Gospel Project: Judges
Notes
Transcript
Sin, Suffering, Supplication, Salvation and Repeat
Sin, Suffering, Supplication, Salvation and Repeat
Judges 2:11-19
Main Idea: Sin leads to suffering, Suffering leads to supplication, and supplication leads to salvation
Me:
The definition of insanity— is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
I recall a time in my life where I kept doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.
So when I was in college at Hannibal La-Grange University.
HLGU
I had to take a Psychology class.
I had to google what Psychology means because it still doesn't make sense to me.
Google says: the scientific study of the human mind and its functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context.
So anyway— I took the class— did not really study- didn’t care if I learned the information— I figured I would just get a D and move on.
Well I failed the class.
And I had to take the course again.
I thought I would be better prepared since I heard the material once already— Nothing was a surprise.
It got to the end of the class again and I failed again.
I didn’t change my study habits nor did I really study.
I pretty much did the same amount of work that I did the first time I took the class— again just shooting for that D.
You know what I got?
An F again.
I paid for two of the same classes and I failed twice.
Then I had to take a Psychology class again at Liberty.
But this time— I studied— I read— I dove into the subject I didn’t fail it I got a C but I didn’t fail the class.
I picked a different approach because I had to, because if I did the same thing over and over again expecting different results— I was a fool.
To think that was going to change the outcome was a bad idea.
I did this even in grade school.
You guy did spelling test right?
I would study for like 5 mins and then have my mom or dad test me— and I would miss like every word.
But I thought I could to the bare minimum and it would still work out.
My dad looked at me one day after my mom got frustrated at me and said— you’re not very smart are you?
And He wasn’t calling me dumb or anything like that— but he processed to say— something in life are going to require more attention and more focus.
You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect the same results.
It is insane.
We:
We understand what it is like to do the same thing and want different results but they never come around.
When we are stressed out and instead of limiting stressors in our life we tend to keep going back to those things and increase the stress.
Or maybe you have done this one— The power is out and we know that the power is out— but yet we all turn on the light switch when we enter a room.
Or we say we hate drama— yet we always find our selves in the mix of drama because we do not pull ourselves out of drama situations.
Taylor Swift
We open the fridge when we are hungry even if we just looked in there 5 mins ago and know that nothing is in there.
We can’t stand social media but yet we scroll and scroll and scroll some more— increasing the stress/ the hate/ and the self lothing because nobody tags me in anything— and everyone is doing all the things without me.
We can’t make friends but we never put ourselves out there to make new friends.
We keep sinning because we don’t cut off the stuff that temps us.
We keep lying because we believe the truth is irrelevant.
We keep looking at porn because it makes us feel good.
We keep thinking that everyone else is bad and I am good when in reality you are just as sinful— you just don’t have big glaring sins that everyone can see— you have become a master at hiding your idols and pride.
Then we wonder why we don’t grow in our faith— why we feel stuck— why we don’t understand the Bible.
We get stuck in this cycle of just trying over and over and wanting different results but not changing how we go about it.
Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is not very smart.
It is the definition of insanity.
And I want us to understand that we do this— we do the same thing over and over again and we want/ we demand/ We crave different results and they just do not come.
So as we turn to look at our passage today keep this in mind.
God:
In the book of Judges we see God’s people go from being rational and well lead-- to a group of people who have gone insane.
And the main issue is not that they keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
It is this:
And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
Joshua has died.
And the generation who saw God move— Saw him spilt the sea, and was providing food while in the wilderness, and even was a guide for them as a pillar of fire and smoke.
Those people were all gone now.
Even those who saw the walls of Jericho come down by marching around it— they are all gone.
And this new generation did not know the Lord.
So setting that up already, we know that this is going to be an issue.
And it was.
Here is our passage today.
And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
So something I want you to know about the cycle of the book of Judges is this— There is sin and suffering.
Sin leads to suffering
When sin happens often time it leads to suffering.
That was the case for the Israelites here.
They did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
They served other little g- gods.
They served the gods of the land of Cannon— instead of serving thee God who brought them into the land.
Isreal put other things above God.
They abandoned God.
They worship other things and other gods.
The Israelites became servants to other gods.
It is no wonder why God is outraged by this.
For it says “The anger of the Lord burned against Israel.”
It is a divine fury.
Yet this divine fury must be interpreted against the backdrop of extravagant demonstrations of grace in the past.
Yahweh is a passionate God.
He can’t stand idly by while other divine competitors snatch his people from him.
Nor can he passively accept his own people’s adulterous affairs with other gods.
Like a marriage— if one spouse cheats on the other— they may forgive them but they are not going to keep letting them do it right?
So God gave them over to their enemies.
They would sin against God— and then they would suffer at the hands of their enemy.
Because God would not intervene on their behalf.
Pop quiz--
Who brought down the walls of Jericho?
The people or God?— God
Who spilt the red sea?
Moses or God?— God
God was responsible for all of their victories because He was with them.
But in the book of the Judges we see God give them up to their sin.
And when they sinned against God— suffering followed.
Because sin will cause suffering.
God forgives— he is a merciful God but He also is a just judge.
And a just judge still has to punish— because if the judge only slaps your wrist every time you are bad you will keep doing it because you don’t feel the pain of sin.
It is why may times sin is accompanied by suffering.
If you don’t suffer because of your sin then you are more inclined to keep sinning.
But remember I said that God was a merciful and forgiving God.
How do I know that?
Because God would still rescue his people.
Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.
Over and over again through all the book of Judges you will read:
-Isreal did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. (Sin)
-God’s anger burned against them— they were sold to a group of people. (Suffering)
-The people of Israel cried out to the Lord. (Supplication)
Supplication— means the action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly. Pleading— begging
-The Lord rose up a deliver for the people to save them. (Salvation)
Over and over again you read this.
This is the cycle of the book of judges.
Sin
Suffering
Supplication
And then Salvation— being rescued/ saved.
This happened all the time.
Israel would sin— God would cause suffering to come to them.
They would repent— supplication.
And they God would send a judge.
And the Judge would rescue them.
The judge would save the people.
And as long as the judge was still alive and watching over the people, the people would follow God— but as soon as the judge died the people would fall back into sin and suffering.
Then they would repent and then God would send a judge.
This was the cycle.
God wants committment— but so often he did not get that from Israel.
He did when it was pitted against suffering.
When the people were suffering— they cried out to God for help and to rescue them.
And God is faithful and he offers grace on top of grace.
So he saved them.
But when things were good again— and they were more removed from that sin and suffering— that is when the people would fall back into sin.
The judges were a consistent reminder that God saved them.
They would rule for years 10, 20, 40 years of peace
But when they lost their focus on God they ran back to other small g god— and would start the cycle again.
Now before we start making fun of Israel— Don’t we do the same thing?
You:
You do the same thing.
You know of God’s goodness and we know that he gave his son as the ultimate Judge for us.
But you lose focus on God and as you lose focus you think you know better then God, so you sin— and then you ask for forgiveness which is given.
You do this over and over again.
You put other things over God.
Your heart craves worldly things instead of God.
You place more importance on things like sports, dating, popularity, friends, your image, your success, sex, money, jobs, even our phones.
You become servants to these things.
And then you wonder why you don’t feel God’s presences?
Where do you plan on fitting him in?
Because I don’t know if you know this or not— but God does not play second fiddle to no one.
God wants to be number one in your life.
And I believe that God uses suffering to get your attention.
I think it is important that we know that.
It hurts but it is suppose to hurt.
It gets your attention which then leads you to confess sins.
It leads to you forgiveness.
But here is the best part--
God already sent the best Judge to save you.
He sent Jesus to die in your place so that your sins would be forgiven.
You have been redeemed.
All you have to do is accept his free gift of salvation and if you have accepted that free gift then you are forgiven.
And are you going to fall into that cycle again and again and again— yep— but because of our savior Jesus, you don’t have to wait to be rescued— you can be rescued right away.
Those Israelites spent years waited for their judge to come and rescue them— not us— we are already been forgiven.
You don’t need to be consistently rescued— you already have been through Christ!
That is all the more reason to celebrate and to allow Christ to sit on the throne of your heart!
You have already been rescued!
And if you believe this and you live this out you will see a change in your life.
No longer will you be weighed down but you will be living a redeemed life.
Sin is forgiven.
You will still mess up but Jesus already paid the price for your sin.
You still confess— God loves to hear your confession— but afterwards He’s like we good and he means it and He is never going to bring it up again.
That is the God you serve.
We:
If we all begin to live like this— I think a couple of things would happen.
We would take sin seriously
We would take sin seriously— God is serious about sin— so serious that he paid the price with his son.
He hated it so much that he gave up his son because he loved you so much.
He knew that was an obstacle between us and he got rid of it.
2. We would take confession seriously
When we do something wrong we are taught from a very early age to say sorry.
This is no different.
God wants to hear your confession.
He has already forgiven you but he still wants to hear it.
When you sin— ask for forgiveness.
And if you find yourself asking for forgiveness for the same sin over and over again— it may be time to share that sin with a parent, or a leader.
3. We would take the Gospel seriously
What I mean by that is the gospel of Jesus would begin to flow out of us.
We would talk about Jesus all the time.
We would live for Christ.
We would love God
We would love people
We would go and make disciples.
We would teach then and train them.
And right now you hear that last part and you are thinking— I can’t do that.
Whether you can or can’t you are right.
And honestly you may be right you can’t but Christ can.
Remember who brought the wall of Jericho down?
You or God?- God
Who died for the sins of the world
You or Jesus? Jesus
Who saves people?
You or Jesus? Jesus
Jesus is the one who saves— he just want you to live out your faith.
So go and live it out today.
Pray