Judges chapter 2, and we want to begin reading
with verse 16 of the second chapter. We'd like to make a few comments
here and then we'd like to go into the third chapter just a
short time. I was sharing with a young fellow
today if there's ever a passage of scripture that shares with
us the total depravity. of mankind. It is this section
of scripture. I have to be reminded who is
being spoken of in this passage of scripture. And it has not
been that long ago that these people's parents and grandparents
were able to witness and see the great miracles of God going
for 40 years in the wilderness. So let's begin reading here with
verse 16 of the second chapter of the book of Judges chapter
2, and I'd like to begin reading with verse 16. Nevertheless,
the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand
that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken
unto their judges, but they went a-whoring after other gods, and
bowed themselves unto them, They turned quickly out of the way
which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the
Lord, but they did not sow. And when the Lord raised them
up judges, then the Lord was with the judge and delivered
them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge.
For it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason
of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass
when the judge was dead, that they returned and corrupted themselves
more than their fathers. In following other gods to serve
them, to bow down unto them, they ceased not from their own
doings nor from their stubborn ways. And the anger of the Lord
was hot against Israel, and he said, Because that this people
hath transgressed my covenant, which I commanded their fathers,
and have not hearkened unto my voice, I also will not henceforth
drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left
when he died. that through them I may prove
Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord, or to walk
therein as their fathers did keep it, or not. Therefore the
Lord kept those nations without driving them out hastily, neither
delivered he them into the hand of Joshua." In this passage of
scripture we certainly have a a short section of scripture that describes
a great deal about the natural depravity of man. And this period
of time, according to the book of Acts chapter 13 and verse
20, was approximately 450 years that he raised up judges for
these people. And we find that this section,
plus much of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament,
is certainly a commentary on the subject of ruin by the fall.
It just, I guess I had forgotten what the book of Judges was about
until I reread it or had it read to me and found out just how
much it says about the problem. And I wrote this question to
myself, what is the problem? And why could not Israel get
it right? Now I've had people tell me in
Bible studies, not here, but at another place, that if they
had lived during that time, they would have not done what the
children of Israel did. Well, they just admitted by saying
that that they would have because they lied to me. They lied to
themselves. The problem has been quite evident
throughout the generations that there is a problem and that problem
lies with man and that problem lies in their depravity, in their
step away from God, in Adam. The problem is threefold, in
fact, and we'd like to look up three verses of scripture that
bears this in mind. They always end up in the ditch.
It's amazing to watch this for 12 different judges. The judge
would be raised up, and I like that, because we're going to
read that about Othniel. The Lord raised up a judge. Now, it's always the Lord that's
involved in this. used Othniel to put off the oppressor. And as soon as Othniel is dead,
they're back to where they were. And unless the Lord be pleased
to deliver a people from their sin by the new birth, we have
the same thing continuously going on and on and on. Always end
up in the ditch, even with their best intentions. And they would
say, we won't do this again. Please help us, we'll never do
this again. But we find out that they did
generation after generation. Now there's three reasons. They
were dead spiritually. That's a problem that every natural
man faces. And in order for us to ever have
an appreciation for God, that has to change. Now, religion
tells us we can do that on our own. The Bible tells us you cannot
do that on your own. You will never change your attitude
towards God unless, first of all, he acts upon you. But join
me, if you would, over in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter
15. The book of 1 Corinthians. The problem is so prominent,
so prevalent, and it doesn't matter whether it is Israel.
It doesn't matter whether it's down to Judah and Benjamin. It
doesn't matter if it is just with Joseph or Mary. The problem
is quite evident. And that is, we are sinners by
nature, and we're sinners by practice, and we're sinners by
choice. But I love the gospel that shares with us that there
was one that came to actually save people from that condition. Not to make them savable, but
actually deliver them from that problem. So in the book of 1
Corinthians, chapter 15, if you'd turn there with me, 1 Corinthians,
chapter 15, and there in verse 22, we read this, it says, For as in Adam all die, you know,
the translators could have underlined that, put that in 50, point type
and made it quite apparent, but it is so prominent throughout
the scriptures that they felt that that wasn't necessary. Nobody
should miss this point. For as in Adam all die, everyone
that he represented in the garden of Eden died when he died. And
we have to look at it and find out that Adam intentionally did
this travesty. He intentionally caused this
death. He did not do it out of ignorance. He did it... with full knowledge. And we go on and we find out
that there is another Adam, the second Adam, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive. Now it's not saying that everybody
is going to be saved. He's saying everybody he represents
is going to live in him. In Christ all that he represents
shall be made alive. All that Adam represented died.
All that Christ represented shall live. So we have a problem. We're
dead spiritually. And that death is so prominent.
We find out as we go through the scriptures that it touches
every faculty of us. I appreciate what Brother Mike
brought out one time that there's not an Adam in the entire creation
that was not touched by the fall. That is so true. Things are upside
down as a result of it. Well, secondly, we find out that
each one of those folks, just like the rest of us, had a deceitful
heart. It was a heart that was deceitful.
And that heart that is deceitful says, you know, I know what it
says, but I'm the exception. That's a deceitful heart. Turn
with me, if you would, to the book of Jeremiah. The book of
Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter... 17, Jeremiah chapter 17, and we read
this passage of scripture about our heart, and the heart is where
the will is. The heart is that part where
the mental processes, the will, all of that stuff that we can't
put our hands on. We find out that even when we
don't want to sin, we do. When we make plans not to sin,
we do. The heart is deceitful. As it says, the heart is deceitful
above all things. And the word things is put there,
so it's just above all, everything. It is deceitful above all. The
heart is deceitful above all and desperately wicked who can
know it. So we're dealing with a people, even though that they
were called Israel, they are the descendants of Abraham through
the flesh. But they have a problem and the
problem is universal and that problem is that they were dead
spiritually and we must have that changed or we'll never see
God. We must be made alive and we must have a new heart or we'll
never see God. That's what God promised in the
everlasting covenant. I will give them a new heart
and we also find out this problem that they had, is that they couldn't
see. Darkness was so intense, they
were completely blind to the things that were going on around
them. So if you turn with me, sorry, back to the book of 1
Corinthians, New Testament again, 1 Corinthians chapter 2, and there in verse 14, We're talking about natural Israel. National Israel. Descendants
of Adam. Descendants of Noah. Descendants
of Abraham. My folks, your folks, all our
folks. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Now we have to have God deal
with that issue too. Because in our natural state,
we will not, cannot see God, we will not receive anything
from God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know
them because they are spiritually discerned. He's so blind, we
are so blind by nature that we can't see. National Israel couldn't
see the benefit of God. They couldn't see spiritual benefits
of God. It's so intense. It is such an
issue. And we find out after 12 times
that God raised up judges for Israel, they were in the same
plight. And guess what? When we get some
kings, they're in the same condition again. It doesn't change by administration. It continues on. We see that
Israel's children can be said about all of Adam's children.
They had these problems. They had no righteousness of
their own. In order to be in the presence of God, we must
have His righteousness. They're dead and they can't see. In order to be in His presence,
we must be made alive. We must be raised from the dead.
We have sin, it must be dealt with. The Lord Jesus Christ blood
must be applied. We don't apply it. I don't know
how many preachers I heard, apply the blood to your heart. What
a nonsense, what a nonsensical statement. It was the head of
the household that applied the blood in the Old Testament. It
was not everybody in the house. Well, the head of our household
has applied the blood as it is necessary. All right, and then
we find out that we have that wonderful statement about true
judge. Turn with me if you would. The
12 that we're gonna look at are just types. They're just types
of judges. And by and large, Most of them
have some decent qualities, but they're humanity. You know that
we know that they're human and sinners is they died, every one
of them. Othniel, we have three verses
of scripture in the entire book of Judges about him, which spans
40 years. And the concluding statement
about him is, the fall of Adam took over and he died. All right,
join me if you would, over in the book of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy
chapter four. These men are going to be types.
We have an antitype that is so wonderful, so gracious, and a
true judge. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, 2 Timothy
chapter 4, and there we read in verse 8, 2 Timothy chapter
4 and verse 8. Henceforth, there is laid up
for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous
judge, He judges righteously. That's why he could not condemn
Lot. That's why he could not condemn
Noah. That's why he could not condemn
Abraham. He was their righteous judge. He imputed to them his righteousness
and the judgment had passed. So we have here, which the Lord,
the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me
only, but also to them also that love is appearing. So he is the
righteous judge. Anything that we read positive
about a judge in the book of Judges, we're going to find that
quality in the real judge, the Lord Jesus. And any errors that
we find in those judges in the book of Judges, don't apply to
him. He had none of that. He had no
sin. He didn't have a spiritual heart
of deceit. So let's turn back to the book
of Judges, and I'd like to read some in chapter 3. Judges chapter
3. Going back to the book of Judges.
Judges chapter 3, and I'd like to read the first eight verses
here. And it's so much like the verses that we've just read. We're gonna read down through
verse eight, and then we, nine, 10, and 11, share with us the
first judge that God raised up. His name is Othniel, and he's
already proved himself. He's already proved himself that
he had the faith of God's elect. He's already proved himself that
he's spiritually alive. That's gonna be related to us. He has had a new birth. He's
already had everything that is required by the Lord It doesn't
take away the penalty of sin, and that is death. He's going
to die, but God does so much through him. But Othniel would
say, as well as the rest of us, anything that worked out was
God's work in us. All right, verse one of Judges
chapter three. Now, these are the nations which
the Lord left. Joshua shares with us twice in
the book of Joshua and by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Joshua is,
whoever wrote it, I believe it was Joshua, but he spoke by inspiration. God gave him the words to write.
He's the secretary. He said, you know, not one good
thing that God promised has he not fulfilled. Every piece of
property he promises he gave us. Now we find out that some
of them didn't have the property that God gave them, but that
is theirs. He gave it to them. Here's your responsibility. You
cast them out. And we find out that those who
had an ear towards God did what they were called on to do. And
those who did not have an ear towards God, let them stay there.
And we're going to find out that the reason that they let them
stay there is they love their gods and they love their women
and they love their men. So, there's going to be a lot
of intermarriage going on here. Here in Judges chapter 3 verse
1, it says, only that the generations of
the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at least
such as before knew nothing therefore." Now that's an interesting verse,
and we're going to deal with it in time, but not tonight.
Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the
Sidonians, the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon, and from Mount
Baal Hermon, unto the entering of in Hamath, and they were to
prove Israel by them to know whether they would hearken unto
the commandments of the Lord. I am amazed time and time again,
and it's a good amazement, of the long-suffering of the Lord,
time and time again. He was long-suffering with Israel,
time and time again. He was with them and watched
over them. Even when we read this, He left
them, it says there, to prove Israel by them to whom, whether
they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded
their fathers by the hand of Moses. Now here's the commandments
of the Lord. And the Lord said, I am going
to again, allow these people a test. And we're going to see
again, and it's going to happen time and time again, that the
children of Israel, even though God watched over them like a
chin, chin, like a hen does watch over its chicks, they still would
not come. You cannot come. except the Lord
draw us, we cannot come. All that the Father giveth me
shall come, and those that come I will not
cast out. They shall come, but these that
are without grace and without God and without the new birth
and without this, they cannot come. They cannot see that God
is any different than the gods that they're worshiping. So he
left them there, and we're gonna see them time and time again,
that God is going to give them another opportunity to do right. And once again, we're gonna find
them going into the ditch again and again. the amazing thing
that God was long-suffering with Israel. Now we brought this out
in the past that there's a couple reasons that he was long-suffering
with Israel and the main one was that through Judah, the tribe
that we find here in Israel, later to be separated into Judah
and Benjamin and the ten tribes, this one tribe had been promised
to have the Messiah come through. So this tribe is going to be
particularly watched over and cared for and God is going to
deal with that. So no one has ever been able
to make themselves better before God. The Lord brought up the
subject with a bunch of Pharisees and that was, you have cleaned
up the outside. And we all do that to a degree.
Well, We used to try to do that at least. You go around town
now, you wonder if anybody's heard that. Anyway, we try to
clean up the outside of the platter. We try to treat people right. But you know what? That never
made one inch difference with our relationship with God. He
does not look at that as a positive thing towards our salvation.
There is none that doeth good, no not one. The continuation
of the problem, guess what? It's that way that always been
since the fall. They continue to do, and for
450 years they continue to do this, and for 450 years God continually
is giving them long suffering. So they cannot ever look back
and say, God did not bless us. They cannot look back and say,
God wasn't with us. They cannot look back and say,
God didn't watch over us because he's doing it time and time again.
And he shares with us in Deuteronomy, I did not give you a heart to
believe. Now that's his business. No one
has ever been able to make themselves better before God. Totally privately,
we will never say that anybody, particularly ourselves, we will
never say, even if we believe in totally privately, we will
never say that we have done all we could possibly do. And we
will never say that there's nobody that could have done the absolute
most that anybody could ever do. We point at people, Hitler,
this guy, that guy, this guy, this guy, and say, they're close.
They've almost got there, but we would never say that they
have done absolutely all the sin that they could have possibly
done. But you know, we say that about
ourselves and we say that about others and we use that as a theological
term. But from God's side of things,
there is nothing left that we didn't do. We did it all. Our heart, our mind, our thoughts,
our actions, all were as totally wrong as possible. Now, from
our side, we say that we didn't do all that we could do, but
from God's side, yes, we did. And that's why it takes the blood
of Christ. If there's one good point about us, then it doesn't
need the blood of Christ. But we will continue to say,
People have never done totally all the wrong they could have
done. But God saves only absolute out and out dead dog sinners. That's it. Not those who have
just almost committed the worst of things. So totally probably
is a. common theme throughout the scriptures,
but we've never met anybody that has actually done it all. But
we do find one that took all our sin, our depravity. Reformation is no substitute
for regeneration, and we're going to find that 12 times Israel
reformed. Now, I would not ever say, I
would never say that there wasn't some in those days that when
God brought the trouble upon them and they cried out to the
Lord that some of those were not a remnant according to the
election of grace. By and large though, they only
did it because they got caught. There were a few, no doubt, because
that's how the gospel gets to us, is someone heard the gospel
from someone, and God saved them, and now they're sharing the gospel
with someone, and there's never been a time in the history of
this earth that the gospel was not here. It hasn't died out,
now we have to reestablish it. Well, we don't have the sourdough
or the yeast to get it started. It has to be passed down, and
that's that line. The preaching of Christ is that
line. Man cannot put his heart into
proper order on his own. Israel can't, and they're gonna
cry out, Lord, oh Lord, Lord, please help us, and they can't
get their heart in a proper order. Man cannot do good work or work. We just don't have the abilities
to do that, We cannot expel sin from our hearts, nor furnish
them with the holy disposition that is so necessary. We cannot
get rid of the sin of our heart. I may not sin with my hands,
but my heart deceives me. I'm besot, covered with it. So we can't eradicate that. That's why it's so essential
that the Lord in the covenant of grace gives us a new heart
to love Him. In the book of Genesis chapter
6, this verse of scripture really covers what we're going to be
reading here in the book of Judges. It also covers what we read in
the rest of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
Joshua, Jude, 1st and 2nd Corinthians. Wherever we go, this verse of
scripture speaks so much. Genesis chapter 6, and there
in verse 5, Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5.
Now this is about a couple thousand years after Adam
was created. This is the commentary that God
had about man at that time. And then we get another 2,500
years. We're in the times of the judges.
The commentary continues on. It's the same. And God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination
of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And
guess what? We cannot do anything with our
heart. We can clean up the outside of
the platter. We can whitewash the tomb. But we can't deal with
the inside. The inside is full of abomination. And that's where God must work
if we're ever going to have a work. Judges chapter 3 verse 8 through
11 and judges chapter 2 and verse 14. It says he sold them Look
there in judges chapter verse 8 judges chapter 3 verse 8 in
Judges chapter 3 and verse 8. There's the word God sold them
and Therefore, the anger of the Lord
was hot against Israel." You know, Brother David brought it
out probably in a much better way than ever I've heard. Can
you ever imagine all around the Noah's Ark, smile, God loves
you. Well, here, the Lord's anger
was hot against Israel. Who does God have anger towards? The unrighteous. He's angry with
the wicked every day. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. Why did he hate Esau? Because he was unrighteous. He
did not have the righteousness of Christ. He would not have
worn a garment of salvation if it had been given him. So, and
then he goes on here and he sold them into the hand of Cushah
Rishathim, king of Mesopotamia, and the children of Israel served
this king eight years. Now, did you notice that word
sold there in that verse of scripture, the Lord sold them? This is also
mentioned in Judges chapter two and verse 14. This word means
to sell as merchandise or as into slavery. He sold them into
slavery. God sold them as merchandise
into slavery. Now this same word is used over
in the book of Genesis when Joseph is thrown into a pit and his
brothers are just gonna leave him there and lo and behold some
Ishmaelites by the divine appointment of God show up and they sell
their brother to the Ishmaelites. It's the same word. What did
they sell him into? Slavery. They sold Joseph into slavery.
He gets down to Egypt and he is sold to Potiphar as a slave. So the Lord did this with Israel. He sold them into the hands of
this king. They became servants or slaves
to this king by the full intention of Almighty God. What's he gonna
do? Prove to see if they would love
him. And they cannot do it. So they
can never say, God was not gracious to us. 12 times, at least in
the book of Judges, he was gracious to them. He raised up a judge.
They sold, we find Joseph was sold for 30 pieces of silver.
And we find in 2 Kings chapter 17, there's a verse there I want
to read that uses the same word 2 Kings chapter two, excuse me,
chapter 17, 2 Kings 17, verse 17. And we have this, and this
is after the, during the Kings. This is just continuing on what
we've read here in the book of Judges. Thank God for him raising
up Judges. And then we find out, oh, that's
only a type, only a shadow, only a picture of him who was raised
up to deliver us from our sin. Here it says here, we could just
almost say that between Judges chapter three and second Kings
chapter 17, we don't need to read any of that because it's
just like that over there. They caused their sons and their
daughters to pass through the fire, literally, and used divination
and enchantments and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the
Lord to provoke Him to anger. This is Israel. They sold themselves
into slavery. They sold themselves. Now they
didn't have far to go. Their heart was deceitful above
all things. They were not spiritually enlightened. They had no knowledge
of spiritual things. And this just continues on as
we follow it through the scriptures. Now the long-suffering of the
Lord we mentioned last week, the Apostle Paul brings that
up in the book of 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 16 when he shared
this very word about his own life, that the Lord was long-suffering
to him. He let him do so much wickedness
and evil. He let him, he could have wiped
him up so quickly, and yet he let him go on and on. And finally,
as we read here in the book of 1 Timothy 1, verse 16, the apostle
Paul is sharing with us 1 Timothy 1, verse 16. He's talking about
the same long-suffering that we're going to witness in the
book of the Judges. Howbeit for this cause I obtain mercy, that
in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering,
to a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life
everlasting. A pattern. The Lord is long-suffering
to all of us. There is not one of us that he
was not long-suffering with. He passed over, He allowed us
to do so much. And then by His grace, He stepped
in and delivered us. He stepped
in and delivered us. All right, there's three verses
I want to read here in the book of Judges. And that is in chapter
three there, as we're introduced to this first judge by the name
of Othniel. The book of Judges. chapter 3,
and there in verse 9, they have been in slavery to
this Mesopotamian king for eight years. You know, the amazing thing to
me is, I shouldn't say this, I guess, it's just the way with
us, why did they wait so long? Eight years? My goodness, can you imagine
the nonsense that went on in that eight years? The king of
Mesopotamia? The taxes he squeezed out of
them? The service he required of them? For eight years. And then it
tells us, And when the children of Israel
cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel who
delivered them. I like that. That is just so
synonymous with what the Lord does for us. I like having a
savior that actually saves, a redeemer that actually redeems, and a
deliverer who actually delivers us. He doesn't make it possible
for our delivery. He delivers us. So God raised
up a judge by the name of Othniel. It says he raised up a deliverer
to the children of Israel who delivered them. Even Othmael,
the son of Kinnah, Caleb's younger brother. And notice verse 10. This is so much different than
we find with any other statement with regard to Israel that have
gone away and followed after all of these other idols, other
gods. It says, and the spirit of the
Lord came upon him. My goodness. Notice what it takes
God to deliver, raise up a deliverer, He actually is going to deliver
his people. He actually gave this man the spirit of the Lord
came upon him. Now, some people will say, you
know, he was a pretty good guy before he became a judge. Well,
the only reason he's a pretty good guy before he became a judge
is God had already visited him before he became a judge. God
had been there. And there's another thing that
we find. The children of Israel are intermarrying with all of
these other tribes and we find out that Osniel was given the
opportunity of taking a city, an area, and on the promise of
taking that area, he was given a daughter of Israel. He didn't have to go looking
for somewhere else. The Lord had blessed him in so
many ways. He was conscious and cognizant
of the values of the Lord here as he was raised up, said, and
the Lord raised him up to be a judge, and he delivered them,
and the Spirit of God was upon him, and he judged Israel and
went out to war, and the Lord delivered this king of Mesopotamia
into his hand. I am convinced that when Othniel
came back, he was able to say, well, it wasn't me, but it was
the Lord. The Lord delivered that rascal
into our hands. And then it says, he prevailed
and the land had rest 40 years. And Othniel the son of Kinnah
died. When he says he's the son of
Kinnah, it's almost like saying he's the son of Adam. I can trace
my line right back to him. This is the effects of the fall
for me, and he died. Caleb died, Othniel died, all
of the judges are going to die. And we find in verse 12, and
the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord,
And the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab against Israel
because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. So one
more time, he's going to sell them. He sold them into slavery
of the king of Mesopotamia for eight years. They are servants
of the king of Mesopotamia. At the end of eight years, they
cry unto the Lord. The Lord had already, in his
purpose of grace, had a deliverer ready. And he delivered the people. And he went into war and fought
and delivered the people, the children of Israel. And as long
as he was ruling, things were right. You know, we find out a good example is a good example,
but it's not going to save anybody. Othniel was a good example. While
he was the judge, things seemed to go pretty well. But as soon
as he died, everything changed. Who raised up a deliverer? The
Lord. Who was the deliverer for? Israel. What did the deliverer do? Delivered
them. And we're gonna spend some time
the next time we're together about this section of scripture,
because this has so much to say about our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
And on account of God's great work, he delivered them. So the
first judge. Three verses are recorded in
the scriptures in this book of Judges about this first judge. And I have to say, if I had it
right here, I think his name means Lion of God. But I may be wrong. We'll look
at that at another time. We're going to stop there for
tonight.