The Book of Judges John Kane

Welcome everybody. Thank you that you're here to fellowship and worship with us this morning

Some new faces here and we're blessed that you were here to join us We are here at Bate Bible Church for those that were recording these for other folks that aren't able to come

They can still be a part of our fellowship so hello to everybody that isn't here and Whenever you're watching this, we're thankful that you have the means and ability and there are

Blessed to have you here this morning. Praise God She's one of our saints has been here almost since the beginning of the beginning of time

As we shared last week we're going to continue to hold Our needs in the church and our pursuits and things we discussed in the meeting last week

And so just keep that on your prayer list as we go forward Consider what the

Lord would have for us in the future As we prepare to worship this morning.

I'd like to read Psalm 146 to kind of direct our hearts gives perspective on Not only our time of worship, but also how we are to respond to the things that are going on around us and Gives us hope really that's all convinces down.

We have hope in Christ. And that's that's the greatest gift Praise the Lord. You can just listen if you'd like praise the

Lord praise the Lord on my soul I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my

God while I have my being Put not your trust in princes in a son of man in whom there is no salvation

When his breath departs he returns to the earth on that very day his plans perish

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob whose hope is in the Lord his God Who made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them who keeps faith forever?

Who executes justice for the oppressed who gives food to the hungry the Lord sets the prisoners free

The Lord opens the eyes of the blind the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down The Lord loves the righteous the

Lord watches over the sojourners He upholds the widow on the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin

The Lord will reign forever. Your God will sign to all generations Praise the

Lord That's what we're doing this morning. You're gonna praise his name. So before we begin, let's let's have a prayer

Lord God, we thank you father to have brought us here Or that you have purpose for each one of us to be here this morning

Lord you stand in awe of your majesty and your goodness and your grace and your righteousness father

For you are above all things and that as we walk on this earth Lord We we meander we find ourselves in the ditch every once in a while Lord But you are always there to help us out or to guide us into records

So we thank you prepare our hearts this morning father that we can honor you with our voices

With the things that we hear or we pray for Pastor John as you

Lay a burden on his heart to minister to us this morning father May we be encouraged may he be encouraged

Lord and sharing of that truth from your word We thank you for the word father and may we worship you this morning with spirit and in truth that our hearts would know

Your grace in a greater way father in a deeper way and be pleased Lord with our offering service this morning

Jesus name Ephesians 5 says be filled with the spirit addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs

Singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart Giving thanks always for everything to God the

Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ And I know let's let's stand and I know that some might say that your voices aren't very strong And that you don't have a very good voice it really doesn't in the

Lord's economy That's not what he's looking at We can worship from the heart

So let's do that this morning. We're going to sing come Christians join the same

I Oh I Mercy's how tender how firm to the end our maker defender

Oh Easy The scripture this morning is just chapter 2 verses 1 through 10

Judges chapter 2 verses 1 through 10 Now the angel the

Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokom and he said I Brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers

I said I will never break my covenant with you and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land

You shall break down their altars But you have not obeyed my voice what is this you have done so now

I say I will not drive them out before you But they shall become thorns in your sides and their gods shall be as near to you as soon as the angel of the

Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel the people lifted up their voices and wept and They called the name of that place

Bokom and they sacrificed there to the Lord When Joshua dismissed the people the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land and 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 work that the

Lord had done for Israel and Joshua the son of Nun servant of the Lord died at the age of 110 years and they buried him within the boundaries of his

Inheritance in Timnath Ares and the hill country of Ephraim North of the mountain of Gash and all that generation also were gathered to their fathers and there arose another generation after them

Who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel For voicing that so let's stand again, we're gonna continue our worship in song

Lord my rock and my Redeemer some of you may not have heard this before it's somewhat familiar with Bible Church but there's great theology in this and it really comes to a crescendo toward the end when he said he rose and just Just meditate on the words as you're singing through these and if you don't know the tomb just You know read it through in your mind

I And All God's people said

What a blessing in Christ alone Well, if you have your Bibles, please open them and turn them to the book of Judges The book of Judges now we're doing something in our church a series because I've been the interim pastor here three months and I was talking to Victor and Harold the elders and Praying about you know, what am

I going to preach on because I'm preaching in our church through the gospel of John Our service is at 9 o 'clock in the morning and nobody wants to say goodbye.

So we have to like be rude and leave And drive the 25 minutes down here and I didn't want to put my family through the same sermon my daughters looked at me kind of like We listen to you enough

So Just talking to Victor and Harold I decided to go to the

Old Testament and I'm just saying this for the sake of our visitors today I'm going through one book of the

Old Testament every Sunday Now with a couple of them, I took two Sundays, but judges we're going to cover the entire book of judges

This morning. How about that? and What we're doing is we're not down on the ground in the book of Judges We're in an airplane and we're gonna fly over it not at 35 ,000 to 40 ,000 feet where airliners fly but down low where a small plane flies, okay but we are going to get through all 21 22 chapters of the book of Judges right now and all of God's people said

I Are you taking bets You know,

I was read about this man he was talking to God and he said God How long is a million years?

And God said well to me, it's it's about a minute God how much is a million dollars?

Well to me, it's about a penny So the man said God may I have a penny?

God said wait a minute Do I need to tell it again?

And the reason I want to start with a little bit of a laugh is Because if you know the book of Judges at all

Then you know, it can be kind of a downer to read and that's because Judges listen to me carefully.

The book of Judges is essentially 300 years of God's people just like us and I want you to get this

Old Testament Old Covenant believers got that New Testament New Covenant believers

So people that would if they were here today would say I believe in God.

I'm a Christian 300 plus years of those kinds of people saying

God we promise to obey you and turn right around and Disobey God we love you.

We're gonna obey you and turn right around and Disobey over and over and over and over for over 300 years

So when you read the book of Judges you have over 300 years of the history of the people of Israel Saying we're gonna obey you

Not once one generation then disobeying Not once not twice not seven times you ready for this 12 generations

How about that? We have three generations here. We have grandparents here. We have their kids and we have their kids 12 times and The background of what happens in judges goes all the way back to the book of Joshua Where we read in Joshua chapter 5 and I'll get to judges 2 in a moment

Listen carefully to Joshua chapter 5 For the children of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness

That's documented in the book of Numbers till all the people who were men of war who came out of Egypt were consumed listen an

Entire generation of people that left Egypt listen carefully were consumed Because they did not obey the

Lord So this is Joshua chapter 5 Why did

Israel spend 40 years in the wilderness wandering around because they did not obey the voice of the

Lord and Why in judges do God's people spend another 300 years?

generation after generation after generation Having all kinds of problems being invaded

Being put into slavery Same reason now look at judges chapter 2 and We run again and again and again into this judges 2 verse 2

God says you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall tear down their altars

But you have not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this look at verse 17?

Yet they would not listen to their judges. This is a snapshot looking forward to the rest of the book

But they played the harlot with other gods and bowed down to them They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walk in obeying the commandments of the

Lord They did not do so go to chapter 6 verse 10

Chapter 6 verse 10. I am the Lord your God Do not fear the gods of the

Amorites in whose land you dwell but You have not obeyed my voice

Wow Anybody that's raised kids knows exactly

What we're talking about don't you parents? Did I not tell you to clean up your room?

But you have not obeyed my voice. Did I not tell you not to touch those cookies?

But you have not obeyed my voice Did I not tell you to not install that app on your phone?

But you have not obeyed my voice so in the book of Judges God's people

Israel keeps saying they're gonna obey God and they don't God warns them And he punished them by means of trials and these trials come in the form of pagan nations invading them and taking them over Very often putting them into slavery and so they cry out to God God save us just like they did in Egypt, right?

They turn to God when things get really bad They repent God delivers them

And then it happens again and Then it happens again And then it happens again and again and that's why

I wanted to start with the penny joke Because it gets it can get depressing 300 plus years of Israel's history

Cycling over and over remember merry -go -rounds. They took the merry -go -round out of Galleria I used to take my daughters on that merry -go -round

It's gone And when I when they were little I would ride it around and around and I never got tired of it because I loved my

Daughters right but as they got older they got tired of it That's the book of Judges Round and round and round and round cycles, let's pray

Father thank you so much for this day This blessed time that we can worship together people of every race creed and color one in Christ May the

Holy Spirit be our teacher today May he do in our lives what we cannot do father only you can do

Open up our understanding help us to stay awake alert That the Word of God might minister to our hearts.

We pray in Jesus name. Amen now When you have a smartphone and you punch in where you want to go

Maybe you did that to get to the church if you're visiting from Filipino International Baptist Church But very often they'll have waypoints so you go from A to B But in between you're gonna stop for gas, right?

Or if you have an electric car you start to you stop to get it charged up You see those they plug them in like a lamp so in judges

God remains faithful, but his people remain unfaithful and it just keeps going on and on around around like a merry -go -round

Secondly when you think of the book of Judges it involves 12 judges There's 12 judges, maybe 13 some scholars call it 13 because there's a man

Horrible man named Abimelech, and he's called himself. Maybe he did it to himself that he was a king so 12 or 13 leaders of Israel, okay and Understand that the judges when you see this word judge they weren't judges like we think of judge, you know, the the president

Nominated a Supreme Court a new Supreme Court justice on Saturday, right? And it could look by all intents and purposes that I've read a solid solid person that believes in the

Constitution right So They're not judges like that They're judges in the sense that they ruled over Israel when there were problems people went to them and they said this is right

This is wrong. They settled disputes. They provide leadership like a king or a president

Okay, so they're not judges like we think of a judge today They provided spiritual guidance

You look at the story of Gideon Who helped conquer the Moabites all kinds of things like this go on but these are rulers spiritual directors at times also tradition

Attributes the authorship of this book to Samuel who was a prophet anybody know a book in the

Bible called Samuel Yeah, it's that guy first Samuel and second Samuel most likely wrote this book

Now the message what is the core central message and teaching of this book for 40 years

Israel had wandered in the wilderness till that generation died off. They cross over the Jordan River into Canaan so for about 300, it's really more closer to 325 years from 1373

BC To 1043 BC now stay with me here.

I'm not going to try to trick you up In the wilderness, they were wandering geographically in Judges, they're wandering with sin

So wandering in the wilderness Geographically no home in judges.

They have a home. They have their cities The land has been divided up by the tribes now We have wandering in the spiritual sense judges is the record of the cause the course and the and the curse of spiritual deterioration and Israel's ever -increasing

Lawlessness now a merry -go -round just goes around and stays at the same level, right? this is very important to get a

Merry -go -round cycles around and stays at one level The sin and the cycles of sin that you read about in the book of Judges is an ever -decreasing

Spiral of sin worse and worse and worse Does that sound familiar?

How about the United States of America just when you think it can't get any worse?

beloved Do you understand what's going on in the United States of America right in front of your face?

Do you understand that just please listen Do you understand that a few years ago they legalized?

homosexual marriage that a man can marry a man and a woman can marry a woman and the governor of the state of California Just last week or week before signed a bill that says men

Who sexually abused children? Will be identified differently than other men

Who sexually abused children? What's next?

Let's release criminals Let's release murderers Do you understand you?

Talk to anybody over 70 that lives in this country and they sit there and shake their head and say what in the world's going on Well, it's exactly what happened in judges.

It just gets worse and worse and worse apart from what? The gospel of Jesus Christ Amen You see judges is the record of imperfect judges

Pointing us to the perfect judge Gideon Ehud all these judges

Deborah point us They're imperfect judges that point us to the perfect judge who is the

Lord Jesus Christ You understand remember to understand judges don't think of a judge in a black robe behind a bench think of a judge that's ruling over people giving guidance and direction and Who is to do that in our lives today the perfect judge

King Lord Jesus. Amen Now you got the message I can close the service you want to go home.

I'm done. That's it in a nutshell Judges is a record of imperfect judges little

G pointing to the perfect judge capital J real quick I Have so much to say but real quick Old Testament promises made

New Testament promises kept Old Testament imperfect rulers

Moses David Solomon Kings prophets and judges all pointing to King Jesus the judge

Prophet priest and King right? That's the whole flow of the Old Testament So the people and judges they sin

They're punished. They reap the consequences. There's their sin. They cry out for deliverance

Does that sound familiar? Do you remember the day that you cried out?

To God to save you from your sin. I do It was in a hotel room in Rochester, New York They are

Desperate they cry out and God raises up a judge to deliver them who is an imperfect judge who is there to point?

Everybody through human history to the perfect judge the Lord Jesus Christ The judges in the book of Judges are human.

They're imperfect and they're temporary the judge dies that leadership Fades from the scene the people turn to sin the cycle starts over Sin here it is sin servitude

Supplication salvation that's the cycle but it's ever increasingly going down worse and worse

God raises up a judge The judge dies the people start sinning again things get bad again that people cry out to God again

Then he raises up another judge to deliver them and we have this cycle of sin servitude

Supplication and then salvation 325 years, okay

Four points if you want to follow along in your notes, I made over 50 copies. Hopefully you have a set

So if you want to take notes, if you don't have the notes point number one cycle number one is sin

Four cycles. The first one is sin now two quick points first of all chapter 2

God warns the people about the Consequences and the dangers of sinning.

I mean this happens with your kids, right? Don't touch the stove Are you as dumb as me when you were a kid don't touch the stove you'll get burned.

I mean I was the I Can't tell you how dumb I was because my kids will make fun of it the rest of the day

So God blesses his people God blesses his people. He delivers them out of the wilderness He takes them out of Egypt, right he leads them into the promised land victory the walls of Jericho fall and Notice what

God says chapter 2 verse 1 the angel the Lord came up from Gilgal to bulk him and said

I Led you up from Egypt. I brought you to the land of which

I swore to your fathers and I said I will never break my covenant with you and Here's what you're to do you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land

You shall tear down their altars So you have this very sober warning make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land and here's the deal

Like a loving parent God had given people warnings like this many times

When he first gives the law in the book of Exodus God says you shall have no other gods before me

He also tells him in Exodus 20. You shall make yourself. No idol

You shall not make for yourself an idol Then you get to the book of Deuteronomy the giving of the second law

Remember Deuteronomy duet the second law right given again and in Deuteronomy.

He tells the people Specifically what they need to do in order to obey the first two

Commandments He says when the Lord brings you into the land looking ahead to the time that we're at now

Joshua They go into the land here. They're now in the land and before that ever happens

He says when the Lord your God brings you into the land of the Hittites the Gurgisites the

Amorites the Canaanites and all those guy guys When the Lord your

God has delivered them over to you listen and You have defeated them.

Here's what God says you must destroy them totally And you go that's horrible.

Why? Don't make a treaty with them. This is not me speaking.

This is Deuteronomy You can look it up for yourself if you want to make a note Deuteronomy 7 When the

Lord God has given them into your hand you are to destroy them totally you are to have no

Mercy on them you are to not intermarry with them Do not give your daughters to their sons.

Do not take their daughters for your sons. Listen, why? I'm telling you now before you ever get there

They will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods and the

Lord's Anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you you talk to any pastor.

I bet you I don't even have he doesn't even Know what I'm preaching today The number one marriage counseling a pastor does is between a believing wife and an unbelieving husband young ladies

You must Must pray that God gives you a believing husband

You cannot be unequally yoked. How much clearer can

God be? Totally destroy them make no covenant with them show no mercy on them

How much clearer can you be if your right hand causes you to sin if your right eye causes you to sin

Joshua before he dies repeats the same warning So final

Jeopardy question ready? Ready final

Jeopardy question. What do the people do in spite of these warnings?

the opposite and Your order and your and your bet is the full 27 ,000 that you've won.

You just got your final Jeopardy answer In spite of the clear warnings and the consequences and the dangers of sin the people sin.

Anyway, they don't obey And when you read the first 18 verses Everything is well, by the way, the first 18 verses everything is great.

The barbecues are lit their barbecue and the steak mowing their lawns Right watching the football game

They're going to church all of that Israel's conquest of the territory of Canaan continues look at chapter 1 verse 19

Look at this. It's wonderful. So the Lord was with Judah But a sad word comes halfway through this verse and it is a word a

Single three -letter word that should strike fear into every believer's heart and it is the word but and Some translations have the word nevertheless

So 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 and that is a

Rabbit trail But look at verse 21 But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the

Jebusites who inhabited inhabited Jerusalem verse 28 And it came to pass when

Israel was strong that they put the Canaanites under tribute What's that?

That's a treaty exactly what Cod told him not to do he they put the

Canaanites under tribute, but Did not completely drive them out nor did

Ephraim Completely drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer so the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them

Nor did the Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kittron or the inhabitants of Nahala?

so the Canaanites dwelt among them and were put under tribute and you go on through the rest of the chapter and it goes on but Israel did not but Israel did not and See, here's the deal.

I don't know if you're like me The first few times I read judges before I was ever teaching in the

Old Testament years and years ago as an as a young Christian, I was pointing look at these people

God warns them. This is me doing my morning devotions Look at these people

God says do this do this and then they don't do it. Can I encourage you to ask yourself a question?

Oh We're told to forgive

Have you forgiven that person that hurt you so much those years ago? We're supposed to hunger and thirst for righteousness

How much time have you spent in God's Word this week? See the people sin precisely how

God repeatedly warned them not to sin They partially obey Christians are to hunger and thirst for righteousness.

I guess it's enough if I just thirst for righteousness God didn't really mean the hunger part.

They omit a crucial step of obedience by not exterminating totally the

Canaanites and God warned the consequences verse 2

You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants this land you shall tear down their altars That's what

I told you to do, but you have not obeyed my voice Why have you done this? Therefore I also said back in Deuteronomy and Also back in Joshua.

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

The pagan gods were a snare Terrible sins follow they join with the

Canaanites and others in idolatry and as chapter 2 continues this this story

Kind of recaps this descent into sin and this is so important to understand because when you're first reading the book of Judges you can get confused because this continues from one

Generation to the next generation to the next generation look at verse 7 So the people served the

Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua That's one generation

Who had seen all the great works of the Lord which he had done for Israel now? Joshua the son of John the servant of the

Lord died when he was 110 years old and They buried him within the border of his inheritance in Timnath Harry's in the mountains of Ephraim on the north side of Mount Gaosh 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 ash to Ross What's going on in the

United States of America? This is exactly What's going on in the

United States of America the message and story and lessons that we can learn from judges?

Fall out of these cycles round and round we go first one then another

God gives the Israelites rich blessings and they return his love by disobeying him and that leads to the second cycle cycle number two servitude

See one of the messages of the Bible See you if you know anything about the church in America if you've been a

Christian any length of time You understand that one of the main messages of the church at large is that God is a

God of love He loves everybody and the fact that the verse that everybody quotes all the time is John 3 16, right?

But see that's only part of the gospel For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life

But you know, there's another part of the gospel Romans 6 23 the wages of sin is death.

There's another part of the gospel Hebrews Where it says it is appointed unto men wants to die and after this the judgment

See one of the central messages of the Bible is that God is not indifferent to people sin and the punishment described in chapter 2 summarizes what you see in fact chapter 1 in chapter 2 is kind of a

Overview of the book look at chapter look at verse 14 and the anger of the

Lord Was hot against Israel. He's got a God of love. Yeah, does he get angry?

Yes Pastor John, I thought God was a God of love. Well, he's also a

God of anger and it's not just passive anger. It's hot So, what did he do?

He delivered them into the hands of the 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. They were greatly distressed and this example of God's anger and discipline repeats over and over through the whole book and God uses not just the

Canaanites He uses a number of heathen nations to punish Israel in chapter 3

He uses the Mesopotamians and the Moabites in chapter 4. He uses a Canaanites in chapter 6

It's the Midianites in chapter 10. It's the Ammonites in chapter 13.

It's the dreaded Philistines it keeps getting worse and worse the

Philistines were the most most ruthless of the bunch and this is the book of Judge and Judges heathen nation after heathen nation that Israel should have destroyed

Being used by God to punish put his people into servitude the very nations that he warned them about by name back in Deuteronomy 7

The very nations he said to exterminate and show no mercy to did in fact corrupt them and Then he turns around and he uses the very same nations to punish them

You reap what you sow What does all this have to do to those of us living in 2020?

John this is heavy. Yeah, it is you see

Look at your own life for a minute. I Had to do that this week and it's not comfortable the pagan nations

They represent and point to the very sin that so easily besets us

You see Oh the Canaanites, there's nothing like that.

Yes, there is There's the Internet there's movies

There's wealth the almighty dollar the truth that a little leaven leavens a whole loaf is

Right here in the book of Judges in HDTV, I don't know what the pixels are now with the

TVs. What is it 10 million? Do you know Dave? Do you know Victor what what is it 10 million pixels now and you go to Costco for 500 bucks, do you know?

Yeah, whatever it is those TVs that are very bright when you walk in a Costco right here in the book of Judges cycle number three supplication

Cycle number one say it with me sin cycle number two servitude cycle number three supplication

You come to this chastening hand of God Which is servitude Slavery just like in Egypt to the conquering nations and when things get really bad

The people cry out to God with supplication eight years

Under the oppression of the king of Mesopotamia chapter 3 verse 9 when the children of Israel cried out to the

Lord The Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel who delivered them off Neil the son of Kenaz Caleb's younger brother so after 18 years under the

Moabites verse 15 When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord so a whole generation passes right just in a few verses

The Lord raised up a deliverer for them Ehud the son of Gera the

Benjamite and This goes on 20 years under the Canaanites chapter 4 verse 1

When Ehud was dead the children of again of Israel again did evil in the sight of the

Lord So the Lord sold him into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor The commander of his army was

Sisera who dealt with how Rosheth And that one I practiced but I forgot how to say it verse 3 and The children of Israel cried out to the

Lord chapter 10 verse 11 Chapter 10 The same thing happens with the

Midianites in chapter 6 sin servitude supplication it happens with the Ammonites verse chapter 10 and Look at the extent and if you're a parent with a child that struggles with sin

You know exactly how God feels Look at chapter 10 verse 11

So the Lord said to the children of Israel Did I not deliver you from the

Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the

Philistines or Also the Sidonians and the Amalekites and the

Maonites suppressed you and you cried out to me and I delivered you from their hand

Already I've done this so many times verse 13 Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods therefore

I Will deliver you no more Go cry out to the gods which you have chosen let them deliver you in your time of distress

Dear friends, please. Listen to me The future of the

United States does not rest on a presidential election The future of the

United States of America rests on the gospel of Jesus Christ Understand we need to vote

But understand that the only hope is not in the gods that we've chosen

The hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ What a book for this day cry out to the gods that you have chosen the presidents

Your 401k let them deliver you in your time of distress and then once again

The Israelites wake up. Can I find the verse? yeah, verse 15 and The children of Israel said to the

Lord We have sinned Due to us whatever seems best to you only deliver us this day.

We pray so they put away the foreign gods from among them and Served the

Lord and his soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel the church in America And you know,

I struggled with this because I knew we'd have so many visitors pastor Garcine wasn't sure how many would come we wanted to see the building and pray about the future

But but I was struggling with this because the bottom line here is this is what the church in America needs to do right here

I I don't want to ask these hard questions But I have to in order for this message to mean anything.

When is the last time you shared the gospel with an unbeliever? Come on, but don't tell me tell

God when is the last time you said I got to tell you about the good news of Jesus Christ when is the last time you said as Daniel said and as these said we've sinned

We don't read our Bible We go to church half -heartedly

It's me Do whatever you seem best Honestly, if you were born in this country

Did you ever think? Ma 'am Did you ever think that the

United States would be down to the two candidates that we have and to see men?

hugging men on The front page of Time magazine in your life.

Did you ever think you would see that in the United States of America? Most of our church is over 75 years old

They can't even believe what they don't want to turn on the TV The book of Judges is a book of cycles and the pattern of cycles is consistent

God blesses and the people respond by sinning and he punishes them to the point that they cry out to him they repent and this cycle

Played over and over and over is the lesson for Christians and non

Christians alike There may be somebody here this morning. You have never said Jesus I'm a sinner and I need to be saved

I'm hoping in my job. I'm hoping in a new president. I believe in you God I believe in God But you have never truly been born again to the point that you lay aside your sin and you hunger and thirst for righteousness

I would say to you today is the day of salvation Don't let another day go by without trusting

Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior Don't If you're a

Christian, do you see the same pattern of sin the same cycle? I do

I'm a path. Don't don't don't interview my wife and family, please Don't talk to him after the service and see how true this is about me

Please I beg of you And they're going amen chapter 2 the final answer the final cycle

Salvation the people sin God punishes them. They cry out to God for deliverance.

They make a show of repentance God raises up a judge. He saves them delivers them One writer pointed out the deliverance of God that God gave the

Israelites was only temporary as soon as the judge died Israel turned back to their sin and verse 16 gives us the overview

Verse 16 nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them verse 17 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 you go oh that's them. No Man, man does not live by bread alone, but everywhere that proceeds out of mouth of God How much scripture reading are we doing?

Are we reading through the Bible? I mean, let's go down the line right of the very same things that were to do Right just in different language verse 18 and when the

Lord raised up judges for them the Lord was 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 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 stubborn way Two last points

Number one the judges that God appointed were fallible. They were human. They were imperfect

The storyline of this book is is is wrapped around These twelve judges that God raised up Deborah a woman

Gideon Jeff the Samson They're they're treated at length Samson you everybody knows the story of Samson, you know, he was a judge in the book, right?

Means that he not judging a black robe with a gavel right judge as in supposedly a leader a guider

The tribes come from the judges come from various tribes One of the confusing things about the book is sometimes you're talking about two areas of Egypt at the same time two judges

I'm sorry Israel two judges at the same time. So it's not one generation. It's not a total generation

It's two groups two tribes. Both of them go down about the same time God talks about the two judges

But not listen not any of these judges had a central role Like King Saul David and Solomon Okay and that's one of the things when you get when we get there if the

Lord tarries and we still are meeting when you get To first Kings and second Kings you see they're crying out for a king like the pagan nations around them

And then you have the centrality of rule. You don't have that with the book of Judges. So the judges were human like Moses when he struck the rock

Gideon the son of idolaters How presumptuous you remember with the fleece God?

Hey Can you do this fleece one way and then changes could that's pretty presumptuous God says

I'm gonna do it But then can you do it another way just to make sure that you're God, you know Abimelech horrible guy

Jephthah He was a judge. He's the son of a prostitute I mean we can go on and on Samson was an absolute mess if you've ever read his story in marrying a foreign woman violent deceptful revengeful

But you see here's the thing despite their faults the judges believed the Word of God they acted in faith

God calls them to deliver his people from their oppressors They trust and they obey and in fact looking back when you get to Hebrews 11

These guys are mentioned Gideon Barak Samson So despite all their faults the judges act on faith

God delivers his people through them and What do we have today a life of faith?

Do you see how this is all flowing to Christ? Galatians 2 20 I'm crucified with Christ and I no longer live but Christ lives in me and The life that I now live

I Live by faith That's what this is all flowing to So one thing about the judges, is there anything about perfect?

The second thing is that God only raises them up to deliver them temporarily right

Each of the judges delivered only part of the nation The part that was experiencing oppression each of the judges delivered the people only as long as he or she

Lived verse 19. It came to pass when the judge was dead That they the people reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers exactly what's happening in Our country and throughout human history by following other gods to serve them and bow down to them so Do we need any a clearer picture than what's going on in our country than this

So many lessons. I just I'm out of time. I think

Perhaps the biggest takeaway Maybe one of the biggest takeaways

It fits into the overall message of the Bible is the lesson that people need a

Savior Not an imperfect judge Not a temporary judge that dies

But a perfect one that lives forever a Perfect one that is the same yesterday today and forever one last verse

Chapter 21, you know by the time you get to the end of the book.

The people are desperate The situation the land had become bleak Please listen the sin gets worse and worse and worse

The cycle of depravity gets lower and lower The governor signs a bill that changes the punishment for child molesters releases prisoners

Rapists and murderers from prison things get worse and worse

By the time you get to the end of judges the simp the story simply trails off and this is what you're left chapter 21 verse 25

In those days There was no king in Israel Everyone did

What was right in his own eyes Makes sense to me

Prisons are overcrowded. Let's really let's let's just release these murderers Makes sense to me.

It's okay. You want to kill something? Yeah kill God gave the people of Israel his law his priests and Did he did he do this in order to save them through the law and the priests?

No, they were to teach them right go back to Leviticus Remember a holy people for a holy

God remember the the book of Leviticus We saw it that whole book is there to teach us

God is holy and he expects his people to be holy, right? That's that's all the sacrifices everything pointing to Christ They also taught

Israel that neither the law nor nor human pre remember the the sacrifices go on and on and on But the death of Jesus was once for all

Are you here this morning? Do you know that you know that you know that if you were to die today?

If you were to die today of kovat or a murderer, do you know for sure where you would spend eternity?

Do you know? God gave them judges. He gave him priests.

He gave him prophets. He gave him judges The judges saved them temporarily, but it's all to this is temporary.

There's a permanent Christ Then he gives them the

Kings he gives him Saul he gives him David he gives him Solomon and And the Kings would teach them more about God by foreshadowing the kind of rule that God Ultimately is to give with King Jesus They only temporarily solved

Israel's Problems they were only pointing to the king that would solve all the problems

King Jesus he would give them prophets and They wouldn't be able to completely save them.

They too are pointing to the prophet of all prophets Jesus Christ We live in a day where people do what is right in their own eyes

People are crying right now for deliverance from all kinds of fear. Look what's going on in our country

I'm afraid right, I Don't want to get kovat in the state of California last

Thursday in court doctors testified that in the state of California with a population of 40 million people you have a point zero 3 % chance of dying from kovat.

Hallelujah Let me tell you how bad the odds are You want to walk out the street?

There is a point zero three percent chance that a safe is going to fall out of the sky and kill you

Nobody laughed that was a joke You can laugh

Please laugh one final question and Then Harold will come

I Want to give you a moment it is our custom in this church

After a message to give you a few minutes to pray and that's what you're gonna do. Okay, I'm gonna give you a few moments

One final question. Do you know for sure? Do you know for sure if you were to die today?

Where you would spend eternity? Do you know Jesus Christ The perfect judge the perfect King the perfect prophet.

Do you know him? Personally as your Lord and your Savior. I won't embarrass anybody call anybody out, but please bow now with me and please

Use this time. Maybe I said something in the message Maybe you read a part of the book of Judges and you said

Oh God God help me Use this time to do what

Israel did cry out to the Lord a time of personal quiet prayer and reflection if you're here and You're not sure in your heart

That you're a Christian. I will not embarrass you, but I will be down front after the service

We would love to take a Bible and show you in the Bible how you can know for sure that you're a

Christian That you're born again father. God. Thank you for this time in your word a very heavy heavy heavy book of sober warnings

That the church needs to heed God. I Need to heed by your grace

God as we leave this place. May we not forget the warnings the sin

The servitude the supplication and the good news of Jesus Christ the perfect judge in Jesus name.

Amen Thank You pastor John a heavy message, but Filled with hope we're gonna sing our final song.

So after all that, what are we going to do? We're gonna run to Jesus. We're gonna run to Christ. So let's stand up, please

Oh Oh Turn our eyes upon Jesus Could it be any better?

As we leave and depart from here, I just encourage you I know most of you are very good about sticking around and fellowshipping

So please with our friends that are visiting with us today, let's join together and fellowship. So thank you.