CHOSEN BY GOD: “Behold”
I Peter 2:9 NKJV
“… you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
Ephesians 1:3-6 NKJV
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”
Ephesians 1:4-8 NLT
“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.”
Luke 1:26-27NKJV
“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
Isaiah 64:6-8 NKJV
“But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us, And have consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.”
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NLT
“Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”
Luke 1:28-34NKJV
And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
Luke 1:35-37 NKJV
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.
37For with God nothing will be impossible.”
Luke 1:37 ASV
“For no word from God shall be void of power.”
Luke 1:39-45 NKJV
“Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
Luke 1:46-55 NKJV
And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty. He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.”
Luke 1:38 ESV
“And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word."
MY DOMINION OVER DARKNESS
Luke 23:44-46 NKJV
Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. Then the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in two. And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ ” Having said this, He breathed His last.
Genesis 1:26-28 NKJV
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
DOMINION: Radah
To Rule
To govern
To master
To manage
Sovereign Authority
DOMINION
1. Fish
2. Birds
3. Every living thing (Not people)
NEW TESTAMENT
4. The Spiritual battles (inside & out)
Psalm 8:1-9 NKJV
“O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen— Even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!”
MAN: ISH (plural)
Men & woman. ISHA
WOMAN: ISHA (from man)
Matthew 27:33-34 NKJV
“And when they had come to a place called Golgotha, that is to say, Place of a Skull, they gave Him sour wine mingled with gall to drink. But when He had tasted it, He would not drink.”
II Timothy 1:7 NKJV
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
“Oh, you think darkness is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but BLINDING!” – Bane from The Dark Night
Genesis 1:1-3 NKJV
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
I Thessalonians 5:5-6 NKJV
“You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.”
Matthew 5:14-16 NKJV
“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Isaiah 60:1-5 NKJV
“Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy..”
John 16:22-24 NKJV
“Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
Romans 6:12-14 NKJV
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
II Corinthians 12:7-10 NKJV
“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Romans 7:1-4 NKJV
“…do you not know, brethren that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.”
II Corinthians 10:4-5 NKJV
“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”
Isaiah 54:17 NKJV
No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the Lord.
Ephesians 2:1-10 NKJV
“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
LIFE IN THE LAND OF LAWLESSNESS PART 3
Isaiah 43:1 NKJV
“But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”
Revelation 12:11
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
Proverbs 22:1
“A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.”
Isaiah 49:1
“…Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.”
Revelation 3:4-6
“You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Revelation 3:12 NKJV
“He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.”
Revelation 13:11-18 NKJV
“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”
“The Mahdi is my of lineage, with a high forehead, and a long, thin, curved nose. He will fill the earth with fairness and justice, as it was filled with oppression and injustice, he will rule for SEVEN years.”
The (false) prophet Muhammad (From the Hadith)
PSALMS 2:1-6
“Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in contempt. Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, and distress them in His deep displeasure: “YET I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.”
Isaiah 43:1 NKJV
“But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.”
Genesis 32:24-30 NKJV
Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, “Let Me go, for the day breaks.” But he said, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” So He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” And He said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
ISRAEL
1. One who wrestles with God
2. Let God prevail
3. Governed by God
MY NEW NAME (comes with)
1. PURPOSE
2. PROBLEMS
3. PAIN
4. PURITY
5. POWER
“When you find that nothing in this world will satisfy you, perhaps it means you were made for another world”
C.S. LEWIS
Isaiah 43:1-5
“But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored, And I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, And people for your life. Fear not, for I am with you…”
LIFE IN THE LAND OF LAWLESSNESS Part 2
Romans 8:28
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Ephesians 6:12 NKJV
“For we do not wrestle against flesh l and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Matthew 24:12-14
“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”
Psalm 27:13
“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.”
II Thessalonians 2:1-4
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”
an·ti-Sem·i·tism
noun
1. hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people.
THE JEWS & THEIR LIES
(Martin Luther)
1. Identifies them as Vermin
2. Identifies the whole race as liars, thieves
3. Identifies the whole race as stupid fools
4. Warns Christians to stay away from Jews
5. Calls for the government to deal with them by burning down their synagogues, houses, and limiting their travel with checkpoints
6. “advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb.”
“I see this revived spirit of antisemitism as the resurrection of an evil that has to be firmly and totally rejected and Jewish people protected from persecution and harm.”
Pastor Norm Wise
Genesis 12:1-4 NKJV
“Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him…”
Genesis 15:18 NIV
“On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—”
Exodus 1:1-16 NKJV
“Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation. But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”
“I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can't You choose someone else?”
Tevye from Fiddler on the roof
I Corinthians 10:11 NKJV
“Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
Jeremiah 3:8-10 NKJV
“Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the Lord.
Jeremiah 3:12-14 NKJV
Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the Lord your God…”
“…“Return, O backsliding children,” says the Lord; “for I am married to you…”
Romans 11:1-5 NKJV
“I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
Romans 11:19-27 NKJV
“You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.””
Jeremiah 3:1 NKJV
“They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man’s, May he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,” says the Lord.”
Romans 9:13 NKJV
“As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
Galatians 3:1-9 NKJV
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”
I Peter 2:9-10 NKJV
“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”
Romans 8:28-39 NKJV
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
LIFE IN THE LAND OF LAWLESSNESS
II Timothy 3:1 NKJV
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come…”
Matthew 24:3-13 NKJV
“…the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.”
II Peter 3:1-7 NKJV
“Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
Matthew 24:36-39 NKJV
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Genesis 6:9-12 NKJV
“This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”
Isaiah 34:8 NKJV
“For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, The year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”
THE DAYS OF NOAH
1. Exploding population
2. Sexual perversion with genetic manipulation
3. Evil imaginations
4. Evil violence
I Timothy 4:1-2 NKJV
“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,”
Isaiah 5:20-21 NKJV
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!”
II Thessalonians 2:1-8 NKJV
“Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
Psalms 1:1-6 NKJV
“Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
“This shows how “migration is not a development ‘problem’ to be solved, but a mechanism that can contribute to the achievement of many of the Goals” (Foresti and Hagen-Zanker, 2017)
Genesis 6:1-2 NKJV
“Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.”
Genesis 6:3 NKJV
And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
Genesis 6:4-7 NKJV
“There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
Numbers 13:32-33 NKJV
“And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
II Peter 2:4-5 NKJV
“…God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;”
Romans 1:28 NLT
“Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.”
II Peter 3:8-14 NKJV
“But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;”
Genesis 6:13-14 NKJV
And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make yourself an ark of gopherwood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and outside with pitch.”
Genesis 6:8 NKJV
“But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
Genesis 6:18-22 NKJV
“I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark—you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.” Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.”
John 14:15-16 NKJV
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—”
Luke 22:14-20 NKJV
“When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”
WHEN THE IMPOSSIBLE BECOMES POSSIBLE
Luke 18:27 NKJV
“…The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
Exodus 14:1-3, 10-14 NKJV
Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’
“You’ll never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have”
Corrie Ten Boom
Jeremiah 29:10-14 NKJV
“For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord…”
“Like everyone else, you want to learn the way to win. But never except the way to lose. To accept defeat, to learn to die, is to be liberated from it. You must free your ambitious mind, and learn the art of dying”
- Bruce Lee
John 12:24-25 NKJV
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
Matthew 24:32-35 NKJV
“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”
Matthew 24:7-8 NKJV
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
Luke 21:28 NKJV
“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
II Corinthians 4:8-9 NKJV
“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—”
Philippians 4:7 NKJV
“…the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
John 14:27 NKJV
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
John 20:19 NKJV
“Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Exodus 14:10-14 NKJV
And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
Exodus 14:15-16 NKJV
And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.”
Exodus 14:19 NKJV
“And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.”
I Corinthians 10:1-4 NKJV
“…brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”
Exodus 14:21-22 NKJV
“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.”
Exodus 14:27-31 NKJV
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.
Isaiah 43:1-4 NKJV
“…thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place. Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored, And I have loved you..”
Samson’s Revenge
Revenge – Inigo Mantoya in Princess Bride
John Wick – justice on the guys who killed his dog
Avengers
Can Christians get revenge? Is Christian Revenge possible or contradictory to the Gospel?
Does the Bible talk about Revenge? Surprisingly a lot!
Jesus saying if someone strikes you on right cheek, turn to him the other as well, seems to eliminate Christian Revenge.
BUT what about Justice?!?
Justice for wrongdoers.
Justice for the orphan, widow, poor, the foreigner
Judges 15:1–3 (ESV)
1 After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” 3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.”
Previous chapter – made a bet – if they could solve his riddle he had to give them 30 changes of clothes – kills 30 Philistines to fulfill his promise. (so guilty)
Mad at philistines – but actually the father who has done wrong.
He takes it out on all philistines
Justice in our eyes - goes too far!
Someone hurts me – I hurt the whole family.
Exodus 21:22–25 (ESV)
22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Leviticus 24:19–20 (ESV)
19 If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.
Exodus 21:22–25 (ESV)
22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
God’s justice had limits –
Man’s justice exceeded.
Today – legal system civil and criminal, $
Let’s see how Samson is going to respond to his wife being given to another?
Judges 15:4–5 (ESV)
4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards.
Burned standing and stacked grain (remember harvest time) and olive orchards!
Huge financial losses – not just stealing but destroying wealth
Did it to many people, not just the dad or the best man who took his wife
Judges 15:6 (ESV)
6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.
Philistines burn the father and wife. – JUSTICE?
Our world is full of justice – or injustice
We have an innate sense of justice. Something violates that we want to see it made right.
“anger always makes a value judgment. Anger is always a moral matter. It has rightly been called the moral emotion because it makes a statement about what matters”
*“Moral sanity must disapprove of wrong and that disapproval is the essence of anger” – David Powlison, Good and Angry
At times, it is right to be angry.
James 1:19–20 (ESV)
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
Ephesians 4:26–27 (ESV)
26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.
Opportunity = “place” (topos)
Christian anger – yes, Christian revenge – NO!
Revenge –
Genesis 4:23b–24 (ESV)
23…I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. 24 If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”
Genesis 34 – Rape of Dinah (Simeon and Levi kill all the men of Shechem)
I was innocent and you hurt me; now you are guilty and I need to teach you a lesson – so MORE!
GOLDEN RULE:
Matthew 7:12 (ESV)
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Revenge is a demonic twist on the golden rule
Leviticus 19:17–18 (ESV)
17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
We judge others by their actions but ourselves by our intentions.
AND if we have evil in our heart we judge ourselves righteous if we don’t act and others wicked if we perceive evil intentions
Judges 15:6 (ESV)
6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.
Judges 15:7–8 (ESV)
7 And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” 8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
Judges 15:8 (CSB)
8 He tore them limb from limb and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.
PROGRESSION
Philistines cheat to get out of the wager
Samson kills 30 to fulfill, but leaves afterward
Father-in-law marries off daughter
Samson sets fire to crops with 300 foxes
Philistines burn father-in-law and wife
Samson kills a bunch, tearing limb from limb
Then I’ll quit
Judges 15:9–10 (ESV)
9 Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a raid on Lehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.”
Philistines in control – the govt.
Judah - “Why have you come up against us? What did we do?”
Do to him as he did to us? – justice
Want to bind him, not kill him?
Fate worse than death – humiliate, torture…
Judges 15:11 (ESV)
11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.”
Samson’s golden rule –
Our justice – is all about us; we don’t really see the other person; we see “just us”
Judges 15:12–13 (ESV)
12 And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” 13 They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
Just going to bind you (that’s what they want) – just do whatever the govt says
Judges 15:14–17 (ESV)
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men. 16 And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” 17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi. (Jawbone Hill)
Samson – arrested by the enemy – but Spirit of Lord rushes upon him.
Grabs donkey jawbone kills 1000 men.
Donkey jaw bone – touching the dead thing again
REMEMBER SAMSON WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A NAZIRITE:
No grapes
No dead things
No haircuts
Touching the dead again
Judges 15:18 (ESV)
18 And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
Samson attitude – whiny, complaining
Judges 15:19-20 (ESV)
19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
Could end there – but Samson is a tragedy
Judges 16:1–3 (ESV)
1 Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. 2 The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” 3 But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.
Samson ignores the Torah – commits adultery
Pulls gates out and escapes in middle of night
REMEMBER – he (like you and me) tend to simplify God’s commands and do the ones that are convenient, but omit the others.
Judges 16:4 (ESV)
4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
Sorek = grapes
Judges 16:5–6 (ESV)
5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”
Philistines – where is the source of his strength? (Didn’t look like the Dwayne the Rock Johnson
HOW TO BE BOUND?
Satan wants to bind you.
Each of us can be bound in different ways –
Our past – identity
Our desires – good things taken out of balance
3x – Samson gives an answer and 3x Delilah tries
1. Fresh undried bowstrings
2. New ropes – unused
Judges 16:13 (NLT)
13 Then Delilah said, “You’ve been making fun of me and telling me lies! Now tell me how you can be tied up securely.” Samson replied, “If you were to weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on your loom and tighten it with the loom shuttle, I would become as weak as anyone else.” So while he slept, Delilah wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric.
NOTICE the third one has to do with his hair
Flirting with the truth; flirting with sin
Samson had compromised every area except the hair, now compromising this final vow
Maybe began to believe that God would allow him to have the strength even if cut?
No consequence, no consequence, no…
God loves us enough to not allow us to sin comfortably.
SUMMARY - DELILAH – wove the hair into the loom – but that didn’t do it. It wasn’t cut.
Judges 16:15–17 (ESV)
15 And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. 17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
Ah the truth – does he feel safe?
No, She has done exactly what he said last 3x
1 John 2:11 (ESV)
11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Sin blinds
worn out
The more you walk in darkness, the more blind you are to your sin.
Sleeping with girlfriend – won’t be objective whether you should break up, move out, get married
Can’t pray about sin – sin blinds
1 John 1:8 (ESV)
8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Must agree with God that we have sinned.
Repent of sin – turn away and around, go the other direction
In our own eyes – it doesn’t seem that bad
RIGHT IN GOD’S EYES?
Judges 16:18–21 (ESV)
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. 19 She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. 21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.
THE LORD HAD LEFT HIM –
EYES GOUGED OUT
Right in Your Eyes? God’s judgment – eyes gouged out
Couldn’t see – spiritual blindness
Matthew 5:27–30 (ESV)
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
Judges 16:22 (ESV)
22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
We may want to freeze our hair cut so it stops changing – but idea is that we continue to grow.
Nazirite was supposed to offer the hair as a burnt offering – instead Samson had a burnt life – all his life seemingly up in smoke
Judges 16:23–25 (ESV)
23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” 25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars.
Remember – they didn’t want to kill Samson – wanted to humiliate him.
Judges 16:28–30 (ESV)
28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.
Avenge me – not forgive my selfishness, and stupidity; avenge me
I lost my 2 eyes, they should lose their life
Suicide would be honorable - ????
3000 die at his death, more than his entire life
Vengeance – the Lord honored his request BUT…
Romans 12:17–21 (NLT)
17 Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. 18 Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. 19 Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. 20 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” 21 Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
Enemy is hungry… - quoting Proverbs 25:22
Matthew 5:38–45a (ESV)
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.
For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
THE GOSPEL – you can’t do this Christian walk – need Jesus
Forgiveness
REMEMBER JUSTICE?
Something bad was done. Things need to be made right.
Jesus who was the righteousness of God – the perfectly right-ness of God
Came and suffered an awful, painful death to pay for your sins and mine
GOD’S VENGEANCE –
Every sin will be paid for on the cross or in Hell.
If we hold a grudge, we doubt the Judge.
We see our sins as small, and others’ as great
How much should a person suffer for their sins?
How much should you suffer for yours?
Story of 10 Amish girls shot
Following the tragic Amish school shooting of 10 young schoolgirls in a one-room Amish school in October 2006, reporters from throughout the world invaded Lancaster County, PA
https://lancasterpa.com/amish/amish-school-shooting/
https://lancasterpa.com/amish/amish-forgiveness/
Application
Who do you need to forgive?
Do you see others’ sins against you as worse than your sins against God?
Are you walking in darkness in some area and need to repent?
Additional Study:
Cities of Refuge – avenger of blood; until the death of the high priest
Joshua 20:1–6 (ESV)
1 Then the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, 3 that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood. 4 He shall flee to one of these cities and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city and explain his case to the elders of that city. Then they shall take him into the city and give him a place, and he shall remain with them. 5 And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not give up the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him in the past. 6 And he shall remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of him who is high priest at the time. Then the manslayer may return to his own town and his own home, to the town from which he fled.’ ”
Matthew 18:21–35 (ESV)
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Gold talent = 58-75 lb. Price of Gold at $1256.63/oz x 16oz x 70 lbs = $14,074,256,000
Talent also consider a bag of gold - 6000 denarii or 20 years wages. 10,000 talents = 200,000 years wages or approximately $6B!
Extreme Discipleship - Nazirite Vow
We want to create a greater awareness of God’s holiness so that we have a greater sensitivity to those things that please Him and grieve Him. The list below includes items that we have noticed that can be a distraction from hearing God. We encourage you to commit to this fast, during the rapid overview of the New Testament (listed on the back).
1. DENY MY FLESH (Numbers 6:3)
Spiritual Application: No Medicating (i.e., alcohol, entertainment, anything that numbs you or something you turn to for satisfaction or relief instead of turning to God. God is all we need). *This does not refer to medications prescribed by a doctor for illness or disability
a. What are the things that I do to medicate instead of running to God to meet my needs? Anything that I use to medicate clouds my ability to hear His voice.
b. As a group we are committing to abstain/fast from the following things (that can be used to medicate):
- Alcohol/illicit drugs
- Comfort food (i.e., junk food, sweets, desserts; food we run to instead of God)
- Facebook/Instagram/Social Media
- TV/Netflix/YouTube (except for sermons)
- Masturbation
- No impulse purchases (…)
- electronics that are a distraction (game systems, phone, whatever distracts you)
- limit your cell phone usage as much as possible
c. “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control” (Proverbs 25:28)
d. Add to this list personally anything else that you know that you personally use to medicate and include it in your personal fast over the next 30 days.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
2. DECLARE HIS IDENTITY (Numbers 6:5)
Spiritual Application: Our focus will not be our physical appearance (to cut the hair or not cut the hair is not the issue) but to have a “peculiar” identity – identifying with the Lord and not the world. As a result, we are committed to proclaim the gospel, a proclamation every time, at every opportunity. This gospel proclamation may come either as sharing the Good News about Jesus or as asking to pray for him or her (let the Spirit lead). We are also committing to share the gospel or pray with:
a. At least 2 people in our family that we have not shared the gospel with (over the phone if necessary)
b. 2 people in our workplaces
c. 2 people in our neighborhoods
d. Cashiers, waitresses, waiters and bank tellers are going to hear the gospel, receive prayer, etc.
e. Pray with your spouse every morning and evening (if married)
f. Pray over two other people each day
3. DENOUNCE ALL THAT IS DEATH (Numbers 6:6-8)
Spiritual Application: we will avoid places and things where worldly (spiritually dead) influences can affect us
a. public areas where there are ungodly things present (malls, beaches, ______________)
b. Secular music
c. Off the computer unless it is work related or unless someone is there
d. TV/movies/YouTube/Netflix, etc.
e. Video games
f. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________
g. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________
New Testament 30 Day Rapid Overview
This reading plan below is fairly aggressive, and for most people will require 30-40 minutes of reading each day. Most people don’t have that kind of extra time available, but perhaps by fasting from the other things mentioned above (social media, tv, etc), that will free up the time. That said, some people find that it helps to listen to the Bible as they read it or listen to it while they drive in the car or do housework/yard work to get through all of the chapters. Either way, the rapid overview will give you a larger perspective on the New Testament.
Day 1 Matt 1–8
Day 2 Matt 9–14
Day 3 Matt 15–22
Day 4 Matt 23–28
Day 5 Mark 1–5
Day 6 Mark 6–11
Day 7 Mark 12–16, Luke 1
Day 8 Luke 2–7
Day 9 Luke 8–12
Day 10 Luke 13–19
Day 11 Luke 20–24
Day 12 John 1–6
Day 13 John 7–11
Day 14 John 12–19
Day 15 John 20–21, Acts 1–5
Day 16 Acts 6–11
Day 17 Acts 12–19
Day 18 Acts 20–28
Day 19 Rom 1–8
Day 20 Rom 9–16, 1 Cor 1
Day 21 1 Cor 2–11
Day 22 1 Cor 12–16, 2 Cor 1–7
Day 23 2 Cor 8–13, Gal 1–6
Day 24 Eph 1–6, Phil 1–4
Day 25 Col 1–4, 1 Thess 1–5, 2 Thess 1–3
Day 26 1 Tim 1–6, 2 Tim 1–4, Titus 1–3, Philem
Day 27 Heb 1–13
Day 28 James 1–5, 1 Pet 1–5, 2 Pet 1–3
Day 29 1 John 1–5, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Rev 1–4
Day 30 Rev 5–22
Right in God’s Eyes Part 7 - Strength Through Separation
Samson - A judge in Israel whose strength and moral weakness made him famous.
Judges 13:1 (ESV)
1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
7th time in book of Judges – “evil in the sight of the Lord”
Judges 13:2–5 (ESV)
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. 3 And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. 4 Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, 5 for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
Infertile couple
Crying out to God
Answers prayer
Sends JESUS! (Angel of the Lord) – even when the world is doing what is right in their own eyes, Jesus is still around changing lives. True today!
This BOY IS SPECIAL!
“Begin to save Israel from the Philistines”
BEGIN? Begin to save?
Judges 13:6–7 (ESV)
6 Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, 7 but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”
Special kid – special treatment
Nazirite Vow 3 commitments:
1. No grapes or alcohol (no unclean foods assumed for good Jews)
2. No haircuts
3. No dead things
Why? – some did it for deliverance from disease or sickness; penance; fulfillment of a wish (according to Josephus and early church fathers)
What? 30 days or longer (or lifetime)
Others?
Samson
Samuel 1 Samuel 1:10–11 (ESV)
John the Baptist
Paul for season?
the Hebrew word nazir, simply means “to be separated or consecrated”
Nazirite vow – consecrating oneself to the Lord
Judges 13:8 (ESV)
8 Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.”
Teach us how to parent this special child!
ANGEL APPEARS to her, She gets Manoah
Judges 13:12–14 (ESV)
12 And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” 13 And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.”
Be careful to do everything- BUT YOU DON’T GET THE WHOLE STORY/MISSION
Numbers 6 – describes the Nazirite vow
Already a custom, chapter describes how to do it
Judges 13:24–25 (ESV)
24 And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
About 20 miles west of Jerusalem.
Timnah – about 6 miles away
The Spirit began to stir him
Judges 14:1–3 (ESV)
1 Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” 3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
LUST at first sight!
“right in my eyes” – God’s word forbids it!
Samson separated to God – but feels he only needs to do that to have favor of God.
Pick and choose what parts of God’s Word
We all have our list of things that we think are bad and say, “I would never…”
James 2:10–11 (CSB)
10 For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all. 11 For he who said, Do not commit adultery, also said, Do not murder. So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker.
We can’t pick and choose what parts of the moral law to obey.
ILLUSTRATION: if I have a fear of spiders and I see a spider out of the corner of my eye, my body and heart immediately go into fight or flight. Heart beats faster, I may jump, all physical responses to what I perceive is there. When I look closer and realize it is a dust bunny. – I had feelings based on what I perceived to be reality, but was not reality.
Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)
23 Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
SAMSON didn’t guard his heart. He was led by feelings instead of faith.
Judges 14:4 (ESV)
4 His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
Judges 14:5–6 (ESV)
5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. 6 Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
Timnah where the girl was
Now, not with parents –
Notice in the “vineyards of Timnah”
WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN A VINEYARD???? Not supposed to even touch grapes
Lion attack – Satan trying to thwart the plan of God
“If that roaring lion, that goes about continually seeking whom he may devour, find us alone among the vineyards of the Philistines, where is our hope? Not in our heels, he is swifter than we: not in our weapons, we are naturally unarmed: not in our hands, which are weak and languishing; but in the Spirit of God, by whom we can do all things. If God fight in us, who can resist us? There is a stronger lion in us than that against us.” (Charles Spurgeon) - David Guzik, Judges, David Guzik’s Commentaries on the Bible (Santa Barbara, CA: David Guzik, 2013), Jdg 14:5–9.
Judges 14:8–9 (ESV)
8 After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9 He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.
SAMSON’S COMPROMISE
1. Wanting to marry a Philistine (sin)
2. Walking in the vineyard (flirting with sin)
3. Touching the dead carcass (breaking vow)
Honey in the lion
CARCASS- dead body .
Didn’t tell mom and dad. Knew it was wrong, but thought benefit outweighed the cost.
When we rationalize our actions, we tell ourselves “rational lies” to justify ourselves.
Right in our own eyes.
Rationalize – “rational lies” = “Right in our own eyes”
SAMSON – Self-made man; doesn’t lead others into battle, does it all himself
IN VINEYARD – permissible, but not beneficial
1 Corinthians 10:23 (NLT)
23 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is beneficial.
TEMPTATION comes in the permissible
*COMPROMISE DULLS YOUR SPIRITUAL SENSES
Proverbs 5:21–23 (NLT)
21 For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. 22 An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. 23 He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
Judges 14:10–11 (ESV)
10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. 11 As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
“feast” = drinking party
Samson – throwing drinking party? (supposed to be the designated driver)
Judges 14:12–14 (ESV)
12 And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes, 13 but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.” 14 And he said to them, “Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came something sweet.” And in three days they could not solve the riddle.
Judges 14:19–20 (ESV)
19 And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house. 20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
Spirit of the Lord “rushed upon him” –
Samson relied on the Spirit of the Lord for strength
Not a body builder
What was the source of his strength?
Judges 16:4–6 (ESV)
4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”
Strength was in his vow of separation – not the hair
Strength in separation
NAZIRITE VOW HANDOUT
https://www.revealfellowship.com/extreme
Encourage to do in a group of 3 or 4 and commit to do (month of October?)
Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Application
Where are you flirting with temptation? (walking in a vineyard)
What things of death are you touching?
Where do you fear identifying with Jesus?
Right in GOd’s Eyes Part 6 - Jephthah
I. For deeper study
Summary of last week Big Idea: [2Co 12:9-10 NLT]
9 Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
V. Big Idea: [1Co 3:6 NLT]
6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.
The Story of Jephthah
The First Negotiations
Key Verse:
Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, …. thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him. 7 The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the sons of Ammon.
Big idea: [Rom 1:22-25 NASB20]
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind, of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures. 24 Therefore God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Application: Tim Keller says about this passage.
It is easy to see the futility of this in Israel, from our vantage point of a different era and culture. But human hearts have not changed. They still assure us that, when an idol leads to slavery, what we need is more of that idol. If someone seeks their value and purpose in a relationship—for example, sacrificing everything to a marriage which then fails—it seems very natural to think: I need to find another relationship. I need a better spouse. We see our problem not as worshiping an idol, but not worshiping an idol enough.
from: Keller, Timothy. Judges For You (God's Word For You) (p. 110). The Good Book Company. Kindle Edition.
The Victory & The Vow – Key Passage
[Jdg 11:29-32 NASB20]
29 Now the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh; then he passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from Mizpah of Gilead he went on to the sons of Ammon. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, "If You will indeed hand over to me the sons of Ammon, 31 then whatever comes out the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from the sons of Ammon, it shall be the LORD'S, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering." 32 So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD handed them over to him.
The Problem: [Deu 12:31 NASB20]
31 "You shall not behave this way toward the LORD your God, because every abominable act which the LORD hates, they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods.
[Mat 6:24 NASB20]
24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. ….
[Rom 12:2 NASB20]
2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfec.
Jas 4:4 NASB20
4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
The Dangers of being “double-minded”
a. Acceptance of violence
b. Accepting ‘works righteous” in our relationship with God
c. No concept of God’s grace
Two thoughts:
We are more affected by our culture than the Bible and more than we think we have been affected.
We have a hard time believing in God’s grace.
Homework
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you one concrete way you reflect the beliefs, attitudes, thinking, and actions more the popular culture than the way that the beliefs, attitudes, thinking, and actions of Jesus.
Ask the Holy Spirit to renew YOUR heart and mind in this area of your life.
Gideon – Victory in Weakness
I. Victory in weakness – Judges 7
Here we are in Judges chapter 7 summary; it began with Gideon, now known as Jerubbaal. He prepared to attack the Midianites with his army. God let’s him know he has too many men in his army; they may believe they conquered Midian on their own strength and numbers.
God orders Gideon to send some men home. Jerubbaal was left with ten thousand, which God still thought was too much. More were sent home! The Lord then used an exercise to get rid of some more; so his army was down to three hundred men. God was content with this number (similar number Abram had when he went to recapture his nephew Lot in Genesis 14:14).
The Midianites were like the sand of the sea in number, so Jerubbaal was still slightly afraid. God had to strengthen him by letting him hear the conversation the Midianites were having where God had given a dream to prepare the way.
Key Passage: “ [Jdg 7:13-14 NLT] 13 Gideon crept up just as a man was telling his companion about a dream. The man said, "I had this dream, and in my dream a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into the Midianite camp. It hit a tent, turned it over, and knocked it flat!" 14 His companion answered, "Your dream can mean only one thing--God has given Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite, victory over Midian and all its allies!"
The Midianites were scared of Jerubbaal, and this gave him confidence to attack. He broke his three hundred men into three companies and gave them each a trumpet, empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers.
The broke the pitchers while shouting, “the sword of the Lord, and of Gideon,” and Midian was fearful. The Midianites began fighting each other and they also fled. Captured were two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; they were both killed.
Big Idea: [2Co 12:9-10 NLT] 9 Each time he said, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 10 That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Key Question: Are you depending on your own strength or God’s strength for the victory?
1. Our salvation is all HIS grace and not our works.
2. Only when we see our weakness do we become thankful and love the Lord.
3. We grow in our Christian faith when we recognize “we can’t” but “He can!”
II. Gideon seeking glory for God’s victory – Judges Chapter 8
This chapter began with the children of Ephraim. They were upset with Gideon because he did not call them, initially, to the battle. Fortunately, and unfortunately, some people really enjoy a good fight, battle, or war. Gideon settled their frustration; he also continued to pursue the kings of Midian, namely Zebah and Zalmunna. Gideon asked the men of a town named Succoth to provide food for his small army. They refused, and they demanded he first captures the kings of Midian. This was a way of saying, “finish the work, then get bread.” It also screamed, “we don’t think you can do it.”
Gideon, wasn’t happy about that and responded by saying, ‘when God delivers these kings to me, I will come back and tear your flesh apart.” Gideon proceeded to ask another neighboring town, the village of Penuel, and they said the same thing as Succoth. Gideon responded that he would break down their towers when he returned in victory. So far Midian had lost 120,000 men in the battle against Gideon, most of the damage was from the LORD, entangling them to war with themselves. Gideon then captured the two kings of Midian and paid a return visit to the men of Succoth and Penuel. He taught the men of Succoth not to doubt him or the LORD. He tortured 77 princes and elders and destroyed the men of Penuel as well. This was not a justified war for God had not called him to attack these people.
After this, the men of Israel requested Gideon to become their ruler. He refused and responded that God the LORD would rule over them. All Gideon wanted was the golden earrings the Ishmaelites (Midian) wore to make a ephod (sleeveless garment). But he acts like a priest and king.
Key Passage: [Jdg 8:27 NLT] 27 Gideon made a sacred ephod from the gold and put it in Ophrah, his hometown. But soon all the Israelites prostituted themselves by worshiping it, and it became a trap for Gideon and his family.
The end result, Israel had peace for 40 years while Gideon was alive. The chapter ended with the downfall of his (Gideon) household. Gideon had many wives that produced 70 sons for him. He had one son named Abimelech (My father is king) from a concubine. Gideon died a good old age and Israel went back to worship Baal, forsaking the God who just delivered them through the hands of Gideon. Further, Israel didn’t even show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal (Gideon) for all he did for Israel.
Big Idea: [1Co 3:6 NLT] 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.
Are there aspects of your life and work you think you should get more recognition and honor for from people? How will the gospel of grace help you deal well with your successes?
Gideon and Finding God’s Will
Have you ever wondered what is God’s will for your life?
What methods are acceptable?
Fleeces?
Dreams?
Circumstances?
LUCKY DIPPING – BAD!
Judas went out and hanged himself Matt 27:5
“Go and do likewise” – Luke 10:37
NO!
Judges 6:1–6 (ESV)
1 The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years. 2 And the hand of Midian overpowered Israel, and because of Midian the people of Israel made for themselves the dens that are in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. 3 For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. 4 They would encamp against them and devour the produce of the land, as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel and no sheep or ox or donkey. 5For they would come up with their livestock and their tents; they would come like locusts in number—both they and their camels could not be counted—so that they laid waste the land as they came in. 6 And Israel was brought very low because of Midian. And the people of Israel cried out for help to the Lord.
Midian – RELATIVES! (ABRHAM’S OTHER SONS WITH KETURA)
Judges 6:7–10 (ESV)
7 When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, 8 the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. 9 And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. 10 And I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.’ But you have not obeyed my voice.”
Isaiah 59:1–2 (CSB)
1 Indeed, the Lord’s arm is not too weak to save, and his ear is not too deaf to hear. 2 But your iniquities are separating you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not listen.
Judges 6:11–12 (ESV)
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lordappeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
Winepress – don’t do it that way – living in fear
Angel calls him “O mighty man of valor” –
NOT YET!
PINE CONE ILLUSTRATION
Judges 6:13 (ESV)
13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
If God is with us, why is this happening? Ever feel that way?
Judges 6:14 (ESV)
14 And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
NOTICE: THE LORD – previously The Angel of the Lord, hear THE LORD.
Angel of the Lord = Jesus pre-incarnate
God is telling him Go in this might of yours and save Israel. – YOUR MIGHT???
Judges 6:15-16
15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
HOW? I’m weak, my clan is weak, I’m poor, I’m nothing.
1 Corinthians 1:27–29 (NLT)
27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
1 Corinthians 1:31 (NLT)
31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”
Judges 6:16
16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
“I WILL BE WITH YOU”
“you shall strike the Midianites as one man” – “ONE” – ehad – one unified whole
IF GOD IS WITH US
Romans 8:31–32 (ESV)
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Judges 6:17–18 (ESV)
17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
LOOKING FOR SIGN/CONFIRMATION
What are some of the ways that God gives us confirmation?
Through his word
Through other Christians
Through peace
Through circumstances
Judges 6:19–21 (ESV)
19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
Judges 6:22–24 (ESV)
22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” 24 Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.
Judges 6:25–27 (ESV)
25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it 26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” 27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.
Judgment begins with house of the Lord –
GIDEON’S FATHER HAD OWN ALTAR OF BAAL
Obedience begins with our own home
God calling you as a dad or boss to do something in your family or business?
God tests obedience with small things
Judges 6:26
26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order
Altar on top of the stronghold
Gideon – does it, but at night. And gets people to help.
Judges 6:27
But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.
Do you fear your family? You are like Gideon and most people. WALK BY FAITH
Judges 6:28–30 (ESV)
28 When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. 29 And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” 30 Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.”
Gideon in TROUBLE
Judges 6:31–32 (ESV)
31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” 32 Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.
GIDEON inspires his dad.
Sons an daughters can bring faith to parents!
Judges 6:33–35 (ESV)
33 Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. 34 But the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. 35 And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.
Midianites camp at valley of Jezreel – valley of Armageddon.
The opposing army comes in and Gideon sounds the trumpet to summon the Israelites
Judges 6:36–38 (ESV)
36 Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37 behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 38 And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water.
FLEECE – make dew only on the wool – was and rung out bowl
Judges 6:39–40 (ESV)
39 Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40 And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.
Gideon asks again
SO how do we discern God’s Will?
FLEECE
Looking for signs vs. confirmation
Wicked and adulterous generation seeks for a sign
FLEECE – supernatural event
Not a phone call at 3:35 pm – what if comes at 3:45?
BAD SOURCES FOR FINDING GOD’S WILL
1. Horoscopes, Astrology, Tarot Cards, Psychics, Spirit Guides
Deuteronomy 18:10–14 (NLT)
10 For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, 11 or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord…14 The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the Lord your God forbids you to do such things.”
2. Social Media – crowd sourcing – tell you what you want to hear or their experience
3. YouTube and Google
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints = Mormon
Jehovah’s Witness
Other cults, and twisted versions of Christianity
Google – sometimes answers are out of context due to algorithm; or wrong
UNRELIABLE SOURCES FOR GOD’S WILL
1. Fleeces
2. Dreams (21 in Bible, 10 in Genesis)
a. Jacob, Joseph, Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar, Pharoah, Pontius Pilate’s Wife
3. Casting Lots, flipping a coin (Matthias Acts 1:26, Jonah 1:7, Prov 16:33)
a. Dave calls it “going to Las Vegas”
4. Circumstances and Open Doors
a. Garden of Eden didn’t have a fence around Tree of Knowledge
b. Tye and Lori deciding to homeschool (and God providing)
5. Prophets and Pastors
1 Corinthians 14:29 (ESV)
Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.
“weigh” – judge, evaluate
HOW TO FIND THE WILL OF GOD
1. The Word of God
1 Thessalonians 4:3–5 (ESV)
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God;
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (ESV)
18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Peter 2:13–16 (ESV)
13 Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.
DON’T KNOW WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS? GO TO
GOTQUESTIONS.ORG
1 John 2:15–17 (ESV)
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
HOW TO FIND THE WILL OF GOD
1. The Word of God
2. The Spirit of God
John 16:13a (ESV)
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…
Ephesians 5:17–18 (ESV)
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
HOW TO FIND THE WILL OF GOD
1. The Word of God
2. The Spirit of God
- Know His voice (1 Kings 19:12 – sound of silence)
Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
TEST THE WILL OF GOD (mind renewed; Romans 8 – walk in the Spirit)
2. The Spirit of God
- Know His voice (1 Kings 19:12 – sound of silence)
- Examine your heart
Psalm 139:23–24 (NLT)
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
George Müller (evangelist and director of orphanage in England in 1800’s) - “I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord’s will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is” (Answers to Prayer: from George Müller’s Narratives, compiled by A.E.C. Brooks, Lector House, 2020)
JESUS PRAYER – NOT MY WILL BUT YOURS BE DONE
HOW TO FIND THE WILL OF GOD
1. The Word of God
2. The Spirit of God (examine your motives)
a. Can speak through verse, pastor/counselor/friend
3. The Peace of God
TRUE TEST - PEACE
Colossians 3:14–16 (ESV)
14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
You can have a false peace when steps out of order (vomit letter)
PAUL’S APOSTOLIC PRAYERS
Colossians 1:9 (ESV)
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
Ephesians 1:18-19 (ESV)
18that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
NOT ABOUT YOU! ALL ABOUT HIM!
God chooses to use us, then blesses us for the work He did through us.
ADDITIONAL VERSES ON THE WILL OF GOD
2 Peter 3:9 (ESV)
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Ephesians 5:15–18 (ESV)
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,
Micah 6:8 (ESV)
8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
1 Timothy 2:3–4 (ESV)
3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV)
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
How Do I Get Rid of my Idols & Find Jesus? A meditation on the book of Judges
[Jdg 2:11 YLT] 11 And the sons of Israel do the evil thing in the eyes of Yahweh, and serve the Baalim,
[2Th 2:3 NASB20] 3 No one is to deceive you in any way! For [it will not come] unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
Big Idea: The root of every sin in our lives is idolatry.
Only by repenting of the idols of our heart and turning to Jesus Christ instead can we consistently overcome repetitive patterns of sin by the power of a real personal relationship with Jesus Christ based on his sacrificial death and resurrection from the dead.
Only the Holy Spirit can give us such faith and repentance. We need HIS revelation and power to stop believing in false “saviors” and trust instead in Christ Jesus alone to save us in all aspects of our lives.
Three options
1. Idol directed life – Unbeliever.
2. Double minded life – Unstable weak believer.
3. Christ directed life – Mature believer.
Recommended Reading: Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Mattersby Timothy Keller
“In the 1830s, when Alexis de Tocqueville recorded his famous observations on America, he noted a “strange melancholy that haunts the inhabitants . . . in the midst of abundance.”2 Americans believed that prosperity could quench their yearning for happiness, but such a hope was illusory, because, de Tocqueville added, “the incomplete joys of this world will never satisfy [the human] heart.”3 This strange melancholy manifests itself in many ways, but always leads to the same despair of not finding what is sought.”
Keller, Timothy. Counterfeit Gods . Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition
Summary of the book of judges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOYy8iCfIJ4&t=449s
Commentary on Judges: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/commentary/judges/
OUTLINE of the book of judges: [1]
I. Introduction to era of the judges, Chapters 1, 2
II. Era of the judges, Chapters 3-16 - Seven Seasons of Apostasy
III. Results of era of the judges (confusion), Chapters 17-21
A. Religious apostasy (the temple), Jdg 17, 18
B. Moral awfulness (the home), Jdg 19
C. Political anarchy (the state), Jdg 20, 21
Apologetics Concerning Judges:
Judges is an X rated book of the bible. Just because God uses a man does not mean that he endorses all that the man does or says. This is real history, but the point is that even the leaders God is using are very “double minded” and unstable in all their ways.
[Jdg 3:1-11 NLT] 1 These are the nations that the LORD left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. 2 He did this to teach warfare to generations of Israelites who had no experience in battle. 3 These are the nations: the Philistines (those living under the five Philistine rulers), all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the mountains of Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to Lebo-hamath. 4 These people were left to test the Israelites--to see whether they would obey the commands the LORD had given to their ancestors through Moses. 5 So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, 6 and they intermarried with them. Israelite sons married their daughters, and Israelite daughters were given in marriage to their sons. And the Israelites served their gods. 7 The Israelites did evil in the LORD's sight. They forgot about the LORD their God, and they served the images of Baal and the Asherah poles. 8 Then the LORD burned with anger against Israel, and he turned them over to King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim. And the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years. 9 But when the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help, the LORD raised up a rescuer to save them. His name was Othniel, the son of Caleb's younger brother, Kenaz. 10 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel's judge. He went to war against King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram, and the LORD gave Othniel victory over him. 11 So there was peace in the land for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
First Apostasy: Judges 3:5-7
First Oppressor: Cushan-rishathaim - 'Cushan' or 'Chushan' may indicate Cushite origins. 'Rishathaim' means 'double-wickedness'("resha" רשע - "evil" or "wickedness" + "im" יים - doubling suffix). -
The First Judge: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother
Results – 40 years of שָׁקַט shâqaṭ, - Rest, peace, and security – Yahweh is their KING and Othniel is HIS judge.
Second Apostasy - Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. Judges 3:12
Application:
Read the book of Judges prayerfully and carefully. Note anything that strikes you while reading it.
What sins do you find hard to release? Remember they come in two forms. Lawlessness and Legalism.
What is the “idol” that is the source of this sin? Apply the gospel to the idol.
[1] https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mcgee_j_vernon/notes-outlines/judges/judges-outline.cfm
Meeting Jesus in Scripture, Prayer, and Fellowship
The goal tonight is to learn a process of combining Scripture, Prayer, and Fellowship to have a personal encounter with the Living Christ.
Four Parts of the process
Read The Scriptures
Reflect On the Scriptures
Relate to the Lord through the Scriptures (Prayer based on scripture)
Resting in the presence of the Lord
The Therefore is that Jesus has given to us the perfect “rest” or Sabbath from works through HIS death, burial, and resurrection from the dead. (Hebrews 4:1-13)
[Heb 4:14-16 NET] 14 Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.
I. Read The Scriptures out loud with a prayer for revelation – Lord Jesus, reveal to me now more about who YOU are and what YOU have done in YOUR WORD. Meet me now in YOUR WORD.
Take two minutes to be quiet before God and slowly read the scripture.
What is the big idea of this passage? In one sentence how would you explain the big idea?
II. Reflect on the Scriptures – Read the scriptures out loud again. Pray for the Holy Spirit to bring revelation to YOU through this passage.
Quiet Reflection Question: What is one word or phrase that you’re drawn to?
If you have received a word or phrase you can share that with the group now by speaking it out loud as a prayer — with no explanation or commentary. This way, we can feed off the fruit of each other’s meditations.
III. Relate to the Lord through the Scriptures – Read the passage again out loud. Pray again for the Holy Spirit to help YOU see Christ more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow HIM more nearly. Read it quietly to yourself and put YOUR name into the passage.
Base a prayer on the word or phrase the Lord gave you.
What in this passage help you understand more about the Lord Jesus?
What in this passage most helps you deal with some issue in your life?
What do you experience when you read this passage?
What are your emotional response to this passage?
What specific situation in your life today relates to this passage?
IV. Resting in the presence of the Lord – Read the passage again asking the Holy Spirit to make it so that the words are being spoken just to you today in a very personal way.
What is God’s personal invitation to you from the Bible passage?
You can journal what God may say to you or offer a prayer of thanks for what God is showing you.
To hear God, you need to turn off the critic or cynic in your mind that questions whether you’re really hearing God. When God speaks, it’s usually in thoughts and feelings that come into your mind. Later, you can check what you discerned to see if it’s consistent with God’s inspired words in the Bible…
If you’ve received a personal invitation from the Lord it’d be a blessing if you share that. This helps you hold onto what you’ve received from God and it helps others to feed off the fruit of your meditation.
V. Close in Prayer asking the Lord to transform us through this passage
RESOURCE: JOURNAL OF SACRED READINGS BY KEN BOA
https://kenboa.org/product/a-journal-of-sacred-readings-2/
THE BATTLE OF FEELINGS VS FAITH
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ESV
“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”
Jeremiah 29:10-14
This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord..”
Jeremiah 32:25-27 NKJV
“…the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’
” Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?”
1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
Isaiah 59:19 NKJV
“…When the enemy comes in
like a flood The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.”
like a flood, כַנָּהָר֙ A stream (including the sea; expectation the Nile, Euphrates, etc.); figuratively, prosperity
Ezekiel 47:1-6 NKJV
“Then he brought me back to the door of the temple; and there was water, flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east; the water was flowing from under the right side of the temple, south of the altar. He brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside to the outer gateway that faces east; and there was water, running out on the right side. And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the water came up to my ankles. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through the waters; the water came up to my knees. Again he measured one thousand and brought me through; the water came up to my waist. Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross; for the water was too deep, water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river.”
Revelation 16:12 (NKJV)
Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.
PIC OF CHURCH IN RODNEY GEORGIA
Romans 8:12-14 NKJV
“…brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Galatians 3:3 NLT
“How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?”
Revelation 22:1 NKJV
“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
Revelation 22:17 NKJV
“And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”
Matthew 14:30-31 NKJV
“…when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him…”
John 7:37-39 NKJV
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
John 19:33-34 NKJV
“But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
Acts 2:1-2 NKJV
“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.”
Acts 2:14-18 NKJV
“But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.”
Acts 2:36-39 NKJV
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”
Romans 12:1-2
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
Come, lord Jesus! - Revelation 22
Revelation 1:1
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place.”
Revelation 1:19 NKJV
“Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.”
Revelation 1:3
“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.”
I Corinthians 13:11-12 NKJV
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”
Revelation 22:1-2 NKJV
“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
Revelation 2:7 NKJV
“… To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
I John 3:2-3 NKJV
“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
Revelation 22:3 NKJV
“And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.”
Revelation 22:4 NKJV
“They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.”
Revelation 22:5 NKJV
“There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.”
Revelation 22:6 NKJV
Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.”
Revelation 22:6-7 NKJV
And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.”
“Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
Revelation 22:8-9 NKJV
“Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
Revelation 22:10 NKJV
And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.”
Revelation 22:11 NKJV
“He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”
Revelation 22:12 NKJV
“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.”
Revelation 22:13 NKJV
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
Revelation 22:14-15 NKJV
“Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”
ETERNAL SEPARATION FROM GOD
1. DOGS
2. SORCERERS
3. SEXUALLY IMMORAL
4. MURDERS
5. IDOLATERS
6. LOVERS OF LIES
Revelation 22:16 NKJV
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”
Revelation 22:17 NKJV
And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.”
Revelation 22:18-19 NKJV
“For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
Revelation 22:20-21 NKJV
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”
THE LAST WORD
THE OLD TESTAMENT
Malachi 4:6 NKJV
“…Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
THE NEW TESTAMENT
Revelation 22:21
“…The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”
SATAN CAN’T HAVE GOD’S CHILDREN
Ephesians 6:12 NKJV
“…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
II Timothy 1:7 NKJV
“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
Exodus 1:8-22 NKJV
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel. So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service in which they made them serve was with rigor. Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah; and he said, “When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?” And the midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.” Therefore God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. And so it was, because the midwives feared God, that He provided households for them. So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.”
THE SATANIC STRATEGY
1. ADAM & EVE (God’s children)
2. CAIN (Adam & Eve’s children)
3. THE DAUGHTERS OF LOT
4. ISRAEL’S CHILDREN (Jacob’s kids)
5. THE CHILDREN OF KINGS (1&2 KINGS)
6. THE DECREE OF HEROD (2 & under)
7. THE MESSIAH (God’s Son)
Revelation 12:4-5 NKJV
“…the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.”
THE SATANIC STRATEGY
1. ADAM & EVE (God’s children)
2. CAIN (Adam & Eve’s children)
3. THE DAUGHTERS OF LOT
4. ISRAEL’S CHILDREN (Jacob’s kids)
5. THE CHILDREN OF KINGS (1&2 KINGS)
6. THE DECREE OF HEROD (2 & under)
7. THE MESSIAH (God’s Son)
8. OUR CHILDREN (God’s children)
Matthew 2:13-15 NKJV
“…an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Ezekiel 33:6-7 NKJV
“...if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’ “So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me.”
Deuteronomy 18:9-14 NKJV
“When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not appointed such for you.”
Proverbs 19:18
“Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death.”
Asleep In The Light
Do you see? Do you see?
All the people sinking down?
Don't you care? Don't you care?
Are you gonna let them drown?
How can you be so numb?
Not to care if they come
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done
"Oh, bless me, Lord, bless me, Lord"
You know, it's all I ever hear
No one aches, no one hurts
No one even sheds one tear
But, He cries, He weeps, He bleeds
And He cares for your needs
And you just lay back and keep soaking it in
Oh, can't you see it's such sin?
The world is sleeping in the dark
That the church just can't fight
'Cause it's asleep in the light
How can you be so dead
When you've been so well fed?
Jesus rose from the grave
And you, you can't even get out of bed
How can you be so numb
Not to care if they come?
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done
You close your eyes and pretend the job's done
Don't close your eyes, don't pretend the job's done
Matthew 18:1-6
“…the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
RETURN OF THE GODS
Jonathan Cahn
THE DARK TRINITY
1. BAAL (the processor)
2. ASHTAR (sexuality) wife of Baal
3. MOLECH (the destroyer)
Leviticus 18:21
“ ‘Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.”
PIC OF MOLECH
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 NKJV
“Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Joshua 24:14-15 NKJV
“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Psalms 95:1-7 NKJV
“Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand.”
Psalms 97:9-10 NKJV
“For You, Lord, are most high above all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods. You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.”
Heaven out of this world
Heaven? What will heaven be like?
Will your loved ones be there? Will our pets be there?
Will we sit atop clouds and play harps all day?
Lots of myths
CARTOON – FARSIDE
Isaac Asimov “I don’t believe in an afterlife. So I don’t have to spend my whole life fearing hell or fearing heaven more, for whatever the tortures of hell are, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.”
Heaven boring because it is one eternal church service
Satan attacks the person of God, the people of God, the place of God
Review
Rev 19 – the Most Important – Return of Jesus Christ
Rev 20 – Most Controversial – Millennium and Hell
Rev 21 – Most Exciting – Description of Heaven
Revelation 20:11 (ESV) — 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
Chapter 20 – earth and heaven fled away (passed away in chapter 21)
New heaven and new earth
Message
Revelation 21:1-8 (ESV)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Exodus 33:18–23 (ESV) — 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
Revelation 21:1 (ESV)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Multiple phases or ages of the earth
Ephesians 1:20–21 (ESV)
20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
Ephesians 2:7 (ESV)
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
2 Peter 3:10–13 (ESV)
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
MANY HEAVENS
CHART: Creation, Fall, Flood, Millennium, Heaven
Revelation 21:1 (ESV)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Sea no more – sea in Revelation often a reference to lost people or Gentiles
Revelation 21:2 (ESV)
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Revelation 21:3-4 (ESV)
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
HEAVEN DEFINED BY WHAT’S NOT THERE
No more death
No more mourning
No more crying
Isaiah 65:16 (ESV) — 16 So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.
Isaiah 65:17 (ESV) — 17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
Philippians 3:13–14 (ESV) — 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Too many today – still living in the past
Satan wants you to live in the past – nostalgia, never satisfied with today
Live in the past – holding on to past hurts, unforgiveness
Live in the future – fear and anxiety, worry
“Worry is complaining to God about something that hasn’t happened yet.” – Ken Graves
Revelation 21:5-6 (ESV)
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
God distracted by all that he is seeing – God has to say: Yo! John! Write this down!
Revelation 21:7 (ESV)
7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
John 1:12 (ESV) — 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
Revelation 21:8
8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Who is not in Heaven?
Ouch –
Detestable
Murderers
Sexually immoral – porneia (all forms of sexual immorality, homosexuality, pornography, bestiality, fornication, adultery, pedophilia, hooking-up, friends with benefits)
Sorcerers – pharmakia – drug use, witchcraft,
Idolaters – any idols, any thing above God
Liars –
Notice also:
Cowardly
Faithless
I understand faithless – no faith, not get into heaven, it is by faith
Cowardly – stand before men/deny Jesus before men
Many say on last day, did we not do miracles in your name, cast out demons,
Many say we were in church every week, but Jesus will say you made no room for me in your life.
REVIEW – what’s not in heaven
Those walking in their sin
Tears, pain, suffering, crying
Former things
Revelation 21:9-14
9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Revelation 21:15
15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
Size – 12,000 stadia (or furlongs) = 1400 miles!
Cube
About the size of the moon!
12000 stadia = about 1400 miles
On United States:
Florida to Canada out to Colorado to the Atlantic
2 million square miles
larger than India
1400 miles high!
Earth’s atmosphere ends about 75 miles up
If 12 foot floors – 600,000 floors
Elevators –
Vertical and horizontal passage ways
Travel much faster?
BIG CITY! – 3 billion cubic miles –
How many people there? No clue, but all people who trusted in Christ, believe in the promise by faith from the OT, all infants born and unborn
Revelation 21:19-27
19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Wall – 216 feet wide, 70 yards.
12 different jeweled walls – dazzling beauty
stained glass
Jewels correspond to breastplate on the high priest
Gates – pearls – single pearl – huge
Pearl formed by oyster – an irritation of sand or small worm
Oyster coats the sand to cover the irritation, and continues – amazing beauty
Like you and I – trials in this world, but God is using them to create
something beautiful
Oysters – not Kosher for the Jew, yet gates of pearls – oyster
We are the pearl of great price – that Jesus gave all that he had, his life for us
Finally – streets of gold – like transparent glass
God is saying – so many gave their lives in pursuit of gold and riches, yet in heaven, gold is the asphalt. It is common place
Gold transparent – current work among scientists to create or manipulate metals to be clear – however, not there yet. Gold still be yellowish due to it’s properties, but in New Jerusalem God may show us somethings we don’t know!
ILLUSTRATION
1952 Florence Chadwick, first woman to swim the English Channel and back, in 1952 decided to swim from Catalina to California, swam for 15 hours, got tired, weary, and gave up because of dense fog (even though mom was in boat along side saying not much further)
she gave up, less than half mile from the shore
She said, “I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”
We need to keep eyes focused on Heaven!
Are you laboring in vain?
Are you living in vain?
[1Co 15:56-58 NASB20] 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers [and sisters,] be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not [in] vain in the Lord.
I. The gospel saves us from a wasted life but one of victory!
II. Are you doing the work of the Lord?
a. Firm
b. Immovable
c. Excelling
III. A life of faith lived “East of Eden” is not in vain!
[1Co 10:31-33 NASB20] 31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God. 32 Do not offend Jews or Greeks, or the church of God; 33 just as I also please everyone in all things, not seeking my own benefit but the [benefit] of the many, so that they may be saved.
You have an eternal life with God and the first 100 Years of that eternal life is difficult but has a once in eternity opportunity to reflect the nature of God and accomplish good which you will never have again for all eternity.
In heaven you cannot glorify God by:
Forgiving someone who sins against you
Loving your enemy.
Giving the gospel to an unbeliever.
Sacrificing limited resources to give to a ministry.
Provide help to those in need.
Visiting a sick friend.
Raising a child in the faith.
Working with sweat and tears to provide for your family.
Giving birth to a child.
Fighting against injustice
Making disciples of people.
Teaching people who don’t know the truth the truth.
Comforting the mourning.
Worshiping God after suffering loss.
Jewish toast, L'Chaim, which means “To life!” Judaism puts very big emphasis on life and the importance of living a good life,
Big Idea: As a priest of God saved by faith in Christ Jesus, every moment of your life is sacred and brings glory to God you live a life worthy of the gospel in every relationship.
Take note this week of all the ways you are reflecting the truth and love of God in all the things you do.
When god rules: The Millennial Reign
Revelation 20:1-6 (ESV)
1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. 4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Antichrist and False Prophet dealt with at end of chapter 19, at battle of Armageddon.
Now Satan dealt with – Begins by angel coming with key to the bottomless pit and a chain.
Bottomless pit = abyss (abusso), used 8x in Revelation
Chuck Missler believes center of the earth
Revelation 20:2-3
2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Satan bound and sealed in abyss so CAN’T DECEIVE THE NATIONS FOR 1000 years.
3 VIEWS ON THE 1000 YEARS
Post-millennial – The Church will prepare the world for Christ’s return, and we are in the millennium now. The world will be “Christianized” and then Jesus will return.
Amillennial – Jesus is reigning now, and the Millennium is just figurative for a very long time.
Pre-millennial – Jesus will come back before to the earth and physically reign over the earth for a literal 1000 years.
What happens during the Millennium?
MILLENNIUM FULFILLS THE KINGLY PROPHECIES ABOUT JESUS
Isaiah 9:6–7 (ESV)
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Jews don’t believe because Jesus hasn’t done this yet.
Angel to Mary at conception:
Luke 1:32–33 (ESV)
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
During Millennium – Theocracy – Jesus reigns
Ezekiel 37:21–28 (ESV)
21 then say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land. 22 And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. And one king shall be king over them all, and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. But I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 24 “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. 25 They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, and David my servant shall be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”
Revelation 20:4-6
4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Tribulation saints resurrected
First Resurrection is a CATEGORY
Jesus (1 Cor. 15:20)
Church (1 Cor 15:51-52; Rom 6:5)
Tribulation Saints (Rev 10:4)
RULE WITH CHRIST-
1 Corinthians 6:2–3 (ESV)
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
Revelation 20:5-6
5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
KINGS AND PRIESTS
Revelation 1:6 (ESV)
6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 5:10 (NKJV)
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.”
1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
SO WHO DO WE RULE OVER?????
BEGINNING OF MILLENNIUM: JUDGMENT
FIRST- Sheep and Goats judgment
Matthew 25:31–34 (ESV)
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Matthew 25:39–40 (ESV)
39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
CHART _
People in the Millennium
Resurrected Saints
Repentant Israel who survived
Believers who were not beheaded
Unbelievers who didn’t take the mark but did protect Christians/Jews (?)
ALSO
OTHER PASSAGES THAT TALK ABOUT MILLENNIUM
Isaiah 65:17–20 (ESV)
17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. 20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
Isaiah 65:21-25 (ESV)
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.
Isaiah 11:6–9 (ESV)
6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. 9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Zechariah 14:16–17 (ESV)
16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. 17 And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them.
Revelation 20:7-10
7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
FINAL REBELLION
Gog and Magog – some link to Ezekiel 38-39, but the rest of chronology doesn’t fit (more likely this is allusion to the rebellion in 38-39)
Revelation 20:10
10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
NOTICE CONNECTION BETWEEN BEAST, FALSE PROPHET AND DEVIL – SAME FATE
“THEY” will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
1000 years after Armageddon – and still being tortured
Revelation 20:11-15
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
GREAT WHITE THRONE – for unbelievers
Revelation 20:11
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
RUN FOR THE HILLS!
Revelation 20:12
12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
Revelation 20:13
13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.
Everyone gets a resurrection – sea, death and hades
Revelation 3:5 (ESV)
5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
Suggest – everyone’s name written in the book of life, but those that reject him or don’t choose to receive him, names blotted out.
Revelation 20:14-15
14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
2 Peter 3:1–14 (ESV)
1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”
2 Peter 3:5-7 (ESV)
5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
2 Peter 3:8-9 (ESV)
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2 Peter 3:10-14 (ESV)
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.