"WHY YOU SHOULD READ THE BOOK OF JUDGES"
TEXT: THE BOOK OF JUDGES
INTRODUCTION
This month we will be studying the book of Judges. The book of Judges covers the period from 1380 BC to 1050 BC. From the time of the death of Joshua and his elders, until the rise of King Saul.
The principle theme of the book of Judges is "FAILURE THROUGH COMPROMISE" which is in direct contrast to the theme of Joshua which Is, "VICTORY THROUGH FAITH".
Now I know that not everyone likes to read, some do and some don’t. And of those who like to read, I will venture to say that only a small percentage choose to read the books of the Old Testament. After all, why bother reading from books written over 3,000 years ago, when there are so many "relevant" books today, right?
What I’d like to do today, is to encourage each one here to take part in the reading of this book for the month of May.
Now, if you believe the Bible and if you believe that scripture, that the Word of God is true, then you also believe this scripture found in II Timothy 3:15,16;
"ALL SCRIPTURE IS GOD BREATHED AND IS USEFUL FOR TEACHING, REBUKING, CORRECTING AND TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, SO THAT THE MAN OF GOD MAY BE THOROUGHLY EQUIPPED FOR EVERY GOOD WORK."
The book of Judges is scripture , it is God Breathed, and it has useful teachings within it’s pages, that are designed to help us to be equipped for every area of our Christian life. What this scripture in II Timothy means, is that if we don’t read all of scripture we will be missing out on many things that are designed to help us out. When we do this we are willingly closing ours ears to some of the very Words that our God and Father wants us to hear.
Therefore, we need to read all of the Bible, and this month I’d like you to read the book of Judges.
And today, I want to give you some further encouragement, by giving you three reasons why you should read the book of Judges.
I. THE BOOK OF JUDGES IS FULL OF EXCITING STORIES
Most Americans like exciting stories. Many times the best selling books and the most seen movies are those that are exciting and full of action. Many people just like excitement, they like the feeling of their heart pounding and their palms sweating. Some satisfy this need with things like a super roller coaster, Others try their hands at, or rather tie their feet at bungee jumping, and still others prefer the much more safe excitement offered by faced pace action packed stories.
And if the story happens to be a true story, then it has even more of an appeal. I understand that even now they are working on and finishing up a TV movie about the Branch Divinin Cult in Waco Texas.
Well if you like excitement, there are some stories in the book of Judges that many here have never heard of (true of course), and let me tell you they are far from dull. I’ll just share a few of them, to wet your appetite.
THERE IS A STORY IN JUDGES ABOUT A THUMBLESS AND TOE LESS KING.
Adoni-Bezek was a powerful King, His name means "Lord of Bezek", Bezek was a large portion of land within Cannan.
Now the Bible doesn’t describe for us what Adoni-Bezek looked like, but here is how I picture this infamous King. He was big guy, 6 feet 3 inches, probably weighed about 295 pounds. He has long unkept hair and a black unruly beard.
Adoni Bezek was a very powerful King, he was so powerful that he had in his lifetime defeated 70 other kings. He had a well trained force of fighting men that number into the tens of thousands.
Adoni-Bezek was also a very cruel King. And I am going to tell you just how cruel he was. Okay, do you have a mental picture of what he looks like. Now I want you to picture him at his dinner table, and remember what we are talking about isn’t Hollywood, it is a real event in history.
So here is King Adoni-Bezek eating dinner in a huge dinning hall about the size of this room probably. And he has a huge turkey drumstick in his mouth, he is holding a glass of wine in the other hand and he is just eating and laughing. And every now and then he would toss a scrap of food on to the floor and he would laugh even harder, as you heard the sound of movement and fighting over the food.
And if we were to look under the table, we would see the kings of those 70 kingdoms, with their toes and thumbs cut off. Seventy men who were once Kings living in their own palaces with servants attending them, reduced to living like wild animals fighting for scraps of food at the foot of their conqueror.
The Israelites went to battle against Adoni-Bezek, And the Lord gave this King into the hand of the tribe of Judah. And Judah routed his army, killing ten thousand men. And when they captured Adoni-Bezek, guess what Judah did to him, they cut off his toes and thumbs. And after this happened, Adoni-Bezek makes a statement that shows that even he, a pagan King, understands one of the great truths of scripture.
And if you want to do know what is that he said, you’ll have to read the book of Judges.
NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT; JAEL, SISERA AND THE TENT PEG
DURING THIS TIME IN ISRAEL’S HISTORY, God’s people under the leadership of Deborah and Barak were battling Jabin the King of Cannan. Jabin was a strong King who had 900 chariots of iron. And he had been oppressing the Israelites for 20 years.
Jabin’s chief general was a man named Sisera. Barak. Israels General, went out and met Sisera in battle with an army of ten thousand men. The Lord was with the Israelites and they therefore severely routed Sisera and his entire army. When things began to look totally hopeless, Sisera figured that it was time to get out of Dodge, so jumped out of his chariot and took off on foot, fleeing from the battle.
And while Sisera was training for the next Marathon, Barak continued his attack and the entire army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword.
Meanwhile Sisera came to the tent of a women named Jael.
He was tired, winded and thirsty. Jael gave him a place to rest and also gave him some milk. And Sisera, The Mighty General fell fast asleep.
Then Jael, a woman who feared God and considered Sisera her enemy, went over to the corner of the tent. She bent down and grabbed a hammer and an iron tent peg and then she turned and with fire in her eyes she walked over towards the sleeping Sisera, the enemy of God. Did Sisera wake up? what happened next? You’ll have to read judges to find out.
IN THE BOOK OF JUDGES WE ALSO READ ABOUT A MAN STRONGER THAN ARNIE
Arnie Swarznager is tough and he is strong, that is why millions flock to see his fictitious movies every year. Samson is tougher and Samson is stronger and the things he did really happened.
Samson tore a lion a part with his bare hands, Armed not with an oozie or flax jacket, Samson killed 1,000 men with the jawbone of a donkey. When they tried to tie Samson with many strong cords, he broke them as if they were pieces of thread.
Samson won many great victories for the Lord, but he did mess up bad. But in the end Samson won perhaps his greatest victory. The story of Samson is an exciting story.
DARK SCENES FROM A DARK AGE
Chapters 17-20 describe a dark time in Israel’s history. The events that happened then would even make the front page news of our wicked society.
But I am not going to tell you what happened you’ll just have to read them for yourselves.
ONE REASON TO READ THE BOOK OF JUDGES IS THAT IT IS FULL OF EXCITING STORIES.
II. ANOTHER REASON IS, THE BOOK OF JUDGES ADDRESSES RELEVANT ISSUES
[I CORINTHIANS 10:6-11]
The Old Testament is there so that we can learn from their examples, both good and bad.
By seeing what happened to them we can avoid making the same mistakes. And it is true, "that he who fails to learn from history is doomed to repeat it."
Today we will look at four issues that God’s people faced over 3,000 years ago that are very relevant for the church today.
THE FAILURE TO TEACH THE NEXT GENERATION
I read these verse last week, but we still need to hear them today. [2:7,10,11]
The Parents, the Adults did pretty good. You may be wondering, why I said they only did pretty good, when the text says that they served the Lord throughout their lifetime.
The reason that they only did pretty good is that they failed to teach their children about God, and the next generation did not know God and worship other gods.
Friends the church is always only a generation away from extinction. If this generation doesn’t teach the next, where will the church be in 20-30 years?
Did you know that statistics tell us that if a child does not come to Christ before they are 18, 85% never will and will therefore go to hell.
In light of God’s clear command to teach our children, let’s ask ourselves some honest and hard questions.
1. If our children’s commitment to Christ rises no higher than our commitment, what kind of commitment will they have?
2. Are we as parents teaching our children by word and example what God and Christianity are all about?
3. If children are so important to the future of the Lord’s Church, Are we as a church putting their needs ahead of our own, so that we can turn out fired up, turned on children for Christ?
If we do not teach our children, our world will not get better, it ill only get worse. And I for one hate to even picture what that worse could be.
THE TOLERANCE OF EVIL
God’s people were told in Deuteronomy 7, to completely
destroy the people in Canaan.
Well, they didn’t. For whatever reason, whether lack of faith or, because it was just to hard to do. They let them live among them. And it was not long before the nation deteriorated and found themselves facing the judgment of God.
My fellow Americans and My Brother and Sisters in Christ, we have failed to learn from history. We have tolerated evil in the arts, movies, schools and in public for far to long.
And if we don’t do something fast we will be facing a severer judgment of God. May 6th National Day of Prayer (fast and pray), meet at city hall.
Sunday May 16th we are having a combined SS starting at 9:15am about a serious issue in our country, that has the potential of destroying it.
THE PROBLEM OF NO KING, EVERYONE DID WHAT WAS RIGHT IN THEIR OWN EYES
Two times in the book of Judges we read this phrase, in 17:6 and 21:5, "EVERYONE DID WHAT WAS RIGHT IN THEIR OWN EYES" NIV SAYS, "EVERYONE DID AS HE SAW FIT."
Because that had no King, no standard everyone did whatever they wanted.
Boy doesn’t that describe America, when America exiled her King and God, right and wrong went out the window. And now people make there owns rules.
We need to let our country and her leaders know that God is still God, and that right is still right, and wrong is still sin, And we need to tell them, that no matter how big and important they think they have become, THEY WILL answer to God.
Let me say that many in the church also need to get that message as well, God makes the rules, he sets the standard and it is not alright to do, talk or act, as we see fit. My friends we have a King!!
THE PROBLEM OF NOT EVERYONE WANTING TO SERVE GOD.
THIS IS A PROBLEM THAT DOES NOT EXIST WITHIN THE WORLD BUT RATHER EXISTS WITHIN THE RANKS OF GO’S PEOPLE.
One time were this comes out in the book of Judges is in chapter
5. Chapter 5 is a song of Barak and Deborah, celebrating the great victory over Jabin and Sisera.
When Israel went to battle against Jabin and his 900 iron chariots some of the people willingly gave themselves to the service of the Lord. And let’s note that this service to God was not, a simple one hour and they go home, rather it was a ferocious battle, where the chance of their never going home, was a real possibility. Yet many went and Barak and Deborah Praised the Lord for their willing hearts.
[5:2,9]
Some, in fact the tribes of Reuben, Dan and Asher did not go with their brothers into battle. Deborah and Barak rebuke them for this in their song, asking them why they did it, WHY DID THEY STAY BY THEIR CAMPFIRES, LINGER BY THE SHIPS AND HIDEOUT IN THE COVES.
This is still a problem today, not everyone wants to serve the Lord and many who do, do so with an unwilling heart.
But we like Deborah Praise the Lord for all the many willing servant within the church.
THERE ARE MANY RELEVANT ISSUES AND MANY VALUABLE LESSONS WE SHOULD LEARN FORM THE BOOK OF JUDGES. WILL WE LEARN FORM HISTORY OR WILL WE CONTINUE TO MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES AS THE ISRAELITES?
LET’S:
TEACH THE NEXT GENERATION
STOP IDLY SITTING BY, TOLERATING EVIL
DO WHAT IS RIGHT AND GOD’S EYES AND NOT OUR OWN.
SERVE GOD WHOLEHEARTEDLY;
LET’S LEAVE THE WARM OF OUR CAMPFIRES AND THE COMFORT OF OUR COVES AND REALLY SERVE GOD!
III. THE BOOK OF JUDGES REVEALS THE ATTITUDE OF GOD
[2:16-19]
The entire period of Judges which lasted 330 years was characterized by the people falling away, then being punished by God, then the people would cry to the Lord for deliverance, God would send a deliverer and when they deliverer died, the people would again quickly desert God, starting the cycle all over again.
The book of Judges tells us some things about God, the book is an illustration of God’s attitude;
TOWARDS SIN
God hates sin.
God will not tolerate sin.
God will punish the sinner, a price will be paid.
Listen to a few verses that tell of how God felt and what he did about the sin of the people.
"WHENEVER ISRAEL WENT OUT TO FIGHT, THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS AGAINST THEM TO DEFEAT THEM, JUST HAD HE HAS SWORN TO THEM. THEY WERE IN GREAT DISTRESS" 2:15
"THE ANGER OF THE LORD BURNED AGAINST THE ISRAELITES" - 3:8
Whenever Israel turned away from God, whenever they went their own way and worshipped false idols, God’s hands was against them to punish them. Because of their constant wickedness over 121 of the 330 years that comprised the period of judges was spent by the Israelites being oppressed by their enemy.
We can see from Judges that God does not wink at or ignore sin, but rather he hates it and punishes it.
The Bible says the wages of sin is death, therefore, in light of all this we better take sin seriously.
THE BOOK OF JUDGES ALSO REVEALS GOD’S ATTITUDE TOWARD REPENTANCE.
Do you remember when Peter came to Jesus and said to him, "LORD HOW MANY TIMES SHALL I FORGIVE MY BROTHER WHEN HE SINS AGAINST ME? UP TO SEVEN TIMES?" Now Peter really felt he was doing good, because the rabbis said you only had to forgive 3 times.
Do you remember Jesus’ answer to Peter up to 70 x 7 times. In other words when ever a brother comes to us in genuine repentance and pleads for forgives, we are commanded to forgive.
In the book of Judges, we see God practicing the very thing that Jesus preached. Even though the people rejected him and did evil, EVERY TIME they cried out to him in repentance (and they cried out at least 7 times in Judges) EVERY TIME, God forgave them and sent them a deliverer.
The people in Judges were pretty bad, they deserved a lot worse, but because of God’s mercy and grace, they spent nearly 2/3’s of those 330 years living in peace.
You should read the book of Judges: it’s full of exciting stories,
it deals with relevant issues (teaching next generation, tolerance of evil, everyone doing what they want, and not everyone wanting to serve God)
And it reveals God’s attitude towards sin; he hates it, and it will be punished, we can count on it.
And it also reveals God’s attitude towards the repentance of His people, God responds every time with forgiveness.
Christians Doesn’t that make you feel good, doesn’t that give you peace and hope!
Non-Christians, God wants you to repent as well.
Listen to Peter in 2 Peter 3:9,
"GOD IS PATIENT WITH YOU, NOT WANTING ANYONE TO PERISH, BUT WANTING EVERYONE TO COME TO REPENTANCE."
Let me illustrate just how complete God’s forgiveness is. The other day we were changing my computer over, transferring my sermons. And we accidentally told the computer to delete all sermons that began with a T. Let me tell the computer did it, those babies are gone, they are out of here.
And when God forgives you my friends, those sins are wiped clean to.
If you have never had God delete your sins.
Why don’t you come now,
Do you believe, Jesus is God’s son.. and only way
Will you repent of your sins
Will you confess him as Lord
And will meet God in the place He has said that he will apply his grace, will you meet Him in Christian baptism having the blood of Christ delete your sins, and if you do let me tell those babies will be gone.
