The Slippery Slope of Compromise and Rebellion

I've talked about this many times before over the last several years. The Deuteronomic principle, the Deuteronomic equation, what Deuteronomy, the book of the law, teaches us, is that the Deuteronomic equation portrayed in Joshua is: faith plus obedience equals victory times blessing.

Now, you don't need to raise your hand this morning because I think I know the answer, but how many of you would like to have victory multiplied by blessing in your life? I think that's what I want—victory multiplied by blessing. That's what I would be looking for.

What the Scriptures teach in the book of Deuteronomy, and what is illustrated in Joshua and further illustrated in other books of the Old Testament, is that faith plus obedience equals victory times blessing. We see that in this passage. It is the simple rule of sowing and reaping, as Paul mentioned in the New Testament book of Galatians. If you sow to the Spirit, that is, you plant in your life that which is revealed by the Spirit of God—His truth, His principles, His word—you will of the Spirit reap life. But if you sow to the flesh, you plant things that are of this world and of your own carnal nature, you shall of the flesh reap destruction.

If obedience leads to blessing, that was the predicted promise of Deuteronomy, specifically in chapter 28. You can go read it later. In that passage, God says through Moses to the children of Israel, "If you do this and this and this in obedience to my law, then you will experience blessing times blessing times blessing."

However, as is also seen in Deuteronomy chapter 28, the opposite is true as well. The passage also speaks of punishment; it speaks of cursing to those who disobey, rebel, or turn away from God's law. If faith and obedience lead to victory and blessing, then it is also true that unfaithfulness and disobedience lead to defeat and cursing.

Joshua was the story of the children of Israel taking faith and obedience and putting those things together, experiencing victory and blessing.

Point number two, if you're taking notes: the Deuteronomic equation portrayed in Judges is disobedience plus compromise plus rebellion equals defeat times cursing. It's very clear; it's an if-then conditional equation. The Deuteronomic principle, the law of sowing and reaping, is seen throughout the Scriptures.

It's something that we can observe in reality as well. But how would this happen to the children of Israel? I mean, we have this great high point that Judges starts off with. How could they possibly find themselves in a place of defeat and cursing? How could they find themselves in a place of disobedience, compromise, and rebellion? What would bring them to this place?

Well, there are a couple of things that we should take note of right in the opening chapter of Judges that begin to answer that question. The first thing that we should take careful note of, and I kind of highlighted it a little bit, is how the children of Israel began in this passage. After the death of Joshua, the children of Israel asked of the Lord. They gathered together as a nation, the heads of the tribes from Simeon and Judah and all the other tribes in Israel. They gathered together, probably at the place called Shiloh, where the Tabernacle was, or Gilgal at that time, where the Tabernacle was, and they asked God, "What do you want us to do?"

They sought the Lord. If you want to experience victory in your life, then you need to apply this reality and this truth as well. The best first step in any endeavor to experience the victory and blessing of God is to go to God in prayer and seek Him. This is not just an Old Testament principle; this is a New Testament principle as well. In the New Testament book of James, the Apostle James writes in James 4, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and we will spend a year there and we will buy and sell and make a profit,' whereas you do not know what will happen to you tomorrow. For what is your life? Is it not just a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away?"

So instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." But now you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. The Apostle James says this is how you ought to live if you are a follower of Christ. If you are seeking to be an obedient disciple, which is just a faithful follower of Christ, he says you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, I will do this or that."

I can look back in my life, and maybe you can look back in yours, and I can see many times where I have experienced victory and blessing, and other times where I have experienced defeat. Maybe you could call it cursing, difficulty, challenges. So many times, I can see a direct line.

Correlation to my prayerfulness, or lack of prayerfulness, serves as preparation for the things that I'm stepping into. You ought to say, "If the Lord wills," but how will we know what it is that the Lord wills and what He wants? I know that there are many Christians saying, "I want to know what God's will is for my life." I think that's a really good place to be, but how will I know?

I love what Solomon wrote 3,000 years ago in a passage that you would do very well to memorize if you haven't already. You've probably heard it if you've been around church for a while. In Proverbs 3:5, Solomon says, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart; lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path." The children of Israel did this in Judges chapter 1. They sought the Lord and said, "What do you want us to do? We're acknowledging You in our ways," and God directed their path.

Point number three this morning: the path to faithful obedience begins with a faithful and prayerful pursuit of God. In my message last week, if you were here, you might remember it. If not, you can watch it on our YouTube channel. I ended the message last week with five things that I think you and I could do in our lives, or as a church, that would help begin to move our culture in a direction towards blessing. This right here is, I would say, like a pre-point to those five things; this is the starting point.

I said last week that we need to renew our minds through the Scripture. We need to endeavor to be salt and light in a dark and distasteful world. We need to create Christ-centered and countercultural communities of faith—that's the church. We need to engage and invest in the lost generation—those are people that we know: family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors who are not walking with God or don't know God. Finally, we need to engage the culture persuasively with the gospel.

But a pre-step to those five things is to seek God in prayer. Every great endeavor for God must begin with seeking God in prayer. Far too frequently in my life, and maybe in yours, I have observed that many Christians and many churches do not make prayer the first priority.

One thing we often overlook is the importance of prayer. I wonder how much easier the path or the task might be if we went to God early in prayer. I can certainly look back in my own life and see points in my walk with the Lord where I felt like I was just running into a brick wall over and over again. I tried everything in my strength and ingenuity to figure it out and fix it, only to finally say, "Well, maybe I should pray."

It was as if, immediately, the thing I was banging my head against seemed to dissolve. God, by His power, is able to break down strongholds through prayer. Prayer is a mighty weapon. I think we know this theoretically or theologically, as many Christians do, but have we actually practiced prayer?

Going before God is a path toward blessing and victory. It begins with that faithful and prayerful pursuit of God. Conversely, every path toward compromise, ending in disobedience and rebellion, often has a direct correlation to the moment we stop seeking the Lord.