 Again the title of our sermon the fruits of faithfulness judges chapter 9 verses 1 through 21 In this period of the judges We see we have seen we will see a deadly Infection that is eating away at Israel from the inside You know Israel is put down by the hand of God Israel is put down her external enemies They have won this great battle against Midian and that's by the hand of Gideon But now we see Israel Being devoured from the inside out as it were this infection eating away to Israel from the inside There's a spiritual dry rot in the heart that is destroying the nation a plunging each consecutive generation into sin misery and judgment and that Spiritual decay the spiritual gangrene that spiritual cancer is the bitter fruit of faithfulness Faithlessness they're not putting their faith in trust in the Lord They forget the Lord their God and that spiritual decay is wreaking havoc on the people of Israel But by God's grace we remember the account of Gideon Gideon grew to be a man of faith and that was by God's doing by God's grace to him by God's hand Through Gideon's faith the Lord delivers his people under the hand of Midian Gideon is mentioned in the Hall of Faith in Hebrews chapter 11 Turning to flight the armies of the aliens and so the Lord blesses the nation of Israel blesses the people of God through Gideon's faith through Gideon's obedience to the Lord's word but now We know from chapter 8 that Gideon's tenure as judge in Israel doesn't end well He sows bitter seed in Israel. He pursues bitter fruit in Israel and his actions have Consequences we read these tragic sobering words at the end of judges chapter 8 Where it reads so it was as soon as Gideon was dead that the children of Israel then again Played the harlot with the bales and made Bale Barrett their God That's amazing isn't that we're talking about the covenant people of God with God as their Lord who has delivered them out of the hand of Midian and here they are again Not even a generation later playing the harlot with pagan idols verse 34 thus the children of Israel did not Remember the Lord their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side This is the fruit of faithlessness. It's the fruit of faithlessness the text says They did not remember the Lord their God now again. That doesn't mean that they forgot who he is right who's they know who he is It's not that they forgot that he's there or they have forgotten what he has done It means that they did not acknowledge who he is or what he's done for them in their actions He didn't acknowledge him if as having any part of their regular day-to-day lives They did not like to retain him in their thinking, right? They suppressed the truth of God in their unrighteousness Romans chapter 1 verse 18 Although they knew God Paul would say they did not glorify him as God Nor were they grateful Romans chapter 1 verse 21 They willfully refused to retain God in their thoughts Romans chapter 1 verse 28 That's a pretty good indication of exactly what's going on in Israel all these years earlier and listen You and I run the same the very same course When you start and end your day without giving the Lord a second thought Right the same course today, right when we when we live our lives without any consideration of The purpose for which we are to live our lives, right? We talked about it this morning in the sermon to the end of Our redemption is the glory of God. We were bought at a price Therefore we are to glorify God in our body in our spirit, which are God's we belong to him We are to retain him in our thinking we remember him we're to meditate on him meditate on his word He is to be the driving force behind all of our thoughts all of our actions These did not remember the Lord their God who had delivered them from their enemies They did not remember the Lord their God who had given them the land They did they're living in the land and they don't remember the Lord their God who gave that land to them They're dwelling in houses. They did not build right doesn't Moses say that under the law They did not remember the Lord their God who had given them food to eat a roof over their heads air to breathe clothes on their backs This is the fruit the bitter fruit of Faithlessness Faithlessness When you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ you're committing To follow him. You're saying I entrust all that I am To all that he is I'm entrusting myself to him. I am a Disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm a learning Follower. I'm an apprentice if you will of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm going to trust him with my very Existence and that means following him hearing him heeding his word. It's a Faithfulness a devotion a fidelity to the Lord Jesus Christ That's faithfulness They are not even retaining the Lord their God in their thinking and this is faithlessness and when we don't Remember him we bear the bitter fruit of our faithlessness So what is the fruit of that faithlessness? What's the fruit? Well? As soon as getting was dead The children of Israel again played the harlot with the bales It is a slippery swift slope to apostasy a Life of Faithlessness a life of forgetting the Lord your God will lead to apostasy. It will lead to idolatry They became feudal in their thoughts their foolish hearts were darkened Romans chapter 1 verse 21 professing to be wise they became fools and they exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image made like Corruptible man Romans chapter 1 verse 23 they exchange the truth of God for the lie And listen When you are not clinging to Christ in faith when you're not clinging to his word through faith in Christ then you are in Some form to some degree Exchanging the truth of God for the lie with the lie. I'm secure without him. I'm safe without him I don't need him. I can live my life for himself. I'll just call upon him when I need him They exchange the truth of God for the lie, this is the bitter fruit of faithlessness Therefore therefore God gave them up to the fruits of their faithlessness Proverbs chapter 1 verse 29 wisdom cries allowed to the people Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord They would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke therefore They shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled to the full with their own fancies Someone who is faithless. That sounds pretty good. I'll not have that mandrel over me I'd like to eat the fruit of my own fancies for a while They may say but listen the proverb says because they hated knowledge They did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of his counsel They despised as every correction is every rebuke and so they shall eat the fruit of their own way They'll be filled to the full with their own fancies. God will give them over Romans chapter 1 gives them over to a debased mind, right? Well the fruit of their own Fancy would be the wicked king of Shechem the son of Gideon and his Shechemite concubine of Bimelech the bramble king and the nation now under a Bimelech has essentially become Canaanized entirely cananized. They've turned to harlotry with the bales Now even a genuine Christian even a genuine Christian is prone to wander in the flesh, right? To leave the God they love as the hymn says In doing so we face the bitter fruit of our own faithlessness. God doesn't Simply miraculously Rapture you out of circumstances that you have sinned your way into Neglect his wisdom in your own life and you will eat the fruit of your own way You'll be filled to the full with your own fancies of those who put their faith in him Solomon tells us dwell safely Now we'll see throughout our texts the ongoing faithfulness of God His steadfast loving kindness in the face of the faithfulness of his people and we see the bitter fruit of their faithfulness From three perspectives in our text first We have an enemy from within verses 1 through 6 Second there's a curse from without verses 7 through 21 Lastly a judgment of fire that we'll see next Lord's Day Lord willing verses 22 through 57 and we begin With the enemy from within verse 1 the rise of a bimelech look at verse 1 with me Then a bimelech the son of Jerobail went to Shechem to his mother's brothers and spoke with him This is a bimelech's family With all the family of the house of his mother's father and he said this to them verse 2 Please speak in the hearing of all the men of Shechem Which is better for you that all 70 of the sons of Jerobail ran over you or that one ran over you and listen Why you're thinking about it. Remember that I am your own flesh and bone now Israel Israel's not dealing now with Midian They're not dealing with Moab or Ammon They're dealing with enemy an enemy that is now far closer to home This is one frankly of their own a bimelech the son of Gideon and his Shechemite concubine The son with the name meaning my father is king now plans to carve out a kingdom for himself And he's gonna carve out a kingdom of his own Making within the borders of Israel a bimelech wants to be king and he wants to be king of Shechem so The highly ambitious now the highly treacherous a Bimelech goes to Shechem We'll see how treacherous he is as he hatches this plan to snatch a kingdom for himself in Shechem this will be no easy task, right? He's got to be crafty About this he's got to be shrewd. He must carefully plan his wickedness first He has to deal with family on his mother's side that live in Shechem Secondly, he then has to deal with family on his father's side Again, this is a bimelech not giving any creed whatsoever to the word of God not considering the Lord at all in this This is strictly his personal ambition his personal goal his personal aim his personal agenda And he in doing all of this he's gonna have to leverage one against the other He's gonna have to leverage family on his mother's side Against family on his father's side, and he'll have to exploit the both of them for his own Advantage and you know what a bimelech says to himself. Yeah, that's worth it I like the thought of all the wickedness that has to be piled up in consecutive order for a bimelech to pull this off doesn't even really cross his mind Right. He's hatching the plan. He doesn't stop to think about the level of wickedness and People can get that way, right? They see something before them that they want and They grasp for it without thinking of what it takes to get it who they have to Betray how many lies they have to tell what they have to sacrifice in order to get the thing that they want That's the textbook definition of covetousness, which Paul says is idolatry now Bimelech says to his relatives on his mother's side, you know take this down guys I'm gonna dictate a message to you want you to write it down and he dictates them exactly what they're to say to all the men of Shechem now men here men of Shechem literally means landowners lords and masters These are leaders in Shechem men with influence in Shechem in other words He goes straight to those people who have a vested interest in what happens and he doesn't go himself What does he do? He tells his family who live there. They know these men and he sends his family his brothers as spokesmen for him again pretty shrewd here by a bimelech These people these lords masters landowners leaders in Shechem have a lot to lose So he appeals to them based entirely upon their own personal self interest Listen, he says to them. What's going to go better for you? right the 70 sons of gideon Ruling over you and listen. You don't know what you're going to get. There's 70 of them or me One ruler, you know, I'm your from your family. I'm your own flesh your own bone, right? He appeals to them on the fact that one is better than many and your own blood better than a stranger verse 3 In his mother's brothers spoke all these words concerning him in the hearing of all the men of Shechem And their heart was inclined to follow a bimelech for he said for they said he is our brother Wow You chalk one up to a bimelech first success He successfully dealt with his mother's side of the family the men of Shechem have agreed that they would bring about The rule of a bimelech in Shechem Now what's the second step in this master plan that he's hatched? He has to put down any threat to his rule By dealing with his father's side of the family He has to deal with his brothers and this will be So much worse A way that a bimelech decides to do that and listen by this point people in Shechem know the plan A bimelech's lust a bimelech's covetousness his idolatry knows no bounds here So verse 4 They gave him 70 shekels of silver from the temple of Baal Barrett With which a bimelech hired worthless and reckless men and they followed him They gave a bimelech one shekel one shekel For every brother He would have to murder In order to bring about his wicked self-absorbed selfish self-interested plan Think about that for a moment, right? Look how cheap How valueless How worthless Even the lives of other people are held in your esteem When they stand in your face or stand in the way of what you want Listen, uh, we may look at a story like this and say Well, this is over the top right over the top that a bimelech would act this way But we have to be really honest with ourselves That apart from the work of god's spirit within us Apart from the redeeming work of the lord jesus christ apart from faith apart from god Working innocent through us for his his good pleasure there, but by the grace of god go i The seeds of this kind of self Absorbed self interested selfishness Exists within us A bimelech says this is what i want And to hell with you if you stand in my way It's essentially what a bimelech is saying. It's amazing, isn't it? Family honor Love integrity care compassion none of it matters This is the heart of a selfish person selfishness They paid the price 70 shekels of silver what a you know the the price of um Female slave i think was 30 shekels of silver the price of a male slave in israel was 50 shekels of silver one Female slave 30 shekels one male slave 50 shekels and here's 70 shekels for the death the murder of the 70 sons of gideon From the temple coffers of bail barrett Bail barrett they're meaning is word meaning The temple of those in covenant with bail they have a covenant with bale. They're not Covenanted here with the lord their god They're covenanted with bale and a bimelech hires worthless literally the word worthless there's it means empty Now in one sense it means without value these guys are worthless Scallywags right worthless men, but likely also means stupid they're empty Empty headed worthless and reckless men and these stupid and reckless men they follow a bimelech That's interesting Interesting to think about how you can always find A group of this sort together Like birds of a feather Right um filthy water gathering at the lowest point it always seems like A group like this Finds one another I'm weak I'm faithless. I'm not really interested in following the lord. I'm just gonna Pretend over here in the corner and what ends up happening someone else who's faithless weak and not really finding the lord Gravitates Weaves their way through a crowd and somehow finds that one and they become best buddies and they begin to hang out together And then another one comes in another very soon. You've got a clique People hanging out who aren't really following the lord. They're not concerned with taking a stand for righteousness They're just they just become a little social clique within the lord's church within the camp Filty water gathering at the lowest point listen If you don't want to be like them get out of their group If you find yourself in the company of people that are not strengthening you people that are not Holding you accountable people that are not charging you to pursue righteousness pursue holiness pursue the lord people that are not By their very pursuit of righteousness Encouraging you to pursue righteousness then don't hang out with that guy Don't spend time with that young lady get out of their group And when you get out of their group, they may speak evil of you because that's what people like this do They think it's strange that you don't run with them in the same flood of dissipation in which they are running But listen, you don't want to be empty You don't want to be stupid. You don't want to be reckless. You don't want to be worthless You don't want to be ungodly So if you don't want to be influenced that way get out of that group You need to spend your time with people who are fervently and faithfully serving the lord Mature brothers and sisters who can help you grow Spend your time with genuine christians who love the lord let them influence you bad company paul says corrupts Good morals. There's nowhere in the bible that flips that around Bad company corrupts good morals You know, we need another proverbs one reference. Let's let's listen to another one proverbs 1 verse 10 my son If sinners entice you Do not consent If they say come with us Let us lie and wait to shed blood. Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause This is exactly what abimelech is saying to his worthless reckless stupid buddies Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them alive like shield and whole like those who go down into the pit We shall find all kinds of precious possessions. We shall fill our houses with spoil Cast in your lot among us. Let us all have one purse How long is that gonna last My son do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path For their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed blood Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird But they lie and wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives and they don't know it So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners Bad company ruins good morals and listen, you'll lose your life You'll lose your life You may become apostate Now we all think we're all We're self-confident sometimes when it comes to these things. Ah, it's not gonna happen to me there But by the grace of god go I let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he falls He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed That's wisdom from the bible Now let's make good application here And thinking about these things and thinking about these worthless buddies of abimelech It's not likely that you may fall in With murderers and thugs in our day although Although there have been some who have fallen in with murderers and thugs when they depart the living god The people today Will set out to destroy your character They may not destroy your possessions or destroy your life, but they'll certainly do whatever they can to destroy your character Remember the prophet Jeremiah. This is essentially what happened to Jeremiah when Jeremiah takes a stand for righteousness What happens to Jeremiah? Jeremiah chapter 18. God said To Jeremiah speak to the men of Judah Jeremiah return now everyone from his evil way Jeremiah is taking a stand for righteousness Make your ways and your doings good so What to the what do the empty? Worthless reckless people say in response to Jeremiah They say Jeremiah 18 that is hopeless. They say Faithlessness. Do you see entirely faithless? That's hopeless. So we will walk according to our own plans We will everyone obey the dictates of his own evil heart. And so they said to themselves come Let us devise plans against Jeremiah For the law shall not perish from the priest nor the counsel from the wise nor the word from the prophet Nothing bad is going to happen here. Come let us attack him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words What do they do? rather than Following the lord rather than trusting the lord rather than loving their brother rather rather than heeding the word of god Rather than pursuing righteousness rather than standing for holiness They attack Jeremiah They attempt to destroy his character with their tongue And they refuse to heed any of his words And Jeremiah said that they dug a pit for his life When in reality proverbs chapter one they dig a pit for their own right They dig a pit for their own it takes away the life of its owners There's usually An abimelech that will lead this godless effort. We've seen many abimelechs, haven't we in our day But there always seem to be a bunch of Empty-headed stupid worthless reckless people that follow after that abimelech And what happens when they follow after that guy they themselves Eat the fruit of their own fancy filled to the brim with the fruit of their own way Don't let your guard down and go running with those who do and say such things Choose this day Whom you will serve often said to people before You've got to make decisions like this when you're clear-headed when you're thinking right your head is screwed on, right? You're thinking clearly make decisions about what you will and will not do Make decisions about who you will allow and who you will not allow to influence you Choose love choose grace choose mercy choose gratitude choose Faithfulness choose holiness choose righteousness Abimelech and his band simply do not they choose their own way they dig a pit for their own life So what does abimelech do with his dumb band of brothers first five He goes to his father's house at ophra and killed his brothers The 70 sons of Jerobail on one stone But jotham the youngest son of Jerobail was left because he hid himself boy, that's a fateful occurrence Isn't that a coincidence that he hid now? This is the work of god God hid one son of the 70 of Jerobail He hid him Verse six and all the men of shechem gathered together all of Bethmelo And they went and made abimelech king beside the terebin tree at the pillar that was in shechem that pagan pillar They killed all of the brothers except one and all on one stone, which means all on one chopping block Right all on one chopping block now if you think about that for a moment That means they didn't go into battle They didn't slay them with a sword in a big fight You know going around and all the men fighting and they slayed him with a sword that way no nope It means that they rounded them up One by one It means they bound them one by one And they took them one by one to the stone And they murdered each one one at a time on the stone. That's what that means This was a calculated cold brutal heartless soulless act of wickedness Something that empty men May often do with their words. You see the same seed the seed of that depraved Act wicked men often do with their own words. They wouldn't get away With murdering you in our day like that This is a wicked Calculated heartless Loveless act on the part of abimelech in his worthless buddies This all took place with the approval of the men at shechem Then they made abimelech king It's amazing, isn't it? incidentally and interestingly the place where the inheritance generation of israelites under joshua Gathered together and presented themselves before god To make a vow and an oath to follow the lord god of israel They renewed the covenant in shechem This is the same place look quickly at joshua joshua chapter 24 a few pages back to the left joshua 24 Look there beginning at verse one same place verse one and joshua Gather all the tribes of israel to shechem here it is And called for the elders of israel for their heads for their judges for their officers And they presented themselves before god joshua said to all the people thus says says the lord god of israel Your fathers including terra the father of abraham and the father of nahore Dwelled on the other side of the river in old times And they served other gods Then i took Look at what the lord god does right how gracious How good Then i took your father abraham from the other side of the river Led him throughout all the land of kanan multiplied his descendants and gave him isaac all With steadfast Faithfulness to the covenant that he had made with abraham right god keeping his word he begins in this To recount the goodness the covenant keeping love the covenant keeping faithfulness of god He says in verse four to isaac i gave jacob and isaac to isaac i gave the mountains of seer to possess But jacob and his children went down to egypt Also i sent moses and erin And i plagued egypt according to what i did among them Afterward i brought you out right i am the lord your god who delivered you out of the hand of egypt right Amazing faithfulness amazing love He continues in verse 14 now therefore Fear the lord And listen serve him in sincerity and in truth And put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the river and in egypt serve the lord Well the people there at shechem and joshua 24 took a vow To serve the lord joshua In shechem even set up a memorial stone As a witness to their oath so that when they denied the lord that memorial stone would witness against them There's a stone in shechem to this very day in judges chapter nine That is a witness to that oath the bones of joseph Were brought out of egypt and buried there at shechem remember joseph made them promise that they would do that So there's a lot of history With god the covenant keeping god of israel yahweh. There's a lot of history with god in that town in shechem They may not have retained god in their thinking, but they knew Who the lord was they knew what the lord had done for them They knew what the lord expected of them. They have a memorial stone set up in shechem They knew the vow that that inheritance generation made there in that city And yet the children of israel it is said of them that they did not remember the lord their god amazing right this self willed forgetfulness And now think of it now Shechem is the center of bale worship And home to a usurper king Israel has become canonized many Many disregard their past They forget what the lord has done for them. They ignore what the lord has done for again They neglect all the good that the lord has shown to them It's amazing to me. We've known many for whatever reason one reason or another have left This church or left good sound theology left brothers and sisters who Labored to love them and disciple them and instruct them and correct them and encourage them and love them some more Right, they left leave all that and they go off To who knows where and then you hear later on that uh, you know They've become entirely apostate or they're no longer serving the lord anymore. They're no longer going to a church They've been out for four years and they still haven't found a church to go to they you know sit in their Living room and watch some service on tv on sunday morning Oh, you're not here that they're a modalist now or they're they've plunge themselves into Charismania they've become a charismatic right it just Happens all the time and we somehow think in our pride that it can't happen to us We need God's word we need god's people we need god's spirit We need to hold fast to faithfulness. We need this And they are eating the fruit of their own way filled to the full with their own fancy the bitter fruit of their faithlessness My how far israel now has fallen once those who professed another lord once they willfully turned from him Once they returned to their own vomit returned to living for themselves their own agenda That slippery pathway always leads to more and more degeneracy and depravity There must be repentance Before it's too late. There must be a return To your first love There must be repentance. Well abominable abominable lack in his brainless buddies. They missed one. They didn't get all 70 And this one would become a spokesperson for the lord verse 5 Jotham the youngest son of jarobel was left Because he hid himself god's word will not be silenced God preserves for himself a witness For they're good for his glory when they told jotham that abimelech had been made king of shechem verse 7 He went and stood on top of mount garazine and he lifted his voice and he cried out now If you remember from deuteronomy 27 garazine and ebel Were the mountains of blessing and cursing right split up israel put half on mount garazine half on mount ebel They would cry out across the valley blessings and cursing garazine Was the mountain of blessing It's interesting that jotham went there They stood on mount garazine to bless the people so jotham takes a deep breath He's on mount garazine the mount of blessing and uses his best open-air preaching voice and he said to them Listen to me you men of shechem that god may listen to you That god may listen to you in other words From the mountain of blessing Jotham calls them to repentance There's time For repentance. There's time for blessing. It's not too late to turn back to the lord This is the lord calling them to consider their ways God is faithful Even when we are faithless God is so faithful to do this. He'll remember his covenant even when you forget him Turn to him in repentance and faith, right? This is the patience of god God could have sent jotham to mount ebel to the mount of cursing Pronounced judgment upon them and then rained down fire from heaven. God doesn't do that He sends him to mount garazine and pronounces Or proclaims the word of god calls them to repentance So jotham tells them a fable verse eight The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them. They said to the olive tree Rain over us The olive tree said to them should I cease giving my oil? With which they honor god and men and go sway over trees So all the trees then said to the fig tree you come and rain over as fig tree The fig tree said to them Should I cease my sweetness my good fruit to go and sway over trees? So the trees then went to the vine and said you come and rain over us But the vine said to them should I cease my new wine which cheers both god and men and go sway over trees Strike three right so they go to then all the trees to the bramble verse 14 and said to the bramble You come and rain over us The bramble said to the trees if in truth you anoint me as king over you Then come take shelter in my shade But if not let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of lebanon these cedars of lebanon were these massive majestic trees And the fire that comes out of this bramble would consume all the trees even these giant majestic cedars of lebanon So the trees Have decided that they need a king to rule over them Trees go to three particular trees Who happen to be wise? sensible trees The olive the fig and the vine And the trees ask them to rain over them But each of these surprisingly wise trees are entirely content With their proper purpose their content with what they are supposed to do They have a certain usefulness to fulfill in the order of things They embrace their role that they've been given as trees. They don't seek to be exalted They seek to fulfill their calling that they've been given as trees So they're not selfish. They're not self-absorbed. They're not pridefully ambitious. They're not covetous They are content. Do you see how contentment leads to wisdom contentment leads to You embracing your role and Uh in the lord rejoicing in that role but There's a fourth so-called tree a selfish self-absorbed pridefully ambitious self-involved bramble Now bramble is worthless Absolutely worthless a brand bramble produces No shade and yet he says to the other trees come and you know take shelter in my shade A bramble produces absolutely no fruit a bramble is a result of the fall It's thorns and thistles You will bring forth for me the curse says a bramble is like a thorn bush a briar Absolutely nothing whatsoever to contribute in fact A bramble is simply known for nothing else but Blowing around in the wind Catching fire and burning stuff down. That's all a bramble does it sounds entirely like a bimolec A worthless usurper king A bimolec even levels a curse against them in his pride if they aren't subject to him If you don't anoint me as king over you then let fire come out of the bramble, right? So jotham then interprets the story for them verse 16 now therefore Listen to this if you have acted in truth and sincerity Does that sound familiar? Where have we heard that before? We heard that in the covenant renewal ceremony with joshua and the children of israel at shechem When they made a vow to serve the lord serve the lord in truth and sincerity If you've acted in truth and sincerity and making a bimolec king And if you've dealt with jero bail in his house and have done to him as he deserves For my father fought for you. He risked his life and delivered you out of the hand of midian But you have risen up against my father's house this day killed his 70 sons on one stone And made a bimolec the son of his female servant king over the men of shechem because he's your brother If then you have acted here it is again in truth and sincerity With jero bail and with his house this day Then rejoice in a bimolec let him also rejoice in you But if not and they know they haven't Then let fire come from a bimolec and devour the men of shechem and beth millow And let fire come from the men of shechem and from beth millow and devour devour a bimolec let them destroy themselves Jotham ran away and fled He went to beer dwelt there for fear of a bimolec his brother There was no standing in the back of the church shaking hands after service, right? He bolted Because he feared a bimolec his brother In truth and in sincerity fear the lord Serve him in sincerity and in truth put away your idols We'll see in the rest of the chapter how this ultimatum comes to pass but first I can't help but uh to notice here the parallels between a bimolec And most of those who sees power for themselves in our own day Let me think about that and meditate on the text You see the fruit of this this bitter fruit of faithlessness. You see it in our own politics today It's worth mentioning for that reason Many in power today pursue power for ungodly personal gain For their own ambition. They're often prideful. They're often narcissistic disguising self-service in a cloak of Serving others or in serving country or in serving the community when in reality. They are serving themselves often thieves And derelicts that thirst after the praise of men and not the praise of gone And in order to ascend to power they're In their minds forced to lie and make promises that they can't keep It's become axiomatic of politicians today that they don't keep their promises Is the politicians mouth moving that means he's lying, right? It's like I don't mean to say that that is every one of them, but that is a common experience today in our own politics They are a bimolec And the shechemites Are only too willing to put them into power The church is to be Salt and light to this government, right? We're to through the proclamation of the gospel Call to light These ungodly usurpers and their ungodly ways God puts governments in place, but God intends governments to rule with justice In truth and in sincerity Like john the baptist in luke chapter 3 verse 19 John the baptist stood against herod he rebuked herod for Herodias his brother's philips wife and for all the other evils it says there that herod herod had done And with that we have that example for the church the church should be an outspoken Rebuke an outspoken correction To the evils that we see in our government now. We honor the governing authorities We should pray for them We should obey the governing authorities the scriptures are very clear And we should care for them and pray for those in authority Over us, but we as the church must take a stand for righteousness When we have opportunity to take a stand for righteousness and we can't merely be Meek and mild and dripping with hand lotion, right? It's like a It Requires that we take a stand for righteousness. There will come a point in time. It's already it's already beginning to happen it's already beginning to happen Where the governments of this world our government government in particular those in charge will labor With all of the power that they have with them By virtue of their office they will labor to drive Christians into the darkness Drive Christians into the confines of the four walls of the church. They will drive Christian conversation. They will drive the proclamation of the gospel inside We must take a stand for righteousness. We must obey god rather than men We must take a stand when government encroaches Past its god-given authority as we see even now in our circumstances that happening to some degree or another The lord Rich in mercy abounding in grace The lord kept a son hidden I love that He kept the son hidden for this reason for the proclamation of the gospel He will cast down the lord will cast down all Abimelecs and he will cast down All of their kingdoms revelation chapter 11 the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms kingdoms of our god and of his christ And he will reign over the house of jacob forever and of his kingdom. There will be no end The enemy thought That he had killed him thought that he had got them all Time and time and time and time and time again. He tried But he couldn't until Until when the fullness of time had come god sent forth that son To preach from the mount of blessing repentance from sin and faith in the one who saves sinners There's a curse if you do not Anyone who does not abide in him He has cast out as a branch and is withered And the reapers gather those dry withered Fruitless bramble branches and throw them into the fire and they are burned. It's the bitter fruit of faithlessness A praise god for the provision in christ that he's made for our sin If we will put our faith and trust in him amen I mean let's pray Father in heaven, thank you for your word Thank you for these lessons that you've taught us. Thank you lord for Loving us in christ Thank you lord for the provision that you've made for our sin. Thank you lord jesus christ for the sacrifice of your own life The shedding of your own blood on calvary for sinners. Thank you for Making atonement for us Thank you for redeeming us Thank you lord that it's not by works of righteousness which we we have done But by faith in the lord jesus christ by his righteousness we can be saved Declared righteous forgiven of our sin justified And stand before god in the presence of god We love you. We thank you for this glorious salvation lord help us by your spirit to live faithfully for you Help us to cling to you Heating the warnings given here of abimelech and his faithless buddies We thank you for this time together in jesus name amen