A Place Of Grace
8-2-26
  • Have you ever forgotten something that changed everything?
    Maybe you forgot your wedding anniversary...
    Maybe you forgot your wallet...
    Maybe you forgot your medicine...
    Maybe you forgot a promise you made…
    Forgetting can have serious consequences. But there is another kind of forgetting that is far more dangerous.
    It is possible to forget God.
    Not that you forget He exists… but that you begin living as though He doesn't matter.
    They didn’t forget facts… they forgot the Covenant!

    A Covenant God

    To fully grasp the depth of this book of Judges we need to understand that God is a covenant keeping God… If you don't understand God's covenant, you will misunderstand almost everything God does in Judges.
    Why doesn't God simply destroy Israel?
    Why does He keep rescuing them?
    Why does He continue showing mercy to people who repeatedly reject Him?
    Answer: Because God made a covenant.
    Judges 2:1–2 declares that God “will never break His covenant”
    Judges 3:7 sadly states that the people “Forgot”!!!
    Covenant Defined: A binding agreement between two parties, establishing promises, responsibilities, and commitment. In the Old Testament, making a covenant was described as “cutting a covenant,” sometimes pictured by sacrificed animals being divided and the covenant maker passing between the pieces—solemnly binding himself to keep his word.
    In Genesis 12:1-3 to Abraham concerning His coming blessing
    Genesis 12:1–3 NASB95
    Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
    In Genesis 15 God makes a covenant with Abraham establishing what He promised
    In this covenant only God went through the two halves (Not Abraham)… it is dependent on Him and Him alone
    It is the bring together as one the two parties into agreement
    Marriage is pictured as a covenant… two becoming one before God Almighty
    In Genesis 26:2-5 God reestablished this covenant with Isaac
    Genesis 26:2–5 NASB95
    ...“Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; … ”
    In Genesis 28:10-15 God affirms this covenant with Jacob (also known as Israel)
    Genesis 28:10–15 NASB95
    … “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. …”
    In Exodus 2:24 and Exodus 6:2-8 God reminds the sons of Israel of this covenant and confirms it with them!
    Exodus 2:24 NASB95
    So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
    Exodus 6:2–8 NASB95
    God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Lord, I did not make Myself known to them. “I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. “Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. … ‘I will bring you to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the Lord.’ ”
    This COVENANT is foundational to COMPREHENDING God in Judges. It is foundational to UNDERSTANDING God’s GRACE & MERCY for us today!

    The People Forgot

    Judges 3:7 states they forgot the God that brought them out and kept His covenant with them…
    Rather than worship YAHWEH they exchanged worship for BAAL & ASHERAH…
    They did NOT STOP being religious… they changed what or who they worshiped
    Idolatry is rarely the rejection of worship.… It is the replacement of the true God.
    BAAL = master, possessor, or husband (many cultures worshiped him in various forms)
    A god merged with nature… weather, storms, rain
    A god who brought fertility… crops, livestock, even people
    A god who brought with him erotic sexual practices, temple male & female prostitution, sexual acts with the prostitutes symbolized worship & union with Baal
    A god who demanded child sacrifices
    ASHERAH = mother goddess or mother of the sea
    A god associated with water and sea /fishing
    A god who mothered mortals with her breast
    A god who brought divine fruitfulness often (often paired with Baal)
    A god symbolized by a wooden pole or tree planted by alters (tree of life)
    A god who could foretell the future and was repaid by temple prostitution
    Baal & Asherah promised the immediate gratification of what sinful hearts wanted.
    These gods played to mankind’s desire for lust, power, pride, elevating themselves and thier desires. These gods offered everything but left people longing and never satisfied.
    Every IDOL makes promises (joy,... peace,... identity,... security,... freedom)
    Every Idol lies... every Idol will eventually send you into slavery
    Do not be fooled… as Americans we too have our own Baals (money, comfort, pleasure, self, tech, entertainment, sports)
    Baal promised freedom...delivered slavery.
    Money promises security...can produce anxiety.
    Pleasure promises happiness...often leaves emptiness.
    Power promises control...creates fear.
    Sin always over-promises and under-delivers.
    In chapter 3 we see the people forget God and worship other gods (IDOLS)…
    In Deuteronomy 6:14-15 God declares and tells them what He will do…
    Deuteronomy 6:14–15 NASB95
    “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.
    In Chapter 3 we see God give over his people to thier enemies…
    In Verse 8… “He sold them” to the Mesopotamians
    In Verse 12… “the Lord strengthened Moab against Israel”
    In Verse 31… we see the Philistines arise against Israel
    Each time God hands them over to thier sin, to thier gods, and all they get in return is slavery, bondage, war, oppression
    NOTICE: it is God who protects and God who turns them over… God is in control
    Their sin, worship of other gods, idolatry, is dealt with by God
    The people get what they deserve, God essentially gives them what they want and they don’t like it… Like verse 4 states… “God tested to see if they would obey”… and they DO NOT! Judges 2:2 states they did not OBEY...
    Sometimes God's judgment is not immediately lightning from heaven.
    Sometimes God's judgment is simply allowing us to have the very thing we've insisted we wanted apart from Him.
    SIDE NOTE: Our obedience is NOT what earns us a place with God… Grace cannot be earned… our OBEDIENCE demonstrates our LOVE FOR HIM!
    John 15:4 Jesus Himself says… ““Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.”
    John 15:4 NASB95
    “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
    Deuteronomy 6:5 God when He gives His law to the people says… ““You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
    Deuteronomy 6:5 NASB95
    “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
    1 Samuel 15:22 Samuel the last of the judges stated to King Saul… “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.”
    1 Samuel 15:22 NASB95
    Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
    The people of God LOVED the world, the gods of this world, the lust, desires, the pride of life, the indulgences… they did not love the LORD!
    I want us to see something here about our God though… I want us to see His grace… His genuine mercy…
    Even when they are in the depth and filth of thier sin and idol worship, groaning in the consequences, when they cried out to God… HE LISTENED AND REMEMBERED THEM AND HIS COVENANT!!!

    God Remembered

    People… DELIVERANCE ALWAYS BEGINS WITH GOD!!!
    Not leaders… strategy… money… or more power
    Verse 9… “the Lord raised up a deliverer” this is the work of God, not man!
    Othniel = is Caleb’s nephew part of the generation after (A Bridge) that leads his people to the LORD and to victory over The Mesopotamians
    As the people obey the Lord and have a Godly judge like Othniel there is rest for forty years
    Verse 15… “the Lord raised up a deliverer” this is the work of God, not man!
    Ehud = a Benjamite and left handed (considered a hinderance or handicap in those day) victory over the Moabites
    Many Benjamites were left handed we see in scripture… ( they were in their right mind)
    Fascinating how God uses him, plunges the dagger into the fat king
    The world sees limitations… God sees usefulness
    Our God DELIGHTS in using unlikely people
    Then Ehud calls the people to follow him to victory right?!… NOPE!!!! Verse 28… he calls them to pursue the enemy, “for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands.”
    As the people obey the Lord and follow Ehud there is rest in the land for eighty years
    Verse 31… tells us everything we know about this next individual… 1 verse… 1 man… 1 oxgoad… & THE ONE TRUE GOD!
    God raised up deliverers because Israel cried out. Why did they cry out?
    Not because they hated sin… Because they hated suffering.
    Many people cry because they hate consequences.
    However… Repentance happens when we hate the sin itself. The Lord raised up a deliverer… to conquer sin and death, that deliverer was Christ, and He took the CONSEQUENCE of our sin upon Himself…

    God Still Remembers

    Israel forgot… and yet God remembered.
    We forget… and still God remembers.
    Israel broke covenant.… God remained faithful.

    There is another covenant. (Testament)

    Jesus sat with His disciples… "This cup is the new covenant in My blood..." Luke 22.
    Then ask… Have you forgotten what Christ has done? Christ told us to “do this in remembrance of Him”
    His love, His covenant, His sacrifice, His Grace & Mercy at the Cross!
    The bread… His body broken “while we were still sinners!”
    The Cup… His blood a promise / covenant of His salvation PAID IN FULL
    Has this act of Communion become just a religious ritual, or does it draw you to REMEBER HIM!?
    Have you slowly begun trusting something other than Him?
    Are you doing what is right in your own eyes...or what is right in God's eyes?
    Have you drifted toward the gods of this world?
    What are you worshiping?… Who is truly Master?
    What has captured your heart?
    What do you love most?
    What are you afraid of losing?
    Because whatever you fear losing most may reveal what you worship most.
    The people forgot...but God remembered.
    The people sinned, cried out, needed a deliverer...and God remembered.
    We fail just the same at times… and God remembers.
    Christ came because God remembers His covenant.
    Our hope has never rested in how faithfully we remember God, but in how perfectly God remembers His covenant. That covenant reached its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

      • Genesis 12:1–3NASB95

      • Genesis 26:2–5NASB95

      • Genesis 28:10–15NASB95

      • Exodus 2:24NASB95

      • Exodus 6:2–8NASB95

      • Deuteronomy 6:14–15NASB95

      • John 15:4NASB95

      • Deuteronomy 6:5NASB95

      • 1 Samuel 15:22NASB95

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