Living Like a Judge in Dark Times

All these things happened to them as examples, and they were written down for our instruction. (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:11)

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land... you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. (Ezekiel 36:26-29)

Why study a heavy book like Judges? Because we are living in days much like theirs—and because the Deliverer they longed for has already come.

Why Study Such a Heavy Book

Judges is a heavy book, and you could fairly ask why we would go through it. The answer is that all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written down for our instruction. It is so much better to learn from the mistakes of others than to have to go through them ourselves.

We are living in a time not so different from the time in which some of these judges lived—a time in which people do what is right in their own eyes, with no recognition of God, His word, or His law. We are living in a time when we desperately need the delivering power and grace of God. It was through the judges that God rescued, redeemed, and restored His people, and through these individuals—whom we will begin to meet by name next week—we are reminded of our fifth point: God is compassionate to those who repent and return to Him.

God's Compassion to Those Who Return

Over the years I've had a number of conversations with people who started attending our church before they were believers and then became Christians. As a pastor, it is a wonderful thing to watch that transition. But some of them have told me that the first time they came to church, they were afraid—afraid they might have a heart attack on the spot, that God would simply strike them down. Some came and left before even walking in, certain they would be exposed for how sinful they were and might die right there. They had no idea what God might do to them if He were actually real.

If He is actually real, He is compassionate, and He is gracious to those who repent and return to Him.

A Hope the Judges Never Had

When we look at the stories we'll see in Judges, they can weigh upon us. We can begin to wonder how we could have any hope of not falling into the same sinful cycle the children of Israel fell into—finding ourselves in the same position, needing someone to come and rescue us.

I want to encourage you: the One who can rescue us has already come. Here is the awesome difference between the Christian and those who lived during the time of the judges. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things have passed away, and all things have become new. When you become a new creation, as the prophet Ezekiel predicted, God gives you a new heart and puts His Spirit within you.

When He gives us a new heart and puts His Spirit within us, He directs us by His Holy Spirit and empowers us to walk in the Spirit, not fulfilling the lusts and desires of our flesh. He enables us to walk rightly before God. Does that mean we never sin? I wish it did, but it doesn't. Yet He does enable us to walk in the power of the Spirit, to sow to the Spirit, and to reap of the Spirit life and its fruit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control.

The Promise Fulfilled in Christ

In Ezekiel 36:26 God said, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to keep My judgments to do them. Then you shall dwell in the land... you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses." That was the promise through the prophet Ezekiel, and it is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Jesus promised in John 14:26 that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, would teach us all things and bring to remembrance all that He said. And in John 16, the Spirit of truth comes to guide us into all truth. We need to remember this: we are not the children of Israel in the book of Judges. We do fail and fall as they often did, but we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us. If you are in Christ, you are a new creation, and He enables us to walk in the light as He is in the light—and to shine that light to other people.

Living Like a Judge in Our Culture

That is what God wants to do in and through you. I believe God wants to use you, His church, if you are a believer today. He wants you to be like a judge in the Old Testament to the culture in which we live.

What was a judge? A leader to deliver. When we hear the word judge, we think of someone who brings justice, judgment, and condemnation. That is not what we're going to see in this book. This is a leader to deliver—and what we are sent to deliver is the gospel of Jesus Christ to a world in desperate need of it. We can be that light shining in a dark place.

So let us prayerfully examine ourselves: God, is there anything in my life keeping me from walking in rightness before You? Is there anything keeping me from shining light to a dark world? Remove it, renew my mind that I may know You and walk in Your ways, and help me to be salt and light in a distasteful and dark world. This culture desperately needs it—we all know that just by looking around Southern California where we live. Would to God that He would use us to be a bright, shining light in a dark place. Amen.

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