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you [Applause] good evening everyone and welcome to the evening service at free grace baptist church we're very happy that you could join us this evening and to get things started we're going to have a call to worship and i'll ask that you turn your bibles to psalm 125 please psalm 125 a song of a sense those who trust in the lord are like mount zion which cannot be moved but abides forever as the mountains surround jerusalem so the lord surrounds his people from this time forth and forever for the scepter of the wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity do good o lord to those who are good and to those who are upright in their hearts as for such as turn aside to their crooked ways the lord shall lead them away with the workers of iniquity peace be upon israel amen i'll ask now that you turn in your hymn books to him 89 b that's him 89 b and we will be seeing stanzas one to five [Music] so is [Music] oh jesus [Music] is [Music] is [Music] you maybe seen it let's go to our lord in prayer our heavenly father you are the one true and living god you are the king of kings and the lord of lords you are the great i am the alpha and the omega and you are the holiest of holies even the holiest of angels lord is a mere creature before you you are omniscient and omnipotent and there are none who can stay your hand you are the creator of the heavens and the earth and all the creatures that dwell here on it you are our lord and our savior who has redeemed us who has restored us and who has saved us from eternal fire through the glorious gospel which you so mercifully and lovingly have provided for us for there is is no work there is no hope that we can have on ourselves to save ourselves from your wrath as the bible says lord that even our greatest works are our filthy rags in your eyes and that is only through christ's blood that is the propitiation for our sins that we are brought into marvelous light forever secure in your hands and we thank you for this wonderful truth lord god we thank you that we the saints are able to assemble here this evening and that we can praise your name and worship you and to hear your word preached we thank you lord for our church plants we think of surrey and vernon and dryden and the church in honduras lord and we pray that the holy spirit would be merciful and would fill these churches with repentant sinners and that the men leading them lord would be strengthened they would be bold and that they would be faithful in preaching the gospel and proclaiming it lord we pray that they would be used as as a light in their communities that that when they leave their their church and go out back into the world lord that your gospel will be proclaimed lord and uh lord we think of the the persecuted church and our our brethren around the world lord who who are uh much worse off than we are here and lord we pray that you would strengthen them that you give them courage um that uh they would hold hold fast to their confession and and our lord and savior jesus christ to whatever and lord and that you would uh put a hedge of protection around them and that that no evil thing would would harm them or find them lord and for our own church here lord we pray that we would be edified that we would be encouraging to one another that we would grow in sanctification and in the knowledge of your word um lord if there are any here that have heavy hearts or are full of worries lord that you would remind them that you are a sovereign god and that you you hear the cries of your saints and that you care and that you love us and i pray that you would um have all of our needs met and lord we pray that um we too could be um lights in the world lord that we could be a city on a hill and when we go forth from here into the world this week that uh we would be bold and and and uh have no fear and sharing the gospel with with um unrepented hearts lord and we pray that the last rest of this lord's day that your name would be exalted and that we would bring glory and praise to your name and we pray this in jesus holy name amen and i have asked you please turn your hymn books to psalm 524. that's him 524 [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] maybe seated for our old testament reading this evening we will be reading numbers chapter four numbers chapter four verse 29 to the end of the chapter verse 29 as for the sons of mararai you shall number them by their families and by their father's house from 30 years old and above even to 50 years old you shall number them everyone who enters the service to do the work of the tabernacle of meeting and this is what they may must carry as all their service for the tabernacle of meeting the boards of the tabernacle its bars its pillars its sockets and the pillars around the court with their sockets pegs and cords with all their furnishings and all their service and you shall assign to each man by name the items he must carry this is the service of the families of the sons of mararai as all their service for the tabernacle of meeting under the authority of ithamar the son of aaron the priest and moses aaron and the leaders of the congregation numbered the sons of the cohethites by their families and by their father's house from 30 years old and above even to 50 years old everyone who entered the service for work and the tabernacle of meeting and those who were numbered by their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty these were the ones who were numbered of the families of the coethites all who might serve in the tabernacle of meeting whom moses and aaron numbered according to their commandment of the lord by the hand of moses and those who were numbered of the sons of gershon by their families and by their father's house from 30 years old and above even to 50 years old everyone who entered the service for work in the tabernacle of meeting those who were numbered by their families by their father's house were two thousand six hundred and thirty these are the ones who were numbered of the families of the sons of gershon of all who might serve in the tabernacle of meeting whom moses and aaron numbered according to the commandment of the lord those of the families of the sons of mararai who were numbered by their families by their father's house from 30 years old and above even to 50 years old everyone who entered the service for work in the tabernacle of meeting those who were numbered by their families were 3 200. these are the ones who were numbered of the families of the sons of mararai whom moses and aaron numbered according to the word of the lord by the hand of moses all who were numbered of the levites whom moses aaron and the leaders of israel numbered by their families and by their father's house from 30 years old and above even to 50 years old everyone who came to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens in the tabernacle of meeting those who were numbered were eight thousand five hundred and eighty according to the commandment of the lord they were numbered by the hand of moses each according to his service and according to his task thus were they numbered by him as the lord commanded moses amen let's go to our lord in prayer dear lord heavenly father we come before you again before the the preaching of the word and lord we just pray that you would prepare our hearts for the message and we pray lord that you would lift the veil from our eyes and any fog from our mind that we may see and comprehend it clearly we pray that uh you would speak through pastor butler and that only truth would go forward and only truth would be received and lord if there was anyone here who does not know you as lord and savior yet we pray that you would remove their heart of stone and give them one of flesh and be brought into marvelous light and we pray that you'd bless us this evening and we pray this in your holy name amen for the final hymn before the preaching we gotta ask you that you turn to 543. it's 543. [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] me [Music] is [Music] is [Music] you can turn with me in your bibles to judges chapter 2 the book of judges chapter 2. judges two i'll read beginning in verse seven and i'll read to chapter three verse six so beginning in chapter two at verse seven so the people serve 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 harris in the mountains of ephraim on the north side of mount gash 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 them 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 ashtareths 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 oppress them and harass 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 own or 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 no war at least those who had not formally known it namely five lords of the philistines all the canaanites the sidonians and the hivites who dwelt and mount lebanon from mount bale hermon to the entrance of haymath 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 father daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons and they served their gods amen well let us pray our father in heaven we thank you for this lord's day we thank you for the blessed privilege of gathering in the house of god to worship with the people of god and to rally around your word we pray now that the holy spirit would guide and direct us and lead us into all truth may we see this as a an example an encouragement for us to go thou and not do likewise help us to be faithful as the church in this world and to shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation and to hold forth that word of truth forgive us now for all of our sin and we ask in the name of the lord jesus christ amen well james in james chapter 1 and verse 27 he says that pure and undefiled religion in the sight of god and the father is this to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world well the book of judges serves as a wonderful illustration of not doing that god saved these people he called them out of the land of bondage he gave them an inheritance in the land he told them to dispossess the land of the canaanites and they were according to deuteronomy 4 to mediate the blessings of yahweh on the nations around them but the book of judges indicates that they did not keep themselves unspotted from the world rather they became like the world they increasingly became like the canaanites that they were supposed to dispatch from the land so it's a wonderful illustration for us there's obviously differences in terms of god's direct covenant with the nation of israel the fact that they were a theocratic nation living in a land that had been promised to them but there are certainly parallels for the life of the church in the midst of this present evil age we're supposed to keep ourselves unspotted from the world we're supposed to shine his lights in this crooked and perverse generation the church in laodicea christ threatens to spit them or vomit them out of his mouth because they were neither hot nor cold they had no effect upon the society around that so let's look at judges chapter two i wanna just first begin with just a bit of an introduction i i honestly hope that at the end of the sermon tonight you'll read the book of judges and you'll read it with some thoughts concerning what we're going to bring out tonight but chapters one and two are introductory in nature chapter one summarizes israel's conquest of of canaan remember joshua was the man sent by god to function as the military leader to go in to lead the children of israel into canaan to kill people and to dispossess the land of the canaanites joshua portrays a very very favorable sort of uh description of the conquest we get to the book of judges though and we see that it's not as good as we might have expected so chapter one basically rehearses or recounts the conquest up until this point notice the emphasis or the accent upon their failure they were to dispossess the land of the canaanites and yet the author tells us over and over again that they didn't do that notice in chapter 1 specifically at verse 19. so the lord was with judah and they drove out the mountaineers but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland dropping down to verse 21 the children of benjamin did not drive out the jebusites who inhabited jerusalem verse 27. however manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of bashin and its villages notice in verse 28 we see the same sort of emphasis uh it came to pass when israel was strong they put the canaanites under tribute but did not completely drive them out verse 29 nor did ephraim drive out the canaanites who dwelt in ghetzer verse 30 nor did zebulun drive out the inhabitants of ketron verse 31 now nor did asher drive out the inhabitants of akko and then in verse 32 the ashrites dwelt among the canaanites the inhabitants of the land for they did not drive them out verse 33 nor did naftali drive out the inhabitants of bethshemish verse 34 the amorites forced the children of dan into the mountain so you see the emphasis by god to the children of israel was not followed through so now you've got all these canaanites living in the land israel is living in the midst of the land and they become spotted by the presence of the canaanites they weren't so holy as to affect positively the land for yahweh rather it was the negative impact of the the people in the land that affected the children of israel and so chapter two then summarizes verses one to six the conquest look at the end of verse six when joshua had dismissed the people the children of israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land and then from 2 7 to 3 6 this is a thematic overview of how the book is going to play out in other words chapter 2 tells us the pattern the cycles that we'll obtain in israel's history insofar as they disobey god god will raise up foreign oppressors to bring judgment to bear upon them god in his mercy and grace will raise up deliverers judges who will spare them and the children of israel will not follow along they will find a temporary reprieve but they'll go right back to the bales they'll go right back to the asterisks they'll go right back to their forsaking of the lord so that's the overview of chapters one and two so in chapter two beginning at verse seven we'll notice the root of israel's apostasy in verses seven to ten secondly the description of israel's apostasy in verses 11 to 15 a and then finally the divine response to israel's apostasy in 215 b to 3 6. so you've got the root of their apostasy the description of it and then the divine response and again this is how the book follows from this vantage point so each of the judges each of the 12 men that are named as the saviors of israel they will see the same sort of thing happen in terms of their judgeship now notice the root it is very simple it is very obvious and it comes to us very clearly in verse 10. 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 this not knowing the lord it doesn't mean cognitively they would have understood that they were yahweh's chosen people they would have understood that they had inherited this land based on the promises that god made to abraham isaac and jacob they knew this mentally they knew this cognitively they knew this in the mind but they did not know it experientially there's a similar account in first samuel chapter 2 concerning the sons of eli they were priests of the living and true god and they lay with temple prostitutes and they stole sacrifices for their own use well what was the root of their problem they did not know the lord according to first samuel 2 12. now they obviously knew who yahweh was they were priests of yahweh but they didn't know him experientially they didn't know him experimentally they didn't know him salvifically you see the same emphasis in romans chapter one when man refuses or rejects or turns away from the living and true god he pursues and follows after all manner of ungodliness and unrighteousness so after the death of joshua we see deterioration that obtains in the nation of israel their past faithfulness is highlighted in verse 7. you've got the death of joshua recorded in verses 8 and 9 and then you have god's rejection of them in verse 10 because they did not know the lord now this goes back to them not obeying not only in not dispossessing the land of the canaanites but not obeying the injunction say for instance of the deuteronomy 4. deuteronomy chapter 6 that you are to teach your children when they rise up when they walk by the way when they lie down they didn't have the conscious memory of the living and true god who had worked in their midst and a couple of commentators hit upon this and daniel block says when people lose sight of god's grace they lose sight of god and the sense of obligation to him all that follows in the book is a consequence of israel's loss of memory that they don't know the lord is the vantage point from which all of the degeneration then follows dale ralph davis says amnesia produces apostasy that is why scripture is so frantic about the church not forgetting what god has done for us you need to be in your bibles you need to cultivate that walk with god you need to be faithful and persevering and you need to make sure that you don't fall prey to this simple cognition and yet without the experiential knowledge of the living and true god so this was israel's problem this was the root of their apostasy they didn't know the lord and therefore they forsook him and they ran after other gods notice in the second place the description of their apostasy the author gives us the relationship that they bore with god over and over again he highlights their special status as the children of god the covenant people of god notice in the first place his status as the god of the patriarchs verse 12 they forsook the lord god of their fathers again they should not have done this the lord most high entered into covenant with them he had blessed their fathers he had brought them out of the land of egypt he had given them the tabernacle for worship he had begraced them thoroughly and yet they turned their back on him notice that his role to them was as deliverer the end of verse 10 another generation arose after them who did not know the lord nor the work which he had done for israel the work which he had done for israel is pinnacled in the redemption from egypt and then notice as well his establishment of a covenant look at verse 20 verse 20 then the anger of the lord was hot against israel and he said because this nation don't miss this language this evidence is god's anger that is hot toward them he says it was hot against israel and he said because this nation he calls them the that's a a hebrew word that typically refers to the gentiles it typically refers to the heathen it typically refers to the outsiders he is speaking this way because they are living like the heathen they are living like the they have imbibed the very ethics of canaan itself so because this nation not because my people but because this nation has transgressed my covenant which i commanded their fathers and has not heeded my voice so they have this special relationship that they bear with god and yet they've engaged in apostasy notice secondly under the description their defection from god in verses 11 to 13. verse 11 a sort of functions as a topic sentence we've seen that in ephesians 1 for instance ephesians 1 3 blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in christ general statement and then the apostle fills it out with particular details the father chose us christ bled and rose for us and the spirit applies that redemptive work well verse 11 a functions in that same manner look at what the author tells us then the children of israel did evil in the sight of the lord that's the overarching statement that's the general concern of the author and now he'll provide for us specific details in what their apostasy or their defection looked like then the children of israel did evil in the sight of the lord notice secondly they did they served baal verse 11 b they served the baals the lord god had delivered them from egypt the lord god had plagued the egyptians culminating in the death of the firstborn the lord god opened the waters of the red sea so that the children of israel could walk through there without even getting wet the lord had done all this and yet they forsake him and now they turn to baal why do you think they turn to baal because their pagan heathen neighbors were baal worshipers and baal was the god of storms god of thunder god of rain god of fertility and so they would see their neighbors bowing to baal calling upon baal for rain and if it happened to rain guess what they would conclude it was baal so therefore let us go to baal yahweh has charge of the big stuff but when it comes to things like rain when it comes to things like crops we'll go ahead and call upon bail we'll let go and let bail in fact you need to understand something about bail and davis explains it very well not sure that we get the connection between bale and ashtoreth for instance now some of this language might offend but i'm sorry it does depict what was offensive about this irreligion that's the thing we in the church we get offended by the use of particular language but we don't get offended by the fact that it's describing particular activities right he says 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 sexual intercourse between bale and his partner but the canaanite faithful didn't simply sit back and say let baal do it there was no let go let go and let baal thinking among them instead their watch word was serve baal with gladness all ye glands hence the canaanites practiced sacred prostitution as a part of their worship a canaanite man for instance would go to a baal shrine and have relations with one of the sacred prostitutes serving there the man would fulfill bale's role and the woman ashtoreths the idea was that by the uh was that the copulating of the worshiper and the and the prostitute would encourage the divine couple mr and mrs bale would do their thing and thus rain grain wine and oil would flow again so when you read about them forsaking yahweh and going after baal understood understand that there was something to that now it's sin it's demonic it's wicked it's evil and it's vile but what would you prefer the religion of yahweh that says you had no sight you had no vision rather it's word base the word comes to you you're supposed to not go after prostitutes you're supposed to keep yourself undefiled you're supposed to engage in in the boundaries that god has established or if you're an unconverted wretch you could see the allure that baal worship would have so there was this perennial problem in israel's history with reference to baalism so then notice they served baals and then verse 12 they forsook the lord god of their fathers that necessarily follows you forsake god when you go after an idol you don't have god and the idol this is likely the emphasis of of elijah at mount carmel in first kings 18. you can turn there first kings chapter 18. remember that challenge where the prophet of god dubbed as the the troubler of israel by ahab no ahab was the troubler of israel not not elijah but elijah proposes a contest a god contest whoever god whoever's god reigns supremes that the god that's the god we submit to but notice in chapter 18 at verse 20 so ahab sent for all the children of israel and gathered the prophets together on mount carmel and elijah came to all the people and said how long will you falter between two opinions if the lord is god follow him but if baal follow him most likely it wasn't the case that they said we absolutely positively repudiate yahweh we only want baal they were trying to engage in what's called syncretism a bit of god here a bit of this god whatever god helps us to cope whatever god helps us to manage whatever god helps us to get up out of bed each day whatever god blesses us in work whatever god blesses us and reigns whatever god is there that's the god to whom we will submit and elijah says no you cannot do that you don't serve yahweh and baal it is one or the other there's an exclusivity about this arrangement and going back to judges chapter 2 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 that brings us then to what we find in terms of their rejection by the living and true god you need to understand brethren this isn't mysterious we don't get to the book of judges and say wow i cannot believe that god is going to cut them off i cannot believe that god is chastening them i cannot believe that god is going to actually judge them for their sin read leviticus 26 in deuteronomy 28 those are covenant documents they promised blessing for obedience and they promised curses for disobedience so they knew all too well the terms of the covenant they knew all too well the obligation in fact at the base of sinai in exodus 24 they say everything that yahweh has commanded we will do we will obey we will comply they got way ahead of themselves brethren they had no understanding what the hymn writer would say i'm prone to wander prone to leave the god that i love they had no consciousness of the holiness of god no consciousness of the depravity of their own heart and so with reference to god's rejection of them that was stipulated by the covenant arrangement so again verse 13 they forsook the lord served baal and the asherahs and the anger of the lord was hot against israel he delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them 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 see they couldn't say oh no this isn't fair we we didn't know we were we were under the impression that we could have a better yahweh we could have a bitter a baal and a better asteroid we thought moloch was just another god in the in the sort of pantheon that we could bow down to no as god had said as god had commanded as god had stipulated as god had declared so everything that comes their way in terms of of chastisement and judgment is stuff that they brought willingly upon themselves and again brethren we're not in covenant with god the way the old covenant people are in terms of a national identity in terms of a theocratic construct that's not true of us but the church in the covenant of grace we're not in it in order to try and earn our salvation we've been placed there by the goodness of our god justification is an act of god's free grace where he pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of christ imputed to us and received by faith alone we're justified freely by his grace but as justified freely by his grace people were to let our conduct be worthy of the gospel that's why in revelation chapter 3 the lord christ indicts the laodiceans because you're neither hot nor cold i'm going to vomit you out of my mouth you're not living up to the standard that you're supposed to be again not unto or for salvation but as one who confesses the name of jesus christ the good works that we manifest are fruits they're lively evidences of a true and living faith they're not what completes the faith they're not what makes the faith they're not what secures us in terms of redemption but our conduct must be the way that god calls us to be so notice we have the anger of the lord and this was promised in the second commandment what does god say if you go out and you go a whoring from him and you seek out other gods god has anger and we see that in a in a sort of parallel with reference to marriage if a woman goes out and committed commits adultery the man doesn't say well you know that's just the way the cookie crumbles no he's incensed he's angry there's a jealousy which is the flip side of true love if you don't love then there's not going to be any jealousy and so yahweh loves his people and demands exclusivity so when they go whoring from him yes he's angry yes he expresses that justice and that righteousness yes he shows his disfavor to them in terms of the repercussions involved of sinning against him so the lord is angry but then notice that the lord delivers them to oppressors verse 14 b and again this specifies how the book of judges proceeds so 14b he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around so that they could no longer stand before their enemies now two thoughts there the first is that the apostle paul says in romans 8 if god is for us who can be against us there's a flip side to that as well if god is against us who can be for us but the other thing we ought to observe is that god delivered them up to the oppressors this wasn't an unlucky eventuality this wasn't wow the midianites they've really gotten stronger or the philistines they've really rallied together and have shown superior strength they're under the sovereign providence of god most high which i think we can lift from that put it into our current context and realize that what's happening globally in terms of this war against farmers which why are we having a war against farmers that is a war against mankind this is under god's providence god is sovereign in the midst of this it's not as if he's on vacation now and the train is just sort of running down the tracks and all the whack jobs happen to be in high places they're god's whack jobs he put them there he governs them he owns them and they are accomplishing his will that's a tough pill for us to swallow brethren when we look out about us and we see the kinds of things that are going on makes a man want to wave up his hands and say i don't know what's going to happen god does god is teaching god is using these things for his glory for the good of his church and for the salvation of others sometimes brethren the church grows best when she's under tribulation the church progresses more when she's under oppression the church shines brighter when all the world around her is raising arms against her and so god did this it wasn't unlucky it wasn't wow that's just a bad situation that we're facing or it wasn't the the fact that the heathens got militarily stronger god did this god punished them god chastised them god delivered them so the lord summarized in 15a wherever they went out the hand of the lord was against them for calamity as the lord had said so this is the result this is the fruit this is the effect of a people that reject god and go a whoring after other gods now notice thirdly the divine response to israel's apostasy look at first of all their distress this shouldn't surprise us the end of verse 15. it says and they were greatly distressed of course they were why would they be or why wouldn't they be they're going out to war against these various nations and they keep losing they're going out against these various nations and instead of dispossessing them from the land they end up dwelling amongst that and instead then of shining his lights in a crooked and perverse generation holding forth the word of truth they now have become like those same canaanites that are going to build worship services they're going to ash worship services that are engaging in that that right of prostitution so that they can you know invoke baal to reign upon their crops so god brings judgment to bear upon them of course they're going to be distressed but notice what doesn't happen the distress doesn't produce repentance this is something that people have seen in the book of judges there's a series of cycles there's 12 judges and there's cycles there's sin oppression most of the times people say repentance and then deliverance there's no repentance here brethren the accent falls in the book ultimately on the goodness of god see the book of judges really is about salvation is of the lord these 12 men that functioned as judges were saviors of israel not because israel deserved them not because israel was repentant not because israel said we have a sinned against our holy god we repent and sack loth and ashes know that distress is not there because they've sinned the distress is not there because they force soak yahweh and sought after bale and ashtray the distress is there because it hurts the distress is there is because there's pain the distress is there is because they're being bested on the battlefield by these heathen and pagan turn back to the book of exodus for just a moment to see a similar construction exodus chapter 2 we know that the people of god were oppressed under egyptian oppression pharaoh was a wretch he had a policy of extermination let's get rid of the the male children let's destroy them we don't want them to have an army that's strong enough to beat us notice in exodus chapter 20 i'm sorry exodus chapter 2 at verse 23 now it happened in the process of time that the king of egypt died then the children of israel groaned why did they groan because they had sinned against god they find themselves in this place of judgment because of their offense against god no they groan because of their bondage and they cried out and their cry came up to god because of the bondage we have to see and appreciate we'll see this as we move through judges too god's deliverance comes and it's not predicated on their repentance it's not because they're sorry it's not because they're sad it's not because they feel bad for having hurt yahweh but it's because they've been hurt they're in a state of sin they're in a state of misery they're in a state of bondage and it's that which evokes their cry so when you continue on in exodus chapter 2 notice it says in verse 24 so god hear heard they're groaning and god remembered his covenant with abraham with isaac and with jacob and god looked upon the children of israel and god acknowledged them so notice he doesn't say he looked upon or heard their groaning knew it was because they were repentant and they wanted to pursue holiness so therefore he blessed them no it was covenant it was that promise that he had made to abraham isaac and jacob it was that promise that he bound himself to in terms of blessing these people even irrespective of their condition even irrespective of their repentance even irrespective of their their sin against him you move through the book of exodus you see the same sort of thing but back to judges chapter 2 verse 16 gives us a nevertheless this is akin to ephesians 2 4. after paul illustrates demonstrates highlights and describes what man in sin looks like in ephesians 2 1-3 he then comes on the heels of that and says but god right it's not that man with a little education can pick himself up out of that morass man with a little bit more knowledge can fix his condition but god nevertheless look at verse 16. this is amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me i once was lost but now i'm found and was blind but now i see there's no reason for the nevertheless here except for the grace of almighty god nevertheless so they are distressed according to verse 15 b but they are then delivered by god according to verse 16. nevertheless the lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them so you've got othniel ehood shamgar barrett gideon tola jare uh jephthah ibsen elon abden and samson those are the men that the the the the man that the author is noting here so the lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered him uh plundered them now notice do you think that fixed their problem do you think that helped them do you think that god's amazing grace meeting them in their distress would cause them to respond with the gratitude that was fitting and appropriate no they degenerate even further see judges again is a snapshot of what happens to people who don't do what james tells us to do keep oneself unspotted from the world don't be like the pagans don't be like the heathens you see and again when you look at judges or joshua and you hear of god you know telling the children of israel to go in and dispossess the land of the canaanites that's not because he's a blood you know thirsty god who's got vengeance in his in his divine veins and all he wants to do is crush his opponents no god the lord made a promise to abraham isaac and jacob that he would give them a land he tells them that they are to dispossess the land of the canaanites because they're awful people they're wicked people this idea that the canaanites were just minding their own business and living in society and doing their thing they were wretched they were vile they were horrific they were bad bad people so god tells israel i want you to go in not because you're more righteous or more numerous but because i've set my love on you i want you to go in and i want you to dispossess the land of the canaanites why because i gave it to abraham in terms of promise but as well these wretches that are abusing the land they need to be sent out now lo and behold as israel increasingly becomes like the canaanites what does god do with them god sends them out of the land too it's not capriciousness it's not arbitrariness it's not that god has some axe to grind against the hivites or against the amorites they you know they just they really get under his skin no it's about justice it's about righteousness it's about obedience it's about transgression and so the none to righteous israelites are called by god to go in and disposses dispossess the land of the canaanites who are even less righteous but when the israelites become the canaanites then they too will be dispossessed from the land and that's why jesus uses the language in revelation 3. old covenant religion the land was central to israel's promise from god and so when the land vomited out its inhabitants it was a mark of judgment it was a demonstration of god's righteousness well so with the church in laodicea jesus isn't trying to shock you by saying i'm going to vomit you out of my mouth oh horror of he is picking up on that theme from the land motif in old covenant israel the way that old covenant israel or or the land rather vomited out old covenant israel when they sinned against god so will jesus vomit out those neither hot nor cold they ought to see the laodicea leo the sea ends i wanted to throw a th in there maybe the king james jumped in my head but they don't even put a th in laodicea so the bottom line is is that god raises up these deliverers but then the people would degenerate look at verses 17 to 19 they would rebel yet they would not listen to their judges but they played the harlot with other gods they 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 notice again the emphasis on the raising up of the judges verse 18 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 now don't miss that brethren not only does god raise up the judge but god blesses the judge look at what the text says and when the lord raised up judges for them verse 18 the lord was with the judge you're going to read as you move through judges some unsavory things done by some of the judges and you may be tempted to conclude wow those were wretches now god's not condoning their sin i'm not suggesting that he is but they are god's wretches they are god's tools they are god's saviors and god is with that i mentioned samson last sunday morning as he's there with the jawbone of an ass slaying philistine after philistine after philistine after philistine again five would put me into a coma because i'd be so tired but a thousand how does samson do that because yahweh's with him god is with him when samson goes to that that that harlot in gaza the text is not suggesting he lay with her he's engaged in military strategy when samson ends his own life not suicide but he takes himself out in order to take out a whole host of philistines god is with him so the unsavory things that are done by the judges brethren there is unsavoriness in every man any political leader there's no perfect man save jesus christ the lord sometimes christians get all bound up well we can't vote for him because he's bad i've got news for you brethren we're all bad every last one of us there is no good in us but god in his mercy raises up cyrus king of persia and calls him his christ god raises up nebuchadnezzar and calls him my servant those men were wretches too so we don't say well you know i can't believe god takes crooked things and he does straight things with them and so when you move through the book of judges and you see unsavory things just watch your heart before you get all judgmental about say for instance samson or gideon god told gideon how he was to operate and gideon uh you know wavering a bit says well lord can you give me a sign so he puts out the fleece we know the story and then he asks again i if i was god i'd say i've already one told you that that should be enough but two i've given you a sign and and now you're asking for another side but god doesn't respond that way you know what god does he he gives him another sign so so you see we need to be careful to be too judgmental about the saviors that god raised up in old covenant history to deliver his people from their oppressors so god is with them and then notice the lord was merciful to them 18c for the lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those excuse me who oppressed them and harassed them and then on the heels of that verse 19 comes to tell us this wasn't remedial this didn't fix that this didn't solve their problems in terms of ethics notice in verse 19 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 sinful man really doesn't learn his lesson does he you probably his parents had one child among the flock that was like that you know the school of hard knocks mostly teaches people some people don't even learn it when they're in the school of hard knocks sinners are kind of like that god gives them a judge to deliver that the judge does deliver them vis-a-vis samson killing philistines like it was his job and so god blesses in that regard and instead of them saying what a gift from yahweh praise god from whom all samson's come no they just revert and they do more corruption and more wickedness and more evil we need to make sure we understand what is in our hearts we are prone to wander and prone to leave the god that we love and then the passage ends with divine speech in verses 20 to 23 again the anger of the lord is highlighted and the anger of the lord was hot against israel and he said because this nation the the heathen has transgressed my covenant which i commanded their fathers and has not heeded my voice notice what he goes on to say the the response i also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which joshua left when he died in other words you're going to continue to have these hindrances you're going to continue to have these heartaches you're going to continue to reap what you have sown in a moral universe brethren when god tells you not to do something and you do it there's typically chastening our brother read hebrews 12 this morning god chastens his people and interestingly in that uh revelation passage in revelation chapter 3 probably the most severe of all the letters in fact you can turn there revelation chapter 3 the letter to the laodiceans probably good to get that in front of us to see how we ought to uh reflect on what god does so the indictment verse 16 so then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot now the typical understanding is you're either a flat-out atheist or you're an on-fire christian no the cold and the hot refers to water you're not like refreshing cool water that's a blessing to people around you and you're not like medicinal hot water that is a help for the people around you you just lukewarm right none of us like lukewarm either like hot coffee or ice water do you like something hot or cold it's not condemning cold that you're not cold i'd rather you be a flat-out atheist than than what you are that's not the tax brethren you're not hot you're not cold basically you're ineffective you're lukewarm you're you're just yeah just yeah bad not good at all so that's the indictment and then notice well verse 16 so then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot i will vomit you out of my mouth because you say i am rich i become wealthy and have need of nothing and do not know they are wretched miserable poor blind and naked i counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire that you may be rich and white garments that you may be clothed that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed and anoint your eyes with i salve that you may see now notice this passage in verse 19 as many as i love i rebuke and chase it therefore be zealous and repent same accent in hebrews chapter 12 for whom the lord loves each hastens he loved israel he entered into a covenant with them he's not forsaking them but he is chastening them he is disciplining them he is judging them he is conforming them to the standard they are to imbibe so going back to the book of judges this is his response i also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations uh which joshua left when he died verse 22 and chapter two so that though they so that though uh 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 this test wasn't for god god knew exactly always knows exactly what's going to happen the test was for them when god comes to adam and eve in the garden who told you god's not asking the question because he needs information he's doing it to exacerbate to highlight to demonstrate and to show them their falling so the emphasis on testing god's not saying you know i'm going to let all these pagans come around and just destroy you and if you survive if you make it then you'll gain the prize no the test is for israel they need to understand what they were made of they needed to understand who their god was and then verse 23 therefore the lord left those nations without driving them out immediately nor did he deliver them into the hand of joshua i think the reference goes back and it will go forward there's not going to be a complete vindication of the children of israel in the land and then there's a summary statement in chapter 3 verses 1 to 6. notice verse 1. 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 formally known it that doesn't mean military strategies it doesn't mean how to use an you know an m4 grenade uh uh uh m4 you know grenade launcher it doesn't mean you've got to be able to operate an m60 machine gun you got to be a no they needed to learn that in war god delivered the children of israel they needed to learn that in war their dependence came not in horses or in chariots but in the name of god most high that's what he means by they had to know or learn war it's not vindictiveness on the part of yahweh but it is to demonstrate and underscore for them their god the victory that they had amassed up until this point was from god read the book of joshua and you'll see the emphasis is not on the savvy of the children of israel move a few chapters to the right in the book of judges what does god say to gideon i want you to whittle down your forces i want you to have 300 men and with those 300 men you're going to go in and you're going to decimate the midianites why does god do that god could have done it with zero med but god does it to show that he doesn't depend on numbers he doesn't need bazookas he doesn't need f-16s he doesn't need b2s rather he is the living and the true god and so the children of israel would need to learn that in this phase or in this stage of their existence and then the nations are listed the philistines in the southwest sidonians in the northwest the hivites in the northeast the canaanites in the southeast those peoples incidentally that shouldn't have ever been there see it all ultimately hinges on their disobedience in the first eventuality remember deuteronomy chapter 7 in fact you can turn there because this is how the book and or this chapter ends look at deuteronomy chapter 7. deuteronomy seven the admonition the exhortation the command for holy war chapter seven verse one when the lord your god brings you into the land which you go to possess and has cast out many nations before you the hittites and the gurgashites and the amorites and the canaanites and the perizzites and the hivites and the jebusites seven nations greater and mightier than you and when the lord your god delivers them over to you you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them why are all these pagans still around because they failed to obey god first samuel chapter 15 samuel under god tells saul to kill ag and the amalekites he goes to battle against them and he spares a gag and he spares the spoil that wasn't part of the arrangement you're supposed to destroy even the spoil there's been no livestock of course saul's trying to fake samuel i've done exactly what god said so samuel says why am i hearing these these cows why am i hearing these donkeys why am i hearing these animals if you had done exactly as you were told it would be silent right now so the fact that we get to the book of judges and there's all these ites still in the land shows us that the fundamental misstep was their failure to carry out the demand of god in terms of holy war now notice in verse continuing on it says you shall make no covenant a verse to and when your lord god when the lord god delivers them over to you you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them you shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them nor shall you make marriages with them you shall not give your daughter to their son nor take their daughter for your son for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods so the anger of the lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly but thus you shall deal with them you shall destroy their altars break down their sacred pillars cut down their wooden images and burn their carved images with fire jump over to judges chapter 3 and look at how this section ends verse 5 tells us thus the children of israel dwelt among the canaanites the hivites the amorites the perizzites the hivites and the jebusites they weren't supposed to dwell among them they were supposed to dispossess that now notice what verse 6 tells us and they took their daughters to be their wives i'm sorry didn't god say not to do that in deuteronomy chapter 7. they gave their daughters to their sons again a stipulation in terms of the mandate concerning holy war and then look how it ends and they serve their gods isn't that incredible you do exactly the opposite of what god commands and life doesn't go well solomon says the way of the transgressor is hard and i think we can all testify to that can't we when i did what god called me to do i didn't get you know billions of dollars in gold bars but you know for the most part life is decent life is good but when i disobey when i pursue sin when i go a whoring from god when i you know spend countless hours on the internet searching for images that that i should have no business looking at when i engage in that kind of conduct that is contrary to the law and word of god there is a hardness about the lives that we live now in conclusion just to recapitulate the root of their apostasy they didn't know god when you don't know god you live like a person who doesn't know god and then the description of their apostasy we could summarize it by they forsook god and then in terms of apostasy itself that means a defection a falling away from a turning away from the text points that or or portrays it as a forsaking of god a turning to baal and to ashraf so here's the point for which i introduced the sermon of the night pure undefiled religion and the sight of god and the father is this visit widow or orphans and widows in their trouble keep oneself unspotted from the world that's the calling of the christian and the church in this present evil generation that was the calling of the israelite generation as well deuteronomy 4 tells us they were to be a a city set on a hill they would irradiate the blessedness of god most high they were to be on display so that the nations would around them would look at them and say what kind of a nation is this that has such glorious laws that has such a wonderful way about that they would be led to their god so instead of doing that instead of shining his lights in a crooked and perverse generation they rather didn't shine they rather ate the generation or rather the heathen around them they became like what they were told to dispossess davis makes this observation he says what began as toleration became apostasy there's a warning here for the church today we tolerate something here it becomes something huge here we tolerate a little bit and apostasy is the end game we're not supposed to tolerate sin we're not supposed to tolerate abortion we're not supposed to tolerate euthanasia we're not supposed to tolerate sexual perversion we're not supposed to tolerate theft whether it's by individuals or by government we're not supposed to tolerate that which god condemns we're supposed to shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation we're supposed to have the courage and the gravitas to hold forth the word of truth we're supposed to avoid the laodicean error wherein they were lukewarm they were just yuck they were something worthy to be spat from the mouth of our blessed and holy christ back to davis what began as toleration became apostasy what seemed so reasonable proved lethal living with canaanites led to worshipping with canaanites tolerate baal's people and sooner or later you bow at bale's altar that's why we emphasize why the bible does why the confession of faith does why you'll hear sermons in this vein as well as believers you marry in the lord i know we think we're the greatest missionaries ever and can marry a heathen or a pagan and see them convert it now in god's grace god's mercy god's kindness that does happen but the admonition is is that we're to marry in the lord davis goes on later to say they do not and apparently cannot keep themselves from the slavery of sin they're held in sin's grip they have baal in their blood again it began with a bit of toleration well you know it's a pluralistic society that's just the way they are that's just the way they do things that it won't hurt me to go to a bail service what happened when you went to a bail service it was fun guess what we got to do it was wonderful baal was worshipped from the waste down you can see the allure you can see the attraction you can see the passing pleasures of sin involved another commentator 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 he's right it's the exception that our holiness affects positively the people around us it is more typical for the unholiness of those we surround ourselves with to affect us adversely now again there's exceptions you're holy you're wonderful you can go out and just you know spread abroad the goodness of god great rest of us we got issues so we need to try and keep ourselves unspotted from the world an older commentator made this observation 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 are suffering the world to be in us just as ships sink not by being in water but by the water getting into them you don't sink because you're in the water you sink because the water gets into you the apostasy of israel as we review judges too is obvious you forsake yahweh you seek after the baals and the asteroids it's not going to go good secondly we need to praise god for his amazing grace the nevertheless of verse 16. the people are distressed again not repentant they're just upset that things aren't going well so nevertheless god raises up judges for that so the old acronym that is sword sin oppression repentance and deliverance ought to be modified as sod sin oppression and deliverance that underscores the gracious character of god most high and then thirdly and finally one particular example of how the book is about the salvation or salvation is of the lord these 12 men these 12 judges were saviors they weren't like the judge that you see that sits behind the bench and they have the gavel and they you know hear a court case about you know a property dispute or even a murder or something like that the judges of israel at this this particular time these 12 men they were like kings they weren't kings that wasn't in play at this particular time but they were king-like figures they had rule over the nation they were the ones that led in terms of the battles and and and destroyed the foreign oppressors and and that sort of thing the one that i want to point us to as a type of our blessed savior is samson if you know me not enough you'll know that that's not a surprise samson's one of my favorite people in the entirety of the bible turn over to judges 13. i want you to think of a couple of parallels between samson and jesus just 13. it gives us two things that matthew 1 gives us about jesus first it underscores the supernatural character of his birth jesus was born of a virgin the holy spirit came upon mary she didn't have the sort of relations that typically people have in order to have children well samson was a same sort of othello notice in chapter 13 at verse 2. now there was a certain man from zorah of the family of the danaites whose name was manoa and his wife was barren and had no children and the angel of the lord appeared to the woman and said to her indeed now you are barren and have borne no children but you shall conceive and bear a son that sounds exactly like the birth narrative of our lord in matthew chapter one the angel comes and announces to joseph that the woman you didn't have relations with is going to have a baby the woman that you did not copulate with is going to be pregnant and she is going to bring forth a son now mrs manoa she's never named in the narrative she's got more fidelity in her than manoa does because mrs manilla just submits and honors and fears and listens to the angel of the lord so there's that supernatural birth of both samson and the savior but notice as well the function or the mission verse 5 for behold you shall conceive and bear a son and no razor shall come upon his head for the child shall be a nazarite to god from the womb and he shall begin to deliver israel out of the hand of the philistines matthew 1 21 you shall call his name jesus for it is he who will save his people from their sins each of these 12 judges each of these 12 deliverers each of these 12 saviors declare to us that salvation is of the lord and they point us typologically to the blessed savior who would come and deliver his people from their sins the book of judges is not a book wherein we roll our eyes or we say oh it's so filled with blood and battles and and war and bloodshed that i don't want any part in it it's about god's grace it's about god's deliverance it's about god's mercy it's about god's loving kindness so go read the book of judges focus on the mercy and the kindness and the goodness of god using cracked pots to affect his will the only non-cracked pot in the history of the church or in this history of the world rather is jesus but for the rest the apostle says that god is taking gospel treasure putting them in it putting it put it in earthenware vessels so that the the the honor and the glory and the excellence goes to god and not to the cracked pot when you see samson do his thing you praise god when you see jephthah do his thing you praise god when you see shamgar do his thing you praise god because it's god who gave the judges and it was god who was with the judges to deliver his people from their oppression well let us pray our father we thank you for this book and the testimony that it gives us concerning not only man's sin man's depravity the church's faithlessness at many many times and in many many ways and occasions but it shows and underscores for us the goodness the kindness and the mercy of god most high we thank you for your grace we thank you for your provision of the savior christ and we thank you for the salvation that you have blessed us with wherein all our sins are forgiven and we've received a righteousness that avails with you we ask now that you would go with us into this coming week help us to be faithful help us to bring glory and honor to you and help us god to do so for your praise and we ask through jesus christ our lord amen we'll close with a brief time of meditation [Music] you