The Consequence of Compromise | Sunday, February 11, 2024

You can be seated. We're so glad you are here this morning. Before we get into the Word, I want to highlight two quick things.

I think that many times when I interact with people in the church about sharing their faith or reaching out to friends, co-workers, neighbors, and family members who don't yet know the Lord, it can be a little intimidating. People can feel like, "Oh, I don't know if I could do that. I'd be afraid that they might ask a question that I don't know how to answer." So, I want to encourage you with a very simple way that you can share with some of the people in your life about your faith or the Scriptures.

I think that probably most of you in this room this morning have some sort of social media platform that you are on. You probably have an account that you look at or post on frequently. One of the things that you can do is to share the short videos that Pastor Nick has been creating from our Sunday morning messages. He cuts them up into these short videos that are about a minute or just barely over a minute. They are available on our YouTube channel and other social media platforms. If you go to our YouTube channel, you can visit CCchurch.com/YT, which will take you to the church's YouTube channel. Throughout the week, he posts these short videos that you can share on your Facebook or Instagram accounts.

These videos are a great way to share a little bit about your faith and the Bible. They come from our teachings here, and right now, we're seeing about 20,000 views a week across the different platforms for these short videos. This is a really great way to promote your faith. They sometimes generate interesting comments, so just so you know, that might come up. Don't engage in arguments with people in the comments online; it's not a good plan. Let people comment whatever they want to say. They can say some pretty crazy things, and that's perfectly fine. It gets more people to watch those videos, so go ahead and promote them. I think they might be helpful for you to share with some of the people in your sphere of influence on social media about the Scriptures and what God has to say.

Another thing to note is that as we go through our services on Sunday morning, you'll notice from time to time that there's a phone number up on the screen. It is 760-814-1223, and that's in our bulletin as well. If you text your questions about what we're teaching here at the church or questions that you have about faith, theology, and culture, Pastor Mark and I do a questions podcast. It normally comes out on Fridays, and we're back into it after the New Year and all the holidays. If you text your questions, those will come to us, and we release the questions podcast on Friday. You can find it on Spotify, Apple Music, and other platforms.

Check those things out. Would you take out your Bible if you have one? If you don't have one, you can raise your hand, and one of the ushers will bring you one. We are in the Old Testament; the first two-thirds of the Bible is the Old Testament. We're in the Book of Judges, which is the seventh book. You'll open to the first book: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, and Judges. I'm sorry, the seventh book, Judges, is where we are, and where we will be for most of this year.

I wonder if you've ever found yourself in a situation, personally or just looking around at the lives of people you know or the culture in which you live, asking yourself the question, "How did I get to this place? How did things get so bad?" Many times, when we come to that place where we find ourselves asking how things got so bad, the follow-on question is, "Is there any hope that things could get any better?"

Having now served as a pastor for 25 years, there have been many times when, after a service that I've taught or sometime throughout the week, someone will come and meet with me and say, "Hey, can I talk with you for a few minutes? I'm going through some things, and I was hoping to get your counsel." Many times in those situations, people have brought that question: "How did things get so bad? Is there any hope that things could get any better?"

Sometimes it is the parents who come in with a teenager who is just completely out of control, and they wonder how things got so bad. Other times, it's a couple that comes in because their marriage is falling apart. It may be a young man who comes in with an addiction in his life that is destroying him, or it could be a family that is being strangled by a ton of debt. Other times, it's the husband who, through a series of bad decisions, has brought his family to a place where it feels like they are trapped, and there is resentment and anger between him and his wife. They come in and ask the question, "How did things get so bad? Is there any hope that things could be any better?"

It's at that point, when you have those conversations, that sometimes a little bit of extra investigation needs to be done. A little bit of deconstruction is necessary to try and figure out how you got to this point because it didn't happen overnight. It's not like you woke up one day and everything was just this wildfire raging. There are a number of different things along the way that brought you to that point. There is a backstory to every situation like that, and sadly, when you start to do the investigation and ask the questions,

About how did you get to this point? What turns did you make to find yourself here? A lot of times, the answer to those questions is hard to wrestle with because they are decisions that you made along the way to get to the point that you are at.

The children of Israel find themselves in a wildfire of a situation in the Book of Judges. Quite a few times, we have returned to this verse frequently, and we will quite a bit over the next several months as we go through the Book of Judges, because it is basically the framing for this book. Judges 2:1 states, "Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they served the Baals."

Now, that word "Baal" means "Master." It was the name ascribed to a Canaanite god that the people in that region of the world at that time worshiped and bowed down to. They served this idol, which was called by various names in different regions, but for the most part, this was the thing that people were devoted to in that area that the children of Israel came into to take over the land of Canaan.

The children of Israel were to be a people set apart unto their God. They were to be His people in that land, serving Him faithfully, and they would reap the benefits and blessings of serving Him if they would. However, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they found themselves bowing down to the idols that the people around them began to worship.

When you get to that point, you kind of have to back up and figure out how they got to this point. How did this wildfire end up raging? Especially when you realize that it wasn't even really a century before this time that the children of Israel, under the leadership of Moses, stood before Mount Sinai in the wilderness. Moses came down from the mountain with the tablets of the law, what we call the Ten Commandments.

What do the Ten Commandments say? How do they open? Well, in Exodus 20, it's very clear. God, speaking to His people, says, "I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me." That's rule number one: you are to have no other gods, no idols that you are going to bow down to.

Rule number two states, "You shall not make for yourself any carved image of any likeness that is in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them, for I am the Lord your God. I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me."

How do you get from those opening words of the commandments to the situation the children of Israel find themselves in?

The commandments state that you shall have no other God before Me. You shall not make for yourself any carved image and bow down to them. How do we get from that in Exodus chapter 20 to just a few weeks later, a few chapters later in Exodus chapter 24, where the children of Israel make this pledge to God: "All that You have said we will do and be obedient"? They declare that they shall have no other gods, that they shall not make any carved images, and that they shall not bow down to them. They promise to do everything that God has commanded them.

Yet, within a century, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and bowed down to idols. What happened to get to that point? How did things get so bad? These are the people of God, referred to in the pages of Scripture as the descendants of the great father Abraham, the chosen people who entered into a covenant with God. They are the beloved people of God, yet they did evil in the sight of the Lord and bowed down to idols. How did it get so bad?

Well, it didn't happen overnight. As I mentioned in my message last week, one of my points—the fourth point—was that the long path to destruction and exile begins with minor degrees of compromise. It was small steps of compromise that led them to this position; it was a multi-stage process. We considered last week in Judges chapter 1 what that multi-stage process basically looked like.

It started with the children of Israel not driving out all of the people who occupied the land promised to them by their father Abraham. This land was to be the promised land of God for the children of Israel. They were to drive out the inhabitants: the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hittites, and all these different "ites." However, Judges chapter 1 tells us that they did not completely drive out the inhabitants of the land.

From there, after they had not driven out the inhabitants, they began to dwell among them. As they intermingled with those people, the text of Judges chapter 1 tells us that they began to enter into business relationships with them. They put them under tribute and caused them to pay a tax, establishing a business relationship. They didn't drive them out; instead, they entered into business arrangements and contracts with them.

After that, they started to enter into certain agreements regarding the territory and the land. Eventually, they began to enter into marriages with those people, which is exactly what God told them not to do. Why?

Because he said if you enter into these arrangements, these agreements, these relationships, these marriages, then they will turn you to serve their gods. That's exactly what happened. My fifth point last week was that any sin that is allowed to remain will inevitably become a snare; it will trip us up, not only the children of Israel but us as well. If allowed to remain, it will become a snare. The children of Israel drifted, and it's really easy to drift, isn't it? We live in San Diego, just minutes from the beach. I'm sure you've experienced it before. You enter the water in front of lifeguard Tower number 10, and a few hours later, you're in front of lifeguard Tower number 16. It's easy to drift. You don't have to do anything to drift; you just drift. That's what happened with the children of Israel; they drifted away from the Lord. It is a challenge in our lives, just as it was for them 3,400 years ago.

Point number one, if you're taking notes, your sermon guide is in your bulletin this morning: if we are not moving forward, we will be falling back. Before his death, Joshua, the leader of Israel as they came into the Promised Land, cautioned them that this would take place. If you're not moving forward, you will be falling back. The text that's in front of us today is in Judges chapter 2, and it has a callback to Joshua's final exhortation to the children of Israel. The Book of Judges begins after the death of Joshua in very much the same way that the Book of Joshua began after the death of Moses. So, it carries on that same kind of theme of writing.

This book is after the death of Joshua, but Judges chapter 2 says, "When Joshua had dismissed the people," in verse 6, "the children of Israel went each to their own inheritance to possess the land." That is actually a callback to the previous book, the last chapter of Joshua. So, just turn a couple of pages to the left to Joshua chapter 24. In Joshua chapter 24, we have this exhortation that this great leader, Joshua, gives to the children of Israel as he's cautioning them about the danger of drifting. Joshua chapter 24, verse 1, tells us that Joshua gathered all of the leaders of Israel to himself. He gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officers, and they presented themselves before him.

God, this is His final message, His final exhortation. Just like the Book of Deuteronomy was Moses's final exhortation to the children of Israel before they came into the Promised Land, Joshua chapter 24 is his final exhortation to the children of Israel just before he is going to die. He reminds them of their history; he goes all the way back to Abraham and even to Abraham's father to set the stage.

A lot of times, when you're in a situation where you're wondering how things got so bad, you have to go back and piece everything together to figure out how you got here in the first place. In Joshua 24:2, Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham,"—this is going back 600 years in history from the time that Joshua and the children of Israel were living—"I want to remind you about how you ended up in the Promised Land. Your father and his father, Terah, the father of Abraham, the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river."

They existed in the place that we know of today as Iraq; then it was Mesopotamia or Babylon, located between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, in a place called Ur. That is where Abraham was from; it's where he grew up. When he lived there on the other side of the river in Ur, notice what it says at the end of verse two: they served other gods.

He begins by reminding the children of Israel, "Hey, listen, your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Abraham—Father Abraham had many sons—was an idolater. He worshiped false gods until God called him to be set apart. God promised him that if he would follow Him by faith, faithfully, He would give him this land to him and his descendants."

So, he served other gods, but then I took your father Abraham, verse 3, from the other side of the river and led him throughout all the land of Canaan. I multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. To answer the question of how things got so bad, sometimes you have to go all the way back to the beginning to try and figure out what were the steps that were taken to get to this point. That is what Joshua does in Joshua 24.

Why did he do that? Why is he telling them the story going back 600 years in history? Well, to remind them of all that God had done for them, of the way that God had called them, set them apart, chosen them, redeemed them, and rescued them. He wants them to remember.

Remember what God had done for them to bring them to this place. Now, as they are in the Promised Land, He goes on down to verse 13. In Joshua 24:3, He says, "I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build. You dwell in them and eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant."

Now, therefore, because of all the blessings that I have given to you, and because of all the ways that I have provided for you, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods of your fathers which your fathers served on the other side of the river in Egypt. Serve the Lord.

God had brought these people out of bondage when they were slaves in Egypt. He brought them through the Red Sea, led them to Mount Sinai, gave them His law, and entered into a covenant and a relationship with them. He gave them the Commandments, and they pledged, "All that you have said we will do and be obedient." He led them through the wilderness and brought them into the Promised Land, planting them there.

However, even a very short time after they finally entered the Promised Land, they were already beginning to enter into idolatry. Joshua, while he was still alive, said, "Hey, you need to put away the gods that your fathers served." They were already being tempted to go back into idolatry. Why? Because the inclination toward idolatry was very strong within Israel.

We will see this in the Book of Judges and as we continue through the historical books of the Old Testament, including Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. The children of Israel are constantly sliding back into idolatry. The inclination toward idolatry was strong for Israel, and it isn't only Israel. The tendency, the proclivity toward sin in us is far greater than sometimes we are willing to honestly acknowledge.

It is so great that if we are not moving forward, we will be falling back. This is what Christians have referred to for a long time as backsliding or drifting. If we are not pressing forward, moving forward, and following hard after the Lord, then we will be.

Sliding back, I had a great illustration of this about a year ago. I was with some friends in the Middle East, and we went to Saudi Arabia. We were in Jordan for a little bit of time, and when we were in Jordan, we visited a place called Wadi Rum. This is a red desert in the heart of Jordan, the great Kingdom of Jordan. It's where movies like the most recent film "Dune" were shot, as well as "The Martian" with Matt Damon and some of the "Star Wars" movies.

While we were at Wadi Rum, we took a half-day tour in the back of a truck. My friends David Gzic, Lance Ralston, and Chuck Musclewhite were bouncing around in the back of the truck. At one of the stops, we came to a hillside with a pretty steep incline, about 45 to 50 degrees. There were a whole bunch of American tourists climbing up the side of this hillside for no real reason. I couldn't figure out what the attraction was, but since everyone was going up the hill, we decided to try it as well.

The problem with this hill wasn't so much the incline, but rather that the hillside was covered in powder-fine red sand that was about 10 to 18 inches deep. It was nearly impossible to climb up the side of this hill. The crazy thing was that if you stopped climbing, you would immediately start sliding back down. I watched more than a few people tumble back down the hill. Fortunately, the sand was soft, so it wasn't a big deal, but if you weren't moving forward, you were falling back. There was no way to maintain your footing unless you kept moving forward.

I don't know why we climbed it, but we did, and it gave me a great illustration a year later. I guess maybe that was the whole point of it. It is so important for us to recognize that the temptation toward sinful disobedience is great; it is strong. It was strong for the children of Israel 3,400 years ago, and it is strong for us today.

Here's the bigger challenge: not only is the temptation toward sinful disobedience strong, but our flesh is weak. If you're taking notes, point number two is that the fastest way to fall back is to be arrogant and ignorant of the fact that you are weak. This is why we are told in the New Testament, "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." Many times, we are arrogant, thinking that we stand, and ignorant of our own weaknesses.

Just how weak we actually are! We need to remember the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:12. Maybe we should commit them to memory; it's not very hard to memorize. "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." We memorize or remember Scripture for the purpose of thinking on it, meditating on it, and remembering it. If we meditate on those words, we will be entering into an important aspect of the Christian life: humility.

It would not be a bad thing in 2024 to commit those words to memory and meditate on them so that we might apply ourselves to be humble. Here's the reality: it is better to enter into a situation humble than to be humbled. All of us have been humiliated, and many times we've been humiliated when we thought we were stronger than we were. The fastest way to fall back is to be arrogant and ignorant of the fact that we are weak.

In addition to those wise words from the Apostle Paul, I think of the wise words from Solomon in Proverbs 16:18: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be humble of spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil of the proud." I think it would be wise in 2024 for us to reflect on those words and to apply ourselves toward humility.

The prophet Micah said, "He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God." To walk in humility—those three things would keep us from a lot of problems. We should seek to endeavor to do what is right, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk in humility.

Now, one of the problems is that a lot of times we love mercy for ourselves and we love justice for other people. For example, when you're driving down the freeway and you see someone flying by you at 90 mph, cutting you off and almost causing an accident, what's the first thing that goes through your mind? I'm assuming it's probably the same thing that goes through my mind: "Where is the highway patrol? I wish they were here right now. I want justice!" Until it's you doing the speeding.

Let's be honest. If you cut somebody off and you never meant to do it, it was an accident. I'm sorry. We do mercy, please. We love mercy, and we love justice for the other guy. But the Scriptures say, "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what the Lord requires of you, but to do what is right, to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly before God."

To have an honest assessment of the reality that you are far weaker than you realize is an important thing to do. Joshua, knowing the weakness of his people, says this in Joshua 24:20. Note the first word; you might want to highlight, underline, or circle that in your Bible: "If." Joshua said to the children of Israel before his death, "If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then..." Circle, highlight, or underline that word "then." He, God, will turn and do you harm, to consume you after He has done you good.

It's wise to see in the Scriptures that blessings are with God in His presence. If you depart from His presence, there is no blessing. The blessings are the overflow of His presence. So, He says, "If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done you good."

The people of Joshua said to him, "No, but we will serve the Lord." There they go; they pledge themselves to the Lord. So, Joshua said to the people in verse 22, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves to serve Him." They said, "We are witnesses."

Now, therefore, in verse 23, he said, "Put away the foreign gods which are among you." Already, they had been seduced back towards idolatry. "Incline your heart to the Lord your God, the Lord God of Israel." The people said to Joshua, "The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey."

This is that famous passage in which we find that famous verse that is actually on a little sign right outside the door of my house. Maybe you've seen it at another house, or maybe you even have it in your house: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." That's this passage in Joshua 24. Joshua said to his countrymen, who were already being seduced into idolatry, "Choose this day whom you will serve, whether it be the gods of the Canaanites or the one true God. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Beautiful verse, and the people said, "We will serve the Lord." Well, how did that work out? We've already considered the outcome, but I think it's worth reading again because it frames our entire study that we're going to have here in the Book of Judges.

Go back to Judges chapter 2 and recognize that at verse 6, it says Joshua is still alive. He gives this exhortation, this caution to the children of Israel, and then immediately after that, in verse 7, we read this: "So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works which the Lord had done for Israel."

Now, Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was 110 years old, and they buried him within the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, bowed down to them, and provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord and served Baal and Ashtoreth.

How did things get so bad? One small compromise after another. Point number three, if you're taking notes: small steps of compromise lead to devastation and destruction. Judges chapter 2, verse 14 states, "And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, so He delivered them into the hands of the plunderers who despoiled them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said and as the Lord had sworn to them. They were greatly distressed."

We find here what I referred to last week as the passive judgment of God. When we open the Scriptures and hear or read about God's judgment, His wrath, His punishment, it really falls into one of two categories. There is the active judgment of God, which is seen less frequently in the Bible, but it is there in places like Genesis chapter 6, the flood that came upon humanity; that was the active judgment of God. Or in Genesis chapter 19, when God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; that was the active judgment of God. Or in Exodus chapter 4 through chapter 14, when God brought plagues upon the people of Egypt.

That was the active judgment of God. However, what we will see throughout the Book of Judges is the passive judgment of God. This is where God no longer intervenes to protect and take care of His people; instead, He allows them to reap the consequences of their own sinful actions. This principle is found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, and it can be observed in the lives of people around us or in our own lives as well. It is sometimes referred to as the law of sowing and reaping.

When Paul talks about it in Galatians 6:7, he says, "Do not be deceived; God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap." This principle is what I have referred to as the deuteronomic principle, which is identified in the Book of Deuteronomy, specifically chapter 28. In this chapter, we see that there are blessings in obedience and curses in disobedience. Deuteronomy 28:15 states, "It shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon and overtake you."

If there is obedience, then there is blessing; if there is disobedience, then there is cursing. So, we find ourselves in the midst of the wildfire. How did things get so bad? For the children of Israel, it was the just punishment for their idolatry. It was the expected outcome of their rebellion, and because it was the expected outcome, it was avoidable. Many of the hurts and pains that we go through are, at their core, avoidable. We look back and think, "Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have done that, said that, gone there, or looked at that," whatever it may be.

So, the person finds themselves in that distressing place, like Israel does so many times in the Book of Judges. They cry out, "How did things get so bad?" Then they wonder if there is any hope that things could get better. Look at Judges 2:16. I don't know what the first word of verse 16 is in your Bible, but here in my Bible, the New King James Version, it says, "Nevertheless." That word "nevertheless," if it's in your Bible, might be worth underlining or highlighting. It reminds us that God is still at work.

Gracious! I love the grace of God. Can I get an amen? Amen! Good! I love the grace and mercy of God. The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord; they bowed down to and served other false gods. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges to deliver them.

I've referred back to this many times before because I love the passage of Scripture in Exodus chapter 34. Moses prays to God that he might see God's glory, and God says, "Well, I can't show you the fullness of my glory because you wouldn't be able to survive, but I'm going to show you something of my presence." So, Moses is on Mount Sinai in Exodus 34, and he sees something. We're not entirely sure what it is that he saw, but whatever he saw of God's glory actually changed his physical appearance for a time. It's like he got a glory sunburn from being in the presence of God; there's no SPF for that.

In addition to what he saw, there is what God said to Moses when He revealed something of Himself to him. God reveals His name, but more than His name, He reveals something of His nature. As God appeared in the presence of Moses in Exodus 34:6, He declared His name: "The Lord, the Lord God," Yahweh Elohim in the Hebrew. Then He begins to describe what He is like, and the first word He chooses to use is the word "mercy."

If you ever take a theology class, one of the things you will do as you study God as He is revealed in the Bible is go through the text of Scripture to see what attributes God gives us of His nature and character. Sometimes, you'll even write out a list of those for a homework assignment in a theology class. You will find things about God being holy, and you'll find things about God being just. You'll find, like in 1 John chapter 4, that says God is love. You can list out all these attributes that God has revealed about Himself.

Then there is the question: Are any of these higher on the list, having greater superiority in the hierarchy of God's attributes? Is there something at the top of the stack? Some people might say, "Well, certainly it's got to be God's holiness; it's got to be God's justice," because God is holy, and God is just, and God is love. All those things are true, but I want to suggest to you that God answers the question for us there in Exodus 34:6, and the way He does is important.

Because if God had introduced Himself to Moses at that point as the Lord, the Lord God, holy, then He might as well have just totally destroyed the people who were in the valley down below Mount Sinai. They had just made for themselves a golden calf and were having a naked orgy-like fest around that thing. If God comes and says, "I’m the Lord, the Lord God, holy and righteous and just," there would be no reason not to just smite those people.

However, He comes and says, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful." But that's not all; He goes on to say, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient and abounding in goodness and truth." I am so grateful that He starts with His mercy, His grace, His longsuffering, and His abundance of goodness and truth. He keeps mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. By no means does He clear the guilty; He does say He will not overlook sin. But He leads with mercy, and the fact that He leads with mercy makes it possible for you and me to be saved.

He is merciful; He does not clear the guilty, and He will not overlook iniquity. Yet, He leads with His mercy, His grace, His patience, His goodness, and His truth. The Prophet Jeremiah, many hundreds of years later, would observe in one of the saddest books of Scripture, the book of Lamentations. It’s not a good book to read if you’re having a bad week, but Lamentations 3:22 says, "Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed."

In fact, we didn’t plan it this way, but the last song that Anthony and the worship team sang right before I came up here was based on these words in Lamentations 3:22: "Through the Lord's mercies, we are not consumed because His compassions do not fail. They are new every morning; great is His faithfulness." I am so thankful that the compassion and mercy of God do not fail, because listen, I fail a lot. I would encourage you to ask my wife, but I don’t want you to. I fail constantly, and I am so grateful that God's compassion does not fail.

As we make our way through the chapters of the Book of Judges, we’re going to see that Israel is... well, they move from one...

From one dumpster fire to another, they don't always respond to God's compassion and His mercy through raising up these judges in quite the best way. Yet, God remains compassionate and merciful. Judges 2:1-17 says, "Yet they would not listen to their judges, but they played the harlot with other gods and bowed down to them. They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked in obeying the commandments of the Lord; they did not do so."

When the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the life of the judge, for the Lord was moved to pity. Notice this: the Lord was moved to pity. That word "pity" is connected to His compassion. He was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and harassed them.

Point number four: in spite of our failures and unfaithfulness, God remains merciful and gracious. I think there are probably some here this morning who really need to hear that. You might, at this moment, be in a place where you are reaping the consequences of your own poor decisions. Some of you may be praying for a family member or a friend right now who is also reaping the consequences of their own poor decisions. They might be in that place of wondering how things got so bad and if there is any hope for improvement.

I want to remind you that, in spite of our failures and unfaithfulness, God remains merciful and gracious. Here’s the challenge: our tendency when we see someone fail is to think that our response ought to be a harsh call to repentance. We might think, "How dare you do that? I can't believe you would make such a foolish choice." Our inclination, for some reason, is to label them as wicked and vile sinners who need to repent. We forget that it is God's kindness that leads to repentance. It is God's kindness that probably led some of you to turn to Him.

In spite of our many failures, God remains merciful and gracious. There is a beautiful verse in Isaiah 30 where the prophet Isaiah speaks to the children of Israel, who are in a state of sinful rebellion and idolatry at that time. In Isaiah chapter 30, he says, "The Lord waits."

That he may be gracious to you. What on Earth is He waiting for? He is waiting for them to turn and return to Him in repentance. It is the same picture that we are given in Jesus's story in the Gospel of Luke of the Prodigal Son. The father of the Prodigal Son waited every single day for his son to return from his sin. He waited there with arms open wide, if you will, waiting to be gracious. Isn't that a beautiful picture? The Lord God waits to be gracious to you, that you might turn to Him again.

Romans chapter 2, verse 4 says, "Do you despise the riches of His kindness and His patience, not recognizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?" He waits to be gracious.

Now, unfortunately, what we are going to see with the children of Israel in the Book of Judges is this constant cycle of Israel backsliding into idolatry and reaping the consequences of their sinful rebellion. They end up oppressed by their enemies. In that place of being oppressed, they cry out to God, who is compassionate, and He is moved to pity at the groaning of His people. In His grace and mercy, He has compassion on them and sends them a judge to deliver them, to rescue them. They return to the Lord; they come back to Him in repentance and faith until that judge dies.

Then, in Judges chapter 2, verse 19, it came to pass that when the judge was dead, they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers. That is what we are going to see in this book, and it is actually pretty sad because some of the stories in this book are so disturbing that there is even a temptation for me not to talk about them on a Sunday morning. You think, really, could it get that bad? Let me tell you, it can get that bad. They acted more corruptly than their fathers by following other gods to serve them and to bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn ways. It is just like I said: one sad dumpster fire after another.

But it is also a sobering reminder of the danger and the treachery of sin. Sin will destroy your life. This is why it is so bad. It is not just bad because God says, "Thou shalt not." It is bad because God says, "Thou shalt not" because it will kill you. If it is allowed to remain, it will become a snare.

In Judges chapter 2, verse 20, then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. He said, "Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not heeded My voice, I also will no longer drive out from before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died."

So that through those nations, I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord, to walk in them as their fathers kept them or not. Therefore, the Lord left those nations without driving them out immediately, nor did He deliver them from the hand of Joshua.

Judges is a heavy book, and you could ask the question, "Why go through such a book?" Well, 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.

Listen, 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 and have no recognition of God or His Word or law. We are living in a time where we desperately need the delivering power and grace of God. It was through the judges that God would rescue, redeem, and restore His people.

It is in and through these individuals, who we will begin to meet by name next week, that we are reminded of point number five: God is compassionate to those who repent and return to Him.

I have had a number of conversations over the years with people who started to attend our church. They came here not yet believers but became Christians. It is a wonderful thing, as a pastor, to watch that transition. However, I have had these conversations with people where they tell me, "You know, the first time I came to church, I was really afraid to come here. I thought I might just have a heart attack on the spot because God would just kill me." They came here and left before coming in because they were afraid that they would be exposed for how sinful and wicked they are, and they might just die on the spot. They had no idea what God might do to them if He is actually real.

Well, if He is actually real, He is compassionate and gracious to those who repent and return to Him. But when we look at the stories that we are going to see in Judges, it can weigh upon us, and we can begin to think, "How can we have any hope to not fall into the same sinful cycle that the children of Israel fell into?" We may find ourselves in the same position where we need someone to come.

I want to encourage you that the one who can rescue us has already come. Here’s the awesome difference between the Christian and those who lived during the time of the judges: if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. All the old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

When you become a new creation, as the prophet Ezekiel predicted, God gives us a new heart and puts His Spirit within us. When He gives us a new heart and puts His Spirit within us, He directs us by His Holy Spirit and enables 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. However, He does enable us to walk in the power of the Spirit and to sow to the Spirit, reaping life and the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. By the Spirit of God, He enables us with these things.

Ezekiel 36:26 states, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the old 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 of your uncleanness." This was the promise through the prophet Ezekiel that is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Jesus predicted and promised in John 14:26 that the Helper, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all things that I have said to you. He, the Spirit of truth, will come and guide you into all truth. John 16:13 reminds us that we are not the children of Israel in the Book of Judges. Though we do fail and fall like they often did, 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, allowing us to shine that light to other people.

That is what God wants to do in and through you. I believe that 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 "judge," we often think of someone who brings justice and condemnation, but that is not what we will see in this passage. This is a leader to deliver, and what is it that we lead to?

We deliver the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a world that is in desperate need of it. We can be that light shining in a dark place. As we prayerfully examine ourselves, we should ask God, "Is there anything in my life that's keeping me from walking in righteousness before You? Is there anything that's preventing me from shining light to a dark world? Can You remove that from my life? Renew my mind that I may know You and walk in Your ways. Help me to be salt and light in a distasteful and dark world."

This culture desperately needs that. We all know that just by looking around the place we live here in Southern California. Would to God that He would use us to be a bright, shining light in this dark place. Amen.

Let's stand and pray.

Father God, I thank You for Your Word. It is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and it cuts deep into our hearts. It is a discerner between the thoughts and intents of our hearts, revealing the areas of our lives that need to be removed. Lord, You have the power and ability to cleanse us of all unrighteousness so that we can be a people set apart unto good works.

God, would You forgive our iniquities? Would You cleanse us of our sin? Would You pour out Your mercy and grace upon us in abundance and help us to overflow with mercy and grace to others? We live in a culture that is in desperate need of Your transforming grace and mercy.

God, do a work in us first and shine brightly through us to a world that is in desperate need. We pray for this and ask it today in Jesus' name. And all those that are agreed said, "Amen."