What can we learn about God from the stories of the Old Testament Judges? What about all the violence we read about in the Old Testament? What was the reason for it and how did God use the Judges in the lives of ancient Israel? Join Pastor Jim as he begins to unpack answers to these questions and more!
Sermon Notes
The repeated themes found in the book of Judges are:
- “The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” occurs 7 times!
(2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1) - “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”- Judges 21:25
Repeating cycle of spiritual decline in Judges:
- Rebellion
- Retributive Justice
- Remorse/Repentance
- Rescue/Restoration
Why did God mete out His wrath on the pagan nations?
- Deuteronomy 9:4-5
- Deuteronomy 12:29-32
Judges3.7-31
Othniel, Ehud & Shamgar
- The significance of an active spiritual memory
- The past may serve as a helpful school but because of Christ, it doesn’t ever have to become a prison.
- While Christ has paid the ultimate price for our sin, sometimes we have to live with the temporal consequences that follow our sins.
- God often turns human suffering, failure and weakness into something He can use for His sovereign purposes and plans.
“When God goes to war, He usually chooses the most unlikely soldiers, hands them the most unusual weapons, and accomplishes through them the most unpredictable results.”
Warren Wiersbe
“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain