The Causes and Cure for Spiritual Inconsistency, Part 2

Today on Summit life with JD Greer when you love something passionately you're jealous for its affection.

God is jealous to be our only God to be our only real object of worship because he passionately loves us and he knows what is good for eyes, the opposite of love would be apathy. God is angry because he was passionately in love about the father loves the son and the weight of the husband loves Brian back for another week with pastor JD Greer church in Raleigh, North Carolina. As always, I'm your host Molly benefits.

We're glad to have you long for today study in the book of Judges. This new series is called broken saviors is flawed human beings. Sometimes we get complacent about following God and our failures to yes and before long we begin to compromise and let things slide today on Summit life pastor JD explained how we can find power and freedom in following Christ.

If you missed the beginning of the sermon. I just wanted to remind you that you can always hear previous broadcasts at our website. JD Greer.com he titled today's message the causes and cure for spiritual inconsistency. So let's get started of Israel spiritual history, particularly the first two chapters will look at today because in them. You're going to see a snapshot of Israel's rocky history with God to see Israel go up and down in their faith to see how their sometimes hot time, coal most often they're just lukewarm. There certain temptations that no matter how hard they try they just can't seem to shake them.

As you read Judges chapter 1, we are lulled into sympathy with the Israelites.

We are told they could not drive out the Canaanites and we are inclined to agree. They did their best and they found a more economical solution. The booze they got some free labor out of the deal. All in all, pretty savvy. If you ask me.

But then comes God's assessment verse two of chapter 2. You have not obeyed my voice.

What about verse two I brought you up from Egypt. I brought you into the land that I swore to give your fathers, you will not obeyed my voice. What is this that you have done so now I say I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your side, and their gods will become a snare to you.

Here is lesson number one. Small areas of disbelief produce large areas of disaster. These Canaanites that lay left in the land became a thorn in the Israelites side a source of constant warfare.

Eventually some of these people like the Philistines would rise up and subjugate them. Israel response to God is what God we couldn't drive them out. We tried God's is actually is not that you can't, it's that you won't. It has nothing to do with you not being strong enough because it's never been about your strength.

It has only to do with you not being confident enough in my grace. Israel's compromise started with a failure of belief all sins. Start with a failure of belief. Again, you gotta start seeing your life like the unconquered promised land of Canaan lurking in every crevice of your heart on your own little Canaanites of unbelief and sin.

And you gotta send out warriors of faith to subjugate them, which is why we say you gotta preach the gospel to every part of your life to your worries your ambitions or goals or temptations or security your needs.

You gotta drive out the enemy from your heart because those areas of unconquered territory become the means by which the enemy enslaves you well get worse.

Verse 12 job or two after the people of Israel abandoned the Lord out of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he gave them over to plunderers who plundered them because that's what plunderers do. Israel started to go out to the gods of the people around them. And those people enslaved them. Number two we choose we must choose between the God who saves and gods that enslave if there were ever a place in the Bible that demonstrated assemblies to slavery. This would be a you give yourself to an idol because it promises you power and freedom you want to definition of an idol.

There is an idol is anything that promises power and freedom and happiness apart from God, but what it does is put you in chains. Back in those days it was the promise of security was the promise of rain. Now it would be something for us, like money, money says to us, I can give you power and freedom. If you have enough for me. You have all the power you need. You have all the freedom you need so you give yourself to pursue it, but you never seem to have enough and it destroys your family then it destroys your integrity, then it destroys your health and it is always demanding more. It promise power and freedom and happiness.

You were never satisfied, you're always jealous.

You're constantly worried. This is not a life of every man. This is the life of a slave you gave your life to build your reputation because you thought you would have power and freedom and happiness when you could walk in a room and everyone said, well, there is so and so it he or she is just awesome. But instead of finding that power and freedom. You became really sensitive to criticism. You became obsessive of what people thought about you. You are always better that people don't recognize your full worth are the accolades that you think belong to you to put on to someone else that is not the life of a free man. That is the life of a slave will and contrast of these false gods that enslave them. The writer of Judges gives you a glimpse into the heart of Israel's God now warn you, it's a little unusual.

So I need you to follow me through it. Verse 14.

So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he gave them over to plunderers and they were in terrible distress. Then the Lord raised judges who save them out of the land of those who plundered them. There are three things in those verses that reveal God's heart toward his people.

A heart of passionate love. The first stage of those three stages is anger, which is why I said it might be a little unusual. But make no mistake, God is righteously angry at San and that's because God is a jealous God and he is jealously angry over our betrayal because jealousy is a necessary part of love.

When you love something passionately. You are jealous for its affection. You may have heard that the opposite of love is not anger. The opposite of love is apathy. If God did not love us, he would not care because God does love eyes. There is a jealousy that he extends to ask that when we betray him. There is a righteous anger. A lot of people don't understand God. Jealousy, clinical jealousy, what like we mean when we say good use of my health is something that you want to unite a border years obsessive about somebody's attention, but there's a good jealousy. There's a jealousy that is a natural part of love I am right to be jealous over the affection of my wife.

I want her affections to center on me and not on another man that is as much for her good and my family's good as it is mine. Now, obviously, it is possible to be way obsessive about that.

That's not what God is. God is jealous to be our only God to be our only real object of worship because he passionately loves us and he knows what is good for eyes, the opposite of love would be apathy. God is angry because he was passionately in love with us. When the father loves the son and the way that the husband loves a bride. So God is angry but didn't you notice what happened next. He feels pity he sees them in distress verse 18 says he was moved to pity because of their groaning. By the way the work for groaning there in Hebrew, doesn't mean repentance. It just means a cry of misery. It moves God emotionally to see his people hurting even though they had brought that suffering on themselves and they want sorry for yet, but is likely seen one of my children and suffering even if it's their fault. It doesn't make me cease to love them and I give anything to make you a more so God sees them in before they cry out for repentance. He acts he sends judges verse 16 he raised up judges to deliver them. And that's the rest of the book of Judges that she there's a dilemma. These judges are going to turn out to be broken people themselves there to see where to fall prey to the same problems. Israel had their inconsistent unbelieving, cowardly, greedy rash, immoral to there's a question that begins to emerge from the book of Judges and it's this.

How can these men and women be Israel's saviors when they themselves need to be saved. How can they deliver us when they got things ready to be delivered from themselves. How can they save us.

When I got the same problems that we have. I have used this story with you before, but I think it illustrates it well true story I heard about a grandmother in California who looked out of her back window in her house and sees to her horror, her two-year-old granddaughter stumble into the deep end of the pool. She rushes out the Savior granddaughter three hours later, the EMS pulls out the bodies about the grandmother and granddaughter out of the pool because the grandmother couldn't swim either one having who would do to save mean can have the same problem as those who need to be saved. The ones who would save us can't have the same issues as we have otherwise.

How could they actually be our Savior. That's why every other religion in the world that work for me all because the people that are claiming to do the saving have the same problems of those of us who need to be say I got your problems when I need to be delivered from sin to I die. So someone is gonna save me. They can have a simple heart and die.

Bruno may have caught some good things, but he died mom and they have lots of good things, but he died to save me there to live a sinless life and to be able to come back from the dead little one person in history was on that. That's our Savior to the book of Judges sets up this question points you to the story of another judge.

Her story is not to be recorded in judges.

Furthermore, there is another dilemma presented in judges and that is be read the first two chapters, God appears to be on the horns of a dilemma from two contradictory promises that he made to get this first one I swore to give that land your father's. I will what the next word.

Never break my covenant with you. Verse 15 will reword this but this is essential. God says I have sworn to punish injustice and sin because I'm a just and righteous God uses that word swear again. Welcome God.

Both of those promises. How can God say that he will never break his covenant with us, but also be a God who is going to punish injustice.

See the dilemma with the answer is that God is going to send a judge is going to both deliver us from our enemies and is going to suffer the punishment for artisan man will return to just a moment, but I wanted to tell you about our new featured resource estimate when faced with difficult questions all need to be able to give a reason for the help we have in Jesus and by tackling some of these difficult questions in her new bed to equip you with answers that make sense and aren't overly complicated and honest questions.

Quick answers will address questions like if the child wanders from the faith that the parents found and how do you know you're growing as a disciple of Jesus comes with your gift to the ministry right now.

Give us a call at eight 335-5220 or checking out JD Greer.com. Now let's get back to the conclusion of today's teaching here is Pastor Jamie.

Throughout this passage, God keeps referring back to a covenant that he made with Israel.

Let me quickly take you back to one of the first places where God makes this covenant because I want to show you something absolutely fascinating about it that will help you understand the rest of the book of Judges, the situation is when God makes a promise to Abraham in Genesis 15. That's when the first places he made this this covenant, that he was referring to. You turn in your Bible. I will summarize it for you, God makes a promise to Abraham that his descendents are to be his people forever, and that in they rent sponsors were to follow you forever. So Abraham a daughter to solemnize the covenant through an ancient ritual called the cleaving of the animals now total gross for our standards but work like this, you would cut five animals in half.

You would lay the halves of their body into rows so that the blood flowed into the middle informed this river of blood in the two people making the covenant would put their arms around each other and walked to the blood to that the blood was splashing up on the roads, basically signifying that of I don't keep my part. Covenant this is what will happen to me this this blood splatter. So right before Abraham and God get ready to go into this covenant together.

Genesis 15 says a deep sleep falls upon Abraham and God comes down Abraham's laying there in a deep sleep. But this doesn't stop God from going through the middle of the animals.

God goes through by himself, and what God was showing to Abraham is not only going to be responsible for my side of the covenant I'm to be responsible for yours. Not only will I shed my blood if I fail to keep my part. I'll shed my blood. If you fail to keep your part. This is a promise that God is going to ensure the fulfillment of all by himself.

She that deep sleep that Abraham fell into commentators point out that that symbolizes the deep sleep of sin, the slavery of sin that we would put ourselves into. God says but I sent my love on you and I made this promise by myself so I'll pay the price for your disobedience and then I'll pursue you when you don't pursue me. I'll draw you to myself. I'll seek you before you seek me, and then I'll sustain you by my grace when you are faithless. I'll be faithful I'll persevere with you to be end and all promise of the good work that I began in you. I will complete it until the day of redemption. That's the message of the book of Judges is that God is faithful when you are not. That's the message of it's a listen I know some of you feel weak. I know that you feel like you can overcome a certain temptation. I know you feel like you'll never make it. God says but I determined it.

You weren't there when I made the promise. You didn't hang on the cross, helping me pay the penalty for your sin and help bring Jesus back from the dead.

I did all that by myself so I will see it through to begin what I have determined will come to pass. So the message of the book of Judges is first to rest rest in the promises of God, that he that is, began a good work in you will complete it.

He will never let you go anymore than I would let one of my children go, the book of Judges says you rest in the promises of God because what God determined he will bring to pass the writer of Judges says you gotta choose between the two types of God's you choose the God that enslave you choose the God that saves you choose a God that will put you in chains for God that will love you like a father God that will pursue you like a husband to God that will love you and forgive you when you turn your back on him. Some of you are making that very decision this weekend. You gotta choose which God you will worship some of you say well I just choose neither. I'm just not that religious of a person know it's like always explain to you the human heart doesn't give you that option like breathing. You are an instinctive worshiper. You could know more of turn off your driver worship by not being religious and you could turn off your sex drive and I didn't marry your soul will always find something to cherish something upon which to build your identity something that you determine will give you happiness empowered freedom of peace and security. The question is often tell you is not if you worship the question is only what you will worship. If you give yourself to the gods of the Canaanites, which may have a different form today, but of the same things, money, fame, security, romance, family, respect, you will become a slave to those things. But if you give yourself to God. This God is depicted in Judges you will find the most satisfying for you for giving Victoria's love ever known, like Tim Keller says Jesus is the only God who if you find him will satisfy you and if you fail him will forgive you if you run from them will pursue you. Which brings me to the third and final thing to be shoppers teach us. Number three amnesia leads to apostasy amnesia leads to apostasy as you notice that when God confronts them notice what he says in chapter 2 on the God that brought you out of the land of Egypt. Why does he start there, but it didn't.

Did they not know that it is you need to distinguish know of course they knew that it just that they were no longer thinking about them.

Those things again in chapter 2 verse 10 there was another generation after them who did not know the Lord or remember the mighty things that he had done for Israel. What inning. This generation never heard of the Passover and never heard about the Red Sea, the never heard about the walls of Jericho. Of course they had. They knew their stories. Listen to the word no in Hebrew the word that you spare the word… Has sexual connotations to Adam knew his wife Eve, which means he had sex with his wife to say that they knew they did not know the Lord means they may have known about him here, but they never learn to trust him and cherish him and so there arose a generation that was not intimately familiar with these things and these things were no longer precious to them. That's why God starts my reasoning with them. This is how much of out of Egypt if I'm not lost on Jericho, don't you think I can handle the Canaanites if I split the Red Sea and the feel of the most powerful army in the world. Don't you think I can conquer these little bands of people everywhere but me ask you a question I want you to really think about it. Why would you trust God with your eternal salvation and did not trust them with your day-to-day life. Why would you believe, you say. I believe he paid for my sin but I don't believe that he can take care of the needs that I have in the future God that you can trust with your eternity is certainly a God that you can trust with your budget, a God that you believe suffer the penalty of sin in your place is a God that you can believe will provide for you emotionally provide for you and your marriage will provide for you and your parenting. He if he did not withhold the greater.

Surely he will not withhold the lesser. You gotta think about that and parents are going to see things your children. Parents want you to consider this in one generation, one. You go from a group of people who saw God, not the walls down to a generation that doesn't even know got all one generation. That's how fast it is.

Parents if I could be the voice of your children for a minute if your children could suddenly get a perspective on life and speak with an adult voice, they would probably say something you like this mom and dad. You were the only one that can teach me the no things to think that they are precious.

I can learn about church but you're the one is, show me what they look like they gotta show me what it means to trust you. I get to see him reflected in your priorities. I got to see them reflected in how you pray I get to hear it in your passion if you when I look at how you structure my life, I've got to be able to tell that God is a priority and he's most important. I've often said this to her parents and I don't say this is not in the face of this want you to be sober about this, that, based on how you set your kids extracurricular activities. Many of your kids can rightfully conclude that where they go to college is more important than where they spend eternity because you may say one thing with your mouth, but your life sets up a priority structure that instructs them no money and romance and success and only know about God in the in the mental sense God said these things, Israel in chapter 2, people begin to weep. They look with regret and what they had done but evidently that and repent. Why, because nothing changed. You see, I know that there are people who even when I listen to me and there's a sense of regret weaving is good and repentance is better. Repentance means that you change. Repentance means that you begin to look into the unconquered territories of your heart and you send out gospel warriors to preach the gospel over your worries over your fears over your ambitions over your goals. You say God search me and know me, show me what areas I've never learn to trust you in where my worry, God cannot trust you there. Where do I have idols but will I submit to you. There, that's what it means to repent as a family. Your repentance may look like we need to rearrange our priorities. We need to rethink our budget. We need to make the people of God, the center of our community. It's like often say the church needs to be not an event you attend in the weekend and needs to be a community that you belong to that year that reflects that your priorities in the value gift to God. I don't know where it is, but I have a sense of the Holy Spirit is saying the same thing to many of us that he said to the children of Israel and you have a chance to make a choice. They didn't make. They refuse to make and that is actually follow God and see this victory. This abundant life that he wants to bring it to you but it starts with a decision of faith. It starts with repentance to bow your heads.

If you would nondescript turn this over to the real preacher of the summa church that is the Holy Spirit is one him to give you a minute to call out things in your heart, but it might now bring out two or three things in your heart that he's wants to identify their their this is an area you don't trust me or is that I will say this there are many of you in here that have never begun this relationship with Jesus and begin with you promising to be better against with you. Understanding that God is a Savior who did your salvation all by himself in the office and he was a gift. If you receive an you can't save yourself Jesus did. He says if you will receive me to as many as received me.

I'll give you the power to become the sons of God is repentance and faith, repentance means you surrender control to him, and you receive him personally, as your Savior never done that you do it right.

In this moment. It's not enough to hear God's word is true believers hears the word and takes action you're listening to Janie Greer and Summit life. We are looking at the book of Judges and some pretty strange stories.

Right, Janie.

You know my this on my favorite series unified was going said some of the most scandalous and outright weird stories in the entire Bible. But through this scandalous history were seen what God could do with the most broken of heroes in our prayers that to the series, you will see that behind every broken hero is a God who remains faithful even when were faithless. The real hero in the book of Judges is not Sampson's not getting in the real hero is going to be the Messiah Jesus is pointing to. So we created a new resource for this mom that also cover some will say it's strange, but brutally honest topics like the ones we find in the book of Judges having to find a lot of things in this volume of questions that you murder questions you considered. So what make sure that you get that same question answers volume 2) to support ministry, volume 1, and a couple of years ago.

Think training forgive online Janie Greer.com I'm out even if it's joining again tomorrow and Thursday title Savior next Tuesday on