Judges 1

It's really great to be with you this evening.

Thank you so much, Paul.

!

May our hearts be humble and gracious.

May we glorify you.

May your name be glorified through all of this.

May you be exalted.

And may we turn to you as king.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

So, Paul very helpfully read for us from Deuteronomy 7 and Judges 1.

And this opening chapter of the book of Judges sets a little bit of an ominous tone for the rest of the book.

One commentator describes the overarching theme of Judges as the Canaanization of Israel.

We heard from Deuteronomy 7 the charge that God gave to Israel regarding the inhabitants of the land that God had given them.

Do not show mercy.

Destroy them.

Devote them to destruction.

And yet, we jump to Judges chapter 1.

Judges 1 · chapter mention

And this is not happening.

The previous book, Joshua, recounts the general invasion and conquest.

And what's happening now is what one describes as an extended mopping up operation to clear the land completely of the Canaanites.

And now there's initial faithfulness and obedience in verses 3 to 17.

We didn't hear those.

We heard verse 17.

Judah went with Simeon, his brother, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and devoted it to destruction.

So the name of the city was Horma, which means utter destruction.

But this soon changes.

So three things that I want us to consider this evening is we must drive out sin.

We must not tolerate sin.

Secondly, sin will grow if we don't.

And the way we do this is through Christ.

There's a common refrain in this first chapter of Judges.

I'm not sure if you heard it.

It emphasizes the disobedience and faithlessness of Israel.

God commanded them to destroy the Canaanites.

But what do we see?

They did not drive them out.

This refrain is repeated eight times in the passage.

Seven times in verses 27 to 33 alone.

They did not drive them out.

They did not drive them out.

They showed mercy.

In verse 28, we read,

So we might think that forced labor is hardly showing mercy.

It's hardly endorsing the Canaanites.

No, it was disobedience.

God had said destroy them, and they did not.

God had said, and we heard this in Deuteronomy,

Do not make a covenant with them and show no mercy to them.

And what Israel's doing there,

subjecting them to forced labor, slavery,

is entering into a covenant with the Canaanites.

You will be our slaves,

and we will not drive you out completely.

It's an act of mercy on the part of Israel to the Canaanites.

This is disobedience.

And the angel of the Lord in Judges 2 explicitly says so.

You have not obeyed my voice.

What is this you have done?

They did not drive them out.

Now, I guess there's various reasons why they might have done this,

and why we sometimes do this in our lives.

Why do we tolerate sin?

There's three reasons, I think,

or there's many reasons we could say.

We love sin.

We love doing, and we enjoy doing,

that which is wrong.

I know I should not do this,

but I'm going to do it anyway.

I'll let this sinful thought,

whatever it is,

linger in my mind

just for a few moments longer than I should.

I'll indulge myself today.

Or unlike the psalmist in Psalm 37,

I will envy those who do wrong.

Maybe it's a fear of man.

We tolerate sin because we don't want to be legalists.

We don't want to be judgmental.

We, you know,

taking the Lord's name in vain,

you know, it's not that big a problem, is it?

In churches, in society.

But I think the main reason here,

with Israel,

is they underestimate sin.

They did not drive out the Canaanites completely,

and they were okay with that.

Presumably, if you can subject the Canaanites to forced labor,

they could have driven them out completely.

But they did not know the gravity

of what they were doing.

By tolerating the Canaanites.

And maybe that's,

they forgot what God thinks about sin.

We know the cross was necessary

because of our sin.

God's pouring out of his wrath on the cross

shows us what God thinks of sin.

And Israel should have known.

And Israel should have known what God thinks of sin.

So when we ponder those glorious truths of God's grace and mercy

and forgiveness of our sins,

it's because of the cross,

our sins,

nailing Jesus to the cross.

And I know you know this.

You know,

you've been going through Romans in the morning.

You know,

those early chapters.

It's on and on about our sin

because we should not forget it.

There is none who does good.

No,

not one.

We are sinners.

But God does not condone sin.

But we do,

don't we?

We find acceptable what God finds unacceptable.

We find pleasing what displeases God.

Evil that we call good.

Good that we call evil.

And yet,

we're to drive it up completely.

Psalm 9710,

let those who love the Lord hate evil.

We're to put to death

the deeds of the body.

Put them to death.

But we underestimate this.

We underestimate sin in our lives.

We let it linger and fester and grow

because they're not major.

But they do grow and destroy

and lead to destruction.

White lie here and there is not too big a problem.

I don't need to disclose all my income.

I'll, you know,

flattery.

A bit of gossip doesn't hurt anyone.

It's okay to be rude and mock someone

if it's behind their back.

I have every right to be bitter.

They wronged me.

Thank you, Lord.

I'm not like those other sinners.

We all have this tendency,

don't we,

to overlook.

But this also applies to the church.

It's great

and wonderful

that there are many wings of the church.

I know the IPC have been very

firm on this,

defending

marriage

when it's been coming under attack

in our culture.

But sometimes,

it can feel

like we haven't really

valued marriage.

maybe in the way we've tolerated

cohabitation

or

fornication

or

the marrying of unbelievers.

We've seen this in many different churches.

And so that's why we're given instructions

in the New Testament

about

the requirements for leadership,

about church discipline.

They're there for a reason.

when we tolerate members openly

and willfully in sin

serving in churches,

the next thing we see

is they are leading churches.

Church discipline is a godly tool

to drive people to repentance

and restoration.

So that kind of signals,

doesn't it,

what are the consequences

of what happens

when we

tolerate

sin.

Well, God tells

Israel

in

chapter 2,

Judges 2,

Judges 2:2

verses 2 and 3,

I will not

drive them out.

Verse 3,

I will not

drive them out

before you,

but they shall become

thorns in your sides

and their gods

shall be a snare

for you,

to you.

And this is what

Israel saw

in the rest of Judges

and really the Old Testament,

this cycle

of faithfulness,

compromise,

idolatry,

judgment,

restoration.

But ultimately

spiraling downwards.

We see these cycles

of the Judges.

So there is repentance here

as soon as the Lord

spoke these words

to all the people

of Israel.

The people lifted up

their voices

and wept.

But the apostasy

comes soon after.

And by the end,

Israel's wickedness

is deep

and endemic.

By the end of Judges,

we've seen apostasy,

adultery,

rape,

murder,

intermarrying,

a descent

into depravity.

The book

literally ends

with the tribe

of the Benjaminites

nearly being wiped out

for their wickedness.

And in a sense,

we see this

in chapter one,

in Judges already,

this signal

that things are going

to get worse.

Notice the change.

Verse 29,

Ephraim did not drive out

the Canaanites

who lived in Gaza,

so the Canaanites

lived in Gaza

among them.

Verse 29,

but then in verse 33,

Naphtali did not

drive out the inhabitants

of Beth Shemesh

or the inhabitants

of Beth Anath,

so they lived

among the Canaanites.

You see that change there.

The land that God

had given them,

they tolerated

the Canaanites

living amongst them.

And next thing you know,

you're living

amongst the Canaanites.

is there the striking

parallels to the apostasy

we're seeing in our culture

where sin is paraded

and celebrated

by our institutions

which once openly

proclaimed Christ.

The queen at her

coronation, 1953,

was given a Bible

saying,

these are the lively

oracle gods.

Here is wisdom.

She vowed to uphold

the Protestant religion.

And so what was

the taboo then

is celebrated,

taught in our schools.

What was unthinkable then

now being celebrated.

But what else

does God warn Israel about?

Well, we see this

in the earlier passage,

Deuteronomy 7,

Deuteronomy 7:3

verses 3 and 4,

The world

has a close

to a 100%

success rate

at passing on

their faith.

They estimate

in the church

it's about 50%.

Some put it even lower.

And this warning

that God gives them

comes true.

Judges 2, 10.

And all that generation

were gathered

to their fathers.

They died

and there arose

another generation

after them

who did not know

the Lord

or the work

he had done

for Israel.

So God

rescues Israel,

enters them

into the promised land.

and a generation

raises up

who does not know

the Lord

and does not know

what he's done.

So I do want

to encourage you here.

Generally,

it's such a joy

for me

to be here

and to be worshipping

with the full church,

young and old.

It's a real blessing

for me to be here

and to be with them.

So I do want

to encourage you

in that.

And so we see

this exchange

happening.

Not just in society,

we've seen it

in our churches

as well.

We saw the Methodist

church earlier

this year

embracing

gay marriage,

cohabitation,

denying the uniqueness

of Christ.

Evangelicals

are aliens

in their own church.

but the roots

of that

probably go back

a few generations.

It doesn't happen

overnight.

It starts

with tolerating

sin.

I'm sure Paul

maybe knows

much more about this.

The United Reformed Church

are

the roots

of why they are

the way they are

probably goes back

generations.

It's a former

Presbyterian Church

of England.

But it probably

goes back

to lots of

long,

a long way back

to lots of

subtle

yet significant

tolerances

and decisions.

So we see this

in society,

we see this in churches

and we see it

in our own lives.

Deep,

grievous

sin

almost

always

starts

far earlier.

Tolerating

sin in our lives,

it will grow

and fester

and destroy.

That's why

Christ says

those words,

if your eye

causes you to sin,

gouge it out.

Throw it

away.

Adultery,

deception,

abuse,

abusive behaviors

almost always,

whatever it is,

starts

far earlier

with something

small being

tolerated.

The consequences

of tolerating

sin

in society,

the church

and in our lives

are serious.

So how,

what do we do?

How do we

do this?

So we have

this call

to drive

out sin

without mercy,

to not tolerate it.

but what's that

in the positive?

Well,

Jesus tells us

in Matthew 5

that we are

the salt

of the earth

and that we

are the light

of the blood.

Driving out sin

is being salt

and light.

We cannot

lose our

saltiness.

Salt

preserves taste

and prevents decay

and we

as Christians

should

impact

the world

around us.

Wherever it is

that God

has placed us

and the world

will see our light

through our good works

and obedience

to Christ.

So in fact,

Paul writes

in Ephesians 5,

walk as children

of light,

take no part

in the unfruitful

works of darkness

but instead

expose them

for it is shameful

even to speak

of the things

that they do

in secret.

But

when anything

is exposed

by the light

and we're

children of light,

when anything

is exposed

by the light

it becomes

visible.

For anything

that becomes

visible is light.

So we let

our light

shine

and it makes

the darkness

visible.

It makes

the darkness

light.

So that

looks very

different

in different

contexts.

We've been

looking in

our own lives,

we're looking

in our churches,

we're looking

in society.

That would look

different

wherever we

are.

It's what

we're

trying to do

at Christian

Concern

is trying

to expose

darkness

through

exposing

bad

legislation

on LGBT

or abortion

by

contending

and speaking

with trying

to shine

that light.

it would

look different

in our

own

contexts

for us

as individuals

in our

workplaces

wherever it

is.

But it

can come

at a cost.

So a close

pastor,

it was a church

that I used

to be in,

a close

pastor friend

of mine,

I think this

is an example

of tolerating

sin

and it

having

consequences.

A close

friend of mine,

one of his

small group

leaders

came out

as a

lesbian,

one who

wasn't

going to

abstain.

And

he said,

he agreed

to allow

her to remain

to be a

small group

leader.

So I know

alarm bells,

I know.

He agreed

to let her

remain as a

small group

leader but

asked,

can we meet

for coffee

and I'll

share with

you from

the scriptures

why I

believe marriage

is one

man,

one woman.

And she

refused because

that would

have been an

abusive situation.

And months

go by,

she becomes

a bit of

an activist

in church.

Anyway,

the vicar's

associate

takes on

the responsibilities

of leading

the small

groups and

they're a

bit more

hardline.

and removes

the small

group leader.

A small

group leader

goes to

the press

about the

trauma and

the abuse

that she's

experienced in

the church

for asking

her not to

lead a small

group.

And she

was refusing

to meet with

the pastor

to hear the

orthodox

real marriage.

Goes to the

local press,

goes to

the

denomination,

investigation,

all these

kinds of

things.

No support

from the

denomination,

from the

diocese,

I guess.

Tolerating

sin and

seeing what

happens.

So the

cost is

great in

our culture

today.

In our

lives,

in our

workplaces,

you know,

Christian

concern,

we defend

a lot of

people who

articulate

Christian

positions on

things and

lose their

jobs.

Whatever it

is,

complaining

about sex

education in

schools,

being

insulted by

teachers and

headmasters.

Whatever it

is, it'll

be a cost.

But in

one sense,

yeah, the

cost is

great, but

the other

sense, the

cost is

small.

Light

momentary

affliction

compared to

the eternal

weight of

glory that

God is

preparing.

But where

does this

come from?

Where do we

have this

strength?

Where does

this light

shine?

How do we

remain salty?

How do we

remain light?

How do I

keep snuffing

out that

sin in my

life?

It keeps

coming,

keeps popping

up.

Some

commentators

have interpreted

judges as

an apologetic

for Israel's

need for a

king.

The last

verse of

the book,

it says,

in those

days there

was no

king.

Everyone

did what

was right

in their

own eyes.

But I'm

not convinced

by that.

Later in

1 Samuel 8,

the elders

of Israel

gather and

they say to

the prophet

Samuel,

appoint for

us a king

to judge

us like

all the

nations.

And Samuel

seeks the

Lord and

God says

to him,

obey the

voice of

the people

in all

that they

say to

you.

For they

have not

rejected

you,

but they

have rejected

me from

being king

over them.

Judges

is about

rejecting

God as

king.

Their

descent

into

depravity

is because

they reject

God as

Lord.

That's

what we're

seeing now.

As a

nation

that has

rejected

God.

In

Romans 1,

we've

exchanged

the truth

about God

for a

lie.

We're

worshipping

and serving

the creation,

not the

creator.

We're doing

what is right

in our own

eyes.

Claiming to

be wise,

we've

become

fools.

In fact,

what's

happening

now is

God

answering

the

prayer

of the

nation

that we

want to

be

without

God.

He's

handing

over.

We see

that

repeatedly

in Romans

1,

don't we?

God

hands

them

over.

But

Christ

is

king

and

lord.

God

of

us

here

individually

as a

church,

in our

families

and in

society.

Society

is not

a neutral

space

with no

king.

Christ

is king.

So we

have to

submit

to him

as king.

And so

it's easy

to become

depressed

and discouraged.

But that's

the reality

of sin.

Well,

the reality

of the

bad news

that we

are

fallen,

that we

do sin,

that we

do

rebel.

But

we do

not

stand

in our

own

strength.

We stand

in Christ's

strength.

It's

his power,

his strength,

his

righteousness.

And so

our engagement

with the

world

our

being salt

and light,

our

driving out

sin in

our lives,

our

church

discipline

in our

churches,

it's all

an overflow

of following

Christ,

of being

his disciple.

So yes,

the Christian

life is a

life of

repentance,

but it's

one of

joy as

we delight

in God's

goodness

and mercy

and grace.

So when I'm

saying we

should not

tolerate sin,

it's so that

we can

actually

experience

God's

grace

evermore

in that

repentance,

in that

turning to

him.

Amen.

In

Judges 1,

in verse 19,

it says about

they could not

drive out the

inhabitants

because they

had chariots

of iron.

You know,

the world's so

powerful,

the chariots

of iron,

surely that's

not disobedience.

But God

said to them,

Joshua 17,

18,

you shall

drive out

the Canaanites

though they

have chariots

of iron

and though

they are

strong.

And so we

know God

was with

them in

their battles.

But they

chose,

anyway,

they chose

disobedience,

they didn't.

Submit

to him

as king.

We trust

God in

all that

we do.

However

difficult

it looks,

and so

that's not

me saying

that,

oh,

okay,

so all we

need to do

now is

trust God

and every

battle in

life is

won.

Not at

all.

But it's

saying that

we submit

to God,

trusting him,

knowing that

he is in

control.

we know

and hold

fast to

the fact

that he

does work

all things

together for

good for

those who

love him,

according to

his purpose,

that he

does.

His promises

are true,

his covenant

is true

for our

children and

our children's

children.

will

will

will

will

have

will

will

!

nation on our backs as though it's our responsibility to fix everything. It's our

responsibility to drive out sin where we are. In fact, as Matthew Roberts writes, we are salt and

light by faithfully serving God in the callings he has given us, not in trying to be more than God

has called us to be. If we imagine that unless we're making massive changes to society, we're

not doing what we should, we have forgotten that God is God and Christ is Christ and we are neither.

Faithful, humble godliness in ordinary things is how God uses us. So at Christian Concern, I can often

fall into despair. People ask me, how's work going? I'm like, well, the nation seems to be getting worse,

so I don't think it's going well.

You know, but you can't fall into despair. God's in control.

It was, you know, all the issues that we're seeing in society, if I keep my eyes fixed on them,

then I'll fall into despair. It's the 54th anniversary of the Passing of the Abortion Act,

a week and a half ago. 9.7 million abortions since then.

So how can I, how are we going to possibly fix that? How can I possibly end that?

That's just the wrong question to ask. It's about God ruling and reigning.

In fact, he's making a footstool out of his enemies as we speak. He's sitting.

And so it's not talking about making lots of progress and seeing huge changes in society,

necessarily seeing huge changes in society, it's about being faithful.

As an overflow of God's love for us.

Patient, faithful gospel ministry and the power and strength of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

So we don't need to lose hope.

Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, knowing that he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.

We take heart. Christ has overcome the world.

He's in control. He's sovereign.

God's plans will not fail.

The government, the lobbyists, the Marie Stopes, they can't thwart God's plans.

You know, and even through the midst of judges and the Old Testament, through all the depravity,

God was working to make sure everything was working out for his son to come.

His plans never fail.

We read the call in Deuteronomy 7.

It's important that we just read those verses afterwards.

What God says in verses 6 to 11.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.

The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession.

Out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, it was not because you were more in number than any other people

that the Lord set his love on you and chose you.

But it is because the Lord loves you.

Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is God.

The faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him

and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.

God chose us because he loved us.

He set his love on us.

So much so that he sent his son to die to pay the penalty that was due us.

Everything in Judges in the Old Testament is cyclical.

Never true restoration because it needed the perfect Savior.

The perfect sacrifice who came in the person of Jesus Christ.

Who bore the penalty that was due us.

He took our place.

Saved by grace.

Through faith.

Not by our own works.

So that none may boast.

We're utterly dependent on Christ.

So please don't confuse anything I've said about a kind of legalistic, rules-based salvation.

Not at all.

Note the way, you know, God talks to David as a man after God's own heart.

And he sinned, he majorly sinned.

About faithfulness.

In response to Christ's love for us.

A people that he chose to set his love on.

A call to holiness and obedience in light of Christ's work.

He is faithful.

And whoever comes to him, he will never cast out.

So he has to be holy for God is holy.

But no, we're made holy by God's love and grace and mercy.

We do not need to despair.

For if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just.

To forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

That is glorious good news.

That we all once were lost but now found.

Blind but now see.

To keep our eyes fixed on the King.

Jesus.

To carry out the tasks that he set before us faithfully.

Wherever we are.

To be salt and light.

To drive out sin.

But in response to his love for us.

Amen.