2020-08-16 Judges 10.6-18
Notes
Transcript
6 Then the Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They worshiped the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and the Philistines. They abandoned the Lord and did not worship him.
7 So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them to the Philistines and the Ammonites.
8 They shattered and crushed the Israelites that year, and for eighteen years they did the same to all the Israelites who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites in Gilead.
9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim. Israel was greatly oppressed,
10 so they cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you. We have abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals.”
11 The Lord said to the Israelites, “When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines,
12 Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, did I not deliver you from them?
13 But you have abandoned me and worshiped other gods. Therefore, I will not deliver you again.
14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them deliver you whenever you are oppressed.”
15 But the Israelites said, “We have sinned. Deal with us as you see fit; only rescue us today!”
16 So they got rid of the foreign gods among them and worshiped the Lord, and he became weary of Israel’s misery.
17 The Ammonites were called together, and they camped in Gilead. So the Israelites assembled and camped at Mizpah.
18 The rulers of Gilead said to one another, “Which man will begin the fight against the Ammonites? He will be the leader of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
I. What is the passive wrath of God?
I. What is the passive wrath of God?
9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim. Israel was greatly oppressed,
10 so they cried out to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you. We have abandoned our God and worshiped the Baals.”
11 The Lord said to the Israelites, “When the Egyptians, Amorites, Ammonites, Philistines,
12 Sidonians, Amalekites, and Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, did I not deliver you from them?
13 But you have abandoned me and worshiped other gods. Therefore, I will not deliver you again.
14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them deliver you whenever you are oppressed.”
A. God will give you the desires of your heart… and that is not a good thing.
A. God will give you the desires of your heart… and that is not a good thing.
13 But you have abandoned me and worshiped other gods. Therefore, I will not deliver you again.
14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them deliver you whenever you are oppressed.”
Illus: When at first you hear that God will give you the desires of your heart, you think… that is a good thing right… except that the heart is corupt and stained by sin.
I’v noticed recently a change in the way people talk about themselves.
While embracing a life choice that the bible distinctly condemns they say, God just wants me to be happy.
When holding to a sin that the bible clearly exposes they say God made me this way.
I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve heard, “God loves me just the way I am.”
Hear me friends, God might just let you wander off with your choices and embrace the “way you are” but that is not God’s blessing.
He may very well be handing you over to your sin so you see how empty those fake gods are.
Today I want to begin by defining that your heart does not know what is best for you.
9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?
10 I, the Lord, examine the mind, I test the heart to give to each according to his way, according to what his actions deserve.
10 as it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one.
11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.
B. God’s passive wrath is him removing his hand from your life to let you see the powerlessness of your choices.
B. God’s passive wrath is him removing his hand from your life to let you see the powerlessness of your choices.
13 But you have abandoned me and worshiped other gods. Therefore, I will not deliver you again.
14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them deliver you whenever you are oppressed.”
Illus: When God gives you what you want, and what you want is sinful, then God is handing you over to passive wrath.
God is handing you over to your sin for a purpose.
It is a deliberate removal of his hands so you can see the emptiness of your idols.
Think with me about the story of the prodigal son. The son goes to his father to demand what is his. The father acquiesces to the sons request and allows the son to go.
The son goes and chases the desires of his heart till it bankrupts him. It is only when the son sees the the emptiness of his decisions while sitting in pig slop that he realizes that he needs to return home.
That is the full picture of the how God works. When we become so enamored with sin that we beg God for it, God will hand us to it.
When we are handed over to our sin one of two things happens, we either get so used to the pig slop that we think it is tasty, or we realize the stupidity of our wandering and return to God.
21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools
23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves.
25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
II. Repentance and faith is the acceptance of what you deserve as well as the whole hearted surrender to the mercy and lordship of God.
II. Repentance and faith is the acceptance of what you deserve as well as the whole hearted surrender to the mercy and lordship of God.
15 But the Israelites said, “We have sinned. Deal with us as you see fit; only rescue us today!”
16 So they got rid of the foreign gods among them and worshiped the Lord, and he became weary of Israel’s misery.
A. You have to own up to your foolishness and be willing to accept what you deserve.
A. You have to own up to your foolishness and be willing to accept what you deserve.
15 But the Israelites said, “We have sinned. Deal with us as you see fit; only rescue us today!”
16 So they got rid of the foreign gods among them and worshiped the Lord, and he became weary of Israel’s misery.
Illus: I think repentance is more than simply saying, “I know I have done sinful things.”
It is detesting the sin so much in your life that you come to God and deal specifically with your sin.
As Christians we should hate sin, and there should be a specific hatred for the sins we have been saved out of.
Israel saw their sin, not just generally, but their specific sins, owned up to it, told God that they would accept whatever punishment he gave, and then destroyed the sins among them.
We have take such a passive aproach towards sin. We look at sin and say “what right for you is good and what right for me may be different”. We say, “Who am I to judge you”
Underneath those sentiments is this idea that I don’t want to judge your sin because it would mean I would have to admit my own sin.
Until people get serious about sin, we will not see a move of God.
Until we the people of God are willing to own up to the wickedness we have embraced and then destroy that wickedness, we will continue under God’s passive wrath.
3 For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you—you alone—I have sinned and done this evil in your sight. So you are right when you pass sentence; you are blameless when you judge.
B. In brokenness, surrender to the mercy and authority of God.
B. In brokenness, surrender to the mercy and authority of God.
15 But the Israelites said, “We have sinned. Deal with us as you see fit; only rescue us today!”
16 So they got rid of the foreign gods among them and worshiped the Lord, and he became weary of Israel’s misery.
Illus: When was the last time you were broken over your sin?
Seriously, when was the last time you looked distinctly at your sin and threw yourself on the mercy of God.
Remember the cycle 1. The people did right in their own eyes. 2. God hands the people over to their sins which is called passive wrath. 3. The people spiral out of control till they hit rock bottom.
4. Once they hit rock bottom, the people turn back to God in brokenness to find healing.
Where are you in the cycle? Are you doing what is right in your own eyes?
Has God handed you over to your sins and you feel that distance from the presence of God?
Have you hit rock bottom?
Will you today in brokenness deal with your sin and find healing in the presence of God?
13 If I shut the sky so there is no rain, or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on my people,
14 and my people, who bear my name, humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
15 My eyes will now be open and my ears attentive to prayer from this place.
III. God uses broken people to accomplish kingdom things.
III. God uses broken people to accomplish kingdom things.
A. God’s power is seen most clearly through those who fully surrender to Him.
A. God’s power is seen most clearly through those who fully surrender to Him.
18 The rulers of Gilead said to one another, “Which man will begin the fight against the Ammonites? He will be the leader of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
1 Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant warrior, but he was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was his father.
2 Gilead’s wife bore him sons, and when they grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You will have no inheritance in our father’s family, because you are the son of another woman.”
Illus: Our story ends oddly After the people destroy their idols, they move forward trusting that God will heal and restore them.
It is a step of faith.
As they begin to look forward God did what was normal in the book of Judges, he raised up a judge that the people would have never picked. It was to show that God was in control all along.
God is ready to redeem and restore. What it will take from us is to be broken over our sin, destroy our idols, and follow him no matter how crazy it looks to the world around us.
God redeemed the world through a cross that made no sense to the world. He calls us to that same brutal cross to live for him.
23 Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.
24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it.
25 For what does it benefit someone if he gains the whole world, and yet loses or forfeits himself?