Israel Turns to Idols

Answers Bible Curriculum 2nd Edition Unit 7 Lesson 69

This week in Sunday school, we begin the book of Judges and discover the unthinkable: after receiving the land and seeing the many mighty works of God, Israel turns from the living God to serve dead idols. Why did Israel so senselessly turn from God? What cycle of judgment and deliverance began in response? And how do we today also so easily turn from the true God to false gods? We consider these questions and more.

Our main text for this lesson is Judges 2:1-23.

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all right well we’re going to get started officially let me welcome you to our virtual Sunday school from Calvary Community Church thank you for joining us if you’re joining us via Calvary a morgue that’s wonderful but you can take advantage of the live chat on our YouTube page you see the address on your screen youtube.com slash c slash Calvary em org slash live that way you can interact with me in the live chat well what are we looking at today well today we are moving on from the book of Joshua and we’re beginning our time in the book of Judges now judges is a book with a very different feel from the book of Joshua and Joshua as we’ve been seeing the last number of weeks a constant theme is victory in God we see is you’ll trust and obey God and God makes Israel into an unstoppable conquering force and Israel obtains from God the land that was promised to Israel by God via God’s covenant with Abraham and wouldn’t we all like to experience the kind of blessing that the people of Joshua’s generation experienced when they were faithful to God and as they experienced the faithfulness of God but in the book of Judges by contrast the great theme is not victory and God but sinful compromise yes there will be victory in God we’re gonna see amazing deliverances and judges but the great theme is actually sinful compromise because as a whole Israel turns from God to serve idols in the book of Judges and as a result Israel no longer experiences the blessing of God but instead experiences defeat deprivation and subjugation by foreign kingdoms and I think we also know if we have to lived any amount of time in Christ we also know what it’s like to experience the painful consequences of sin both before becoming a Christian and even after becoming a Christian we know what it’s like to experience the consequences of sin even the pain and the suffering that goes along with serving something else rather than the true God serving something else above the true God now in our first lesson in the book of Judges we’re going to hear about what took place soon after the death of Joshua and then we’re gonna overview what is God’s response to Israel’s sin over the next three and a half centuries the judges period why did Israel turn from God how does God’s response to Israel in light of their apostasy emphasize both his holiness and his love and what are we to learn regarding our own serious battles with idolatry today because let’s face it idolatry is not something that people in the ancient times only struggle with with actual statues of stone or bronze or gold but something that we continue to deal with even in our hearts now the history presents in the book of Judges is not pretty but this is the divine record the perfect Word of God and is so important for us we need to pay attention to it so that we can live wisely and righteously today and cling ever more tightly to our saving God and the only Savior is the Lord Jesus Christ so let’s ask God’s blessing on this time of study now please pray with me Heavenly Father we thank you for your word it is a light to our feet a lamp to our path God we need you to open our eyes to the wonderful things of your word even the things that are in a sense difficult to read we’re gonna see terrible sin even in the passages that we look at today and yet God is instructed to us that we we are not deceived ourselves into treating idols lightly and treating sin lightly God help me to will explain this word accurately and hopefully and I pray God you’d you would work in the hearts of the listeners by your spirit to encourage to convict to sober to change God pay that you would do this for your own glory sake in Jesus name Amen please take your Bibles and open to the book of Judges book of Judges chapter one this account’s this book of Judges written by an unknown prophet don’t know for sure who wrote it possibly Samuel that’s the Jewish tradition written during the early years of King Saul’s reign most likely book of Judges begins where Joshua leaves off and it records some of the same final events that Joshua also records book of Joshua ends with the death of Joshua though earlier sections in Joshua do mention some conquests that took place at the end of Joshua’s life or even after Joshua’s life such as the conquest of Hebron by Caleb we see some of those same conquest events mentioned in the opening of Judges chapter 1 gets the next line just a second we’re not gonna read through chapter 1 together but I do want to note some details with you before we get to Judges chapter 2 which we’re gonna look at together I do remember what I said about the conquest last week in that the conquest was complete in one sense Israel had broken the backbone of resistance in Canaan there was no longer a threat or a credible threat to Israel’s living in the land no nation was gonna come by and just destroy them or force them to flee the the invasion had accomplished a destruction a substantial destruction of Israel’s enemies yet there was territory assigned to Israel by God that was not yet acquired and these were going to be acquired over time as the tribes continued the conquest after the days of Joshua when Israel grew and also a quick side note just a clarification in one sense Abraham’s promise of the land as part of the Abrahamic covenant was fulfilled by Joshua and by the people of Israel in Joshua’s day they obtained the land just as God promised Abraham and yet the borders were not those promised even in the Abrahamic covenant one day we will see those borders actually accomplished when Messiah returns when Jesus returns and establishes his kingdom and Israel we will see the full extent of the promise given to Abraham but even in the days of Joshua there was fulfillment fundamentally of the promise that Israel would receive a land and of course many other prophecy in the scripture will set clarify issue will again receive the land under Messiah when they repent one day and that was sign no that was free but let’s let’s come back to what I was just saying remember though that the conquest in one sense is not finished it needs to continue there are still enemies they’re still pagans they’re still Canaanites living in the land that that need to be destroyed or removed as Israel continues the conquest now in chapter one of Judges we begin to hear about some of the conquest that takes place after the days of Joshua and verse one tells us this is after Joshua because it says Joshua dies came about after the death of Joshua so chapter 1 is probably talking about the in-between generation of those who were still alive to see many of the great wonders of God during the conquest and even before in the wilderness but Joshua himself has died so it’s it’s the elders it’s the people who outlived Joshua but were still kind of part of that faithful generation and we’re hearing about what they do in Chapter 1 of Judges and at first the post Joshua conquest report sounds pretty good if you just glanced with me at verses 1 to 21 in judges chapter 1 we hear that Judah Simeon and Benjamin they’ve all conquered many new cities they have continued the conquest though there are some cities that they’re not able to conquer and that’s a little bit concerning then there’s a slightly less rosy report in verses 22 to 29 we hear that Manasseh and Ephraim they have conquered a few cities but they have left most of their enemies most the enemies around them unconquered why is that and then when we get to verses 30 to 36 of chapter 1 we’re getting even more concerning report because we hear a Zebulon Asher Naphtali and Dan have not conquered anything they’ve left all their enemies around them dance performance in verse 34 is particularly sad we’re gonna hear later in the book of Judges actually Dan will just give up on trying to obtain the divinely allotted territory for them and they just migrate to another part a Palestine they decide to go north and establish their tribal inheritance there which is against what God said he said no your place is over here go ahead and conquer it but they said it’s too hard it’s too hard so they go up north where they can settle in a place that’s a little easier so these conquest reports were here about chapter one they start off well but they get increasingly concerning and then there’s something else if we look at verses 27 to 36 there’s another detail that should get our attention yes you just glance you may notice what do the tribes of Israel do with the inhabitants of the land instead of destroying them it says that they subjected them to forced labor when they grew strong they subjected these Canaanites to forced labor now this doesn’t seem like that bad of an idea from a human perspective I mean why get rid of people why get rid of the Canaanites when the fighting is going to be so difficult why work so hard to do that when it’s just gonna be unpleasant why not just subjugate them and then will benefit from their labor be a lot easier we’ll get a nice outcome right but is this what God commanded did God command Israel to make treaties with their neighbors establishing subjugation now let’s look at Joshua chapter judges chapter two judges 2 where we’re actually going to read our text together verses 1 to 15 we’ll do the whole chapter today but we’ll start with just verses 1 to 15 because the angel of Yahweh is gonna make a visit Israel and address the situation look at Judges chapter 2 verses 1 to 15 and follow along with me as I read what of God says how the angel of the Lord that is the angel of Yahweh covenant name there came up from Gilgal to Bocking and he said I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers and I said I will never break my covenant with you and that’s for you you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land you shall tear down their altars but you have not bade me what is this you have done therefore I also said I will not drive them out before you but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you when the angel if you always spoke these words to all the sons of Israel that people lifted up their voices and wept so they named that place mocking and there they sacrificed to Yahweh when Joshua had dismissed the people the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land the people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua who had seen all the great work of Yahweh which he had done for Israel then Joshua the son of nun the servant of Yahweh died at the age of 110 and they buried him in the territory of his inheritance in Timnath harris in the hill country of ephraim north of mount gash all that generation also were gathered to their father’s and there arose another generation after them who did not know yahweh nor yet the work which he had done for Israel then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of Yahweh and served the bales and they forsook Yahweh the God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who are around them and bowed themselves down to them thus they provoked Yahweh to anger so they forsook Yahweh and served bail and the Ashtaroth the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel and he gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them and he sold them into the hands of their enemies around them so that they could no longer stand before their enemies wherever they went the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil or trouble as Yahweh had spoken and as Yahweh had sworn to them so that they were severely distressed as always we want to use our inductive Bible study method for analyzing any passage of Scripture and that method is just three steps observe interpret and apply and so let’s do that with this passage we’ll start with just symbols Haitians notice who it is that speaks to Israel and verses one to three it’s the angel of Yahweh and notice how this angel speaks doesn’t say thus says Yahweh or thus says God but rather he uses the first person notice what the angel he always says to Israel he reminds Israel that he was the one who brought them out of Egypt and made a covenant with them he also reminds Israel that at that time he charged the people not to make any agreement with the people of the land to leave them alive it tells Israel they have not obeyed that charge they’ve broken covenant and he warns Israel the consequence Israel will now not be able to drive out the people to land because the angel of Yahweh will not give Israel victory instead the surviving people become a thorn and Israel side like a splinter in the finger a source of continual trouble in pain and the gods of the people around them will ensnare Israel and notice how the people will respond to verses 4 & 5 it says they weep they cry out they offer sacrifice to God notice what they don’t do they don’t change the situation now verse 6 might be a little jarring to you at first because verse 6 appears to go back in time for a moment to before the death of Joshua and this is in order to give a more sweeping description of Israel’s changing spiritual state over the decades that follow we see this description and verses are we see a description verses 6 to 9 about how long Israel continued can continues to worship and generally obey God all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and this is the same report we heard of the be at the end of Joshua the book of Joshua people continue to follow Yahweh all the days of Joshua and then of the elders who outlived Joshua and then noticed the new information in verses 10 to 12 it says after those after those people died after that faithful generation a new generation arose that did not know Yahweh or his mighty works what don’t know Yahweh don’t know what he did as a people then as a whole this new generation turns away from God to do evil and to worship the gods of the land’s inhabitants the gods of the Canaanites they bow down to these gods we hear and they serve them in just one generation you always people become idol worshipers just like their neighbors now this is amazing terrible but amazing now who are what exactly were the people of Israel turning to in worship what were these gods of the land well let me give you a little bit more back on information you actually see a picture of an idol actually from the land of Canaan an idol of one of the gods that’s being talked about here but as I gave you this background information let me first give you a little bit of a qualifier talking about ancient deities is difficult because first of all information is limited we don’t know everything we couldn’t know or we would like to know about the past but also mythologies ancient religious systems were very contradictory and always changing for instance the religion of Canaan or the religion of Egypt or any of those places around there it often happens that one God turns into another God over time actually change or new God is added to the Pantheon due to the influence of neighbors or a god and a goddess or once brother and sister they become a married couple or one goddess is simultaneously the mother and the daughter of another God how can that be well they don’t worry about it it gets pretty confusing and unsurprisingly there’s still a lot of dispute today as to who these deities were that the people of Canaan and then Israel worshiping but we can’t say something’s notice our text mentions the bails and the Ashtaroth in verse 13 now these are plural terms these stand for all the gods and goddesses of the land and the local versions of two particular deities bale and Ashtaroth so bales Ashtaroth those are just the plural versions of these two names bale and Ashtaroth so who’s bale well bale the name bale actually is the word Lord it’s one of the words Lord in Hebrew we familiar maybe with another term for Lord Adonai which is often used of God there’s another word for Lord and that’s Bale and many deities at the time were they had Bale as part of their title it’s actually even used a few places in the scriptures to describe the true God he is referred to as the Lord even Bale but over time God says I don’t want you to use that term for me anymore just because how it’s associated with the other gods well referring to these false gods or to the false god Bale a Bible is usually referring to if it’s singular referring to the chief god of the Canaanites probably Bale Shamim or Bale Hadoop what we could just say Bale for short there are many versions of this Vale each place in Canaan each city to city state probably had its own flavor of this male chief god Bale the Phoenicians their version of this God by the way Phoenicia would be in the land north of Israel sire tyre and Sidon on the coast that would be the section of Phoenicia the Phoenician version of bale saw him as a Sun God while the more ancient Semitic version of bale what would be more characteristic of Canaan saw Bale as the storm God similar to Marduk from Babylon or Zeus from Greece but either way Phoenicia Cain and elsewhere Bale was associated fundamentally with fertility and this makes sense because if he’s responsible for the Sun or the rain and they do all of these things are necessary for life and so he was celebrated as chief of the gods Canaan was a land particularly depended on the right amount of Sun and the right amount of rainfall for its prosperity he may even remember God brings up the people from Egypt he says the land you’re going to it’s different from Egypt Egypt was a place where the Nile just flowed and everything was watered regularly but when you go to the land I’m bringing you it’s a good land but it drinks in the rain drinks in the rain and dude that’s how life flourishes in Canaan it needs consistent rainfall and who’s gonna be in control of that rainfall God says I will so continue to follow me now for the people the land who didn’t know Yahweh they look to the God who was responsible for rainfall which would be Bale he was very important and popular than with the people a bale is usually depicted as a man or a bull the idol that I have pictured on the screen is of Bale and man or a bull were often associated with virility and fertility which is what Bale was supposed to be all about so we have Bale but his counterpart the chief goddess in Canaan would be ashteroth also known as a start a or Ishtar ashteroth she was the goddess of love of sex of fertility and of war so think of something a little bit similar to Venus or Aphrodite from the greco-roman pantheon now some versions of Astaroth have her associated with the moon others have are associated with the mean the morning or evening star which we call Venus she was usually depicted as a nude woman and many such idols have been excavated in Palestine she indeed was a popular goddess so we have Bale we have asteroth and then we have a Shura this is another name that we see throughout the Old Testament even in Israel what’s the relationship between ashteroth and Asherah are they the same well that questions a little bit debated actually some say Astra was a separate goddess the ancient mother goddess in the Canaanite Pantheon the Creator God according to the Canaanites was el and his consort was a Shura and all the other gods and goddesses came from them they were born from them as such Astra if she is indeed the mother goddess she was associated with fertility and trees now that’s one view but again it’s a little bit unclear so other scholars say that Astra is just the term for the cultic object of ashteroth we hear about a Shura or astra poles at various times in the Old Testament don’t know what they were exactly or indeed if they were act the polls they appeared to be our best guess as to what an Astra was was a a wooden tree like figure in the shape of a woman and it was somehow being used as an object of worship now the reason we don’t know too much about Astra is that none of these objects have survived they were made out of wood so they deteriorated over time archeologists are able to discover where wooden cultic objects actually stood they can detect from the remains but none of the action the actual Astra have survived so was it just an object for worshipping ashteroth or was it a separate deity not entirely sure it’s possible that and I guess this is kind of like a third a third possibility it’s possible that Astra and asterisk were originally two separate deities that became one or were originally one deity that became two separate ones this happens all the time in ancient mythology so perhaps it happened here so in terms of the main deities that Israel is dealing with the Canaanites are worshipping we’ve got bail we’ve got a stress we’ve got Astra and another one worth mentioning is Molech this is the deity that’s most most often associated with one terribly barbaric practice and that is child sacrifice it’s actually unclear whether Molech actually was the name of the god originally or Molech was a reference to a particular kind of offering namely child sacrifice that over time became its own God instead of offering a child sacrifice to a particular God you just you offered it to the god of child sacrifice who was mullet the name mullet comes from the word meaning King may be related to milcom the principal god of the ammonites who are Israel’s one of Israel’s neighbors on the East Mallick was not the only God though who permitted or demanded child sacrifice but he’s the one usually associated with it in the Bible now there were other gods and various versions of these gods in Canaan but these are the chief ones that are going to appear again and again in the Old Testament and these are the ones that apparently according to the book of Judges chapter 2 Israel is turning to instead of the true God how does God respond to this blatant covenant treachery this turning from God to serve idols well according to verses 14 to 15 God responds to this rebellious generation with faithfulness but that is faithfulness to curse and oppose them just as he promised he would and his recorded covenant he said this back in the books of Moses he says if you turned from me then I’m gonna turn from you I’m going to oppose you I’m gonna be set against you we here in our passage of the anger of Yahweh burns against Israel and he brings the specific judgment of military oppression military conquest against them again he said this in the Torah this is exactly what he would do and notice how directly opposite Israel’s experienced as they turned from God is compared to what they experienced under Joshua but Joshua the people followed Yahweh and they experienced victory no one could successfully stand against Israel but now that the people have forsaken Yahweh the experience defeat Israel can no longer successfully stand against its enemies before no one could stand against them now they can’t stand against anybody before the hand of Yahweh was with the people but now in the hand of Yahweh is against the people so this is our passage we’ve made simple observations on it but now we want to go to the second step a Bible study and that is interpretation how can we bring together the details of what we have observed to answer questions of interpretation and that’s what we’re gonna do now so first who is the angel of Yahweh mentioned the beginning of our passage maybe you’re tired of this question now but it’s always one that that comes up as of interpretation in Old Testament passages but the answer is almost always the same and it’s clear from this passage the angel of Yahweh is God himself look he’s speaking the first person he’s saying I did these things when those are the things that the Torah says God did it’s because the angel of Yahweh is Yahweh he’s the same and yet separate from Yahweh in other words this is God the Son interacting with his people in his pre-incarnate state remember the Son of God was very active in the Old Testament and was loving and judging even Israel and we see that here now another question this is one I would like you to think about an answer in the chat if you’re able to the previous mostly faithful generation of Joshua elders with him it probably never foresaw that such rebellion such apostasy complete apostasy would happen in Israel and just within one generation so how did this happen they probably never expected it how did it happen what do you think certainly get some clues from our passage and this is a question that can have a number of different answers but how did this apostasy happen so quickly and mock notes it’s due to their lack of obedience in vanquishing their enemies and I do think that is a huge component what else again we could note a number of different parts to the answer but I think we can summarize the large part actually there’s another answer here because there were remnants of the original inhabitants in the land and they were able to entice the new generation that had that had not witnessed God’s power and miracles and Craig mentions parents not training their children I think this is all part of it really we could summarize I think the the large portion of the answer and Leroy mentions the generation being disconnected from Yahweh and again that’s true a large part even the primary part of the answer is that small compromises that were not dealt with properly in the first generation they became big compromises in the ensuing generation it was small compromises made in the beginning that led to greater compromises later and there were hints of this there were hints of this even in the book of Joshua itself we didn’t look at all these specifically but in the section of Joshua that talks about the different tribal allotments given to the given to the various tribes there were notes there about how it the Israelites failed to remove certain inhabitants of the land even in Joshua there were people that they weren’t able to conquer and it was due to their own lack of faith at the end of Joshua when Joshua is exhorting the people part of his excitation is put away the false gods from among you why does Joshua need to say that seems like it’s because they were already was becoming a problem even in his day and then here at the beginning of Judges just as some of you noted the people fail to continue the conquest they leave the Canaanites around either as neighbors or as subjects and what does the failure of conquest lead to it leads to intermarriage just as God said it would now what does intermarriage lead to it leads to the ensnarement of the peoples gods in Israel it leads to ideology and what does idolatry lead to leads to God’s judgment it’s exactly what God said it would happen so he says you must take care not to make any treaties of the people tool and destroy them remove them don’t win issue a compromise in that area it just led to further and further compromises I see some other comments here voice says this demonstrates the impact of foreign nations and their gods on Israel and Israel confusing God’s common grace on pagans of the actual workings of those pagan gods and Juwan says also referring to parents and ken says this has to do with being man focused and again I think those things are true let me say also in regards the whole parenting issue I do think that part of this small compromise leading to bigger compromises does have something to do with the failure of the first generation to teach their children about Yahweh now after all this is something that the Moses emphasized many times in the Torah he exhorted the people to make sure that they taught the next generation about Yahweh and Yahweh’s works yet our text says that this new generation didn’t know Yahweh and didn’t know about Yahweh’s works so how could that be if the parents were faithfully instructing their children and what about all the monuments that are being hoisted up in the Book of Joshua to help the new generation remember the conquest and remember the mighty works and the greatness of God now we don’t get a full explanation as to what exactly happened how this there was such a failure from the new generation to know about Yahweh but it seems that there was some level of compromise some level of laxness in the first generation to pass on the word of truth about Yahweh and about what Yahweh did I mean maybe the parents they followed Yahweh but they just didn’t make godly discipline and instruction of their children a priority and of course this is something that parents today Christian parents today are tempted by don’t make it a priority even if you follow God somehow it just doesn’t end up being passed on to your children not living it out not teaching them obviously this parent this parenting problem would be compounded by intermarriage with the Canaanites because of one spouse is idolatrous actively influencing the children away from Yahweh it’s gonna dampen the other spouses enthusiasm for God and when those when light and darkness are sharing together it’s so easy for the children not to be raised according to Yahweh and surely this was happening in Israel too yeah we’re just seeing the principal as Liz mentions of the principal about leaven and let me just read what mark says here being drawn to the other nations is a temptation even in our day association just thinking now the book of Proverbs the people you choose to be your companions they’re gonna have an influence on you over time and we see this even with Israel so I think a lot of these things can be surmised by just the simple principle that small compromises they lead to bigger ones and more serious ones over time and isn’t this exactly what we see in Christian history if you are part of our church history class number of years ago you might be you might remember that when Christians compromise certain doctrines or biblical standards in one generation the next generation of Christians it tends to do the same but even more even abandoning the faith this is true for instance when it comes to beliefs about the Bible whether the Bible can be trusted to be accurate clear complete sufficient Christians can compromise the Bible in small ways when they say things like oh the Bible contains God’s truth rather than is God’s truth or modern science is necessary to help us interpret the Bible or God still gives special revelation in addition to what the Bible says there are prophecies also to be listened to and these may not seem like serious compromises and otherwise faithful believers true followers of God can say and believe these things and still actually follow God but taking such such stances it opens the door to serious future apostasy the flash and the evil one are happy to take advantage and history is replete of instances where compromising on the Scriptures themselves it leads to the next generation to go even further and really this is exactly what has happened with almost every seminary that has ever existed you know one of my classes I had to write an essay about what causes good seminaries to go bad and historically that’s almost always the case why is it same principle small compromises lead to bigger compromises over time and specifically for seminaries it’s when Christian seminaries look for greater influence an academic prestige that they begin to make small compromises the introduced in particular they introduce teachers at their school who have ideas that are contrary to sound doctrine and over time the school goes theologically liberal happens again and again and again but this isn’t just true in a macro sense in Christian history it’s also true in a micro sense in a personal sense when it comes to sanctification when sin is not dealt with in our own lives even little sins when it’s not dealt with properly through repentance and mortification what happens it leads to other sins even domination by particular sins that leads to ruin a seemingly small compromise like dating a non-believer I’m not gonna marry the non-believer I know the Bible says I’m I’m supposed to only marry those in the Lord but it’s nothing wrong with dating a non-believer or watching TV and movies with nudity or strong sexuality are making no regular effort at Bible reading or prayer these seemingly small compromises they lead to other compromises and greater compromises over time you’re feeding the flesh and there’s another question I want to ask related to our passage it has to do with what I’m talking about just now why does the Israel change why don’t they restart the conquest why don’t they get back to driving out the people to land once God confronts Israel Aveda angel of the angel the Lord in the first Padre passage why don’t they change now again the passage doesn’t tell us specifically but the answer has to be they either won’t or they can’t I think about it God specifically condemns Israel from making covenants with the people of the land which means Israel must have sworn treaties with these people they’ve entered into contractual agreements with the Canaanites and now keeping their word demands that they leave the Canaanites alive this is the situation that happened with the Gibeonites right there’s your lights feel like they can’t go back on what they swore and in a sense they couldn’t and over time as the holy society and the pagan society intermingle it becomes increasingly difficult to separate them costly to separate them I mean if you’re an Israelite how can you destroy the people of the land when your own sons and daughters are married to them and your grandchildren are of mixed heritage are you going to destroy your own grandkids it becomes too late for Israel to go back and do what they should have done at first and there is a relevant principle for us there too isn’t it God warns us about making foolish and sinful choices in the Bible but sometimes we’re tempted to discount the danger and say I’ll be fine I’ll be able to resist when the time comes if things get bad I can always just remove myself from the situation I can repent but that’s not how sin works that’s not how I dolla tree works when we don’t obey God’s initial command to walk wisely or to stay away from sin to guard ourselves and we don’t obey that initial command we’ve already gained momentum towards and in Scenario fall make no mistake sin has consequences that can never be reversed chester’s healing there’s redemption in the Lord praise God for that but sin has some consequences that can never be reversed and mark this once you establish a sinful habit it becomes very difficult and painful to break that habit why because you’ve trained yourself in unrighteousness it’s become your habit you have fed and empowered your flesh and now your flesh loudly calls for you to continue and others involved with you in the sin they similarly egg you on pull you along it’s not as simple as oh if I get entangled by sin I’ll just repent later you might not be able to or it will be extremely costly for you to do so it’s like pastor Bobby says sometimes soon we’ll take you further than you want to go it’ll make you stay longer than you want to stay and make you pay more than you want to pay doesn’t tell you that at first seems so innocent seems so non dangerous but once you’re in it and you see how it’s really hooked its claws into you yeah mark says this is just the sowing and reaping principle even emphasized in Galatians 6:7 2:8 and this is the temptation to think that we can sow and not reap believe me brothers and sisters we are tempted to think that all the time we’re thinking that we won’t experience the consequences of our sin but there’s that principle God says what you sow is what you’re gonna reap now thanks be to Christ there is still hope in such situations even if you’ve gotten really entrenched in sin you’ve trained yourself in it it’s become such a habit there is still hope if you are willing to take radical action if you’re willing to repent and accept the cost of saying goodbye to your sin doing whatever it takes to be rid of it and follow the Lord instead God’s forgiving grace is great enough and God’s transforming grace is great enough by the power of your spirit you are never doomed as a captive in your sin but you would be wise you would spare yourself much pain if you just guarded yourself in the sin in the first place the brothers and sisters we need to learn from Israel’s tragic disobedience let us beware small compromises and where we see them immediately go all-out to uproot those compromises uproot the sinful thinking the unbelieving thinking the sinful habits before they establish themselves more in your lives and in the church we need to take seriously the biblical command to flee idolatry we’re not just talking about statues we’re talking about idols of the heart the belief that anything is necessary are more pleasurable than God you need to flee that unmasked it for the falsehood that it is understand it for the enslaving deception that it is run away from it and run after Christ you need to believe the Lord don’t believe your flesh all the idols the things that look so attractive they will perish as will the rest of the world but God lasts forever his word proves true and he brings a blessing to those who follow him you want to cut off whatever causes you to stumble before it’s too late don’t say to yourself I’ll just I can repent later it’ll be a lot harder later and maybe you won’t be willing stakes are high because if we’re not willing to do this if we’re not willing to radically follow the Lord in sanctification what will happen what will God do at least my next question even though God’s people turn against him I know many we know for many instances in the Old Testament the New Testament that Yahweh’s nature is patient and loving it’s full of compassion so why does God react in such angry judgment against his own people why would a loving God do that well it’s not the answer because God is also holy he never stops being loving but his holiness is also part of his love his goodness demands that he will be judged and among his people evil must be chastened and disciplined out evil cannot characterize God’s people or else it would defame God this is what the author of first John says the Apostle John he says if we claim to know the god of light and walk in darkness we lie and we do not practice the truth because of God of light he will not have fellowship with the people of darkness and God is trustworthy if he says if you turn I’m going to discipline you if you turn I’m going to curse you he will be faithful to that and that’s exactly what we see with Israel if we’re not willing to do the hard work of sanctification we’re not willing to radically deal with our sin and our idols and we will be opposed by God and do you want the God of the universe the God who is mighty to be your enemy to be the one chastening you now someone might ask well just how bad was this real how bad were the people of the land that imitating them brought such judgment from God well we’ve dealt with this question a few times already we actually hear the answer from the Torah itself though indirectly from the first five books of the Bible because when God gives his law to Israel he’s constantly making reference to the people of Egypt and the people of Canaan and what they do and he says Israel you must not be like them for example and the biggest 20 Leviticus 20 verses 22 to 24 right after God has given a list of various abominable practices practiced by the Canaanites this is what God says you are therefore to keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and do them so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not spew you out Rover you shall not follow the customs of the nations which I will drive out before you for they did all these things and therefore I have abhorred them what were the people the land doing doing all the things that God commanded Israel not to do people the land were full of strange and despicable practices drunken revelry and carousing murder rape bribes perverted justice thefts incest demonic sorcery bestiality cult prostitution cursing of parents lying adultery homosexuality cutting oneself for the dead boiling baby goats and their mothers milk and burning babies and children as sacrifices to the gods you could see how important it would be for Israel to become like the people of the land to serve their gods and then consequently to adopt the practices of the people of course this would bring God’s chastening judgment and if we find ourselves at all resembling disobedient Israel or the godless people of Canaan we’re gonna be chasing two even judged by God so what are we to do we are to repent we had to repent before it is too late God and His goodness is faithful to judge but he offers mercy he offers mercy in Christ if we will turn from our sin and trust in the only God and Savior who is the Lord Jesus Christ and may God have mercy on our nation which actually resembles pagan Canaan and paganized Israel in many ways there’s a really interesting article I don’t have time to share with you from the association of biblical research that’s a Christian archeological organization this article notes all the parallels between ancient child sacrifice and modern abortion they were really pursued for the exact same reasons our nation our world is not that different from the ancient pagan world just looks a little more sophisticated now I know that there’s always some talk in national calamities like the corona virus as to whether this is a judgment from God on the nation or on the world for its sin and we never can say specifically what God is doing in calamities God’s miss God’s purposes are mysterious and multifaceted we do know that he judges sin but is he judging sin in a particular instance one thing we do know certainly our nation deserves to be judged for its many many sins including abortion sexual immorality materialism countless forms of idolatry false religions self exaltation and then worst of all the celebration and the exportation of all these sins to the peoples around the world our nation commits sin celebrates it and encourages others to do so yet even in calamity even in something like coronavirus as hard as it is we have to admit God is not treating America like America deserves we deserve far worse than this and individually when we’re chastened by God or experience the consequences of sin or even the judgment of God in this life we have not really received what our sins deserve because the Bible is clear what our sins deserve our sins deserve the overwhelming wrath of God which is our utter ly or other earthly destruction and our eternal torment that’s what sin deserves it is so heinous against the one true God who is good but that’s not what we received we’re still alive it still experienced good why why does God show us such grace why does he limit his wrath even as he chastens us why does he do as good even in spite of our sins what’s the answer it’s because God is so abundantly loving he’s so merciful he’s so patient yes God will be faithful to judge sin all sin will have a recompense either at the cross of Christ or in eternal fire eternal punishment yet God constantly demonstrates undeserved love and patience to us to his people and to the world and he was doing the same thing with Israel and this is what I want to show you next look at the rest of judges chapter 2 look at verses 16 to 22 we see the rest of God’s response to covenant treachery in Israel yes Josh fair judges to 14 to 15 God’s anger was being poured out on Israel but let’s read on starting in verse 16 it says then Yahweh 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 and obeying the commandments of Yahweh they did not do as their fathers when Yahweh raised up judges for them Yahweh was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge for Yahweh was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them but it came about when the judge died they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers and following other gods to serve them and bow down to them they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways so the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel and he said because this nation has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers has not listened to my voice I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died in order to test Israel by them whether they will keep the way of Yahweh to walk in their father’s and walking in as their fathers did or not so Yahweh allowed those nations to remain not driving them out quickly and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua we could say much about this second passage but for the sake of time we just need to make a few opportunities what else did God do are a few observations I mean what else did God do beside chasing the people he delivered them when their cry came to him because of their oppressors God was moved to pity the descendants of Abraham and he raised up judges that’s a term designating a part military part judicial Saviour leader in Israel God raised up these judges to save Israel to deliver them from the very chastening that God had to them because of their sins this was a generous grace from the Lord to send is real saviors to bring them out of bondage and back to God but how did Israel respond to these judges deliverers they followed the judge they followed God during the days that the judge was alive but as soon as he died they again for Sookie away and they didn’t just return to their old practices what does the text say in verse 19 they acted more corruptly than their fathers did here even worse and before God first sent the judgment really what’s being described in verses 16 to 23 of judges 2 to is the outline for the rest of the book of Judges there’s gonna be a cycle as we move through this book and really it’s a downward spiral it describes Israel’s relationship with God during the judges period over the next 350 years or so it follows a normal sequence of steps I break it down into four others do it a few few more depends on how detailed you want to be but first Israel forsakes Yahweh chooses sin in idols second Yahweh sends a nation to oppress Israel to discipline Israel third the people repent and they cry out to God for deliverance and fourth Yahweh raises up but did a judge to deliver and lead Israel for a time as soon as the judge dies back a step one except even worse than before this is gonna happen again and again in the judges and Israel will get worse and worse over time that people sin will get worse their oppression that God sends as a result will get harder and longer and then the judges themselves as we move through the book of Judges they get worse and worse over time I mean our first judge athenian he’s a very upstanding man but by the time I get to Samson oh these judges are really imperfect but again and again what is God doing he’s showing undeserved compassion he’s showing mercy to unfaithful Israel to deliver them to draw them back to himself and maybe this time maybe Israel will learn maybe Israel will change maybe Israel will fun mentally follow God this is God being who he is the true God the faithful God he is one who does not treat us as our sins deserve his patience with us for a long time he showed undeserved kindness to Israel and he shows undeserved kindness to us so what should this lead us to do what should the kindness of God lead us to do should it cause us to continue in sin so we can repent later Oh God’s a forgiving God by no means because if we think that way it probably won’t repent later and we probably will experience the judgment of God rather what should the kindness of God cause us to do Romans 2:4 gives us the answer Romans 2:4 what do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance kindness of God should lead us to repentance think for yourselves how God has shown you undeserved kindness even now amid the coronavirus you’re not receiving from God what you deserve to receive according to your sins so what should you do what should you do in response to that turn from your sins and follow God follow God while there’s still time be a true follower of Christ give up yourself give up your old way take the good yoke of Christ’s way upon you don’t trust in your good works trust only in the perfect life death and resurrection to make you righteous and acceptable before God forever I told you that the third step of Bible study proper Bible study is application and really we’ve been looking at application as we’ve gone along in the lessons in a but let me just summarize some of the take away some of the applications as we close our time today how should you how should we respond to the teaching of God and judges one and two again I’ve mentioned most of these things already today I just want to summarize them to you number one we must repent of idolatry if you know the Bible well at all you know that you don’t need a statue to be idolatrous the great Welsh pastor Martyn lloyd-jones wants to find idols in this way and if you have the workbooks you might have read this this is what Martyn lloyd-jones says about idols an idol is anything in my life that occupies a place that should be occupied by God alone anything that holds my life and my devotion anything that essential in my life anything that seems to be vital anything that is essential to me an idol is anything by which I live and on which I depend anything that moves and rouses and attracts and stimulates me is an idol and idols anything that I worship anything to which I give much of my time and my attention my energy and my money anything that holds a controlling position in my life is an idol the book of Judges as well as the Torah Lois Moses as show us what God thinks of idols whether they’re carved in stone or cast in metal or just raised up in our hearts God says he hates idolatry and he hates idolaters he will judge all idol worshippers even as he loves and shows compassion to them he hates idolatry he’s a jealous God he will not give his deserved glory and honor to another and those who serve idols even idols of the heart at fusions 5 seasons 5 vs. 5 and 6 says they will not inherit the kingdom of God but they will inherit everlasting punishment yea idols can appear in our hearts so easily even as believers we can turn even good things good desires into idols like the desire to have a loving spouse godly spouse the desire to have a healthy family even amid the coronavirus or a desire to have a successful church ministry we can turn these things into idols and we often do we serve the eye we seek the idol rather than the true yawn if you’re not sure whether there’s an idol currently in your life well know first of all that they pop up easily so want to guard against it but there’s some diagnostic questions that can help you and one of them is is there something in your life that makes you feel angry anxious depressed well you need to recognize that we often feel anger worry and hopelessness because of an idol we’re valuing something else in our life more than God and because that Idol is threatened by someone or by life’s circumstances we act down in sin anger worry hopelessness now God gives us many good things in this world to enjoy and we should enjoy them as worship to God but we must hold even good things with a very open hand before God we must truly believe that glorifying God is better than obtaining any earthly treasure any even good desire yes it would be good for your family to be healthy now during the coronavirus but you need to be ready for God not to will that maybe it would glorify him more actually for you to get sick now this is crazy crazy crazy thought right and yet we know in the scriptures that often is the case something we think of as like no God that would be so terrible he says actually this is gonna glorify me this is what’s gonna lie to be such a great testimony at this time you say well would that really be the best thing think about what Paul said he said the one thing I truly am worried about in life is whether God will be glorified but you know what God has promised to glorify himself so whether by my life or by my death may God be glorified in my life if you know Jesus Christ that ought to be what your heart says God you give and take away according to your good will Lord do what you were deemed just glorify yourself and let me enjoy you in the process we need to be able to say that because if we say God anything but this we probably have an idol we need to repent of it another quick test for idolatry of the heart is if there’s something that you sinned to get where if you sinned to do because you don’t get it it’s an idol to you if you sin to get it if you sin because you don’t get it it’s an idol to you judges is saying to us very clearly that we need to repent of any idols in our lives God will not endure idolatry and his people you must repent of it I’ll go through these others quickly another principle we need to take away here’s we need to beware little compromises things that seem little both personally individually and also corporately remember change is not always possible or easy later we need to guard ourselves from the little compromises now need to be diligent we need to prioritize training our children in the Lord even now during coronavirus is an opportunity for you as parents particularly fathers to do this make this a priority don’t assume it’ll just happen by itself but that the church will take care of it no it’s on you God calls you to do this and then be grateful for God’s kindness God has shown us and continues to show us such undeserved kindness in our lives and the greatest kindness of course of all was that the Lord sent Jesus to save us he died on the cross for the sins of those who believed in him and he will bring them to himself into an everlasting Kingdom and why should we deserve that we should be grateful to the Lord and we should love the Lord because of that now that’s all for this week if you have questions or comments about what you’ve heard today or about this scripture or really about anything please post it in the chat and I’ll be happy to interact with you about it or you can email me at DAF Kaposi at gmail.com now next week what are we doing next week well next week is our review week and normally we we often watch a video during the review weeks but not really profitable or possible to do that in this format so I have a plan to do something a little different we will do a little bit of review next week but then I would like to take advantage of some of what I’ve been studying in my seminary classes and I want to do a lesson about the land of Israel itself I mean it’s appropriate we’ve just seen Israel into the land in the conquest so what can we actually learn about the land its terrain its climate its major cities I think when we get a little bit of understanding about the geography and land of Israel it helps us in understanding what’s really going on or appreciate more what’s going on in the different Bible passages we read so I’m planning to do a little bit of that next week and I think they’ll be profitable and enjoyable to you as we go through that together let’s close the timer prayer and then if you have anything you’d like to share afterwards in the chat would love to interact with you let’s pray Heavenly Father you are the great father of light bar our calling before you God in light of our great salvation is to live in the light as well point will never be perfect but we are to be growing in sanctification and that’s the way to joy and blessing so help us to do that help us to take hold of your promises and let go of idols they are deceptive they are destructive they bring your chastening hand even your judgment we cannot be nonchalant about sin or about idolatry I need to be serious we need to engage in spiritual warfare so that we would not have any impeded fellowship with you is that we can display you to this world that needs you and needs to be saved let it pray that you would do the work that your word does by your spirit grow your people and holiness but also an love for you and joy of you in Jesus name Amen thank you all again for joining us joining me in this time of study and I’ll see you again soon