Judges 2
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One cannot simply enslave sin—with sin you will always be its slave and it your master.
One cannot simply enslave sin—with sin you will always be its slave and it your master.
Tonight is sort of a continuation of last weeks study. If you remember we focused heavily on the word could not—when it came to Israel’s ability to drive out the Canaanites. We talked about how they needed God to remove them and how Israel got used to fighting on their own. We discussed how this was a sign of maturity and that as children grow they don’t need to run to daddy every time a hurdle gets in their way.
There is more that we need to understand about this as well. If you are here for Wednesday Night Small groups than you know my wife has been taking the group on a journey through ’m not going to repeat it tonight, but the first 13 verses in tells us that trials strengthen our faith. That when we hit a sin that we cannot overcome with the current faith that we have we have one of two choices, live with the sin and our current level of faith or allow God to use the trial to develop more faith within us.
And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.
Israel, again goes down the right path and starts the journey of becoming stronger. Understand God wants us all to become stronger in our faith. Sin is an avenue which allows us to grow because we simply cannot grow without adversity. Growth isn’t a reason to sin, but it is out of our hatred of sin that we continue to move forward. Even Paul states.
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good.
For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.
The hatred for sin in your life is what drives you to grow. It’s the push that forces you forward. However, there is a danger zone and we begin to see this in Israel.
And it happened, when Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they never totally drove them out.
I have found in my life and as well as in the bible that
God does not reward the lazy.
God does not reward the lazy.
The biggest enemy in my life and in my marriage is when I plattue and begin to think that I have fought enough or that I grew enough. Every once in a while my wife, helping me to grow, will point something out in me that I just don’t want to deal with and usually I’ll end the conversation with
“Well I’m better than I was”
“Well I’m better than I was”
I ain’t as good as I once was, but I was good once as I ever was.
Now my wife knows that I stew. When someone brings news to me—either good or bad—Although it may seem like I am doing nothing with the information I take days, weeks, and sometimes years (depending on how big the problem and how hard my head is at that moment) to process the new information. Once processed I take action and often times my wife will say—I honestly thought you forgot about that.
Israel’s issue wasn’t that they could no longer overtake the Canaanites and continue with what God wanted them to do. Their issue is that they got lazy. They took time to grow and mature, but tried to enslave sin in their lives. Instead of killing them, they made them work.
Sin left undelt with grows into thorns that will continuously wound us.
Last week we in we discussed not speaking things into existence. When we claim a trial is a thorn we are moving something that is meant to be temporary into something permanent. Like we stated last week Paul’s thorn was something he had to deal with day in and day out. No one knows for sure what this thorn was, but we know that it constantly reminded Paul that he was human.
Which leaves us to V7
Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.
Judges 2:
Paul’s vast search of knowledge led him to being enslaved by what he knew and he refused to even consider the idea that there was something he didn’t know—the salvation of Jesus Christ. Which leaves us to V7
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So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.
Make no convenant with the inhabitants in this land.
Sin is a pact or a treaty with the world. It’s living with the world on thier terms. Often times God’s promises or covenants come with an “If…than” statement.
The most famous one is
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Israel when entering the promised land was told that if you remove the people, stay away from thier sins, and refuse to worship their God’s than you will own the land forever.
This made me wonder: How many of us are losing the promises of God because we neglect our side of deal?
Listen sin left undealt with could be the very thorn that deflates your lifeboat, separates you from God, andforfiets your promises,
In the Old Testament Thorns were a sign of trouble. Anytime a Prophet mentioned thorns is was either in the way of an entire land going bad and God making it uninhabitable or a thorn in the flesh because of continual sins that has stopped Spiritual growth and a closeness with God.
Thorns were a warning from God that his people were going to far.
But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
Prior to V8 Paul is talking about those who where enlightened and strayed from the path. Pain, annoyance, a constant irritant is a warning that we aren’t doing something right.
We know that when we wear down our break pads the manufacturer put a metal pin within the pad that gets released. This scrapes the disc on the rotor causing a ear piercing noise. When I was a kid I used to take this warning as a sign that my radio was turned down to low so I would turn it up and drown out the noise. Although this was a covering of a real issue I didn’t want to stop and deal with it later would become a major pain that usually ended in my breaks welding together. A few house fix turned into a carless teen for days. Now when I hear this sound I try to get my car in as soon as possible. I heave learned that this sound, although annoying was a sign that something worse is about to happen.
Thorns in the bible aren’t ever given to those who don’t believe in God.Every instance where God placed a thorn it was either in with the Jewish people who were veering off course, Paul, whose thorn was meant to keep him on course, or a Christ believer who was in danger of being cursed and burned.
Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
The book of Judges is a collection of failures and disbediance on behalf of Israel, but they serve as a warning to us! Your mindset will determine your victories.
Last week we talked about Paul’s thorns. But I love Paul’s reply to his thorn:
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Our victories lye in the understanding of who we are and who God is. Paul’s thorn kept that understanding in check. Paul could have ignored the thorn/warning and forfeited his calling. Israel walked in their own strength and their strength became their stumbling blocks. Paul walked in God’s strength. with God’s purpose, in God’s timing. Only one person overcame death and sin. So why do we continue the futile attempt at fighting it within ourselves instead of letting God fight it for us.
