You may turn in your Bibles to Judges chapter 2. Judges chapter 2 will return to our exposition of Matthew, God willing, next Sunday morning. If you have been with us over the last couple Wednesday evenings, then I want to tell you this will be a bit of a review. But Judges chapter 2, specifically verse 7 to chapter 3, verse 6.
We're going to look at the description of Israel's apostasy. Sometimes when we come to this book of Judges, it seems like it's so dark and so bleak, and it is when we look at the people, but it is a book that truly displays and manifests and evidences the grace and the mercy and the kindness of God. As you move through the Bible, very often when you see contexts that are dark with man's depravity, this is most often when God's light of righteousness shines most brilliantly and most clearly. So I wanted to look at this this morning by way of encouragement to us with reference to the amazing grace of God and as well to try and whet some appetites for those who are unable to be with us on Wednesday night.
You can find these messages online as Judges is a most encouraging book concerning the person and the work of our great God in raising up deliverers for the children of Israel. So I'll pick up reading in chapter 2 at verse 7. So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which he had done for Israel. Now Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was 110 years old.
And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Erez, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them, who did not know the Lord, nor the work which he had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt.
And they followed other gods from among the gods of the people, who were all around them. And they bowed down to them, and they provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel.
So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them. And He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them, and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods, and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked, in obeying the commandments of the Lord. They did not do so. And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of 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 oppressed them and harassed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He said, Because this nation has transgressed My covenant, which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord to walk in them as their fathers kept them or not.
Therefore the Lord left those nations without driving them out immediately, nor did he deliver them into the hand of Joshua. Now these are the nations which the Lord left, that he might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan. This was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it. namely five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. And they were left that he might test Israel by them to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord which he had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
Thus, the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and they served their gods. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Our Father, we come to Scripture now, we pray for the ministry and aid of your Holy Spirit, We pray that in this passage, a passage dark with the depravity of man, we would see the glory, the light of the gospel of our great God and Savior. Help us to appreciate your grace. Help us to see in our own lives the deliverance that you have provided through our Lord Jesus. And help us, God, to be refreshed and encouraged and strengthened.
And help us as well to be warned. The children of Israel certainly defected. They certainly disobeyed. They did not do those things that God had commanded.
So help us, Father, as we are prone to wander, prone to leave the God that we love. Help us to seek to pursue those things which are pleasing in your sight. Empower us and enable us by your Spirit to pursue obedience to your holy law. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Introduction: Theme of Judges
Well, in chapter 2, we basically see the theme of the book of Judges. The bulk of the book is beginning, or the bulk of the largest section of the book begins in chapter 3 at verse 7 and continues to chapter 16 and verse 31. That's probably the bulk or the portion of the book that we're most familiar with. The various Judges that God raised up.
And when I say Judges, they weren't those who wore black robed and sat behind a bench and rendered judgment concerning civil and criminal matters in Israel. They were deliverers that were primarily tasked with delivering the children of Israel from the oppression of the nations around them. That's what judges are in the book of Judges. So if you're thinking about the traffic court judge that you've gone to before, hopefully not. then you will be wrong.
These are earthly men that God raised up to do a particular task in freeing his people from the oppression that they brought on themselves. So chapter 2 is thematic, it gives an overview, it tells us what's going to happen, and then 3.7-16.31 details specifically the particular men and women that God raised up to deliver Israel. So as we look at Judges 2,
Overview of Three Main Points
we're going to consider three particulars. First, the root of Israel's apostasy in chapter 2, verses 7 to 10. Secondly, the description of Israel's apostasy, verses 11 to 15. and then the divine response to Israel's apostasy in 2.16 to 3.6.
The Root of Israel's Apostasy
Note first the root. We see that in chapter 2 verses 7 to 10.
Faithfulness of the Joshua Generation
First and foremost it highlights their faithfulness. Joshua depicts very positively the conquest in Canaan. It depicts very positively that the children of Israel did, by and large, what they were told. Though there are foreshadowings along the way in Joshua that there would be problems, Joshua gives us a positive look, Judges gives us a negative look. at the conquest.
You'll remember that conquest refers to that act or instance where God tells the children of Israel, I have given you this particular land. He swore it by oath, He swore it by covenant to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. Now it's come time, after being let out of Egypt, after being brought out of captivity in Egypt and bondage, now they're being brought into the land that the Lord has given to them. So when I refer to conquest, that's what I mean.
The children of Israel going into Canaan, engaging in holy war to take the land and to dispossess the land from the Canaanites. It's positive Verse 7, the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which he had done for Israel. Truly, a great description of how things were. That it then indicates the death of Joshua.
We need to understand that just because the earthly leader dies, it doesn't mean that the people of God are without help. It doesn't mean that God no longer is with them. God certainly is their God, whether Moses is the leader, whether Joshua is the leader, or even if it is, like the time as it was in Judges, when everyone did what was right in their own eyes. God is not an absentee king.
He is present, He is with His people, and though Joshua dies, the nation lives on under God, and they are to be obedient.
Spiritual Death of the Second Generation
Now notice what verse 10 goes on to say. When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, this is the death of the first generation, he then records the death of the second generation. The first generation died physically. Those who are faithful to Joshua and faithful to the elders who outlived Joshua are now dead.
And what he describes in verse 10 is that another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord, nor the work which He had done for Israel. I describe this as death because it is so spiritually. And we need to understand when it references or it mentions that they did not know the Lord. It doesn't mean they didn't have an idea that Yahweh was king of Israel.
It didn't mean they were devoid of cognitive information. It didn't mean that they had no concept whatsoever that there was a God over Israel. When it says they did not know the Lord, they didn't know Him experientially. They didn't know Him believingly.
They didn't follow Him. They didn't give Him their hearts. They weren't obedient unto Him. In sum, they had rejected the living and true God of Israel.
This is why I submit that this is the root of their apostasy. When man rejects God, when man does not bow to the Lord, when man does not believe on Him, when man makes an outward external confession, but knows nothing of the saving power of God's amazing grace, then all manner of sin and evil flow as a result of this. This is why, verses 11 to 15, are in Judges chapter 2. In other words, what we believe concerning God affects the way that we live for or against Him.
As Daniel Bloch says, when people lose sight of God's grace, they lose sight of God, in the sense of any obligation to Him. All that follows in the book is a consequence of Israel's loss of memory. They didn't listen to their fathers. They didn't listen to their teachers.
They didn't listen to the priests. They may have been in the right places. They may have showed up at the temple or tabernacle rather. They may have showed up at the family altar.
They may have looked like they were paying attention to father or to the priest. But they rejected the information. They did not believe on Him. They did not look to Him.
And what we learn from this is that there can be a faithful generation. Not a perfect generation, but a generation that was under Joshua, that by and large could be described with the language of verse 7. But after they pass, The second generation, having rejected the living and true God, then plunges the entire nation into utter depravity and despair.
Application: Praying for the Next Generation
We need to understand that as parents, we need to understand that as churches, we need to pray for our young people, we need to pray for the second generation, we need to ask them the probing questions, we need to set before them the truth of God's law, and the truth of God's Gospel. We cannot assume that because they've been brought up in a Christian home that they're necessarily going to become Christians. We need to assume that they are dead in their trespasses and sins. That that blessed little baby that we look at is in Adam and stands in need of amazing grace.
We need to faithfully and diligently teach. We need to instruct them when we rise up, when we walk by the way, and when we lie down at night. But we mustn't ever forget that the power, the sovereignty, the glory belongs to God who has sway over the hearts of man. That isn't to cast us into despair. but rather to promote hope.
In other words, we sow the seeds. Another person waters those seeds, but it's God who gives the increase. And God is full of grace, and full of mercy, and full of saving power, so we ought not to tire of praying to Him, Lord, save our children, save the people who show up at church on Sundays, who are outside of Christ. We cannot assume that everybody knows who Jesus Christ is, that He was from Nazareth, that He lived a perfect life, that He died a sacrificial death, that He rose again.
We can't believe that everybody who has that external confession has been gripped by it. We cannot assume, we must not assume, we must be in earnest with reference to prayer. You see this pattern of a rejection of God leading to all manner of wickedness. Just read through this book.
In fact, chapters 17 to 21 are an amazing look at how bad man can become. Daniel Bloch in his commentary tells us the overarching theme in the book of Judges is the canonization of Israel. The Canaanization of Israel. Israel was to go into the land and dispossess the Canaanites.
Israel did not do that. Israel did not reject marriage with their sons and daughters. And Israel certainly did not reject their gods. So what happens?
They've become like the Canaanites. So much so that when you get to the latter chapters, you see things that were spoken about Sodom in the book of Genesis going on within Israel itself. It is the canonization of Israel that we see in this book of Judges, and we see God's deliverance even in the midst of such depravity and wickedness. Do you see this pattern with Eli's son?
Eli's sons, rather. They were priests who served God. Now certainly they knew who Yahweh was. They were priests.
When a man stands in a pulpit and he's not converted, he at least knows who Jesus is. We like to assume that he's come into some contact externally with the Scriptures. It's not as if he doesn't know Jesus, period. He doesn't know Him experientially, he knows Him cognitively.
The same thing was true of Eli's sons. These men stole sacrifice that people brought to worship God with. These men lay with prostitutes who used to hang out at the tabernacle. But the primary problem, according to 1 Samuel 2.12, is that they did not know the Lord.
They did not know Yahweh. The same thing is true in Romans chapter 1. We look at the vice list. We look at the description of depravity.
We look at homosexuality in 24, 26, 28. We see God giving over a people. We neglect verse 21. who, although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, nor were their hearts thankful." In other words, knowing God through the created order, having been created in His image, they knew who He was, but they did not honor Him as God, nor were their hearts thankful. As a result, God then gives them over to do all these acts of wickedness.
If we want to address homosexuality in our society, if we want to address drug abuse in our society, if we want to address spousal abuse, or we want to address sex trafficking, or we want to address any manner of evil, the primary way is to preach the gospel of saving grace. In other words, men need to be reoriented, because those who worship idols become like their idols. When men worship things that have eyes but they don't see, and ears but they don't hear, they become like them. This is why God indicts the nation of Israel, because you have eyes that don't see, you have ears that don't hear, they become like the idols that they worship.
This is what's going on. The canonization of Israel. They knew who God was, but they didn't know Him. They didn't believe.
They didn't follow. They didn't obey. They paid lip service. And this is the fear that so many people do today.
They come to churches. They come to orthodox churches. They come to solid churches. But there's no living religion.
There's no heart for the things of God. There's no desire to serve Christ. There's only this idea to throw in to our already complete life this religious aspect of man's being. If that's how you treat Sabbath worship, if that's how you treat the God of the Bible, it is a bad sign that you know nothing of the God of Scripture.
Because, as we've said before, men know that if religion means anything, it means everything. And if we say yes to the God of heaven and earth, if we confess Him in our hearts as Lord and Savior, then our lives must fit. Our lives must be consistent. And that is precisely the problem here in Judges chapter 2.
The root of Israel's apostasy was the fact that they had forgotten the Lord. David says amnesia produces apostasy. That is why scripture is so frantic about the church not forgetting what Yahweh has done for us. Deuteronomy 4, Deuteronomy 6, how many times through Deuteronomy Our parents in Israel charged with instructing their children, with teaching their children.
When your son comes and he asks you, then you tell him what God did in terms of delivering us from the bondage of Egypt. We need to set these things before their hearts and we need to pray for them, that God would take it and internalize it. That Psalm 110 would be a living reality in the lives of our children and young people and the unconverted that come in among us. God makes men willing. in the day of His power.
That's the one to whom we ought to pray and go with reference to salvation.
The Description of Israel's Apostasy
Now notice, secondly, the description of Israel's apostasy. Verses 11 to 15. It's important that we understand their relationship to God. See, they couldn't apostatize or fall away from one whom they had no relationship with.
This is why, throughout Scripture, Typically, there are one or two exceptions, but typically throughout Scripture, there's one body that's accused of spiritual adultery. It's those in covenant with God. It's those who have a relationship with God. If a single man sins sexually, he's guilty of fornication, but not necessarily adultery, because he hasn't violated a marriage contract or covenant.
Israel is upbraided for spiritual adultery. Israel is upbraided for spiritual harlotry. Israel has defected from her God. God was the father of the patriarchs.
God was God of the patriarchs, according to verse 12. God delivered them according to verses 10 and 12, and God established a covenant with them in verse 20. They bore a special relationship to the living and true God.
Israel's Defection: Evil and Baal Worship
Notice their defection from Him. They did evil. Verse 11a is sort of a summary statement of all that follows. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.
It's the topic sentence. It's like Paul says in Ephesians 1, a very different sort of an approach, but he says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. There's your topic sentence. Paul then fleshes it out by speaking of the electing purposes of God, the redeeming purposes of Christ, and the sealing purposes of the Spirit.
We've got topic, and we have it fleshed out. Verse 11a is topic, and then it's fleshed out. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Again, don't miss the connection between 10 and 11.
They did not know the Lord, then they did evil in the sight of the Lord. They did not know Yahweh, therefore they went out and did evil in His sight. Men today don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, so they lie with other men. Men today don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, so they shoot methamphetamine or take methamphetamine into their body.
Men do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, so they're outwardly self-righteous and polished and pure and think that they're going to be commended by God for their good works. It's because they do not know the Lord that they go and do evil in His sight. Notice, they served bails. This is a terrible description.
They served the Baals. In Canaanite theology and agriculture, the fertility of the land depended upon the sexual relationship between Baal and his consort. The revival of nature was due to intercourse between Baal and his partner. I don't want to be outside of any sort of propriety.
I don't want to offend anybody's delicate sensitivities, but it's important that we see what Baalism is. And I think it's important that we see how much of evangelical worship is more similar to Baal than it is to Yahweh. When we worship God from the waist down or when it's all experience, that has more tap roots in Baalism than it does in Yahwehism. It's terrifying.
When it's all about the experience, when it's all about how I feel, when it's all about what did I get out of that, Isn't that the language that's used today in churches? In evangelical and reform? What did I get out of it is how we measure whether church was good. Let's Paul tell Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, by instructing the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ.
Not by leading them to a worship experience that's exhilarating. By leading them to a place of ecstasy, by leading them to a place where they forget all their woes and troubles on earth, and at least for that hour they're ushered into a happy place. That's not it! Much of worship today, or I shouldn't say much, some of worship today, is more about our experience than about the living and true God.
I'm not suggesting it ought to be miserable. I'm not suggesting you ought to come in here and have to close your ears because it's so terrible. But ask yourself, do I want Baal or do I want Yahweh? It's a quote from Davis.
The revival of nature was due to intercourse between Baal and his partner, but the Canaanite faithful didn't simply sit back and say, let Baal do it. There was no let go and let Baal thinking among them. Instead, their watchword was, serve Baal with gladness all ye glands. Hence, the Canaanite practice of sacred prostitution as a part of their worship.
The idea was to fornicate in order to get Baal to be kind to us and rain on our crops. This is what the children of Israel did. They turned from Yahweh and they sought Baal. Bloch says it in less offensive terms, in contrast to the lofty theology and the austere morality of Yahweh, the Canaanite religious system offered exciting and often erotic cult rituals.
It's exciting the way Baal does it. God of Israel, Yahweh, was good to get us out of Egypt. We like Him being tasked with those big projects. But when it comes to rain on our crops, look at how the Canaanites do it.
That looks a lot more fun. It looks a lot more rewarding. It looks a lot more exhilarating. And look, they've got crops.
They were affected by the worship around that. They served Baals, they forsook God. You see, these two things go hand in hand. Never forget this, young people.
You either serve God or you don't. Didn't Jesus teach us this in Matthew 12, 30? He who is not with me is what? Kind of with me? 60% with me?
No! He's against me. There's only one option, one place to be. It's with Christ.
What happens when men reject Yahweh? They seek Baal. What happens when men reject Jesus? They seek Baal.
What happens when men reject the Lord God Most High as He reveals Himself in Scripture? They seek whatever pleases them. This is the progress. They followed other gods.
Israel Rejected by God in Covenant Judgment
Notice then Israel's rejection by God in verses 14 and 15. They forsook the Lord, verse 13, they served Baal and the Ashtoreths. Ashtoreths were the female counterpart to Baal. You see Baal had Mrs.
Baal. in order to carry out his particular activity. Verse 14, And so he, God, delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn to them. You see this fundamental principle of covenant religion.
When we break the covenant and we reject the God of the covenant, what does God do? He delivers us over. He hands us over. He rejects us.
This is in accordance with His Word. Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. God said very clearly, go into the land, dispossess the land of the Canaanites, do not marry with them, do not engage in covenant with them, do not worship with them, but rather destroy them and get them out of the land. They reject that.
They don't do that. They worship Baal. They worship Ashtar. They quite like Canaanite religion.
They quite like being at home among these people. And so what does God do? He delivers them up into the hands of oppressors. He judges them.
Again, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. It's very clear-cut. If you obey, you get blessed. If you disobey, you get cursed.
This is one of the blessings of the New Covenant. The covenant added in the New Covenant is the Lord Jesus Christ. We are ushered by grace into an unconditional covenant because of what Christ has secured on our behalf, such that it cannot be broken. Now certainly as we sin against God, as we transgress this particular law, we receive disfavor, we receive frowns instead of smiles, all those things to be the case.
But in this old covenant situation, when they rejected God, God rejected them. And that is what the text indicates.
The Divine Response to Israel's Apostasy
Now notice, thirdly and finally, the divine response to Israel's apostasy. The distress of Israel, verse 15b. This is an important thing to understand, what we're about to say. Notice in verse 15b, and they were greatly distressed.
Notice in verse 18, and when the Lord had raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of 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 oppressed them and harassed them. It's important to grasp this. If you've not heard a lot of what I've said up to this point, You've not paid attention up to this point.
Listen.
Distress Without Repentance: The SOD Cycle
Their distress here was not repentance. Their distress here was not agony because they had sinned against their God. I've shared with the brethren in my early Christian life, I learned that the cycles, that's what Judges is about. There's several cycles.
Sin, oppression, and deliverance. That's what chapter 2 says, and that's what chapters 3 to 16 develop. When I learned it, it was SWORD. That was the acronym by which you understood the book of Judges.
S for Sin, O for Oppression, R for Repentance, and D for Deliverance. Not SWORD like we wield, because there's a W in there, and you can't fit that in the acronym. You tracking? SWORD.
That's how I was taught. Sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance. As I shared with the brethren on Wednesday night, that's not the acronym. It's SOD.
Sin, oppression, deliverance. They don't repent. as is clear in the very summary statement that we will find. The Lord raises up a deliverer, He frees them from their oppressor, and what happens? They revert to their old ways.
So sin, oppression, and deliverance, the groaning, the crying out, the distress, is not because they have broken covenant with their God. It's not the man in Jesus' parable who cannot even look up into heaven, but beats his breast and says, God be merciful to me, the sinner. It is not the cry of the penitent who says, Lord God Most High, forgive me and cleanse me and wash me. It is the cry of those who are suffering.
And it's in that context that God does reach down and deliver them. Isn't that glorious? Isn't that amazing grace? Again, it's not a one-for-one connection here with reference to New Covenant religion.
In the New Covenant, the elect of God are given the Spirit of God. They will repent by the grace of God. They renew repentance. They're told to do that.
They're told to seek after the Lord. And there are even instances where we make a mess of our lives as new covenant Christians. We deserve to die. We deserve prison.
We deserve all manner of judgment and evil and bad things. And what does our God do? He lifts us out of our distress and He cleanses us. It's truly amazing.
The book of Judges is not bleak, dark and dismal. It's about grace. It's about mercy. It's about kindness.
It's about God shining light upon a people of depravity. As we see here, note the connection.
Nevertheless: Grace in Sovereign Deliverance
Verse 15b, they were greatly distressed. Verse 16, nevertheless. This is where Newton would sing, amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I'm found, I was blind but now I see.
Nevertheless, Yahweh raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered that. They were distressed because of their oppression. They were distressed because of their problems. They were distressed because of their aches and their pains and their sufferings and their woes.
And nevertheless, the Lord raised up deliverers to deliver them. It's grace, brethren. It's grace.
Escalating Cycles of Sin and Deliverance
Note the cycles involved. Verses 17 to 19. They would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord.
They did not do so. And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of 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 oppressed them and harassed them." Have you ever had that as a parent? You see your child doing something foolish?
Most parents don't go, well, that's the way it goes. I'm sorry you just whacked your thumb with that hammer and that you're going to do it again. That's a bad, you're the least likely candidate for parent of the year if you're watching your kid destroy himself. Can I say it in man terms?
God can't handle watching his covenant people in distress. He can't. You're making a mess of it. You're ruining your life.
You're destroying yourself. You are headlong in abandonment and in wickedness. I can't watch this anymore. I've got to stop you.
That's what he says here. And when the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of 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 oppressed them and harassed them. And just by way of a theological aside, I affirm impassibility.
I affirm that God changes not. He reveals to us something of His holy and glorious character in passages like these. The God who changes not shows us the relationship that we sustain to Him, and that He pities us, and He looks upon us with groaning, and He sees us in oppression, and He comes to vindicate and to rescue His covenant people. Verse 19, it came to pass when the judge was dead that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers by following other gods to serve them and bow down to them.
You've got to understand with Sod, we have these cycles of sin, oppression and deliverance, but the sin continues to get worse and worse. The sin continues to escalate. They degenerate even more so. We get a bit of Baal in our hearts and it's hard to get it out.
We get a bit of this world in our hearts and it's hard to excise ourselves. We get a bit of that ungodly influence in us and what happens? Do we get better? James says, pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God and the Father is this, to visit widows and orphans in their distress and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
Sometimes young people engage in what's called missionary dating, or missionary marriage. I know he's not a believer, but I love him. And if I marry him, then certainly I can bring him to the Savior. Do you know what statistically happens more often than not?
The godly doesn't bring the ungodly to the Savior. The ungodly pulls the godly down. Keep oneself unspotted from the world. We get a bit of Baal in our hearts and it's hard to get rid of that influence.
And that's what the author is telling us. They behaved more corruptly than their fathers by following other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.
God's Covenantal Speech and Testing
Note the divine speech. It's an interesting section. There's an author of the book of Judges. Somebody's a human author.
The Spirit's upon him. He's writing God's holy word. Chapter 2, verses 1 to 3, we see the angel of the Lord, who I take to be the pre-incarnate Christ, coming to the people and reproving them for their sin, and then weeping incessantly at Bokin. They wept, they sacrificed, but they didn't repent.
They wept and they sacrificed, but they didn't repent. Rend your hearts, not your garments, God says through the prophet Joel. You may cry a river, you may sacrifice a thousand bulls, but until you've repented and committed your way to the Lord God Most High, it's a sham, it's empty, it's vile, it's wretched. Now we've got God Himself speaking to the people.
Verses 20 to 22. Then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He said, Because this nation has transgressed My covenant, which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice. Do not miss this. Because this nation, this goyim.
You may have heard that term before, goyim. That's a Gentile. Jews refer to the Goy or the Goyim as the nations, the non-Israelites, the ones that were not connected rightly into their covenant community. What's God doing?
I shared that Wednesday night as well. He's doing what parents sometimes do. I think of a time when one of my sons threw a rock through a window in our house. And I think my response was something like this.
Honey, look at what your son did. Have any of you parents ever done that? Honey, look at what your daughter did. Honey, look at that child or look at what that child of your loins has accomplished.
We distance ourselves from the offending party in our anger, don't we? The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he said, because this nation, not my people, not the covenant community, not Israel, these goy. You see this happen in the prophets as well. When God is angry, he doesn't call them my people.
You see this in Deuteronomy, when God tells Moses, your people, He's distancing Himself in His anger because of their sin and their hardened hearts against Him. So the Lord says, because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not heeded My voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died, so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord to walk in them as their fathers kept them or not." And just as I read that passage, I'm thinking back to the time when Josh threw the rock through the window, and I cannot say with Judgment Day honesty, that's what I said. So please forgive me. I don't want to misrepresent it, but the concept is the same.
I'm sure there were times when my children did something wrong, and I said to Rebecca, look at what your child has done. That's the point where God says, this nation. God says, I'm going to bring judgment. I will no longer drive out before the many of the nations.
I want to test Israel. The test is not for God. The test is not God setting it out there to see and to wring his hands and wonder if in fact they're actually going to. The test is for them.
They're going to see their failure, they're going to see their dismal response, they're going to see their covenant unfaithfulness, and it's hopefully going to tutor them to that place where they're crying out to the Lord God for deliverance from on high. Every earthly deliverer that we see between chapters 3 and 16 are men imperfect delivering the people of God. What Israel is being taught is that a champion is going to come from heaven, that the Messiah of the Lord is going to deliver His people, He's going to be perfect and spotless and holy and pure. So all of this is a time of tutorial for the nation of Israel.
They're going to learn something about sin, they're going to learn something about righteousness, they're going to learn something about the God of the covenant, and they're going to learn something about their great need for Messiah Christ. Summary statement, verse 23, and then chapter 3 is the remaining nations. The plan is executed, verses 1 and 2. These are the nations which the Lord left, that he might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan.
This was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it. That does not mean the strategy involved. It does not mean the wielding of weapons. It means the whole concept behind the Holy War itself.
God gives them the land. God tells them to dispossess the land. God tells them not to make covenant with the inhabitants of the land so that they can serve Him, so that they can fear Him, so that they can honor Him. A description of the nations left is then given and then we have a summary statement in verses 4 to 6.
They were left that he might test Israel by them to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord which he had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons and they served other gods. I hope that if you were here the last two Wednesday nights, verses 5 and 6 now ring in your ears.
What were they told in Deuteronomy 7, 1 to 5? Dispossess the land. Here they're dwelling in the land. No, you're not supposed to dwell with the inhabitants of the land.
You're supposed to dispossess the inhabitants of the land. You're not supposed to live among the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Jebusites. You're supposed to eject them. Because what happens when you dwell with them?
Then you start to marry with them. What happens when you start to marry with them? Then you bow with them. What began as toleration, this is Davis again, They tolerated these inhabitants.
What began as toleration became apostasy. What seemed so reasonable proved lethal. Living with Canaanites led to worshiping with Canaanites. Tolerate Baal's people and sooner or later you bow at Baal's altar." That's what the author is telling us.
That's what verses 5 and 6 inform us. And into that mess, into that sin, into that depravity, God brings Ophniah. God brings Ehud. God brings Shamgar.
What unites a noble Judahite, a left-handed dagger-maker from Benjamin, and a non-Israelite that likes ox goats? What unites these men is the God of heaven and earth who takes these vessels, these instruments, and raises them up to deliver His children of Israel. It's truly an amazing and a glorious book.
Application
A couple of lessons that we learned and then we close. First, the wickedness of apostasy. May I just say again, do not forget the Lord. Christians, read your Bibles, be in church, be in the means of grace, be at the Lord's Supper, be at baptism.
If you've not been baptized and you're a believer, get baptized. Be with Christian people, no fellowship of the saints, obey God, keep God before your eyes. Why? Because amnesia produces apostasy.
You start to live at a distance from God and you start to get comfortable with that distance, that distance grows and it grows and it grows and it grows. We need to stop. We need to return. We need to come back.
We need to quit playing games. We need to not think that I can handle it. I can live this way. I'm a maverick.
I can do what I want. It's snowing out, so I'm not going to go to church. That's just a dig at everybody that didn't come this morning. Just kidding to everybody out there that didn't come.
You see, we start making excuses where we never did before. What is that? I mean, you first get converted and you got hit by a car, but you drag yourself into church. Thirty years in, you get a hint of a sniffle, and I can't go to church.
Why is that? Because we've grown comfortable with distance. Do you like that in your marriage? Do you like distance with the people you're closest to?
No, you're closest to them. Distance is bad. Christians develop a devotional life. Read your Bibles.
Pray. Read good Christian books. Know Yahweh. Because if you don't know Yahweh, this is the inevitable end.
Apostasy. People don't just commit apostasy. You don't just fall into apostasy. It's a series of steps.
It's a gradation. It's a leaving off this. It's a not doing this. It's a not going here.
It's a not listening to this. It's just becoming dead to the things of God. The Christian life, when it's all boiled down to, really isn't that difficult. Do what God says.
That's it. Pick up and read. Learn of Him. Know Him.
The idea is that the knowledge of God will help inoculate you against Baal, against the Ashtoreths, against pursuing those things that are going to drag your soul to hell. If you're not a believer this morning, and you come here every Sunday, and you hear the Gospel, and you hear me pray about God's sovereignty and about election, or preach a sermon that God hides these things from the wise and the intelligent. You're trying to work it all out. How can God be sovereign?
And yet the same guy tells me to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. God is sovereign. God does elect.
God is predestined. All of that is true. The Bible says, believe and you will be saved. He said, well, I can't figure all that out.
Maybe God doesn't call you to figure it all out. Believe the gospel of his son, and then you'll start to figure things out. Isn't that the way we are? I've got to know everything before I believe.
No, you've got to believe, and then you'll start to learn. That's what Augustine said. The empiricist, the evidence seeker says, show me, and then I'll believe. Augustine says, believe, and then you'll be shown.
Come to Christ. There's nothing better. This is a way to know the Lord. It's through Christ.
We see in this passage the power of sin. You'd think a cycle would be enough to break the back of sin. You'd think that until you think about yourself for a moment, right? How could these people in Israel do this stuff?
How can we leave a church service and go home and do this stuff? How can we, in the midst of a church service, do this stuff? How can we, with all the light, with all the benefit, with all the grace, the Spirit of Adoption Himself in us, do this stuff? It's the power of sin.
David says, they do not and apparently cannot keep themselves from the slavery of sin. They are held in sin's grip. They have bail in their blood. Note what Bloch says.
Remember, here's a great application of this whole section. The children of Israel were told to dispossess the Canaanites. They didn't do that. Now they're dwelling with the Canaanites.
Do you see a parallel here between us and them? We're not told to dispossess the Chilliwackians. We're not told to dispossess the Vancouverites. We're not told to dispossess the heathen and the gentile and the pagan and the unbeliever in this new covenant era.
What is the connection? We are Israelites. We are Christians living amongst an ungodly people. What are we supposed to do?
Leave the earth? Fly to the moon? Get a rocket ship and go away? No!
We're supposed to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. Listen to what Bloch says. Peaceful coexistence with the world leads to cohabitation and alliance with the world, which in turn leads to taking on the religious notions of the world. This is the rule.
Occasions when the influence is in the reverse direction are the exception. It does happen out there that a believer does marry an unbeliever, and God reaches down in mercy and saves the unbeliever. He's good. But because that exception exists, do not argue that I'm going to do that, therefore.
And then faucet. The commentator says, our high calling is to be in the world, not of the world. It is not our being in the world that ruins us, but our suffering the world to be in us. And he uses this great analogy.
What sinks a ship? Is it that it's in the water? No, its function is to stay above the water. What sinks the ship is when the ship lets the water in it.
What sinks the Christian? Is it that we're in the world? No, it's that we've taken it into our hearts. Is it that we live in Chilliwack?
No, it's that we're bowing with the Chilliwackians, with their unbelieving gods. or their idols. It's a great point. And then finally, I mentioned the first three deliverers, Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar. We could just do another hour if everybody's up to it.
Just kidding. Othniel, Ehud, and Shamgar. Verse 7 of chapter 3. I'm sorry, verse 9.
When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel who delivered them. Notice chapter 3, verse 15. If you're familiar with the Ehud story, you'll know that some people are offended by some of those unsavory details. I mean, you've got a son of Gerah, a Benjamite.
The word Benjamin means son of my right hand. We have a lefty. taking a dagger, putting it on his right thigh, coming into the king of Eglon and saying, I have a message for you from God. Taking that dagger off of his right thigh and plunging it into big fat Eglon. That's what the text says.
The text tells us he was a big fat man. And instead of withdrawing the dagger and putting it back into his sheath, and thus getting blood all over his garment, he leaves the dagger in that fat man, he has no blood on his garment, and he makes his way out of the palace without any problems whatsoever. Some people find Ehud to be an unsavory character. They say, well, you know God ordained that he would do this, but God didn't ordain the way that he would do it.
Well, you see, the text does not give us any indication that God was displeased with Ehud whatsoever. Note verse 15. But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up, not a murderer, not a liar, not an assassin, but He raised up a deliverer for them. Ehud, the son of Gerah, the Benjamite, a left-handed man.
And then in verse 31, after him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox goat, and he also delivered Israel. That's the point of the book! Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. These people were lost, these people were dead, these people were in depravity, and so the Lord reaches down, raises up a deliverer, sends them into the fray to destroy their enemies, to destroy their oppression, and then the children of Israel have peace and rest in the land, upwards of 80 years in certain instances.
So do not be afraid of the book of Judges. Do not be put off by what appears to be some unsavory characters. All of these men and this woman, Deborah, typify for us the deliverance that will come ultimately. through Jesus Christ. And I will end like I ended on Wednesday night.
These men had their faults. These men had their problems. These men, as we see, could not break the back of reigning sin. Only the Lord Jesus Christ could do that.
Davis says, but he could not rip the idols out of their hearts. Here is the tragedy of the people of God. Slavery to sin. And no left-handed savior, spilling the guts of foreign kings, can release you from that bondage.
For our real bondage does not consist of Moabites, or fat kings, or physical and economic oppression. No left-handed savior can break us free from our tyrant. but there is one with nail-scarred hands who can and does. The only tragedy in our story will be if, having this Savior, we do not cry to Him for help. For Yahweh has raised up for us a Savior, Jesus, who shall save His people from their sins.
Ehud, Othniel, and Shamgar brought deliverance, as did Deborah, as will Samson, as will all of these brethren that God uses, but they revert back to and become more corrupt. We need to break the power of reigning sin. And the only means, the only power available, the only remedy for such a situation is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Your problem, as Davis said, is not Moabites, it's not economic oppression, it's not fat kings named Eglon.
Your problem is sin. Your remedy alone is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible says if you believe in Him, you will have everlasting life. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank You for this, Your Word, and we thank You for Your grace manifested to Israel in this situation. We thank You for Your grace manifested to us in each and every situation we find ourselves in, God. How we thank You for the power of the Gospel, We thank you for the power of the Savior, the power of the Spirit, all these things you've conveyed upon us, God. May these things encourage our hearts, and may we sing with great joy the things, our praises to you, our God.
And we ask that you would go with us now, grant us safety as we travel, grant us a remaining blessed Sabbath, help us to enjoy the things of God and to enjoy our families, and bring us together on Wednesday night that we may serve and glorify you. And we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.