every one whose eyes may light upon this sentence has been guilty at
this point. He may have said again and again, "I will never do this
thing again," and he has put the king into the cave and rolled the
stone against the door.
Second: Impurity. It may be that some one who reads this sentence will
plead guilty at this point, and he may have said, "This sin which is
now my defeat began with only a suggestion of evil which I encouraged;
but I will never be guilty again," and he puts the sin into the cave
and rolls the stone against the door.
Third: Intemperance, not simply in the matter of drinking strong drink,
but it may be intemperance in the matter of dress, or eating, or
pleasure; in other words, it is the lack of self-control. This has
been the defeat of more men than one, and as you stop and think you
say, "I will never lose control of myself again," and you put the sin
within the cave and roll the stone against the door.
Fourth: Dishonesty; not simply in what you do but in what you say, for
one may be dishonest in speech as well as in appropriating that which
does not belong to him. If you should be condemned just here and have
determined never to fail again at this point, by an act of your will
you consign this king to the cave and close up the entrance.
Five: Unbelief, which is the greatest sin of all and is the last and
greatest sin to be put into the cave. As a result of such an action
there may be temporary relief, but not permanent, for the kings may
break away from the cave and organize their forces against you once
more and you go down. Here comes in the power of the text. Bring the
kings out, every one of them, and put your feet upon their necks and
stand in all your right and dignity as Christian men, and expect
deliverance not so much because of what you are but because of the fact
that from the days of the first sin it has been said, "The seed of the
woman shall bruise the serpent's head."
Near Toledo, Ohio, there used to live an old doctor noted for his
infidelity. He was violent in his opposition to the church. One day
he called Robert Ingersoll to the town where he lived and paid him two
hundred dollars, that he might by means of his lecture break up the
revival meeting. Everybody was afraid of him. He heard of an old
preacher back in the country who was a stranger to the schools but not
a stranger to God, and he asked his friends to make it possible for him
to meet him. Finally they met, and the infidel with a sneer said, "So
you believe the Bible, do you?" and he said, "Yes, sir; do you?" "And
you believe in God, do you?" and he said, "Yes, sir." "Well, I want
you to understand that I am an infidel, and believe none of these
things." The old minister looked at him and said simply, "Well, is
that anything to be proud of?" and it was an arrow that went straight
through the unbeliever. He went back to his office and began to think
it over. "Anything to be proud of," he said, and he finally realized
that he was not in a favorable position. Then he thought of an old
Christian he knew and said, "If I could be such a Christian as that I
would come to Christ." He went to tell the minister, and the minister
said to him, "Get down on your knees and tell God so," and he began to
tell him, then broke down and sobbed out his confession of sin. His
cry for deliverance was heard, and he rose up a free man in Christ
Jesus. From that day till this he has been freed from every one of his
sins, is preaching the Gospel and counts it his highest joy to
contribute in every possible way to the enlargement of the bounds of
the Kingdom of God. So there is deliverance from every form of sin if
we will but move in God's way.