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Had brother CJ read that because it kind of ties in with everything that we're talking about this morning I read some of the scriptures from that chapter, and I just wanted to see if CJ could read some hard words But he did pretty good. So I left off on Judah and I didn't want to I Don't want to skip over the stuff with Judah because of all the tribes I think the most important to cover is the tribe of Judah and kind of where we left off is Basically, I was I was talking about the prophecies of Jacob for his sons in the end times and I left off about part way through Judah I kind of got through the part where it says the his brethren. Let's just look at verse number eight says and Judah who thou art he whom the brethren shall praise thy hand shall be upon the neck of thine enemies thy father's children Shall bow down Before thee and so of course is obviously talking about the tribe of Judah, but also The Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ and it says in verse 9 Judah is a lion's whelp from the prey My son thou art gone up. He up. He or excuse me. He stooped down He couched as a lion as an old lion who shall rouse him up. So I went through Revelation chapter number five and showed that he's called the lion of the tribe of Judah in verse number five in Revelation 5 and then I talked about how The scepter should not depart from Judah talking about verse 10 Talking about him being the lawgiver and basically the Kings Come from the land of Judah from the tribe of Judah of course we had Saul was the first king of Israel and then he was replaced by King David who was better than him and Then the line of succession went through in the book of first Kings and Chronicles it chronicles The tribes of Judah and then obviously there was the split after Solomon and Solomon basically made it to where there was ten tribes that were known as Israel and then There was Judah was divided from them. So And that happened during the reign of Solomon. So only the second king in the line and so a lot of people think that Israel is just Israel, but it's not really the case and Then what was being read in first Chronicles 5 kind of chronicles some of the the problems that they had and how Gad and Manasseh the half-tribe and Reuben were all taken over by the Assyrians, but ultimately all ten tribes ended up being assimilated and and basically divided But also the spirit so the spiritual aspect of this also is that you know in the Old Testament There was the nation of Israel with the twelve tribes, but in the New Testament, we are a spiritual nation of Israel So it does I mean some of these things can apply to our lives The Old Testament does apply to our lives in the New Testament There's lots of lessons we can learn from the Old Testament. And of course, there was twelve apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ I don't think that's accidental So a lot of the things in the New Testament Are still fulfillments of things that God said was going to happen even in these chap in this chapter for the tribes in the New Testament Books because you got to understand that it was still the Old Testament when we're reading a Matthew I mean until Jesus Christ dies on the cross, you know, it's still the Old Testament up until that point So we read the New Testament But thinking about some of the a lot of the things that happen in the New Testament A lot of those things were actually in the Old Testament and a lot of these things are fulfilled With the ministry of Jesus Christ and you'll see that as we go through the rest of these tribes But let's let's get back to Judah here. Judah was going to there's not a log the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be of course, that's a Messianic prophecy there and the scepter being a ruler or King The tribe of Judah is the ruling tribe Shiloh is is basically means a place of rest We know that we'll rest in Christ and we have our rest in Christ And he did all the works for us so that we could rest in him We're saved not by works, but by grace through faith the gathering of the people I believe refers to his first coming and his second coming his first coming where the people actually literally did gather towards him until You know the the Jews betrayed him and basically Had him crucified and then of course the gathering of the people in the resurrection is going to be a glorious day but after that event Comes the wrath of the wrath of God. So when Jesus comes and like a lot of these verses kind of cover all these things at once but when it starts talking about his eyes being red with Wine and his teeth being with milk. Let's see Where are we at verse number 11 binding his full unto the vine and his ass is cold unto the choice vine He washed his garments and wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. So This is obviously I believe talking about when Jesus Christ comes back in his wrath and The reason why I think that is because there's several verses in the Old Testament And in the New Testament that point us to that direction We obviously view the Old Testament through the eyes and the lens of the New Testament, but turn over to Isaiah chapter 63 I want to show you some things concerning this prophecy of Jacob about his son Judah So in verse number one Isaiah 63, it says who is he who is this that cometh from Edom With dyed garments from Basra This is that glorious in His apparel traveling in the greatness of his strength. I That speak in righteousness mighty to save it's an interesting scripture because like Why would he be coming from Edom? Why would he be coming from Basra? I don't I don't know why maybe That's just where he comes in from to do the battle that he's going to do But look what it says in verse 2 It says wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat So basically it's explaining the color of his garments And it says it's dyed garments and it says it's red in thine apparel and thy garments of him that treadeth the wine-fat So if you're if you're stepping on grapes all day You're gonna get like the the blood of those grapes all over you and it's gonna be red, right? So that's what it's kind of Liking it to look at verse 3 I have trodden the winepress alone and of the people there was none with me for I will tread them in mine anger and Trample them in my fury and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments and I will stain all my raiment That doesn't sound very nice. Does it? And it says for the day of vengeance is in mine heart and the year of my redeemed is come Well one thing you have to understand about the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes back on the white horse We're gonna come back on white horses with him. So He's gonna come back on a white horse. But what the what is the color of his garments gonna be? What does the Bible actually say? It says that they're gonna be red, right? And One thing we also know is that the sword of his mouth is what slays the nations That are coming against him to battle against him at Jerusalem And so we're not gonna come and do anything besides just watch him clean house. We're gonna watch him destroy the wicked when he returns on the white horse and So turn to Revelation chapter 14 verse 18 so I believe that prophecy and Isaiah is definitely talking about Jesus Christ and it's it's likening him treading people down with his wrath as As if it's the blood of grapes It's kind of comparing the blood and the color of the grapes to the blood to actual real blood Look at verse 18 in Revelation chapter 14 It says another angel came out from the altar which had power over fire and cried with a loud cry To him that had the sharp sickle saying thrust in thy sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth Or her grapes are fully ripe Now it's using this language again of clusters and grapes and the vine of the earth and it says for her grapes are fully ripe and I take this to mean that it's you know, basically God only puts up with things for so long and The Lord is only gonna put up with things for so long before he comes and full and his wrath is fulfilled the ultimate day of the Lord is going to take place and It says an angel thrust in his sickle onto the earth and gathered the vine of the earth and cast it into a great Winepress of the wrath of God and the winepress was trodden without the city and Blood came out of the winepress even unto the horse bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs Mmm, so this is a great slaughter that's going to take place and it's talking about people People are the grapes and the person that's treading the winepress is the Lord and it says blood Came out of the winepress So we're talking about little literal blood here, but it's just giving us the picture of grapes Because you know when you squish a grape blood comes out of it, doesn't it? And when the Lord's gonna squish people when he's coming down and and treading down the wicked There's gonna be a lot of blood Turn to Revelation chapter 19 verse 11 So I think that Jacob's prophecy is covering the great things about when Christ comes but it's a great thing when his wrath is poured out too All the things that he speaks about Judah are gonna come to pass and these are things that are definitely talking about Christ Look at number verse number 11 It says and I saw heaven open and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in Righteousness he doth judge and make war his eyes Where as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no man knew But he himself and he was clothed with the vesture dipped in blood And his name is called the Word of God So I believe that this is obviously connected to Genesis chapter 49 talking about the color of his garments It's obviously connected to Isaiah chapter 63 Talking about the color of his garments and I believe it's obviously connected to Revelation chapter 14 talking about the wine Press of the wrath of God and obviously it really spells it out for us Very clearly in Revelation chapter 19 verse number 13 where it says he was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood now remember Joseph was also they remember they they took his robe of many colors and dipped it in the blood and Brought it back to Jacob to show to kind of prove that he was dead, but he wasn't really so this all ties together, you know, and so Jesus Christ when he comes back, he's not going to be you know, just Mr. Nice guy so to speak he's coming back to fulfill but you know, he's gonna rescue his people, you know There's a being a great tribulation going on when he comes back and when he comes he's gonna rescue his people he's gonna resurrect those people from the dead that died in Christ and then You know, we're gonna be rescued But everybody else is in big trouble and he's not he's not dressed in red for no reason and when he's dressed in red like that You know when blood splatters on red clothing you don't see it as much does it you don't see it as much I mean, you're not gonna see that blood as if you would if it was a white garment, but That represents his wrath when he comes back It's kind of gross to think about but you know, the Bible says what it says All right, but people always think of Jesus, you know, they think of you know The Mormon cartoon Jesus or they think of the Jesus on the wall all you know Mormon's houses that he's white and delights them with his long blonde flowing hair, but that is not what he looks like That's not what he's gonna look like When he comes back, it's not what he looked like before when he was here quit picturing Jesus with long hair Those are things that have you know gotten into your minds from all different sources But there's no pictures of Jesus the Bible never says he had long hair the Bible never says he was wearing a dress You know what a vesture is? It's a it's a coat Your vesture is a coat his coat is gonna be dipped in blood his coat is gonna be red You know and he's not coming to bring presents like Santa Claus. He's coming to bring out wrath and destruction So and the Bible says that they're worthy of this So I mean we think about this and we think well man, that's gonna be pretty harsh. You know, I don't think of Jesus as wrathful, but he is See just like I talked about this morning how your parenting has to have some balance Well, you know what your view of the Bible has to have some balance too. You can't just think it's all wrath It's not all wrath. You can't just think it's all love. It's not all love. It's not you know, it's not one thing or the other It's it's everything. There's a balance. God wants us to have a balance in our lives He wants the church to have a balance. He wants your Christian life to have a balance You know why because God is balanced God is not just all love even though he is love. He's not just all wrath even though he is wrath You know, he has many different attributes but he definitely has a wrathful side the book of Revelation is probably the Harriest book of the whole Bible and it's in the New Testament. It's in fact, it's the last book But of course, there's some great parts about you know living in the city New Jerusalem and how he's gonna wipe all the tears away from our eyes But you know what that that just would show you that there are gonna be tears in our eyes everybody you know has some sort of a hard life or a hard day and Nobody's the exception to that. We all live in a fallen world. We live in fallen families. We live in fallen bodies and You know life here is not perfect It's not always a bowl of cherries like people would say and it's and it's just not because it's sinful We live in a sinful world But when that all is taken away from us and we we live in a world where there is no sin It's gonna be way different. It's gonna be way better But you know what? We have to get through the hard times before we can get to those times so let's look at Revelation or Yeah, go ahead and turn to Revelation chapter 1 verse 12. I'm gonna read Genesis 49 12 Genesis 49 12 and our text says his eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk I'm not exactly sure what the what the teeth white with milk thing is. I mean, maybe just you know, I Don't know. I really don't know but the red with wine thing I think there's a couple times in the scriptures where it kind of gives us an allusion to this Revelation 1 12 says and I turned to see the voices spake with me and being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks in the midst of the seven golden or excuse me The seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, of course We notice is the Lord Jesus Christ It says clothed with the garment down to the foot and gird about the paps with a golden girdle his head and his hairs were white like wool as white as snow and his eyes were as a Flame of fire. So when fire is burning hot it there it's red, isn't it? So when his eyes are a flame of fire, obviously, I think the Genesis is definitely connected There and it says his feet were like under fine brass as if they burned in a furnace and his voice as The sound of many waters. He's gonna be very different. He he can appear very different than he did on this earth you know, I don't think he had red flaming eyes when he was walking this earth, but when he comes back he's going to and So people are gonna trip out they're gonna think you know I'm sure the Antichrist will probably have long hair when he comes back or when he comes to this earth I'm sure he will have long hair. He'll probably be dressed in a dress. That wouldn't surprise me at all We had a guy walking in a dress last week after the service. I mean This world's gotten crazy. We're a transvestite. I think he's just gonna walk into our church. He's not gonna get taken out You're out the door buddy. Like what are you doing here? I mean, I Guess other churches just accept that walks in with a cigarette in his hand and a lighter. He's just like Got dreadlocks his long hair and a dress a tight short skirt That didn't even go down to his knees And walks into our church I'm like, can I help you with something? He's like, oh just coming in to check it out. I was like you need to go right now. It was okay I Didn't put a finger on him. God is my witness But the Antichrist will probably come back wearing a dress and have long hair who knows I mean, he's gonna say he's Christ People are gonna think he is the Jews are gonna believe in him But you know what the the God of the Bible the Jesus Christ that comes back it describes to us What he's going to look like what he's going to be wearing the color of the clothes He's gonna be wearing what his eyes are gonna look like and you know, he what he's going to be doing He's going to be you know, pouring out his wrath upon man. He's gonna come up to an army That's innumerable and be able to toast them With just the words of his mouth, he doesn't even do he doesn't need to swing a sword. He's got the sword of his mouth You know what when Jesus Christ, you know, the Word of God said let there be light there was light wasn't there? So whatever the Word of God says, that's what happens So if the Word of God says die or explode or whatever it is. He says that's what's gonna happen and these people that just have these hard speeches and want to talk smack about God and talk smack about Our Lord Jesus Christ and just make fun of him and mock us for following him You know what? They're gonna have a big gulp in their in their throat when they see what the Lord Jesus really looks like They're gonna be terrified and afraid they're gonna be scared out of their minds when when the The bolt fishbowls pull back and they can see the stars and everything You know that you can see what heaven looks like or whatever. They're gonna be terrified This world is gonna change or drastically people don't I mean we it's hard for us to imagine this But that's the truth. That's what the Bible teaches and The Bible, you know, I mean obviously end times Bible prophecy is a very vast topic But I believe that Jacob is talking about when he comes back with his wrath. Obviously the people of God we're gonna have rest we'll be on our our Pretty ponies or whatever the girls have pretty ponies and the guys will have like Fidesdales or something. I don't know it says white horses. All right, I'm sure mine will be a little bit bigger than everybody else's Otherwise, they'll probably want to buck me off. But anyway That's what the Lord Jesus Christ looks like. That's what we have to look forward to is a king that's gonna fight for us Amen So there's many famous people in the tribe of Judah, of course King David was very famous God promised him that the lineage of Christ would go through him King Solomon you have King Josiah King Hezekiah King Uzziah Asa Jehoshaphat Caleb I mean there's just multiple Children of Judah that had were men of renown and great men of God So much that I don't I just don't have time to go through them all But my application from this morning was that even though Judah the son of Jacob was not a perfect man You know God doesn't call us to be perfect men to be saved He just calls people to be saved and whoever chooses to be saved the Lord saves Amen, and so Judah wasn't a perfect picture of Christ, but nobody could be a perfect picture of Christ There's lots of people in the Bible Joseph was a good picture of Christ Samson was a great picture of Christ there's been many great pictures of Christ in the Bible, but all of them fall short because nobody's perfect and and and God Manifests in the flesh like the Lord Jesus. There's only one of them so Let's move on to Genesis chapter 49 Let's go and talk about Zebulun so Zebulun is number five of the children of Israel or children of Jacob and Let's look at Genesis 49 13 says Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea and he shall be For an haven of ships and his border shall be unto Zidane So not a real lot about Zebulun in the Bible is I mean as far as Jacob's prophecy I mean, that's just basically a one-verse sentence there about him So it doesn't really tell us a lot but it does 12 tell us that he's going to dwell At the haven of the sea and he shall be for an haven of ships and his border shall be unto Zidane So now there was some people of renown from the tribe of Zebulun in Judges chapter 12, there's a man named Well, if you want to turn to Judges chapter 12 verse 11 there was in the time of the judges there has been that stepped up to be judges and but not Someone from every tribe was always one of the judges the judges were people that ruled before the Kings So the people asked for a king when Samuel was the judge and he Samuel wanted to pass it off to his sons But his sons were wicked and the people knew he was wicked so they said make us a king like all the other nations have and obviously So by doing that they were bucking against the system of the judges that God put in place, but the judges Didn't do that great of a job either the children of Israel were basically kind of hot and cold for many years during the times of the judges and then a judge would have to Rise up and you know, basically lead them and and destroy their enemies through the power of God but in Zebulun Zebulun is it says in Judges 12 11 it says and after him Elon a Zebulunite judged Israel and he judged Israel 10 years and Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at a John in this country of Zebulun So here we have a man of renown, you know First few tribes. It was kind of kind of not so much but we had this judge named Elon I mean doesn't say a lot about him, but Jacob doesn't really say a lot about him either So I guess we shouldn't be surprised But I'm sure that you know There was a saved man in Zebulun just like there was in all the other tribes turn to Isaiah chapter 9 verse 1 We'll see a prophecy about Zebulun That Jesus Christ fulfills a Matthew chapter 4 So first we'll go to Isaiah chapter 9 verse 1 and then we'll go to Matthew chapter 4 verse 12 Isaiah chapter 9 verse 1 says Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation When at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali and afterward did more grievously effect afflict her by the way of the sea beyond Jordan in Galilee of the nations So the land of Zebulun and Naphtali is the land of Galilee Which we know of course the New Testament is where Jesus Christ grows up. He grows up in Galilee and It's called Galilee of the nations Which is interesting because if it was Zebulun and Naphtali that means at one point. It was one of the tribes of Israel That's where they lived But it became part of the nation's at this time when Isaiah writes this They're already taken over by Assyria They're already why they're already what you know assimilated into the Assyrian Empire and basically the Gentiles are running a place Where it should be the children of Israel should be Zebulun It should be Naphtali up there and Gad is another one That's close to the Galilee Sea and Manasseh and all those ones were taken out remember. So the this is a prophecy Talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and how do we know that? Well Matthew chapter 4 verse number 12 says now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison He departed into Galilee and leaving Nazareth. He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the seacoast in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, so we know Where the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali were I mean, obviously there's other places in the Bible where it describes it But it says that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Zias the prophet Saying the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali By the way of the sea beyond Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles, so it calls a Galilee of the Gentiles here So that tells you what that? Gentiles means nations nations means Gentiles those terms are used interchangeably. They're synonyms of each other It says the people which sat in Darkness saw great light and to them which sat in the region and the shadow of death Light is sprung up. So when Jesus began to do his ministry and go into Galilee I mean he was fraught he lived up there. He lived in Nazareth But you know part of this prophecy was that you know Jesus is gonna go back to these places and and what did Jesus do he came to seek and save that which was lost Right. What was lost? Well ten tribes of Israel was lost and even now they'll say well the tribes of Israel the lost tribes of Israel and people will try to you know, say that like anyway, this is tough, but Like all kinds of different people will lay claim to the fact that they are the lost tribes of Israel Okay, the black Hebrew Israelites say that they're Judah or something. I don't know what they said But anybody that's not white is one of the tribe the lost tribes, but the white people are Edom their Devils They're white Devils. Okay kind of fits with the times right now But you know Mormons will say that there was a lost tribe that they came over to and they Even though the DNA evidence proves that there's no DNA from the American Indians or any Central American Indians that have Jewish DNA in them, but anyway, so that's just one other thing that makes Mormonism look stupid, but Anyway, this light that springs up this light to the to the Gentile controlled nation was at one point Zebulon and Neftalim and also Manasseh is on the left. Like if you're looking at the Sea of Galilee I guess if you're just looking at it like this is the sea right here. So Gad is down here and then Manasseh would be like right here and then Zebulon and I believe it's Zebulon and Neftali or maybe it's vice-versa But anyway, they're around the Sea of Galilee Gad is just like on a very tiny corner of it Which is at the very end and then it turns into the Jordan River and flows Down, so I don't know if that helps you with my sign language there or not but I kind of give you a little bit of an idea but I'm gonna go into that here a little bit more in detail here in just a minute, but The application so I mean it there there at least there was still a light At least God was still trying to reach these lost tribes and that's what he I mean ultimately when Jesus came Everything was all but lost Right the Romans were ruling over them The Romans were ruling over Judah and Jesus Christ came to the lost sheep of the tribe of Israel You know the tribes of Israel didn't he and so he was going to all these places But he did not he didn't go to Other, you know, he mostly stayed in the the areas that would be Israel and Judah. Okay, so Yeah, so actually let's look at verse number or Matthew chapter 15 Let's just look at it now Matthew chapter 15 verse number 21 The Bible says in Jesus went thence and Departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon and what it say the the border of Naphtali would be Sidon right Sidon and Sidon are the same thing Okay, and behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coast and cried unto him saying have mercy on me Lord thou son of David my daughter is grievously vexed with the devil But he answered her not a word and his disciples came and besought him saying send her away for she crieth after us But he answered and said I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel So where's he at right now? He's he's up in this area. He's Departed from the coast of Tyre and Sidon so he's coming down That was the top of the coast and so where's he coming he's coming back into what would be Israel when they divided those areas by lot He's coming back into the land that was once Israel, but is now Galilee of the nations. Are you all following me? okay, so And so what does Jesus say I'm not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel brother Sean gave me that scripture earlier. It's like that's a that's a great scripture when I looked at it in context I was like, oh is I didn't that fits perfectly because that's where you know Zebulun the border of Zebulun was right and So if you're looking for a little bit of application for Zebulun You know, even if you're backslidden and away from God He is still seeking his lost sheep to come back into the fold So there might be people that leave and dip out or whatever or people that may be sitting here right now And you're already dipped out. You're already just out of it. You're zoned out You're not really paying attention. You're going through the motions. You're coming to church You're just looking for a way to dip out at some point. I hope nobody here is at that point but You know what even? When do you get backslidden and this thing? I know for sure because I've been there before is that when you're backslidden you're away from God God will still try to reach out and Connect with you and you know what just like, you know, the prodigal son I'm gonna name him the right name this time not the Samaritan but the prodigal the prodigal son He was a son of Israel when he left and he went and destroyed his life with riotous living He took his inheritance and went but when he came back To his senses, you know who was waiting for him right there God was waiting for him and not only did he wait for him. He didn't just wait for him he ran out to meet him and So some application a if you're feeling backslidden, you know What just stick with the Christian life and don't don't get out of it. Don't get out of church You know, you don't have to come to this church, but don't get out of church Stay in church and you know, God still loves you Even if you're backslidden you can get right you don't have to leave to get backslidden You can be right here and be backslidden. I mean we can be backslidden our lives and nobody would know it Nobody would know it but you know who knows it God knows it and he's waiting for you to come back and serve him with all your heart Let's go to number six. It's a car. It's a car in Genesis chapter 49 verse number 14 It's a car as a strong ass Couching down between two burdens and he saw the rest was good and the land that it was pleasant and bowed his shoulder To bear and became a servant under tribute Well, I mean, it's good that he's strong He can hold two burdens at the same time But you know what when you're holding up too much burdens, it's gonna it's gonna how you're gonna have problems You know, that's why people's backs give out and things like that. You're trying to lift too much weight and and you know What the Bible says here is that he bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant to tribute So at some point he stopped fighting for what was his You know as far as like the nation of is a car is concerned, you know, he just sat down and wanted to rest Well, you know what when you rest and you stop trying to push forward in your life and you stop trying to You know serve with all your your might you're gonna become a servant to tribute You know, the Bible says the borrower is servant to the lender So people that go out and just get themselves in debt up to their eyeballs. I'm not mad at you I've been there I've had I've been I've been I've been in debt and out of debt and back into debt and back out of debt Multiple times so because it's real easy when you when your car breaks down if you have credit to just go buy a new car, isn't it? But you know what when you have a whole bunch of new stuff at the same time Guess what all your money is going to pay for all that stuff and like the life that you thought you were gonna enjoy with all that stuff Becomes a burden to you because now you're having to work overtime. Now, you don't have any extra money All right Now you can't afford the gas even go on a road trip that you wanted to go on to with your nice brand-new car Right. So I mean we don't want to become servants under tribute We don't want to become servants under people. We don't want to be servants to the lender You know, obviously sometimes you have to break down and do stuff like that You know in this world it kind of you operate off of a credit score to a certain degree Unless you're just cash only which is probably the smartest way to be is just to save your money and cash And then buy things with cash because you have more buying power I don't know with all these paper dollars now what I mean money is not what it used to be worth I mean a sack of groceries like 65 bucks I remember when me and my wife off of 65 bucks could feed our house for a week. It wasn't great it wasn't like filet mignon or anything like that, but It we still made it on that. We actually set a budget when we were when I was trying to get us out of debt And I was just like we're it wasn't beans and rice either I mean we still have some good food, but like that's what that's what our budget was I think it was about sixty five sixty six dollars a week or something like that We're trying to live off the hillbilly housewife diet. My wife's like and I know it's not great food. It's not organic Green fed stuff, but hey, you know sometimes when you're broke you need to you know pinch Penny pinch a little bit and get out of debt But all that to say this is that you know, it's a car basically end up becoming a servant on a tribute But probably because you know, he just laid down to rest, you know And that's the thing if you're just right, you know, obviously everybody needs rest, but if you lay down to rest too much Then you're gonna become a servant under tribute You're gonna become a servant under tribute So we don't want to be that look at judges and here's some notable people from Issachar the tribe of Issachar Judges chapter number 10. Let's look at judges chapter number 10 The Bible says in judges chapter number 10 and after Abimelech there arose to defend Israel Tolah the son of Puah the son of Dodo. So here's some more baby names for you to choose from Tolah is not too bad. Puah Then we get to Dodo. It's like nah, we can't in America. You can't name your kid Dodo But anyway, it says a man of Issachar So one of the judges of Israel at one time was a man of Issachar and he dwelt in Shemer in Mount Ephraim and he judged Israel 20 and 3 years and died and was buried in Shemer So we have one man that's notable here of the tribe of Issachar. I'm sure there was more But here's that that's just I just kind of want to give you, you know a little bit of you know Something good that was in his tribe But if you want to get some application or Issachar How about that God can do for you great things no matter what tribe you're from? I mean Issachar isn't really exactly getting the best, you know report from Jacob and the best Prophecy about him, you know, basically just says he was really strong He laid down to rest and got put under tribute. It's like and where's the blessing daddy? It's just not there. But you know, he was still a tribe of Israel, you know I mean thinking about that in a spiritual sense. Maybe you're not, you know looked upon as the greatest Christian in the world Maybe you're not, you know Maybe you're not from a great family lineage of great saved people because a lot of people in here are probably first-generation Christians If you're first-generation Christians, that means your parents weren't Christians anybody in here like that yeah, lots of people and And that's not to throw shade on the people that have come from great Christian homes But it kind of seems like Issachar isn't like he's overshadowed by the other great tribes, isn't he a little bit So something that you can think about is that even though he wasn't some great tribe of Israel Well, he's still they still had a man that was a judge of Israel stand up and lead the nation of Israel As a judge because that's what they were. They were like they were like kings, but they were not kings They were judges They were actually supposed to take God's law and interpret that and tell people what the judgment was For them or for them or against them and also they fought they fought battles And with you think of who's the biggest battle fighter you think of when you think of the book of Judges, who is it? who Samson yeah, I that's who I think of too even though Samson wasn't the greatest dude in the world But he was a great warrior, wasn't he? He was a great warrior. So I mean and it is a car. There's not a whole bunch said about him I kind of searched some of the scriptures to find you know, some great men of God in his tribe But this is who I found. I found Tola and he and he led Israel for 23 years and sounds like he did a good Job, it doesn't say anything bad about him doesn't say anything Super great, but the fact that he judged Israel means that people respected him means that people you know that he that he commanded Attention and that he you know, probably did a great job being a judge But you don't have to bow down here's another application you don't have to bow down to conform to people as a Christian You don't have to conform to the pressure of the day and he it sounds like he it's a car You know the nation, you know, they were strong, but they bowed down between two burdens you know, they saw that the rest was good and didn't want to keep fighting and Sometimes that's what happens with Christians. You know people just kind of come at us and we'll try to wear us down Family members are like come on come to the party. It's on Sunday come to the party. It's on Sunday We're gonna go swimming. There's gonna be a bouncy house There's gonna be all this all your kids are gonna have so much fun and it's just like a continual just wearing down upon you and finally like okay fine, I'll go and That's when you conform. That's what they want They want you to stop coming here and serving God and they want you to Go out and do and be how you used to be It's really weird because what you used to be probably sucked You know What you used to be was probably bad You know if you used to be a drunk or used to be a drug addict or used to be whatever That person they didn't like them either They're like you need to get some help You need to fix your life You know do this do that, you know, and they try to do all these things to help you and then you find Jesus You know, he saves your soul. They're like you need to get some help here in a cult You're following you believe in this book way too much. It's like you you go back to being what you were, you know That was even better I mean isn't that weird? But that's that's how it is being a Christian and the patent and the power that people try to bring upon you to have you Conform to what they want, you know at some point when you're bearing between two burdens You're gonna you're gonna bow down and say I want to just take a rest from this I want to take a rest from you I want to take a rest from this and we should not bow down to The pressure to conform our lives to what it used to be We need to conform our lives to Christ and you know, we need to resist those burdens. We need to resist those Temptations to just say hey, I just want to get out of this because once you get out of it It's not what you thought it was going to be once you've been saved once you know What the right thing to do is you can't live in that life anymore. You just can't do it you can't do it comfortably and Then those people that get out of it and they're you know Have you I'm sure you've had people that like stopped the Christian life and started kind of you know Our backslid and things like that and like all these bad things are happening to them All this stuff is happening to him. They're like, I just don't understand why else is happening to me because you're being punished. I Mean, that's what the Bible says is gonna happen And when he's sometimes when he's looking for the lost sheep, he's got a slap a lost sheep You know, he's got to get with the smack And if you don't understand what that is, then you're not paying attention Well, I just don't understand why I lost my job. I don't understand why you know, my kids are gone to the devil Well start understanding it that if you're backslidden and you conform to this world, then you're gonna have some problems Don't be like it's a car and crouched down between the two burdens and just think you know what this is a good place to rest It's not a good place to rest because then you're gonna be under the tribute. You're gonna be kissing mommy's ring and Daddy's toe and Brothers shoe or whatever. I don't know but you know I'm saying if you're conforming to the pressure of family because that's the biggest pressure that you're gonna feel or old friends You know I just don't understand why we can't do what we used to do when we're old friends and you start you hang out With that old friend and they're like totally you're nothing like that anymore. It's a weird feeling There really is and if you can actually be comfortable in that situation where you're just hanging out with your old friends It used to go do all the bad stuff with then, you know, you're really shut off It's gonna take God a big paddle to reach you again. Well, guess what? He's got a big paddle He's got the biggest paddle. He could just speak of the paddle forms in his hand. It's max you with it I mean just kidding, but We don't we don't want to go down that road and you know But again, the other thing to take out of this is there was a great man of God out of his car And you know what? He wasn't the biggest tribe He wasn't the wells most well-known tribe, but you know, you might not be either but you know what? You can still do great things for God as a Christian no matter how much other people look at you God looks at you and he says, you know what I can use that person because they're submissive to me They're humble They want to do what I say and you know God can use people like that a lot more than you can use someone that's been you know Pastor's son for 17 generations and then that person's no longer able to be rebuked or reproved for anything Number seven, let's look at Dan Dan the man Dan number seven Look at Genesis chapter 49 verse 16 says Dan Shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel Dan shall be a serpent by the way an adder in the path that bite at the horses heels so that his rider Shall fall backward now it says I have waited for thy salvation Oh Lord and I don't know if this is just Jacob just Talking about like the fact that he's about to die or whatever But it's just an interesting verse to throw in with Dan and all this stuff But let me let me help make sense of this But I was as Dan shall judges people and I believe that's obviously Talking about how Samson's gonna be a great judge of his of the people of Dan And the people of Dan like a lot of times you'll see you'll read stuff about them. They're usually doing something pretty pretty You know boss, you know, I even if it's bad They're just like, you know, don't talk to me again or else I'm gonna come over and smite you or right You know, they're just they're kind of warriors type guys and and probably gals too But but it says that he shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel And there is a lot to be said in the bot in the Bible about Dan I don't have time to go into all of it, but it also says he's a serpent by the way an Adder in the past so it's calling like a snake that bites the riders or the horses heels of a rider So they fall backwards. So also there's this aspect of Dan where you know He's what he does is going to be a stumbling block to other people Something to make them fall right and it says fall backward. So when it says fall backward I mean I take that to mean maybe backsliding But anyway, let's look at Exodus 31 verse number six Exodus 31 verse number six. It says that I behold I have given with him a Holy Abba the son of a high Samak the tribe of the tribe of Dan and in his hearts Excuse me in the hearts of all that are wise hearted I have put wisdom that they may make all that I have commanded thee So in the new tests are mean, excuse me in the Old Testament in when the children of Israel came out of Egypt You know, they're making the tabernacle. They've this man of Dan of these guys of the tribe of Dan. God gives wise hearts to Make them be able to have the wisdom to make some of the things that are really intricate for the tabernacle So you have that you have a man named? as A great man of God in in the tribe of Dan and then of course we know about Samson Let's talk about Samson judges chapter 13. Let's turn to judges chapter 13 So you have this man who is a wise hearted man. That's of the tribe of Jan, but you also have the judge Samson now Samson is a lot like Christ in a lot of different ways. He pictures Christ, you know It's funny for the most backslidden judge that we have and one of the most backslidden men in all the Bible He's also pictures Christ a lot And maybe I'll just preach a whole sermon on Samson someday and get into more into it But I just can't really do that with the time that I have now but you know he was probably he was a promised son that would be born of someone a woman that could not have children at that time and So, you know the angel of the Lord came to his wife to Samson's Samson's Mom and basically said that she was gonna have a son and What happened with Jesus? Well, some angel came and said that he was shoot married to marry She was gonna have a son and then of course Manoah Samson's dad finally saw the angel of the Lord the set like maybe the second or third time and then He so they saw the angel of the Lord then he's like well We're gonna die because we saw God or whatever and it's like You know, his wife's like hey dummy He didn't just appear so that we could die, you know, he's trying to tell us something here So anyway, they make an offering to this angel of the Lord and obviously I believe that's a pre-incarnate Picture of Christ, you know, that's a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ and he accepts their offering and then so this promised son is going to be and you know, like basically she gets like these These rules that she has to basically be a Nazarite While she is pregnant with Samson and Samson is a Nazarite from his birth all the way He's supposed to be from his birth all the way into his death And even his mom could not ingest anything of the vine of wine of any sort not even a grapeseed Not even a leaf nothing But the point is is that he's gonna be this special chosen child and he's also called a Savior He's not the Savior, but he was a savior of Israel and he judged the nation of Israel for 20 years but people remember Samson for a lot of different reasons, but one of the things is you got to understand that he had a pitfall with women and women were like an Achilles heel to him and He had this crazy enormous strength I mean he lip he lion jumps at him He grabs the lion and rips it like you would rend a kid it says like talking about a baby goat Like he just like rips the thing in half. It's a lion. So he's strong I personally don't believe Samson looked like the Incredible Hulk I think he probably looked like a normal dude In fact, if he was really skinny that would probably make him a little more dangerous to people I mean less dangerous to people so but when they think oh look at this guy It's like, you know He just like ripping him apart from limb to limb and beating him with bones and all the stuff that he did But I mean he caught I think 300 foxes tied their tails together Caught them on fire and like burned up all the Philistines fields The guy had he had to have had supernatural speed he had to have had supernatural strength he had to be Invulnerable to a certain point because when he fights the thousand men and kills them with the jawbone of an ass They got Spears they got bows. They got swords Samson's got a jawbone of an ass and it says heaps upon heaps You know, he killed heaps upon heaps Piles of men with the jawbone of an ass, you know, obviously the Spirit of God came upon Samson in a mighty way There's a tie between two people that the Spirit of the Lord came upon The most times one of them was Samson and the other one was who? King Saul so two of the guys that are the worst examples in the Bible as Far as obeying God and doing what God says are the most times that the Spirit of God came upon them Tell me that's not kind of a weird coincidence It's probably not a coincidence, but it just goes to show that even when you are not You know perfect or maybe even if you are sinful God can still work with you, you know, so anyway, you have in judges 13 24 it says and the woman bear a son and call his name Samson and the child grew and The Lord blessed him and the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times In the camp of Dan between Zora and Eshtol So, you know God, you know blessed the child He he he rate, you know as he grew up God blessed him kind of like how Jesus was blessed by God as he grew up also and the Spirit began to move him At times in the camp of Dan, so, you know, God really worked through Samson But the difference between him and Jesus is that Jesus didn't do anything wrong and Samson did a whole lot of things wrong But Samson also here's the thing that people don't consider about Samson that he was looking for an occasion to destroy the Philistines and God put that upon him so the things that you know, his the ultimate goal of God was for Samson to defeat the Philistines and The will of the Lord did prevail in the life of Samson, even though Samson, you know God was still able to work with Samson within his many pitfalls that he had in his life and God still Destroyed all the Philistine. He destroyed all the Philistine Lords all their families in one fell swoop after He did his ultimate failure, which is telling a woman the strength to his power Delilah and she cut his hair and the Bible says that she began to afflict him I never I never noticed that before like she cuts his hair and then it says begins to afflict him Well, she's just like slapping him or something I mean, I just I don't know what he she was doing to afflict him But he wait he wakes up and she says the Philistines be upon thee Samson and look at Judges chapter 16 verse 20 what it says says and She said to the Philistines be upon thee Samson and he awoke out of his sleep and said I will go out as at other times before and shake myself and he wished not that the Lord was departed from him So we have to understand that God is going to give us grace But at a certain point he's gonna stop his long-suffering does have an end his mercy does have an end and Because Samson just refused to obey the voice of the Lord. I mean basically everything he was told not to do What you know being separated as a Nazarite he didn't do I mean I'm pretty sure he he ate grapes or I mean he touched dead bodies for sure because he killed lots of people But you know even touched like the carcass of the lion that he ripped up the next time he walked past that there was A honey a honeycomb in there with some bees and he reached into the carcass of the lion and grabbed the honeycomb out and just Start eating. I Mean that's pretty disgusting, right? Then he takes it home with his parents. He's like here look at the honeycomb I got and then he didn't tell it specifically says he didn't tell him where he got the honey It's like here you go. Mom and dad It's pretty messed up but anyway You know, y'all Samson also went to a harlot, you know But the mighty things he did killing a thousand people the jawbone of an ass He also picked up an iron city gate You know the since the Philistines were trying to kill him and he picked up that gate and took it out the city and climbed up a hill and just was like It was just like, you know, I can do whatever I want He was tough and he had all the power of God except for he kept Continuing to make God angry and finally God just like called him out called his card. I'm gonna says it says And he didn't know he wished not that the Lord the Lord was departed from him but the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and bought and brought him down to gaze Gaza and Bound him with fetters of brass and he did grind in the prison house So, you know the end of a life where you know, God is blessing you but you continue you just continue to Waste your gifts in disobedience. Isn't that what Samson did he wasted his gifts? Disobedience because I mean who's to say he couldn't have you know been doing the things that he did for the Lord for more than 20 years You know He was he was born with a special purpose and 20 years is a short time to be judging the nation of Israel, I mean He was actually born of a special prophecy that doesn't have that didn't happen very often in the Bible. I think it's him Samuel Jesus, I mean there wasn't a lot of that going on And his was like really a lot like Jesus's prophecy of being born. But again, he was super sinful Christ was not so the application is don't waste your gifts and Disobedience everybody here has a gift that God has given them if you're saved The Holy Spirit is upon you also as upon Samson. Maybe you can't kill a thousand You know sodomites with a with the job of an ass or whatever You can't you can't do the things the mighty things that he did strength wise But maybe your strength lies in a different place Maybe your strength is helping people. Maybe your strength is giving the gospel. Maybe your strength is Showing people mercy maybe and whatever your grace is whatever your gift is, you know God can use you to the fullest but if you're wasting on disobedience and not following God then, you know You don't want to end up like Samson where you're blind and people are throwing things at you and mocking you You know, you don't want to come to the end of your Christian life and everybody just thinks you're a joke When you could have been something much greater than you were I mean Samson was still we look at Samson We still think he was a great man But he did a lot of stupid things didn't he made a lot of big mistakes And so we need to be able to limit our mistakes and our disobedience and God, you know We'll make sure that our lives are more fulfilled as a Christian and that we can do more in our lives as a Christian Fulfill the will of God in your life is really the point and Samson again is a picture of a Christian that's capable of great things and does great things but does not rise To his full potential because of his sin and worldliness and his worldliness was weakness to women Wasn't it? I mean weakness to women, but he was also You know, he was like doing riddles with people to get their clothes and stuff. I mean he He was just he was definitely a unique guy I mean and then people, you know, they threaten his bride-to-be To kill her and burn her father's house down unless they tell the riddle because he was about to get 30 changes of clothing I mean back then people have like a couple outfits and that was it You know, you couldn't just go down to Walmart and get yourself some new, you know geared stuff like that You you couldn't just go to Nordstrom's or wherever you go shopping You can't just go you couldn't just go to the department store and they have all kinds of clothings so he was trying to get he was trying to make a come-up 30 30 changes of garments and Then he ended up having to give them 30 changes of garments because you know, he did this stupid game of chance basically with them But then he just killed 30 people and gave them their clothes. But anyway That's what I'm saying. Like he he just had some real bad for a judge He had a lot of bad judgment issues. So I'm gonna end the sermon there and and call it a night and I know that I said I was gonna get all of them in one Or two sermons, but I am still gonna have to preach the last four at a different time Okay, which is probably me next Sunday. So anyway There's a lot of great lessons in the Bible and I think that this chapter itself in Genesis 49 can give us a lot of Things to think about but it also can give us things to think about, you know for our Christian lives To help us in our Christian lives and you know, we don't have to make the mistakes that people make We don't have to learn things the hard way all the time We can see the things that other people do and we can say hey I don't want to do that mistake and then you can guard yourself from that thing happening to you So God shows us things in the Bible, you know to give us lessons also He's not just trying to air people's dirty laundry out for everybody to read for all eternity. I mean sometimes people deserve that but You know, I mean, I'm sure David isn't too Fond of the fact that every time we read through the Bible we have to read about how he murdered one of his mighty men So he could cover up the adultery that he committed with his wife and the really shy see things He did to accomplish those things. I Mean, I'm sure David had to live, you know in shame for the rest of his life to a certain degree because of what? He did even though people highly respected him You know there was still you know a Smudge on his life because of him doing that and even the Bible say later on except, you know David was followed the Lord with all of his heart, you know, he loved God and he you know He did all this stuff but you know The only thing he did wrong was the thing with Bathsheba's wife the sin of you know Killing you ride the Hittite and take in community adultery with Bathsheba And that just is something that's a mark that you don't want to have on you You know and you young people in here You should think about the fact that you haven't done some of these really bad sins that you hear being preached about in the Bible Hey You see what happens in the end of the things when these people do these things. I mean Samson yeah, he was he was like a rock star Basically, I mean as far as like, you know, nobody could touch him You know, he was super powerful super strong and then he just he just got so overconfident He even told the real secret of his strength to a woman that had tried to trap him like a few other times before Because he lied to her and gave her the wrong things and then you know he still tells her because she's just wearing him with her words and Then he just thinks he's gonna shake that off You know if you play with fire, you're gonna get burned And and Samson played too many times. He kept playing with the matches like oh, nothing's happened You know and to break the he'd break the bands off of them and you know, probably pummel the Philistines that came in after him but that last time he wasn't able to break free and then they what they poked his eyes out and You know, he still ultimately Won the battle, but he also lost the war Himself at the same time by having to kill himself and who wants to live for the rest of their lives with no eyes He didn't want to so I mean he used that to do something bad But you know, ultimately the will of God was fulfilled. So I mean we I mean Samson is a good example of Just avoiding the things that he got himself into in our own lives And young people you haven't committed these great big sins Don't commit them. I mean, you know, really you don't have an excuse You've been at this church for a long time You know what the Bible says and so to get to go, you know, everybody's capable of sin. I get that But you know listen to what your parents say listen to what the Bible says listen to what you know the Spirit says through the words of God and don't commit these things and hey if you Out there have made mistakes of this magnitude Some of the things that have been talked about even today You know, you don't have to continue doing them You can get away from it. You know, it's called that's when you when you actually do repent of your sins That means you're you stop doing that sin You know, maybe you smoke and you want to quit smoking. That's not the ultimate sin But it is a sin because you're destroying your body, right? so Are you gonna just continue to smoke forever? Are you gonna actually try to quit? Trying to quit is hard I Mean, it's very difficult, especially if you're really addicted those people make me sick that can there's I know a person that smokes at work only and To avoid his girlfriend finding out that he smokes. He doesn't smoke when he's with you know outside of work That's me I just I think I can't understand that it's either all or nothing That's the way I was but I'm either smoking him or I'm not, you know But it's a battle, you know And sometimes the sin is a hard-fought battle to overcome some of the things the pitfalls that we have in our life But look let the Bible be your guide and let the Bible show you What happens to people that do those specific sins and make let that be a lesson to you be wise you know take counsel from the Lord and be wise and And and try to overcome those sins or just don't ever do them if you never have all right Let's have a word of prayer Heavenly Father we thank you Lord so much for the Bible and Lord all the great spiritual lessons that teaches us and Lord I pray that you'd help our church Lord to Lord just live Rightly before you this week I pray you'd help us and all of our ministries that we're Doing all the busy things that we're gonna be doing this month I pray Lord that you'd be in it and be a part of it with us And it's not just us doing it in our own strength But Lord that we would allow the Spirit of God to work through us and that we would do great mighty things for you And this month and the rest of the year Lord in Jesus name we pray. Amen