 Good evening. Good afternoon. As we look at it at the scriptures where we are today, all we have gotten past so far is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and oh, seven books. Seven books thus far. So before I continue, let's go ahead and put this on the screen, our little timelines we all can see. And remember, we are getting ready to go into Judges. Now, look, notice, you know, we are going by the chronological order that that determines what book we go to next. But at the same time, we have these complimentary books. And so because of that, a complimentary book to Judges is Ruth. And so we're going to look at that. Also, we'll go into Ruth on next week, as a matter of fact, we'll look at Ruth and then come back to Judges. But we're also going to reference, as we go through Judges, we'll reference back to the Old Testament. As a matter of fact, hold on one second. For some reason, I do not have this like I should. I've got some other title up there that's going to probably throw me off. So let me let me make let me fix this. And this should be give me one second. I'm sorry guys, I should have had this done. I thought I did. Pardon me. Delete that, delete that, and delete that. Okay, good. I think we're all set. Okay, so remember, though, what we're doing is we're kind of working our way through what we are going to also do is we are going to start what's called a Bible survey. Let me go to the art to our little, our little look. And I want to show you something that we're going to do. Which one is it? I think it's this one. I said that this, this study is a combination of hermeneutics. Why is it a combination of hermeneutics? Because we are learning, we are focusing on how we read the Bible, hermeneutics just kind of the practice of interpreting. It's some art, but it's really more science, especially if you are consistent. And so we are we are dealing with obviously hermeneutics, how we read the Bible so far, we've read it the same way, all of us through, and there hadn't been very much, very much problems. There are some folks that will come in, and they are naturally going to want to object some because they just want to object. There are some people who object just because, hey, I've got the floor, I've got the ability to object. Let me just say something. Well, but for us, as we look at the scriptures, let's just read it in the way that we should understand that it's meant for us to understand it. How does the writer intend for the audience, or how does the speaker intend for the audience to receive it? Which is also how we should receive it, how they were expected to receive it. It's how we should receive it. Whatever the truth was in Genesis, it's still the truth when we get to the gospels. Whatever the truth is in Exodus, it's still the truth if we get to Malachi 1st and 2nd Samuel with me. Now, there are going to be some more revelation, some more things, details, attitude, whatever truth we may have gotten. For example, in Genesis 3, no one that's studying there, be it Adam, Eve, or the serpent, the devil, no one has any clue what God just said about the seat of woman is going to crush the head of the serpent, or the seat of the serpent. No one has any idea, but it's still true. We just have detail added to go along with that. And so remember, God is not trying to confuse us. He's trying to give it to us as best as possible. I think we make them, we make the mistake thinking that God believes he's speaking to a super intelligent audience. He is not. We just said it again. He is not speaking to a super intelligent audience. So that being the case, we can go ahead and put this back on the screen. I want you guys to look at this where we are. As a matter of fact, go ahead and take a quick screenshot while you guys are taking a screenshot. I'm going to let the cat in. The cat wants to come in. So we put this on the screen so you guys can take a screenshot of this. Okay, now the cat is in. So we can go ahead and move. Let me go back to this other slide that I wanted to show you. So not only are we, this is a combination of hermeneutics, but it's also a Bible survey. We haven't gotten to the Bible survey part just yet. We'll start doing the outlines. We'll start incorporating that as we go. But we're going to do a Bible survey this week on or coming up on Genesis. We're going to do one on Exodus as well. And then it's also a bit of systematic theology. I'll cover the systematic theology as we go later on. We're really not, we're still formulating some thoughts, some opinions about the Bible. So we haven't even gotten to the point to where we'll start delving into systematic theology. That will be later on as we go throughout it. But notice what's coming up really quickly, really rapidly guys. These prophets, we're going to be talking about the prophets really, really soon. And we're going to find out who this David guy is. We're going to be introduced to him. But that has to come after we see Samuel and so forth. So anyway, we're making some progress, but we're going to slow down a little bit so that we can make sure that we get the fullness of what the Bible is saying. Amen. So that being the case, we are starting off today in Judges. And why do I have it in chapter three? I don't know. But Judges. And I'll read a little bit of this. We're not going to, we're not going to read all of all of this. There's one particular pastor that I do want to go into. So let's go to it. So Judges chapter one, verse one, now came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against him? Now, you're going to see this also. You're going to see where, and the Bible does this, especially in the Old Testament, the Bible is stating something. Then it'll kind of backtrack or recap. So you're going to see him bring up Joshua and his death later on. Okay. So I just want to just kind of put that out there. The Lord said to Joshua, I mean, I'm sorry, the Lord said to Judah, I'm sorry, the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hand. Then Judah said to Simeon, his brother, come up with me into the territory allotted me that we may fight against the Canaanites. So remember now, let's keep the picture. They are going into this land. God has told them, you have to go and get rid of the people there. What they have seen thus far is they don't have to be, they don't have to be some, some well trained military machine. They don't have to be the greatest of fighters. They don't have to be. That's not, that's not who God has chosen. As a matter of fact, God has chosen the least of people. So they're not the greatest at fighting. But what, what they've seen is that they don't need to be because God will be with them. And that's been kind of the problem. Remember the reason why I took them 40 years into the Promised Land because they, they forgot about that. They were afraid of the people that were in the land. Now they're in the land and they've had some battles. They've lost one battle. They've had one defeat. That isn't with I, but that was because one person had sin. And so all these other battles, it's God that's doing it for them. So he's telling them to go in, take the part, the portions of the land that I have given to you, go and subdue it and drive the people out. Well, that necessarily means that God is going to be with them. And so that's the part that they don't get. They, they look with their eyes instead of remembering what God has done. Okay. But remember, he's telling them that they must drive them out or else one, remember he makes a statement in Deuteronomy that if you don't drive them out, then what I mean to do to you, I will do to you. I mean, what I mean to do to them, I will do to you. Think about that. What I mean to do to them, now I'm going to do it to you because you disobeyed me. God is serious about us obeying him. We don't obey him. He takes that seriously guys. And so you may get a warning. You may get some sort of heating. If not, you are certainly going to get punished. And the thing that you cannot worry about trying to figure out you certainly can't control is what is the punishment going to be like? Sometimes the punishment might be lack for not no pun intended minor. Sometimes a pun, I mean, the punishment might be severe, might be death. Remember, we talked about Moses. We talked about Moses and the people grumbling against God. Some of the people died because those snakes that come against him and bite them and some died. Some just got sick. So you don't even get a chance to determine how punishment is going to be carried out. Will it be distributed equally and fairly? No. It's at his discretion. So that being the case, let's go back to it. This is verse 4, Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the parasites into their hands. Notice the Lord gave and they defeated 10,000 men at Bezek. This is this is a funny little story right here. They found Adonai Bezek in Bezek and fought against him and they defeated the Canaanites and the parasites. But Adonai Bezek fled and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. Why? Because he had done so to 70 other kings. Cut their thumbs off and their big toes. That's kind of mean. That's just insulting. Cut your thumbs off, cut your big toes off. So to humiliate them and presumably before he killed them, let's just do this. So now I want to drop down to verse let's go to verse 16. Let's start in verse 16. The descendants of the Canaanite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the city of Poms with the sons of Judah to the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Ark Aride. And they went and lived with the people. Then Judah went with Simeon, his brother, and they struck the Canaanites living in Zephyp and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called Horma. And Judah took Gaza with this territory and Ashkelon with this territory and Ekron with this territory. Now the Lord was with Judah and they took possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots. That's the part that you need to listen to. What happened? Let me read it again. Verse 19. Now the Lord was with Judah. By the way, and I always neglect to say this, that if you guys have any questions, if the questions are pertaining to this, then feel free to put a Q or question. I'm kind of looking at them. And so let me know if you've got a question so I can go ahead and stop and address it because this is a class time. This is Bible study class. So that'd been the case. Notice the Lord, as he says, was with Judah. The Lord was with Judah. What does that mean? Well, that means the Lord's got your back. The Lord is leading. The Lord is guiding. But it's funny though, how could that be? Because it says, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots. Now the word could is actually not there in Hebrew. It just says they they not drive out the inhabitants. So they didn't drive out the inhabitants. You can take could or would not or did not. Doesn't matter. They just did not drive them out. Now it says because and the and the Hebrew word key is there. So because they had iron chariots. So here's the question. Would you all think about this for a second? Why did not the Jews, at least these Jews in Judah, why did they not drive out the inhabitants? Finally important. Remember the Lord was with them. Now they did have the people in the land had the inhabitants had iron chariots. As a matter of fact, it says they didn't drive them up because they had iron chariots. So I'm asking you, even though we just read it, why did they not drive them out? Well, do you all think it was really because of the iron chariots? Let me go before I come back to that. Let's let's type over here. Let's go to Judges. Judges two. Let's start in verse one. Let's start in verse one. Let's see how look before I go listen because they because they never drove them out before. They saw the chariots and got scared. They were afraid but what but the Lord was with them. It seems it seems to to to kind of kind of give us the impression that the fear of dying. Yep, fear. I'm ultimate because unbelief and you guys are right. You guys are right. That's why. Now, even though it says because they had because they had iron chariots, it's not so they fought them and lost because they had iron chariots. No, they didn't even try. Why? So because of that's right. Jurean lack of faith. So Judges two one. Let's read this and this and God is upset with him. He says, Now, the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgau. Well, who is the angel of the Lord? We know who that is. The angel of the Lord came up from Gilgau to Bokeen and said, I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into a land which I have sworn to your fathers. And I said, I will never break my covenant with you. So God is saying, I will never break my covenant with you. Stop with the lack of faith. Would you please believe me? Haven't I shown you enough thus far that I'm God? There's none of the beside me and no one can stand against me. And if I'm for you, who's against you? If I made these promises, why do you think I'm not going to keep my end of the deal? I will certainly fulfill. As he says my covenant. Now, which covenants he's speaking of? That's the question. When he says this in chapter two, verse one, he says, I will, I will never break my covenant with you. What covenant is he speaking of? Thus far we have seen three named covenants. We have seen the Noe covenant. We have seen the Abrahamic covenant. And now we see this, this mosaic covenant, this covenant that he made with them coming out of Egypt. So which covenant do you think God or the pre-incarnate Christ, the angel of the Lord, is referring to? By the way, notice, notice, and let's not, let's not gloss over that. Let's go back and look at it. Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgoth. He said, I brought you out of Egypt and I will never break my covenant. So the angel of the Lord is who is God. And we know that to be who? Jesus, the pre-incarnate Christ. And so which covenant is he speaking of? There we go. Well, okay, wait a second. We see a couple of them. Spider monkey says Abrahamic. Ms. Byrne II, Abrahamic. Janae Mosaic. Tommy Abrahamic. Abraham Abrahamic. Jim Syme Abrahamic. Can I, can I tell you, listen, you all are right, you all are right. And Sheila is, is, is certainly right. Certainly right. All of it. We did this before and we've covered the covenants and how they run together. They don't violate, they don't override, they don't listen. Truth be told, they're not even canceling out. Now when we get to the, to the new covenant in comparison with, compared with the old covenant, the old covenant is set to bring into the new covenant. It's not as old God makes this old covenant. I'm the Mosaic covenant without having in mind this new covenant coming on. So now all of these covenants are in play. If you want to drill down and be specifically, he's, he's clearly referring to for the most part the one with Abraham, because that's the one where he tells them, let's go back to it. Matter of fact, let me type it in. I should have put in more, more places to, to type. I only have, I only have two sections carved out. Shame on me. And let's go to Genesis and let's look at this covenant. And I said this before and I said, we're going to have to come back and revisit this. And I said, one of the most important set of passages that you are going to see, I said before, if you're going to tattoo, if you guys want to get a tattoo, tattoo this, put this on you, tattoo this to your body somewhere, put on a t-shirt, don't get a tattoo, don't, don't tattoo this. But remember this, what he says, now the Lord said to April, go forth from your country, from, from your relatives and from your father's house to a land in which I will show you, here it is, verses two through three. I will make you Abraham or Abraham, I'm going to make you, mister, I'm going to make you into a great nation. What does that mean? What, what must that necessarily mean? This goi, this Hebrew word goi, nation, that necessarily means people, you can't listen, you can't be a great nation by yourself, which is you, George is you and your wife, or you, your wife and your maid servant, or you, your wife, your maid servant and your other servants. No, that's not a nation. So in order for you to be a great nation, there's got to be people and I will bless you, Abraham, and make your name great. Well, making his name great necessarily has to extend to his people and we see them keep bringing us up. When they are in trouble, you're going to, you're going to hear them and we've seen it a lot so far, them reminding God, crying out to God to remember his covenant and that don't let us be a proverb and a byword, reminding God of his covenant because he makes this, this statement, I'm going to make you great and your name great and you shall be a blessing. Wait a minute. How is Abram going to be a blessing? I don't know. He didn't say, did he? All we do know is that he will be a blessing. Verse three, I will bless those that bless you, and I will curse those who curse you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So this is the covenant. As far as I'm concerned, I'm calling this the covenant of covenants. Why? Because it's going to usher in. No, obviously the, the, the, the noe covenant without that one, he could just destroy the world. But here he's saying what he's going to do, not just to Abram's descendants and he's giving them a land. Some of these things aren't fleshed out immediately. We start seeing these more and more. As a matter of fact, in this covenant, when the covenant is actually ratified in later on in Genesis 15, he talks about, and in 12 and 15, he talks about the land. He's going to give you this great land. Oh, by the way, you want some proof? Know that your people are going to be sojourners or slaves in this land for 40 years. But when they come out, they will come out with great possession and I will judge the land that came to consume. There it is. Him cursing those that curse him, but also he's going to be a great blessing. His name is going to be made great. And so that's what's happening here. So now let's go back to judges two. So back to judges two and says, I will never, I will never break my covenant. Now this is also referring to the mosaic covenant because I've made a covenant with you guys. You're supposed to do certain things to obey me. You're not doing it. I didn't break my covenant. I will never break my covenant, but you guys do. So now let's go back to it. He says, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. Say that again. You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. Remember, we've seen this before. When you make a covenant or when they make a covenant, God expects them to make a covenant, to keep that covenant. Remember, they made a covenant when their sister, Dinah, was violated and they made a covenant, but they broke the covenant in order to kill them to get revenge. So that was a no no. And what happens? The reason why Judah, the scepter will not depart from Judah is because two brothers broke a covenant. So he expects you to keep your word. You don't have to make a covenant. You do not have to make a covenant at all, but you do. And so you break it. Well, what does that tell us? Well, if you can break this one, you can break that one, and you're going to see that happening. So he says, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land, because if you do, you're going to have to keep that covenant. Do not make a covenant, do not be with these people. As a matter of fact, not only don't make a covenant, you're supposed to drive them out so that there is nobody there in the land for you to make a covenant with. Now, is it possible that somebody in the land can be there and wants to participate and be part of what you guys got going on? Sure. But they would have to yield. These people that are there are not going to yield. They're not going to serve God. They're going to want you to serve their God. So don't make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. Look what he says. You shall tear down their altars, but you have not obeyed me. What is this you have done? So going back to one, they are afraid. And so what do they end up doing? Verse 20, then they gave Hebron to Caleb as Moses had promised. We'll come back to them in a second. And he drove out from there the three sons of Anac, remember these giants, these tall people, these giants, they're there. Caleb drives them out. But the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem. So the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin to this day. Let's continue. Not just them that didn't drive them out. Likewise, verse 22, the house of Joseph went up against Bethel and the Lord was with them. The Lord was with Joseph or the house of Joseph. The house of Joseph spied out Bethel. Now, the name of the city was formerly Luz. The spy saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, please show us the entrance to the city and we will treat you kindly. So he showed them the entrance to the city and they struck the city with the edge of the sword. But they let the man and all his family go free. Kind of like what happened with with Rahab. The man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city named Luz with which is its name today. Now notice here's an inhabitant there who honors them and he lives there in their land peacefully, built a city and the name of the city is Luz. So he's still there. Well, I wouldn't say he's still there to this day. Obviously he's not. But the point is if you are going to yield, if you're going to bow down, if you're going to serve God, well then fine. But if you're going to be an enemy to us, then you've got to go, which is why he wants to drive them out. But you've got every now and then you're going to see somebody who is on their side or wants to be on their side. But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth Shane and his villages or Tanakh and his villages or the inhabitants of Dore and his villages or the inhabitants of Iblin. These names are amazing. Verse 28, it came to pass when Israel became strong that they put the Kenanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. So here you've got these people with the ability to beat them. They're strong enough to overthrow them. But what do they do instead of destroying them, getting rid of them? Let's have some forced labor. Let's get some cheap labor. That's not what God said to do though. And there's a problem. Don't make it up as you go. We saw this in the battle of I. We saw this when Achan decided, you know what? I think I'll get something for myself. Same thing here. Let's keep them for ourselves so we can use them. Stop disobeying God. It's a lesson for them, but it's also a lesson for us. Let's just be honest. It's a lesson for them and for us. Verse 29 of chapter one. Ephraim did not drive out the Kenanites who were living in Gazar. So the Kenanites lived in Gazar among them. That's a good point, Jermaine. They forgot where they came from. They forgot where they came from. They did. And you know what's funny? They're all doing it. They're all forgetting or failing to obey God and driving them out. The only ones that we know thus far that has done so is Caleb. Zebulon did not drive out the inhabitants of Ketron or the inhabitants of Nahalol. So the Kenanites lived among them and became subject to forced slavery. Everybody wants to have some slaves now. Asher did not drive out the inhabitants. And so they also lived among the Kenanites and the inhabitants of the land for they did not drive them out. Neftali did not drive them out. What is going on Israel? Verse 34. Then the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, because that's what will happen if you leave them around. If you leave them around, they are going to turn. They are, if they're not serving God, they're going to serve their God and want you to do the same thing or come against you. Then the Amorites forced the sons of Dan, verse 34, into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley. Yet the Amorites persisted in living in Mount Heres, in Ajalon and Chalbine. But when the power of the house of Joseph grew strong, they became forced labor. Did you get that? When they got strong, they still didn't get rid of them. They still didn't destroy them. We're back on top now. So let's turn you guys into slaves. That was not the point. You guys are sitting. Now we get to chapter two, verse one. Now the Angel of the Lord, which we just read, came up from Gilgoth to Bochim and he said, I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers. And I said, I will never break my covenant. And as for you, you shall make no covenants. What then happens of this land? You shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed me. You have not obeyed me. What is this that you have done? You're making these covenants with these people. You're not getting rid of them. You are. You have not torn down their altars, which tells us why some of these are happening. You have not torn down their altars. And so look what he says. Therefore, verse three, notice this, I will not drive them out before you. God says, you know what? I will not drive them out before you, but they will become as thorns in your sides and their guides will be a snare to you. When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lived up their voices and wept. So they named the place Bokeen and there they sacrificed the Lord. Well, I'm not saying too late now, but not too late now. Too late now. You should have listened. So we're going to leave them here. I'm not driving them out. Whereas before I was going to drive them out, you had nothing to fear. But now you're not going to drive them out. So your fears are going to be intensified. Look what he says in verse six or look what he says in verse six. Now, when Joshua had dismissed the people, now we're backtracking, we're getting more of a recap. The sons of Israel, when he dismissed the sons of Israel, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who served Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord, which he had done for Israel. So now all these people who had seen the great work of the Lord, they were serving God, especially because you've got Joshua and the elders. There is just something needed and something important about elders, leaders, good, godly elders being around. Yeah, there's going to be some folks that's going to get online. But if you've got good, godly men that are leading like we had with Joshua and these elders, because remember, this is a large contingency of people that Joshua is leading, that Moses was leading as well. And so have these elders with you to kind of help. And so they had seen the wonderful works that God has done and what do they do? The people are following. I'm going to make a point and just a little bit, because the question that pops up, I think we're getting some answers to this question. I'll do what the question is, and I'll shoot with that, what I think the answer is as well. But as long as they were alive, then things were going well. Then verse eight, Joshua, son of nine, the servant of the Lord died at the age of 110. And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath, Heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gahosh. All the generations also were gathered their fathers in their rows. Another generation after them, here it is, who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which he had done for Israel. So we got a problem. Maybe it's not so much that they forgot. Maybe what it is is they were never told, they were never shown, which is a problem. If the people, Chelsea, this is according to software, if the people knew, and the Bible says, look what it says, and there arose another generation after who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which he had done for Israel. Now, how do we take this who did not know the word? The word here is Yadah, and it can be taken a couple of ways. It can be to know, head knowledge wise, to learn, to observe. They haven't actually experienced God. Now, that could also be either way, this is on their parents as well. Why? Because if it's just getting ahead and I was understanding having the words passed down, being taught, that's on their parents. If it's where they have not simply observed or understood, again, the parents have not passed that down. So, here's what happens verse 11. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the bells, and they forsook the Lord and God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them. Thus they provoked the Lord to anger. Not a good thing. Listen, if there's two things you want to know. One, you want to know when God is happy with you, and two, you want to know when you provoke God to anger. Really, what you want to know is just before you provoke them to anger. You need a warning. You need a bell sounding, hey, God's about to be upset, because that's not what you want. Verse 14, bing of the Lord burned against Israel. Look what it says here, and he gave them into the hands of the plunders, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Uh-oh. That's not a good thing. We got a problem. The Lord did that. The Lord did that. So, question. Would God ever, would God ever raise up someone or something against you? Would God ever send something or someone against you? Well, the obvious answer is yes. Yes, he will. Why would he do so? Well, again, there's two reasons for so. Two reasons. One, to punish you, and the punishment is to kill you, to remove you, or to correct you. To kill or to correct. One of the two. The punishment is sent to either kill or correct. So, if you're going through punishment now, and you happen to still be alive, then understand the punishment right now is to correct you. If you don't correct, then you will be killed for it. It's the same God who loves you, the same God who wants to bring about a change in your life, but if you demonstrate, and of course a lot of folks do, will demonstrate that I'm not going to change, I'm not going to fix it, I'm not going to, okay, we're fine. All right. You need to know something. Listen, you need to figure out this. Let me get myself closer. It's what you got to figure out. You are not as important to the world as you think. You are not as important to the world as you think. Can I even tell you something that might be a little bit bothersome, troubling, might hurt your feelings? You're not as important to your family as you think. Wait a minute. I mean, I'm the mommy, I'm the daddy, I'm the uncle, I'm the, okay, yeah, but guess what happens? If you pass away, I can promise you the family will go on. The family will go on, the world will continue to spin in a week or so, no one is talking about you. Your funeral was last Friday, now we're in a different part of the calendar. Yeah, you are not as important, now who is important? God, God is. He's the one that's important. Now, if he shows love and he's showing love to you because you've got time, if you're going through anything, he's giving you time to correct and you demonstrate how disobedient you are by refusing. It's not a person in this chat, not a person on this planet that hadn't gone through correction by God, not one person. I know what it's like, you know what it's like. Some of us had more difficult correction, some of us had, you know what, and God blessed the person. Someone said, Cory, I don't really have as much of a testimony. I haven't gone through anything. I haven't had this or that. Yes, you have been. Your testimony is that you haven't, God has blessed you and it's likely in many cases because you didn't need to go through. There are some of us with knuckleheads who needed to go through more. Some folks, there are just some folks who just are blessed to be able to learn a lesson without having to go through it. Right? You take your kids, you got multiple kids and some kids, you teach them. The same thing, it takes them five days to get it. The first kid took them one. One kid, you got to yell at the other kid. You just say it nice and common. Okay, mommy, okay, daddy. And that's that. This is how it is. But thank God that he's long suffering, that he's forebearing, that he'll work with us until King just worked with this kid. You can't do nothing for you, but kill you. So that's how, but that's what he's doing with Israel. Look at the pattern that God has. He's dealt with Israel. He still loves Israel, still loves Israel. He's still working with them, but some of you, I got to kill. Some of you, I will kill and that your purpose in your death, your purpose in you being killed is to correct somebody else, meaning that me killing you is going to make someone else straighten up and fly right. That happens too. Amen, Ms. Cam. He is the most patient, most patient parent ever, ever. But when he, when he takes off the belt, it's not like James Evans taking off the belt on good times. Yeah. No, this is a little worse. This is a little worse. So let's go back to it. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel. He gave them into the hands of the plunders. So the very people that God is trying to get rid of them, he gives them his people into their hands. So you can cry out, Lord, what about me? Don't you love me? Yeah, I do, but I'm also angry with you. Let's go down to verse 15. Whenever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil. Huh? The hand of the Lord is against them for evil as the Lord has spoken and as the Lord has sworn to them so that they were severely distressed. Remember, he says, what I was going to do to them, I'm going to do to you. Didn't God's relationship with his people change post-cross? We're not there yet, RGC, JC, but no, it didn't. No, it did not. I'll go and answer this question because remember, because it actually, it actually does relate to what we're talking about. He still has a love for Israel. Remember, what did God say? He said, I will not break my commandment that I made with your fathers. I'm not going to break that commandment. Well, let's go back to that commandment again. Let's go back to the, I mean, not commandment, the covenant. Let's go back to the covenant again. He says, I will make you a great nation. Well, at, in this dispensation, this time, in this age of grace, dispensation of grace, whatever you want to call it, has he made them a great nation? No, they're still in training. They're still getting punished and we're going to see, we're going to see this with him and just say, we're going to see something that he says, the Bible says about them a second. I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great. Is the name Abraham great throughout the world right now? Ask that this question. Is the name of Abraham or his nation great throughout the world right now? The answer is no. Is it even great in terms of their walk or fellowship with God? No, it's not. They have turned their back on God, which is what he said they're going to do. He said that this nation, this will be the nation that will turn their back on God, but he's going to bring them back. Remember, we also read that he says, I will make you jealous because you made me jealous. I'm going to make you, is that X is 32, I believe. I'm going to make you jealous by using these other people, people who are not my people. I will call them be my people, people who are not a nation to call them to be this, to call them to be part of what I'm doing, who are not loved. I will call them beloved. Why? Well, because I had one, he loves him too, to also make Israel jealous and he's not going to make them jealous. So he can say, nanny, nanny, nanny, now go to hell. No, he's going to make them jealous to provoke them to come back. So that didn't happen yet. And he said, and you shall be a blessing and those who bless you, I will bless and those who curse you, I will curse and in you, all the families of theirs shall be blessed. So he's got some things that he's still yet to do with Israel. Okay. So no, that hadn't changed just yet. That he is, he's still going to, remember, God is going to, he's the only one that I know that's going to fulfill all of his promises. He's the only one that I know that he's not going to say, you know what, forget that promise. We do that. Yeah, I promised you something, but change my mind. No, I the Lord do not change. And these covenants, he didn't have to make. He made them of his, of God's own, here's the word, free will of God's own free will, his own counsel. He decided to do those things. Amen. Or so let's go back to it. Verse 15, and wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken. Verse 16, then the Lord raised up, here it is, here's the good part, the Lord raised up judges. Shuppateen, these judges, the Lord raised up these judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. Wait a second. Hold up, God. Wait a second. Let me drink my coffee because you're confusing me, God, which sometimes it happens. It's not that you're saying something confusing. I'm confused. Why? Because I'm just human being. I've got a low brain and it doesn't work right all the time. And so Lord, I'm confused. Is anybody else confused about what we just read? Put it back on the screen and you tell me, does anything about this statement right here? Verse 16 confuses you. He said, the Lord raised up judges. Okay. Now I'm confused. Okay. You raised up judges. Why? You raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. God, forgive me for ever offering you advice. But why not just take your hand off the people and get rid of the plunders yourself? You just told us. You just, let's go back. Let's go back. Verse 14, the anger of the Lord burned against Israel and he gave them into the hands of the plunders who plundered them and he sold them into the hands of their enemies around them so they could not, they could no longer send for the enemies. Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil as the Lord has spoken, as the Lord has sworn to them so that they would worst of ability to stress. Well, God, it would seem to me low mean that you would just simply, just stop helping the plunders. You don't have to raise up a judge. Just stop helping. That's just me. That's just, that's, that's what I would do. But then again, guess what I'm not? Guess what I'm not? I'm not God. Because you turn around and say that I'm, you're raising up a judge to deliver you from the very people that you are, that you gave the Jews into the hands of. To me, it's okay. I'm raising up these people to help deliver the Jews from these people who are also helping. My hand is with them to come against the Jews, but I'm raising these people up to deliver these people from these people. Do y'all see my confusion? That's my confusion. Why not? And you didn't got to raise them up. Just get rid of these. You don't have to raise the judges up. Just get rid of the plunders. No. Why? Because the issue isn't really the plunders, is it? It's not the plunders. How many times have you guys thought that God, if you just get rid of this right here, I'll be okay. If you just fix this God, I'll be, if I get a brand new job, if I get this job, if I get me a new husband, I'll be okay. If I get me a new car, if I can just get rid of these, these old friends, if I got me a better family, if I just move to a different state, where are you going to go to get rid of you? The problem in them, the problem is you. The problem is you, not the them. And so what God has to show is the solution is me. You the problem, not them. I'm the solution. So here's a solution me delivering you. So that's why. And what's going to happen? We're going to see what's going to happen. And oh, by the way, why God does not remove them. We're going to see why God does not remove them. That's good too, Carol. I'm broke. I need some money. Give me some money. Because of my old habits and patterns, I'll be broke again next week. I'll be broke again next month. The issue isn't money or lack of money. I think I may have told you guys a story that when I was working for an investment company, Edward Jones, that I knew another advisor, buddy of mine who was out in, speaking of Carol, he was out in Carrollton. And so I went to go see him. And one of his clients came in. And this lady at the time, this was, well, yeah, well over 20 years ago, this was 97 something. Eight, I don't know, 98. Yeah, 98. Wow. Time goes by fast. And so I'm in there talking to him. She comes in at the time in 98. She was 49. She didn't make very much money. She was a cleaner. She cleaned up different houses or different offices or restaurants and didn't make a lot of money. I think her best year of earnings. Now he's telling me her income because he's got all this information. Her best years of earning was $21,000, $22,000, maybe $23,000. Now, listen, yeah, I know inflation is as kicked in in the cost of living. But in 1998, $21,000 was not a lot of money. She would have, but what she would do is she'd bring in a lot of checks. He'd like this story, Carol. She'd bring in a check for $19, a check for $47, a check for $12, a check for $54, a check for 17, all of these things. He would bring in a check. She would bring in these checks, you know, and so total maybe $200, $300, something like that. What she was doing when she was taking that money, this is why she could, she's not a poor person. Her net worth at that time, her, I should say her net worth, her assets in his account was right in the million dollars at $49, draw a used car, didn't spend much money. So yeah, I thought that was just an awesome story. The problem was not money because she didn't have much or she didn't make much. The problem was, or she demonstrated other people their spending habits. She wouldn't go on out buying all eaten out. She didn't, now cell phones were kind of newer then. And so she didn't have a cell phone. She was fine, fine with her used car. She can go buy a brand new car. She went to a million dollars at $49 and she's still working, still putting her money. So what is her money going to, so yeah, oftentimes the problem isn't the things that you think the problems are. Oftentimes the problem is you and something inward. And so God wants to fix that. And so look what he says in verse 16, after raising up these judges, 17, yet, this is how we know, it's why it kept these, the plunders around. Yet they did not listen to their judges for they played the harlot after other guys and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord. They did not do as their fathers. When the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies and all the days of the judge, for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. You all listen to this. I want you guys to pay attention to this. I want you guys to really, truly get the lesson that God just spoke here. You ready? Go to verse 19. But when it came about, when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers and following other guys to serve them and bow down to them, they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel. And he said, because this station has transgressed my covenant, which I command their fathers and does not listen to my voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers did or not. So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not drive them out quickly. He did not give them into the hand of Joshua. All right, here is the point. Let's back up a little bit. We're going to go back to verse 18. And this is the lesson. When the Lord raised up the judge, the Lord was with the judge. Now, one of the things that you're going to notice is that God is going, God is not putting his spirit on people then. We don't see God putting his spirit upon man there or upon the mass, the mass of people. But he would show his great work. He would show his great hand and he would raise up a man, a prophet or some leader, in this case a judge and the Lord will be with them and the people do well. But I want you to notice something here. I want you to check this out. When the Lord raised the judge, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of the enemy. So they know who delivered him. Ultimately, it's the Lord whose hand was born of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning of those who oppressed and afflicted them. I asked a question. I asked a question. God, in my ridiculous way of understanding things, in my infantile way of seeing things, my simplistic way, God, you put up these plunders. Matter of fact, let's fix this. Let's, let's, all right, let's do it like this. God, you got these plunders here. You raised up these plunders to go against your people, Israel. These are the plunders. But then God, you raise up somebody to come and lead these people away from these plunders. This is a great analogy, by the way. This is an awesome analogy. You raise up these plunders. You did, God. Now, you love your people. And so what do you do? You bring about, you bring about somebody to deliver them. Why does God lead these evil people in the land? Why? Why? You don't have to raise up these judges. Just get rid of the evil people. Well, here's why. What did he just say? Y'all, listen, that is one of the greats that's going to go down in YouTube history. Awesome analogy. It does seem counterproductive. It does seem counterproductive until you realize what just happened. What, just like the Cowboys make the fans cry, cry out. What happened? When these plunders are there, notice what he says. Look what he says, guys. He said, For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. Why would God get rid of the one thing that's causing you to cry? Cowboy fans, you know, they cause you to cry a lot. Well, because, because, because, I couldn't, I couldn't resist. If God is going, if there's something there, if there's a mechanism, if there's something there that will cause you to cry out, if there's something there that's going to cause you to lift your hands, lift your head, lift your heart, turn to God. If there's something that's going to move you to him, why in the world would God get rid of them? Why the one thing that's going to make you cry out to him problems, pain, punishment? It's going to remind you to turn to him. Why would he get rid of that? I'm not getting rid of nothing that's going to make you see me. If I got to break your legs to keep you from leaving me, fine. If I got, if I got a severely strike you down to cause you to eat from my hand, that's what I'm going to do. If I, if there is something that's going to move you close to me, why in the world would I do so? I'm not doing no. So these people, these people that are left there are going to be there so that you'll never forget me and that on occasion when you forget me, here they come again, here they come again, they're going to cause you to cry and moan. And so in judges, there's this thing, this vicious cycle over and over and over and over again. Here we, we know God, we're doing good, but then we forget God and next thing we know we're, we're down and doing bad. And so what do we do? Because we've sinned. Now we're crying out. God raises a judge to go and defeat these plunders. And then we start raising up, we're praising God and we get back on top and what do we do again? We start crying. Some of you all even know this even with your financial situation on payday, you feel good. You feel good, got some money in your pockets, but if you get paid once a month, the end of the month, you're crying out. And then the 15th minute, I mean the 15th of the month, the 14th, I can't wait until the 15th get here. The 15th come, you happy and smile. The 20th come and now you got to look on your failure. I don't know. Come the 30th, you're sad again. This is the same little vicious cycles, the same that Israel would go through as well. Euston, we have a problem. God wants to test to see if you are going to be who you say you are. And if not, I've got something in place to cause you to get right. Now all of you won't. Now I want to show you something also. As we get ready to leave, I want to go to chapter 3. Someone asked, are we going to go to chapter 17? No. No, we're not going to chapter 3. I mean 17. So verse 1, now these are the nations which the Lord left to do what? He's telling us that He left to test Israel by them. That is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan, only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war. So he's going to use them to teach them. Okay. And these are the nations. There are the five lords. I won't run through them. You can go ahead and start reading them in verse 3. So they're there for you to read, but I want to drop down to verse 4. He says, they were for testing Israel to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers through Moses. So I'm going to see if you're going to keep my word. I'm going to see. Now what happens here? Verse 7. You know what? No, I'm sorry. Let's keep reading. Let's go to verse 5. The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Parasites, and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and they took their daughters for themselves as wives and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their God. I still think that this is also reminiscent of what happens in, this is in my eye, that happened in Genesis 6. The people of God are giving their daughters in marriage to people who are not of God. But I digress. Verse 7. The sons of Israel did what was evil inside of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Ashras. Then the anger of the Lord was kenneled against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of the Cushion, Cushion Richenthane, King of Mesopotamia. And the sons of Israel served them eight years. When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them. Othniel, the son of Canaanites. We talked about him before on the last week, no, the week before last. We talked about him. He is, this is Caleb's brother. Now he gave, Caleb gave Othniel, his brother, his daughter, two things about that. Not totally sure. It could be that this is his actual blood brother, his immediate brother, or it could be that as a brother, this word bane, could just mean of, of his household. So Othniel couldn't, he might not, Othniel might not necessarily be his brother. He might actually be a brother in the lineage. Are you with me? So he's of that. That's what the word bane can mean. Like we see children of Israel, bane, high Israel. So the bane is the sons of, they weren't necessarily the children of the, they, you know, they were just in this up. So it can be used to reference that same thing with daughter that he gave his daughter could also mean not necessarily his, his, his daughter from him and his wife. Cause remember Caleb's old too. Caleb's up there in age two. He's a, he's a hundred years old too. Or at, I think at the time he gave him 80 something years old. So this Othniel may be a direct descendant or maybe a great grandson or a great, great, great, whatever. Same thing with his daughter, but he raises up Othniel to deliver him as he's a judge after eight years. And we're going to start seeing, we're going to start seeing the lengths of time that they are sold, not sold in, but they are judged that this harsh treatment comes about. And then when God raises judgment after how many years, some are long, some are not so long. This was eight years. Now in this eight years, um, matter of fact, let's put it on the screen. He did it for how long they were, uh, they were served and they, they served, they were pressed for eight years and this judge shows up. We're going to look at how long that the judge rained as well. Why is that important? Because when, when this is happening, God is doing things through the hands of this man so the people can see how God is working. Okay. The Bible says in verse 10, the spirit of the Lord came upon him, came upon who? Not the people, but came upon Othniel, came upon him, not in him, but upon him at that time, not before that time, but at that time, which tells me something and we'll park here until next week, but it tells me something. We've been asking this question. Well, well, people are saved nowadays because their heart has been changed and regenerated. The spirit of the Lord comes in their heart. The spirit of the Lord is not in Othniel's heart prior, at least prior to this time. The spirit of the Lord comes upon him, which tells me the spirit of the Lord was not in his heart. Now, was he sinning? No, he wasn't a sinner. He was a good man, seems to be, as far as we can tell. We don't have a record or account of it, so we can't say, but the point is the spirit of the Lord was not in his heart previously, but then it came upon him. He was already a good man because he'd already been married off to and we told the story that he also was one of the men who drove out Annick, drove out these giants for Caleb to claim his land. Again, one of the few people, one of the few groups that did what God's to do and to drive out the people. So I wanted to get to that point. It wasn't as germane to the text, but I wanted to get to that point to where I can say, yeah, guys, these are some of the reasons and we start formulating reasons why we believe what we believe because I don't want your doctrine or your theological bent to dictate how you see the scriptures. I want the way you see the scriptures to dictate your doctrine, your theological bent. Are you with me? And so there are some that would say, well, no, those in the Old Testament also, their hearts were regenerated. Well, they weren't. We know for a fact they weren't because God is saying that in the future, he will do so. But what about even the men like Othniel and Caleb and so forth? Well, we don't have any passage to say so. We do have passage to say that the Lord, the Spirit of the Lord came upon them to do something, but then that was that. Okay. So, guys, I want to thank you. We are going to, I'm not sure how far we're going to get to, oh, oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We're going the Ruth, not the Ruth, to Ruth. We're going to Ruth on next week. So let me put it back on the screen so you guys can see the timeline. So next week, we're going to deal with Ruth. Then we're going to come back to judges. And then in the next couple of weeks, we're also going to start intertwining. I knew somebody was going to say that. I knew, wait a second. Where's he at? I knew it. But this case, the Ruth is on fire. I knew someone was going to say that. I knew someone was going to say that. Just don't finish the words. Uh-oh. What did I just do? I just did something. You know what? Lock down the screen, boy. I pushed my little track pad and minimized myself. So anyway, so we'll go through Ruth. Let's put it back on the screen. We'll go through all of, we'll cover all of Ruth next week, guys, all of it. And we're going to talk about this concept that's going to show up, this concept of Kinsman Redeemer. We're going to deal with that on next week also. Very important because this concept of Kinsman Redeemer is going to show up. Oh, by the way, this concept of Kinsman Redeemer has already been before us. We didn't cover much of it because I wanted to get to Ruth. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, God's, God save. Two years since your son took his life. God, we just want to give you the honor, the praise, Lord, and ask you to be with our friend, God save. Not sure his name, but you know, Lord God, bless that family, bless their heart. God, keep them encouraged, Lord. Pray, I pray that the Son is with you. There's no way for us to know, Lord, but you know. And so God, give them courage, give them comfort, give them solace, Lord God, and give them more of you. God, we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah. Yeah. I am Jamie. I am Jamie. I'm going to cover that today, promise. As a matter of fact, make sure I, so we'll do that. We'll cover all of Ruth, we'll cover kids and Redeemer in the past, and then this is going to be the one time that we might, we might, we might go forward, even though we haven't earned what we might go forward to. Probably not, but we might. We just might. We just might. By the way, thank you, Lori. I appreciate that. Thank you for the super chat. And thank you for accepting me, talking about a bunch of countless. I apologize. I apologize. I do wish though, I wish however you would get you a different icon picture. What are those things called? I keep saying them differently. The little picture that goes beside your name, what is that called? Is it an icon avatar logo? What is that? Somebody tell me, what is that called? I keep saying it the wrong way. I don't know what those things are called. Profile picture. Okay. I'm going to send you some suggestions for your profile picture. Although one of my favorite players in an NFL right now is the little deuce, the five foot five running back for the Cowboys. So I am cheering for that fella. I am. I hope that guy is starting running back. I hope he runs. I don't want to say that he runs for 2000 yards, 1000 yards, what have you, but, but, and I don't want him to get the record. I don't know if I told you this, told you this guys, but my cousin, my father's sister is Eric Dickerson's mother making him my cousin. So I don't want him to get Eric's record. I don't want to get him, I don't want him to get a single season record. It's called a Polaroid. I'm off. I'm a little bit off. See your kind of rap, but I ain't that off. I know it's not a Polaroid. No, it's not a Polaroid. So anyway, guys, I want to thank you so much. I will look forward to seeing you guys later this evening, a few videos, and then also when we go live again. Guys, in the meantime, be blessed.