The Story of Abimelech

I want to stand and join me here, and I want to welcome all of you online that have joined us, and we just pray that you would be blessed as we, we would all be blessed as we worship in song and study God's Word, and would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity to worship in song, Lord, and to study your Word. I want to lift up the nursery and those who are looking after the youngsters in there, that you'd bless that time with they have, and that you would bless the teachers leading the, and teaching in the children's church area there, and that you would bless the youth group as they have their time tonight, and

just strengthen us each, Lord, to draw close to you, Lord, to look to you, and trust you in every area of our life. There's so much going on, and there's just that unrest that goes on in this world, and it seems like seems like chaos half the time, and we know that you are a God of orders, and we'll trust you, and we thank you, Lord Jesus. Without you, we have nothing, and we really are nothing, Lord. We were before we came to you.

We know that's the truth, Lord. We also know that sometimes, like they did it, like, like the children of Israel did when they were out and out there in that wilderness, they'd find themselves looking back to Egypt, and of course Egypt was that picture of the world, that type of the world. Sometimes they'd miss the garlic and all that stuff, and forget, forget it. about that what they were going through and so help us Lord keep in mind that we're yours you love us you're doing a work in our hearts you're molding us you're making us you're shaping us you're preparing us for heaven prepared bless us to be your witnesses for you prostrate before you physically in our hearts we want to fall before you and yield to you this evening Lord trust you

Lord knowing that whatever we go through you're with us and we give you praise Lord now continue to bless our time now as we study your word in Jesus name we know it has arrived by the power of your Holy Spirit we ask Jesus name Amen if you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Judges chapter 9 Judges chapter 9 tonight is the story of Abimelech over in 1st Corinthians chapter 4 verse 11 it says now these things happen to them as an example and they were written for our instruction upon whom the end of the Ages has come and so all these things that all these stories that we read in the Old Testament they've been written down for our for our instruction so that we can learn some

things right so that so that we can learn how God wants for us for us to act and there are a lot of stories in the Old Testament that teach us good moral that teach us principles of spiritual living and teach us how we should live. And then there's the story of Abimelech, who tells us what not to do, right? Because that's what it is. It was written down so that we can look and go, hey, that's a bad idea.

I shouldn't live like that guy lived. Well, that's who Abimelech was. He is our example, our cautionary tale of who not to be. Now, I told you to turn to chapter 9, but I actually want us to look back to verse 33 of chapter 8, because that's really where Abimelech's story begins. It says,

Now, chapter 9 is a direct flowing from all of the events of the previous three chapters with the story of Gideon. Remember Gideon, the reluctant deliverer who God used to deliver the nation from the hand of Midian? And he was a man of great moral character. Exactly. Except he did have kind of one downfall, and that's that he had many wives, right? Now, people always struggle with this in studying the Old Testament,

because they say, why was God okay with polygamy until he wasn't? And I would tell you, God was never okay with polygamy. God's plan always was one man and one woman for life. That was his plan. However, when history is recorded in the Old Testament, it's recorded accurately. And the people that God used had flaws in their lives, just like we have flaws in our lives.

I had somebody say one time, how is it that God can continue to use people in spite of the fact, like David or like Gideon or these different ones, in spite of the fact that they took part in the sin of polygamy? And I say, well, here's a couple of things that you need to understand. First of all, polygamy was very much a part of the culture that those men lived in at that point in time. And so they were really just mimicking the culture.

And the second thing I tell them is, I have a better question. How do you live mimicking the sins of the culture around you? And yet God continues to use you. I find people don't ask me any more questions after that because they've just realized, hey, maybe I'm not perfect either. Maybe history, were I to be recorded in it, would record something that I took part in,

that the rest of the culture took part in, that I would be ashamed of, right? So Gideon had a problem. He had many wives. And because of that, he had lots and lots of kids. As a matter of fact, he had 70 sons. We are told one of those sons name was a Bimelech. And in the time of Gideon's sons, Gideon has now passed away. Remember, they had peace for 40 years.

Everything was great as long as Gideon was alive. But when Gideon passed away, we see the cycle go back to where it started. And it always starts back with the children of Israel forgetting about God and moving into some form of idolatry. It says that they played the harlot with the bales. And And I think it's interesting because the Old Testament oftentimes refers to idolatry as just that.

They refer to it as marital unfaithfulness, harlotry, or prostitution, or adultery in some way, shape, or form, because there is a covenant that's broken when we slip into idolatry. And so he says that's what happened. And so they forgot all about God and they forgot all about Gideon. So that's sort of the backdrop to where we come into, with chapter 9. And so the first section that we cover in chapter 9 is Abimelech's rise to power.

It says in chapter 9 verse 1, And Abimelech the son of Jerob Baal, who we remember as Gideon, went to Shechem to his mother's relatives and spoke to them and to the whole clan of the household of his mother's father, saying, Speak now in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem, which is better for you, that seventy men, all of the sons of Jerob Baal rule over you, or that one man rule over you. Also remember that I am your bone and I am your flesh. And his mother's relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem. And they were inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said he is our relative.

They gave him seventy pieces of silver from the house of Jacob, the house of Baal-Beareth, with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows. And they followed him. Then he went to his father's house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerob Baal, seventy men on one stone. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerob Baal, was left, for he hid himself.

And all the men of Shechem and all Beth-Milo assembled themselves together, and they went, and they made Abimelech king by the oak of the pillar which was in Shechem. Now there's a couple of things I'd like to point out to you. First is sort of Abimelech's background. He of course, his mother was a member of the city of Shechem. This joke is not original to me,

but every other commentator that I read said it. They said it's always said of sailors that they have a girl in every port. Apparently Gideon had a girl in every city. It's an unfortunate truth, but it's the way that it was at that point in time. And he had one that was from Shechem. Well, this Abimelech most believe was somewhat looked down on by his brothers.

And so he decided it was time for him to take charge. He was going to be a take charge kind of guy. Now before we come to his rise of power, I want us to be reminded of how Gideon handled things when he was asked to become king. When he defeated the people of Midian and he brought peace to the land of Israel, the people came to him and they said, you be our king and then your sons will be our Kings.

And their sons will be our king. And in your family will be a dynasty that rules over us. And we said that this would have been a really tempting thing for Gideon to to fall into because I mean, honestly to turn your household into into a dynasty feels pretty good, right? And it seems like a lot of security with that, but he said no. And when he told them no,

he was specific to tell them why he was going to tell them. No, he said because the Lord shall rule over you. The Lord shall be the one that rules over you. You see to rule. The nation was not a man's job to do. It was God's job to do. And ultimately they were the people were to submit themselves to the authority of God, because if they would submit themselves to the authority of God,

they would ultimately live free. And honestly, you could completely obliterate the book of Judges from the Bible. If one day they would have said, maybe we should just obey God today, but maybe we just do what God wants us to do today. And then you can completely take the book of Judges out of the Bible because the cycle would have stopped. But that's not what they did.

And so they would not submit themselves to God. And so they were always looking for a ruler. And so Abimelech goes back to the people of Shechem. And while he knows that his dad turned down a kingship, he figures there's always room for me. I could probably do something with this. And so he goes to the men of Shechem. He said, I want you to tell me something.

Is it better to have 70 people rule over you? Or is it better to have one man rule over you? There's one phrase. I want you to pay attention to and what he had to say. And the phrase is this rule over you. Now, interestingly enough, every time one of God's judges is promoted, that phrase is not used. They were not referred to as men who ruled over others. They were referred to as those who judged God's people,

those who delivered God's people, those who taught God's people the truth. That's what they were referred to as. As a matter of fact, if I understand correctly, this is the only time this phraseology is used in the book of Judges, because that was not to be what these men were. And yet, Abimelech wanted to find himself a position of authority. Abimelech wanted to find himself a position of power.

He wanted to be the leader. He wanted to rule over people. And so that's what he sought to do. He said, wouldn't it be better if instead of a conglomeration of 70 men ruling over you, that they would just be the leaders of the people? Wouldn't it just be that one guy that would rule over you? And so he presents this idea to them. And as he presents this idea to them,

they're like, I mean, it seems like a good idea to me. It feels right. And so everybody says, that's a great idea. We will make you our king. After all, you are our relative. He said, all I ask is that you give me some silver. And so they gave him some silver and he went out and he hired some fellas. I want you to take note of how these men are defined. Look at verse 4.

They gave him 70 pieces of silver. From the house of Baal-Bareth with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows. And they followed him. Interesting choice, isn't it? That this man who wants to rule over them goes out and hires himself an army. Only the army that he hires himself, hires for himself are defined as worthless and reckless. Now listen,

I'm not a military man. I've never been in the military. I've known some guys in the military. I currently know some men in the military. Here's one thing that I know about men that are in the military. If they're going to be good leaders or if they're going to be good soldiers, they can't be worthless and they can't be reckless, right? Those are the kind of guys that you usually try to weed out in basic training.

And so and so for him to go out and hire these men meant that he wasn't looking for a good army. He was looking for assassins, right? And that's exactly what they were. And so he goes to his father's house and he brings all of his brothers together and it says that he killed his 70 brothers, which really would have been 68 of the brothers because between him and Jotham, the guy that escaped, he kills all of them, but they use the title 70 there because it indicates all of them and it says that he killed them on a stone.

Now, why is that phraseology used? Because it carries with it the idea of the fact that they were killed execution style. In other words, these worthless and reckless men rounded up all of his and did you pay attention to who these men were? They're his brothers. They're his flesh and blood. You can never underestimate what someone is willing to do to gain power.

I tell us that because we're about to come up on election and I think we need to understand that Americans are not exempt from this because the desire for power does not escape Americans. The desire for power is in humans. And there is no limit to which people will not go for power. And so he rounds his brothers up with these worthless and reckless men. We'll call him the DOJ with these worthless and reckless men.

He gathers these men together and he kills them on a stone one of these days. I'm just going to get the whole thing shot down, right? I mean just one. It is what it is. And so that's what he does. Only there was one that escaped Jotham. He escapes the whole thing, right? And and he he runs off and he's going to come in really important here in just a minute.

But but what I want us to pay attention to is this heart of Abimelech and just how different the heart of Abimelech was from Gideon Gideon. The man who said I don't want to be your king. God's going to be your king. And yet one of his son says don't let God be your king. I want to be your king. And he would stop at nothing to do it. Well, as he is ruling over Shechem.

It's now time for Jotham to do something about it. Notice what it says in verse 7. Now when they told Jotham, he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and he lifted his voice and he called out. Thus, he said to them, listen to me. O men of Shechem, that God may listen to you. Once the trees went forth to anoint a king over them and they said to the olive tree rain over us,

but the olive tree said to them, shall I leave my fatness with which God and men are honored and go to wave over the trees? Then the tree said to the fig tree, you come rain over us, but the fig tree said to them, shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go to wave over the trees? Then the tree said to the vine, you come rain over us, but the vine said, shall I leave my new wine which shares God and men and go to wave over the trees? Finally, the tree said to the bramble, you come rain over us.

The bramble said to the trees, if in truth you are anointing me as king, come and take refuge in my shade. But if not, fire may come out from the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon. Now, therefore, if you have dealt in truth and integrity in making Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jeroboam in his house and have dealt with him as he deserved, for my father fought for you and risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian, but you have risen against my father's house today and have killed his son's 70 men on one stone and have made Abimelech the son of his maidservant king over the men of Shechem because he is your relative. If then you've dealt in truth and integrity, with Jeroboam in his house,

then rejoice in Abimelech and let him rejoice in you. But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume the men of Shechem and Beth Milo and let fire come out from the men of Shechem and from Beth Milo and consume Abimelech. Then Jotham escaped and fled and went to bear and remained there because of Abimelech, his brother. So, so this one particular brother, has escaped everything that's taken place, whether he escaped before the brothers were rounded up or whether it was after the brothers were rounded up, either way, he escaped and it was reported to him, all of the things that Abimelech was doing because I guarantee if you start off your reign in terror, you continue your reign in terror.

Those things don't usually get better. And so he had been told exactly what was taking place with Abimelech in the city of Shechem. And so Jotham knew he needed to come and make. A statement. He needed to come in that same spirit of his father, Gideon, and he needed to stand up for what was right. And so what he did is he went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim.

Now, if you remember from our study, this Mount Gerizim is an important mountain because from Mount Gerizim was when Joshua and the children of Israel came into the land. They declared all of the blessings of the Lord. Remember, some stood on Mount Gerizim, some stood on Mount Ebal, and there was a valley in between. Guess which city is it? The valley in between.

Shechem sits in between that valley. And so from Mount Gerizim, he cries this out, which would have been the perfect amphitheater for him to declare the truth. And so as he stands there in this bold way in front of all of the men of Shechem, in front of all of the men who had done what they had done to his brothers, he stood there and he cried out really almost one of the first parables, right? It's a, it's a fable, if you will.

It's a, it's a parable, perhaps, in the Old Testament. And so he talks about these different trees, right? He says, first of all, they went to, to the fig tree and then the olive tree and then to the vine. And each of them said, we can't rule over the other trees. We're doing something honorable. We're doing something honorable and productive. We can't pull away from our honor to go and be a king.

And so finally, they go to the bramble and the bramble is not honorable at all. It's full of thorns. It's just really good for nothing. And so they come to the good for nothing and they say, you rule over us. And of course, the good for nothing says, ah, now I have a chance. Now's my time. And yet fire is going to come out from the bramble to devour everyone.

And so he says, now, if what you have done is in truth and integrity, if what you've done in making the bramble King, if what you've done in making Abimelech King is in truth and integrity, then you should rejoice in Abimelech and Abimelech will rejoice in you. In other words, there will continue to be peace between you and Abimelech. It will be the most peaceful union ever. And the kingdom will continue to reign in peace.

However, if that's not what the case was, then let fire come out from Abimelech and consume you and let fire come out from you and consume Abimelech. In other words, if this was not done in truth and integrity, let there be civil war between Shechem and Abimelech. Now, I want you to think about what he just said, because he just gave definite parameters that would have to take place. If this was not really something that it was done in truth and integrity.

He said, if what you did was a good thing, then it's always going to be a good thing. There's always going to be peace. There's going to be peace in the land because of this. If not, I guarantee there's going to be civil war. So he just made, made a declaration, a prophecy, almost, if you will, about what's going to take place. And that brings us to the second part of the story.

Abimelech's fall says in verse 22. Now Abimelech ruled over Israel three years. Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. And the men of Shechem dealt treacherously. With Abimelech, so that the violence done to the 70 sons of Jeroboam might come and their blood might be laid on Abimelech, their brother who killed them and on the men of Shechem who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.

Now, I want us to talk for just a moment because it's important to pay attention to exactly how God is now going to move in this situation because make no bones about it. This is God moving in this situation. He used Jotham as his mouthpiece. And now, he will move based upon what he had given Jotham to say. Because now, did you notice what God sent? God sent in an evil spirit.

Now, that's a little hard for some of us to take in because we say, now, wait a second. Why would God do that? But it's kind of amazing how God uses whatever he wants to, however he wants to, to do anything that he wants to. We see this throughout scripture, right? We see it here. We see it in the life of Job. After all, who was it that came before God wanting to tempt Job?

It was none other than Satan himself. And God said to him, have you seen Job? I mean, he used Satan in Job's life as a, as a way to test him and as a way to strengthen his faith. God uses all kinds of things in the lives of people, sometimes in judgment, sometimes in testing, sometimes in purifying, but he absolutely uses. The spirit world as he sees fit in this particular situation,

he sends an evil spirit to get in between Abimelech and Shechem. And isn't it kind of interesting that when people live according to evil, they subject themselves to more evil. As a matter of fact, I would say that our greatest protection, I agree with Wes Bentley on this, the greatest protection from the, for the believer is to live in obedience, to God. And so this evil spirit is sent that causes enmity to be between the men of Shechem and Abimelech.

And so what do they do? Well, they begin robbing the men that are the merchants that are on the road. Now, what does that do to Abimelech? Well, if the merchants are robbed along the road, they can't sell their goods, meaning that they can't pay taxes on their goods and it affects the revenue of Abimelech. Now, we all know that if you really want to affect someone,

you affect them. In their wallet, and that's exactly what they did to Abimelech. And so they begin to affect him in that way. And notice what it says in verse 25. Then the men of Shechem set in ambush against him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who passed by along the road, and it was told to Abimelech. Now, Gael or Gael, I'm not sure how you pronounce it.

The son of Ebed came with his relatives and crossed over into Shechem and the men of Shechem put their trust in him. They went out into the field and they gathered the grapes of their vineyards and they trod them and they held a festival and they went into the house of their God and they ate and they drank and they cursed Abimelech. Then Gael, the son of Ebed said, who is Abimelech and who is Shechem that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jeroboam and is not Zebul his lieutenant?

Serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. But why should we serve? Him would therefore that this people were under my authority, then I would remove Abimelech and he said to Abimelech increase your army and come out. See all they needed was a leader, right? All they needed was someone to lead the rebellion at this point in time. God had sent the evil spirit and now they have the perfect leader for their rebellion.

This guy named Gael or Gael, what do you want to call him? The son of Ebed, he rises up, right? He comes back to Shechem. He's like perfect. I have a plan. I have a plan for how this is all going to work. And did you notice how his plan started? Because can I just go ahead and tell you that a lot of bad plans start this exact same way. It says that they were trotting grapes and they were producing wine and they held a festival where they ate and where they drank.

And when they ate and they drank all of a sudden he got well, what we in the world used to call liquid courage, right? Anybody ever say that? Yeah, of course we did, right? You hear somebody that starts to mouth off after they've had a few because they've got a lot of courage. Right? Because they've got a little liquid courage in them and his speech is a little slurred,

but it's as bold as it's ever been because he starts saying things like who is who is Abimelech and who is Shechem? Who are we that we should be serving this guy? And as he's got this liquid courage flowing through him, he says, it's time that we revolt. Can I just go ahead and draw just a really quick conclusion here to something, perhaps a spiritual application.

I know that one of the hotbed issues in the church right now is whether or not we, as Christians are allowed to drink alcohol and listen, do you have freedom in Christ? I mean, I suppose as long as you're not getting drunk, you have freedom in Christ, but can I tell you, I've never seen anything good come out of it. I've never seen anything beneficial come out of it. Usually what I see come out of people that do a lot of drinking is liquid courage, encouraging them to say really bold, stupid things.

That's usually what I see take place at that point in time. Anyway, that's neither here nor there, but something I think for us to pay attention to. And so he calls out Abimelech. He says, bring out your army and let's fight. So verse 30, it says, and when Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal, he really freaked out. That's not what it says.

His anger burned and he sent messengers to Abimelech deceitfully saying, behold, Gael, the son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem and behold, they are stirring up the city against you. Right? It's about to get serious. Now, therefore arise by night, the people who are with you and lie in wait in the field in the morning. As soon as the sun comes up,

you shall rise early and rush upon the city and behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you shall do to them whatever you can. So Abimelech and all the people who were with him arose by night and lay in wait against Shechem and four companies. So he sends word to Abimelech to let him know what's going on. Hey, there's an uprising going on here.

I think it's time for you to squelch it. Hide out for a little while, get yourself prepared and then you can ambush the city. It will be easy pickings for you and then you can hold on to your power. And so that's exactly what he does. So verse 34. So Abimelech and all the people who were with him rose by night and lay in wait against Shechem and four companies.

Now Gael, the son of Ebed went out verse 35 and stood in the entrance of the city gate and Abimelech and the people who were with him arose from the ambush. When Gael saw the people, he said to Zebul, look, people are coming down from the tops of the mountains. But Zebul said to him, you're seeing the shadow of mountains as if they were men. Can I put that into modern day speech?

Pipe down, you're drunk, right? That's basically what he's telling you. He's like, I see people as you pipe down, you're drunk. No, I promise. Look, and so Gael spoke again and said, behold, people, verse 37, people are coming down from the highest part of the land and one company looks by the comes by the way of the divine. There's oak and ends. Then Zebul said to him,

where's your boasting now? Who is Abimelech that we should serve him? Is this not the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them. So Gael went out before the leaders of Shechem and he fought with Abimelech and Abimelech chased him and he fled before him and many fell wounded up to the entrance of the gate. Then Abimelech remained at Aruma. But Zebul drove out.

Gael and his relatives so that they could not remain in Shechem. And it came about the next day that the people went out to the field and it was told to Abimelech. He took his people and divided them into three companies and lay in wait. And when he looked and saw the people coming out from the city, he arose against them and slew them. Then Abimelech and the company who was with him dashed forward and stood in the entrance of the city gate.

The other two companies dashed against all who were in the field and slew them. Abimelech fought against the city gate. The city all that day. He captured the city. He killed the people and he raised the city and sewed it with salt. As a matter of fact, the destruction of Shechem was so great that I think there's at least 200 years. It won't get built again until Jeroboam the first rebuilds it,

which would be after King Saul and after King David and after King Solomon. That's how long it's going to be before Shechem gets rebuilt because Jeroboam the first rebuilds it and turns it into his. Capital. So so the the destruction was just amazing that Abimelech brought against the city, which is kind of interesting. Well, let's read just a little further because the prophecy gets a little deeper.

Says in verse 45, excuse me, verse 46 when all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered the inner chambers of the temple of Elbareth. Obviously, he's trying to seek shelter and it was told Abimelech that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem gathered. Together. So Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon. He and all the people who were with him.

He took an axe in his hand and he cut down a branch from the trees and he lifted it. He laid it on his shoulder. He said to the people who were with him. What you have seen me do hurry and do likewise. All the people also cut down each one his branch followed Abimelech. They put them on the inner chamber set the inner chamber on fire over those inside so that all the men of the Tower of Shechem.

Also died about a thousand men and women. You remember what Jotham said? If what you've done is in truth and integrity, then there's always going to be peace. You should rejoice in Abimelech and Abimelech will rejoice in you. However, if what you've done is in treachery and an evil then let fire come forth from Abimelech and consume Shechem. What just happened to the people of Shechem?

What just happened to the people of Shechem? What just happened to the people of Shechem? He just burned them all alive. This is a really good time to remind us what the theme of judges is because judges is a hard book. Sometimes you study and you're like why is this in the Bible? Well, remember these things were written for our instruction upon whom the end of the ages has come.

In other words, we should learn from this and from Abimelech. We're going to learn what not to be. I'll bring it together with three fun little points at the end that will pay attention to but I just want to remind you guys of the of the theme of judges. There was no king in the land and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

And so this is exactly what Abimelech does in his anger. He burns an entire city alive then notice what he's not done yet. Verse 50 then Abimelech went to Thebes which is a city a little ways away. He camped against Thebes and captured it. But there was a strong Tower in the center of the city. And all the men and all the women of the or all the men and women with all the leaders of the city fled there and shut themselves in and they went up on the roof of the tower.

You can imagine what he's thinking at this point in time same situation. I'll just do the same thing only this time. It says Abimelech verse 52 came to the tower and fought against it and approached the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire. See same idea but a certain woman through an upper Millstone on Abimelech's head crushing. His soul. School. Dude don't mess with that lady,

right? I think if we've learned anything in the book of Judges, it's this it's that women should be feared as warriors because two women now have done serious Havoc to the heads of men. Have you noticed that you got JL driving a tent stake through? I can't think of his name right now, but through through that guy's head and now you got this lady throwing a Millstone on this guy's head and listen, if you don't know what a Millstone is picture this thing right here.

Only made of stone because this is probably about the size of a hand of a Millstone that would be in someone's house and one that she would be able to handle maybe just a little bit thicker. Maybe just a little bit smaller, but this is the general idea of what a Millstone would look like and it would be something that they would be able to turn to grab their hand ground flour and corn. And so she kind of hoist the thing up on there. She's there's Abimelech.

I don't like that guy hoist it off. Imagine the aim. The aim to be able to hit a guy with a stone that's that far below you and a stone that weighs that much to where it lands directly on his. It's almost like God was involved in that. Right? You ever played the little Plinko games where you try to put the quarter down and and you try to drop it to her to do to do to do right and it hits the exact right spot.

It's like giant Plinko only deadly, right? And that's exactly what she does. She throws this stone off and it hits him in the head. I want you to notice. What's said here. It says verse 54. Then he called quickly to the young man. His armor bearer said to him, draw your sword and kill me so that it will not be said of me a woman slew him. So the young man pierced him through and he died only,

you know what? Samuel was sure to record the fact that a woman was the one that threw a stone hit him in the melon probably would have died from it and everybody thought through all of history do. Oh, it was a woman that did that. And so it says, when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, each departed to his own home. Thus God repaid the wickedness of Abimelech,

which he had done to his father and killing his 70 brothers. Also, God returned the wickedness of the men of Shechem on their heads. The curse of Jotham, the son of Jeroboam came upon them. If this thing was done in truth and integrity, then rejoice in Abimelech and let Abimelech rejoice in you. But if this thing was done in treachery and deceit, then let fire go forth from Abimelech and consume Shechem and let fire come forth from Shechem and consume Abimelech.

And you know what? That's exactly what happened because God dealt with the problem. Now, wild story again. What do you pull out of this? And I honestly, I battled with this the last few days. And in this morning, I feel like the Lord kind of revealed to me some things that we need to pay attention to. I think I even had to put them up there. Three things that I think that we need to learn from this.

Number one, you can live in surrender or you can live under oppression. You can live in surrender or you can live under oppression. Listen, it's a lesson that we've seen throughout the nation of Israel's history, right? It's a lesson that we'll see throughout all of the Old Testament is that they can either live in, surrender to God, which is ultimate freedom, or they can live under oppression, because that's the way that it was at that point in time for the nation of Israel.

As far as their, as far as their government was concerned, when they followed God, they lived in freedom because they lived in surrender to God. And when they would not follow God, they lived under the oppression of an enemy or even the oppression of a brother who was seeking authority. And brothers and sisters, I don't know that we can over emphasize this point. Enough is that we really just have those two choices in our lives is you can live in surrender to God, or you can live under the oppression of the enemy, because the oppression of the enemy is the sin that he brings into our lives, that the sin that is so prevalent in our lives.

And when I surrender to God, the rest of the world may say, well, you, you are living under the oppression of some legalistic system. And I tell, you know, I'm living in the freedom of obedience because there is so much freedom that comes with obedience. I will always take it back. To the illustration of when we were little kids in school, do you remember when your little kids in school and the teacher steps out of the classroom for a minute and 90% of the classroom goes berserk, right?

I mean, I was never one of those kids, but, but I've heard about this. I've heard about this happening with kids, right? And there's like the two kids that are doing exactly what they're supposed to do, right? And the teacher comes back in and you know, who's not stressed out the two kids that were doing exactly what they were supposed to do, because now they don't get in trouble.

Everybody else gets hauled to the principal's office, right? All right, you 90% of the class go there. And the other two are like deuces, right? See you guys. We didn't do, we didn't do bad things. Our parents aren't getting called right now. You know why? Because in the moment when there was chaos going on, it looked like they were living under the oppression of rules.

But when I, when it came right down to it, they were living under the freedom of obedience. And that's what we need to remember as believers in Jesus Christ is we have two choices. We have one choice to make between two things. You can live and surrender, or you can live under oppression is the person who finds themselves living in sin. Ultimately, they're living under the oppression of the enemy.

Number two, if you want to be a leader, learn to be a servant. If you want to be a leader, learn to be a servant. I want you to go one place with me because this story just kept bringing me back to this particular scripture. And it's in Matthew chapter 10, Matthew chapter 10 verses 42 through 45. Jesus, speaking wait, hold on. I've done something wrong. I have my I have my verses wrong here somewhere.

Is it 1642 through 45? Nope, not that one either. Hold on. Let me just tell you what it says. I've screwed up my my references here. I bet that's what it is. Mark 10. I'm sorry guys. Yeah, learn to be a servant. Let's see. Is it? No, it's Mark 10. I'm sorry guys. Please forgive me. Total total failure on my part. Mark 10 verses 42 through 45. Once you notice what it says calling them to himself.

Jesus said to them, you know that those who are recognized as rulers pay attention to that word because what did what did he want to do? He wanted to rule over the people. Those who want to be recognized as rulers of the Gentiles Lord it over them. And great men exercise authority over them, but it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant.

And whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve to give his life as a ransom for many. Do you know who? I think the scariest people in the world. Are people that want authority. You know why those people are scary because people that really understand Authority understand servanthood.

And when you are a servant, then you can truly be an authority because you care about people at that point in time because you realize that you are not ruling over people. You are leading people and they are going to follow your example. Again that exact same that exact same show that I referenced on, on Sunday morning, Band of Brothers. It was fascinating because even within war, even within military, you see certain men want to take the position of Authority and certain men who actually have the position of Authority.

There was one particular Sergeant or excuse me, Lieutenant that was going to get elevated to to a field command when they came to him to tell him that he was going to be put into command. They said look when we're looking for someone who's going to be in command, we look for someone who is going to care about his men who is going to lead his men who is going to be in the fight with his men and who his men look up to and respect and he said that's exactly who you need to be looking for. And they looked at him and they said you don't even realize we're talking about you do we do you and he said me. Because my friends he knew what it was to be a servant because a servant is not looking for a position of Authority a servant is just serving

and then somebody else recognizes and says, you are the right person to lead. That's why within all of the Calvary Chapel movement. We don't put people in positions of Authority just because they have a seminary degree. We don't put people in positions of Authority just because they have the right degree behind their name or because they have the right amount of experience.

We like to put people in positions because they have exemplified a heart of servanthood. And if we want to be leaders, if you want to truly be a leader, first learn to be a servant. Because a servant doesn't rule over people a servant doesn't Lord Authority over people a servant simply leads even when they don't realize that they're doing it. And if we learned anything from Abimelech, it's that when you want to rule over people, it will always cause you problems because you don't really understand Authority.

Number three, and I think this could be said throughout the entire book of Judges you reap what you sow. You reap what you sow throughout scripture. It's quoted multiple times. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whenever a man sows that will he also reap it happened for the people of Shechem. They wanted someone to rule over them. And that's exactly what they got someone to rule over them.

It happened with Abimelech. He wanted to be able to rule over people and he ruled over people in a treacherous evil way and that treachery and evil came back upon him because you reap what you sow. Now listen, this works in both ways in our lives. First of all, it works in the negative. We reap what we sow in that when we are living according to the flesh, when we are operating according to the things of sin,

when we are operating according to the things of the world, when what constantly goes into us is the things of the world, then what will constantly come out of us is the things of the world. You can't help it. We are mimickers by nature. We by nature tend to copy the things that we hear the most. That's why if I were to give you a song lyric, I don't remember if it was Sunday or the Sunday before and I gave a song

and somebody came up to me afterwards and they said that's going to be stuck in my head all day and I gave him a fist bump and said you're welcome right? Because that's what I like to do to people because what we've put in is what's going to come out. And if what we've constantly put in is the things of the world, then what constantly comes out of us is the things of the world. And we have to understand that what we sow will also reap.

And if you want something good in your life, you can't constantly put in something negative, but you know what not always that work in the negative, but also works on the positive. And again, I hate to keep harping on this, but I feel like this is our year to really get into the word. You know, that's just the biggest thing God put on my heart this year. And if what I'm putting in is the truth of who God is, if I'm putting in all of the amazing truth of my Savior, then that's what's going to start coming out of me.

You know what I was so blessed by? I was blessed by a couple of text messages that I got the other night and the things I started seeing on social media because everybody was taking a picture of that amazing rainbow, right? I can't help it. I'm still going back and look at those pictures and they don't even do justice to what it was like to see it in person, right?

We were heading down to the Enrique's and I looked I'm like, oh my gosh, it's a rainbow. And everybody goes where and I'm like right there and I'm like trying to roll my window down and not wreck the car while I'm looking at it because it looked like a spotlight shining up and then all of a sudden we went all it's a full rainbow. Oh my gosh, right? Because we're going over the bridge to go over to the bypass and then I went there's two of them and we're just amazed by it and I started getting messages from people.

Isn't it great how wonderful the heavens are declaring the glory of God and I saw lots of people posting that on social media and I thought isn't that great? You know why that's great is because we're putting the truth of God into people and so when they see things in nature, they don't just say isn't nature pretty they say isn't my God amazing because when that's what you're putting in that's what comes out and you start seeing God in all kinds of ways and you start seeing him at work in all kinds of ways because what you've been putting in is something good. And so my friends if what's coming out of your life right now is garbage probably means that's what you're taking in all the time is garbage.

So probably the thing to do is is to change the way that you so that you can also change the way that you read because that principle is true in every aspect of our lives. Amen friends. Sometimes we have to go through sections like this where we learn what not to do, but man when we learn what not to do, but it's a whole lot easier to identify what the right thing is Lord. We come before you and I just thank you for the time that we've had in your word tonight Lord.

I thank you for your grace and your patience and I thank you for how good you are to us and Lord. I just want to. Pray that you would strengthen us in you as we go out from here and Lord may the truth of who you are continue to flow forth from everything in us father. We thank you. We praise you in Jesus name. Amen. Be blessed.