Father, there are whole parts of your word that we are almost completely and utterly afraid to read and afraid to touch.
We don't want to think about these parts of your word, and we don't like to think about the fact that we don't like to think about them.
So, Father, we ask that you grant us courage to really trust you.
We give you thanks and praise that when you call us to trust in you and obey you, you are calling us to a life of courage to trust your word and trust your promises, to trust your presence, to trust your final word about us.
So, Father, we ask that you grant us that faith-based courage in all of our lives and as we look into your word.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So, we're going to talk about genocide and holy war.
That's what we're going to talk about, because that's what Judges talks about.
As many of you know, in fact, many of you feel probably a little bit stressed just by the fact that I said that's what we're going to talk about.
For many people in our culture, what they think is the fact, the idea that the Bible promotes genocide and holy war is what's called a defeater.
It's one of the reasons why you just automatically know that reasonable people don't believe the Bible and reasonable people aren't Christians.
Why?
Well, because, amongst other things, the Bible promotes holy war and genocide.
So, there.
And we all know that those are wrong.
And we agree that those are wrong, by the way.
So, the book of Judges is going to deal with this topic, especially the beginning.
So, if you turn in your Bibles to chapter 1, verse 1 of Judges.
Chapter 1, verse 1 of Judges.
This is the first.
And if you're a guest here and you're wondering why on earth is George talking about holy war and genocide,
it's because we preach through books of the Bible.
And in the course of the year, I like to preach at least once from the Old Testament and at least once from the New Testament.
And so, in 2020, we're going to begin with Judges.
It might be that we're in the New Testament for the rest of the year.
We're going to spend 13 weeks, God willing, on the book of Judges.
And we're going to begin.
So, we always begin at verse 1 and chapter 1, verse 1.
And at the end of the 13 weeks, we'll have gone to the end of the book.
And we just deal with the topics as they arise.
So, just a bit of a background before I start to read.
In terms of the flow of the Bible, there's the first five books of the Bible.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Those are called the books of Moses or the law.
And they cover, well, of course, they cover right at the very beginning of all things.
And then they talk about Abraham.
And then, of course, the deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
And they end with Moses.
They end with Moses, who's not able to enter into the promised land.
But he sees the promised land, and then he dies.
And Joshua is the book about how the people of Israel enter into the promised land.
Judges takes place approximately from the year 1350 B.C. to 1050 B.C., some 300 years,
looking at a couple of key incidents during these 300 years.
And it basically spans the death of Joshua to the rising of Saul and then David.
And that's the timeline that we're looking at.
And this is the beginning.
And it begins like this.
After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the Lord,
who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?
So, the Lord said, Judah shall go up.
Behold, I have given the land into his hand.
Now, Canaanites describes everybody in the region, many different ethnic groups and linguistic groups,
many different nations.
In fact, the whole area would have been a large number of small city states and rural chieftains,
so to speak.
And that's the area.
But they're all called Canaanites.
And the people of Israel had entered the land.
If you go back and you read the book of Deuteronomy, especially chapter 7,
we see that God says that they're going to just take, or maybe it's 20,
that they're going to take the land slowly because he doesn't want there to be other types of problems
that arise when the land is completely empty and desolate.
And so, Joshua has brought them into the land.
And we see here, verse 1 again, that Joshua dies.
So now, Israel, they don't have another Joshua.
They say, who shall go up first against us?
And here we see the problem of holy war.
And we'll see the problem of a genocide in a moment.
In verse 2, Judah shall go up.
Behold, I have given the land into his hand.
The problem of holy war and with it the implication of genocide.
Now, I told you just beforehand that there's 37 verses.
We're not going to look at all of the verses.
But what I want to do here in this particular case is,
if you go back later on on your own and you read the rest of chapter 1,
and we'll look at a couple of little verses in a bit,
but what you see is you see a basic recording of how nine tribes fare,
how Judah does, who they kill, who they capture, who they destroy,
how Benjamin does, how Manasseh does.
You see a list of nine different short summaries
of how these tribes go in to take the land
and how they wage war and who they kill.
But what I'm going to do is I'm going to jump to the end of the literary unit
because scholars agree that there's a literary unit
of chapter 1, verse 1 to chapter 2, verse 5,
and that's the introduction of the book.
And what we see in chapter 2, verse 1 to 5
is a commentary by God about what happened in chapter 1.
So I'm going to, in a sense, give you the end
because I don't have time to go through it all and then go,
surprise, I'm going to give you the end
so that if you go back later on and read,
and then when I have us look at a few passages,
we have to understand, okay, all these things happen.
People get killed.
People have their thumbs and toes cut off.
People are enslaved.
Some Christians in the past foolishly would look at books like this
and say that the Bible justifies slavery,
but it's not true because what they've done
is they haven't looked at how God comments on what happens.
And isn't that a good idea?
It's his command.
They go and do something.
And what does God say?
Well, let's look.
Chapter 2, verses 1 to 5.
And here's how it goes.
Now, the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Ba'kin.
By the way, I don't know how to pronounce these words.
I tried to listen to how to pronounce all of them.
I don't know if I've ever...
There's so many words after I went through all of chapter 1,
so I don't know if I'm actually pronouncing these words correctly,
but I'm giving it my best shot, okay?
And now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Ba'kin,
and he said,
I brought you up from Egypt
and brought you into the land
that I swore to your fathers
to give...
sort of that I swore to give to your fathers.
I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
And just sort of pause here for a second.
The angel of the Lord is a very interesting entity
in the Old Testament.
Some of the early church fathers
and some Christians think
that it's actually a reference to Jesus
before he became incarnate.
But whether it is, in fact, God, the Son of God,
or whether it's just an angel,
it's a special angel,
that when the angel shows up in the action, so to speak,
to hear the angel speak
is really hearing God speak.
That's the significance of it.
So God speaks.
And notice again what he says,
verse 1,
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.
Now, just before I go any further,
just another aside,
this is one of the reasons
why Christians believe
that God is not finished with Israel.
Replacement theology is incorrect.
The idea that the church now
can take all of the promises to Israel
and they all apply to the church
and not to the Jewish people.
We see here very clearly
that God says,
I will never break my covenant with Israel.
That doesn't mean Israel keeps it
and it's a mystery as to how he's going to finish,
but he's not finished with them.
But we'll just continue on.
We'll say that again.
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?
I'm going to say that again.
Remember,
he's commenting on what just happened
in chapter one, right?
So anybody who uses chapter one
to justify doing things
is not reading the Bible correctly
because a lot of the things
that went on in chapter one,
God's commentary on it is,
again,
but you have not obeyed my voice.
What is this you have done?
What is this you've done?
We're going to unpack this in a moment.
So now I say,
I will not drive them out before you.
This is the Canaanites.
But they shall become thorns in your sides
and their God shall be a snare to you.
Now, how did the people respond?
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 Bochim
and they sacrificed there to the Lord.
So why is it that this,
the book of Judges,
does not justify holy war and genocide?
Why is it that the book of Judges
does not justify holy war?
I have eight reasons
and I'll go through them fairly quickly.
First of all,
in holy war,
the end justifies the means.
That's what it always means.
It means, you know,
you're to call out,
you're to destroy all of this people,
you're to take all of this land.
You know,
you can kill all the infidels,
you can kill all the proletariat
and the working class,
or not the proletariat,
working class.
You can kill all the rich,
all the owners.
You can go and you can,
you just,
the goal is this classless society,
it's this perfect earth
all under the rule of God
and you can do,
that's the end,
you do whatever you want
and God says,
no,
the end doesn't justify the means.
If you go back in chapter one
and those people you enslaved,
you shouldn't have done it.
The end doesn't justify the means.
This is not holy war.
That's what he says here.
What have you done?
You haven't obeyed my voice.
What is this you have done?
Second,
the idea of holy war
is usually used in such a way
that if it's not perpetual,
if it's not ongoing forever,
it's something that the powerful
and the rulers can take out
whenever it needs to be relaunched,
reloaded,
rebooted.
They just reboot it
and they can do the holy war again.
But we see here,
what do we see that God says?
Verse three,
so now I say,
I will not drive them up before you.
It comes to an end.
It completely and utterly
comes to an end.
In fact,
what we're going to see
is that this command
for the people of Israel
to go up and take the land
had a very particular goal.
It was a command
that God gave to Israel once
for a certain period of time
and it's once and once only.
And the goal that God had
was that there would be a land
for the Lord's people.
And as the Lord's people,
they would trust him.
They would have an intimate
relationship with him.
They would be obedient.
They would worship.
They would be blessed
so that all the world
would look and marvel
at the Lord and his people
and want to come to know
and worship him.
That was his purpose.
And he told them
to go and take this land
and it was once
with a period,
not a holy war.
Third,
connected with it,
it's not something
that they could keep going
and doing.
It wasn't as if,
well, first we take Manhattan
and then we take Berlin.
I know, I'm quoting a song.
It's not that, you know,
first you take Saudi Arabia
and then you take Jerusalem,
you know,
and then you take Rome.
It's not something
that keeps going.
In verse 3,
he brings it to an end.
God says,
it's no longer happening.
I'm not going to help you
drive out the nations.
It was only for one
little piece of property.
It wasn't something
that was to continue
and keep going.
Fourth,
it's not something
that he's calling
the nation
to go and kill everybody.
Look at verse 3 again.
So now I say,
I will not drive them
out before you.
Drive them out before you,
but they shall become
thorns in your sides
and their God
shall be a snare to you.
The purpose,
of this,
was to make the people
who were there
who worshipped idols,
they worshipped Moloch,
they worshipped Baal,
they worshipped Asherah,
to have them all move.
Some of you know
that I was in Israel
this past October.
The other times
I've been to Israel,
I've just been in Jerusalem
and this time I had a tour,
not of the whole country.
I didn't have enough time
for the whole country,
but for a big part
of the country.
And modern day Israel
is roughly the size
of New Jersey,
smaller than New Brunswick,
and it has 8.8 million people.
And let me tell you,
one of the things
which is so surprising
if you actually go there,
the land is so empty.
The land is so empty
with 8.8 million people in it.
Long stretches of road.
Nobody.
You see,
absolutely nobody.
And the population back then
was vastly smaller.
And one of the great privileges
I had when I went there
this last time,
we went there
with a person from,
a retired major
from the Northern
Israeli Defense Force
and we were on the Golan Heights
and we went within
500 meters of Syria
and 2 kilometers of Lebanon.
And we could look out
over the plain into Syria
and we could look over
into Lebanon.
You want to know something?
It's empty.
Like it's empty.
We read it
and we sort of think
as if God wants
to take all of Ottawa
and relocate Ottawa
and we have to move
all into what is now Hull.
Now that would be
very problematic.
Kick everybody out of Ottawa,
all million of us,
and we all have to go
and live in Hull.
That's going to be complicated.
Now,
we're going to talk
a little minute
about the whole mission
of driving them out.
But the point is,
and that's one of the reasons
why when you read
the text,
there's all these
confusing things
that happen in the text.
It sounds as if
they killed everybody
and slaughtered everybody
in Jerusalem
and yet if you read
then a few verses after
in the same chapter,
you'll see that later on
they have to go
and take Jerusalem again
because there were people
living in it.
They go,
what?
And as I've said before
in other sermons,
when we hear,
sorry,
I don't want to raise up
wounds and all that,
but you come to church
for grace.
But you know,
when Russia
annihilated the Canadians
in the juniors,
world juniors,
we know that they didn't
kill all of the Canadian
players.
We just know they lost
six nothing
and were completely
and utterly humiliated.
Right?
We just know that.
We just make adjustments
for it.
And so it is,
when you look at the Old Testament,
you look at stories like this,
you have to just look
at all of it.
And what you really see
is that in fact,
really most walled places
were forts
made out of bricks
or stone
or something like that.
And so within them,
there would have been
like the garrison,
so to speak,
and things made out of
brick and stone
that don't burn.
But there would have been,
you know,
some places with some wood
and some straw over it
where you could come
and, you know,
sit under it
and be out of the rain.
And they burn that,
but everything else
is intact
and they kill the king,
they kill the military commanders
and they're supposed
to drive everybody out
and they don't drive them out.
That's the complaint.
They don't drive them out.
But the people aren't killed.
That's why they move back in.
They take the garrison
in Jerusalem.
They burn the wooden things.
They leave,
but they don't actually
drive the people out
and the people come back
in and live in it
and they have to come
and take it again.
That's what's actually
going on in the text.
That's why it's not
a holy war.
That's why it's not genocide.
God doesn't go and say,
kill every man,
woman, and child,
but to drive them out.
Why is he driving them out?
Because at this time
in the Lord's dealing
with his people,
his goal is for there
to be a land,
a small piece of land
for the Lord's people
to dwell,
to worship him,
to be obedient
and trust
and intimate with him.
And the purpose
is always
so that all
of the surrounding nations
will look at Israel
and see what it's like
to live
in covenant faithfulness
faithfulness
with the real
and living God
without idols,
without having to kill
your children in worship,
without having to say
to Louise,
Louise,
I want to go to worship
at the temple
and that means
I go and sleep
with a prostitute
and then I go home
to my wife.
And all of the,
all,
you can imagine
the sexually transmitted
diseases
and all those other things
that would have just
been rampant
amongst all the other things
which were problematic
in those lands.
And he says,
there's going to be a land
where the integrity
of the family
is maintained
and the integrity
of sexuality
is maintained
and the integrity,
so there's not
sexualizing the family
and it's not
sexualizing the world
and that there's
a proper relationship
then of trust
and safety
between men
and women
and husbands
and wives
and children
and everything
isn't sexualized
and the whole world
will see what it's like
to live under the Lord
and to know his ways
and the result of that
will be that they will say,
I would like to know
and worship that Lord
and be in covenant
with him too.
You see,
even the people who go
and are moved out of the land,
they're going to be
the first to see.
Look what it's like
to go.
Like wives will look
and say,
dear,
why don't we worship
in a way that doesn't
involve you sleeping
with prostitutes
all the time?
Like maybe that's
a good idea.
Maybe we should worship
a God that doesn't ask us
to take our one-year-old
or our four-year-old
and have him burn to death.
Like maybe that would be
a better way to live.
Maybe it would be
a better way to live
where every seventh day
you rest.
Maybe it would be
a better way to live
if the way that you
harvest your crops
feeds the poor.
Maybe it would be
a better way to live
to understand
that if you have to be
sold into slavery
for debts
at the end of seven years
it's all completely
and utterly finished
and you are a free man
and woman again.
Maybe it would be
a better way to live
to understand
that
yes,
it's my property
to care for
and I sometimes
have to sell it
for debt
but at the end of 50 years
it goes back to everybody
because the land
is the Lord's.
Maybe that would be
a better way to live
and I would like
to know that Lord
and worship Him.
I would like Him
to care for me.
That's the purpose
and that's why
He says
what are you doing?
You're enslaving people?
You're cutting off
thumbs and toes?
Like you're letting them
live among you?
Like what's going on?
That's not what
I asked you to do.
It's not a holy war.
It's not genocide.
You have to
it's just beyond that
but this is my fifth
reasons why
it's not holy war.
If you go back
and you read the book
of Joshua
you'll see that
not only then
they were not
to enrich themselves
of the people.
I mean
the idols
and all
they would have been
things of value.
You're to completely
and utterly destroy them.
Just get rid of them.
Destroy them.
Things of value.
Things which were precious.
Any article of gold
that's given
or that
it's just precious.
We don't want you
to steal their stuff.
We're not doing this.
Holy war is usually
all about enrichment
and power
but they say
you don't take anything
from them.
You don't
we don't want
the nations of the world
to think that we moved in
so that
you could become rich.
No.
Why?
Because we're going to
trust the Lord
for our provision.
Being under Him
will be what will enrich me.
Not stealing
other people's stuff.
Number six
that it's not
it's not a holy war
because it's not
all about success
and glory.
If you could go back
to verse three
actually go to
verses one to three
look again
at how this begins
and this is a very
very subtle way
that it begins
and I'm going to try
to tie this to the end
in a few minutes
but look at this
verse one
of chapter one
chapter one
verse one
two and three
after the death
of Joshua
the people of Israel
inquired of the Lord
who shall go up first
for us against the Canaanites
to fight against them.
The Lord said
Judah shall go up
behold I have given
the land into his hand
and verse three
what does Judah do?
And Judah said to Simeon
his brother
come up with me
into the territory
allotted to me
that we may fight
against the Canaanites
and I likewise
will go with you
into the territory
allotted to you.
So Simeon went with them.
Now you just see
what happened?
The very very first step
they disobeyed the Lord.
The very first step
they said
I'm not going to trust
and obey the Lord.
There's this wonderful
Bible verse
it was the second Bible
verse I memorized
when I became a Christian.
Trust in the Lord
with all your heart
and lean not
on your own understanding
in all your ways
acknowledge him
and he shall make
your path straight
or he shall direct
your paths.
Trust in the Lord
with all your heart
lean not on your own
understanding.
And God says
to Joshua
God says to Judah
you go up
and Judah says
there's more of them
than there is of me
and they're
technologically
more advanced
than I am.
So
I'm not going to
trust the Lord
with all my heart
I'm going to lean
on my own understanding
and get Simeon.
You see
the thing about
the book of Judges
is it could also
be renamed
the book of failure.
The book of failure.
The sermon series
is called
Messy People
Faithful God.
It could have also
been called
Sinful People
Faithful God.
Half-hearted
Discipleship
Faithful God.
Screwed Up People
Faithful God.
Could have been called
all of those titles
it would be a very long title.
But you see
right from square one
they don't obey him.
They don't do what he said
that they're supposed to do.
They don't trust him.
And every single one
of the stories
shows how they don't
trust the Lord
and do what he says.
Every one of the stories.
That's why in chapter 2
verse 3 says
what have you done?
You didn't obey me.
And you see
that's another reason
then in this
as to why this is
not holy war.
Why?
Because if it was
a holy war
the end justifies
the means
and what it's all about
is success and glory.
And if that comes about
by negotiating
a covenant
with somebody
to become your ally
and doing this person
and making them
your vassal
and enslaving this person
and doing this
and doing that
and at the end
we all win
and we pump our fists
that's how holy war works
but this isn't what
God has asked them to do.
He said
trust in me.
Don't lean on your understanding
and I'll make your path straight.
The seventh thing
is that
it's not holy war
is because
conversion
is desired.
If you look up
at verse 16
of chapter 1
there's a little bit
of an interesting thing
when you're reading it
there's a few verses
there in the middle
where
it moves into
a sort of
a sudden flashback
as to what's
going on before
and as part of that
flashback
it's what happened
in the book of Joshua
and it continued
to that day
and the descendant
of the Kenite
Moses' father-in-law
went up with the people
of Judah
from the city of Palms
that's Jericho
into the wilderness
of Judah
which lies
in the Negev
near Arad
and they went
and settled
with the people.
Now here's the thing
Kenites
aren't Jews.
They're not Jews.
But they go
to settle
with the people
to be under
the Lord
to worship
the Lord
to be his people.
If you go back
and read the book
of Joshua
Rahab
is one of the Canaanites
and her and her family
are allowed to stay.
They're not allowed
to stay to be Canaanites
and pagans
to worship Moloch
and to worship Baal
and the Asherah poles.
They're allowed to stay
and be part of the people.
You see
the Old Testament
talks about conversion.
The whole point
of God privileging
the nation
is that the whole world
would know him.
That in a sense
God was going to use
the Jewish people
and you know what
he does ultimately.
Why does he ultimately
do this?
Why does God
actually keep this covenant
that the people of Israel
continue to fail
and fail and fail
although God's covenant
with them has not
come to an end?
Jesus!
I'm not swearing.
I'm talking about the person.
And the disciples
are all Jewish.
The gospel
begins in Jerusalem
and then it goes to Judea
and then to Samaria
and then to the ends
of the earth
and here we are
2,000 years
a whole pile of
pagan descendants
worshiping the Jewish Messiah.
That's us
for many tribes
and nations.
And then finally
verse 28
Holy war
if it was holy war
they would be allowed
to enslave
but it's not holy war
because you're not allowed
to enslave.
Look at verse 28
When Israel grew strong
they put the Canaanites
to forced labor
but did not drive them
out completely.
Now remember
I'm just saying that
because they show
that they do this
but God says in chapter 2
verse 3
what are you doing?
You didn't obey me.
I didn't ask you
to do those things.
Stop it.
You think you've enslaved them
but they're going to end up
enslaving you
with their gods.
Now
after having said
all of that
but still
there's some issues.
And some
even though we see
that God
didn't want to kill them
they were to be moved out
it still just somehow
seems wrong
this judgment
on the Canaanites.
I've never had the courage
to say this
to a non-Christian
but I actually wish
maybe I will now
because I've thought about it
a little bit more.
For a non-Christian
and there might be
non-Christians here today
hell should be
the most popular
Christian doctrine
for non-Christians.
Go what?
Hell's like a defeater.
It's one of the reasons
I'm not a Christian
but actually literally
for my non-Christian friends
if you understood
what the doctrine of hell is
you should say
boy of all the religions
in the world
I like Christianity the best
because what is at the heart?
What is part of the heart
of the doctrine of hell?
The part of the heart
of the doctrine of hell
is that God ultimately
doesn't force you.
He respects your integrity
and autonomy to choose.
You see
for Canadians
who say
you're all going to go
to a better place
when you die
I might say
I don't want to go
to that place.
I don't want to go
to a better place.
Like when I die
I like to hang out
with all the bad people.
I don't want to go
to a better place.
Like how dare you
push me into a better place?
I want to go to my place
not a better place.
Woody Allen famously said
that when he died
he didn't want to live on
in people's memories
he'd rather live on
in his apartment.
But that's what
the doctrine of hell says
at the end of the day
there's a final judgment
and in that final judgment
part of it is
you've sung all your life
Frank Sinatra's song
I did it my way
and you stand before me now
and what do you want to sing?
You want to sing
I did it my way
and I will allow that.
But here's the other thing
and this is also
why Christians
why Canadians
should actually think
the doctrine of hell
is actually really
really right on.
One of the things
that everybody talks about today
is the spirit of entitlement.
Now usually
when we talk about
the spirit of entitlement
it's all about
how you have the spirit
of entitlement
and you and you and you
and we never think
that we have a spirit
of entitlement.
I mean that's just
a bit of an observation.
But I know of a local coffee shop
where there was
a young woman
who one day decided
that she would rather
be doing something else
and because she wants
her freedom
she just decided
that she wasn't only
not going to show up
for her shift
and this was a coffee shop
where she was like
a manager
but she was just
going to quit.
So
she did.
And
it screwed up
some of you
have been in those situations
screw up all the other workers
because they can't just say
oh because
I almost said her name
because Sue wanted to quit
well just close this door.
I mean that's what
the owners would say
sure just close this door
go ahead and do what you want.
And then
later on
the person came back
Sue
and she wanted her job back.
I'm not making this up.
She wanted her job back.
And the other staff
went
duh
you have freedom
yes
consequences
yes
how dare you think
you can just quit
screw up
all of our lives
and then come
waltzing back later
because you'd like a job
that has a better pay
than minimum wage
because you'd like to come back
as a manager
and they didn't give her
the job back
period.
And you know what
not a single one
of my non-Christian friends
said that there was
anything wrong with that.
But that's all
the doctrine of hell is
isn't it?
You have your freedom
your truths
but there's consequences.
there's consequences.
What we see in the book
of Judges
is a foreshadowing
of the final judgment.
It's a foreshadowing
of the final judgment.
God pronounces judgment
on those who think
that they worship him
by killing their baby.
On those who think
that they worship
by having sex
with a prostitute.
In those who think
they worship
by going and watching
a priest having sex
with an animal
or an animal
having sex
with a priestess.
And that is what
you have chosen.
That is how you understand
the myths
to govern your society,
your family,
the way you view
the world.
And at some point in time
that comes under
God's judgment.
They have the freedom
to choose.
But there are consequences.
consequences.
But the text
also foreshadows
our need
for a great
and true Savior.
You see,
the idols,
idols always
want you,
idols,
and the idols
of holy war,
they love,
and you see,
all of the rhetoric
of holy war,
you always portray
a God who likes
seeing people die,
who loves
to see people die.
When we talk
about idols,
I just came across
this spectacular quote
from an articulate
British atheist
about idolatry.
I can't wait
to use it.
I wanted to share
it with you today,
but it doesn't fit
in the sermon,
and I'm going to use it
somewhere down the line.
Because you know
those Ricky Gervais
types,
they can just be
so,
whoa,
cutting.
It's a spectacular
thing of secular
idolatry,
and how it's worse
than Christianity
because at least for,
anyway,
I won't go with the quote.
You can come some other week,
maybe it's next week,
I get to use this quote
for this articulate
Ricky Gervais-like
British atheist.
Brilliant.
Anyway,
and I'll tell you
the page it comes from
and all that
so you can use it
for your friends.
Anyway,
but the point is,
that's what idols want.
They don't care
if anybody dies.
They're just tough
taskmasters.
But this is all
pointing us to
that text in Isaiah.
Where the Lord
is revealed.
First of all,
the Lord is the one
who delivered them
out of slavery in Egypt,
not Israel.
They didn't deliver them.
The Lord is the one
who brings them
into the promised land,
not Israel.
The Lord does that.
The Lord is the one
that brings them
into a covenant
with himself.
Israel doesn't do that.
At the end of the day,
all of us have to acknowledge
that our own discipleship
is much like
the people of Israel.
That in fact,
we don't trust
the Lord all the time.
We always lean
on our own understanding.
Our discipleship
is not perfect
and we need a savior.
And the Lord
continues to reveal himself
through the book of Judges
and then through David
and then through Isaiah
and then into the New Testament
that unlike the idols
that love to see people
fail and die,
God looks at us
failing and dying
and it breaks his heart.
And gods that love
to see people die,
the God that we worship,
the one that we believe
is the true and living God,
is the God
who dies for people.
He is completely different.
Let me say it
from Islam.
He is completely different
than the gods of the nations.
God will be revealed
as the one who sees our need
and he dies for people.
For God so loved the world
that he gave
his only begotten son
to the end
that all who believe in him
will not perish
but have everlasting life.
And finally,
just in closing,
the book of Judges
calls us
to really believe
and trust
in Proverbs 3,
verses 5 and 6.
You see,
the problem is
like all the way through this,
if you go back
and read it later,
Joshua could have
trusted the Lord
but they wouldn't.
It was possible
but they wouldn't.
Benjamin could have
trusted the Lord
but they wouldn't.
Manasseh could have
trusted the Lord
but they wouldn't.
It wasn't that
they couldn't
but that they
wouldn't.
And for you and me,
obedience to the Lord
is always possible.
the problem
in my life
isn't that
I can't trust him
but that I won't
trust him.
That's my problem.
You see,
we're in this story
but we're not
in this story
as a hero.
We're in this story
as Israel.
And it describes us
that it's not a matter
of can't obey
but won't obey.
Not a matter
of can't trust
but won't trust.
In fact,
just to be honest,
many of us,
maybe it's different
after the sermon.
Jesus thought
everything in the Old Testament
was inspired by God
but do we trust him
about Holy War?
Yeah.
Didn't really trust him.
In fact,
many Christians
historically say,
well, that's just the God
of the Old Testament,
the God of the New Testament
is different.
Nah,
wrong.
Jesus believed
all of the Old Testament.
This text
is an impetus
for us
to make Proverbs 3,
5, and 6
very real
that as we're gripped
by the gospel
that we will trust
in the Lord
with all our heart
and we will not lean
on our own understanding.
In all our ways
we will acknowledge him
so that he
will direct
our steps.
please stand.
Just bow our heads
in prayer.
Father,
I've made comments
about entitlement
and we don't realize
how we feel
we are entitled.
Father,
we confess,
I confess on behalf
of us all
that that's one
of those things
where we point
a finger
at somebody else
and we don't see
the three fingers
pointing back
at ourselves
that we see
specks in other
people's eyes
and don't see
the logs
in our own eyes.
We ask,
Father,
that you'd help us
to die
to any sense
of entitlement.
We give you
thanks and praise,
Father,
that we are saved,
we are made
your children
by adoption
and grace,
not because
we're so smart,
we're so clever,
we're so just us,
but by grace alone,
through faith alone,
in Christ alone.
And,
Father,
you know the
different ways
where we don't
trust you
and we don't
want to obey you
and we have
very,
very clever reasons
as to why
we don't have
to trust or obey.
Father,
you know our hearts.
We thank you so much
that we're saved
by grace,
not by our ability
to live Proverbs 3,
5,
6.
We ask,
Father,
that you would
so grip us
with the gospel
and understand
that Jesus died
for us
out of love for us
and that we are
now made right
with you
in light of what
he has done for us,
not in light
of what we can do
for you,
but in light
of what he has
done for us.
That as we are
gripped by the gospel,
that you would
help us day by day
to live Proverbs 3,
5, 6,
5,
5 through 6.
That we would
trust with you
as individuals
and as a congregation
with all our heart.
That we will not
lean on our own
understanding
and in all our ways
we will acknowledge you.
That we will trust
that you will make
our paths straight,
that you will guide
and direct us.
And all God's people
said,
Amen.