Judges 1-2
INTRO: This seventh book of the Old Testament takes it's
name from the it's contents
A)The book is devoted to that portion of Israels history that is referred to as the period of the Judges / It records the deeds of 12 of these "Judges"
B)Now the book of Joshua dealt with Victory Few Defeats but really Chronicled one Victory after another
1) Victories that came for the simple reason that
Israel Choose to Obey God
C) But when we come to the Book of Judges/ Judges
Chronicles
12 cycles
of Failure { Judges is a book about Failure
D)But understand it is not a book that Chronicles the
failure of the average man not a record of the ungodly or the rebellious
1) It is a book that Chronicles the failure of Gods
people That is a tragedy
D) What is Sad however is that we can become so
accustomed to the failure in people that it is no longer a tragedy to us
1)
Become
Jaded Indiscretions of Politicians remember
when that seemed like such a horrible thing { Now society almost expect it
2)
Letterman
& Leno make jokes about it on late night TV
So the
book of Judges is a book that Chronicles the failure of Gods people thru 12
cycles in their History Spanning 350 yrs / Slow Learners
A)Characteristics of those cycles The Children of Israel
would give themselves over to sin /
B)Then they would then become servants to an
oppressor / after a time they would then cry out to God - / God would in turn
Raise up a
1) Deliverer a Judge to lead the people out of
Bondage
C) They would walk w/ the Lord until that Judge died
then they would give themselves over to sin again
& repeat the cycle all over again
Now
there are two phrases that are repeated in this book that really describe this
cycle that we see in the book of Judges
A)1st is seen many times And Israel did EVIL in the sight of the Lord
B) The 2nd is repeated twice And everyone did what was right in their own eyes
C) Now what is interesting is that both Phrases are being used to describe the same
situation
1)
See
That which was right in the eyes of the People
was that which was evil in the sight of the Lord
The
Book of Judges is really a good case study in the Dangers of Relativism - The Dangers of the Fluctuating
standards of man
A)The danger of moving away from the Standards found
in Gods word concerning what He calls Good & Evil do follow what seems
right to us
B) No absolutes no
standards redefining of right & wrong / good and evil for a nation
& even for the Church
C) Scary one of the biggest buzz words in the
Church today is Relative Is it relative
Bending with our Society & Culture
D) That is what was happening w/ Israel during the
Period of the Judges
1)And they
assumed that it must have been right in Gods eyes but nothing could have been
further from the truth
A)The Story of AdoniBezek is a Classic illustration of how you reap what you Sow
B)Here is a guy who for yrs was torturing enemy Kings
Cutting off thumbs and Big toes Finally Catches up to him As I have done
.. repaid me
C) The
Bible speaks of SOWING and REAPING
1) These are agricultural terms that escape our mindset today- They illustrate the Process of Harvest
D)The farmer PLANTS a seed and that seed will ONLY produce that which was planted. It does NOT come up suddenly.
1)There is time and effort spent on that crop before it comes in.
It takes time, BUT the harvest does come
E)Adonibezek sowed cruelty for a long time, but one day the harvest came in
Because
the process involved in Sowing & reaping can be a lengthy Process some
people confuse Gods reaction to their Sin
A)They are sowing to the Flesh and it seems like God isnt doing anything - 4 Common Reactions
1.) Many
times, people confuse the patience
of God for IMPOTENCE
A)Listen God is SO patient in dealing with us- He WAITS for us to repent
He allows us to go on while He waits for us to change
B) BUT some begin to think: God hasn't done anything to me yet, therefore He CAN'T and WON'T do anything to me
2.) They begin to confuse the PATIENCE
of God with IGNORANCE
A)"God doesn't know what I'm doing"
B)"I've hidden it from my wife, friends I've hidden it from God"
3.) They confuse God's PATIENCE with
APATHY
A)God doesn't care how I live.... It really doesn't matter to God how I live
4.) In the final stages they begin to confuse
the PATIENCE of God with
APPROVAL
It not only isn't wrong..... God actually approves of my lifestyle
What
a TRAGIC mistake to think that God APPROVES of your sin, or is APATHETIC about
your sin, or that God is IGNORANT of your sin, or God is IMPOTENT to deal with
your sin
Ps 50:19-22
19 You give your
mouth to evil,And your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and
speak against your brother; You slander your own mother's son. 21 These things you have done, and I kept
silent;
You thought that
I was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you,
And set them in
order before your eyes.
22 "Now
consider this, you who forget God, Lest I tear you in pieces,
And there be none
to deliver:
NKJV
God
is PATIENT and LONG-SUFFERING...... BUT - One day He WILL pay
A)One day the harvest comes in- Adonibezek sowed cruelty for a long time, but one day the harvest came in
B)So too - One day, with Adonibezek you might be forced
to say: As I
have done, so God has rewarded me
V. 8- 15
Spurgeon
has a wonderful sermon on verses 12-15 ("Aschsah's Asking, A Pattern of
Prayer");
A)He shows how the request from a daughter (Aschsah) to a father (Caleb) gives us a "PATTERN of prayer" Note - __ things
1) She thought about what she wanted before she went to her father..
She came to Caleb with a very definite request, that had been considered before hand.
PT. "Think what you are going to ask before you begin to pray
This
woman does not say to her father, 'Father, listen to me,' and then utter some
pretty little oration about nothing; but she knows what she is going to ask
for, and why she is going to ask it."
2) She asked for help with her request, asking her
husband v.14 - she urged him to ask her father
for a field
A) It is a good thing when Gods people are joined together in Prayer
Effective Fervent prayer of
a Righteous man avails much
B) Prayer Chains great !!!!
3) She went humbly, yet eagerly
4) She Prayed for a blessing
Luke 12:32 "Do not
fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the
kingdom. NKJV
5) She mingled gratitude with her petition (v.15 you have given me land in the South)
6) She used past blessing as a reason to ask for more
RESULT Her father gave her what she asked
A)So this little vignette shares some good insights for us into Prayer
V. 16-19
So
here we see that Judah begins to experience some failure told why in Ch. 2:1-3
They had begun to allow some things into their Mist
A)See God is not intimidated by Chariots not scared or
moved not pacing heaven They have Chariots
what am I going to do?
B) It is not like when
man designed the Chariot that God said there go
all my Promises God doesnt have anxiety attacks watching the
Chariot scenes in Ben Hur - IT IS NO BIG DEAL TO HIM !!!!!!
C) There is
no weaponry invented by man today that scares Him
1) 2nd Coming 1Thes 5 Jesus overthrows the
enemy with the word of His Mouth
Now if
I am living in my house and someone comes down the street in a Tank that is a
pretty big deal to me because my
resources are limited
A)In comparison to a tank I am in trouble garden hose rake / steak Knives { take you on }
B) But this is what we need to remember in all those areas that can
cause us CONSTERNATION is they are NOTHING TO GOD !!!!!
1) He is not impressed by what we perceive to be our
Strengths
C) But Judah loses sight
of that and because of what we will see is their compromise they miss out on
the Promises of God
1) They miss out on seeing
what God will do how He would deliver this army even w/ its chariots
into their hands
D) We will see in a
couple of weeks how the Lord takes down a army with 900 Chariots thus Proving
they are nothing to Him !!!!
Listen
their attitude should have been like in Psalm 20:7 - Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will
remember the name of the LORD our God.
A)They believed one promise of God, and not another; God was with them in the hills, but not in the lowlands.
B)Many believers find it easy to believe one area of God's promises, but not another
v.20-27
Note that
Phrase the Caananites were determined to dwell in the land
A)Their conflict w/ their enemies is like our Conflict w/ our Flesh
See Like the Caananites the Flesh is determined to Stay
B) God Promised Victory over their enemies but they needed to Drive them out God has promised us Victory over the Flesh
Now
here we see that they begin to compromise w/ the inhabitants of the land {
Leads to their Down fall -
A)That is the great challenge for us as believers we experience great victories in our early walks with the Lord
B) But there can come a
time when you start to grow tired of the Warfare { Christian life is Battle
ground flesh & the Devil { Living in this world
1)Now when you grow tired
of the warfare there can be a tendency to grow lax in reading the word { Begin to drift away from that Dependence on HS
C) Then it gets easy to start making Covenants or
agreements with the Flesh { Things that at one time would never be tolerated
are tolerated
1)
Content
to let the Lord have 70% of my life
I think that everyone of us in
this room tonight who have walked w/ the Lord a while should ask ourselves Have I grown comfortable in areas of my Flesh
A)Are there areas that I used to consider to be sin
that I dont any longer? Good question to ask ourselves { Lord search our
Hearts
B) See here is what we fail to see is that in the compromise we are defeated & if not now somewhere down the line we will pay a horrible price
1)That is what is happening to these tribes
C) Now what we are going to see is a Progression
that occurs as they make a Cov with these tribes like they would make with the
Flesh
1)
Somehow
we are duped into thinking that the enemy plays fair Listen sin doesnt play
fair { James 1:13-15 makes it clear { Destroy You
D) John 10 Jesus makes it clear that Satans goal is
to Kill / Rob / Destroy
1) When we open the door to compromise we open the
door to being destroyed