And we're in chapter number 10 and chapter number 10 is kind of a transition chapter, so I think it fits really well
For this evening, but look at verse number one the Bible reads and after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel
Tola the son of Puah the son of Dodo a man of Issachar and he dwelt in Shemir in Mount Ephraim
Now we just finished chapter number nine where Abimelech had risen to power
He'd become a king and he basically taken the men of Shechem unto him
he had killed all of Gideon's children except one except for Jotham and
It kind of ended poorly it ended where there was really no
Answer there was really no
person to basically take charge after this because he gets wiped out the men of Shechem get wiped out and you're just kind of
Like starting all over again and have no leadership
But after Abimelech someone arises and notice this to defend Israel
Tola the son of Fuah now if we think about Abimelech, why did he rise to power?
Was he defending the children of Israel from some great oppressor or some great enemy?
No, rather. He just wanted the preeminence. He wanted the power. He wanted to be in charge of things
He didn't have good motives. And in fact, who was his enemy. His enemy was his own brethren
His enemy was those people that were born of his father and they were on his side
and they were also children of Israel, but notice the difference the contrast of Tola Tola is there to defend the
Children of Israel and we talk about leadership when we talk about someone rising up
One of the most important attributes of this person is their motive
One of the most important things that we can think about this person. Why is this person coming to power?
Why is this person wanting to be in leadership and notice the difference between Tola and Abimelech Tola wants to defend?
Abimelech wants to take the power. He wants to attack. He's the oppressor of the children of Israel
He's one that's going against the children of Israel and look there are people today who their enemy is God's people
They'll attack God's people. They're not attacking any enemies. They're not going out and stirring up any kind of trouble
They're not going out and preaching against false prophets
They're not going and doing any mighty works for the Lord
Basically on Sunday morning Sunday night and Wednesday night
All they're there to do is to attack God's people and that's a bad pastor. That's a bad preaching. That's a bad church
No, we need people that are gonna defend God's people
They're there to go out and fight the right enemy and the right oppressor and go out and fight the Lord's battle
Abimelech came to destroy and he never defeated any of God's enemies notice that
What was Abimelech's rap sheet and we were gonna try and think about the previous chapter and I know it's been a couple weeks
But if we were to try to think backwards about what Abimelech did what did Abimelech do for the children of Israel?
He wiped out Shechem. I mean he destroyed all the children of Shechem. He killed a bunch of his brethren
He never killed any of the enemies
He never went out and did anything for God and so we have to look at people's actions and try to discern
What is this person end up doing is this person even serving God is this person even going out and
Battling for the Lord or is he just attacking God's people? Is he just going against other children of God?
Now what I like about Abimelech and we kind of contrasting and I know we're kind of just reliving a little bit of chapter number
nine
But think about what Abimelech wanted to do Abimelech wanted to be
The most high didn't he and Abimelech remember we talked about him being like the devil
He wants to be the highest in the kingdom
He wants to rise up and be the most like isn't that the attribute of the devil?
The devil wants to be in leadership because he wants the praise the honor and the glory. Why is Tola being risen up?
To defend the children of Israel. He sees a problem. He sees them being oppressed and he says, you know what?
I want to defend these people. I want to go to their aid. I want to assist them
I want to help them so we can see a complete difference and motive between two leaders
One is there to attack oppress and destroy and wants to be lifted up as the most high
The other person is there to defend assist
You know basically fight their battles for them. This is a very clear-cut distinction between these two
people now look at verse number two the Bible reads and
He judged Israel 20 in three years and died and was buried in Shemir and after him arose Jair a Gileadite and
Judged Israel 20 in two years and he had 30 sons that rode on 30
Ascults and they had 30 cities which are called
Hayvoth Jair unto this day which are in the land of Gilead and Jair died and was buried in
Caiman says in verse 6 just to start and the children of Israel did evil again on the side of the Lord
So while they end up having leaders when they end up having people like Tola once they have people, you know, like
Jair or Yair
We have someone that's actually defending then they serve God
But whenever this person falls off the scene now
they're going back and serving false gods going back and this is a constant theme through the book of
Judges, but here's what we have to understand if you want to be a leader
You have to be someone that's willing to say no
You have to be someone that's willing to actually put people in their place
And you have to be someone that has a little bit of girth about you has a little bit of stamina and can say
And defend God's people now
Someone that's not a good person to be in this type of role is someone that's a man-pleaser
Someone that's a compromiser or someone that is weak now. I'll admit this about myself
You know, my personality is is naturally not very much like that
My natural personality is the type of person that will let someone just walk all over me and not care at all
I mean when I grew up when I was younger and most of my life people would treat me like dirt
People would treat me like scum people would walk all over me
People would call me every name under the Sun people do all kinds of things to me and I just let it all go
I just constantly just was like whatever who cares just let you know, just water off a duck's back is my type of personality
Naturally, okay, but here's the thing
If I want to be in a position of leadership if I want to be over God's people
I cannot keep that type of personality trait
I have to change my personality because I have to stand to the defense of God's people
I can't let God's people just be taken advantage of and ripped off and
Constantly oppressed and just be like gut forget about it, you know, who cares no someone has to defend
How could I say that I'm the defender if I never come to the aid of God's people if I'm never willing to say to
someone no or to fight back or to tell someone off or to look and identify a wolf trying to come in and
Say, you know what? This guy's wicked. I'm going to attack him
I'm going to defend God's people or
even just telling God's people you need to stop worshipping false gods and you need to worship the God of the Bible and
Defending the Bible and defending God's Word
But let me tell you this if you want to be in a position of leadership
You have to have the ability to say no
You have to have the ability to defend people and to attack the real enemies that are out there
otherwise, you're gonna be a bad leader and
When I look at leadership, this is how I look at it, I'm fine with keeping my personality for myself
I don't have to go out and always defend myself and
always go out and try to make sure and right every single wrong and make sure everybody that said anything negative about me or
Attacking me that every single time. I'm just attacking them back. I don't have to have that type of personality
I don't have to have that type of attitude, but you know what? I don't want to have a lazy that lacks a daisical attitude
with you
If I see someone attacking you guys or attacking my church or trying to pull people out of the Church of God
Then I need to come to the defense of them and you know what?
That's the same type of personality the men in this room need to have
Hey, it's okay to let people take advantage of you personally, but you know what?
You shouldn't let them take advantage of your wife. You shouldn't let them take advantage of your children
You shouldn't let them take advantage of your brothers and sisters and Christ
And so in my mind
I want to come to the defense of my brothers and sisters in Christ when they're being attacked when something's going
Against them and this is important when we kind of see the underlying architecture or what's happening in these first few verses
Notice these guys are there to defend God's people the opposite of Abimelech the opposite of what he did
And if you want to have a position of leadership and you want God to put you in that position of leadership
Well, when are you coming to the fence of God's people?
Now this is not necessarily a good example per se but I think it shows the heart of a great leader in the Bible
And it's Moses now notice when Moses if you think about the story whenever he saw his brethren being afflicted
He came to the defense of his brethren didn't he now he didn't necessarily handle it correctly. He killed the Egyptian
He buried him in the sand and maybe that wasn't right per se but notice in his heart
He wanted to defend his brethren
He wanted to take care of them and that is the right type of heart for a leader is
Someone that's willing to defend if you say, you know what? I never want to fight anybody. I
Don't want to get in the middle of some kind of situation. I don't want to call someone out
I don't want to have to attack anybody. That's fine. But don't be in leadership and
If you have a family you need to man up because people want to hurt your family
And so sometimes you do need to defend yourself
Hey, if you're a lone ranger and you just want to take every single knife in the back that you can possibly take go for
it, but if you have anybody underneath you an
Important aspect of a good leader is one that's willing to defend to come to the defense of people now
Let me prove this to you go to
Ezekiel chapter 22 Ezekiel 22. Let me give you another story
Aaron
Aaron oftentimes does good. He does bad
But in one case when the children of Israel sin against the Lord and the Lord is pouring out his wrath upon the children of
Israel Aaron comes and he stands in the gap between the dead and the living is what the Bible says
He defends God's people from God himself
From God's wrath himself and you know what anybody that's in a position of ministry has to understand that important role
Sometimes you're protecting God's people from God himself
You were saying you know what if you go out and you drink alcohol God is gonna rain on you
God is gonna chastise you God is gonna pour out his wrath on you
And so what you're doing is you're trying to stand in the gap of God's people
The person that's not willing to call sin out call people out defend his people even from God's own
Wrath is not a good leader is not a good minister now in Ezekiel chapter 22
This is probably one of the most famous verses in the Bible, but look at verse number 30
It says and I sought for a man
Among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should just not destroy
It but I found none. So notice what God is looking for. He says I want some man to defend
This land and nobody's willing to do it. No one's willing to make up a head. No one is willing to stand in the gap
No one is willing to defend his nation from God's own wrath and so you know what God does he ends up destroying
That land. So if you want to be in a position of leadership, let me tell you this man
You need to be a defender
You need to have the spirit of one who's willing to defend things and go to bat
Hey at very least you should be willing to defend the Bible
That should be just number one
But even beyond the Bible you have to identify God's people and say you know what I'm willing to defend them, too
I'm willing to go to bat for them. And even when it's not necessarily
Something that directly involves me if I can get in there biblically and stand in that gap. I want to do it
I want to help people go to verse number six go to verse go back to judges chapter 10 and go to verse number six
and
You know in my ministry
I want to be the type of person that if I see God's people hurting if I see God's people
Needing someone to stand in the defense and no one else is willing to do it that I should do it
You know, I say hey here am I send me I say hey, there's a problem. There's a need
Why don't I just fill in that gap?
And you know what this can happen in any area of your life even going out soul winning
Sometimes when you're going soul winning, you're the silent partner and there's a tendency to be a silent partner
Just kind of check out think about other things do other things not really care. Sometimes silent partners are even a distraction
Sometimes they're like distracting the other person from getting someone saved now. What's a good attribute is this?
If you're out there soul winning and you notice someone is being a distraction or there's a dog or there's something to say
You know what?
I'm gonna try and defend this talker from this dog or from this person that's coming and attacking them and obviously you have to use
Discretion to some degree but if I can kind of identify the situation or someone's going to come and interrupt the basically the presentation
Sometimes I'll go try to intercept that person and just try to talk to them about anything, you know, Oh football sure
Let's talk about football for ten minute
You know just whatever I can do to allow that talker to just keep fighting the battle and keep going to bat
You know
That's the type of attitude and attributes that we should have is someone that's willing to defend our brothers defend our sisters in Christ
Here's another way you can defend your brothers and sisters in Christ when someone comes to you and wants to talk crap on your brothers
And sisters in Christ and you're not willing to defend God's people. How can you be in leadership?
When someone comes up to you and says, oh, did you hear about so-and-so? I don't want to know
Why don't you stand up for your brethren, you know, and people come to me even with accusations even bad things
You know what? I typically try to do. I just try to defend them even not knowing the situation
well
Maybe you don't know why they did that or maybe they made this decision for a reason that you didn't think of and I just
Try to help them understand why they should not just go on the offense and try to attack their brothers and sisters in Christ
Well, I just like to take the gossip in well, you're not a good defender then you're an attacker
You're so what happened when the men of Shechem heard a bimelech coming with these all these accusations against his brethren
Were they defending or were they were like, let's just take that accusation and run with it. Let's kill the our brethren
No
a godly person is gonna come to the defense of his people of the fence of his brothers and sisters in Christ and say I
Don't want to hear that. In fact, why don't we bring them over here and we can all talk about it. I
I
Would love that I would love if someone comes up and said hey, do you like pastor Shelley's sermon tonight?
What do you think about it? Well, let's go ask him
You know, did you hear about what pastor Shelley did next? What do you think about the new location? Hmm?
Do you like the color of the new invite? Hmm?
You know
The church is a 700 West Bedford Ulysses. What about 700? That's a lofted number. Hmm
I mean, I don't know people just kind of stupid crap. Did you see the latest troll video gets pastor Shelley? Hmm
That's true. That happens all the time. Okay, and I recommend not watching it unless you just really want to laugh
Okay, they're pretty funny. But look at verse number six. Okay, so we talked about the importance of defense
But what happens when they don't have a defender verse six and the children of Israel did evil again in the side of the Lord
And serve Balaam and Astaroth and the gods of Syria and the gods of Zaydun and the gods of Moab and the gods of the
Children of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines and forsook the Lord and served him not
The anger the Lord was hot against Israel and he sold them in the hands of the Philistines
And in the hands of the children of Ammon that year
They vexed and oppressed the children of Israel 18 years
All the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan the land of the Amorites
Which is in Gilead, moreover the children of Ammon passed over
Jordan fight against also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim so that Israel is sore at distress now
Think about this few verses for a moment. First of all children of Israel are not
Discriminatory when it comes to false gods a false religion. They just go for everything, right?
They just a smorgasbord of everything and another thing we can point out or look at these verses understand who is it?
That's really their enemy
Who is the person that's gonna cause all the pain and discomfort in their life, is it the Philistines? Nope, it's God
Here's the thing whenever they displease the Lord
God allows the Philistines to come in or allows other enemies to come in to afflict them really that defender
Was defending them from God's wrath from God's anger. It was God that was mad at them
It's God that allows enemies to come in to oppress you and to afflict you and so the only person that we should worry about
Or care about is God
That's the only one we should even be fearing. Oh, I if I serve this false God enemies will attack me
Yeah, it's not really the enemy though
It's God that's mad at you and allowing that enemy to come and to afflict you and to oppress you and without some kind of
Somebody defending them. Look notice God's anger and wrath is poured out upon these people and
The Bible says this this is an interesting phrase, but it says they were sore
Distressed
sore
Distressed whenever you do not follow God's commandments. Let me tell you this sore
Distress on your life when I think of the some of the people that are not in this room this evening
But they came to our church at some point and you know what they decided they're not in this room for
Let's talk about one specific reason they forsook God's commandments
They forsaken the Lord, you know what I think of sore
Distress sore distress like I don't know
Let's say your wife leaves you and you lose all your teeth and the only thing you have is video games
that's sore distress and
Nobody cares about you. You have no friends. No job. No life
Nothing going for you. You know what that is sore distress pain and suffering and low and shame
and everybody's mocking you and
Ridiculing you why because you're a complete idiot
You say how's you an idiot? He forsook God's commandments. Hey that same person could have decided
You know what? I'm gonna follow all God's commandments to the best of my ability and they could still be here serving God
They could be excited about a new building. They could keep getting souls saved. Maybe their life would look a little bit different
I can think of other people they forsake the Lord and now they have to suffer the consequences of adultery
I
Can't think of a worse thing. Honestly, I mean if I was gonna think something to happen in my relationship is
Adultery where I have to constantly feel the low and the pain and the sorrows of adultery
In fact, some people it's not even a one-time thing
It's an everyday thing
Kill me now. I mean, I can't even imagine
Whenever my family, you know, if I was thinking about my wife committing adultery every single day
I'm constantly wondering where she's at. I'm constantly wondering if she's gonna be faithful to me. That's sore distress
That's sore pain. You don't think it happens to God's people. Oh, yes, it does. Oh, it definitely does
You don't think that kids get
Raised by the public fool system and they despise their parents and they hate their parents and their drunks and their derelicts
And they're idiots and they're morons and they're fools and you know what they have sore distress and they keep producing
Bastard child after bastard child. Look I even have that in my own family
I have people they're such losers and such derelicts and they won't even get a job and you know what they have to constantly bailed out
By mommy and daddy and you know what? It's called sore distress
Well, I don't want to take my kids to Wednesday night church. Mmm. I
just can't wait to keep bailing them out of jail later in life and
Raising their bastard kids for them and
Cleaning up the vomit whenever they vomit all over themselves for all the drugs and alcohol
Hey, you want to talk about pain? What's kind of hot in here? You know what? There's some real pain out there
Whenever you forsake God's commandments, it's sore distress
Jesus Christ said his yoke is easy in his burdens light and let me tell you those people look
I haven't seen a single person that forsakes church. I haven't known anybody that came to this church
They were like serving and then they forsook it and now it's just like lollipops and rainbows and unicorns it pain sorrow
Whoa, sore distress shame. Oh, but I'll be different. No, you won't
God's gonna chase it and scourge it every son in whom you receive it number one and number two if you're unsaved
There is nothing to look forward to there is no hope for that person
Let me warn you Christian you serve God if you think that your life is tough
Let me warn you it can get way worse. And when I say way worse, I mean horrible
sore
Distress the pain and the woe of all the affliction of God's people and you know what God is not gonna spare his wrath
Whenever you're just in rebellion
Whenever you just decide to just live however
You want do whatever you want get out of church and stop serving God don't read your Bible. Just chase money sore distress
Sore pain and you know, these people are never satisfied. That's why they have to drink alcohol
They don't have any pleasure. They don't have any real joy anything that's satisfied. Nothing satisfying outside of serving God
Hey, even the greatest meal ever it's over after you're done
and
Then it's like well, what do you next meal? You know, where are we going now?
My kids after we eat a meal, they're like what restaurant we going to now, you know, it's like we just ate
You didn't eat it. It's like let's go another voice, you know, I mean every night sleep. It's never satisfying you want another one
No house is satisfying. You always want a bigger one
No, I'm at no bonus is big enough. You always want another bonus eventually
No church is big. Nothing's nothing satisfying outside of
Serving God nothing and you know what? I don't want to be satisfied with one soul saved
I want to keep getting people saved. But you know what that brings a lot more satisfaction in my life and
Knowing that I'm gonna have eternal rewards in heaven and let me warn you Christian when you don't serve God sore pain
The consequences of sin are way worse than anything you're going through right now
Anything I mean read Deuteronomy 28. He'll take away your mind. I
Mean people in the Bible were cursed so bad. They ate their own children
They have the emeralds and their secret parts that cannot be cured you're not gonna find a cure for AIDS
Okay, quit quit donating money to it. All right, the cure for AIDS is a bullet in every faggots head. All right, that's the cure
But at the end of the day what I'm trying to emphasize is when we read this story
It'd be easy to be like, well, they were stupid
But what about you?
Do you have someone to defend you you have someone that's defending the Word of God to you
You have someone that's defending you from God's wrath
Why don't you look at the pastor as the preacher is someone trying to defend you from God's wrath?
Well, I don't agree with that point that he made. I
Don't like that sermon. I feel like he was talking about me. Yeah, I was
You're right every single time you think it's about you. Let me just tell you it's about you and
You know what? That's because God's Word applies to every single person whosoever believeth
Every single person that puts their faith and trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ every verse the Bible applies to you apply it and you know what if I preach something that seems to step on your
toes receive it
You say well what if it's not in the Bible?
Well, you don't have to receive things that aren't in the Bible
But if it's in the Bible receive it
Every single time you need to fix yourself and you need someone to step on your toes every once in a while
Not just defend you against the wolves defend you against God himself
That's the real enemy here because you know what the wolf can't do anything unless God allows him
Look at verse number 10
And the children of Israel cried on the Lord saying we have sinned against thee both because we have forsaken our God and also serve
Balaam, well, you know what pastor Shelley? I'm not gonna serve Balaam. I'm not gonna serve the gods as Iden
I'm not gonna serve Kemosh, you know, I'm not gonna start, you know serve the god of rim fan
Okay, what about the god called Mammon
the god called
Money, are you gonna serve that false god? Because let me tell you it's a false god, too
It's got that all-seeing eye on the back of it. You know, you look at it close enough. It's got a chip in it
It's reprobate. No, it's good
It's literally got a chip in it
But here's the thing people can't decide how they're gonna make decisions in their life. Let me tell you this
Number one for me is gonna be church
Number one for me is gonna be serving God
Now some people they put their job above church
Let me tell you what I know who you're serving because he can't serve two masters
No one in this room is making money, you know outside of the people on staff. Okay?
No one in here is just like you can't make money while at church if you are that's impressive, but I doubt it
Okay, I don't know if any of you are moonlighting while at church, but that's kind of weird. All right
You're not gonna be able to make money and serve God at the same time
You're not gonna be able to make sales calls while you're out going soul-winning
Well, if you don't want the free gospel, what about a vacuum? I got a vacuum in the backpack
Can I get you interested in some furniture, you know
No
you can't serve God and ma'am at the same time and if you go out and you're selling stuff if you're going and
Working and you're always constantly going to gospel presentation. Let me tell you what one of those things is gonna suffer
Either you're gonna get fired from a job from not working or you know what you're gonna not do gossip
You're not gonna really serve God that well because you're gonna be busy working. Okay, you can't serve both
Now if you're gonna be a godly well-balanced Christian, you have to make money as a man. I mean you have to revive your house
Otherwise, you're worse than an infidel. But here's the thing. You don't have to elevate your job above serving God though
and
Whenever people decide to put their job their occupation and what they do with their time and their money tells me who they're serving and
It's easy to look at this list and say well, I would never serve Balaam
Okay. Well, what about the dollar bill?
What about the American dream, you know, I want to have that bake
I want to have that second home and I want to have that boat and I want to have that yacht
When are you gonna go out in your boat Sunday? You're a church
Saturday you're busy soul winning and working at the church or something. Okay
You're practicing the hymns. All right, you're doing you're serving got your spending time with your family
Hey all the pleasures of this world. They're just a distraction from the things of God
You know what some people not only do they show up at church, you know what they do other stuff
They lead a soul winning time. You know what that does. It doesn't profit you financially
Every single one of my soul winning leaders I pay them zero dollars, okay
Nothing, they get zero dollars for soul winning. You know what God is gonna pay them
God is going to reward them. Well, I'm too busy with work. Okay, we know who you serve then
You know some people come to church early so they can play an instrument
Some people show up early so they can be an usher some people show up early so they can you know practice reading the Bible
They're the Bible reader or they're the song leader. Hey, they're putting a bunch of extra effort and the serving God
And you know what? I can tell who they serve and I can tell the other people who they're serving
Well, you know what I do. I miss church for work. I don't do anything extra
I don't do anything above my reasonable service. Well, let me tell you what I know who you're serving and
You know what? You can't have both
You cannot
Make all the extra bucks and get all the promotions and get the yacht and get every single thing that you want in this life
And serve God at the same time you have to choose which one you're going to choose and you know what?
Sometimes you need a defender to tell you what you need and I want to work really hard
For servicing God not this world. Not this flesh. Not my house. You know, my house is gonna burn up someday
It gets worse every minute right the house is finally slowly decaying and slowly
You know waxing old and getting worse and worse my car for sure
Okay, that thing is just hanging on by a couple bolt loose bolts or something. I don't know
but at the end of the day
I want to work as hard as I can at serving God and as little at serving the world as little at serving my own
Belly and so we have to make sure we have our priorities straight and that we're not forsaking God
to serve Balaam
Look the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not what does every single person want that's not
serving God money, I
Don't even the derelict and the gutter who doesn't even have two nickels to rub together. You know what he wants more than anything money
What does he have he has a sign asking for money? He's not saying do you have a spare Bible by chance?
Anybody need a song leader
You know at church service anybody know where the nearest Baptist Church is that I can go to
No, you know what? There's people they call here all the time. They call our church
You know, it's the number one call I get for this church money
Hey, I've never been to your church at all, but I'm really behind on my rent. Will you pay my rent?
It's like the one thing you want for me is money the one thing you want from God's house is money
I can tell you serve I can tell where your heart is
And you know what? I try to tell them if I ever talk to these people I say well, where'd you go to church?
Why don't you go to church and then we'll talk and you know what they never do show up at church
They want me to come in the fact this if you told them you give them money
They probably wouldn't even come here to get it
They want you to go to their place and then hand them money
That's what they want or just call I can give you the number to call to pay for my bill
Look I've had people that I was even willing to help and they're like, here's the number
Why don't you call them and take care of it? And I'm just thinking like what in the world?
Look who are you serving today? And you know what the Bible says to work with quietness and
You know take care of yourself. Look at verse number 11 Bible says this
and the Lord said on the children of Israel did not I deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites from the children of
Ammon and from the Philistines
Zydonians also in the malachites and the mayonites did oppress you and you cried to me and I delivered you out of their hand
Yet yet forsaken me and served other gods
Wherefore I will deliver you no more go and cry unto the gods which you have chosen
Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation
Notice this important phrase. He's saying go and cry to the gods which you have chosen
Now what's interesting here is this God can get to a point where he's done with you
God can get to a point where he's done with you and he's no longer gonna deliver you
There's no hope now. Keep your finger go to Proverbs chapter 1 for a second
I want to show you a verse and I want to kind of delineate between two different people
One group of people that we can first apply this and attribute this to is the unsaved
There is a point in which the unsaved can be rejected by God
He will no longer help them even when they cry out for help now. Some people don't understand this
They say how could someone cry out for help and God wouldn't save them. Well number one
We have to understand if you're unsaved the only cry for help that God's really gonna answer. Is that of salvation?
Okay, there might be some extent
Something's
basically exceptions of that per se
But if you're one of these people that's constantly rejected him and constantly pushed away from him. He's not interested
He's interested in getting you saved now in Proverbs chapter 1
There's a group of people that have rejected the Lord over and over and over look at verse 24 because I've called and he refused
I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded
But you have said it not all my counsel and would none of my reproof. I
Also will laugh at your calamity I
will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as
Desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when distress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me
But I will not answer they shall seek me early
But they shall not find me for that they hated knowledge and did not notice this
choose
the fear of the Lord
They would none of my counsel
They despised all my reproof therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own
Devices for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and notice this and the prosperity of fools
Shall destroy them, you know when you go out and you stop serving God and you start serving mammon
You know, it's the worst thing that could ever happen to you. You're successful at it
Say well, I started skipping church so that I could get a promotion and I got it
But now I have to work Wednesday nights, too
and now I have to work Sunday nights and now I have to do overtime and now I have to go on business trips and
I have to do all this extra labor and this extra work, but I get a big Christmas bonus
But now I'm boss now I get an office, you know now I get that white-collar job, you know
Sometimes prosperity can be the worst thing to happen to you notice what it's telling about these people the prosperity of fools shall destroy them
Why because people associate money or finances with blessing?
They think well if I get more money, I'm more blessed
That is not what the Bible teaches. Let me give you a clear example of how that's not true if you get pregnant
Now every single pregnancy is gonna be like this to your finances
You know what it was it was a blessing
Every single time it's a blessing, you know losing money in that situation was a blessing
But some people don't understand how God works and they think well as long as I get more money than my life will be better
You know, some people need less money in this life
Some people be better off getting fired or having less money or less to do because then they can just have more time to serve
God then they can do more things for the Lord. They can serve him better
Don't think of prosperity as an automatic blessing from God
Nope, sometimes if you're prospering and that which is foolish and that which is not biblical it can be your destruction
It can destroy you they hated knowledge. They didn't choose God
They didn't choose the fear of the Lord and then when they turn just in their distress
They're sorry for getting caught basically, okay
Then they call upon him and he's just like I'm gonna laugh in your face. I'm gonna mock at you
I'm gonna make a meme about you
You wanted to you wanted help now that you're in sort of stress
But you know what? He's not going to answer and look God can get to a point where he won't answer the call
You know when we go and we knock on doors and we talk to people and they're just like not interested go away
I hate the Bible. I hate God
You know what when they have sort of stress and pain come upon them in their life and they're like, please help me now
He's gonna laugh at them he's gonna mock at them
Well, you know you chase money once you go see how much your money's gonna help you
Why don't you go give money to the doctor? Why don't you get that new fancy vaccination?
You know, why don't you go see whatever your money can buy you? You know what money can't buy you happiness
Money can't buy you safety. You need to fear God
You need to fear the Lord and not only is this unsaved people in this category of Proverbs chapter number one
It can happen to save people too
You can get to a point where God will no longer talk to you. It's called Saul
Saul got to a point where he constantly rejected God's commandments. He rejected what the Lord was wanting to teach him
He was no longer responding to him, you know, and this I even think happens the pastors
Now, let me explain you what this means. There are pastors that are just so caught in sin. They're just so
Carnal, they're not interested in spiritual things. So, you know what happens when they open this book
They can't understand any of it
It's all just like and I don't care how much you've read the Bible in the past
If you get in the flesh, you're not going to be spirit filled
You're not going to be able to just always rely upon those past achievements those pastimes reading the Bible
So, you know what comes out of their mouth on Sunday morning?
fleshly things
carnal things lies false doctrine because they're not filled with the Spirit and
If you just constantly reject God, he'll get to a point where he'll just say, you know what?
I'm gonna shut you off. I'm just gonna turn you off and why don't you go check your Facebook feed again?
See what sermons you get from there
Why don't you just go buy a sermon online since you like looking at things online so much
Why don't you get your wife to write your sermon for you?
Since that's all you really care about and look I'm telling you right now
You should never turn off the Lord because he can reciprocate that action
When you decide not to choose God not to choose the Lord
He may just turn you off go to Hebrews chapter number 12 Hebrews chapter 12. I want to look another verse here
to talk about the saved
You say well I stopped going to church for work
Well, God might make it to where you could never go to church whether you like it or not
God could just turn church off for you
God could just make you have maybe you're addicted to some kind of drug or some kind of alcohol and you can't even stop
So you're not even welcome at church anymore
God could do anything to you. We are we are like dust in his sight
What is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him? Have you seen the universe?
It's pretty big
God can do whatever he wants to us at any moment. We should fear him in our lives
We need to get a right perspective of our lives now in Hebrews chapter 12. I wanted you to look at a few verses here
Look at verse 15
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you and thereby
Many be defiled lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright
For you know how that afterward he would have inherited the blessing
He was rejected for he found no place of repentance
Though he cited carefully with tears notice Esau is
Rejected of God even though he's seeking for it
He's seeking it carefully with tears. You know what? He didn't find a place of repentance. There was no repentance
Sometimes there's an opportunity for you to do something and you just screw it up and there's no chance to get it back
Let me tell you how that was
divorce
Sometimes you pull that trigger. There's no getting that one back
Your wife goes and marries another man
Done done for
That was a bad mistake. That was a bad decision
You know what? There's all kinds of decisions you can make you take some some marijuana from your buddy and
It just goes in fries your brain
It's not like God's who's gonna be like Oh performer go to Benny head. He's not gonna lay hands and you're gonna recover
You're not even get through the line because it's all fakes and phonies that are up on the stage
anyways
You're just gonna be waiting on the line and you're gonna be right there next on the line and you're like
I'm ready to go and like we're done for tonight
And you're just like
marijuana
Really mess me up, man
Wish I'd never taken it. I only did it one time
Look, I would be terrified to do that one time
God could just destroy you instantly. We need to be careful less the grace of God
We take that and just destroy it
You know what God gives us grace in our lives
But when we do wrong things we can still have his grace upon us
But there gets a point where there's no turning back there gets to a point where you cross a line and he says, okay
Done with you. Okay. I don't care anymore. Why don't you go reap the consequences of your sin and
Let me say this and we're gonna kind of finish on this thought
Sometimes you have to deal with the consequences of your sin
Now go back to verse 15 go back to Judges chapter 10 and you know
I hope this can still be an encouragement to you
But let me say this whenever you commit grievous sin or you do something really wrong
God is gonna make you go through the consequences of that sin
Imagine if every time I screwed up horribly God just like oh no big deal
No punishment
No one's gonna learn their lesson
Every time I threaten my children I say I'm gonna spank you if you stand in that chair one more time
They stand on the chair. I'm like, alright, come here and they're like, I'm sorry. Okay, don't worry about it. I
Just never spank them I never punish them I never follow through you know what they're not gonna obey me
They're gonna do whatever they want
And you know what? God is gonna follow through
God is really gonna punish you and
Sometimes you have to deal with the consequence of sin if you commit fornication and you have a bastard kid
You know what? That's gonna be a lifelong decision
You're gonna have that forever
You go lay with someone that's not interested in the things of God
That person may you know, give you a disease
You may get married to that person quick and then they divorce you and have nothing to do with you the rest of your life
That's a lifelong decision. You have to live with
Hey
You can do all manner of things you get arrested that record could be with you for the rest of your life
There's lifelong decisions you can make and you have to be careful the decisions you make but you know
What whenever you sin whenever you do wrong whenever you're suffering for the consequences and you need to embrace that now look what it says
We read verses number 14
Look at verse 15 and the children of Israel said in the Lord we have sinned do thou unto us whatsoever
Seemeth good unto thee deliver us only we pray thee this day
they put away the strange gods from among them and serve the Lord and his soul was grieved for the misery of
Israel then the children of Ammon were gathered together in a camp that Gilead and the children of Israel assembled themselves together in a camp
Then misbe and the people and princes of Gilead said one to another
What man is he that will begin to fight against the children of Ammon?
He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead now. This is what I want to say
The children of Israel have not been given any hope from God of any grace
He clearly articulated to them go cry into your other gods. I'm not gonna help you
But you know what they decided to do they still decided to serve God anyways
They still decided to get right with the Lord. They still decided to say, you know what?
I'm just gonna go ahead and put away the false gods
I'm gonna admit that I'm a sinner and I'm still gonna even ask for deliverance even though you said you're not gonna give it
I'm just gonna ask for deliverance and I'm just gonna face the consequences of my sin
I'm gonna get right with God and I'm just gonna move on
you know, there's some people they they hear that they have a tough life to live ahead of them and
Instead of just choosing to live that tough life. They just quit on God
Someone comes up to me and says hey, you know, will you remarry me? I've been divorced and I say no
Well, then why serve God nuts to God
You
Know someone has a horrible situation they go through something difficult, you know a wife says, you know what my husband sucks
What should I do? It's like serve him
You know
You married him. Well, I don't want to do that. I'm just gonna run away
Don't run away from your husband. Hey, my wife isn't interested, you know in serving me or being a godly woman or whatever
So nuts to it. I'm just gonna join the non-denom Church and
She can preach to me
No, you just decide to serve God. Anyways, you say you know what?
I don't care what negative consequences I have or how bleak the future looks I can still get away from that sin
I can still stop messing around in that sin. I can still choose to serve God for the rest of my life
I can still embrace the misery and the woe that I'm in and let me say this
Serve God in misery
That he may bring new grace
Serve God and misery somebody in this room and I guarantee someone if someone might be going through a miserable time right now a
Difficult time in some way that they're suffering in some ways
someone's afflicting them in some way they have a poor outlook in their life or
Something that's really difficult in their life and there they have constant sorrow constant pain
constant issue
Serve God anyways serve God in the misery of your life
And you know what? You never know if God will still give you some kind of a special new grace now
I want to articulate I want to go to another passage go to live Lamentations chapter 3
Lamentations chapter number 3
You know what I love about what they did is they did not complain
About their punishment, but rather embraced it didn't they?
You know, a lot of people just complain and bellyache and moan about the punishment that they clearly deserve
Why don't you just embrace the punishment, you know children?
Especially mine. I don't know about yours whenever I tell my kids that I'm gonna punish them. They're never like, oh I deserve that
They don't need just accept it heartily they're not like, okay, here's the spoon will you please spank me now, you know, they're running away
They're trying to avoid it. They're begging for it not to happen, right?
They're not just embracing the punishment. They're not just accepting the punishment
But look Lamentations chapter number 3 is a very
Sad passage, but I think it kind of captured the essence of this chapter a little bit and look verse 1
The Bible says I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. Now who's his wrath? That's God's wrath
He has led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light surely against me is he turned
He turned his hand against me all the day now, who's we talking about?
We're talking about God turning his hand against one of God's people
He says in verse 4 my flesh and my skin have he made old
He had broken my bones. He had builded against me and compass me with gall and travail
He has set me in dark places as they that be dead of old
He had hedged me about that. I cannot get out. He had made my chain heavy
Also when I cry and shout he shut it out my prayer
Notice this person just being constantly rained on by God
God's pouring out his wrath in this person and he's saying I'm not even listening to your prayers. He's shutting out the prayer
He's constantly afflicting him. He's constantly tormenting him verse number nine
He had then closed my ways with hewn stone. He hath made my paths crooked
He was unto me as a bear lying in wait and as a lion in secret places
He had turned aside my ways and pulled me in pieces
He hath made me desolate
Your best life now. No, I'm just kidding
Verse 12 he has bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow
He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins
I was a derision to all my people and their song all the day. He hath filled me with bitterness
He hath made me drunken with wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones
He hath covered me with ashes and now has removed my soul far off from peace. I forgot prosperity
And I said my strength my hope has perished from the Lord
remembering mine affliction and my misery the wormwood and the gall my soul hath them still in
remembrance and is humbled in
In now is this person going through a good day, I don't know
I mean, I know somebody in here might be going through a tough day. This person seems worse
Some of you still have teeth. I think all right this guy
I mean this guy is going through a rough day a rough time and you say who's oppressing him. It's God
It's the Lord that's oppressing him. The Lord's the one not answering his prayer, but what did it do it humble them
Verse 21 this I recall in my mind. Therefore have I hope it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed
Because his compassion's fail not they are new every morning
Great is thy faithfulness
The Lord is my portion sayeth my soul therefore
Will I hope in him the Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him
it is good that a man should both hope and
Quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord now what I want to point out here is we have this great song
Great is thy faithfulness
Notice they didn't like the first 20 verses of this chapter
Where do we get that great inspiring phrase great is thy faithfulness and
a picture of misery and a picture of affliction and a picture of
Punishment and notice the Bible says why why is this guy still able?
To keep going. Well number one
He's still alive. It is of the Lord's
Mercies that we are not consumed
Because his compassion's fail not hey being alive is a mercy
Being alive is a compassion of God and if you're still alive God still wants to use you in some way
Count that a blessing that you just even have breath in your lungs
Number one, I mean job didn't have much to keep count on but he was still alive
And when it was of God's mercy and compassion that he was keeping him alive number two though is he's hoping because God has new
Mercies it says they are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness now we have to understand about this verse, okay
Is the fact that God is willing to extend new mercy every morning?
That doesn't mean that he always does though. Okay. God's not gonna always necessarily give you new mercy every morning
It's just every new morning. There's that opportunity to get God's mercy in your life
God had God can give you new mercy every single morning. That's why he has hope
That's why he's still has something to look forward to he says the Lord is my portion say my soul therefore
I hope in him the Lord is good unto them that wait for him now when you're going through misery
Let me give you some hope
It's not necessarily forever. Even job had a pretty bleak outlook on life
I mean he lost his children. His wife is just going off the rails
He's got lesions all over his body
His friends are you know falsely accusing him left and right and saying all manner of evil against him
I mean, that's a pretty bleak outlook on life. He wants to die. He wants his memory to just perish from off the earth
He curses his own day that he was born. He's in such misery and in such. Whoa, you know what his life turns around quickly
His life gets better now look what it says in verse 27
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke and his youth
Let me say this about you young men and most men in here are pretty young if not all of you
Okay, I mean it's it's it's relative right? My grandfather was 97. He would look at all of you and call you young man, okay?
But we have to understand is when you're young a lot of times your life might be considered misery
Jacob had a miserable
life whenever he was serving for his wife and you know what when you get started in the workforce when you get started building a
Family when you get started doing all these things. Let me tell you misery should be a part of your life
Because it's hard. It's hard to provide. It's hard to raise a family. It's hard to balance all the things that you need to balance
It's hard to balance
You know taking care of your wife and your kids and your job and serving God and doing all these things that are difficult
You know Jacob's talking about he's not getting any sleep and his wage has been changed ten times and he's going through all this difficulty
That's a lot of people's life when they're young. You know what? What does the Bible say?
It says it is good for a man that he bear the yoke and his youth, you know when you can't do that
97
You only have one opportunity and let me say this you only have one opportunity to raise your kids at the age they are today
It's
Good to be in misery and woe now so that you can reap the benefits later. How about you young women?
You know, when do you bear children?
At the later part of your life or the early part of your life the early part of your life
I mean women can get pregnant, you know
16 17 18 all the way up to maybe 40s kind of the whenever they get around 45 it pretty much ticks off
naturally at least in our current culture
So they're bearing that misery in their youth
Why because you can't do it later and let me tell you what raising little kids is harder than raising big kids
Maybe not from a mental perspective, but at least from a physical perspective, right?
I mean having little kids is hard it sometimes feels like misery
but serve God a misery and
bear that yoke
When you're young because you know what you're gonna be old one day and you know
You're gonna be really glad that you worked really hard when you were younger
I'm never gonna look back at my young years and think man. I shouldn't work so hard
I'm thinking I wish I worked a lot harder
Man, when I was in college, I wasted four years of my life
Hey when I was in high school, I was wasting that time. I wasted a lot of my youth
I waste a lot of time after college
Okay, I wasted a lot of my youth and I don't look back and think man. I wish I had worked less
You know, I believe I've had a lot of nights even just working in a secular world where I work all night
And I don't think like man. I wish I got an extra sleep back then
I'm thinking like, you know, I'm glad I got that done. I'm glad I accomplished something
I'm glad I did something with my life
You know what bear the yoke while you can be in misery now. He says a verse 28
He said it alone and keep a silence because he has borne it upon him
And put his mouth in the dust if so be there may be hope he giveth his cheek to him that smited him
He is filled full with reproach where the Lord will not cast off forever now
He understand obviously this is parallel, you know paralleling Jesus Christ himself. Okay, a lot of these pictures of Jesus Christ
Well, he's going through and how God laid the iniquity of us upon him and God afflicted him and all you talking about the smiting
Of the cheek is obviously when he's standing before the Pharisees and they're smiting him and beating him
There's all kinds of pictures here, but I'm still trying to focus on you for a moment. Okay?
Because you're gonna go through this difficulty, but God is saying hey, he's not gonna cast off forever though
He's not gonna just always he's not just like you're just on misery train until you die, buddy
Hey, you just keep serving God and misery and looking for that. Hope he says but though he caused grief
Yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies free did not afflict willingly
Nor agreed the children of men to crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth
To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High to subvert a man in his cause the Lord
approveth not
Who is he that say that and it cometh to pass when the Lord commanded the not out of the mouth of the Most High?
proceedeth not evil and
Good notice. God doesn't just pour out blessings
Sorry to burst your false doctrine bubble
God also renders evil and you know what God might render evil in your life for a reason
You might be going through misery for a reason and notice that God's not willingly trying just to flick you
God doesn't want to hurt you
God doesn't want to harm you but it could be the consequence of your sin and when you sin accept the punishment that God has
Given you job accepted the evil that God gave him. He didn't even deserve it
And
It it hurt the Lord that he was hurting job. He didn't like that
He wasn't pleased with hurting job and in a sense
He's pleased in the fact that he's hurting Jesus Christ because we get saved through it, but he doesn't want to hurt his son
It's a sacrifice to him. He's not excited. He's not
Desiring to punish his child
But look what it says in verse number 39 is important verse
Wherefore does the living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins
Let's read that again, he says wherefore does the living man complain a man for the punishment of his
Sins
Sometimes you're going through evil because you sin and it's not right to even complain about it. I
Love the attitude when we read our chapter when we go back. Let's go back for a moment. Go back to judges chapter number 10
Did
They complain about their punishment and notice their punishment
Mind you again reminding you. What was the hope that God gave them in their punishment?
Nothing, there was no hope and let me say this to the people in this room
There might have been a time in the history of this church or in your spiritual
What where you looked at the future and you said no hope?
It's doomed. You know what if you just keep serving God, he just keeps being faithful these doesn't
Hey when you're steadfast God's gonna be more steadfast than you. Hey when you're faithful
He's gonna be more faithful than you great is thy faithfulness. Where does that great verse come out of it comes out of misery
You know what? You're gonna have great faith in God when you're going through a hopeless bleak terrible situation
And then finally that that grace and mercy comes in your life and you're like wow
Great is thy faithfulness. Well, I didn't see how we're gonna get out of that. There wasn't even any hope
I didn't even see any way to get out of that pain
I didn't even see any way to get out of that misery, but don't forsake God when you're in misery
It's the best time to plug in it's the best time to start seeking God even more and saying, you know what?
I don't know how this is gonna work out
But I'm just gonna I'm just gonna start getting right with you and I'm gonna accept the punishment of my sins
judges chapter number 10
Look what it says in verse number
15 again and the children of Israel said in the Lord we have sinned do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee
Now that's the exact opposite opinion of complaining, right? He's saying whatever you think is right
Whatever is the right punishment? Whatever is the right situation God just do it to me
But they do ask for deliverance don't they they say but please still deliver us
They get right with the Lord and then we have here in the last two verses
It says then the children of Ammon were gathered together in a camp than Gilead and the children of Israel assemble themselves together in a camp
The misbe and the people and princes of Gilead said one to another what man is he?
That will begin to fight against the children of Ammon. He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead
Notice that they want to put in charge now
The person that's willing to go out and fight enemy the person that's willing to defend them
They say let's put that guy in charge
Whoever it is, let's make him it not a bimlech. We're done with a bimlech
We don't want and when we get into the next chapter
We're setting ourselves up for important chapter chapter number 11 with Jephthah
But what I want to emphasize this they felt like it was hopeless, but you know what salvation is right around the corner
Salvation is right in the next chapter. This is a setup chapter
This is a transition chapter don't lose all the pieces of the puzzle that we've just gone through a bimlech
Elected himself
Then they suffer and they start realizing you know what we need somebody that's gonna defend us and you know what whoever defends us
Let's put him in charge
Let's let him lead us and then salvation is right around the corner even in the greatest misery
God has new mercies right on the corner and as we make a transition for our church
I don't care what you're going through
keep serving God
Keep being faithful and he'll keep being faithful in you
I mean, I feel like our church, you know, I've only been here for some of the time, but it's gone through some difficult moments
It's that moments where you could even look at it and felt hopeless or could have felt
Very difficult or kind of bleak, but then the God just keeps delivering us God keeps blessing us
God keeps preserving us God even gives us blessings above which we you know deserve and
So my message is of this
Even in misery serve God, let's close in prayer. Thank you father so much for your word
Thank you for this great transition chapter
I thank you that you have such great mercy and compassion that even when we are beyond deserving it
You have new morning every new morning. You could still be merciful to us. You could still be
Compassionate towards I pray that whatever sins that we have to suffer the consequences for that
We have the right attitude that we receive evil with good and we wouldn't complain about the sufferings and the miseries that we have
To go through knowing that you're a faithful creator knowing that you're not willingly afflicting us
But that you grieve with us and that you love us
And I pray that we just have a heart to continually serve you no matter what obstacles come in the future in Jesus name
We pray. Amen