1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:12,440 Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located 2 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:16,680 in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship 3 00:00:16,680 --> 00:00:21,920 Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism, 4 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:27,300 discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church 5 00:00:27,300 --> 00:00:31,880 and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your 6 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:36,420 host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing 7 00:00:36,420 --> 00:00:48,400 to you and bring you closer to God. Hello and welcome back to the Potter's House 8 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:53,900 Salmon Arm podcast. My name is David Bigford. I'm the pastor here in Salmon Arm and today's 9 00:00:53,900 --> 00:01:01,680 message that I have put together is called, Abimelech's Conspiracy, the Murderous Son 10 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:07,720 of Gideon. As we jump into this message today, the text that we're going to be working through 11 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:17,020 is our launching pad, Judges 9 verses 1 through 6. If you're following along, you can go 12 00:01:17,020 --> 00:01:23,180 ahead and turn there. I wanted to first start off with an illustration on humility. An elderly 13 00:01:23,180 --> 00:01:29,940 minister who survived the great Johnston flood of 1889 loved to regale audiences with tales 14 00:01:29,940 --> 00:01:35,260 of that harrowing event. When he died and went to heaven, he found himself in a meeting 15 00:01:35,260 --> 00:01:40,700 of the saints who were sharing their life experiences. He took St. Peter aside and asked 16 00:01:40,700 --> 00:01:48,440 if he could tell about surviving the Johnston flood. Peter hesitated, then said, well, you 17 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:54,780 can tell your story, but just keep in mind that Brother Noah will be in the audience. 18 00:01:54,780 --> 00:02:00,980 So then David Jeremiah writes, there's something in our human flesh that loves to tempt us 19 00:02:00,980 --> 00:02:09,420 to talk about ourselves, how big, tall, great, smart, wealthy or wise we are, even how humble 20 00:02:09,420 --> 00:02:15,420 we are. But God has this way of helping us learn that we're not quite what we would like 21 00:02:15,420 --> 00:02:25,460 others to believe. In fact, to prompt a little humility on us, he tells us that our great 22 00:02:25,460 --> 00:02:32,620 deeds are like filthy rags in Isaiah 64 6. It's not that God doesn't want us to be lifted 23 00:02:32,620 --> 00:02:38,980 up, it's just that he wants to exalt us his way, not the world's way. He wants us to see 24 00:02:38,980 --> 00:02:44,900 that our greatness is because of Christ's greatness, not because of ours. So next time 25 00:02:44,900 --> 00:02:51,220 you're tempted to talk about yourself, look around the room and see who God might have 26 00:02:51,220 --> 00:03:00,340 in that place. I like this illustration for many reasons, but the biggest reason I do 27 00:03:00,340 --> 00:03:07,020 is because I give a lot of speeches and sermons and different things, but even in the course 28 00:03:07,020 --> 00:03:14,040 of the week, I work in sales as well. So you're giving presentations and you always have to 29 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:22,060 remember to keep humility because you don't know who the audience is or their background, 30 00:03:22,060 --> 00:03:27,140 especially in the very beginning stages when you're just building rapport. You don't know 31 00:03:27,140 --> 00:03:33,260 who you're talking to. You don't know the experiences they've lived through, their successes, 32 00:03:33,260 --> 00:03:40,220 their triumphs. And so it's very, it's very smart to remain humble so that you don't make 33 00:03:40,220 --> 00:03:49,980 a fool of yourself. In our text in chapter 9 verses 1 through 6 of Judges, it reads, 34 00:03:49,980 --> 00:03:55,460 Now Abimelek the son of Jerubbabel went to Shishem to his mother's relative and said 35 00:03:55,460 --> 00:04:00,780 to them and to the whole clan of his mother's family, saying in the ears of the leaders 36 00:04:00,780 --> 00:04:06,980 of Shishem, which is better for you that all 70 of the sons of Jerubbabel rule over you 37 00:04:06,980 --> 00:04:13,380 or that one rule over you. Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. And his mother's 38 00:04:13,380 --> 00:04:18,180 relative spoke all these words on his behalf and the ears of the leaders of Shishem and 39 00:04:18,180 --> 00:04:23,180 their hearts inclined to follow Abimelek for they said, he is our brother. And they gave 40 00:04:23,180 --> 00:04:29,460 him 70 pieces of silver out of the houses of Baal-Pareth with which Abimelek hired 41 00:04:29,460 --> 00:04:34,680 worthless and reckless fellows who followed him. And he went to his father's house at 42 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:43,020 Ofra and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbabel, 70 men on one stone. But Jotham the youngest 43 00:04:43,020 --> 00:04:49,180 of the sons of Jerubbabel was left for he had hid himself. And all the leaders of Shishem 44 00:04:49,180 --> 00:04:56,060 came together and all Beth-Miloh and they went and made Abimelek king by the oak of 45 00:04:56,060 --> 00:05:01,060 the pillar in Shishem. So to understand the story of Abimelek it's important to know 46 00:05:01,060 --> 00:05:07,220 where he started. Abimelek stands out as one of the many sons of Gideon. The story of Gideon 47 00:05:07,220 --> 00:05:12,660 reads like an action movie. Gideon plays the role of an unlikely hero who rises to the 48 00:05:12,660 --> 00:05:19,480 challenge against all odds to accomplish what most thought to be impossible. After the events 49 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:26,000 of Gideon we are introduced to Abimelek. Abimelek, one of Gideon's sons, served as a judge of 50 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:31,980 Israel following the judgeship of Gideon. He's first mentioned in Judges 8, 30, and 31 where 51 00:05:31,980 --> 00:05:39,620 he read, Gideon had 70 sons of his own, for he had many wives. His concubine, who lived 52 00:05:39,620 --> 00:05:47,720 in Shishem, also bore him a son whom he named Abimelek. There was a serious issue with Abimelek. 53 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:53,180 He was not made of the same stuff as his father Gideon. The story of Gideon starts with God's 54 00:05:53,180 --> 00:06:00,520 calling of Gideon and the name that he was called was Mighty Warrior. This proclamation 55 00:06:00,520 --> 00:06:07,920 is amazing because Gideon was not a mighty warrior at the time of God's declaration. 56 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:13,720 He was living in a spiritually backslidden nation and family. God instructed him to tear 57 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:19,820 down his family's altar to Baal in the Asherah poles. He threshed wheat while hiding in a 58 00:06:19,820 --> 00:06:26,600 wine press so that the Midianites would not see him and take the wheat. Gideon describes 59 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:33,240 himself like this in Judges 6, 15, My clan is the weakest of all the clans in Manasseh 60 00:06:33,240 --> 00:06:40,660 and I am the least of my family. So we see that God often chooses to use the lowly to 61 00:06:40,660 --> 00:06:48,920 raise up and that is what he did with Gideon. But Abimelek was not Gideon. He was a lot 62 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:54,400 more like the leaders that we see in the world today and throughout history. 63 00:06:54,400 --> 00:06:58,440 So this brings me to my first point which is Abimelek's murderous rise. Gideon had 64 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:05,180 rejected the kingship officially in Judges 8, 23 but Abimelek desired it for himself. 65 00:07:05,180 --> 00:07:10,520 He hated his half-brothers possibly because he was the son of a concubine rather than 66 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:16,840 the son of Gideon's wives. Shechem was one of the older city states in Canaan. The Canaanites 67 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:21,800 were its primary inhabitants and as we can see from this story the Canaanite people of 68 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:27,880 Shechem seemed to have been more open to having a king over them than the Israelites as we 69 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:34,360 read in our text in Judges 9, 6. As a local boy as well as the son of Gideon, the famous 70 00:07:34,360 --> 00:07:41,160 military leader, the Shechemites favored accepting Abimelek as their king. Even when Gideon's 71 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:48,760 shortcomings he had the right understanding of God's sovereignty over Israel. In Judges 72 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:50,800 8, 22-23 it says, 73 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:52,760 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, 74 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:57,960 Rule over us, you and your sons and your grandsons also, for you have saved us from the hand 75 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:03,440 of Midian. Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over 76 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:07,080 you. The Lord will rule over you. 77 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:12,220 So Abimelek on the other hand leaves the Lord out of the picture entirely. It would seem 78 00:08:12,220 --> 00:08:18,240 that Abimelek felt that Gideon's other sons were ambitious and wanted to be king too. 79 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:22,760 There's no indication in the text that any of them felt this way. He was perhaps projecting 80 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:27,940 his feelings on them, which is often true of ambitious people. Overly ambitious people 81 00:08:27,940 --> 00:08:33,880 can sometimes become paranoid as Abimelek did as well as King Saul later on. Abimelek 82 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:40,000 was able to secure some popular and financial support by politicking. He hired some assistants 83 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:45,780 who promoted him and probably helped him to assemble and assassinate 69 of his 70 brothers 84 00:08:45,780 --> 00:08:49,240 that we read about in Judges 9, 5. 85 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:56,360 He executed this slaughter on one stone, the Bible tells us, suggesting a well-planned 86 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:03,080 mass murder. We can compare and contrast the similar story of Jehu's slaughter of Ahab's 87 00:09:03,080 --> 00:09:08,360 sons in 2 Kings 10. It is important to see how the departure from God, the inclusion 88 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:15,000 of idolatry, and the pride that rises up in man can result in this kind of hatred and 89 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:20,000 violence. The men of Shechem would have known about Abimelek's slaughter of his brothers 90 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:25,720 before they had even made him king. It could even be that Abimelek's violent behavior 91 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:32,780 enhanced his value in their eyes. Beth-Milla was the synodal in Shechem, the most heavily 92 00:09:32,780 --> 00:09:40,000 fortified part of the town. The writer also called it the Tower of Shechem and may have 93 00:09:40,000 --> 00:09:46,600 been the fortress temple of Baal-Pareth. We know from Judges 8, 33-35 that as soon as 94 00:09:46,600 --> 00:09:53,880 Gideon died, the Israelites went right back to idol worship. In Judges 8, 33-35 it actually 95 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:59,120 reads, As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and hoarded after the 96 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:04,640 Baals and made Baal-Pareth their god. And the people of Israel did not remember the 97 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:09,440 Lord their god, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side. 98 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:14,680 They did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbabel, that is Gideon, and returned 99 00:10:14,680 --> 00:10:19,480 for all the good that he had done to Israel. The inhabitants of Shechem, the worshippers 100 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:25,240 of Baal-Pareth, carried out the election of Abimelek as king in the very same place in 101 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:30,960 which Joshua had held the last national assembly and had renewed the covenant of Israel with 102 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:38,680 Jehovah, the true covenant god. It was there in all this probability that the temple of 103 00:10:38,680 --> 00:10:45,720 Baal-Pareth was to be found, namely according to Judges 9, 46, near the Tower of Shechem 104 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:52,600 or the Citadel of Milo. Abimelek was the first person ever to be crowned king in Israel, 105 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:59,360 as far as the text records show. He started a trend that carried on for all of the Israelite 106 00:10:59,360 --> 00:11:04,560 kings. I find this story interesting in part because of the historical synergy. I find 107 00:11:04,560 --> 00:11:13,480 it with this kind of rise to power. In the Ottoman Empire and many other Muslim Sultanates, 108 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:19,480 it was a common practice for the new Sultan to take power, and by the law, once they had 109 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:25,440 consolidated their grip, they had to have all their brothers executed. The method that 110 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:32,640 was ordained in the Muslim Sultanates was that they had to be executed by way of strangulation 111 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:40,820 with a silk cord. I think it's pretty interesting, this murderous thought process that exists 112 00:11:40,820 --> 00:11:47,520 throughout our own history, throughout the world's history, that was present in this 113 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:51,880 portion of scripture in the history of the Bible. Before Abimelek's rise to power, his 114 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:57,100 sole surviving brother went into hiding. He protested against Abimelek and predicted the 115 00:11:57,100 --> 00:12:03,280 effect of his rule. Jotham stood on the same mountain where six of the Israelite tribes 116 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:08,680 had declared the blessings of abiding by the law of God and denouncing the Shechemites 117 00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:13,280 for their foolish and wicked actions. The contrast between the Israelite communities 118 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:20,680 are commitments in Joshua 8 and 24, and this passage must be one reason the writer includes 119 00:12:20,680 --> 00:12:27,320 Abimelek's story in Judges. Jotham's fable was a parable with a moral, and it's generally 120 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:33,960 recognized as the first parable in the Bible. It reads in Judges 9, 7-21 like this, When 121 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:40,120 it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizium and cried aloud 122 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:45,600 and said to them, Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. The 123 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:51,040 trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, Rain 124 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:55,960 over us. But the olive tree said to them, I shall leave my abundance, by which gods 125 00:12:55,960 --> 00:13:01,840 and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees. And the tree said to the fig tree, 126 00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:06,480 You come and rain over us. But the fig tree said to them, Shall I leave my sweetness and 127 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:12,760 my good fruit, and go hold sway over the trees? And the tree said to the vine, You come and 128 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:19,120 rain over us. But the vine said to them, Shall I leave my wine, that cheers God and men, 129 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:24,880 and go hold sway over the trees? Then all the trees said to the bramble, You come and 130 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:30,160 rain over us. And the bramble said to the trees, If in good faith you are anointing 131 00:13:30,160 --> 00:13:36,240 me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade. But if not, let fire come out 132 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:41,600 of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon. Now therefore, if you act in good faith and 133 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:47,960 integrity when you made Abimelek king, and if you have dealt with Jerubabal in his house, 134 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:53,000 and have done him as his deeds deserved, for my father fought for you and risked his life 135 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:58,720 and delivered you from the hands of the Midian, and you have risen up against my father's 136 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:05,440 house this day, and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelek 137 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:12,040 the son of his female servant, king over the leaders of Shechem, or Shechem, because he 138 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:18,760 is your relative. If you then have acted in good faith and integrity with Jerubabal, and 139 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:25,280 with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelek, and let him also rejoice in you. But if not, 140 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:31,320 let fire come out of Abimelek and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-Miloh, and let 141 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:37,120 fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-Miloh and devour Abimelek, and 142 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:45,760 Jotham ran away and fled and went to Beer and lived there because Abimelek his brother. 143 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:50,720 This indictment of Abimelek was sure to follow. We see in our own society the rise and fall 144 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:56,720 of many who hope to be great men. Even in our current day, the politics that we see 145 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:03,320 taking place every day in our lives, we see men and women who grasp for power only to 146 00:15:03,320 --> 00:15:10,720 achieve it and then fail in disgrace. Society has a way of building up their idols only 147 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:16,240 to subsequently tear them down as soon as they stumble. 148 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:19,920 This brings me to my next point, which is Abimelek's fall and his disgrace. Abimelek 149 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:29,160 ruled over Israel and it appears to have been very small in scope as well as short in duration. 150 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:35,600 He was only the ruler of Shechem and its surrounding territory. He evidently lived at Aruma about 151 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:41,000 five miles southeast of Shechem. So even though he is the first Israelite king that we hear 152 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:45,980 about in the Bible, he is usually discounted because he was not ordained to be king nor 153 00:15:45,980 --> 00:15:52,760 did he come from an ancestral line of royalty. There were many bad kings of both Israel and 154 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:57,720 Judah but Abimelek is mostly forgotten. Some scholars would say Abimelek's government 155 00:15:57,720 --> 00:16:05,320 was not a monarchal reign but simply a tyrannical despotism. God intervened with the rule of 156 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:10,800 Abimelek by sending an evil spirit to bring contention between Abimelek and the leaders 157 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:15,080 of Shechem. 158 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:20,520 In Judges 9, 20, 2, 24 we read the downfall of Abimelek. Abimelek ruled over Israel three 159 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:25,240 years and God sent an evil spirit between Abimelek and the leaders of Shechem and the 160 00:16:25,240 --> 00:16:30,480 leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelek. That the violence done to the seventy 161 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:36,240 sons of Jerubbabel might come and their blood be laid on Abimelek, their brother, who killed 162 00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:41,720 them and on the men of Shechem who strengthened his hand to kill his brothers. One of the 163 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:47,520 leaders, Gael, led an uprising against Abimelek. Gael was evidently a Canaanite who disliked 164 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:52,600 Abimelek because he was the son of Gideon. He also opposed him because Gideon had both 165 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:58,560 destroyed the altar of Baal and Ofra and established the worship of God in Israel. Gael, whose 166 00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:04,800 name connects with a Hebrew word meaning loathsome and his father's name means servant, did 167 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:10,960 not want Abimelek to continue ruling over that part of Canaan. He did not want Shechem 168 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:16,280 to remain under Abimelek's control either. In the end, Abimelek suffers a major defeat 169 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:23,640 and is disgraced by the Shechemites. In Judges 9, 50-54 we read, Then Abimelek went to Thebes 170 00:17:23,640 --> 00:17:28,260 and encamped against Thebes and captured it. But there was a strong tower within the city 171 00:17:28,260 --> 00:17:33,000 and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves 172 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:37,640 in. They went up to the roof of the tower and Abimelek came to the tower and fought 173 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:43,080 against it and drew near the door of the tower to burn it with fire. And a certain woman 174 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:48,500 threw an upper millstone on Abimelek's head and crushed his skull. Then he called quickly 175 00:17:48,500 --> 00:17:53,440 to the young man his armor bearer and said to him, Draw your sword and kill me, lest 176 00:17:53,440 --> 00:18:00,760 they say of me, a woman killed him. And his young man thrust him through and he died. 177 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:05,440 This brings me to my final point which is our servant king Christ Jesus. The story of 178 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:12,760 Abimelek ends with a whimper. The tyrant king is killed and his followers fade away. So 179 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:20,960 as we finish off Judges 9, 55-57 it says, And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelek 180 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:26,800 was dead, everyone departed his home. Thus God returned to the evil of Abimelek which 181 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:32,040 he committed against his father and killing his seventy brothers. And God also made all 182 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:39,040 the evil men of Shechem return on their heads. And upon them came the curse of Jotham the 183 00:18:39,040 --> 00:18:45,120 son of Jerubabal. This story from Judges is powerful to me because we see it repeated 184 00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:50,360 so often through the history of mankind. Abimelek's request to be finished off by his armor bearer 185 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:58,440 is similar to Saul's later request to avoid dishonor in 1 Samuel 31.4. The careers of 186 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:05,360 Israel's first self-made king Abimelek and the first divinely designated king Saul end 187 00:19:05,360 --> 00:19:10,760 at a very similar kind of disgrace. Abimelek was an idolater from the beginning and Saul 188 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:16,880 was rejected by God for disobeying God's explicit commands in 1 Samuel 15. It's interesting 189 00:19:16,880 --> 00:19:24,240 that the men of Israel would follow such a man as Abimelek. It provides a sad commentary 190 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:29,240 on the moral and spiritual level of God's people at this time and it also draws a picture 191 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:34,700 for us today. It highlights the fact that mankind can be easily swayed into sin if we 192 00:19:34,700 --> 00:19:41,760 disregard the word of God. This is what incomplete obedience to God's law and compromises that 193 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:46,880 we can allow into our lives and what it can produce. In the book of Judges we see the 194 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:51,480 mercy of God at work. We also see the greatest threats of Israel's existence did not come 195 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:58,520 from the outside. They were not outside enemies that devastated Israel so often. Israel's 196 00:19:58,520 --> 00:20:06,340 most serious enemy has always been and still to this day continues to be the enemy within. 197 00:20:06,340 --> 00:20:12,900 She was and is a nation that appears determined to destroy itself. Only the gracious intervention 198 00:20:12,900 --> 00:20:18,560 of God prevents this from happening. A pattern that seems to emerge from the story of Gideon, 199 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:23,820 a pivotal turning point in the book of Judges, each major Judges administration concludes 200 00:20:23,820 --> 00:20:32,640 with or is followed by Israelite on Israelite violence. The book of Judges ends in chaos. 201 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:37,460 So how then do we as Christians look at the book of Judges and this tale of Abimelek? 202 00:20:37,460 --> 00:20:45,680 It goes back to the simplicity of the Shema and the commandments of God. So when we look 203 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:52,400 at how Jesus paraphrases this we can look at Mark 12, 29-31. Jesus answered and said 204 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:58,920 the most important is, hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall 205 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,960 love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with 206 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:08,440 all your strength. The second is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There 207 00:21:08,440 --> 00:21:14,600 is no other commandment greater than these. So on April 18th, 1775 when British soldiers 208 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:19,600 ordered John Adams, John Hancock, and the others to disperse in the name of George the 209 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:26,240 Sovereign King of England, Adams responded with, we recognize no sovereign but God and 210 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:32,920 no king but Jesus. As Christians we need to keep God in his rightful position. God the 211 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:38,000 Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are to be our everything. That means we do not place 212 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:44,960 our trust in men and we do not scheme in the hopes of gaining power over our fellow man. 213 00:21:44,960 --> 00:21:51,840 We place our trust in the Lord and we serve our fellow man. I'm going to repeat that. 214 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:58,600 We place our trust in the Lord, we place our faith in the Lord, everything into the Lord, 215 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:07,280 and yet we serve our fellow man. Our King is King Jesus and he is a servant King. It 216 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:13,760 was through his sacrifice that we are able to come to the Father. He is to be our authority, 217 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:21,120 he is to be our example, he is to be our covering, and he is to be our salvation. God's grace 218 00:22:21,120 --> 00:22:29,520 has been extended to us but we have to receive it and live by it. This brings me to my final 219 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:36,760 portion of scripture as we close this. It's John 3, 16 through 18. Very well known portion 220 00:22:36,760 --> 00:22:37,760 of scripture. 221 00:22:37,760 --> 00:22:42,320 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should 222 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:47,920 not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn 223 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:53,480 the world but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in 224 00:22:53,480 --> 00:23:01,200 him is not condemned but whoever does not believe is condemned already because he has 225 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:06,480 not believed in the name of the only son of God. 226 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:10,560 With that if I could have every head bowed and every eye closed as we conclude this message 227 00:23:10,560 --> 00:23:21,960 today. Verses 17 and 18 of John 3 I believe get passed over in lieu of the more famous 228 00:23:21,960 --> 00:23:27,960 16. Because everybody likes the idea that God so loved the world that he gave his only 229 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:31,360 son that whoever believes in him should not perish. Everybody likes that, everybody likes 230 00:23:31,360 --> 00:23:39,800 eternal life. But as we see in verse 17 he didn't send Jesus to condemn the world but 231 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:50,840 in order to have a way to be saved. But in 18 we get the hook, we get the reality of 232 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:56,880 the statement that you do have to believe in him in order to not be condemned. You have 233 00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:05,560 to give over your life and allow him to be your sovereign. Because if you're not willing 234 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:11,320 to do that then you're already condemned because the sin that is in your life and the sin that 235 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:20,680 is in this world. This is the reality of Jesus. This is what separates Christianity from all 236 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:30,560 of their faiths. Is that you have to accept that Jesus is the one and only way to receive 237 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:37,120 eternal life and salvation through grace. So if this message has impacted you maybe 238 00:24:37,120 --> 00:24:43,000 you're not living a life of humility. Maybe you're not living a life in service of others 239 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:52,200 currently. Maybe you recognize that your ambition is driving you to target your fellow man rather 240 00:24:52,200 --> 00:25:00,360 than to serve your fellow man. Maybe this message is pointing out the fact that your 241 00:25:00,360 --> 00:25:10,400 path, your goals, your desires are causing you to live a life that goes against the word 242 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:16,680 of God and takes you away from relationship with the Father that actually literally does 243 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:25,240 condemn you because of your sin. Well then because of this sacrifice that Jesus gave 244 00:25:25,240 --> 00:25:33,080 on the cross in Calvary there is a way to rectify the sin in your own life, the sin 245 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:40,000 in all of our lives and your past. And that is to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and 246 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:48,760 Savior and to turn from the sin that tarnishes your life. If this message has spoke to you 247 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,720 and that's you I want you to signify that with an uplifted hand. I can't see it but 248 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:58,880 God sees everything and he sees your heart at this moment. So if you rose your hand and 249 00:25:58,880 --> 00:26:04,320 you meant it I want you to repeat after me, Dear Lord God, I know that I'm a sinner but 250 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:10,840 I know that your son Jesus Christ did die for me and I repent which means to turn away 251 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:17,600 from my sin and I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior as my sovereign and my King. 252 00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:24,760 In Jesus name I pray, Amen. That simple prayer writes your name in the Lamb's Book of Life. 253 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:29,600 It's a confession of your sin, it's a turning away from your sin and repentance and it is 254 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:39,040 acceptance of King Jesus. Now as we close this message and we're finished with this 255 00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:44,240 podcast today I just want to thank you for listening this long and if this message impacted 256 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:49,480 you I'd love it if you could like, share and subscribe to this podcast. It helps us get 257 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:56,520 this word and this message out to more people. And I just really want to pray that God will 258 00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:01,640 speak to you through these messages and that it will encourage you to be more vocal with 259 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:07,220 your own faith. You can say it as like paying forward or we could call it paying the fee 260 00:27:07,220 --> 00:27:13,360 in the sense that the great commission is to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. So I 261 00:27:13,360 --> 00:27:19,280 challenge you to share the gospel of Jesus Christ in your life with one person today. 262 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:24,520 Because if we can all share the gospel with one person a day we can change the world, 263 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:30,360 we can help to bring about a new revival in the land because the Bible tells us that his 264 00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:36,560 word will not go out to the world and return void. So the more of us that are sharing the 265 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:43,040 gospel the more seed that is planted for his word the more likely we'll see the harvest 266 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:48,200 come in our life. So with that I just want to thank you again for listening I can't wait 267 00:27:48,200 --> 00:28:07,920 for you to come back next time. I hope you have a great week. God bless.