WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.700 Now we are in a sermon series called 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:05.799 The Story of the Old Testament, 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:08.000 and we're right in the middle of the series, really. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.200 And so we're in the book of Judges. 00:00:10.200 --> 00:00:12.200 This is the seventh book of the Bible, 00:00:12.200 --> 00:00:15.000 and honestly, it's one of the most difficult 00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:19.000 and one of the bloodiest books of the whole Old Testament. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:21.000 But it's an important book. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:24.000 Now I think of it as kind of a prelude to a king, 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.000 because Judges explains what happens 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:32.000 in that space of time between Moses and Joshua 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:37.000 and David and Saul, the first kings of Israel. 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:42.000 It's a carefully crafted series of historical stories 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:48.000 that leave us, the reader, longing for a king. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:54.000 Now the story of the Old Testament is actually kind of a story about a king, 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:58.000 or a story anticipating a greater king, isn't it? 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:01.000 It's a story of the kingdom of God, 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:06.000 and we get this story in bits and pieces, in shadows, in fragments. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:12.000 And of course we see the full reality in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:15.000 Now the kingdom of God, I think it was Alistair Begg 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:17.000 that had this helpful way of remembering it. 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:23.000 It's really about God's people and God's place under God's rule. 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:27.000 And that's a helpful framework to bring when you're reading the Old Testament. 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:31.000 So in Genesis we saw Adam and Eve, God's people, 00:01:31.000 --> 00:01:34.000 in the Garden of Eden, which was God's place, 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:38.000 and they were at peace, they were innocent with God. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:40.000 They were under God's rule. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.000 But they rejected God's rule, and he expelled them from his place. 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:48.000 He sent them out of the garden. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:54.000 But in his mercy and in his determination to bless humanity that he had created, 00:01:54.000 --> 00:01:58.000 God chose new people, Abraham. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:01.000 And he called him out of the land of Ur, 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:05.000 and he called him to the land of Canaan, God's new place 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:08.000 that would come to be called the Promised Land, 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.000 because God said, in this place, I'm going to give this to you 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:13.000 and all of your descendants. 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:18.000 Now, in the book of Exodus, which comes after Genesis, 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:21.000 Abraham's descendants have multiplied, as God said they would. 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:25.000 They're a huge, great nation now, the people of Israel. 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:28.000 But they're not in God's place, they're in Egypt. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.000 And they're not really under God's rule, they're actually under pharaohs, 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:34.000 they're slaves. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:38.000 So God raises up for them, 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:43.000 Moses, to deliver them, to free them from Egypt 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:47.000 and take them through the wilderness to God's place, the Promised Land. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:50.000 And on the way, as we heard last week in Derek's sermon, 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:54.000 he gives them rules, the Ten Commandments, and many other rules 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:58.000 of how you live as God's people in God's place. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:03.000 It's a story of the Kingdom of God in its early stages. 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:08.000 So Moses dies in Deuteronomy and passes the baton of leadership 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.000 as it were to Joshua, who was kind of his protege. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:16.000 And Joshua, the book of Joshua, which bears his name, 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:22.000 is really about his leadership when they actually get to the land of Canaan. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.000 And all things considered, he does pretty well. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:27.000 Joshua's a pretty decent leader. 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.000 He's a very good leader, he's a very good leader. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:33.000 Joshua's a pretty decent leader. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:38.000 But the book of Judges begins with the death of Joshua, 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:40.000 and everything just tanks. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:44.000 It's all downhill from there. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:49.000 Now if you grew up with the Bible, these are probably some familiar stories, right? 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:54.000 You've heard about some of the well-known judges like Gideon or Samson. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:57.000 And there are other less well-known judges in this book 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:03.000 whose stories are confusing or too brutal to put in a children's storybook. 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:11.000 Judges like Ehud or Jeftha or the story of the concubine in Gibeon. 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:15.000 These stories are Israel at their worst. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:18.000 It's just rock bottom. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:20.000 Now Moses had warned the people. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:25.000 He said, when you get into that promised land, don't become like the other nations, 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:29.000 because God's actually sending you there in judgment against them. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:34.000 They're so wicked, they're so evil, they need to be purged from the land. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:39.000 So don't become like them. 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:42.000 But that's exactly what they did. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:48.000 Each story in Judges goes further into spiritual and moral decline. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.000 Jeftha sacrifices his daughter. 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:53.000 Gideon's a coward. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:57.000 Samson is just ruled by lust. 00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:06.000 And the people just get caught up in revenge and in senseless slaughter. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.000 It's a dismal book. 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:14.000 Now the first couple of chapters of Judges are a bit of an introduction to the rest of the book, 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.000 and they give us a preview of what's to come. 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:23.000 And then after that introduction are a series of stories where God raises up a judge 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:27.000 to deliver the people of Israel from their enemies. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:34.000 Now they do judge the people, but don't think of a courtroom so much as of a tribal warlord. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:38.000 That's what these judges really were. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:44.000 Now the whole book, after that introduction, goes in a series of cycles. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:49.000 So the people of God reject God's rule. 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:52.000 God gives them over to their enemies. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:54.000 They cry out for help. 00:05:54.000 --> 00:06:01.000 God raises up a judge to deliver them, but when the judge dies, they go right back to their old ways, 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:03.000 rinse and repeat. 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:08.000 But every story gets worse and worse and worse. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:13.000 Now again, Alistair Begg, who I promise I'll stop quoting at some point, 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:17.000 has a helpful way of remembering this cycle with four S's. 00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:22.000 Sin, servitude, supplication, salvation. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:27.000 The people sin, God judges them with servitude. 00:06:27.000 --> 00:06:29.000 They become slaves and oppressed. 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:33.000 Then they cry out in supplication and he saves them. 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:37.000 So sin, servitude, supplication, salvation. 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.000 So every story gets worse. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:42.000 It goes from really out of the frying pan and into the fire. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:47.000 And by the end of the book of judges, there are stories I would blush to read in front of children. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:50.000 They're so horrifying and graphic. 00:06:50.000 --> 00:07:00.000 And the people of Israel become completely unrecognizable from those evil nations that they were meant to conquer. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.000 Why did God allow these brutal things to take place? 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:11.000 For that matter, why is the book of judges in the Bible if it's so dismal? 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:20.000 Because we need to learn that what's wrong with us won't be fixed by a plaster. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:24.000 We need an organ transplant. 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:27.000 Think of the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter five. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:31.000 He says, if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:35.000 It's better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:39.000 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:42.000 Now, is it your eye that causes you to sin? 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:44.000 Is it your hand? 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:50.000 No, of course, Jesus knows that your eye can't make you sin and your hand can't make you sin. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:55.000 The problem's not the eye or the hand, the problem's the heart. 00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:01.000 Jesus wants us to see that our chief need is not behavior modification or accountability partners. 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:04.000 Our chief need is an organ transplant. 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:08.000 We need to be given a new heart. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:15.000 That's why judges is in the Bible, so that we really come to grips with that reality. 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:19.000 And remember, if you're a Christian, you're a child of Abraham, 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:23.000 which means this isn't just some interesting story of remote people. 00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:29.000 This is your family history that kind of brings it home. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:35.000 And if we're to climb out of that same kind of deadly spiral into moral spiritual decay, 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:41.000 we have to come to grips with the difficult reality that we are not the solution. 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:45.000 We are the problem. 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:48.000 That's the great takeaway from judges. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:52.000 But there's three lessons we need to learn from this, and those will be the three points in the sermon today. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:56.000 Number one, God is serious about sin. 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:59.000 Two, God is serious about mercy. 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:02.000 And three, Jesus is the king we need. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:07.000 So number one, God is serious about sin. 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:11.000 Now, I wonder if you've read Mary Shelley's book, Frankenstein. 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:17.000 You know, there's a statue of the monster just down the street from the church building here 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:19.000 that I pass from time to time. 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:23.000 And it always reminds me of this thing that I heard, 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:27.000 that knowledge is knowing that Frankenstein isn't the monster, 00:09:27.000 --> 00:09:31.000 but wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein is the monster. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:36.000 Right? So there's a common misconception that Frankenstein is the name, actually, of the monster in the story, 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:37.000 but it's not. 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:45.000 It's Dr. Frankenstein who actually pieces together this monster out of, you know, pieces of dead corpses or something. 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:47.000 It's quite gross, actually. 00:09:47.000 --> 00:09:52.000 So there's the bear facts, and then there's the deeper truth in Frankenstein. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:55.000 The bear facts is that Frankenstein's not the monster. 00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:05.000 But the deeper truth is that by playing God, Dr. Frankenstein actually does become a moral monster. 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:06.000 Why do I mention that? 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:09.000 Well, the story of judges is a bit like that. 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:16.000 The bear facts are that the people of Israel have actually been freed from slavery. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:23.000 But the deeper truth is that they're actually still in slavery. 00:10:23.000 --> 00:10:26.000 They've been freed from Egypt, haven't they? 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:29.000 Moses, the Lord freed them through Moses in the book of Exodus. 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:32.000 But what do they do with that freedom? 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:36.000 Remember, Derek told us about these 10 words, these 10 commandments. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:39.000 God's rule for God's people in God's place. 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:44.000 Here's how you're to live, not to get free, but because you've been freed. 00:10:44.000 --> 00:10:46.000 Rules for God's free people. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:50.000 And in judges, they broke every one of those laws. 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:57.000 Time and again, they refused to live God's way. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:02.000 Israel was free, but they were actually still in slavery. 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:07.000 Not to Egypt, but to sin. 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:11.000 A musician in Nashville called Andrew Peterson wrote a song called Deliver Us. 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:13.000 In the first verse, he says, 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:17.000 Our enemy, our captor, is no pharaoh on the Nile. 00:11:17.000 --> 00:11:21.000 Our toil is neither mud nor brick nor sand. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:26.000 Our ankles bear no calluses from chains, yet, Lord, we're bound. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.000 Imprisoned here, we dwell in our own land. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:33.000 Do you see it? 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:38.000 Israel's been freed from Egypt, but they're still in slavery to their sin. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:40.000 God's given them everything they need. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:41.000 He provided for them. 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:44.000 He gave them rules for how to live, how to flourish. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:46.000 He brought them to the promised land. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:51.000 He even made a way for himself, the holy God, to dwell with his people 00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:54.000 and be among them to bless them. 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:58.000 But although they were free in their external circumstances, 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:05.000 they were enslaved in their interiority. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:10.000 Now, as a kind of a sidebar, there's something that we need to see here. 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:17.000 Your circumstances are not determinative. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:20.000 Poverty doesn't mean discontent. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.000 It doesn't need to. 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:26.000 Unemployment doesn't need to mean hopelessness. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:30.000 Grief doesn't need to mean despair. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:33.000 Pressure doesn't need to mean pleasure seeking. 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:39.000 And stress doesn't need to mean selfish anger. 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:44.000 Your circumstances are not determinative. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:49.000 It is possible for a slave to be the freest human in the world 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:55.000 and for a free person to be deep in slavery. 00:12:55.000 --> 00:12:59.000 The apostle Paul knew this, and he said in Philippians, 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:02.000 I think, I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:07.000 In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:09.000 abundance and need. 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:13.000 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:19.000 Paul knew that his circumstances were not the determining factor on how he lives. 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:24.000 His heart was. Does his heart belong to Jesus or not? 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:28.000 But that was not how the people of Israel lived in the time of the judges. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.000 They still lived like they were deep in that slavery to sin. 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:34.000 That's why there's this constant repeated phrase, 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:38.000 the end of the book of judges, it says, in those days there was no king in Israel. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:46.000 Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:48.000 And that's sin. 00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:51.000 And Israel's sins made God angry. 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:53.000 Now remember our cycle, right? 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:56.000 The four S's, sin. 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:02.000 Now I need to remember the four S's, sin, servitude, supplication and salvation, right? 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:08.000 So when that cycle kicks in, the people sin, they chase after foreign gods, what does God do? 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:11.000 Does he just look the other way? 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:14.000 Does he say, ah, it's all right? 00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:16.000 No. 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:23.000 Judges 2.14, when the people sinned, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, 00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:31.000 and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them. 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:34.000 That raises a very important question, doesn't it? 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:42.000 Does that mean that if I'm a Christian and I sin, that God will punish me? 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:48.000 In other words, is the pain, the suffering, the loss that I'm experiencing right now, 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:54.000 is it punishment from God, from my sins? 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:58.000 Well, in Judges, this is not actually a case of punitive justice. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:00.000 This isn't about punishment. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:07.000 It's father-to-child discipline at the national level. 00:15:07.000 --> 00:15:18.000 Hebrews 10 in the New Testament shows us that Jesus on the cross took our punishment for our sins once and for all. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:25.000 And Hebrews 12 shows that if we're Christians, that what we tend to think of as God's punishment in our lives 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:34.000 is really God's loving discipline and that our good father disciplines his sons because he loves them. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:40.000 So God's discipline is actually meant to encourage us of God's love. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.000 And even the book of Judges with all of the Lord's anger against Israel's sins, 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:48.000 even this book is an encouragement that he never left them. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:52.000 He never turned his back on them. 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.000 And he'll never give up on you. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:15:59.000 Now, another valid question. 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:03.000 When I sin, does God get angry at me? 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:08.000 Is the anger of the Lord kindled against John Watson? 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:14.000 Well, God hates sin, and he has a righteous anger when we sin against him, when we rebel against him. 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:17.000 But God's anger is not like our anger. 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:21.000 God's anger is productive. 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:23.000 He has a productive anger. 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:27.000 He doesn't punish his kids because he's fuming mad. 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:36.000 He firmly and wisely disciplines his children so that we might turn back to him and ask him for help. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:40.000 Now, you've read that God's kindness is meant to lead us to repentance, 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:46.000 but also God's firm hand is meant to lead us to repentance. 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:48.000 God's anger is productive. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:51.000 And God's anger is loving. 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:53.000 Several times in Judges, as I said, there's that phrase, 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:56.000 each person did what was right in his own eyes. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:59.000 That's self-destructive. 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:10.000 What good parent would willingly let their child walk down a path that leads to death? 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:16.000 This book is a vital part of the Old Testament because it shows what happens when we try to rule ourselves, 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:21.000 when we decide what's right and wrong, when we decide what's good and evil. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:26.000 Who made us God to be arbiters of morality? 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:30.000 That's not our place. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:35.000 Each person did what was right in his own eyes. 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:37.000 That is so relevant. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:44.000 It's such an apt description of the age we live in. 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:48.000 You have to live your own truth. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.000 Follow your heart. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:53.000 You've got to do what's right for you. 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:56.000 Haven't we heard that a million times? 00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:03.000 But the Holy Spirit teaches us through Judges that when we reject God's rule and self-rule instead, 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:07.000 we do what's right in our own eyes, that it's harmful to us. 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:11.000 And it brings dire consequences. 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:17.000 So if we live like we have no king with a capital K and we do whatever seems right to us, 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:19.000 we'll experience three things. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:22.000 First, we'll experience the consequences of our sin. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:25.000 Sometimes that's in our bodies. 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.000 Often it's in broken relationships with people around us. 00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:34.000 We'll experience the discipline of the Lord, which can be painful. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:42.000 And we will all certainly experience the judgment seat of Christ. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:49.000 Now, I love preaching God's grace and God's mercy and His great love, 00:18:49.000 --> 00:19:02.000 but none of that is good news unless we understand, unless we come to grips with how seriously God takes our sin. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:06.000 So even though it's hard, we have to wrestle with this, that we will stand. 00:19:06.000 --> 00:19:13.000 I will stand. You will stand before King Jesus on His throne one day. 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:19.000 And we will give an account of everything we've done, good and bad. 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:29.000 We're going to have to look Jesus in the eye and go over everything we've done. 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:34.000 Do we live like that's true? 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:40.000 The apostle Paul calls that in 2 Corinthians 5, the fear of the Lord. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:45.000 It's the beginning of wisdom. 00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:48.000 So God is serious about sin. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:52.000 Number two, God is serious about mercy. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:54.000 Think back to the pattern again. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:57.000 The people rebel against God's rule. 00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:00.000 His anger is kindled and He gives them over to their enemies. 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:02.000 And then they cry out in their suffering. 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:04.000 Then what happens? 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:07.000 The cold shoulder? 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:11.000 Does God say, you've gone too far this time. 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:13.000 I'm done with you. 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:14.000 No. 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:23.000 Oh, the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:26.000 He hears their cry. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:32.000 Even though they had it coming, He still is moved to compassion. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:36.000 And He raises up for them a deliverer. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:48.000 In other words, no matter how far you've fallen, you are never too far from the mercy of God. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:53.000 Even in their absolute worst idolatry, in the worst of the violence, the worst of the rebellion, 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:56.000 God has mercy and He saves His people. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:58.000 He gives them a deliverer. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:20:59.000 Now let's think together. 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:03.000 What were those people in the book of Judges delivered from? 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:05.000 Because you might say, well, that's good for them. 00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:10.000 You know, I'm glad that they got some judges, but God hasn't given me over to plunderers. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:14.000 My life's not in mortal danger. 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:17.000 But their real danger, it wasn't really their enemies. 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:22.000 Their real danger was their sin, and so was ours. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:28.000 In Ephesians 6, Paul says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:34.000 but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:38.000 against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:43.000 Our real danger today is not at the national level of war. 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:50.000 It's not the wrong political party being in power, and it is not the decline of Christendom or the rise of secularism. 00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:57.000 Our real danger is the spiritual darkness that tempts us every day, 00:21:57.000 --> 00:22:05.000 the spiritual darkness that threatens to chill our hearts toward God. 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:07.000 That's our enemy. 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:18.000 And in that great struggle for our very souls, God has raised up for us a once and for all deliverer. 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:25.000 Now let's think again how were they delivered, and what way did the deliverer bring about the deliverance? 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:28.000 It was the Spirit of the Lord. 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:30.000 Judges 3,10. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:36.000 The Spirit of the Lord was upon Othniel, and he went out to war and prevailed. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:37.000 Judges 6,34. 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:42.000 The Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, and he had victory of the Midianites in war. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:48.000 Judges 11,29. The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jeftha, and he defeated the Ammonites. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:49.000 Judges 14,6. 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:54.000 The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Samson, and he began to defeat the Philistines. 00:22:54.000 --> 00:23:01.000 Notice two things about how the Spirit of the Lord comes upon these deliverers and judges. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.000 First, it's temporary. 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:07.000 And second, it's for war. 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:11.000 It's for military conquest. 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:32.000 But in contrast, think in the New Testament, in the Gospels, when Jesus is baptized, the Spirit descends visibly from heaven and rests on him and never leaves. 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:46.000 Now, Jesus not only reigns as king, full of the Holy Spirit forever, but he sends the Spirit of the Lord to us, to make his home in us, to clothe us as it were. 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:59.000 And when the Spirit makes you a new creation in Christ, he makes his home with you, and he never leaves. 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:05.000 And the Spirit of the Lord did not come upon Jesus for war and military conquest. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:09.000 Let me read to you from Luke chapter 4, starting in verse 16. 00:24:09.000 --> 00:24:17.000 And he came to Nazareth where he'd been brought up, this is Jesus, and as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read. 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:20.000 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:25.000 He unrolled the scroll, found the place where it was written, quote, 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:36.000 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to, what, do battle? 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:40.000 Because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:53.000 He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:57.000 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. 00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:01.000 And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him and he began to say, 00:25:01.000 --> 00:25:07.000 Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:13.000 Point number three, Jesus is the king we need. 00:25:13.000 --> 00:25:20.000 Near the end of the book of Judges, when things are at their worst, 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:28.000 three different times the author says, in those days there was no king in Israel. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:34.000 Everyone did what was right in his own eyes because there was no king. 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:39.000 But the next few books, this is a bit of a preview because we're going to talk about the kingship in future weeks. 00:25:39.000 --> 00:25:45.000 The next few books of the Bible, first and second Samuel, first and second Kings, 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:53.000 they tell the story of centuries of failure of the kings. 00:25:53.000 --> 00:26:02.000 And by the end of second Kings, if we know one thing for certain, it's that no human king can save us. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:09.000 Not even King David himself. We don't just need any king. We need King Jesus. 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:17.000 King Jesus shows us how serious God is about sin and how serious God is about mercy. 00:26:17.000 --> 00:26:25.000 He embodies it. He didn't save us by winning wars. Not the kind that we think of. 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:32.000 He saved us by living out these two truths, that God is serious about sin and mercy. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:39.000 We know God is serious about sin because he didn't just look the other way on our sins. 00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:51.000 He's righteous. God is holy. God is just. It would be an abomination for him to ignore our own evils and wickedness. 00:26:51.000 --> 00:26:59.000 So he didn't ignore it. He punished it. But he took our evil on himself. 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:05.000 And then he took our punishment on himself so that we wouldn't have to. 00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:09.000 And that's how we know that God is serious about mercy. 00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:16.000 In our slavery to sin, when we had nothing to offer him, we had no hope of saving ourselves. 00:27:16.000 --> 00:27:22.000 He sent us a once and for all deliverer full of the Holy Spirit. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:31.000 Jesus is the better off-nail, the better Gideon, the better Jefta, the better Samson. 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:35.000 And he is your King. 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:42.000 Are you living like that's true? Am I? 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:51.000 My prayer for you today is that your heart by God's grace will be gripped with the seriousness of your sin. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:28:00.000 And that by God's grace, you will throw yourself on his mercy and never look back. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:05.000 Let's pray. 00:28:05.000 --> 00:28:15.000 Lord Jesus, we come to you not just as our big brother in the faith, though you are. 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:23.000 We come to you not just as our deliverer from sin and from the powers of darkness, though you are. 00:28:23.000 --> 00:28:32.000 We come to you this morning and we submit ourselves to you as our King. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:49.000 Lord, would you please help us to live as your people in your way for your glory and our good? 00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:59.000 Would you forgive us of our many sins against you and wash us again with that precious blood that you spilled for us on the cross, 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:06.000 which reminds us both of our worthlessness and our worth to you. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:11.000 We're humbled and we worship you and we love you. 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:30.000 Help us to follow you and serve you well. Amen.