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“Look At What God Can Do” • 8.3.14
• Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- Last week, we looked at the fall of
Abimelech, a self-appointed King. In a just movement by God, Abimelech became
the tool that God used to vanquish the wicked ones who supported him.
- Right after he had fulfilled his part, God
ended Abimelech's life, using an unnamed woman's grinding stone to crush his
head! Such is the life of the people of Israel during the time of the Judges!
- Chapter
10 provides us with a bridge, covering a 63 year window of time and another
spin on the sin cycle.
- I normally don't reveal sermon titles at the
beginning of a sermon, but in this case, I'd like us to consider the thought :
"Look at what God can do!" Let's find out. Take a look at verse 1.
Text
• Judges 10:1-5 : "After
Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a
man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim. He judged Israel twenty-three
years; and he died and was buried in Shamir. After him arose Jair, a Gileadite;
and he judged Israel twenty-two years. Now he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; they also had
thirty towns, which are called 'Havoth Jair' to this day, which are
in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Camon." : Samuel provides us with only a scant amount of information regarding
the two judges that the Lord raised up after Abimelech.
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Samuel is not saying that God acknowledged Abimelech as a judge. Abimelech was
a self-appointed usurper, whose infamy demanded scriptural space.
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Samuel simply notes that these two arose after his time. It's interesting to me
that when there isn't much said, there is much said by commentators as to why
there isn't much said!
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Among the scholarly, these judges are assigned a name: The Minor Judges! The
title is given to them as it is for the "Minor" Prophets, on account
of the limited space their contribution requires.
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Both men however, served longer terms than Samson, but are only given 2 verses
apiece! This should bless you and I, who are minor players in the world!
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There are myriads of faithful saints whose stories are unknown, but were
faithful to the Lord in His service. It's enough to be known by Him and there
is a book that exists that will bear that out!
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Additionally, it seems that these two served and didn't cause any signifcant
trouble or face a significant enemy. They simply went about the business of
faithfully judging God's people.
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He begins with Tola, whose name means "worm" who saved, or rescued
Israel. We aren't "Tolad" how, but this was the outcome. It's a point
of interest though to see who God passed up.
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Worm's Grandfather's name means "Splendid" while his Father's name means
"Beloved."
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Neither Splendid nor Beloved saved Israel. God chose to save Israel through the
one who was named "Worm." "Yeah, that's the one that seems like
the right pick!"
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Yes, I am saying to you today that God can use a worm that's willing to do honor
Him!
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Interestingly, Jesus would have also been considered a worm, same word,
according to Psalm 22:6, who was a
reproach of men, and despised by the people!
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In the mountains of Ephraim, God used a worm to save Israel. On the mount of
Calvary, God would use a man considered a worm by the World, to save the
believing world!
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Jair, whose name means "Whom God enlightens," came upon the scene
after Tola. He's a Gileadite, which makes him a man of Manasseh East.
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We've noted before that Reuben, Gad and Manasseh East, were believers who
represented a fringe element. They want the benefit of being God's people with
minimal responsibility.
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They have opted out of battles thus far and have been relegated to an
observer's status. That's why this is so encouraging!
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God raised up Jair, a person He had enlightened, to stand up for a prolonged
period of time, 22 years, in service to the Himself.
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As a minister, this thrills me! God looked for a guy in an area where the community
motto was "it's someone else's responsibility!" He wasn't perfect. He
at least had a "past."
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Jair had 30 sons on 30 donkeys with 30 towns. He had adopted a polygamous
lifestyle, acceptable in his culture, but not by his God. He may have engaged
in this before being enlightened!
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Whether before or after, God brought the best from it without justifying it.
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His 30 sons each had a donkey meaning Jair was wealthy. In those days, to have
one donkey among a family for transport would have been a nice luxury.
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Finally, that they served in 30 different towns points to the level of their
influence. Havoth Jair was their area and everyone knew it to Samuel's day.
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There is something wonderful about the truth that God does not wait for perfect
people with perfect obedience and a spotless past. Look at how God redeemed
this situation!
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In a land of people that refused to participate, Jair rose to judge and his
sons judged with him! The wealth that he was given lead to an expanding
influence which brought peace to a region!
•
Judges 10:6-10 : "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. From that
year they harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years—all
the children of Israel who were 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. And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, 'We have
sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the
Baals!'" : Verse 6 reads like a "who's who" of false gods! It might have
been better to say, "Which of the false gods did Israel NOT
worship!?" To worship anything else is to forsake the Lord!
-
God commands that we worship Him alone. No other gods shall be in His presence.
Why did they fall into this false worship practice?
˚
"Israel was attracted to these other
gods not because of the beauty of an idol image, but because of what was
associated with the pagan deity. Baal, the weather god, was associated with
financial success. Ashtoreth, the goddess of fertility, was associated with
love, sex, and romance. As for the other gods of the neighboring nations around
them, it was a matter of conforming to the popular culture and doing what
everyone else did." David Guzik
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Inevitably, the Lord's anger again returned to a boiling point and He did what
He had promised, selling them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites
for 18 years after 45 of peace!
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We can't stress this enough: Walking with the Lord means blessing for our
lives. There is no better life out there and if we'd live long and see good
days, it's good that we remain loyal to Him!
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As we worship Him, we are conformed to His image and our hearts are made right
in and toward this world! When we worship anything else, we warp and we're
miserable.
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Look at the verbs that describe their condition over those 18 years. They were
harassed, meaning shattered and dashed into pieces.
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This same word is applied to the devastation that God brought down upon Egypt
in Exodus 15:6. Israel, a nation
built up by God, had by their own disobedience, been brought low.
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They were oppressed, crushed and broken down, as well as severely distressed,
meaning that they were cornered in a narrow position. They were trapped. That's
when they figure it out.
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Life isn't working the way that it was designed to work. We've tried everything
else. Now, let's go back to the Lord. The cycle turns around again.
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They have had their trouble and travail. They come to the Lord again for His
triumph, using the right words. But here is an interesting response.
•
Judges 10:11-14 : "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 Amalekites
and Maonites 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.'" : God's answer to the people here is
not final, as we'll see in a moment, but it does point to the futility of their
situation without Him.
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The gods that they served are no different from the gods that we serve today!
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Our gods today need no introduction. We love and worship at the altars of
status, fitness, money, intellect, pseudo, sub-science, sex and the like.
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Ultimately, we worship ourselves! Whatever gods they had chosen failed them and
they will fail us because they cannot affect change in our most drastic
moments.
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When we say or do the wrong thing, our status is gone and nobody cares any
longer. Our bodies betray us and get hurt, so that fitness becomes fatness!
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Money comes into our hands but leaves just as quickly. Intellect hits the door
of new streams of thought. Science will see all the same evidence and still
refuse to acknowledge the truth of God!
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Each of these gods fail! They fail in the operating room. They fail as we age.
They fail when their wisdom reaches the end of knowledge.
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Go and cry out to science when there is not another operation available! Call
out to money when your child lays helpless from a disease nobody can cure!
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God's message to them is that the idols that they have chosen cannot deliver,
but that He can and they have chosen something else.
•
Judges 10:15,16 : "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." : Look at the humility of the people of Israel. They acknowledged
their sin. No more covering it up. No more excuses.
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That is the path to freedom. Lord, we have sinned! It's not that I fudged on
this or was a little more conservative than I should have been on that. It's
that I sinned! I fell short! I rebelled!
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As a nation, however this was accomplished, they confessed their condition,
agreeing with God's assessment.
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You will never get anywhere spiritually, personally, until you acknowledge your
sin. Whether it be overt, gross and obvious, or private, sophisticated and
subtle, sin must be confessed.
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It's an enormous responsibility to confront our own sinful behaviors and
attitudes.
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A person needs to confess adulterous lust as well as a cowardly unwillingness
to witness.
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As a church, these things also hold us back. Pride in our hearts will keep us
from loving and evangelizing. Unbelief and an unwillingness to be the gift that
the church needs can cripple a church!
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I am reminded of two parts of Israel's history that present a challenge for
each of us here at CCF. I call to your memory the record of Moses and Aaron's
sister, Miriam.
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She led a vocal rebellion against her brother Moses' authority and calling to
be the visible leader of Israel. It wasn't long before she and Aaron were
judged by God's hand.
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Miriam was struck with leprosy and was set outside of the camp. There is an
interesting verse that accompanies that part of the record.
•
Numbers 12:15 : "So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people
did not journey till Miriam was brought in again." : The people, the
congregation was held up by her rebellious act. A single person held up the
lives of two to three million!
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Beyond that, the Bible further records that the people of Israel refused to
believe that God had the power to successfully bring them into the land of
Canaan.
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God promised to bring their children into the Promised land, but not until each
person from that generation had died off!
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This left Joshua and Caleb to wait for their promises until that generation
passed away in the desert 40 years later! I hope that the point is clear.
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Sin, whether it's egregious action in the case of Miriam or passive unwilliness
to obey God in the case of Israel, holds God's people up! It must be confessed.
It must be repented of!
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And notice how Israel proved their repentance: It doesn't matter how you choose
to hold us responsible. "Do whatever seems best to you!"
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The cost of repentance and being right with God could have been astronomical.
It didn't matter to these people. They had had enough. They had seen enough.
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You are on the verge of your greatest blessing when you value the blessing of
God over and above any temporary pleasure afforded you through your sin!
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Note finally, that their actions backed up their confession. They were serious
about this and went about the business of clearing things up immediately.
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What did they do? They put away the foreign gods from among them. It cannot be
said enough because today, it is not seen enough! You must walk away from that
which stumbles you!
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There can be no "co-existence" with a potential threat to your walk
with the Lord!
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True repentance is marked by a willingness to part ways with avenues that lead
back to sin!
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In Acts 19, the Apostle Paul had
traveled to Ephesus, which was a center for the learning of black magic arts.
When some among them believed, they showed that reality in the following way.
•
Acts 19:18,19 : "And many who had believed came confessing
and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books
together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of
them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew
mightily and prevailed." : The value of the magic
books was 50,000 pieces of silver, well over a million dollars! The value of
the Lord however? Priceless!
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But wait, there's more! Israel rid themselves of their idols AND they served
the Lord!
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Bibilcal repentance in action requires a turning away from sin and that which
leads to sin and then turning oneself over to the Lord for His service! That's
what they did!
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Anything less is not true repentance! The people had had enough of their way of
life up until this point. They found that their true best life now was found in
following and serving the Lord!
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How did God respond to this action? Note verse 16 again.
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"And His soul could no longer
endure the misery of Israel!" God looked down upon the misery that
they had created for themselves.
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They looked like those who had been burdened with heavy, grievous and wearisome
labor! As they repented, He could no longer endure it. He was moved with grief
at their condition!
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Samuel describes Him as having become short in His patience. His arm was
shortenend. Thankfully, when He is angry, His arm is very long!
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But when His people are moved toward Him, His arm gets short and He moves to
help them!
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The God of the Bible is moved by the actions of His children. He is not remote.
He is not uninvolved and I would dare say that He moved quickly to their
rescue!
Conclusion
- You might think that you are a worm. You're too insignificant and
there are better people any way. God can use a worm to save a nation!
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You might have a past. You've done too much and there are consequences that
continue to work against you. God redeems our past and uses it for HIs glory!
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You might be in deep sin. If you are willing to repent and turn, nobody will
move quicker to pick you up and put you back in than the God of the Bible!
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These are the things that God can do!
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