Holy War?

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.

Judges 1:1

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,

Proverbs 3:5

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.