Please do have a seat and grab your Bibles.
And please turn to the book of Judges.
Let me pray and then we'll have a look at this together.
Father God, as we come now to your word,
Father, our prayer is that you would speak,
that we would hear,
that you would be glorified,
that we would be changed.
And Father, we would go out from here
with you in our sights.
And you as our goal as we transition from 2015 into 2016.
Father, teach us great things.
From this great book of your great word we pray.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
If you came in, you should have got a little A5 sheet
that looks like that.
That'll just help you keep track on where we're going.
If perhaps you're a youngster, you could have fun.
I'm trying to fill in the words as we go through.
But I wonder, how would you view,
how would you describe your 2015?
How would you describe your 2015?
Perhaps it was a year of blessing,
where you had success and abundant provision.
Perhaps you were given and took opportunity.
Perhaps 2015 for you was a year of blessing.
But perhaps 2015 was a year of struggle,
a year of illness,
a year of bereavement,
a year of stress,
where you were asked to do even more
with even less than you'd done before.
Perhaps it was a year of newness.
Perhaps you became parents for the first time,
the second time, the third time.
I think we only had third time.
I don't think we had a fourth time.
Perhaps she became grandparents again,
or for the first time.
Perhaps she got married in 2015.
Perhaps there was a new job,
perhaps a new relationship,
perhaps new life,
given through faith in the Lord Jesus.
But perhaps 2015 was just another year.
Same old, same old,
just another diary consigned
to the waste paper basket of life.
No particular highlights
and nothing to write home about.
And so as we leave 2015 behind
and go into 2016,
what do you think about 2016?
Perhaps it's a fresh start,
a new hope.
Perhaps you're hoping for more of the same.
Perhaps you're hoping for none of the same
that 2015 held.
Perhaps it's a year of potential,
a chance to change.
A year where you get serious in your Bible reading
or your resolutions will last,
at least until the second week of January,
if not beyond.
I think 2016 is incredibly hope-filled.
I think as a church,
2016 has tremendous potential
to be a landmark year
in the life of our church,
to be perhaps the best year
so far in the life
of Brunsfield Evangelical Church.
And my thinking for that
is not because of anything
we can do or I can do,
but all that God
is able and willing to do
amongst us.
And so I think at a juncture
such as this,
as we transition from
one period into another,
I think the book of Judges
has wonderful things
to challenge us about,
to teach us,
things that we can learn
even by the bad example
of the Israelites
in this book.
It's a dramatic book.
We all love Judges
at Sunday school.
We met people like
the Incredible Hulk of the Bible,
Samson,
who would rip a lion
in half with his bare hands.
It's a book of heroes
and villains,
of cycles and spirals,
of violence and scandal,
of intrigue and incident.
And I hope God
might use this book
and our time,
our short time in it
this morning,
to launch us
in dependence upon him
into 2016.
Judges is 21 chapters,
618 verses,
just under 20,000 words,
three-ish centuries
from Joshua
to Samuel
with 12 judges
as the central characters.
And we're going to do it
in about 20 minutes max.
In all truth,
Judges should be
a very short book.
God has rescued
his people from Egypt,
he's given them
the law at Sinai,
he's forgiven their rebellion
at Kadesh Barnea,
he's been patient
through the wilderness,
he's been powerful
in conquering the land,
and now they're settled in.
And so you'd expect
Judges to just be
seven words,
and they all lived
happily ever after.
That's what you'd think.
They've got there,
God promised them
many people,
a land of their own,
and they're there.
We even finished
Joshua on a really
high note,
that Joshua
renews the covenant
at Shechem,
and everyone declares
the Lord our God
we will serve,
and his voice
we will obey.
Wouldn't that be
a great declaration
that we would make?
As we go into 2016,
the Lord our God
we will serve,
and his voice
we will obey.
God has delivered
on three out of four
of his promises.
He's given them
the land,
he's been their God,
they've got many
descendants,
and we're going to see
whether this people
are going to be
a blessing
to the whole world.
But what we see
in Judges
is that God's people
are still a rabble
of sinful,
faithless,
fickle rebels,
who have only
gotten this far
by God's grace
and mercy.
It's all been
because God
has been so kind,
even though they
have been so wicked.
So I've got four
sentences to try
and get us
into the book
of Judges
that might be
helpful to us.
Here's the first one.
People respond to God's
great blessing
by gravely sinning
against him.
People respond to
God's great blessing
with grave sinning.
Chapter 1, verse 1,
there's a leadership
crisis.
Joshua is dead,
and so they come
before the Lord
and they say,
who of us is to go
up first to fight
against the Canaanites?
Joshua's dead,
he's been their leader.
He's led them
in all their campaigns,
he's been at the
front of the charge
when they've gone up
against Jericho
and Ai
and all these other
places.
Now he's dead,
who's going to lead us?
Judah is chosen,
God says,
Judah shall go up.
And the first 18 verses
go really well,
it's business as usual.
Israel fights,
God is with them,
and they win.
They start clearing out
the Canaanites,
the Perizzites,
great victories are gained,
the land is starting
to be conquered,
things are going
really well.
The great successors
of Joshua seem to be
spilling over
into judges.
But it all comes down
to earth with a bang
in verse 19.
Chapter 1, verse 19,
the Lord was with
the men of Judah.
They took possession
of the hill country,
but they were unable
to drive the people
from the plains
because they had
chariots fitted
with iron.
God had said,
your job is to not
only be in the
promised land,
but to conquer
the promised land,
to get rid of
all the Canaanites
and the peoples.
And in verse 19,
we get,
but Judah
didn't do it all.
They didn't drive
the people out
of the plains.
And in 121,
we read,
but Benjamin
didn't get rid
of the Jebusites.
And then in 127,
Manasseh
did not
drive out
the people of
Beth,
Shan,
or Tarnak.
Israel didn't
in 128.
Ephraim didn't
in 129.
Zebulun didn't
in 130.
Asher didn't
in 131.
Naphtali
didn't in
133.
They had one
job.
They left
Joshua,
the Lord we
will serve,
and his voice
we will obey.
What did he tell
them to do?
He said,
you need to get
rid of all these
people because
they'll infect you
and they'll lead
you away.
And we read
that God has
greatly blessed
them.
He's given
them this land
and what have
they done?
They've gravely
sinned against
him by only
partially doing
what he's
called.
We did
most of it
but we
didn't do
this bit.
We conquered
most of them
but we left
this little
pocket.
It's partial
obedience.
Everyone
partially does
what God
has asked.
They did
just enough.
They conquered
just enough
land to make
it look
reasonable but
they didn't
do it all.
Let's face
it, we can
all be a bit
like Israel.
We can do
just enough,
we can
partially obey,
we can
faithfully do
the bits
that align
with our
dreams and
ambitions
but so easily
we go,
well that's
enough.
I've done
that religious
thing enough
this week,
now I can
do what I
want to do.
Partial,
obedient,
cheap,
comfortable,
convenient,
congruent.
That's what
the relationship
that Israel
has with God
will do
what you
want if
it doesn't
cost us,
if it doesn't
make us
uncomfortable,
if it fits
in with our
timeline and
it is
congruent with
where we
want to go.
And in
amongst this
partial obedience
we get the
rose among
thorns,
the diamond
in the rough,
Caleb in
120.
As Moses
had promised,
Hebron was
given to
Caleb who
drove from
it the
three sons
of Anak.
Caleb is
held up as
this person
who worshipped
God wholeheartedly.
And in
amongst this
partial obedience
of all God's
people there's
one man
who is
flourishing
and successful
and forever
written in
God's word
because he
wholeheartedly
did all that
God wanted him
to do.
And so I
wonder as we
transition into
2016 we've got
a choice.
We can be like
the Israelites
and partially
do what God
has called us
to do.
Or we
can strive
to be like
Caleb who
wholeheartedly
obeyed and
worshipped God
in all things.
And there's
grave consequences.
Chapter 2
The angel of
the Lord went
up from Gilgal
to Bochim
and said,
I brought you
up out of
Egypt and led
you into the
land that I
swore to give
to your ancestors.
I said,
I will never
break my covenant
with you and
you shall not
make a covenant
with the people
of this land
but you shall
break down
their altars.
Yet you have
disobeyed me.
Why have you
done this?
And I have also
said I will not
drive them out
before you.
They will become
traps for you
and their gods
will become snares
to you.
When the angel
of the Lord
had spoken these
things to all
the Israelites
the people
wept aloud
and they called
the place
Bochim.
There they
offered sacrifices
to the Lord.
they didn't
realize what
they were doing
in their partial
obedience and
it caused
great distress
great weeping
because they
only partially
obeyed and
they were
storing up
trouble.
And it's
just down in
chapter 2
verse 11
that we read
then the
Israelites did
evil in the
eyes of the
Lord and
serve the
Baals.
They forsook
the Lord
the God of
their ancestors
who had
brought them
out of
Egypt.
They followed
and worshipped
various gods
of the people
around them.
They aroused
the Lord's
anger.
They only did
a little bit
and it cost
them gravely
from their
disobedience
in chapter 1
they never
recover
in the whole
book.
The Canaanite
gods became
a snare to
that.
Canaanite
religion must
have been
very attractive
that God
had given
them his
law which
was all
about holiness
and being
set apart
and living
differently
from the
people around
them.
And the
Canaanite
religion was
basically a
fertility cult
where you
could worship
Baal and
Asherah.
He could
worship him
with licentiousness,
sexual immorality
and the more
you engaged
the more
prosperity that
he promised.
And his
people start,
God's people
start to be
snared by the
sin.
they start
to worship
these gods
and it
comes back
and it
bites them
again and
again to
the point
that there's
great distress.
Chapter 2
verse 15
Whenever Israel
went out to
fight the
hand of the
Lord was
against them
to defeat
them just
as he had
sworn to
them they
were in
great distress.
When we
listen to the
lies of the
world and
go after
them it's
always great
distress.
The world
offers prosperity
and fun.
The world
offers greatness
and glory and
yet in the
end it always
ends in great
distress.
Great temptation
as a church
to partially
obey to go
for what is
easy to go
for what is
fun and in
the end if it's
not the real
true God and
obedience to him
it always ends
in great distress.
God had told
them in the
law when the
Lord your God
brings you into
the land you
are entering
to possess
and drives
out before
you many
nations.
And when the
Lord your God
has delivered
them over to
you and you
have defeated
them then you
must destroy
them totally
make no treaty
with them and
show them no
mercy do not
intermarry with
them do not
give your
daughters to
their sons to
take their
daughters for
your sons for
they will turn
your children away
from following me
and serve other
gods and the
Lord's anger will
burn against you
and will quickly
destroy you.
that is what
you are to do
to them break
down their
altars smash
their sacred
stones cut
down their
asherah poles
and burn
their idols
in the fire
for you are
a people holy
to the Lord
your God.
The Lord your
God has chosen
you out of all
the peoples on
the face of the
earth to be
his people his
treasure possession
and they fail.
Even Joshua gives
them a final
pep talk.
Be very strong
be very careful
to obey all
that is written
in the book
of the law
of Moses
without turning
aside to the
right or to
the left
do not associate
with these
nations that
remain among
you.
Do not invoke
the names of
their gods
or swear by
them.
You must not
serve them
or bow down
to them
but you are
to hold fast
to the Lord
your God
as you have
until now.
The Lord
has driven
out before you
great and
powerful nations.
To this day
no one has
been able to
withstand you.
One of you
wraps a thousand
because the
Lord your God
fights for you
just as he
promised.
So be very
careful to
love the
Lord your God.
He says three
things.
Be very strong
in obedience
and they haven't.
Be wholehearted
in worship
and they haven't.
Be very careful
to love the
Lord your God
and they haven't.
And so I
wonder will we
listen to Joshua's
words to us
as we go into
20, 16.
Be strong
in obedience.
Be wholehearted
in worship.
Be very careful
to love the
Lord your God.
In one chapter
in one generation
hope and zeal
of Joshua
has become
tokenistic.
They've taken
God's great
blessing of this
land.
God has been
so kind,
so gracious,
so patient,
so protective,
so powerful
and what have they
done?
They've gravely
sinned against
him.
They took
grace for
granted
and gratitude
was replaced
by greed.
And as we
go into
2016,
as people
that have
been created
by God,
redeemed by
God,
gifted by God,
blessed outrageously
by God,
how are we going
to use that
blessing?
In wholehearted
commitment to
him and the
obedience that
follows,
or are we going
to use it
for self-indulgence,
self-gratification
and self-advancement?
How are we
stewarding the
loving kindness
of God?
Mindful of
him,
grateful to
him,
useful in
his hand.
People respond
to great
blessing with
grave sinning,
that's what we
learn in
Judges.
But then we
learn that
God's people
respond to
God's punishment
with repentance.
If you spend
any time in
Judges,
you know that
it's a deeply
depressing cycle.
It starts
with sin,
servitude,
supplication,
salvation.
God's people
sin,
they worship
other gods.
God puts
them under
the heel of
a foreign
ruler to
serve him
in servitude.
In the
depths of
this oppression,
God's people
cry out to
him in
supplication.
And God
graciously raises
up a judge to
bring them
salvation.
This goes
round and
round.
in the
book of
Judges,
it goes
round 12
times.
12 times
they're put
under the
heel of
the Midianites
and the
Philistines.
And 12
times God
hears their
cry as
they're in
the depth
of this
oppression
and he
raises up
a judge.
But when
God's people
realize the
discipline of
God, they
cry out to
him, they
repent, and
they turn to
him for
salvation.
God is
testing his
people.
He's so
committed to
them covenantally
that he won't
just let them
walk away.
But he's
constantly bringing
things into
their path so
that they might
turn to him.
And as we
look out on
2016, we
don't know what
will happen.
But there'll be
lots of
opportunities to
show what is
for real and
what is for
show.
different
struggles and
difficulties and
opportunities come
our way.
There'll be
countless
opportunities to
do what this
people does and
turn to God
and seek to
worship and
follow him, of
pressing into
him rather than
running on our
own away from
him.
Repentance is
always the
response, leaning
on God when we
get it right,
trusting God in
the midst of
difficulty, running
to God when we
get it wrong.
And so you
get this cycle
and every time
God's people
respond to
God in
repentance, they
realize that he
is the only one
that can save
them.
He is the one
who holds their
hope in his
hands.
God's people
respond to
God's punishment
with repentance.
Let's make sure
repentance is the
first thing we're
doing.
When trouble
comes our way,
reorientating our
lives towards
God and
trusting in
his grace.
Number three,
God gives his
people temporary
rest through
imperfect judges.
Throughout the
book we've got
famous people,
famous people that
we've learnt in
our Sunday
school.
We've got 12
judges in total,
12 small-s
saviors that God
uses to rescue
his people.
Some are covered
in a verse like
Shamgar, some
get a paragraph
like Tolajer,
Ibzan,
Elon, and
Abdon.
Others get all
or most of a
chapter like
Othniel or
Ehud, whilst
others get
several chapters
like Deborah,
Gideon,
Jephthah, and
Samson.
And as we see
this cycle
progress, it is
somewhat of a
downward spiral.
In general, the
rest period that the
judge brings gets
shorter, and the
moral fiber of the
judge gets more
dubious.
The troughs get
lower and the
peaks don't go as
high as you
progress through the
book.
Tremper Longman III,
one of the
commentators, he's
got the best name,
if not necessarily
the best commentaries.
He says,
what a collection of
human beings in the
book of Judges.
Strange heroes they
are, a reluctant
farmer, a left-handed
assassin, a prophetess,
an illegitimate bandit,
a sex-crazed
Nazarite, and
others.
They're unlikely
heroes.
They're people that
God raised up to
bring temporary rest
to his people.
But they did all
believe the word of
gods at times and
in portions of
their lives.
All had faith.
Though often
failing and
faltering, they
trusted God and
God used them to
do great things.
Some even make it
into Hebrews 11.
And what more
shall we say?
I do not have
time to tell you
about Gideon,
Barak, Samson,
and Jephthah,
about David and
Samuel and the
prophets, who
through faith
conquered kingdoms
and ministered
justice and
gained what was
promised, who
shut the mouths
of lions,
quenched the fury
of the flames,
and escaped the
edge of the
sword, whose
weakness was
turned to
strength and
who became
powerful in
battle and
routed foreign
armies.
God gives his
people temporary
rest through
imperfect judges.
They were
faltering and
failing and still
useful to God
and what an
encouragement to
us who know
what it is to
falter and fail
that there's
still hope,
that God can
use us.
But it is very
short-lived.
When the judge is
alive, they win,
and when the judge
dies, it all
unravels again.
There's a summary
passage in 2.18.
Whenever the Lord
raised up a judge
for them, he was
with the judge and
saved them out of
the hands of their
enemies as long as
the judge lived.
For the Lord
relented because of
their groaning under
those who oppressed
and afflicted them.
But when the judge
died, the people
returned to ways
even more corrupt
than those of their
ancestors, following
other gods and
serving and
worshipping them.
They refused to
give up their evil
practices in stubborn
ways.
Even the best judges
were not enough.
Even when they
heard these mighty
men leading them,
even when Deborah,
the wise prophetess,
was leading them,
it was not enough to
give them lasting
rest.
No small s,
saviour, was able to
save them completely.
And it warns us about
over-reliance on our
leaders, that leaders
are best to fallen
people.
And therefore, let's
never rely on others
to do for us what God
has called us to do
ourselves, to commit to
him, to love him, to
worship him, to give him
our best.
But when the leader was
good, the people were
good, but when the
leader died, it all
unraveled.
There was nothing
lasting.
And this brings us to
our last point.
God is showing our
need of what will
ultimately and only be
provided in Jesus.
God was showing our
need of what will
ultimately and only be
provided in Jesus.
This cycle of sin and
servitude and
supplication and
salvation continues up
until chapter 17.
After Samson, no one
repents anymore.
No one turns to God.
There's no more judges.
There's no more rest.
It is dissolution and
decay that escalates on
a societal and massive
scale.
That a society stops
worshipping God.
They fail to repent.
They're no longer
more to his truth.
They're no longer
engaged in his worship.
And rapid decline
follows.
Licentiousness.
Canaanite gods bring
total destruction
to the very fabric of
Israelite society.
The last five chapters
move from cowardice to
unfaithfulness to
widespread immorality to
gang rape, murder,
civil war and people
trafficking.
The last five chapters
utter dissolution of
society.
If you're ever asked to
read Judges 17 to 21
out loud, don't do it.
It's really uncomfortable
as you see just how low
God's people will go when
they fail to worship him
and serve him.
By the time you get to
the end of the book of
Judges, you are morally,
spiritually and emotionally
exhausted.
It is a book you experience
and as you experience it,
it's exhausting.
It robs you of all
confidence in humanity's
ability to save itself.
The sin is so heavy.
The cycle is so repetitive.
The learning curve of the
people so steep that
they're not seeing the
error of their ways.
You pretty much just
despair by the time you
get to Judges chapter 21.
And the repeated refrain
in those last five
chapters,
in those days Israel had no
king.
And everyone did what was
right in their own eyes.
And what they did was
horrendous and horrible and
grievous and immoral.
And so, so far in the story
of the Old Testament, Adam
messed up.
And God restarted in Noah,
but Noah was just the same as
Adam and he couldn't save.
And then God chose Abraham,
but Abraham was a scoundrel as
well and nothing Abraham could do
could save.
And then God rescued them
through Moses and through
Moses God gave them the law,
but the law just highlighted
all the places they were going
wrong and couldn't save.
And then we get Judges and
the Judges couldn't save,
not for a long period.
There was no proper rest given
through the judge.
And then God finally gives them
a king, but the king
couldn't save.
There's a few high points
amongst David and Solomon,
but in general it's downward.
And no king could save.
And then God graciously
gives them the prophets
who remind them of all this
stuff, but none of the
prophets could save.
And so you end Judges
spiritually, emotionally,
and morally exhausted.
You're pretty much in the
Old Testament spiritually,
morally,
and emotionally exhausted
because no one seems to be
able to save people from sin.
And then, after 400 years
of silence as God prepares
his people, God doesn't speak,
he comes.
God doesn't raise up a leader
for a while, he raises up a
king who will last forever.
And we read great words like,
but now apart from the law,
the righteousness of God
has been made known,
to which the law and the
prophets testify,
this righteousness is given
through faith in Jesus Christ
to all who believe.
No longer a king who
just lives and dies,
but a king who will live
forever, who even gives us
his Holy Spirit so that we
don't fluctuate, we can
worship fully.
And so we read in Hebrews,
and with this we finish,
therefore he is able to
save completely those who
come to God through him,
because he always lives to
intercede for them.
He's the king forever,
the one good God promised.
And so four sentences to get
our head around judges.
That people respond to God's
blessing by gravely sinning
against him.
I wonder, will that be us in
2016?
When we receive all that God
has done for us, how will we
use it?
How will we steward it?
God's people respond to God's
discipline with repentance.
Will it be countless
opportunities to turn to God
and trust him as we go
through 2016 and all that
lies before us?
God gives his people
temporary rest through
imperfect judges.
Let's not trust our leaders
too much.
Let's not rely on them too
much, but make sure we
ourselves are seeking to
grow and to love Jesus more
tomorrow than we do today,
and even more the day after,
and pressing into him, and
trusting him and receiving
from him all that he has
for us.
And let's remember that what
we ultimately need, what
judges ultimately shows us,
is that we have an absolute
profound and total need of
Jesus Christ.
Jesus who did for us what we
couldn't do for ourselves,
and Jesus who did for us what
no one else will ever or can
ever do for us.
Let me pray.
Father God, we thank you so
much for your word.
We thank you that it undoes
us.
It shows us how sinful we are,
how lost we are, how in need
we are.
And then into that gaping
uncoveredness that you've
revealed, you pour into the
glorious balm of the gospel.
Father, when we see our sin,
when we see our need, when we
see our hopelessness, thank you
that Jesus meets that need,
that he is our hope, that he
is our king, and he is the one
who offers us eternal rest.
And so Lord, may 2016 be a
year where we decrease and he
increases in us.
We pray this for his glory and in
his name.
Amen.