Flawed and Faithful – The Book of Judges

Flawed and Faithful – The Book of Judges

No king in Israel

Judges 17-21 As we’ve moved through the book of Judges, things have tended to get more depraved, and we reach a climax in these final chapters as we get an up close look at Israel’s sin. These chapters describe the religious and moral degeneration of God’s people living apart from God. We are confronted with the ugly reality of our sinful hearts. The only hope is a king who will rescue, rule and change us, and it is this we…

Samson

Judges 13-16 In this message, we explore Samson’s life in five “episodes.” We see a man with incredible strength, but who is otherwise, impulsive, self-centred and vengeful. Samson’s story causes us to ask some serious questions of ourselves. Above all, Samson points us to Jesus, the far better Saviour, who in his weakness delivers us from our great enemies.

Manipulating God

Judges 10-12 10:6-12:7 Jephthah tries to manipulate God for his own ends, with tragic results. Jephthah is treating the Lord like he would an idol, but the One True God cannot be manipulated. We ultimately exist to serve God’s agenda, not him ours. If we are to worship and obey God rightly, we must first know him.

A Mighty Warrior?

Judges 6-8 We can learn from Gideon’s story at two levels. When we look at Gideon the warrior, we see how God taught this weak man lessons about God’s presence, promises and power, before using him to deliver God’s people. But when we look at Gideon the worshipper, we see a man who failed miserably, leading God’s people to worship foreign gods rather than the one true God. From here, things only get worse for God’s people.

Will Israel’s deliverer please stand up?

Judges 4-5 In most cases in the Book of Judges, when Israel needs rescuing from their enemies, the LORD raises up a judge to deliver them. Uniquely in Judges 4-5, we see Deborah, Barak and Jael all play a part in overcoming the Canaanites. We’re left asking, who is the real deliverer of Israel? And who should get the honour for the victory. AS in our salvation in Christ, the honour should not go to a human deliverer, but to…

The right(?) man for the job

Judges 3:12-30 The story of Ehud is designed to make us laugh, especially at the cartoonish king of Moab, Eglon. And yet even as we laugh, we’re also forced to think, about our greatest problem, our unlikely deliverer and our mighty God, who laughs at those who stand opposed to him (Ps. 2:4)

Crippled by Compromise

Judges 1:1-3:6The first couple of chapters of The Book of Judges forecasts for us the downward spiral that is to come for the nation of Israel, but it also takes us to ‘ground zero’ – to how this all began – compromises they made by not trusting God completely nor obeying him completely. We need to heed the warning not to compromise in our generation, and to look to the cross of Christ for mercy, forgiveness and ultimate deliverance.