From Greenville, South Carolina, we present Let the Bible Speak. Let the Bible Speak is the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, preaching Christ in all His fullness. Once again, we count it a privilege to welcome you to another broadcast of Let the Bible Speak, featuring messages preached by Dr. Alan Cairns, founder of Let the Bible Speak Radio Ministries. As part of his series in the Book of Judges, Dr. Cairns continues a message called When Thieves Fall Out, employing the account of a Bimelech usurping the throne of Israel to illustrate the threat of apostasy in our day. We'll hear from Dr. Cairns shortly. Before he comes, we invite you to enjoy this devotional thought from the pen of the great 19th century preacher, C.H. Spurgeon, as found in his collection called Faith's Checkbook. Our devotional for today is entitled, He Routes Our Enemy. The text is Zephaniah chapter 3 and verse 15. He hath cast out thine enemy. What a casting out was that! Satan has lost his throne in our nature, even as he lost his seat in heaven. Our Lord Jesus has destroyed the enemy's reigning power over us. He may worry us, but he cannot claim us as his own. His bonds are no longer upon our spirits. The Son has made us free, and we are free indeed. Still is the arch-enemy the accuser of the brethren. But even from this position our Lord has driven him. Our advocate silences our accuser. The Lord rebukes our enemies, and pleads the causes of our soul, so that no harm comes of all the devil's revilings. As a tempter, the evil spirit still assails us, and insinuates himself into our minds. But thence also he is cast out as to his former preeminence. He wriggles about like a serpent. But he cannot rule like a sovereign. He hurls in blasphemous thoughts when he has opportunity. But what a relief it is when he's told to be quiet, and is made to slink off like a whipped cur. Lord, do this for any who are at this time worried and wearied by his barkings. Cast out their enemy, and be thou glorious in their eyes. thou hast cast him down. Lord, cast him out, O that thou wouldst banish him from the world. And can it be that I should live? Or be just in the same as God? ♪ Hear to the voice of men. ♪ Choose life, choose life for me. Oh, my imprisoned spirit, By the dawn's early light. Jesus. If you have been blessed by the beautiful sacred music which forms a part of Let the Bible Speak, you may obtain a CD containing a sampling of these Christ-honoring selections. Entitled Our Great Redeemer's Praise, this CD will provide you with nearly an hour of such beloved pieces as Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven, Be Still, My Soul, May the Mind of Christ My Savior, and In Heavenly Love Abiding. These songs are performed by the various musical groups of Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. This CD is available free of charge to our Let the Bible Speak listeners. To obtain a copy, you may contact us by email, by telephone, or by regular mail. You may call 864-244-2408. That's 864-244-2408. You may email us at info at faithfpc.org. That's info at faithfpc.org. Or you may write, Let the Bible Speak, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, SC 29615. That's Let the Bible Speak, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, SC 29615. Ask for your free copy of Our Great Redeemer's Praise. Call or write for your copy today. you. On today's broadcast, Dr. Cairns continues a message called, When Thieves Fall Out, part of this series in the book of Judges. In chapter 9, Gideon, the greatest of Israel's judges, has died. In his old age, Gideon fell into spiritual decline, resulting in coldness and idolatry among the people. Following his death, his illegitimate son, Abimelech, murdered all but one of Gideon's seventy legitimate sons, and proclaimed himself king. He was aided in this coup by the men of Shechem. Jotham, the lone survivor of the purge, employed a fable to declare God's curse upon those traitors, likening Abimelech's pact with the Shechemites to the trees of the forest appointing Abramble to be their king. He prophesied the destruction of the trees by fire from the bramble. As it turned out, the prophecy came true, for the Lord sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, ultimately resulting in Abimelech's death. Dr. Cairns is using this historical narrative to call attention to the great crime of apostasy, which is threatening to engulf Christ's Church in a wicked one-world system that denies the gospel. Now, Dr. Cairns continues this message entitled, When Thieves Fall Out. If it sounds foolish to put your trust under the shadow of a thistle, it's even more foolish to put your trust in a bimbolec. There'll come out fire from the thistle to burn you. And in the message that followed it up, there'll come out in this great anathema that Jotham placed upon them, there'll come out fire from you to burn a bimbolec. That's exactly how it transpired. For there's a God in heaven. And I like what it says in verse 23. God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. God put a division between them. God turned them one against the other with the result that the man of Shechem sought another leader, Gaal. And then when he was defeated, Abimelech came to raze the city and the tower, succeeded, then went to the next neighboring city that was probably, indeed, necessarily in the whole scheme. And there he tried to do again what he had done at Shechem, only to find a woman whose aim was very certain, got him in her sights, and broke his skull with a piece of millstone. Thus God remdered the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did in slaying his brethren. And he also remdered to the men of Shechem on their own heads all that they did, and brought about the curse of Jotham on them all. I like those words. God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. There's an old saying that starts, when thieves fall out. Well, here you have it, when thieves fall out. Or as I call this, an ancient history with a solemn message for the last days. What we have here is a very simple historical setting. But let me say that what we have here is a simple historical setting with a message that is replete with prophetic insight for every age of the church's history, but very particularly for the last of the last days. When you read the Old Testament scriptures, you have many vivid foreshadowings, if that's not a contradiction in terms. but I'll stick with it. Vivid foreshadowings of the Antichrist. You have Cain, you study the life of Cain, the first murderer, and you will have a very clear insight into the character of Antichrist, the slayer of the people of God. You have Nimrod, the first king of Babel, who is a very, very powerful picture of Antichrist, the last king of Babel. You have Pharaoh, the king who knew not Joseph, who sought to eliminate the testimony of God from the earth, a picture again of Antichrist and his hatred of the people of God. You have Goliath of Gath, That giant power defying the armies of Israel, standing in battle against David and falling before him. Thank God, just a picture of a greater giant who will fall before David's greater son. And you have a Bimelech, one of the most outstanding pictures or parallels of Antichrist in scripture. What you have here then is a history with a message for the last days. I'm going to be preaching tonight therefore from this history on things that are very much up to date and things that are reaching out into the ages or the years that are yet to come. We're going to be dealing with the great apostasy. You see, first and foremost, what we have here is a great crime. It is the crime of apostasy. You must understand that undergirding everything that happens in this chapter is an apostasy from the Word and the truth of God. There is an apostasy from the religion of God's inspired and infallible revelation. There is a rejection of the supremacy, of the sovereignty, and of the uniqueness of the God of Israel. When you read through the book of Judges, you cannot help but be impressed with how frequently and seemingly how very easily Beel worship resurfaces. Beel worship is Babylonianism. Beel worship is anti-Christianity. If you want to take a long time and establish that proposition, you can do so. It certainly can be easily done. This is the great apostasy, always ready to stride forward, to deny God's Word, to deny God's person, to deny God's Son, to deny Christ's sacrifice, and to seek to establish another religion, even while it retains something of the name, and even of the practice. of the old biblical religion. This is something that not only do you find in the book of Judges, but you find it throughout history. This is something that you find at the heart of Bible prophecy. It is a shame in America today when there is an overweening emphasis on prophetic matters. that the prophecies of God's Word have been turned by unscrupulous preachers into little more than entertainment, ear-tickling, so that you have all sorts of crazy schemes. Preachers on television and radio are very well aware that if they can come at the right time, it's rather difficult now just with the current state of international relations, they've got to do a little flip-flopping to make it sound good. But if they can make this picture that the Bible is prophesying the gathering of great Russian armies, and these Russian armies are just about to march upon Israel, and of course since America is Israel's chief supporter, they're just ready to run at America, now they know they're going to get a lot of support. And they're going to get a lot of dollars. comes as a very big shock to most Christians to realize that there's not anything by the way of positive proof that the Bible even ever mentions Russia. I am not a prophet and I certainly have no training or skill in political science or in political philosophy. But for quite some time, long before what was happening in the east of Europe, I have personally believed that communism was something that was not here to stay. Communism is not, and I've preached this for years, it is not the final enemy of the people or of the church of God. Oh, it is a vicious, filthy, atheistic, devil-inspired enemy. But I say it is a tragedy that when the Bible has much to say concerning the days to come, there is a lot of ear-tickling going on, and all the time the heart of the matter is rarely ever dealt with, namely, the emergence of the great apostasy. That's what needs to be preached as a warning to God's people today. That apostasy, to elevate the new religion, as we'll see in a moment, really an old religion, the ancient diabolical substitute for the truth of God, to elevate another king, another system, and as far as need be to wipe out every witness of the Word of God. That apostasy is very much alive and well in every generation. It is very, very active at this time. In context here we can see the characteristics of this great crime of apostasy. Time forbids that we will look at these in great detail. This apostasy rises on the sin and compromise of godly men. When you stop to think of it, there could have been no Abimelech without Gideon. That's a tragedy. Gideon stands as one of the giant saints of the Old Testament. And yet it was Gideon's compromise, Gideon's sin, Gideon's worldliness, Gideon's failure, that not only produced Abimelech, but made him what he was. When God's people begin to compromise and sin, when they get into shame and worldliness, those people will provide a basis for the apostasy. That's why it's vital that God's church today take a stand on the truth. That's why it's vital that our fundamental churches do not allow themselves to drift from the word of God and become more and more worldly minded. Gideon himself did not become an idolater. You don't expect that of godly men. I don't expect fundamental churches to come around to denying the Bible and denying the deity of Christ. The devil knows rightly that that is not likely to happen. But oh, if he can just introduce enough compromise, enough worldliness, enough laxity in our style of living, enough coldness of heart in our devotion to the things of God. If He can only do that, He'll rob us of any testimony of any value and power in our society. And in our compromise, apostasy can rise. Very interesting here that apostasy revolves around a city. of ancient identification with wickedness, the city of Shechem. In Genesis 34, Shechem was the city where the virgin daughter of Israel lost her purity. Interesting. Even more interesting, when we turn over to the last book of the Bible, the book of the Revelation, And in the 17th chapter we find that the great apostasy of the last days is centered on a great city, which in chapter 18 is referred to as a cage for every unclean bird. A city of ancient identification with wickedness, with immodesty, with immorality, and with sorcery and demonism of every kind, and mostly with great political power. The city is identified for us. You've been listening to Let the Bible Speak, the radio ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of North America. We hope you've enjoyed and benefited from today's program. We're here as your servants for Christ's sake. If we can be of any further help to you in the things of the Lord, we invite you to contact us. Our mailing address is LetTheBibleSpeak.org. 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, SC 29615. That's Let the Bible Speak, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, SC 29615. If you wish you may call us at 1-864-244-2408. That's 1-864-244-2408. Our email address is info at faithfpc.org. That's info at faithfpc.org. If you would like to learn more about the Free Presbyterian Church of North America, we invite you to visit our website, www.fpcna.org. That's www.fpcna.org. This is Charles Kelch saying thank you for listening and inviting you to join us again as we Let the Bible Speak.