WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:07.120 Alright, we're gonna get right in today because I got uh I got a lot to say in in a constrained amount of time. 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:09.119 33 minutes and 33 seconds. 00:00:09.199 --> 00:00:10.720 Alright, so let's get after it. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:14.640 Uh we're in a series right now that we're calling cover to cover. 00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:20.000 And uh I I uh appreciate those of you that have gone the distance uh with me in the series. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:21.199 We're in week nine. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:50.880 What we're doing is looking, taking an overview, kind of a fly over, zoom out, zoom in, zoom out, zoom in on the storyline of the Bible, and trying to get really uh build a foundation of some things we can keep coming back to uh throughout the years and and uh have some shared understanding, some shared language that we can really uh as we zero in on different parts of the scripture, you know, for the rest of our time together over the years, we'll kind of know where it fits in uh the overall storyline of the Bible. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:52.560 So that's what we've been up to. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:01:04.079 Um just as by way of summary, uh we are we've been talking about the meta-narrative of the Bible, which in very simple terms starts in Genesis 1 and 2, and it's God creates the world. 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:07.760 He's creating opportunity, but he creates what we call shalom. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:13.680 He creates uh right relationship with God self and the world around us. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:15.519 And that's really what God wants. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:22.159 He that's his will for people, uh, that we would be in right relationship with him, ourselves, and the world around us. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:23.920 And so he creates that in Genesis. 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:50.719 Pretty quickly, you see the free will flesh uh starts making decisions, and some of them were uh disobedient decisions that people had been clearly told what to do, and at other points it was uh foolish, short-sighted decisions where somebody thought they were going for wisdom and instead they went about the right thing in the wrong way, and it starts to create collateral damage and fallout uh with ourselves, with the people around us, and even with God. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:58.319 And so uh we see from the this the storyline going from creation to to fall and then ultimately to redemption. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:07.359 Grace, the grace of God is demonstrated all the way back in the Garden of Eden when God does not kill them, even though the wages of sin is death. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:19.759 He doesn't kill them, he actually uh kills an animal to cover their shame and to actually put clothes on them and to cover their insecurities, and then he gives them a new opportunity. 00:02:19.919 --> 00:02:27.280 They've lost the opportunity of the garden, which often uh flesh and and poor decisions can cause us to lose opportunity. 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:30.479 Uh, but he gives them a new opportunity outside of the garden. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:51.360 And so we see that storyline sort of run through the entire Bible, and um uh kind of where we're at now, we've we we've looked at in Genesis, you see, as as the population grew, as more and more people were on the earth, there became chaos because everybody's sort of flesh and and and human decisions and free wills are colliding. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:52.879 And and and you know how it is? 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:57.520 I mean, sometimes even the the things that we do that we look back, like, why did I do that? 00:02:57.680 --> 00:02:59.039 It made sense at the time. 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:00.000 It just really did. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:02.879 Even like I can make a case for injustice, right? 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:08.639 Like if you do me wrong at a one, okay, it would make sense for me to come back with a one, right? 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:10.080 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth. 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:18.960 But a lot of times if I'm minding my own business and you do an injustice to me with a one, I gotta come back with a two, okay, because I want to let you know I'm nothing to be messed with. 00:03:19.039 --> 00:03:21.360 So it's not, we're not just gonna be one to one here. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:23.520 Okay, you hit me with a one, I'm gonna hit you with a two. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:26.879 And you would think it would be over because I just fired a shot over the bow. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:29.439 But actually, now you're like, wait a second, now I'm down two to one. 00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:30.800 Who do they think I am? 00:03:30.960 --> 00:03:32.080 And so they can't come back. 00:03:32.159 --> 00:03:37.199 I can't even come back with a two, because you I you need to know I'm capable of more than a two, so I'm gonna give you a three. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:42.080 So now it's uh it's five to two, and so you get the idea. 00:03:42.240 --> 00:04:04.240 The math starts going up, and yet at the time, even though we're in chaos at the time, it made sense why I made the decision that I made, and yet pretty soon you look up and the math has gotten all out of hand, and you've got suffering, and you've got pain, and you've got injustice, and everybody's looking through their own lens at how we got to where we were and who's right and who's wrong is the chaos of the world. 00:04:04.319 --> 00:04:08.560 And so we see that God shows up into that chaos and says, I want to correct this. 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:10.319 I'm not giving up on people. 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:12.879 I love humans, I want to make it right. 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:20.399 And so he sets Abraham apart and says, I'm gonna make a nation out of you, I'm gonna make a promise with you connected to a purpose. 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:34.560 And the promise is I'm gonna give you uh land, I'm gonna make you a nation, and I'm gonna give you law so that you can show the world what I'm like, and you can we're gonna put the world to rights, and I want to do it through you. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:41.759 And so he makes this covenant with Abraham, and uh, over a long period of time, eventually they get to the promised land. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:48.639 Last week we looked in the book of Joshua that they end up uh through the conquest, they end up taking and seizing the promised land. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:50.560 So now we're in the book of Judges. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:53.600 You would think it's like we're now we're here. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:54.399 We're here. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:55.680 It's been hundreds of years. 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:59.199 We've been through a lot in Egypt, uh, through the Exodus. 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:01.360 God brought you out on eagle's wings. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:06.480 We've gone through the hardship in the wilderness, we have the law, we've taken the land. 00:05:06.639 --> 00:05:11.839 Now it's time to do what the promise and the purpose were intended from the beginning. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:15.680 Let's live this shalom here on the earth. 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:20.720 Uh, where we picked up last or where we ended last week was looking at idolatry. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:28.240 Why does God have such an intense reaction to idols, right, who are false gods, right? 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:36.560 You see the name Baal and Asherah show up a lot in the Bible, and it's like they're not even real, but they are theological ideas. 00:05:36.959 --> 00:05:42.000 And we looked last week that God's issue with idolatry is not petty. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:48.480 It's not like God is jealous that Baal got credit for the crop because he was the rain god. 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:50.720 It has it's way more than that. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:56.720 It's that Baal represented distorted theological beliefs. 00:05:56.959 --> 00:05:59.519 And what we believe about God is really important. 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:07.360 And so what they believed about God based on who Baal had been presented to be was different than who Yahweh actually is. 00:06:07.600 --> 00:06:20.879 And then not only the distorted theological belief, but the perverted practices of child sacrifice and of uh sexual abuse and even self-harm that came with trying to please these gods. 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:26.079 And in some way, the truth about God has been lost in the lies about Baal. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:36.160 And so God's whole issue with this is not who gets the credit, it's the bondage that was created through these distorted beliefs. 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:39.920 And so we're gonna see that this lingers, and we get to the book of Judges. 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:44.639 They're now in the land, and yet this Baal problem that does not go away. 00:06:44.800 --> 00:06:48.560 Look what it says in Judges 2, 1 through 3. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:54.720 It says, I brought you up out of Egypt, and I led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:07:03.279 I said, I will never break my covenant or my promise or my contract with you, and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land. 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:13.680 Again, the the reason he didn't want them to connect with the people of that land is because they were entrenched in these mindsets and in these behaviors, these reprehensible behaviors. 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:15.519 He said, Break down their altars. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:24.399 In other words, like get rid of anything that resembles anything to do with this perpetuating of these uh uh detestable practices. 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:27.120 So yet you've disobeyed me. 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:28.399 Why have you done this? 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:29.279 He said. 00:07:29.519 --> 00:07:32.000 I've also said, I will not drive them out. 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:33.040 Look at this now. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:40.879 I will not drive them out before you, and they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:59.040 What you're gonna see in the book of Judges, okay, if we think of the metaphor of God as a father, if we look at like God doing a parenting job in the book of Judges, is you're going to see God's tactic of training and teaching and helping the children of Israel to learn. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:03.439 He's going to use the tactic of patience. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:07.040 I'm going to let you live with it. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:15.279 Imagine your child coming to you thinking that they're more mature than they are. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:19.920 Think of your child, some of you are like, I have no idea what that might be like. 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:29.040 Um taking totally for granted the bills that are being paid that they know nothing of. 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:44.639 Think of your children coming for you now at an age where they're able to connect dots logically, and yet they don't have enough life experience to have maturity, but they're sure that you don't know what you're talking about. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:52.399 And that their ways are higher than your ways, and your their thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and you just think the old way, and this is the new way. 00:08:53.039 --> 00:08:57.840 And at some point, instead of arguing, at some point, you go. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:03.679 Okay. 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:06.159 Fine. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:14.639 It says in in Judges, he says, okay, you think you've been winning these military victories on your own. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:18.080 He says, I've been driving them out before you. 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:22.720 So what I'm gonna do is you can walk to school by yourself. 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:28.480 The bullies have been looking at me and going the other way. 00:09:28.799 --> 00:09:30.480 And you thought it was you. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:32.720 No problem. 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:36.720 Go on your own, pay your own bills. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:41.759 Do it your you want to do it your way, do it your way and see how it works out. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:51.519 And so, what God does is ultimately he removes his protection, he removes his provision, and he says, if I mean, if this is how you want to learn, this is how you're gonna learn. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:53.120 And I'll let you do it. 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:57.679 And he is lovingly patient. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:09.679 Sometimes as parents, this is difficult for us because we see our kids in something and we so badly want to jump in, and we know that if we just jump in with intense energy, we can change the situation quick. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:22.000 You know, but but you realize sometimes if you if I come in with anger or I come in loud, I can get my kids to switch quickly because they're afraid of me, but the long term they didn't learn the lesson, they just kind of quickly did it. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:24.879 And sometimes I have to ask myself, why am I coming in like this? 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:32.480 Sometimes it's just because I'm frustrated with the situation, and so I'm in bad energy, so I'm just tired of looking at it, so I just do whatever. 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:36.639 And sometimes that's at the expense of my children learning what they need to learn. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:42.639 Or sometimes I'm so tired of watching them fumble around with it and I'm becoming impatient myself. 00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:47.360 I'm like tired of seeing them mess it up, so I just want to go in and fix it and save it. 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:52.159 And and yet sometimes the best thing for a parent to do is just to sit there and let you struggle. 00:10:52.799 --> 00:10:57.679 My wife hates this story, but I love it, and she's she's not in this service, so I'm gonna go ahead and tell it. 00:10:57.840 --> 00:11:11.360 Um when when our daughter Ella was a baby, she um I see my wife walking around and she's holding my daughter, and she's standing up and she's like, Oh, she's talking about how bad her how tired she is and her back hurts. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:14.559 I was like, Well, we paid good money for this rocking chair. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:15.840 You should sit in the rocking chair. 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:16.960 She's like, Well, I can't. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:17.759 So why not? 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:20.559 She said, every time I sit down in the rocking chair, she cries. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:22.399 If I stand, she doesn't cry. 00:11:22.480 --> 00:11:23.519 If I sit down, she cries. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:25.759 And I was like, Give me that. 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:26.720 Get it right to me. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:34.320 So I take Ella and I stand there and she's fine, and I sit down in the rocking chair, I start rocking, and she starts crying. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:36.399 I'm like, is this really how it works? 00:11:36.480 --> 00:11:38.799 And I stand up and she stops crying. 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:42.000 I walk around a little bit, my back starts hurting. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:44.879 I sit down, she starts crying. 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:47.600 So I try to see if I can wait this out. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:51.039 I rock her for about a minute and she keeps crying, she won't stop. 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:58.879 So I have her wrapped in a blanket, she's in my warm arms, in my warm embrace, and it's not good enough for her. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:05.600 So I set her on the hardwood floor, and I take her blanket away. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:15.679 So she's laying on the hardwood floor with no blanket, and I'm speaking to her lovingly, but I'm like, how does that feel, Dominic? 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:17.679 Do you like that? 00:12:17.919 --> 00:12:20.000 We can do that as long as you want. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:22.480 That hardwood floor is not going anywhere. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:24.559 If you want to lay there forever, you can. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:29.679 And she's like, I just let her feel it for a while. 00:12:29.840 --> 00:12:32.559 And you think these arms are that uncomfortable? 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:33.600 How does that feel? 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:37.840 Eventually I scoop her up, put her in the blanket, and she starts acting right. 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:45.279 That's a true story. 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:48.480 And that's a smart kid. 00:12:49.360 --> 00:12:50.879 She picked up on it. 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:56.879 You see in the book of Judges, okay, let's let's let's just dive into the story. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:58.320 Let's look at it. 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:09.759 It says in Judges chapter 2, verse 11, it said the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:11.519 Alright, so here we are. 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:12.480 We're back to Baal. 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:14.960 We we should have left Baal in Joshua. 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:17.679 But here we are in Judges and Baal's back. 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:19.679 So they do evil in the eyes of the Lord. 00:13:19.759 --> 00:13:21.600 Look at this, Judges 3, 7. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:24.159 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:25.440 This is like a broken record. 00:13:25.519 --> 00:13:29.279 They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheras. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:35.759 So you're gonna see throughout the book of Judges, by the way, when you see judges, okay, don't think judicial, think leader. 00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:36.480 Leader. 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:44.000 So the word judges is used in the title of the book, but when it talks about the action of the judges, it's gonna talk essentially about their leadership. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:50.559 God would raise up a leader, okay, and so actually go ahead and bring up the um bring up that cycle. 00:13:50.639 --> 00:13:51.919 So this is a screenshot. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:57.759 I I brought this up in one of the earlier weeks, but I want to uh run it, bring it back so that you can uh have it top of mind. 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:06.080 So this is uh a screenshot from the Bible project, and it's essentially describing this cycle that you're gonna see all throughout the book of Judges. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:14.240 And you're going to see um let's start kind of over there at uh uh let's start on at like 10 o'clock, right? 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:16.639 So right there. 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:22.480 Um they they're in a place of peace, things are going well, and ultimately they they turn their hearts from God. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:29.519 They stop obeying God, they do it their way, they begin to sin, and then when that happens, there's oppression from another nation. 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:33.360 So again, God says, I'm gonna remove my protection and my provision. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:36.159 If you want to do it your way, you're gonna have to learn the hard way. 00:14:36.399 --> 00:14:41.360 And so now these other nations would come in and would take them over, and so now they've lost their freedom. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:45.600 Okay, they you think you know better, that's fine, do it your way, they lose their freedom. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:15:00.960 And once they do that, then they come to their senses and they come back to God eventually, ultimately they repent, and then they end up uh in God will raise up a judge or a leader ultimately to deliver them uh from their current problem. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:04.639 And so so so again, let me give you a little overview. 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:11.200 So, Judges 3, 7, they did evil in the eyes of the Lord, they forgot their Lord, their God, and they keep coming back to Baal. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:15.440 Judges 4, 1, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:19.840 Judges 6, 1, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:21.200 Now let's stop here. 00:15:22.080 --> 00:15:23.440 Let's stop here for a second. 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:26.080 We're in Judges 6. 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:34.879 When it says they did evil in the eyes of the Lord, they go back to Baal and Ashrah, they're not learning the lesson. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:41.919 It's one thing you get put down on the hardwood floor and you go, wait a second, I thought the rocking chair was bad, this is worse. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:48.720 You learn your lesson, we can stop crying and get it back to bonding and comfort and get to a good place. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:52.000 If I don't learn, I have to keep suffering. 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:56.799 And so we get to Judges 6, and this is the story of Gideon. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:08.080 And so they have now, it says in Gideon 6 1, they did they did evil in the sight of the Lord, and so the Midianites oppressed them for seven years. 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:09.919 Seven years. 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:14.480 And the Midianites are brutal bullies, brutal. 00:16:14.559 --> 00:16:17.440 They're trying to starve them to death. 00:16:17.759 --> 00:16:20.000 Okay, they're burning down their fields. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:23.679 Gideon ultimately is in total survival mode. 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:29.120 He's smuggling grain in a wine press, just trying to make it through the day. 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.799 The angel of the Lord appears to him, mighty hero, the Lord is with you. 00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:36.240 Gideon thinks that the angel's being sarcastic. 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:38.320 What are you talking about, mighty hero? 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:39.600 I am trying to survive. 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:41.600 I am a I feel like a wimp. 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:42.960 I'm being shoved in the locker. 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:45.360 The Midianites are wreaking havoc on us. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:46.720 Okay, what are you talking about? 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:52.480 And ultimately, God says, I want to use you as a leader to deal with this. 00:16:52.799 --> 00:16:57.759 Now, the first thing, look at this, that he says for Gideon to do. 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:11.599 Judges 6, 25, 26, tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the ashera poles beside it, and then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God. 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:15.359 So ultimately, think about this now. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:23.200 If you're Israel, who do you think, what do you think is our biggest problem that we have? 00:17:23.440 --> 00:17:24.640 What is our biggest problem? 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:26.880 What is the thing we think about all the time? 00:17:27.039 --> 00:17:28.400 What is terrorizing us? 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:32.640 You think the biggest problem is the Midianites. 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:39.759 But the Midianites are actually a distraction from the altars of Baal and Asherah. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:48.319 And so God says to Gideon, if you deal with the idols, I'll deal with the Midianites. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:50.880 The Midianites are a piece of cake to God. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:52.000 Are you kidding me? 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:54.559 I'll run them off this land so fast. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:57.920 That's nothing for me. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:04.480 The problem is, for seven years I've been patient watching you guys suffer for seven years. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:06.480 Now think about this for real. 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:21.359 Think about the altars to Baal and Asherah and the fact that you now have the children of Israel making sacrifices and doing everything to that, you know, all the reprehensible sacrifices to these gods. 00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:29.200 Imagine if God became impatient and was like, you know what, I'm tired of seeing my children suffer. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:36.000 And even though they're making these sacrifices to these altars, I'm going to deliver them anyway. 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:38.240 I just can't bear to watch them suffer anymore. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:40.160 I'm going to drive these Midianites out. 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:40.799 Okay. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:50.079 The oppression of the Midianites was a mirror image of the bondage, the spiritual bondage that they were in. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:54.319 So we're in economic and military bondage to the Midianites. 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:56.000 That's just a reflection. 00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:00.240 It's just a mirror image of the spiritual bondage we're in to Baal. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:19.359 And if we don't figure this out, if God was to come in and to deliver them from the Midianites, while the Midianites have altars to Baal and Asherah and they're making sacrifices and they're doing all the things that he would lock them into a theological belief and detestable practices. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:22.559 Who are they going to give credit to for the deliverance? 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:26.160 Ultimately, they're going to go, oh, this stuff must be working with Baal. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:28.160 This stuff must be working with Asherah. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:34.880 If God goes in because he can't take it anymore, he becomes impatient and doesn't, he's going to further confuse them. 00:19:34.960 --> 00:19:37.599 So I have to sit here and let you suffer. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:42.960 And ultimately, I'm going to say, I'm not going to do anything with the Midianites until you do something about Baal. 00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:45.359 Until you tear that down. 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:48.079 And so again, what is God trying to do here? 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:52.319 He's trying to get them to learn the lesson that he's trying to teach them. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:55.440 And so you would think, you would think that they would learn. 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:57.200 Here's the thing about judges. 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:01.359 We talk about this cycle and we named it, I think, in one of the early weeks. 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:03.440 This is the redemption cycle. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:05.200 Often it's called the sin cycle. 00:20:05.359 --> 00:20:08.240 I used to call it the stupid cycle because it's just kind of stupid. 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:09.279 You just keep doing it. 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:18.880 But I want to call it the redemption cycle because instead of making it about our sin, I think we we we need to understand it's about God's loving, patient desire to redeem us. 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:23.599 It's about it's about He'll do anything to redeem us, even if it means waiting. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:28.480 Think about the story in Luke 15 of the prodigal son. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:35.200 It's a story of a father willing to wait on his son to come to his senses. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:55.440 Alright, it's told in the trilogy of the lost coin and the lost sheep, where they sweep the house incessantly and they go, uh the shepherd goes and leaves the 99 for the one, but then you've got the prodigal story where the son is rebellious and and entitled and he thinks he knows better than his father, just like the nation thought they knew better than God. 00:20:55.599 --> 00:20:59.920 And in the story of the prodigal, the father says, Go ahead and do it your way. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:07.759 And then he waits in anticipation, believing that at some point when he gets low enough, he's gonna come to his senses. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:09.440 And of course, the prodigal son does. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:17.680 He gets to a place where he's so hungry, he's starving, that the pig slop looks appetizing to him, and he's like, What am I doing? 00:21:17.839 --> 00:21:23.440 I've cost myself the ability to be my father's son, but my father's employees eat better than this. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:30.160 Maybe he'll hire me back as an hourly worker, and so he's going to see his father, and his father comes running out. 00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:38.960 This is a father that's willing to be as patient as he needs to be, to wait for his child to learn the lesson he needs to learn. 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:53.440 And so you have God in the book of Judges waiting seven years, seven years of the Midianites mistreating his children until you will get rid of Baal and Asherah. 00:21:53.839 --> 00:21:59.680 Go ahead and bring up that center graphic because I'm gonna give you, we're gonna kind of fast forward through through some of this, but I want you to look. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:00.480 Look at this. 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:04.079 This is a these are a few important verses here. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:05.359 Judges 6, 1. 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:06.400 So we just looked at this. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:08.160 This is the Gideon story. 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:11.359 And it says, The Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord for seven years. 00:22:11.440 --> 00:22:15.119 Okay, so that's why I want you to get seven years, gave them to the hands of the Midianites. 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:21.359 So the Gideon story goes from chapter 6 through chapter 9, and God delivers the people. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:27.039 And at the end of chapter 9, you're going to see that actually they go back to idolatry. 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:29.759 Look at this, chapter 10, Judges 10, 6. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:32.960 Again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:34.799 They served the Baals and the Astarets. 00:22:35.039 --> 00:22:35.839 They go right back. 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:37.599 Look at this verse 8. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:42.799 For 18 years they oppressed all the Israelites. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:47.359 So in chapter 6, it's seven years. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:50.400 And in chapter 10, it's 18 years. 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:54.559 And this is now a leader named Jephthah that God uses. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:23:01.519 And by the way, each subsequent judge or leader becomes more and more corrupt. 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:11.519 It's like they go from decline to revival to deeper decline to revival to deeper decline to revival till it gets to Samson, right? 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:14.559 Who everybody knows because you know he's strong and everything. 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:16.400 He is a horrible leader. 00:23:16.559 --> 00:23:26.880 This is an absolute egomaniac, megalomaniac, complete uh narcissist, full of himself, okay, completely self-indulgent leader. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:28.640 And it's just getting worse and worse. 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:29.119 Look at this. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:30.720 Judges 13, 1. 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:34.559 Again, Israelite the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:36.799 So the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:37.359 Look at this. 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:39.279 For 40 years. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:48.400 So you see it go from seven years to 18 years to 40 years. 00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:57.279 I heard somebody say one time, everybody's good for something, even if it is being a bad example. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:01.920 It's kind of savage, but I mean it's kind of a good point. 00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:06.799 If you think of the book of Judges, this is that bad example. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:18.960 At some point, if after Judges 6, after the story of Gideon, the community comes around and says, guys, let's seal the problem here. 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:23.839 Let's be done with this Baal Asherah deal. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:27.279 We had seven years of oppression. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:30.000 We had seven years of misery. 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:33.759 And we we learned what we needed to learn. 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:37.200 Then there is no chapter 10 in 18 years. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:41.440 And there is no 40 years in chapter 13. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:43.279 We don't continue to go further down. 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:45.680 And this is one of the things that we have to understand. 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:48.319 At some point, you got to pull the nose up. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:52.480 At some point, you have to recognize a spiral for what it is. 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:57.200 Just because you're lower than you've ever been, doesn't mean you're as low as you could go. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:01.920 And sometimes we think that we've hit rock bottom and actually no, you've not. 00:25:03.359 --> 00:25:05.279 This seven years isn't rock bottom. 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:06.880 It can get much, much worse. 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:19.599 And at some point, the cautionary tale, if we're going to really honor this text, if we're going to really look at judges and get everything we're supposed to get out of it, it is one of the hardest to watch and read books of the Bible. 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:23.839 And the way it ends is it ends in civil war. 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:24.960 Okay? 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:33.119 It ends with a story so awful, you're reading it like, why is this in the Bible? 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:34.799 Why is this even here? 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:48.319 And what it's showing is the cultural and moral decay of what happens when you continue to let idols fester and you don't deal with them. 00:25:48.559 --> 00:25:50.640 And you don't get them out of your life. 00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:55.359 And each time you take a cycle, you go deeper and deeper and deeper. 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:56.559 You've seen this before. 00:25:56.720 --> 00:26:01.039 You've seen this maybe in your own life, in your own relationships. 00:26:01.279 --> 00:26:02.880 Something bad happens. 00:26:03.039 --> 00:26:09.519 If we will take that bad event and we'll put all the truth on the table and we'll take it seriously. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:10.960 We're going to take this seriously. 00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:12.000 Okay, this is bad. 00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:13.359 It's embarrassing. 00:26:13.839 --> 00:26:14.480 It was wrong. 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:15.359 It was flesh. 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:16.480 It was fall. 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:18.880 But we believe in redemption and restoration. 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:20.000 We believe in a new day. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:23.519 And this is, we're going to put all we're going to put the skunk on the table and deal with it. 00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:25.119 We're going to just be honest about what happened. 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:26.160 We're going to take it seriously. 00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:28.000 We're not going to sweep anything under the rug. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:29.680 We're not going to act like it didn't happen. 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:31.759 We're not going to let pride get in the way. 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:35.359 We're going to learn everything we need to learn in chapter six. 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:37.599 If we deal with it, we seal it right there. 00:26:37.759 --> 00:26:42.000 If we don't, when that problem shows up again, it shows up deeper. 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:45.839 And it shows up deeper and it keeps showing up and it keeps robbing us. 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:52.720 And you're going to see at the end of the book of Judges, the way that it ends is you have a Levite. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:54.000 And I'm just going to tell the story. 00:26:54.079 --> 00:26:56.079 If you have kids in here, I'm sorry. 00:26:56.400 --> 00:26:58.880 I'm just going to tell you what happened, because this is what happened. 00:26:58.960 --> 00:26:59.279 Okay. 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:03.680 So at least in the book of Judges, you have a man who's a Levite, he's traveling. 00:27:03.920 --> 00:27:05.920 So think of the children of Israel. 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:09.920 You have 12 tribes in Israel, 12 tribes. 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:17.680 And so you have this man who's a Levite, he's traveling through a city that was part of the tribe of Benjamin. 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:21.759 And this place had become very corrupt and had become very violent. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:27.680 And so he's traveling with his concubine, which was like kind of considered like a second-class wife. 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:29.759 But it's his wife essentially. 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:30.720 They're traveling. 00:27:30.880 --> 00:27:32.799 They can't find a place to stay, essentially, right? 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:34.079 All the hotels are booked. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:36.240 So they decide they're going to stay in the town square. 00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:39.200 And an older man walks up and is like, What are you guys doing? 00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:43.279 And they're like, Well, we're going to stay in the we're going to stay here tonight in the town square. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:45.039 He's like, You don't know where you're at. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:46.480 You don't want to stay here. 00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:47.920 This is, you can't be here. 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:49.440 You come stay at my house. 00:27:49.680 --> 00:28:00.240 So they go to his house and they're staying in the house, and at some point, a group of men from the tribe of Benjamin from that area come and they're banging on the door, and they want to rape this man. 00:28:00.400 --> 00:28:02.319 This whole group of them, they want to rape him. 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:08.559 And it's not even so much around, even just around the sexual gratification as much as it's about degradation. 00:28:08.640 --> 00:28:11.519 It's a way I'm going to degrade, we want to degrade this guy. 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:15.759 And so while he's in there, they're they're banging on this guy's door. 00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:25.519 And so this man, this this Levite, becomes so afraid for himself that they're going to rape and hurt him and destroy him and degrade him. 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:28.000 So he throws his wife out there. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:31.680 And so they not only rape her, but they kill her. 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:38.000 Wakes up the next morning, his wife has been brutalized, and she's now dead. 00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:52.400 And so he takes her body and he cuts her body into 12 pieces and he sends a piece of her body to each of the tribes of Israel and says, This is what these disgusting Benjaminites have done. 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:53.759 We need to deal with them. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:29:01.279 And so, because of this now catastrophic event, you now have a civil war that breaks out. 00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:05.680 The tribes of Israel have now are now attacking each other. 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:09.039 You want to talk about the opposite of Shalom. 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:14.000 You want to talk about the opposite of right with God, yourself, and each other. 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:22.160 The whole reason I gave you the law, the whole reason I gave you the land, the whole reason I made the promise was for a purpose, and you guys have gotten so far. 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:43.839 You've allowed idols, Baal, Asherah, all these distorted beliefs that I'm sure in some way make sense in your mind to create such a distortion of justice that it's cascaded so far that now you're you're turning against brother against brother, and now it ends in this heap of civil war. 00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:48.960 And so, what is judges serve, but it serves as a cautionary tale. 00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:52.160 This is what happens when number one, we don't obey God. 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:53.920 Number two, we do it our way. 00:29:54.079 --> 00:29:58.240 Number three, when we don't take seriously the lessons that we're learning. 00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:01.039 Just because I know better doesn't mean that I'll do better. 00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:05.839 At some point, you have to decide I'm going to do this God's way. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:14.079 And the point I want us to take away today as we think about the book of Judges is that God is patient and gracious. 00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:17.920 Let's not take his patience and grace for granted. 00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:20.160 Let's not take it for granted. 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:26.880 Wherever you are right now, okay, take seriously the lesson that God is showing you. 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:29.599 Um I fast forward to the book of Romans. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:36.240 In the book of Romans, chapter 5, verse 20, it said, uh, God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. 00:30:36.319 --> 00:30:37.759 In other words, the law is there. 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:43.279 Not to demoralize me, but to create definition for sin so I know what not to do. 00:30:43.519 --> 00:30:50.160 But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful grace became more abundant because God's grace outpaces our sin. 00:30:50.400 --> 00:31:02.559 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought death, uh brought them to death, now God's wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:04.559 And that's like, yeah, man, that's great. 00:31:04.799 --> 00:31:06.400 His grace covers our sin. 00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:10.480 Verse now, flip from Romans 5 to Romans 6. 00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:18.319 He says in verse 1, well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show more and more of this wonderful grace? 00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:19.839 Of course not. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:23.920 Since we've died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:26.960 In other words, we know what chapter 6 does. 00:31:27.039 --> 00:31:29.920 We know what seven years to the Midianites does. 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:32.880 Why would we want to have 18 years? 00:31:33.119 --> 00:31:34.799 Why would we want to have 40 years? 00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:36.319 Let's learn what we need to learn. 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:40.160