April 28, 2024
‘Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the Lord will rule over you.”’ (Judges 8:23 ESV). Gideon, the hesitant judge, would not be coaxed into being king. He recognized that it was the Lord, and not the people, who had called him to be
April 26, 2024
‘Then Gideon said to God, “Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew”’ (Judges 6:39 ESV). Gideon’s fleece test –– Was it
June 4, 2023 | Judges 19-21 |
Unlike the earlier chapters, these final five chapters are so spiritually dark, and Israel has drifted so far from God, that these chapters are almost never preached. Indeed, these final chapters are so disturbing that you may be tempted to cover your ears and look away. Unlike the earlier chapters, in these final chapters, there is no foreign oppressor. The enemy is within, not without. No judges are named. This is Israel on its own. Editorial comment by the author on Israel’s sin is minimal, leaving the reader the burden of interpretation.
Last week, we covered the first “case study” depicting Israel’s spiritual decline into “Man-Made Religion.” Now this week, we’ll look at how Israel’s moral condition has become more like the Canaanite peoples around them than the people God had called them to be as His holy nation, in a sermon called “Man-Made Morality.”
May 28, 2023 | Judges 17-18 |
We Americans love a good buffet! Are you guilty of making up your own religion? Or do you have faith in God as He reveals Himself through His Word and through His Son, Jesus? In Judges 17-18, Israel began to follow a man-made religion that displeased God.
May 21, 2023 | Judges 16 |
What did it take for you to turn to God? Living in America, we are so blessed that we tend to focus on the blessings rather than the Blesser. Outwardly, we look like we have it all together. But on the inside, we’re a mess! Nice job, nice house, nice car… but on the inside… marital woes, family issues, in debt up to your ears… And where’s God in all this? Has God forgotten you? Or like Samson, have you forgotten God?
In Judges 16, God revealed much about Himself in answering Samson’s humble prayer for help. We can see how God reveals Himself to who humbly seek Him.
May 14, 2023 | Judges 14-15 |
Are you struggling today with a compromised faith? Do unbelievers notice that you are different, that you are a committed follower of Jesus? Or is your life indistinguishable from the world?
The Philistines represent the most deadly enemy of all because they have tempted Israel to compromise their faith. Little by little, if they don’t recognize the truth, they will lose their faith as a nation and become just like the world. A compromised faith is much more dangerous and insidious than a persecuted faith. In Judges 14-15, God worked behind the scenes to rescue Israel from their compromised faith that had put them under the rule of the Philistines. We can recognize that God wants us to have an uncompromised faith.
May 7, 2023 | Judges 12:8 - 13 |
What about your name? Does God know your name? We all love to be called by our names. It means that someone knows us. They recognize us. And yes, God knows your name. He knows you better than you know yourself. As we return to our study of Judges today, we’ll see that God not only knows us, but by His grace, He reveals Himself to us that we might know Him.
In Judges 12-13, the Lord sent His angel to reveal to a barren woman and her husband that she would conceive and bear a son who would begin to save Israel from the Philistines. We can learn much about God from the revelation He gave this couple.
May 2, 2023
‘When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him’ (Judges 16:20 NLT). Samson took God’s presence and power for granted, but when Delilah shaved off his seven locks, the power of the LORD left him. Samson didn’t even notice, until
May 1, 2023
“When her son was born, she named him Samson. And the Lord blessed him as he grew up” (Judges 13:24 NLT). As one preacher described it, Samson was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. As chapter thirteen concludes, we have great hope in Samson’s future. Announced by an angel, the only child of
April 30, 2023 | Judges 10-12:7 |
What’s your view of God? How do you see Him? Is He up in heaven with a gray beard, wearing a black judge’s robe, with a gavel in His hand, ready to judge you? Or is He like a celestial Santa Claus waiting patiently for your wish list to come in through the prayer line? Maybe you see Him as a hippie guru holding an “All you need is love sign”? Or maybe He looks like Morgan Freeman in the movie Bruce Almighty? Where do you get your view, your understanding of God?
As we continue through Judges, we see the people of Israel declining in the knowledge of God. With every generation, they remember less of His revealed Word to them. They see Him as the pagans do their false gods. In Judges 10-12, the Israelites continued their downward cycle of sin and rebellion against God, becoming less like His special called people and more like the people of the world. When they cried out to the Lord, He empowered another judge to rescue them, yet they have become so worldly that they no longer understand the character of their Lord. We often misunderstand the character of God.