I Just Can't Wait to Be King

Lead Vocalist (Joel)

Welcome & Announcements (Jason)

Good morning family!

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3 announcements:

1) Members Meeting tonight at 6PM

No potluck, because...

2) Church Luncheon

May 26 immediately after the service

Hospitality team providing meats

Please bring a side and/or dessert to share

3) Aspire

Men’s discipleship group for those wanting to learn more about pastoral ministry

Whether or not you ever become an elder in this or another church, you will grow in your understanding of theology and how to love and serve the church

Meet once a month for three months, then take a break

This term we’ll be studying Biblical Counseling

Sign up or get more information using the QR code in the bulletin or on the screen.

Now please take a moment of silence to prepare your heart for worship.

Call to Worship (Zech 9 (p 6))

Prayer of Praise (Carly Kavanay)

Crown Him with Many Crowns

Good and Gracious King

Prayer of Confession (Joel Whitcomb), Misplaced trust

Assurance of Pardon (Psalm 20:6-7)

Christ is Mine Forevermore

Be Thou My Vision

Scripture Reading (Judges 8:32-9:6)

You can find it on page 246 in the black Bibles

Pastoral Prayer (Jason Wells)

Prayer for PBC—Biblical church membership

Prayer for sister church—Temple Baptist Church (Wes Taylor)

Prayer for US—Lietenant Governor

Prayer for the world—Sao Tome

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

START TIMER!!!

How many of you are familiar with The Babylon Bee? For those of you who aren’t, it’s a news satire website that publishes fake news articles that poke fun at real events happening in the culture.

Consider this post from The Babylon Bee after a recent presidential election:

The article was entitled American Christians Excited to Live Through The Book of Judges Firsthand.

SHOW BABYLON BEE PICTURE

The article said this:

Christians across America have enjoyed an unprecedented time of blessing, protection, and prosperity since the nation's founding. Now with a new administration on its way, it seems that all of that is coming to an abrupt end, and Christians are preparing themselves to experience living through the book of Judges firsthand.

"Oh wow! This is just like when the Israelites turned away from God and were met with judgment and persecution!" said local mother Nancy Livingston. "I always wondered what it was like to live through those times, but not anymore!"

"There's a time for everything. And right now it's time to be oppressed by a harsh ruler!" said local Christian, James Erlin, forced to wear a gray jumpsuit and yellow cross symbol at all times.

Despite years of the American people living in active rebellion and turning away from God, many are surprised to be witnessing the wrath of God firsthand. . . .

"Honestly I'm surprised we made it this far without retribution from God," said Jake Gardner, a man who was jailed for suggesting killing the unborn isn't a good thing. "Seemed like we had kind of a lot of unrepentant sin to go without a response. We were really asking for it."

Experts predict that this season of judgment will continue for another 4-8 years, or until a new administration can take over and immediately fix everything. [1]

Well here we are with another presidential election on the horizon, and history seems to be repeating itself.

Is one of these men a hero sent by God to deliver His people?

Is one of these men a harsh ruler sent to oppress God’s people?

Or, perhaps, are all the names on the ballot evidence that God is judging this nation?

How are we supposed to think about those who rule us? Especially when our rulers live, speak, and lead in unsavory ways?

Almost 500 years ago, John Calvin wrote this about rulers:

“They who rule unjustly and incompetently have been raised up by [God] to punish the wickedness of the people. . . . a wicked king is the Lord’s wrath upon the earth.” [2]

That is certainly the case with our story this morning in...

Judges 9

After the death of Gideon, there’s a new sheriff in town to oppress God’s people.

But this time, their oppressor is not some foreign king or general.

For the first time in the book of Judges, God’s people are oppressed by one of their own.

Gideon’s son Abimelech will rise up as a wicked king to oppress his own people.

But the story of Abimelech was not written merely that we might learn a bit of Jewish history.

The Apostle Paul says...

1 Corinthians 10:6—Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.

You’ve heard the old quote, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

This is a story about a wicked leader from Israel’s history. But it’s a story we need to learn from, lest we too are deceived by wicked leaders today.

The Big idea I hope to communicate this morning, with God’s help, is that God wants His people to identify and avoid wicked leaders.

We’ll unpack that big idea by asking and answering Two Questions that will make up the outline for today’s sermon:

WHY SHOULD we avoid wicked leaders?

HOW CAN we avoid wicked leaders?

Let’s begin with question one...

1) WHY SHOULD We Avoid Wicked Leaders?

We’re first introduced to Abimelech in...

Judges 8:31—And [Gideon’s] concubine who was in Shechem also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech.

Last week we looked at the rise and fall of Gideon, and how acted very much like a king even though he told the people only God would rule over them.

He named one of his seventy sons “Abimelech,” which means “my father is king.”

SHOW ABIMELECH SLIDE

Abimelech behaves himself for awhile, but as soon as his dad dies he shows his true colors.

From Abimelech’s leadership we see four reasons why we should avoid wicked leaders:

A) Wicked Leaders Corrupt FAMILIES.

Judges 9:1–2—Now Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal [remember, that’s a nickname for Gideon] went to Shechem to his mother’s relatives and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother’s family, “Say in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.”

After his dad dies, Abimelech goes to his hometown and offers a proposal:

"Guys, you know there’s so much gridlock in Israel these days. What with seventy sons of Gideon ruling over you. What we need to do is drain the swamp! Wouldn’t one ruler be much more efficient than seventy? Oh, and by the way, remember we’re family.”

Notice how the people respond...

Judges 9:3-4—And his mother’s relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him.

The people of God in Shechem like this Abimelech guy.

This is change we can believe in!

With Abimelech we can build back better.

He can make Shechem great again!

So they donate a bunch of money to Abimelech’s campaign fund, and Abimelech hires his campaign staff—a bunch of worthless and reckless fellows who will help ensure he becomes king.

What’s the next step in a political campaign? Primary season.

Before Abimelech can rule, he needs to eliminate his political rivals.....

Judges 9:5—And he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself.

Abimelech secures power in Israel by assassinating his seventy brothers.

If anything, this should make us grateful that our rulers aren’t this bad.

But Abimelech is a picture of what wicked leaders do: they corrupt God’s design for the family.

Sometimes wicked leaders attack their own families.

Like King Herod the Great who killed his wife and three sons, like Emperor Nero who killed his own mother, like King Henry VIII who executed two wives, and like Abimelech here.

Or like politicians today whose families are in shambles due to their own immorality and poor leadership at home.

Sometimes wicked leaders are far more subtle. Their own family lives look squeaky clean, but their policies corrupt families in the culture.

Policies which deny the sanctity of unborn life, corrupting a mother’s bond for her own children.

Or policies which deny the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, creating families where both motherhood and fatherhood are optional.

Or policies which strip parents of their rights to raise their children according to their own convictions, granting all authority to the state.

Sadly, we live in a culture that is willfully blind to the ways wicked leaders corrupt the family.

We no longer care if our leaders are men and women of character.

We have made peace with policies which undermine God’s design for the family.

What we care about is winning elections. We care about results.

But the problem with this pragmatism is that the wicked leader’s corruption won’t stay limited to his family. It will eventually infect the society.

There’s a second reason we should avoid wicked leaders...

B) Wicked Leaders Corrupt SOCIETY.

You would think, after assassinating seventy members of the royal family, Abimelech would no longer be a good candidate for political office.

I mean certainly his campaign couldn’t survive that level of scandal, could it?

You’d be surprised.

Or maybe in 2024, you wouldn’t be.

Judges 9:6—And all the leaders of Shechem came together, and all Beth-millo, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Shechem.

Abimelech’s corruption has officially spread to his community.

The people don’t care about what Abimelech does in his personal life. After all, he promised efficiency and he’s going to deliver!

So they make him king.

But before all the confetti from the king’s coronation party hits the ground, there’s a problem.

We read in verse 5 that Abimelech’s youngest brother, Jotham, somehow survived the attack on Gideon’s sons.

By this point in the book of Judges we would expect that Jotham is going to rise up as a new judge to rescue God’s people from the wicked king Abimelech.

But that’s not what happens.

Jothan doesn’t swing a sword, he tells a story.

You can read the whole thing in verses 7-20, but let me summarize it for you:

Once there was forest that wanted a king.

So the trees asked an olive tree, “Do you want to be king?”

The olive tree replied, “Why would I do that when I get to grow olives?”

So the trees asked a fig tree, “Do you want to be king?”

But the fig tree said, “Why would I do that when I get to grow figs?”

So the trees went to a vine and asked, “Do YOU want to be king?”

But the vine said, “Why would I do that when I get to make wine?”

So finally, the trees went to a thornbush and said, “Will YOU be our king?”

And the thornbush said, “I thought you’d never ask!!!”

Then Jotham got to the point: if you have done the right thing in killing my brothers and making Abimelech king, then rejoice!! But if not, fire will come from Abimelech and devour you. And fire will come from you and devour Abimelech.

In other words, you will tear each other apart!!

We learn from verse 57 that God was working through Jotham to warn His people.

But the people didn’t care.

They went ahead with the coronation and Abimelech became their king for three years.

What a picture of how wicked leaders can corrupt a society.

Just think of one issue like so-called same-sex marriage in our country.

Just over 12 years ago, no U.S. president or major presidential candidate had ever endorsed same-sex marriage.

Now the leading candidates from both parties celebrate a sin that the Bible condemns.

Yes, leaders often reflect their culture. But they also have a corrupting influence on culture.

All this might seem pretty hopeless. But the corrupting influence of a wicked leader will eventually lead to his or her downfall.

Consider a third reason we should avoid wicked leaders...

C) Wicked Leaders Corrupt RELATIONSHIPS.

Hopefully by this point the alliance between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem is obvious.

Abimelech convinced them to select him as their king because he was one of them.

And in turn, the men of Schechem gave Abimelech the resources he needed to orchestrate his massive assassination plot against his own brothers.

But here’s the thing about wicked alliances: they don’t last long.

Winston Churchill once said a wicked ruler is like a man trying to ride a tiger. Once you get on, you can’t get off. [3]

They spend so much time fighting for power that they make a lot of enemies.

In a dog-eat-dog world, we shouldn’t be surprised when the dogs start turning on each other.

And that’s exactly what happens to Abimelech...

Verses 23-41 gives us the full story of how the relationship between Abimelech and Shechem begins to sour.

We won’t take the time to read that whole passage this morning, let’s just read the summary in...

Judges 9:23–24—And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.

There’s two important lessons we should learn from these verses...

First, relationships rooted in sin are often destroyed by the same sin.

The relationship between Abimelech and the men of Shechem was rooted in violence. And violence eventually destroyed their relationship.

Perhaps there’s someone in this room who is tempted to throw away their marriage by pursuing an affair. That man, that woman seems so understanding. So passionate. So unlike the person you sleep with every night. But if you do this, your relationship will be rooted in lies and sexual sin. Don’t be surprised when the thing that brings you together with this person is also the thing that eventually destroys that relationship too.

The only relationships that last are those which are rooted in love and truth!

If you have tasted the bitter fruit that comes from a relationship rooted in sin, take heart.

The second lesson we should learn from these verses is that God is sovereignly working for the good of His people.

Notice the text says that “God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem.”

What’s going on here?

James 1:13—Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.

Even though God is NOT tempting Abimelech and the men of Shechem to sin, He is sovereign over their temptation.

Martin Luther used to say that God keeps Satan on a leash.

So even when great wickedness is unfolding before our eyes, God is not out of control!

But God doesn’t work on our timetables. He does not always remove wicked leaders when we would like. Sometimes they’re able to do great damage before their time is done.

We see that when we examine a final reason we should avoid wicked leaders...

D) Wicked Leaders Corrupt JUSTICE.

After their relationship soured, Abimelech is determined to destroy the men of Shechem.

And in his battle against Shechem, we see how wicked leaders can corrupt justice...

Judges 9:45—And Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed the people who were in it, and he razed the city and sowed it with salt.

Abimelech captures and kills the people of an entire city. He scatters salt all over the city so nothing can grow.

1000 people escape and take refuge in a pagan temple fortress called “The House of El-Berith” or the “Tower of Shechem.”

Notice what Abimelech does to them...

Judges 9:49—So every one of the people cut down his bundle and following Abimelech put it against the stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about 1,000 men and women.

Men and women alike are slaughtered by the unjust rage of this wicked ruler.

Incidentally archeologists actually discovered this temple in 1926.

SHOW SHECHEM RUINS IMAGE

It is one of the largest temples ever discovered in Canaan, and it’s clear from the remains that it functioned not only as a pagan temple but also as a fortress.

Which is likely why the men and women were taking refuge inside before Abimelech destroyed it.

It’s also interesting that archeologists have unearthed a giant sacred stone in the temple courtyard.

SHOW SHECHEM RUINS IMAGE (WITH MARKUP)

Perhaps this was the very stone where all of Abimelech’s brothers were slaughtered.

Even today, that stone stands as a reminder of the injustice that was committed by Abimelech.

SHOW ABIMELECH’S STONE IMAGE

Even if all the world has forgotten about the evil he committed, God has not forgotten.

And the same is true of all the injustices committed by wicked rulers in our day.

God is not blind to injustices committed in courtrooms, abortion clinics, prisons, concentration camps, or in the fields of war. He sees the injustices committed by wicked leaders all over the world. And He will, in His time, destroy the wicked.

A theologian from Croatia named Miroslav Volf once struggled believing that God was a God of wrath who would destroy the wicked. And then he watched as unspeakable horrors were poured out on his own people. He wrote this:

I used to think that wrath was unworthy of God. Isn’t God love? Shouldn’t divine love be beyond wrath? God is love, and God loves every person and every creature. That’s exactly why God is wrathful against some of them. My last resistance to the idea of God’s wrath was a casualty of the war in the former Yugoslavia, the region from which I come. According to some estimates, 200,000 people were killed and over 3,000,000 were displaced. My villages and cities were destroyed, my people shelled day in and day out, some of them brutalized beyond imagination, and I could not imagine God not being angry. Or think of Rwanda in the last decade of the past century where 800,000 people were hacked to death in one hundred days! How did God react to the carnage? By doting on the perpetrators in a grandparently fashion? By refusing to condemn the bloodbath but instead affirming the perpetrators’ basic goodness? Wasn’t God fiercely angry with them? Though I used to complain about the indecency of the idea of God’s wrath, I came to think that I would have to rebel against a God who wasn’t wrathful at the sight of the world’s evil. God isn’t wrathful in spite of being love. God is wrathful because God is love. [4]

In His time God will pour out His wrath on wicked rulers.

Just look at how He dispatches the wicked ruler Abimelech...

Judges 9:50–52—Then Abimelech went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez and captured it. But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in, and they went up to the roof of the tower. And Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire.

This looks like the same song, different verse.

Abimelech appears ready to destroy another tower, along with all the people inside.

But God has other plans...

Judges 9:53–54—And a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull. Then he called quickly to the young man his armor-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” And his young man thrust him through, and he died.

Once again we see an evil villain put to death by a strong woman.

Ladies, I hope you’re enjoying the book of Judges!

Isn’t it a bit ironic that Abimelech doesn’t want anybody to know that a woman killed him—how embarrassing!

But the Holy Spirit says, “No actually let’s include this detail in the Bible so that everybody knows that God gets the last laugh!!!”

We can trust God to destroy the wicked.

He does not need our help. He knows what He’s doing.

But He does want His people to identify and avoid wicked leaders.

Why? Because they corrupt families, society, relationships, and justice.

But how? Let’s answer that question quickly before we conclude.

2) HOW CAN We Avoid Wicked Leaders?

Here’s what I’m not going to do in this section:

I’m not going to tell you how to vote in November.

Different Christians may make different decisions based on different convictions. And it would be sin for me to bind your consciences from this pulpit.

However, I can share a few principles from the life of Abimelech that may help you think through the leaders we should avoid.

But don’t just think about the type of person you’re going to vote for in November.

Single ladies, think about the type of man that you want to lead your home if the Lord were to grant you a husband.

Church members, think about the type of man we should look for in a pastor. Or the types of men and women who should lead ministries in this church as deacons and coordinators.

Consider with me three traits in leaders to avoid:

A) Beware Leaders With Unscrupulous CHARACTER

Abimelech is a leader with horrible character.

Most wicked leaders are not quite as diabolical as Abimelech, but you can still learn a lot from their character.

I was a young teenager during the scandals that plagued President Bill Clinton’s presidency. In those days, American evangelicals spoke with crystal clarity about how private failures led to public disqualification. One group of evangelicals wrote this:

“We are aware that certain moral qualities are central to the survival of our political system, among which are truthfulness, integrity, respect for the law, respect for the dignity of others, adherence to the constitutional process, and a willingness to avoid the abuse of power. We reject the premise that violations of these ethical standards should be excused so long as a leader remains loyal to a particular political agenda and the nation is blessed by a strong economy.” [5]

Call me a dinosaur, but I believe if character mattered for the presidency in 1998, it should still matter in 2024.

Is it a sign of God’s judgment upon a nation that the two men likely to grace our ballots in November are both men with unscrupulous character, although for vastly different reasons?

But forget the election for a moment.

Single ladies, seriously consider a man’s character before you give him your heart.

PBC members, let’s seriously consider a man’s character before we affirm him as an elder.

There’s a second type of leader to avoid...

B) Beware Leaders With Unhealthy AMBITION

Remember the parable that Jotham told about the olive tree, the fig tree, the vine, and the thornbush? Isn’t it interesting that the first three trees were completely content not being the leader.

There’s a lesson for us there, isn’t there? We should be concerned whenever someone wants to be leader too badly.

A quick search on Amazon reveals that there’s 60,000 books with “leading,” in the title and only 434 books with “following” in the title.

Following isn’t glamorous or sexy. But it’s something that all of us have to do in one relationship or another.

A sure sign that a leader is someone to be avoided is if he or she is far more interested in leading than following.

This doesn’t mean it’s always wrong to have an ambition to lead.

1 Timothy 3:1 is clear that one of the qualifications for an elder/pastor is he must “aspire” to that office.

But there is a healthy ambition to lead and an unhealthy ambition.

A healthy ambition sounds a lot like some of the conversations I had with Mike, Mike and John when we were considering them as our first three lay elders at PBC. All three of them had a hard time with that word “aspire” in 1 Timothy 3:1. They wanted to serve the church, but they weren’t driven by an unrelenting passion to hold an office.

But there are some who seem to be motivated by a title or an office.

This is the unhealthy ambition of Abimelech.

We must be careful when we notice someone with that sort of unhealthy ambition to lead.

There’s a final type of leader to avoid...

C) Beware Leaders With Unrealistic PROMISES

In Judges 9:2, Abimelech promises the men of Shechem that life would be much better if they made him king instead of being ruled by the seventy sons of Gideon.

I like to imagine Abimelech saying to those men in Shechem, “Guys, this could be the most important leadership decision in our lifetime!”

But in the end, Abimelech’s rule would be far worse.

How many men and women met an early demise because the people trusted the unrealistic promises of a wicked king?

How many lives could have been saved if the people of Shechem refused to believe the unrealistic promises of a power-hungry, bloodthirsty, wannabe king?

We could ask ourselves the same questions as we consider the leaders clamoring for our allegiance.

If a pastor, a boyfriend, a senator, or a president makes promises that seem to good to be true, it’s probably because those promises really are too good to be true.

Abimelech wouldn’t be able to keep any of his promises. And within a few years the very first monarchy in Israel’s history would fall apart.

And one way or another, the politicians claiming for all our attention in this year’s election will quickly fade off the scene too.

You might be tempted to hear all this and give yourself over to despair.

With so many wicked people in leadership, what’s the point?

It’s interesting that the next two judges—Tola and Jair—would lead Israel for a combined 45 years in Judges 10:1-5.

That’s 15 times longer than Abimelech’s three-year reign as king. And yet, the Bible devotes ten times as many words to the story of Abimelech as it does to Tola and Jair.

Perhaps there’s a lesson there for us too. It doesn’t take long for a wicked leader to create long-lasting damage.

Pol Pot ruled Cambodia for only three years—the same length of time that Abimelech was king—yet 2 million people died under his reign of terror.

How much more damage would he have done if good people didn’t stand up to this wicked leader?

It’s been said that all it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.

So we dare not give ourselves over to despair. We must be faithful. We must work to identify and avoid wicked leaders.

Especially within our churches.

But, as we are able, within our communities too.

But the ultimate solution to wicked leaders is not better leaders.

The ultimate solution is not looking to the leader who’s the lesser of two evils.

The ultimate solution is not a nice king, but a new kind of king.

We are like Abimelech...

We desperately want to be kings of our own lives

When we try to be our own kings, we destroy our families, our communities, our relationships, and we pervert justice

We need a new king

Jesus!!!

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Parents with children in nursery, please pick them up while we sing, so we can take communion together as a church family.

All Glory Be to Christ

Celebration of Communion

Benediction (2 Sam 23 (173))