It's a book that follows a very popular book in the Bible, the book of Joshua. Matter of fact, the book of Joshua, the death of Joshua, is those scriptures are restated in the book of Judges. And so it's 21 chapters, I think the most famous verse in all of the book of Judges is the very last verse. In those days there were no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. That's in your notes, but I think that that is one of the most famous, most quoted verses in the book. The notes for tonight, I would encourage you to look all of them over. We try to do an overview on the first page, but look all of the notes over. I think the book of Judges sometimes is missed. in the importance of application even in our own lives, especially to the Lord and how the Lord deals with his people. Matter of fact, you'll find in the book of Judges that people will say many times, how could Israel sin so much? But don't miss in the book of Judges how God could forgive so much. And I'm glad that God is a God of forgiveness. And the book of Judges has got many, many sins. Got some head-scratching stories in it. But what you'll find is, bigger than the evil that Israel commits in the book of Judges, more head-scratching to me than that is that God loved them enough to forgive them when they would cry out. And so we've gave you three topics, three headings tonight. This is no new breakdown of the book of Judges. This has been the breakdown of the book of Judges for all of my life. Maybe one extra word, and I'll give that to you, but the rebellion, the repentance, and then the rest Not the rest of the story, but the rest, the ease. If I were to give you one more R, it would probably be the repeat. Because these three things are repeated over and over and over. And so we're going to teach tonight on the book of Judges. Now let's start with the rebellion. Start with the rebellion. Now, when you come to chapter number one, you're going to find the first chapter of Judges begins with Judah becoming leader and fighting against many cities and against many people. Because after the death of Joshua, this is when the children of the Lord, they asked the Lord in verse one, who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first to fight against them? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. So that answers that question. What happened after Joshua died? Well, Judah went up. And in Judah going up, the first chapter deals with some battles and pursuits of Judah. One of the main issues to begin this book is that they did not utterly destroy certain people. Chapter 1 verses 27 through the end of the chapter, you're going to find that there's many that were not utterly destroyed. And so there are people that lived and these came back to hurt and haunt, if you will, later down the road. And so that's chapter number one. Now, chapter number two through chapter number three, verse eight, we really find this rebellion. This is where we really see the rebellion Even though there is rebellion in chapter number one, there are things that you can look at. Chapter number two is where Israel's rebuked. They get a great rebuke because of their rebellion. And if you'll notice in chapter 2 and verse 6, this is when we find that Joshua, the son of Nun, had died. This is a repeat of what we already know. But verse number 10 said, And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers, and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor the works which he had done for Israel. The works that he'd done for Israel. Verse 7 said, And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that what? Outlived Joshua. Remember we emphasized that last week. Who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. But then there arose a generation that knew not the Lord. Verse 11 picks up. Here it is, the rebellion. Verse 11 chapter 2, And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Balaam. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods of the gods of the people that were around about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtoreth. Let me say this. You've probably heard preachers preach it. I know you've heard me preach it if you've been here any length of time. Two things that God's children did in the Old Testament That God, matter of fact, he said here it provoked the Lord to anger and it's in its outline for so they forgot the Lord. And they forsook the Lord. And anytime we forget, what did he say? They forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt. I'm going to reemphasize this because the Bible keeps reemphasizing it. God's very serious about us forgetting where he redeemed us from and where he brought us from. And coming out of Egypt is a picture of redemption. the blood on the post, and God's saving them because of the blood, and then bringing them out into the wilderness, and miracle after miracle. And it seems that every time that Israel, even in our book here, Judges, talks about, goes a-whoring, goes after other gods. They go and unite themselves to other gods around them. God always reminds them that they need to be reminded what I did for you. And so it's very interesting, this idea of rebellion. God is rebuking them. In verse 14 said, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. That's anger intensified. Amen? Anger is highly intensified when it's hot. And so He delivered them into the hands of the spoilers. that spoil them. Now, in this rebellion, chapter 2 begins with an overview of how the book will go. I think that's the thing we need to know. We're introduced to the rebellion of the people of God after Joshua died. Also, we are first given the understanding of judges and what they will do. Verse 2 of chapter 2 is a question that is asked, and here's what he said in verse number 2. Why have you done this? I think every parent in here has asked that question. I mean, you probably looked at your kid before and said, what have you done? Why have you done this? Or maybe we have said, what were you thinking? Well, God says that to His children, because they had not obeyed His voice. And He said, why have you done this? They had done evil in the sight of the Lord. They had forgotten the Lord and served other gods. The rebellion of the children of Israel was like a revolving door. It just seemed that they continued to forsake Him. And the idea that they would serve Balaam and Ashtoreth, it was against God to such a degree that God's anger was heated up. I use this idea of rebellion because this is what they did over and over and over and over. This whole book is going to point out one thing about Israel and it was their rebellion. What this teaches us, okay, what this teaches us is how that we are prone to wonder, prone to sin. I'm not advocating sin. Everybody understand that I'm not saying they sin, so you just go ahead and sin. It's not what I'm saying tonight. But I am telling you that we live with a depraved nature. We live with a sinful nature, and it's prone to sin. And sometimes when we get to thinking about our sins, a lot of times it's the sin that so easily besets us. It's sins that we find ourselves committing over and over. And I mention that because One of the greatest sins that Israel committed over and over was serving other gods. And God said, thou shalt not have no other gods, none other gods before me. And it seemed like that with all that God did for them, then they would go after a God that in most senses was just a figment of an imagination. And their God was real and had done real life miracles in their midst. And so, this is just a constant reminder to us that sometimes we scratch our head and we go, what was I thinking? You know, I think the question that is asked in verse 2 by God has also been asked by ourselves. Why did I do this? Why did I think that? Why did I say that? Why did I go there? Why did I do this? This is what you're going to find all through the book of Judges. You're going to say, what are they doing? And by the way, it's easy for us to stand on this side of Israel and say, what in the world are they doing? They can turn around and look back at us and say, what are y'all doing? Why do you keep doing things that you know is going to have the outcome that it has? But they had great rebellion. It runs through the book of Judges. Now, notice number two, the repentance. Now, chapter 2, as I said, is an overview to me of how this book's going to go. And one verse that really stuck out to me is after Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord in verse 11, and the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel in verse number 14, that in verse number 16, the word nevertheless is there. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled him." If you want to know what we said, the book of Judges speaks to us. It's on your back page. You don't have to turn, but I'm just showing you where it is. Judges, should say Judges right there. Rebecca said if you don't like it, do it yourself. Judges emphasizes Our emphasis is on Jesus as our what? Deliverer. God sent judges to deliver them, and thank God that He sent Jesus to deliver us. Amen? And so, nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. Now, this is interesting because in chapter number 3 and verse 9, this rebellion turns into repentance. Let me say this to us about rebellion. And again, I'm not advocating rebellion. But I think the old prophet Micah said, when I fall, I will arise. And preachers for years has reminded us, you're going to fall. You're going to fall. There's going to be times that you fall. But it's what happens when you fall. What happens when you fall? And when you fall, there ought to be repentance. There ought to be repentance. So when we think about this, they fail. And then in chapter 3 and verse number 9, and when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel who delivered them. Even Athaniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. Now some have said this means really nothing but some have said is Kenaz Caleb's younger brother or is he talking about Aphenel and of course Aphenel we believe was Caleb's younger brother and you remember that Caleb said if anybody would conquer the land, I believe it was Derbyre or Debyre, Caleb said whoever does that can have my daughter. And so Caleb's brother become his son-in-law. That's in there. Amen. So, anyway, bless her heart. And so, anyway, but that's what happened. Now, here's the reality. Othinel was the first biblical judge mentioned here. Okay? Othinel, however you want to pronounce it. Now, he's the first judge. And so, this man come along because Israel repented. They cried to the Lord. And God gave them 40 years of deliverance because they cried to the Lord. And then in chapter number 3 and verse 15, the Bible says in verse 12 that they did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And so when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Jerob. Now, y'all remember Ehud? He was a left-handed man. Y'all remember him? Brother Alan preached on him? When lefty let fatty have it. Y'all remember that? Because the king was a fat guy. He was so fat when he took that cubic sword, that 18-inch sword, and ran it into his gut. He was so big that it kept the sword. He didn't even get the sword back. And so he went in and killed Ehud, the king of Moab. And so the children of Israel, they rebelled. They repented. God sent them a deliverer. Okay? Atheniel. And then after him, they went right back sinning. And so then God, when they repented and cried to the Lord in verse 15, He sent to them Ehud. Alright, so when we think about this, this is just, and we could put this, the old saying, we could put this on repeat. We could just keep going through here. Chapter 3 in verse 31. They cried out unto the Lord again. Verse number 31. The Bible said that Shamgar, the son of Anath, which slew the Philistine 600 men with Oxgoat, What happens here is we don't get much. Matter of fact, this may be the least of any judge that we get anything. There's several we get very little about. This may be the least. We get this verse about him. But what you know in repetitive history is that once Ehud, After the 40 years of rest, or 80 years of rest after Ehud, Shamgar comes on the scene and he kills Flint. So you know there was a repeat is what I'm trying to tell you. You know that the only way that God sent them another judge was they cried out. We just get in the nutshell. We just get in the nutshell of this judge. And then, of course, after him, when you get to chapter number 4, it picks up with the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord when Ehud was dead. And so now God sends them Deborah. Remember that? Deborah in verse 4, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth. She judged Israel at that time. Now, we know that she sent and called Barrett to come, and we know that Deborah's the only female judge mentioned, but she had aid and help from Barrett, and he was an Israelite general. And Barak was the one that led the forces against Jabin, the king of Canaan. And he had a military commander, Caesarea, or Cicero. And you remember when Cicero escaped the attack, they went against Jabin, the king of Canaan, and his military captain or commander, he escaped. And he found lodging in the tent of jail. Matter of fact, Brian drew the picture for the kids was jail standing out from her tent. That looked all innocent and stuff when the kids drew it. But I'm telling you, she was she was a bad woman. Because Sisera, he went in there, and when he went to sleep, she took a tent peg and drove it through temple to temple. Now this is in your Bible. We're not going to skip it because it's in there. And then when Barak and him came, she said, Oh, he's in here. You come in here. I took care of him. I'm just telling you, when sin is around and when evil's around, there's all kinds of things that can take place. And so that's what happened. She took a tent peg and drove it through his temples and killed a man. And so that happened during the judging and the delivering of 40 years of Deborah and Barrett. Alright? And so then, You get to chapter number 4 and verse 3. That's when they cried out unto the Lord and He sent them Deborah. And then in chapter 6 and verse number 7, it came to pass when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord because of the Midianites. You remember that. And I could just go on and on about this repentance. Many have written their estimation and their views of, was this repentance because we just need to get out of this trouble we got ourselves in, or was there true repentance? I've always thought about this, and others have as well, that of anybody in this story that knows the heart of the Israelites, it would be God. Be very careful that when somebody cries out for repentance after they've been a repeat offender, that we don't act like, well, they're just trying to get out of some trouble. If God's sending a deliverer down there, He knows more than anybody about what they're saying when they cry out, right? God knows the heart of man, and He knows if they're repentant. Matter of fact, later on, later on, Later on, God tells them, how about you go cry out to the gods you've been serving and see what they do? You'll read that later on. Well, could it have been at that moment that God saw they really wasn't repentant? And then they got real repentant after God said that. They was like, no, no, no, no, we have sinned against you. My point to you is, We have to be very careful that we don't see other people's repeat sin and not see our own repetitive sin. And some people, let me say this about, while I'm here, this ain't in your notes, this is off the cuff. But some people say, that man goes to the altar all the time. Well, we probably need to. I don't know, but I live perfect. This isn't the only place you meet with God, by the way. You don't have to be in the altar every Sunday to say you're right with God, because you can be right with God at home. Be right with God at home. And my point to you is, but sometimes we see somebody like, oh my goodness, every Sunday they're in the altar. Well, only God knows real repentance. And it's not for me to look from the outside of a person's life and say, I don't know if he's really repentant or not. I wish they'd hurry up. We go through this every Sunday. Well, maybe they need it every Sunday. Israel needed a bunch of repentance. But the fact that God kept sending a deliverer may tell us in on what Israel actually did instead of saying, I don't know if they was real repentant or not, because every time they repent, they'd have so many years and then they'd go right back and do it again. But don't we find ourselves a lot of the times in the same boat? It just may not be written about us in the Bible. So be very careful. that you don't lose the opportunity to repent worrying about what somebody else is repenting or if they're not repenting. Amen? And so, the repentance. Alright, let's close. Not only the rebellion and the repentance, but notice the rest. The rest. Now, I use this because the rest is where God gave them years of ease. What I want to point out about this, and I want you to notice this as we read this list, how long? It wasn't like they cried out, or they rebelled, they did evil, and then they cried out, and then the next week they did it again. I mean, we do have one judge where there's unknown years. One verse about him, we don't know how many years there was rest, or how many years he judged and they had rest. But the rest of them, it gives specific times of how long that once God delivered them from the hand of their enemy for doing wrong and serving the false gods, He gave them long periods of rest. As a matter of fact, let's notice. Chapter 3, verse 9, God gives him the first judge, Atheniel, 40 years of rest. Chapter 3, verse 15, He gives him judge number 2, Ehud, 80 years of rest. Chapter 3 and verse 31, God gives him Judge 3, Shamdar, unknown years, but we know there was some time after that. Judges 4, he gives him Deborah, 40 years of rest. Judges 6, he gives him Gideon, 40 years of rest. Y'all remember Gideon, don't you? Gideon was the judge. As a matter of fact, there's probably two of the most well-known judges, maybe three, but Gideon and Sapson are the two well-known. Jephthah, he's pretty known, and now Othniel will be known, now that you know that he married his brother's daughter and became his son-in-law. You won't forget that one now. But Gideon, you remember Gideon, he was a man that seemingly was scared and had no courage. But when the Lord met him, the Lord said he had great valor and he was a man of courage and God can see what he's going to make him. But you remember Gideon, he had all them thousands of warriors and God said, you got too many. Because if they win the battle, they're going to act like they did it, not me. Well, how many did he have? He had around 22,000 men and then 12,000 or so left and 10,000 remained. And then God said there's too many. And so that's where Gideon was commanded to tell them all to get down at the water, at the river. And he said, those that lap like a dog will be one group, and those that cup their hand and bring the water up will be another group. And it was 300 who lapped the water from their cupped hands, and that's who God chose to stand and fight. Me and Michelle have been to that region where this took place. Of course, there's a stream flowing through there. Of course, you know what we all did. We got down, and when we was getting down, I think it was Brother Ronnie that reminded us, don't y'all lap it like no dog now. You cup it with your hand. But we've been over to where this took place. I just say to you that Gideon, some of the judges are just a little bit about, and then Gideon has many verses. Many verses. But after Gideon there was 40 years. Of course you remember after Gideon, I'll throw this in there to you, Gideon had, if you study Gideon's life now, you'll be a little disappointed with some things that you might not know. Gideon had lots of wives and lots of children. One of his kids, Abimelech, he then was made king over Shechem. And some of you remember this. He was not a judge, but he was king and he was the son of Gideon. And so that's interesting. But he was king three years. All right? And so after that, after Gideon has died, and after the 40 years of rest, then in Judges chapter number 10, Judge 6, Tola comes, and there's not much said about him, but he was the grandson of Dodo. Joshua was the son of Nun. He didn't have no parents. I'm giving you some good jokes, some good dad jokes, right? How did Joshua come here? What do you mean? Well, he was son of none. All right. And then and then Tola was the grandson of Dodo from the tribe of Ishgar. Now, probably the least written about him as well. I mean, there's there's there's several. These is not much. But you know what? After him, there was 23 years of rest. 23 years of rest after him. And then J.R., he came on the scene in Judges 10, verses 3-5, and there was 22 years of rest after him. And so that was interesting. He had 30 sons, they rode 30 coats, they controlled 30 cities in Gilead, and so there's some interesting facts about J.R. And then after him was judge number 8, Jephthah. You remember Jephthah was the guy that came out against the Ammonites. And he said, you know, Lord, if you'll give me this victory, the first thing that I see when I return, I will sacrifice. And you remember, he immediately regretted that because the first thing and the first person he saw was his daughter. But he said, I vowed a vow unto the Lord and I cannot go back. There's a great principle there. There's a great principle there. Anybody want me to give you some thoughts? Just nod, I'm going to give them to you and make me feel better that you asked for them, alright? The only human sacrifice that God has ever accepted is Jesus Christ dying for you and me. Human sacrifices was wicked God's decrees. It was the God's liturgy, and that's how people would come to those gods. They'd bring their children. So many children were sacrificed before these so-called gods. Jephthah was no saint by no means. And the thought of that, many feel that Jephthah carried through with the sacrifice of his daughter, because that's what he said he would do, he would offer her as a burnt offering. That's the thought of those verses. And many feel, because a lot of people say, well how could God allow his judge to do that? But the judge, listen to me now, remember Gideon, remember Samson, these judges were no saints. Okay? What I'm trying to tell you is that thought process of even Jephthah was to sacrifice his own daughter as a burnt offering could stem from these other gods of worship and these pagan religions. Some feel that because he did send her away with the maidens that sometimes it was almost like death to a father for a daughter who could not bear him any children and could not bear a son. and could have sent her away and wrote her off as dead. There's a lot of thoughts about that. But the bottom line is this. The bottom line is this. Be very careful what we bow to the Lord. I tell you, Lord, if you'll give me this victory, I'll sacrifice the first... I'm sure he was hoping his best oxen or his best lamb or something like that was coming to see him and it was his daughter that ran out to meet him. My point to you is, when we vow vows to the Lord, that's a serious thing. So that was Jephthah. But after Jephthah, they had six years of rest. And then in Judges chapter 12, Judge 9, Abzan, Ibsen, seven years, not much said about him. The next judge, Elon, ten years. Not much said about him. The next judge, Abdon, I spelled it wrong in your notes. It's not Abode, but it's A-B-D-O-N. There was eight years after him. And then the last one is Sampson. And of course, after Sampson, there was 20 years after him. Now listen to me. We all know Sampson. If anybody is known in the book of Judges as Sampson, the last judge. And Samson is interesting because of all the things that happened in his life. You remember he was a miracle baby born to Manoah and his wife. You remember he was to be a Nazirite from birth. He married Philistine Timnah. You remember that? That was wrong. Parents tried to talk him out of that. He went ahead and done it. And then he ends up with these riddles. And you remember they end up giving Temna to one of the groomsmen. And Samson ends up killing folks. And Samson ends up taking the 300 foxes and tying their tails, lighting them on fire, burning their fields. All kinds of things with Samson. And you remember, Samson had a woman problem. And then he went into with a prostitute and then after that he fell for Delilah. And that's who ended up getting him to tell about his hair. They cut his hair, lost his strength, lost his eyes. But in the end, God gave him his strength, his hair began to grow, and he killed more Philistines. He killed more Philistines in his death than he did in his life. I'm going to make this point again. You may remember when I preached a series on great funerals in the Bible, I made this statement. Now listen to me. May it not be your funeral where your family gets right with God when you had the opportunity to lead them to God in your life. I pray the funeral could be a celebration of leading a family to the Lord and leading your children to the Lord. Not a funeral be a repentant service to where your children finally get right with God because of some funeral that happened, what we may even call prematurely, because Samson's life, no doubt, he died a young man and this was not what God birthed him for, but yet there he is. Many people's family have gotten closer to the Lord at their funeral than they did in their life. You've got a lifetime to lead your family to the Lord. Do it! Amen? Live for the Lord. Samson teaches us that. So, that is the judges. Now, I've got about two minutes, three minutes. We're not going to look at chapter 17 through 21. But I will say that 17 and 18 is some chapters of great depravity. I mean, idolatry and they just produced them. Some have called it a hired religion, a produced religion. I'm just going to point somebody over that as he did the wandering Levite. Chapter 17 and 18 with the story of Micah, it's really a picture of how some people go to church today with their own made up religion. And they appoint whoever they want to appoint to wherever they want to appoint them. Chapter 19 through 21, I don't know if you remember this or not, but there was a civil war. It was the Civil War, the Benjaminites. You remember the Levite from the hill country of Ephraim had a concubine and they came into that country to just, they were just sojourning. They were just going to stay for a while. And you remember an old man came through and he invited them into his house. And then the Bible talks about the men of that city, just like, just like Sodom. just like they did at Sodom when they gathered around Lot's house and they wanted him to give him the men that came in. That's what they wanted in Judges chapter 20 and 21, 19 through 21. They wanted him to give them the man that came in, the men of the city, wanting to do all kinds of perversion with him. And so the old man says, I'm going to give you my daughter and this concubine. He's like, we don't want the daughter in the concubine. And so eventually he gives the concubine out and they abuse this woman all night in all kinds of ways to the point that she dies. The man then cuts her up in 12 different pieces and sends it to the 12 tribes. I'm telling you what's in your Bible right here. The only reason I'm telling you this is the last verse says, listen now, the last verse says that there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Do you know what happened after they did that? All of Israel turned against the Benjaminites and they killed them to such a degree that they had to get them foreign wives just to keep the tribe going. I mean, I'm talking about a book full of sin. I'm talking about a book full of sin. But a book full of forgiveness. And if that, listen, if all you ever see in people's lives is their sins, you're missing something. Because there's a God that's greater than the sins. If there's any forgiveness in the book of Judges, we ought to shout the victory tonight. We ought to thank God from the highest hill of Mississippi that we serve the same God, because if He can forgive this stuff, I guarantee you can find forgiveness at the cross of Calvary. Amen? Boy, I'm thankful for that. I don't know about dividing up and sending out this lady to the tribes, but it stirred up a civil war and they almost killed off one tribe. of the children of God over all of that. A very, very gruesome, gruesome book, but yet a great book of grace. I thought about this and I was not even, I didn't put it in any notes or anything, but I was just thinking about, sometimes when we look at some people, We'll say what they deserve. We'll say this, they deserve to die. They deserve, done to them what they did to them. We'll say that a lot of times. And if we got what we deserve, we'd all be in hell. We got what we deserve. So it might be a good time in the book of Judges to just take a check up and say, you know what, Lord? I don't know that I've done some of the things that happened in the book of Judges, but apparently I'm capable of them because we're human. These were human beings. But I do want to tell you, I've done things. I deserve judgment and you give me mercy. And I want to thank you for that and praise you. Amen. Amen.