This Is Only A Test

Text:

Judges 2:1-4:

1 And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you.

2 And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

3 Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.

4 And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

 

Theme:

This Is Only A Test

 

Introduction:

• The Book of Judges is the second of the Books of History of the Bible.
  • The Book of Judges gives record to the rule and government of Israel by those who were called “judges”
    • Judges 2:18, “And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.”
    • The children of Israel were in dire need of a central government
      • They would not stay with God
      • They would not stick together as Hebraic tribes
        • The “twelve tribes” of Israel:
          • Originally à Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher
          • There was a bit of a change:
            • Isaac took Ephraim and Manasseh, Joseph’s son’s as his own
            • The tribe of Levi was taken by God as the priestly tribe…God would provide for them
          • The allotment of the land of Canaan went as follows:
            • Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim (aka “half tribe), Manasseh (aka “half tribe), Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher
    • The judges were God’s way of intervening on behalf of a stiff-necked people à it was a vicious circleJ
      • The children would not be faithful to God
        • Judges 3:6-7, “And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods.  And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.”
      • God, in anger, would raise another against Israel
        • Judges 3:8, “Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.”
      • Then God would hear their cry and deliver them!
        • Judges 3:9, “And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them”
    • The 13 Judges were:
      • Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah (the only female judge), Barak, Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair, Jepthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdan, Samson
• The Book of Judges (as well as that of Joshua in the allotment of the land of Canaan to the tribes of Israel) is a excellent example of Wrong is Still Wrong
  • A child is raised to know that although forgiveness erases the wrongdoing, it does not erase the consequences of that wrongdoing.

Body:

• Sometimes God allows His children to be “tested”
  • God chooses to spurn our growth through experience à THIS IS ONLY A TEST!
    • “This is a test of the emergency broadcast system. This is only a test.  If this had been an actual emergency, you would have been informed…”
      • God does the same.
        • It is a test to prepare us for an “actual emergency”
        • It is a test to confirm that the necessary preparation has been done to be able to handle an “actual emergency”
    • God tested the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Bible
      • God tested Job by allowing Satan to touch his body but not his soul
        • Job 2:6, “And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.”
        • Job 23:10, “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
      • God tested Abraham when He told him to take his son and offer him as a sacrifice
        • Genesis 22:2, “And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”
    • God tests all of His children
      • Jeremiah 9:7, “Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?”
      • 1 Peter 1:6-7, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”
    • THIS IS ONLY A TEST!
      • We have to be tested!
        • Tried to have our purity confirmed!
        • 2 Peter 1:10, “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:”
• The Word of God gives an example of God’s children being tried! à the allotment of the land of Canaan to the children of Israel
  • God had established the children of Israel (the children of Jacob/Israel), the Jewish people (the children of Judah), the Hebraic people (the children of Abraham, the one who “crossed over”), and made a covenant to be their God and them to be His people
    • Genesis 17:8, “And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”
  • Although God had given them the victory, although God had given them the land, although God was sovereign as their God and they were His people…God did not clear ALL of the promised land of its Gentile inhabitants:
    • The Canaanites could not be driven out of the land of the Tribe of Benjamin, the land of the Tribe of Manasseh, the land of Israel as a whole, the Tribe of Ephraim, the Tribe of Asher, the Tribe of Zebulun, and the Tribe of Naphtali.
    • God could have cleared them out, but He didn’t!
    • As in the parable that Jesus told, the wheat and the tares are brought up together
      • Matthew 13:25, “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.”
      • Matthew 13:29, “But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.”
• Our text provides our the explanation of WHY we are tried
  • Even in our obedience we still want to know WHY!
  • There is one word to answer the question why for the children of Israel AND for us è Disobedience à SIN
    • Judges 2:2 tells us, “…but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?”
    • Isaiah 59:1-2 supports this answer, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”
  • We can then understand why disobedience would cause such a problem
    • Jesus said plainly in John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
    • If we obey God, we show our love towards Him. If we DO NOT obey God, we are showing hatred towards Him.  è Of course, our disobedience/sin would make God angry with us!!!!
      • When we make a loved one upset, they need for us to SHOW our love towards them to prove it!
      • This is where the TEST comes fromJ
      • Since Romans 3:23 says that “All have sinned…”, we all need TESTS to prove our love to our “first love”
        • John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Conclusion:

• But we shall all benefit from the struggles of this life:
  • As with the “wheat and the tares”, in Matthew 13:30 it says, “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”
  • Paul assures of this comfort in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
  • It is consummated in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 4:8-1, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”
    • THIS IS ONLY A TEST!!!
      • When folks try to pull you down
    • THIS IS ONLY A TEST!!!
      • When two steps forward end up as three steps backward
    • THIS IS ONLY A TEST!!!
      • When you feel like no one cares when you KNOW that God is there
    • THIS IS ONLY A TEST!!!
      • When you can make everyone else happy and your pillow is still wet with tears
    • THIS IS ONLY A TEST!!!
      • When all that you have is not enough
    • THIS IS ONLY A TEST!!!
      • When the bills are due and you don’t know what to do
    • THIS IS ONLY A TEST!!!
      • 2 Corinthians 5:1, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

 

• HE WILL bring you out!!!!!!

In times like these you need a Savior,

In times like these you need an anchor;

Be very sure, be very sure

Your anchor holds and grips the solid rock

This rock is Jesus, yes, He’s the one;

This rock is Jesus, the only one. 

Be very sure, be very sure

Your anchor holds and grips the solid rock.

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