Knowing a Merciful God

In Judges chapter 17, verse 6, does everyone have a worship guide?

Judges 17:6

Everyone have a worship guide this morning.

Anyone that doesn't?

Because this morning we're going to be looking at Judges.

But I want to go over to Judges chapter 17, verse 6, because this is the kind of the proposition of the whole message.

Judges 17:6

It's kind of the foundation verse that you'll understand as we go through this message this morning on the importance of us knowing a merciful God.

In Judges chapter 17, verse 6, it says, In those days there was no king in Israel.

Judges 17:6

Every man did what was right in his own eyes.

Sounds familiar for America today.

I did not watch the confirmation hearing, didn't plan to watch it because I knew I would be so mad I'd get in the flesh.

But it's a sad day in America when we're seeing what's going on at the highest level of our leadership in this country.

Sad day.

But let me tell you, it's not a day that wasn't, hey, 350 years of dark ages went on with Israel.

In fact, when we come to this verse, it's used, by the way, it's given five times in the book of Judges.

Five times.

And another verse that I did not write down, but I want you to write down by the title, Knowing and Merciful of God, Judges 17, 6, I want you to write down Jeremiah 17, verse 5.

Jeremiah 17:5

Because when it says they did what was right in their own eyes, here's what that verse really means.

And Jason, if you can just throw it up there real quick, Jeremiah chapter 17, 5.

Jeremiah 17 · chapter mention

But here's what it says.

And then we'll come right back to actually you can go back then, Jason, to Judges 1.

But when he said, In those days there was no king in Israel, every man did what was right in his own eyes.

Here's what that means.

Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 5 says, Thus saith the Lord, talking to the weeping prophet.

Jeremiah 17:5

Remember we talked about him last week.

The weeping prophet, Jeremiah, all those years of ministry and preaching.

I mean, everybody was kind of in this time period.

It was in the dark ages, and Israel was just, oh, so corrupt and so morally just bankrupt.

I mean, everybody was doing what they wanted to do in their own eyes.

Well, here's what Jeremiah said about that.

Thus saith the Lord, cursed is the man who trusts in what?

Man.

Cursed from God, the prophet said, and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.

In other words, what he says is, in his flesh, he's making the decisions of what he wants to do instead of what God wants him to do.

In other words, if it feels good, he does it.

And he has no remorse, no conviction about it.

And he doesn't care.

And so that is really what Judges 17, 6 really means.

And this took place during the 350 years of the Dark Ages.

Now the Dark Ages started at the end of Joshua's reign.

Joshua had just died.

And it goes 350 years until, guess who's appointed?

Their first king after Joshua's leadership.

Their first king, basically, King Saul.

So it's a time period from 350 years from Joshua's death until King Saul's appointment.

Okay?

Now, during that time, during that time, there's two things that were going on.

And I really believe that.

In those days, there was no king in Israel.

So here's what was going on.

God who is merciful, who continuously reaches out to sinful man.

What we see, first of all, two major themes.

In this 350 years of darkness, you see a God who is continuously reaching out with his mercy to a people that he loves with all his heart, who is just constantly rebelling against him more and more and more.

You know what scares me?

I'm afraid America is doing its best to head that way.

And God, you know what we need to pray and learn from this?

We need to cry out, God, be merciful to America.

Can I get an amen?

God be merciful unto us.

Now, with that said, there's a second thing we see here.

Not only do we see a God who's merciful, by the way, Lamentations 3, 22, it is the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed anyway.

Amen?

And that we see his mercies right here, new every morning, absolutely, for 350 years.

Now, watch this.

The second thing I see, man who is desperately wicked in his heart, and he continues to do what is wrong.

That's what we see during this 350 years of darkness.

So we got a God that is merciful, crying out to his people, asking them to return unto the Lord.

And then we got a people that he loves, that is rejecting and rebelling against a God who created them and made them for the purpose of loving him and worshiping him.

But he never gives up.

So today, let's understand about this merciful God, knowing a merciful God.

Now let's look at, in your outline, let's look at some lessons learned in Judges.

In Judges chapter 1, the whole chapter.

Judges 1 · chapter mention

Here's lesson number one.

We must drive out the enemy in our life completely.

We must drive out the enemy in our life completely.

See, God had commanded Judah.

God calls, he doesn't call a man here, he calls a tribe, Judah.

And he tells Judah, you got to clean up before you can enter the promised land.

And once you get in the promised land, you got to get rid of all the Canaanites, all the parasites, all the ice.

You got to get rid of them.

God says they will what?

Bring you down.

They will cause you to rebel against him.

He says, you got to get rid of them.

You've got to drive them out completely.

And I'm not going to take time to read the whole chapter, but we see there was, out of all the tribes, there's only one tribe that really did that, and that was Judah.

And if you read verses 4 through 10, you'll see that.

In fact, look at verse 8.

The men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it.

They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.

Afterwards, the men of Judah marched down to fight against the Canaanites who were living in the hill side in the country.

And then verse 10, and Judah also marched against the Canaanites who were living in Hebron.

And Hebron was formerly named Caratha.

And then struck down all those other names of the people there, and that I'm not going to try to pronounce.

And we see over and over, and then we get down, and we see that what happens, they were the only tribe that drove the enemy out.

Okay?

And they didn't, hey, but the other tribes, seven times, if you went on and read the rest of it, you'll see seven times, and the Canaanites dwelled there.

They didn't, hey, they didn't drive them out.

They let them dwell there.

They didn't drive them out.

They let them dwell there.

They didn't drive them out.

Seven times.

We see that they decided to not drive out all the enemy.

That they they weren't that bad.

And God didn't really mean that.

I mean, God's a loving God.

He doesn't want us to just be horrible and these people don't have any place to live.

Just uh drive them out.

Get them out.

No, he really didn't mean that.

Now watch this.

Why did Israel settle for less than total victory?

Here it is.

And by the way, we've got to drive out the enemy.

Ephesians 5, 11.

Watch this.

Have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Now listen to me.

I'm on a.

Now, this, and somebody's going to get mad at me.

I'll go, I probably.

But I love you.

But here's the thing.

No fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

That means anybody that does not exhibit Christ-like characteristics and Christ-like character, hey, you cannot fellowship with them.

I didn't say you couldn't befriend them, but you can't hang out with them.

I know what you're saying, but that's the way I, oh, at liberty, all these teenage girls would come up to me and Susan.

I taught a thousand students every semester.

And man, it was unreal.

And let me tell you, every time I'd see a young man or a young woman on fire for God, and I saw it all the time, and then they would, hey, they weren't dating, they were just on fire for God.

They were doing good in school.

They were in the Word.

They were always quoting Scripture.

They were telling me what God's doing in the life, what they feel like God's calling.

And then all of a sudden, this young lady would meet this guy.

Or this guy on fire for God would meet this young lady.

And the next thing I know, oh, they're just, oh, they're so, you know, they're, oh, look who I'm at.

Oh, God's going to do wonderful stuff.

Then months later, no smiling.

Next thing you know, they're not talking about the Lord.

Next thing you know, they're involved in stuff they ought not to be involved in sexually.

And I could just go down the line.

And all of a sudden the Spirit of God's quenched, the Spirit of God's no longer dwelling on them.

And I'm talking about some of the most gifted people.

Why?

Because they went from friendship to fellowship, and one of them, hey, or both of them, allowed Satan to get in that relationship, the enemy, and they did not drive it out.

They allowed it to come in, and because of that, it not only destroyed their relationship, it destroyed their calling.

Oh, now some would repent and some would, but I saw too many just go the opposite direction.

The enemy is real, folks.

And look, we must drive out the enemy.

Ephesians 5.11.

Have no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Another verse is submit yourself therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to you.

James 4, 7 and 8.

You can't give, and by the way, it's not the big sin, it's the little sin.

You're gonna see that.

It happens every time.

Same way in a church.

You get godly leadership, God's gonna bless it.

Well, I'm I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let's go.

All right.

We must not compromise with the enemy.

We can't.

So why did Israel settle for less than total victory?

Here we go.

Number one.

Three things.

Number one, they tried to coexist with the enemy.

They tried to coexist with the enemy.

Look at verse 28.

Verse 28.

When Israel became stronger, they made the Canaanites serve as forced labor, but never drove them out completely.

That's key.

Oh, oh yeah, well, we're gonna take care of them.

We're gonna make them be the servants.

But we're not gonna drive them out because we we need them to serve us.

We're not gonna drive them completely out.

They can live next to us as long as they do what we say.

Very important.

They try to coexist with the enemy.

Why?

To drive out the enemy would take too much work.

Take a lot of work.

Do you know it takes a lot of work to overcome temptation?

Hello, wait a minute.

I'm gonna repeat that, am I?

Now let me ask something.

In fact, there was a preacher in the one of the members came to him and said, Pastor, I I have problems with temptation.

Who of us does not have problems with temptation?

Right?

But he said, he said, I need help.

He says, Well, you know, the pastor said, you know, if you give in to temptation, it's gonna crush you and you're gonna have all this guilt and you're just gonna be feel bad.

God can't use you, but you're living in sin.

The other option is, hey, they have no temptation taking you, but such it's coming of God, but God's faithful, he'll deliver you.

You have to work at it, but you can overcome this temptation.

You can avoid, hey, falling into that sin through the power of the person of the Holy Spirit.

But it takes work.

You know what the guy said?

Is there another option?

Hello.

No, there's not another option.

It's hard work.

Notice the second thing.

They tried to coexist with the enemy, won't work.

Won't work.

I have this all the time.

People that are saved trying to date people that are lost.

And they say this it's missionary dating.

No such biblical principle.

In fact, the principle is you can't do that.

You can't fellowship and date those people.

Not until they get saved and start living for the Lord.

Hello.

Oh, oh, oh me, oh me.

Same way with church.

You can't have people in leadership positions that aren't living for God.

Can't do it.

Now watch this.

The second thing.

They didn't take the enemy seriously.

Mm-mm-mm.

They didn't.

They didn't.

Verse 32.

Look at what it says.

The Asherites lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land because they failed to drive them out.

They didn't take, hey, the Canaanites seriously, the enemy, and let me put, add this to it.

They also didn't take God seriously, because God had commanded them to drive them out.

So see, when you and I disobey God, now this is going to be tough, me included.

When we disobey God, we listen to me, when we don't do what God tells us to do, we are literally just saying to God, we really don't believe you'll do what you say you'll do.

Wow.

Wow.

That's a scary place to be, folks.

Now watch.

They didn't take their enemy or God seriously.

1 Peter 5, 8 and 9.

You'll love this.

Be sober.

That means have your priorities in order.

Be sober, be vigilant.

Here it is.

Because your adversary, the devil, walked about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may be, hey, whom he may devour.

And what's this?

Resist him by being steadfast in the faith.

That means in the word.

Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word.

In other words, be steadfast and believing what God says in his word.

Hold to it.

It's so important.

Now watch.

And experience by your brotherhood in the world.

In other words, show that unbelievable walk that you have with God.

They didn't take the enemy seriously enough.

Finally, my brother, and you know this one, Ephesians 6.

Be strong in the Lord in what?

In the power of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand the what?

The wiles of the devil.

The tricks and the traps of the devil.

And let me tell you what it is.

One of his main traps is getting you and me to question God.

Would he really be?

Would he really do that?

He wouldn't really send somebody to hell, would he?

He wouldn't really.

Now watch.

Notice the third thing.

The third thing.

One, they tried to coexist with the enemy, can't do it.

Didn't want to drive out.

Too much hard work.

Secondly, and by the way, come out from among them, be ye separate, saith the Lord.

Touch not the unclean things, and I will receive you, and I'll be a father.

Hey, and you should be my sons and daughters.

2 Corinthians 6, 17 and 18.

Very powerful.

And that's what he's talking about.

And then number three, they had enough for themselves to be satisfied.

This is the biggie.

In other words, they had so much land they didn't see the need to have to drive out the Canaanites.

They were satisfied.

Hello, America.

We have been so satisfied, we have sat back and we've allowed Satan to work his masterful plan from the highest level down.

Well, we're just not going to get involved.

I had people tell me they're not voting.

That's the worst thing you cannot do.

Seriously.

We've got to stand up and vote what's right.

What's biblically and morally right.

People ask me all the time, well, who are you for?

I am for the B-I-B-L-E, the people that stand for what's biblically and morally right.

That's who I'm voting for.

Why?

Are you ready?

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when the wicked bear through, the people mourn.

It's that simple.

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.

Psalms 33, 12.

Proverbs 14, 34.

Righteousness exalts a nation to greatness, but sin is a reproach to all people.

Proverbs 29, 2.

Amen.

So here we see they had enough for themselves to be satisfied.

Matt, here's a good one.

You remember the church when we were preaching through Revelations?

Remember the church at Laodicea?

They were rich and in need of nothing and thought they didn't need God.

And God turned to them and said, You're poor, you're naked, and you're destitute.

In Revelations 3, 17.

Remember that?

And then what about Jesus?

Remember what Jesus said in the parable in Matthew 13, 22?

He says that when the seed of God's word is sown, hey, Satan comes along and the word of God is choked.

And it's choked by what?

The cares of the world.

Doing what's right in your own eyes.

The cares of the world, you're more involved in doing what you want to do.

And then the lust and the love for money and power.

They choke the word, he says, and you become unprofitable.

Wow.

That a happen that can transcend down to every level, all the way down to your own household.

Joshua said, choose you this day whom you're going to serve.

For me and my house, we're going to serve God.

Amen?

CCW, choose you that this day whom you're going to serve.

Hey, we're going to serve God Jehovah.

We don't care what people think.

We care what God, hey, we don't care what people think.

We want to be pleasing to God.

What we care about is what does He think.

And I've learned when you're pleasing to God, He'll make even your enemies at peace with you.

That's pretty good preaching.

Amen.

The way I, hey, I don't compromise with people that I disagree with.

I love them with all my heart.

And I try to bless them, but I don't agree with them.

Hello?

People will respect you more if you stand for what you believe than if you compromise your belief.

Now write this down.

I think I have it in your notes.

Carelessness is the initial phase of sinning.

You know why?

They tried, they didn't drive the enemy out totally?

Because they were careless.

He that knoweth to do good and do not, to him it is what?

James 4, 17.

They were careless.

They were careless.

Now, are you ready?

You're going to enjoy this.

I'm going to give you.

How many of you love arithmetic?

Five?

Thank you.

We need some.

Listen, without the mathematicians, we're in trouble.

I know.

I had to take our dumb dumb algebra twice.

I got a story about that, but I'm not going to tell you about Dr.

Towns.

Oh, but it makes me feel so good when I tell it.

I know because it's flesh, I know.

Alright, let's go on.

Another day, another story.

I was really wanting to tell that story.

Alright.

But now, so arithmetic.

I'm going to give you this morning the arithmetic to sin.

Oh, are you ready?

The arithmetic.

This is worth you being here if you don't hear anything else.

Don't miss these next four things.

Ready?

Number one, arithmetic of sin.

It adds to your troubles.

If you're living in sin and rebellion, you're going to have nothing but troubles.

Look at Isaiah 57, 20 and 21.

Oh, watch this.

But the wicked are like the troubled sea.

Amen.

Whose waters, watch this.

Go on to verse 21.

Whose waters cast up myrrh and dirt.

You hear that?

But the wicked are like the troubled sea.

The wicked are like the troubled sea when it casts.

Hey, hey, and what?

It can do nothing but cast up dirt and slime.

Alright, what's this?

Isaiah 48, 22.

There is no peace, saith the Lord.

There is no peace, saith the Lord, to the wicked.

You're never gonna, you wonder why you're in trouble all the time.

You wonder why you're not happy.

You wonder why things aren't happening.

You're not getting that.

You just you just keep kind of saying, what is wrong?

Well, I'll tell you what's wrong.

We're living in sin.

Can you say owe me?

I know you're not saying amen.

Oh me.

That's it.

I promise.

I know by experience.

That's it.

Notice the second thing.

Not only does it add to your troubles, but hey, it is, it subtracts from your focus on God.

When you are living in sin, there is no way you can focus on God.

James 4, 4.

You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of this world is enity with God?

That means hostility with God.

You can't love God and love the world.

Now you can say you do, but you can't in your actions.

Either you're for me, you know the rest of the verse.

What did Jesus say?

Either you're for me or against me.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Now watch.

And all these other things that you're complaining about, and I'm wondering what's happening, all these other things should be added unto you.

It's not hard.

One plus one equals what?

You sure?

Okay, just think.

Hey, number three, it multiplies.

By the way, give you a good verse on talking about focusing.

Psalms 141, 8 says, My eyes are fixed on God, and God is my trust.

Amen.

Then number three, it multiplies your emptiness.

Oh my goodness.

You wonder why?

Hey, I was talking to a person today, and they're talking about one person talking about committing suicide and doing.

You know why people think about committing suicide?

You know why they do it?

They're empty.

They feel they don't have any reason to live.

And you know what does that?

Sin.

For the wages of sin is what?

Death.

Satan's come to kill, steal, and what?

It multiplies.

It multiplies your emptiness.

Listen to 1 Timothy 5, 6.

Here's what it says.

They or she, it says, she who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.

In other words, you're empty.

You're just going through.

There's no joy, there's no peace, there's no fulfillment, there's no purpose, there's nothing but just empty.

Emptiness.

And don't you love the verse that says, in thy presence?

Woo-hoo! I'm about to have a smell.

In thy presence is the fullness of joy.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

And then, number four, it divides your hearts.

It divides your hearts.

Matthew 6, 24, no man can serve two masters.

Either you'll hate the one, love the other, hold the one, despise the other.

Amen.

You can't.

It divides your heart.

That's why you have problems.

You're divided.

That's why carnal Christians have so much pain and agony and defeat because they're divided.

They have one foot in the world, one foot in the church, or with the Lord.

And they try to live here for a while, then they'll be pulled back over here and they're here.

Then they get convicted, they get down, they get unfulfilled.

And then God touches them and they come back.

And by the way, that's exactly what happened to Israel for 350 years.

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

I want you to know that is no fun to live like that.

I did for about five years.

It's horrible.

We must drive the enemy out of our lives.

Now I promise you the next three won't take near that long.

Number two, the lesson number two.

But that was a good lesson right there.

That's the foundation.

Point number one is the foundation of everything.

You gotta drive the say this with me.

We gotta drive the enemy out.

Come on.

We gotta drive the enemy out.

We gotta keep Satan out.

Here's a good verse.

Ephesians 4.27.

I think it's in there.

Neither give place to the devil.

Neither give place to the devil.

Number two.

A need for sold-out leaders.

Go to chapter 2, verses 6 through 10.

Joshua sent the people away.

The Israelites went to take possessions of the land, each to his own inheritance.

The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua's lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived Joshua.

They had seen all the Lord's great works he had done for Israel.

Joshua, son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110.

I'd like to live that way if I could be preaching like I am at 110.

They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, and then in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gesh, and the whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors.

After them, another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works he had done for Israel.

As long as Joshua and the people under him that he had discipled and he had trained, oh, they followed the Lord with all their heart.

But once the dynamic leaders, spiritual leaders died, and hey, ungodly leaders, hey, there was no godly leadership, they started doing what?

Things in their own eyes.

And it says that they went back worse each time.

Wow.

So number two, a need for sold-out leaders, godly leaders is so imported.

When you have a godly leader, God brings blessings.

When you have ungodly leadership, God brings forth curses.

It's just that simple.

Why do you think it's so important to license young men, train young men, train leaders in their church?

Why do you think when we look for counsel men, we look for the, hey, you know what the qualification is?

Righteousness.

We don't take that, hey, we don't just pick somebody because they got a lot of money or they're good looking.

Hello.

I know what you're thinking.

Good looking.

We're out of luck, aren't we?

No.

Just the thought.

I don't even know why I said that.

Hey, listen to me.

When the righteous are on authority, the people rejoice.

Righteousness is the key.

Amen?

Most people are chosen in leadership positions is what they can do for the church.

It's not what a leader can do for the church, it's what God can do through that leader for God.

In leading a group of people to do what God wants them to do.

Like Joshua.

Seven times, listen, seven times in Judges, they sunk into sin, and each time God gave them a godly leader to bring them back.

When they had a godly leader, they prospered.

Hey, but when they had an ungodly leader, they went down the tubes.

Proverbs 11.11.

I think I've got it on there.

I know I have it.

Here's one of my favorite verses.

Do we have that one, Jason?

Proverbs 11.11.

By the blessings of the upright, oh yeah.

By the blessings of the upright, the city, the church, the home, the business, whatever, fill it in.

Hey, is exalted.

Hey, the blessings of the upright, the city, or whatever is a church, is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.

Hello.

Pretty simple, isn't it?

Amen.

That's good.

Amen.

Boy, we had that in our government.

If we don't get rid of the enemy, listen to me.

He will get rid of us.

Just remember that.

If we don't get rid of the enemy, he'll get rid of us.

A need for sold-out leaders.

Gotta raise them up.

Gotta raise them up.

Number three.

Another lesson we learn from judges.

And we learn about knowing the merciful God that we so love.

The heart is wicked.

Look at Jeremiah.

Look at verse 10.

Jeremiah, I meant Judges, I'm sorry.

Judges 2, look at verse 10.

The whole generation was also gathered to the ancestors.

After them, another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works he had done for Israel.

And look, go, verse 11.

Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Baal.

And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers and had that had brought them out of the land, and they followed other gods, hey, from among the gods of the people who were all around them.

And they bowed down to them and they provoked the Lord to anger.

Wow.

There it is.

The reason they started serving other gods and bowed down to other gods is they didn't drive the enemy out.

They didn't drive them out.

You, as you, as your shepherd, you know what a shepherd does?

He does three things.

Number one, he feeds his sheep.

Can I get an amen?

I'm gonna feed you.

Our preachers will feed you, I promise.

That's our God.

That's what I'm committed to first.

Your pastor spends hours studying this book.

That's what I do.

Secondly, you know what I do?

I protect my sheep.

A false doctrine.

I had some here a while back, somebody came up with this dumb theology that was kind of trying to spread around our people here.

I got word of it.

You know what your pastor did?

I went straight to him.

I said, sit down.

We're gonna talk.

I want to hear your theology.

And after about two hours, I said, now your problem is you're reading a lot of books and not reading the book.

I said, just stick with the book.

Because that's what we are.

And if you can't stick with the book, then you need to, you, you, you're not gonna be comfortable here, and I'm not gonna allow you to continue to talk that stuff around my sheet.

Now, I'll I'll let you debate the word of God with me all day long, but you're not gonna tell, well, so-and-so authored and that I don't care what so-and-so authored.

All I care is what God authored.

Amen.

Hello?

Hey, clear biblical truth, folks.

I hope you appreciate that.

The word of God, you should know the truth and the truth, what?

And I told him, I said, You really getting the truth and really want to be honest about the truth, and it'll set you free.

Amen.

That's just that's who we are.

Why do we have a covenants class?

Because we we take you through four lessons, everything biblically, what we believe, why we believe it, and if you don't believe that, well, then you don't need to be a covenant member.

Hello?

Well, that's just legalism.

No, that's not legalism.

That's not legalism at all.

Hey, that's called beliefism.

Somebody asks you, well, what are y'all?

Y'all Baptists, y'all mispress.

I said, No, I'm a Biblicist.

I'm a Biblicist.

What is that?

That means I believe what the book says.

And the book means what it says, and it says what it means.

And you can take a concordance and have a sixth to eighth grade education, and God can sh very easily tell you what it means.

Hello?

Thank God for our great teachers we have here to help you.

Guy asked me the other day, he said, Well, what if I don't believe in this?

I said, he says, I can't be a coveted member.

I said, that's correct.

Well, what can I do?

I said, you can worship, you can, you can, you can use your gifts except teaching.

You can't be in a teaching position, you can't be on a uh uh council, you can't vote.

Unless you totally agree with who we are.

But you can worship with us until Jesus comes back.

And when we're going up in the rapture, you'll realize how right we were.

It was the issue with the rapture.

It was, and it was, I said, that's we're not gonna break fellowship over that, but if you're gonna be a two-government member, you gotta believe pre-millennialists.

That's who we are.

Well, isn't that a little arrogant?

I said, maybe.

If you call it arrogant, I just go to Revelation chapter 4, verse 19.

The church is not mentioned again until we come back from the millennial reign.

I just believe church is not here.

Our church, our leadership believes that.

And I'm not gonna have you confusing the other people.

I said, when I preach through the book, I said, go listen to my message on on the eschatology.

He said, What's that word?

I said, eschatology, the study of the church.

I said, hey, hey, I gave the other two views.

And then I showed why we believe this.

Now you can disagree with me.

That's not, hey, does that mean you're not going to heaven?

Absolutely not.

That just means you you're gonna worry, yeah.

Thank you, honey, worry your way there.

But uh, but anyway.

I know it, I know it.

But that's the problem.

Most of the time, people are arguing over stuff they don't really know.

You know why?

They're arguing over the way they were taught as a child or brought up in a denomination, and nobody ever took them to the Word of God.

So all I'm saying is, and why do you think I do this for you every Sunday?

Why not, you know why?

Don't just take my word for it.

Go home.

Study it.

Every verse I'm exergetically giving to you is right here.

You can take it home too.

And anybody that's not willing to do that, and I'd be, I'd want to know why.

Hello?

And I love discussing the scriptures.

I'm not saying we're always right and we're the only ones right, but what I am telling you is this is what we believe the scriptures has taught us and who we are and what we believe and why we believe it.

Will we break fellowship?

Hey, let me say this.

If you're born-again Christian, you believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven.

No other way.

We can fellowship all day long.

And I'll love you as much as you will love me back.

Or I'll love you even if you don't love me back.

Amen.

But when it comes down, and I had somebody just reached and say, I don't get involved in that doctrine.

I say, Well, you're not biblical.

Hello?

Till I come, listen to what Paul said, till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, ready, to doctrine.

1 Thessalonians 4.13.

Doctrine, teachings.

We're gonna teach you.

We're gonna teach you.

Israel's wickedness is demonstrated by two things.

Let me finish this up.

One, they would fall back into sin when godly influence was gone.

Look at verse 19.

In verse in chapter 2.

Look at it.

Boy, this is so good.

This is so good.

You gotta go and read these two chapters.

Verse 19.

Whenever the judge died, the good judge, the righteous judge, the judges that God appointed, the Israelites would act even, what's this, more corruptly than their fathers, going after other gods to worship and bow down to them.

They did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate ways.

Number two, not only would they fall back into sin when godly influence was gone, but watch this.

They continued in sin.

As they continued in sin, it only made things worse.

Their corruption was worse.

Verse 19, I just read it.

It was worse.

Their continual sin made things worse.

Listen, if you you you just gotta, you just gotta fess up.

Ask God to forgive you.

1 John 1.9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He's a merciful God.

Remember that.

Man, that's good.

Listen to this.

I really believe this.

We never fall suddenly.

We never fall suddenly.

One step at a time.

Listen to this.

We never rise suddenly.

Or if and somehow they don't last long.

Todd sitting back there.

We were talking this morning.

Talking about kind of retirement.

He said, Man, it's good to be retired.

I said, It's good to be working that way.

And when I mean retired, if you're a Christian, you never retire.

You can't.

In fact, hopefully, God gives you good enough health, you've managed your money well enough, that when you do no longer have to do an eight-hour-a-day job, that you can be even more productive for God in his ministry.

Can I get an amen?

And I see that happening with a lot of people in this church.

They're getting to the point that they can give more of their time, their talents, and their efforts.

And thank God for you.

Thank you the way you're giving to this church.

Thank you.

That's been mine and Susan's whole life.

The more we God allows us to be blessed, the more we can bless others and bless God's ministry.

But what I'm saying is, when you're talking about getting to that age, you didn't get to that age overnight.

Hello, 40?

Thirty seven for me.

Wonderful years for her.

Thirty-five time working three jobs.

Most of the time at Liberty and Temple, working two and three jobs.

Hello.

Hello.

Go back thirty years with me.

And some of you say, Man, I don't want this.

I don't want to pay the prize.

So yes, fixing the big sixty-five.

Caleb, give me that mount.

Oh my god.

Listen to me.

You don't go to the top.

You don't fall.

It's the little fox.

It brings you down.

Amen.

Are you with me?

Are you with me?

And then the last thing.

God's continual effort to reach sinful man.

Verses 14 through 18.

Oh, what a beautiful picture.

The Lord's anger burned against Israel and he handed them over to the wicked rulers and raided them and he sold them and to the enemies around them so they could no longer resist their enemies.

And then when in watch, whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord was against them and brought disaster on them.

But now wait, this is so important you understand this.

And just as he had promised and sword of them, so they suffered greatly.

But then look at verse 16.

The Lord raised up judges who saved them from the power of the enemy.

But they did not.

They did not listen.

But again and again, we see the same over and over.

But here's what I want to close with the observations.

The fourth lesson.

God's continual effort to reach sinful man.

Aren't you glad that God's never gonna give up on you?

I don't care where you are right now.

Here's where a lot of people get.

They'll try, then fall, and they think it's over.

They just can't do this.

Yes, you can.

By the grace of God, you can.

The righteous fall seven times, but they get back up.

Proverbs 24, 16.

Amen.

Yes, you're going down.

Let me help you.

You're going down.

But don't stay down.

Get back up.

Get back up.

I sometimes I feel so bad in myself, I just, uh, I did that.

Why did I do that?

But then I think, thank you, Lord, for your mercy.

And you every morning.

Would you please forgive me?

Forgive me.

Restore me.

Use me again.

All right.

You gotta get this observation's number.

Observation number one: God was in control even when the people were out of control.

Can I get an amen?

God was in control even when the people were out of control.

Isn't that good?

Hey, guess what?

He was the one that allowed them to be sold into slavery.

He was the one this, this.

But then he was also the one that raised up the righteous judges.

All things work together for good to them that love.

We know.

Uh-oh, I almost forget.

Committed the cardinal sin.

We know.

Not, see, a lot of people say, all things, no, that's good, but we know, Oda, we're absolutely sure all things work together for good to them to love God to them who are called according to their purpose.

Even, even Joseph said, You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

God's in control even when we are out of control.

Can I get an amen?

Second observation.

God will allow bad things to happen to us so that we will turn back to Him.

Wow.

It's called the chastisement of God.

Remember on the storm?

Hey, there's three storms in our lives that God uses.

Storms of perfection.

I didn't put this down because God just gave it to me two days ago.

Storms of perfection.

Remember?

Hey, the disciples in the boat, they were in the perfect will of God.

What did God told them?

What did Jesus tell them?

Get in the boat and go to the other side when the storm came.

They were in the perfect will of God, doing exactly what God told them to do.

Storms of perfection to help us grow and to make us what God wants us to be so He can use us in a greater way.

Second kind of storm, storms of correction.

Jonah was out of the will of God.

He sent a storm to bring Jonah back to the place where he'd go to Nineveh.

Remember that?

Gotta bring storms in our lives to get us out of the pit, back on the rock.

Amen.

It's a good way to say it.

Out of the pit onto the rock.

And then the third storm.

You may be here watching by television right now, listening, or in this building.

Storms of conversion.

You're lost.

You're in a storm.

You don't know where to turn.

Well, I tell you what to turn.

Just where the disciples turned.

They said, Wake him up.

Wake him up.

And when he stood in the bow of the boat, he turned to the waves and to the sea.

The storm he said, Peace be still.

And there was a calm.

You turn to Jesus today and give your heart and your life to Christ.

And there'll be a calm.

There'll be a peace that passes all understanding.

And then number three, God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

When you read the book of Judge, Oh Ehud.

Remember, remember O Ehud?

He had a wooden knife.

And God took OED and the wooden knife and he used him to deliver the nation of Israel.

All right, ladies, you ready for this?

Who else did he use?

Hello, ladies.

Deborah.

Deborah, oh my goodness.

You male chauvinists believe that he used a woman?

Unbelievably.

Thank God for godly women.

God called women.

Ladies, I thought you ought to shouting off the rooftop by now.

If Andrea had been here, they would.

Amen.

Thank God for godly women.

When men won't take a stand, they will.

And ladies, can I say I admire you?

Do you know the greatest thing you can be is a godly influence to your family.

To raise those children to be godly, to support your husband in godliness.

That's the greatest thing you can do.

It really is.

To be a godly Proverbs 31 woman.

And I have one.

And I'm so thankful.

I love you, baby.

I don't tell you enough.

Amen.

And then number four.

God's love and mercy never ends.

One of my favorite verses, 2 Corinthians 9.8.

God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency and all things may have an abundance for every good work.

All grace, all sufficiency, all things.

Woo! 2 Corinthians 9.8.

His grace is sufficient, his strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Most gladly will we glory in our infirmities because when we are weak, he is strong.

Aren't you glad this morning?

You know a merciful God.

Lord, I'm sorry this morning for all the times I've failed you.

Please forgive me.

Lord, just forgive me.

Please.

Strengthen me so that I won't be so swayed and so careless.

That's the word I want you to walk out of here.

God, let us not be careless.

Let us not be careless.