 Hey man, all right, Judges Chapter 2. So how many of you are wondering, as we just read Judges Chapter 2, you're like, Judges. So you know, where are all these Judges at? So we haven't even seen any Judges yet, right? So my point of, we don't have any Judges yet in Judges Chapter 1 and Judges Chapter 2, but my point in trying to get through these chapters in the Bible is to try to kind of, not only, we did this same thing with Matthew is not only just preach through verse by verse and kind of run off on different things, but I want to kind of try to give the context and the big picture of what's happening in not only the chapters, but in this part of the Bible. And in Judges Chapter 1 and Judges Chapter 2, we have a very specific purpose of these two chapters in the book of Judges. If you've noticed, you know, look at Judges Chapter 1, just go back to Judges Chapter 1. The Bible says, now after the death of Joshua, and then if you go and you look at Judges Chapter 2, you see that Joshua was alive again, right? So it's like, what is going on here? So Judges Chapter 1 and Judges Chapter 2 are not chronological. It's not meant to be a chronological history of what happens. Judges Chapter 1 and Judges Chapter 2 is setting the scene for the book of Judges. It is setting up, you know, it's recapping the situation. It's setting the scene. It's not chronological, but it's more importantly, and I hope that I can get this across to you this evening, it's a methodology that God is laying forth here on how he deals with the nation of Israel. He's showing, he's kind of giving you a Cliff Notes version of what he's doing and what the whole point of the Judges were. Look down at verse number 1 of Judges Chapter 2. I mean, and look, another thing I'm trying to explain to you, I tried to explain to you last week, these two chapters and the way that God uses this methodology, the reason that it's so important is because it applies to us today. It's the exact same methodology that God is going to deal with us today. It's the same methodology that God's going to deal with us as a nation, as we talked about last Wednesday. And it's the same methodology that God is going to deal with us as individuals as well. Okay, so look at Judges Chapter 2 in verse number 1 and let's get into it. And hopefully I can give you this big picture of Judges Chapter 1 and Judges Chapter 2 by the end of the sermon tonight. So we kind of see, we'll have the scene set to get into the actual Judges themselves. Look at verse number 1 of Judges Chapter 2. The Bible says, And an angel of the Lord came upon, came up from Gilgal to Bochem and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt and have brought you unto the land which I swear unto your fathers, and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. So this is interesting. So I want to spend some time on this, just this one verse because this is a verse that people just, people completely misunderstand this covenant today. Okay, they completely misunderstand because God says here, He says, I will never break my covenant with you. So what is the covenant? The specific covenant is talking about, He's brought them unto the land. So this covenant that they're talking about in Judges Chapter 2 in verse number 1 is the specific covenant of this land that they came into. That is the covenant. So turn to Genesis Chapter 17. Let's look into this a little bit. You know, does this mean, does this covenant mean, let's explore the details of this covenant. Does this mean that Israel, the children of Israel, whatever that means, just get this land forever no matter what? Is that what this means? Look at Genesis Chapter 17. Look at verse number 1. And the Bible says, so there's a few covenants to Abraham here, but we're just going to pick out the covenant about the land in Genesis Chapter 17. Look at verse number 1. We'll read a few verses. And when Abram was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. So he makes a promise there. And Abraham fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I shall make thee exceedingly fruitful. So there's another thing that God is telling him. And I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in the generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee. Don't forget that right there. So a covenant is, you know, there's two sides of a covenant. So God is saying, then everlasting covenant, he's like, I'm going to be a God unto you, is what he's saying to Abraham. And to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee. So here is the promise of the land right here in verse number eight. And I will give unto thee, into thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan. That's what the land that we're talking about in the book of Judges is right now. They're in the Canaan land. They're in the promised land. They're amongst the Canaanites. That's who they're trying to, they're fighting these wars and battles against. For an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. So don't forget, you know, that last, I don't know what is it, five words there at the end, six words, and I will be their God. Turn to Exodus chapter 12. Actually don't, just go to Joshua chapter 23. Joshua chapter 23. So you see that they're going to have this everlasting possession and, so and means it has to go together, okay? If you have a logical function of you need, you know, you have an and gate, you need a one and a one to get a one, okay? You have, I mean, I hate to use digital logic on you here, I'm sorry. But the point is, is that that is attached to the covenant. So what is it? I mean, what is a covenant? A covenant is a legal contract. A covenant is a deal. A covenant is something where it's like, hey, you do this, you sign here that you will do this, and then I will do this. If one person doesn't, you know, come up with what they're supposed to do in that contract, it's a breach of contract, okay? Go to Joshua chapter 23, look at verse number five. There was all these things, you know, in Exodus 12, 25, there's all these things that they were supposed to do, the details come out. You know, like one of the things was they were supposed to, you know, observe the Passover. Exodus 12, 25, and it shall come to pass when you become to the land which the Lord will give you according as he promised, he hath promised this. He promises the land that ye shall keep this service. He's talking about, hey, I'm going to give you the land you keep the Passover, basically is what that's talking about, all right? Look at Joshua 23, 5 is where you're at. And the Lord your God, he shall expel them before you and drive them out of your sight and ye shall possess their land as the Lord your God hath promised you. So he's saying, hey, this is the covenant, if I am your God, you know, if you have and I am your God, that I'm going to drive these people out from in front of you and that's, you know, you're going to possess the land. I mean, that's a promise right there. Now go to Leviticus chapter 26, Leviticus chapter 26. Now I love Leviticus chapter 26 because I think it's a pretty decent just kind of overview of, you know, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and then, you know, the good again of the contract, okay, the contract between, you know, the covenant between the Lord and Israel. Look at Leviticus chapter 26. So let's look at the good, first of all. Look at verse 8 and verse 9. The Bible says, look, this is the good. If I am your God, this is what he's saying in the first part of Leviticus 26. He's like, hey, if you're in the covenant, if you're keeping your line and I'm going to keep my line, that's what God says to me. He says it's an everlasting covenant. He basically says, I'll never break mine. I will never break my, my signature, ever. But, and look at verse 8. He says, look, as long as we're in the good on this covenant, he says, and five of you shall chase in hundred, and in hundred of you shall put 10,000 to flight, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. For I will have respect unto you and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish, there it is, and establish my covenant with you. He's like, hey, I'm going to honor that covenant because you're honoring your side of the covenant because I am your God. He's saying, look, five of you shall chase 100. That's why God got so upset when the spies came back. The spies came back and they're like, those people are huge, man. Those people are, you know, they saw the warriors, they saw the giants. They're like, we're like grasshoppers to them. It was only Caleb and Joshua who were like, hey, God will drive them out. That's it. That's why God got so upset and ended up spending 40 years wandering in the wilderness. Now look down at verse number 25 of Leviticus 26. Now we start to see, look, Leviticus 26 is just a good one. Just read the chapter when you get home. But verse 25, it says, look, if you breach the contract, look what will happen. So in the first part of Leviticus, they're in the contract and five are chasing 100. Like five guys are running after and 100 guys, warriors are running away from them because the Lord is with them. Okay? And the Bible says in verse 25, but he's like, you know, if you're out of this covenant, if you turn from me and I will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the what? The quarrel of my covenant. There's a problem with the deal here. God's got a problem with the deal. One side of the deal is not being held. He says, look, the quarrel of my covenant and when you're gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. Sounds like the opposite of the first part of the chapter. So if the covenant is broken, this is what will happen. Look at verse 36 for sake of time. The Bible says in verse 36, and upon them that are left alive of you. He's like, look, most of you are gonna die and upon them that are left alive of you, I will send a faintness into their hearts, into the lands of their enemies and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them. It's like, look, it's like any, they're gonna be these people where it's like anything, they're just like. I mean, look what's happening today. Who's the most afraid people? Brother Stucky and I were just talking about this the other day. It's like the more godless and the more liberal and the more wicked people are, the more afraid of dying they are. That's these people right here. They turned from the Lord, they became godless and just the sound of a shaking leaf. They're like, what is that? You ever been camping in like a tree like goes across the tent? You know, this is how these people are living their life because they're just afraid of everything. You know, that's like the opposite of five people chasing a hundred, by the way. I mean, what kind of people, what kind of five guys are gonna go up against a hundred guys? Guys who know that the Lord is on their side, that's who. But look, these are the opposite of that. He's like, you're in breach of covenant. He's like, just the sound of a shaking leaf is gonna terrify you, is what he's saying here. And they shall flee as fleeing from a sword and they shall fall when none pursue it. They'll run when no one's chasing them. They'll be afraid and not only will this leaf shake and they'll start running, they'll just run away and no one's even after them. It's exactly what's happening today, by the way. I mean, is the Bible a miracle or is the Bible a miracle? It tells us exactly what's happening. It tells us exactly what's happening in our nation because it's exactly what's happening to this nation over and over and over again, okay? But we're not talking about the nation tonight, okay? But look, look at verse number 40. But there's hope. You're like, I'm depressed now. Like, I don't even wanna come to church on Wednesday night even more. This is depressing, right? We went from five chasing a hundred to like a shaking leaf and we're all gonna be afraid. But look, this is the book of judges right here, okay? This is the book of judges in a nutshell, not to just give it away. But there's hope, why? Look at verse 40. This is why there's hope. Because God is long suffering, that's why. That's the answer, okay? But look, if they shall confess their iniquity, remember we talked about confessing your sins, getting right with God? We're not talking about individual salvation here. We're talking about getting right with God. What, nations are judged on this earth. People, we're gonna, you know, people, if you're saved, you know, you will be chastised on this earth. You're not gonna lose your salvation. You know, the Bible says I give unto them eternal life. I mean, it's eternal, all right? And no man shall pluck them from my hand, period. Right, when you're saved, you're saved. But you're gonna be chastised on this earth. And this is what God is talking about. Look, it says if they shall confess their iniquity, if they get right, and the iniquity of their fathers with their trespass, which they trespassed against me, and that which also they have walked contrary to me, and that I have also walked contrary to them and have brought them into the land of their enemies, if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity, then, look what he'll do, then will I remember my covenant? My covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham, will I remember? And what will he remember? And he will remember the land, right there. You know, look, so the covenant was, I'm trying to get you to understand that the covenant was a deal between the nation and the Lord. It was a deal, there were two sides to this deal, and if the Lord is their God, the covenant was all good. And if not, not, like really not. Okay, the land, the land folks, that's why I don't understand why Christianity today has gone so weird on all this, because it's very clear. The land always had strings. It always had these strings. It was a two-sided deal. I mean, the first, and here's the thing, the first thing that went away, the first thing that went away, and that's what we're gonna look at tonight, was the protection of the Lord. The first thing that went away was they were overrun by their enemies. The first thing that happened was they lost the literal land. I mean, God's like, hey, you broke the covenant, they lost the land. I mean, it happened right away. I mean, look, is this covenant in, look, this covenant's in breach today. Is the nation of Israel believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? I mean, hello, I mean, we're in the world. It doesn't even make any sense. Okay, not the point of the sermon tonight, but look at verse number two. All right, so we're in one verse in. Here we go. It's gonna be a long sermon. All right, verse number two. And you shall make, and here's another interesting point, you shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land. You shall throw down their altars, but ye have not obeyed my voice. Why have ye done this? So he, look, he's setting the stage here. He's setting the stage. He's like, look, there is to be no peace. There is to be no deals. There is to be no compromise. Look at Judges, go back to Judges chapter one. Look at verse like 30 of Judges chapter one. Remember the end of Judges chapter one? We kept seeing this thing, and I didn't really get into it last week, but look, look at verse 30. Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kittron, nor the inhabitants of Naholo, but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and what? And became tributaries. All right, look at verse 33. Neither did Naftali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemish, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath, but he went, but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth Shemish and Bethanath became tributaries unto them. Verse 35, but the Amorites would dwell in the mount, Harry's, Avajalan, and Shalbim, yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed so that they became tributaries. What you're seeing here is compromise. What you're seeing here is compromise. And what they did was they were supposed to drive them out and utterly destroy them. And you're like, oh, that sounds, that's what they were supposed to do. That's what they were supposed to do, utterly destroy them, drive them completely out, and instead they started making deals with them. And they started living amongst them. And they're like, you know what? Because this is kind of how, look, and this isn't the point of the sermon tonight either. I don't want to really go too far off on this one, but look, that's how compromise always starts, by the way. Oh, you know, this is okay. This is okay. And you know what? There's benefit to us here. I mean, look, there was financial benefit here. Hey, why would we just destroy all this capital, all these cattle, all these people? Look, these people can live here and pay us. There's benefit to us. We're ruling over them. I mean, they have no influence over us. We're ruling over. Can you see this happening? They're, I mean, hey, we'll just put our kids in school and then we can both work. And like, look, it's gonna be fine. We're gonna take them to church three times a week and we're gonna have so much extra income that we'll just be able to spend more time and have more materials to teach them at home, even though they're at school. But we can just have that. You see what I'm talking about here? I mean, we can go on and on and on. Compromise, it always starts out thinking, hey, this music isn't that bad. This music isn't that bad. It always looks like a good deal at first, this compromise. And then, you know, it destroys you in the end. That's how it always goes. And like, I mean, I don't know what Bible you're reading if you think God's a compromiser. I mean, you wonder why God is so, you know, black and white about things. Look at Judges chapter two and verse number three. The Bible says, wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out before you. So look, here they've breached the contract and the very first thing he says, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall be as thorns in your sides and their gods shall be a snare unto you. He's like, look, you think that there's no consequence. He's like, you're gonna fall for all this stuff. And it came to pass when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, the people lifted up their voice and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim and they sacrificed there unto the Lord. And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. And the people served Joshua all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua. I'm not gonna get too into this. I talked about this last week. But look, anybody who saw the fights, anybody who saw the battles, anybody who saw the people actually fighting the fights did fine. Where they could see those battles that were fought. Even the elders that were with Joshua that fought the battles did fine. And Joshua, the son of none, the servant of the Lord died being 110 years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance into matheny threes in the mount of Ephraim on the north side of the hill Gash. And also all that generation that were gathered unto their fathers. So now everybody in that elder generation that was with Joshua during the fighting has died. And there arose another generation after them which knew not the Lord one generation later, one and a half generations later. This is what we talked about last week. Nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. I mean, that's how fast it happens. And you look at today and it's exactly the same. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Balaam. There's that snare. Who's Balaam? He's the false God. He's the devil that they were worshiping. These people of Canaan. These heathen people. And they forsook the Lord the God of their fathers which brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods. There's the breach right there. So look out. Here we come. Here we go. And the gods of the people that were round about them and bowed themselves unto them and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and He delivered them into the hands of the spoilers that spoiled them and He sold them into the hands of their enemies round about so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Look, they immediately lost territory. You know, there should have been a meter. You know, I mean, the children of Israel's spiritual well-being could be measured on how many acres they controlled basically is how it went in the Old Testament. Because immediately after they breached the contract every single time, their enemies overtake them. I mean, God, I mean, and it's because the first action against them from the Lord is He removes His hand of protection from them. That's the first action. Look at verse 15 and you'll see that. The Bible says withers, withers whoever they went out. It says wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was what? It was against them. For evil as the Lord had said and the Lord had sworn unto them and they were greatly distressed. He's like, look, God told you this was gonna happen. I mean, God told you this was gonna happen. Nevertheless, the Lord, nevertheless, I mean, here it is again. Now, here's the last part of Leviticus 26, right? Here's that mercy coming in. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. The book of judges could be called, you know, the book of mercy. Think of that. That's what it could be called because it's God's mercy towards a disobedient people. And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. What does that mean? That the Lord saw his children. He saw his children being oppressed and it vexed him and it repented him. It made him change his mind. That's what that means. That's what that repented means. It made him change his mind and show mercy so he raised up judges to free them from their oppressors. Verse 19. And it came to pass when the judge was dead that they returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and to bow down unto them. They seized not from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. Look, this is actually kind of neat. This is kind of showing us this cycle. It's the Cliff Notes version of judges right here. Look, there's a lot of cool detailed stories in the book of judges, but what we're getting here is the cycle. The cycle that, and it's the reason God raised up the judges, what happened after the judge, why he raised up another judge. He's telling you that here. That's why he's telling us this in chapter one and chapter two. But don't miss the pattern. Don't miss the pattern. Because the pattern is the miracle. Because the pattern will always be the same. The pattern, if you read history and study history, is always the same. You're like, how did the Bible know? Because the Bible's a miracle. What did we talk about a few weeks ago? I mean, it's the only book that applies to every nation, to every person, to everything that's ever lived, ever. And it applies right here. We're seeing that demonstrated in the first two chapters of Judges, right here. Look, the cycles will always be the same. It'll always be this great faith. Then this falling away. Then this judgment. And then hopefully, mercy. And did you know, by the way, did you know that that's possible, that that could happen? Even here. Even today. That there could be a turning back towards the Lord. And then he would show mercy. Did you know that that's possible? That's what the Book of Judges is gonna show us. Is that that is possible? Look at verse number 20. It's not going well so far, though. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. And he said, because that this people had transgressed my covenant. Why? Because they broke the deal. He said, they broke the deal, which I commanded their fathers and have not harkened. I mean, God just, I mean, you don't think God's long suffering, you don't understand either the Bible or the world itself. Because you're like, how in the world has he been watching this cycle for 6,000 years and not just end the whole thing right now? I mean, it's the same cycle again and again and again. You think you're bored with it. Imagine what God must be thinking. Look at 21. Verse 21. And once again, in verse number 21, he shows them, he shows them right here. What's the first thing? The first thing, what's the first sign that's gonna happen once you've broken the deal? So we see in verse 20, they transgressed the covenant. Verse 21, I will also, henceforth, not drive out any from before them of the nations with Joshua left when he died, that through them I may prove Israel, whether they keep the way of the Lord to walk therein as their fathers did keep it, or not. Therefore, the Lord left those nations without driving them out hastily. Neither did, delivered he them into the hand of Joshua. The first thing is that he doesn't protect you anymore. Please don't miss that. The first thing, in last week, we talked about how this applies to us as a nation. This week, I wanna apply it to us as individuals. Us as individuals. So if you're saved tonight, I mean, you're saved. I mean, there's nothing that's ever gonna stop that and that it's eternal life, it's everlasting life. You're sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise. However, you have to understand. I mean, look, let me just ask you a question. Do you need the Lord to fight for you? Do you need the Lord? I mean, if the Lord says, I will no longer fight for you, does that matter to you? Do I need the Lord to fight for me? Turn to John chapter 16. You say, you know what? Things are going okay. I don't think I need the Lord to fight for me. I don't really have any fights going on right now. Well, there might be a reason for that, too. But let's look at what the Bible says. Look at John 16 in verse number 33. Are there, I mean, are there going to be fights? Look, I mean, look, you may think that things are difficult and things are tough in this country right now. And especially the last couple of days, I've realized that, you know what? We don't really have any problems here. When you look at the scope of what problems could actually be. And I'm not downplaying problems that you have in your life, but please don't think that. But look, in the scope of things, things could be a lot worse. Look at John chapter 16 and look at verse number 33. I mean, look, you say, I don't have anybody up against me right now. These things have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. Well, the Bible says in Jesus we will have peace. Like our relationship with Jesus, we always have the option of having peace. Look, I mean, if you love me, keep my commandments. It doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to have peace between us and Jesus, but it's always available there. It's always available there. In the world, though, in the world, you shall have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Turn to Matthew chapter 10. So look, he's saying, in the world out here, in the world that you're living in, he's like, you shall have tribulation. Tribulation is, you know, people come up to you and say, you know, people coming against you. Opposition to you. Whether it be because of your faith or whether it be just for whatever. Tribulation is just hard times because of people in the world, because of situations in the world. Look at Matthew chapter 10 in verse number 34. The Bible says, think not, look at what Jesus says. Think not that I've come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. So this religion, this new Christianity that teaches out there that we just lovey-dovey, there's never going to be any problems. You know, the prosperity gospel is destroyed right here. You get saved and you're never going to have any trouble in your life. That's exactly not what the Bible says. Look at verse 30. It says, you know, I come not to send peace, but a sword. That's the opposite of peace. For I've come to set man against, at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Look, even the people, look, he's being extreme in his language here. He's saying not only is, you know, the people in your own house are going to be against you. He's like, because of me, because of me. He's like, I've come to divide everybody. I mean, and many of you know this. You know, Jesus, the gospel, it divides people. It divides people. People will oppose you. People will be against you. People around you. You know, I mean, if your own family is against you, the world's really going to be against you. You say, well, you know, nobody's really against me right now. Well, I mean, you're probably not doing anything. If no one's against you, you're probably not taken seriously by anybody if nobody's against you. Because look, if you're out there and you're getting stuff done and you're making moves in this Christian life, people are going to be against you. Period. That's just the way it is. I mean, people are going to be against you. And as you make more and more moves, more people are going to be against you. That's just it. And once you realize that and you understand that and you have the Lord fighting for you, it's fine. It's fine. But you better understand that you want the Lord on your side. You, I mean, look, you need the Lord on your side in this type of stuff. Well, I mean, one place, the one place that you don't want to be, this is kind of the whole point of Judges chapter one and Judges chapter two, is you don't want to be in this place where people are against you. You know, ironically, because of your faith. Ironically, because of the Lord Jesus Christ. People are against you because of that. And then you're just like, you know, think of the people in the Promised Land. I mean, why were they there? They were there because of their faith. They were there because God said, hey, go there anyway. I know you look like grasshoppers to those people, but go there. Go there and I will fight for you. They were there because of their faith. They went into the midst of all their enemies. They were there because of their faith. And then they just abandoned the Lord. I mean, think about it. Imagine getting to a place where because of your faith, you've taken this great move and you've gone and you've made some moves in your life and then you've just decided to just fall into sin and just forget the Lord. Where are your enemies now? They're all around you. I mean, that's what happened to the children of Israel. Look, remember the sermon, Your Jordan River? Look, this is, you know, as you make moves in your Christian life, the covenant for you is that as you make moves and you're faithful to God in your Christian life, the Lord will fight for you. The first thing he will stop doing is if you break that covenant and he will stop fighting for you. Look, he's not going to send you to hell. You're still saved. He's going to stop fighting for you. I mean, it's truly a stupid position to be in when you think about it. I mean, I'm going to get to church. I'm going to get right. I'm going to do all these things. I'm just going to fall into grievous sin. I'm just going to forget the Lord at that point. That's why most people don't come to church like this. If people want to continue in, you know, grievous sin. People want to continue drinking. People want to continue in fornication. They want to continue all this stuff. Look, they're going to hate it here. They're not going to like it here. Because not only are we going to literally throw you out for some of that type of stuff, but God's going to chastise you like crazy. He's going to stop fighting for you. I mean, why would you come to a place like this where you're just, you know, having the Bible just thrown in your face week after week and just being like, I don't know, why would you do that and just listen to nothing? It doesn't make a lot of logical sense that people would do that. That's why most people don't. Because God's chastisement will first come in the form of him not fighting for you. That's the bottom line. He'll just remove protection from you. It's what he did with that. He'll just let people overcome you. He'll let people that are after you, that are on you. He'll let tribulation take territory from you. Think of it that way. We're going to cover a lot of this Sunday morning and Sunday evening in great detail, but let me just give you something to think about. Turn to 2 Timothy 3. 2 Timothy 3 in verse number 12. Look at 2 Timothy 3 in verse number 12. Let me just give you kind of an overall theme this evening. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3 in verse number 12 it says, yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Look. First of all, why would you get to yourself to a place where you're living godly in Christ Jesus? You put yourself in the middle of those enemies. That's what that persecution is. It says when you live godly in Christ Jesus, you will get persecution. But God will fight for you. God will take care of you. So why would you put yourself in the middle of that fight and then break the covenant and then give up on the Lord? I mean, it makes no sense. I mean, these are things that we talk about. Why would you get yourself here? All the things that we talk about. Why would you separate yourself from the world? Get your kids homeschooled. Get things right at work. Get things right with your children. Get things right with your life. And then just abandon the covenant. It makes no sense. But people do it all the time. And you can see the actual effects of that on people. I mean, it's ugly. It's ugly when that happens. I mean, you would be better off. I mean, you would be better off if you were going to be that type of person that was just so, you know, you're on one minute and you're off the next minute. You'd be better off, honestly, in your life just going to a dead church. Because you're going to just be beaten over and over again. I mean, and God just removing his protection from you. That's how God operates. It's kind of like he that is not with me is against me. I mean, it's kind of like that's how God operates. So if you're not with him, he considers you against him. And if you're against him, he'll first remove that protection. I mean, that's why, you know, I'm not going to find a lot of people that really enjoy coming to a church like this that are just half in. You know, just kind of got one toe in. Because, you know, if preaching you, you know, this is pretty painful entertainment. If that's what's going to happen. If that's who you are. You'd be better off in a dead church doing nothing. Honestly. I mean, sorry to ruin your midweek with the truth. But that, I mean, that's the cycle that God is showing us here in Judges Chapter 1 and Judges Chapter 2. And it always repeats itself. It works on the nation level and it also works as an individual as far as God and how he's going to treat you in your life I mean, it's I mean, it's the living in Christ Jesus. Do you understand the correlation of 2 Timothy 3 verse 12 there? It's the actual living in Christ Jesus that brings the persecution. It was the moving into the promise land that brought the enemies all around them. I mean, it's just, it's beautiful irony when you think about it. They moved in on faith and then they needed, I mean, they needed a covenant. It was like a force field. Think of it like that, sci-fi people. You know? And they needed it to hold it back. And as soon as they lost, they broke that covenant, you know, that their enemies just rushed in on them and why we needed the judges. Alright? Now look, it's like taking a boat ride. You know, hey, let's go out sometime 20 miles out on the ocean and I'll bring 20 miles worth of gas. That's what it is. That's what people are doing, right? We'll drive out in the middle of danger and we'll have enough gas to get us there. One, hey, things are going great. We're out of gas, we're there. That's the good news. The bad news is we're out of gas and we're gonna die now. I mean, that's what people are doing. It's like jumping off a cliff. It's like jumping off a thousand foot cliff. I'm gonna rappel down this thousand foot cliff and I got 500 feet of rope. What are you doing? Look, if preaching is like, oh, I go and I listen to preaching and I'm like, oh, he's ripping on these people, he's ripping on these people and it's like entertainment. It's like a replacement for TV. You're gonna end up at that 500 foot rope. You're gonna have 500 feet below your below you is what's gonna happen. I mean, so pay attention. Pay attention. Great things are ahead, right? Get a thousand foot rope and let's go. That's the point of tonight. That's the point. Let's get 40 miles worth of gas and let's go out there and let's come back safe. Let's do it right. Let's get it. Let's do it the whole way. The whole way. After all this, judges one and judges two is setting the scene. Do you see it now? It's setting the scene for this cycle. For not only this cycle of what the people do, what we do as stupid people, it's showing us, right? What we do again and again and again and it also is showing us how God deals with that. So look, I mean, it's showing us the three stages. Remember Leviticus 26? It's showing us the covenant, right? It's showing us the breach of the covenant and then it's showing us here's the good news. Here's the good news. It's not just a 500 foot rope. There could be restoration there. It's showing us the covenant, the breach but also the restoration. Now, look, that the judges are God's demonstration of his long suffering and mercy towards his people. And guess what? You're his people. You're his people. So when we read these stories about the judges, I want you to understand it applies to us. Because we are God's people. Look, the miracle of the Bible can be seen here. This cycle will repeat itself until the end of the world. Until the end of the world. And what's the point? You say, what's the point? It shows us the point is this. You say, I already know the book of judges now. You already gave away the whole story. Well, there's plenty to learn from it in the details. But the point is that as we see this cycle it shows us, it gives us hope. Because ultimately we know that in some way, shape or form we are going to fall into this cycle at some point in our life. But it shows us the path to God's mercy. There's nothing that you can ever do to break that seal. The Bible says, God holds your salvation. There's nothing you can ever do. But look, you can be beaten by God. You can lose the protection of God. But judges, one and two, shows us that there's always a path back to that mercy, to that restoration. And that's good news. That's good news. The key is recognizing when we need to find that restoration. And we need to start looking for that path back. Alright? We'll start to see a judge next week with Bower Heads and have a word of prayer.