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All right, we were kind of into the part of First Chronicles where it's starting to just give us some information about the twelve tribes and Of course Judah has been real heavy of a presence it's we've kind of got to see a lot about Judah and really it's because Judah dominates the the twelve tribes to the point where there's just a lot of great men that were of the of the tribes of Judah and so last Last time we're here Most of the whole chapter was about Judah and some of the mighty men of Judah like her and all those guys and Caleb So guys that just weren't necessarily in the line of data They were related to David in some ways But they're just kind of the branch offs that were still great men of God And then he had Simeon some of the Simeonites. So we covered Judah Simeon now we're going to talk about Ruben Gad and Manasseh, so let's just get right into it in verse number one. So this is the sons of Ruben and Verse number one says now the sons of Ruben the firstborn of Israel For he was the firstborn before as much as he defiled his father's bed his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph the sons of Israel and Or excuse me the son of Israel and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright so It's explained to us here that even though Ruben was the firstborn That he is not the one that was the chief of the children of Israel because of the fact that he committed a great sin against his dad and he defiled his father's bed He slept with his stepmother basically Which is wicked and even though it's not his blood relation It's still the Bible in in the law of God pronounces the death penalty for someone that would do something like that and even before the law was was there it was still a wicked sin, so it's something that you know was just disgusting and And when it happens in Genesis it says and Jacob heard of it. So Jacob knew that he did this and He addresses him in the prophecy and we'll go to that at the very end of the sermon here, but and so really Joseph Who is not? The first second or third born he's way down the list, but he's the best of all the sons in reality I mean all the rest of his the sons You know tried to You know they were gonna kill Joseph they threw him in a pit But then they decided not to kill him Judah was gonna sell him and Reuben didn't want to throw Reuben didn't want to kill him. He did speak up for him, but Ultimately they sold him into slavery and he was the best of course he pictures the Lord Jesus Christ in many different ways and So the genealogy is not reckoned after the birthright, so what does that tell you though that the birthright? normally the birthright of The the favored position in the family is given to the firstborn son in the family. That's the basic rule of God's you know of People that are born into God's family like this so anybody that has a family This is this is still I think that this still holds some weight in our in our world today But there's also the picture of what it represents So you know and you're not going to see a lot of people giving Two parts more to the to the firstborn son most of the time people are giving equal inheritance is to all their children and doesn't matter whether they're male or female or whatever but In this case though it should have gone to the second born, but that's not how Jacob decided to do it so But normally it does go by the order of the birth and that firstborn son gets two parts more he gets a double portion and More than the other sons that are born to him so And this just goes to show that one mistake can change the course of your life and your family line forever You can make a really big mistake and it can affect the rest of your life And in fact it didn't just affect the rest of his life But it affected the rest of his family's life because where he ends up is lost to the annals of time He's the first one that's captured and taken out of the land out of all the children of Israel It's Reuben that gets taken out. He's the one that gets captured first He's the one that gets removed out of the land and it's because of what you know it ultimately is because he you know He didn't get that first place spot So one person's sin can have a lifelong or generational long Effect on what happens so we should be aware that the sins that you know people say well It's just that one sin. I did that it only affects me. That's just not true Sin affects all those people that are around you and can have Major effects on you your immediate family. Do you think that this had a major effect on his immediate family of course it did I mean their family was pretty dysfunctional without this happening, but even this is just a stain on their family It's it's horrible So and then one major mistake can also change the course of your life in this world whether you're a Christian or not Because you can make a mistake when you're not a Christian But that mistake that you make can follow you into your Christian life and just because you become a Christian That doesn't mean it wipes that away. It doesn't just magically change all your circumstances because you became a Christian Because the mistakes that we make in our life Those can have a lifelong effect on our lives in this world And so it's very important that we make good decisions and whether someone's saved or not you know if you Sleep around you could get a disease That you can never be cured and whether you become a Christian or not that doesn't Change the fact whether you have AIDS or not You're still gonna die of AIDS You're still gonna have Some kind of venereal disease that you can never get rid of and how are you gonna explain that to your Christian spouse? You know what I mean, and so like these types of things are You know these again, and it's like I'm not saying that you should be judged for these things by other Christians I'm saying that the decisions that we make can have an effect on our life going forward and You know whatever problems you have when you get saved again They don't just you know your sins are washed away. They're wiped clean Yes, that's true But it doesn't mean that the ramifications of things you've done in the past don't follow you into your salvation because they do so those And but that doesn't mean also that God doesn't love you God of course God loves you but he just you know we reap what we sow that's what the Bible teaches and Whatsoever we sow that shall we also reap is what the Bible teaches so and That doesn't mean that God can't bless you You know you might have gotten saved, and you already have some baggage that you carry into your Christian life But God can still bless you God's God can still you know he can forgive you of course he does when you're saved and he can bless you in your in your new Christian life and Maybe you're not you don't have the perfect will of God because maybe you didn't get saved at the time you should or maybe you didn't make decisions that you could have the like just for instance if you you know you desire to be a pastor in Your Christian life, and you're like well that happened when I wasn't saved But it doesn't stop the qualifications of the pastor from you know that you don't have them now because maybe you were divorced remarried Or maybe you didn't have you know you only have one child instead of children or whatever it is There are some things that you just you know and that doesn't mean that you're you can't be used of God of course you Can be used of God, but it just means that there's certain things that you just can't do so Maybe you're not in the perfect will of God, but you're still in the will of God There's always a plan B as has been taught in other sermons before We you know there's that perfect will of God and you know not everybody's in the perfect will of God There's very few that are probably actually in the perfect perfect. You know nobody's in the perfect perfect perfect will of God But we should try our best to be as close as we can into the will of God that we possibly can be With the life that we have and whatever has followed us into our Christian life We just have to you know make peace with the fact that we can't change those things You know that's why Paul. You know Paul did things horrible things before he was saved But did that stop him from evangelizing the whole world didn't stop him They didn't stop him at all and he said not to look back on those things But to look forward on the things that we're gonna do in the future right so so God is not a respecter of persons though and Apparently neither was Jacob Jacob's like you know what you're my firstborn, but you're done You're not going to be the leader of the family and really what this what this birthright is is that you basically Take over as the leader of the family when the dad that can no longer do it or he dies And you also inherit the double portion of the blessings, okay? so And that's like what you see with Jacob. He took those things from Esau That's why Esau was so angry and wanted to kill him because Jacob beguiled him and deceived him out of those things But Jacob wanted him. That's why he's hanging on to his heel. He's like. I want to be born first You know he's just like got it got a hold of his heel when he's born And it's like that just shows just the will of Jacob was he wanted to be the first He wanted to be first so bad that he's even hanging on to his brother's heel and his brother didn't care about those things And so ultimately God saw what Jacob really wanted even though he went a bad way to go get those things But ultimately he did want those things and Esau didn't he didn't even care he traded his his he traded for a bowl of soup and You know he was tricked You know into you know going for a hunt and then Jacob went and you know his mom prepared the the goat The way that Esau would have prepared it Jacob put the hairy the hair on his arms and went in and tricked his dad or whatever so that he got the blessing the birthright so Turn to 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 17 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 17 So we have to understand that no matter who we are No matter what our station in life is that God doesn't just say hey that person's a pastor So I'm not going to come down as hard as on him as I am on everybody else That's not how God is God doesn't look at the President of the United States and say You know he's the president, so I'm not going to judge his sin like I would other people We might look at things and say things like that or think things like that But that's not how God looks at things look at what the Bible says in 1st Peter 1 17 it says and if you call on the Father who without respect of persons Judge it according to every man's work past the time of your sojourning here in fear So what fear of what fear of the Lord? so When our works are good we have nothing to be concerned about but when our works are evil When our you know when we have guile and the things that we do when we're Lying and stealing and screwing people over out of things and and just doing things that are ungodly God Does not respect who you are he doesn't respect whether you're a Christian whether you're doing more soul winning than everybody else He's bad that stuff has nothing to do with the fact that he's going to come down on you for what you did He doesn't care who what your name is what your last name is I mean didn't he come after David? Just like he comes after everybody else David's a man after his own heart, and then God just shows you know some and sometimes He might even hold leaders even more responsible Because they have such a vast responsibility and when the leader does something wrong Then it puts a stain on the name of Christ it puts a stain, and that's why he said what you've done Cause you know will cause the name of God to be blasphemed among the heathens So now turn to Galatians chapter 6 verse 7 Galatians chapter 6 verse 7 So what Reuben did by defiling his father's bed he went up to his couch the Bible says Was not something you know it doesn't matter what his name is what his standing was as the firstborn son seeing a lot of families will overlook what a male does in the family because he's the he's a male and And they'll they'll overlook what you know they won't overlook what other people do or they'll have favorites that they choose God might have favorites based on certain reasons But he's not gonna not judge what they do do you understand what I'm saying, so You know like I'm sure Paul was one of his favorites, but then Paul also received some of the worst beatdowns in Bible history I mean he had a pretty long list of things that were done to him would you like to be in those shoes But God loved him and when he was going through hard times He said I'm not gonna let anybody sit on me to hurt thee Paul And he would come up and you know I just kind of picture that as him Just kind of giving him the side hug or whatever like I got you Paul You know, but you're gonna be in a shipwreck tomorrow. I just want to let you know that you know Well, I'm not gonna let you die, but did you die though? But Galatians 6 7 says be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a man so if that shall he also reap And it says for he that soweth to his flesh I'll reap of the flesh corruption, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life Everlasting and let us not be weary in well doing so what should we be doing well doing doing things well? Doing good deeds Doing good works helping people. That's what Christians should be doing it says, but he that soweth to the Spirit shall excuse me And let us not be weary of well-doing for in due season We shall reap if we faint not see some people think well. I'm not getting what I got coming I feel like I've been reaping a lot of good things and all I've been Doing is getting judged or I've been you know getting punished Or I don't feel like I'm getting the blessings that I'm supposed to be getting for the well-doing But notice what it says it says in due season So does it does it mean that God's just gonna bless you instantly for everything that you do right? No, it says in due season. We shall reap and then it says if we faint not See a lot of people they think well. I'm just not getting what I'm supposed to begin, so I'm just gonna quit That's isn't fainting quitting. Oh, I just couldn't do this anymore You know I just don't feel like I was getting what I should have been getting That's not that shouldn't be your motivation number one But number two you have to wait for the blessing think about Joseph look at how righteous his acts were I mean why did he get picked I? Mean his brothers even his own parents were like kind of throwing shade on him Jacob was even kind of mad that he's having these Dreams he's like your mom and dad are gonna bow down and worship you to Jake or Joseph He's having these dreams that everybody's gonna bow down and worship him Which is a dream that later on he is gonna be bowed down to worship by all of them because he's gonna be the second in charge basically not worshiped as in like a god, but You have to do obeisance to the king basically and that's kind of what he became So, but what made Joseph so great well He just when it came time where he would commit adultery with Potiphar's wife. What did he do he ran the other way? He dropped everything and said see ya wouldn't want to be a And then got thrown in jail for his troubles I mean he went and and reproved his brethren and they tried to kill him They tried to you know then they sold him and then you know all these that he's thrown in prison for years He even he even interprets dreams of Unsaved guys and says hey remember me when it comes to talking to Pharaoh, and they forgot about him I mean, thanks a lot, buddy Thanks for remembering me and but later he remembered him I think Joseph was in prison for like five years Where's he when's he getting his When's he gonna get what he's been sowing? Well, he did get what he was sowing didn't he he got everything and a lot lot more He was blessed beyond all measure and became really The head of the family at that point and his sons were blessed above the other children of Israel So when we faint not we will reap So don't get don't get don't faint don't quit and God's gonna bless you For the good deeds and the good acts that you do so Look at verse 10 it says and as we have therefore opportunity let us do good unto all men Especially unto them who are of the household of faith It's good to help people that you know you have no reason to really help them Other than the fact that you just want to do something nice for somebody But then it says to especially do stuff for the people of the household of faith other Christians other Christians in need and The Bible says in Romans 12 21. I won't have you turn there It says be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good This is the way the Christian thrives in this world You know people want to do evil to us and they they say all manner of evil to us And it's real easy to shoot back on them and say things back and sometimes we do Sometimes we get in the flesh and we say things we shouldn't but the best way to overcome evil is to do good to them and That is hard to do though It really is because our flesh doesn't want to do that our flesh wants to fight our flesh wants to say something back our flesh Wants to physically fight you know and and but that's not how God said to overcome evil He said to do that with doing good Reaping and we're gonna reap good things for doing that now What does the right of the firstborn son picture for us though in a spiritual manner? What is the purpose of this right of the firstborn well? The Lord Jesus Christ is the firstborn and only begotten son of God so he inherits Everything from his father, and we as brethren get to inherit with him as adopted sons and daughters So we're like you know he gets like the double portion or whatever because he basically made everything Spoke everything into existence. He's the Lord of all heaven and earth and He's like hey I want them to be my brethren We get to get in on that because why because he wanted us to because we're his brothers and sisters Turn to Colossians chapter 1 so the picture though is that The firstborn in Reality should be like Jesus Christ, but that's not always the case right, but Jesus is the picture Jesus is the he is what the picture represents is the Lord Jesus Christ He deserves the double portion he deserves all the inheritance. He's he does he does and has done everything bigger better and and and more perfect than anybody else ever has and So he does deserve that title Of the firstborn so and he is the firstborn of all creators So look at what Colossians chapter 1 verse 15 says it says who is the image of the invisible God? Talking about Jesus the firstborn of every creature For by him of course who was it that said was talking about the creature was it you or was it Jack? You yeah, it's not a creature as in like it's the human creature right okay, but firstborn of Every creature for by him for all things created that are in heaven that are in earth visible and invisible Whether they be of throne be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him That's why he's the firstborn of every creature because he is the one that created all these things and he is Lord of all these things and He is before all things So why would you be the firstborn because he's before all things That's why and by him all things consist Molecules atoms all the different things that exist in this world everything consists because of him and exists because of him and for him All things are created by him and for him so it says and he is the head of the body the church Who is the beginning and the firstborn from the dead? Why is he the firstborn from the dead because he's the first one with a glorified body And he's the only one with a glorified body even to this date right now That in all things he might have the preeminence. What does that mean that means that he has the first place? He's before everything so he's the firstborn turn to Romans chapter 8 verse 29 Romans chapter 8 verse 29 So why does God have this rule of the firstborn Well because it pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why But if they don't stand up if they don't if they're not up to the standard then they're cast aside aren't they? Just like the law was cast aside Because it wasn't it wasn't able to save people it was put in place for a time Until the actual firstborn came and made everything perfect so look at Romans 8 29 It says for whom he did for know he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son That he might be the firstborn Among many brethren, so we're all brethren, but he's the firstborn of those many brethren Hebrews chapter 1 Hebrews chapter 1 The Bible is very consistent in teaching this and it's and it's all taught Pretty much in the first in the in the New Testament for us to see But it is a doctrine that's that's important and you know people because people might think well Why is the firstborn son get everything because it pictures Christ? That's why because it's you know because Christ is the preeminent one so Look at Hebrews 1 verse 1 it says God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake and time passed unto the fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his son whom he hath appointed heir of all things By whom also he made the world so God appointed him what heir of all things So he's the firstborn He's the heir who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and Upholding all things by the power of his word when he had by himself Purged our sins sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high Being made so much better than the angels as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they For unto which of the angels said he had any time thou art my son this day have I begotten thee and Again, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son and again when he bringeth in The what to say their first begotten Into the world he saith and let all the angels of the of God worship him So he's called the first begotten here in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 6 And it says and of the angels he saith who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of fire But unto the son he saith thy throne Oh, God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom so There's God the Father calling the Son of God God So he's not just he wasn't born in the sense that we are born Jesus Christ has always existed He is the eternal Son of God this is what we believe at this church because if he's at the beginning with God, and he is God then they're there They've always been it's not like they were created or Came into existence at some time They always have been wrap your mind around that one. I mean it's it's kind of difficult It's like and it's like well. I have to understand these things why? Why do you have to understand these things? You know a lot of people wonder these questions, and they and they ask questions to which you know and our mind Wonders about these types of things, but why do we have to wonder about them? Why don't you just believe what God says and just leave it at that? You'll be able to ask him someday You know but if if you don't if you never get saved You're never gonna be able to ask him because you're gonna go and die and go to hell Then you'll you'll never know the answer Talk about torture especially the people that like to ask a lot of questions anyway Hebrews chapter 12 verse 23 Hebrews chapter 12 verse 23 the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 23 is 12 23 it says to the General Assembly the church of the Firstborn which are written in heaven So what's the General Assembly the church in heaven going to be called the church of the firstborn who's that? It's the Lord Jesus Christ isn't it which are written in heaven and to God the judge of all and To the spirits of just men made perfect one more on this Revelation chapter 1 Revelation chapter 1 just a probably a few pages over in your Bible Revelation chapter 1 verse number 5 the Bible says and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood and Hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever amen so What's really cool is that even though we're not the older brother? We're still brothers. We're still sisters and He what he likes to share. This is an older brother that doesn't like to just beat up his brothers and sisters This is an old a good older brother that likes to share his toys He likes to share the things he has he likes to share the inheritance He's not a selfish older brother. He's not a mean older brother so older brothers you better be nice to your brothers and sisters because God you know that's how Jesus is he loves his brothers and sisters, and he treats us good I Guess every once in a while. He smacks them around when they deserve it, but that's another sermon from the time right but Jesus Christ is the first place in everything and in every aspect He truly is the one that's done everything like I said bigger better and first so Now let's look at verse 2 in our chapter. Don't get alarmed. We're gonna get through it all Next hour and a half or so and I was kidding all right first first Chronicles 5 to For Judah prevailed above his brethren so Joseph even though he's the one reckoned by the birthright Judah is the one that actually prevails above his brethren the Bible says and of him came the chief ruler But the birthright was Joseph's so God doesn't care about the birthright when it comes to these things because the birthright got thrown out because of what Reuben did and You know Joseph seemed to be the one that it should have gone and like any of us like I've talked about this before But any of us would have picked Joseph, right? But God picked Judah why? We don't really know the answer to that question But there's a reason why and I mean I guess if you look at the genealogies of all the great things that the children of Judah did and then you look at the Genealogies and the things that Joseph's family did who did who did greater? Who was greater what what great things came out of Manasseh and Ephraim, I mean there were some great men But I mean Manasseh is a blurb in here. There's not much about them. That's very great is there and Ephraim are a bunch of drunkards let them alone is what the Bible ends up saying about them And they just kind of get washed off into history, too but Judah stood for a long time and of course Judah will prevail forever because Jesus Christ is of The tribe of Judah That's why he's prevailed above his brethren it says and of him came the chief ruler and but the birth right was Joseph's and verse 3 says the sons I say of Reuben the firstborn of Israel were Hanuk and Palu Hezron and Carmi and the sons of Joel Shemaiah the son his son Gog his son Shimei his son. I mean he's not really picking very good names either here Gog is like what the end times destroyer and Well the very very end not not the ones that the Baptists are always preaching about nowadays, but in the very very end Shimei, you know he's that's not a very great name in the Bible, but anyway Micah his son Reaiah his son Baal his son Now Baal means Lord, but Baal worship was the worship of a different God of course and Baal is a Representative of the devil But just because something is named Baal in the Bible that doesn't mean that it necessarily He's caught like he didn't name his son the devil or something necessarily, okay? but That's what it means is Lord so anyway Bearer his son Whom tilgath police police nerd police or excuse me king of Assyria carried away Captive he was the prince of the Reubenites Sounds like he wasn't a very good one though I mean a prince means the rule. He's like the ruler. He's the head of the whole family, and he is taken away By the king of Assyria tilgath police police nerd pill Nieser excuse me And he's taken away captive so And it says in his brethren by their families when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned were the chief Gile and Zechariah and Bella the son of Azaz the son of Shema the son of Joel who dwelt in a warrior Even unto Nebo and Baal-Meon now I have a map here that kind of shows where they lived, but you're probably not gonna see it from here But you can come up and look at it afterwards, but here's the Dead Sea I'll just put it up here like a teacher would I guess but I need a whiteboard I didn't have time to draw it up here, but here's the Dead Sea This is where this is where Ruben would have lived right here And this is where Gad lived I think I've shown this before but this goes up to the Sea of Galilee and Gad Kind of had this little sliver that kind of hit the very corner here This is where the maniac of Gadara was and then right here is Manasseh so Manasseh and then so and and then this is the Jordan River goes from The Sea of Chinnereth, which is what it was called in the Old Testament But Sea of Galilee goes all the way down here and goes into the Dead Sea Which is where Sodom and Gomorrah was down in here And that's why it's dead now because when God smoked it when the sodomites were there Nothing can grow in that little area down there anymore. It used to be like the land of Egypt Used to be very plush and luxurious that's why Lot chose it but The reason why all the and all the other tribes lived on this side of Jordan so when they say this side of Jordan This is what they're always talking about this side of Jordan so the the the tribes were talking about here tonight these three tribes are on the other side of Jordan and they all went together in this little pact and that and and so it seems like They're kind of you know They're not reckoning them in order in these last chapters that we're going to go through that explains the twelve tribes It went to Judah and Simeon and Simeon's land is in the middle of where Judah is Judah is this big huge area right here and Simeon's land is in the middle and they're kind of tied together if you remember last the last sermon They're tied together a lot with the children of Judah Which Benjamin is also right here a little small spa, but they're also Tied with Judah a lot, but anyway just want to kind of explain that to you because if you remember when in the Bible were they come in and Moses is still leading them at this point and Aug of Bashan comes out against them Bashan is that area where I just showed you on the other side the east side of Jordan That's where Aug of Bashan and the giants of the land were where he had the giant bed and all that kind of stuff So when Moses and the children of Israel destroyed that King when they were done, that's where Manasseh and Gad and Reuben Wanted that land because they wanted it for what their cattle right and they they wanted to build that place up Moses gets angry, and he's like should your brethren go to war Without you know and you're not going to go help them or whatever and then they agreed to help them To take the promised land and then they would come back to that land when everything was all said and done, which they did They did do that and then they built an altar After all that warring was done And then all the children of Israel came to destroy them and kill all the people in those tribes Because they thought that they rebelled against the Lord does anybody remember this story, okay? so but really they were building that altar as a witness that they were going to serve the Lord and Continue to serve the Lord and that was a witness against them or you know as Evidence that they were going to continue to serve the Lord, but who's the first people that? Got smoked out of the land. It's these three tribes So I just find it very interesting that they're tied together in this chapter They're also tied together in the fact that they all got taken out together They got tied together because they all wanted the same area and property They all bound themselves together their neighbors together They they came in the land together They took the same land together, and then they all got taken out together, and they got taken out early So all the things that they said they were gonna do they didn't end up doing And I really don't think that that was God's plan for them to be in that area That's Ogg's land, and I don't you know the pro. I don't necessarily think that the promised land was that area So they wanted something that wasn't really in the perfect will of God is what I'm trying to tell you Now Moses allowed them to have it God allowed them to have it But just because God allows us to have something it doesn't mean that we should always choose to have those things You know a lot was allowed to go to Sodom but it doesn't mean that God was no necessarily okay with that and Then one end up happening it ruined his life Ruined his family so Just because you know God does give us a lot of choices and a lot of grace and a lot of areas You know sometimes it's like and it's like sometimes people come to me for advice and say hey What do you think I should do on this situation? I'm like well You know and I get I give the best biblical advice I can But I also try to give warnings to people about certain play. You know about moving to a place with no church No good church. I Always think that's a mistake and you know why because my track record of Is always right about it Because I know what happens when you move out to Bay Shan, and there's no good church there Eventually it might not happen right away. It didn't happen right away with these guys, but eventually You know you're gonna get taken with the people of the land and you know who their neighbors were Ammon and Moab and The Midianites to the south on so on the other side You know you had the the eat there on the east side and then to the east of them is all these heathen nations That try to destroy the children of Israel when they came to the land the Midianites. You know Balaam was was you know secured to try to Curse the children of Israel, and then he wasn't allowed to because he could only do what God what God allowed him to do But they even smoked the Midianites God Told him to destroy the Midianites because they did that and Then they saved all the women alive and God's like what are you doing? I mean Moses like what are you doing? Why are you saving them like the women and the children? And you're like that's terrible. Well. You know what they're pricks in their eyes They're they're a thorn in their side That's what he said if you let them live and survive on they're going to destroy you That's why he said to kill them all because they're that evil and that wicked look at verse 9 The Bible says an eastward he inhabited into the entering of the wilderness from the river Euphrates Because their cattle were multiplied so this is Reuben. It's talking about The river Euphrates I mean are there any people that are like map people in here Anybody like you kind of have a mental visual picture of where Israel is and where? Iraq is It's a big vast desert and a lot of wasteland there in between It's it's the equivalent of probably driving an hour south from here to Sacramento probably an extra hour. That's how much Room they they covered after that so I showed you just that little bubble But Because their cattle were so multiplied they stretched forth all the way to the river Euphrates Which is a huge amount of land it doesn't say how far north and how far south But I would imagine they stayed away from Iraq Because that's Babylon at that time But they did go all the way up there, and you know that's a lot of that's a lot of area to travel But it says and in the days of Saul so talking about King Saul They made war with the Hagarites Now who are the Hagarites well Abraham's wife was named Hagar right his concubine and You know Ishmael was his son. I don't know why they're called Hagarites. Maybe they took on mama's name or something I'm not exactly sure why but I'm guessing that this is you know they're related to him in some way shape or form, but that's probably the area in which they settled because when when Ishmael left You know the people will say and I'm sure this is probably true that all the you know those Bedouin tribes and all those tribes That are in Saudi Arabia and stuff are related to Ishmael because he went to the east he went out to the wilderness and You know these Hagarites here are Fighting with the Rubenites here, and so this is in the days of Saul, so we're fast-forwarding in time some but It says who fell by their hand and they dwelt in their tents throughout all the east land of Gilead I mean that's a vast amount of land that they occupied But you know what if you have that much land And you can't really you don't have the numbers to to keep it you're gonna find yourself in a lot of trouble So but I mean think about this Their great claim to fame is this they had lots of cows They had a lot of cattle and maybe they didn't have cows Maybe they had sheep they just called anything that had herds was it was cattle, right? They had donkeys and camels and asses and all these other you know whatever They had sheep and goats and whatever so But they had to stretch it out because they became these Cattle barons of some sort right it's like they just like we want to be in Texas now You know they just kind of stretched it out to the to the Afrades River and so they're fighting with these Hagarites and Their great big claim to fame is that They strip you know they they had the biggest cattle The biggest amount of cattle out of the children of Israel or something But you know you think about the bulls of Beit She'an that's talked about as a bad thing in the scriptures But You know Ruben's excellence is that You know they expanded a cattle empire. What would he do like? That's that's the the big thing that Ruben did that's why Jacob said Unstable is what you're unstable as water, and you're not going to excel It's like well. What did you do Ruben we had lots of cows amen? Tons of cows we had lots of we had lots of goats and sheep I mean that's not exactly the most spiritual thing to be known for is it now Let's go on to the sons of Gad, and I preached the whole sermon when I was in Yakima about them, so I'm not going to cover too much if you want to Listen to that sermon you can go over to the to the Yakima channel listen to it I've kind of preached a lot about Gad, so I'm not going to really go into it too deep here, but It says and the children of Gad dwelt over against verse 11 over against them so that means next door to them They're the next tribe up and in the land of Beit She'an unto Salcha Joel the chief and Shaphan the next and Janaya and Shaphan and Beit She'an and their brethren of the house of their fathers was Michael Meshelem and Sheba and Joriah and Jacob and Ziah and Heber Seven these are the children of Abba Hale the son of Hyuri the son of Joriah or Jor Jorah the son of Gilead the son of Michael the son of Jeshishiah the son of Jadah the son of Buz and Ahi the son of Abdiel the son of Guni chief of the house of their fathers there's some good boy names if you're looking for those and Says and they dwelt in Gilead and Beit She'an and in their towns and in the suburbs of Sharon Upon their borders all these were reckoned by Genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel So one thing you might notice is that a lot of these genealogies they go up They go up pretty close to the time of Christ now these ones they don't why is that well because they got captured and Taken into Assyria before Judah got captured So why did these genealogies get reckoned what you know at these certain times well Because it wasn't too long after this that they were all taken away into the land of Assyria So why in the time of Jotham was their last genealogy reckon because it wasn't too long after that Before they got taken away These three tribes got taken away before the rest of the ten tribes got taken away. These were first Well, how does that make sense? Well? Assyria is off in the distance you know if they're on this side of Jordan, then you got Ammon, Moab and Midian down here, then you got Assyria up here So it makes sense that they're gonna hit this part first before they get on the other side of Jordan and take them out But that's what ended up happening They took the first three tribes out And then they got the rest of them out in a matter of like 30 or 40 years probably or something like that So there's three or four different kings that started this exodus of different of replacement theology Basically where you have the Assyrians replacing the ten tribes, right? So yeah, it's a different kind. It's a you know they were replaced before Jesus replaced them, right? God allowed them to be replaced and now people were like oh, yeah the ten lost tribes They're these African looking people in And it's like how do you know like it's so funny how they say this kind of stuff is just like And the black keeper Israelites, I think are the ones the main portrayers of this, but maybe it is Israelites doing this now, but like in India They'll say this is you know Ruben or Asher or whatever It's like they have no way of knowing that all that stuff disappeared into the annals of time there is no genealogy to look at It doesn't exist. They don't have the bones of Any of these guys to test their DNA and for you to test it nowadays. You can't link it back all right, so They're lost to the ten tribes do not exist today You know only God knows who those people are that are related to the ten tribes, and they're probably so mixed together That you would you know? They're probably like one percenters or something so So Jotham though he was a good king for the most part I don't think he was necessarily perfect like his father David, but he is the son of Uzziah Uzziah is the one that wanted to be the priest at the same time and then God made him a leper After he became a leper his son Jotham became the king and then his son was Ahaz so that's about the timetable if you're like thinking about I don't know if you have a Grasp on the timetable of the Kings either, but we're talking second chronicles chapter 26 27 second Kings chapter 15 so deep into the deep into the game there, so and So Jotham he reigns 16 years Ahaz 16 years Hezekiah 29 years the last of the ten tribes were taken away During Hezekiah's time so from Jotham to Hezekiah That's when all this stuff happened so 712 you know there's a lot of date like if you just look up the dates of when they were taken away You're gonna find a whole bunch of different dates. You're gonna find 720 BC. You're gonna find 721 You're gonna say I mean you're gonna find a bunch of dates So I don't think that they nest they might have ballpark dates, but they don't have a hundred percent dates all right so But Hezekiah you know supposedly 740 BC and then Jotham 721 BC or something like that anyway though I don't know those dates aren't rock-solid, so let's go back to our text though first Chronicles 15 or 518 says the sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh of Valiant men so now it's going to a story It's it's referring us back to the story with Saul in the days of Saul It says the sons of Reuben and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh of valiant men men able to bear buckler and sword and to shoot with the bow and skillful in war were four and 40,700 and threescore that went out to the war that's 44,760 people and if you want me to translate it from the King James ease there, so Yeah So a buckler what is a buckler well a buckler is similar to a shield, but it's more like a smaller shield So if you want to get into close quarter combat Fight okay you have the big giant shields Where you're gonna hide behind those things to stop arrows from hitting you and then you have the closed quarter bucklers Which are smaller fitting around your forearm where you can block with shields and and fight with swords, right? That's what a buckler is and so these guys are skilled warriors and 44,760 quite a bit of guys and they're fighting with who the Hagar rights, but it says in verse 19 and they made war with the Hagar rights and Jettour and net fish and no dab so not only the Hagar rights is is it the Hagar rights, but there's also a few other Tribes there that are fighting against them so again probably referring back to verse 10 where it talks about the days of Saul and Verse 20 says and they were helped so they're all banned together So here's another time when all three tribes are banned together. You know they they get the same land together. They they're bound together They're what happens to them in life and in their history and in their nationality all happens together They fight together this war and here's a good moment for them this is something that they do and it might seem like well war is bad it is but God is helping them in this war for a specific reason look what it says in verse 20 it says and they were helped against them and the Hagar rights were delivered into their hand and all that were with them for they cried to God in the battle and He was entreated of them because they put their trust in him So what does it sound like to you if they put their trust in God? What does that mean to you? They're saved aren't they? They're saved they put their trust in God They're saved if you trust in Christ you're saved if you believe in Christ you're saved But it says they cried to God in battle and you know these are the times when God really You know a lot of times we'll pray and maybe it's not our most passionate time of prayer But you know what when you're crying out to God It's a different kind of prayer when you're really needing help Or you're afraid or you you know you're just like that's the first thing you think about is God And it's like and God's God springs into action for those things You know when he when you when you need him God's gonna be there for you, and it says He Wasn't treated of them they cried out. It's not like they were crying Oh, please God knows another like God help us God give us the power to fight He's just like okay. Let's do this, and he helps them because they put their trust in him So they go out to battle together, and you know us as we as Christians We need to learn to go out to battle together also and our battle is not a physical battle like this was but our battle is a spiritual battle and but we need to be together also and So it's a good lesson for us that when we go out we pray before we go out Hey, I have some passion in that prayer before you go out because you know God is what we want God to be and treated of us when we go out to battle because we trust in him Verse 21 says and they took away their cattle and their camels 50,000 and of sheep 250,000 and of asses 2,000 and of men and hundred thousand I mean so with the 44,000 they had they just took those captives a hundred thousand So I mean this this fight here is a battle that they got a lot of spoil. I mean 250,000 sheep that's that's a some that's some sweet moolah there and 50,000 camels or notes 50 it was a 50,000 50,000 camels and 2,000 asses and a hundred thousand men that they took captive And says for there fell down many slain, so that's not including all the people they killed Because the war was of God Now God isn't just someone that just loves war and he you know World War two is probably not something that was pleasing to God But sometimes their war God is approving of war He is Because it says the war was of God here right and you're like thinking What was it? What was the purpose of it? Well? It doesn't really say what it was it just tells us what the spoils were it tells us why he was intrigued of him and That he gave them the victory, but why was the war of God? Well? We don't really know why But maybe it was some kind of beneficial reason for them Maybe it was to keep them alive for a little longer Maybe they're these people were gonna You know destroy you know do something really wicked, and we don't really know the reason why but God The war was of God is what the Bible says and they dwelt in their steads until the captivity So they took God helped him take all that land Until Assyria came and destroyed them and you know for those that you know would get mad about that the Bible says the Lord is a man of war the Lord is his name, so How many battles has God won for his people in the Bible? I mean any time he said hey I mean there when when Hezekiah had to fight the Assyrians see the Assyrians took out all the other ten tribes But when it came time to fight Hezekiah Hezekiah took his prayer to the Lord he took the letters that they're threatening and mocking God to and he took those and spread them out before the Lord and They They prayed they fasted and then he said God's like you don't even have to go out to fight Just stand with your battle in array and see what happens and God killed the whole host of the Assyrian army And that's when the lepers go out And they get all the spoil whatever Because God's not gonna. Just let his name be mocked like that so number three The sons of the half-tribe of Manasseh Says the children verse 23 and the children of the half-tribe of Manasseh dwell in the land They increased from Bashan and Baal Herman and Senith or Senir excuse me and unto Mount Herman So they're up above where Gad was and there were the heads of the house of their fathers even Ephra and Eshai Eliel as Ezreal and Jeremiah and Hodoviah and Jadiel mighty men of Valor famous men and heads of the house of their fathers But just because you're that doesn't mean that you're a mighty man of God or you're famous because of God blessing you because it says and they transgressed against the God of their fathers and Or maybe they just got lifted up a pride that God did bless them with all those things But it says and they transgressed against the God of their fathers and went a whoring After the gods of the people of the land whom God destroyed before them It's just really strange to me that people will see God destroy all these other false gods And then they're like now I want to worship that God. I mean this happens multiple times in the Bible So understand it just really strange to me, but this is what happens even kings of Israel did this But they went a whoring after these gods and you know they're mighty men of valor Famous men heads of the house of their fathers but Apparently lifted up a pride Transgressed against their God says in the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of pool king of Assyria and the spirit of tilgath-palesner king of Assyria and He carried them away even the Rubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh and Brought them under halah and habor and Hera and to the river Gozen unto this day So I mean they had their their heyday But eventually because of the thing you know their transgressions and you know being part of that northern tribe Where you know they have the the idols and Dan the idols in Bethel They're worshiping they have the work the the lowest People being the priests of the of the so-called Lord they're not really worshiping God and they have a wicked King that's rolling over them most of the time when they're in Israel and God just gets sick of it and God gets tired of These phonies there were there were obviously people saved God sent prophets to these people I mean some of the greatest prophets in the whole Bible preached in these areas Some of the greatest prophets that preached were from these tribes Some of the greatest judges that judged Israel were from these tribes but eventually They just washed out and even these mighty men of God I mean had they used their might and their fame for God then they surely wouldn't have been taken out but they're the first that are taken out and How did it all start choosing the wrong spot? Oh this looks good for cattle, and then what's their claim to fame? Oh, we we had lots of cattle We fought in a war we got lots of cattle Big deal there's lots of cattle in Texas too, but you think I want to move there No offense Texans, but If it feels like this every day It does rain here though, I'll give you that but it's also not 115 degrees with full humidity right now, so I'll take 99 So some things out of this chapter will be done here Where you choose to live does matter and you can say well, you know, I don't know it seemed like it was a good place well The land of all was not the promised land that God intended for the tribes to live in When they when they did that the people freaked out, they're like, what are you doing? What are you talking about? You can't just you can't just stop here. The promised land was across the river Jordan It was it was on this side of Jordan. That's what the Bible that's where they were supposed to go They weren't supposed to go to OGG in the land of Bay Shan. They just liked what the land looked like They wanted to be homesteaders. Oh We can hope I've already said this before we can homestead for the rest of eternity folks Homesteading. Yeah, it's cool. Whatever you want to do it now. You want to have some chickens? Well, I don't think anybody's stopping you in this town from doing that Get your chickens get your whatever brand you want the ones that lay the smallest egg The ones that lays the biggest ones whatever your Rhode Island What are the I don't know anybody know a lot about chickens in here I don't But They breed them toward There'll be all these cool these cool aspects of the eggs. Whatever. I don't know. I just like to eat them They're good Eggs are good. Salt is good. Bread is good but I'm just saying We have eternity to do these things, but they wanted to homestead right then They wanted to be away from the rest of the group and because of that They're the first ones out and You know the when we just start thinking that well, I'd rather just live my best life now here on this earth Look, we're just passing through we're so journeying like Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Jacob and These guys were supposed to be so journeying in this world with fear as Christians Yes, America is the nation that we're born into but worse this this nation is not really our real nation Or we are citizens of Israel the spiritual Israel Where you know we have many Nate we have one nation called Israel and all the world. It's a spiritual nation We're not traitors, okay There's the physical nation of Israel of the so-called Jews over there, and then there's the spiritual nation we're the spiritual nation and one day Jesus Christ is literally going to reign from the literal Jerusalem and We are going to serve him in a thousand-year reign here on this earth and then after that whatever surprises he has in store for us, but You know while we're here on this earth the best thing that we could do is live in the best place that we can live to serve God to our maximum ability and You know Number two we could You know who we hang around is important because notice that they're all hanging around together and everything that they did their destiny was kind of Together every they got taken out together. They live together They fought together got taken out together And so just who you hang around can be very good for you, or it could be very bad for you So choose your friends wisely choose your you can't always choose who your neighbors are gonna be though unfortunately But you can choose whether or not you talk to them And if you have like some of these wicked neighbors that like to you know spy on you and turn you in To the housing what what are those those? huh HOA These some of these HOA videos. I wonder if they're fake, but Well, they're like you got too many packages on your porch this week or something. It's like That sounds like hell living in a place like that nearly anyway also number three Choosing things over the things of God is always a bad decision choosing things over the things of God so Storing up things on this earth treasure on earth instead of treasure in heaven. I mean, it's just a no-brainer to store up things Well moth and rust does not corrupt so We can stack gold we can stack silver we can stack baseball cards or whatever But all that stuff's gonna burn up and melt away in the end. I'm not saying don't plan for a future That's not what I'm saying but Those things are gonna go away at some point Are we even gonna be here? Is there gonna be a Social Security in the next 10 years? I don't know they always say that they've been saying that for years but I Don't know things are getting crazy so When they were doing well though these tribes They did well together when they serve God together. They did well together when they fought together They did well, but ultimately they failed together and the prophecy of Reuben is this Reuben they are at my firstborn my might and my beginning of my strength the excellency of dignity and the excellency of my power Unstable as water thou shalt not excel because thou winnest up to thy father's bed then defile us thou it He went up to my couch Manasseh in Genesis 48 verse 7 17 you'll have to turn there, but you can't if you want, and I'm almost done I promise you and when Joseph saw that his father laid his his right hand upon the head of Ephraim So he brings his two sons in and Ephraim He puts his right hand upon the head of Ephraim it displeased him And he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head into Manasseh's head So Manasseh is actually the firstborn of the two sons and Jacob puts his hand to bless the wrong son So this is the half tribe of Manasseh and the half tribe of Ephraim. That's what they become and Joseph said unto his father not so my father for this is the firstborn put thy right hand upon his head He gets mad right and his father refused and said I know it my son. I know it He also shall become a people and he shall be great But truly his younger brother shall be greater than he and his seed shall become a multitude of nations And he blessed in that day saying in thee shall Shall Israel bless saying God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh, and he set Ephraim before Manasseh, so out of the two tribes The firstborn is not blessed why? Well because he didn't he didn't excel either and he's here He is trapped in and with these other two tribes that don't excel very well either And I think that Gad is probably the most successful of both tribes I don't have time to get into that right now But Gad's prophecy was what a troop shall overcome him because his name means a troop But he shall overcome at the last so he does have that blessing at the end there But he's also overcome and taken to captivity But these three banned tribes banded together Because they wanted land for their cattle That's what it ultimately came down to and so is that really the reason Why we're existing on this earth so that we can just have more stuff no But they ultimately paid the price for being on the other side of Jordan together Which was not the original and perfect will of God So even though God permitted it, but she permits us to do all kinds of stupid things We have free will Like we'll think oh, well, maybe this was the right decision, and it's like then it turns out to be the wrong decision There's been many Decisions that I've made that I thought were the right decision and they end up being the wrong decision But then when you backtrack to why you made that decision in reality You can you can fool Everybody, but you can't fool God and in reality you can't fool yourself Because you really know the reason why you're doing things you can come up with all the greatest excuses you want You can come up with all the greatest reasons you can come up with the pros and cons checklist You know like there's just a lot of pros on this checklist But if that pro doesn't have God at the beginning of that checklist Then it's a bad checklist We should try our best to do our Best to be in the perfect will of God as much as possible. Let's pray Lord We thank you so much for this chapter and Lord what teaches us Lord I pray that you would help us to choose our companions Well the people that we do the most of our time hanging around With those friends that we have inside church and I pray the Lord that we would choose the best friends for our Lives Lord that we would choose the right types of influences Lord that we would Always choose to live in the right place where there's a great church Lord doesn't have to be this church, but just as long as they're in a great church. That's what's important I pray that that Lord none of us would fail in this area, and I just pray Lord that you would Watch over our church Lord help us to make right decisions and to Do things for the right reasons Lord then and that we wouldn't be motivated by the things of this world but by the things of you that you want us to be motivated by that we would do things and And do do the things that we do Lord for the things of the kingdom of God and not for the things That are for not Jesus name. We pray amen