 Amen. All right. Judges, chapter one, I'm super excited to start the book of Judges. I love the book of Judges. There's a lot of great stories in the Bible that are very valuable to us as, you know, most stories in the Bible are. But the book of Judges, so where are we at thinking about the book of Judges as we start? You know, where are we at in history of the Bible here? So this, Judges comes right after Joshua. Basically where we're at in the history of the Bible of the Old Testament is the children of Israel have come into the Promised Land. They of course were, they were brought out of Egypt by Moses. They spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness and then they came across the Jordan River to settle the land and to drive out the Canaanites and many other tribes that were there. Joshua, the book of Joshua is mainly Joshua fighting to take over the land of the Promised Land. And Joshua has just died here in Judges chapter one. And you know, we're in the time about, if you could think about dates, we're about 300 years before the first King of Israel, King Saul. If you want to think about it from just a timeline, it's about 1350 BC or so as of course BC, you know, it counts down. So as you go forward in time in the Old Testament, you know, the dates will get smaller and smaller, not larger as they do with us today. But look, we're about 300, 350 years before King David or so. And we're talking about, there's no judges yet in Judges chapter one. You say it's judges, but I don't see a judge because basically, you know, they're still finishing up the conquest of the Promised Land here. You see a lot of fighting in Judges chapter one so far. And you know, Joshua was dead. And as a matter of fact, they were actually losing some territory. You can see in Judges chapter one. So John, you know, that's the scene that we're at with judges and starting out the book of judges. So let's just go ahead and step through Judges chapter one and see what we can learn from this chapter in the Bible. The Bible says in Judges chapter one, verse number one, it says, now after the death of Joshua, it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord saying, who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first to fight against them? So obviously there's still land to take, there's still fighting to be done. And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I've delivered the land into his hand. And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, come up with me into my lot that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. Turn to Genesis chapter 49. I just want to show you a couple of things about Simeon. And if you look at a map of, Simeon is kind of unique. If you ever look at a historical map of where the 12 tribes of Israel settled, Simeon is the only one that really doesn't have his own area cut out. He's actually inside the nation of Judah, or the territory that Judah has. So he's kind of, he's not really sharing it, but he has land that's inside the borders of Judah. It's kind of a unique situation. Look at Genesis 49 in verse number 8 and we can see why that is. And the Bible says in Genesis 49-8 it says, Judah thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemy. So this is Judah. This is, you know, the one that is going to, you know, fight the Canaanites right now and ask Simeon to go with him. He's like thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's welt. From the prey my son thou art gone up, he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion who shall rouse him up. So he's saying Judah is going to be very powerful. So that makes sense why when the children of Israel said who should go up, you know, God said Judah goes first. It matches here. Look back at verses 5, at verse number 5 of the same chapter and we'll see what the Bible says about Simeon. So this is their father giving them blessings and he's talking about what's going to happen to these twelve sons. The Bible says Simeon and Levi are brethren, they're brothers. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come thou not into their secret unto their assembly. This is Jacob of course talking to, or Israel talking to his twelve sons. But he says Simeon and Levi, they are instruments of cruelty. He says, O my soul, come not thou into their secret unto their assembly, my honor, be not, be not thou united. For in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they dig down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. So this explains why Simeon was not given his own section of the area. And you know, as a matter of fact, Levi, we'll get to that in a minute, but he's basically saying Levi and Simeon, you're not going to have your own land like everybody else because of what you've done. What did they do, you say? Go to Genesis 34. So Simeon and Levi are the quintessential overprotective brothers, I mean, to say the least. So the story here, and we're not going to go through the whole story, but the story is, is that Simeon and Levi had a sister named Dinah, and she went out with the daughters of the land the Bible says, and she went out and she was, you know, she was mixing with people she shouldn't have been mixing with. And she found this man, and, you know, she was defiled by this man. So she was no longer pure. And, you know, the man, I mean, there was not, it was not a forceful situation. You know, many people will say that, but that's not what the Bible says. The man actually wants to marry her. He comes to Jacob and his brothers and their brothers, and Dinah's brothers, I'm sorry, and says, hey, you know, we want to, we want to be able to marry your daughters. We want to join with our tribes together, and they're trying to kind of make this peace. And so they say to them, they trick this whole city of, of Session, and they say, okay, if you go out and you're circumcised, then we will join with you. So all the men in this city go and they, they perform that as a, you know, adults. And the Bible says literally that, you know, the second day or the third day when they were all, you know, recovering from their surgery, that Simeon and Levi went and basically killed everybody. Talk about being overprotective brothers. This is what Jacob is talking about. So look at Genesis 34 and verse 24. The Bible says, and unto Hamor, and unto Shechem his son, hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city, and every male was circumcised, and all that went out of the gate of his city. And it came to pass on the third day when they were sore that two of the sons of Jacob, who, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man as sword and came upon the city boldly and slew all the males. And that's not all they did. So they go there and they, they trick these men to go and have this painful procedure done and then just to kill them, just to kill everybody. Okay, and they slew everybody and they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went out. And the sons of Jacob come upon the slain and they spoiled the city because they had defiled their sisters. So they took all their stuff too. They took all their stuff. They took their sheep and their oxen and their asses and that which was in the city and all that was in the field and all their wealth and their little ones and their wives took their captive and spoiled even all that was in the house. So because of this, I mean, this is an evil act that they did here. I mean they, I mean, talk about your, I can understand being overprotective. I have two sisters myself, but come on, you know, I mean, these guys murdered all these people and then they stole everything in the city basically. So Jacob basically lays a curse upon, you know, these two men because of their cruelty. I mean, this was definitely a cruel act that they did here. Alright, so they will not have their own territory. Judah takes his land, Simeon settles inside Judah, turned to Deuteronomy chapter 10. We'll see what happened to Levi, alright, Levi. And the Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 10, look at verse number eight. Levi was not to have their own territory either, the tribe of Levi. In Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse number eight the Bible reads, at that time the Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord, to minister unto him and to blessing his name unto this day. Wherefore, Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren. The Lord is his inheritance. So he doesn't inherit land. The Bible says that Levi is to, you know, the tribe of Levi was to be the priest. The vitical priesthood of the Old Testament was from the tribe of Levi. The Lord was his inheritance according as the Lord thy God promised him. So Simeon and Levi, I just wanted to point out, they did not have their own lands. Okay, turn to Joshua chapter 14. Joshua chapter 14. All the other tribes had their own lands. They had their own lands. In Joshua chapter 14, verse number two, the Bible explains this. It explains it many places, but this is a nice summary of the tribes and the land that they got. And I want to explain a couple of things here. The Bible says, by a lot was their inheritance as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses for the nine tribes and for the half tribe. You say, what in the world? I thought there was 12 tribes. For Moses had given the inheritance of two tribes and in half tribe on the other side of Jordan, but unto the Levites he gave none inheritance among them. So we've already seen that. For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. Therefore they gave no part unto the Levites and the land, saved cities to dwell in with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance. So we have 12 tribes in Israel, but the Bible says here only nine receive an inheritance. And the reason for that is because Joseph is broken into two tribes. So we get 11 from there and Simeon and Levi don't get a tribe. So basically, you know, when you look at Joseph, Simeon and Levi, that's why when you look at a map of the 12 tribes of Israel from a historical standpoint, you'll have these half tribes and you basically have 11, but then Manasseh is broken into two. Okay, so that gives you 12. So if you count the actual territories, you will count 12, but really only nine were given, you know, according to the original 12 tribes, that's why the Bible says nine. You know, many people will say, you know, it's supposed to be 12, but it adds up perfectly when you have the half tribes. Manasseh was again broken into two tribes. One was on the east side and one was on the west side of the Jordan River. Alright, so I just want to explain that historical aspect. Go to verse number four of Judges chapter one. Verse number four. Now we see an interesting situation here in verse number four of Judges chapter one. The Bible says, and Judah went up. So Judah's going to war and he's going to war with Simeon. And Judah went up and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Parasites into their hand. That means they won the battle. They won a great victory because of the Lord. And they slew of them in Bezek 10,000 men. And they found Adonai Bezek in Bezek and they fought against him. And they slew the Canaanites and the Parasites. But Adonai Bezek fled and they pursued after him. So he's the king and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. I mean, what in the world? I mean, who could say that the Bible is boring, by the way? I mean, so here they catch this king, turn to Exodus chapter 21. They catch this king and they cut off his thumbs and they cut off his big toes. I mean, doesn't that sound strange? Kids, that's weird, right? I mean, why would you cut off someone's thumbs and their big toes? Well, look at verse number 7 and we get the answer. You turn to Exodus chapter 21 and I'm going to read for you Judges chapter 1 and verse number 7. But this king and Adonai Bezek said, three score and ten kings. That's 70 kings. Having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table as I have done. So God hath requited me and they brought him to Jerusalem and there he died. Look at Exodus chapter 21. So this king had done this to 70 other kings. Every king that he conquered, he cut off their thumbs and he cut off their big toes. Okay? Look at Exodus chapter 21. So this is why the Israelites did it. Look at verse number 24. The Bible says this. It says, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. He did this to others. It's proper punishment that it happens to him. Okay? So look, let's have an object lesson this evening. Okay? Why in the world the thumbs and the big toes? So I want to get a volunteer here. Josiah, I need a volunteer. Okay? So what I want to do is I want to just explain something. Why would you cut off someone's thumbs and big toes for a punishment? Okay? So Josiah, here we're going to have a, we're going to have an experiment. Okay? Since everybody's over here, you back up a little bit there. Here's just a regular bottle of water. I just opened it. Okay? I loosened the cap for you. Okay? Now are you left-handed or right-handed? Left-handed. So that's the hand you would like to use? So we're going to tape that hand so you can't use it. Okay? Raise up your other hand. This is a one-handed experiment. All right? All right. Now, with one hand, how are you doing? All right? With one hand, I want you to open that bottle of water and take a drink. Okay, that's pretty good. All right? Don't drink the whole thing. That's pretty good. You did good. Let's put the cover back on just lightly. Now give me your hand for a minute. Hold your hand out like that. Let's take away your thumb. Put your thumb like that. Lay it down. Your hands out. Put just like that. There you go. We're going to take away your thumb, buddy. Hang on. We're going to make you thumbless. All right? How are you feeling? Now, I can, you can still wiggle it a little bit. Are you feeling thumbless yet? Okay. Now, what I'd like you to do, using that same hand, I'd like you to open that bottle of water and take a drink, if you would. No? One hand. What seems to be the problem? Okay? Just take the cover. Here, I'll tell you what. I'll help you. I'll hold it. There you go. One hand. One hand. What? No? Hey. All right. How come you're not drinking? Huh? You can't? Because you lost the use of your thumb. Right? Would life be good or bad if you didn't have thumbs? Bad. Right? Or you can go back to your seat. All right. Thank you. So, we see that the thumb is pretty important in your life, right? So, if you cut off someone's thumbs, you know, things would be difficult, right? You basically couldn't do, look, you couldn't do anything. Oh, sorry. Sorry, buddy. You couldn't do any manual labor. You couldn't do anything. You couldn't even get yourself a drink of water if you didn't have thumbs. I mean, it would be, I mean, we're joking tonight, of course, but it actually would be pretty miserable living without thumbs. All right? Now, what about the big toe? What's the deal with that? All right? Now, we're not going to do an object lesson on this, but what's the point of your big toe? So, let me ask you a question. First of all, just some practicality. When you get a hole in your socks, where does it, what comes out first? Your big toe. Right? You know what I'm talking about? Your big toe ends up sticking out of your socks. It's because your big toe is so valuable in your walking ability, your balance. I mean, think of this, right? You like, you like, I like boats. I like being on the water and sailing and things like that. Look, your big toe is your rudder. It's your rudder. It defines your direction on where you go. All right? Now look, it's even better, it's even better than this, because I didn't even know this, but here's one thing that you know. If you walk and you lift up your big toe, what actually happens is the arch of your foot rises like that. Because when you go to step, your big toe automatically rises and the arch of your foot comes together. So when your heel hits, it acts as a shock absorber for your whole body. Right? So when you think about it, your big toe comes up and you get this nice shock absorber of your arch of your foot. So the big toe is actually integral in actual walking, not just direction. Okay? Now if you want to have a fun little experiment, you know, we did this last night at your house, duct tape all your toes together and try to walk around your house and try to, you know, duct tape your toes together so your big toe can't lift up and try to run. It's dangerous, be careful. I mean, your legs won't even work right, it's the weirdest thing. Your legs are like flying around like this all because your big toe can't move. All right? It messes up your balance. You can't change direction properly. Look, and I mean, it's just the perfect shock absorber and rudder for your body to keep your, the human body balanced and moving forward in every direction. I mean, it's beautiful but it's all an accident, right? It's all an accident that just evolved over time and you know, how did that happen? Right? So look, the big toe is super important. If you didn't have a big toe, you couldn't even walk. So think about these kings that had this happen to them. This was actually a pretty severe torture. I mean, we're kind of having some fun with it but it was actually probably a pretty severe torture. These guys couldn't walk, they couldn't do anything with their hands. It must have been a very miserable life for these guys. So this king, it actually happened to him, you know, an eye for an eye, a wound for a wound. This is what they did to the king. Okay? Look at verse number eight. Verse number eight. Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and had taken it and smitten it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites and dwelt in the mountain and in the south and in the valley. And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron. The name of Hebron before was Kerjatharba and they slew Shashi'i and Ahamn and Talmai. And from then he went against the inhabitants of Diber and the name of Diber before was Kerjathsefer. And Calib said, so here's Calib again. Remember Calib, we'll talk about him in a minute. He that smitteth Kerjathsefer and taken it to him will I give Aksa my daughter to wife. And Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Calib's younger brother took it and he gave him Aksa his daughter to wife. So Judah's doing very well here and Calib is doing very well here as well. They're winning these battles and it came to pass when she came to him that she moved him to ask her father a field and she lighted off from her ass and Calib said unto her, What wilt thou? And she said unto him, Give me a blessing for thou has given me a south land. Give me also springs of water. And Calib gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. Of course this is a smart lady. She's looking for watered land. Of course these are all people that raise animals and if you want valuable land you need water on that land. Okay? And the children of the Kenai, Moses' father-in-law went up out of the city of the palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah which lieth in the south of Erad and they went and dwelt among the people. And Judah went with Simeon his brother and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath and utterly destroyed it. So that means that's an important phrase there. They utterly destroyed it. Okay? Remember that. Maybe underline it in your Bible. And the name of the city was called Horma. Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof and Escalon with the coast thereof and Ekron with the coast thereof. And the Lord was with Judah. This is why Judah's just winning all the battles. Because the Bible says the Lord was with Judah and he draved out the inhabitants of the mountain but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had chariots of iron. So this is the first evidence here in verse number 19 that something is waning. Something is waning amongst the children of Israel especially with Judah here. Look at verse 20. And then they gave Hebron unto Caleb as Moses said and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter one. Do you remember Caleb? So Caleb was very unique in the fact that it was only him and Joshua that were allowed to be in the wilderness for the 40 years and be allowed to come into the promised land. Why is that? Why is that? Look at Deuteronomy chapter one in verse number 35. Now Caleb now is in his 80s. He's an older man and the Bible says in verse 35 of Deuteronomy chapter one, surely there shall not be one of these men of this evil generation see that good land which I swear unto your fathers. So what is this about? Joshua and Caleb were part of the spies that went into the promised land. So Moses sent in you know 12 spies to spy out the promised land and they came back and every single spy except for Joshua and Caleb was afraid and all they could say was look at how the people we were like grasshoppers to these people. They were huge and they were just men of war and they just they got all the people whipped up into a frenzy that they would not be able to go across the Jordan and take the promised land except Caleb and Joshua. Caleb and Joshua said no. It's like the Lord will fight for us. They kept their faith. They had their faith and it's for this reason in verse number 36 the Bible says that God said save Caleb the son of Jeff Neua. He shall see it and to him will I give the land that he had trodeth upon and to his children because he holi followed the Lord. So the Bible says this is what's being fulfilled here is this promise from God that Caleb and his children would have this land. Go back to judges chapter one. Judges chapter one. Look at verse number 21. We see a shift now from verse 20 to verse number 21. It's very clear that something has changed that something is going on that is different from the first part of judges chapter one and look at verse 21. The Bible says in the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin and Jerusalem unto this day. So look here they chose not to drive them out. You see that they made the decision to not drive out the Jebusites. Verse 22. In the house of Joseph they also went up against Bethel and the Lord was with them. The house of Joseph sent to destroy sent to describe Bethel. Now the name of the city before was Luz and the spies saw a man come forth out of the city and they said unto him show us we pray thee the entrance into the city and we will show thee mercy and when they show them the entrance into the city they smote the city with the edge of the sword but they let the man go and all his family the guy that helped them and the man went into the land of the Hittites and built the city and called the name there of Luz which is the name therefore unto this day. Neither did Manasseh now we see it continue so we had a little victory in there now we see this whole idea continue it says neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bessian and her towns nor Tanakh and her towns nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns nor the inhabitants of Iblum and her towns nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns but the Canaanites would dwell in the land so the Canaanites the the heathen stayed there and it came to pass when Israel was strong that they put the Canaanites to tribute. That means look it doesn't say that they were too weak to overcome them it says that they chose to put them to tribute what does that mean it they chose to let them stay there and they basically taxed them this happens today in many Middle Eastern countries you know people that aren't the religion of Islam are just they're allowed to live there but they're taxed they're taxed at a heavy rate so they basically they put them to tribute instead of utterly driving them out look at verse 29 this continues neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Giza but the Canaanites dwelt in Giza among them neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Ketron nor the inhabitants of Nehalal but the Canaanites dwelt among them and became tributaries I mean where does it say that they dwelt it says that they dwelt together they were dwelling in the same cities it's not like they let them stay in this city and they built a city over here they lived together they lived in the same area it's like all these different people living in one city the bible says neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Eiko nor the inhabitants of Zidon nor of Elab nor of Aksib or of Helba nor of Affic nor of Rehob but the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites they dwelt among them and the inhabitants of the land for they did not drive them out it doesn't say that they weren't strong enough to it just says it just says that they didn't they chose not to don't miss this look at verse 33 neither did Naftali now we're just going through all the tribes here they just chose to not drive out the Canaanites neither did Naftali Naftali drive out the inhabitants of Beshemish nor the inhabitants of Bethanath but he dwelt among the Canaanites the inhabitants of the land nevertheless the inhabitants of Beshemish and of Bethanath became tributaries unto them so not only are they living amongst them but they're making money off of them you know do you think that maybe that had some kind of motivation for why they were doing what they were doing and the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain for they would not suffer them to come down into the valley so these guys are losing a battle at least but the Amorites would dwell in Mount Heres and Algion and Shelbim yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed so that they became tributaries so once again the coast of the Amorites was from the going up of Acrobim from the rock and upward turn to Deuteronomy chapter 7 you say what's the big deal sounds fine it sounds fine the problem is the big deal is this is not what God wanted them to do this was not the orders that they were under they were actually supposed to do the opposite you say well that sounds cruel well who are you to say what God should tell people to do so I'm going to show you why in the Bible God gave these specific orders look at Deuteronomy chapter 7 and look at verse number three this is the orders that the Lord gave to the children of Israel before they went into the Promised Land they were very specific directions look at verse number three look at verse number two the Lord God just go to verse number one let's read the whole thing when the Lord God shall bring thee into the land whether thou goest to possess it and cast out many nations before thee the Hittites and the Gurgoshites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Parasites and the Hivites and the Jebusites does it sound familiar this is exactly what's going on what God told them to do seven nations greater and mightier than thou and when the Lord God shall deliver them before thee thou shall smite them and utterly destroy them he's like you are to wipe them out completely and utterly destroy them he even brings it to detail of the animals they're supposed to wipe out everything and make no covenant with them nor show mercy unto them now look first of all you need to read the whole Bible if you think oh this isn't this isn't fair or this isn't right these people have been defying the Lord and as a matter of fact when you know the Bible was going to bring the children of Israel into this Promised Land there's a time in the Bible where the Bible said hey you know it's it's not full my wrath isn't full against these people in the Promised Land yet hundreds of years later is when this happens God's wrath is upon these people they have turned upon the Lord and God is sending the children of Israel in there and he says hey wipe them out utterly destroy them neither and look at verse number three and God even like God it's like God sees what's going to happen right so he gives them like plan b because he's like it's almost like God knows I know you're not going to listen to me so in verse number three he says neither shall thou make marriages with them so let me ask you a question if you go into a war against a nation and you utterly destroy the entire nation do you have to give the order to not make marriages with them they're all dead you don't have to make me so God knows that they're not going to listen to him okay and he says don't make marriages with them then God's just trying to give them extra warnings hey here's here's plan a you know what you're supposed to do but you know I know you're not going to listen to plan a so here's plan b at least don't marry them he says neither shall you make marriages unto them thy daughter shall not shall thou not give unto his son nor his daughter shall thou take unto his son he's like hey don't intermingle with them don't live amongst them he's like because if you do live amongst them what's going to happen you're going to end up intermarrying and I mean have you ever seen two families where the children get married and the families have completely different cultures what a disaster you don't have to be saved to have seen that in your life okay so God is just giving warning after warning after warning here in Deuteronomy chapter seven and we see in Judges chapter one that they almost immediately after Joshua dies they start turning away from what God told them to do so that's the application I want to make this evening is settling the land settling the land look the actual battle that Israel fought can be compared to the spiritual battles that we fight today it can be totally compared turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter six 2nd Corinthians chapter six we are told the you say oh that's the old testament no but spiritually we are told the exact same thing today we are given the exact same instruction today as Christians as saved people that God gave the children of Israel look God does not change God does not change there's not old testament mean he had God and then New Testament long-haired sheep Jesus it's fake God is the same throughout the whole Bible and his direction to save people to Christians to believers is the same and I'll prove it to you look at 2nd Corinthians chapter six look at verse number 14 first of all the Bible says that we are to not collaborate with the heathen world we are to have non-collaboration with the heathen world the Bible calls it being unequally yoked with the heathen world look at 2nd Corinthians chapter six it'll take my work for it look what the Bible says in 2nd Corinthians chapter six verse 14 the Bible says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness so maybe this is telling you maybe you should think about once you're saved maybe you should think about you know believers and unbelievers and they're being a divide there you know the Bible is saying don't be if you're if you're hanging out and you're collaborating and you're fellowshiping with unbelievers it says you're unequally yoked what what does that mean what says what communion communion hath have light with darkness I mean can can those two exist together think about it think about it can the can the light exist in the darkness here's what happens and here's what the Bible teaches over and over by the way if you're a light and you're trying to hang out in the pitch dark you're going to get pitch dark that's why there's garbage teaching about how we need to send our kids to public school so they can be a light to the others no they're going to get dark is what's going to happen the Bible teaches that again and again and again look you young people you young people that you know you've come out of the dark or you're thinking about coming out of the dark look I mean you look around a church like this and you see you know you see us all like this right with our suits and our ties do you know that a lot of us have been in the dark do you know that a lot of us came out of the dark but here's the thing if you're a light and you want to come out of the dark you got to get up and you got to walk out you got to walk out of the dark because the Bible says that we are not to be yoked together there is no look there is no place for you in the dark if you're saved there is no halfway there is no one foot in it doesn't work it doesn't work many people have tried before you it doesn't work light and dark don't go together it's very simple and it's up to you you have to get up and walk out of the dark look at verse 17 I mean the Bible I mean just continues in in second Corinthians chapter 6 it says where for come out from among them it doesn't say where for you know hope that you you you roll out or where for you know hang out with them for a while or where for come halfway out it says come out it's like something you have to do where for come out from enough from among them and and be just a little bit further away from them no it says come out from among them and be separate you have to be separate from them say it the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you look this is the exact same direction that the children of Israel were given we are given the same that we are not to be among them we're not to be unequally yoked I mean look this also turns into you know being carefully I mean talk about being unequally yoked you're hanging out in the dark you know the Bible says you know be careful just like in Deuteronomy chapter 7 the Bible says be careful who you marry the Bible says be careful who you marry because guess what if you hang out in the dark there's a chance you're gonna get married to someone who's in the dark believers should not marry unbelievers but you know once again God in his mercy gives us direction on if that situation should happen gives us direction we're not going to get into that but I mean God it just is infinite mercy towards us I mean it actually has biblical instructions on how to handle an unsaved spouse but like everything else the Bible warns against it's best to not go there it's best to not end up in that situation so look we are not to have anything to do with the wickedness with the darkness and that's like that's the unbelieving world I'm sorry you should not be hanging out with unbelievers you have to walk out of the darkness folks I mean you're not the first one that's done it you're not the first one that's that's been in the darkness that's had to walk out of the darkness that's had to put up with you know craziness from walking out of the darkness put up with the darkness wanting to keep you there because look the darkness doesn't want to let you go either the darkness doesn't want to let you go you just got to go you just got to go and you can do it I mean the Lord I mean you're the light now I mean you have that you have that ability so why I mean why why did Israel I mean why did God give all these warnings you think about it right turn to Joshua chapter 24 turn to Joshua chapter 24 so God I mean this is not the first time that God is warning against this it almost sounds starts to sound like a broken record if you read the Old Testament on God just warning again and again and again about mixing with the people in the you know the heathens in the promised land it's just over and over and over again it's just warning after warning after warning so you say why and then you read the Old Testament and you see what happened look at Joshua chapter 24 in verse number 31 this is the end of the book of Joshua and look what the Bible says the the Bible kind of gives us the answer of what started to happen even before we get into Judges chapter one in Joshua chapter 24 look at verse number 31 the Bible says in Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua and the days of the elders that all overlived Joshua which had known all the works of the Lord that he had done for Israel so he had Joshua and then he died but even the people that saw the works of Joshua the leaders that were with Joshua it says they served the Lord during Joshua's life and then also during the life of these men that saw the works of Joshua that died at some later point so these were leaders that were leading with Joshua during the conquest and they were probably younger than him and they ended up dying later so the Bible says that you know they served up until that point and then you start to see in Judges chapter one what starts to happen I mean what is what was that about 1.5 maybe two generations you know generation in the Bible is about 30 years you say that was two maybe 60 years and you sit there and you read the Bible and you think what are these guys what are these people a bunch of idiots are these people a bunch of fools I mean God how many times does God have to warn them I mean the Israelites came into the land they saw these I mean they imagine the shock they came into the land they saw these heathens sacrificing their children that's what these people did in these nations to false gods living in these brutal heathens societies you read some history books about these heathens society I mean they're just brutal societies to the point of disgusting societies I mean it must have been shocking for them yet they began to adopt their cultures within two generations within 60 years you say what was wrong with them what what what a bunch of fools they didn't listen to the Lord right right ah but look at us look at us we're just going to give you one example that's probably the most glaring example from 1915 you know man that's not that long ago from 1915 that's a hundred years ago right 1915 to 1991 1991 I was in high school you're like whoa but 1991 I was high I was in high school I was a teenager from 1915 to 1991 communism in the world is estimated to have killed over a hundred million people a hundred million people that's more than two entire states of california I mean murdered under a philosophy and yet we are racing down that path in this country today I mean what what is that like one and a half generations maybe two generations look less than 50 years ago it was well known that this philosophy murdered millions of people does anyone even know that now in the 80s in the 80s when we were in school if you didn't like your buddy your buddy was making a matter of some you called him a commie so you commie I'm serious don't call me a commie you want to fight shut up commie I mean that's what we did I mean it was a big deal it was a known evil thing it was a known evil thing communism today's infiltrating infiltrating schools churches political movements I mean business insider had an article just a few months ago that said of the millennial generation if you're under 30 you're a millennial I'm sorry the millennial generation seven out of 10 would would be happy with a socialist leader that's real I mean that should scare the living daylights out of us but look all these social movements look let me just give you some warning here all these all these these far left social movements that are going on today at the core of these movements is communism is marxism you say what look into it look into it from all these riots to this environmentalism the base is all marxism all of it it's this idea that capitalism needs to be destroyed in this country I mean they I mean christians should have nothing to do with these groups or these philosophies all these young people are what Vladimir Lenin would call useful idiots you say what does that mean it's an actual thing that was invented by some of the founders of communism a term coined by Vladimir Lenin look him up as he created armies of soldiers around the world to subvert capitalism and democracies so here's the useful idiot definition see if this sounds familiar today someone who supports one side of an ideological debate but who has manipulated and unaware of the ultimate agenda driving the ideology in which they describe meaning people think they're fighting for human rights but they're really pushing a bigger agenda which is marxism in the country it's crazy follow the origins look if you're look at these groups look at their leaders and follow their origins and look at their beliefs and where they came from and you'll find a lot of words like marxist socialist communist that's the origin of all these far-left groups look it's evil people it's straight up evil it is evil Karl Marx was the founder marxism is car is talking about Karl Marx he's the founder of the communist form of government he's the one that wrote the communist manifesto read that read that he literally wrote it look it's a it's basically it's a it's a it's a it's a religion that murdered over a hundred million people less than 100 years ago a hundred million people and they don't even know they don't even know folks when you start estimating things in the tens of millions that means you have no idea how many people actually died i mean large percentages of nations cease to exist from this philosophy and here's the irony of this socialism by the way i'm just going to go off on this just for a couple minutes here's the irony of it it's covetous at its core the socialist today will say oh capitalists are just greedy the socialist look the philosophy will i mean this philosophy will literally murder you over stuff that's what it was they literally murdered people over material possessions i mean if you're a socialist you have a greed problem period i mean seven out of these seven out of ten people you know why they'll they they will vote or they want a socialist leader it's because they want your stuff it's because they want other people's stuff that look they decry success and they decry business because it's it's based on the love of money that's what it is first Timothy 6 10 says for the love of money is the root of all evil look with socialism it's an obsession with money and look capitalism is based on look social limit socialism is the obsession of material goods capitalism is the necessity of freedom is what that's based on it's a necessity it's a foul and by the way it's a fallacy that greed is a problem with only rich people i mean other greedy rich people of course but that's a fallacy the lottery is a perfect example of this you know that people under the poverty line by four times more lottery tickets than people above the poverty line it's greed the casinos are full of people that can't afford to be there it's greed that's all it is if you have no money and you go to a casino it's because you're greedy if you have no money and you're just spending all your money on lottery tickets it's because you're greedy because you don't want to get your money god's way that's the bottom line get your money god's way so back to the israelites back to the israelites they were told to have nothing to do with the inhabitants of the land but they forgot quickly and we're forgetting quickly today too and we are it's not just social that's just one large example there's so many other things but when you forget the law of the lord anything goes and it doesn't look it doesn't take long you think about what that you think about it just think about what this country looked like 60 years ago think about what this country looked like 30 years ago you know talk to people that are older and they'll tell you that i mean if things that were going on today were happening you know 30 years ago people wouldn't have tolerated it not at all we're also forgetting quickly you look at the price now when we go through judges chapter one judges chapter two judges chapter three you look at the price that the israelites paid and that's the price that we're going to pay you just can you can apply it directly to us because the exact same thing is going on our country is heading where these guys are heading in judges chapter one so come out look come out what can i do you say come out from among them that's what you can do look you don't have to be part of that and especially i mean if you're here you don't have to be part of that come out from among them this is your oasis i used to read uh superman comics this is your fortress of solitude here i mean this is you know this is your foundation here you have a sanctuary here where all the mess out there is going on when you come out from among them you have a place to go you have a place to go because look this is not going to get better in my opinion we're going to do what we can this is not going to get better but when we study the book of judges just we're going to apply it a lot to what's going on today because it's the spiritual same thing that's happening judges let's buy our heads and have a word of prayer