ned on some but also the truth that your word tells us of your own son we want to leave here with that sense that we didn’t just sing songs we didn’t just hear a sermon we were visited by the spirit of the living god nothing less lord I don’t ever get up here and prepare to present a message that is without an awareness that it will fall flat without help that the impact of the words that people will hear will only last long enough for them

to remember and then it’s over but with your presence holy spirit with your power holy spirit with your influence we will be different because we’ve been together in your presence and because you like you were with your son jesus father you are with us and your spirit is descending upon this place right now so we praise you and we give you our hearts now and we invite you to do the teaching that our souls crave for your glory in the name of jesus christ amen amen

hey go ahead and have a seat everyone and welcome church welcome you who are in other parts of the country there are children and youth kind of gathering up their stuff and heading out the door because there’s really fun stuff if they can brave the storm and make it to the building next door so cyclo let’s see bomb cyclone is that the word that’s in the news I’m not a meteorologist but I think I’ve always called it heavy rain I don’t know but bomb cyclone I

I guess gets ratings I’m not sure exactly how it all works but I I want to ask you a question that’s uncomfortable but not really it’s a question you’ll have an answer to but we don’t have time for everybody to share their answer how many of you have a bad habit in your life go ahead look see the room all right that’s okay and you know some of you just can’t even hold back what what would that habit be on the count of three one two

three okay see there it is there’s there’s stuff on our minds when we think of bad habits right if you’re not convinced you have a bad habit maybe you can do a similar search I did this week I did a google search about bad habits and I immediately realized I was on to something that people think about a lot so I’m not in any way surprised that your hands all went up notice mine went it stayed in my pocket safely safely out of view but I

I’m with you we’ve got them don’t we okay so here’s a little sampling did you know that there’s a list of 283 bad habits called the ultimate list of bad habits did you know that write that down in case you didn’t have your hand up and you’re like no that’s a problem for others but not me I don’t have a bad habit you’ll change your mind early into that list okay so 283 bad habits the ultimate list of bad habits the scary part of such a

list is that you don’t have to look real hard to find habits that you have really I kind of went into it going no I don’t know what come on I do some things that are different but they’re not like bad habits and you find your way to a a lot of habits that you have that other people don’t like okay now I was very aware that when I asked the earlier question some of you are here married and your spouse raised the hand and I

tried not to like stare but you were looking at your partner at that moment not sure what that’s about but that might be something to talk about but one of the habits though on my on on that list makes me want to apologize this morning to more than a few of you and more than a few of you watching this morning from other places because I’ve always thought that talking with food in my mouth was actually being efficient okay think about it okay you need to

eat and we all like to talk talk about the ultimate time saver right and maybe you do what I’ve done because I’ve heard it so often from people I love and live with you know they’re just like this it’s very the the queen of the castle she’s just wonderful she’s just so I took my napkin up and I kept on talking and chewing at the same time so there it is we’ve all got the habits okay I I actually gave up that google search it wasn’t

long that I was there when I discovered a recent this is actually a recent survey I looked into a little bit and it’s called the top 10 bad habits and this just pains me to even admit it can you guess what was number five on that list no not chewing with food in my mouth you have to chew with food in your mouth right okay but you can’t you shouldn’t talk but anyway no it wasn’t that it was drinking too much coffee burn it who comes

up with stuff like I mean who says who don’t we all drink a pot and a half a day right thank you okay okay there’s a more serious reason for having a little amusement this morning there’s a habit that most people have and if we’re honest in admitting that we have it it for many of us would earn actually the adjective stubborn we would actually call it a stubborn bad habit now I’ve got you thinking it’s the subject of the third verse of a hymn that

was written 260 years ago that we’re going to sing as soon as I’m done presenting god’s word this morning this the hymn is come thou fount of many blessings but you know the third verse it’s really a lamentation it’s a sigh the guy that wrote it by the way he was 22 years old can you believe it he wrote some powerful words and and he was frustrated with himself it’s it’s it’s not even concealed in the least bit he says of himself and you tell me

if it’s just limited to him long ago prone to wander lord I feel it prone to leave the god I love what is our problem either he had a bad problem in the 1758 where he’s describing something that’s been had a grip on us for a very long time or at the least we can admit in our enlightened world today we haven’t gotten over that have we not a new problem for sure in fact I did a little more searching you would expect me to support

what I’m saying but in the very first stay away edict in the bible it’s in genesis chapter two so you don’t have to look far and the very first one picture that sign I have you sometimes imagine and it’s a sign that simply says don’t eat from that tree my paraphrase stay away from that tree and it was written by god posted by god now that’s the first edict the very first fail in the bible I’m not sure how much time transpired no one can tell

you that but I did count how many verses transpired from stay away from the tree to they climbed it and ate its fruit 14 verses that’s it now millennia could have happened in between I don’t think so though I think it was a quick fail I I think may I say it those words written 260 years ago belong in genesis chapter 3 to describe there were two of them adam and eve prone to wander hello 14 verses later prone to leave the god I don’t know

if they loved him yet but the god that was with them hung out with them came and visited them in the garden daily and it’s been a problem ever since as you find your way this morning to judges chapter two I I want to introduce you to something that is worth writing down so you’re going to do two things at one time good luck ready go open your bible judges two grab a pen get ready to write okay so here we go I’m going to introduce

you to what’s known as a law of the harvest some would use the definite article it is the law of the harvest but there’s a lot of laws of the harvest one that you and I ought to have coffee and talk about you never ever reap in the same season you sow that’s the law of the harvest and you’re you’re going wow that’s that’s insightful it really is insightful I didn’t come up with it but you never ever reap in the same season you sell means

you got to sow you got to wait you got to wind it you got to persevere you got to stay stay the course and then you may see some fruit okay but that’s not the law I’m going to tell you about the law is this you ready to write there’s a bias in nature toward wild all right there’s a bias in nature toward wild anybody in this room or watching that enjoys gardening will nod your head at this moment there’s a bias in my planter boxes

toward wild maybe you’ve got more than planter boxes there’s a bias there toward wild so I want you to imagine right now imagine tilling a piece of soil let’s say it’s the it’s the platform or stage up here okay maybe 30 feet wide and 15 feet deep and you take a tiller because we’re modern and we got tools like that and we really go for it and we clean it up we get all the stuff out of it the last year’s crops anything like that and

you get it perfect powder the soil is just written not a sign of anything in it it’s just soil okay and then something comes up and you’re pulled away before you can plant okay and you you’re gone for I don’t know a month or maybe it’s it’s a season three months but you come back what have you now come back to powder what’s wrong with this what do you likely have weeds and how’s the condition of the soil hard sure and you’re like no that’s not

how I left it there’s a bias in nature toward wild here’s another this random little sermon prop see what I’m doing here I would come over and do that on the piano but I would have some eyes on me that wouldn’t appreciate that hey vicky look okay so all right so there is a bias in housekeeping toward dust is there not seriously you can dust top to top to bottom everything it’s all clean all good come back a week later you could have the house sealed

up shut come back a week later you’re like why am I sneezing as I go through this I just did this last week what’s the deal here’s one more example there’s many many more but there’s a bias when it comes to internal combustion engines all right toward where and tear which leads to repair right you with me my sermon illustration goes away when electric cars take over I’m not sure how to illustrate but that’s true of engines the thing under your hood it is has a

bias toward wear and tear and a trip to 3g automotive and having them fix your car unless it’s a duramax diesel and then it takes a little bit longer but anyway that’s a sidebar all right you know where I’m going with this there’s a bias in people like me like you as the song says toward wandering from god the book of judges represents 325 years of israel’s history where the bias to wander plays out again and again and ad nauseam again generations of wandering wow recently

you’ll recall that god’s people had moved into the promised land but failed to follow god’s command we’re looking at chapter two now to clear the land of its pagan inhabitants there were people living there they were collectively the canaanites and god gave the commandment in verses one and two let me just recap it for you an angel of the lord went up from gilgal to book him and said I brought you out of egypt and led you into the land by the way by this time

they had failed to follow god’s command chapter one’s all about that I brought you out of egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors and I said I will never break any covenant with you my covenant with you and you shall not make a covenant with these people in the land the canaanites but you shall break down their altars yet you’ve disobeyed me what a wonderful question comes up this is god speaking why have you done this my instructions were

not complicated god would say you’re not slow people why have you done this may I suggest because there’s a bias in those people in their hearts toward disobedience and maybe more than a few of our hearts as a result not surprisingly the canaanites and their gods would become an irritating influence that verse 3 tells us about I will as a result I will not drive them out before you they will become traps for you and their gods will become snares to you and this led to

widespread failure by god’s people to follow him and what he has said and it evolved into idolatry look at verse 11 if you need to turn the page as I do and let’s just see this pattern as it begins to unfold right in front of us verse 11 the israelites did evil in the eyes of the lord and served the baals they forsook the lord the god of their ancestors who was the god as he described that brought him out of egypt and they followed and

worshiped various small g gods of the peoples around them they aroused the lord’s anger because they forsook him and served baal and ashtoreth in his anger against israel in god’s anger against his own people take that in have a cup of coffee and talk about that man so many of these things we could go a long ways with no god’s just pushover god’s easy going god’s chill god that was that was god got over his bad attitude no he’s not that god anymore and on and

on we go today it’s not teaching from the bible more on that in a minute in his anger against israel his people the lord gave them into the hands of the raiders who plundered them he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around whom they were no longer able to resist and whenever israel went out to fight they didn’t have the right fuel in their tank the hand of the lord was against them to defeat them just as he had sworn to them and

they were in great distress can I have you circle words in a bible even if it’s a pew bible go for it these are worth circling they were in great distress hopefully will cause somebody else that picks up that bible if you borrowed it and they’re going to go wow what’s that mean and there’s a reason for that there always is a reason for great distress sometimes you see it immediately sometimes it takes a while to get it in this case the reason is given these

people did not do it they did not carry out they did not fulfill well god had commanded them to do so talk about tough time they were in great distress talk about harsh we mustn’t forget idolatry is a big deal to god idolatry or the worship of an idol as though it were god that’s idolatry it doesn’t just break one commandment it breaks two commandments did you know that the first two commandments in exodus 20 are about idolatry it’s it matters that much to god it

reads this way I am the lord your god who brought you out of egypt he keeps going back there are you seeing this pattern if if you were to ask god in an interview in heaven today what was one of the biggest achievements what’s one of the things you don’t ever want people to forget I think he’d bring that up there’d be others there would be of course his son but I think you would hear him say I brought you out of egypt out of the

land of slavery you shall have no other gods before me you shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters below the temptation is to do so you shall not bow down to them or worship them for I the lord your god and the god that wants my paraphrase your full affection his words I the lord your god I’m a jealous god I will not share my throne with anybody or anything there’s

not room for two so the people and judges were in great distress verse 15. Can we just say and I don’t mean to pile on it’s of their own doing is it not their their pain was great because their sin was so great I need to stop for a second because there’s an image that’s hard to grasp in all of this it needs to be said this this was done by god it says that they went out to fight and his hand was against him that’s

what I mean by this was done by god and when it says that you need to understand this let me let me state it and then we’ll read it he did this not to destroy his people but to discipline his people he did this in fact to bring back his people now you know where I’m going right so turn there would you for a moment hebrews chapter 12 hold your place here and we’re going to go clear over here near the end of the new testament

hebrews chapter 12 words that just really need your eyes on them this is the same god that wrote these words and chapter 12 is trying to convey the picture I’m just now describing to you that these hard things were done not because god was trying to destroy these people or you or me but because god was saying I want to bring you back I love you I’m not I’m not okay with what’s going on here and I need I I need to make a move in

your life so verse 4 of chapter 12. In your struggle against sin you’ve not yet resisted the point of shedding your blood and have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son did you circle did you see that in your mind as we read that this word of encouragement what word is that well my son do not make light of the lord’s discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the lord disciplines the ones he

loves and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son or daughter endure hardship as discipline god is treating you he repeats the theme as his children for what children are not disciplined by their father if you’re not disciplined and everyone undergoes discipline then you are not legitimate not true sons and daughters at all moreover we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it don’t get lost in yeah but I know an exception I know when my dad was losing it

he was over the top he you know not my dad he did a perfect job of everything but not and you know we all know exceptions you know I think dad I don’t I did not deserve 22 spankings and no I meant two that’s what I meant right so we we know that but we want to we want to find except don’t don’t make exceptions here we all had human fathers disciplined us we respected them how much more should we submit to the father of spirits

and live they disciplined us for a little while as they thought best but god disciplines us for our good in order that we may share in something we are not able to have without it holiness wow no discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful can I get an amen later on however it produces a harvard a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees make level paths for your feet so that the

lame may not be disabled but rather healed god is saying when you wander when you go your own way when you disobey wander go your own way and disobey that applies to the guy talking right now I’ve done all the above and not when I was a kid okay because I love you is how I read verse six because I love you I’m going to take these measures great distress to borrow judges 2 15. I’m going to take those measures to discipline you and bring you

back because I desire so much more for you doesn’t make it easier it doesn’t make the sting of a spanking or the ouch of a you know this a lifetime of restrictions heard that one a number of times but it it’s it’s just what god uses because he loves us to bring us back so I told you to hold your place go back to judges 2 now whenever the great distress meter hit high god would send a deliverer now we’re getting into the guts of judges

look at verse 16. Then the lord raised up judges this is right after he said they were in great distress who saved them out of the hands of these raiders oppressors there were 12 deliverers that god raised up in 325 years 12 of them 12 who were judges that’s thus the title of the book 12 of them were sent by god for the purpose of rescuing his people they had gotten themselves into a pinch and he sent them 12 people why 12 it’s not because there’s

some sort of reference sort of veiled reference to the disciples no I don’t think so I think it’s just there there was a repeating pattern here that lasted 325 years so it took a lot of deliverers and a lot of crying out to god by different generations of people 10 generations and each time god would dispatch a rescuer a deliverer by the way wouldn’t it be accurate to say that this same pattern that we’re reading about to be set humanity has been with us from the

very beginning to the very present and you get that right because otherwise we’re just making you know we’re just giving our time to something long ago and it doesn’t matter to us today but it does doesn’t it this pattern of people wandering from god is what the rest of the book of judges is about so I want you to see this as I read verses 17 it’s really captured it’s condensed in fact I’ll go so far as to tell you verses 17 to 23 is the

pattern the rest of the book repeats okay all the rest of the chapters so look it’s important as you let the screen come down before me because I’m going to show you something yet they were not they would not listen to their judges verse 17 but prostituted themselves to other gods and worship them they quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors who had been obedient to the lord’s commands whenever the lord raised up a judge for them he was with that judge and he saved

them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived for the lord relented he had a change of mind there’s more to discuss there because of their groanings under those who oppressed and afflicted them the raiders that we’ve been learning about but when the judge died the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors following other gods and serving and worshipping them they refuse to give up their evil practices in stubborn ways remember we said earlier stubborn bad

habit verse 20. Therefore the lord was very angry with israel and said because this nation has violated the covenant that I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations joshua left when he died I will use them to test israel and see whether they will keep the ways of the lord and walk in it as their ancestors did and the lord allowed those nations to remain he did not drive them out at

once by giving them into the hands of joshua come next week and we’re going to talk about the tests that god brings into our lives but let’s let’s probe into this a little bit further here’s here’s the way this pattern played out in israel okay israel you’re seeing a graphic now I have bible project if you’re not familiar with that please go there I want to give them a shout out it’s a phenomenal easily accessed website and you can go there and find this is just

a picture but it’s actually an animated description of I think almost every book of the bible and a narrator that’s got just an amazing voice it’s really good you’re gonna come away in about six minutes going wow I need to play it again that was so descriptive but the deal is instead of driving out the canaanites they they moved in among them israel moved in among the canaanites and the trouble soon followed so you’re seeing it there they would sin living among the the canaanites and

then that that they sinned against god I’m calling that rebellion god told them to live a certain way and they said no they rebelled and then that leads secondly to oppression that you see up there they suffered oppression for their sins let’s call that ruin rebellion led to ruin and then they eventually as people do when they’re under a lot of pain they they eventually admit their error do you see what I’m doing right now okay right that’s kind of a version of that and they

they repent they say okay okay and they admit their error and then they’re sent a deliverer god releases a judge to rescue them and they eventually experience a brief time of peace until that rescuer passes and and he restores them in their relationship with god he he brings peace and all the good things and then we find our way see the dotted line clear up to the top repeat they sin again the sin cycle repeats I know some of you are taking pictures of that that’s

great bible project just to say their name again they gave me permission to share this with you today and I just think it’s fantastic and I I’ve referenced it in my research for this series on judges so I would love it if the narrative ended if I can bring you back to verse 16. That the lord raised up a judge and he saved his people and let’s close the book I really do that would that would be mission accomplished wouldn’t it it’d be relationship restored but

their habit of wandering from god happened as I said earlier again and again and again and god throughout judges sends these rescuers to act on his behalf they are heroes want to talk to you about heroes for a second here what is a hero well they they come through in just the nick of time they come through when all other options have expired there’s nothing that’s working the fix isn’t helping I realize and I understand this I’m describing our world as much as any other time

in history it’s broken and and god would send a rescuer in a heroic way why would he do it that way can I just put myself out there because I think that’s god’s way I think if we said god what do you want people to know most about who you are we would most of us say he’s very loving right he’s forgiving right and that would be absolutely true but he would also say I want you to know me as a hero as a mighty god

got me thinking about days of darkness like the ones we live in this is in judges you have to go 600 years further into the future so closer to where we live 600 years to the days of a prophet named isaiah and in chapter 9 the prophet describes his day as dark and he says it’s not only dark but people were living in darkness it was not good they had their portland oregon’s you know they had the garbage we could go into great detail they had

it going on but isaiah takes the time in chapter nine to describe a rescuer and that rescuer he’s like he’s unlike all other rescuers and judges or rescuers before or since isaiah said things like this the days were spiritually dark I’m quoting from isaiah 9. And the people lived in those days were in deep darkness and as a result ready for this their distress was great there it is again then god sends his rescuer he has a name jesus christ he described it this way you’re

used to hearing these words about a month and a half from now for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulders and his name will be called wonderful counselor because most of us are confused half the time we need counsel mighty god which is a hebrew construct that some translators believe describes god as a hero heroic god almighty god everlasting father prince of peace and then it says this of the greatness of his government

and of his peace there will be no end he will reign on david’s throne forever establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time forth and forever and it’s guaranteed to happen because the zeal of the lord almighty will accomplish it this is powered by god talk about a permanent fix jesus the ultimate judge deliverer and rescuer came to win my wandering heart want to know how it turned out him coming I guess that really depends on you and on me right I read

in the gospels some unimaginable words reported in john’s gospel you’re used to verse 16 of chapter three but just listen long enough and you’ll hear the unimaginable for god so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life for god did not send his son into the world to judge the world but to save the world through him listen closely whoever believes in him is not condemned no other qualifications you just got

to believe in jesus not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of god’s one and only son and here are those words how did it work out not when one of these 12 judges showed up in the book of judges to rescue but how did it turn out when god sent his ultimate rescuer his son jesus into a dark world how did it turn out god’s verdict is this I’m quoting now verse 19 of the same

passage t

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 5,492 words.