Judges 1 Bible Study (Continuing Conquest of Canaan/Failure to Complete) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

To the book of Judges together. And as we do, let's humble our hearts before God's word and ask him to help us in this new study. The book of Judges. Meet me in chapter one and bow your hearts with me, please. Lord, we are so grateful for how you've been leading us throughout the Old Testament.

And, Lord, we know that there's so much more, but we trust that you're leading us exactly the way we need to be led. Father, we pray that the presence of God would meet us as we study your word and that, Lord, we would be brought into fellowship with Christ. We ask, Lord, that there would be a freedom from confusion. We ask, Lord, that there would be a hunger for knowledge of God and that, Lord, we would, as my brother prayed earlier, be transformed by the time we lay our heads on our pillows to reflect on the things that we just explored today as a family in Christ. We ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen and amen. The book of Judges. It's not just our custom to do review and kind of a fun quiz to examine what we just learned. We always, when we start a new book, take our time to look at the overview of the book, to see at least the general purpose and the themes of the scripture to prepare us to know what we're getting into. The book of Judges is exactly about what the title states, the Judges of Israel.

It's speaking about those who were raised up by God in a specific period of time between Joshua's death and the prophet Samuel being raised up. So this is what we're covering. And people debate how many years, and it's often agreed that it's around four hundred years throughout the book of Judges. And it's speaking again about those who are raised up to be leaders before Israel's monarchy. Before a king was raised up and ruled the land, these were the leaders that helped, at least tried to help the people navigate through God's word and faithfulness to his commands.

Now judges, when we hear that, we kind of have a picture in our minds of somebody in a row behind a stand and a gavel and who deals with legal matters. But that is not necessarily what these judges were given as a task. They were civil leaders, but they were more deliverers for the people of Israel in times of oppression from foreign nations. A deliverer, a judge was raised up when there was the most oppression. And so we have to understand them more as men and women who use military might to bring about victory and freedom and liberty to God's people.

And so they were not judges in the sense that we understand. They were more. Those who did, yes, bring civil authority and civil, issues to rest. But more than anything, they went to battle and they led conquest for God's people. What's interesting about the book of judges is that you and I get a highlight reel of one judge after the other.

And if we read carefully, we'll notice that they get worse and worse in terms of character. They they start out pretty good and then as you read on, the the description of these judges are more detailed. And what we see is that they're more flawed. And they they become more apparent in their sinfulness, in their rebellion, in their own lack of faithfulness as leaders. And so really, the sense that you're getting not just with the people of Israel but with these deliverers is just the spiraling down concerning consecration being a rarity and being more compromised.

Here's the outline of the book of Judges. It's very simple. Judges chapter one and two is a prologue. It's setting up the scene for the highlight reel of the roster of judges that we will read one after the other between Judges chapter three and Judges chapter 16. Now when we come to Judges chapter 17 to the last chapter, which is chapter 21, what we're gonna see is a zooming out from the leaders that are supposedly setting the people free and leading them back to God to the nation as a whole.

Chapter 17 to chapter 21 is a is a description of the corruption of the people, not just the leaders. And it is very disheartening to see to what they have plummeted to concerning their walk with the Lord. So that's the structure. That's the main idea. That's the threat that goes from beginning to end.

But let's talk about four main themes I argue that you can grab from the book of Judges just from an overview. Number one, the book of judges offers us a picture of the issue of cycles. You don't have to be too deep into the book to pick up on a theme and to see that there is a pattern with the people concerning their spiritual condition. And there is a cycle that is continually presented before us throughout these hundreds of years. From generation after generation, it is the same idea and here's how it really works.

Here's the cycle if you wanna summarize it. Number one, the people forsake God and his commands. They worship false gods. They live in sin unrepentantly. They walk away.

They turn their back from God. Then you come to what? God, as a means of discipline, allows foreign nations to come and oppress his people. So when you read of these nations coming in, it is directly related to God's discipline. From there, you come to the people who in their oppression cry out to God for mercy.

They cry out to God for liberty and this is where the judges come in. God then raises up a judge, brings deliverance only for the people to return to a stretch of time of peace and prosperity to do what again? Just repeat the whole cycle. So that is a cycle that we're presented with over and over and over. And as the cycle continues, what you see that they whenever they return to that state of backsliding, they go they become worse.

It It becomes more severe. It becomes more gross. It becomes more hideous. So it's not just like they're in the same place. Think of a drill.

They're drilling themselves deeper and deeper into darkness as time goes on. Now why is that important as a theme? Because judges presents believers today a picture of how many professing Christians live their walk in cycles. The very same cycle that I just described. Nothing different.

It's just in an individual scale. They turn their back on God. Though they've been delivered from Egypt and brought into the promised land, they've they've been granted all things in Christ, but they they choose rather to surrender to a perpetual roller coaster rhythm of devotion. They they start walking with God. Then they experience the emptiness and pain of walking away from God.

They hear a convicting message from a man who's preaching truth. They get stirred up again. They return to the Lord only to do what? Repeat the cycle. And what's interesting about that is they don't grow.

They they don't go from glory to glory. They don't see development. They are known for that cycle and people know it too. And again, just like the Israelites, it's not like they stay in the same place like people think. Like, oh, I just cycle.

I'm stuck. You're not just getting stuck. You're going deeper into sin, brother. Just like the Israelites. You're plunging yourself further into depravity.

Profession Christian. You get fired up for the Lord. You sing. You praise. Your hands are lifted.

You worship. You quote scripture. You post it on Facebook. All these different things. Then all of a sudden sin creeps in.

You get quiet. And for many, they disappear from the congregation. Only for them to be either convicted or conflicted or paying the punishment for their backsliding to come back and get fired up again. And then year after year, it's the same thing. It's the same thing.

And here's what judges teaches us. You ready? The cycling issue for the nation of Israel, there is no one to blame for that other than Israel herself. No one. It's not God's fault.

It's not the foreign nation's fault. The reason, the cause for this is because of themselves and no one else. Accept, your the reason. You are the cause. There's no one else to blame.

And to the next Not the issue of Cyprus, but the cultural consequence of forsaken to read this book. And you and I are going to read this book. And you and I are going to read some of the darkest Raw descriptions of evil in the entirety of life. Reason for that. Because the scriptures in this book can be summarized in that well known and often quoted verse at the end of this book.

And you can turn there to see it. It's in Judges 21 verse 25. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. That is the reason for all the vital things that we're gonna unfold, and we're not gonna shy away from it.

Because God wants to teach all people for all generations what man is capable of if they are left to themselves. Man is capable of plunging themselves into wickedness unthinkable when they turn their backs on God. And you know what judges is? It's a window for all time because nothing will remove God's word from this world. It's a window for all time for man to peek in and to see, oh, wow.

That's what man is capable of. Yes. That's what man is capable of when you promote moral relativism. You know what moral relativism is? Simply this.

Whatever is right for you is right for you. Whatever is right for me is right for me. Whatever is wrong for you is wrong for you. Whatever is wrong for me is wrong for me. Have you had a conversation with somebody like that?

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's cool, bro. Yeah.

But listen, man. Listen. Just you do you and I do me. And when you when you problem a little bit, when you when you ask questions, they're like, okay. Okay.

Listen. Here's the general rule. As long as what I do doesn't harm anybody else. As long as what I do doesn't harm anybody else, and as long as what you do doesn't harm anybody else, then we're fine. Whatever is right for you is right for you.

Whatever is right for me is right for me. The problem with that idea is that you've assumed an objective rule by claiming everybody has to submit to that when you're contradicting yourself and you're saying that there's no objective rule. Who are you to say that as long as it doesn't harm me? Who are you to to establish that kind of a law? What if me harming you does good for me and is right for me?

You see the contradiction? On top of that, here's the issue. People fail to realize that what you think doesn't harm others, in fact, harms others. As much as you'd like to think that your sin is a private issue and that there's gonna be any payment for your wrong, you're gonna pay for it alone is a false notion. Some of you in here can can describe your emotional pain and your hurt from a family member who's a drug addict.

Who are they harming? Themselves. Really? Just themselves? Or others suffering for your well-being, praying and crying out for you to be turned over.

Anything you think is only harming you most likely is harming another. You can bring it down even to sexuality. That's a big argument for the homosexual agenda. This is love. I'm loving somebody else.

Just back up and let us love one another. Here's the problem. If you put a bunch of girls who are in the homosexual lifestyle on an island, what happens? There's no reproduction. What suffers?

Society suffers. So no matter what angle you come from, sin is not a private dilemma. It's more touching others than you can imagine. And what you read, what you see here is the cultural consequence of those who say we are going to determine morality for ourselves. What you see in judges is the evidence of the absence of a promotion for morality and the absence of a punishment for the lack of submission to morality.

And we all know that if there's gonna be an objective moral law that already determines that there is a law giver who has the right and the authority to determine for all men what is right and what is wrong. That is the description that God gives of himself. So you know what you're gonna see in judges as we journey together? You're gonna see the result of those who say, we're gonna live based on what we think is right, Sexual abuse, grotesque and unthinkable violence, economic distress, perversion, family dysfunction, confusion on a reasonable level, and on a common sense level, and even civil war. That's how the book of judges ends, with a civil war.

Isn't that interesting? Isn't it interesting that the way each of those ends is not by God directly disciplining his people by allowing foreign nations to come? It gets so bad for the nation of Israel that God does not even need to directly discipline them. They're already harming themselves. The Israelites are now at the end, they're turning on themselves as a consequence of their own.

Let's just live on what we think is right in our own eyes. Sound familiar? Sound familiar? A nation, any nation that chooses to walk away from God, God doesn't need to do very much to discipline them. He can and he has the right to do so.

But what will come at the end of the line is an implosion of corruption that will bring self destruction to any people group as a result of their independence from God. So Judges is much more relative than you and I think. Because we are living in a day where your schools and our children to come, unless God sends a mighty move of God, a promotion of you do what is right for you. Judges tells us what the end result of that is. But we come to theme number three, and it's a little lighter.

It's God's willingness to raise up a remnant in a corrupt culture. So when you read this, what we see is that as much as there's gross, deranged, depravity over and over, chapter after chapter Here's the thing. When you read Judges, don't think that you're gonna find the comfort that you read in book of Psalms. It's more depressing than anything. But what I love about Judges is that the Holy Spirit was not shy through the author of Hebrews to pull out some rays of hope.

In fact, he goes to this book book to actually teach on exemplary faith. Book of the scripture says it's a very quick reference to the book of Judges in Hebrews eleven thirty two. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barack, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets. Now, what's interesting is Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah are found in the book of Judges.

And the author here is teaching on exemplary faith. What faith actually looks like. What you should learn from these men is that they lived out faith. And now that's important in light of the context of the book of Judges, where there was faithlessness all around them. And there was lack of example and lack of consecration unto God.

And you know what the book of judges wants to invite us to believe? That even though you have a crumbling culture caused by moral decay, God is still able to raise up a voice of reason. In fact, God is recruiting and he's looking and he's hoping and he's believing. And you and I will see different types of people with different types of weaknesses and different type of reluctant to God's call, but God's still being patient enough to recruit them and to call them to represent him. And these men, not one judge was self appointed.

And woman, we're gonna see. Not one of them was self appointed. Nobody said, I'm gonna be delivered. They were all called by God, which means they represented God, which means what? Their deliverance was connected to a relationship with God, which means what?

There is no freedom in your life, in your family life, in society, in a nation, apart from God. Reversal to corruption that is eroding in a place. And that's what these men teach us. But, as you and I read and study these men, that we're willing to be used for God's glory. We're gonna see that they were flawed.

And I hope you come here with the desire to be used of God. I don't know why else you wouldn't would come here or even choose to continue to live. You're on this earth to be used by God, for God to do something through you. So you know what judges helps us do? Not just believe that God can use anyone, but to avoid the pitfalls and the mistakes they have made, so that our calling can have greater longevity, and purpose, and effectiveness, and fruitfulness.

We come to our final theme before we come to chapter one. We talked about what? The cycle, the issue of the cycling, more corruption due to forsaking God, the the rays of hope that come from men in the scriptures, in the book of Judges, that give us examples of faith. Deliverable. I'll never forget the time that within my first year of salvation, we spend most of our times as a group of guys to go to conferences and prayer meetings and church meetings.

That's how we did our first two years of salvation. That's all we wanted to do. Wherever God was moving and speaking through his word, we wanted to be there. So after one of those conferences, we were flying back. And it was at night.

And my friend was sitting beside me. And you know what it's like to be on a flight when it's night, most of the lights are off, and people tend to sleep. But his little light above his seat was shining on the pages of his bible. And I looked over as he was reading, not disturbing him, just meditating upon the conference that we just had. He was in the page of he's in the page of the book of judges.

And I looked over, and as I looked over, I looked up to his face. And as I looked up to his face, I saw his eyes. And when I saw his eyes, I saw that they were filled with tears. And when his eyes were filled with tears, he didn't even look over to me. I guess he had realized I looked at him.

And he said out loud, as his eyes were still glued on the pages of the book of Judges, and he says, why don't they ever get it? Why do they keep failing? Why do they go back into bondage? I don't remember the conversation after that, but I can tell you that that moment left an imprint, left an impact on my heart because I believe his reaction is God's intended reaction for all those who would read the book of Judges. Because the book of Judges is not just about Israel.

The book of Judges is not just about a time in history. The book of Judges is a declaration of what humanity is like. Trapped in bondage. Trapped in sin. And if there's any relief from sin, just like Judges, it is temporary.

It is limited. It is not extensive. It is not lifelong. It is not permanent. And when you read the book of Judges, you just you see it.

You don't just see that the people keep failing, but the leaders that are supposedly supposed to set them free are failing. And so you think to yourself, is there any permanent freedom? And is there any leader who's faithful to bring about that permanent freedom? And what judges is telling you is that men cannot free you. Even a man that is endued with the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit as Samson was, the only one who can, and as we know, the only one who did was the God man.

The judge of judges, the deliverer of all deliverers, the one who was perfect in his character, the one who brought about a freedom that was beyond just foreign oppression, but an inward bondage to iniquity and wickedness. The one whose perfect power that sets you free from sin is matched by a perfect character because in him was no sin. And the one who brings a permanent freedom. The one who breaks shackles forever. The one who guarantees you a lifelong, listen to this, ability to walk in the spirit without the need of cycling as long as you trust and obey.

So these are the themes of the book of Judges. Keep that in mind as we journey through. And now we come to Judges chapter one, and we won't be going as in-depth with that overview, but we will get an idea of what this chapter is setting us up for. You guys ready? I hope so.

Judges chapter one beginning in verse one. After the death of Joshua stop. After the death of Joshua, this is how the book begins. Now can we enter into the world just for a moment to to kind of feel what they felt? For all of Israel's history as a nation coming out of Exodus, they have known nothing but what?

Wandering, traveling through the wilderness, setting up tents. They have never known a permanent address. They have never known what it was like to have their own home, to build that home, to raise a family, and to know this is where we are forever. All they've ever known was being dragged around, led unknowingly, what's coming next, trusting in God, hoping in God, and now here they are for the first time ever planted on the promise looking around and saying, we're here forever. We've never known this.

This is our home. This is where we get to stay. You can imagine what's swirling in their minds. And like that, there is something else that they have never known. They have always known what it was like to be led by a leader.

Moses led them. Joshua led them. And now, for the first time, Joshua is dead. And guess what? He didn't leave a successor.

He didn't leave somebody. He didn't disciple anybody. He didn't lay hands on somebody. God didn't call somebody out. Now, for the first time, every tribe for himself.

This is new territory, not just physically, but even spiritually. What are we going to do from this moment on? Where are we going to go? How are we gonna go about this? And so all these tribes are there together, and God is doing this for one main reason.

Because he wants to teach him what he's been trying to teach him all along. For him to be the direct source of wisdom, motivation, power, strength, and guidance. A direct source to God. And so listen. In the first few verses right here, you know what we're gonna read?

Even in the book of Judges, a small stretch of victory because they submitted themselves to specific ingredients that Christians can adopt for them to know victory and not cycling. So here's three simple truths. It's not going to be explosively revelatory, very simple, but all the simple things we tend to forget. Right? After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel did what?

Here's number one. Inquired of the Lord. I just love that picture. Here's the picture. Joshua dies.

They have his funeral. They're all standing there. Simeon's over there. Travis Simeon. Hey.

Zebulon, hey. Issachar.

Okay. What do we do?

God. Very simple, isn't it? There was nowhere else to look to, no one else to look to but upward, heavenward. And so their eyes come to the throne. They come to God directly.

They don't go through a leader. They don't depend on a leader. They lift their own voices up before heaven, and God honors it. Oh, what do they do? They kick into gear, don't they?

Daily dependence upon God. They have still Canaanites to deal with. Remember, there were still little bits and pieces, some crumbs of Canaanites around the promised land. And so they gotta still get some work done. And instead of trusting in past knowledge, instead of pulling out the playbook and how they did it with Jericho and AI, they come to God afresh.

And they seek God. And they say, God, this is a new day with new challenges. We don't have a leader. We don't know this territory as well as we should, so help us. What do we do?

You wanna know how you guarantee yourself for victory and no cycling? Do that. Do that all the time above all things. Make it your reflex. Make it your habit.

Stop depending upon somebody else to do the praying for you. Having a righteous man or woman of God pray for you is no substitute for you praying and asking God for yourself. Joshua is gone. What are you gonna do? K, God.

I'm coming to you directly. And God honor that, and God will honor you. And God will blow your mind about how he will directly lead you circumstantially, providentially through people if you just apply this on a continual daily basis. And we come to the second point. Verse two.

The Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hand. Judah could not move forward. Israel could not move forward unless what? The second principle.

They were assured by God's word until they were familiar, until they were convinced, until they knew that God had given them a word. Now this is an experience that you and I don't necessarily have. We have all of God's word for us. You open this up, God will speak. Can God speak in circumstances?

Yes. But I'm talking about the principle, God's word. Get familiar with his promises. Get familiar with His wisdom. Get familiar with His warnings.

Get familiar with the stories of the Bible. Get familiar and you will know navigation for your life. You will receive an inheritance of what? What many people lack today. Discernment.

Discernment, like real life discernment. Get this word in you and you will have a lens to interpret much in life including people. And so they got God's word. You know what Israel is teaching us? They could not move forward unless they had God's word in their hearts.

You know why that's significant? Because like many people, they love to be spoon fed by somebody else God's word. Right? Their entire diet is found in somebody else taking God's word, chewing it up for them, and giving it to them. Here's the problem.

Just like Joshua, you remove that person in your life, you remove their source of navigation in life. And so master God's word. Familiarize yourself yourself with God's word and watch the blessing of direction and and guidance that will come upon you. Thirdly, as much as you're called to do this on your own, I love what happens here in verse three. And Judas said to Simeon his brother, come up with me into the territory allotted to me that we may fight against the Canaanites, and I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you.

So Simeon went with him. Many people would say that what Judah is doing here is a lack of faith. God said, Judah, go up, and he goes, okay. Simeon, let's go. I would argue that that's not the case.

If you look at the map, Simeon, remember, from Joshua, was tied up into Judah's territory. So they're one and the same. He's not going to somebody random. He's going to somebody that's joined with him, so to speak. And I love the description of how this dialogue is occurring.

The Lord said what does it say? Judah said to Simeon what? His brother. His brother. I could have just said Simeon, but he said Simeon his brother.

Blood brothers, yes. Brothers in the will of the Lord, all the more. And you know what we're learning here? That if you want to know victory, God has designed it for you and I to fight it together. And here's the here's the exchange.

Okay, brother. You help me acquire what God has given to me, and I'll do my best to help you so you can get what God acquired for you. If that's not your relationship with Christians, you are living less than what God has in mind for you. For you to be in relationship with Christians, for you to be a part of a local church, this is what it demands, you to have that kind of a mindset. You are accountable to somebody else, and they are accountable to you.

What does that look like? Looks like, brother, I'm praying for you when you ask for prayer. And I'm gonna encourage you, and I'm gonna look at the blind spots in your life. You're gonna look at the blind spots in my life. You're gonna sit me down when you need to sit me down.

You're gonna correct me. You're gonna encourage me when I'm down. It's that mutual, like, what Judah and Simeon's doing, battling together in sanctification. You know what I love about this? Judah is way more experienced than Simeon is.

Judah seems like the strongest. In fact, God calls out Judah to lead the charge in this warfare, yet Judah still sees his need for a Simeon. Doesn't matter how strong you think you are in God. Doesn't matter how experienced you think you are. Doesn't matter how much knowledge you've acquired of the Bible.

You need your brother and sister. You do. You need their words of wisdom. You need their presence. You need their comfort.

You need the other. I love what Paul says in first Corinthians twelve twenty one. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Nor again to the head, to the feet, I have no need of you. For any Christian to sense in his heart that he is so spiritual that he is not in need of community is as ridiculous as this hand telling my arm I don't need to be connected to you.

So this is how many believers think, though. Many believers think that they are an independent body. Like, see, I'm a body. Right? They think they're an independent body, and this is their relationship with other Christians.

They hold the hand of other Christians. And the relationship with other Christians is solely for the reason of fellowship and companionship and giggling and skipping and having a good time. And whenever they feel like it, they can let go of their hands and just walk on their way, and then they can go and connect to others and just you are not your own body. And that is not how the Bible describes you as a Christian in relationship with other Christians. You're not holding the hands of other bodies.

You are a member of one of the same body. Think about how connected that is. So so you're not your own body holding the hand of another, you're the finger on the hand, and you're the ear on the head, and you're the foot connected to the leg. Why is that important? Why do we need to get that deep into our souls?

Because you are less likely to harm your own body. I would be sent to a hospital and probably a psych ward if this hand continued to attack itself and or attack this body. So you know why so many Christians can slander and speak and even hit and cheat and speak about the other members of the body? Because they don't have a revelation that they're connected to the same body. They think they're their own separate body holding the hand, and they think they can go or they think they can do that.

No. You're hating yourself, and you're hating yourself, and you're harming yourself. How much more if you realize that you're connected to the same body, how much more are you gonna take care of your body? How much more is that member going to contribute to the health of the rest of the body since you are in the same? See, we don't understand that.

We think, oh, it's a beautiful picture. We're all the same. No. You are the members of the same body. And I'm telling you, many Christians don't believe that.

And that's why they can just go about attacking and attacking and attacking. So they come together, they partner, they walk together, and they go and they battle, because if you have these three ingredients as simple as they are, you can ensure yourself a daily victory. I'll never forget that time where where there was a season where I knew an old man in a church, seasoned believer, prayerful man of God. And whenever there was a younger believer in that church, somebody maybe that was coming into the church to try to discover who God is, I would introduce these younger men to this older gentleman. And without hesitation, he would say, Young man, listen.

I'm gonna give you a word of advice. Seek God daily. Know his word, and never separate yourself from a community of believers, and you will be fine. Listen. It was true for Israel.

It was true for that old man, and it will be true for you if you just trust and obey. So what happens? Victory. Look at verse four. Then Judah went up to the Lord and gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and he defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek.

They found Adonai Bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. And here's some flavoring of the book of Judges for you. Adonai Bezek fled. He was a ruler of Bezek, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes. So they captured this ruler.

They captured this king. They placed his hands on a table, and they slaughtered him in the sense that they removed his thumbs, and they pulled off his shoes, and they cut off his big toes. You think this is barbaric, and you'd be right. But it was an ancient custom. It was a custom to try to remove any possibility of this leader to raise up an army or to battle himself because he wouldn't have the ability to grasp a weapon, and he would have no balance as he had no big toes.

And we would think it would be more humane to just kill the man and just move on. Why cut off his thumbs and and cut off his big toes? And we can debate that, but I want you to see the outcome of this man's suffering. We look at this and we say this is completely unjust. This is just grotesque.

This is brutal. You know what? This king didn't think the way most people think about his own suffering. Look what he says in verse seven. And Adonai Beszek said, 70 kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table.

As I have done, so God has repaid me. So we look at it. We're going, that's not fair. That's too much. That's severe.

And you know what this thumbless king would have said? No. It's actually fair. This king, as pagan as he was, had a revelation of the divine retribution of God by the hands of the Israelites. He lived an evil, wicked life, and he saw the payment of his evil and his wickedness in his own lifetime.

Now you and I might again argue saying, why don't he just get slaughtered and why don't they move on? Why why didn't God's judgment just be immediate and just fatal and that's it? But what I see here is that this man had a revelation in his suffering of God's justice and God's holiness. He had realized that he had sinned against God, and we don't have an idea if he really repented. We don't have a clue if he's turned from God, but the possibility is there, and it came through his affliction.

What am I trying to say? That we might argue that it would have been What am I trying to say? That we might argue that it would have been better if he had just been cut off, but wouldn't it have been better if he had suffered in this way only for him to turn to God and his soul be saved? Could be. We can't make a final conclusion.

But at least he was awakened, that this was directed by God and led by God, and that this had to do with his standing with God. But But there's another law here, to some degree, that you're probably familiar with. You know what this man realized? What many people don't believe. Whatever you sow, that will you reap.

Whatever you sow in this life, brothers and sisters, pay attention. Wake up on this Friday night if you have to. Whatever you sow in this life, that will you reap. In fact, go to your Bibles in Galatians six verse seven and realize what Paul said to these Christians. You might be thinking, what does that have to do with the book of Judges?

You ready for what it has to do with the book of Judges? This is what it has to do with the book of Judges. Adonai Bezek realized what you sow, that you will reap. And we're in the prologue, are we not? Adonai Bezek is setting the theme for the rest of this book that Israel is going to reap what they have sown early on in their infancy as a nation.

The rest of the book of Judges is going to be the harvest of the reaping in the flesh or sowing in the flesh rather. And Adam Ibezek is setting the scene. Look what Paul said in Galatians six seven. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked.

For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Now, Paul uses a physical picture to illustrate a spiritual law. And he starts off by saying, don't be deceived. You know what's fascinating about that? He's not talking to the world.

He's talking to Christians. Christians professing, blood bought, grace showered, gospel believing, faith enduring Christians. Don't be deceived. Don't be deceived about what? This law that if you sow into the flesh, you will reap a harvest in the flesh.

In fact, corruption. Now none of us would deny that or be deceived by that in the physical sense. If I, as a person, for the next thirty months decide to eat junk food every single day, there should be no thought in my mind thinking that this is not going to harm me down the road. None of us would deny thinking that this is not going to harm me down the road. None of us would deny that.

I hope not. That what you put into this body, you put junk in this body, you're gonna reap junk. Very simple law. Right? Same thing what he's doing here.

He's using the picture of farming. If you take an apple seed to plant an apple tree, don't expect an orange tree to come out. You're gonna get apples if you plant apples. But the part where people are deceived is that they believe that for their bodies. They believe that for their agriculture.

They believe that for their investments. They believe that for their gym time. They believe it in every area of their lives except for their souls. And that's why he's saying, hey, don't be deceived. What applies in the world in almost every area of life is the same law for your spirit man.

And this is the law. What you put in, you're gonna get out. And you know in Galatians five, he talks about the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit, he says you can actually be a Christian and destroy your life. Why else is he saying don't do not be deceived? Because up to this point we studied Galatians together on Sunday mornings.

Up to this point, Paul has been convincing this church about what? Grace. Salvation by faith. Not by works, not by circumcision, not by what you can do. It's all about grace.

It's all about what Christ has done. Not Christ plus works, not works, not a little bit of Jesus. All Jesus. That's how you're saved. In fact, how you're saved is you actually reaped what you didn't sow.

Christ sowed, you reaped. Christ invested, you received a harvest that you did not put a sweat on. You just received everything that he had worked for on your behalf. So the law of grace is what? Christ has sown.

You and I by faith have received the harvest of salvation and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. That's the law of grace. And then as he's convincing them and arguing and going to the Old Testament, he now comes to this point, and he says, with everything that I just said, don't be deceived. Don't be deceived that just because you have received from Christ's sowing that this law doesn't apply to you just because you're saved because it still applies to you. Even as a born again Christian, this law is still applicable to you.

Just like if you choose to jump off a roof, just because you're a Christian, just because you're in ministry, doesn't mean the law of gravity is not gonna have its effect on you. If you speed at a 110 miles on the highway and you crash into a pole, it doesn't matter if you're on the worship team or if you preach. You most likely will die. There's a law there. And so like manner, if you are, yes, a true born again believer, but you want to live according to the flesh, you will reap corruption.

That's what he's trying to say. And there's many ways that we plant seeds. Right? The things that we listen to, the things that we watch, the people that we hang out with, the thoughts that we allow in our mind. Let's just settle this once and for all.

Let's differ temptation and sin in the thought life. Here's a here's an illustration that I hope helps. Because you have many people that say, I can't believe I'm thinking these thoughts. I can't believe I'm thinking these thoughts. I can't believe I'm thinking these thoughts.

Blasphemous thoughts, injurious thoughts, gross thoughts. And here's here's the simple question. Do you wanna think those thoughts? No. Okay.

You're fine. Go. I want you to think of a thought as a knock on the door. That's the thought. You probably didn't prepare for it.

You probably didn't expect it. You were probably doing other things, and all of a sudden, somebody knocks on the door. That is temptation in your thought life. This is when you sin, when you open it, you say, come have a seat. Can I tell you something?

I get knocks in my mind all the time. You do too. But you opening that door and inviting it to nurture that thought and host that thought and enjoy that thought, that's when you're in the realm of sin in your thought life. But thoughts, entertained, can be seeds. Seeds.

The people you hang out with, and you know that they're pulling you away from Christ. Seeds. Seeds. The music that you listen to that doesn't glorify Christ but glorifies sin. Seeds.

The shows that you watch that are like the book of Judges. Seeds. Sin. Pornography. Whatever it is, they're seeds.

And here is the thing about sowing and reaping. Here's the law. You don't reap immediately. Just like Israel at this point in Judges, they're about to sow some seeds, and they're not gonna reap immediately. It's gonna take some time for them to see the fullness of their compromise, the fruition of their subtle seeds being sown.

Don't be deceived. But it goes both ways. Don't be deceived, not just in the sense of what you sow in the negative, but what you sow in the spirit. And we'll get to that in a moment. Let's go back to Judges one.

Let's close here. From what we just read all the way down to verse, let's just say, 19, It's continual conquest. Victory after victory. Why? Because they are abiding by those principles that we just learned.

Those simple principles that last and will take you so far, and all for a sudden, we see seeds being sown from these tribes. And they seem innocent, and they seem fine, and they seem harmless, but again, we are setting up the stage for what's gonna come in the rest of this book. Look at verse 19. And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country. Amen.

But, uh-oh, here's the sowing. He could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron. That stretch of victory didn't last too long. They were doing so good until they came from the hills, and they came down to the plains, and once they came down to the plains, they parked in their space, and they realized, uh-oh. They have advanced technology.

They don't just have chariots. They have chariots of iron. What is this? We have nothing even close to that. And they began to sow this seed, the seed of unbelief, the seed of believing that God can fulfill His will in your life on the hills but not in the plains.

What does this look like? It looks like you believing some things about God and not other things about God. Some promises that God has for your life and not other promises. You're divided in your trust in God. And listen, the moment you choose to believe or lack of belief in one aspect of God, that little thing will cause panic and anxiety like you won't even know.

Listen, you can't just trust some of God, but all of God. The moment you have a sliver of lack of faith in any aspect of who God is, why trust them at all? Why trust them at all? You might have that towards another, but if there's one person that complete trust in, it's the Almighty. It's your king.

It's your lord. It's your master. Here's where they've sown in the wrong place. Yeah, God, you can do it this far, but you can't go further than this. And because they've sown that, what did they inherit?

Well, what you always inherit if you don't have faith? Fear. Now you know what's amazing about all of this? They failed to believe what was told back in Joshua. Go to Joshua 17 in your Bibles, please.

Joshua 17 and look at verse 18. Look what Joshua told Israel earlier on while he was still alive. Joshua seventeen eighteen. But the hill country shall be yours for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. Now look at this.

For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong. Poor Joshua, he preached the sermon, and what happened? The people walked out as though he didn't preach a sermon. He was so specific. He said, even when you see chariots of iron, though they are strong, you will overcome them.

And what happened? They lived by sight and not by faith. They saw it. They were intimidated. Their emotions got to them.

Their fear, their reason came in, and they said, this is impossible. God can't do this. Even though we heard it, we forgot it, we didn't hold on to it, we didn't meditate on it. And what did they choose to do? Turn their backs.

And just ignore the whole thing. Let them live in the plains. It's fine. I don't know if anybody has this in their heart, but if there's one aspect where you don't trust God in your life, your financial life, your relationship life, your future marriage life, your ministry life, whatever it is, you might believe God three out of the four or two out of the four, but if you don't have complete trust, don't be surprised if you have fear, anxiety, worry in your life like David. There is no limit to the disaster that can come to somebody that says, God can do this, but he can't do that.

You may not say it, but you know it in your heart. They're going to reap something because of this. We'll find out in days to come. But then we scroll down, and there's another seed. Verse 21.

After Judah, remember, he led the charge, the other tribes followed. So what do we see here? The tribe of Benjamin. But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem. So the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

Remember, before Jerusalem became the capital of Israel, Jerusalem was occupied by Jebusites. And what are we told here? Another word, but. Yeah. There was a stretch of victory, but.

And here was the but. Benjamin came to Jerusalem. He saw the Jebusites, the tribe, and they said, you know, I think they'll be good neighbors. Let's just keep them. Now that's significant.

You know why? Go to verse eight of Judges chapter one and see what we just read and compare the two. This is Judah before Benjamin came on the scene. And the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. How do we reconcile this?

Judah came to Jerusalem, slew the men, set the place on fire. It's just a few verses later where Benjamin comes to the same place and realized that it's occupied, it's lively, it's revived, and they say, let's just keep him there. Who knows what went through Benjamin's mind? But what happened here is what happens to a lot of Christians. They gained victory over a specific sin in their lives for a great season of their lives.

And because of a lack of diligence, and because of a lack of protection and spiritual discipline, what was once dead, what was once lifeless, what was once subdued, becomes a fortification again. It becomes strong again and occupies their life again. Why did they not occupy it? We don't know. But it was a failure on their part.

And what you have is what many Christians again have. Brother, I've had victory for x amount of months. I haven't watched it in so long. And then it comes up again. And what happens?

They do what Benjamin does. They just live with it. This is just the way it's gonna be. I'm just gonna have to learn how to cope with it. And that doesn't have to just do with pornography.

It can do with anything. It can do with an attitude, a mindset, your slip ups with your tongue. It can be with any aspect of your life, where you feel like I haven't done it in so long. I've gained victory for so long. And now here it is reappearing again, and instead of continuing to fight, you give up.

But what's amazing is what you have to read down here with the tribe of Dan. Look down later on, and I want you to see in verse 26 excuse me, in verse 27. For the Canaanites at the end of it, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. Verse 34. The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain.

That's the nature of sin. It will persist. It will convince. It will try to tell you, I won't hurt you. I can live with you.

It won't be that bad continually. And they were trying to say, just let let me live with you with behind these borders. Let me just stay here. You can control me. I will be your slave.

I will come under forced labor. And like Benjamin and all these other tribes that followed, okay. Okay. That's fine. And there's another seed sown.

The seed of compliance. The seed of being convinced of continuing in a lifestyle or in a habitual manner that is contrary to God's will and saying, It's just gonna be okay. The seed of failing to fight, failing to give into the will of God no matter what it takes, no matter how much you have to face the thing, no matter how much it's rearing its ugly head, no matter what you have to give yourself into, please hear me tonight, do not give up. Don't. I don't care how much you've fallen asleep when you tried to get a prayer life, don't give up.

I don't care how much you've got distracted in your bible reading, don't give up. I don't care how much you feel like you can't stay consistent, don't give up. Because when you sow that seed of giving up, it will not be pretty in the future. Determine within yourself that you'd rather fight for the rest of your life than let the Jebusites live with you in the same neighborhood, which comes to Galatians not six seven, but look at Galatians six nine. After he says, whatever man sows that he will reap.

Do not be deceived. God will not be mocked. Then he goes, whoever sows to the flesh will reap corruption, but whoever sows to the spirit will reap life eternal. He says this in verse nine, and think about how awesome it is. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

Oh, if Benjamin Olney would have heard that. All of these tribes that followed would only have believed that. That if you keep sowing in the right thing. See, because this deception is not just for those who think they can sow in sin and not reap corruption. Deception can come to those who even are sowing in the right thing, but feel like nothing's coming out of it.

I've talked to people like that. Maybe you've thought it. You don't understand how long I've been praying for this or that. You don't understand how much I've been asking God to make me a spiritual man, a spiritual woman, to bear fruit, to have the fragrance of Christ in my life, to be a light, to be effective, to know the voice of God, to know what He's called me. You have no idea how long it's been.

I've been sowing. I've been going out and sharing my faith here. I've been going out and doing this ministry for so long, and I am not seeing anything. And here's God's word to you. Don't be deceived.

Don't let Satan deceive you. Don't let your flesh deceive you because if you keep fighting, it's going to come. What is due season? God's timing. That's due season.

God's timing. But it can only come on one principle. Don't give up. You want to sabotage all the things that you invested in the spirit and and your relationship with God, in the word of God, in fellowship with godly people? You want to sabotage it, do one thing.

Give up. Just walk away from it. Say, this is too hard. This is too difficult. I don't see how it's worth it.

If anything, people are making fun of me. If anything, I'm losing my friends. I was having a grander time with the carnal Christians than I am now. I don't want this. I don't see how it's coming to fruition.

I don't see a harvest. I don't see fruit. I can guarantee you this, that whatever price you pay now, you may not see it just like if you sow a seed in a field or if you invest in your body with your diet or whatever it may be. You won't see it now, but you will see it in due time. And when you see it, you'll see it worth it.

You'll see it worth it with all the people that walked away from you. With all the things that you thought were so enjoyable and pleasurable, all the relationships you had that you had to turn away from, you won't see it now, but you will see it in due season. Do you know why so many people are not living in the fullness? I can give you many reasons, but I'll give you one. They haven't waited long enough for God to come through.

They haven't waited long enough for the season of harvest to come. And I'm convinced that at the judgment seat of Christ, there'll be many Christians that will shed tears before they are entering into the millennial reign of Jesus. They will shed tears because they realize I gave up and I shouldn't have given up. You will never go wrong. You'll never miss out on the will of God.

You'll never fail to reap a harvest if you just do one thing. Don't give up. Keep fighting. Yeah. Your emotions aren't lining up with your devotion.

Right? Keep fighting. Yeah. You're not seeing the fruit of prayer daily and reading and disciplining yourself while While everybody else is doing other things, you're saying, no, I'm committed to this before I do anything else. You're not seeing it, right?

Yeah. Don't give up. Just keep going. Just wait for the season. What do we see in the rest of Judges?

Well, from that moment on, we see a highlight reel of all the tribes sowing seeds of corruption, sowing seeds of compromise. This tribe didn't destroy the people. He let them come into forced labor. This tribe was resisted by this Amorite clan or whatever, and they let they let them come in. It was just one after the other.

And this is the impression we're getting. Uh-oh. It didn't last very long. There was a stretch of victory, and now all for a sudden, we're seeing one tribe after the other. Look at your Bibles.

It's right there. Manasseh following this one and following that one. And what are we seeing? Seeds being sown.

We'll let it go. We'll do this. We'll allow that. We'll permit this.

And then for the rest of the book of Judges, we're going to see the harvest of sowing in the flesh. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for this introduction to this book. We believe you have much to say to us and, Lord, our hearts are ready for what we have to read in the coming chapters of this book. Lord, in this moment, we all know that if there is one main message, it is Galatius Caesar,

where we get

a real picture of what it looks like to sow in the wrong thing and giving into the deception that it won't cause any future harm. It won't ruin my future marriage. It won't ruin my future peace. It won't ruin my future harm. I can control it.

There's no immediate effects. Lord, rest rest from that deception. And rescue us from the lie that doing

good, doing good times, doing

good to ourselves, investing in our wildland doesn't really bring about ourselves. Rescue us from that line and help us trust in the due season that you have in mind.

But we trust in you

today and we worship you that this law can be for our good. And Lord we want to be a people that are free from the cycling rhythm of devotional destruction. Rest assured, and let us know with the simple ingredients that you've given us, we get a perpetual victory. Name.