2020-07-05 Judges 6
Notes
Transcript
25 On that very night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
26 Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this mound. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.”
27 So Gideon took ten of his male servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night.
28 When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built.
29 They said to each other, “Who did this?” After they made a thorough investigation, they said, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he tore down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar.”
32 That day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, since Joash said, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he tore down his altar.
I. What idols do you need to tear down?
I. What idols do you need to tear down?
25 On that very night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
26 Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this mound. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.”
A. What idols have you built in your life?
A. What idols have you built in your life?
25 On that very night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
26 Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this mound. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.”
Illus: When you think of an idol or an object of worship you often think of a gold statue or other object of worship that you see with other religions.
It is easy to say, I don’t have any idols.
An idol is anything that takes you devotion and love for God and places it on something else.
It is anything that pulls your heart away from God.
I can’t answer what the idols are in your life. They can be food, aperaance, popularity, leisure, freedom, politics, sport or hobby, a person… Only you can answer what they are.
Here is the thing, there is nothing, absolutely nothing in your life that should get in the way of placing God, and his ways first.
I don’t think that any one of us says, “today I’m going to worship an idol.
I think what happens is that step by step we slowly shift our priorities away from God to other things.
With this gradual shift we rationalize that we can do both. The truth is, though, the first gradual shift of giving anything the priority over God is a step away from God.
4 Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth.
5 Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,
6 but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, demeaning, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good,
4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people.
B. Don’t just leave the idol, destroy the idol.
B. Don’t just leave the idol, destroy the idol.
25 On that very night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s young bull and a second bull seven years old. Then tear down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
26 Build a well-constructed altar to the Lord your God on the top of this mound. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.”
Illus: Think about the passage i scripture where Jesus says if your right hand causes you to sin cut it off.
That is the idea.
We can attempt to justify the idols in our life by saying, you know if I keep the right controls over it, I’m good.
We feel we are strong enough to stand up to temptation while still holding our idol.
There is a reason God said destroy the altars. Our God does not share devotion. Let’s use the right phrase. Our God is jealous for you. Our God is a jealous God.
Today, God may be asking you to take a radical step. If there is anything in your life that you know has become priority over God, it needs to God.
It is better going through life without a few hobbies, than for you to go to Hell.
God doesn’t play with idolatry. It is a vile wickedness that must be destroyed in your life.
1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
II. Don’t be a coward when it comes to obedience.
II. Don’t be a coward when it comes to obedience.
27 So Gideon took ten of his male servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night.
A. Publicly dealing with your sin will hurt your reputation and offend some.
A. Publicly dealing with your sin will hurt your reputation and offend some.
28 When the men of the city got up in the morning, they found Baal’s altar torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered up on the altar that had been built.
29 They said to each other, “Who did this?” After they made a thorough investigation, they said, “Gideon son of Joash did it.”
30 Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son. He must die, because he tore down Baal’s altar and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
Illus: We are not good at publicaly dealing with our sin.
With some sins we don’t want people to publically confess sin because they might talk about us.
With other sins we often don’t confess because if we confess our sin, others (who we sinned with) will feel like we are judging them.
Here is the truth, when you publicly deal with your sin, you will offend people, and some people will gossip about you.
It will happen. That said, your goal is not to please people, it is is to please God.
When you take a stand for Jesus, the world will feel their own guilt and either run to the cross or run away from Jesus.
Yes we speak with grace and love, but that does not mean we cower, specifically when God has called to walk boldly for him.
19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.
21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”
B. Faith is public. Following God should not be done under the cover of darkness.
B. Faith is public. Following God should not be done under the cover of darkness.
27 So Gideon took ten of his male servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in the daytime, he did it at night.
Illus: It all comes down to who you really are.
Let me give you an example. I have never met a shy Alabama fan.
Yes, Alabama fans are proud of their team, and willingly embrace the comments that come with loving an unlovable team. They know they are in the minority, and endure the suffering of ribbing by LSU fans especially when they lose.
As a christian it is who you are deep down. Your first love and priority is God. You choose him every single time.
Yes, It seems absolutely crazy to the world around you. The world does not understand believers. They do not understand God.
When people see us, they should identify us by our lives and words as Jesus followers.
We should display the work of God and the words of God while living out the ways of God.
Every ounce of us should magnify God.
I guess today’s sermon is the simple call, are you all in with God or not. There is really no middle ground.
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light—
9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth—
10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord.
11 Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret.
13 Everything exposed by the light is made visible,
14 for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said: Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
III. It is time to leave dead ways behind us.
III. It is time to leave dead ways behind us.
31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Would you plead Baal’s case for him? Would you save him? Whoever pleads his case will be put to death by morning! If he is a god, let him plead his own case because someone tore down his altar.”
32 That day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, since Joash said, “Let Baal contend with him,” because he tore down his altar.
A. Our God is the living God, it is time to destroy the dead idols in your life.
A. Our God is the living God, it is time to destroy the dead idols in your life.
Illus: Here is the time of decision. Will you embrace the living God or the dead idols of your life.
The living God knows your sinfulness, yet out of love sent his son to take it, and give you life.
The living God calls you to a bold step of faith. Faith is leaving your dead idols and following God. Faith is trusting that God will take care of your sin. Faith is choosing God’s way over your own.
Will you take a step of faith today?
The decision in front of you is the living God or dead idols
You know what you are choosing over God. Today is a day to confess those. Not to hide them, or tolerate them, but to put them to death. What idols do you need to deal with today?
4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
5 They are from the world. Therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.
6 We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.