Psalm 83 Pt 10

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All right, our number two Saw
eighty three, Our number two Saw eighty

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three. I'm not going to review
everything we did in the first hour.

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I'm just gonna set this up with
what kind of where we kind of ended

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the first hour. I think this
is important. So if you want,

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if you've already written this out,
great, let's just remind ourselves that in

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Saw eighty three, starting in verse
two to like five, it gives the

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characteristics and attributes of the enemies in
which Israel was facing at that time.

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Those characteristics and attributes fit perfectly the
characteristics and attributes of all the enemies we

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as Christians face, all right,
And so I reminded everyone in the first

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hour that when you think about the
Christian life, it really is an unsettling

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picture, and it should probably change
our expectations of how Christians should behave not

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excusing it, but it should change
our perception at least slightly. Because all

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believers, we have inside of us
a sinful nature, right, so we

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are constantly going to be in sin
in some way, shape or form because

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that sinful nature. We because of
that sinful nature, we can never keep

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God's law. Period. There's not
even a debate because God's law demands perfection

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externally internally, and it demands it
perpetually. If you violate one law,

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guilty of all. We are in
a constant state. I can take one

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scripture, be holy as He is
holy. You're never going to accomplish that

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in this life. You will not. You're in a perpetual state of sin

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because of your sin nature. Right, But not only do we have a

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sin nature, what is outside of
us? We have Satan, all right,

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that's a spiritual a fallen angel,
spiritual being seeking to destroy attackers,

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who maintains all all of those attributes
of these enemies, prideful hates God,

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a tumult creates chaos, all those
things, all those crafty, subtle,

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all of those characteristics. Then he
has working with him, demonic spirits,

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demons, other fallen angels, all
conspiring and working together to go after believers,

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go to go against everything God would
love or God's purpose in God's will.

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Very frustrating, isn't it? Yes? Because that's a lot to go

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against you. You're you're you are
just a human being fighting not only a

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sinful nature, but spiritual beings that
are outside of you. That puts you.

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I think I think everyone can say
that would put us in what a

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massive disadvantage. I don't even think. I don't even think there would be

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wrong to say it puts us enough
helpless, hopeless situation. Oh bo,

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wait, not only do we have
the sinful nature, Not only do we

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have satan, Not only do we
have demons, ladies and gentlemen. What

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else do we have? We have
false teachers that comes to confuse, confound

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could just make it all difficult and
trying to even figure out what truth is?

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All right, So we got false
teachers, and then what else do

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we have? The world system or
the world which is all around us,

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and that involves what everything, our
family, our culture, education, entertainment,

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politics, all of it, and
all of it is contrary to God's

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word, God's ways, God's purpose, and it maintains those same characteristics.

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It hates God, it's prideful,
it's crafty, subtle, deceitful, it

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creates chaos, all of those things
those enemies did in Psalm eighty three.

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And then what else do we have? We have our own We can call

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this our emotional and mental health,
which is massively profound, and we don't

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even know all the ways it impacts
us because it impacts the way you see

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things, It impacts your desires,
your feelings. We don't eed we're still

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you mean, we're all the years
of study that's been done, we still

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don't quite understand how the brain works. We still don't understand mental health.

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It has a brain, All of
that's working what against us? So what

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in the world are we going to
do? What is our solution? Well,

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what we're doing is we wanted to
identify all of our enemies and demonstrate

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that they meet those say they fulfill
and meet and have the same attributes and

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characteristics as the enemies that Israel was
facing in Saw eighty three. And those

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enemies made them cry out to God
and they said, what where are you?

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Why have you not done anything?
And when you look at all of

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our enemies, do you not feel
just a little bit like saying, where

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are you? Why are you not
doing anything? Right? Where are you?

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Why are you're not doing anything?
Because after all of human history,

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right, what still exists our sinful
nature, satan demons, the world system,

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and our physical and mental makeup?
After all of this time, what

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has God chosen not to do to
get rid of any of that? That

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is profoundly disturbing to me, and
why I can understand the lament. I

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can understand. I can feel the
lament again. Read that lament in verse

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one. Do not keep silent,
Oh God, do not hold your peace,

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and do not be still, Oh
God, behold your enemies make a

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toll. I want to scream,
God, do you not understand all of

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the things I'm facing? Get rid
of one of them? Help me out?

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Could you just get rid of Satan? Could you get rid of demons?

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Here's the thing, No, actually
leave the demons, leave Satan.

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Just get rid of my sinful nature, and I'll be I'll at least have

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an advance, I'll have a I'll
be in a better place than I am

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now because everything outside of me appeals
to everything inside of me. Those things

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outside have no power if I don't
have a sinful nature. So I understand

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the lament. I can scream out, just like Asaph and the people are,

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and we all can scream out because
we know that's our Christian life.

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It's fighting these things which we constantly
do. What fail? Now again?

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What have we been saying about Saw
eighty three? Saw eighty three constantly reminds

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us that we are people who believe
in the God in whom we cannot see,

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while we live in the midst of
circumstances, and we face all of

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these difficulties and problems that constantly call
into question the existence and the involvement of

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the God in whom we cannot see. Right, and as believers, we

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live in a world where we're surrounded
by things that come against us that we

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can see. In many cases,
it causes us to forget the enemies in

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which we cannot see. All right. So we talked about this seeing and

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not seeing, all right? So
those are the enemies. Those are the

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things we face now and saw maybe
three after these attributes have been listed,

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after the enemies have been clearly identified
by name, does he not identify all

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of them? Yes? He does. He then offers up, We're gonna

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call them two possible solutions to their
problems. All right, there are two.

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I'm gonna I gave one in the
first hour. I'm gonna give both

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right now, back to back,
everybody ready. The first one is found

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in verse nine and verse ten and
verse eleven. Yeah, basically nine through

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eleven. What is the first solution
that, asaf in a sense offers to

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God or implores God to institute,
to put into action to help them with

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their current situation. All right.
His first solution is, God, I

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need you in the present to intervene
as you have in the past. That's

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their solution. We're going to be
looking at that. What is the second

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solution? It starts in verse thirteen, all right, thirteen fourteen fifteen.

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He offers up, and we'll call
this this section an imprecatory prayer, at

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least almost in a precatory prayer.
All right, it's prayer light. It

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doesn't quite fit the definition, but
he gets close, all right, he

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offers, and everybody know what on
precaratory prayer is. Its simply a prayer

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where you're asking God to destroy your
enemies. All right, Okay, it

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doesn't quite reach that level because he
doesn't seem to want him completely destroyed,

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because he wants them to seek God
and know God. You can't seek and

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know if you're dead, right,
okay. But so his basically his two

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solutions are this, God, do
in the present what you've done in the

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past. And God, please fight
against these enemies in a real, tangible

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way. We need you to act
in a powerful way. And a very

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visible way. Basically, what they're
saying is, God, we can't see

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you, but we can see these
enemies, and we need the invisible God

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to intervene in this world and a
way in which we can see, so

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that the enemies which we can see
will be defeated by the God in whom

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we cannot see. Right. Sounds
like a great solution, does it not?

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All? Right? Now here is
where the philosophical problem comes in.

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Right, So I'm gonna mention this
in every church and Christianity in general.

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If you take the majority of people, I will probably say ninety five percent

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of the people, you can say, Hey, we need to cry out

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to God to do in the present
as he has done in the past.

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And we can cry out to God
and we can be assured that God will

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intervene, and God will protect us, and God will all the things that

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typically will be said in every church. Right, most people will sit there

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and go Amen, that was so
encouraging, pastor praise God, okay,

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and then we'll do all of that. There's always just a few people,

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and I tend to be in this
camp, which is why you know,

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it's been nothing but detrimental to my
Christian life and detrimental to ministry and detrimental

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to everything. Probably my Christian life
would be so much different if I could

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just go along with the majority.
But I've never been able to because if

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I was alive at this time,
I would have raised my hand and say,

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asaff got a question, you want
God to do in the past,

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what you want God to do in
the present? What he's done in the

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past. But here's the problem.
His past involvement didn't stop the present situation.

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So if we ask God to intervene
in the present as he's done in

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the past, there's only at best
tipperary because we know that the same problem

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is going to emerge in the future. And guess what, I don't even

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have to be that smart. I
know that whatever God did in this situation,

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it did not fix the problems.
Because if this happened during the time

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of David Well, Solomon comes along, there's a lot of killing. There's

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a lot of enemies that are still
facing right, so the enemies didn't go

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away, And then why happened?
Oh the kingdom splits and then just what

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you have enemies, war conflict,
enemies war conflict, Babylonian captivity, the

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Assyrians come out of Babylonian captivity?
Did all of their enemies go away when

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they come out of Babylonian captivity?
No, we open up our New Testament,

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where do we find them under the
Hill of Rome? And then that

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lasts until seventy eight and they're wiped
off the face of the earth. Then

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the six million Jews are exterminated under
Nazis. Under the Nazis, then they

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become a nation in nineteen forty eight, and what has it been since nineteen

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forty eight? Are their enemies gone? So God's past intervention in the present

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during the time of Asaf did not
fix anything. Now that puts us in

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a very difficult situation because we're using
Psaw eighty three going we can agree that

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all of those enemies, they describe
all of our enemies to the t.

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That's pretty awesome. Some ways,
you're like, WHOA, that's really good

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that you took those characteristics and applied
them to all of our spiritual enemies.

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I've never seen that before. That's
an amazing sermon. Well maybe someone would

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say that until I do the next
part, which everyone's going to hate.

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And the next part is I don't
understand what The solution is because if God's

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intervention and their real situation didn't fix
the problem, guess what I know about

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our spiritual situation. Here's what I
know. After all of this time,

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whatever time we say, well,
God intervened here, and God intervened here,

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and God intervened here, here are
the things that still exist everyone ready,

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Satan, demons, sinful nature,
and a world system that opposes and

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hates God. No matter how many
times God is intervened, he is and

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on all of his intervention, he
has not done what removed those things.

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So this puts a and I knew
you may want to write this one down

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because this is important. Israel were
given promises by a God and whom they

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cannot see, and they were given
promises and which they could not see.

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Those promises was that at some point
in a future which they never experienced,

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what was going to happen, Israel
would be in the land and all of

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their enemies would be defeated, subdued, destroyed, and there would be peace

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and there would be rest. The
lamb would lay down with the lion.

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Everything would be wonderful, everything would
be great. But in the meantime,

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while they were giving promises by a
God in whom they cannot see. There

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were given promises in which they cannot
see. They were living in the midst

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of circumstances which go against all of
those promises. And guess what they are

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still experienced seeing the exact same thing. They have promises they cannot see from

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a God and whom they cannot see. But all of the realities around them

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are nothing like. All those realities
which they can see are completely contradictory to

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the promises which they cannot see.
And guess what, ladies and gentlemen,

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As that was true of Israel and
Psaw eighty III, that is true of

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you today? Do you do you
believe in a God and whom you cannot

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see, as that God whom you
cannot see, giving you promises which you

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cannot see. Yes, what are
those promises? That we will one day

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be an eternity and there will be
no more satan, no more sin,

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no more death, no more pain. Everything will be wonderful. But guess

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what we live in a world right
now that is completely opposite to all of

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those promises. Now, I want
to drive that point home because now what

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we're going to attempt to do you'll
probably only get to one. We're going

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to look at how God intervened,
and I think after the first one you

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may be as discouraged and as despondent
as I am. All right, are

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you ready? Okay? So there
was two solutions given. One, God

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do in the present as you've done
in the past, and two intervene in

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a visible way against these enemies so
that we can see You're invisible, the

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invisible God doing something that we can
see. All right, all right,

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are you ready? Look at the
very first one and Psalm eighty three nine

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through twelve. The Psalmist calls upon
God to deal with the present enemies and

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a manner similar to how he has
dealt with those past enemies. Here are

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some scriptures that provide details about God's
past dealings with the enemies and some eighty

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three nine through twelve. That's from
a commentary. All right, So that's

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great. And the reason I read
that word for word is to show you

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that they see the same thing I
see. Here at least someone agrees with

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me at this point. Okay,
Now here's what we want to do.

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As we're going to go through this
first one, I want you to look

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carefully at what God did. I
want you to look carefully at what God

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did, how he acted, and
then I want us to see the consequences

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of it. And then I want
us to ask ourselves and what way is

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that possible for us? In what
way could this even apply to us?

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All right? Are you ready?
The first one is in verse nine,

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Asaf cries out to God, deal
with them? Who is the them?

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The enemy is listed in verse six, seven and eight. Everybody got that

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deal with them? As with Midian
or Midianites. All right, here we

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go the Midianites, where one of
the enemies mentioned in Psalm eighty three.

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Can we all agree to that?
All right, here's a little bit about

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the Midianites. Are you ready?
We're going to go a crash course on

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the Midianites. Here we go.
The Midianites were descendants of Midian, who

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was the son of Abraham through his
wife. Her name is Katurah k E

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T k E T. You are
ah right? The Midianites were the descendants

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of Midian, who was the son
of Abraham through his wife Katurah, meaning

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again, what is that that he
had more than one life? Okay,

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all right, now she may be
well, we'll call her a wife.

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I think some may say, well, we can get into an argument about

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that, all right. So they
were related to the Israelites through their patriarchical

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lineage, so there's some relationship there, right. However, even though there's

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a relation, guess what. The
Midianites were frequently in conflict with the Israelites

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throughout the Old Testament. One significant
event involving the Midianites was their alliance with

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the moa Bites and hiring someone to
curse the Israelites. Does everyone remember who

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they hired? Balim? All right? Balem right, that's in numbers twenty

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two through twenty four. All right, So there's a history here, and

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guests not notice what they did.
They made an alliance with the Moabites.

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You see how the even their past
enemies followed those same characteristics, right,

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conspiring together, working together to destroy
Israel. So these enemies always follow the

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same attributes and characteristics. Okay,
but wait what happens? Right? And

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Judges six through seven keep that in
mind because we're gonna be looking at that.

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The Minianites along with other neighboring peoples. Did you hear that they conspired

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together? Do you see how the
attributes are always the same, oppressed the

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Israelites for seven years. They would
invade the land during harvest time, destroying

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crops in livestock. The oppression led
to the right of Gideon as judge and

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deliver. Please note that that lasted
for how long? Seven years? Now?

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Please note we're already going all the
way back to numbers and what has

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happened over and over and over again. The Midianites meaning God never did what

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in his past dealings with them,
got rid of them. And even if

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he got rid of them, there
would have been another nation to step in,

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right, which again is going to
be very depressing as we move on

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right now throughout Through divine intervention,
Gideon leads basically an army of Israelites to

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defeat the Midianite army. Right,
and we're going to talk about that all

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right. The Midianites were often associated
with idolatry and spiritual corruption, following the

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same attributes as we've talked about,
right. They enticed the Israelites to worship

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foreign gods and engage and in moral
practices, leading to the Vine judgment.

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According to one commentary, by understanding
these key points, readers of Saw maybe

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three can appreciate the historical context and
significance of the Midianites in the Biblical narrative,

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which we just now have a better
understanding. So the Midianites have been

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a constant problem, but God has
dealt with them, at least in the

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past. So now Asaf is asking
for what God to do in the present

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against the enemies listed in those verses
before as he has done with the Midianites.

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All right, so far, so
good. Now, if you take

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your Bibles and go to Judges chapter
six, there's all kinds of names in

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all of this, So I'm not
going to try to read. Like when

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I was trying to put this together, I kept debating with myself, right,

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because there's a part of me is
like, well, do we just

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go through Judges six, chapter seven, and chapter eight? Well, then

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if I reading in this and trying
to take it all apart, we'll finish

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this and you know I'll be dead. Okay. So so I'm gonna have

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to kind of if I may read
parts of something, skip things, because

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I'm just trying to give us the
basic overview. Is everyone okay with that?

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All right? Start in Judges chapter
six, Verse one. Then the

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children of Israel did evil and the
side of the Lord. Now, let's

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stop right here. Okay, that's
where all the issues begin. Now,

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if we're going to compare this to
our spiritual problems, why did Israel continue

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to do evil in the side of
the Lord. They have a sin nature.

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Oh, that's so good to hear. Don't blame it on the Egyptians.

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Don't blame it on the Midianites.
Don't blame it on the weather,

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the food. Blame it on them. Because we have a sinful nature.

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Right, that's the problem. And
please note that all now, has God

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been dealing with man sinful nature since
Genesis three, or we'll say Genesis four,

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yes, up to now Judge six, What has God not done?

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And all of that time not eliminated
the sinful nature? And as a result

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of not eliminating the sinful nature,
and guess what he's given law? Has

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that stopped man's sinful nature? No, because it was never intended to chay

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fix man's sinful nature. I cannot
stray stress that enough. The law was

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never given to fix man's sinful nature. It was simply done to do what

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reveal it and condemn it, not
to fix it. And the problem is

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not being fixed. Keep that in
mind. This is going to be very

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important to this story. So the
Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian.

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In this case, God's actually using
the Midianites, all right, Okay,

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all right? But and for how
long? Seven years? And against

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prevailed, and the hand of Median
prevailed against Israel because of the Midianites.

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That should have Issrael made for themselves
the dens, the caves, and the

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strongholds which are in the mountains.
So it was whenever Israel had sown,

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the Midianites would come up. Also
Malakites now codasaw eighty three Amelek, same

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same enemies, or even showing up
again right in night. Interesting all right,

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and the people of the east,
so they're conspiring together following the exact

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same attributes. Then they would encamp
against them and destroy the produce of the

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earth as far as Gaza, and
leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep,

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nor ox nor donkey. For they
would come up with their livestock and

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their tents, coming as a numerous
as locusts. Both they and their camels

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were without number, and they would
enter the land to destroy it. So

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Israel was greatly impoverished because of the
Midianites, and the children of Israel cried

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on to the Lord. They cried
out to God. They probably offer some

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form of a lament. Yes.
And it came to pass when the children

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of Israel cried out to the Lord
because of the Midianites, that the Lord

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said a prophet to the children of
Israel, who said to them, thus

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says the Lord, God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt,

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and brought you out of the house
of bondage. And I delivered you out

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of the hand of the Egyptians,
and out of the hand of all who

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oppressed you, and drove them out
before you, and I gave you their

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land. Also, I said to
you, I am the Lord, your

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God. Do not fear the gods
of the Emirits and whose land you dwell.

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But you have not obeyed my voice, which is a never ending problem.

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They never obey his voice. So
we get the basic idea, all

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right. And then the Angel of
the Lord come and set under a terbinith

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tree, which was an ophra,
which belonged to joe Ash the Abbi Israite,

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which is the son of Gideon.
He threshed wheat and the wine press.

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Okay, this is the call of
Gideon. Everybody got that. We

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all know that story. The Angel
of the Lord appears to a man named

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Gideon, calling him to deliver the
Israelites from the Midianite If you look at

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Judges six, I think thirty three, we know Gideon has some questions here,

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in some doubts, right, He
questions his ability to lead, but

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eventually accepts. Remember, he kind
of goes through this thing trying to prove

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that God is actually there, that
God's going to actually do something, because

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he's having some doubts. Right As
far as Gideon, what is he?

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He a man that may believe in
a God in whom he cannot see.

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But God is making promises about doing
something that he can see, and he's

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questioning whether God will do something.
So in a sense, he ultimately we

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know ultimately how the story plays out. He tests God, does he not?

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And by having God do something that
he can see? Does that make

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sense? Then look at verse thirty
three. Right then all the Midianites and

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the Almalekites, the people of the
East, gathered together, and they crossed

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over and encamped in the valley of
Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord

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came upon Gideon. Then he blew
the trumpet and the abbiezrites behind him,

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and he sent messengers throughout all Manassa, who also gathered behind him. He

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also sent messengers to assure a zebulun
Neptali, and they came to me up

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to meet them. Right, So
guess what they all come now? They're

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all coming against them, and they're
coming against them to do what wipe off

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Israel from the face of the earth. Does that and that sound like psaw

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maybe three? Yes? It does, all right? Now, so they're

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facing in a sense in psaw maybe
three, they're facing a very similar situation,

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just with more enemies, all right. So then what happens here in

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this story, Well, if you
look here verse thirty six O, Gideon

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said to God, if you will
save Israel by my hand as you have

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said, look, I shall put
a fleece of wool. So then what

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does he starts asking God to do? Here? He kind of tests God

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to see if God will actually by
doing something that he can see so he

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can believe in the promises which he
cannot see. Does that mean make sense?

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We all know that story with the
wool the fleece, do we?

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Okay? Every one you know that
story if you don't, but it's all

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right there, okay, all right. So then in chapter seven, Gideon

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gathers an army to fight against the
Minianites, and we start seeing this starting

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in chapter seven. Then Jeribal,
that is Gideon. So if you ever

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00:28:22.920 --> 00:28:30.160
wanted to pass Bible trivia, Jeribl
is Gideon. Okay. So if someone

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00:28:30.200 --> 00:28:33.440
asks you what's Gideon's other name,
it is Jeribl, all right, okay.

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And all the people who were with
him rose early and encamped beside the

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well of Herod, so that the
camp of the Pidianites was on the north

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side of them, by the hill
of Mora in the valley. And the

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Lord said to Gideon, the people
who are with you are too many for

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me to give the Midianites into their
hands. Let Israel claim glory for itself

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against me, saying my own hand
has saved me. Now, therefore,

359
00:29:00.440 --> 00:29:04.119
proclaim the hearing of the people,
saying, whoever is fearful and afraid,

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let him turn and depart at once
from Mount Gilead. And twenty two thousand

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of the people return, and ten
thousand remain. That's a bad situation,

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okay, that's bad for an army. Hey, if anybody is afraid go

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home? And how many left twenty
two thousand? I think is that the

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way that I think the New King
James translates it that way? Has the

365
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NIV translated twenty two thousand? They
go home? Now at this point,

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what are you thinking at this point? If you're just looking at this,

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this is a weird way for God
to intervene. The one thing we do

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know here about God's intervention is when
God intervenes, what does he at least

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according to this story, what does
he not want to occur? According to

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this story, when God intervenes,
what does he not want to occur?

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He doesn't want Israel to take any
credit. He doesn't want them to get

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any credit. He doesn't want them
to get any glory, He doesn't want

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them to get any honor. Right
now, that's that's an interesting concept we

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can put down when God intervenes,
God does not want intervene in a way

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in which we get credit or anything
for it. At the same time,

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that's gonna be very difficult, right
because how does that translate to us?

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Well, that's gonna that's gonna lead
to some I don't have any good answers

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here, right I don't have any
good answers. Gideon gathers an army to

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fight against the Midianites, but he's
instructed by God to reduce the number of

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men to demonstrate God's power and victory. He reduces the number. Does anybody

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know how many? You can look
in the text, See if you can

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find it. Find the verse where
it tells you how many is left.

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What does it say with only three
hundred men? Three hundred? What does

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he tell them to arm themselves with? See if you can find the verse.

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00:31:11.119 --> 00:31:26.039
It's in Judge of seven. See
if you can find what he tells

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00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:32.240
them to arm themselves with? Okay, Verse sixteen? Does everybody see it?

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Trumpets, pictures, and torches are
lamps? Right? So three hundred

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men armed with what three things?
Trumpets, pictures, right, and torches

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are lamps. Everybody see that?
Verse sixteen seventeen? That's chapter seven,

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00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:59.160
right, Sarah? Okay, yeah, yeah, seven, sixteen and seventeen.

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I'm just trying not to all of
this for time's sake, right,

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because then you'll start pre I'll start
trying to retell the story. Next thing

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00:32:04.519 --> 00:32:06.799
you know, it turns into two
hours. Okay, all right, So

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now at this point what do we
do here? What do we do here?

395
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What do we do here? What
do we do here? What do

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00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:16.599
we do here? Right now?
For them and their situation, they're having

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00:32:16.599 --> 00:32:21.160
to believe in a God in whom
they cannot see, who's telling them to

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00:32:21.200 --> 00:32:25.680
do things they can see that absolutely
seems to tell you they're about to be

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00:32:25.720 --> 00:32:29.960
destroyed by the enemy in which they
can see. So they're gonna have to

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00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:32.960
believe that God's promised that He's gonna
take care of this even though they can't

401
00:32:32.960 --> 00:32:36.720
see it, because they're being put
in a situation that cause them to question

402
00:32:36.759 --> 00:32:39.160
everything. Can everone agree with that? All? Right? So how does

403
00:32:39.160 --> 00:32:51.200
this apply to us? This is
a very difficult thing to consider right now.

404
00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:54.200
We face enemies of all kinds.
But we've named all of our enemies,

405
00:32:54.279 --> 00:33:01.599
right Okay. Now, on one
hand, he's putting them in a

406
00:33:01.599 --> 00:33:08.519
situation where they are absolutely dependent upon
God. Now we struggle with this,

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00:33:08.680 --> 00:33:13.799
right and and a lot as Christians
we struggle with this. So let's just

408
00:33:13.839 --> 00:33:17.240
steal first with the physical enemies and
whom we can see. Let's deal with

409
00:33:17.240 --> 00:33:22.680
our physical enemies. When we take
a story like this, it goes against

410
00:33:22.759 --> 00:33:27.559
everything that we typically the way we
typically act right, I know. And

411
00:33:27.599 --> 00:33:30.559
when we're sitting in church, everyone
will say God is my rock, He's

412
00:33:30.599 --> 00:33:34.680
my refuge, he's my shield,
he is my protector. Nothing can happen

413
00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:38.880
to me apart from God's sovereign control. And everybody in church will say amen.

414
00:33:38.920 --> 00:33:43.440
And then you go home and you
do what, lock your door,

415
00:33:43.640 --> 00:33:46.079
you may have gun to protect yourself. You do this, you do that,

416
00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:50.119
you do this, you do that. Sounds like even though you're trusting

417
00:33:50.160 --> 00:33:53.519
in God, you're doing a lot
of relying on what self. I mean,

418
00:33:53.640 --> 00:33:57.359
it's a big news. I mean, it's been in the news since

419
00:33:57.400 --> 00:34:00.680
twenty It's been going on throughout the
I feel like the two thousands, but

420
00:34:00.720 --> 00:34:04.519
it's been going on for a long
time. More and more churches have what

421
00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:10.719
now, armed guards with guns while
we're singing God is my Rock, my

422
00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:15.079
protector, in my shield. No
God, no enemy formed against me can

423
00:34:15.159 --> 00:34:19.480
prosper. But we all have guns. Well, what I don't understand,

424
00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:22.639
like, do you see how the
world could look at this and go,

425
00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:25.800
you don't really trust God that much? You really don't. You don't because

426
00:34:25.800 --> 00:34:30.880
if you really trusted God, you
would do what you would trust God.

427
00:34:31.039 --> 00:34:35.920
So we immediately know we have a
problem. Why because we believe in a

428
00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:40.280
god in whom we cannot see.
But what can I see? Someone walk

429
00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:44.000
in with a gun. I can
see that. And am I going to

430
00:34:44.039 --> 00:34:46.679
wait on a promise in which I
cannot see? No, I'm gonna forget

431
00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:50.960
that praise song I just sung five
minutes ago. I want someone to take

432
00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:53.119
that person out. No, we
don't have guns here, we don't own

433
00:34:53.159 --> 00:34:57.440
guns here. But I've said a
million times if that happened. Look,

434
00:34:57.679 --> 00:35:00.000
I'm not gonna sit there and say
I trust God. I'm gonna be looking

435
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:04.480
for every opportunity to get to that
person as fast as I can, and

436
00:35:04.519 --> 00:35:07.800
I'm gonna utilize everything that I've ever
been taught in martial arts to try to

437
00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:10.599
eliminate that threat, no matter how
bloody and violent it may get. And

438
00:35:10.639 --> 00:35:14.480
I'm just gonna be honest with you. And I'm not gonna be thinking love

439
00:35:14.519 --> 00:35:16.320
my enemy. I'm not gonna be
thinking turn the other cheek. I'm gonna

440
00:35:16.320 --> 00:35:21.079
be trying to break an arm,
disarmed, snap a neck, or whatever

441
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:22.760
else I need to do, and
I'm not gonna be nice about it.

442
00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:27.519
I'm just gonna be honest. In
fact, someone probably would have to pull

443
00:35:27.559 --> 00:35:31.519
me off, right, Not because
I'm tough, because I may get killed

444
00:35:31.599 --> 00:35:35.599
even attempting it, But it's just
because that's how I would react, and

445
00:35:35.639 --> 00:35:38.880
probably many other people in here would
react a very similar way. Right,

446
00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:45.400
And I can't say I'm not gonna
sit term pretent I'm trusting God, so

447
00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:49.079
we always try to well, you
can trust God, but you have to

448
00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:51.960
use common sense. I hear that
all the time, right, Well,

449
00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:59.840
is this using common sense? This
is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard

450
00:35:59.840 --> 00:36:02.639
in life. I mean, there's
people in here been in the military.

451
00:36:04.039 --> 00:36:07.039
Hey, guys, we're being deployed
to this location. Here is the enemy

452
00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:15.599
we are facing. Here's why you're
gonna take with you a torch, a

453
00:36:15.639 --> 00:36:22.480
picture, and a trumpet, and
you're gonna march towards the enemy. I'd

454
00:36:22.480 --> 00:36:27.599
be like, hey, Levenworth,
sounds really good. Right now, I

455
00:36:27.599 --> 00:36:29.920
will go to military prison. Just
go ahead and send me there now,

456
00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:32.239
because I'm not doing this. This
is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

457
00:36:32.639 --> 00:36:37.840
We would be complaining and calling the
commander, what come on, an

458
00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:44.199
idiot? So obviously we can't say, well, you have to do I

459
00:36:44.199 --> 00:36:46.199
hear that all the time. If
I preach on the Sermon on the Mount

460
00:36:46.360 --> 00:36:51.639
where Jesus says, turn the other
cheek, love your enemy, resist not

461
00:36:51.760 --> 00:36:53.840
evil. I've even had it here
in this church. People say, well,

462
00:36:53.960 --> 00:36:58.519
you know that doesn't work in a
real situation. You know, I'm

463
00:36:58.519 --> 00:37:00.880
gonna have a gut. Wait,
I didn't write it. Why are you

464
00:37:00.960 --> 00:37:04.480
coming to me? Why are you
come to me after a sermon to tell

465
00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:07.440
me, well, that's not what
itdmitt. Tell God, I didn't do

466
00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:10.079
it. Okay, And if we're
gonna and then it funny that I can

467
00:37:10.199 --> 00:37:15.719
change that command to turn the other
cheek and resist not evil to something more

468
00:37:17.320 --> 00:37:21.719
accepting to me. But I can't
go to other verses and do that.

469
00:37:22.559 --> 00:37:24.800
Well, that thing about lust,
I mean, come on, I mean

470
00:37:24.920 --> 00:37:30.199
that's not very realistic. Why can't
I change that verse? Why can't a

471
00:37:30.239 --> 00:37:35.239
teenager change verses about premarital sex?
Why can't homosexuals change verses about homicex?

472
00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:39.159
And it weird that we can always
make the verse work for us? No,

473
00:37:39.559 --> 00:37:44.199
that versus maddening. I don't understand
Jesus wanted me to turn the other

474
00:37:44.280 --> 00:37:45.800
cheek and love my enemy. I
don't want to love my enemy. What

475
00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:52.920
do I want to do? To
my enemy, destroy them. But here's

476
00:37:53.159 --> 00:37:58.519
here's the situation. And is this
not like what is happening? Now we

477
00:37:58.599 --> 00:38:02.320
know what's happening. Why is God
putting them in this situation? He's already

478
00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:07.679
established it. He doesn't want them
to have any credit. He wants all

479
00:38:07.719 --> 00:38:15.039
the glory, and obviously he's God, he can demand that. All right.

480
00:38:15.119 --> 00:38:22.639
So then what happens? Are they
defeated? Is it right there in

481
00:38:22.679 --> 00:38:29.000
the text? They what is it
verse? What? Nineteen? They blew

482
00:38:29.039 --> 00:38:31.559
the trumpet, broke the picture.
They were in their hands. That I

483
00:38:31.639 --> 00:38:37.360
think that's that's nineteen in my Bible. So Gideon and the hundred men and

484
00:38:37.440 --> 00:38:39.199
the one hundred man who was with
him, did he lower it to even

485
00:38:39.239 --> 00:38:44.960
one hundred? Oh? Drovided him
into groups? Okay, great, okay,

486
00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:46.079
thank you. I was like,
wait a minute, all right,

487
00:38:46.119 --> 00:38:50.880
three companies. Very good. So
Gideon and the hundred men who were with

488
00:38:50.960 --> 00:38:54.559
him came to the outpost of the
camp at the beginning of the middle watch,

489
00:38:55.119 --> 00:38:59.400
just as they had posted the watch, and they blew the trumpet,

490
00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:02.280
broke the picture. Sure were in
their hands. Then the three companies blew

491
00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:07.280
the trumpets and broke the pictures that
held the torches in their hands, and

492
00:39:07.320 --> 00:39:09.519
the trumpets in their right hand for
blowing. And they cried the sword of

493
00:39:09.519 --> 00:39:15.000
the Lord and of Gideon, and
every man stood in his place all around

494
00:39:15.039 --> 00:39:17.519
the camp, and the whole army
ran and cried out and fled. When

495
00:39:17.559 --> 00:39:22.519
the three hundred blew the trumpet,
the Lord set every man's sword against his

496
00:39:22.599 --> 00:39:25.960
companion throughout the whole camp, and
the army fled. And then it tells

497
00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:30.960
you all the different places they fled
towards. Right, okay, right,

498
00:39:30.039 --> 00:39:36.159
And the men of Israel gathered together
named Then Gideon sent messengers throughout all the

499
00:39:36.199 --> 00:39:40.119
mountains of Ephriam, seeing come down
against the Midianites, and sees from them

500
00:39:40.320 --> 00:39:45.079
the wiring places as far as Beth
Barrah and the Jordan. Then all the

501
00:39:45.119 --> 00:39:50.360
men of Ephrium gathered together and seized
the watering places as far as Beth Barrah

502
00:39:50.719 --> 00:39:53.320
and the Jordan. And they captured
two princes of the Midianites, Oreb and

503
00:39:53.400 --> 00:39:58.039
Zeb. They killed Oreb at the
rock of Orb, and Zeb they killed

504
00:39:58.039 --> 00:40:01.360
at the wine press of zeb Zud
Midian and brought the heads of Orb and

505
00:40:01.400 --> 00:40:08.840
Zeb to Gideon on the other side
of the Jordan. There's victory. The

506
00:40:08.960 --> 00:40:14.360
enemies are defeated, and so what
Ediseph is asking God, we want you

507
00:40:14.400 --> 00:40:17.360
to intervene in the same way in
the present. Now, in some ways

508
00:40:17.480 --> 00:40:22.440
you're saying you want God to intervene
in a way that may contradict all logic

509
00:40:22.519 --> 00:40:24.239
and reason. But the ultimate thing, what does he want? He wants

510
00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:34.400
God to defeat the enemies. Sounds
great, sounds wonderful. Right. Now,

511
00:40:35.039 --> 00:40:43.639
here's where things get weird. Chapter
eight. After the victory, Gideon

512
00:40:43.679 --> 00:40:47.960
pursues the king's of Midian and defeats
them. Look at Judges Chapter eight,

513
00:40:49.079 --> 00:40:58.559
verse twenty two. Then the men
of Israel said to Gideon, rule over

514
00:40:58.639 --> 00:41:01.119
us, both you and your son
and your grandson also, for you have

515
00:41:01.239 --> 00:41:06.599
delivered us from the hand of Midian. All right. They want him to

516
00:41:06.760 --> 00:41:12.280
basically become ruler, become king.
All right? Sounds good, makes sense?

517
00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:17.920
Right? What's the next? Very
much a human persuasive which in a

518
00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:22.599
roundabout way, that's Stephen just brought
up a good point. I wasn't even

519
00:41:22.639 --> 00:41:29.400
thinking. This kind of reflects something, right, when they want Gideon to

520
00:41:29.480 --> 00:41:32.800
rule over them and their minds?
Who were they? Who they are giving

521
00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:38.920
credit for the victory Gideon, which
is the whole point was they weren't supposed

522
00:41:38.920 --> 00:41:43.559
to get any of the glory of
the honor, so maybe they missed the

523
00:41:43.679 --> 00:41:49.280
entire point. Maybe that's the first
sign what happens in the next verse things

524
00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:55.039
start getting really weird. The Gideon
said to them, I will not rule

525
00:41:55.039 --> 00:41:59.239
over you, nor shall my son
rule over you. The Lord shall rule

526
00:41:59.280 --> 00:42:00.920
over you. That's sounds very spiritual, right, You're like, wait to

527
00:42:00.960 --> 00:42:07.199
go, Gideon. Then Gideon said
to them, I would like to make

528
00:42:07.239 --> 00:42:12.039
a request of you that Ivechivu would
give me the ear rings from his plunder,

529
00:42:12.440 --> 00:42:16.760
for they had gold ear rings because
they were ishmaelites. So they answered,

530
00:42:16.880 --> 00:42:21.920
we will gladly give them. And
they spared out, and they spread

531
00:42:21.920 --> 00:42:25.840
out a garment, and each man
threw in to it the ear rings from

532
00:42:25.880 --> 00:42:30.480
his plunder. Now, the weight
of the gold earnings that he requested was

533
00:42:30.599 --> 00:42:36.559
one thousand, seven hundred shekels of
gold, besides the crescent or ornaments,

534
00:42:36.719 --> 00:42:40.079
pendants and purple robes which were on
the king's of Midian, and besides the

535
00:42:40.199 --> 00:42:46.840
chains they're around their camel's necks.
Then Gideon made it into an e fod.

536
00:42:49.639 --> 00:42:53.079
Okay, what is happening here?
All right? So Gideon's like,

537
00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:55.840
hey, guys, I don't want
any I don't want to rule, but

538
00:42:55.920 --> 00:43:02.719
I will take a lot of material
possessions here. And he makes what an

539
00:43:02.760 --> 00:43:08.079
ephod? Why is he making an
ephod? What is going down here?

540
00:43:08.159 --> 00:43:13.239
What's happening here? Right? Okay? And he set it up in the

541
00:43:13.280 --> 00:43:22.679
city of Ophrah, and all Israel
played the the harlot or how does the

542
00:43:22.760 --> 00:43:30.000
king James puts it? They went
a whoring with it there. It became

543
00:43:30.039 --> 00:43:35.920
a snare to Gideon and to his
house. What is going on with this

544
00:43:35.960 --> 00:43:39.719
ephod? What is Gideon doing?
God just delivered them in a powerful,

545
00:43:39.880 --> 00:43:44.239
miraculous way, and his first thought
is I need to make an ephod.

546
00:43:45.719 --> 00:43:51.679
Gideon is held as a hero,
but he makes an ephod, an idolatrous

547
00:43:52.159 --> 00:43:58.239
object out of the gold plundered from
the Midianites and judges ate. It has

548
00:43:58.280 --> 00:44:01.159
mentioned that Gideon made an ephod from
the gold he had taken as a plunder

549
00:44:01.480 --> 00:44:07.000
and ephod was a garment worn by
priest or high priest in ancient Israel,

550
00:44:07.119 --> 00:44:10.440
particular in the context of the tabernacle
and a letter in the temple. The

551
00:44:10.480 --> 00:44:16.840
ephod was a significant sacred investment associated
with religious rituals and seeking of divine guidance.

552
00:44:17.480 --> 00:44:22.199
The epod was typically made of fine
linen and embroidered with gold thread,

553
00:44:22.519 --> 00:44:29.840
adorned with precious gemstones representing the twelve
tribes of Israel. It had two shoulder

554
00:44:30.159 --> 00:44:34.239
pieces with onyx stones engraved with the
names of the six tribes on each.

555
00:44:34.440 --> 00:44:39.039
The ephod also contained a breastplate called
the Breastplate of Judgment that held the urim

556
00:44:39.159 --> 00:44:45.960
and the thummen, objects used for
seeking God's will throughout divine communication through divine

557
00:44:46.599 --> 00:44:52.079
communication. In this case, it
seems that he made an ephod using the

558
00:44:52.119 --> 00:44:58.880
gold plundered from their enemies. The
act is seen as problematic because the ephod

559
00:44:59.039 --> 00:45:02.199
was meant to be a say great
object for religious purposes and not to be

560
00:45:02.320 --> 00:45:13.559
missued for personal gain. Are idolatrous
practices. It is likely that Gideon's actions

561
00:45:14.199 --> 00:45:19.440
led to negative consequences among the Israelites, as the epha odd became associated with

562
00:45:19.559 --> 00:45:28.840
idolatry and deviated from its intended purpose
in worshiping the true God. What in

563
00:45:28.880 --> 00:45:37.639
the world is Gideon doing? What
is he doing? Yeah, he's he's

564
00:45:38.599 --> 00:45:42.920
all. This whole thing becomes false
worship and idolatry. I mean the text

565
00:45:42.920 --> 00:45:45.480
says, after he sets it up, what do the people do the King

566
00:45:45.599 --> 00:45:52.280
James, They go ahoorring. They
are committing spiritual adultery. They are becoming

567
00:45:52.320 --> 00:45:57.000
idolatrous. Now immediately, when I'm
reading this story, you know what I'm

568
00:45:57.039 --> 00:45:59.840
thinking, Well, so I'm glad
you got rid of the media, and

569
00:45:59.880 --> 00:46:02.960
I God, I'm glad you got
rid of the Midianites. But guess what

570
00:46:04.039 --> 00:46:07.760
he didn't get rid of. The
story started with what would be the problem

571
00:46:10.039 --> 00:46:15.360
Israel and their sin nature, and
the story now ends with guess what's still

572
00:46:15.360 --> 00:46:20.639
on display? The send nature.
Oh but wait, there's more. Gideon's

573
00:46:20.679 --> 00:46:24.639
not done yet. Okay, all
right, so they played the harlot.

574
00:46:24.760 --> 00:46:30.360
They look at verse twenty eight.
Thus Midian was subdued before the children of

575
00:46:30.440 --> 00:46:32.719
visual so that they lifted their heads
no more. And the country was quiet

576
00:46:32.719 --> 00:46:36.639
for forty years in the days of
Gideon. Now that's good, right,

577
00:46:36.880 --> 00:46:40.880
because now there's that temporary peace.
Now the question is, okay, great,

578
00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:44.920
Now do we know that that's the
end of the problems. We know

579
00:46:44.960 --> 00:46:49.159
there's going to be more enemy enemies. Then Jerebel, the son of Joe

580
00:46:49.199 --> 00:46:57.199
Ash went and dwelt in his own
house. Gideon had seventy sons, who

581
00:46:57.360 --> 00:47:07.480
was his own offspring, for he
had many wives, and his verse thirty

582
00:47:07.480 --> 00:47:12.280
one, his concubine, who was
in Shechem, also bore him a son,

583
00:47:12.559 --> 00:47:15.400
whose name he called Abimelech. Now
Gideon, the son of joe Ash,

584
00:47:15.440 --> 00:47:19.440
died at a good old age and
was buried in the tomb of joe

585
00:47:19.480 --> 00:47:25.440
Ash, his father in Ophrah of
the abbey Israels, right, And so

586
00:47:25.880 --> 00:47:30.440
please note how does the story end, Gideon? How does it end?

587
00:47:32.519 --> 00:47:46.920
He ends as an idolatr, a
polygamist, an adulterer. Does that change

588
00:47:46.960 --> 00:47:52.039
your perception of the defeat? Hey? Hey, God intervene in the past

589
00:47:53.119 --> 00:47:55.480
like you. I intervened in the
president, like you did in the past.

590
00:47:55.599 --> 00:48:00.320
But that past victory, how do
you kind of rate that past victory?

591
00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:08.400
Well, look, immediately, what
happens in the next verse, everybody,

592
00:48:08.440 --> 00:48:15.679
look at the next verse. What
happens in the next verse. Not

593
00:48:15.760 --> 00:48:22.159
only have they already been in idolatry, because that's in verse twenty seven,

594
00:48:22.079 --> 00:48:27.039
right, they already start playing the
whore in twenty seven. Now look what

595
00:48:27.119 --> 00:48:30.000
happens. So as soon as the
Gideon was dead, that the children of

596
00:48:30.039 --> 00:48:35.440
Israel again played the harlot with the
balls on the bells and made be all

597
00:48:35.599 --> 00:48:38.360
beareth their God. Thus the children
of Israel did not remember the Lord,

598
00:48:38.360 --> 00:48:40.840
their God, who had delivered them
from the hands of all their enemies on

599
00:48:40.880 --> 00:48:45.679
every side, nor did they show
kindness to the house of cherubaal Gideon and

600
00:48:45.719 --> 00:48:49.000
accordance with the good he had done
for Israel. Then, in fact,

601
00:48:49.039 --> 00:48:53.880
they forget him. They don't even
remember him, and they forget God.

602
00:48:59.159 --> 00:49:02.000
So now, so let's look at
it from two perspectives. Okay, we're

603
00:49:02.039 --> 00:49:05.840
not gonna be able to get to
the next one in Saw eighty three.

604
00:49:05.840 --> 00:49:08.440
You can go back to Psamti three. The next one is whom is cesera?

605
00:49:08.559 --> 00:49:12.800
All right? Our cesa? Okay, we will. We can't get

606
00:49:12.800 --> 00:49:14.760
to that one right now, but
we get to this one all right.

607
00:49:14.800 --> 00:49:21.400
So here, what can we What
can we draw from God's intervention in the

608
00:49:21.440 --> 00:49:24.960
past. Well, God intervened in
the past in a way that first did

609
00:49:25.000 --> 00:49:30.280
what made no sense from a human
perspective, can we agree? Two,

610
00:49:30.599 --> 00:49:36.039
it was designed that the people got
no credit and that God got all the

611
00:49:36.039 --> 00:49:45.559
credit. And number three, it
did not change anything inside the people.

612
00:49:46.639 --> 00:49:51.760
And number four, even though it
eliminated the Midianites for a period of time.

613
00:49:57.519 --> 00:50:07.400
Just look at judges. See we
won't take long. I see here,

614
00:50:08.920 --> 00:50:12.920
if you just start immediately looking in
chapter nine, there's gonna be what

615
00:50:14.079 --> 00:50:17.480
enemies to deal with. There's gonna
be enemies to deal with starting in chapter

616
00:50:17.559 --> 00:50:22.719
nine. Do you see that?
And there's gonna be enemies where in chapter

617
00:50:22.760 --> 00:50:30.000
ten, And there's gonna be what
enemies in chapter eleven, and there's gonna

618
00:50:30.039 --> 00:50:34.800
be enemies in chapter twelve. Okay, do you get the point. There's

619
00:50:34.800 --> 00:50:37.400
gonna be enemies throughout. So it
does not defeat the enemies. It does

620
00:50:37.400 --> 00:50:42.519
not ultimately eliminate the enemies. So
here again, let's just take these basic

621
00:50:42.559 --> 00:50:47.400
elements. When God intervenes in the
past, right, and they're asking for

622
00:50:47.400 --> 00:50:51.440
God to do the same thing in
the present. God's actions in the past

623
00:50:51.480 --> 00:50:55.599
one made no sense from a human
perspective. Agreed two was designed that the

624
00:50:55.599 --> 00:50:59.639
people got no credit, but God
got all the credit. Number three did

625
00:50:59.679 --> 00:51:06.639
not change the internal sinful nature of
the people, and number four did not

626
00:51:06.840 --> 00:51:14.360
eliminate all the threads. Now,
if we're going to say, okay,

627
00:51:14.400 --> 00:51:17.760
the enemies we face maintained the same
attributes and characteristics as they do in PSAUW

628
00:51:17.840 --> 00:51:21.719
eighty three, and we can say
amen to that. We've demonstrated that countless

629
00:51:21.760 --> 00:51:27.159
times. Can we look to this
possible solution to us? Well, if

630
00:51:27.159 --> 00:51:30.000
we look to this possible solution for
us, what would we be asking God

631
00:51:30.119 --> 00:51:37.039
intervene like you've done in the past
and the present. But then first we

632
00:51:37.079 --> 00:51:40.480
would have to ask ourselves, does
God intervene that way in twenty twenty four?

633
00:51:40.920 --> 00:51:45.360
Well? If God intervened that way
in twenty twenty four, well then

634
00:51:45.360 --> 00:51:49.239
we would have armies fighting with pictures
trumps. So I don't think we can

635
00:51:49.239 --> 00:51:54.719
make that what prescriptive. I think
we can just make it descriptive. Right,

636
00:51:54.960 --> 00:51:58.599
But if we say, well,
God intervene, God intervene, even

637
00:51:58.639 --> 00:52:02.639
if was God was to intervene in
some supernatural way, what are we absolutely

638
00:52:02.679 --> 00:52:08.280
guaranteed of Number One? It wouldn't
make any sense to our minds. Number

639
00:52:08.280 --> 00:52:13.960
two, it's not gonna change our
nature. Number three, it's not going

640
00:52:14.000 --> 00:52:19.000
to eliminate all the enemies. So
then we have to what do we do

641
00:52:19.199 --> 00:52:22.760
with this? What do I do
with this? I can try to formulate

642
00:52:22.800 --> 00:52:27.400
some great spiritual picture. Let me
once again just drive this point home.

643
00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:32.519
You and I are constantly going to
live our lives where we are facing these

644
00:52:32.639 --> 00:52:36.400
enemies. And this is what you
can know about the enemies we face them.

645
00:52:36.440 --> 00:52:38.400
We've already outlined them. Right,
what can you know about the enemies?

646
00:52:38.760 --> 00:52:45.920
God is not going to remove them
until eternity. They're going to continue

647
00:52:45.920 --> 00:52:50.039
to exist. They're going to continue
to fight against you. So guess where

648
00:52:50.199 --> 00:52:53.119
what your dilemma is. You're gonna
have to face these enemies believing in a

649
00:52:53.159 --> 00:53:00.679
God in whom you cannot see,
while facing enemies which you can see.

650
00:53:00.840 --> 00:53:05.599
And you're going to struggle with doubting
the God whom you cannot see. But

651
00:53:05.719 --> 00:53:15.000
your only hope is holding onto promises
which you can not see. I cannot

652
00:53:15.159 --> 00:53:19.960
see these promises in any tangible way, can I? I can read about

653
00:53:20.000 --> 00:53:22.480
the promises that there'll be a new
heven and new Earth, no more pain,

654
00:53:22.519 --> 00:53:24.880
no more sin, no more death, and I can say amen to

655
00:53:24.920 --> 00:53:30.400
that. But can have you ever
experienced that? No? Haven't ever experienced

656
00:53:30.400 --> 00:53:34.000
that. So in the meantime,
I've got to show and in a roundabout

657
00:53:34.039 --> 00:53:37.639
way, this is that not Israel's
existence. Did they believe in a God

658
00:53:37.679 --> 00:53:40.599
in whom they cannot see? Or
are they facing enemies which they could see?

659
00:53:40.840 --> 00:53:45.280
Now? God gave them promises.
In some cases those promises showed up

660
00:53:45.320 --> 00:53:47.920
in a way which they could see, but it never did, what ever,

661
00:53:49.039 --> 00:53:52.239
eliminate the problem. They kept falling
into the same problem with the same

662
00:53:52.360 --> 00:53:57.199
enemies. So ultimately, and in
fact, God was doing these things because

663
00:53:57.199 --> 00:54:00.199
he was keeping a promise which they
ultimately never could see, which is one

664
00:54:00.239 --> 00:54:04.199
day they'll be in the land and
all their enemies will be destroyed. In

665
00:54:04.199 --> 00:54:13.880
fact, in some ways Israel's existence
is parallel to what ours. I wish

666
00:54:13.920 --> 00:54:15.639
I could be. The way most
people would preach this, they would go

667
00:54:15.679 --> 00:54:19.280
to Psalm. This is how most
people would preach this. They would go

668
00:54:19.360 --> 00:54:22.559
to Judges six through eight. You've
probably if you don't believe me, get

669
00:54:22.559 --> 00:54:25.239
on the sermons two point zero app
today and look up sermons on Judge seven

670
00:54:25.760 --> 00:54:30.360
right about how Gideon defeats the Midianites. Just look for sermons on there,

671
00:54:30.400 --> 00:54:32.199
and you report back to me what
you hear. I can pretty much predict

672
00:54:32.280 --> 00:54:37.840
how it goes. God intervene in
a powerful way. Yet it went against

673
00:54:37.880 --> 00:54:42.360
man's reason at once against this.
And so if we believe God by faith,

674
00:54:42.559 --> 00:54:45.760
God will intervene in our situation,
and it may go against her,

675
00:54:45.880 --> 00:54:47.440
and it will be all these promises
of how God's going to step in and

676
00:54:47.440 --> 00:54:51.679
fix your problem, take care of
all your situation, and He's gonna do

677
00:54:51.719 --> 00:54:54.320
it well. The only problem with
that is, first, it's not going

678
00:54:54.360 --> 00:54:58.039
to eliminate whatever the problem you think
it is. And even if it does,

679
00:54:58.480 --> 00:55:01.119
it's only temporary because already demonstrated all
the problems are going to continue.

680
00:55:01.159 --> 00:55:05.280
And not only that, you're taking
a passage. I don't think has anything

681
00:55:05.360 --> 00:55:10.119
prescribing how God's going to act for
me. He's only describing how he acted

682
00:55:10.159 --> 00:55:14.920
then. And why did God act
certain ways with Israel? Why did God

683
00:55:14.960 --> 00:55:19.039
act certain ways with Israel that we
cannot take those promises for us? What

684
00:55:19.199 --> 00:55:23.599
is the main difference. He made
a covenant with them, and that covenant

685
00:55:23.639 --> 00:55:31.639
guaranteed that what would happen, that
Israel would have to continue to exist because

686
00:55:31.639 --> 00:55:37.559
from Israel came the Messiah. And
not only that, he made promises that

687
00:55:37.679 --> 00:55:43.400
Israel would one day be and a
land and receive all of those promises.

688
00:55:43.559 --> 00:55:50.119
So he had to intervene in some
cases to keep them alive. That's different

689
00:55:50.159 --> 00:55:53.519
than us, But we love to
run to those promises and try to tell

690
00:55:53.559 --> 00:56:00.119
everyone at church, Hey, whenever
you're facing an army of problems. You

691
00:56:00.159 --> 00:56:02.039
trust in God, and it may
God may tell you to do something that

692
00:56:02.119 --> 00:56:07.639
makes no sense. It may be
like buying a trumpet and a picture and

693
00:56:07.159 --> 00:56:10.280
a lamp, and you do you
do whatever God. Well, first,

694
00:56:10.320 --> 00:56:14.400
then that has God talking to you
outside of scripture. Problem again, all

695
00:56:14.480 --> 00:56:16.840
right. And the second it almost
sounds like God's going to intervene in every

696
00:56:16.840 --> 00:56:21.519
one of your problems and fix it. Well, God doesn't intervene in every

697
00:56:21.519 --> 00:56:24.119
one of your problems and fix them. And I cannot stress it enough.

698
00:56:24.360 --> 00:56:30.039
We even see here, especially with
our spiritual enemies, any intervention is what

699
00:56:31.480 --> 00:56:36.039
let's just be blunt, how can
we say this? Any intervention on God's

700
00:56:36.079 --> 00:56:42.760
part with our spiritual enemies is what
ultimately temporary at best, and I hate

701
00:56:42.760 --> 00:56:50.199
to say it from an earthly perspective, somewhat meaningless because it's not gonna change

702
00:56:50.239 --> 00:56:54.039
anything. God stops Satan today,
Satan's going to be right back tomorrow.

703
00:56:54.880 --> 00:56:59.119
If God stops demons today, they're
gonna be right back tomorrow. If he

704
00:56:59.159 --> 00:57:02.360
stops the world's system today, is
gonna be right back tomorrow. And he

705
00:57:02.440 --> 00:57:07.360
never truly stops my sinful nature,
cause if he stopped my sinful nature.

706
00:57:07.400 --> 00:57:09.679
That would be a day without sin. And I don't know what I would

707
00:57:09.679 --> 00:57:13.239
do if I experienced a day without
sin. What would you do? I

708
00:57:13.280 --> 00:57:15.000
don't know. I would be like, something is wrong. I'd like,

709
00:57:15.000 --> 00:57:17.320
I'm gonna kill myself now, right, I just made it twenty four hours

710
00:57:17.320 --> 00:57:22.079
without sin. D n Okay,
I'm going out on top, all right,

711
00:57:22.400 --> 00:57:23.719
because I made it. Now,
you said, but that would be

712
00:57:23.800 --> 00:57:27.719
a sin. Okay, well I
know, so then I would kind of

713
00:57:27.719 --> 00:57:30.400
mess up my streak. Okay,
but I'm gonna mess up the streak anyway,

714
00:57:30.519 --> 00:57:34.079
So why don't just go out with
that sin? All right? Okay?

715
00:57:34.199 --> 00:57:36.880
Then then, okay, that'll be
the best, right is that that's

716
00:57:36.920 --> 00:57:37.960
not the solution? Okay, Okay, I don't think that's probably a good

717
00:57:37.960 --> 00:57:43.920
idea. But you get the frustration
with the whole thing, right, It's

718
00:57:43.960 --> 00:57:46.039
always like God will intervene, God
will do this, God will do that,

719
00:57:46.159 --> 00:57:49.559
God will do this, and then
but then we turn around and go

720
00:57:49.599 --> 00:57:53.679
But the reality is, and even
preachers who preach that almost inevitably will contradict

721
00:57:53.719 --> 00:57:58.000
themselves sometimes in the same sermon.
You know, well, God will do

722
00:57:58.039 --> 00:58:00.559
this and do this, but we're
gonna based problems and difficult. Well,

723
00:58:00.599 --> 00:58:07.639
then that means God's not doing what
getting rid of this situation. So we

724
00:58:07.800 --> 00:58:10.079
can we can. We're gonna leave
here depressed, but we will leave here

725
00:58:10.199 --> 00:58:17.119
knowing this. Our promise is an
eternal promise, and that guarantee of that

726
00:58:17.159 --> 00:58:21.320
promise is not what you do or
what I do. It's what Christ did.

727
00:58:21.559 --> 00:58:23.920
That's good news. It's not dependent
on me. I man, I

728
00:58:23.960 --> 00:58:27.760
can relax now, Okay, good
right, I get that. No matter

729
00:58:27.800 --> 00:58:29.760
what I do or don't. I
know, people are gonna lose their mind

730
00:58:29.800 --> 00:58:31.800
when they hear me say that,
But I get that no matter what I

731
00:58:32.000 --> 00:58:37.280
do, because no matter what I
do can't change what Christ did because it's

732
00:58:37.280 --> 00:58:40.280
not based on what I do.
And if it's based on what I do,

733
00:58:40.519 --> 00:58:44.760
then what Christ did was useless.
All right, Okay, so we're

734
00:58:44.760 --> 00:58:46.360
not going there, all right,
So we're already reject that. So I'm

735
00:58:46.360 --> 00:58:50.320
glad I got that. But in
the meantime, here's what I know.

736
00:58:50.639 --> 00:58:54.320
I've got a list of enemies that
are just like the Enemies's role was facing

737
00:58:54.320 --> 00:59:00.159
in Psalm eighty three, And just
as God intervened on their behalf, the

738
00:59:00.199 --> 00:59:04.119
Midianites, it did not ultimately get
rid of their enemies, and it did

739
00:59:04.119 --> 00:59:07.159
not change anything. And we're gonna
leave here today, and no matter how

740
00:59:07.239 --> 00:59:10.199
much God may intervene, here's what's
going to continue to exist until you die.

741
00:59:10.440 --> 00:59:20.639
Satan, demons, sin nature,
and a world system that hates God.

742
00:59:21.880 --> 00:59:30.400
And until he comes back, that's
your life. Yay, church is

743
00:59:30.440 --> 00:59:35.280
great? Come on, how come
I don't get the applause and all the

744
00:59:35.320 --> 00:59:39.480
stuff that other the pastors gety okay, all right, well, because well

745
00:59:39.519 --> 00:59:44.599
nobody else wants to preach it that
way. But that's that's the when I

746
00:59:44.639 --> 00:59:45.960
looked at the when I get to
the end of that thing with Midian,

747
00:59:46.000 --> 00:59:51.119
I'm like, this story ends like
trash, Like what this ends horribly?

748
00:59:51.519 --> 00:59:54.760
The people go ahooring, Gideon's making
any fought, He's hanging out with his

749
00:59:54.880 --> 01:00:00.360
multiple wives and concubine. I'm like, what is going on? And then

750
01:00:00.599 --> 01:00:05.519
yeah, there's no happy ending to
everybody wants to stop before that. Oh,

751
01:00:05.880 --> 01:00:12.000
God's victory. Well, God's victory
didn't change the real problem. So

752
01:00:12.039 --> 01:00:15.039
then does that that leaves us a
question? Why then does God not just

753
01:00:15.079 --> 01:00:20.480
get rid of all of our enemies? Why does he not get rid of

754
01:00:20.519 --> 01:00:24.360
our sinful nature? And the only
thing I can say somehow sin and failure

755
01:00:24.400 --> 01:00:32.599
is a part of God's and that
sounds like I'm making an excuse. I'm

756
01:00:32.639 --> 01:00:36.360
not trying to make an excuse.
I don't want anyone to perceive that I'm

757
01:00:36.400 --> 01:00:38.639
making an excuse. Any sin that
I've ever committed was wrong, and he

758
01:00:38.719 --> 01:00:42.800
sin that I'm committing is wrong.
And he sin that I commit tomorrow or

759
01:00:42.800 --> 01:00:45.559
today will be wrong. It will
always be wrong. But at the same

760
01:00:45.599 --> 01:00:52.679
time, I cannot deny God could
intervene and could could stop a lot of

761
01:00:52.679 --> 01:00:54.519
problems, right. I mean,
even when you take Abraham when he's like,

762
01:00:54.559 --> 01:01:00.679
hey, Sarah, hey, look
you go, you're you're my sister.

763
01:01:00.880 --> 01:01:04.840
You know, whatever happens happens,
right, God could have intervened.

764
01:01:04.880 --> 01:01:07.159
You know why I know he could
intervene because right before that story happens,

765
01:01:07.320 --> 01:01:14.840
he intervenes and speaks to Abraham two
times, two times in Genesis twelve twice.

766
01:01:15.239 --> 01:01:19.559
Then a famine happens in the land, and guess what God does silent,

767
01:01:22.280 --> 01:01:25.320
And so Abram's like, I got
all these people with me, We're

768
01:01:25.360 --> 01:01:30.199
gonna die. Anybody know where food
is. Egypt's got a McDonald's open,

769
01:01:30.599 --> 01:01:35.519
let's go. So they start heading
to Egypt man, He's like, well,

770
01:01:35.519 --> 01:01:38.880
wait a minute, we're gonna does
God intervene? Now silent? So

771
01:01:39.079 --> 01:01:44.079
Sarah's Sarah's taking Abram's kicking back eating. I don't know what he's doing,

772
01:01:44.119 --> 01:01:45.679
Like he doesn't seem too worried about
the situation, right, And then guess

773
01:01:45.679 --> 01:01:53.719
what, God finally intervenes. What
my question, why didn't he intervene before

774
01:01:53.760 --> 01:01:58.880
they even went down to Egypt?
You gonna stop the whole thing? And

775
01:01:58.880 --> 01:02:01.199
then not only that, and and
then God does not say anything negative about

776
01:02:01.199 --> 01:02:06.760
what Abram did. There's no condemnation, there is no rebuke. And then

777
01:02:06.840 --> 01:02:14.840
Abram does the exact same thing again
and God intervenes, but there and there's

778
01:02:14.880 --> 01:02:19.760
other situations in Therebody be like God
could have intervened and stopped what murder?

779
01:02:20.079 --> 01:02:22.119
I mean, you don't think God
could have found a way to stop David

780
01:02:22.159 --> 01:02:24.960
from having Bashiba's husband killed, Like, you don't think you could have just

781
01:02:24.960 --> 01:02:30.920
done like he would. It wouldn't
even take the parting of the Red Sea,

782
01:02:30.960 --> 01:02:35.599
would it? And is that always
bizarre about how God acts? Like

783
01:02:35.679 --> 01:02:38.360
I don't understand, Like this is
a thing Christian struggled with. And I'll

784
01:02:38.440 --> 01:02:43.440
end with this. Everyone knows the
horrible thing that happened yesterday with someone attempting

785
01:02:43.440 --> 01:02:49.400
to assassinate Donald Trump. Everyone saw
that, right, and almost instantaneously there

786
01:02:49.400 --> 01:02:52.599
were things going around the internet,
and there's these pictures of there's Donald Trump

787
01:02:52.679 --> 01:02:57.880
and this guy like Jesus behind him
or Jesus got his arms and thank you

788
01:02:57.960 --> 01:03:02.519
God for protecting our president, Thank
you for preserving Donald Trump. But I

789
01:03:02.559 --> 01:03:07.840
wanted to raise my hand and go
so he could preserve Trump who was up

790
01:03:07.880 --> 01:03:10.880
on the platform. But the person
who was in the audience who died,

791
01:03:13.360 --> 01:03:20.119
God was just like, sorry,
peace out. That's hard to reconcile,

792
01:03:20.199 --> 01:03:23.400
is it not. He could be
preserved, but the person in the audience

793
01:03:23.440 --> 01:03:27.880
who was just there and I saw
the interview with the doctor who tried to

794
01:03:27.880 --> 01:03:30.960
give you know, chest compressions,
and the person was gone. You know,

795
01:03:30.840 --> 01:03:35.400
the person died. They just went
to a political rally and they're dead.

796
01:03:36.199 --> 01:03:37.840
Now, if you're gonna say God
preserved one, then you got to

797
01:03:38.039 --> 01:03:44.199
what do you have to say,
he did not preserve the other. And

798
01:03:44.280 --> 01:03:47.639
if he could intervene for one,
then he could intervene for the other.

799
01:03:50.000 --> 01:03:54.639
Now nobody wants to say that because
that sounds horrible, but that's the reality

800
01:03:54.679 --> 01:04:01.320
of our life, right God,
thank you? Yeah, yeah, he

801
01:04:01.400 --> 01:04:03.800
could have stopped it from the gun, could have just not worked. It

802
01:04:03.840 --> 01:04:10.639
wouldn't even have been a big miracle
right click click it won't work, or

803
01:04:10.840 --> 01:04:15.280
just allow someone to see him when
he was climbing up the little platform that

804
01:04:15.519 --> 01:04:20.880
was about four hundred feet away and
platform. There's a million things that we

805
01:04:20.920 --> 01:04:27.599
wouldn't even looked like what a miracle, But God doesn't. And that's the

806
01:04:27.639 --> 01:04:30.840
thing we have to struggle with.
We know these enemies, and I know

807
01:04:30.960 --> 01:04:35.079
God can intervene at any time,
but he doesn't intervene to stop our enemies

808
01:04:35.239 --> 01:04:41.159
in any meaningful way. So just
as Israel continued to face enemies and continue

809
01:04:41.199 --> 01:04:45.719
to fail and continue to send their
promise, is where in the future and

810
01:04:45.800 --> 01:04:48.519
can they see that promise? Go
talk to people in Israel. They can't

811
01:04:48.519 --> 01:04:53.679
see a promise. They see people
bombing them. They don't even control the

812
01:04:53.719 --> 01:04:58.000
temple mound. They're like, what
is this? But those promises are still

813
01:04:58.000 --> 01:05:00.960
in our Bible, right and I
see all these promises that there's going to

814
01:05:00.960 --> 01:05:02.239
be a new heaven and a new
Earth and there's going to be no more

815
01:05:02.280 --> 01:05:06.199
pain. And you know what,
sometimes I feel like, give me a

816
01:05:06.239 --> 01:05:12.719
break, Give me a break,
because what do I want? I want

817
01:05:12.760 --> 01:05:16.519
that now. No more sin,
no more pain, no more death,

818
01:05:16.920 --> 01:05:20.440
no more assassinations, no more assassination
in attempts, no more people being killed,

819
01:05:20.519 --> 01:05:27.480
no more children being molested, nobody
dying of cancer. That's what I

820
01:05:27.480 --> 01:05:30.119
would like, and I guess where
I want it now. And too many

821
01:05:30.159 --> 01:05:33.159
times, as Christians, we try
to take the promises which we cannot see

822
01:05:33.480 --> 01:05:38.280
and bring them into the present and
claim that they're active. But guess what,

823
01:05:38.400 --> 01:05:43.800
Everyone who makes those claims end up
looking foolish because you can claim all

824
01:05:43.880 --> 01:05:46.440
day that we basically can be sinless, and guess what we're not going to

825
01:05:46.440 --> 01:05:55.000
be other than I can convince myself
that I'm sinning less by focusing on the

826
01:05:55.079 --> 01:05:59.239
external things which I stay away from, but that doesn't do a thing in

827
01:05:59.280 --> 01:06:03.239
here or in here right, I
can be the most righteous man in the

828
01:06:03.320 --> 01:06:09.599
world standing here. What you see, You have no idea what's going on?

829
01:06:10.519 --> 01:06:13.000
And here, guess what the same
thing. Don't look at me all

830
01:06:13.039 --> 01:06:15.840
shocked. I don't know what's going
on inside of you except you want me

831
01:06:15.880 --> 01:06:18.519
to shut up because you're ready to
go home, all right, So we'll

832
01:06:18.519 --> 01:06:21.960
stop there because I can feel that. All right, right, let's pray,

833
01:06:23.000 --> 01:06:26.280
Lord God, we come before you
this afternoon. Lord. The one

834
01:06:26.320 --> 01:06:34.079
thing we as human beings are is
if we're honest with ourselves, confused and

835
01:06:34.159 --> 01:06:40.760
sometimes bothered by what you do and
what you don't do. And to deny

836
01:06:40.840 --> 01:06:44.920
that, Lord, we would be
liars. We struggle with it. But

837
01:06:44.960 --> 01:06:47.440
as we struggle, we hold on
to a faith in You whom we cannot

838
01:06:47.519 --> 01:06:54.840
see, hoping and trusting and promises
that have yet to be fulfilled that one

839
01:06:54.920 --> 01:07:00.320
day they will and everything will be
different. Forgive us for me be our

840
01:07:00.400 --> 01:07:05.679
doubt. Forgive me for maybe my
discouragement, despair and cynicism. But Lord,

841
01:07:05.760 --> 01:07:11.559
all I can do is cling that
somehow you exist, and somehow there's

842
01:07:11.559 --> 01:07:15.480
a plan and purpose that I may
never understand. And we asked this in

843
01:07:15.559 --> 01:07:15.840
Jesus name, and God's people said