A Faithful God

Introduction

Good morning. Will you open your Bibles with me to Judges chapter 2? Second chapter in the book of Judges. When you think about the period of the judges, what do you often think of? Israel’s sin, Israel’s disobedience, the cycle of sin that we’ll examine momentarily. But note with me, really the beginning of the end, beginning in verse 6, one of the large markers that allowed this to happen. In verse 6 of Judges chapter 2, when Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.

And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten years. Then we come to verse 10 in that sad, tragic verse. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. And we think what a tragic point in history that, yes, Joshua, but even beyond Joshua, the elders who outlived Joshua saw the great works of the Lord. They knew that the Lord allowed them to go on their conquest of Canaan. How many times did God miraculously, or through his people in a very tactile war fashion, allow his people to have the victory that he promised?

Time and again, we understand that God is a faithful God. Amen. We serve a faithful God. But sometimes, I have to decide and think about myself even and say, do I truly believe that? Because if I did believe that, obviously that would be life-changing. I would commit my life to him, but sometimes I’d be more assured on questions like, Am I good enough? What if I sin? What about the fact that I sin? Aren’t we to be perfect? Aren’t we to be holy as our heavenly Father is holy and perfect? Aren’t I, as a Christian, supposed to not get caught up in sin? Aren’t I supposed to rise above that? And the answer biblically is absolutely yes. And yet that perhaps twins it twings my conscience all the more when I say, I know God expects me to be like this.

I know what I should do, and I find myself falling short. How do I reconcile with that? How do I answer those questions of, am I really doing what God says if I find myself over a period of my life constantly falling in sin? Well, first of all, let’s be clear, there’s a difference in constantly falling in sin, as in every day the same temptation over and over. And a Christian who makes a mistake, absolutely a sinful mistake, is worthy of death. But there is clearly a difference, and we’ll examine a passage that makes that clear in 1 John chapter 1 as we move towards the conclusion of today’s lesson. But I want to consider Judges chapter 2 and on into the book of Judges and consider this thought.

1. The Cycle of Sin

Is God a faithful God? And how does he deal when his people, because after all, that’s what we want to be, Christians, his spiritual people? How does he deal with his physical people Israel? How does he deal with them when they time and again turn from him? And you know the cycle of unfaithfulness. Let’s read it beginning in verse 11. You see, it begins with the fact that Israel sins. Read with me in verse 11. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed down to them.

And they provoked the Lord to anger. They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Asherah. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them, and he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies. Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them, and they were in terrible distress. It’s not a good situation when you see God’s people sin. In fact, you do see, and this is a important takeaway that God absolutely punishes them. It was not okay for the people to sin against God. It was not okay that they sought after the Baals and the Asheroth.

And God did not treat it as if it were so, even though he is a faithful God. So how does God show his faithfulness? Well, I think you can see from a passage like verse 18. When it says, Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from their hand of their enemies all the days of the judge, for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and opposed them, oppressed them, excuse me. When you consider what people did, what the people of Israel would do is not just call out and say, We’re in pain, Lord, remove this pain, although that was part of it. What moved the Lord to action, what moved God to deliver them through a sent judge, was their repentance.

Their turn from what they had done wrong to what they should be doing right. And you see, that’s really the cycle of sin. You see, Israel sins, God punishes them. Then Israel repents, God sends the judge, and the people are faithful while the judge lives. Do you see that in verse 19? I think this is interesting. Maybe we find some parallels to that on Sunday mornings. We’re good until we leave the church building Sunday morning or Wednesday evening. Verse 19. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. And over and over and over and over again, and then over some more, you see the people of Israel following this cycle.

They sin. God punishes them. They repent, God delivers them, and then they’re faithful for a little bit of time. And then they sin. And then God punishes them. And on through the cycle. And I think you can make a lot of great biblical points. We should never sin. Doesn’t that what Paul get at when he says the wages of sin is death? You could see that God will punish sinners. If you look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, it’s an extremely dangerous warning. The Lord Jesus Himself, with his mighty angels, are going to come from heaven in flaming fire, doing what? Inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who do not obey will be punished, and you could absolutely make that point from the text of Judges chapter 2 and reading the book of Judges.

2. God Reigns Over the Nations

But we also understand from the book of Judges that God reigns over the nations. I would like to ask you to turn with me to Psalm chapter 47. I can’t help but make this application in an election year. In a time when a lot of things are changing and a lot of ideas and constitutionalists are passing or changing in their ideologies, and we get concerned and we say, How can this country stand? How can this country go on any further? But we need to remember we serve the Lord. Amen. We need to know that we serve the Lord, brothers and sisters. We need to know that our God reigns even on this earth. In verse 1, clap your hands, all people, shout to God with loud songs of joy.

For the Lord the Most High is to be feared, a great king over all the earth. He subdued peoples under us and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. God has gone up with the shout of the Lord with the sound of a trumpet, sing praises to God, sing praises, sing praises to our kings, sing praises. Verse 7 and 8, though. Note, for God is the king of all the earth. Sing praises with a psalm. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham, for the shields of the earth belong to God. He is highly exalted. What a great psalm.

Verse 8 should be etched into our hearts. God reigns over the nations. God sits on his holy throne. That’s where our God is. That’s part of what we believe in. We believe in an almighty God. And that includes his reign over the kingdoms of the earth. You saw it in the cycle. How would God punish Israel? Did he strike them down dead? Well, in Israel’s history, that happened from time to time. But really, what did he do? He took other nations and punished them. In fact, if you read Judges and continuing on into chapter 3, you see that God basically purposely allowed the people who were around Israel to do his bidding in that sense. But also you see that we can fall from faithfulness. I think Hebrews chapter 3 makes the point that you can fall away from the living God, and of course, you can’t fall away from something that you’re not sitting or standing upon or resting in.

You can only fall from something that you are at that place of. And these are all amazing lessons. Please take nothing away from the lesson this morning and think I can go out and sin. God is not going to punish sinners. God absolutely will punish sinners. We absolutely should turn from sin. But the fact that God reigns over the nations and that we can fall from faithfulness should not just be something we take for granted, but that we know and we channel into our daily worship and living in accordance to the will of our God that we serve. But I think this book of Judges is as tragic and frustrating as it is to read and to think, how did God’s people continually fall short? Reminds me of my question, which is that will God really forgive me when I fall.

I consider myself to be a child of God, and I grow so frustrated. Because I say, I keep falling short. I should be better than this. I know I should be better than this. And then the preacher of the Bible class teacher opens to a passage that highlights my shortcoming, and I feel all the worse. And I shrink down and think, this is not what God intends for me, and sin is never what God has intended. But I think what we’ll learn from the judges this morning as we examine three cases and draw some applications is that we serve a faithful God, and that changes the equation in the thinking on how I deal with myself as I view instead my great God, whom I serve and need to fall down on my knees before.

3. God Is Faithful to His People Who Cry Out

We look back at Judges, but this time in chapter 3. In Judges chapter 3, we see that as we come to essentially the first judge of Israel, we find that not too long after this summary given in Judges chapter 2, the first four instances given. Well, you look with me at chapter 3, beginning in verse 7. In Judges chapter 3, beginning in verse 7. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherah. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Kushin Rash Hathiam, and I say that ten times fast. King of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served him eight years.

Yes, I said him. But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel who saved them. Othniel, the son of Canaaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him. Do you see this in verse 10? And he judged Israel. What was the result of his judgment? He reigned, he prevailed over this king, over this oppression. But what enabled this to happen? You see what happened in verse 7. Do you not see our cycle? The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. What was it, by the way? I find this interesting. They were serving other gods. I think on this side of the cross, we say, that’s got to be the most diabolical of sins possible, isn’t it?

To not only not serve God the way he should be, but to just give up and serve other gods, or even simultaneously serve these false idols. We think that’s that’s awful. God can’t, God can’t won’t forgive that. He just won’t deal with it. That cannot be acceptable. Obviously it’s not. But you know the Lord’s description in verse 8. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he punished them. But verse 9, I think is where we should take great comfort. But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel who saved them. The judge Othniel. See, it’s interesting that the people cried out to the Lord. Again, I want to underscore. This was not just saying, Oh, Lord, we’re being afflicted.

Come save us. I’m tired of hurting, although undoubtedly that would be part of the call. What do you think this punishment would mean to the people of the old covenant? It would mean they knew that they transgressed the Lord. They knew, as we’re going to see interestingly, in just two more examples, that their gods that they were worshipping the Baals and the Astroth, they couldn’t save them. Only the God of Israel could. And isn’t it comforting to know that God kept his promises to his people? Despite the fact they blatantly, and one of the most audacious forms of rejecting God possible, ever devised, they decided to bow down, offer sacrifices, worship these false gods. They literally replaced the one true and living God with a mockery form of a God that man can make with his hands.

And yet, verse 9 says that what? God delivered them. He did that through sending the judge Othniel, who allowed them to escape from the conquest that they were under, from the punishment that they were receiving. And we know from this example that God is faithful. But who is God faithful to? His promise people who cry out to him. His people who confess to him that they had missed the mark. Look at me also in chapter 3, just picking up in verse 12, that this great moment of conquest. This great time has just happened in verse 11. The land had rest forty years. And we find ourselves in verse 12. And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of Palms. And the people of Israel served Eglong, the king of Moab eighteen years. Make no mistake, there was a cost to this wrongdoing of Israel. But note verse 15. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gerah, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon, the king of Moab. And as you read down in the story, you understand, concluding in verse 30, God brought his deliverance through Ehud. In verse 30, so Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest for eighty years.

Please read this story. It’s a wonderful example. It can be gross at a time, but it’s a great story of how God delivers his people. But the point is what? Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And God punished them. But God heard them. God is a faithful God. God is faithful to his people who seek to be faithful to him. Isn’t that great news, brethren? We need to trust that our God is faithful, that he will deliver me if I will turn to him. And so when I consider myself and I consider beating myself down, I have a couple things to consider, and that really brings my mind to Judges chapter 10. Maybe we find ourselves like the people in Judges chapter 10.

4. They Put Away the Foreign Gods

Will you look with me at that example? This one, perhaps more than many, gives us some detail about God’s view of the people and the struggle at how the people got in this place to begin with. In Judges chapter 10, as we fast forward throughout the history of the people of Israel, we find in verse 6 a common yet tragic phrase.

The inspired scripture does that. And served the Baals and the Astaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve him. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites. And they crushed and oppressed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who are beyond the Jordan in the lamb of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. And the Ammonites crossed the Jordan to fight also against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.

Again, God’s people had left him. Again, God’s people had forsaken their one true and living God, their deliverer from Egypt, the promised God who made those promises to Abraham, who the Jews so proudly took account of. That God they forsook. They had forsaken him for other gods, yet again. But we find in verse 10 that our God is faithful beginning. Note the people’s response, though. Note how similar it might be to me. Or you when we sin and we consider how can this be? Can God really forgive me this Christian who sins? Verse 10. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, We have sinned against you because we have forsaken our God and have served the Vales. And the Lord said to the people of Israel, did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites, and from the Philistines?

The Sedites, the Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Monites oppressed you, and you cried out to me? And I saved you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress. And you see, God’s answer is strong. The people say, Lord, we have sinned against you. Do you see the confession there? They’re saying we’ve sinned, and what do we expect God to do? Well, we expect God’s faithful. He’s going to come in and deliver them. You see some problems with just bowing down, asking for forgiveness again. God is not fooled. God is not mocked.

He understands a people who are sincere, a people reaching out to him. What is God’s answer? Call out to your gods. Call out to those Baals and the Asheroth. Call out to those gods whom you’ve had no problem worshiping. Why are you coming to me now? We find ourselves in similar situations. We paint ourselves in the corner and we consider why did God do this to me? We’d make wrong choices. We sin against the one true and living God, and we say, where is God’s justice? Where is God’s peace? Why will God not help me out? There seems to be no good way. Understand, God didn’t put the people in the situation. Their sin, their rejection of God put them into this predicament. And yet, despite the fact that they had so blatantly forsaken the Lord their God who had delivered them from all of those people.

The Lord their God in verse 15. When the listen to the people say to the Lord, We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good to you, only please deliver us this day. So they put away the foreign gods from among them and serve the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel. And of course, in chapter 11, we bleed into, and Jephthah becomes the judge who comes to save his people, and he absolutely delivers the people of Israel because they had done what? Not only had they confessed to the Lord, but they did what in verse 16? They put away the foreign gods from among them and serve the Lord. Think about all these examples, and I know God is faithful, but I still have that question.

5. Will God Really Forgive Me When I Fall?

Yes, God was faithful, but will he really forgive me when I fall? It’s easy to say, well, if they worshiped other gods. That’s about as bad as it gets. That’s an abominable practice. But I forget for a moment when I’m reading about these people in the past that I’ve committed sin, and that sin is worthy of death. How can I reconcile a just God with this faithful God, who time and again accepted his people.

He heard them. The answer, will God really forgive me when I fall? Will God forgive me when I’m a Christian, and I find myself constantly battling against the devil and the sin that I commit? The answer is yes, God will forgive, and we should be thankful for that. Amen. We need to remember that we have the victory. Christ has paid the price for my sin. I can be forgiven, but just like with the Israelites, I have to confess. We look at 1 John chapter 1. I want to make a couple points, and we’re going to take the one in verse 9 first, but read the section with me. In 1 John chapter 1, beginning in verse 5, I appreciate Jonathan reading that to begin this morning’s worship.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, and we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

Or like the point in verse 9, obviously, what is the condition of this forgiveness for the Christian? 1 John chapter 1 is not written to the alien sinner, but to the Christian who has been walking in life. If we confess our sins. Now, no, it doesn’t mean, well, if I confess my sins, God owes me this grace and mercy. By definition, that violates the idea of grace to say I deserve this. But in verse 8, what does God promise us? Well, we know the Lord is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Do you see that word? All unrighteousness? Why? Because I confessed, yes, that’s part of it, but because God is faithful. And when God has promised, we know we can take that to the bank.

Will God really forgive me when I fall? Absolutely, if I confess. It won’t be, though, because I will be perfect. Did you see in verse 8 and in verse 10? In verse 8, note what it says, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. And again in verse 10, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. This comes to a point where, as a Christian person, we turn from God and so keep on walking the path of darkness that we don’t turn back, that we say, we don’t have sin anymore. I don’t have to worry about it. Perhaps if I’m so concerned with this question, it is a good sign in a way.

And that good sign is that I know God has expectations for me in my life. It’s hard to live with that type of expectations on ourselves that we will be perfect when God continually makes provisions for sin in our life, including and most importantly, sending Jesus to Christ to die on the cross for our sins. But there is a good side to this type of character, this type of question. It’s that I want to serve the one true and living God. I am frustrated with myself when I don’t do what that God wants of me. I need to realize I will not be saved because I’m perfect. My forgiveness does not rely upon my perfection, it relies upon my faithful God. But as we saw with the people in the time of the judges, and we see in 1 John chapter 1, that doesn’t make forgiveness unconditional on our part.

It doesn’t mean that God just exists, and every time I sin, he waves his magic hand and the sin is gone. If I confess, you think about Judges chapter 10, what did the people do? They not only cried out to the Lord, but they put away the foreign gods and they serve the Lord. They repented of that sin. There’s a difference in walking in darkness, struggling in a sin, continually, making no effort to change, or making veiled mentions of I need to change, but doing nothing. We know Christians walk in light. Christians are humbled and thankful by the fact that our God is just and faithful to forgive us of our sins, and we will seek him every day because of this. And as Ephesians chapter 2 makes the point, God’s not going to forgive me when I fall because I deserve it.

6. A New Covenant Enacted on Better Promises

That’s not how grace works. But that does not remove the conditions of forgiveness. However, God will forgive because as we saw in the Old Testament, God is faithful. He was faithful to the old covenant. Who were the people of Israel that God would continually deliver them and care for them? The people of the old covenant, the people of promise, Abraham’s seed, those who had received the covenant in Deuteronomy chapter 5, or perhaps Exodus chapter 20, depending on how you view that. And you consider that he will be all the more so to his new covenant. Look in Hebrews chapter 8. If you consider the words of Hebrews chapter 8, the quotation even of Jeremiah chapter 31, you understand that this new covenant is far greater. It’s far better, and it’s enabled and acted on better promises.

Look with me in verse 6 before the quotation. But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old, as the covenant he mediates is better. Why? Since it is enacted on better promises. It’s better because it’s about Christ, because Jesus is the ones for all sacrificed for my sins. It’s better because God planned for this to be our salvation and our hope. But those are promises. And we can take those to the bank. Because God is faithful. See in verse 7, for if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says, Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord. When I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant, and I show no concern for them, declares the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful towards their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. God is faithful. So I want to be part of this new covenant. If I want to be a part of the spiritual house of Israel and house of Judah, I will be one who has the laws of the Lord on my mind and the laws written in my hearts, because I am a believer, I am an understander.

Conclusion

I am someone who accepts Jesus not only as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, but God as the one true and living one who reigns over all the nations, who punishes sin, but that same God who is just, is willing. He’s faithful, he has promised to forgive us of our sins if I will just confess them and turn from them. Will God really forgive me when I fall? Question may be, I fall a lot. Will God really forgive me then? The question may be, I don’t seem to see a way out of this. But God can. God can deliver any of his children who will seek him, who will confess and repent. Because God is faithful. Don’t count on yourself, don’t count on your preacher or the elders or another brother and sister in Christ to forgive you of your sins.

Trust that you can be forgiven because God says it’s so. And that should give us all the hope in the world. If I believe that God is faithful, then I will know I can be forgiven if I will simply turn to Him. Will you go to God in prayer with me? Our dear God and most gracious and merciful Heavenly Father, we praise you and exalt you as, and we know you are the one true and living God. The God who spoke in this world came into creation, the God who made promises to Abraham that were fulfilled, not only in the people of Israel, but with the promised seed, Jesus the Christ, through whom we can all be forgiven of our sins. Help us to humbly and earnestly serve you.

Help us to avoid sin, fleeing, even if necessary. But, O Lord, when we are caught up in it. Help us to see that it is not the way. Help us to know that the wages of sin is death. O Lord, forgive us when we do wrong. Please wipe away our sins as you have promised you would. Thank you for being such a forgiving and loving God. Help me. Help us all to likewise be forgiving and loving to others. You are such a great God. We pray that we always seek to be pleasing to you, that you forgive us when we are being selfish and either not seeking to serve you with all of our heart or loving you with all of our mind. Help us to be light into the world.

Help us to show others your greatness and your goodness. Thank you, O Lord, for being a faithful God. Guide us as we worship and study your word revealed to us this very morning. Again, please cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Hear our prayers. Take our worship. It’s in your Son’s name we do pray. Amen.