♪ Or let me stand by faith unending ♪
- Let's open the service.
Thank you for this wonderful, beautiful day
that you've given us.
Thank you for the second service, Lord.
You can get that extra service.
Hear your word of God.
And Father, we love you.
And I just pray for your Holy Spirit upon the preacher
and may our singing glorify you in Jesus' name, amen.
You may be seated.
Let's see, song number 245.
Song number 245, the old account was settled.
On that first verse.
There was a time on earth within the book of heaven
an old account was standing for sins yet unforgiven.
My name was at the top and many things were blown.
I went unto the keeper and settled long ago, long ago.
Yes, the old account was settled long ago.
Hallelujah! And the raptor said today,
for I might wash my sins away.
And the old account was settled long ago.
Now before we sing that second,
I know it's later in the day and Sunday night,
but I want to hear everybody say "Hallelujah!" on that chorus.
All right? On that second verse.
The old account was large and growing every day,
for I was always sitting and never trying to pay.
But when I looked ahead and saw such pain and woe,
then I was settled.
I settled long ago, long ago, long ago.
Yes, the old account was settled long ago.
Hallelujah!
And the rightful spirit today washed my sins away.
The old account was settled long ago.
When in that happy home, I'll sing.
I'll sing "Redemption Story" and praise it for his love.
I'll not forget that book with pages light as stone.
Because I came and settled.
I settled long ago, long ago, long ago.
The old account was settled long ago.
I washed my sins away.
And the old account was settled long ago.
Now let her trust the Lord, be cleansed of all your sin.
For thus he hath provided for you to enter in.
And then if you should live a hundred years below,
up there you'll not regret it.
You settled long ago, long ago.
I washed my sins away.
And the old account was settled long ago.
Great singing, everyone.
Good evening.
Welcome to First Words About This Church.
Just a few announcements before we sing our next song,
which will be "Until Then."
And I believe that it is a handout for that there.
We would like to welcome you to a Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m.
Soul-winning teams or times are there below.
Continue to pray for the expecting mothers for some events.
Tonight, we'll be having a homeschool craft meetup after the p.m. service.
If you have questions, you can reach out to Ms. Sara Mejia.
Tijuana's mission trip will be Saturday, March 29th, meeting at the building at 915.
If you have any questions or you'd like to participate,
please go on and reach out to Brother Hernandez.
Lady's Prayer Breakfast will be Saturday, April 5th at the building at 10 a.m.
Our Easter service, we're having a big push to get as many people as we can.
Invite your friends, your neighbors, that guy down the alley, anybody.
I'm joking about that.
Just invite people for our Easter service.
It'll be Sunday, April 20th.
There is a breakfast that we're going to have.
It's at 945.
There's a sign-up sheet in the back.
The food drop-off will be at 930 to 940,
and we'll start eating at 945.
Science Meetup will be Sunday, April 27th,
after the evening service.
Please silence your phones to not
be a disturbance to the service.
That's it for the announcements.
And please grab your song sheet until then.
Song sheet until then.
Until then.
On your handout.
On the first verse.
My heart can't sing.
When I pause to remember.
Being so blinded.
Now.
God is he the savior.
So we're placed now in the final chorus.
And the last verse.
This year.
Just just come forward for the offering.
Please turn your Bibles to Judges chapter 8.
Judges chapter 8.
Good evening.
Tonight we're in Judges chapter 8.
Judges 8, the Bible reads.
The men of Ephraim said unto him,
Why hast thou served us thus,
and that thou callest us not,
when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites?
And they did shied with him sharply.
And he said unto them,
What have I done now in comparison of you?
Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better
than the vintage of Ebeazer?
God hath delivered into your hands
the princes of Midian, Oreb, and Zeb.
And what was I able to do in comparison of you?
Then their anger was abated toward him,
when he had said that.
Gideon came to Jordan,
and passed over, he and the three hundred men
that were with him faint, yet pursuing them.
And he said unto the men of Sukkoth,
Give, I pray you, loaves of bread
unto the people that follow me,
for they be faint,
and I am pursuing after Zeba and Zalmana,
kings of Midian.
And the princes of Sukkoth said,
Are the hands of Zeba and Zalmana
now in thine hand,
that we should give bread unto thine army?
And Gideon said, Therefore,
when the Lord hath delivered Zeba and Zalmana
into mine hand,
then will I tear your flesh
with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
And he went up then to Penuel,
and spake unto them likewise,
and the men of Penuel answered him,
as the men of Sukkoth had answered him.
And he spake also unto the men of Penuel,
saying, "When I come again in peace,
I will break down this tower."
Now Zeba and Zalmana were in Karkar,
and their host with them about 15,000 men,
all that were left of all the host of the children of the east,
for there fell 120,000 men that drew sword.
And Gideon went up by the way of them
that dwelt in tents on the east of Noba at Jogbehah,
and smote the host, for the host was secure.
And when Zeba and Zalmana fled, he pursued after them,
and took the two kings of Midian, Zeba and Zalmana,
and discomfited all the host.
And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle
before the sun was up,
and caught a young man of the men of Sukkoth,
and inquired of him, and he described unto him
the princes of Sukkoth, and the elders thereof,
even threescore and seventeen men.
And he came unto the men of Sukkoth, and said,
"Behold, Zeba and Zalmana, with whom ye did abrade me,
saying, 'Are the hands of Zeba and Zalmana now in thine hand,
that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary?'
And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness,
and briars; and with them he taught the men of Sukkoth.
And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.
Then said he unto Zeba and Zalmana, 'What manner of men were they,
whom ye slew at Tabor?' And they answered, 'As thou art, so were they.
Each one remembered the children of a king.'
And he said, 'They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother.
As the Lord liveth, if ye have saved them alive, I would not slay you.'
And he said unto Jethur his firstborn, 'Up, and slay them.'
But the youth drew not his sword, for he feared because he was yet a youth.
Then Zeba and Zalmana said, 'Rise thou, and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.'
And Gideon arose and slew Zeba and Zalmana, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks.
And the men of Israel said unto Gideon, 'Rule thou over us, both thou and thy son, and thy sons' son also,
for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian.'
And Gideon said unto them, 'I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you, the Lord shall rule over you.'
And Gideon said unto them, 'I would desire a request of you, that you would give me every man the earrings of his prey,
for they had golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites.'
They answered, 'We will willingly give them.'
And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey.
And the weight of the gold earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold,
beside ornaments and collars and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian,
and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks.
And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah.
And all Israel went thither, a-whoring after it, which thing became a snare into Gideon and to his house.
Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more.
And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.
Andrew Baal, the son of Joash, went and dwelt in his own house.
And Gideon had three score and ten sons of his body begotten, for he had many wives.
And his concubine, that was in Shechem, she also bear him a son, whose name he called Abimelech.
And Gideon, the son of Joash, died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash's father,
and oprah of the Abiezites.
And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again,
and went a-whoring after Balaam, and after Baal-Biroth, their God.
And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them
out of the hands of all their enemies on every side, neither showed they kindness to the
house of Jerubal, namely Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had showed unto
Israel.
Let's pray.
Delegat, I just thank you for this time we have to come together and hear the preaching
of your word, Lord.
Just please bless Pastor and fill him with your Holy Spirit, Lord, as you preach unto
us your word, Lord, and just give us in the congregations ears to hear, and that we take
away these truths from your word, Lord, tonight and we pray this all in Jesus' name, Amen.
Amen.
Okay, we are in Judges chapter 8 this evening, look down at verse 30, it says, "And Gideon
had three score and ten sons of his body begotten, for he had many wives; and his concubine
that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech."
And the time of my sermon this evening is the tyranny of Abimelech, the tyranny of
Abimelech.
So we're going to be talking about the biblical character of Abimelech this evening.
We're going to go through chapter 9 and just look at some of the exploits that he did,
his tyranny towards the children of Israel.
And tonight I also want to draw some parallels between him and the Antichrist.
There's a lot of things that I saw just in chapter 9 that reflects the coming Antichrist
that I want to draw attention to.
And if that doesn't interest you, don't worry, we're going to have a bunch of principles
that we're going to go over regarding the life of Abimelech that you can apply to yourself.
And so you can ignore the other stuff if that doesn't really interest you.
Now let me give you a couple things by way of introduction before we get into Abimelech.
And let's just talk about the book of Judges in general.
We have the book of Judges that essentially refers to the system of the Judges.
Now what is that?
Well, when the children of Israel go into the promised land under the leadership of
Joshua, of course, Joshua distributes the inheritance to the 12 tribes of Israel, different
portions of land that they received.
And of course, during this time, they're still under what we would call a theocracy, meaning
that they didn't have an earthly king reigning over them.
God was their king, right?
He's the one who's ruling over them.
He is the one who's sanctioning and giving permission and protecting them and ruling
over them.
And that was the system that they were under.
Now after Joshua, though, the nation essentially goes into decay.
And the reason they go into decay is because of the fact that they start worshiping false
gods.
And once a leader passes off the scene, the natural course of the nation is that they
forsake the Lord their God and they end up worshiping false gods.
This is essentially the vicious cycle that we see in the book of Judges.
And in fact, in chapter two, you see that once Joshua dies, they begin to worship Baal.
And then God ends up delivering the nation into the hands of the oppressor for decades,
depending on who it is or what they did.
And after that time, the children of Israel would cry unto the Lord for deliverance.
God would raise up a judge who essentially operates as a military general.
He would essentially destroy the oppressors, deliver the children of Israel out of the
hands of the oppressors, and then they would worship God again.
So this would happen over and over again.
So you would have, for example, judges such as Ehud, one of my favorite judges, because
he's left-handed just as I am.
And he essentially destroys, he kills Eglon, right, he essentially pierces him through
with a dagger, and he delivers the children of Israel out of the hand of the Moabites,
and they live happily ever after until he dies.
And then the children of Israel are like, "Oh, when the mice, when the cats away, the
mice come out to play."
So once that leader dies, they're like, "Well, we're going to start worshiping bell again."
And this is essentially the cycle that we see over and over again for literally 12 judges.
Because the book of judges essentially highlights 12 different judges broken up into minor and
major judges, major being that they're the judges that the Bible really talks
extensively about, like Samson, you got Sammy who's also a judge, of course Gideon
as we see here. And so that is essentially the course of things. Now what
is the book of judges really teaching us throughout this time? It's teaching us
that, you know, no system will ever work this side of eternity because at the end
of the day the problem isn't systems, the problem isn't an absent or the presence
of a king or of a ruler, the problem is sin. Because even under a theocracy where
God is ruling over them, they're in a nation where the statutes of the Lord
are being exalted, I mean they're the nation from which salvation comes from,
they're still behaving wickedly, they're still worshiping false gods, they're
still doing abominations, and in fact, I mean just read Genesis, or excuse me, just
read Judges 19 for the proof of that, right? Where there is just grievous
crimes of sodomy and rape taking place in Judges 19, and one of the major themes
of the book of Judges is that every man is doing that which is right in their
own eyes. In spite of the fact that they have God miraculously delivering them,
providing miracles, great leadership, they have the Word of God, but yet when
the authority isn't present, every man does that which is right in their own
eyes. And so what do we learn from that? Well, what we can learn from the book of
Judges is that no system is perfect and we need to look forward to a, you know,
the millennial reign of Christ or more specifically the new heaven and new
earth where sin is just completely taken out of the picture. Satan is not even in
the picture, right? Death is no longer in the picture. You say, "Are you sure that no
system is perfect?" Well, think about this, the millennial reign has Jesus Christ
ruling and reigning physically on this earth, but people are still sinning
against the Lord, right? And even towards the latter end of that millennia, what
happens? You have Satan gathering, you know, all the people from the ends of the
world for the battle of Gog and Magog to fight against God. That's obviously
showing you that the problem isn't the leader because you have Jesus Christ
who's the greatest leader, and yet in spite of that, people still do wrong. Why?
Because it's a sin problem. So judges really emphasize the fact that, you know,
the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. What does it mean to
be desperately wicked? It's like they just can't wait for an opportunity to do
wrong, right? Oh, the leader's gone, the judge is gone. All right, let's go back
to our old ways. Worship, bail, Ashtaroth, all these false gods. Then God has to
chastise them. The cycle continues. So here in this particular story, in chapter 8,
you have Gideon, right? And of course, Gideon is the person, the judge, who is
essentially the legitimate, original OG of the 300. Okay, we're just talking about
it before the service. You know, the Spartan 300 was a fallacy, okay? That's
phony. They kind of beef up the numbers a little bit in that
story, whereas Gideon actually has only 300. And of course, you know, if God
be for us, who could be against us? God ends up fighting on their behalf. And
Gideon's a great leader. He's a great judge. He does great exploits. And in fact,
he's so good that once the battle is over and he delivers the children of
Israel out of the hand of the oppressor, the people want Gideon to be their king.
But there's not supposed to be a king at this time, right? Of course, we know
that later on, children of Israel asked for a king. They want to be like all the
other nations. Saul comes into the picture. But prior to that, God only wants judges
under his jurisdiction. He's ruling over the people, but yet they want Gideon to
be a king. He refuses. And then, of course, we see what takes place later on. We'll
get into it. Look at verse 32. Brother Rubin, you could turn that off. Kick it back on
in about 35-40 minutes. About an hour, depending on how long the sermon is. Look
at verse 32. "And Gideon, the son of Joash, died in a good old age, and was
buried in the sepulcher of Joash's father in Orphra of the Abizorites." And it
says, "And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of
Israel turned again and went a-whoring after Balaam, and made Baal Barith their
God. And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who
had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side." So
literally, as soon as he dies, they start going back to idolatry. And keep in mind
that another name for Gideon is what? Jerubal, and it's a nickname essentially
that was given to Gideon that essentially means that he's casting down
Baal because he's going, he's taking the statue, the idol of his father, and he's
throwing it down, you know. And so they nicknamed him Jerubal. He's the one
who's casting down that false god. But yet he passes off the scene, they start
worshipping false gods once again. Now tonight we're gonna specifically
highlight one of his sons. He has 70 sons who are of one of many wives should I
say. But then he has another son of a concubine which is Abimelek. And really
Abimelek is what we would and what the Bible would consider to be a byword and
a proverb. What's a byword and a proverb? It's like you screw up so bad that you
end up being the illustration for generations to come of what not to do.
Right? That's just putting it raw. And Abimelek is literally an illustration of
what not to do. And in fact, you don't have to turn there. Let me read to you
from 2nd Samuel chapter 11. This is hundreds of years after the fact. During
the reign of King David, it says in verse 21, "Who smote Abimelek, the son of
Jerubasheth? Did not a woman cast a piece of millstone upon him from the wall that
he died in Thebes? Why went ye nigh to the wall? Then saith thou, the servant
Uriah the Hittite is dead also." So obviously Abimelek is being used as a
military illustration of what not to do. Right? He's like, why are you gonna go so
close to the wall? Don't you remember what happened to Abimelek and how a
woman killed him? Now the irony in that statement is the fact that Abimelek did
not want people to remember him as having a woman kill him. Because when the
woman cast a stone upon his head it broke his skull, but he wasn't dead
yet. And so he's just like, hey come stab me real quick because lest they should
say a woman smote Abimelek. Well here we are in 2nd Samuel 11 and that's what
they're saying, Abimelek. In fact here we are thousands of years later and we're
still saying in Abimelek a woman killed you. So he wanted to avoid going down in
history as being a victim of a woman destroying him with the stone and yet
you know he's the byword and the proverb, sorry the Holy Spirit was listening he
was pending all this down for us to remember for thousands of years. Okay so
he's a byword and a proverb. Now let's look at a couple things regarding him. Go
to chapter 9 if you would and again I'm gonna give some principles regarding his
life and his in his tyranny but I'm gonna relate some of it to the Antichrist.
So first and foremost let's talk about his name Abimelech. What does Abimelech
actually mean? Well Abimelech means my father is king. That's literally what the
term the name Abimelech means my father is king. Now if you've read chapter 9
which I'm pretty sure over the last couple of days you went through chapter
9. If you're reading through the Bible reading schedule you've gone through
this particular story unless you know you fall behind and hopefully tomorrow
you catch up or tonight. But if you read through the story in chapter 9 you see
that wait a minute Abimelech your name is my father's king but hold on a second
your father's not a king. Gideon's not a king Gideon's a judge right. Look at
actually I would had you go to chapter 9 but go back to chapter 8 look at
verse 22. Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon rule thou over us both thou
and thy son and thy son's son also for thou has delivered us from the hand of
Midian. And Gideon said unto them I will not rule over you neither shall my son
rule over you the Lord shall rule over you. Now by the way there's this teaching
out there that states that well the judges are kind of like kings though you
know we can we can view the judges as kings well not according to verse 23
because he's literally saying I'm not gonna rule over you my kids are not
gonna rule over you but it's not at the exclusion of the fact that he is a judge
but he's specifically telling them I'm not gonna be your monarch I'm not gonna
rule over God is supposed to rule over you you don't need a king God is your
king. So for Abimelek to be called my father's king is kind of weird is it not?
Because Gideon was not a king he was a judge it's almost as if Abimelek is
coming in his own name and the Bible says in John chapter 5 in verse 43 when
talking about the Antichrist I am come in my father's name and he received me
not if another shall come in his own name him ye will receive and ironically
when you have Abimelek coming to the men of Shechem to promote himself to being
king they're not asking him to be king he's putting himself in a position to
be king they receive him because he's of their bone he's of their flesh and of
course his name is my father is king so essentially saying that he's claiming
the inherited right to rule he's a fraudulent king of Shechem okay and by
his own name he is essentially exalting himself go to Daniel chapter 11 Daniel
chapter 11 and when you go to Daniel chapter 11 just put a bookmark there
we're gonna read from it right now but we're gonna reference it a couple times
throughout the sermon Daniel chapter 11 and look at verse 36 and what's
interesting about Abimelech also is the fact that he is the son of one of the
concubines of Gideon showing that he's essentially a what a bastard okay he's
not a legitimate child okay and of course a bastard spiritually speaking is
someone who is not of God right they're not saved and so you see that parallel
look at verse 36 regarding a prophecy of the coming Antichrist this is
immediately talking about Antiochus Epiphanes but it's also referring to a
future Antichrist it's gonna come in the future don't allow yourself to be
influenced by these nonsensical preterist out there they try to claim
as though oh it all took place in 70 AD right there's no coming Antichrist you
know that already happened and there's no rapture all that stuff took place in
70 AD well that's funny the last time I checked the whole world's not wondering
after a beast during 70 AD maybe the immediate world was but even then the
last time I checked the Antichrist didn't receive a deadly wound to the
head back in 70 AD and died and came back and everyone worshiped the beast
so there's a lot of things that the Bible talks about that has not yet
happened and what do people do with the descriptions of the rapture in the
Bible if that's already happened the fact that we are changed in the
twinkling of an eye the fact that it says that the dead in Christ shall rise
first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds and so shall we ever be with the Lord I don't know if you know
this but no we're not physically with the Lord right now and none of us have
been caught up into the clouds well that's figurative of what of what how
about this and let me just get on this for just a little bit because
preterism is a frustrating doctrine and unfortunately a lot of people have been
into it because of the fact that their their eyes are being open about the Jews
and about Zionism but it's causing them to go to the extreme opposite to
preterism because they associate the rapture and the resurrection with the
false doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture and dispensationalism so they're
looking something that's complete contrast to that which is preterism okay
but how about this you know the millennial reign of Christ and that's
one thing they can't answer because everything to the preterist is symbolic
oh that's symbolic it's symbolic okay what is a thousand years symbolic of oh
no we haven't figured that out yet you'll never figure that you'll be ever
learning and never able to come to the knowledge of that truth look at Daniel
11 verse 36 it says and the king shall do according to his will and he shall
exalt himself and magnify himself above every God and shall speak marvelous
things against the God of gods and shall prosper till the indignation be
accomplished for that that is determined shall be done neither shall he regard
the God of his fathers nor the desire of women nor regard any God for he shall
magnify himself above all but in his estate shall he honor the God of forces
and a God whom his fathers knew not shall he honor with gold and silver
precious stones and pleasant things now Abimelech is essentially someone who's
exalting himself to place himself in a position of authority and in fact we see
that he's financed by the gold and the silver from a false God so he's actually
honoring false gods and he's not honoring the God of his father Gideon
which is the God of the Bible right we see those parallels there now this is
literally referring to the Antichrist who in the end times according to the
Bible is gonna be a fag because it says that he's not gonna desire women you
know that means that he's a homo he's not gonna regard the God of his father
nor the desire of women nor regard any God why because he's gonna magnify
himself above all now a way to describe this is what we see in second
Thessalonians chapter 2 when talking about the rapture the resurrection it
says that that day shall not come except to come a falling way first and the man
of sin be revealed the son of perdition who opposeth and exalted himself above
all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he as God sitteth in
the temple of God showing himself to be God okay and this is what the great
falling away in the New Testament is referring to falling away means apostasy
obviously we see apostasy today do we not you know we see churches teaching
crazy stuff perverted things about salvation about Jesus Christ just
nonsensical doctrines but hold on a second the great fallen away the
greatest example of apostasy is when the entire world rejects the God of the
Bible and they worship a man known as the Antichrist who is essentially calling
himself a God now why is he doing that well one of the things he does to give
himself credit or to give himself you know that position is that he actually
dies and he comes back to life okay and we see that in Revelation chapter 13 now
go go back to judges chapter 9 if you would so see first and foremost that a
Bimalik means my father is king well who's your father because it's not
Gideon Gideon is not the king well Gideon you know had a Bimalik with a
woman of Shechem his concubine essentially showing that he is a
bastard child that's what the Bible literally teaches about that so he's an
illegitimate child and it's interesting because Job 41 verse 34 when talking
about Satan says he beholdeth all high things he is a king over all the
children of pride right referring to Satan being the overall the children of
those who are prideful and we see that Abimelek is definitely prideful now what
are some applications we could gather from this aside from the parallels that
we see with the Antichrist well you know we should never feel entitled to
something just because it's in our pedigree right he feels entitled to be
a king he feels entitled to be in a position of authority just because his
name is Abimelek just because his dad was Gideon just because his name means
my father is king folks let me just say this you don't deserve anything I don't
deserve anything we should work for the things that we have and be grateful for
what we get and never think to ourselves well I deserve this you know I'm built
different this is what I deserve you know I think that I deserve all the
money I think I deserve the prestige I think I deserve the authority I should
be behind that pulpit preaching I should be the one song leading I should be the
team leader no you don't deserve those things none of us deserve anything that
we have and let's just be honest let me give you an exaggerated statement but it
is true if all we got was salvation this side of eternity that's that's that's
enough if all we got was saving the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ
all we got was eternal life that actually would be enough right like
anything on top of that is literally a cherry on top it's just extra and quite
frankly we obviously know that the Bible promises us more than just salvation you
know the Bible talks about the love of God that passeth all knowledge to know
the high depth length breadth width and depth to know the love of Christ the
passeth all knowledge we know that he blesses us beyond what we deserve we
know that he's gracious to us the Bible says that the blessing of the Lord make
it rich and he adds no sorrow to it but here's the thing you still don't deserve
it and that's why it's called the grace of God because grace is getting what we
don't deserve mercy is not getting what we do deserve grace is getting what we
don't deserve so we should never feel entitled to a particular position to
finances to prestige fame whatever it is that you might think it to yourself I
deserve this quite frankly we don't we can work hard for things we can pray for
things but at the end of the day if we don't get it never have this victim
mentality this entitlement mentality well I deserve this because of X Y & Z
you know my pedigree or something like that you know says that this is what I
deserve and you know what this is a problem in our nation today where we
have a bunch of Abimelex in this nation they feel like they're entitled to
certain favors just because either the color of their skin or they didn't grow
up with mom and dad or they had it rougher in life or whatever it may be
and they feel they're entitled to whatever kind of prosperity and success
it doesn't work that way you know the Bible tells us that we should work hard
for what we have and be thankful for what we have and you know what if you
don't like your stage in life economically then go change that but
don't expect for it to be given to you on a silver platter just because of the
color of your skin just because of your the way you grew up just because of the
traumatic things that happen in your life folks we all have traumatic things
happen in our lives no one in here who hasn't had a traumatic experience except
for the white people maybe not just kidding I'm kidding we've all had
traumatic experiences we've all had hardships we've all gone through
afflictions we've all gone through tribulation and you know it we should
never have this attitude and by the way let's say you've never had a trial
tribulation but your previous generation did that doesn't mean that you're
entitled to success just because your previous generation suffered and you
didn't oh you know this is this is my ancestors land are you the ancestor
though you didn't suffer for this you know it's just like yeah but you know my
ancestors this and my my my forefathers you weren't them though I cannot take
credit or have anything just because of the successes of my father and my mother
I need to pave my own way create my own success work hard for what I have that's
how the world works my friends and look let me tell you what happens when things
are handed to you on a silver platter you become a spoiled brat let me give
you a biblical example of this Solomon Solomon's cool I get it you know why is
man that ever lived the guy was an awesome king you know he wrote the book
of Proverbs you know the majority of them the book of Ecclesiastes the songs
of Solomon I mean the man was very talented but let's just be honest though
the kingdom was kind of just given to him on a silver platter and in fact he
didn't have to earn anything that he had because in his day there was no wars
David fought all the wars David was the man of war David was like you know David
but his son Solomon didn't have to fight for that and what happened when he
didn't have to struggle what happened when he didn't have to go through
afflictions and trials and tribulations he has he allowed his heart to go after
covetousness he ended up marrying 700 wives and I can't remember how many
concubines 300 concubines 700 wives got some time on your hands there Solomon
got himself a zoo he got apes he literally says that everything he said
his eyes upon he just took he's our kind of animal is that I don't know but I
want it let me get that and he's collecting wives like he's collecting
beanie babies and stuff he goes through and he's not it's not like he's
conquering lands either he's just kind of visiting he's just like I'll take
five of those I'll take two of those like he's ordering from a menu or
something and you know guys say might look at me like why that sounds pretty
good to me that's a pretty good deal yeah let's look at how Solomon ended his
life though and the fact that pagan women ended up driving his heart away
from serving the Lord and after Solomon the kingdom was split in two why because
he never struggled a little soft okay point that I'm making here is that you
know Abimelek don't have this Abimelek mentality well you know my father and
by the way like my kids for example they cannot use the fact that I'm a
preacher to their advantage and you know use it as a means to get it gain a
position in a church or something like that they need to work hard for it too
now there are given they're given a goodly heritage their daddy's a preacher
their mom is a preacher's daughter their uncles are preachers their
grandfather's a pastor I mean they have a rich heritage right but that doesn't
mean that they are not to work hard for it we don't want to raise Solomons okay
we need to make sure that they work for what they have you think of like the
Apostle Paul and I know we haven't even started on the chapter yet but you
think of the Apostle Paul you know Apostle Paul had a pedigree he was a
Benjamin he was a Pharisee of the Pharisee he was zealous of the law but
what did he say he counted it all but what? Dung. That is a Greek for crap
meaning he's just like it means nothing to me why because he's following after
Christ so he wasn't like hey by the way you know you know I'm a Pharisee right
like you know I know a lot right yeah that was me you know he's out there
preaching Christ and him crucified and he's earning his why because he said by
the grace of God I am what I am and I labored more abundantly than they all he
didn't say you know because I'm a Pharisee I labored more than abundantly
than they all he said by the grace of God I labored more than they all look at
verse number one so we see that Abimelech means my father is king hold
on a second your father's not a king your father's a judge you're coming in
your own name exalting yourself to be in that position of king look at verse one
we see that he seizes the kingdom and Abimelech the son of Jeroboel went to
Shechem unto his mother's brethren and communed with them and with all the
family of the house of his mother's father saying speak I pray you in the
ears of all the men of Shechem whether it is better for you either that all the
sons of Jeroboel which are three score and ten persons reign over you or that
one reign over you remember also that I am your bone and your flesh so what's
going on here well Abimelech is saying he's going to the men of Shechem and
he's just like hey there's a problem there's no king so you got to choose you
know do you really want 70 sons of Gideon to rule over you or should me
just one rule over you well first of all there was no problem to begin with what
do you mean this is what's called the Hegelian dialectic where someone creates
a problem in order to be the solution so he's creating this problem like hey
there's no leadership hey there's a bit like there's not supposed to be a king
we're just waiting for the next judge to come the God is gonna raise up it's not
a judge that's putting himself in a position of authority God is raising
them up and he's kind of he's kind of exaggerating here is he not because he's
saying like do you really want 70 people to rule over you or one and by the way
I'm your flesh and your bone - what is he doing he's perverting judgment he's
seizing the kingdom by flatteries because he's saying you know I'm of
Sheikham - I'm your bone in your flesh so don't let that you know help you in
your decision of who to choose but just remember you know I'm one of you guys
is what he's doing there what is he doing he's obtaining the kingdom by
flatteries look at Daniel chapter 11 and verse 20 regarding the Antichrist it
says in verse 20 then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the
glory of the kingdom but within few days he shall be destroyed neither in anger
nor in battle and in his estate shall stand up a vile person to whom they
shall not give the honor of the kingdom but he shall come in peaceably and
obtain the kingdom by flatteries so what do we see with the Antichrist
according to this prophecy he's not gonna come and seize the kingdom by
force he's actually coming in peaceably and he's obtaining it by flatteries this
is how he establishes the Covenant at the beginning of Daniel 17th week well
what is Abimelech doing he's obtaining the kingdom peaceably and by flatteries
he says in verse 22 and with the arms of a flood they shall be over overflown
from before him and shall be broken yea also the prince of the covenant and
after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully for he shall come up and
become strong with a small people what is Abimelech doing he's becoming the
king with a very small people and in fact so small it's just the men of
Sheikahm that are essentially strengthening Abimelech to become the
king and let me just say this he's not even the king of Israel he's just the
king of what Sheikahm just like a small little portion so he's becoming strong
with a small people he's coming in peaceably taking it with flatteries but
he's also using the flood of armies to overtake his opposition now what's an
application we gather from this Abimelech is self-willed and just as we
saw in the first point he is essentially putting himself in a position of
authority he's making himself be the king no one's asking him to be king God
didn't put him in a position to be king he's making himself become king now why
is this important well you know in the New Testament God speaks against being
self-willed all right and especially when it comes to pastors and the Bible
tells us you don't have to turn there in Titus 1 7 it says for a bishop must be
blameless as a steward of God not self-willed not soon angry not given to
wine no striker not given to filthy lucre what does it mean to be
self-willed it means that you manipulate situations to essentially put yourself
in a position of authority you're willing yourself to do that you see God
wants us God wants pastors to start churches he wants pastors to preach the
Word of God but he wants them to do it the right way not through deceit not
through flattery not by flexing their position in the appropriate manner and I
don't want to discourage anybody from becoming a pastor by the way you know
because the Bible says if any man desire the office of a bishop he desires a
good work if you have a desire to be a pastor and you meet the qualifications
just be a servant be a blessing in your church and let God magnify you you don't
have to magnify yourself and we have an issue today with churches where you have
people magnifying themselves in order to become pastors I mean years ago this is
years ago many of you probably don't even know this person there's a
situation in a different church where this guy was the evangelist of that
church plant and then another pastor ended up taking over the you know those
particular churches including the one he that he was over and he didn't like
that you know and he sought to essentially seize position in that
church to become the official pastor and he essentially hijacked that church from
the actual official pastor of the church you know this is a person who self-willed
rather than just be like hey you're the new boss you let me know how I can be a
blessing throughout this tumultuous time just I'm here to serve what do you need
me to do right and look when we started this church back in 2017 I wasn't the
one who started I was the boots on the ground but there's another pastor who was
in charge right he was the official pastor and I specifically told him look
you know I want to be a pastor one day and but at the end of the day I don't
really care I just want to help you I want to serve here I'll preach I'll do
whatever it is do you want me to do and if you feel like you don't want me to be
the pastor here I'm fine with that as long as I get to serve whatever it is
do you want why because I don't want to be a self-willed person you say why not
I'll tell you why because then God will judge me and it goes against God's will
to do so let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth and look if you
want to be a team leader in our church for example don't exalt yourself let
others exalt you let God magnify you let God recognize your exploits let God
cause others to recognize the things that you've done to recognize your works
in order to promote you to being a leader or something like that don't put
yourself in a place of position of authority don't be a self-willed person
let me just say this being self-willed is actually an attribute of a reprobate
because it says in 2nd Peter 2 10 but chiefly them that walk after the flesh
and the lust of uncleanness despise government presumptuous are they
self-willed they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities so often the self
willed person exalts themselves as they put other people down as they put the
leader down right why because at the end of the day they despise their own
government they despise their own leaders go back to Judges chapter 9 and
look at verse number 3 so he obtains the kingdom by flatteries they end up
promoting him he seizes upon this position of being a king look at verse
3 we see also that he ends up murdering the opposition verse 3 says and his
mother's brethren spake of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all
these words and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech for they said he is our
brother not that he's qualified not that he has good leadership not that he's
done great exploits he's our brother and they gave him 3 score and 10 pieces of
silver out of the house of Baalbreweth wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light
persons which followed him now before I get into the actual point let me just
point out the fact that what does Abimelech do with the money that is
given to him he buys his followers right he goes on his Instagram and he gets a
bot or whatever and he purchased just a bunch of followers right why because he
can't really get followers on his own he can't really get anybody to follow him
so he has to buy these followers and what happens when you purchase followers
those followers end up being vain and light people meaning they're not people
of substance okay we want to be people of substance and we want people to
follow us to be people of substance right now it's funny because you know
recently I've been posting a lot on Instagram making a lot of videos about
the Jews and about Israel and about the Jews and whatnot and there's a ton of
people who just they're just loving the content and there's I've never heard
this before this is great and I'm thinking this is like another day in the
office for us at First Works Methodist Church like I'm thinking myself like my
church members don't even follow me on my Instagram because this is just boring
to them they've just already heard it they don't even like it they're just
like oh it's pastor you know this is from Sunday Sermon or you know they just
share whatever they just share the video just just to be support to supportive
you know what I mean and then then I guarantee most of them haven't watched
the video all the way through but they're on there arguing with other
people in the comment section you know which keep keep at it but I remember
someone messaged me and they're like oh yeah this is what happens when you buy
your followers you just get a ton of followers overnight and you're just
purchasing your followers and I'm thinking to myself like first of all I
don't even know how to buy followers I know it's possible but secondly just
look at the comment section you'll see that a lot of them are not bought because
some of them don't even agree with what I'm talking about I mean folks there's
people in my DM's just like cursing me out they're angry they're upset you
think I'd pay for that? It's just like bro I gave you this much money you're over here cursing me I didn't do your job you
know you had one job and you're attacking you know these people are
legitimately following because of the content but let me just be honest with
you the vast majority of them don't agree with what the majority of what we
believe here at this church so don't let the numbers fool you you know what I mean
you know you can have someone a hundred thousand people watch a video but I
guarantee you 99% of those people don't agree with a ton of a hundred percent of
what we preach here you say well how do you know because 99% of them are
Catholics how about that and you know people Catholics messaging me they're
just like brother I'm just like whoa you know and they're like we love you we're
praying for you and I'm thinking to myself keep scrolling and you won't love
me anymore because you know last year I had an entire series against Catholics
you know and I'm thinking to myself you you don't know what I really truly
believe about you I'm just on the Jews right now okay and so the point that I'm
making here is that as a leader we want people of substance to follow right you
know 15,000 on your social media platform doesn't really mean much
because you're not really interacting with those people you know what this you
know the substance followers are the ones in here the hundred and seventy on
Sunday morning that's a people that those are people of substance so how do
you know because they actually got out of bed on Sunday morning and drove
themselves and God dressed brush her teeth brought a Bible and they came to
listen me scream at them for an entire hour sometimes under cold conditions you
know and but why is that because they're actually you know the people in our
church are people of substance they believe the Word of God they want to
serve the Lord they esteem the words of God whereas vain and light people don't
and let me just say this is that not every church is filled with people of
substance folks there's tons of churches out there what we would call the liberal
fun centers the the football stadiums filled with church members Joel Holstein
type churches who are filled with vain and light members meaning they're there
because of the music the smoke and the mirrors the purple lights they're not
there for the Word of God and quite frankly not much of the Word of God is
being preached there anyways this is why you could probably go to one of those
churches and ask 20 different people what they believe about salvation and
you'll get 20 different answers whereas I promise you I promise you you come on a
Sunday morning to our church talk to 20 different people ask them what they
believe about salvation you will get consistently the same answer every
single time the only difference would be is if you're talking to a visitor who's
not even saved but you talk to me you talk to the leaders you talk to any you
talk to the teenagers in our church they will give you this the right answer why
because we don't have vain and light people in our church we want our people
to be saturated with the Word of God with doctrine we want people to follow
who are of substance okay the Bible says in first Corinthians chapter 4 verse 16
wherefore I beseech you be followers of me he also says in first Corinthians 11
verse 1 be followers of me even as I also am of Christ so we never want to
take this attitude of like well you know I only follow Jesus I don't follow any
man that's a contradiction I only follow Jesus I don't follow man well Jesus said
to follow a man so apparently you don't follow Jesus enough you didn't follow
him to the passages that commands you to follow a man because the Bible says that
he gave some Apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors
and teachers for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry for
the edifying of the body of Christ so he's literally saying that he gave
gifts to all men and who are the gifts they're the men that you should be
following now we don't want blind followers either or it's just like we'll
just follow you off the edge of a cliff and don't matter what happens we're just
gonna follow you to the ends of the earth that's not the type of following that we
see you're not even God doesn't want you to follow someone into a ditch okay you
follow someone as they follow Christ so as long as the pastor is following
Christ and of course I'm following Jesus yes you know I'm reading my the word of
God I'm serving Christ you know as long as a person is following Christ you
should follow them your team leaders following Christ you should follow them
follow their lead okay he says in verse 5 and he went into his father's house at
Ofrah and I want you to notice this extremely wicked deed that he does here
and slew his brethren the sons of Jeroboel being three score and ten
persons upon one stone now what's then he adjoth him the youngest son of
Jeroboel was left for he hid himself so what does he do as soon as he becomes
king as soon as he's sanctioned to be the monarch of Shechem what does he do
he murders the opposition his brothers seventy brothers upon a stone okay now
poetic justice by the way think about that for later on so he's not leading
through inspiration through just effort and you know winning wars what is he
doing he's destroying the opposition so that no one can essentially oppose him
challenge him so that his brothers don't take his position he's like I'll
just kill all 70 and then no one can be the king okay now what is this how does
this picture the Antichrist well how about the fact that the Antichrist will
make war with the Saints and overcome them he goes to war with the remnant the
remnant referring to believers right the Bible says that he makes war with the
Saints that he overcomes them Revelation chapter 6 that he says that he saw
unto the altar the souls of them who were slain for the Word of God and for
the testimony which they held why did Abimelech kill the sons because they
were sons of Gideon he didn't kill anybody else I mean he sought to destroy
Jotham and why was Jotham spared why was he able to escape well we'll see in
just a little bit he's actually preaching against Abimelech and
against the men of Shechem okay look at verse 6 so he slew all these 70
brothers and then Jotham the one who escaped he preaches this parable and
it's actually a pretty funny parable when you think about it okay because
look what it says in verse 6 it says and all the men of Shechem gathered
together and all and all the house of Milo and went and made a Bimalik king by
the plane of the pillar that was in Shechem and when they told it to Jotham
he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim and lifted up his voice and
cried and said unto them unto them hearken unto me ye men of Shechem that
God may hearken unto you this is the parable the trees went forth on a time
to anoint a king over them and they said unto the olive tree reign thou over us
but the olive tree said unto them should I leave my fatness wherewith my
wherewith by me they honor God and man and go to be promoted over the trees
and the tree said to the fig tree come down reign over us but the fig tree said
unto them should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit and go to be promoted
over the trees then said the trees into the vine come down reign over us and the
vine said unto them should I leave my wine which cheereth God and man and go
to be promoted over the trees then said all the trees unto what the bramble come
thou and reign over us so what is he saying he goes to the men of Sheikah and
he said notice that you didn't get a good leader you got the bottom of the
barrel because what is bramble bramble are briars and thorns what is a briar and
a thorn figurative in the Bible a reprobate the worst possible leader that
you can get it's just like they couldn't get the fig tree they couldn't get the
one that produced wine they couldn't get any tree of any substance you had to go
to the worst baser sort type of leader to reign over you the bramble now look
what it says in verse 15 and the bramble signifying who Abimelek set into the
trees if in truth you anoint me king over you then come and put your trust in
my shadow and if not listen to this let fire come out of the bramble and devour
the cedars of Lebanon the Bible says now what do we see in the end times when it
comes to the Antichrist well the Bible says that he sets up the abomination of
desolation the false prophet comes and they call fire down from heaven to
anybody who doesn't place their trust in the shadow of the bramble also known as
the Antichrist so we see those parallels there look at verse 19 says if you then
have dealt truly and sincerely with Jeroboam this is Jotham speaking and
with this house this day then rejoice in the Bimelech and let him also rejoice
in you but if not let fire come out from a Bimelech and devour the men of
Shechem and the house of Milo and let fire come out from the men of Shechem
and from the house of Milo and devour a Bimelech and Jotham ran away and fled
and went to beer and dwelt there for fear of a Bimelech his brother and by
the way of course Jotham pictures right the saint who's in the end times running
from the abomination known as a Bimelech right the abomination of desolation and
why is he staying alive because he's actually preaching you know you want to
stay alive in the end times you better make sure you're preaching the gospel
and preaching the Word of God don't go into some bunker don't escape to the
the hills well you know I'm a prepper you know I got beans I got lentils I got
food for weeks I got water for weeks thank you is what I'm gonna tell you
because you're gonna go off the scene and God's gonna provide that for me
since I'm since I'm like preaching the gospel and even if he doesn't he's gonna
do what he did to Elijah and allow Raven to feed him you know we don't want to
have this attitude that when the end times come if it comes in our lifetime
that we just go in a corner and hide ourselves until it all just passes over
until the Lord comes back you know the wicked flee when no man pursueth okay
and you know what it's gonna be the greatest time on the face of the planet
it's a time to preach the gospel to get people saved and you know what if they
kill you and they kill me well at least we go out in style what a great way to
go out serving the Lord but I believe he will keep alive those who are like
Jotham willing to preach against the bramble against Abimelek okay let me
read to you from Micah chapter 7 and verse 1 through the lens of Judges 9 it
says woe is me for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits as the
great gleanings of the vintage there is no cluster to eat my soul desired the
first ripe fruit the good man is perished out of the earth and there is
none upright among men they all lie and wait for blood they hunt every man his
brother with a net that they may do evil with both hands earnestly the prince
asketh and judge and the judge asketh for reward and the great man he uttered
his mischievous desire so they wrap it up and I want you to notice this the
best of them is as a briar the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge
the day of the watchman and thy visitation cometh now shall be their
perplexity so what is he saying you know the best leader you got is a reprobate
the best you got he says the the most upright one is as a thorn hedge and this
is why I don't vote why because the best of them is as a briar the most
upright is sharper than a thorn hedge you know I think I think it works though
well really because you know in the end times they're gonna be electing the
Antichrist and he is the biggest thorn he is the biggest bramble look what it
goes on to say in verse 22 we're almost done here so what do we see here we see
that Abimelech takes the kingdom by flatteries he slaughters his brethren
we see the prophecy of him calling fire down to the consume them who oppose him
as we see in the end times and then we also see that he ends up turning on
Sheikah so the very people that helped him get into power he actually turns
against them look at verse 22 when Abimelech had reigned three years over
Israel by the way three years then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech
and the men of Sheikah and the men of Sheikah dealt treacherously with
Abimelech so now there's this civil war between Abimelech and the men of Sheikah
now how does that picture end times in the Antichrist well according to the
Bible the Antichrist becomes powerful with a very small people and this is
why I believe the Antichrist will be a Jew and that should be a not
controversial point at all okay and first for people to deny that and be
like that sounds kind of weird sounds kind of blasphemous you know well here's
the thing is the Jews are expecting a Messiah they're expecting a and by the
way their Messiah is not a divine Messiah there's nothing divine about
their end times Messiah he's actually a political leader who's gonna win wars
for them okay and if they're waiting for a Messiah and the major narrative that's
being pushed through the Republican Party and fundamental Baptist churches
conservative churches is that Islam is the Antichrist and the Jews are God's
chosen people then obviously and by the way it's being pushed by churches that
don't know the Bible you know why is that narrative always being pushed now
look I'm not for Islam I'm against Islam I'm against Muhammad and the
Quran I people who believe in Islam will go to hell they need to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and obviously the religion as a whole is Antichrist yes
but here's the thing as a Baptist though I've heard this time and time
again that the Antichrist is gonna be a Muslim the Imam that's what's gonna
happen and it's just like this constant narrative that's being pushed out there
constant there and you know you can say like all right you know the Imam is an
Antichrist for sure but it can we really say is the Antichrist because who is
Satan really trying to deceive us obviously he's trying to deceive the
whole world but what group of people is he's trying to deceive the most
Christians who think that they're safe right and what is the common theme
amongst churches regarding the Jews is that they're God's chosen people we got
to bless Israel okay it doesn't matter how many war crimes they've done it
doesn't Bolshevik I don't want to hear about it you know no matter what took
place they're still God's chosen people and folks this is why Zionism in the
pre-tribulation rapture go hand-in-hand because the pre-tribulation rapture
teaches the imminency of Christ which means that he can come at any moment but
let me just remind you according to Bible prophecy the only one who's
coming at any moment is the Antichrist and according to Revelation chapter 6
he's not coming per se from heaven he's just coming on a white horse just as
Jesus Christ comes in Revelation chapter 19 he's an imposter he's an
impersonator and the Bible says that he's given a crown like a bimalek and
he's going forth what conquering and to conquer which is exactly what the Jews
want and so you know to say to think that the Antichrist is not gonna be
Jewish is outlandish in my opinion now here's another reason why I believe that
the Antichrist is Jewish is and by the way I when I say Jewish I don't really
care if I mean Jewish ethnically or religiously doesn't really matter if you
just claim the Jewish you know I mean whatever okay if he's ethnically Jewish
doesn't really matter if he's religiously Jewish doesn't really
matter I just believe he's gonna be Jewish what one or the other but we see
that they're waiting for their Messiah they're gonna they're gonna help him be
promoted to become the ruler of this world but according to Luke chapter 21
he ends up turning on them why because once he proclaims himself to be God
according to second Thessalonians chapter 2 the Jews aren't gonna be fine
with that why because they don't want a divine leader they want a political
ruler well once he steps out of the boundaries of being that political
leader to becoming deity they're not cool with that now look at Luke chapter
21 if you would Luke chapter 21 and by the way let me just remind you that the
Bible tells us who was a liar but he that denied that Jesus is the Christ he
is antichrist that denied the father and the son and you know there's no group
of people more guilty of that than the Jews in Israel they deny that Jesus is
the Christ and the Bible says that they're liars because of it right and
specifically says that they're antichrist and this is why later on it
says you know little children it is the last time as you know that antichrist
shall come even so now are there many antichrists whereby we know that is the
last time so yeah do antichrist exists now of course but according to the Bible
there's one that's going to come in the future and again he's one that denies
the Christ and by the way antichrist what does antichrist even mean antichrist
means in the place of Christ so he's coming as a Christ and imam is not going
to come claiming to be Jesus hello the imam is not going to say you know he's
Jesus he's Jesus Christ no the Bible says that whoever comes as the
antichrist will proclaim himself to be like the God of the Bible look at Luke
21 verse 20 referring to the tribulation here says when ye shall see Jerusalem
come past with armies then know that the desolation thereof is nigh then let
them which are in Judea flee to the mountains and let them which are in the
midst of it depart out and let not them that are in the countries enter there
into for these be I want you to notice this the days of vengeance that all
things which are written may be fulfilled so according to the Bible
there's gonna be a time that's called the times of the Gentiles where the
Antichrist armies will come past Jerusalem for 40 and two months and God
specifically calls this the days of vengeance upon this people who are this
people the people who are in Jerusalem so the very people that the Antichrist
used to get into power he's turning on them thereafter he's gonna come past
their city you know with armies and he's gonna end up destroying them as well why
because at the end of the day God is gonna use the Antichrist to execute
vengeance upon a people who have blasphemed the Lord crucified Jesus
Christ and done horrible atrocities throughout history look at go back to
Judges chapter 9 verse 52 so Bimalek what does he do he turns on Shechem he
starts going to war with them and this war ends up extending into different
cities overcoming different people and he gets a little too big for his britches
okay he ends up cornering them in a tower to fight against them and he's
trying to burn it with fire because the part of the prophecy is like I'm gonna
burn you with fire as a bramble if you don't essentially submit to my
leadership that's essentially what he's talking about look at verse 53 it says
in a certain woman has the piece of a millstone upon a bimlex head and all to
break his skull so he got a little too ambitious he's trying to like burn down
the tower with fire and then you know this lady's just like like the anvil
back in Looney Tunes you know he's like burn it down and boom breaks his skull
you know he basically receives a deadly wound to the head only difference is
he's not healed right he receives a deadly wound to the head so verse 54
then he called hastily into the young man his armor bear and said unto him
draw thy sword and slay me then men say not of me a woman slew me slew him and
his young man thrust him through and he died and when the men of Israel saw that
Abimelech was dead they departed every man into his place thus God rendered the
wickedness of Abimelech which he did unto his father and slain his seventy
brethren and all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads
and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubal. Now what is the
relation with the Antichrist? Well obviously he receives a daily wound to
the head but I want you to notice that a stone was dropped upon him and
according to Bible prophecy the way the New World Order is destroyed is the
stone which the builders disallowed the same is because the head of the corner
it is that stone in Daniel's vision that essentially destroys the New World
Order okay that's what the Bible teaches go to Proverbs chapter 26 if you would
Proverbs chapter 26 so we see there that he essentially reaped what he sowed so
throughout this sermon you see a lot of the parallels between him and the
Antichrist but you also see that the principle that's being taught here is
that when there's a vacuum of leadership often some of the worst types of people
try to take over because they didn't need a king they were fine with the
system of the judges but yet in spite of that he sought to seize power to
overcome Sheikah and he did not have their best interest in mind he ended up
killing a lot of people dishonoring God and God had to punish him for it now
what in conclusion what is the principle the ultimate principle that we can learn
from Abimelech look at Proverbs 26 verse 27 it says here who so diggeth the
pit shall father in and he that rolleth the stone it will return upon him he
killed his seventy brethren upon a stone and the poetic justice there is that how
did he die with a stone the principle that we can learn is that you will
always reap what you sow and you know what we as God's people we should never
have malice towards people violence towards individuals and do wrong or
evil towards individuals the Bible says that we should sow to the spirit so we
could of the spirit reap life everlasting but just remember you know
God is not mocked for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap Abimelech
did not get away with the violent and malicious murder of his brothers the
seizing of power God not only allowed him to die a horrible death his worst
fear came upon him why because he's just like kill me unless because I don't want
to become a Bible where people are saying that a woman killed me okay I got you
and then hundreds of years later yeah how did a woman kill them you know I don't know about you but I want to make sure that I'm constantly sowing good seeds that I'm sowing to the spirit that I'm not sowing to the flesh that I'm not digging a pit for people to fall therein and I'm not rolling a stone to roll upon people because at the end of the day just because I'm a child of God doesn't mean I'm exempt from punishment from God now I'm saved I'm going to heaven no matter what but like we talked about this morning you know the Lord says vengeance is mine safe the Lord I will repay and the Lord shall judge his people and
so let's pray Father we thank you so much for your word thank you for this
byword and proverb of Abimelech and his tyranny Lord that came to an end to
teach us the lesson Lord that people reap what they sow and I pray that you'd
help us as your people to recognize the importance of raising up godly
leadership lest someone wicked tries to come in place and seize power for their
own lust and their own desires and covetous agendas Lord I pray that Lord
you'd help us as your people to take heed to the principles thereof we love
you we thank you pray this thing's in Jesus name amen