Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Aug 26, 2018: Judges 10 Gods Dealings With Sinful People
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- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2018. This morning as we're looking at Judges chapter 10, I wonder if you've ever played dominoes. And I don't mean dominoes by the way you match the numbers and the real way to play. But have you ever done that thing where you line up, stack up the dominoes, line them up, and then make a design or whatever, do a long trail, and then you knock over one and it knocks over all the dominoes and the whole thing? I don't know if you've ever... you know, done that or have a lot of experience with that. And for me personally, I haven't done it a whole lot. Maybe, you know, a few dominoes here and there. But to me, it was just never appealing to spend a lot of time setting up something and then just watching it be destroyed. It just wasn't that exciting to me. But I know a lot of people, you know, enjoy that. In fact, there's competitions and there's, you know, records in the Guinness Book of World Records. You know, you can find, uh, you know, all kinds of incredible things. And they have some YouTube videos and stuff, you know, for hundreds of thousands of dominoes. Can you imagine, you know, what it would take for you to set up hundreds of thousands, like 500,000 dominoes is one video I saw, you know, this like massive design, this massive setup of dominoes. And ♪♪ And I was thinking about that picture as I was thinking about the book of Judges this past week, as we see the cycle of the book of Judges repeat over and over and over again. And that is, here are the people of God built up in the Lord, walking with God established, and God establishes the nation and does all of this building work and setting up. And, you know, there's times of blessing for the people, but then the people turn away from God. And it brings upon them destruction, and the dominoes start to fall. And they begin to experience the devastation as, you know, the domino after domino, wall after wall, and thing after thing that God has spent time to build up now begins to crumble down. And then the children of Israel cry out to the Lord because they're feeling the devastation. They're feeling the destruction. And the Lord will send a deliverer. And over and over throughout the book of Judges, there is this pattern where They fall into sin. Then things start to crumble. They cry out to God and God sends a judge, a deliverer to save them from their oppression. And then they go into a season of building again and God will begin to rebuild and reset up those dominoes. And then... Well, they start to knock him down, and they begin to experience the destruction. Then they cry out to the Lord, and there is this ongoing repeating process throughout the book of Judges. And we're seeing a glimpse of that here in Judges chapter 10 this morning. I've titled the message, God's dealings with sinful people. How God deals with those who are in sin and in this cycle. And There's some particular things that are interesting about that here in Judges chapter 10 that we'll look at this morning. There's four points I'd like to share with you about God's dealings with sinful people. Things that you and I can take note of and learn from to help us not just continue that cycle, but to continue to stay in that pattern and that place where God can build our lives and set up those dominoes for us to not destroy them and knock them down. The first thing I'd like to share with you is going to be looking at verses 1 through 6. Here's point number one. God can make a great impact with regular people. It's something for us to take note of here in these first few verses, that God uses two deliverers, one by the name of Tola, the other by Jair. And then it's after these two die, as we go on into verse 6, that we see that Israel did nothing. evil again in the sight of the Lord. Now, usually as we look through the book of Judges, it's common for us, it's easy for us to look at and focus on how quickly Israel falls away once the judge is off the scene. And we'll take a look at the falling away of Israel in just a moment, but I wanted to spend a few moments with you at the beginning to let's just stop and consider these two judges who are Pretty much unknown, and yet were used by the Lord to bring Israel 45 years of peace. Looking at verse 1 and 2 for the first guy, it says, And he died and was buried in Shamir. Here, as we look at this first guy named Tola, he arose to save Israel, it says. What I find interesting about this guy is that everything that we know about him is found in these two verses. He is used by the Lord. He saves Israel. He judged Israel for 23 years, it says. Now, again, don't think about judge as a sense of like a courtroom. A judge, as we go through the book of Judges, these are deliverers. These are like military warriors. These are fighters. These are, you know, governors. These are people who set Israel free from enemies around them who were oppressing them. But this judge, Tola, he's not like Gideon. Last week, we looked at Gideon, and Gideon was used by God to defeat an innumerable army with 300 men. It was noteworthy, right? It was miraculous. It was this huge victory and battle. And so it's recorded clearly for us here in the book of Judges. But we don't have any kind of victory like that recorded for Tola. He's not like Samson. We're now getting into the life of Samson as we continue to read the Bible in three years and are in now Judges chapter 13 and looking now at the development of Samson and the supernatural birth announcement. The Lord shows up and says, you know, Samson's going to come on the scene and here's the way that he's to live and he's going to have this incredible strength and have these amazing victories and Tola didn't have that kind of supernatural birth announcement. He didn't have that kind of introduction. He didn't have that kind of strength. He didn't have the same kind of work. He's not like Gideon. He's not like Samson. He didn't do anything that was worth mentioning here, except that he was there for 23 years. He was just a regular guy used by God to preserve Israel for 23 years. That's a good amount of time. He's a strong influence on the nation of Israel. And for 23 years, he held back Israel's pursuit of false gods. For 23 years, he helped preserve and keep Israel on track with God and to not turn away from God. For 23 years, he kept them in the place of building and blessing Israel. and out of the place of destruction for 23 years. He maybe didn't have, you know, that huge noteworthy victory or that supernatural announcement, but here is this regular guy used by God to impact the nation for 23 years. And then after him, we see another judge similar to him named Jair. In verse 3, it tells us, after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and he judged Israel 22 years. Now he had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys. They also had 30 towns, which are called Haveth-Jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Cimon. And so after Tola comes this guy, Jair. And similarly, everything that we know about him is found in these three verses. He's not like Gideon. No major victories, no miraculous battles against innumerable armies like Gideon. He's not like Ehud. We don't even know if Jair was right-handed or left-handed, but we know Ehud was left-handed, right? Because that was noteworthy. It was recorded. He had a specific event that was important, and Jair was not this way. Not like Deborah and Barak, who had a great victory and have a whole chapter, you know, recorded to that victory and recorded the song that they wrote afterwards. Apparently, Jair didn't write any songs. He wasn't, you know, in that way, he wasn't noteworthy or outstanding or incredible. The biggest thing that was, you know, noteworthy about him was he had a lot of sons. He had 30 sons. That's significant. But he's just an ordinary guy. Just a regular guy who was used by the Lord to preserve Israel for 22 years. 22 years, Israel, who had been in this pattern already, for some time of turning away from God. For 22 years, they didn't turn away from God because Jair was there. He was preserving influence and encouragement, calling the people perhaps to stay faithful to the Lord, to walk with the Lord. And these two guys combined provided Israel with 45 years of peace, 45 years of building, of the Lord working and establishing them. The dominoes are being set up and established and great things are happening. A whole generation becomes settled and blessed and established as these two guys, just regular guys, no supernatural announcements, no like incredible victories that blow your mind. Just by being there and faithful to God, they impact the nation in a great way. I think this is a really important reminder for each and every one of us that we are ordinary people. But God can use us. And maybe there was no supernatural announcement that you were going to be born. You know, maybe angels didn't show up and, you know, tell your parents, hey, David Burnt is coming on the scene. Prepare yourself, boy. Things are going to get exciting. Maybe there wasn't supernatural, you know, revelations according to your life. But God can use you, just a regular person. In fact, that's who God prefers to use. That's who God chooses to use. The Apostle Paul, right into the Corinthians, says, look around. you'll find that there's not many who are mighty among you. You'll find that there's not many who are noble, not many who are wise, not many who are outstanding in any way, really. It's just regular people that God uses. He chooses to use the simple, the base, to confound the wise, Paul says. You and I walking with God can make a huge impact on the people around us. And so here, this whole generation, for 45 years, they experience great blessings from God. Now, it's after these two guys pass off the scene, then we get to verse 6, and it says, then the children of Israel again did evil. They have spent this time, they've enjoyed this time of things being built, of God blessing and establishing them, and they become settled in that. They forget that dominoes can easily fall. And they begin to go down that path of destruction. But for 45 years, that was held back because of these two guys. God can use you and I to be that kind of influence on the people around us. God can use your witness, your example, your words, your walk with him in that way. In fact, he desires to use and he calls us to be that kind of influence on the world around us. You remember the great commission that Jesus gave in Matthew chapter 28? He says, Amen. Here in this great commission, I've shared this many times, but it's been a while, so I'll share it again. When Jesus says to go therefore and make disciples, he's speaking to his disciples and he says, look, it's the job of disciples to make disciples. Amen. For you to follow Jesus Christ means that your job is going to be to help others to follow Jesus. This is not something that is limited to special classes of Christians or special giftings of Christians. Every disciple is called to make disciples. And that means every Christian is called to be a leader to some degree that you are to have influence in the lives of other people. You are to make disciples, right? Jesus says, teach them to observe all the things that I've commanded. Show them how to obey me. Show them how to walk with me. Show them how to follow me. It's something that God calls every one of us to, and we maybe don't engage in that very often because there was no supernatural announcement at our birth, but I just remind you this morning as we look at these two judges that God wants to use you to make disciples. to make an impact in other people's lives. And you can have a huge influence for decades in people's lives by your walk with God. You're called to teach. You're called to be a good example. You're called to be an influence in the lives of people around you. And you are an influence. Maybe you didn't choose it. Maybe that's not what you would want, but that's how it is. You don't have to be perfect to make a good influence. We see that in the examples of the judges. You know, Samson is one of the judges and He does a great work, but he also is flawed and makes mistakes, has issues. We're looking at David on Wednesday nights, and he's a great man after God's own heart, but he makes mistakes. He's an influence on the nation for good as a whole, but he also messes up and has some difficulties. You don't have to be perfect, but you, regular person, can be used by God and are called by God to make disciples. And so it's important for us to consider this. God can make a great impact with people like you and me. Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4, verse 16, he said, Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. Recognizing that you have this kind of influence, that you have this kind of position and role in the lives of people around you, Paul says, Timothy, so make sure you take heed to yourself. Make sure that you're walking with God. Pay attention to your doctrine. What do you believe in? Why do you believe it? Because if you keep yourself on track and keep yourself walking with God and keep your doctrine rooted in the word of God, you will save yourself, but also those that you influence. Because, well, God uses you to make an impact on the lives of the people around you. God can make an impact, a great impact on your family, your friends, your coworkers, by you walking with God. And holding fast to the truth. And so I would encourage you this morning to do that. Now as we go forward into the rest of the chapter, now we're looking at changing gears a little bit, looking at the nation of Israel turning away from God. After these guys are off the scene and their preservation effect is gone, now there's going to be rebellion against God. And so that gives us point number two, looking at verses six through nine, God is intensely angered by sin. Now, this is equally important for us to consider because it is easy for us, and we tend to forget how serious of an issue sin is. And in our minds and in our hearts, we begin to kind of water down. We justify ourselves in regards to sin. Let's take this time as we look at these things to be reminded. Let the Lord remind you of the seriousness and severity of sin. God is intensely angered by sin. Verse 6 says, Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve him. So the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. And he sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon." Here, as we move on now, we see now, after these two guys are gone, then Israel continued that cycle, continued that pattern, and they do evil in the sight of the Lord. These godly men who were there, these godly judges, could only take them so far, and when their time is over, the people are unrestrained, and they pursue after things that are not of God. This is the reality for us, that godly leaders can only take you so far. Those people who have that preservation effect in your life, that help you restrain yourself from pursuing after those things, their time runs out. It's a reminder that you need your own inner drive to walk with God. If you're just relying upon your spouse, well, your wife's relationship with God is what keeps you in check, or your husband's relationship with God, that's what keeps you on the right track. Well, that time will run out. That judge in your life, that deliverer, that influence in your life is not going to be there forever. And you will be unrestrained. You need to have your own connection to God and relationship with God. Because if you pursue those things that your heart is drawn to, well, you will stir up and provoke others. the anger, the wrath of God. Here we see in chapter six or verse six that they served the Baals, the Asherahs, and it goes on to list seven different gods or seven different, the gods of seven different peoples that Israel involves themselves in worship of. And they now are pursuing these false gods, these images, this idolatry. Now, idolatry and the issue with idolatry is not just with The idea of bowing down before a physical statue. But each of these gods was worshipped for particular things. There were things that the people were wanting. And so they worshipped these gods in order to obtain those things that they wanted. There were some gods that they would worship... in order to have good weather so that they could have abundant crops. So man, if we really want to, you know, have an abundant crop and be blessed, we got to worship Baal so that we can have the rain when we need it, so that the crops can grow, so that we can have abundant fruit. There were gods that they would worship for wealth, for prosperity, for pleasure. Man, I just really want to enjoy life. And so I'm going to pursue and I'm going to worship this God because I want to have pleasure in And so on and so forth. Every vice, every goal, every objective that a person could pursue after, there was gods that were available that you could worship to try to get that. And so they would worship all of these different gods, pursuing all of these different things that they wanted, that their hearts were desiring. And these pursuits take them away from the worship of the true and living God. It tells us at the end of verse six, they forsook the Lord and did not serve him. So their hearts are desiring pleasure. Their hearts are desiring prosperity. Their hearts are desiring all these different things. And so they're chasing after all these different gods, trying to obtain those things. And in doing so, they're turning away from the true and living God to try to obtain those things through these false gods. And this provokes the Lord to anger. Again in verse 7, so the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. That word hot, it means to burn, to be kindled. It stirs up this fire of anger, of wrath. Now, God never loses his temper in the sense that he loses control and flies off the handle, that he's just out of control. He never loses his temper in that sense. But let's just be reminded this morning, God does get angry, seriously angry, intensely angry at over sin. God hates sin. He hates it. We tend to water down and go, okay, well, it's not the bigger deal. God understands. And we allow sin many times in our lives because we've lessened it in our mind. And we need to be reminded that God hates sin. And sin in the lives of his people is stirs up this hot anger, this intense anger. And it's primarily because of the destruction that it brings to the people that God loves. The reason why that God declares things are sin is because of the destruction that it brings. It's not just that God set rules and they're just arbitrary. They don't actually mean anything, but just he said, that's what I said, so you better not do that. It's not just random stuff, but God declares labels things as sin because those are the things that destroy our lives. Have you ever been upset watching someone that you love make bad choices? Ever been frustrated by the reality that you can't make choices for them, that you can't force them to make good choices or better choices? Have you ever experienced that? That's what God feels. That's God's perspective looking at us when he sees us choosing to to sin and allow sin to continue in our lives. And he hates it because he knows what that brings. He knows the destruction that it brings. And here's God's people looking for pleasure, looking for wealth, looking to obtain these different things. And they're chasing after these gods to try to get those things. And those gods are promising those things. Yeah, if you worship me, yes, you can have pleasure. You can have joy. You can have a fulfilled life if you worship these false gods. That's the promise of these false gods. But the problem with them is that, number one, they don't deliver on the promise. False gods will never bring you that fulfillment. Sin will never bring you the pleasure that it promises. It will never bring you the fulfillment that that it says that it can. Not only that, though, that's one thing. It doesn't fulfill on the promise. But secondly, instead of the promise of fulfillment, it brings destruction, death, decay. It wrecks havoc. And so God hates sin because it's a complete lie that people believe. Chasing after fulfillment and pleasure and blessing and goodness and receiving instead destruction and death and decay. And so God's anger is stirred up. He's hot against Israel. And it tells us in verse 7 that he sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon. He sells them. God here is helping to reveal the issue of sin sooner rather than later. He sells them into the hands of the enemies or the peoples whose gods they're worshiping so that they can see sooner the real result of sin. And they begin to experience the results of their sins, the consequences and the devastation of sin. This is always the result of sin. Always. In every case, without exception, sin brings destruction. The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 6, verse 7 and 8, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. This is the law of God. You reap what you sow. And you pursue after sin. You pursue after the things of the flesh. You chase after those pleasures and that prosperity or whatever it is that your heart is desiring. And you allow that to take place. the dominance in your life and in your heart, it's going to bring corruption and destruction and the dominoes will start to fall. And all the things that God has built up in your life and the blessings that have been established and the things that you've received as a part of just walking with God and 45 years of building can all start to crumble in the pursuit of sin. In verse eight, from that year, They harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for 18 years. All the children of Israel who are on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, in Gilead. Moreover, the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah, also against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim so that Israel was severely distressed. The end result is that God's people are in a place where they are severely distressed. The enemies around them are oppressing them. People on one side of the Jordan, they're getting attacked, but it's not just a border dispute any longer. Now they're crossing over the Jordan. The enemies are crossing over to the Jordan and attacking Judah and Benjamin and Ephraim. They're invading the land and they're getting pressure from various sides and they are severely distressed. This is the destruction of sin. This is the result that it brings. God is intensely angered by sin. And he will allow this kind of destruction in our lives. He will allow those dominoes to fall so that we see why he calls sin, sin. Why he tells us to flee from sin and to pursue him. This is something that every one of us deals with in our own lives in various ways. We all deal with sin. We are all tempted. We are drawn to. We have pursuits that are unchecked in our hearts. We will pursue after them and bring about the destruction that sin brings. The commentator Burton Kaufman says it this way. He says, This is exactly the thing that always happens when a people is not diligent enough to cultivate the spiritual resources which God has provided. This is what always happens when we don't invest in our walk with God. This is what always happens when we don't invest in our spiritual life. This is what always happens. We will always be pulled towards idolatry, into sin, and then the destruction that it brings. It's a reminder. It's a trumpet call to get our attention to say, listen, God is angered intensely by sin. Don't let yourself go down that path, but invest in your spiritual life. Draw near to God and make sure that you're walking with God. The Lord gave a warning to his people in Deuteronomy chapter eight. As he tells them, I'm bringing you into the promised land. You're gonna be blessed there. You're gonna be established and all kinds of dominoes are gonna be set up in amazing ways. And in Deuteronomy 8, verse 10, the Lord says, You're going to be blessed. The land is going to be full of these amazing domino designs. Be careful. Make sure that you don't forget the Lord. And how does God define forgetting the Lord? Here's how you know that you've forgotten the Lord, he says, when you stop keeping his commandments. You stop obeying God because you have forgotten the Lord. There is this connection. There is this need. There is this urgency for us to be investing in our walk with God, to be seeking after and pursuing God. And when we don't, we forget the Lord. And we begin to disobey his commandments. We begin to engage in sin, to pursue idols. And we stir up the wrath, the anger of God. He is intensely angered by sin. His promise is you will reap what you sow. And those dominoes will fall. And even if it's 45 years of building that God has done, it will be wiped out and destroyed by sin. Don't let sin become watered down in your mind. Don't let it become lessened, that it's not a big deal, that it's something you've got a handle on it, you're okay, you know, you can stop anytime you want. Don't let that attitude develop in you. It's a serious thing to be in pursuit of sin. We all sin, we all fall short, it's true. And there is mercy and grace, and we'll see the mercy and grace in just a few moments. But don't let that idea, let that understanding cause you to then lessen The severity of sin in your mind. It brings destruction and stirs up the wrath of God. Moving on to verses 10 through 14, it gets a little bit more serious as we see that God reserves the right to refuse deliverance. Here they call out to God and God says, no, thank you. Check it out. Verse 10, it says, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord saying, we have sinned against you because you have both forsaken, we have both forsaken our God and serve the Baals. So the Lord said to the children of Israel, did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines? Also the Sidonians and the Amalekites and the Moanites oppressed you and you cried out to me and I delivered you from their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore, I will deliver you no more. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen. Let them deliver you in your time of distress. Here is Israel after 18 years of oppression, 18 years of this attack, 18 years the dominoes are falling, and they're really beginning to feel the pain now. It's really starting to hurt. The devastation is taking hold, and Finally, they cry out to the Lord after 18 years of this affliction. They cry out to the Lord, we have sinned against you. They admit to God, they confess, we have sinned and we have turned and we've served these false gods. And they're asking God to deliver them from this oppression that they're experiencing. And God comes back and says, no, I'm not going to deliver you. This had to be shocking for them. They've experienced this before. where they have gone into sin, experienced destruction. But when they cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a judge, raised up a deliverer, and set them free. And now they call out to the Lord, we've sinned, save us. And the Lord says, no, thank you. I don't want to be part of that. God reminds them of the times that he's saved them before. I delivered you from the Egyptians. You cried out to me and I sent Moses and did amazing miracles and brought you out of the land of Egypt. You cried out with the Amorites and the Philistines and the Ammonites and the Sidonians and the Amalekites. You've experienced this over and over again. And you've cried out to me. And I've delivered you repeatedly. In fact, seven different examples God gives of his previous deliverance. Yet you've forsaken me and served other gods. You've continued to resist. And so no, I'm not going to deliver you G. Campbell Morgan says, For the first time in all of their history, they have this history. Every time they've called out to God before, he's delivered them. But now he says, no. They've engaged in this cycle repeatedly. No. where they've been built up by the Lord, and then they've turned against, and they've experienced the destruction, and then they've repented, and God has raised up a deliverer and established them again. And this time, when they call out to God, it's different. God says, look at the other seven occasions that I've delivered you. That was enough deliverance. I choose not to deliver you this time. Instead, he says in verse 14, go cry out to the gods that you've chosen. You've been pursuing these other gods. Let them save you. It's interesting, right, that Israel knew who to turn to when things really got tough, when they really began to experience the trouble. They knew who to turn to. They knew those gods couldn't save them. They knew only God could deliver them, but still they pursued those other gods. And now when they try to come back to God, God says, not this time. Maybe they expected God to respond the way that he always did. Not this time. Let me just say this this way. God doesn't owe you anything. Let that settle into your head a little bit. Let that settle into your heart. God does not owe you anything. He has provided Jesus Christ as Savior. Forgiveness for your sins, the opportunity for everlasting life. He's provided the Holy Spirit to enable you and equip you to live the life that he has set before you. He's already provided the scriptures. He's already worked in your life to a great degree before. God does not owe you anything. He didn't owe you any of those things to begin with. We deserve none of those things, but God has already done so much. He owes you nothing else. And it's really important to grasp hold of because there are times that people will hold on to this idea of like, I know I need to get right with God and one day I will, but not yet. Not now. Maybe later. When it gets serious, when things really get difficult, and there's this expectation, well, I'm going to call out to God, and he has to deliver me. And let me just tell you that God reserves the right to refuse deliverance. He's not obligated to get you out of every mess that you get yourself into. And boy, do we get ourselves into messes, don't we? Now, he is obligated to get you out of messes that you get into by following him, because there are difficulties and afflictions that arise by being obedient to God. And there will be trouble and affliction that comes and God's obligated and promises he will work those things out for good. He will do miracles in those areas. He will work in those ways that you're walking with him and you're in that mess because you followed him. But those messes in our lives that we bring about by our own doing, we can call out to God and many times God is merciful and gracious and he does bring deliverance. And we praise God for that. That's what Israel experienced time and again already here throughout the book of Judges. But now at this point, God says, enough. I've done that enough in your life. I'm not going to do it this time. He didn't owe them deliverance. God doesn't owe you anything. He reserves the right to refuse deliverance. Again, it's why it's important for us to be investing in our life, in our walk with God, not just counting on, well, later on, I'll repent. That heart, that attitude, it's a quick way to get yourself into all kinds of destruction. That's where the nation of Israel was. But as we finish up now in verse 15 and 16, there's a light at the end of the tunnel. There's a glimmer of hope. It's not over, but here it brings the people of Israel to a place of real repentance. Here we get point number four in verse 15 and 16. God cannot stand to see repentant people receive full judgment. God's mercy and his grace towards us is really incredible. And here he says no, but has his people turn in real repentance in response to that? Well, God can't take it anymore. In verse 15, it says, "'And the children of Israel said to the Lord, "'We have sinned. "'Do to us whatever seems best to you. "'Only deliver us this day, we pray.' "'So they put away the foreign gods from among them "'and served the Lord.' And his soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel. His soul could no longer endure. He couldn't stand it anymore. It hurt too much to watch his people suffer. He couldn't take it any longer. What changed? What brought about this change? Why could God take it before and say, no, I'm not going to deliver you. But now he comes to the point where he says, I can't take it. I have to send a deliverer. I have to intervene. I have to put my hand down and stop those dominoes from falling. I can't let them suffer anymore. What changed as they pray for deliverance again? This time God has moved to action. Well, here again, they say we have sinned in verse 15, but that's the same thing they said in verse 10. They cried to the Lord and said, we have sinned against you. That time God said, well, go follow the other gods. Let them save you. Why is he moved to compassion and to action this time? Well, this time there's a real repentance that's going on. Pastor Warren Wiersbe puts it this way. The confession in verse 10 was insincere, born out of suffering. But the confession in verse 15 was sincere because it was accompanied by repentance and a putting away of sin. Remorse and regret are not the same as repentance. And God is not impressed by hypocritical tears. What changed between verse 10 and verse 15 was the heart of the people. And there began to be real repentance. When they say we have sinned in verse 15, it is accompanied by the putting away of the foreign gods. You see, they cried out to the Lord in verse 10, but they weren't ready to give up those false gods. They weren't ready to lay down their sin. They weren't ready to turn from the sin that God had forbidden, that they were in pursuit of. But when God reminds them of the times that he's delivered them before, when he says, no, I'm not going to deliver you now, they didn't give up and just continue on in those pursuits. There's a real heart that's changing here. They're saying, yeah, we've really blown it. I mean, there's no getting around that. But continuing down that path isn't going to help us. So Lord, we're putting ourselves in your hands. You do whatever you think is best, but we're going to lay aside these things. We're going to stop worshiping these false gods and we're going to follow you. That's repentance, a true change of heart. No guarantee that God was going to deliver them. No guarantee that God was going to bless them. There was just a submission to, Lord, you do what's best. We're going to follow you. Whether or not we're delivered, we're going to follow you. We're laying aside these gods. We're laying aside these practices, and we're going to obey you. This is something that God pays attention to. True repentance. A real change of heart. When David sinned in adultery with Bathsheba and then murder of Uriah, as he came to the point of repentance, as Nathan the prophet, you know, is sent to him with the message from the Lord, he responds. He responds. And Psalm chapter 51 records his song, his response to that, his heart of repentance. And David there recognizes, if there was a sacrifice or an offering that I could bring, well, I would do that. But this couldn't be fixed by offering an animal as a sacrifice. It couldn't be fixed by giving a big gift or, you know, doing something extraordinary. David records in Psalm 51, 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart. These, oh God, you will not despise. God looks on a broken heart, a contrite heart, a humble heart, and that catches his attention. How could David get right with God again after such horrible sin? Not with sacrifices, but with humility, with brokenness, with repentance. Later on, there was a young king by the name of Josiah. In his time, they had forgotten about the law of God. They lost the word of God. And then they found it. And as they began to read, they began to realize, whoa, we've really offended God. God is severely angry with us because of our sin. And Josiah inquires of the Lord and seeks to find out, Lord, what can we do to become right with you? It's recorded for us in 2 Kings chapter 22. And God sends word back. Josiah, because your heart was tender, you're not going to experience these things because your heart was tender, because you were broken, were contrite. There was a humility. There was a repentance. I'll turn from my ways to follow the Lord. And here's God's people. Knowing better, they turned away from God. But for 18 years, they've been suffering now. For 18 years, they've been oppressed. And God allowed it. He didn't intervene. He didn't stop it. Even when they called out to him and said, we've sinned, please save us. He didn't stop it until their hearts were repentant. And then God couldn't take it anymore. I can't allow them to suffer one more bit. I can't allow them to experience one more. No, not even one more. No, no, I can't let this go on. God now intervenes. He puts his hand out and he says, now we don't get into that in chapter 10. In the following chapters, he's going to raise up A couple judges, Jephthah is raised up in chapter 11, and then chapter 13, Samson is raised up by the Lord. This is all born out of chapter 10, where the people come to God in a place of repentance. And God says, okay, now I can work. I can't take it anymore. Even though God owes them nothing. Even though God said, I'm not going to deliver you. When his people's hearts are repentant, he can't stand repentance. It hurts him too much to let them continue on in receiving what they rightly deserve. They weren't receiving more than they deserved. They were reaping what they sowed. But even then, God said, I can't take it anymore. God hates to see repentant people receive the full judgment of their sin. This is something that we can take note of so that as we experience the consequences and effects of sin, we can recognize that I can't make God do what he doesn't want to do, and I can't make God do what I want him to do, but I can turn my heart back to him and surrender myself to him. And I know, I know the mercy of God. I know the grace of God. He will be merciful and gracious. Now, we can't fake that. That's what Israel tried to do the first time. God sees right through that, and he'll say, no, thank you. I don't want to participate in that deliverance. But if your heart is genuine and you turn to the Lord, He will work in your life. He will by no means cast out any who come to him. Pastor Dave Guzik puts it this way. It was difficult for God to allow Israel to stay in their misery, though it was best for them. Like the perfect loving parent, God hated to see Israel suffer, even when it was good for them. He longed to rescue them, but would not do it until it was good for them. If God rescued them the first time, they said, oh, we've sinned, save us. it wouldn't have been good for them because they hadn't come to the place of repentance yet. They hadn't laid aside those false gods. But now finally it's good for them. And so God can do what he wanted to do from the very beginning. He can raise up a deliverer to rescue them. Is God longing to rescue you? He wants to desperately. He wants to reach in and to intervene and work in your life. But it's just not good for you yet because your heart isn't right with him yet. You can change that by turning your heart to the Lord, by coming to a place of repentance. God wants to work. He wants to deliver. He hates to see his people suffer, but he will allow it when it's what's best for them. What does God want to do in your life? Here in Judges chapter 10, we see God's dealings with sinful people. And maybe you're in that place of sin and God is intensely angered. And perhaps he's reserved the right and he's refused deliverance. And you maybe have even called out to him, but yeah, things aren't changing. God isn't delivering. There isn't a work going on. Well, perhaps God's waiting for there to be real repentance. Perhaps God is waiting for you to turn from sin and to get right with him, to really invest in your walk with God and pursue him, to love him with all of your heart and soul and mind and strength. If you're just in this whole thing of God, you know, for what you can get out of it in the moment or right now or the blessings of this life, listen, God doesn't owe you anything. He doesn't have to save you. He doesn't have to deliver you. He doesn't have to do good things and give you blessings, but he wants to. He wants to. It comes back to where's your heart at with God? Is there a real repentance? Are you in pursuit of God's heart? And lastly, I'd remind you of what we started with in verses one through six. God can make a great impact with regular people. Maybe you're not in that place of sin and rebellion, but you are in that place of God wanting to use you to be an influence, to make an impact. Invest in your walk with God. Take heed to yourself and to your doctrine that you would save yourself and those who hear you. See, either whether we're judges, influencers, you know, those who are called by God to be an influence in people's lives, or whether we are in sin and needing deliverance, the The course of action is the same. It doesn't change. Sometimes we forget that and that's what gets us into trouble and we begin to let those dominoes fall. But no, no, no. Pursue after. Make loving God and walking with God the most important thing in your life. And you'll be an influence. You'll make a great impact. God will use you in the lives of other people greatly. And if you don't do that, you're gonna find yourself in pursuit of other gods, receiving the destruction of God. Because God is intensely angered by sin. Let's turn our hearts back to the Lord. Let's make sure this morning that we are in pursuit of God, to know him and to love him. The worship team's gonna come up and close us in a song. And as they do, I would encourage you to allow these things to meditate in your heart, to allow the Lord to speak to you. Are you a good influence? Are you in that role of leadership in the lives of the people around you that God wants you to be and let him stir you up and encourage you in that? You can be, you are called to be. It doesn't require supernatural announcement of your birth. You, normal person, can be enabled and equipped by God to make a huge impact, to impact a generation, to know God and walk with God. And if there's issues of sin in your life, I'm not talking about occasions of sin. Of course, we have those. We have those and we turn to God and we repent of those things. But in particular, lifestyles of sin, pursuits of sin, where you've just tolerated, you've given up fighting it, you've just allowed it to be dominant in your life. Let today be the day that that changes. And let's turn our hearts in repentance to God. Lay aside those things, those pursuits. Submit ourselves completely to God. God, whatever you want to do, I'm putting myself in your hand, but I'm going to pursue you. I'm going to seek to know you. Let's humble ourselves before the Lord that we might be delivered and make an impact in the world around us. Let's worship the Lord together. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.