3-31-19 Grace-Tucson Sermon

Judges 10:6-16 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke

“God Rescues His People”

Lent 4 Sunday, March 31, 2019

“Would anyone volunteer to read?” For some, that is a terrifying question. I am not looking to put anyone on the spot right now, and as long as I mention that, I will also say that anyone who has been hesitant to come to Bible study because they are worried that they will be put on the spot and forced to do something like read out loud, that’s not something you need to worry about. In other contexts, however, maybe you have run across the issue. I think back to school days, when one by one the students read a paragraph out loud, and most of us would figure out which paragraph we had so that we could preview it and prepare for any hard words.

Well, it was the unfortunate classmate who got stuck reading several of the paragraphs from our First Lesson this morning, from Judges chapter 10. You heard it. It is full of Ammonites and Amorites and Ashtartes, not to mention Sidonians, Amalek, and others. This is probably not a section that many of us would prefer to read out loud in front of a group. When it gets right down to it, though, many of these words are not all that difficult to read if you look carefully at them, it’s maybe a bigger problem that we’re just not super familiar with them.

Maybe at times, that also keeps us from taking to heart some lessons from the Old Testament. It’s not that we want to avoid them. We realize that the Old Testament is inspired by God for our benefit even today, but maybe we’re just not as familiar with it. Some of us know some of the Old Testament stories from Sunday School, some of us might recall a few more. But aside from a handful of better known accounts, it is likely true that there is plenty of unfamiliar Old Testament for us.

As we focus on an Old Testament lesson today, one that is not necessarily well-known from Sunday School, we are doing so because Jesus tells us that all of Scripture testifies about him. We are doing so because God tells us in the New Testament that all of Scripture is useful and beneficial. We are doing so because we learn more about God and highlight different aspects of his goodness to us by considering these things. And we turn to eleven verses from the tenth chapter of Judges today on the Fourth Sunday in Lent and learn from these verses that God rescues his people.

The fact is that the whole book of Judges tells us about God rescuing his people. Our verses come from the tenth chapter of the book, so if we were reading from the beginning, we would have already seen this in action. The book of Judges records the history of God’s Old Testament people, the Israelites, after God had already rescued them from Egypt and brought them to the Promised Land. In the Promised Land, they were still surrounded by many enemies or potential enemies, and they hadn’t really been established as a powerful nation. Before they had a king to rule over them and lead their army, God placed over the people a series of judges. These judges were more local than a king, and they served in a leadership role for differing periods of time. Their title, of course, gives us the name of the book, Judges.

By this tenth chapter, the book has already detailed several judges and the circumstances of their leadership. And we find in these accounts a very clear pattern. First, the people fall into sin and fall away from God, which means that they do all sorts of things that God had commanded them to avoid, even to the point of joining in with the worship of false gods of the people around them. Then God allows them to be conquered by their neighboring enemies. They are oppressed to the point that they cry out to God for help and turn back to him. At that point in this cycle, God sends a leader, a judge, to rescue them. While the judge is ruling, things go well, but each time after the judge dies, the cycle repeats and the people eventually fall away again.

You can see that same cycle in action once again in our verses for today. Idolatry is followed by oppression. Oppression leads to repentance. And what does repentance lead to? Our verses conclude with this statement: “When they removed the foreign gods from their midst and served the Lord, he could no longer refrain from relieving the misery of Israel.” Repentance leads to rescue. If we would continue reading in this chapter, we would see God sending judges and rescuing his people, freeing them from their oppression. God rescues his people. But what is so important for us to see in

this is that God rescues his people first by leading them to repentance. He uses situations and circumstances to make them realize their sin. He allows them to suffer in order to change their minds about the way they are going and the things that they are doing. He moves them to see that their idols are worthless and that they are helpless in order that they would finally turn to him for help.

The circumstances and situations of our lives are different, but God works in the same way. He wants to rescue, and he does so by leading people to repentance. He leads us to recognize our need, our sinfulness, our helplessness. He leads us to realize that he is the only one to whom we can turn for real help. He is the only one to whom we can turn for real rescue. He is the only one to whom we can turn for salvation.

But that repentance is a constant need, too. It is because like those Israelites, we chase after all sorts of false gods. Again, the specifics may be different, and we might not call these things false gods or knowingly engage in their worship, but any time we place something else above God, the true God, in our hearts and lives, we make them into our gods. Do we run to our savings account to feel safe and secure? Do we judge the success of our lives by how much we have or how successful our children are?

Do we seek fulfillment in finding ways to entertain ourselves and not in the things that God says are truly good and useful? In order to lead us to repentance, God works through circumstances, situations, and the truth of his Word so that we see that all these things are fleeting and temporary, that they are not worthy of our worship or our trust. Only he is.

And he is worthy of our worship because he responds to our repentance. He did for his Old Testament people. “When they removed the foreign gods from their midst and served the Lord, he could no longer refrain from relieving the misery of Israel.” He is always gracious, always eager to lead to repentance and to forgive people. He is always eager to bring people to faith and to salvation. Even though his people in the Old Testament had turned away again and again and again, God still rescued them. He still sent judges to lead them.

God teaches that same lesson about his persistent love in the parable of the Prodigal Son. Even though the son has squandered his riches and ruined his own life, the father is ever eager to see him and receive him and welcome him, and even to celebrate him.

It doesn’t matter how lost we have been or once were. It doesn’t matter how badly we have erred in our blindness. God rejoices when he leads people to himself. He rejoices when the lost are found and when the blind start seeing. He lifts us up when we humble ourselves before him.

You see, the accounts of the judges speak about a great deal more than political matters. Yes, God intervenes to rescue his people from their earthly enemies. He does so again and again. But the real purpose behind it all is his desire to save his people spiritually, to save them from the ultimate consequence of turning away from him.

God rescues his people. He leads them to repentance, and he responds with love and mercy. Our verses today demonstrate that pattern. They showcase the love of God in the face of human rebellion and sin.

They speak of realities that we find in our lives and in the lives of those around us on a constant and daily basis. We turn away from God. We fall back to natural and inborn habits. We seek after pleasure and self-gratification. We wish to seize our inheritance now and use it without consideration of what life will be like when the wealth is used up.

And God is there again and again to call us back. He is full of love and mercy and compassion. He is not chiefly interested in giving us earthly peace and comfort. He is chiefly interested in leading us to a deeper and lasting faith in him, trust in his goodness. In this way, he is leading us to our eternal home with him.

Sure, there are many hard to read and unfamiliar names in a lesson like this one, but there are precious truths for us to cherish. God leads us to repentance, and he responds with his love. God rescues his people.

The Text: Judges 10:6-16 6Once

again the people of Israel committed evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtartes, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sihon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. In this way they forsook the Lord and did not serve him.

7So

the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites, 8who shattered and crushed the people of Israel that year.

For the next eighteen years, the Ammonites oppressed all the people of Israel who were in the territory east of the Jordan, in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9When the Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to wage war against Judah and Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, Israel suffered great distress.

10Finally

the people of Israel called out to the Lord, “We have sinned against you, for we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals.”

11At

this, the Lord said to the people of Israel, “Did I not deliver you from Egypt, from the Amorites, from the Ammonites, and from the Philistines? 12When the Sidonians and Amalek and Maon oppressed you, and you called out to me, I delivered you from their hands. 13It is you who have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore, I will no longer deliver you. 14Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen!

Let them deliver you in the time of your distress!”

15But

the people of Israel said to the Lord, “We have sinned. Do with us whatever seems good in your eyes, but please save us today.” 16When they removed the foreign gods from their midst and served the Lord, he could no longer refrain from relieving the misery of Israel.