Judges Study - 2026-10-14

Welcome to the Lansdale Life Church podcast.

If you're seeking a closer relationship with Jesus Christ, this podcast is for you.

Thank you for joining us today.

So we're going to be in Judges 9 tonight.

So if you have your Bibles, you can turn there.

And my name's Danny, if any of you guys don't know me or haven't

heard me when I've been here before.

But we're going to be going through Judges 9.

And I'm going to be talking about a couple different things.

I'll give you a brief outline.

The first section, we're going to talk about sowing and reaping.

Second section, we're going to talk about God's sovereignty over spirits and wars.

And then we're going to talk about leadership and God's judgment.

So we've got a bunch of verses to cover.

So we're just going to jump in right away and we'll get started.

Then we have some questions.

Judges 9.

All right.

So I guess the first thing I want to do is I'm going to back up a couple verses

and I'm going to start at verse 29 in chapter 8.

Because I'm going to reference this piece, verses 29 through 35.

The death of Gideon, Jerubal, the son of Joash, so Jerubal is just another name for Gideon,

went out and lived in his own house.

Now Gideon had 70 sons, his own offspring, for he had many wives.

And his concubine, who was in Shechem, also bore him a son,

and he called his name Abimelech.

And Gideon, the son of Joash, died in a good old age

and was buried in the tomb of Joash, his father, at Ophrah, of the Abiyazites.

As soon as Gideon died, and this is the verse that really I wanted to pull from,

that as soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again

and hoored after the Baals and made Baal, Berea, their God.

And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God,

who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side.

And they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubal,

that is Gideon, in return for all the good that he had done to Israel.

So you guys remember probably, or as you can see,

if you've been coming to the study of Judges,

we have just this repeating cycle within Judges,

where the people of Israel, they are serving the Lord,

and then they turn from the Lord, and they serve either a false God,

it's generally a false God, they're serving a false God.

So in this case, they're serving Baal, Berea.

Now, Baal, many of you maybe have heard of the name Baal before,

Baal was an ancient Near East pagan deity,

and Baal means Lord, and Berea means covenant.

So they're literally turning from God, Yahweh,

who they have a covenant with, and they're replacing Yahweh

with the Lord Baal, Berea, the God of the covenant.

So it's an extra insult to the Lord,

because he has this covenant with them,

and yet Israelites turn in their own unfaithfulness,

and they turn to Baal, Berea.

And what we see here is the sin cycle

starting to happen again, where the people of Israel,

they're serving the Lord, they turn, there's chaos,

and then the Lord will raise up a judge to save Israel,

and then Israel is restored into covenant faithfulness,

and this cycle just happens over and over again.

And this particular section of Judges

deals with a specific section of the sin cycle,

and this is what theologians call it.

So if you're saying, well, what's the big deal about sin?

It's just the name of the theme within Judges.

But this particular section of Scripture

deals with the section of rebellion.

So we have Israel turning,

and they're not remembering the things that the Lord did.

So basically, it's a discipleship failure.

They're not passing down the truths.

They're basically not preaching the gospel

to the next generation,

or that generation possibly rejects it.

But either way, it's a failure to pass on the faith

to the next generation.

And then let's continue with chapter nine, verse one.

Now Abimelech, the son of Jerubal,

went to Shechem, to his mother's relatives,

and said to them, and to the whole clan

of his mother's family,

say in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem,

which is better for you,

that all 70 of the sons of Gideon or Jerubal

rule over you,

because he had many sons and many wives,

or that one rule over you?

Remember also that I am bone of your bone

and flesh of your flesh.

So this is Abimelech saying this.

And his mother's relatives spoke

all these words on his behalf

in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem,

and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech,

for they said, he is our brother.

And they gave him 70 pieces of silver

out of the house of Baal-Barit,

which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows

who followed him.

And he went to his father's house at Ofra

and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubal,

70 men on one stone.

But Yotam, the youngest son of Yerubal,

was left, for he hid himself.

And all the leaders of Shechem came together,

and all Bethmillo,

and they went and made Abimelech king

by the oak of the pillar of Shechem.

And when it was told to Yotam,

he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim

and cried aloud and said to them,

Listen to me, leaders of Shechem,

that God may listen to you.

So what we see right here is,

we see in chapter 8, verse 33,

the people of Israel turn to Baal-Barit,

and so basically, they are sowing idolatry

in their culture and in their life.

And so they're sowing idolatry,

they're choosing to not follow the Lord

and sow into righteousness.

And what do they reap?

They reap a bloody fratricidal coup

against the family of Abimelech.

And basically, what we see here

is look at verse 4,

the temple tithe of Baal-Barit

goes to finance this coup.

So basically, what we see here is,

it's related to our finances

and sowing and reaping.

It has a financial element,

but also it has just like a regular life element.

If you sow into certain things,

you will reap certain things.

And I think we can all understand this intuitively,

but particularly here in the Gospel,

the Gospels and the New Testament

talk about financial giving

and or financial sowing and reaping

within the context of giving.

But think about it,

what do our tithes and offerings go to?

They go to the church,

and then hopefully,

what does the church do?

Hopefully, they don't finance coups

or they don't pay militants

or they don't go and wreak havoc

and cause chaos.

But here, what we see is idolatry,

sowing idolatry reaps chaos

and reaps sin, reaps a coup.

If you sow righteousness,

you reap peace and order.

And that's what we see within Judges.

We just see this continual cycle

of sowing into idolatry

and they reap this chaos.

And yeah, just on the topic

of sowing and reaping real quick,

this is not super related to the text,

but I felt led to share this.

Finances has such a big part of our life

and has such a big part

of what the Lord focused on in his ministry.

And I think some people,

like some of us,

we need to give more financially.

We need to either give 10%

or beyond wherever you're at

in your giving journey.

But I'd encourage you to give more.

And I don't get anything from this,

so it's impartial.

But you get something from the Lord

when you sow,

and particularly in finances.

It's not like a fixed investment return

or anything like that.

But I'll just share one story

that I felt led to share.

When I was in Bible school

and I basically had no money

and I was trying to pay for a mission trip

and I was trying to raise funds

and I was asking so many people about,

can you support my mission and all this?

And I had about $600 in my bank account

and nothing was coming in.

No money was coming in.

The Lord, for whatever reason,

wasn't blessing me with sponsorships

or whatever at this particular time.

And I just took all the money

in my bank account

and I just gave it away.

There was some fundraiser

at the Mission for Refugees or whatever.

So I just gave it all and I just said,

Lord, I'm sowing this in

and I want to trust you

that it'll come back.

And hey, whatever you want to do.

The next week,

I got like three or four times

that amount of donations right back.

And it was almost like bam bam.

And I just began to just give away

a lot of money during that time.

I don't remember exactly how much.

But the Lord eventually,

he just provided all of my financial needs

in that season and beyond.

And even until now.

But I feel like,

yeah, I just feel like maybe

that's for somebody listening here

or maybe online

or maybe in a few years

that financial giving

will result in the Lord blessing you.

It may not look exactly the way you expect.

Maybe it's not even going to result

particularly in money coming back to you,

but it frees your heart

because the Lord said,

where your heart is,

there your treasure is also.

And so we want to put our heart

where our treasure is.

We want to have our treasure

aligned with our heart.

And yeah.

So just when it comes to

sowing and reaping,

you can sow financially,

but also you can also sow spiritually.

And that can look,

it can look different for different people.

But I do believe a big part of it is financial.

So I'd encourage you

to just pray about that.

Or if there's something that

the Lord is trying to speak to you,

don't ignore it.

Anyway, we're going to keep moving.

And so we get to this scene

where Abimelek and his crew

that he financed with the temple money

because the people of Israel

are tithing to this temple

because they're all adulterous.

And that's not in the text,

but we can assume that's the case.

As a house, do they have

a big treasure chest of money in there?

Maybe they're not giving exactly 10%,

but they're giving some money.

They're offerings.

And then they kill

all of Abimelek's brothers,

except one,

this one named Jotam or Jotham.

And I'm saying Jotam

because there's a guy I knew

who went by Jotam

and he spelled it like this.

And I just can't get over

saying it any other way.

So I got to say it like that, Jotam.

And he was a character.

He is a good guy.

So Jotam is the one brother

out of 70 that is left.

And he goes up to Mount Gerizim,

which Mount Gerizim was where the,

I believe,

yeah, now I'm drawing blank,

but I think it was where

the, I think it was where,

well, nevermind.

I actually don't know where this was.

I looked it up earlier,

but I'm just going to pass on that

because not 100% sure where that is.

So if somebody wants to look up

the significance of Mount Gerizim

and shout it out,

they're welcome to.

But it has some spiritual significance,

but Jotam goes up and says,

listen to me, you leaders of Shechem,

that God may listen to you.

The trees once went out

to anoint a king over them,

and they said to the olive tree,

reign over us.

But the olive tree said to them,

shall I leave my abundance

by which Gods and men are honored

and go hold sway over the trees?

And the trees said to the fig tree,

you come and reign over us.

But the fig tree said to them,

shall I leave the sweetness

of my good fruit

and hold sway over the trees?

They have a lot of sweet fruit.

My kids love fig bars.

And the trees said to the vine,

you come and reign over us.

But the vine said,

shall I leave my wine

that cheers God and men

and go hold sway over the trees?

Then all the trees said to the bramble,

you come and reign over us.

And the bramble said to the trees,

if in good faith

you are anointing me king over you,

then come and take refuge in my shade.

But if not,

let fire come out of the bramble

and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

Now therefore,

if you acted in good faith

and integrity

when you made Abimelech king,

and if you have dealt well

with Jerubal and his house,

and have done to him

as his deeds deserved

for my father fought for you

and risked his life

and delivered you

from the hand of Midian,

and you have risen up

against my father's house this day

and have killed his sons,

seventy men on one stone

and have made Abimelech

the son of his female servant,

the king over the leaders of Shechem

because he is your relative.

And if you have acted in good faith

and integrity with Jerubal

and with his house this day,

then rejoice in Abimelech

and let him also rejoice in you.

But if not,

let fire come out from Abimelech

and devour the leaders of Shechem

and Bethmillo

and let fire come out

from the leaders of Shechem

and from Bethmillo

or sorry,

yeah, and devour Abimelech.

And Yotam ran away

and fled and went to Bir and lived there

because of Abimelech, his brother.

Now just a quick note on leadership.

It's interesting,

this little parable

that Yotam tells

and Yotam is a prophetic voice

in this story

and he's preaching basically

the demise of Abimelech

and his followers

because of their wickedness

and because of their departure

from the way of the Lord.

Gideon symbolizes the way of the Lord

and these men have risen up

against the way of Gideon

and have made war against him

and his family

and frankly dishonored

and shamed Gideon's legacy

by killing and wiping out

69 out of 70

or 68 out of 70 of his kids

which is a pretty big deal.

But Abimelech really wanted to be a leader

and I just want to say a few notes

on leadership real quick

and the parable I think speaks to this

because when Yotam is telling this story

or the fable

he's basically saying

these other trees are saying

hey, why would I go and serve as king

because I already have something to give.

I have something useful.

The olive tree has the olives

and the olive oil.

The fig tree has the sweetness of his figs.

The vine has the wine

but the bramble,

what does the bramble have?

The bramble doesn't really have anything.

Except maybe shade.

But the idea is that the bramble

is not fruitful

and this represents the empty desire

of Abimelech to want to rule

and reign over the people.

And you know that

whenever somebody desires

to be empowered too much

everybody kind of has an intuitive sense

that that is not a healthy thing

and if they're willing to do anything

to get into power

like kill 68 of your brothers

then we know that the fruit there

there's basically what I believe

what Yotam is saying is

where's the fruit here?

There's really no fruit in the bramble

and he's saying

if you acted in good faith

when he knows they didn't act in good faith

so he's basically saying the opposite

that they acted in bad faith

so he's calling them out

but he's also highlighting

the wickedness within Abimelech's leadership

and leadership really shouldn't be

something that people desire

for their own gain

or something that is

you know birthed out of

out of bloodiness

or out of a sinful struggle

but great leadership

means great service

and really sacrificial leadership

is the heart

at the heart of Christian leadership.

And what do we see these

all these other trees

they have something to give

they have something to offer

and I also believe that leadership

is something where you give leadership

to a specific area

of some expertise that you have

like you don't just say like

oh I'm a leader

and then they say well what do you lead

well no I'm just

I'm a leader

it's always leader of something

some skill that you've developed

or some expertise

some knowledge

some thought leadership

or in the army or the military

you're leading a squad of people

and you've been trained

you've honed skills

or you're leading a company

like you don't just go to a leadership seminar

and walk away and say

well now I'm a leader

put me in something

you have to actually use your skill

to lead something actually

do you guys know what I'm trying to say

and I think this is kind of what

the parable is saying

is that the olive tree

has something to give

the fig tree has something to give

the vine has something to give

but the bramble doesn't have

fruit to give

and he doesn't have fruit

to provide leadership

but I think that's

that's where the heart of leadership is

it's giving of your skill

it's sacrificing yourself

putting your own desires aside

and putting the needs of the group first

and what we see is that

obviously Bimlek didn't do any of that

and he is just saying

hey I want to lead

I'm going to do this

so I'm going to go get the money

and I'm going to pay these mercenaries

to go and wipe out

all of my brothers

who would also be co-contenders

to carry on this line from Gideon

but one thing I do want to point out though

is years ago

I really wanted to

be in Christian ministry

I was working at a bank

in a financial position

right now I'm an accountant

so it's a bit poetic

and I'm kind of back in the same spot

as I was

but 10-15 years ago

when I was in this spot

that I'm in now

I was very dissatisfied

and I wanted to just serve the Lord

and I wanted to

also I really had a desire

to lead other people

and I remember talking to somebody

and saying

well I know that this desire to lead

is not really healthy

because anybody who desires to lead

like we shouldn't actually desire to lead

like we should kind of be forced out to lead

you guys know what I'm saying

but this guy actually pointed out to me

1 Timothy 3-1

where it says

whoever desires to be an overseer

desires a good thing

and so it doesn't mean that

if you have a desire to lead something

or lead a movement that is healthy

and it's in the right place

and your heart is right

you don't have to pretend like

you don't actually want to do that

in order to be qualified to do that

do you guys know what I'm saying

so like oh no

like a little bit of

you know you have to like

try to fake the Lord out

and be like

no Lord I don't really want to do that

but please choose me anyway

you know

so there's that

there's that tension there

if you have a desire

to lead something good

then I would say prayerfully pursue it

but do it in a way

that you are discerning

that you're able to

put others needs in front of you

and actually hone your skill

whatever field it is that

you desire to lead in

really hone that skill

get good at that skill

and people will

just begin to actually naturally

follow you

and the more you develop

leadership skills

communication skills

casting vision

they will just kind of

start following you

and the Lord will lead you

in that process

and we need Christians in leadership

in every sphere

in every company

in every social area

that you can think of

we ought to be providing

leadership to people

and to organizations

as well in a healthy way

and you know

we just follow the example of Christ

he took up his cross

and he led

and he led the way

for all of us to

find salvation

and this is true leadership

is that when we

when we take up our cross

we put others needs

in front of ours

and we do what's needed

in the moment

not what is desired

necessarily by us

in our flesh

but we do what's needed

and necessary

and the Lord will bless that

in this age

or the age to come

so that's just a little note

on Christian leadership

I think we all intuitively

understand that

when we get in a small group

and the question is

who's your example

of Christian leadership

no one's going to pick up

intellect right

so I think we all understand

do whatever the opposite

that he did

so

Yotam tells this story

and now he runs away

and he went to live in beer

which means like a well

like a literal well

like with water coming out

and then he lived there

near the well

and so let's pick up

in verse 22

so Abimelech ruled over Israel

three years

and God sent an evil spirit

between Abimelech

and the leaders of Shechem

and the leaders of Shechem

dealt treacherously

with Abimelech

and the violence done

to the 70 sons

of Jerubal

might come

and their blood

be laid on Abimelech

their brother

who killed them

and on the man of Shechem

who strengthened his hand

to kill his brothers

and the leaders of Shechem

put men in ambush

against him

on the mountaintops

and they robbed all who passed

by them along that way

and it was told to Abimelech

and Gal the son of Eben

moved into Shechem

with his relatives

and the leaders of Shechem

put confidence in him

and they went out into the field

and gathered the grapes

from the vineyards

and trod them

and held a festival

and they went into the house

of their God

and they ate and drank

and reviled Abimelech

and Gal

the son of Eben said

who is Abimelech

and who are we of Shechem

that we should serve him

is he not the son of Jerubal

and is not Zevul his officer

serve the men of Hamor

the father of Shechem

but why should we serve him?

So anyway here we see

two different things

in verse 23

we see that God

sends an evil spirit

to intervene in the affairs

of the people of Shechem

and to sow discord

and chaos within this area

or you could say

that this is the reaping

of what they have done

within the community of Shechem

because Abimelech does a cue

and now what happens?

Now this guy

this guy Ga'al

is trying to stir up a conspiracy

and a cue against Abimelech

so what we see here is that

the sowing

and then the reaping

of chaos

within this city of Shechem

but what is interesting to me

is that God sent an evil spirit

so this is interesting

what is the Lord's relationship

with evil spirits

or with demons?

That's the question

and there's a couple of verses

there's this verse

so we see that God sent an evil spirit

between Abimelech

and the leaders of Shechem

in order that they would be judged

so this evil spirit

is sort of like the Lord's henchmen

or minion

he's carrying out some kind of wickedness

on the earth

if we look at 1 Kings 22-23

there's a scene in there

many of you I'm sure know this scene

but it's with King Ahab

and 400 of King Ahab's prophets

and the Lord he sends a lying spirit

to the prophets

in order all 400 of them

and the Lord actually

1 Kings 22

I have a couple notes

but maybe I'll just read it

because I think the language

is actually interesting

if you look at

if you're looking there

which it's okay if you don't

1 Kings 22 verse 19

we'll start at

and so what happened here is

Ahab said to his prophets

should I go up and fight this battle

and all the prophets said

yeah go do it

and then he's like

wait but there's one more prophet

this guy Micaiah

and he always says

negative things about me

so let me go get him

let's see if he's going to agree

with these other 400

and so then Micaiah says

oh yeah like you're gonna

you're gonna do good

go up in triumph verse 15

and then Ahab's like

hey tell me the truth

and then in verse 19

we pick it up

and Micaiah says to King Ahab

therefore because Ahab

was a wicked king

in case you have no idea

who Ahab is

but he says

therefore hear the word of the Lord

I saw the Lord

sitting on his throne

and all the hosts of heaven

standing beside him

on his right hand

and on his left

and the Lord said

who will entice Ahab

that he may go up

and fall at Ramoth Gilead

and one said one thing

and another said another

then a spirit came forward

and stood before the Lord saying

I will entice him

and the Lord said to him

by what means

and he said

I will go out

and I will be a lying spirit

in the mouth of all his prophets

all 400 of them

and the Lord said

you are to entice him

and you shall go

and succeed

and go out and do so

and then Micaiah says

now therefore behold

the Lord has put a lying spirit

in the mouth of all these prophets

the Lord has declared disaster for you

so there's that scene

and then the other scene

that I think is notable

is Job chapter one

where the Lord is having a conversation

in his counsel

and he's saying

to his spirits

he's basically saying

look at Job

he's serving me

and then Satan says

hey let me go

and let me wreak some havoc on Job

and let's see

if he still praises and serves you

and so then the Lord allows Satan

to do that

and it's interesting

the Jewish people

their view of Satan

is a little bit different than ours

and Satan just means in Hebrew

it means the accuser

but he's generally known

as the chief demon

or the evil spirit

amongst the demons

and the Jewish people had this view

that the evil spirits

were sort of there to do

the bidding of the Lord

and sort of the dirty work of the Lord

and given a couple of these verses

and these are just the three

that I drew out

I think that sort of supports

a little bit of that picture

that the Lord is sovereign

over some of these

he's sovereign over everything

but he's sending an evil spirit

in 1 Kings 22

he's sending another evil spirit

in Judges 9

and then he's allowing Satan

to wreak havoc against Job

but I think there's also some

yeah and why do I bring this up

well I bring this up a little bit

to cause some tension

because if we have a traditional

view of Satan

it's basically that he roams the earth

and he kind of does it all on his own

because he's wicked

and he does

we know that the thief comes

to steal, kill, and destroy

that's John chapter 10

but like other evenings

I'm going to leave you

with more questions

than I think answers

because again

we have limited time

but I think that this is very

interesting instances here

where the Lord is allowing

these things to happen

he's permitting these things

and the Lord is obviously

sovereign over these events

he's allowing these events

to happen

and he's using them

for his sovereign purpose

he's using them to judge

and he's using them

in Job's case to test

and yeah

so I will say that

and that's probably

now I'm not really going to

draw too many more conclusions

than that

I have a question about it

in the discussion

but those are just three instances

and let Scripture

just kind of shape

and challenge your view

of that within the Old Testament

and maybe you'll say

well that was Old Testament

God and his relationship

with the demons

and that might be a valid point

but just another point

alongside of that

we know that from Romans 13

and from the Old Testament

that the Lord is sovereign

over the nations

and he raises up nations

to judge other nations

he told the Israelites

hey you guys live by these ways

or else if you don't live

by these ways

I'm going to raise up a nation

to judge you

and he rose

and he raised up two nations

to judge Israel

in very dramatic fashions

and maybe you could say even three

although it's not confirmed

by the Scripture

but the Assyrians

took out the 10 northern tribes

of Israel

I think it was 721 BC

and the Babylonians

took out Judah and Benjamin

in 579 or 597

can't remember exactly

what the date was

but some there in the 500s

and we see that the Lord

raised these armies up

to judge them

because of their

because of their wickedness

and we see that the Lord

is doing the same thing here

he's in the first two instances

not in Job's instance

but in the first two instances

the Lord is judging Ahab

through a battle

and he's also judging Abimelech

and his followers

through a battle

and through stirring up

confusion

and discord within there

so yeah

and we know that Exodus 15

3 says that the Lord

is a man of war

and Revelation 19

says that

he judges in righteousness

and he makes war

in righteousness

and so the Lord

the Lord is a man of war

and I think a lot of those things

are sometimes

it's difficult to wrap our minds around

but yeah

I would encourage us

to just you know

do your own study

go through the verses

don't don't believe

everything you hear

from up here

and go read through those verses

look at other cross texts

and see you know

if you can do your own study

and draw some of your own conclusions

as well

so we're gonna just keep moving

with the story

we have a lot to cover here

but basically what happens

is

Gaul says who is Abimelech

we are of Shechem

why should we serve him

and what we should serve

the people who are actually

from Shechem

which is Hamor

the father of Shechem

which if you remember

in Exodus 34

Hamor was the

was the father of the guy

who violated

Dinah

Levi and Simeon

and Jacob's daughter

and then Jacob's sons

went in

circuit they said hey let's

it's probably too much for this

but they said hey let's

let's get all these Shechem guys

circumcised

and then on the third day

after they were circumcised

they went and they

killed a lot of them

so that was Hamor

you can go and read about that story

in Genesis 34

but anyway

so there's a battle

between Gaul

and Abimelech

and so

anyway we're gonna jump down

to verse 44

but Abimelech

and the company

that was with him

rushed forward

and stood at the entrance

of the gate of the city

while the two companies

rushed upon

all who were in the field

and killed them

and Abimelech

fought against the city

all that day

he captured the city

and killed the people

who were in it

and he raised the city

and sowed it with salt

when all the leaders

of the tower of Shechem

heard of it

they entered the stronghold

of the house of El Barit

Abimelech was told

that all the leaders

of the tower of Shechem

were gathered together

and Abimelech

went up to Mount Zalman

he and all the people

who were with him

and Abimelech

took an axe in his hand

and cut down a bundle of brushwood

and took it up

and laid it on his shoulder

and he said to the men

who were with him

what you have seen me do

hurry and do as I have done

so every one of the people

cut down his bundle

and following Abimelech

put it against the stronghold

and they set the stronghold

on fire over them

so that all the people

of the tower of Shechem

also died

about 1,000 men and women

then Abimelech

went to Thebes

and encamped against Thebes

and captured it

but there was a strong tower

within the city

and all the men and women

and all the leaders of the city

fled to it

and shut themselves in

and they went up

to the roof of the tower

and Abimelech

came to the tower

and fought against it

and drew near to the door

of the tower

to burn it with fire

and a certain woman

threw an upper millstone

on Abimelech's head

and crushed his skull

then he quickly called

to the young man

his armor bearer

and said to him

draw your sword

and kill me

lest they say of me

a woman killed him

and his young man

thrust him through

and he died

and when the men of Israel

saw that Abimelech was dead

everyone departed to his home

thus God returned

the evil of Abimelech

which he committed

against his father

and killing his 70 brothers

and God also made

all the evil of the men

of Shechem

return on their heads

and upon them

came the curse

of Yotam son of Jerubal

so we have a gruesome ending

there with Abimelech

burning the tower

he's raising the cities

he's literally burning people

alive

and so it's very gory

the Bible is not

mincing words here

but what we have in the end

is Abimelech being judged

and I just want to end with this

we'll end basically

the Lord judges all sin

and he's judging Abimelech

and the men of Shechem

who came against them

and came against the brothers

and against the people of Shechem

and the Lord judges all sin

every wrong thing

small and big

every evil thought

every wicked thought

every little thing that we do

he judges

and he judges all of our sin

all we should

we should

without Christ

we should walk in fear

that the Lord is going to judge us

but we can say praise be to God

that Christ has taken this judgment

from those who decide to follow him

and to give themselves to the Lord

and to actually be his disciples

and all sin will be judged

and Abimelech is judged here

the men of Shechem are judged here

and let's just say this

if there's any conflicts

or anything in the world

that you feel is unjust

you can open up the news

and every day

your heart can just be ripped

out of your chest

so to speak

when you see what's going on

in certain countries

or just certain atrocities

there's different injustices

that happen all the time

and what we can be sure of

is that the Lord

is going to judge every injustice

and he's going to balance the scales

and either the person

who does the injustice

or does the sin

is going to pay for it

at the day of judgment

or Christ is going to pay for it

and the gospel is the only worldview

it's the only belief system

that is both completely loving

and completely just

and everything else

there's accounts that don't balance

like you just can't

just like in Islam

they just forgive away the sin

it's just it's just written off

but there's still a debt there

there's still a debt to be paid

like if you go to somebody's house

and break a lamp

they can say to you

hey that's okay

no worries

I'll pay for it

but they're still having to pay for the lamp

if the lamp was 100 bucks

they're out 100 bucks

they have to go to the store

and buy another lamp

if they want to replace it

but in Christianity

judgment and love go together

and they're like this

and they meet on the cross

and that's the power of the gospel

and in unfortunately for Abimelech

and for the men of Shechem

they didn't experience that power

they didn't experience the covenantal justice

and love that comes with

being a part of the covenant of Israel

because we see in chapter 8

they already turned away from the Lord

and they forsook his covenant

and the message for us I believe

at the end of this

is that we as Christians

if you are a follower of Christ

you can know that

you can rest assured

like in John 4

1st John 4 talks about

we have no more anxiousness

we have no more fearful expectation

of the judgment

because we know

that Christ has paid for it

and everybody else

whether or not they admit it or not

they have a fearful expectation

they have a

they at least have a vague

impending sense

of their own judgment

that is resting on them

even atheists

people write about it

that they can't get the guilt

or the sin or the shame

off of them

even if they don't even believe

that guilt and shame and sin

are actually real things

they're just social constructs

but the message of the gospel

is what frees us

from these things

because we know

that they are real

we experience them

we experience

we make mistakes

we sin

we experience the guilt

and the shame

and the fear that comes from this

but as we lean into Christ

and as we rest on him

and as we believe

in the message of the gospel

just the simple gospel

that he has wiped

all the slates clean

that he has paid the debt

that he has redeemed us

from darkness

we can walk in the light

and we can actually be joyful

and loving

and spread his light

and his love

to other people

and that's what we see here

and so don't be discouraged

if you see that

oh there's so much injustice

the Lord is going to reconcile it

whether he reconciles it

through Christ

or whether he reconciles it

through the punishment

of the individual

and everybody is invited

to come and participate

in this love

and in this forgiveness

so let's pray

there's some questions we have

we can break up into groups

I actually have to head out

in a minute

because our little kids

are in family night

we got to get them to bed

but I do have some questions

and yeah let's pray

so Lord thank you for

this this message

Lord thank you that

you love us

thank you that

you have given

your son for us

on the cross

and we are so thankful

for that

Lord teach us how to lead

teach us how to lead

in our families

teach us how to

walk in

your forgiveness

Lord that we would not

be fearful of judgment

Lord teach us how to sew

and to reap

spiritual things

Lord as well as good things

in this earth

that you have provided

and Lord we thank you that

you are sovereign

and you are sovereign

over events

that happen

that are confusing

and worse

Lord and we pray

that you would

just help us

to understand these things

give us a spirit

of wisdom

and revelation

that you would

give us a fuller

and more right

understanding

of who you are

in Jesus' name amen

Thanks for joining us

at Lansdale Life Church

as we praise God

and discuss His word

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Be blessed

and have a great day!