Judges Week 1 • Judges 1:1-3:6

Hi, and welcome to the Willow Ridge Church weekly podcast.

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Thanks for listening.

Me and Pastor Dave had a good time filming that this week.

Take a couple shots to get that, some really good camera work to slim us down a little bit.

You know, with these videos that we've got coming out, they're going to help us walk through

the book of Judges.

That one was good, but I do want to say this.

We're not going to show our hand too much, but next week, all right, we really upped the

game, all right?

Like, next week is taking these videos to a whole nother level, so make sure that you don't

miss out on that.

Well, in typical bow fashion, as we begin a study in the book of Judges, if you could open

up to Joshua chapter 23, right?

Joshua 23 · chapter mention

We're going to read one passage here, and then we're going to jump there.

And as you turn to Joshua 23, I want to say something, and Berger, man, I really appreciate

you praying this part in there.

Typically, there's a tendency with us when we read Scripture, in the Old Testament particularly,

okay?

The Old Testament is filled with some really neat stories, stories that oftentimes they

take us back to our childhood, right?

And we go back to the old school flannel board and sock puppet narratives of learning these

stories.

And if we're not careful, even as adults, what we do is when we read through the Old Testament,

we begin to view them like stories, okay?

And they're stories with moral and ethical teachings.

But what I want us to see, and this is what we're really going to look at this week, is the

gospel that is told through the Old Testament.

It's the same gospel told through the New Testament.

And that we see this redemptive spirit and nature of God and what God's doing as He saves

the people for Himself, and it continues to move forward in the redemptive work that He

has that plays out through creation.

So as we're reading through Judges, please make sure that we're reading the stories, we're

grasping the stories, but that we're paying attention to the gospel narrative that's there.

Also, and you'll see this today, we're not going to be able to hit every word and every

verse in Judges as we go through the book, okay?

And so we're going to take sections, we're going to take chunks as we go through, which

is why it's so important for you.

If you haven't yet, get your Right Now Media account, we would love for you to walk through

Judges with us.

There's the study by J.D.

Greer that's on there that allows you to do just that.

So like, for example, today we're covering Judges 1-1 through Judges 3-6.

Now we're not reading all that, but I want you to take the time to go through and read

and be on that journey with us and see what God teaches you as we go through the book of

Judges together, all right?

So in Judges, what we're going to find are God's people are in a very important transition

in their life.

Historically speaking even, you find Israel has making it to another transition in their

life, in the kingdom of God, of what God is doing with them.

Now for Israel, they should be used to transitions, okay?

You can go back and you can look through Exodus and you can see as Moses is called their leader

who leads them in the transition out of slavery, leads them into the wilderness and all the

things that happen and take place there.

And then Israel hits another very important transition and it's the transition from Moses

to Joshua.

Moses, the fearless leader who led them greatly to the promised land but wasn't going to lead

them into the promised land.

And so as Moses died, Joshua becomes the leader and we see this transition that happens and

takes place and that's what the book of Joshua is about.

And what you read, if you were to take the time and read through Joshua, you will find that

God fulfills the covenant of bringing the people to the promised land but it's not empty space.

There's people in there.

There's other nations.

There's other people who were there.

So in Joshua, you see God doing a miraculous work time and time again as this group of Israelites

who aren't the fierce army that others were, go to battle and they win.

And what you find is what the theme through Joshua that you see is God's faithfulness, right?

The deck is stacked against them but God is faithful and it's the call that as we see God be faithful

that God's people are called to be faithful.

And I want to read verses, in chapter 23, verses 5 through 8 and Joshua gives this charge to

Israel's leaders and you see this word's different places in Joshua but we want to read this one.

Starting in verse 5 of chapter 3, Joshua says,

The Lord your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight and you

shall possess their land just as the Lord your God promised you.

Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of

Moses, turning aside from neither to the right hand nor the left that you may not mix with

these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them

or serve them or bow down to them.

But you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day.

So what we see in Joshua, which will continue on into the very beginning of Judges, is this is what

God's going to do.

This is what God has done.

This is what God is doing.

And so we respond to that, right?

And this is why we're gathering for worship today, right?

Like this is the purpose of the gathering of believers, that God has graciously done this

for us, given us salvation, given us hope, given us life.

And so you and I, we don't just look at that and say, well, we really appreciate that and

we continue on with our day-to-day life, but we respond.

And so because God is faithful, right, we respond in faith.

And so Joshua kind of gives this understanding of this is what this looks like to respond

this way.

He says you've got to obey the law, right?

Obey God.

He says you've got to make sure that there's not this intermingling or mixing of people when

we go in to conquer them, all right?

And this isn't for a nationalistic purpose, right?

This isn't for a racial purpose, right?

This is all for a spiritual purpose, right?

Because he says, look, if we begin to mix with these other people who are not part of God's

people and they do not know God, we will take on their own gods and we will bow down before

and we will serve their gods and we need to keep that separated.

But then he also says very specifically, we need to cling to God.

And I love that word, cling to God.

And what it's walking through and what Joshua is reminding them is that there's going to

become points in times where you look around and things begin to seem hopeless or the exact

opposite of that.

You begin to look around and you begin to think, now we're pretty good, right?

On either extreme, your tendency will become in your success or in your desperation, oftentimes

to let go of God and to not trust him.

And so Joshua says, no, no, no, we got to cling.

We got to cling to him.

And so the reminder of this great leader as the end of the book of his life is recorded,

he says, look, obey God.

Worship him only and trust him in all circumstances.

What faithful life begins to look like.

So now we go to another transition and go ahead and flip over to Judges 1.

And this is the transition from Joshua as he passes to another group of leaders that God

is going to send, that God is going to anoint the judges.

And so this is what the book will be about that we saw in that song of there's going to

be a transition now.

And so God is going to appoint judges to lead his people.

And what we're going to do today and looking at the first two and a half chapters of Judges

is we're going to see some themes that the writer's going to put in there that are going to come

out week and week again as we study all the way through.

We're going to see that there are going to be battles with sin.

We're going to see that there's battles of obedience, that there's battles of faith,

but that through it all, right, what we're going to find within God's people, right,

in spite of them not being faithful, in spite of them being faithful,

God will always continue to be faithful.

And so a theme of God's people that we want to see and kind of go ahead and establish is

this concept of half-hearted faith.

That within God's people, there's this sense of half-hearted faith.

And here's what I mean.

God's people are going to go through a time in Judges where in spite of all that God has done,

in spite of the depth of God's faithfulness, in spite of what he has shown them that he is,

that they are going to live in a type of faith that says, well, what have you done for me lately?

Right?

Like, I know that's what you did.

I know that may be what you're doing.

But in a very selfish of what are you doing for me now?

So in the book of Judges, when we open up, God's people are in the promised land,

and you see through in Joshua victory after victory.

You see conquering after conquering.

But what you also find is that even though they have inherited,

even though they are in the promised land,

there are still people in the promised land that they need to press out.

There's still battles to be fought.

There's still wars to be won.

And that it is a continuation of what is happening and what is taking place.

But that a lot of the same thing of what God has called them to is still there.

So let's look at Judges 1, starting in verse 1.

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 we see this depth of obedience of understanding, Lord, we've got to fight the Canaanites.

And so if we're going to do that, who are you going to send, right?

Who is going to be not only our Moses, who's going to be not only our Joshua, but who do we have now for this?

And so it says the Lord said in verse 2,

Judah shall go up.

Behold, I have given the land into his hand.

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 likewise, we'll go with you into the territory allotted to you.

So Simeon went with him.

Then Judah went up, and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand.

And they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek.

And so we see this is what happens.

God says, hey, here's what you need to do.

Judah, go.

Judah, go and lead the charge.

And in verse 2, I love these words.

God says, man, I've already given it to you.

It's already in your hand.

You just have to go.

And so they go and they fight.

And if you read through, continuing on,

in chapter 1, you'll see the battles that they face.

You'll see that in many of them, they're outnumbered,

that there's a different strategy that's there that should win.

But God's people fight.

God leads through them.

And victory is there.

And God blesses them.

But jump down to verse 19.

We're going to see that there begins to be a break in the pattern.

Of what we find beginning there.

And it said in verse 19 of chapter 1,

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.

Starting in verse 19, what we'll begin to see is God's people begin to fail.

We begin to see what should be battles that come to victory,

or battles that come to partial victory.

We see battles where they're able to accomplish things,

or we see flat-out failings.

And these aren't failings by God.

They're failings by his people.

And what we'll find as we read through,

because this section kind of gives us a brief overview of what the whole book will be about,

we will find it's because of their half-hearted faith.

Because of their half-hearted obedience.

Because in them, they do not do what God has called them to do.

Look down at verse 28.

It says,

When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites into forced labor,

but did not drive them completely out.

Partial obedience to what God has called them to do.

Did God say, take them into captivity?

Did God say, take them into forced labor?

No.

God said, drive them out.

But the logic of the man began to overrule the wisdom and sovereignty of God

in the mind of the Israelites.

And so they say, but if we're going to be the people that do this,

this is what we need to do.

Well, other nations are doing this,

so this must be what the plan is for us as well.

So God, we know that you told us to go here and to do this,

but our strategy, our logic,

says that I'm going to begin to do things my way.

And what we find is that half-hearted faith becomes partial faith,

which really just manifests itself into disobedience.

That we're given glimpses of,

well, these are the things that I do for you,

that you've called me to do,

but in the fulfillment of it all,

that we're going to see that they fall far away.

Look at Judges 2, starting in verse 1.

See the heart of God in this.

Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bosham,

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,

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?

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 comes to him and says,

I get in your strategy.

I get in all the things that you've done,

but here's what I need to communicate to you.

Because of your disobedience,

sin is going to begin to well up

and create in your life.

That it's going to hinder,

it's going to entrap you,

and it is going to kill you

because you did not listen to me.

I love the words that God uses

to describe this in Judges 2.

He says, when you allow this sin,

when you allow this disobedience

to come into your life,

there's two things that you're going to have to battle.

You're going to have to battle thorns and snares.

You're going to have to battle thorns and snares.

So I want to talk about what a thorn is

and what a snare is

and tie that into how we can view sin through a thorn

and how we can view sin through a snare.

So a thorn, we all know what a thorn is, right?

You see a thorn on a rose or on a vine.

And when you look at a thorn,

you see the first thing you notice

is how small it is,

but how sharp it is.

And a thorn,

you know when you grab it,

it hurts, right?

But sometimes we grab and we let go

and so the thorn is no longer there.

But God says that these thorns though

are going to be like a thorn in your side.

Not a thorn that pricks the side,

but a thorn that's in the side.

And so if you really want to talk about thorns in the south,

stop thinking about a rose bush

and start thinking about sand spurs, right?

We've all been there before.

We were little kids.

We see our kids now

and they got their shoes off

and they're running through the field

and all of a sudden,

oh, you know exactly what happened in that moment.

That something's so small,

but once it gets embedded,

it completely immobilizes you.

And for sin,

there's thorns that we face.

They look small.

They seem insignificant.

But when a thorn gets in you,

it makes the strongest of an individual weak.

He can't do anything that is affected with that

because of what is there

until the thorn itself is removed.

And so what we're going to see in Israel,

what I hope we notice within ourselves

as we go through this

is there's so many times

we compromise obedience to God,

not in the big stuff,

but in the thorns.

Not in the things that are obvious,

but in the thorns that we think,

oh, I'm tough enough for that.

I can battle through.

But God says the thorns

are what's going to hold you back

and I'm going to let you go through and suffer.

But then also there's the snares.

There's the snares.

I don't know if you've ever used a trap

or tried to trap anything,

but here's what a snare is effective

when the snare blends into its surrounding.

A snare isn't effective.

If I set a snare right up here on the ground

right here in front of me

and put big flashing lights

and painted it bright neon green

and said to everyone in the room,

hey, be careful,

there's a snare right here.

Well, at that point,

if it gets you, man,

that's just on you, right?

But imagine if the snare,

we didn't tell you about it.

Imagine if the snare was blended in

to the fabric of the seat

and that that seat looked just like

every other seat in the auditorium.

And then all of a sudden,

it is in your surrounding.

You're unaware of it

and it comes up and it traps you.

And in your mind,

you never saw it coming.

Well, for our snares of sin,

they're simply the sins

that we've become blind to.

That over time,

that the thorns of sin

begin to infiltrate our heart

and our lives,

that we become numb to them

and the consequences of them, though,

become deadly.

And these are the things

we're going to see with Israel,

the thorns and the snares

that they battle through.

And when we see these

in their life,

they're going to have to make a decision.

And it's going to be the decision

that you and I make

when we see these thorns

and these snares as well.

I was reading a pastor

who was talking about

this passage of Scripture specifically.

And he said,

when it comes to sin,

that you and I,

we're going to give two reasons.

When it comes to battling a sin

in our life,

we're going to make one of two choices,

more than likely,

when they begin to creep

more and more into our life.

It's either the choice of,

I can't,

or the choice of,

I won't.

I won't.

When sin is pointed out to us,

when disobedience begins

to ring true in our life,

just like it is for Israel,

you and I,

we're going to probably say,

well, God, right now,

I can't.

God, right now,

I know this is here,

but I just can't address it.

I can't deal with it.

I can't work through this.

I've got so many other things

that are going on.

I've got so much pressure

of what's there.

It's the culture

and it's the positioning of life.

God, I can't deal

with this right now

when the truth is,

it's not that I can't.

It's that I won't.

I won't deal with it.

And it is mind-blowing

to me

when I think about

how you and I,

how we respond to sin.

It's not that I can't

pull the sand spur

out of my foot

so that I can continue

to walk.

It's that I won't.

It's not that I can't

avoid the snare

that is there.

It's that I won't.

And we're going to see this

within Israel.

And here's the culture

that it begins to create.

Look down at verse 10.

All that generation also

were gathered

to their fathers

and there arose

another generation

after them

who did not know

the Lord

nor yet the work

which he had done

for Israel.

This verse in Judges 10

is a warning of culture.

When we embrace

the thorns

and the snares,

when we say,

no, I can't,

when we embrace

the I won't

within there,

what we find

and what we see

is that one generation

removed,

at the most two

from the enslavement

in Egypt

to the crossing

of the Red Sea

to the fall

of Jericho,

what we find

in here,

it says,

and another generation

after them

who did not know

the Lord.

They didn't know him.

Just imagine.

The water piled up

into walls

and the ground

became dry

and they walked across

with their wagons included

and when the Egyptians

came after them,

it enclosed on them.

But they didn't know

to the Lord.

That they marched

around a city

and as they began

to declare

what God called them

to,

the walls came down

but they didn't know.

So did they forget?

No, they didn't forget.

They didn't forget

the Red Sea,

they didn't forget

Jericho,

they didn't forget

all of the faithfulness

of God.

It says that they

didn't know God.

When you look at this word

know and understand

what it means,

it means to know

at a depth

that you're moved

by something.

To know something

so intimately

that you're moved

by it.

When I was

much, much younger,

I don't remember

exactly what year it was

but the movie

Saving Private Ryan

came out.

I've shared this story

before so forgive me

if you've heard it

multiple times

but it's the closest thing

I can get to understanding

this in my own mind

of what it means

to know something.

My grandfather

who passed away

several years later

was one of my best friends

and one of the most

godly influences

in my life.

Had served

during World War II

was a part

of the D-Day invasion.

He was part

of the bridge

at Remagen

in the Battle of the Bulge.

I got to write

my senior paper

at USC Aiken

about his journey

that he took.

And my grandfather,

we liked to talk.

We did two things together.

We watched NASCAR together

and we talked war together.

That's what we did.

And he would tell me

about all of his experiences.

He would tell me

about the different things

that he had gone through

and the battles

that he would face

and I would sit there

as a kid

and just take in

the stories

that he would tell me.

And I'd hear the passion

within his voice.

And so he called me

one day

and he said,

hey,

can you and I

go see a movie together?

Now,

my mind was blown

because I'd never known

my grandfather

to ever see a movie

in his entire life,

right?

Like literally,

he watched C-SPAN

and NASCAR.

That was it,

right?

Yeah,

you want to go see a movie?

Absolutely.

What movie do you want to go see?

And he said,

I heard there's a movie

about World War II

called Saving Private Ryan.

Could you go watch it with me?

I said,

absolutely.

I'd heard about it.

I'd heard how realistic it was.

I'd heard about

how powerful the story was.

And it was a movie

that I look forward

to seeing regardless,

but now my granddad

wants to go do that with me,

so that means I get

into the movie free,

right?

Absolutely.

And so we went over

to Evans, Georgia

to the big movie theater

that was there.

We got in our seats

and we had our popcorn

and we began

to watch the movie.

And you know

how the movie opens?

It opens on that

D-Day invasion.

And Ron Howard

and what they were able

to do with that movie

with the bullets

that were coming through,

right?

I remember being

in the movie theater

and hearing the

pew, pew, pew

speakers around me.

I remember seeing

and hearing

the sounds of the waves

crashing against the shore

and the tides

pushing on the boats.

I remember hearing

the desperation

of the soldiers

as they made their way,

right?

You know the story,

the water's too deep

but they're making

their way onto the beach,

most of whom

didn't make it.

I remember what

the water looked like.

We were stained red

because of the soldiers

who had fallen

and who had passed.

And I'm sitting there

and I'm watching

a story unfold

and I look over

beside me

and there's my grandfather

and his face

is covered with tears

because when he heard

the bullets in the movie,

he went back to when

he had heard them

in real life.

When he saw

the salt water

hit the soldiers

and burn their eyes

and fill their mouths,

he could feel the burning

in his eyes

and he could taste

the salt of the water then.

When he saw soldiers

dragging other soldiers,

he knew of that weight

that was there

and he began to know

what that felt like.

That he began through

in his journey

as he watched that movie,

there was a depth

of intimacy

of what had happened

and what had taken place

that years upon years later

as he was then

an old man

but he knew

what had happened

there.

You see,

in God's people's

faithfulness to him,

they had missed

the depth

of the intimacy

of what's there.

It had become stories

instead of the power

changing work

of God

in his faithfulness.

It's in verse 11,

as they had forgotten.

It says,

and the people

of Israel

did what was evil

in the sight

of the Lord

and served the Baals.

And they abandoned

the Lord,

the God of their fathers

who had brought them

out of the land

of Egypt.

They went after

other gods

from among

the gods

of the peoples

who were around them

and bowed down

to them

and they provoked

the Lord to anger.

They abandoned

the Lord

and served

the Baals

and the Ashtrofs.

And so the anger

of the Lord

was kindled

against Israel

and he gave them

over to plunderers

who plundered them

and he sold them

into the hand

of their surrounding

enemies

so that they could

no longer

withstand

their enemies.

And what we see here

is the warning

from the command

of what Joshua

had told them

in Joshua 23

is that this is

where we find

God's people

when they began

to walk

in half-hearted

faith

when they begin

to walk

in partial obedience

that becomes

downright disobedience

to him

and what happens

they move

from being

the conquerors

and now

they are the conquered.

Now they're

no longer

the one

in the victory

and whose fault

is it?

It's theirs.

They abandoned

the Lord

but God

but God

had never

broken

his covenant

and this is

what we're going

to see

and this is

the hope

that we have

that you

and I

have so often

not conquered

what was there

but settled

that you

and I

find ourselves

in these

same patterns

in disobedience

and if we

aren't careful

we look at

the end

verse 14

and we walk

away

and say

this is what

judges

is going

to be about

the failings

of God's

people

but then

we miss it

so look down

at verse 16

it says

then the Lord

raised up

judges

who delivered

them

from the hands

of those

who plundered

them

yet they did

not listen

to their judges

for they

played the harlot

after other gods

and bowed

themselves

down to them

they turned

aside quickly

from the way

in which

their fathers

had walked

in obeying

the commandments

of their Lord

they did not

do as their

fathers

when the Lord

raised up judges

for them

the Lord

was with

the judge

and delivered

them from

the hand

of their enemies

all the days

of the judge

for the Lord

was moved

to pity

by their groaning

because of those

who oppressed

and who

afflicted

them

you see

the heart

the reason

why we can't

just lock

in on the

story

is because

we miss

the work

of what

God is

doing

and what

we see

is this

that you

and I

we're a lot

like Israel

you and I

live in a

world that

is a lot

like in the

world of

the promised

land

where we

compromise

we give

in to the

thorns

we're caught

by the snares

that there's

the battles

that's still

there

and that

begin to

rage

and you

and I

in our

half-hearted

obedience

we take

on the

wandering

heart

but what

we find

in that

is where

we see

the God

who saves

we see

the God

who saves

time and

time again

we see

the God

who says

I'm gonna

send

and I'm

gonna send

and I'm

gonna send

and in

sending

I'm gonna

redeem

people

and when

you continue

on

and you

read through

the Old

Testament

you see

the story

of God

who says

no no

you're

enslaved

and I'm

gonna send

Moses

and then

you get

to the

promised land

but you

can't get

there

so I'm

gonna send

Joshua

and then

Joshua

is gonna

die

so what

you're

gonna need

is you're

gonna need

judges

and then

God's

gonna send

the kings

and then

God's

gonna send

the prophets

and then

all the way

into the

New Testament

where God

sends

John the

Baptist

proclaim

something

very important

a peace

that God's

people have

been waiting

for

and a peace

that we

cling to

today

God says

no

I'm gonna

send one

more

one more

and this

is it

because

he

is going

to fully

deliver

his people

and so

he sends

Jesus

the story

of the hope

of the gospel

you see

God's people

and judges

deserved

to be

where they

were

and so

he sent

him

a judge

and another

judge

and another

judge

to deliver

him

and to

point

them to

the perfect

judge

the Messiah

who would

come to

save

all of

creation

would you

pray with

me

Lord I

thank you

for this

book

Lord I

thank you

that in

Israel

what we

find is

the heart

that wants

to wander

the heart

that wants

to rebel

the heart

that wants

to pretty

up some

things

but continue

to give

in to the

thorns

and snares

that are

there

Lord I

thank you

that in

that

Lord your

word is

very clear

Lord they

went through

difficulties

they faced

punishments

they had all

of these

things that

happened

to them

but Lord

what you

did

in your

kindness

and in

your

compassion

is you

delivered

them

Lord as

we're gathered

in here

in this

place this

morning

or we're

sitting

at our

homes

watching

online

Lord we're

either hearts

that are

enslaved

and need

to be

set free

or for

so many

of us

right now

we're just

in a

heart

that has

wandered

Lord and I

pray that as

we go

through this

that Lord

right now

that you

remind us

that you

are a

God

you are

the God

who saves

and it is

found in

you

and in

you alone

and that

our

salvation

that our

redemption

doesn't

just come

from our

earthly

circumstances

but it

comes

for our

eternity

Lord

Israel

deserved

to face

the wrath

that

Sodom

faced

they

deserve

the

discipline

that

Gomorrah

faced

Lord

and so