Spiritual Compromise Then and Now

And if you would open up your Bibles to the book of Judges, it's on page 236 of your Pew

Bible.

And if you're not familiar with how your Bible is laid out, the first book of your Bible

is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and then we go Joshua, and then Judges.

So open up your Bibles to the book of Judges.

And I've got a big swath of Scripture to preach to, so I'm not going to actually read its

entirety out.

I'm just going to work us through it, and we're going to make our way through it in a speedy

way this morning.

But I want to let you know that Judges 1-36, basically there's two parts to it.

1-1-36, it's kind of a listing.

It's a state of affairs of the tribes of Israel.

And then in 2-1 through 3-6, you have God's explanation for how the tribes are doing.

And what we're going to see is the book of Judges is about God testing His people.

We are being tested by God.

Testing isn't anything new for us.

If you're a student, you are tested by your teachers of your understanding of a given subject

matter.

Your kind of understanding of something is exposed, right?

Maybe you're an employee.

Your supervisors will test you, whether that is through some kind of evaluation or some

kind of review to kind of test your competence as an employee.

If you are a patient, your doctors are going to test your bodies to expose the good or ill

health within you.

If you are a parent, your children will test your patience.

Do I have an amen?

Amen.

And if you're a child, your parents will test your patience.

Do I have an amen?

And if you're a Christian, God will lovingly test you to expose in you who you love, to

expose your allegiance, to expose who you're devoted to, to expose who or what is the controlling

center of your life.

Will it be God, the Lord Jesus Christ, or will it be something from this world?

We live in the world, but we're not of the world.

And how your Bible is described the world throughout it, it's a definition like this.

The world is humanity in sinful spiritual deadness in organized rebellion against God.

That's the world.

And what God will do is He will test us to find out where our allegiances lie.

The book of Judges is a book of God testing His old covenant people, Israel, as they enter

the promised land.

Will they walk in Yahweh's way or will they compromise?

And as one scholar said, will they Canaanize?

Will they become like the nations they are to dispossess?

Moses led his people, God's people, out of Egypt.

Joshua leads the tribes of Israel into the promised land.

But Joshua doesn't eradicate all the nations in Canaan.

No, that's left for the generation to come.

In Deuteronomy chapter 7, this is an important passage to understand what God is expecting

Deuteronomy 7 · chapter mention

of His people as they enter the promised land.

So if you can turn to Deuteronomy chapter 7, 1 through 5, it's on page 179 of your pew Bible.

Deuteronomy 7 · chapter mention

I want to read it so you understand what God's expectation is, was of Israel.

When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession

of it.

This is the law of Moses.

He's anticipating His people going into Canaan.

And God clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites,

the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

Seven nations, more numerous and mightier than you.

And when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you defeat them, then you must devote

them to complete destruction.

That was the expectation.

It is hard.

Shall you deal with them?

You shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their

Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.

That was God's expectation for Israel, His people, as they went into the promised land.

And you might find yourself saying, this is very distasteful.

Why would God ever do that?

God answers that question.

Why would God use His people as a means of judgment and eradication of these nations in

Canaan?

In Deuteronomy 9, 4 and 5, we read this.

Do not say in your heart, Israel, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you,

these nations, that it's because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,

whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you.

Not because of your righteousness nor the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land,

but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you,

and that He may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

So what you need to know from the very beginning as we enter into the book of Judges

is that God's call on His people was to enter Canaan and be His means of judgment on these wicked nations

that have been rebelling against God.

And brothers and sisters, you've got to understand, judgment is coming for everyone.

And so here we have God's expectation on His people,

and you can see in Judges 1-1 that Joshua has died.

And now the question becomes, will the tribes of Israel, without Joshua as their leader,

will they finish dispossessing the land of Canaan,

and will they walk fully in the ways of the Lord their God, Yahweh,

or will they compromise?

And chapters 1 and 2 answers the question of Judges.

Judges.

Judges 1.

1-36.

It is a listing of the tribes of Judah and their compromise.

And then chapter 2, 1-36.

Is the divine explanation of why they are still dwelling with these nations in their midst.

Brothers and sisters,

God tests His people.

And though His people fail,

God remains faithful.

So let's look at this compromised state of affairs.

This is chapter 1, 1-36.

Isaiah 1 · chapter mention

And what I want you to see first is the listing out of the tribes of Israel.

And so it seems like Judges starts off strong.

Joshua dies.

The people of Israel inquire of Yahweh.

That is really good.

And they're like,

Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?

We're ready, God, to occupy the land.

Who of the tribes should go?

And God says in verse 2,

Send up Judah.

And then Judah says to Simeon, another tribe,

Let's go.

Let's go.

Let's do it.

And so from verse 2 all the way through verse 20,

We have the account of Judah and Simeon occupying Canaan.

And then what we see in verse 21,

You see the tribe of Benjamin.

22, the house of Joseph.

27, another tribe, Manasseh.

29, Ephraim.

30, Zebulun.

31, Asher.

33, Naphtali.

And then what comes up at the end is 34, the tribe of Dan.

So here's the listing.

You know what this is?

This is like a state of the union.

The Israel union of tribes.

How are they doing?

And in chapter 1, when we look at Judah,

Judah takes up a whole lot of real estate in chapter 1.

And you look at it and you're like, man, they're doing great.

They went up against Bazak and they defeated with Simeon 10,000 people.

And then in verse 8, they go against Jerusalem.

And then in verse 10, they go up against Hebron.

And they beat all these people.

And then there's this whole thing in Deborah where Caleb is like, who's going to take Deborah?

And then Othniel's like, I'll do it.

And then Caleb gives Othniel not just into the hand of the city, but the hand of his daughter.

You keep on reading and eventually they get into Philistine territory.

And it looks like Judah is doing really well.

But on closer inspection, they're not doing as well as they look.

If you look at chapter 1, this whole Bezek scenario where Judah and Simeon go and defeat 10,000 of these inhabitants of Bezek,

the king, Adonai Bezek, makes a run for it.

Israel, Judah, tracks him down.

They cut off his thumbs and big toes.

And you might think, well, that's great.

But you know what that is?

Nowhere in the Mosaic law is that required.

In fact, if they were to actually devote to destruction the inhabitants of Bezek,

the king would have been put to death as well.

What is actually happening is they are taking the practices of the king of Bezek

and applying it to the king of Bezek.

Did you notice what he had to say in verse 7?

Seventy kings.

This is Adonai Bezek, the king of Bezek.

Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table.

As I have done, so God has repaid me.

But what you need to understand is Judah has become Canaanized in its way of treating Bezek.

But it doesn't end there.

In verse 19,

And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country,

but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.

And so that little phrase, they could not drive out, we're going to see that repeated in chapter 1.

And what it means is they didn't fully, completely do what God required of them.

And the reason given is they had chariots of iron.

That's not God's explanation.

God wasn't like, oh no, they have chariots of iron.

I can't take them.

This is Judah becoming unnerved.

Losing sight that it's God who fights for them.

And so what you have here is actual compromise in the tribe of Judah.

And then, you read in verse 21,

But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites.

So the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

So they don't drive them out.

And so now these Canaanite people are living in the midst of these Israelites.

It's not what God wanted.

That's not Deuteronomy 7, 1 through 5.

And then, you read in verse 27,

Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean.

And what happens?

The Canaanites persisted in dwelling in the land at the end of verse 27.

End of verse 28,

But they did not drive them out completely.

Again, they don't drive them out.

These people are dwelling in the land with these Israelites.

It's not what God wanted.

Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites.

So the Canaanites lived in Gezer with them.

30, Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron.

So the Canaanites lived among them.

31, Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Akko.

So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites.

That's a little change.

We're going from Judah doing pretty well to now these other tribes not doing so well.

And now Asher, the Canaanites aren't living with Asher.

Asher's living with the Canaanites.

33, Naphtali.

They did not drive out the inhabitants.

So they lived among the Canaanites.

And then when you get to the tribe of Dan in verse 34,

it's the Amorites who drive out Dan.

So what this is, this state of the union of Israel,

is full of compromise.

Partial obedience.

Not doing what God has required of them.

And here's what this means for us.

Partial obedience, brothers and sisters,

is full-on disobedience.

Don't confuse partial obedience

with full-on obedience.

Partial obedience

is full-on

disobedience.

It's the sin of omission.

It's not doing what God has required.

It's like a brother

who is giving generously to the Lord,

but over here,

he's dabbling in pornography.

And he's thinking he's being obedient.

It's partial obedience.

It's full-on disobedience.

The other thing you might want to know about is,

okay, why does Judah get so much real estate

in chapter 1?

Why do they get so much space

from like verse 2 all the way to verse 20?

Why is that?

Well, if you look at it carefully,

Judah is couched between a reference to Joshua

and a reference to Caleb.

And these are the two guys

in the book of Joshua

who are filled with the Spirit of God

and they are seeking to obey God.

So what's happening here is,

is Judah's being associated with those two.

Do you know why?

Judges occupies the historical space

between Joshua

and the establishing of the Israelite kings

in 1 Samuel.

Judges ends with a terrible story about Benjamin.

They're almost eradicated

like the Canaanites were supposed to be eradicated around them.

Do you remember which king came from

the tribe of Benjamin?

Saul.

He proved to be a lousy king.

But do you remember which king came from the tribe of Judah?

David.

And do you remember who else came from the line of Judah?

The greatest king of all.

Partial obedience is full on disobedience.

And now the question becomes,

well, what happened?

What happened?

Why this?

Why are God's people

disobedient in dwelling with the nations

they were supposed to dispossess?

What happened?

And then in chapter 2, verse 1 through 3, 6,

you have an explanation of why.

It's actually a three-fold explanation why.

The first is in verses 1 through 5.

The angel of the Lord.

And when you see the angel of the Lord speak,

it's God speaking.

First person.

Personal pronoun.

I.

He comes up from Gilgal.

You know what happened in Gilgal?

In Joshua?

End of chapter 5.

Joshua encounters the commander of the Lord's army.

And the commander of the Lord's army says,

take off your sandals.

You are on holy ground.

It's the commander of the Lord's army

that fights God's fights for Israel.

And if there's an association along these lines,

could it be

that the commander of the Lord's army,

the angel of the Lord,

has shown up to Bochim

to address God's people?

And he says this,

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.

I delivered you.

I saved you.

I rescued you.

I made covenant with you.

I've held my side up to the covenant.

You shall make no covenant

with the inhabitants of this land.

You shall break down their altars.

That's a reference to Deuteronomy 7,

1 through 5.

But then he says this.

The angel of the Lord says this.

But you have not obeyed my voice.

What is this that you have done?

And he's looking at his compromised people.

What have you done?

They have broken God's covenant.

Their disobedience,

their partial obedience

is full-on breaking of God's covenant.

That the covenant that God made through Moses

to the people of Israel

coming out of Egypt.

And then the consequence of this

is in verse 3.

So now I say,

I will not drive them out before you,

but they shall become thorns in your sides,

and their gods shall be a snare to you.

God will no longer be fighting for them.

God will be kind of somehow opposing them.

That these nations

that they're living among,

they're going to be thorns to them.

Their gods are going to be snares to them.

Thorns and snares are not good things.

This is the consequence

of the God of the covenant

who loves his people.

He's saying,

I love you so much

that I'm going to make it

very uncomfortable for you

so that you come back to me.

Look what they do in verse 4.

They,

the people lift up their voices

and weep.

In fact,

bochem

means weeping.

this little passage,

one through five,

one starts with a reference to weeping

and it closes with a reference to weeping.

What kind of weeping is this?

Is this genuine repentance?

You're going to see in the book of Judges,

it is not.

The first explanation comes from the angel of the Lord

and he is saying,

you have broken the covenant.

That's why this is the way it is.

The second explanation comes in verses 6

and it goes all the way through verse 19

and this is from the narrator

of the book of Judges.

I think there's a good chance

this is actually Samuel,

the last of the judges

and he gives further explanation

of why this is the situation

these tribes are in.

If you look at verses 6 through 10,

there's a comparison made.

The word,

the name Joshua is dropped three times

and it's associated with the generation

with Joshua.

That these are the people

that they knew their God.

They saw Him act.

They were obeying Him.

Not perfect,

but they were obeying Him

and they were devoting to destruction

the nations that they were

coming into dwelling among.

That generation passes.

Joshua dies.

That generation who's seen the works of God.

I mean,

they were part of the whole Jericho event, gang.

They saw it.

And then in verse 10,

we read that all that generation

was gathered to their fathers.

They died.

And there arose another generation

after them who did not know the Lord

or the work that He had done for Israel.

They had major theological amnesia.

They were ignorant to who God was

and what God had done,

but it's worse than ignorance.

Do you know what this is?

This is called apostasy.

And what apostasy is,

is a turning of one's back

to the living God

to go and serve other gods

that are not gods at all.

This generation that followed

Joshua's generation,

they apostatized.

They had become canonized.

They turned their backs

on the living God.

This is why

they're in the situation

that they're in.

And then what we read

following this

in verses 11 through 19

is a cycle.

It's the cycle

that gets played

throughout the entire book of Judges

all the way through chapter 16

with Samson.

And here's how the cycle goes.

The cycle begins

with Israel's apostasy.

You can see that

in verses 11 through 13.

And the people of Israel

did what was evil

in the sight of the Lord.

You will see that line

repeated all throughout

the book of Judges.

Israel turns

from their God.

The God who delivered them.

The God who covenant with them.

The God who said,

I am your God

and you are my people

among all the nations

on the planet.

They turn.

They abandoned him.

Look at verse 12.

And they abandoned the Lord

who had brought them out

of the land of Egypt.

They went after other gods

from among the gods

of the people

who were around them

and bowed down to them.

And they provoked

the Lord to anger.

They abandoned Yahweh

and served the Baals

and the Ashtoreth.

These are the gods

of the Canaanites.

So the first move

in the cycle

is Israel's apostasy.

The second move

of the cycle

is the kindling

of God's anger.

And we see that

first reference

at the end of verse 12

and they provoke

the Lord to anger.

And then we see it again

in verse 14.

So the anger of the Lord

was kindled against Israel.

We see it again

in verse 20.

So the anger of the Lord

was kindled against Israel.

And what anger is this?

Is this a capricious

kind of anger?

Maybe you had a dad

you just walked

on eggshells around him.

You didn't know

how he was going to react.

This anger

is a jealous anger.

This anger

is the anger

the jealous anger

of a husband

for his wife

when he sees her

flirting with other men.

It's that kind of anger.

It's a holy anger.

It's an exclusive

devotion anger.

What Israel was doing

was worse than adultery.

Let me point you out.

Verse 17.

Yet they did not listen

to their judges

for they whored

after other gods

and bowed down to them.

The tribes of Israel

were prostituting themselves

to the gods

of the Canaanites.

This anger

is a holy anger.

It comes out of

his devotion

to his people.

And in his anger

what God then does

we see it in 14 and 15

is God

he actually raises

up their enemies

the nations around them

to oppress them.

You see

God is the God

of the nations.

He's sovereign

over them all.

And he will use

the nations

to humble his people

or use his people

to humble the nations.

And they

and he

makes it

really hard

for them.

At the end

of verse 15

we read

and they were

in terrible distress.

At the beginning

of verse 15

whenever they marched out

the hand of the Lord

was against them

for harm

as the Lord

had warned

back in Deuteronomy 7

you know I would do this.

God is being faithful

even though his people

have failed.

So

Israel

apostatizes

God's anger

is kindled

he raises up

to those people

to oppress

his people

so that they would

eventually come to

an end to themselves

and they do.

The cycle goes on

is that his people

cry out.

And we

see that

in verse 18

in their groaning.

For the Lord

was moved to pity

by their groaning

because of those

who afflicted

and oppressed them.

That groaning

language

is that of

Exodus chapter 2.

Exodus 2 · chapter mention

Israel groaning

under the slavery

of Egypt

and God

is moved

to action

for them.

We see

God's

anger

kindled

and we also

see his

compassion

stirred.

This

crying

out

that we see

it's

God's people

realizing

oh this is

awful

God

deliver us

Yahweh

rescue us

and we see

it again

and again

and again

throughout the

book of Judges.

the last

move of this

cycle

is that

God

in his

compassion

in his

mercy

his mercy

is more

raises up

a deliverer

a judge.

We see this

in verse 16

then the Lord

raised up

judges

who saved

them out

of the land

of those

who plundered

them.

In the

book of Judges

there are

actually 12

judges.

Six are

minor judges

six are

major judges

we're going

to be

focusing

this summer

on the

major judges

but there's

also one

anti-judge

Abimelech

and Zach

gets to

preach on

him.

Over

and over

again

God raises

up these

human judges

and what

you need

to know

brothers

and sisters

these

judges

they are

savior kings

they're

savior rulers

they rescue

then rule

and they're

all imperfect

and as we

get through

the book

of Judges

you're going

to see

more and

more

oh man

these judges

they reflect

God's people

they're imperfect

they are

digressing

into

canaanization

and not

only the

imperfect

but

they provide

a temporary

salvation

in verse

18

and 19

whenever the

Lord raised

up judges

for them

the Lord

was with

the judge

and he

saved them

from the

land of

their enemies

all the

days of

the judge

for the

Lord was

moved to

pity

by their

groaning

because of

those who

afflicted

and oppressed

them

but whenever

the judge

died

they turned

back

and were

more corrupt

than their

fathers

going after

other gods

serving them

and bowing

down to

them

what we have

in the book

of Judges

is not just

these cycles

of apostasy

and God's

anger and

oppression

and then

they cry

out for

deliverance

and then God

raises up a

judge

and then they

just drop

into apostasy

it's a

digressive

spiral

all the way

through the

book of

Judges

till you get

to Samson

but then you

have five more

chapters

in the book

of Judges

and you know

what gets

repeated

there was no

king in Israel

so they did

what was right

in their own

eyes

they become

more and more

canaanized

what

canaanization

was to

Israel

is what

worldliness

is to the

church

when

Yahweh

ceased to be

the controlling

center

of Israel

they went

canaanization

and when

Jesus

ceases to be

the controlling

center

of God's

new people

the church

we become

worldly

the third

explanation

is in

verses 20

and 22

it's God

himself

and he

picks up

on a lot

of the

same

language

from verses

1-5

in the

angel of

the Lord

in verse

20

Israel

breaks

covenant

verse 21

he will no

longer

leave them

go before

them

but there's

something new

introduced

in this

explanation

it's in

verse 22

21

I will no

longer drive

out before

them any

of the

nations that

Joshua left

when he

died

22

in order to

test Israel

by them

by the

nations dwelling

among them

God is going

to test

his people

by those

people that

were not

dispossessed

to test

what

whether they

will take

care to

walk in

the way

of the

Lord

as their

fathers

did or

not

they remain

to test

God's

people of

who they're

going to

love

of who

they're

going to

live for

who they're

going to

obey

who's

going to

be the

controlling

center of

their lives

will it

be Yahweh

or will

it be

these gods

of the

Canaanites

that's the

test

in chapter

3

1 through

6

that

testing

language

is

pulled

all the

way

through

if you

look at

verse 1

now these

are the

nations

that the

Lord

left

to test

Israel

by them

and then

in verse

4

they were

for the

testing

of Israel

to know

whether

Israel

would obey

the commandments

of the

Lord

which he

commanded

their fathers

by the

hand of

Moses

this is

all about

testing

who is

this

generation

going to

love and

obey

and you

know what

they fail

miserably

look at

3

6

please

if you

can remember

Deuteronomy

7

1 through

5

and their

daughters

they took

to themselves

for wives

and their

own daughters

they gave

to their

sons

and they

served

the gods

compromise

it's

God's

anger is

kindled

against

them

this is

the

consequence

of

failure

to

obey

Deuteronomy

7

and so

what we

have here

is in

chapter 1

we have

this list

of compromised

tribes

going from

bad to

worse

and then

in chapter 2

1 through

3 6

we have an

explanation of

why this is

the way it

is

they've broken

the covenant

they're apostate

and God is now

testing them

so what does this

mean for us

we're being

tested too

God is

testing us

and even

though we're

failures

and unfaithful

to him

he remains

faithful

because he's

a God

of steadfast

love

slow to

anger

this is a

very sobering

book

it can be

very dark

book

and what

we're going

to be

confronted

with

is a

compromised

canonized

Israel

again and

again and

again

and it

can be

like

oh this

is

you know

one sermon

is enough

but what you

also have

in this

book

is God's

faithfulness

over and

over and

again

God's

faithfulness

to his

people

so even

though God

is testing

them and

even though

his people

fail him

God remains

faithful

then and

now

the book

of Judges

God has

not ceased

his plan

to bless

all the

nations of

the world

through

Abraham

Judges

doesn't put

that on hold

God is

continuing

his plan

out

Judges

doesn't

stop

God's

plan

for the

fullness

of time

to raise

up from

the line

of Judah

the greatest

savior

and king

of all

God

tests

his people

fail

but God

remains

faithful

here's what

that means

brothers and

sisters

we need the

book of Judges

because the

book of Judges

points us

to Jesus

God has

raised up

a new

and better

judge

Othniel

Ehud

Deborah

Barak

Gideon

Jephthah

Samson

these are

all imperfect

four of

them get

named in

Hebrews 11

but they're

all imperfect

imperfect

saviors

and they

they provide

a temporary

rest

a temporary

salvation

you know

what it

does

as you

read through

it

it makes

you long

oh

there's

got to

be better

there's

got to

be a

better

savior

and judge

and king

there's

got to

be a

better

it makes

you long

for the

king

the perfect

savior

who provides

a permanent

salvation

that's

Jesus

Christ

God in

the flesh

never since

once and

you know

what he's

still alive

and you

know

what it

means

because

he's

still

alive

his

salvation

is

still

alive

it's

permanent

perfect

savior

permanent

rest

permanent

salvation

there's

no one

like

him

but you

know

what it

also

means

we've

got a

new

and

better

covenant

God's

old

covenant

people

Israel

God

dwelled

with

them

in a

tabernacle

the

people

were

ethnic

Israel

and they

were

devoting

other

people

to

destruction

the

best

thing

that

they

could

do

in order

to

atone

for

their

sins

was

the

blood

of

goats

the

promised

land

was

this

strip

of

land

just

east

of

the

Mediterranean

that's

the

old

covenant

how about

the

new

how about

the

new

that

this

ultimate

judge

has

brought

let me

tell you

about

it

God

dwells

with

his

people

now

through

his

spirit

we

are

God's

people

God's

dwelling

place

it's

a

better

covenant

and

the

people

is

not

an

ethnic

Israel

it's

all

people

who

believe

in

Jesus

all

people

and

now

we

don't

devote

people

to

destruction

we

declare

Christ

among

the

nations

and

you

want

to

talk

about

a

payment

way

better

than

the

blood

of

goats

it's

the

blood

of

the

king

shed

for

you

and

me

permanent

salvation

and

you

want

to

talk

about

a

promised

land

don't

don't

think

now

don't

think

east

of

the

Mediterranean

think

then

a

heavenly

homeland

which

will

come

down

from

heaven

itself

the

new

heavens

and

the

new

earth

where

God's

people

will

dwell

with

God

in

God's

place

forever

in

perfect

peace

no

more

tears

better

covenant

that's

our

king

but you

know

what we

got

going

on

now

we've

got

the

old

sober

warning

we can

canaanize

what

canaanization

was to

Israel

is what

worldliness

is to

the church

today

again

the world

is

sinful

spiritually

dead

humanity

that is

an organized

rebellion

against

God

the world

thinks

away

they value

certain

things

they have

different

methods

we can't

canaanize

you know

how we

not

keep

from

becoming

worldly

it's

not

by

avoiding

it's

by

adoring

by

treasuring

Jesus

above

all

else

by

keeping

Jesus

as

the

controlling

center

of

our

lives

when

we

abandon

Christ

we

will

accommodate

to

the

world

but

when

we

adore

Christ

we

will

stand

distinct

from

the

world

in

the

world

but

not

of

the

world

we

will

light

up

the

world

for

Jesus

we

won't

think

the

world's

thoughts

about

sexuality

and

marriage

we'll

think

God's

thoughts

we

won't

value

what

the

world

values

about

expressive

individualism

by the

way

if you

have

not

read

this

book

by

Carl

Truman

strange

new

world

this

will

help

you

see

the

values

of

the

Canaan

we're

living

in

we're

not

going

to

value

that

if

you're

trying

to

make

a

better

version

of

yourself

you

need

to

start

asking

have

you

been

canonized

we're

not

going

to

use

the

world's

methods

politically

we're

not

going

to

cut

off

people's

thumbs

and toes

God

will

test

us

and

we're

going

to

fail

but

he

will

be

faithful

better

king

better

covenant

and

we're

going

to

keep

him

as

the

controlling

center

the

treasured

center

of

our

lives

just

as

Israel

was

tested

brothers

and

sisters

we

are

being

tested

how

do

we

not

fail

God's

tests

of

our

hearts

how

do

we

walk

in

the

ways

of

the

Lord

our

God

in

the

midst

of

this

world

it's

not

complicated

but it

requires

daily

dying

to

yourself

treasure

Jesus

above

all

know

him

be

in

relationship

with

him

be in

awe

of

his

great

works

of

deliverance

brothers

and

sisters

do you

know why

we need

the book

of

judges

because

judges

points us

to

Jesus

will you

pray

with me

God

in

heaven

we

welcome

your

tests

consider

it all

joy

whenever

you

encounter

trials

of

various

kinds

because

we

know

you're

testing

our

hearts

God

would

you

help

us

learn

from

the

book

of

judges

that

we

would

be

warned

not

to

be

worldly

and

you

would

woo

us

to

our

king

again

and

again

so

that

we

would

walk

faithfully

with

you

in

this

place

at

this

time

in

Jesus

name

amen

so

you

not

but

have

but

I