When Judges Rule
Notes
Transcript
When Judges Rule
When Judges Rule
The first recorded question that God asked was "Adam, where are you?" God was not looking for his physical location. He is God and know's all things. So why ask the question? The question drew attention to the new condition of man. The man that God had created had sinned. Just as God had said, they had experienced for the first time death or separation. Man no longer walked in fellowship with God. He was on his own and as such found himself having to labor for all that he recieved. The broken relationship had lifted God's since of favor that mankind had enjoyed.
Life Under The Judges
Life Under The Judges
The book of Ruth is called a story of redemption. In it, we are overwhelmed by the hardship and difficulties of there life. We are pushed to ask God, why would a story like this be here for us to read and study. The answer is simple for many of us will never know that power and prestige of a King David or prevail against walled cities like Joshua or lead a people from bondage like Moses. In the story of Ruth we see ordinary people with issues of loss, loneliness. In this story we see the frustrations of their life as they seek to live out their faith with an unspoken yet real question. "Where is God in this"
1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
3 And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.
4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.
5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.
The days when the Judges ruled
The days when the Judges ruled
1 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?
2 And the Lord said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.
19 And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.
1 And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
2 And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?
3 Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.
God’s intent
++to purify the land
++To prepare the land
++To prevent entrapment
God’s people
++Embraced the people
++Minimized the threat
God is a covenant keeper
God is a covenant keeper
1 And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
When you are far from God
++You need to be reminded
++Who God is to you
++Who you are with God
God Said I will never break my covenant
God Said I will never break my covenant
God used this period
++To remind them
++To help them see
++To understand his commitment
This cannot be realized
++from the outside in
++It is an inside Job
Judges were
++Not called to rule
++Not called to lead
++Called to bring order
++Called to bring deliverance
18 And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.
Judges brought
++a temporary fix
++external compliance
19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.
When the Judges ruled
++The people complied
++The people relied
23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
When the Judges ruled
The people complied
The people relied
++It was all about the Judge
If the only reason that we do what is right is that someone is looking we are under the rule of a Judge.
If the only reason that we do what is right is that someone is looking we are under the rule of a Judge.
When the Judges ruled
The people complied
The people relied
It was all about the Judge
++It was viewed as a human solution
Human solutions
++Will see the problem
++Will acknowledge the problem of the problem
++Will treat the symptom caused by the problem
++Will celebrate effects on a symptom as a fix for the problem
Under Judges rule
++Peace is considered victory
++The death of the enemy a win
++Make an enemy pay the solution
1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
When the Judges ruled
The people complied
The people relied
It was all about the Judge
It was viewed as a human solution
++There was a famine in the land
Judges served as reminders
++Of brokenness
++Of lawlessness
++Of faithlessness
++Of a shifting confidence
When the measure of our faith is human rule
++Order can be achieve
++Obedience can be visible
++The heart remains unchanged
The human heart cannot be changed
++By Human effort
++By looking good on the outside
++By Observance or compliance
A heart change is connected
++To a divine action
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
A new heart
++A new attitude
++A new approach
++A new activity
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
A heart change is connected
To divine action
++To human reception
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
A heart change is connected
To a divine action
To human reception
++To His purpose of Sending His Son
47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
A heart change is connected
To a divine action
To human reception
To His purpose of Sending His Son
++How we respond to His Word
1 Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth-lehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons.
2 And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Beth-lehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there.
3 And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons.
4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.
5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.
We are introduced to
++A time of human rule
++A mother that Husband die
++Her two daughter who’s husbands had died
++A family with no legacy
Where is God in this?
Where is God in this?