Learning the Hard Way
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· 2 viewsThis sermon is a summary of the book of Judges
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H.G. Wells once said:
“If there is no God, nothing matters. If there is a God, nothing else matters!”
Such could be the summary of the book of Judges. This Old Testament book is not one to make you feel good. Rather, it reveals a pattern of individual and national depravity. The Hebrews at the time of the Judges lived as if there was no God. One commentator states:
“Realism permeates Judges, for the book refuses to overlook the sordid side of life. While Judges portrays the worst with regard to bad behavior, such realism was included to reveal something important about life and human nature apart from God.” (ESV Study Bible, electronic version).
Judges is a lesson book of how dependent we are upon God for moral and spiritual redemption.
Its setting is around 1350 B.C.. It is ironic that the setting comes after a time of great grace. Consider the following points.
God has delivered the Hebrews out of Egypt and has taken care of His people after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses.
Joshua has succeeded Moses and has led the conquest of the land of Canaan. Now he has passed.
The present period is of 300 years, before the coronation of Saul as the first king.
God has kept His promises, but the people have continued time and again to break their faithfulness.
During this time, there were several key indicators of the spiritual condition of God’s people.
For one, they had abandoned the Lord.
Secondly, they went after other gods, those worshipped by the neighboring nations.
Thirdly, they provoked the Lord to anger.
William LaSor writes:
“The pattern established here and followed in the stories of the Judges is this:
The people “do evil” by serving other gods.
Yahweh sends a nation to oppress them;
The people cry out to Yahweh;
He raises up a deliverer;
The oppressor is defeated;
The people have rest. (William Sanford LaSor, Old Testament Survey, 215).
The book of Judges teaches us that the Bible is not about heroes or history, as much as it is about God. The Lord is the central character in its narratives, which can be said for all of the narratives in the Old Testament, and the Bible for that matter.
As someone once described the book of Judges as “a downward spiral, Judges 17:6 speaks of the attitude of God’s people during the time after Joshua’s leadership.
6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
This statement shows up in a handful of other places such as chapters 18, 19, and 21. It is a statement that summarizes the book. Let us learn the following lessons.
Our memory fails us.
Our memory fails us.
Judges 2:8-12 reads:
8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. 9 And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. 12 And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger.
Israel had a memory people. They forgot the goodness of God. Whenever we forget the word of the Lord, we spiral downward spiritually.
It was not as if they were not warned Just a few years earlier, Joshua was taking the mantle of leadership after Moses had passed. God told him and the others to remember. Joshua 1:6-8
6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
But what often happens over time is that we “cruise” in our blessings and forget about God. We go our own way and depart from the Lord. Isaiah 53:6 reminds us:
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
Proverbs 14:12 states:
12 There is a way that seems right to a man,
but its end is the way to death.
The problem with Israel at this time is that they were caught in a cycle.
Sometimes you may feel like you are caught in an unfortunate spiritual cycle. You are trying to break free from generational sins within your family, but you’ve had limited success.
With God there is always hope. Peter preached to the people in Acts 3:19-20
19 Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, 20 that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, … .”
But for Israel, there was the recurring them found in Judges 2:11
11 And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.
This repeats in 3:7, 3:12, 4:1, 6:1, 10:6 and 13:1.
Baal was the most powerful god of the Canaanites and Asherah was a popular goddess. Mixed with their worship were the presence of temple prostitutes and otehr things that appealed to the sinful nature. God called them to be holy, but they failed miserably.
1 Peter 1:15-16 quotes the book of Leviticus when it says:
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
God, in His love, has set boundaries for us. His precepts are given to us as a guide for the conscience, loving guardrails.
Protestants call this the third use of the law. The first is to show us the need for a Savior; the second is to restrain wickedness in the world; and the third is to be a guide for our conscience.
Author and Pastor Kevin DeYoung states that this use of the law is
“...to help us learn the nature of the Lord’s will, acting as a kind of blueprint for holiness.” (Kevin DeYoung, The Hole in Our Holiness, 51).
Often I look around and wonder if our country has lost its moral compass.
But Judges is not without its testimony of grace. God did not leave His people. Next we find that...
The Lord raised up godly individuals to call the people back to God.
The Lord raised up godly individuals to call the people back to God.
Israel experienced widespread apostasy in the days during their occupation of the land of Canaan. Although it is a story of how people can fall away from the Lord, it is also a story of God’s faithfulness.
Judges 2:16 reads:
16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
Ironically, a few of the judges are mentioned in Hebrews 11:32-33, that chapter known as the “hall of faith.”
32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions… .”
There were several judges. Othniel, Barak, Gideon, Deborah and Samson. But you will discover at reading the book of Judges that each judge was far from perfect. They also struggled with sin, unbelief, fear, etc.
16 Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. 17 Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. 18 Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved 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 afflicted and oppressed them.
Othniel was considered to be the first judge; Samuel was the last.
Of Othniel, we are told in Judges 3:9-11
9 But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 10 The Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. 11 So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
It is interesting that no one else is mentioned at that time for their faithfulness to God. Othniel was a different sort of guy. He had an unusual faith. And God used him.
Oh that God would raise up Othniels in our day, to be men and women of exceptional faith, to call us back to the Lord.
In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit dwelt on prophets, priests and kings. Today, every Christian has the Holy Spirit as a resource to follow the Lord, even when the world around you is going to hell.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name.
A fairly recent study by Pew Research determined that 62% of Americans identify as Christian. This is down from 78% in 2007.
The breakdown is 40% Protestant; 19% Catholic and 3% say they are Christian without specifying any denomination.
Most of this decline occured up until five years ago. Now it has leveled off. (2023-24 Religious Landscape Study: Executive summary | Pew Research Center)
God is calling you to faithfulness. How will you respond?
Conclusion
Conclusion
One of the most gifted speakers in church history was John Chrysostom—the name comes from a Greek word meaning “golden tongued.” John was sent from Antioch to what was then Constantinople where he preached fearlessly in the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. His denunciation of the lavish extravagance of the rich and ruling class and his condemnation of excess infuriated many, including Empress Eudoxia who arranged for him to be exiled.
When he was told of his fate, Chrysostom responded: “What can I fear? Will it be death? But you know that Christ is my life, and that I shall gain by death. Will it be exile? But the earth and all its fullness is the Lord’s. Will it be the loss of wealth? But we brought nothing into the world, and can carry nothing out. Thus all the terrors of the world are contemptible in my eyes, and I smile at all its good things. Poverty I do not fear. Riches I do not sigh for. Death I do not shrink from.”
Far too many today are more worried about what people think than about what God thinks. The desire not to offend others (which is not a bad thing in itself) is often elevated to be the most important thing. As a result, many shrink from speaking the truth.
