 All right, so Judges chapter 21 is the last book the last chapter in the book of judges So every time I read this this story in these three chapters I get to the end here, and I'm just like You know enough already I'm glad this story is over, you know I mean just keeps getting worse and worse and worse so you remember You know from Judges chapter 19 We're basically ending a story that started in Judges chapter 19 went through Judges chapter 20 And now it ends in Judges chapter 21 if you remember, you know the Levite and his concubine his Levite, you know went to You know the city in Benjamin and his concubine was you know killed by the sodomites by these murderers They killed her and he sends her you know body to all parts of Israel And they basically declare war on this they asked for them to turn over You know the the guilty parties, but Benjamin would not do it so they go to war with the tribe of Benjamin and Basically all not basically but all of Benjamin is destroyed in the war in chapter 20 except for these 600 men that are hiding up in the mountains are hiding up in the rock Rimon and now we're dealing with in Judges chapter 21 We're seeing how the children of Israel dealt with these 600 men that remained so Keep in mind that you know they destroyed every single person in the tribe of Benjamin in this war Except for these 600 men look down at verse number one and let's finish out Judges chapter 21 and then we'll kind of look back at the whole book of judges and see what we can learn from that But let's finish out this story first in judges chapter 21 verse 1 the Bible says now the men of Israel had sworn in mitzvah Saying that there shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife. So basically They had already made a pact in if you go back to judges chapter 20 Look at verse number one there and they met they met in mitzvah first Then all the children of Israel look at judges chapter 20 and verse number one They made this pact and they met in mitzvah The Bible says in judges 20 verse 1 then all the children of Israel went out and the congregation was gathered together as one man From Dan even to bear sheba with the land of Gilead unto the Lord in mitzvah So we now learn that when they gathered together before they went to the war they made a pact They swore they swore an oath so to speak and the oath was that They would not give any they were going to go to war It kind of gives you an idea that they knew what they were going to do when they went to Benjamin But they said that you know when we go and we do this and we destroy Benjamin We're not going to give any of our daughters to marry the men of Benjamin Meaning they kind of knew that there was going to be need for them to marry somebody that they were going to destroy the entire tribe now look down at verse number two of Judges chapter 21 and let's continue and the people so we see the first pact or oath and the people came to the house of God and a Bode there till even before God and lifted up their voices and Wept soar and this is now after it's over okay and said oh Lord God of Israel Why has this come to pass in Israel that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel? And it came to pass on the morrow that the people rose early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and Peace offerings now this is I'm going to delve into a little bit of my opinion on this But turn to Leviticus chapter 4 we see a couple things here first of all They're very upset that you know Benjamin is completely destroyed and then we see that they're offering burnt offerings and peace offerings Let's take a look at what those are in verse number 22 of Leviticus chapter 4 So this kind of gives us an idea of you know, maybe what happened. It was not really the right thing So look at verse 22 of Leviticus chapter 4 and the Bible says this it says when a ruler has sinned and Done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord is God Concerning these things which he should not be done and is guilty down to look down at verse number 35 It goes through this big Process of this sacrifice and in verse 35 it says in Leviticus 4 35 He shall take away all the fat thereof as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings And the priests shall burn them upon the altar according to the offerings made by fire unto the Lord and the priests Shall make an atonement for his sin that he had committed and it shall be forgiven him So this peace offering is to atone especially in Leviticus chapter 4 Verse 22 is to atone for the sin of a ruler of someone who's in charge It's why they would give a peace offering. So look there's a strong indication here That they went overboard with the tribe of Benjamin. That's that's all I'm really getting at here Is a strong indication that maybe they weren't supposed to kill every single person in every single city in The tribe of Benjamin, you know, yes God said go up against Benjamin fight against Benjamin fight against these men But they went into these cities. I mean just imagine this for a minute They fought the army. They beat the army except for these 600 men But then they went and they destroyed every city in Benjamin killing Every man woman and child in those cities So there's a strong indication and it's my opinion that they went a little overboard here And they you can see that they repented themselves. They're offering peace offerings saying, you know They're lamenting the fact that oh, what have we done? What have we done? We've destroyed all the whole entire tribe. They're like now. There's one less tribe in Israel is what they're saying look at verse 5 of the judges 21 and The Bible says in verse 5 and the children of Israel said who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation? Unto the Lord for they had made a great oath Concerning him that came not up to the Lord mitzvah saying he shall surely be put to death So here's the second oath first of all so first of all, what do we see in judges 21? We see that you know There's there's some remorse here for what they've done to the entire tribe and number two now They're figuring trying to figure out what to do with these 600 men They all made an oath at the very beginning before they even went to war They made an oath that nobody's gonna give a daughter to the man of Benjamin to marry now There's no one for them to marry because everybody's dead every man woman and child in Benjamin is dead So now they're like what do we do? What do we do? And they're like hey, remember that other oath we made? They made another oath in verse 5 it talks about this oath that they made that hey anybody that doesn't join us in this war We're gonna kill them. We're gonna put them to death. So they made all kinds of oaths here. Just note that okay look at verse 6 And the children of Israel Repented them for Benjamin their brother once again I mean they didn't it doesn't say repent of your sins. I get it But they're having a change of mind about what's happened here. Okay, they're they're you know thinking okay You know, maybe we shouldn't have killed everybody right so And said there's none there's one tribe cut off from Israel this day How should we do for wives for them that remain now? They have compassion towards these 600 men all of a sudden seeing that we have sworn by the Lord that we will Not give them of our daughters to wives so they made an oath There's that oath again, and they said what one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to mitzvah to the Lord So now they made an oath and they made it not they made two oaths And they're gonna fix the problem with these two oaths that they made you know makes sense right? They're like hey, we made these two oaths and they kind of match right So they said what one is there of the tribes of Israel that came not up to mitzvah to the Lord And behold there came none to the camp from JBash Gilead to the assembly This is a city okay This is a city for the people were numbered and behold there were none of the inhabitants Habitants of JBash Gilead there so they go through and they count up You know they do kind of a census so to speak of who went to the war and they find that there was no one that came from this Specific city JBash Gilead to go fight with them verse number 10 and the congregation sent thither 12,000 men of the valiant valiantist and commanded them saying go and smite the inhabitants of JBash Gilead With the edge of the sword with the women and the children so this is the town They're gonna go and they're gonna you know kill everyone in this town And this is the thing that you shall do you shall utterly destroy every male and every woman that has lain by a man and They found among the inhabitants of jade had Billy Gilead 400 young virgins So basically they said you're gonna go and you're gonna kill every man woman and child Except for the women that have never been with a man before so there was these 400 Virges that had not known a man by lying with any male and they brought them onto the camp to Shiloh Which is in the land of Canaan so basically they made this oath They feel some remorse towards what they did to Benjamin and they go and they slaughter everyone in this city And then they kidnap and steal the women that they don't kill So they can give them to wives to the 600 men that they're feeling remorse towards so you're just like What it's going on here, right? So they keep trying to and the irony of the whole thing is that they're trying to right a wrong They're trying to I mean throughout all of of judges chapter 21 They're trying to right a wrong and they just keep doing more wrong things Okay, and they're trying to cover up this wrong. We'll get to that in a minute But look at verse so number one they kidnap and steal these women the problem is if you know You're doing the math on this whole thing when you have 400 women and 600 men, you know 200 men are coming up shy on a wife here. Okay, so look at verse 13 And the whole congregation Sent some to speak with the children of Benjamin that were in the rock reman and to call peaceably unto them and Benjamin came again at that time and they were giving them wives which had saved alive of the woman of Jbash Gilead and yet so they suffered them not or suffice to them I'm sorry They suffice them not because there were 600 men and there's only 400 women so it's still not enough So what must we do? We must fix this problem. They say look at verse 15 And the people repented them for Benjamin because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel Then the elders of the congregation said How shall we do for the wives of them that remain the 200? Seeing the women are destroyed out of Benjamin and they said there must be an inheritance for them That be escaped of Benjamin that is tribe be not destroyed out of Israel How be it so they asked the you know the elders the the leaders the rulers and they say you know Here's what you should do They're wise men come up with another wonderful plan here. How be it we may not give them wives of our daughters Why now because we made an oath? Dummy, you know you keep your oaths right judges chapter 11. You don't go against oaths Not in not in this nation anyway How be it we may not give them wives of our daughters for the children of Israel have sworn saying cursed to be he They'd give it the wife to Benjamin So they're bound by all these oaths, but look at Matthew chapter 5 turn there real quickly Look another thing that we've learned in judges is that you know that these men in this nation They were making oaths that you know, they shouldn't have been making They were making oaths that that they were swearing by heaven and they were swearing To God and they were making these oaths that you know, they were just they were evil oaths Plain and simple look at Matthew chapter 5. This is why Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 5 It's not that an oath on itself is bad It's not that making a promise to God is a bad thing But if you promise evil in God's name, you know God doesn't want any part of that That's what Jesus is getting at here in Matthew chapter 5 look at verse 34 and this is just more example of This these evil oaths in in judges chapter 21. Look at Matthew 5 34 Jesus says but I say and do you swear not at all? Neither by heaven for it is God's throne nor by the earth for it is his footstool Neither by Jerusalem for is the city of the great king? Neither neither shall thou swear by thy head because thou can'ts make one hair white or black But let your communications be Jesus is saying just quit swearing all these oaths But you say why look at the last part of the verse for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil It's like look there's too much evil Basically Jesus is saying you got all these people swearing you know to Jesus to do all this evil stuff I wouldn't want any part of it either I mean doesn't want any part of it It doesn't want any part of you making an oath in God's name for something that is nothing that God would want you to do God doesn't want you swearing and and killing your daughter for you know in his name Please stop is what Jesus is saying. He's saying hey just let your yes be yes, and your no be no That's it Just do what you say you're gonna do and you know You don't have to go and just over the top swear all these things because what that is doing is that's just creating all these Evil oaths judges is a perfect book to show this Okay, and we see it again in judges chapter 21 They swore this oath that they would not give any wives to Benjamin then they go and they slaughter Everyone in Benjamin every female in the tribe of Benjamin was killed and now oh, but we made an oath So since we made the oath, let's go kidnap Let's go murder a bunch more people and let's kidnap a bunch of women and steal them So look that the oath is causing them to do evil again. Okay, so look Jesus was just like Please stop I mean, you know, he's watching men do this You know, I mean they swore an oath that caused them to kill the entire tribe now steal a bunch of women from their Own brothers by the way from their own, you know, Christian brothers Jephtha is the same thing and oath that led to evil Go back to judges chapter 21 So that's just a side note, you know judges is a really bad for oaths in the Bible But Jesus took care of that Matthew chapter 20 or Matthew chapter 5 look at judges chapter 21 and verse number 19 So now the elders the elders they have a plan they have a plan to fix this missing You know gap of 200 wives So there's 200 men that don't have wives look at judges 21 19 then they said behold There's a feast of the Lord and Shiloh Yearly in a place which is on the north side of Bethel on the east side of the highway That goeth up from Bethel to Shechem and on the south of Lebanon Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin saying go and lie and wait in the vineyards saying like go and hide in The vineyards and see and behold if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances Then you come out of the vineyards and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh And go to the land of Benjamin. So I mean That's one way to go Here's what you guys can do the elders look they had to I mean the leaders All right these are the best and the brightest of the nation of Israel at this point and They have this problem where we've done this thing and there's no one for these 200 men to marry Instead of just being like hey, you know, maybe they shouldn't have been part of such an evil war Maybe they should remain single for the rest of their life as their punishment They're like no here's what you can do You go and once again to their own brothers their own nation in their own nation go to Shiloh and there's this There's this barn dance or whatever it is and and all these gals come out and all you got to do is just grab you One and go home to Benjamin. That's literally what they said. Just go grab you one Just I mean, but I mean, it's not really funny. They went literally went and stole, you know 200 more women here so look, I mean, it's a where where we add here verse 23 and Then they did it then they did it so look and the children of Benjamin did so and took them wives according to their number of them that danced whom they Caught and they went and returned onto their inheritance and repaired the cities and Dwelt and then so look oh no verse 22 I didn't even say so he's like look when their fathers of their brethren come to us to complain I mean look do you think you think there's someone's going to complain? You stole, you know these wicked men from Benjamin that you know Y'all sudden sided with you're a war with them like five minutes ago And then you encourage them to come to my town and steal my daughter. I mean you think they're going to complain We will say to them be favor unto them for our sakes because we reserve not to each man his wife in the war Look look what we'll say is they like look. I'm sorry, but we forgot about their wives and we killed them all You know that's going to make them feel better. So so because we killed their wives in the war We decided that the best plan of action was to have them steal your daughter You know, it's just like it just gets weirder and weirder and weirder in Judges chapter 21 That's why I always I always get to the end of this story, and I'm just like man. I'm glad the story is over Until I until I read the Bible again Judges chapter 19 20 and 21 well look Verse 23 and the children of Benjamin did so and they took them wives according to their number verse 24 and the children of Israel departed thence at that time Every man to his a tribe and to his family and they went out from thence every man to his inheritance And then verse 25 here. We go verse 25 kind of kind of puts a bow on the whole thing And it says in those days there was no king in Israel instead, you know I mean can you imagine why the children of Israel look we're asking for a king? I mean these were the elders these are the elders that they had you know This is the rocket surgeons that they had running, you know the country at this point, you know just go and you know You know what we're in Fresno here There's a problem with not enough women in Fresno go steal some from Visalia You know it doesn't make any sense what's going on here It was it was one decision one bad decision led to another bad decision led to another bad It shows you by the way It shows you not the point of the sermon, but it shows you that covering sin with sin is never gonna work out You know it's best look when you get when you find yourself in sin boy I mean I see this all the time. I see this all the time with people that just won't take responsibility for stuff I don't know why it's so common. I don't know why it's so common when you mess something up to just take Responsibility for it because look when you when you have when you have sin or you I mean, I mean Let's just let's take something at work, and you're like you've done something wrong You've done something wrong look just just own it Just just own it just throw yourself on the grenade You know instead, you know you start tossing grenades all over the place and other people and then everyone's mad at you for tossing grenades at them You know over something that you know was mainly your fault What covering sin with sin just never works just own it just own up Just own up covering sin with sin is not gonna work. It's a it's a great sermon Topic and another thing is you know swearing oaths to evil is a huge thing in judges You know don't swear oaths. Just let your name be name your yay be yay as Jesus says But really this evening for the application on judges chapter 21 And then I want to kind of wrap it up with the whole book of judges I really want to focus on this last verse Here's you know just think about the timeline think about let's just think back to the whole book the whole study of Judges for a minute think about the timeline think about Othniel and E hood and Debra and Gideon and Jephthah and Samson and then later Eli and you know the last judge Samuel You know which we haven't talked about yet, but look and then up to that leads up to the first king of Israel You know King Saul But look what do you see again and again and again and again in judges? You what was this phrase that I kept pointing out for the first few chapters? You know the chapter 6 and 7 and 8 and 9 when we started going through this and the children of Israel Did evil in the sight of the Lord and the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord look It was just this pattern that kept coming up again and again and again and again And many times turn back to judges chapter 8 Many times let's look back at Gideon you know when Gideon died But you think about you know as we're going through this in judges We see this this rise and this fall and this rise and this fall and this rise and this fall There's a definite cycle here. You don't be blind to not see it But look at judges chapter 8 look at verse 33 many times this cycle took place in just one generation Just one generation or in a case of judges chapter 8 verse 33 look at this and it came to pass as Soon as underline those three words as soon as Gideon was dead that the children of Israel turned again It went a whoring after Balaam and made Bail Barath their God and the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God Who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side which is those 300 men and Gideon neither showed their kindness to the house of Jerubo namely Gideon According to all the goodness which he had shown on to Israel. So look with Gideon I mean think about it. Maybe I don't know maybe the best judge You could make that argument pretty good. He was he went he he literally did what he was told God raised him up He went God took away his entire entire army God took away his army. He said no, I'm just going to give you this many 300 men against thousands against tens of thousands and Gideon went and he was victorious and then he even combed things down with his Brethren when they wanted to come up and fight against him. I mean, it's a great story Probably probably the you know best story of a godly judge in judges You could make that argument, but here's the thing as soon as he was dead as soon as He was dead They turned away just like that and not only did they turn away. They forgot everything that Gideon had done for them Pretty much immediately But I mean we just see the story again and again and again in judges that is not very long 10 20 30 years and they turn away from the Lord again They turn away from the Lord look at judges Chapter 21 and verse 25 one more time look I just want to point out something about the last verse in judges We see this nation turn against God again and again and again And I'm going to read it for you one more time in those days There was no king in Israel and the last part of this sentence. I want to read for you Every man did that which was right in his own eyes look judges. It's us It's us Every man did that which was right in his own eyes you read those words Look, you think it's an accident that you read the most messed up story in the entire Bible and then you read those words right after That's not an accident. The Bible is telling you look. This is why this is so messed up This is why this was a wicked evil thing that happened in judges 19 with wicked evil people And then just all these wicked evil things just kept happening because everyone was it was doing right Everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes There was no leadership There was no leadership and everyone was just doing whatever they felt was right Those elders in Israel. Hey, we feel like this is what you should do man Go steal you some women. I Mean everyone was just look that's pretty much what that's pretty much where we're at In this country. I mean look from from the rampant perversion That's just just being accepted and just growing and growing and growing in this country You can't even say, you know, it's really one thing anymore. It's like all this Unnaturness that's just being accepted by everybody All the general just general immorality in the country look and it's changing so quickly Look if you're older than 30, you know that it's changing very quickly. It makes look it makes me wonder It makes me wonder what this place is going to look like in 20 years. I Mean when you look at just what it what it used to look like 15 years ago What it used to look like 10 years ago what it used to look like 20 years ago. I mean I can't even imagine But look Here's another thing that I want to point out we're changing just as fast as The nation in judges was changing throughout these chapters with the acceptance of everything with the moral just the general moral decline But I want to point something out turn to Joel chapter 3 right after Daniel You're gonna have a couple small books and you'll have Joel of Hosea and Joel But I want to I want to point out something I want to point out There's something that we need to understand from Judges and from these patterns like I love recognizing patterns I love looking for trends and patterns and things like that and and look there's a pattern that we need to understand Because it's coming to us we can already see it But the pattern I want to show you is this look at Joel chapter 3 and verse 19 The point I want trying to make here and I want to define a word for you this evening Is that with all this moral decline and all this? acceptance of everything and all this Doing what is right in our own eyes in our country with that will always come violence With that will always come violence. You say what is violent? What do you mean violence? Well, I'm gonna tell you what violence is With every single story when the children of Israel turned against God and turned against the country Especially in judges 19 judges 20 and judges 21. You know what you saw you saw a whole lot of violence Look at Joel chapter 3 and verse 19 This is the definition of violence look violence violence is not defined as Anyone doing physical harm to anybody that is not what the Bible defines violence as Joel chapter 3 and verse 19 Gives us a very specific definition of violence Look what it says in verse 19 Egypt shall be a desolation and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness for the violence Against the children of Judah now the nice thing about it is it defines it in this next part of the sentence right here Well the violence. Oh, okay violence. What do you mean? Because? They have shed innocent blood in their land violence is harm against the innocent That's why abortion is so violent That's why the the sermon that I did on abortion. You know what it was called violence Because there is no more definition. There is no better definition of violence There is no more innocent person than a poor helpless unborn human being That is the definition of violence in its purest form in this world today is abortion But that's not even what I'm talking about what I am talking about I want you to think of it think of the think of the violence that we've just studied and think of what happened to the Levites wife violence She was innocent and she was murdered in a horrible way Think of the violence against the the women and children in the cities of Benjamin Think of they look they had no they had no say in whether or not, you know, these men were protected or not They weren't even in the same city think of the violence there think think of the violence of You know being kidnapped and stolen from your family These these women just think about all the violence especially look, you know what you know who suffers from violence You know who always suffers from the violence, you know, you know, it's the weaker people The weaker. Oh, what's the weaker vessel? They typically suffer from the most violence whether there's wars or just terrible things happening Look, it's the women and children that suffer Look men going to war men to men on a battlefield fighting in a war It might be an unjust war, but it's not considered violence to two soldiers against each other That is not what the Bible would consider violence Violence is when the soldier goes into a city and murders innocent people that is violence And that is what the Bible is talking about But I want to tell you something here that when these nations when these nations turn against God And you'll see it with not only the nation of Israel, but you'll see it throughout history Whenever there's moral decline and people turn against the guy and people people start to do what is right in their own eyes There's always massive violence that follows. I Mean look, I mean we see it. We see it in judges, right? Didn't we see it? I mean did we see it before the flood? Why did God destroy the whole earth? Because of violence We saw it with Benjamin. We saw it with the other tribes murdering kidnapping women children Extreme violence. Look, I'm telling you our society is going to get more and more violent You say what I mean look, I don't want it. I don't want violence, but I'm telling you I'm just telling you so you won't be offended these school shootings this mass murder all this evil Violence is going to get worse. Why? Because we're just doing what's right in our own eyes We're not following the Bible. We've turned our back on God's the bombings There's going to be more I Mean look as everyone turned to Jeremiah chapter 6 as everyone does that that is right in his own eyes violence will increase Why why can't people get this through their head? I mean you don't have to be a saved Christian to say you know what? I don't think that this is a good idea You know what? I don't think that this is a good idea that we enter into a society. That's going to be more and more violent I mean who in the world? Would agree to that? Even the most liberal hippie would not want more violence But this is what they it leads to as you turn away from God and everybody does what they feel is right This society is going to get more violent. I mean the Bible is super clear about this Look at Jeremiah 6 and verse 13 But they say this they say this when they say no no no we need to do more We need to make up more what what's right in our own eyes. We need to go more down this road We need to be more you know just accepting of everything and just whatever whatever you feel man That's what's right. Look at Jeremiah 6 13 for for them for from the least of them Even under the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness So here I mean here's a sin that's coming in and from the prophet even unto the priest everyone dealeth falsely So we got a sin. We got a society look that's falling into some sin here in verse 13 Covetousness and basically cheating each other. So they're they're cheating each other. I mean it's a sin Right when they're going into this sin They have also healed verse 14. They have healed also the hurt of thy daughter of my people slightly saying Peace peace when there is no peace. You know what came upon these people in verse 13? violence and The whole time that they were just kept going into sin and just you know Ripping each other off and whatever other sin that they were into they were just like all peace peace sound familiar Like all peace peace Love love as things just keep getting more violent and more violent and more violent. Look at some of these riots That's look like love to you. I Mean what in the world? I mean what you know look it starts with covetousness But it's acceptance and spreading of sin is what it is in the society and it just look it destroys peace That's what Jeremiah is saying. He's like this kind of action from a society will destroy peace look They say tolerance, but there is no tolerance That's why churches get bombed I mean you crazy you have to be insane not to see this Tolerance give me a break It's a lie as we continue down this road the violence is coming Who wants violence nobody? We want peace. Let's follow God's word Let's do things God's way and then things you know what then things will get better Things will not mean how can you? How can we not persuade people? I mean do you more of a hey hey Bob? You know Bob doesn't go to church Bob not save Bob more violence or less violence pick one I mean everybody would choose less violence peaceful society Violent society everybody would choose peaceful society, but you know what even the unsaved even the average unsaved Joe Has no knowledge of the Bible anymore That's a problem That's a problem. You know what because there used to be a time when maybe there was people that weren't saved But they knew what the Bible said They knew what the Bible said they knew what the Bible taught they saw these patterns They saw that you know what when a society turns against God violence and death when a society turns towards God peace prosperity I Mean you don't have to be a rocket surgeon to see this you just have to you I mean you have to have like a like a like A maybe a 140 level knowledge of the Bible You know not not 101 maybe a 140 or 150 or 160 level education of the Bible We're not talking about PhD stuff here follow God Less violence don't more violence. I mean But we can see it happening folks. There was another shooting today We can see it happening. It's happening right before our very eyes And they'll say oh, it's the guns. No It's it's the violence It's it's it's wickedness It's it's people that they've turned against God. It's a it's a nation that is turned against God So look violence will increase in our country. I mean I hate to break it to you You know, is this the opposite of prosperity gospel or what? Things are gonna get more violent in our country So I mean you got to think about that Think about that when it comes to you know defending your family, you know security and churches things like this I mean we cannot be stupid as Christians because we do know the Bible But we're the same the point I'm trying to make is we are the same as the nation in judges in This sense that these same things these same patterns that we see they're gonna happen to us So we're the same but the next part I want to end with tonight is that we're different You think it's bad the first part it gets worse We're different. So it's the same in that sense that we're all doing what's right in our own eyes But we're different in this sense. Here's a way. It's not us Here's a way that judges is not us and it puts us at a significant Disadvantage think about this how many times just in the book of judges There was many more judges that I'm sure we didn't hear about in the book of judges But you're not in the book of judges, but it's in history of Israel But look how many times do we read that they got corrected? God raised up a judge freed them they turned against God then they went into captivity There was violence. I mean there's so much violence. They were hiding in the hills. They were hiding in the mountains They were hiding in the rocks that by the Bible said several times They wouldn't even go down and live in their cities because there's so much violence against them Because these countries came in and just committed violence against them, but then God raised up another judge To deliver them anybody seen any judges getting raised up around here Anybody seen any judges got raised up 30 years ago 20 years ago Ronald Reagan now No Look, I was thinking about this. I was thinking about some some examples in the Bible turn to Daniel chapter 5 Because look, I mean God was pretty like he kept reaching out You know what he was doing with the judges? He was reaching out to them and he was pulling them they turned back to him and he was pulling them back Because they turned again to him and he pulled them back and then they were under chastisement And then he pulled them back again. It's kind of like it's kind of like yeah What's that relationship kind of like a father and a and a child and a son? But you know that there were some Nations some empires even in the Bible that this was not the case look at Daniel chapter 5 I think about Babylon. I think about literal. I'm talking about literal Babylon in the Bible look at Daniel chapter 5 So I don't have time to read the whole story, but I just want to you know Daniel interprets this dream for Belshazzar the the new king after Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar's grandson and look at verse 23 and Daniel is explaining what this dream this writing on the wall meant that he saw in the meantime this man is having a party and he's brought all the the The goods from the house of God and he's getting drunk with all his friends using the The the dishes and the cups and everything from the house of God look at verse 23 But as lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven Daniel's telling them And they have brought the vessels of his house before thee and thou and thy lords and thy wives and thy concubines Have drunk wine in them and now has praised the gods of silver of gold and brass and iron and wood and stone Which see not nor hear not nor know and the God in whose hand thy breath is and whose are all thy ways Has now thou not glorified then was part of the hand sent from him and this writing was written and this thing that was written Was mine mine teacol a parzan and this into this is the interpretation of the thing mine God hath a numbered thy kingdom and finished it Tecol thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting Perez thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians then commanded Belchazar So he's all happy that he interpreted what happened here And they clothed Daniel with scarlet and put a chain of gold about his neck I made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom Verse 30 in that night was Belchazar the king of the Chaldeans slain this empire was ended in one night This empire was ended and Darius the mead took the kingdom being about three score and two years old Look Nebuchadnezzar if you remember Nebuchadnezzar look, I think Nebuchadnezzar was saved. I think Nebuchadnezzar got saved But Nebuchadnezzar was chastised remember God gave him the heart of a beast and made him You know his hair and his nails and meeting but he basically took it We made him go crazy in his mind. He was too lifted up and God beat him down, but then God brought him back This guy God just killed him God just like you're just done Your nation's over now Look at Revelation chapter 18. Here's n times Babylon n times Babylon No, look, I don't know what n times Babylon is going to be maybe it's us. Maybe it's not well look Here's the thing we fit in the category whether or not we become that literal n times battle Babylon look at revelation 18 And look at verse number two So we see that there's nations in Daniel chapter 5 the nation of Babylon the empire of Babylon Was overthrown in one night There was no judge to bring them back and then get them right. It was just you're done Just like that They were overthrown. Look at Revelation 18 verse number two. This is n times Babylon This is a prophecy of a city and he cried mightily with a strong voice saying Babylon the great has fallen It's fallen it has become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath or fornication and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies saying This nation Exported all its filth throughout the entire world and I heard another voice from heaven saying come come out of her my People that you be not partakers of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues For her sins have reached unto heaven and got had rem God hath remembered her iniquities Reward her even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the cup which she had filled to her double How much she had glorified herself and lived deliciously so much torrent torment and sorrow give her it saying look as Greatest things were for her make it that much Tormentful for this city For she has said in her heart I sit a queen and I am no widow and she'll see no sorrow Therefore shall her plagues come in one day Death and mourning and famine and she should be utterly burned with fire for strong as the Lord God who judged with her and The kings of the earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her shall bewail her and lament for her When they shall see the smoke of her burning standing a far off for the fear of her torment saying Alas alas that great city Babylon that mighty city for in one hour is That judgment come this city whatever this city is is is done in one hour It says one day and then it gets more specific. It says one hour This city is done. So look we see that there's this idea now look I mean as far as exporting filter I mean how many of you bend a foreign country and see that you know They're basically like following our culture except they're 15 years behind I mean it's pitiful. It's pitiful that maybe a good country that you know has you know some Christian values at least Would be you know trying to follow American pop culture You know we're trying to be you know accepting our music and our celebrity culture and all this garbage that we're just exporting across the world But that's that's the way I mean so it definitely fits us But the point I'm really trying to make is that there are these nations They are not they're just judged by God They're not children of God where God is gonna bring them back Where God is gonna you know try to you know Bring a judge and raise them and bring them back to him like he did with the nation of Israel These nations are just gonna pay all at once Just like Babylon did and just like end times Babylon is going to as well So look, I think I think we're in that category I think we're in that category, but look so it brings us to the conclusion of why you know why the judges You know they went into captivity God raised the judge to save them us Us think about this they you hear what I just said they went into captivity and then God raised the judge to say I mean do you remember when we got invaded 15 years ago and then The rushes took over and then we we got out of that kept it. No It's never happened We've never gone into captivity here. No one's invaded us. We've never been under servitude to you know I mean yeah, we're going under servitude to our own government. I get it I mean that's not really the point the point is is that that we don't fit the pattern of the nation of Israel here You know it's God is God is for some reason God is not chasing us In the same way that You know, we've never been invaded We've never been taken over by a foreign country Also, you know also look there. There's no judges. There's no judges being I mean we could we use a judge Could we use a godly leader in this country? Where where where? Where where is one? No, I think it's almost like our nation is not his child Is kind of what I'm thinking that's kind of what it's looking like It's kind of like we're gonna be more like a Rome You know more like a like a Babylon You know the judges were raised up to deliver Israel folks To bring the people Back to the Lord. That's what they were that's what they were there for and they the people Had cried out to God for that before it happened Maybe that's the problem Because we haven't cried out to God look we don't have judges today We don't have judges today in this country. It's pretty much just us It's pretty much just us and instead of you know fighting, you know, you know, it's you know, we just knock We just knock One door at a time and You know, we're the only ones it seems like sometimes it's we're the only ones doing anything You know, I know there's more of us out there, but it seems like we're the only ones doing anything, you know One, you know, that's that's that's our judgeship if you want to think about it that way is just one door at a time One soul at a time That's I mean that's the only chance that I see one church at a time That's the only chance that I see for this country. I mean look, I'm all about recalling, you know, the governor I signed it four times or whatever. No, I didn't that's probably what I signed it, right? But here's the thing it Whatever it where's the judge that's gonna take his place. There isn't one I'm all for kicking him out, you know, that would make me feel good for five minutes But there ultimately until the people turn back to the Lord, it'll do nothing and That's what we do. We need more people. We need more time. We need more doors. That's what we're doing You know, this is this is our, you know pray look pray Pray that things don't I mean all you can really do look, I'm not trying to depress you But all you can really do is pray that we know what's coming All you can really do is pray that this violence comes slower All you can do is pray for God to you know grow this ministry All you can do is pray for God to give us more time to reach more people because I mean he looked even if you know The more people we reach the more this church grows the more churches will be sent out the more you know I mean look, it's an exponential game if we play it, right and we allow God, you know to do what he can do So look, this is our judgeship and just pray that we have more time and more laborers That that's really it That's really it. I mean we're the judgeship here We're the judgeship here So don't go and read the Bible like I used to do About the children of Israel and just roll your eyes at these people because we are worse We are worse. We change just as fast We're worse. We're bastards and not sons In this nation and look, I mean honestly people have not changed from the beginning. I don't know how God deals with it God is the most long-suffering You know he his long suffering. I can't even fathom it. He's been watching this pattern since the beginning of the world the fact that he hasn't just And just ended it all and just put revelation into motion is is beyond me But look the reason that he's not is because he wants, you know, it's God's will that all be saved And that's why we are so important Is that we're carrying out this mission? We're carrying out this mission in this wicked environment that we're in and like I said before It's pretty simple being us because no matter what changes our mission is the same No matter what weird stuff gets going on or what they say should be good and shouldn't be and whatever is is good in their own eyes Our eyes are the same and our mission doesn't change that. I mean that's our judgeship So the book of judges has a lot of similarities For us in this idea that we're just creating our own truth in this country and We can take from that the consequences that are going to come with it But we can also understand that, you know, we're not the nation of Israel and and all we have is Getting one person the gospel at a time and that's that I mean, it's the only thing It's the only thing let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer