Psalm 83 Pt 11

0:00 All right, Psalm eighty three, p. Eighty three. We have a lot to try to do. I'm debating with myself exactly how we have to kind of move forward here. But we'll see what we can do here. Let me pull up all my notes here, and we can try to find a way through this. All right, So Psaw maybe three, we have been looking at this for a long a long time. We took a slight detour because in Saw eighty three we got confronted with the concept of prayer. We got confronted with the idea that in Ssaw maybe three, they're crying out to God to do something in a sense, to intervene, And we were confronted with how kind of ridiculous that is. On one hand, because when you are praying to God about any situation, you're praying to a God who, at the very least has done what knew was going to happen, and I'd done nothing to stop it from happening. At the very most, you're praying to the God who decreed it to happen, and through his providence, is guiding and directing it as it happens. So then the question is what are we praying for? So we looked into church history, the different philological ways that prayer should be done based on your theology, right, and what did we discover That most people the way they pray has literally zero to do with what theology.

1:35 Prayer is more driven by what desire, feeling, emotion, and dare I say even a little superstition the way it's done right? And so I was greatly bothered by that, but I couldn't just leave it alone. So then I went back and tried to demonstrate to everyone that when you go to Psaw eighty three, you could arguable, wait a minute, they're praying for God to do something, So why why are they doing that? If what you're saying theologically is true, they shouldn't even be praying. So I had to answer that, And what was my answer? That the Old Testament Jews pray differently than New Testament gentiles, and why they have covenants, and these covenants make specific promises so they can pray for God's intervention. They can pray for God to do this or pray for God to do that, because they have specific covenants that outline that God will or could do those very things. So they are they then praying inconsistent to God's will. No, they can pray the words of the of the of all the different covenants made which promise blessings, defeating their enemies, preservation, restoration, bringing them to the land, et cetera, et cetera. In fact, the last hour we were talking more about the covenants, so that so I think that Elisa handles all of that.

3:00 We've handled everything, but we got to finish the Psalm, right, So I've got to determine how do we get ourselves to the finish line. All right, So let's go back to Psaw eighty three. Let's kind of work our way through the Psalm, all right, and get us to where we are, and then we'll talk about it, all right, Are you ready? All right? Saw eighty three. First and foremost, we have verse one, do not keep silent, Oh God, do not hold your peace, and do not be still, Oh God. We have a prayer. But this begins to kind of establish that we classify this psalm as what a lament and what kind of a lament? A communal lament?

3:45 That this is asaf crying out to God, putting words down, capturing the emotion of the people, and they are dealing with a situation that is happening at that very moment. All right, this is not prophesying any thing. They are crying out to God because they are facing a crisis at that very moment. Simply put, that crisis is articulated carefully. And verse well, they have enemies coming against them, or see in verse two for behold your enemies. Right, and guests, look at verse three. They have taken crafty council against your people. They've consulted together. They've come and let us cut them off from being a nation. They have consulted together, they form a confederacy. So these they have enemies coming against them to wipe them off the face of the earth.

4:34 And that was happening when at that time there's not some future war. No, it's talking about what's going on. Then as Aften composes the lament to capture the people crying out to God because they are concerned. Yes, all right, So what happens in verse two, verse two, probably down to verse five. What happens in that section? Does he not describe the characteristics and attributes of the enemy. All right, Now, we did take that, and we could we found that those characteristics and attributes can apply to our enemies spiritually, right to Satan, to demons. We went, we went through a list of them, so we we found a little bit of application. Right that their enemies have the same characteristics as our enemies. So we are like, okay, we got we got something in common there, there's a there's an application here. Okay, great, right, so that we can kind of learn a little bit about our enemies, right then, But for them, their enemies not only are their character and their attributes describe what happens. Starting a verse six, seven and eight, he identifies them specifically, making it very clear that they're talking about real enemies. Now, just so that you know, there are those who interpret that all of those enemies are symbolic. They're not literal. They're just

6:08 describing the enemies against Israel. There's nothing in the text that would make me turning that to be symbolic. Those are real enemies. I mean, if the author is going to go so far as to name them, like hey, I'm gonna give you something symbolic by naming something that's real, that's who would write that, Like you know what I'm saying. I guess you could do that, But there's nothing in the text that you could do that. So they're named, and we looked at all of them, did we not? Yes, we already did all of that. Okay. So that brought us to verse nine, verse nine, ten eleven and twelve. What do we have in nine, ten eleven and twelve?

6:50 Whoe a request for God to act in the present as he did in the past? Right now, this is where our part the application falls apart a little bit for us. Right So, let me ask a question. Now, if you would like to do this today, you can leave this church. Go ask anyone you know who goes to church and ask him this question. Can we expect, ask, and claim that God will do for us in the present as he is done in the past as recorded in the Bible. Almost every Christian you know will say, what yes? And that is the most foolish thing I've ever heard of my entire life. You know why, Because I can go to my Old Testament and see God doing things. Clearly, I should not expect him to do that in the present, okay, And He has not done it in the present. Now, why could asaf ask God to do in the present as God has done in the past. Because of the covenants everything hinges on the covenants.

8:11 Israel has covenants. God made covenants with Israel, and those covenants include so many promises. Right, if you just take the land covenant in Deuteronomy twenty eight, it's defeat your enemies, feed you, bless you, provide for you, provide all this stuff for you. Those are specific blessings. They can do this. This is where it falls apart for us, all right, For us, we can expect God to give us all spiritual blessings as He has promised us. And we have all the promises about what God will do and eternity.

8:52 And in eternity there's some very specific promises, right, no more pain, tears, no more death, no more sin, right, glorified body, no more sickness, all of it. Now. I can pray that God will do that then, but I can't pray that what He's going to need to do in eternity that he will do now. In fact, that is the problem with the charismatic movement that seems to take these eternal promises and believe that they are present now and so therefore you can believe that there's going to be no more pain or no more suffering or basically no more death, and you'll be healed of all of your medical issues. It's just ridiculous. We have to keep things in their proper place. When I'm reading what God, when what Israel is praying for will go, You've got every right to pray for that. You've got specific promises.

9:45 I can't. And so let's look at how God acted. And we've already looked at one of these. So some of Now this is where I have to make a preaching choice, right because in Psalm eighty three, starting as at verse nine, starting in verse nine, it's gonna name specific situations where God acted. Well, let me make it very clear. In every one of these situations we could go to and read. In some cases it covers two or three chapters. I could go and we could read all two or three chapters and we will finish Psalm eighty three in about eighty three years. Okay, So we can't do that. But you understand my struggle with that because then I don't like to do that all but I feel like we lose the plot. Does that make sense?

10:38 Because we're gonna get so into those stories, then we're gonna kind of forget Psawm eighty three and then after ten years we'll some come back to Saw eighty three. I don't so I just have to kind of summarize some of these stories and give you the passages. I don't feel like I'm gonna be taking anything out of context, because I think we'll get the overall feel for it. One we've already covered, but we'll go back over it and we're gonna see how fast we can move through them. All right. Now, here's what I want you to do, is we move through them. I want you to see in each story what they have in common. I want you to see what they have that is different. Most importantly, I want you to realize, as you see how God acted, he's not doing that today, and to act like that he is is ridiculous, all right, because he's not right.

11:29 So everybody ready, what's the first one mentioned in Psalm eighty three, the Midianites? You see him in verse nine. Deal with them? Now when them is referencing back all of these enemies that are just listed. Everybody see that Saw maighty three and nine. Deal with them. That them goes back to the enemies. Deal with those enemies that are present as you have with Midian all right, Now, the Midianites were one of the enemies mentioned in Saw many three. Can we all say amen to that? All right, here's some of the details, all right. The Midianites were descendants of Midian, who was the son of Abraham through his wife Katorah Genesis twenty five. Please note Abraham had more than one wife, okay, right, because polygamy was way more common than we may want to admit. Okay. They were related to the Israelites through their patriarch patriarchal lineage.

12:27 All right. The Midianites were frequently in conflict with the Israelites throughout the Old Testament. One significant event involving the Midianites was their alliance with the Moabites and hiring Balem to curse the Israelites. As we counted in numbers twenty two through twenty four. What do you mostly what do you want to basically take from that? The Midianites were constantly in conflict with israel constantly in conflict. Right. Why the conflict because if they're kind of related, right, Remember, we kind of know what happens, right because anyone born within the Abrahamic family, right, there's going to be a problem because someone gets everything and some don't. And who's the one who in a sense gets everything, Isaac, Well, you could see anyone related would maybe like it's not fair, right, you could say where conflict could possibly arise? Right, because so many times, and I know people may not believe this, but religious people, people who profess faith in God, are self seeking, selfish, argue, fight and do horrible things. Now everyone here knows that I love you know everything about Salem.

13:59 Message is love, love love. If I had the money, I'd move there and live there. Love Salem, love it, love the history. And I'm constantly reading and studying everything I can about the Salem witch trials because they utterly fascinate me. I have hypotheses. You know why. I think the Salem witch trials occurred because of a church fight. There was a new pastor. There was half of the church supported the pastor the other half didn't, and so they started fighting. And then guess what you could do. Accuse your enemy being a witch, and then you could have them killed. If you have them killed, you eliminate people trying to fight against your pastor, or you get rid of the people trying to support their pastor. Now there's some evidence to support it. I can't. I don't think it's the only reason, but it's a big reason, meaning that the godly Puritans were not as godly as everyone wants to be. In fact, I've got notes and everything about it and who the pastor was and everything, because i've been, I've been, I've bet, I've read. There's a book that goes through literally a timeline of everything that happens and and and Salem leaving up to there, like on this day and this was the sermon that was preached on this day, and this is what happened here, and it's it's, it's and when. But it just makes me go, man, well, when you see some of these conflicts.

15:32 These are people who believe in God, who do what, fighting and arguing and just all the things that happened, some of their conflicts are in some ways, I love that the Bible is filled with all of these kinds of conflicts because it does what shows the reality of how messed up we are. The Bible does not make people look good. The Bible makes people look like trash. Okay, does that make sense? All right? Okay, so are we good? So we just understand ongoing conflict, all right? And Judges six through seven. Now this to me, you want to turn here, Judges six through seven. I know we've already looked at this. I don't have time to read everything, so you're just gonna have to look at it, all right.

16:20 You can just if you need to look down at something, great, but try to focus on me, because if you're just gonna sit there and read it, then well then we should just just stop all and read it. Does that make sense? All right? And Judges six through seven. The Midianites, along with other neighboring people, oppress the Israelites for seven years. All right, look at chapter six, verse one. Everyone look at it and tell me what you see. Tell me if you think I'm making it up. Okay, there we go. See wow, And that's pretty clear, right, Can we agree on that? All right? Okay, So the Midianites, along with other neighboring people, oppress the Israelites for seven years. They would invade the land during the harvest time, destroying the crops and livestock. The oppression led to the rise of Gideon as a judge and deliverer. Right, and Gideon does a rise in the story. He plays a major part in it. Yes, okay, all right, I know that all right.

17:11 Through divine intervention, Gideon led a small band of Israelites to defeat the Midianite's army, which numbered in the tens of thousands, with only three hundred men. This victory was a turning point and the struggle against the Midianite oppression. Now God intervenes in a powerful way. He reduces the numbers. Remember, he reduces the numbers and gets them smaller and smaller until there's only three hundred and they're facing thousands. And what was their means a victory? How did what was their military strategy? Lamps, pitchers and a trumpet? Right, okay?

17:55 And then they were to shout something right after they smashed everything and then yeah, oh okay, well you know, and it's it's crazy now what can when I want you to look through this is what I want you to look through. I want you to look through Judges six carefully, right, I want you to look at it carefully, and and I want you to look and Judge A six seven and let me see here you six through eight because that's where most of these chapters. And I want you to look carefully six through eight and look for God's directions and involvement in everything that happens. You find the verses that speak directly of God giving in the instruction, God guiding God directing, God telling them what to do. Anything where you see God's direct involvement, you can just skim. You should be able to easy to see the words Lord or God. Okay, tell me the first one you find. Okay, Chapter six, some said verse someone said, verse one, and what does it say? Okay?

19:15 So God is directing even them being delivered over. Okay, so God delivered them being Okay, and we can see and we know that we can get to all the discussions. Why in fact, just please note God delivering them over still fits some of the Covenant promises, because if they didn't obey, God would do these things to them. Okay, but all right then verse eight, what does it say the Lord said to prophet? Okay? Okay, okay, he speaks all through that. Okay, keep going gay. Verse ten, let's say, Wow, God's all involved in this, is he not? Yeah? See God all over this. At some point does he start telling them he starts reducing the army. Right where does he start reducing the army, Because it's by God's instructions, is it not? Where does that happen? And may not be in six and may be in seven. I don't know.

20:28 God's gonna start giving specific instructions to reduce the army? Is it seven? Okay? What does he say? Okay? And then he gives specific instructions on how to lower the numbers? Does he not? Okay? He goes through that entire process. Does he then give them specific constructions about the picture, the lamp and the trumpet? Verse nine? Was this get up? Okay?

21:10 God's all over this? Is it God that tells him to get the pictures in the lamp and the trumpet? Take your time? Okay? Now, soud? Do we believe that ultimately comes from God? Comes from the dream? Do we believe the dream was from God? Okay? Why do we believe the dream was from God? He worshiped after his dream?

22:10 Maybe an indication? So we see that, all right? Okay, it's interesting that God spoke in that direct way. All right? So then they go through all of that, and then ultimately what happens if you look at verse twenty two, they three hundred blew the trumpet and the law at the trumpets and then what's the next phrase. The lord said, every man's sword against his companion throughout the whole camp, and the army fled. Right, So God intervenes, even causing the panic and the fighting against one another. God's intervening in every part of it. He's directing it, he's guiding it. Correct. Okay, then we know so God, God intervenes in the entire situation.

22:54 God does so. So you can see why Asaph is asking for God basically to intervene. You did with the Midianites. Intervene. God was directly involved, and it led to the defeat of the enemies. Now remember, I'm not gonna go great into this again. But after this battle, where you think, okay, great God intervened, great things happened. But look at Judges chapter eight, verse twenty seven. Judges chapter eight, verse twenty seven, when Gideon returns the people. If you look at verse twenty two, Judges eight twenty two, the men of Israel want Gideon to do what rule over us, both you and your sons, for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian. But Gideon does not want to rule over them. But what does he want? Right? I will not rule over you with the Lord. But what does he want them to do? He has one request. Look at verse twenty four. He wants air. He wants gold, ear rings, okay, because they were the Ishramelites. He wants all of this plunder. Right, you see all of that, uh one than seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescent ornaments, pendents, purple robes which were of the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were around their neck.

24:17 Then Gideon made it into an ephod. Now this is where things get really weird. Right, he made an ephod from the gold he had plundered. And ephod was a garment worn by priest or the high priest in ancient Israel, particularly in the context of the Tabernacle and later in the temple. The ephod was a significant and sacred investment associated with the religious rituals and the seeking of divine guidance. All right, and the case of Gideon, it seems that he made an ephod using the gold plundered from their enemies. The act is seen is problematic because the ephod was meant to be a sacred object for religious purposes, not to be misused for personal gain or e idolatrous practices.

25:01 It is likely that Gideon's actions led to negative consequences among the Israelites as the ephod became associated with idolatry and deviated from its intended purpose in worshiping the One True God. In fact, so they do all of this, and then what ultimately happens. You'll also notice in verse thirty, so verse thirty or sorry, verse thirty three. Okay, we'll look at verse thirty. You'll notice this Gideon had seventy sons.

25:42 Who is his own offspring? For he had many wives and as concubine, all right, So he had polygamy and concubine, right. And then look at verse thirty three. So it was soon as Gideon was dead that the children of Israel again played the harlot. All right, so they go right back to idolatry. Get in, possibly he's making the ephod for some idolatrous practice, he's got multiple wives, he's got a concubine, and then they go right back to idolatry. So on one hand, showing even the defeat of the physical enemy did not ultimately take care of the real problem, right, because the real problem is always spiritual okay, but you get the issue. But the main thing is God intervenes in this in a pretty amazing way, right, three hundred versus thousands they use for weapons, They don't have weapons.

26:41 Does everybody understand that they don't have any weapons? You go to war without weapons because God is the one who will ultimately win the victory, and therefore God ultimately gets the praise that is God intervening. Now, it's amazing how people will take these stories and talk about when you leave here today, you trust God to fight your battles. You trust God, and we say that, and then in every practical way we do what we take care of the problem. So it's always good to preach, but no one actually believes it. The biggest problem is you can't claim what God did from Midian that he's gonna do for us because he did that because he had covenant relationship with them and that's why he acted that way.

27:28 But do you see God's involvement in that entire thing. God's directing it all obviously in a way which he does not direct us today. So everything about that story is very different. Can you agree? All right? Now, let's go back to psaw Maty three There's much more I could say about that, but we've already covered it, so I wanted to just get it out of the way quickly. All Right, who's the next one mentioned saw Maty three, verse nine, there's the midian I. Who's next? Cserah? Everybody see Cicerah? All right? Who's Cera? Cica was the commander of the Canaanite army who oppressed the Israelites. And saw Mati three nine, Cisa is mentioned in the context of a plea for God's intervention against enemy nations threatening Israel.

28:18 And here's some things we know. Cicero was a commander of the Canaanite army who opposed the Israelites during the period of the Judges. He is most prominently featured and the story of Deborah and Barak and this Book of Judges, where he led the Canaanite forces against Israel. All right, Cicerah is portrayed as an enemy of Israel, leading a powerful military force that opposed that posed a threat to the Israelites. He's being mentioned in saw Mati three underscores the historical enmity between the Israelites and their adversaries. Despite his military prows Cicera ultimately met his demid eyes at the hands of Does anybody know look at Judges four through five? Okay, who yeah, right, Elle, all right, and we'll let you if you know what happens here. It's a pretty crazy story. Okay, yeah, it's pretty violent. Okay, go to Judges four and five. All right, five, you don't really need you really just need four, all right, because five is the song that is sung. But if you look at four, here's what I want you to do in four. All right, I'm gonna go through and tell you everything that happened. But look at Judges four now and the story of the Midianites. What did we see over and over and over God, God, God, God everywhere.

29:52 Now look at Judges four and tell me how much you see God directing, guiding, speaking. Okay, we have the Lord routed Sicarah and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak and Sesara alighted from his chariot fled away on foot. But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as and it gives the names and the places, and all the army of Sicarah fell by the edge of the sword.

30:34 Not a man was left. Do you see that? But do you see God mentioned anywhere else? They did evil in the side of the Lord. Right then we see him. He's involved a little bit there. But is he directing and guiding everything that they're doing? Is he giving them directions? They have none of that? Right? Can we agree? There's almost none of it mentioned. Just keep that in mind. All right, here's the basic idea of what happened. And judges, for we have Deborah and Barak. The Israelites again do evil in the sight of the Lord, and they are oppressed right by King Jabon of Canaan. Deborah, prophetess and judge, summons Barak to lead an army against the Canaanites. Barak agrees to go to battle, but insists that Deborah, accompasses brick comes along with him. Look at Judges four twelve twelve and following, I think is where the story really picks up, right, And is that and we kind of just read a little bit of that. And Deborah said to Barak, up, for this is the day in which the Lord has look at verse fourteen. Judges four, verse fourteen.

31:53 This is the day in which the Lord has delivered sister into your hands. Has not the Lord gone out before you? So Barack went down. Barack went down to Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him, and the Lord routed Cisra and all his cheerios. They are accrediting God for the action, But we have no clear anything, God directing everything. Does that make sense? All right? Everyone kind of got a pretty good idea there, all right. In fact, we can see what happens. The army is put to the sword. Look, at the end of verse sixteen, Sisah fell by the edge of the sword. Not a man was left. However, Sisra had fled away on foot to the tent of Jel, the wife of Heber the Keynite.

32:42 For there was a place between Jabin, King of Hazar. There was peace between Jabin, King of Hazar, and the house of Heboard the Kenite. And Jael went out to meet Cisara and said to him, turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me, do not fear. And when he had turned aside, with her aside, with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket. Now do we have God giving any directions here? No directions, no anything. In fact, she goes out and says, you have nothing to fear. In fact, you could argue that what she's doing here is what she's lying. Then he said to her, please give me a little water to drink, for I'm thirsty.

33:22 I bet you've been people. Your army's all dead, you've run for your life. She opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. And he said to her, stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you and says, is there any man here, you shall say no. He needs rest, he needs food. And she's playing right along. Right then Jaelle, Hebrew's wife, took a tent peg. According to some translations or nell, she took a hammer with softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground. She's got a pretty good swing. Okay, that's pretty violent, is it? Not? All? Right?

34:11 For he was fast, asleep and weary. So he died I like that, And so he died a right. And then as Barak pursued, sister a Jella came out to meet him and said to him, come, I will show you the man whom you seek, And when he went into her tent. There lay Sisa dead with a peg in his temple. So on that day God subdued Jabin, King of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel, and the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jab and the King of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin, King of Canaan. All right, then, then what do we have in chapter five? We have the song? We have the song? All right? Do we see that? All right? Now overall Judges four through five to pick the story of Deborah and Barak, who with Now this is how this describes it. With God's guidance, led the Israelites to victory against the oppressive Canaanites. Their narrative emphasizes the importance of faith, courage, and obedience to God's will, as well as highlighting the role of women like Deborah and the leadership of ancient Israel. All right, now go back to keep keep your you can, you can you can stay in judges if you need to.

35:24 But go back to Psalm eighty three. All right, So the first one mentioned is the Midianites. We see how they're defeated. The second one is Sistera, and we see how he is defeated. Correct. Who's the third one mentioned after cisra Jabin? All right? Did we not just read about him as well? All right, So we've covered off all of these. Now here's this is where we I want to least look at this. Now Immediately we realize there's something to me different about Judges four right there, when I'm comparing on contray these, I'm like, Judges For seems so different than the whole story of the Midianites, right, So I was I was like, hmm, there's something going on here. So I asked Ai, what what is missing in Judges For that seems significant? And just to see if AI would see what I saw? Right? So this is what AI said. The absence of a direct divine command in Judges For, unlike other narratives in the Book of Judges, can be understood in several ways. Here's a few perspectives that can be drawn from this difference. So AI saw the difference. AI was like, there seems to be God is not necessarily directing this. Now, there's some of the verses that seem to imply that God is.

36:50 But who's saying it That's the question in Judges for is it God saying I'm involved or is it them saying they're involved? Now this is very all right, Let's make this very clear. This is always the difficulty, especially with religious people, right, Okay, when America goes to war and we kill twenty people in a battle, we will say God was on our side. If someone else wins the battle, God was on our side. Doesn't everyone believe God is on their side? When there's a church split, Doesn't both people believe God is on their side? When someone leaves a church? Do they believe God is on everyone believes God is on their side. Nobody's like, God is not on my side. Everyone believes God is on their side. So I don't know so, but it's still interesting.

37:54 Even Ei was like, huh, so this is what AI suggested we do with this? All right? Are you all right? Number one? They say that we can understand this from the perspective of human initiative and leadership. The story of Deborah and Barack and Judges four highlights the human initiative and leadership Deborah prophetess and Barack act and Barack act based on Deborah's prophetic insight rather than a direct divine command. This can suggest that God's guidance came through inspired leaders and their discernment rather than explicit instructions. It underscores the importance of wise and godly leadership in the time of crises.

38:42 All right, go back to Judges four or maybe three? Do you see anything where Deborah seems to have prophetic insight into what they're doing? Do we have any specific scripture that says heard her prophetic insight gave them direction and what to do? Here trying to move as fast as I can through these I apologize if I'm going too quick, but I'm trying. Do we have anything that seems to say her prophetic insight or is that just implied? Where is she referred to as a prophetess? Okay? Four? Four?

39:26 What does it say about her? All right? So she's a prophetess and she's judging Israel, And what does she say God commanded anything specific about what they're to do? All right? So she is crediting God with the directions?

40:09 All right? So that seems to say there is more divine Is there more divine guidance here than first thought? What do I think think? So? Does that seem all that. Yeah, that's what I'm asking. Okay, all right now, because here's my thing. If we go with this idea of inspired godly counsel, now you do realize where we end up in we can end up in a problem here, right, okay? Because obviously in the Old Testament you had prophetesses and prophets that were directly given information from God and then they were to take that information directly to the people.

40:53 If you think about it, even in Judges six, who gets the direct information about what to do? Gideon? Here it would be Deborah getting the direct information. Yes, now I'm sorry, what you know? We have God? Okay? Possibly okay, But but if we go with the leadership idea, you do realize where we kind of end up. We're gonna end up with a major issue here, right, Does that may see where this is going to ultimately lead to.

41:36 If God speaks through godly counsel and people have to listen to that godly counsel for the direction because they have insight or they are given specific information, then the authority about what to do or what to believe would come from godly leadership. Yes, okay, do you see where that becomes a problem? Nobody in the Protestant church believes that. Okay, so immediately we would immediately go, wait a minute, we don't operate under that same system, right, because what are the hallmarks of most Protestants is do we believe in apostolic succession? No, we do not. Right, Catholics believe in apostolic succession. They believe the Church has that authority in power, not the people. Some Charismatics believe in apostolic succession, and they believe that they have apostles in their churches. But guess what do they submit to those apostles and do every No, they don't, because in any cases, say well, could then leave those churches. So it does. So the Protestant world does not believe this. So immediately we know once again we're dealing with God moving in a way that we don't believe God is moving today. Nobody believes. Look, I don't care what anybody says. Nobody has ever believed that I have some spiritual insight and that I have some authority because people will disagree with me at the

43:08 drop of a hat and leave the church, and nobody cares. I have no power, no authority, and even degrees in theology mean absolutely nothing, So we definitely don't go with this idea right now. It may work then, but even at that time did the people even listen to the prophets? They didn't even listen to the prophets, which is kind of like, even that system doesn't really even work, does it? All? Right, so that human initiative, okay? Second prophetic mediation, Debra serves as a mediator of God's will. Her role as a prophetism implies that she speaks for God even if the text does not record a specific command from God. This can illustrate how God works through his appointed and leaders to communicate his will to his people. Again, that may be great and that setting, but the people didn't even usually listen to the prophets. But we reject that idea outright in twenty twenty four. You don't believe it. I don't believe it. Nobody believes it. Right Our argument is what what is the Protestant argument? Not the church, not the pastor the Bible. And then you take the Bible, and then we are to judge the pastor in the church.

44:42 The people are to judge the pastor in the church. It is a weird system in the Protestant world. Everyone just got to admit that it's a weird system, right, because we're like, well, when a pastor is getting ready to get a job, what do people ask, where do you go to school? Well? Why do you care where I to school? Does it even matter if I went to school? Does that give me any do you care? You care until what the first sermon I preach, and then somebody immediately disagrees. Nobody cares what school, The schooling doesn't matter, degrees don't matter, diplomas doesn't none of it matters, because ultimately who's in charge the individual. So so even if this works through some kind of divine mediation, it doesn't matter. Says Faith and Obedience. The narrative focuses on the faith and obedience of the characters, particularly Barak, who acts on Debra's word. This can teach that faith in God's representatives and obedience to their guidance is crucial in the absence of divine direct communication. Well again, maybe in that case it would have been, but we believe that we have divine communication where here. So what I'm trying to demonstrate is this entire situation is what radically different from our situation. God is. God does not work in this capacity in any way, shape or form. In twenty twenty four. You can't take from this and say, well, now God's gonna do this. Everything here about this is

46:14 completely different, all right, divine sovereignty. Despite the lack of an explicit command, the outcome of the battle against Cicera demonstrates God's sovereignty and his ability to deliver his people. This reinforces the theme that God is always at work behind the scenes, orchestrating events for his purposes, even when his actions are not overtly mentioned. Well, now this goes back to God's sovereign act. That God is what decreeing it, guiding in directing it. So then what's the point of prayer? Well, in ssaw mayty three, they could pray because they want God to sovereignly act on the basis of his covenant, which they could ask for those things because God would sovereignly act according to those covenants. But it's completely radically different for us, all right, So there is a massive difference.

47:05 All right. Now go back to Saw eighty three. We're oh, maybe we can pull this off. Maybe maybe the rest of these I'm going to go through so fast, all right, So you better just hang on. We're gonna go through these quickly, you ready, right, because most of these we've kind of covered already, if you didn't even realize it, okay. Jabin was the king of Hazor, who allied with Cicera against the Israelites. Jabin is mentioned in the context of a plea for God's intervention against the enemy, the enemy nations thraightening Israel. Here's some information. Jabin was a common name for kings of Hazor in the ancient Near East and the Bible. Jabin is often associated with the Canaanite kings who opposed the Israelites during the period of the Judges. Jabin is portrayed as an as an oppressor of Israel, leading a kingdom that posed a threat to the Israelites.

47:52 His mention and Saw eighty three underscores the historical conflict between the Israelites and their enemies. Jabin is typically depicted as a powerful ruler with a formidable army at his disposal. His military might symbolizes the strength of Israel's adversaries and the need for divine intervention. In the Book of Judges, Jabin, king of Canaan was defeated by the Israelites under the leadership of Deborah and Barak. The victory is celebrated in the Song of Deborah and Judges chapter five and highlights the theme of God's deliverance in times of need. All right. The mention of Jabin and Psaw eighty three serves a reminder of God's supremacy over the nations and his role as the protector of his people justice. Jabin was defeated by the Israelites with God's help. The Sawmist calls upon God once again to intervene and bring down the enemies of Israel. Jabin represents a historical figure who stood against the Israelites but was ultimately defeated. All right, Hey, everybody see that, all right? I think we already looked at that, and I think it's all good, all right. And Joshua eleven We learn about how Joshua led the Israelites to defeat Jabin and his forces and the battle at Hazor.

49:02 God gave the Israelites victory over Jabin, fulfilling his promise in the Bible, though it is important to note there are two different individuals mentioned in different contexts. The Jabin defeated by Joshua and Joshua eleven is Jabin the king of Hazor, and this happens during the conquest of Canaan. This event is described in Joshua eleven. On the other hand, Jabin defeated defeated. The Jabin defeated by Deborah and Barak and Judges four possibly is a different Jabin. This Jabin is the king of Canaan who oppressed the Israelites for twenty years before being defeated by Deborah and Barak. The account of the defeat is in Judges four. While both Jabins.

49:46 While both Jabins are kings who oppress the Israelites, there are distinct individuals who ruled at different times in different regions, all right, So some will argue which is being referred to in Psalm eighty three does not provide specific details about the context or historical background of the enemies mentioned. As a result, the reference to Jabin and Psalm eighty three. This is, according to win source, is more symbolic than specific, representing an enemy of Israel rather than a specific historical figure. I disagree with that, right, so I think that that takes care of it. Right mentioned Ciara. And when we read the story of Cisa, who did we read about Jabin?

50:36 So why wouldn't you then just connect that Jabin to Ciarah? Like, I don't understand why there would be complications. But ladies and gentlemen, if you've ever studied the Bible and read commentaries, guess what you'll find. Well, you'll just never find any agreement on anything. I yeah, yeah, yeah, I think I think everything is listed there. I don't think that. I think I don't think there's a problem. So can I never one agree that there shouldn't be a problem there? Okay? I just want you to know there's two Jabin's Okay, if you didn't know that, I just want you to know that. My job is that you're not tossed to and fro. And the only way I can do that to make sure you know that, all right? Who else is mentioned as with Jabin to Brook of Kishon, who perished at Indoor, who became as refuged on the earth, more like nobles, like Orb and like zeb all right, these two leaders of the Midianite army were defeated by Gideon and the Israelites, and judges seven to twenty five allright, And that same story, God caused confusion among the Midianites, leading to their defeat at the hands of Gideon. The event showcased God's power. All right, We have them all right? Now, who else is mentioned? There's Orb and zeb Judges seven twenty five talks about that, Zeba and Zalmuna. Okay, they're mentioned as kings of Midian who were defeated by God.

51:55 All right, and where is their defeat spoken of? Judge seven and eight? Okay, so the same story, all right, same story because Gideon pursues them somebody, right, am I correct? Okay? All right, So we got everything about them, all right. Now here's what I want you to Here's what I want you to see. All right. We'll kind of end with this. We went through those quickly. But the bottom line is all of these individuals, right, are historical individuals, historical nations, historical groups whom God defeated in very specific ways in the past. And almost every situation we see God's divine intervention and defeating these enemies. Right, And even if it's not specifically shown, it seems insinuated clearly that God is the one involved in the entire process. Right, So what are some things we can take from this? All? Right?

53:00 The Saumus recounts various enemies that God defeated in the past Midian, Sisera, Jabin, orb, zeb Zeba, and Zalmuna. Well, the specific details of each victory may vary, there are some similarities in how God defeated these enemies. Here are some of the similarities. You're ready. In each case, God intervene on behalf of his people to secure victory over their enemies. There were not achieved through human strength or strategy alone, but through divine intervention and assistance of God. Can we agree to that divine intervention? Now? Guess what most pastors would do at this point. Since God intervened, then he can intervene now, and so then what they would do is, whatever enemy you're facing, whatever problem you're facing, whatever trial you're facing, you believe in God, and God can intervene, and He can defeat your enemies. He can tear down your walls, you know, all the typical way people preach. The only problem with that is that's all ridiculous and none of it is applicable because what God did in these cases is based primarily on what let me stated again the Covenant promises. Now spiritually, spiritually, God defeats all of our enemies ultimately. But we cannot confuse what promises we have with the promises. Say, their promises

54:32 are very what literal, physical material right defeating it. Our promises are far more spiritual that we have all spiritual blessings in Christ we have. We have very tangible promises for what will happen, new body, new heaven, new earth, no more pain. But in this life we got to be very careful about what promises we claim that divine intervention is because of the Covenant, all right. The defeat of these enemies was often portrayed as an act of justice and judgment by God. These enemies had oppressed God's people, and God's victory served as a form of judgment against their wickedness and injustice. Now we can believe that ultimately God will judge ultimately. Right. Doesn't mean He's going to intervene now and make everything right now, because clearly that's not the way it works. All right. God's victories over these enemies demonstrated his commitment to protecting and preserving his people despite the threats and challenges they face. God remains faithful to his covenant with his people and ensured their safety and security. Why did God intervene and protect covenant?

55:47 That our promise, God and our covenant? What can we hold you? God will preserve and protect us spiritually? No guarantee he's going to preserve and protect me physically none zio zero. Ridiculous to even think that. Okay, does that? Agreed? Right? These victories over these enemies fulfilled God's promises to his people. Throughout the Bible, God consistently assured his people of victory over their enemies, and the defeats recounted in PSAWM eighty iree serve as a tangible evidence of God's faithfulness to his promise. What promise are they referring to covenant promises? All right? Okay, so I think there's now there are some differences. Here are some of the differences. All right, God use and for example Midian God used Gideon and a small army to defeat the Midianites do unconventional means, including the confusion caused by blowing trumpets and breaking jars.

56:43 Now again, if you, isn't it amazing that people want to apply this to us and yet want to own guns to protect. I mean, I don't ever want Christians to be in charge of the United States military. Hey, our new strategy. You don't need him sixteen training, you need picture lamp and trumpet training. See, we ain't. That's funny how we grab some of it and apply some of it and then we leave out other parts. That's that's that would be? Would that not be? Is that? Would not that be ridiculous? Okay? Uh so that that's very specific. The way he did in Judges seventh through eight Cisra and Jabin, God orchestrated a victory through Deborah and Barack a. Cisro was killed by Jeel, a woman.

57:34 But that I mean you have lying involved in that, You have deceit, you have a tent peg through the head. I mean, so now do we need to arm everyone with a tent peg? Like? I mean? These are specific situations, specific situations I think we have to be Yeah, they're all very different, right or been zeb they were princes of media defeated during Gideon's campaign, Zeba and Zalmuna. There were media and kings captured and killed by Gideon. Every situation is slightly different, right, So in other words, God's not using the same method in every situation, agreed, all right. Some victories in VOD miraculous signs or direct divine interventions, such as the confusion panic among enemy troops. Other victories were achieved through human agents like Gideon, Deborah, Barak, and Joelle.

58:25 Though God is credited with empowering and guiding in some cases. The text may not explicitly describe God's involvement, but the context and overall narrative attributed the victory to his will and support. All right, So in that section, what can we take from nine through twelve? What can we take from nine through twelve? Here's what we can take. The enemies. The description of the enemies sound like our enemies? Can we all agree? Yes? What God did for Isra in the past, them wanting it to happen in the present, has nothing to do for us because we have no guarantee that God will work that way in the present.

59:11 In fact, we have what reality to tell us doesn't. So then what can we do? We know that God will deal with our enemies in a radically different way, and that shouldn't shock us, because He didn't deal with the enemies there all in the same way. Did he not, No, he did not for us. How God deals with us is not based on what the covenant made with Israel. God's dealing with us is the fact that we have been grafted in to the Salvafic promises that are found in Christ Jesus. Our blessings are spiritual blessings that we have in Christ. Those spiritual blessings have nothing to do with what we do or don't do. There ours by faith, and those spiritual blessings guarantee us what forgiveness of sins, eternal life, right that we will one day have a new body, and all those are our spiritual blessings. We cannot confuse and confound these promises. What is happening here makes perfect sense for them to ask for because it's based on what God had done for them. It has nothing to do with us other than what as God intervened in their enemies. God will ultimately intervene in our enemies,

1:00:46 but it will happen spiritually in the future. Now, God will ultimately destroy the enemies, but most and even in Revelation nineteen, when he's destroying those enemies, it's primarily destroying the enemies and nations. That what happens immediately after he destroys those nations, and Revelation nineteen goes to Revelation twenty. When God destroys all of those people in nineteen, he just slaughters everyone. What immediately happens in twenty No. No. Nine in chapter twenty, you're about a thousand years off the thousand year reign were what happens? Israel gets all the promises, right, so even Revelation, the destruction of all the enemies sets up then the framework for Israel then to get the land. So then then God can fulfill all of those very physical and material promises, which includes the destruction of their enemies, them obtaining the land, and Christ ruling and reigning in their midst So even there so for us now, so Christians want to go and then say, see, God's going to destroy our enemies. It's about destroying Israel's enemies. When are our enemies ultimately destroyed at the conclusion of the thousand years, when then Satan, sin and death is in a sense all cast into

1:02:16 the lake of fire, and then we get a new body and a new heaven and a new earth. And then guess what that all sin is got? Then all of our enemies are cast away, right, But until then, we can't take these promises and claim them for us. And everyone does. It's like, it's it's frustrating that I have to be this repetitive and it's so redundant. But you can't imagine all the sermons that do all of the things that I'm preaching against. It's just it's so common that I almost want to I just lose my mind listening to sermons because and everybody is sitting in the puch like amen, amen. Sometimes they clap and it's like, what do you ameny? Like this has nothing to do with you, and yet they walk out thinking it does.

1:03:07 All right? Can we see a little bit of ourselves here? We can see a little bit of ourselves here, right, Because we live in a world where we believe in a god in whom we cannot see, or we live in circumstances that call into question the existence and the involvement of the God and whom we cannot see, and we face enemies which we can see. That sometimes makes us forget the enemies in which we cannot see, But so we can relate, right, we have enemies just like they have enemies. Those enemies want to destroy us. We can understand. But what we can't do is think that God is going to intervene in the same way, because it's completely different. Everything about those stories are they unique, They're unique from each other, and they clearly do not demonstrate how God is operating today. Now, God is operating today because we believe his eternal decree in providence, right, But ultimately, for us, what promises can I cling to?

1:04:08 The spiritual promise is given to me in Christ Jesus. Now who can still keep holding onto some of these promises? Israel? And Israel can pray that God will do what defeat their enemies, restore them to the land, bless them with prayer because all of those promises are given to them in those covenants. My prayer is going to be very different from that because the covenantal promises determine everything. So when we read saw mayby three, you mean bere like, well, man, that's not what you talked about prayer. Well, because their prayer is very different because they're praying in line with the Covenant and that's what and God defeated all of their enemies. And then starting in verse thirteen, which we'll try to finish next week thirteen and following Now we get to them prayer toy section right, and so then, well, I think I have a solution to a precatory prayers, right, because once again, guess what Christians have done taking precatory prayers.

1:05:14 Thinking Christians can pray in precatory prayers against political leaders of whom we do not like. Remember when Christians were praying for Barack Obama to die? Yeah, and they would justify buying precatory prayers. I think the precatory prayers, I go ahead and give your preview, is connected to what the covenants, which once again would remove it from what us because God promised to do what to Israel's enemies to destroy them, so therefore they could pray for the destruction of their enemies based off God's covenant promises. Now we can pray for God to ultimately destroy enemies, but our enemies, according to the New Testament is not what. Wow, it's not really that complicated. But you can't tell Christians that because they are like, how dare you tell me I can't pray for the death of a president. That's a good Christian thing to do. Nothing Christian about that, not even the way we're supposed to act in the New Testament, we're supposed to love our enemy turned the other cheek. I mean, like praying for the well in the Old Testament they did. Can you not understand the difference.

1:06:32 That's why I've gone through all of this time to try to show you that there is a difference in everything, and that difference has to come with You've got to keep Israel and the Church separate. And if you don't keep it separate, there are massive theological implications, massive theological implication. This is a hermeneutical issue. It's not an issue about eschatology. It's not an issue about how smart you are versus how dumb. A dispancing this is not about even being a dispensation list or not dispensational list. It's like, I've got to keep this separate because if I don't, nothing makes any sense because I'm over here acting like I'm an Old Testament Jew, but I'm not. And those promise, if those promises are my promises, then I could pray that way, but then we would have lots of questions about why God never acts that way, because does he do anything for us like he did for Israel, no got man have fallen from heaven, parting the Red Sea, all those things. Oh, but it's all based because God made specific promises for them. If we keep that separate, the Bible makes a whole lot more sense. All right, let's pray loll God, we come before you this afternoon.

1:07:45 Thank you Lord for being in a place where we can challenge and question things. Lord, I don't know that that section in saw mayty three is very hard knowing how to deal with. Forgive me if I did not deal with it correctly. Well, Lord, I pray that we understand what happened then, what they were looking for and hoping for, and how radically different our situation is, and that we are not. Then help us keep these distinctions in our mind, so one we do not become disillusioned, discouraged and believe that You've abandoned us. At the same time, it keeps us, the Lord, from trying to claim things that don't belong to us. Forgive us for when we have done that, And Lord, help us continue to seek and to understand your word to the best of our ability.

1:08:28 And we asked this in Jesus name, And God's people said