(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

I want to start off by saying thank you to all of you for the hospitality. It's really been awesome. I've really enjoyed the fellowship, and I just really appreciate it, so thank you so much for that. One down, one to go, so let's get through this, right? The title of my sermon is The Downward Spiral of Abimelech. The Downward Spiral of Abimelech, and what I'm going to talk about is the destruction of this wicked man, Abimelech. We'll go through this story and see what ended up leading to his self-destruction. We'll go through this story and we'll see the mistake he made, how he let his pursuit, his unrighteous pursuit of the throne of Israel get to his head to the point that he ended up, you heard it there, Brother Eli reading it, with a millstone falling on his head courtesy of a woman. How did he get to that point? That led, what was the catalyst that led to the downfall of this wicked man? Now we know that Abimelech was the son of Gideon, and Gideon was the deliverer of Israel. He delivered the Israelites out of the hands of the Midianites. And Gideon fathered 70 different sons from many wives. One of those sons was the son of a concubine and his name was Abimelech. Now Abimelech devised a conspiracy to attain the throne. He so badly wanted to be exalted to this position of authority that he ends up betraying his 70 brethren. Let's look at verse number one. You're there in Judges chapter nine, and by the way, keep a bookmark or something in Judges nine because we're gonna be going back and forth from this chapter throughout the sermon. The Bible says in verse one, and Abimelech, the son of Jerubel, now this is another name for Gideon, by the way, so whenever you see that name, Jerubel, it's another name for the deliverer of Israel, Gideon. It says, and Abimelech, the son of Jerubel, 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, weather is better for you, either that all the sons of Jerubel, which are threescore and ten persons, reign over you or that one reign over you. Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. So Abimelech makes the case that he's better qualified to reign over Israel because of the fact that he's closer in lineage with the men of Shechem. He employs what I believe here is psychological manipulation to get what he wants. He's trying to manipulate these people, and he wants them to be a respecter of persons. Why? Because he's chasing the throne. That's all he cares about, and he will do anything within his power to get it, even if it means cutting corners, even if it means betraying his 70 brethren who did nothing wrong to him. If you want more authority, folks, this is the theme of the entire sermon. If you don't take anything out of this, I just want you to take this one point. If you want to be exalted, if you want a position of authority, it doesn't matter what realm of your life we're talking about, whether it's work or whether it's church, you should serve and you should earn it the right way. That's the bottom line here, folks, is that there are a lot of people who will cut corners, who will step on others, who will do anything to exalt themselves, but that's not what the Bible teaches. This is what led to the downfall of Abimelech because he was obsessed with power and influence to his own detriment, and we shouldn't be that way as Christians. If you want to be exalted, if you want a position of authority, if you want to one day be in leadership, like I said, it doesn't matter what walk of life we're talking about here, serve. In Ephesians chapter 6, the Bible says, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling and singleness of your heart as unto Christ. It's a biblical commandment to be a good employee. If your boss tells you to do something, yes, sir, get it done. Be known as someone who's reliable in your line of work. Be known as someone who doesn't rebel against authority. Be known as someone who listens to what your boss says. Now, obviously, there are exceptions to that. If your boss asks you to do something that would contradict God's word, then God would expect you not to follow along with that. There are caveats with many different things in life, many things that the Bible teaches. That's one of them. Look down at verse number 3 in Judges chapter 9, 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. So they buy what he's selling. For they said, he is our brother. And they gave him three score and 10 pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-Bereth, wherewith Abimelech hired vain and light persons which followed him. Abimelech hires mercenaries who end up slaying his brethren. The Bible says that he uses 70 pieces of silver to hire these followers. Now, notice it says 70. He has 70 brethren. So it's one piece of silver per brother that he's about to betray, because he can't stand not being king. He can't stand not having that seat of power and influence and authority, and he'll do anything to get it, even if it means shedding blood. Look at verse 5. And he went unto his father's house at Ophrah and slew his brethren, the sons of Jerabail, being three score and 10 persons upon one stone. Notwithstanding yet, Jotham, the youngest son of Jerabail, was left, for he hid himself. Jotham hid himself. He escaped this act of violence here by Abimelech. He's Gideon's youngest son. In Judges 9, verse 2, we read this earlier, Abimelech, in making the case for the throne, he says, remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. I want you to notice the hypocrisy here. He used that as one of the reasons why he thinks he should be king. But then he goes on to slay his own flesh and blood. And that's one of the attributes of these people, is their hypocrisy, is the fact that they will employ certain tactics that they speak against. They contradict themselves because they're consumed, in Abimelech's case, with being king. They'll go as far as murdering people. Abimelech went as far as murdering his own brethren. It makes me sick. But this sort of person is walking the earth today. Think of the politicians of our world. And yes, I hit a little bit on politics in the morning service, I'm going to do it again. These politicians, these power-hungry puppets, they will prostitute themselves to the donor class. They will prostitute themselves to corporate lobbyists and special interests and do their bidding. Why? Because they're not concerned with serving other people. They're not concerned with the betterment of the general public. They're concerned with themselves. They're concerned with attaining a position or a seat of power. And that's exactly the type of person Abimelech was. And yes, I do believe politicians would go as far as killing people to attain that position. Think of the unrighteous wars that this nation has been involved with. Why? To endlessly feed the military-industrial complex. Because we've got this unholy alliance going on between weapons manufacturers and these sick puppets in Washington, D.C. They'll do anything to retain or attain power. And it's the same thing with Abimelech. Look at, or I should say go to Philippians chapter two, if you would, Philippians chapter number two. And while you're turning to Philippians chapter two, I'm going to read out of John chapter 13. The Bible says there, while you're turning to Philippians two, then cometh he to Simon Peter, and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, what I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part of me. Now I want you to understand something as you're turning to Philippians two. Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. He's a leader in every sense of the word. But notice what he does there. He washes the feet of his disciples. And that's because as a leader, we should have benevolence. Jesus Christ had benevolence. Jesus Christ had humility. That's why when he was asked, art thou the king of the Jews? He responds and said, thou sayest, he doesn't boast about it. He doesn't brag about it. Because for Jesus Christ, it's not about titles, and it should be the same thing with us. We are here at church, not because we're unrighteously chasing a position of authority. Now there's nothing wrong with having goals. But if you want to meet those goals one day, if you want to be a pastor, if you want to be a missionary, if you want to be promoted at your job, if you if you're single right now and you want to be an authority figure in your home, then you need to be married. Okay, you can't expect a girl you're dating to submit to you. So my point is this, folks, if you want that position, if you want that seat of leadership, attain it the right way. That's all I'm saying. Attain it the right way. And we can do that by being humble. Look what Philippians 2 says in verse number three. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, listen to this, which was also in Christ Jesus. Every man should look on the things of others. Every man should be selfless because Jesus Christ was selfless and our life's mission should be more and more and more to be like Jesus Christ. Okay. Philippians 2 says that this mind should be in us as it was also in Jesus. And folks for us, it's not about exalting ourselves. It's about exalting Christ. It's about following the man of God as he follows Christ. That's our role as church members. I'm a church member too. And that's what my role is. Go back to Judges chapter nine, prideful Abimelech, egomaniacal Abimelech. He covets the throne so badly he sheds his brethren's blood for it. Look at verse number six. We're about to read now about how this self-willed wicked man, the son of a concubine Gideon's son, he ends up getting a curse from Jotham who was the youngest of the 70. He escaped and Jotham curses him. Look at verse number six. The Bible says, and all the men of Shechem gathered together in all the house of Milo and went and made Abimelech king by the plane of the pillar that was in Shechem. So Abimelech gets what he wants. He gets the title of king. Like I said earlier, just like people will sell their souls as they're running for office to do anything possible to win and get that position in the government, Abimelech did the same thing, practically selling his soul here, turning his back on his brethren. But we shouldn't be obsessed with titles. There's nothing wrong with setting goals, like I said moments ago, but for us here, you know, at this church, I go to steadfast Baptist church. It doesn't matter where you go. There's one title that should matter to us. How about Christian? How about soul winner? How about, you know, faithful? We should be known as someone who's faithful. We should be known as somebody who goes out and preaches the gospel consistently. But those at Washington DC, those who are coveting those positions in government, these bunch of degenerate rats, they don't care about serving other people. It's just all about exalting self. It's all about feeding their own ego. It's all about ruling over people because they're wicked. Judges 9, 7, 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, hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. Jotham, Gideon's youngest son, declares a curse on Abimelech and he does so through a parable. So we're going to look through this parable here uttered by Jotham and understand exactly what he's saying and what this curse is going to be. Look at verse 8, the trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them and they said unto the olive tree, rain thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, should I leave my fatness wherewith by me they honor God and man and go to be promoted over the trees? So notice the olive tree says that its fatness honors both God and man. This olive tree in the parable is perfectly satisfied producing olives and not ruling over the other trees. How can someone honor both God and man? Well, the answer is through the Holy Spirit. The Bible says in 1 Kings 1, you don't have to turn there, and Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle and anointed Solomon and they blew the trumpet and all the people said, God save King Solomon. So olive oil was one of the compounds used in the anointing oil which anointed the priests in the Old Testament and also the men of God, the kings in the Old Testament. It was representative of the Holy Spirit. And so if you would go to Judges chapter 8 and let's look at another perspective here of what this olive tree symbolizes. In the parable, the olive tree is totally satisfied with serving God and man. And there are people out there who are filled with the Holy Spirit. Again, this is symbolized under the Old Covenant with the anointing oil. And they're perfectly fine, these people who are filled with the Spirit, serving God, honoring God, honoring man, serving in their local church. They're not after authority. They're not after popularity. They're not after a platform for popularity. They're not after a position where they could be exalted and people can look at them and say, hey, that guy's got the spotlight. No, for them it's just about serving God and serving man. Now in Judges chapter 8, we read about how Gideon refused to be king. It says in verse number 22, if you would look down at your Bible, look at verse number 22. The Bible says there, 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. So when Gideon delivered the Israelites from the Midianites, the people wanted to make him king. But you know what he said? No, I'm not interested in that. God's going to rule. God's going to rule you. God's going to rule over you. He's going to be the one that you answer to. Gideon says no. And the reality is simple. If it's not in God's plan for you or anyone else or myself to be in that position of authority, it doesn't matter how many people want it. Now here's an example of that in the New Testament. A man who's disqualified from pastoring. A man who can't pastor because the person is divorced or the person, you know, for whatever other reason, right? They're disqualified. They can't ever pastor. It takes a certain type of integrity and humility to say, you know what? I'm disqualified from that position. Even if people want me to pursue that position, I can't because the Bible says no, and I'm perfectly fine with that. I'm perfectly fine serving in my local church. I'm perfectly fine being a blessing to my pastor. And I'm perfectly fine going sowing every week and being a blessing to the brothers and sisters in Christ at church. That's someone who has integrity. That's someone who realizes it's not about them. Go back to Judges chapter nine. The Bible says in Mark one, and John was clothed with camel's hair and with a girdle of a skin about his loins, and he did eat locusts and wild honey and preached saying, there cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. So John the Baptist says there's one coming mightier than him because he pointed to Jesus Christ. He exalted Jesus Christ. His ministry wasn't about him. It was about Jesus. That should be our mentality. The reason why we're here is so that not so that we can look good, not so that we can appear spiritual. The reason why we're here is to exalt the word of God, to exalt Jesus. Judges nine verse 10, and the trees said to the fig tree, come thou and reign over us. Verse 11, but the fig tree said unto them, should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit and go to be promoted over the trees? So the fig tree says, why should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit? This is another tree here in this parable that's perfectly satisfied doing what God intended for it to do, producing fruit, producing good fruit. In Psalm 119, the Bible says, how sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. So sweetness comes out of the mouth as words. I also believe fruit can mean converts as well. Jesus talks about us bringing forth 30 fold, some 60 fold, some 100 fold converts. I look at that as what we should, you know, what we should try and attain over a year, a calendar year out soul winning. We should strive for 30 fold, 60 fold and 100 fold at least over a calendar year when it comes to going out and preaching the gospel. Now there are people out there who through sweet words, they go out, they win converts and they're satisfied being a soul winner. And if that's the only role God has for them from the beginning of their life to the end of their life, they're cool with it. They're fine with it. Judges 9 12, the Bible says, then said the trees unto the vine, come thou and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, should I leave my wine, which cheer with God and man and go to be promoted over the trees. So the Bible says the wine here, it cheers man. Now this is great. This is great juice folks. We're not talking about alcohol here. This tree is experiencing peace and joy. It's happy producing wine. And it's another example of someone who's fine with the role that they've been given. So in Jotham's parable, just to recap, the olive, the fig and the vine trees, they refuse the seat of power. It's not something they want. Each tree serves a purpose and they're perfectly satisfied serving that purpose. Here at church, each and every one of you, I don't care who you are, you serve a purpose here at Pure Words Baptist Church. You serve a very important purpose. It's like an orchestra. You've got your trumpets, you've got your trombones, you've got your flutes, all these different instruments. And there are others as well, violins. All these instruments come together and they produce music. Each instrument has a specific role in the symphony. It's the same thing with church. Each one of us have a role. Brother Nick Gomez, he's making sure that everything is running smoothly here. He's making sure the camera is working, the technical aspects of this service, that everything is going smoothly. We have people here who come, they listen to the preaching, they're edified by the preaching, they go sowing consistently. Each and every single one of you have a role. You might be here as a mother and you're here because you want your children to learn the Word of God and see that this is what a church looks like. And so we all have a role, we should be satisfied with that. God has given all of us responsibilities here at church. So the Bible says, where am I at here? Look at verse number 14. Go to Judges chapter 9 and verse 14. If I told you to leave Judges 9 and go back to it, look at verse 14, it said, then said all the trees unto the bramble, come thou and reign over us. So the olive tree produces olives, which produces oil. The fig tree produces fruit. The vine produces wine. The bramble produces thorns. Useless. All they do is hurt you, right? You ever brush up on one accidentally, start bleeding sometimes? They're totally useless. Jesus says in Luke 6 44, for every tree is known by his own fruit. For a thorn's men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. Jesus says the bramble doesn't produce grapes, it produces nothing, just thorns and it hurts. Look, there have been times where I've brushed up against one. It's not fun. All it does is shed blood. And this, I believe, represents Abimelech. He shed blood. Look at verse 15. And the bramble said unto the trees, if in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow and if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon. So Jotham is about to explain what he means by this parable. What exactly is the curse that's about to be pronounced here on Abimelech for slaying his brethren? Look at verse 16. Now therefore, if ye have done truly and sincerely and that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubel and his house and have done unto him according to the deserving of his hands, for my father fought for you and adventured his life far and delivered you out of the hand of Midian and ye are risen up against my father's house this day and have slain his sons, three score and ten persons, that's 70, upon one stone and have made Abimelech the son of his maidservant, king over the men of Shechem, because he is your brother. If ye then have dealt truly and sincerely with him, I should say with Jerubel and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech and let him also rejoice in you. But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the men of Shechem and the house of Mylo and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and from the house of Mylo and devour Abimelech. This is the turning point right here. This is where things start to go south for Abimelech. Jotham says if Abimelech deserved to be king, if that's the position God had for him, and if you dealt truly and sincerely with Jerubel, then enjoy your king. Everything's fine. But if not, there will be wars. There will be war. That's the curse, that Abimelech would wage war with the houses of Shechem and Mylo. And that, folks, is one of the attributes of God's judgment. When a nation can't help but find itself in war after war after war, that means God's not blessing that nation, because a blessing from God would manifest itself as peace and prosperity. Kind of makes you wonder about our country a little bit, that we can't seem to find ourselves in a situation where we're not fighting some boogeyman in the Middle East. Judges 9, 21, and Jotham ran away and fled and went to Beer and dwelt there for fear of Abimelech his brother. When Abimelech had reigned three years over Israel, then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech that the cruelty done to the threescore and ten sons of Jerubel might come, and their blood be laid upon Abimelech their brother, which slew them, and upon the men of Shechem, which aided him in the killing of his brethren. And the men of Shechem set liars in wait for him in the top of the mountains, and they robbed all that came along that way by them, and it was told of Abimelech. So God sends an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem here, and this is something God does throughout the Bible, where he'll turn one wicked group of people against another wicked group of people. He's going to do it in the end times. The ten kings, the Bible says, they're going to make the whore of Babylon desolate. They're going to burn her with fire. And we saw it with Babylon in the Old Testament, the Babylonian empire, and the southern kingdom of Judah, which had turned its back on God. They invaded, and it was the Jews who had to endure 70 years of captivity. And so here we see that God sends an evil spirit to turn the men of Shechem and Abimelech against each other as part of God's judgment on Abimelech for slaying his brethren in his unrighteous pursuit of authority and power and influence. This was a man who was obsessed with himself and ruling over people, not because he has a love for people, but because it just gets him going. That's what he wants. It's all about him. Now I said it before, I'm going to say it again, folks. There's nothing wrong with having goals. There's nothing wrong with desiring to one day be a business owner or the boss at your work, perhaps, to get a promotion. There's nothing wrong with desiring to be a pastor. The Bible says it's good work. There's nothing wrong with desiring to be a missionary. There's nothing wrong with desiring to be a deacon. But here's the thing. In order to achieve those goals, the only option we have is to put our nose to the grindstone and work. We as men especially, if we want to provide for our family, we should do it with integrity. We should do it with honor. We should do it with respect, because every time you walk into your place of employment, you're representing Christ. You're an ambassador for Christ. If you're known as somebody who lies and cheats his way to the top, if you're known as somebody who undermines and circumvents what your boss has said to you, then you're doing a disservice to the cause of Christ. We are ambassadors for Jesus no matter where we go, and we need to humble ourselves and realize that it takes working your tail to the bone to achieve those goals that you have for yourself. Not cutting corners, not stepping on people, not unrighteously attaining those positions of authority. There are enough people who do that today, especially when it comes to the ministry. I can't stand unqualified pastors. I can't stand people who would abuse this sacred position, who would abuse it for themselves, who would abuse it because all they care about is being popular. All they care about are the YouTube subscribers and the attention and the fame and the glory, and if any man has that in their mind, even an inkling of that in their mind, then they should stay as far away from the ministry as possible. Folks, it's not about yourself. It's about feeding the flock of God. And would to God that more men would remember that and understand that. And I'm not perfect. I'm far from perfect, but I'm telling you right now, folks, if I don't take heed, God will destroy me. If I change my mentality and say, oh man, I'm here at Pure Words and I got the spotlight, I'm on the stage, everyone's looking at me, and I exalt myself, and I use this opportunity given to me not to feed the flock, not to help you, but to exalt myself, God will bring me down. And He'll do the same to anyone else who has that very same thought process. We should allow God to use us in any way that He sees fit. And again, I'm not perfect. I'm not saying that there are moments where I have to control the flesh. People walk up to you and say, hey, I've seen you on YouTube and stuff. You have to really control the flesh. You have to remain humble. You have to continue to clothe yourself with humility. Everyone, every single person is capable of letting their pride lead to their destruction. So take heed, folks. Judges 9 26, the Bible says, and Gail, the son of Ebed, came with his brethren and went over to Shechem, and the men of Shechem put their confidence in him, and they went out into the fields and gathered their vineyards and trowed the grapes and made merry and went into the house of their God and did eat and drink and cursed Abimelech. And Gail, the son of Ebed, said, who is Abimelech and who is Shechem that we should serve him? Is not he the son of Jerabal and Zebul, his officer? Serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for why should we serve him? And would to God this people were under my hand, then would I remove Abimelech? And he said to Abimelech, increase thine army and come out. Abimelech is king at this point. Gail wants an insurrection. Part of God's judgment, he's turning the rats against each other here. He wants to topple Abimelech. This is the beginning of his downward spiral. He's trying to start a revolt. He's talking some smack, and God oftentimes will use political destabilization like this as a recompense for the sins of that nation's leader. Go to 2 Chronicles 16, if you would. Let's look at how God used war as judgment on a particular leader who made a mistake and angered the Lord. I'm talking about King Asa. The mistake King Asa made is he relied on Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria, rather than God, when Baasha, king of Israel, was threatening him. He relied on a heathen king to defend his nation. God wasn't happy about that. He wasn't happy with Asa, I should say, trusting in this heathen king, Baasha, king of Syria, rather than the Lord. And look what he says to him in response. Look at verse 7 there in 2 Chronicles 16. The Bible says, and at that time, Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said unto him, because thou hast relied on the king of Syria and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong at the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly, therefore, from henceforth, listen to this, thou shalt have wars. Peace and prosperity, blessings from God, war, judgment, Asa is judged, God through Hanani the seer says, thou shalt have wars. He relied on Ben-Hadad rather than God, later on in Asa's life, he relies on the physicians rather than the Lord when he incurs an ailment. Go back to Judges chapter 9. Now Asa is a good king. He broke down the houses of the Sodomites. I like that. Now he was a righteous man in general, but he made some mistakes towards the end. What I'm just pointing out is God's pattern of behavior, how he uses war as an instrument of judgment. Now once you get back to Judges chapter 9, skip down to verse 47 for sake of time. Gal, the son of Ebed, all his smack talking, it doesn't work for him. He's driven out, he's destroyed. It seems like these guys who talk the toughest tend to be the worst when the fight, the physical altercation actually happens. That's a different subject for a different time. Abimelech is fighting against Shechem here. This is a fulfillment of Jotham's parable. He said this would happen. Look at verse number 47. And by the way, the reason why this happened is because of course Abimelech did not deal truly with Gideon. He slayed the 70 brethren. He betrayed them. Look at verse number 47. And it was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. And Abimelech got him up to Mount Zalman, he and all the people that were with him. And Abimelech took an ax in his hand and cut down a bow from the trees and took it and laid it on his shoulder and said unto the people that were with him, what ye have seen me do make haste and as I have done. And all the people likewise cut down every man his bow and followed Abimelech and put them to the hold and set the hold on fire upon them so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also about a thousand men and women. So here's basically what he did. He went to a tree. He took a branch. He told his men to do the same thing and they took all these branches. They put it down near the tower where men, women, and children were hiding from them and then they burned it and a thousand of them died. Now here's the thing, folks. It was about a thousand men and women that died. He wins this battle. And here's something you have to understand about these power obsessed wicked men. They might win certain battles. They might get that title for a limited number, for a limited amount of time, but that time is limited and God's going to take him down just like he does to Abimelech. I want to show you another example of a wicked individual who ruined his life to chase after, unrighteously chase after a seat of authority. Go to 2 Samuel chapter 20, 2 Samuel chapter number 20. These men will self-destruct because of their ego. First Kings 1 says, then Adonijah, the son of Hagath, exalted himself saying, I will be king. And he prepared him chariots and horsemen and 50 men to run before him. Adonijah exalts himself. He's another example as you're turning to 2 Samuel chapter 20. He says, I will be king. And how does that end for him? He's put to death by Solomon for trying to marry his way to the throne, trying to marry Abishag. An unrighteous pursuit of power will not work. We need to have integrity and work hard to achieve that goal. Again, you might make it to the top temporarily, but God's going to make sure you get tossed down and that you get humbled. Even wicked men get tossed down. Even the devil himself will get tossed down. He's going to get his 15 minutes of fame. He's going to get the tribulation. He's going to get Daniel 70th week. He'll have a chance to make war with the saints, but ultimately his campaign will end in hell and then hell will be cast into the lake of fire. Sheba the son of Bichrais, who we're about to read about here in 2 Samuel chapter 20, the Bible expressly refers to him as a man of Belial. That means he's a reprobate. And if you're unfamiliar with that doctrine, there are those out there who hate and reject the Lord to the point that God rejects them. They become sons of the devil. You have three different groups of people in this world. Those who are sons of God. Once you're a son of God, you're always a son of God. We believe that once you're saved, you're always saved. When you're in God's family, there's no way to get out. Then you have the sons of Adam here in the middle. These are the people we're chasing after when we go preach the gospel. They haven't made a choice yet. They're neutral. And then you've got the sons of the devil. They've made a choice to hate God. They don't want anything to do with him. The Bible says, and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient. The Bible says about these reprobates, which Sheba, the son of Bichrai, was one of them. It says that they're filled with all unrighteousness. It says they're filled with fornication, wickedness, covetous, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection. These people are the most wicked, wicked people you'll ever meet. They serve Satan. Sheba, the son of Bichrai, is no exception. What we see though, before I get into this here, the context, David learns of a rebellion stemming from Sheba. He tells Amasa, who was his right hand man at the time, about this rebellion that's coming. And he says that what Sheba, the son of Bichrai, is trying to do could be even worse than what his own son tried to do, Absalom, when he attempted a coup against David. So he commissions Amasa to mitigate this threat. That's what's going on here. Joab ends up asking for Sheba's head to be thrown over a wall to end this attempted rebellion. Look down at verse number 16. Then cried a wise woman out of the city, here, here, say I pray you unto Joab, come near hither that I may speak with thee. This is a woman. And look at verse number 17. And when he was come near unto her, talking about Joab, the woman said, art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. Then she spake saying, they were wont to speak in old times, saying, they shall surely ask counsel at Abel. And so they ended the matter. I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel. Thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel? Why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? So she's worried about the destruction of the nation. But Joab reassures her that he's not going after the whole city. He's going after one man and it's Sheba the son of Bichrai who's trying to overthrow the God ordained leadership. Look at verse 20. And Joab answered and said, far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy. The matter is not so, but a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichrai by name hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David, deliver him only and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom and they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichrai and cast it out to Joab and he blew a trumpet and they retired from the city. Every man who was tent and Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king. Now during this whole process here, Joab ends up killing Amasa. I'm not really sure why he kills Amasa. It could be that he was envious of Amasa's position in David's cabinet. But here's the moral of the story, folks. Sheba's head is thrown over a wall. He's decapitated. He's done. And you have to ask this question, was it worth it? Is it ever worth it to cut corners? Is it ever worth it to unrighteously pursue a position that God has not ordained for you to pursue? No, it never is. It's never worth it. It's never worth rebelling. It's never worth trying to overthrow the God ordained leadership. It's never worth, folks, understand this, etch it into your minds, it's never worth circumventing God's structure of authority. There's a structure of authority in all walks of life, within marriage, the wife, or I should say the children submit to the parents, the wife submits to the husband at work. We go to work and we do what the boss says as long as it doesn't contradict this. As long as, you know, if your husband asks you to do something that contradicts the Bible, you shouldn't do that. There's a structure of authority and at the very top is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's never worth rebelling against that. It'll lead to destruction. Jesus says in Luke 18, everyone that exalted himself shall be abased and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Let's look at another group here in the Bible. Go to Numbers chapter 16, Numbers chapter 16. Let's look at another group. This group exalted themselves and they were abased. You say, well, what if I noticed there's a Judas infiltrator here who's trying to overthrow God's ordained leadership? What do I need to do? Well, what did he do to Sheba, the son of Bikrai? They threw his head over the wall. Expose it, end it, because that is poison to the New Testament church. Numbers 16 verse one. This is another instance in which opposing God's authority failed. I'm talking about Korah's rebellion. Numbers 16, the Bible says in verse one, now Korah, the son of Izar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab and on the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben took men and they rose up before Moses with certain of the children of Israel, 250 princes of the assembly famous in the congregation, men of renown and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said unto them, you take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them and the Lord is among them wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. So Korah, Dathan and Abiram, total disregard for God's authority here. They don't want Moses to be in charge. Even though Moses was placed there by God, Korah, Dathan and Abiram are trash. They're absolute trash. They say wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord. And this is typical of wicked people who can't stand the man of God being in charge. They can't stand that they don't have the spotlight. So Korah, Dathan and Abiram and the rest of the congregation, we see if you skip down to verse number 26, they're gathered at the door of the tabernacle and look what happens next in this story. In verse 26 the Bible reads, and he spake unto the congregation saying, depart I pray you from the tents of these wicked men and touching nothing of theirs lest ye be consumed in all their sins. So Moses is telling the righteous men to depart, to get out of this group of people who are about to be judged. Look at verse 27. So they got up from the tabernacle, the Israelites, the ones who had nothing to do with this rebellion. They got up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram on every side and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood in the door of their tents and their wives and their sons and their little children. And Moses said, here by ye shall know that the Lord had sent me to do all these works if I have not done them out of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing and the earth open her mouth and swallow up with all that appertained unto them and they go down quick into the pit, then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord. And it came to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these words that the ground clave asunder that was under them and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertained unto Korah and all their goods. So he says here that if this is of God, then the earth is going to open itself up and Korah's rebellion is staved. They go down to the pit. How's that for being abased? Right down into the pit. Why? Because the Lord was with Moses. The Lord ordained Moses. The Lord wanted to use Moses. And there might be particular situations where you're chosen by God to do some great work. You're chosen by God to be exalted. You might be chosen to get a promotion at work. You might be chosen to go preach somewhere. You might be chosen to do some amazing thing, but at the end of the day, it's God ordained. Moses was God ordained. And those who tried to rebel against that, a hole opened in the earth down into the pit, they went. And this is the consequence of trying to overthrow what God has established. There are consequences, folks, very real consequences for refusing to follow the leader. Korah's rebellion is squashed. And we see that the consequence for what they tried to do was disastrous. Go back to Judges chapter nine. The reality is this. They should have shut their mouths and followed Moses. Judges chapter nine. Go back there real quickly. I like end times. So I'm going to bring up another end times situation here. How about Gog and Magog? After the millennium, the devil is released from hell for a short period of time. And he attempts to rebel against the kingdom of Jesus Christ. But then God sends a fire from heaven and devours them and that attempted coup fails. And then of course you have the new heaven and new earth. So we're going to read about now the battle of Thebes. Look at verse number 50. Verse number 50, Judges chapter nine. The Bible reads there, then went Abimelech to Thebes and encamped against Thebes and took it. And there was a strong tower within the city and thither fled all the men and women and all they of the city and shut it to them and got them up to the top of the tower and Abimelech came onto the tower and fought against it and went hard onto the door of the tower to burn it with fire. This is exactly what he did during the first battle of Shechem. When he took those branches, he put it near the tower and he burned it and down went nearly a thousand men and women. Well, he tries to do the same thing. Let's see what happens. Look at verse number 53. And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head and all to break his skull. Let's recap for a little bit here, okay? Absalom tries to overthrow David's kingdom. He's impaled. Adonijah executed. Heba the son of Bikrai decapitated and then his decapitated head is thrown over the wall. The list goes on and on and on. We read about Korah's rebellion of men trying to exalt themselves, men trying to unrighteously pursue power and every single time it leads to their destruction. In Judges chapter 9, Abimelech who betrays his 70 brethren to leapfrog them to the throne in Israel, he's got a millstone coming for him, the millstone from the top of that tower smacks him right in the head. I hope it was the face. That would be kind of cool. He was busted open, I'm sure. I'm guessing he was bleeding everywhere. I'm sorry for the description here, but as he's wallowing in his own blood, okay, he says this, verse 54, then he called hastily unto the young man his armor bearer and said unto him, draw thy sword and slay me that men say not of me, a woman slew him and his young man thrust him through and he died. What a pathetic loser. Here we are in 2019 and guess what we're talking about? The fact that Abimelech died because a woman killed him. So this didn't really work out for him, did it? Because guess what? It's been recorded in the word of God for an eternity. So this guy slays him, his armor bearer, look at verse 55, and when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man unto his place, thus God rendered the wickedness of Abimelech which he did unto his father in slaying his 70 brethren. He gets what's coming to him. He gets the judgment of God, his pursuit of the throne to become king of Israel, leapfrogging the 70 brethren, slaying them, Jotham escaped, but through blood, trying to get that seat of authority with every fiber of his being and it ends with a millstone cast on his head. He dies because of a woman and he's a byword in the scriptures. Look at verse number 57, and all the evil of the men of Shechem that God render upon their heads and upon them came the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubel. God rendered it on their heads and we see there that the curse of Jotham manifests, this self-willed sociopath dies and it's a violent death. The millstone right to the head, justice. So what do we take out of this? Abimelech, remember at the beginning of the story, he wanted to be king so badly. He convinces the men of Shechem that he would be better qualified for the position. He betrays the 70 brethren. He gets that position, he gets the title of king. God judges him by turning the men of Shechem against him. He endures war finally in the battle of Thebes. He goes up to this tower to try and destroy it like he did in the prior battle of Shechem, but this time a woman drops a millstone on his head, hopefully his fate like I said earlier. He dies. The downward spiral of Abimelech is complete. What do we take out of this? You want to cut corners? You want to cheat your way to the top? You want to cheat your way to the top of the power structure at work, in any walk of life here at church? It's going to lead to your downfall. It's going to lead to a downward spiral. It will be the catalyst for your destruction. He dies a humiliating death. Those who would split churches because they want the title of pastor. I dealt with this in Jacksonville. Somebody who would go as far as splitting the brethren because he can't stand that he doesn't have that name pastor. Think about this. How stupid is that? It's a title. We're not in kindergarten here. And obviously it's a prestigious thing. The office of a bishop pursuing that should be viewed with reverence. There's no doubt about that. But people who are just obsessed with that name only and not what that name really means makes me sick. The name pastor, it means you feed the flock of God. It means you put other people first. It means that you devote your life not just to the word of God, not just to living for Christ, but that you devote your life to help other people. What does Pastor Shelley say? I became pastor not because I wanted to make myself this big superstar. He says I became pastor because I just want to help people understand the Bible better. You want to know what that's called? Humility. And we all, I think, need to make sure. We need to take heed that we don't let the flesh and the pride of the flesh take over our lives. So who can we look to for some positive examples? Men of God we can look up to in the Bible. I'll just list them off real quickly. How about Moses? Moses was told because he smoked the rock twice, he couldn't enter the promised land. Now at first that didn't sit particularly well with him, but he eventually accepted that. And you know what he did? He ordained Joshua to go in there. He ordained Joshua to inherit the promised land. Even though Moses did the work in the wilderness, he dealt with the whiny Israelites and all of the physical difficulties and obstacles they went through to get to the promised land. And Moses humbled himself and said, God doesn't want me there. Fine. And he ordains Joshua. Joseph is another one. He was a based in Egypt. He was sold into slavery. His brethren turned on him and what happened at the end? He was exalted to be a governor, David, Samuel, Solomon, Jesus Christ himself. The Bible says he was clothed with humility. We should strive to be like those men. We should strive to feed the flock of God. We should strive to be a positive influence on our brothers and sisters in Christ and provoke others onto love and good works. Because if we don't do that and if we start thinking about self and if we start glorifying self, look what happened to Abimelech and all these other wicked men we covered in this sermon. It'll lead to a downward spiral that will end in a way that you don't really like. Nothing wrong with setting goals, folks, but let's procure a position of authority the right way, whether it's at work, whether it's at church or anywhere else. Allow God to exalt you. Allow God to give you that position of authority and have humility, have integrity. Unlike Abimelech, submit yourself to the plan that God has for your life, whether it's something you envisioned or not. Because at the end of the day, you don't want a dark cloud over you for the rest of your life, a dark cloud that's there because you decided you wanted to rebel against what God had ordained for you to do. Let's pray. Father God, I pray that you would help us not to be like these wicked men who rebelled against your ordained authority. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to be humble, to seek positions of authority through humility and, Lord, that we would do things the right way, that we wouldn't cut corners and that we would work, we would work hard to achieve our goals rather than attempt to unrighteously achieve them by lying and cheating our way to the top. We thank you for your word, which gives us both positive and negative examples for us to learn from and apply to our lives. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.