WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION
JUDGES: WHEN GOD IS NOT KING • Sermon • Submitted
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· 5 viewsA HOLY GOD DEMANDS WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION.
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WHY JUDGES?
These verses certainly don’t make very interesting reading, at least at first glance. This passage seems to be a long list of obscure names that catalog ancient battles in distant places, matters that can have no possible relevance to our lives thirty centuries later. A closer look suggests, however, a pattern that is all too familiar, and one against which we must carefully guard ourselves. In fact, Judges 1 probes us in places we might prefer the Holy Spirit leave alone.
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
WHY JUDGES?
Flannery O'Connor, one of the greatest American short-story writers, was sometimes criticized for her outlandish characters. She explained that they were intentionally grotesque, because “for the hard of hearing you shout, and for the blind you draw large and startling figures.” She could have been describing the characters we'll encounter in our study of the books of Judges. God has included these stories from the history of Israel in His Word in order to shout some truths to us about His own character.
A HOLY GOD DEMANDS WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION.
A HOLY GOD DEMANDS WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION.
A HOLY GOD
A HOLY GOD
THIS MEANS HE IS SERIOUS ABOUT SIN.
THIS MEANS HE IS SERIOUS ABOUT SIN.
HE IS NOT CAPRICIOUS IN HIS JUDGMENTS.
HE IS NOT CAPRICIOUS IN HIS JUDGMENTS.
And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
HE IS NOT CAPRICIOUS IN HIS JUDGMENTS.
HE IS NOT CAPRICIOUS IN HIS JUDGMENTS.
The prophecies of Genesis 15 deal with these basic events: Abram would have many descendants. Those descendants would one day be taken captive and treated harshly. After four hundred years, Abram’s descendants would return to Canaan. Their return would coincide with God’s judgment on the Amorites in Canaan.
HE IS NOT CAPRICIOUS IN HIS JUDGMENTS.
HE IS NOT CAPRICIOUS IN HIS JUDGMENTS.
These prophecies were fulfilled when, after Joseph’s death, Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites (who were living in Egypt at the time), and then, four hundred years after Joseph, Moses brought the children of Israel out of Egypt to the borders of Canaan; Joshua then led the people into Canaan and conquered the land. Joshua’s conquest took place only after the sin of the Canaanites had “reached its full measure”.
HE IS NOT CAPRICIOUS IN HIS JUDGMENTS.
HE IS NOT CAPRICIOUS IN HIS JUDGMENTS.
One thing Genesis 15:16 shows is the certainty of God’s judgment on the wicked. The Amorites and other Canaanites were exceedingly wicked (for a list of some of their sins, see Leviticus 18). During the time of Moses, God gave the reason for the Canaanites’ downfall:
and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
HE IS NOT CAPRICIOUS IN HIS JUDGMENTS.
HE IS NOT CAPRICIOUS IN HIS JUDGMENTS.
God had predicted this all the way back in Abraham’s time. The Amorites were wicked, and Judgment Day was coming.hI
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
At the same time, Genesis 15:16 demonstrates God’s love, mercy, and above all His longsuffering and patience with sinful man. Rather than immediately wipe out the Amorites, God chose to wait for over four hundred years to bring judgment upon them. The enemies of God would be displaced as God settled His chosen people in the land He had promised them.
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
Yet God’s enemies did not need to remain enemies. They were given ample time to turn from their wickedness, turn to God, and be forgiven. The Amorites had a chance to repent and be saved, just as the Assyrians in Nineveh did during in the time of Jonah.
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
The Amorites’ sin had not escaped God’s notice. He was keeping track of the measure of their sins, and, during Abraham’s time, it was not yet “full.” So the Amorites were warned that judgment was coming. It is sad that they did not take advantage of their time of grace.
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
They wasted their four hundred years and continued to fill up the measure of their sin. Like most other pagan nations that Israel later encountered, the Amorites stubbornly continued in their sin until judgment finally befell them in God’s own time.
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
Because the Amorites finally filled up the measure of their sin, God brought Joshua and the children of Israel against them. God’s command was for the Israelites to
but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded,
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
HE IS LONG-SUFFERING TOWARDS SINNERS.
A similar fate as befell the unrepentant Amorites awaits those who rebel against God today and reject His Son, Jesus Christ. All of us are sinners (Romans 3:23), and we have been warned that judgment is coming. Judgment Day is promised, but until that time we have the chance to repent and be saved. God in His love, mercy, and patience waits, withholding judgment to give us all a chance to believe and be reconciled to Him.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
HIS JUDGMENTS ARE JUST.
HIS JUDGMENTS ARE JUST.
Then Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek.
They found Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me.” And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
HIS JUDGMENTS ARE JUST.
HIS JUDGMENTS ARE JUST.
Lord Bezek said God was just in His punishment. Abraham asked the question in
Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”
“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
DEMANDS WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION
DEMANDS WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION
THIS MEANS HE IS SERIOUS ABOUT SALVATION.
THIS MEANS HE IS SERIOUS ABOUT SALVATION.
HE PROVIDES HIS PRESENCES.
HE PROVIDES HIS PRESENCES.
And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.
“When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people
and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them,
for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’
The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them.
And the house of Joseph scouted out Bethel. (Now the name of the city was formerly Luz.)
And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the way into the city, and we will deal kindly with you.”
And he showed them the way into the city. And they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.
And the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city and called its name Luz. That is its name to this day.
HE PROVIDES A PLAN.
HE PROVIDES A PLAN.
The motivation for driving out Canaanites was not pragmatic but spiritual. Yahweh had warned through Moses:
Do not let those people live in your country; if you do, they will make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, it will be a fatal trap for you.”
HE PROVIDES A PLAN.
HE PROVIDES A PLAN.
Remaining Canaanites would not be so much a military threat as a spiritual cancer. That’s why Israel was to eliminate the Canaanites and other ‘-ites.’ That’s why Israel was to wreck and demolish all their worship centers.
HE PROVIDES THE POWER.
HE PROVIDES THE POWER.
And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.
You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God.
And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword,
But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,
but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded,
that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.
HE PROVIDES THE POWER.
HE PROVIDES THE POWER.
Note that God did not say "I have given you all the land except for the section fortified by iron chariots" (Jdg 1:19). God said "the land" without qualification. Judah failed to believe God's promise. And promises must be laid hold of by faith (and faith is an "action" verb which translates into obedience).
HE PROVIDES THE POWER.
HE PROVIDES THE POWER.
Note that the text says "they could not drive out"… it does not say "God could not drive out" (or "would not")! There is a big difference! They looked at the small chariots, not at their big God. In the famous painting of Daniel in the Lion's Den, it is notable that Daniel's eyes were not on the lions, but upward on the Lord! A good pattern to emulate! Obstacles are opportunities for God to show Himself mighty!
The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”
Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only,
but the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.”
Diminished power is always the result of diminished faith.
Diminished power is always the result of diminished faith.
Their problem was not a lack of power but a lack of obedience. In a few short verses we have moved from conquest to compromise coexistence to capitulation.
WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION REQUIRES DESTRUCTION OF EVERYTHING THAT IS UNHOLY.
WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION REQUIRES DESTRUCTION OF EVERYTHING THAT IS UNHOLY.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
WE CANNOT CONTROL SIN WE MUST CRUSH IT.
WE CANNOT CONTROL SIN WE MUST CRUSH IT.
Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land.
When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely.
And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor.
Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.
SIN IS NEVER CONTENT TO BE PASSIVE. IT IS ALWAYS IMPERIALISTIC.
SIN IS NEVER CONTENT TO BE PASSIVE. IT IS ALWAYS IMPERIALISTIC.
TOLERANCE LED TO TOTAL INTEGRATION. LIVING WITH THE CANAANITES LED TO WORSHIPING THE CANAANITE GOD’S. TOLERATION OF SIN IS THE FIRST STEP IN THE CELEBRATION OF SIN.
THEY ENSLAVED THE CANAANITES INSTEAD OF EXTERMINATING THEM WHICH WOULD ALLOW THEM TO BECOME A THORN AND SNARE TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
THEY ENSLAVED THE CANAANITES INSTEAD OF EXTERMINATING THEM WHICH WOULD ALLOW THEM TO BECOME A THORN AND SNARE TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
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 a snare to you.”
TODAY’S TEXT AND ALL OF SCRIPTURE CALLS US AWAY FROM COMPROMISE AND COMMANDS OUR COMPLETE OBEDIENCE.
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.
For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
DON’T BE A PERSON OF COMPROMISE BE A CALEB
DON’T BE A PERSON OF COMPROMISE BE A CALEB
And Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said. And he drove out from it the three sons of Anak.
And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’
Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.
FOLLOW CALEB’S EXAMPLE BECAUSE HE WAS WHOLEHEARTEDLY DEVOTED.
FOLLOW CALEB’S EXAMPLE BECAUSE HE WAS WHOLEHEARTEDLY DEVOTED.
Caleb didn’t want his portion to be any of the lands conquered thus far. He specifically requests an inheritance in the land that is protected by fortified cities. He wasn't content just to have faith in God, he wanted to put his faith in action.
But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall possess it.
CALEB UNDERSTOOD THAT A HOLY GOD DEMANDS WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION WHICH IS REQUIRED FOR FREEDOM.