Conquests and Captures

We ought to inquire of the Lord when there is uncertainty. Of what we should do. Dr. Tony Evans says when life gets unclear, the key is to pray with clarity. Please do not be satisfied with general prayers because they will only give you general answers.

Be as specific as you know how to be. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

Sometimes we cling to things God has already called finished. routines or sources of security that have outlived their purpose. When those things fade and we're not sure what comes next, the real test of faith begins. Today, Dr. Evans takes us to the opening chapters of Judges.

to show how God's people can move forward when their foundations shift. And how faith and obedience turn his promises from what's in our grasp To watch in our hand. Let's join him. The central Concept of judges is found. In chapter 2, verse.

Then the Lord raised up Judges. who delivered them from the hands of those who had plundered them. The book of Judges can be stated as God's battle against humanism. God's battle against Humanism or man-centered religion, because when you worship an idol, you seek to worship a god you control. rather than the one who controls you.

Judges were civil leaders. Civil magistrates. They were.

Societal leaders. They didn't reach the status of kings. But they were the leaders that God had established for this express purpose of delivering God's people from the conditions that had developed. because of their departure from him. The cycle that you will see throughout the book of Judges can be understood.

In three words. The cycle would be, there would be disobedience. the people would rebel against God. Disobedience resulted in discipline. God would judge his people for their rebellion against him.

So it would be disobedience. resulting in discipline. And when the people cried out to God, God would raise up a judge to bring about deliverance. These deliverers are a precursor to the ultimate deliverer. The word deliverer is the same word or concept as savior.

We're introduced to the book in Judges chapter 1.

Now it came about after the death of Joshua chapter 1 verse 1.

So you see immediately the link. Joshua has died. And so we now enter into a new. Regime. After his death, the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord.

To inquire of the Lord is to seek direction. because the one giving them direction is no longer there. Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites to fight against them? Joshua led them into the promised land and basically. brought about the general defeat of the Canaanites.

Now that Joshua is dead, Israel is to do what they call in the military world the mopping up operation. The cleaning up, the general victory, who should go up against them? The Lord said, the Lord answers their inquiry. Judah, Judah is the royal tribe, the tribe from whom Christ would come, shall go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hand.

Let me pause there, and I'll pause along the way because remember, the New Testament says that the Old Testament was written for our instruction.

So the point I want to point out here is: number one, they inquired of the Lord when there was uncertainty about what they should do. We ought to inquire of the Lord when there is uncertainty. Of what we should do. All of us have had things in our lives that have died that we depended on. When the Joshuas are no longer there.

When the foundation is no longer there.

Well, that's the case.

So they had to get clarity. Part of the issue of prayer is gaining clarity, and he says. Send Judah. Notice how specific. The question was, and how specific the answer is.

Please do not be satisfied with general prayers because they will only give you general answers. Be as specific as you know how to be. Judah calls his brother. Simeon. and says, I want you to come up with me.

to fight against the Canaanites in verse 3.

So they do that, and at the end of verse four, they defeat 10,000. Add Bizak. They found Adonai Bezek. In Bisek, he's named after the area, and fought against him. The 10,000 soldiers that Israel goes up against and they defeat.

They cut off the thumbs and the big toes of these leaders. Why?

Well, you can't handle a sword if you don't have A thumb.

So their ability to fight. It's been removed. Your mobility Is greatly reduced. For fighting if you don't have a big toe.

So it was a way of humiliating the leaders. Because you can't lead when you don't have the ability. to lead yourself. And so it was a way of declaring them. Defeated.

To cut off their big toe and their thumbs.

So defeat is declared. And very importantly, at the end of verse 7, Jerusalem is captured. Jerusalem is going to become the royal city. Of course, we know that that is the central city of Israel. And it is at this point in the history of Israel that.

Jerusalem is captured. And they set it on fire. To remove fire is a way of judgment, to remove all the evil. Because this city would be captured. and would become the city of God.

So then, that takes us to verse 11. Through 15. Then from there. He went against the inhabitants of the world. The beer.

And Caleb said, the one who attacks Covered cipher and captures it, I will give him my daughter, Asha, for a wife.

So they come to Dabir. Dabir means word. Dabir means word. Let me tell you about Dabir. Dabir was the city.

Where the records of the Canaanites. We're stored. You know, we have a records building. Where the records of the Canaanites were stored, their history, their culture, their background.

So to destroy the beer would be to destroy their history and their culture. Because you're destroying the records. What's that site where you go, you look up your history? Ancestry.com to look at where you've come from, your background.

Well, all of that was stored in the library, if you will, of De Beer, and that's why it got its name word. It held the recordings of Canaanite history.

So to take that city was to address that culture. and to destroy it. We all know who Caleb is. Caleb was one of the two men who got to go into the promised land, Joshua and Caleb, because of his commitment to God. And he got to go into the promised land, and he has this daughter.

And he says, now whoever goes up against it. can marry my daughter. That's a tall order. If you want this girl, I gotta see you fight. Every father in here.

Or to have this concept in mind. For any man who wants to marry your daughter, to put it in everyday. Contemporary language. I need a kingdom in for my daughter. I need somebody who's gonna take the bull by the horn.

And show he's He's got it. He's a leader.

Now I'm not going to give my daughter to anybody. In the New Testament, the Bible says 1 Corinthians 7, so it's not this Old Testament concept. That the father has to prove the giving away of the daughter. Because you give your daughter away. to somebody who's going to take care of her.

Not somebody she got to take care of. Do I hear an amen from the sisters? According to verse 13, volunteered for the job. And did the job. Of conquering the city.

He destroyed the city. To win the woman. He destroyed the city to win the woman. But he not only destroyed the city to win the woman. He destroyed the city to win the woman.

To gain influence. with the father-in-law. Then it came about in verse 14, when she came to him that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. Then she alighted from her donkey. And Caleb said to her, What do you want?

She said to him, Give me a blessing, since you have given me the land of the game. Give me also the springs of water.

So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. See, It's obvious he's going to do anything for her because he was willing to commit her for a man who would do this.

So, this is a long-term view.

So, she goes and asks for this plush land. as a gift. We'll call it a wedding present. that they wind up having because Yeah. this man's commitment and this father's love for his daughter and respect.

For what he had done in defeating the enemy, that he was willing to conquer. for love. Dr. Evans will return in a moment to show how God's presence and promise impact the battles we face. Don't go away.

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Let's get back to Dr. Evans now in the first chapter of Judges. In verse 19, we find an interesting statement.

Now the Lord was with Judah. Because the Lord had told you to go. and they took possession of the hill country. But they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots.

So, their military in the valley was stronger than their military in the hill. But we already told the Lord was with them. You'll see later on where God defeated iron chariots.

So the problem is not iron chariots. The problem is, their faith on the hill was not the same as their faith in the valley. Because we already told the Lord was with them. And we're going to see God took care of chariots that were iron. But they had a different perspective on the hill than they had.

In the valley. Because the problem was bigger in the valley. than it was on the hill. When you're in the will of God and the problem gets bigger. Don't Switch on God.

just because the circumstances have gotten more complicated. The same God on the hill is the same God in the valley. And Judah was in the will of God, the Lord was with Judah. The same problem Caleb ran into when they went to the promised land, there are giants in the land. Caleb said, but God has given us the land.

But they say, you see how big them dudes are? Don't let the size of your problem get bigger than the size of your God. Just because the enemy has got some iron. Let's go down to verse 28. It came about When Israel became strong, that they put Canaanites to forced labor.

But they did not drive them out completely. You're now being introduced. to a cycle of compromise. Partial obedience. They didn't finish the job.

They were to fully remove the Canaanites, and you'll find out why as we go along. What they said was. We're not going to remove them. Because we can use them. We got some worker bees here, and we're in control now because we've been defeating them.

Let's force them to work for us. But that was not what God. Told them to do. We come down to the end of the chapter. The Amorites persisted, verse 35, in living in Mount Heres.

But when the power of the house of Joseph grew strong, they became forced labor.

So we've got this mixture, even though the Israelites are in charge. For now.

So God now shows up in the person of. The angel of the Lord, chapter 2, verse 1. It says, Now the angel of the Lord came from Gilgal to Boshem and said, I brought you up out of Egypt. I led you into the land which I swore to your fathers and said, I will never break my covenant with you. And as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land.

You shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed me. What is this that you have done? The angel of the Lord is Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. John 1:1, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

The son is the spokesperson for the father. He's the word of God. Jesus Christ, it says in John chapter 1, verse 18: the word became flesh. And he dwelt among us. And verse 18 of John 1 says, And he came to explain the Father.

But the issue was that the Word was God.

So, in the Old Testament, since the word was God, but we're dealing with a triune God. The spokesperson, if you will, for the Trinity when it came to humanity would be the Son in the Old Testament.

So the angel of the Lord comes and he rebukes them. Because they did not obey his command. And notice our word is Covenant. A covenant is an agreement. It's a bond.

It's being glued together. And so I made a glue covenant with you. Told you don't make a glue covenant with them. In fact, destroy their gods. Because watch this: if you make a glue covenant with them, a bond with them, you are also making a bond with their God.

So it's not just people It's people connected to a worldview that is in contradiction to the agreement you have with me. That's why the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 6 Verse 14: Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Because the yoking is a covenantal bond. And with that bond. Comes a mixture of gods.

So it's the formal yoking of equality.

So The angel of the Lord. Jesus Christ Pre-incarnate. Makes this complaint. Therefore, I also said, I will not drive them out before you. But they will become a thorn in your side.

And their gods will be a snare to you. Because you didn't do what I told you to do, watch this. The very disobedience is going to come back to you. The thing you disobeyed me regarding is going to boomerang back. and become an irritation to your life.

Not only will they be in irritation, but their gods will be in irritation. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 says there are two tables. He says there's the table of the Lord, and then he comes to around 20, verse 20 or 21. He says, and there is a table of demons. Table of evil.

That can boomerangle around and bring defeat and disaster. And we're probably not too fewer people here. who have not run in. to that reality where the thing you bonded with Came out against you. Because it was A bond that God did not endorse.

And went unaddressed. When the angel of the Lord spoke these words, verse 4. To the sons of Israel, the people lifted up their voice and wept. They wept.

So they named the place Bosham and There they sacrifice to the Lord. In other words, They sought forgiveness to offer sacrifices, to offer. a repentant forgiveness for their failure to fully do what they were told. to do.

So at least At this point of the compromise, There is a repentant attitude. Verse 6. When Joshua had dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land. When Joshua dismissed the people, so this is kind of a reverting back. He talks about in verse 1, after the death of Joshua.

But he tells you in chapter 2, verse 6, what happened when he dismissed them, which obviously had to happen before he died. The people serve the Lord all the days of Joshua.

So he's going back. to how things were in the book of Joshua before Joshua died. Verse 8. Joshua The son of none. He's the only person in the Bible that didn't have parents because he's the son of none.

Yeah. Then Joshua the son of none. The servant of the Lord died at the age of 110.

So we're real, we're way back to now in chapter 1, verse 1. Why is he taking us back? Since we've been moving forward in chapter one thus far, since he died. Because of verse 10. All that generation also who gathered to their fathers.

And there arose another generation. After them, who did not know the Lord. nor yet the work which he had done for Israel. The book of Judges, what you and I will study as we go through this series. Became the book of Judges.

because of the breakdown of the family. When the family broke down, and there was no longer a transfer of the faith. We are going to watch. the decline of a nation.

Sound familiar? Dr. Tony Evans, pointing out how the decline of faith in one generation impacts the next. and challenging us to uphold God's truth in our own homes and families. Today's message, Conquests and Captures, is the first lesson in Tony's series on the book of Judges.

For a limited time, we're making this two-volume 12-message collection available to you on digital download as well as on either CD or USB flash drive. along with his powerful book on kingdom authority. They're our gift to you when you help us keep Tony's teaching on this station with your generous donation. Just visit Tony Evans dot org to get the details and make the arrangements. or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222.

where team members are ready to help you 24-7. And don't forget to ask about how to upgrade your offer to include the Companion Kingdom Authority Leaders Kit. Again, that's 1-800-800-3222. or online at tonyevans.org. We live in a world where truth has become whatever people decide it is.

But that humanistic outlook isn't new. It's the same kind of mindset that has pulled God's people off track throughout the ages.

Next time, Dr. Evans explains how Israel's spiritual compromise led to cultural collapse. and why returning to God's truth is still the only way to reverse the consequences. Be sure to join us.