Judges: What does it mean when God promises?

God is not unconditional

His love is not unconditional - SOME of it is

What do I mean by love? 1 affection 2 favor

The scripture says that God desires all men to be saved. That desire is a loving one and is applied to every human being on the planet.

Psalm 11:4-7 “4 The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on earth; his eyes examine them. 5 The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. 6 On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. 7 For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face.”

So God desires all men to be saved but he also hates the wicked. He doesn’t hate the sin love the sinner - he hates the one who “loves violence”. Does that mean He stops loving them? I don’t think so. Scripture says while we were still sinners God sent His son for us - before we were saved.

Example: When the wicked love violence, when a kid down the street listens to trap rap that glorifies murder and he kills someone from school God’s heart is ripped in half, because He hates them and loves them at the same time.

So then if God’s favorable love is conditional what do we do? This is the danger in saying God’s love is unconditional - it doesn’t recognize the work of Christ. God’s favorable love is conditional but Christ met those conditions. That’s an important distinction.

His promises are not unconditional - SOME of them are

Example 1 - Noah. God promised He would never destroy the whole earth with water. That is unconditional. There is nothing we can do to change the decree God has made.

Example 2 - The blessings and curses in Deuteronomy. Israel thought their blessings were unconditional. They thought that the land belonged to them not as a responsibility but only as a gift. I wrote a book a few years back called, “Promises of the New Testament” and the thing that surprised me most about God’s promises - in the new testament not the old - 65 of them were “if you do this, then I will do this”.

Matthew 6 “If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”

Matthew 10 “The one who endures to the end will be saved”

Matthew 10 “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father”

Luke 9 “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it”

Acts 10 “Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through His name”

Romans 8 “IF you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”

Why is this important for the book of Judges

In the book of Joshua God tells Israel to drive out the Canaanites for 2 reasons: 1. they were being judged 2. The Canaanites would become catalysts that lead to worshiping other gods.

Judges 1:19-21 “19 The Lord was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron. 20 As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak. 21 The Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.”

Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan, or Taanach, or Dor, or Ibleam, or Megiddo.

Instead of driving them out of the land they made them slaves of war. <- Not what God wanted.

Ephraim didn’t drive out the Canaanites, neither did Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, or the Danites.

Judges 2:1-4 “1 The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’ ” 4 When the angel of the Lord had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud,”

This is during the time of Joshua. Joshua dies.

Judges 2:10-11 “10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.”

It is dangerous

It is dangerous to believe something is unconditional when it isn’t. Every new generation of Israelites grew up in blessing and thought, this is how it’s always going to be, and they were wrong. God set conditions to them living in the land.

The condition was to love him. If they loved Him they would be loved by Him. If they loved other God’s then He would act hatefully towards them.

Because of the promise God gave to Abraham He never abandoned Israel, instead He raised up Judges to save them. Because He had made a promise that through Abraham’s seed, through the tribe of Judah, all nations would be blessed.

Warnings for Christians

God does not work all things to the good of all people. God works all things to the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

God does not make the devil flee from your presence. He says, “resist the Devil and he will flee from you”. Put on the armor of God and with the shield of faith you will protected.

God does not save you because of a prayer, an emotional season, or a fly by night relationship - It is the one who confesses with their mouth, believes in their heart, who’s faith is alive, crucifies their flesh, and endures to the end will be saved.

The bible does not say God will give you peace.

Philippians 4:4-7 “4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

It says rejoice, be gentle, do not be anxious but pray with thanksgiving - and THEN the peace of God will guard your heart.

Are you saying you need to earn God’s promises?

No, am saying you need to live in them in order to be blessed by them.

This isn’t complicated - Example: If I buy you a car and you never drive it. You just let it sit on the street. The car is still yours AND you are still responsible for it. Your just not using it. You have to put the key in, you have to get insurance, you have to keep the tags up to date. The car, which is a blessing, can even become a curse. You can use it improperly, drive drunk, drive without insurance, not get the maintenance done. Does it stop becoming a blessing because your not caring for it? Does it stop being yours because you won’t drive it? NO

The peace of God belongs to you because of Christ but if we don’t rejoice and cast all our anxieties on Him through prayer and thanksgiving then no, we don’t have peace.

If we don’t resist the Devil he will distract us and swallow us with anxiety and temptation. Not because the authority to banish him doesn’t belong to us, but because we are willing participants.

Goodness and mercy are ours all the days of our life. But - this is what Israel forgot - if we do not love God and are not called according to His purpose. If we do whatever we please instead of submitting to His will our lives will become a living hell.

Outro

Parts of God’s love are conditional. Christ met those conditions for us. Because of that, everything good belongs to you. If you will take it. I DON’T MEAN CLAIM IT. Philippians doesn’t say “claim peace” it says rejoice, pray with thanksgiving, be gentle and God will guard your hearts with peace.

Romans 8:31-32 “31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

Everything good belongs to you if you will walk in it according to His purpose.