Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. We may not always like those in authority over us, but having someone in charge sure beats having no one.
Anarchy is no fun. That's why Israel cried out for a leader after Joshua passed off the scene. Today we'll meet the judges, God's answer to Israel's cry. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, today you'll speak on wanted leaders. As we face elections for new leaders, is our system really better than the system of judges Israel demanded and got?
Dave, I think that our system is very much better. You know, when you read the book of Judges, you discover that there's a great deal of chaos. And then suddenly God raises up a judge.
But then he passes off the scene and you have chaos again. Our constitutional republic is very unique. But at the same time, the lessons in the book of Judges apply directly to us. And that's why I believe so deeply in this series of messages. Well, to all those of you who are listening today, let me emphasize that this is a very special month. During the month of August, every gift that you give will be doubled up to $90,000. What an opportunity it is for you to enable us to expand the ministry, to grow it, and get the gospel of Jesus Christ to millions of people. I want to thank you in advance for helping us. I trust that you will pray about the possibility of God using you so that our ministry can indeed go around the world. Here's what you do.
Go to rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. This past week an executive who had just been fired from his job called me and we had a long talk on the telephone. He was let go not because he wasn't a good man. He had brought in more business for his company last year than anyone else. But there was a power struggle. There was someone above him who was very envious and so edged him out.
In fact, his superiors are willing to give him a glowing recommendation, those who are in the upper level of management. But his question was this, in light of the pain of injustice that he was enduring, his question was, do you think that this is just one of those things that works together for good to them that love God and so as a result of this a lot of good is going to come? Or do you think that this is God's means of disciplining me because I haven't always acknowledged him and there's been sin in my life?
That was his question. Before I tell you what answer I gave him and I will eventually tell you what I told him, I just want you to be reminded of the fact that in the life of Israel when they were going through their struggles and being ensnared by various enemies, there's no question but that it was a matter of discipline in their lives, as we shall see. You see, when God finds us in love with sin, he has a number of different options. One would be to simply zap us, say that I'm coming to straighten it out and you've sinned and I'm finished with you. Eventually that might happen, but that's not where God begins.
Another possibility would be to say, well, I'm just going to let them off the hook. After all, boys will be boys and people will be people and sure they're sinning, but you know, they have a sinful nature and so I'll simply excuse it. God doesn't do that either, does he? But there is another possibility and that's the one we're going to talk about today where the entanglements of sin and the ensnarements of sin become so miserable for people that at last they cry up to God. You remember what Israel did and this is a series of messages on the book of Judges, so the second generation syndrome, which is the previous message of this series, is important as we look at what's happening in today's message.
You remember what Israel did? They changed gods, we learned that last time. They went for Baal and Ashtoreth and the reason for that is very obvious that Baal, as we noticed, and Ashtoreth, who happened to be the female goddess, the goddess of sexuality, these gods did not mind if you slept with your neighbor's wife. As a matter of fact, these gods allowed you to have sex orgies so that you could do whatever you liked and so they said, we're not going to follow Jehovah, we're going to follow these new gods, even though we're still going to call it Jehovah worship, which is often what happens today.
You keep the terminology, but you invest it with these new meanings. There's something else they did and that is they married the people of the land whom they weren't supposed to marry. Judges chapter three, and you can turn there in your Bibles if you would please, Judges chapter three, you'll notice in verse six it says, they took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons and served other gods. Oh, can't you just hear the discussion in these homes?
Because there were people still who wanted to follow the Lord. There were parents, but the younger generation says, you don't understand. God says we're not supposed to marry these Canaanite boys, but I want you to know, mom and dad, that these Canaanite boys in many respects are treating me a lot better than these Israelite boys. And then they're a lot better looking to boot.
As a matter of fact, I don't understand why you think in such a narrow way that we should just stay with the people of Israel. And of course, the boys said some of those Canaanite girls, oh, are they beautiful? And they're a lot kinder and a lot nicer than some of the Israelite girls. I had a relative who argued that way. All of these guys at church, they're not worth a dime.
This wasn't Moody Church, let me say, this is somewhere else. All these guys at church, they're not worth a dime. Now it's true that the guy I'm going to marry is not a Christian, but he's treating me better and he has all the qualities that I would like to have in a husband.
He's kind and considerate and he listens to me. So she married him. Oh, did she ever have to pay a price?
You've heard the old arguments before. This was happening in Israel. And so as a result of that, what happened? Very briefly, we're going to look at the stages and we all set this up in the previous message. We're going to look at the stages that the nation went through with your open Bibles. Stage number one is that God uses their enemies. God sells them into bondage.
Now there are two different facets to this, so let's take it slowly. You'll notice in chapter two, the angel of the Lord comes to Israel and says this, yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Verse three, now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you. They will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.
Notice how it is repeated again in chapter two, verse 21. I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their forefathers did. So the Lord allowed those nations to remain. He did not drive them out by giving them into the hands of Joshua. God says, first of all, these nations are going to be a thorn to you to test you. You say, well does God do the same today? Does he still use the devil this way?
And the answer is yes. You remember the apostle Paul says, I was given by God a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. Now if Paul had attended some meetings of people who claim to be able to cast out demons, they'd have said, well you don't have to put up with that thorn. That's from the devil.
It can be put away from you. We have authority. Yes, we do have authority, my friend, to keep ourselves from sin. But there are certain afflictions that God leaves in people's lives to test them.
The afflictions themselves are not sinful. Just like the people in the land here, the people could have lived a righteous life alongside the Canaanites if they had remained separate from them. It was given to test them, to see what was in their hearts. And so God says, I'm giving them to you as a test.
But there's more to the story, isn't there? Well, as you know, the people of Israel failed the test. And now we look at chapter 3, verse 7, where we concentrate for the next few moments. The Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served Baal's and the Ashtore's. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushin Rishathium.
You'll notice that it is really two names. That Rishathium, you know what it means in Hebrew, doubly wicked, doubly wicked. God says, you're going to serve sin? Boy, are you ever going to serve sin? And you'll notice they were subject to him for eight years.
We just have to pause for a moment and try to visualize the situation. Here's this king who was named doubly evil because of the way in which he treated people. And here is Israel for eight years having to serve him. He can plunder them. He can tax them. He can tell them what to do. They have to obey him because he's got the strong armies with the evil men to keep them in line for eight long years. And who is it that sold them into this? It is God.
God sold them into slavery. I cannot tell you the blessing that has come to me by pondering the words of Luther that even the devil is God's devil. Many people think that Satan can just work willy-nilly after all, you know, he is the prince of this world and so he can attack this person. He can do this evil over there. And God sort of says, well, you know, he's the prince of this world and I have a hands off policy.
Don't you believe it? You asked me today, Pastor Lutzer, how much power does Satan have? I'm going to tell you exactly how much he has so that you always will remember how much he has.
He has exactly as much as God lets him have and not one whit more. And sometimes God uses the devil in the lives of believers. We've already seen it in the Apostle Paul.
You see it in the life of Job. One day Jesus said to Peter, Peter, Simon, Peter, Satan has desire to have you that he might sift you like wheat, but I've prayed for you that you not fail. The devil can't even touch Peter unless Jesus signs off on it. And so God uses the devil. And in the New Testament, there are instances where the Apostle Paul says we took someone who is living in rebellion who would not listen to rebuke and we turned him over to the devil as a means of discipline. The God of the Old Testament works the same as the God of the New Testament, for he is indeed the same Lord.
So I want you to notice now, first to God sells them into the hands of their enemies. Secondly, the people seek the Lord. We're in verse nine now, but when they cried out to the Lord, I've read this and I say it took eight years, did it? But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer off Neil, the son of Kennas, Caleb's younger brother who saved them. The spirit of the Lord came upon them so that he became Israel's judge and went to war. The Lord then gave a cushion, Reshthaim, a king of Aram into the hands of Othniel who overpowered him.
He overpowered the man who was doubly evil. Now notice that the people finally did cry to God. Remember that only desperate people pray. It's only you see when all of our resources are gone. It's one thing to be on the top of the corporate ladder and when you're there, you feel that you don't have to pray, but when you get knocked down onto the floor, suddenly you cry up and you say, God, I need you.
Where have you been? God had the people's attention finally because they cried up to him and now they were willing to do whatever God suggested. You know, of course, that one of the most interesting studies that one can ever make is on human nature. It is endlessly fascinating to look at humanity and you and I know that there are people who can be begged and cajoled and manipulated and we can harass them and do all that we possibly can to change them and they will not change. It is an everlasting mystery to me as to why people think that they can change other people simply by trying to convince them to do things differently. You can have a little bit of success, but not much.
Why? You say, well, I want people to see the light. My dear friend, people do not change when they see the light.
They only change when they feel the heat. That's what it takes. I know a counselor who says that people only change when their misery is greater than their fear of exposure and their need to seek for help and so what is God doing? He constantly is putting people in misery. He is selling them into addictions of alcohol and drugs and sexuality and so forth and they have no idea. They don't understand that God is shouting at them and saying, don't you see that this is happening because I want your attention and they serve foreign gods. So the second stage is the people do seek the Lord. You know, I'm thinking about also Achan. You remember how he hid sin in his tent? He took that Babylonish garment and some silver and gold and hid it in the tent and he was not supposed to have it there and the lots were cast and first of all there was a tribe taken and then within the tribe there was a family and then within the family there was his father taken and all the way down. Why didn't Achan say here I am, I'm the one, I'm the culprit? It's because his misery, his misery was not yet great enough though eventually of course he was found out. So I do have to ask some of you at least how miserable are you? It's a good question.
Let's go on to the third stage. God gives them spirit-filled leadership, spirit-filled leadership. You'll notice we already read the text that Othniel who happens to be Caleb's younger brother saves Israel, wins this awesome victory, comes from a wonderful family but that's not the source of his strength. It says that the Spirit of the Lord verse 10 came upon him so that he became Israel's judge and went to war and in the rest of the chapter you also have another judge by the name of Ehud. Ehud was left-handed. Some of you who are left-handed you may want to get together and form a club so that you can exercise your full civil rights because most of society is built by right-handed people.
Maybe you could get someone to defend you so that you would be able to have all kinds of changes made in the way society operates. Well Ehud was left-handed. Now I won't tell you this story how he overcame Eglon because it's a little bit gruesome and you do have a Bible and you can read it on your own except to say this that he was a very different kind of person yet God used him mightily. In fact the chapter ends by a man by the name of Sham Gar and this is all that we know about him after Ehud came Shamgar but before they cried to the Lord before Ehud became the judge I did want you to notice what it says in chapter 3 verse 14. The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for 18 years.
Wow. We read a few moments ago that the Israelites were subject to their captors for eight years and then they cried to the Lord and God gave them Othniel and the text says that Othniel ruled Israel as a judge for 40 years and so there's a new generation and you would think that they would learn from the old generation but instead of eight years it turns out to be 18 years that they are in slavery before they cry up to God and again you have to ask how much does it take. So those are the three stages. God sells them into slavery. They cry up to the Lord. God gives them spirit-filled leadership to lead them out of their woes.
What we need to do is to bring this down now to where we live though. We need to understand its impact for our lives that we might be changed by God's word so I'd like to leave you with three life-transforming lessons from what we've read in the text. First of all number one God does discipline his children for their disobedience and their sins and usually the way in which that discipline takes place is to have them feel the full effect of their sin and not deliver them until they are really willing to come clean. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews that God disciplines every son that he receives. Now we know as parents we only discipline our children when our children had difficulty conflicting with other people's children.
We dealt with it at home but we didn't take the other kids home though we probably would like to have at times but we didn't do that because we're responsible for our children and the scripture says that if you are without discipline you are not one of God's children. You are an illegitimate child. That is to say you look like a believer, you sing like a believer, you serve like a believer but you aren't. One of the tests as to whether or not you're a Christian and there are others that could be added but one of them is this does God allow you to get by with sin? Show me somebody who lives year after year basically a sinful carnal life and totally unconcerned about it there's no conviction of the spirit there is no sense of of the need to get right with God and he is perfectly content he's able to manage his sin rather than repent of it and I'll show you a person who very probably has never been born again of the spirit and does not belong to God.
God scourges every son whom he receives. You see the difference between the nation Israel and the Canaanites. The Canaanites they could get by with all this wickedness without a twinge of conscience. The Israelites they couldn't they agonized and they struggled because they knew that they were offending Jehovah. So I have to ask you today where are you on your spiritual pilgrimage? Can you get by with sin?
Can you live an essentially godless life and still feel comfortable and never have it really bother you? Examine yourself and see whether you are in the faith. My friend let me ask you a question even as you have listened to this message is there a sense of conviction within your soul?
Are you content with where you are at spiritually? We here at Running to Win of course as you've often heard us say want to help you run the race of life and the messages that you listen to they are broadcast around the world because of people just like you who are led of the Lord to contribute to this ministry and during this month of August we are in what we call the matching gift challenge era. That is to say every gift that you give will be matched to $90,000.
Of course it's easy to do the math isn't it? You give $50 it becomes a hundred you give $500 it becomes a thousand. We want to thank you for gifts big and small because together as we work together and invest together in the ministry of Running to Win I can assure you of this we are passionately desirous to grow the ministry to get it to more people because the gospel is what we need. Here's what you do go to rtwoffer.com that's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337.
Or rtwoffer.com thanks in advance for helping us. You can write to us at Running to Win 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard Chicago Illinois 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Pastor Erwin Lutzer brought us part one of Wanted Leaders the second of 12 messages on the topic we've been down this road before taken from the book of Judges. Next time the story continues from Judges chapter 3. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
