“Little Things Spell Big Trouble!” – FBC Morning Light (4/17/2023)

Well, a good Monday morning to you. I hope you had a wonderful day yesterday at the church and worshiping together with God's people. I hope you learned something from God's Word and that He challenged you and encouraged you to live in a different way, perhaps, or to change in some way, maybe an attitude or an idea or a behavior, but just part of Christian growth.

I hope you were able to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord yesterday, and perhaps in some very tangible way. Speaking of the Lord's Day, let me mention that this coming Lord's Day, this coming Sunday, through the following Wednesday, we're having a special Bible conference at our church.

We call it the Eternal Issues Bible Conference, and our guest speaker is Aaron Hoke. Aaron is a pastor of a church in Indiana, and in Warsaw, Indiana, and he'll be preaching a series of messages from the book of Genesis.

They'll all be very helpful to Christians, but also have an evangelistic emphasis to them. I encourage you to come and join us for these special services. Sunday morning in the morning service, Sunday evening in our six o 'clock service, and then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights at seven o 'clock.

The Danger of Small Compromises in Judges 1

Today, in our Bible reading plan, we're reading in Judges 1 and 2, in John chapter 8 and the 76th Psalm. I find it interesting in the first couple chapters of Judges, how sometimes little details can suggest coming problems.

For example, notice in verse 19 that Judah, the tribe of Judah, had attempted to take complete control of the territory assigned to them. Back in the book of Joshua, when the land was divided up, there was this territory assigned to Judah, and Judah attempted to take complete control of that territory to drive out all the Canaanites.

Here's what we read, though, in verse 19. The Lord was with Judah, and they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron. When we continue reading in these next two chapters, chapters 1 and 2, we discover that it's not just those who had chariots of iron that were able to remain in the land.

For example, in verse 27, it said Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-she-an and its villages, and so forth, a couple other villages. At the end of the verse, it says, for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in their land.

It doesn't say anything about chariots of iron. In verse 29, it says, nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. In verse 30, nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahal.

So the Canaanites dwelt among them, and they were put under tribute. This is another interesting little detail. So how is it that they were not able to drive them out? I thought the Lord was going to be with his people, and they were going to be able to completely drive out and eradicate all of the Canaanites the land.

As verse 28 indicates, that they put the Canaanites under tribute, and same thing in verse 30, the Canaanites dwelt among the tribe of Zebulun, and they put them under tribute. Well, the question is, if they were strong enough to put them under tribute, under forced labor, then why were they unable to drive them out?

Verse 33, again, nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or the inhabitants of Beth Anath. They dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were put under tribute to them.

Verse 35, the end of the verse says, yet when the strength of the house of Joseph became greater, they were put under tribute. How come they were able to put them under tribute but were not able to drive them out?

Idolatry Tolerated Becomes Idolatry Practiced

Well, in chapter 2, we see a little bit of an answer, part of an answer. We're going to see more in chapter 3, but in chapter 2, in verses 1 and 2, the Lord is confronting his people, and he said, I led you up from Egypt or brought you to the land which I swore that I would give to you.

And I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And he said, I told you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land. You shall tear down their altars. But then the Lord says this, but you have not obeyed my voice.

Why have you done this? Therefore, I said, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you. Now we're starting to see some insight. We're starting to get some insight.

Why could they not drive out the inhabitants of the land to put them under tribute but not drive them out? They couldn't drive them out because they wouldn't drive them out. They ended up becoming worshipers together with their gods.

Why weren't they able to overcome the chariots of iron even though God was on their side? Because they've apparently come to worship the gods of the Canaanites. Some of the people did. They didn't tear down the altars as God had instructed them.

We have another little insight in verses 11 to 13. I want you to notice this, because this serves as a warning to us. Because 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 around them, and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the Lord to anger.

They forsook the Lord and served the Baal and the Ashtoreths. So why weren't they able to drive the people out? Because they'd come to serve the gods of the land, the gods of the people whom they tolerated.

I see here a bit of a principle that is a timeless principle, and I think we need to be aware of it. And that is that the toleration of idolatry eventually will result in the participation in idolatry.

And I think we can see this in the modern church in many ways. How often have you seen churches just fall into abject corruption? They didn't get there overnight. How did they get there? By following the idols of the age.

By following the idols of the age. You tolerate the idols, it won't be long before you participate in the idolatry. So when we come back to this book of Judges tomorrow, we'll see a bigger picture of what's going on in these Canaanites who are still able to dwell in the land.

I encourage you to come back tomorrow and see even more regarding this. So our Father, our God, I pray that we would take the warning and take the challenge that we read here in Judges chapters 1 and 2, that we would not allow any form of idolatry in our lives.

We would keep our hearts and our minds attentive and focused upon and worshiping the one true God, the one who has redeemed us, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, well listen, I hope you have a good rest of your Monday.

I hope your week gets off to a great start. Have a good day.