FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
Break the Cycle | Judges 3:7-11
Ever feel like you're caught in a never-ending cycle of making the same mistakes? Like a laboratory mouse running through a maze toward the same cheese, we often find ourselves responding to life's triggers—stress, loneliness, anger, boredom—by pursuing temporary satisfaction through sin rather than lasting fulfillment in Christ.
In this powerful opening message of the "Relentless" series, we dive into the book of Judges to uncover a pattern that feels strikingly familiar: God's people repeatedly choosing sin, experiencing oppression, crying out for help, and receiving divine deliverance—only to start the cycle again. But this isn't just ancient history; it's a mirror reflecting our own spiritual struggles.
The fundamental reason we choose sin is that we forget God. In moments of temptation, we believe the lie that sin will satisfy us more completely than obedience to God. This forgetting often happens during seasons of comfort when we lose our desperation for God's presence. Without realizing it, we begin serving modern-day "Baals and Asherahs"—success, pleasure, money—that promise fulfillment but deliver bondage.
Yet here's where hope breaks through: God's relentless grace is stronger than sin's relentless pursuit. When we cry out to Him with genuine confession and repentance, He doesn't hesitate or criticize—He delivers. Like a father who instantly runs to rescue his fallen child, God responds to our cries with compassion and power. Through Jesus Christ, our ultimate Deliverer, we find not just temporary relief but lasting peace.
Ready to break the cycle? Choose Jesus over sin, maintain an attitude of dependence, and fix your mind on Him to experience the perfect peace that transcends circumstances. Your freedom is just a cry away.
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women who have served to protect our country, for our freedoms to worship Jesus. We thank you, we appreciate you, we are grateful for you. All those who are serving have served and those who have given their lives in serving for our country. We thank you. You can have a seat. Thank you for coming this morning. God is so good and he is doing so many things in our church. He's doing so many things in our community. He is doing so many things in our church. He's doing so many things in our community. He is doing so many things in our lives and I'm just so thankful that you are here, that you're a part of it and that we just get to experience the grace and the glory of God together. I've just got to shout out to the Lord for all that he is doing. I want to show you a couple of things here. First of all, we have had a lot of baptisms. Just last week, we had two kids get baptized. We had three teenagers get baptized. A week ago, one of our teenagers got baptized at camp. We had a young adult get baptized in our 930 service. This morning, of course, mason and Joseph got baptized. Today, put your hands together one more time for all that God is doing, as he is just changing lives, man. We're seeing people saved, seeing people baptized. God is so good. Pastor James mentioned it. We just had Wind Shaped Camp this past week 217 campers from our community, from our church, 336 total people in all and, the best part, 10 kids gave their life to Jesus. Their eternity has changed forever. God is so good and we got to experience a baptism this morning.
Speaker 1:I got to give a shout out to our Oregon Park baseball team and family. If you're here with our Oregon Park baseball team and family, would you stand up right now, please, and you are our guests this morning. Y'all stand up, all of our Oregon Park there. They are right there, man. We're so thankful to have y'all here today. What a blessing, what an honor it is to have y'all here with us. We had the honor of shooting a devotional video every Sunday for all of our Oregon Park baseball teams, because they were travel ball during Sundays and, man, my heart just went out to them knowing that they couldn't go to church during travel ball. But I wanted to remind them that, first of all, the church can always go to them wherever they are and, secondly, they can always be the church wherever they are, and so we're going to feed them a lunch today, right after just for our Oregon Park baseball teams and families. We are so thankful that you are here, a part of us.
Speaker 1:We're starting a brand new series today called Relentless. Everybody say relentless, relentless. This is coming from the book of Judges. You can open up your Bible to the book of Judges or you'll see it on the screens this morning and we're talking about how relentless sin can be, how relentless sin can be. Man, sin never stops. Sin is always coming after you, sin is always coming after me. We just like to be an honest church. We like to be real. I'm going to talk about some sin in my life this morning because it is just something that is relentlessly pursuing us as sin. But aren't you thankful that God and his love and his grace and his mercy and his salvation, that God's relentless pursuit is even greater than the relentless pursuit of sin? Can I get an amen, man? God's grace is always greater than our sin.
Speaker 1:You ever seen those scientists where the scientists, they do the little experiments and they put the mice in a maze and they ring a bell and the door goes up and the mouse goes throughout the maze and it finds its way to go and get the piece of cheese. And so the scientist is doing all these tests and all these experiments and all these theories. It's like the bell, the door, the mouse, the cheese. Over and over and over again. Finally it just becomes second nature for the mouse. Here's the bell, door's open, runs straight to the cheese. Boom, there it is. It's just that easy, and often that is what it's like how sin works in our life that something happens and we all have different triggers. We all have different bells in our life.
Speaker 1:Maybe your bell that dings in your life that Satan is trying to get your attention to go and get the cheese that he's offering you. You know, maybe that bell for you is. Maybe it's stress, maybe it's that feeling of anger, maybe it's boredom. Maybe it's when you feel insignificant. Maybe it's when you feel stepped on or stepped over. Maybe it's when you feel devalued. Maybe it's when you feel lonely. Or maybe Satan just throws temptation at you and just boom, there's the bell, the door is open. And now you're just like a train mice in a maze and you just go after that cheese that the devil is offering you.
Speaker 1:Can I just remind you this morning that God did not create you to be a mouse in a maze chasing after cheese. God created you as a child of God, created in his image, so that you're not going after cheese, you're going after Jesus. Can I get an amen? And that's how we are to relentlessly to be pursuing our life. But let's be honest, sin is real, sin is powerful, sin is tempting, sin is something that our flesh wants, and so this morning I just wanna remind you that we are all called to break this cycle of sin. I want to talk to you this morning about how to break the cycle. Look at somebody and say break the cycle.
Speaker 1:Break the cycle, because that's what this book, the book of Judges, is all about is, when your sin feels relentless in your life, how that you can seek God's deliverance for your life, because that's what we all want. You know, as we're all celebrating over the weekend, july 4th, independence Day, freedom right from foreign oppressors. Well, in the same way, we don't just want freedom from the outside, we want freedom on the inside. And the freedom on the inside, that freedom from sin, that freedom from bondage, that freedom from evil, oppression that only Jesus can give, and that's what the book of Judges is all about. The book of Judges is this incredible story about how God's people continue to fall in sin over and over again and God continues to deliver them over and over again. And God's not just telling us about the past, he's telling us about the present. He's not just telling us about other past, he's telling us about the present. He's not just telling us about other people, he's telling us about ourselves. He's telling me about myself and he's telling you about yourself. Break the cycle.
Speaker 1:So here we go, number one what is the cycle that you, that I, that we find ourselves in? First of all, the cycle often starts with that you choose sin, or I choose sin, or we choose sin. We see that in Judges, chapter three, if you look with me and you can turn there or just check it out on the screens. Judges three, verse seven, says and the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord, their God, and they served the Baals and the Asherah. Well, first of all, I just want you to see just a couple of things here. First of all, we see the people of Israel. Who are the people of Israel. The people of Israel are the people of God.
Speaker 1:Isn't it interesting that God didn't write his word to tell us all about everybody else's sin? No, god is writing his word to help us to understand our sin. Sometimes, christians, they're always talking about man to help us to understand our sin. Sometimes, christians, they're always talking about man. Did you see what that other country was doing, or did you see what so-and-so was doing across the street? Did you hear what he did? Did you see what she did? Or did you understand, did you watch on the news, what the other political party did?
Speaker 1:And often we talk about sin, as always in somebody else, but never in ourselves. And God says look, I'm not just talking about the sin of the world, I'm talking about sin in the church, right, I'm talking about sin in life. I'm talking about sin in your pastor. I'm talking about sin in the people. I'm talking about sin in the people of God. He said, and the people of Israel did what was evil. Did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. In other words, what is sin?
Speaker 1:Unfortunately, that is a big question today that so many people get confused on. So many people are trying to answer, so many people have all these debates and disagreements and arguments what is sin To where? Often you know where the argument ultimately leads. There's no such thing as sin. Everybody can just do whatever they think is right. Whatever is right for them is right for them.
Speaker 1:But the Bible says that's actually exactly what's going on in the book of Judges. He says that they are all doing what's right in their own eyes. The problem is is that they were, while they were doing right in their own eyes, they were doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, who gets to define sin God does? And where do we find what sin is so that we can know am I in sin or am I not in sin? Is this a sin or is this not a sin? How do we know what sin is? Because one of the most important things you know for your life is whether you are obeying or whether you are disobeying God, and it is all found in the word of God. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And why did they do it? Because they forgot. Everybody say forgot. They forgot the Lord, their God.
Speaker 1:When I sin, when you sin, the reason we sin is because we forget that God is better than that sin. The reason we choose sin is because we think that that sin is going to do better for us than God's going to do for us in that area of our life. So we think that sin is going to make us feel better, that sin is going to satisfy us more, that sin is going to fulfill us more, that sin is going to serve us better than God can serve us. And so when I choose sin, it is because I falsely believe that that sin is going to be better to me than God. But what happens? It says that when we sin, what we're ultimately doing is we are serving. It says they forgot the Lord, their God, and they started to serve the Baals and the Asherah.
Speaker 1:Who were the Baals? The Baals were the God of money, success and position and career. Is there anything with earning money? No. Is there anything wrong with having money? No. What's wrong is when your money has you Right. And so we see the Baals right where these were gods of money that if you serve these Baals, then they believed that they would get a lot of money. The Asherah was the goddess of sex and pleasure. So basically they said if you can simultaneously both serve Baal and Asherah and you get all the success and all the pleasure you want, then you are the happiest people on the planet earth.
Speaker 1:Now here is what we understand is what God is doing, and I want to show this to you because you might be wondering. Well, how did they get here? Because last week, pastor James preached an incredible message. I was sitting right back here with my wife, michelle, and he preached an incredible message on finishing strong, and one of the points that he made was is that sin will always cost us. Sin will always cost us. We think that it's gonna give to us, but rather it cost us. So the question is how did they get here? Because we were just in the book of Joshua last week and God was with them and they were obeying God and they were marching throughout the promised land and they were fighting all these battles and God was giving them all these victories and all this type stuff. And I just gotta show you what happened.
Speaker 1:In Judges, chapter one, it said that Joshua died and God called Judah, which is a tribe, a group of people, to lead. In other words, they lost a spiritual leader. You know what happens often when we sin is when we don they lost a spiritual leader. You know, what happens often when we sin is when we don't have a spiritual leader or a spiritual mentor in our life that we can talk to, who will pray for us, who would encourage us. Judges is a messed up book during messed up times. You can just read chapter one, verse six, and it's all throughout the book of Judges. And isn't the world? Isn't the world a messed up place? And aren't we living in messed up times? Israel did not drive out all of the Canaanites from the land, and it's a reminder to me and to you.
Speaker 1:When we sin, why is it that we sin? We sin because we don't drive out every sin in our life, and the sin that we allow to stay is the sin that often comes back and destroys us. We see, the angel of the Lord said I brought you up out of Egypt, meaning God saved them right from slavery in Egypt. He said I will never break my covenant with you. We see the faithfulness of God. Then we see the command of God. He said in Judges 2 too, make no covenant with inhabitants, break down their altars. But then he says at the end of that verse, but you did not obey me. In other words, sin. When I sin, it is not because that God isn't being faithful to me. When I sin, it's because I'm not being faithful to God. God is always faithful to me. God is always faithful to you through Jesus Christ. But the issue is is that when we don't appreciate the faithfulness of God and he says those inhabitants that you did not drive out, they will become a pain and a temptation. In other words, the little sins that we keep in our lives are the sins that grow and fester and multiply and they are the ones that will sneak up on us and they were the ones that will ultimately bring us down.
Speaker 1:It also says in Judges 2.10, another generation arose who did not know the Lord or his work. So now we have a new generation of Israelites coming up and no one told them about God. A whole brand new generation of little boys and little girls to become young men and become young women. But it says that they did not know the Lord. They didn't know who God was or the work. Why? Because God was forgotten among the people of God. Do you know what happened? Life got good.
Speaker 1:Often, when life is good is when we lose our desperation for God, when we lose our depth in the word of God, when we lose our desperation in prayer with God. And often what we do is we forget God. And when you forget God is when you fall into sin. When we forget God is when we fall into sin. Psalm 39, verse 23, says Search me, o God. Know my heart, try me and know my thoughts. See if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting Meaning. God, I'm not even aware of all of my sin. I've got sin in my life that are blind spots to me. God, I need you to search me. I need you to seek me, god, I need you to show me even areas that I'm not aware of, that I'm sinning against you.
Speaker 1:And the Bible continues to say, and goes on to say, that it is often the good times in our life when we struggle the most with God. Here's what happens when I'm going through good times in my life and everything's easy and everything's comfortable and everything's kind of going my way, then what I tend to do is I drift in my devotions because I feel like that I don't need God as much as when times are bad, and so my devotions can become shallow or rushed or hurried or sporadic. And then there are times that maybe I go through a hard time and I get real close with God and I'm in God's word and I'm in prayer, and I don't know if the same is for you. But then a temptation will come my way and Satan will start to deceive me and maybe I take the bait and maybe I sin. And you know what happens I don't have the same faith, intimacy with God that I did before, because I know that there is something in my life that I'm not living for him, and so I feel this hindrance, not him towards me, but me towards him that I'm not giving him all of me because he gave me all of him. So we see here that we choose sin. And then, number two sin oppresses you. Everybody say oppress, oppress. I think this is actually a very appropriate word. And I number two sin oppresses you. Everybody say oppress, oppress. I think this is actually a very appropriate word and I want to explain this word, but let me show you where we're going here.
Speaker 1:It says in Judges 3.8,. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people of Israel and he said to them and he sold them excuse me into the hand of the Cushan Rosh Hathim. I sounded that out like 20 times this week. King of Mesopotamia and the people of Israel served under Cushon Rosh Hathim for eight years. What do we see here?
Speaker 1:The anger of the Lord, that anger of the Lord. The Hebrew word is af and it actually means it's a word picture. It's like a forehead that is crinkling up, it's nostrils that are flaring, it's smoke that is coming out. Like we've got an emoji for the anger of the Lord. Can I get an amen? And this is often how I feel like, sometimes, like when my kids like deliberately disobey me right in front of me, like don't do that, don't do that, don't do that, and they do it. And it's like how is that possible? And I feel my forehead creakle up and my nose flare and I start breathing like a hog, you know, and I feel like that.
Speaker 1:But isn't it interesting that we serve a God who has anger against sin? Aren't you thankful that our God hates sin? He doesn't hate us, he doesn't hate the sinner. He loves the sinner, but he hates the sin. Could you imagine having a police department? And I'm so thankful for the police of Powder Springs, the police of Cobb County, so thankful for all that they do. Could you imagine a police department who's apathetic to crime? Can you imagine a judge who is apathetic to sentencing criminals? No, we have a just God, we have a holy God, and we should be thankful. And we should be grateful that sin angers God, and it says that his anger was kindled against Israel and he sold him into the hand of Cushon Rosh Hathim.
Speaker 1:Now let me explain that real quick. That word to sell is makar in the Hebrew, and I need to explain this. Makar does not mean that he was trying to make money off of his people. You know what makar means. Makar means that he handed them over to what they really wanted most. I want you to know one of the worst things that God can do is to let you have the sin you want the most. One of the worst things that God can do in your life and it's because of you, not because of him is you want it, you want it, you want it, you go after it, you go after it, you go after it. And finally God says, says I'm gonna let you have it. But he does it redemptively. He hands you over for a season to show you that that sin can never provide for you what he wants to give you, that that sin can never satisfy you like he can satisfy you. It says. So he goes on the anger of the Lord, he sells them into the hand of the Cushites and the people of Israel served.
Speaker 1:So often. We feel like man. If I do this, the sin is going to serve me, the sin is going to satisfy me, the sin is going to help me. But here's what happens we end up becoming slaves of that sin, we end up serving the sin, we end up serving Satan. In a sense, we end up giving our lives to him, living for him instead of living for the Lord. And I see this in my life, because it says that they served for eight years, or in other words, there can be seasons in the life of a believer that is given over to sin, the bondage of sin, the oppression of sin, and I've gone through these years in my life and these years of our life. It's like the mouse in a maze and you get a little cheese and you forget that you're just used by the devil, that you're just used by the devil and you forget that there's so much more for you outside of the sin and that sin doesn't truly satisfy. That sin doesn't truly fulfill.
Speaker 1:I think about the years of my life that I have been enslaved to sin and I remember the times that my worship just felt so stale, like I didn't even feel like singing to the Lord. I remember my devotions were boring, my prayers felt like that they just bounced off the ceiling, like I didn't want to be in community. I didn't want to be in a group. Why? Because I didn't cherish the word of God with other believers. I didn't want accountability. I didn't want to serve and use my gifts in the local church because I wanted to serve my sin. I didn't want to serve God. I didn't want to go out and spread the gospel and tell people about Jesus. Why? Because I wanted sin to spread further into my life. I didn't want to give generously to God and the mission of God and all that God wants to do to change people's lives and power springs and all throughout the world. I didn't wanna give because I wanted to give to sin, not give to myself, not give to him.
Speaker 1:This is what happens in our life when we go through the sin, and I just I want you to see that Psalm 32, three and four talks about the oppression of sin. This is how King David felt. And, by the way, king David was known as a man after God's own heart. In other words, god's greatest label on your life is not your sin, but God's greatest label on your life is your savior. God knows you're a sinner, and so God is calling us to make sure that we are fixing our eyes on him, he says.
Speaker 1:King David said, for when I kept silent, in other words, when I wasn't confessing my sin to God, my bones wasted away. There's something physical that happens within us, though my groaning was all day long. There's something verbal that happens within us, for day and night, your hand was heaving upon me. It's the conviction of the Holy Spirit, he said. My strength was dried up.
Speaker 1:We lose our vigor, and as by the heat of the summer, selah, if you're like me and you find yourself in times like this, here's some things that I've had to learn to remember. First of all, when I am in sin and I give my life to sin, I have to remember this. I have to remember how much better my life was when I was following Jesus in obedience than living in disobedience. And there are times in my life where, as I am following Jesus, as I am obeying Jesus, as I am pursuing Jesus, and I have to remember when temptation comes my way, I gotta remember. Oh, I remember what it felt like when I gave my life to sin. I remember what it felt like when I gave my life to sin. I remember what it felt like when there's no such thing as one sin, there's no such thing as just giving myself to it one time.
Speaker 1:That sin is never satisfied. That's why they call it lust, because it's relentless in our life. In that we cannot control sin. Sin controls us. The only control that we have is by living our life. In that we cannot control sin. Sin controls us. The only control that we have is by living our life for Christ. And so I gotta remember in my life, as I'm living my life for Jesus, that sin seems so good. It seems like it'll satisfy, it seems like it'll fulfill, it seems like it'll make me happy, it seems like it'll give me whatever I want, but actually it is only going to oppress me, enslave me and trap me and trick me and destroy me.
Speaker 1:Can I get an amen. So that's what we see that God is doing in our life. So what happens when sin does oppress you? When sin oppresses you, what do we do? We cry out to God. We cry out to God, and aren't you thankful for a God that he says even when you're in sin? Cry out to me. Judges 3, 9,.
Speaker 1:But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, that word Hebrew word, za'ak and I love just studying the Hebrew on all this because it gives us a fuller meaning. So just let me nerd out for a second if you don't mind. So za'ak means not just to say God, help me. It's not just to say God, help me. It's not just to say God, get me out of this. It's not just to say God, help me with all these consequences. No, za'ak is saying you are crying out to the Lord and you're saying, god, you were right, I was wrong, forgive me, I repent, I confess God, I'm coming back to you. God, would you take me back again?
Speaker 1:I love being a dad to our three kids Brooklyn six, cruz two, eliana one and typically you know it's zone defense in the house, right, we got three, it's two on three and so typically, michelle, she takes Eliana the right. We got three, it's two on three and so typically, michelle, she takes Eliana, the one-year-old, because baby just needs mama. And at times when I'm there, when I can, I'm taking the other two, and so I love giving baths every night. So I bathe, typically bathe Cruz first and then I bathe Brooklyn, and Brooklyn is six years old. She was in here a little bit earlier for Mason's baptism.
Speaker 1:She was a little six-year-old in the wheelchair. We adopted her from birth. We learned at her around her first birthday, that she has cerebral palsy. She's not able to stand, she's not able to walk, she's not able to get herself up. She can be on her knees and she can walk around a little bit on her knees, but we have to put her on her knees so in the bath. When I'm putting her in the bath, I have to be in the bathroom the entire time because if she falls over in the water she can't get herself back up. Okay, so I stay in the bathroom the whole time and let her play and let her splash and let her have her fun, but I don't leave because she could fall over under the water.
Speaker 1:But there are times when I am there that she falls. There are times when I am there that she falls, and when she does, she can feel herself, start to fall. And she knows because I told her to scream as loud as you can and just say scream, help. Just make sure that whoever's paying attention they're watching, they're looking, they're there, scream, help, help, help. And so she'll start to fall and she'll say help, daddy, help, daddy, help. And then she'll go down. Sometimes, daddy, help, daddy, help. And then she'll go down. Sometimes she'll go under, sometimes she'll land on the shoulder, whatever it might be.
Speaker 1:And I'll tell you what I don't do. When she screams, daddy, help, I don't say, hey, baby, let me finish this email real quick and I'll get to you in just a second. I'll say, hey, baby, daddy. I won't say Daddy's real busy right now and so, ken, I is wrong with you. Get yourself up. We've talked about this so many times. Sit yourself back up.
Speaker 1:I don't say that. You know what I do, because I am my baby girl's daddy. I'll run to her rescue the whole, every single time when she cries out to daddy, because it's my job. God put me in her life to save her, to deliver her, to protect her? And don't you know that God is your heavenly father and when you cry out to him at any time because of your sin, he comes to your rescue and he delivers you and he saves you. And he doesn't say wait, he doesn't say what's wrong with you, he doesn't say I'm busy, he is locked on you and God delivers you. That's exactly what this verse is saying.
Speaker 1:God promises you if we confess our sins. God is faithful, even when you're unfaithful, when I'm unfaithful, god is faithful. He's just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You can write this down. Five quick things about crying out to God. Number one write this down.
Speaker 1:Number one is conviction. Feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your life when you sin. Number two is confession. When you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit when you've sinned, go ahead and confess that sin to God and ask for forgiveness. Number three is forgiveness. Believe the forgiveness of God. Why does the Bible never say to forgive yourself? Because when God forgives you, that's all the forgiveness you need. Can I get an amen? Number four is repentance. What is repentance? Repentance is when we are living for our sin and we turn the other direction and we start living for him, for Jesus, again. And number five is obedience. Obedience is a long obedience in the same direction. It is living your life for Jesus, day after day, step after step, decision after decision, over and over and over again.
Speaker 1:How do we confess our sin to God? I would encourage you this is what I practice Confess the nitty gritty details, because he already watched it, he already knows. Just go and confess it all. Don't just be like, oh God, I messed up. Would you forgive me? Tell him what you did. Because sometimes when we say it to God, when we describe, recount our evil and our sin to a holy God, it just sounds awful and it's a deterrent of doing it again. So you don't have to confess again, even though he invites us to confess again over and over and over again.
Speaker 1:Don't just confess your sin, also confess the gospel, because God isn't just saying it's okay, god's not saying it's okay. When we confess our sin, god is saying I got you, I've already sent my son, he's already died for it, his blood has already covered it. He doesn't say it's okay. He says I forgive you because Jesus has already died for our sin. Well, to whom all should you confess your sin, to Confess your sin as far as your sin went. In other words, I would encourage you to confess your sin.
Speaker 1:If your sin was in private, confess it in private to God. If your sin was against someone else, confess it to God because you sinned against him and confess it to them because you sinned against them too. If your sin was against someone else, confess it to God because you sinned against him and confess it to them because you sinned against them too. If your sin was public, then I would encourage you confess it to God and confess it publicly, so that other people forgive you as well. And what we see from the scriptures is that when we cry out to God, we're saying God, you're right, I'm wrong, I confess, I repent, forgive me and I'll live for you. And what happens when we cry out to God? Number four God delivers you. Everybody say deliver, god delivers you. I love this.
Speaker 1:This is my favorite part Judges 3, 9, and 10. But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer. Who was the deliverer? It was a judge. God would raise up in the book of Judges some 12 different judges because they kept falling into sin over and over and over again. Sound familiar, just like me, just like you. And God sends a deliverer into their life to deliver them from sin. It says for the people of Israel, who the deliverer saved them.
Speaker 1:Now, who is the deliverer in this story? I want to show you real quick. It's Othniel. Everybody say Othniel. Who is Othniel? This is important the son of Canaz, caleb's younger brother. Here's why that's so important Because Caleb was a rock star in Israel.
Speaker 1:Only Joshua and Caleb you remember this Only Joshua and Caleb went into the promised land from that whole generation, which means everybody entering into the promised land is at least 20 years younger than Joshua and Caleb. Caleb was one of those guys, one of the 12 spies that went into Canaan to spy out the land while they were still the Israelites were still in the desert. Caleb was one of two that came back with a positive report. Caleb was known to be in his 80s, saying he had more energy in his 80s than he did all of his years previous. Caleb was a rock star. Othniel was a nobody. Can you imagine being Caleb's younger brother? Like, hey, we don't know your name, but could you get us a meeting with Caleb? We'd really like to meet him and maybe get his autograph one day. Hey can't remember your name, but we're pretty sure you're related.
Speaker 1:Tell us that story about Caleb again, what it would feel like to be Othniel and sometimes what it feels like to be me and what it feels like to be you, that we often feel insignificant, like a nobody, like God could never use us. But what did God do? The spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel, just like the spirit of the Lord comes upon you, so that God can use you greater in your life through his spirit than you could ever be in your life by yourself. And Othniel judged Israel. In other words, he came and he saved. The day he went out to war and the Lord gave Kishon, the Rishayim, the king of Mesopotamia, into Othniel's hand. So here's what we need to see.
Speaker 1:Ultimately, this is about Jesus. Othniel is a picture of Jesus, for the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king and he will save us. Who is our ultimate judge? It is Jesus. Let me show you some cool connections very quickly. Othniel was raised up by God to save, but Jesus was sent by God to be our savior. Othniel was filled with the Holy Spirit, but Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit and he fills you with the Holy Spirit too. Othniel defeated an earthly oppressor, but Jesus came and he defeated the eternal oppressors sin, death and Satan. Othniel brought temporary peace, but Jesus brings eternal peace. Othniel came from the tribe of Judah, but Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah. Othniel's name means God is my strength, but Jesus is both God's son and our strength. Put your hands together for Jesus as our judge.
Speaker 1:So let me lay on this plane. What do we do? I wanna encourage you to relentlessly seek and pursue Jesus as the deliverer of your life. And when Jesus is your deliverer, then Jesus. He fills you with his Holy Spirit and through him you can go and help deliver people out of their sin too. We're called to be evangelists. We're called to be missionaries. We're called to be disciple makers. We're called to be ministers of the gospel. And so you choose sin. Sin oppresses you. You cry out to God. God delivers you. For what purpose? That we experience peace, the end of the passage. So the land had rest for 40 years, then Othniel, the son of Kenes, died. What did they experience when they were delivered by Othniel? The same thing that you want, the same thing that I want. What we hear on the news every day, the deepest desire of every single human heart, I just want. I just want peace.
Speaker 1:People are looking for peace of mind, people are looking for peace of heart. People are looking for relational peace, emotional peace, mental peace. Can I remind you that Jesus is the only one who can give real peace. Jesus said I've said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. Peace is only found in him. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart. Jesus said. I have overcome the world. Jesus is saying even when you are surrounded by tribulation, by hardship, even when everything is falling apart around you, he is holding you together within you. How do you get it, david, I'm sorry. Isaiah said David, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Isaiah said God, you keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. When your mind is stayed on God, when your mental capacity is fixed on Christ, when you're focusing your heart on him and on him alone, and you trust him, even when it looks like that he is losing control. But you trust him and God, I know you can never lose control because you're provident, you're sovereign, you always have control. God, I trust you, no matter what. Then it says that he gives you perfect peace in your life. That's not perfection around you, that's perfect peace within you. So what do you do? How do you break the cycle?
Speaker 1:I would encourage you don't choose sin. Don't choose sin. Choose him. Choose him over and over and over and over again, because there is no sin that is better than Jesus. There is nothing the world can give you, there is nothing that Satan can offer you, there is nothing that sin can satisfy within you, that Jesus cannot do better and fully and eternally. And when we don't choose sin, then sin won't oppress you, you'll be free, you'll have the joy of Christ, you'll have the peace of God in your life. But I would encourage you, as you do that, as you choose him and you experience the freedom of God, never stop crying out to God, never stop, never quit Cry out to him and say God, I need you to continue to deliver me, because sin is tempting and it's relentless and it's constantly coming my way. And what God does is he delivers you not just from the sin, but he delivers you before the sin. He delivers you, the Bible says from the temptation, because when you choose him, you're choosing his peace in your life. Can I ask us all to bow our heads and close our eyes? Every head bowed, every eye closed.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're here this morning and maybe you've been in the cycle. Maybe you've been struggling with sin, tempted with sin, struggling with finding peace, keeping your eyes on him. Here's what I wanna encourage you to do right now Just cry out to your father, cry out to your savior. Jesus, deliver me again. And he will again and again and again and again. And maybe you're here and you can't do that yet because you haven't given your life to him.
Speaker 1:And here's what he's saying. He's saying I can't wait to save you, I can't wait to forgive you, I can't wait to deliver you because he created you and Jesus died for you, and so God desperately wants to save you. But you've got to your life. To him, right here, right now, you can say a prayer that I can help you with, that you can give your life to him this morning. You can pray right here, right now, and just say God, I believe in you and God, I need you. You can tell him God, I believe in Jesus, I believe that he died on the cross for my sins, and so I'm asking you to forgive me of all my sin, past, present and future. You can tell him God, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead. I believe he's alive, I believe he's real, and I wanna turn from my sin and I wanna follow him with my life.
Speaker 1:And the Bible says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. If you believe that with your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved. So right now, just tell Jesus Jesus, be the Lord of my life, be my Lord, be my God, be my savior. Jesus, we thank you for that promise, we thank you for that truth. We thank you for your salvation. We pray these things in Jesus' name, and all God's people said put your hands together for anybody that prayed that prayer this morning. The Bible says that heaven rejoices every time a sinner repents and gives their life to Jesus, and we are so thankful. I'm gonna hand it over to Pastor James.