Sermon Tone Analysis

Judges: In Need of a King

Judges.

One of the least studied books of the OT.

Perhaps some of the minor prophets see less attention than Judges, but certainly, as far as the narrative passages go, the book of Judges doesn’t see a whole lot of action on Sunday mornings.

On one hand, it's easy to understand why.

There are strange stories in here.

There are disturbing stories in here.

Judges, by all accounts, is a bit of a depressing book.

We are all familiar with how the book ends with the ominous words “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

We all have seen the graphics of the cycle of the judges how they fall into sin, God brings judgment, they repent, God delivers, and they see rest for a number of years before they fall into sin again and the cycle repeats.

There are individual characters and stories from the book that tend to get emphasized, but apart from those, its easy to understand why this book is not “go-to” material for churches today.

On the other hand, when we look into the book and see the patterns at play, and when we look out into the culture, I can’t help but take a look at things going on and conclude that we need the book of judges more than ever.

In a day and age when the church desperately desires to be liked by the world, when secular ideologies are creeping into the church when we see prominent individuals openly declare their apostasy, the book of Judges becomes a solemn warning to us.

When I was a child, I recall a sermon that my pastor preached.

We don’t often remember sermons from week to week.

However, this particular one had a profound impact on my life.

It was a sermon about the three chairs.

It was a sermon about the observation that so often a first-generation Christian is sold-out for the Lord.

They know where they’ve come from and they see the power of God in their life.

But for whatever reason, they were not able to pass along that same passion to their children.

Perhaps in their zeal for holiness they became legalistic and it causes some resentment.

For whatever reason, the second generation, though they attend church, have made a profession of faith, etc. they don’t seem to have the same relationship with the Lord that he first generation did.

And then when they have children, the slight apathey of the second generation gives birth to total indifference in the third generation.

Often any subsequent generations are raised without any care for the things of the Lord altogether.

This sermon had a profound impact on me as I desired to be a first chair Christ and raise children would be the first chair as well.

I did not want to be stuck in the cycle that my pastor had observed....a cycle that I can say I have seen as well.

I have seen family patriarchs so sold out for the Lord, their children having a loose connection with the church and the grandchildren completely walking away from the faith.

How does this happen??

The book of Judges helps us understand that dynamic.

I do want to emphasize though that even though this book can be depressing, even though it does serve as a warning to us, even though we do see the judgment of God on full display, this book can also be incredibly encouraging!

There is a way to break the cycle!

This doesn’t have to be true of us!

We don’t have to perpetuate the downward spiral!

I’ve titled this series, “In Need of a King” because in many ways that is what Israelites are seeking and that is what they need.

God gave them earthly rulers, and they still walked in rebellion.

What they needed was a King.

I’m not talking about Saul or David.

Here’s how we are going to approach the introduction to this book.

I want to sketch for us the background to the book.

We’re jumping into judges in the middle of a story.

If you’re familiar with the book of judges, I wanted us to be reminded “how did we get here?”.

What led up to this moment.

How is it that these events have come to be.

If you’re not as familiar with the story of the Israelite this will provide for you an overview of how God has acted and what he was doing in the world from around 2000 bc to 1000 bc.

What I want us to see in this is the Covenant faithfulness of our God.

That’s this week.

Next week I will seek to provide an overview of the book of judges itself and then we will move into the first portion of the book.

The Backstory

Let’s go back to the book of Genesis where our story begins.

Often times when jumping into the middle of a story, it's difficult to know just how far back we ought to go.

We are going to go back to the beginning of the nation of Israel, to the promise that God made to Abraham.

This is where the story begins.

God said I will do this for you.

Go to this place.

And so Abraham went.

He acted in faith on the promise of God.

God later expanded upon that promise in chapter fifteen.

Abraham believed in the promise of God.

This is really the most fundamental aspect of the great story of the Bible.

God promised to make Abraham a great nation.

Decendants as numerous as the stars.

and through him all the famlies of the earth would be blessed.

This is a promise that God reiterated to Isaac

and then also to Jacob

With each generation God continues to confirm his promise that he made to Abraham.

The interesting thing about Jacob is that God affirmed his promise to him several times.

Sometimes we’re like that aren’t we?

We don’t always trust Go the first time, and he has to show us again and again that it is best to trust in him.

This doesn’t mean that everything was sunshine and roases along the way.

Jacob’s children acted wickedly out of jealousy and they sold their brother Joseph in Egypt.

But God protected Joseph and blessed him.

He rose to prominence in Potiphar’s house before being falsely accused of sexual immorality with by his master’s wife.

After over two years in prison he eventually ascended to become the 2nd in command over all Egypt because of his wisdom in interpreting Pharoah’s dreams and offering the solution.

And it is through this position that God preserves and fulfills his promise to Abraham.

A severe famine arose in the land, and because of God’s blessing on Joseph the only place in the region that had food was Egypt.

Through god’s providence God has preserved Joseph that through him he might preserve the lives of many, including Jacob and his family.

When Jacob learned Josphe was alive and in Egypt as we has making his way south, God spoke to him again:

Have you notices a pattern yet?

At every major stage, God reaffirms his promise to his chosen vessels.

Abraham, Isaac, and now multiple times with Jacob.

God is a covenant keeping God.

The story continues int he land of Egypt.

Time goes by.

Joseph dies.

The Israelites flourish in Egypt.

a little too much for the newPharoah’s liking.

He didn’t know Joseph, so he has no qualms about enslaving the Israelites in order to prevent them from taking over Egypt.

The Isrealites were in Egypt for 400 years before God rescued them by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

When God spoke to Moses, He instructed him on what to say:

Notice the connection with the promise to the patriarchs.

The end of chapter two speaks of God acting because of the covenant he had made with Abrham, Isaac and Jacob

We know the story for How God brought them out of Egypt. the 10 plagues, crossing the Red Sea, and the actions in the wilderness.

Even as God had brought them out of Egypt, the people were not always obedient and they grumbled about their new situation.

We’re prone to that ourselves aren’t we? God does something for us and we find something else to complain about.

We are more like the Iraelites than we would care to admit.

At least I am.

So God speaks with Moses and commands him to speak with the people:

And the people responded positively

Exodus 19:8 (ESV)

All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”