Sermon Tone Analysis

*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*

*10**When 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    **22**so 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??????*