Judges 1:1-2:5 "Obedience is Better than Sacrifice"

0:53Friends, when we're in distress, we need a hero. Someone who is strong and fast and larger than life, as Bonnie Tyler said in 1984, for those of you who are alive then. But all heroes, as we know, have flaws. Some heroes have more flaws than others. Today we're going to begin this summer series through the book of Judges, which in many ways is a book about heroes, or at least a book about people who were supposed to be heroes.

1:26I want to give you some background here. If you're not familiar with this part, Of the Bible or the Bible at all. The Israelites were enslaved for 400 years in Egypt, and God used Moses to deliver his people. And Moses would have led the people into what God called the promised land, the land where the Canaanites lived, but both he and the people sinned against the Lord, and so God made them wander in the wilderness for a period of about 40 years.

1:54So that happens in the book of Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy. Well, God appoints Moses' assistant, Joshua, to lead the people into the promised land. And they do this in the book of Joshua. That's what that book is all about. But of course, there are lots of people already living in the land when the people go across the Red Sea or go across the River Jordan into that land. And those people have to be fought or driven out. Now, you might hear that and think, that sounds harsh. How can God command such a thing? I mean, how is that any different than British colonialism or Nazi Germany or what the Russians are doing today?

2:42Well, the difference is that God was using Israel as an instrument of his judgment. You see, the people living in the promised land, they were not innocent people. There is no such thing as an innocent person. These people were idolaters. Who were sinning against God and each other and their neighbors. They were the furthest thing from innocent. And of course, Israel was no better. Take a look at Deuteronomy chapter 9. This is what God says to the Israelites as they're about to go into the promised land. Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, it is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess the land. Whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you.

3:38So clearly, God was not giving this land to the Israelites because they were good, righteous people. They weren't. And they would prove that over and over again. It was because the other nations living there were wicked. And here's the thing: if you read the rest of the Old Testament, you know that God holds everybody to the exact same standard. And so when the Israelites themselves became idolaters and started sinning against God and each other, what does God do? He thrusts them out of the land.

4:12That's known as the exile. It's recorded in 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles and then a lot of the prophetic books as well. And so here at the start of Judges, the people have taken the promised land. They've divided it up among the 12 tribes, but you still have people living there. Who did not worship God and who would not worship God? And so God's command is: you've got to either drive out or destroy the remaining people who will not worship and serve me.

4:45But as we've already heard this morning, the people of Israel failed to do this. They allowed the Canaanites to live among them, and they end up leading Israel into sin and idolatry just as God warned. And so God disciplined them. And he did that through those nations that they allowed to live among them. Just as God used Israel as an instrument of judgment on these nations, God would use these nations as an instrument of discipline against Israel.

5:18So as we walk through the book of Judges this summer, you're going to see this pattern emerge: rebellion, retribution, repentance, and rescue. So what's going to happen is God's people are going to turn away from him. They're going to rebel. And then God is going to mobilize an enemy against his people, retribution. The people are going to cry out for deliverance, repentance. And then God is going to raise up a deliverer or judge, rescue. But every time after God rescues his people, they forgive.

6:00Him. They forget his commands. They ignore his warnings. They go right back into rebellion, and the pattern starts over. But every single time, the people descend further and further into idolatry and sin. The theme verse of the book of Judges is repeated a number of times. It's here in Judges chapter 21, verse 25. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. It's the theme verse of our preschool as well. Everyone doing what is right in his own eyes.

6:38The book of Judges shows us that we do indeed need a king. A hero who can permanently rescue us from our sin and its consequences, and a king who can permanently rule us with perfect righteousness and justice. But as we're going to see in this book, none of the judges was that hero. None of the kings who came after the judges was that hero, not even King David, Israel's greatest king. Israel needed God to be their king.

7:17We need God to be our king. That is why the book of Judges is in the Bible, so that every generation can be reminded that no president, no No king, no military leader can ever be the hero that we need. Only God Himself, in the person and work of Jesus Christ, can be the hero that we need. So this morning we're going to be tackling this first section of the book of Judges, which sets up the rest of the book by explaining why we need judges in the first place.

7:56And so three points are going to emerge from the text. They're going to form the three points of this sermon. First, God blesses obedience. Second, excuses lead to compromise, which is disobedience. And third, disobedience requires repentance, not sacrifice. So join me now in Judges 1:1, where we're going to see that God blesses obedience. In these first couple of verses, what you see here is that Joshua has died, and the people inquire of the Lord. They go straight to him and they ask what they should do. Now remember, Joshua has been leading Israel since Moses died. He was a great military leader, but Joshua was an even better spiritual leader.

8:46And they were going to miss his spiritual leadership most of all. But you notice here that Joshua led the people well through his teaching and example because the very first thing they do is ask God, what should we do? Who should we do? Go up for us. They inquire of the Lord. Well, they knew God's command. You've got to drive out or destroy all of the people in the promised land. But how are they going to do that? Who's going to lead the way? And God says the tribe of Judah is going to lead the way. And they could have full confidence that God is going to be with them. Look at what it says there in verse 2. I have given the land into Judah's hand.

9:30So, what does Judah do? The tribe obeys. And just as God promised, they have success. In verse 4, they defeat an army of 10,000, and then they defeat other armies. One king, Adoni Bezek, tries to flee, but Israel catches him, cuts off his thumbs and his big toes, and the king is aware that God is with Israel. He concludes, God is doing this to me because of what I did to other people. So things are going great. From verses 8 to 19, we have accounts of Judah attacking these various city-states and having success. There's not a single defeat that's recorded, only victories. God is blessing Israel for their obedience. And in the middle of this section, you've got this story, verses 11 through 15, about Othaniel and Caleb's daughter, Aksa. It seems totally out of the blue. Like, why is this here?

10:30It seems even more out of the blue when you realize this was actually told first in Joshua chapter 15. So, why is this being repeated? Well, friends, I believe the story is retold here as an example of how things were going at the micro level. You see, as Israel is obeying God at the macro level, they're having success, they're seeing victory, things are going well because their obedience is being blessed by God. But this story reminds us that as we all obey God, things are going well at the micro level, too.

11:05Caleb's got to actually lead real people into battle. And so he asks, who will go up and take this city? Othaniel volunteers. He obeys God to do what God says. He gets a wife. Aksa gets a husband. They get land and they get springs of water. The little story highlights these blessings that come from obedience, not just national blessings at the macro level, but individual blessings at the micro level. God blesses obedience by keeping the promises that he's made.

11:40Now, I want you to think about how God blesses our own obedience by keeping the promises that he's made to us. I mean, think about a couple of places in Scripture. Look at Proverbs chapter 3: Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruits of all your produce. Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine. We're told that if we honor God with our wealth, that is, if we recognize that everything we have ultimately belongs to him, if we view ourselves as stewards, not as owners of our stuff, then we're going to be generous people. We're going to give generously to our local church, to missionaries who are sharing the gospel and planting churches, to various agencies and ministries who are meeting needs all around the world. And God promises to bless our generosity.

12:41Or think about Matthew 6, what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount. Take a look. Jesus says, Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Jesus commanded us not to be anxious about what we're going to eat or drink or wear or anything. Instead, we are to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. And if we obey that command, we don't have to worry about anything that we need. Not what we're going to eat or drink or what clothes we're going to wear. We don't have to worry about any of that because God promises that those who obey this command not to be anxious but to seek his kingdom, he's going to provide for them.

13:40And then one more example. Think about John 6. Look at this verse. Jesus says, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. Well, earlier in John chapter 6, somebody asked Jesus, what do we need to be doing to be doing the works of God? And Jesus said, this is the work of God, that you believe in me. In terms of blessing for obedience, there is nothing greater than this. Friends, if you obey Jesus by coming to him, he promises that he will never cast you out.

14:22It does not matter what you have done. It does not matter how you have failed. It does not matter how you've let yourself or others down. If you obey Jesus and come to him, he promises he will never cast you out. That's the greatest blessing for obedience in the Bible. And so, friends, God blesses obedience. But the trouble is, obeying God is rarely easy. And because obeying God isn't easy, we are tempted to make excuses and then compromise. And compromise is disobedience. So join me now in verse 19 of chapter 1.

15:13And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country. But he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron. And Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said. And he drove out from it the three sons of Anak. 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.

15:43Obeying God is not always an easy thing to do. But up to this point, the men of Judah are doing it. They are obeying God's command to drive the inhabitants out of the land. God is with them, and they are experiencing the blessings of obedience. But then in verse 19, something changes. We read that they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain. Why? Because they had chariots of iron. Now, hang on a minute here.

16:19They could not drive them out? As in it was literally impossible? Or they would not drive them out? I want you to look what Joshua said to the people at the end of his life. Take a look on the screen. Joshua said, For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you.

16:59So God did not say, I will be with you unless your enemies have chariots of iron. That's my kryptonite. I can't help you. He does not say that. No, God is with them, and because God is with them, one soldier can put to flight a thousand other soldiers. That is what God promised. So it is not true that the men of Judah could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain. It is that they would not.

17:34The fact that this other army had chariots of iron became an excuse for them. And excuses lead to compromise, which is disobedience. Instead of driving out the people of the plains, what do they end up doing? Living with them, giving their sons and daughters in marriage to them, and eventually worshiping and serving the same. Same gods as those people. We see another story of excuse leading to compromise in verses 22 through 26. The men of Joseph are going to take the city of Luz, and so they send some spies to scout out the place. And this whole thing sounds a lot like Joshua chapter 2 with Rahab and the spies.

18:24But there's a very important difference here. In Joshua 2, Rahab, the prostitute who hid the Israelite spies, became a believer in the God of Israel. So after the Israelites took the city of Jericho, she joined the Israelites. She married an Israelite, and she became the great, great, great, great, great grandmother of Jesus Christ. But that's not what happens here in Judges 1. In Judges 1, the spies make a deal with an unbeliever. And after they take this city, they let him go. And he goes and just starts a new city with the same pagan worship, the same values. He even gives it the exact same name as before. That compromise is going to lead to problems for the Israelites for generations.

19:25And there's no doubt that the men of Judah excused their behavior. They probably said, How else are we going to get into the city unless we strike a deal with this guy? But by striking a deal with a man who should have been put to death, they compromised. They disobeyed. And then finally, in verses 27 through 36, you have this steady drumbeat of disobedience. Look at verse 27. Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants. Look at verse 28. Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites. Look at verse 30. Zebulon did not drive out the inhabitants. Verse 31, Asher did not drive out the inhabitants. Verse 33, Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants. Now, what was their excuse for not driving these people out? Look at the end of verse 27.

20:31For the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. Oh, really? Who would have thought? These people were not excited about being forcibly removed from their homes. Yeah, that makes sense. So, what did the tribes do? Well, one by one, they compromised. Sometimes the Israelites put them to forced labor, they enslaved them. Other times, they lived side by side with them. Side and said, whatever, you guys can live here. Just remember, we're in charge now. Yeah, that didn't last long at all. And they began to have problems.

21:12See, friends, when it comes to God's commands, compromise is disobedience. Compromise is disobedience. And that's what they were doing by enslaving these people or allowing them to continue to live in the land. They were compromising. They were disobeying God's command to drive them out. And friends, the same thing is true in our own lives. Obeying God is rarely easy. And because of that, we are tempted to make excuses. Excuses lead us to compromise, and compromise is disobedience. So I want you to think about a couple of areas. How about evangelism?

22:00What are our excuses when it comes to sharing our faith in Jesus Christ? Well, I don't know what to say. I don't know the Bible well enough. What if somebody asks me something that I don't know? Well, I'm introverted. I'm an Enneagram 17. I don't have the gift of evangelism. I might lose my job. I might not get promoted. I might lose my job. A friend. And so, what do we do? We compromise. We say, well, I'll just pray for other people who are more gifted in evangelism than I am.

22:44Or we say, I'll just pray for missionaries. I'll give to missionaries. I'll give to church planters. That'll be good enough. Well, friends, those are good things to do. You absolutely should pray for one another as we all seek to share our faith with non-Christians. You absolutely should give to missionaries and church planters and evangelists and everything else. Those are good things to do. But that doesn't excuse us from doing the work of making disciples because that's what we're all commanded to do. We are all commanded to make disciples, to be ready to give a reason for the hope that lies within us.

23:22So evangelism, we tend to make excuses that lead to compromise, which is disobedience. Think about sexual purity. What are our excuses for not living sexually pure lives? We say, porn is everywhere. You just can't escape it. You turn on Netflix, you turn on YouTube, there it is. We say, look, it's consensual. Nobody's getting hurt. We say, look, people live. Together before they get married. This isn't 1950. We make all these excuses with respect to sexual purity, and that leads to compromise. We say, as long as I'm just fantasizing, it's okay.

24:17As long as I don't look at really hardcore stuff, it's okay. As long as me and my boyfriend, as long as me and my girlfriend really love each other and are planning to get married one day, it's okay. None of that is true. Compromise is disobedience. So, friends, when it comes to you, you may be faithful in evangelism. Sexual purity may not be the biggest struggle for you, but no doubt there are areas where obeying God is hard, and you are tempted to make excuses that lead you to compromise, which is disobedience. And so, I want to challenge you this morning to think about that, to meditate on that idea, and to consider where in your life you might be making excuses that lead to compromise. Remember, God blesses obedience, but obedience is tough. So, we're tempted to make excuses that lead to compromise, which is disobedience. And disobedience requires repentance, not sacrifice. Join me now in Judges chapter 2.

25:28Now, the angel of the Lord was. Went up from Gilgal to Bokeim. And he said, I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, I will never break my covenant with you, and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars. But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.

26:06So when God spoke to the Israelites, the first thing he does is he reminds them of his faithfulness, his faithfulness to keep his promises. God did everything that he said he would do for Israel. But as we saw, Israel did not keep their promises to God. Not only did they fail to drive the inhabitants out of the land, they actually entered into covenants with them. They stopped fighting with them and just started living side by side. So God says, What is this you have done?

26:43Well, the answer, as we know, is they compromised. And compromise is disobedience. Disobedience is sin, and sin always has consequences. And so much of the time, the consequences of our sin. Is simply living with the choices that we've made. If you're a parent, you know this well. There are lots of times as a parent where you simply tell your child, look, you made that choice, you're going to have to live with the consequences, I'm not going to fix this for you.

27:22And many times, God, our Heavenly Father, does the same thing with us. When we make sinful choices, He simply allows us to experience the consequences of those choices. And in this case, that meant that the Canaanites were going to live among them. They were going to attack and oppress them for years and years on end. They would lead them into idolatry and sin, which would bring on the discipline of God. So God confronts His people about their disobedience. He names the consequences. How are the Israelites going to respond? Look at verse 4.

28:06As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim. And they sacrificed there to the Lord. Now, on the surface, this seems positive, doesn't it? I mean, the Israelites seem to be a little bit of a positive To respond rightly, they lift up their voices and they weep. They even name the place Weepers.

28:38Then they offer sacrifices to God. It all seems right. But when you think about this, there is no mention of confession or repentance. No mention of confession or repentance at all. They do not say to God, we have sinned. And they don't repent. They don't change their minds or behavior, which we'll see next week. So what does God think about that? What does God think about people offering tears and sacrifices instead of confession and repentance? Look on the screen at 2 Corinthians.

29:23For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. So friends, Paul teaches there are two types of grief, two types of tears. There is godly grief and worldly grief. In both cases, you are grieving, you are upset, you are sad, you are shedding tears, but godly grief leads to repentance without regret, and worldly grief leads to death. That's because godly grief leads you to change your Mind and change your behavior. But worldly grief, you're just upset that you got caught. You're just upset that you have to experience the consequences of your sin.

30:11So there's two types of grief. Now look on the screen at 1 Samuel 15. Samuel is confronting King Saul. He says, Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. Samuel teaches that obedience is superior to sacrifice. Sacrifice isn't bad, but God doesn't want sacrifice without obedience. Sacrifice will not make up for our sins and it will not earn us favor with God. But that is what we're always tempted to do, isn't it? When we sin against God, we think, I have to offer some kind of sacrifice. I've got to have a longer quiet time. I've got to go to church for the first time this month.

31:11I've got to give some money. I've got to give up something I enjoy. We're tempted to make a sacrifice, but sacrifices don't make up for our sins or earn favor with God. Without confession and repentance, sacrifice is meaningless. So in our own Lives, we are tempted to make excuses and compromise, which is disobedience. When we disobey God, we might shed tears, we might offer sacrifices, but we must confess our sin and repent. By God's grace, we've got to turn from that sin, we've got to go back to obeying God's commands, casting ourselves on the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.

31:59Because you see, friends, only Jesus Christ offered uncompromising obedience to God's Word every day of his life. Jesus offered no excuses, he made no compromises, he just obeyed the Lord, his heavenly Father, from his heart every day. Jesus wept just like these people, but he didn't weep for his own sin, he wept for our sin, and then he offered himself in our place on the cross for our sins. He died and was buried and rose again to defeat sin and its consequence, death, once and for all.

32:52So, friends, what we see here in Judges 1 and 2 is that God blesses obedience, but only Jesus perfectly obeyed his father. And so if you're in a place where you've been making excuses for your sin, you've been making compromises, you need to understand that compromise is sin. God doesn't require your tears or your sacrifice, but he does require godly grief that leads to repentance and faith in his son, Jesus Christ. And so whether for the first time today or yet again, what we are seeing here is that we must turn to Jesus Christ in repentant faith and trust in him and him alone for the forgiveness of our sin and for reconciliation with God. Our tears and our sacrifices can be good things, but that is not what God requires of us when we disobey his word. What he requires is confession and repentance, a turning to the perfect one, the hero that we need, Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, who lived and died and rose again to be the hero that you need forever. Let's look to him this morning.

34:21Let's pray. Father, our great temptation can be to read books like Judges and to see these people as very different than we are, as less holy than we are, less committed than we are. But we understand that there's no temptation that seized them that doesn't also seize us. We know that we are tempted to make excuses and to compromise. So we pray this morning that we would see clearly the areas of our lives where we are making excuses and compromising instead of obeying your word because we want the blessings that come from obedience.

35:49I pray that we would cast ourselves fully on the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, the only one who obeyed perfectly without excuse and without. Without compromise. When we fail, help us to turn to Him. God, we pray for those among us who do not yet believe in Jesus Christ. I trust that they want your blessing. That's why they're here. Would you open their eyes to see that all of their efforts, all of their works, are never going to be perfect and therefore never going to be enough, but that Jesus is perfect and his work is enough.

36:39I pray that they would put their hope and their trust and their faith in Jesus this morning, the hero that they need and the hero that we all need. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.