The Bible Series Judges
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Nate Saint, Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming, Roger Youderian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Billy Graham, Richard Wurmbrand… and the list could contain many other names.
These men came from a time and generation that was given the designation “The Greatest Generation”. This designation was given to them for good reason… they as a whole demonstrated:
Personal Responsibility
Humility
Work Ethic
They were Frugal
Marked by their Commitment
Integrity and Self-Sacrifice
THESE ARE THE MARKS OF THIS GENERATION...
We look around today and the generations coming after them have lost something. Some have even succumbed to the thought that we will never see men like this again.
there seems to be a downward spiral accruing
As we enter Judges today we are looking at a book on the heels of…
“The Greatest Generation”
“The Greatest Generation”
The nation seen in the book of Joshua… Under the LEADERSHIP of men like Joshua and Caleb!
Tempered and Tested in the wideness, needing to TRUST GOD!
They were Forged in the fires of BATTLE, seeing that it is God who gives the victory!!!
Born out of a generation that lacked faith, that cried and whined when things were hard, that wanted comforts NOT GOD!
They came from a generation that could not & would not trust God or His Word
God used this generation to conquer the land, vital victories would lead to their hearts being fortified in their God!
Through the battles won… the next generation would experience some ease, comfort, and plenty
With fewer times of battle and less times of testing we see a generation grow weak
This weaker generation would raise another generation:
Truths forgotten
Lessons no longer taught
Life’s desires pulling them while losing their desire for the Lord
Forgetting the very words Joshua had declared to them and his warning... Joshua 24:14-15
“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Our past, our environment, our upbringing will play a great deal into our view and perspective of life…
BUT it is NEVER an excuse for our disobedience to God.
Israel is seen with a poor past example becoming the greatest generation
Israel is also seen in the book of Judges with a great example yet choosing forget, to not pass on truth, to grow complacent...
In this type of a state you see repeated throughout the whole book of Judges...
The Overview & Structure
The Overview & Structure
The book begins with Failures and the overview of the book as a whole:
Chapter 1 details for us the failures of the various tribes… failure to “DRIVE OUT”… sin was present, drive it out!!
Failure of Judah: 1:1–20
Failure of Benjamin: 1:21
Failure of Ephraim & Manasseh: 1:22–29
Failure of Zebulum: 1:30
Failure of Asher: 1:31–32
Failure of Naphtali: 1:33
Failure of Dan: 1:34-36
The center of the book references the downward spiral of the people and the judges themselves
Yet… it is the end of the book that shows the moral temperature of the people and even events that took place before the central part of the book in terms of the timeline…
The writer wanted to end this book helping Israel and those who would read and learn in the future that it is a heart issue that lead the people into the cycles that we see spanning the 400 years of this book...
The writer of Judges (MOST LIKELY SAMUEL) would summarize this book in Judges 2
Now the angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? “Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’ ” When the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. So they named that place Bochim; and there they sacrificed to the Lord. When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the Lord which He had done for Israel. Then Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred and ten. And they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the Lord to anger. So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had spoken and as the Lord had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed. Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do as their fathers. When the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge; for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them. But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk in it as their fathers did, or not.” So the Lord allowed those nations to remain, not driving them out quickly; and He did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
What a tragic description of a people, a sad summary of 400 years!… Throughout this book we see a cycle of sin...
The Sin Cycle
The Sin Cycle
James 1:14-16 illustrates this cycle well…
But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
Sin- Falling into disobedience. Tempted by the very situation they put themselves in… desires!
Judges 21:25 is such a sad statement on their depth of sin...
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
God should have been recognized as their King… instead they did what they pleased
Servitude- we will find that ALL SIN is enslaving to us! Our enslavement is not as obvious as Israel’s at that time.
Supplication- in our sin there is ONLY ONE person, place to turn to… God almighty. And we even see in this book His frustration with their continued return to this cycle!
Salvation- Seven times we see God provide a Judge...
More of a tribal chieftain, or warrior
Sent by God to do His work… does not mean that all they did was approved by God!
The first few were GOOD
The next couple were OKAY… like Gideon (300 army)
Jephthah was BAD… bargained with God like Canaanites bargained with their gods
Sacrificed his daughter bargaining for a victory
Samson was WORST… there was no distinguishing him from the actions of the Canaanites
Throughout the book each Judge depicts in their life what is wrong with Israel… and each one gets worse that the one prior!
THROUGH ALL the judges it was God’s Spirit that did the work of salvation!
GOD is the focal character of this book! but we see Israel decaying morally…
Moral Decline
Moral Decline
GOD IS HOLY… we must remember this!!! Leviticus 19:2 states:
“Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
Israel had FORGOTTEN this… YOU and I forget this too! When we forget WHO God is and WHAT He has done… we fall into sin, we cease to be HOLY! The further we spiral down the easy it gets… the further from Him and closer to the WORLD we get!
WE ASK OURSELVES HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN???:
Let’s put things in perspective… what is important?
Church… is it outward actions or a deep relationship
Are you doing “christian” things as a punch card or because of passion
Who or what is your “god”… Your Investment Demonstrates Value
Time
Passion
… do you cancel sports, activities, for fellowship with the body of Christ?
Often we “come back” to church due to:
Hurst and struggles in life
We use it like a bargaining chip with God
I will do this for you if you do that for me
Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours!
Then we wonder why we’re losing our YOUNG PEOPLE...
They see no passion
They see no relationship
They see no value placed in your life… why would they value it?
In the end we find the church, looking more like the world, and we wonder why we have no impact!?
… BUT GOD!
… BUT GOD!
Regardless where you may find your ]self today in that cycle… God is standing ready to extend His GRACE, His SALVATION!!!
Those Judges may have had sin, they did not act Holy as God was Holy
Yet… on the other side of the cross, the writer of Hebrews list these men with their warts, sins, and messed up lives in Hebrews chapter on FAITH!
WOW, what a GOD!
Israel deserved punishment, But wow what a God!
You and I deserve HELL!!! But wow what a God!
Our HOLY God… extends His Grace and Mercy even in our sin… and saves us! Israel would soon look to a king that was a man… we however look to the One who is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and praise Him for His goodness.
TODAY… STOP LIVING AS THE WORLD! And let’s begin to LIVE FOR HIM & LIKE HIM!