The Judges
Thru The Bible • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 8 viewsNotes
Transcript
This morning church as we celebrate Mothers we also dive back into our Through the Bible Preaching Series
As we just plan to preach through the Bible
This morning we come to The Judges
To sort of catch you up
So to date Adam and Eve were created because of their sin they were kicked out of the garden
Then Abraham is called and left his fathers house
Abraham has Issac, Issac has Esau and Jacob
Jacob has 12 sons that become the 12 tribes of Israel
Israel goes to Egypt to survive
They are more or less enslaved
Then they are freed
They wonder in the desert because they don’t trust God
And church we start to see this theme if you will from the nation of Israel
They run to God when things are hard and then they turn from God
They go into the promised land
They take it over
Their leader Joshua dies
1 Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”
Their leader had died and they start to seek the Lord who will lead them
The reason for them seeking the Lord is Joshua didn’t set up someone to take his spot like Moses did
Non the less church they did right
We should celebrate the wins
They ran to God
They sought God to know what to do next
They sought the Lord when they didn’t have direction
Darn I say but we are to do the same thing
We are to seek the Lord
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
This is what we are to be doing is to seek the Lord
And church we know that this is nothing new
In fact we have the entire Bible full of examples of us seeking the Lord
And church the Nation of Israel sought the Lord
And yet their response was not complete obedience
See when you and I seek the Lord then when we get the direction or wisdom or answer
We are to act on that answer
If as in the case of the Israelites
God should we go into the promise land and take
God says Yes
The nation of Israel says but they are so big and scary people we will pass
Church when you and I seek the Lord we are to act on what He says
They were told to drive out people groups
They were told to kill people groups
They were told not to make covenants with the people groups in the land
And yet church
1 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, 2 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?
So they were disobedient
They did not do what the Lord had told them to do
See after Joshua had died there was no one to lead the nation
No leader to say what they should be doing
They did go to God an inquire but they didn’t have anyone to go to God on their behalf if that makes sense
There was no Moses or Joshua
So the tribes eventually started to do their own thing
Which is a far cry from what God had told them in the beginning
So God was going to do something about it
The Judges were before the Kings
16 Then the Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them.
The Lord raised them up so they would be delivered
They were to sort of gather the nation back together to fend off the people who were attacking them
The other people were attacking them church because they were not obedient to the Living God
Please don’t for once think you can do whatever you want live however you want
Forsake God in what you are doing and then expect God to look out for you because God is a god of love
Understand that God will punish those who are disobedient or who reject Him just like moms and dads punish their children when they disobey
So the Judges
There were good judges there were bad judges
There were Judges who were famous and some not so famous
They all served a purpose
I would challenge and encourage you to read about all of them
I would encourage you to see what you can learn from the judges and how to apply it to your own life
We know that some of those judges were mighty warriors
7 The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. 8 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, so that He sold them into the hands of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. 9 When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went out to war, the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, so that he prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. 11 Then the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
We know that Othniel was a mighty warrior
And yet after that 40 years they continued to turn from the Lord
We know that some of the other judges needed as one commentary puts it extra encouragement to follow after God
12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” 13 Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” 15 He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” 16 But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” 17 So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me.
Gideon was a mighty warrior who led the nation of Israel as a judge
We know that God used Gideon to lead the army if the nation of Israel
He judged for 40 years and enjoyed 40 years of peace
Gideon led 300 men to defeat an army of Midianites
We know that when God calls you to something the size of your army or your tribe doesn’t matter
God had called Gideon and was with Him
One of the more famous judges was Samson
I think we all know about Samson
Might and strong
The Lord visited who
His mom
Happy Mothers Day
1 Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, so that the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years. 2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children. 3 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son.
Sounds very familiar to the New Testament story of Mary and Joseph
And angel appear to Mary and explained that she would conceive
All be it through the power of the Holy Spirit
And Manoah would conceive through who her husband
Samson her son would free the Nation of Israel from the oppression of the Philistines
Samson was raised with no hair cut and no strong drink as the Lord had told his parents
Just like the Nation of Israel were given instructions when they took possession of the promise land
And then something went wrong
1 Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 So he came back and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife.”
Timnah was a border town of Israel and the Philistines
I get it it is a Israel town from what I could find
However this is one of those we start to see Samson get at close to the line without crossing it
Church when it comes to sin in our own life we need to stay as far away as possible as we can
However like Samson we get into the process of justify our sin to make us feel better
Like if you struggle with wasting of time on your phone maybe you don’t need the newest phone
Or if you struggle with what you look at on the internet maybe you don’t need a computer or share a computer with an accountability partner
Whatever it is you struggle with you need discipline in your life
Samson had ever right to be in that town but just because He did doesn’t mean he should have been
stop trying to justify our own sin to make ourselves feel better
Rather confess your sin and work to discipline your life to walk with Jesus
Then look at what Samson does
3 Then his father and his mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she looks good to me.”
Samson desires a wife from the people group who are oppressing his own people
Samson desires to marry an enemy
Samson desires to marry someone who is not a believer
His own parents tried to stop him
Let me clear as a side note
Young people if your parents who are walking with Jesus are not for your marrying someone then just maybe you ought not to marry them
So Samson doesn’t listen to His parents
Samson then continues with the flaunting of his strength and power to the people
Samson was usually not where he was supposed to be
When he wasn’t supposed to be there
And he was usually not doing what he was supposed to do
Think of it in your own life
You can’t get into trouble if you are not where you are not supposed to be when you are not to be there
Samson had opportunity to discipline his life
Walk in a manner reflecting what you believe about the Jesus
And yet we read about Samson he was usually not doing what he was supposed to do
He marries a girl who he was not to marry
He challenges people to a riddle and then kills a bunch of people to answer for that riddle
As you read over Samson you almost go what could have happened right
Like man had Samson sought after God wow He could have been an amazing judge
Samson seemed to be more concerned about making a name for himself rather than using it for Gods glory He sort of makes a name for himself
If God has called you to do something then it isn’t about you but rather it is about God
1 Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 2 When it was told to the Gazites, saying, “Samson has come here,” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, “Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him.” 3 Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron. 4 After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you.”
Samson was clearly not doing what He was supposed to
Remember He was supposed to lead the people towards God
He was supposed to as a judge be used of God to deliver the people and yet like the people themselves
He did not obey or listen to God
So this goes back and forth with Delilah a few times
Finally he comes clean and we know that He is captured and eventually dies
I think as the End Samson did something right
28 Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me just this time, O God, that I may at once be avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”
Notice very small
But Samson sought God
Oh Lord let me be used by You
It might seem like Samson is more concerned about avenging himself and maybe so but that prayer and cry
Church that is who should approach the Lord
Oh Lord God please
Please use me how you want to use me
Please save me
Please direct me
The judges were to deliver the nation of Israel
We see them physically deliver at times a reprieve
And then we the nation fall back
I would bet the people expected the Judges to be their saviors
And yet they couldn’t be because they were sinners just like the people
There would be only one savior to bring about physical salvation and salvation of the heart
And that is Jesus
As hard as the judges tried their was no saving the people because their heart was not after God
That is what Jesus came to do
As good as behavior modification is it still cannot save you only Jesus can do that
So this morning as we come to a close
We will call the band up
As they come up
Please understand this the judges only got the people so far
We can read about the judges and we can learn what to do and what not to do
And if we stop there we are only going to get behavior modification
Just like the nation of Israel that will only get you so far and then you fall back
Jesus came to save you and I from our sins at the heart level
This morning if you are here and do not know Jesus personally
I would invite you to the front to speak with someone who can show you how you can be saved by repenting of your sins and trust in Jesus
Or maybe you need to spend sometime in prayer at the alter
Would you respond obediently this morning
