The Deliverer From Judah Series

Re-cap on previous points of ‘Living with the enemy’: Slide 1

21 chapters spanning almost 400 years Slide 2

The six major judges slide 3

The territory taken from Jericho slide 4

Israel continued a cycle of apostasy, oppression, crying out to God, then deliverance.

It wasn’t a single nation, but numerous states with own territories, governments and armies.

They lost their fighting spirit

They lost their relationship with God

They sought other ways of dealing with life

They thought the battle was over

They became comfortable now they had entered God’s promised land

They settled in nicely with their neighbours and compromised what they could have had, so well, that they behaved like them

Illust

Living with rats!

Judges 1:1-7

Joshua was dead, now the people looked for a deliverer.

The land was still occupied by the enemy.

Judges 1:21-34

We read:

· Benjamin didn’t drive them out

· Joseph compromised and let one go; he went on to build a city = Hittites

· Manasseh didn’t drive them out

· Ephraim didn’t drive them out

· Zebulun didn’t drive them out

· Asher didn’t drive them out

· Naphtali didn’t drive them out

· And, Dan was forced into the mountains!

Dan failed to claim the power of God; in fact they accepted defeat and moved out!

Num 33:55-56

It was intended that the Canaanites should be dispossessed (evicted)

If the Israelites fell in with them, and learned their way, then they would be dispossessed

God’s displeasure would be greater against them than against the Canaanites; hear this, and fear.

If we do not drive sin out, sin will drive us out

If we don’t kill our lusts, our lusts will kill us

There were strongholds then and there are strongholds now.

The work was incomplete

You must complete what God has told you to do

Caleb still going strong after Joshua’s death

Age no excuse

When God gave the land to them it was a slice of His covenant

Man breaks the covenant with God, but He never breaks His to man.

He is faithful.

There were strings attached = to keep God’s honour

Because they were content to live with the enemy, God showed them His faithfulness in keeping His promises:

· Blessings as well as curses

But we’re not under the curse!

No, but God cannot revoke His word; if you choose wrong you gain the consequences

Illus:

Children doing wrong at school

Judges show how Israel failed to keep covenant

Leaders failed

God had told them to drive out the enemy, but they thought they had a better plan than God.

God’s plan doesn’t make sense.

Paul, and the apostles, when confronted by the many gods and lords that people worshipped used the ONE SUPREME and ETERNAL BEING, they were confounded, scattered, annihilated

The "weapons" with which this warfare is managed are the Scriptures of truth, the sword of the Spirit, the word of God 2 Cor 10:4 (discussed previous wk)

Mighty through God

An armoury, out of which may be taken weapons of all sorts, both offensive and defensive; both to establish and secure the doctrines of the Gospel, and to refute the errors of the wicked

We dare not take off any of our armour to use as a weapon. It would leave that part of our spiritual being open and vulnerable to the attack of the enemy

The weapons of our warfare are numberless

Some preach we only have one weapon = the sword

Out of His boundless resources, “He has by His own action given us everything that is necessary for living the truly good life…” 2 Peter 1:3

These weapons are not what we would expect them to be.

He may give us some unique weapons for spiritual warfare.

God gave Gideon three rather unusual weapons to fight a secular war (See Judges 6 and 7) Trumpets, jars and torches

The weapon given in Prov 15:1 When someone is blasting us with every vile word a person can express, the world teaches us to “fight fire with fire.”

Our natural reaction is to begin blasting back. However, the Word says “a soft answer” is the weapon that “will turn away that wrath.”

Make sure your ways please the Lord!

When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him Prov 16:7

Jesus defused situations

God has an abundant arsenal of heaven and can equip us with weapons suited for any particular situation

Let the Holy Spirit to be the ammunition chooser (using the sword/word to devour our own brothers and sisters can be damaging)

The Corinthian Christians tended to rely on and admire carnal weapons for the Christian battle.

Instead of the belt of truth, they fought with manipulation.

Instead of the breastplate of righteousness, they fought with the image of success. Instead of the shoes of the gospel, they fought with smooth words.