HeroIII

Do you remember about a year or so ago, a comic book hero named Capt America was killed? It was all in the news and a lot of people raised a huge fuss over it. You men, who fought in WWII, might remember a man by the name of Joe Simon in 1941 drew Capt America as a symbol of patriotism.

Do you know where his shield came from? Capt America’s shield came from President Franklin D Roosevelt, who had secret scientist develop and indestructible material and that how Capt. Americas shield came about and that’s how he defeated the Nazi in WWII.

Well I have been talking about Hero’s, and this morning I would like to talk to you about another hero in the book of Judges-Judges 2 and ch 3. These are hero’s the Old Testament kind. This is where; all of your hero’s really come from out of Gods word. Men and women of unusual ability, appointed by God, in times of stress and storms, to deliver Gods people from tragedy.  This is where super hero’s come from, they don’t come out of comic books, and the sure don’t come out of Hollywood.

   Last week we talked about Caleb and at the end we mentioned a man by the name of Othniel, and probably for the next 2 weeks, I want to tell about Othniel. But first I want to give you some background. You need to understand the background to the judge. Let’s start with Chapter 2 in Judges V10

 What causes these judges to change so quickly?

    Let read v10

10When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.

So this is what Israel does, God brings them into the land and what do they do? Well look at v 11 and the string of verbs

They served Baal.

V12 they forsook the Lord, they followed other Gods, they bowed themselves down to them

V13 says it again—they forsook the Lord and served baal.

They’ve forgotten Gods commandments, they have turned away from Gods word, they have ignored what God had told and instructed them to do.

This is the very first thing you read in Judges 1 v1 is that they came to the Lord and asked God what is your instruction, what is your guidance for us.

Then they turned away from it, they were not interested in it anymore

So here in v14 it says: And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. In the new American Standard says it burned. In the Hebrew it means: it came to a flashpoint. Have you ever seen a flashpoint go off? Ever see something so hot it just burst into flames.

When I was young I would haft to go shopping with my Mom and my sister. And I hated it so I would get back at her, I would run into the round racks of clothes and hide, then I would start puling off tags, just because. I was young back then about fifteen or sixteen at the time. And my mom would get so angry with me she would get to a flashpoint.  Man she would get mad but that’s the word, there was a flashpoint with God. The Lord just flashed with this Holy anger.

V14 So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and  He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.

You’re going to read that, as you finish ch 2, you will see that over and over. This becomes repetitive.

Church look at this----- They rebel against God, There’s retribution, then there is repentance on their part, then God sends a rescuer to deliver them, THEN they rebel all over again. But wait, there’s more. This is not just a vicious circle, no, no. no, It starts to spiral downward and it’s going to get worse.

And then there is something said that is said at the end of ch 2 that you need to see beginning with v22 “God’s now withdrawn His hand—He’s going to take His hand off of them and they are going to experience Judgment---and part of the Judgment that they are going to experience is this

V22    22so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them, or not.” 23Therefore the Lord left those nations, without driving them out immediately; nor did He deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

That is we are told prior to that, God would not drive out the nations that were still in the land, God says I’m going to test you. You come to Ch 3 v1 you read it again

  3     Now these are the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan.

He’s going to test them and in v2 you read this

 2 (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it),

That is God leaves these nations there to test them and to teach them something, Now He’s not trying to teach them how to fight, He’s not trying to teach them how to be a great army---Listen Israel was never a great army. They won their battles by trusting God; you don’t win battles by walking around walls, that’s a miracle of God.

    So God delivered them constantly,” but now listen” He’s going to say. “I’m going to leave these folks there to test you, and you’re going to discover that your compromise brings struggle and strife and difficulty. Sin brings that, Sin brings difficulty in your life, Sin brings struggle in your life. And He says “I’m going to teach you that when you compromise my word, it’s gonna be tough, it’s gonna be war for you.

So He come down in v44 And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

So they were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the Lord, that’s why He leaves them there, Gods testing His people. God always test His people. You can look at at James famous words:

James ch1--2My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.

That is God allows test in our lives to grow us up. He did the same thing to those that wandered in the wilderness.

 In Deuteronomy ch 8 v2--2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and  test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and  fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

Now it’s not that God needs to know what’s in our heart it’s that you and I need to know what’s in our heart.

  And so we go through test, some of you are going through test right now, you’re going through a personal period of test in your life, and God wants to see “will you be obedient to Me”. Or will you compromise in your life. God doesn’t do that to just people, God does that to Churches, as a church were going through a test right now. {Will we follow Gods will and use this place as a lighthouse to this area or will we just sit here on this Lilly pad until we croak} What are we going to do? It’s a test; this church is facing a test. You personally face a test.

    Well let me tell you something, Israel failed, Israel failed miserably. And I want to show why they failed; there are two things I want you to see before I even get to Othenial.

      I want you to see 2 things happening in the nation, they failed because of parents and they failed because of preachers. The failed because parents forget their responsibility, and they failed because priest forget their responsibility.

 Now watch what happens here, in ch 3 and come down to v5. 5 Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

They lived there amongst them and were influenced by them, that is the people of the land the pagans.  The Pagans had a greater impact on them, than God people had on the pagans. It almost always happens that way.

So if we read v6 we begin to see it starts with the fathers

V6-  6and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods.

They were seduced by these attractive and sensuous pagan women, listen this is not the first time or the last time this is going to happen to Israel. It happened in the wilderness of Pe-or. When the Israelite men were seduce by the Moabite women. They left their wives behind and took the pagan women. It’s not the first time a crazy man has left his wife and children behind for a painted up temptress. It happens all the time. But it’s not the last time. In the last book of the OT in Malachi, when God talks about how he hates divorce, He’s talking about how the men just walked away from their wives. He’s not saying He hate the divorcee, no He hates divorce, He hates what sin does to the home, He hates what sin does to the family. He hates what sin does to the next generation.

   Now look, when sin enters into daddy’s life, it undermines the rest of the family. When greed, when there is lies, when there is cheating, when there is any kind of sin, it undermines and eats away the foundation of the family. Let’s go back to v6

V6-  6and they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods.

Here, you take our daughters, and you teach them to be as nasty and as filthy as you are. But WHY??????

Look with me at V21 back in ch1 in Judges

21  But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem;

24 And when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and  we will show you mercy.”

26 And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

27  However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shean and its villages, or  Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. 28 And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out.

29 Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites

30 Nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites dwelt among them,

31 Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acco or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob.

33 Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth Anath; but they dwelt among the Canaanites,

They compromised Gods word Look ch 2 v2 --2 And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?

 God gave told them what to do and they compromised, and what happened See The fathers did not pass on what God had done for them, the parents did not teach their children what they went through and what God did. Church is that not what is happening today? Are our youth growing up not known who God is and what he has done? Is today’s generation growing up doing what they are doing because they do not know the word, therefore they have no fear of the consequences of what happens when they do compromise Gods word. And because the parents failed and because the children are growing up and being taught by the parents that God is just a fairy tale, what are the effects? Look at what happen then and see if it’s not still happening now!!!!

        Listen, the whole nation collapsed because THE FAMILY COLLAPSED. SPIRITUALLY, FINACIALLY, MORALLY, PHYSICALLY, THEY COLLAPSED. 

 Let me show you, do you know what the last verse in the last chapter of the last book of the OT says. Let me read it to you:  v5    Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet

     Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

6     And he will turn

     The hearts of the fathers to the children,

     And the hearts of the children to their fathers,

     Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.

This eats away at the family all through the OT. But what does this say, it going to take Jesus to bring back the hearts of fathers to their children and the children to there fathers, what did Jesus do when He called disciples, He called TWO PAIRS OF BROTHERS family, Andrew and Peter, James and John. 

        Jesus showed a strong presence of family when He came, His ministry was about family. But the parents in Israel did not live up to there responsibility and the nation collapsed.

Now let me get to the preachers because that’s what ya’ll want to hear.

   We get to the 18th 19th and 20th ch of Judges and we get to the priest. The priest were as bad as the people. Isn’t that interesting that preachers and people impact each other, for good or for ill. Amen

     I have an impact on you, but let me tell you something, you have an impact on me. We should be building each other up, we should be lifting and holding each other up. Being carful, to guard and care for one another. We get to the 18th ch of Judges   and oh! my look at this v14, you have this priest here and it says he had an ephod, household idols, a carved image, and a molded image?

They came to a place to were you couldn’t even trust the word of the preacher, because at home he was worshiping all the other Gods. The preachers had become as pluralistic and hypocritical as the rest of society.  If I stood up here today and said “everybody’s ok, and everybody’s going to be fine, and everybody just do what’s feels right for you, and Gods gonna Bless you. Listen, I’d be preaching Hearsay and damnation to your soul!!!! That’s exactly what happened, you get to the last book of the Old Testament, and the word comes to them.

Malachi 2:7

7     “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge,

     And people should seek the law from his mouth;

     For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

8     But you have departed from the way;

     You have caused many to stumble at the law.

     You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,”

I tell right now, that “ half the preachers in this country don’t have a biblical world view, That stand in a pulpit and preach week by week. Now that’s what’s happening to the nation. Now let me tell you this, “that what’s going to happen to the judges. Go back to Judges Ch 3

 This is the tragic thing that happens, If you were to read through Judges you will discover the rebellion of Israel becomes greater, the judgment becomes more severe, and when a judge dose come on the scene, they are going to fall spiritually until you come to a guy like Sampson, who becomes totally rebellious against God and God will for his life.

   Do you know who the last Judge was? It was Samuel, he was a good man. Go to

 1 Samuel ch 8

 Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he  made his sons judges over Israel.

Let me tell you this, “no man can call another man to ministry, Samuel couldn’t call these boy’s and appoint them to ministry, God calls men to ministry. That’s not a man thing, That’s a God thing.   Look at v2 and v3

       2 The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. 3 But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

Now let me tell you what about to happen, these Judges are going to get more and more reprobate, just as the nation is going down, so are these judges, we get to the last chapter of Judges and the people have nearly destroyed the tribe of Benjamin, and they sand there weeping, because of were there sis has brought them. And God phases out the judges, Now the people start to cry out for a king. Just like us today, we want what everybody else wants. That’s what they did.

  Now they tell Samuel, “we don’t want your sons; we want a king to rule over us. So allows them to have a king!!!! Gods says if that’s what you want so be it.

     So the 1st king consults with witches, and the second king is an adulterer and a murderer, and the 3rd king worships Idols, and then the really bad one come on the scene.

   All these falls apart in 722 when the 10 northern tribes get hauled off into captivity and never really heard from again, then in 586 the 2 southern tribes go into captivity, the Temple is destroyed and the city of Jerusalem is destroyed. God has used Judges and Israel compromised, God use Kings and Israel compromised, now they’re paying  the consequences for their sin and there is 400 yrs of silence and you wonder what God is going to do? He’s had judges, He’s had prophets, He’s had priest, and He’s had Kings,

      Now He comes with a baby!!! And a cross and a empty tomb, and that what’s going to save man kind.

  I gotta close, the nation of Israel failed the test, church we today are failing the test, as a people and as a nation. We need to get back to doing Gods will, we need to get back to living by Gods law, We need to get back to Jesus Christ. Listen it worked back then and by God it will work today. God is testing this little church, He wants to see if we will be obedient to Him or not. As we sing today I want to ask you 4 questions.

1. Are you making an impact on the world around you?

2. Are you compromising Gods word?

3. Are you ready to live the life God has called you to live?

4. Are you ready to get back to  Jesus?

I don’t know about you but I’m tired of failing, I’m tired of seeing church fall by the wayside and close there doors.

I want this church to commit to prayer and to service and to action to bring people to the kingdom. Will you make that commitment with me today, as we stand and sing, if your answer is yes you come up and we will pray together? I know God is calling, will you answer?

Prayer