2/19/12 he raised up for them a deliverer, othniel

2/19/12 “He Raised Up For Them a Deliverer, Othniel” Judges 3:1-11 Lesson 4 Key verse 3: 9 Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF 2/19/12 “But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.” Today we are going to learn about the first of the Judges. Othniel. I did not know very much about this man, but through this passage I have grow to admire him very much. He was a great man and a great leader. But most impressive is the God who called and established this man as a deliverer for his people. Thus far in our studies, we have learned that God decided to leave the Canaanites in the land (i) to train the new generation of Israelites to fight and (ii) to test them to see if they would obey the Lord's commands. But the Israelites “melted” among the Canaanites. They forgot the Lord and served Baal. They intermarried with the Canaanites. God removed his protecting hand and they were overrun by their enemies. When, after eight years of suffering, they cried out to the Lord, God raised up Othniel, to deliver them. The land had peace for forty years, until Othniel died. Through a study of this passage we will learn to be fully devoted to the Lord. We will learn what it means to pass the tests of God and grow through them. We will learn of God who hears our cries and raises up a deliverer for us, the greatest of which is Jesus Christ our Lord. I pray the God may raise up faithful spiritual leaders for the people like Othniel in the land. Part l: God Tests His People (1-4) The beginning of this passage begins with the Lord’s testing of his people. Look at verses 1-4. They read, “These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan 2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): 3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath. 4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.” We have learned from chapter one, that these enemy nations were still in the land because the ancient Israelites failed to obey God and drive them out. It was their job to complete the conquest, but there were many obstacles yet to overcome in their new homeland. Instead of removing these obstacles, God would allow the enemies to remain in order to test his people. A period of rest followed Joshua’s conquests during which the new generation of Israelites did not experience war. They had not witnessed the many miracles of the recent past. They were not thrust into situations that would push them beyond their human limitations. If they were to keep their hold on Canaan they would have to understand war and the victory that comes when they put all of their faith and hope and trust in God. They would need to be proven, as to whether or not they would follow the Lord or their neighbor’s idols. How they handled these “obstacles” would be a test of their faith. Testing does not mean that God wanted to find something out about them. No. It means that God was giving them an opportunity to demonstrate and experience faith and obedience. Jesus himself tested his disciples when he asked them to feed the five thousand in John 6. Verses 5-6 read. “When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.’” (Jn 6:5-6, NIV ’84) Jesus already knew what he was going to do. And so this test was not for Jesus to discover something new that he didn’t already know. It was for his disciples. He wanted to thrust them into a situation where they would have to pray and come to God and trust God. That situation is to step up and take spiritual responsibility to feed 5,000 men plus women and children. In such a situation, the disciples would discover the power of God through faith and prayer. Every believer is in one way or the other, tested. Every generation of believers must be proven. Will they lean on the arm of flesh, or will they look to Christ and the cross and depend on God? God does this so that we may know ourselves, God and the power of faith and prayer. What situation is God allowing you to remain in so that you may experience testing? Perhaps God had left obstacles in your life- difficult people, unsolvable problems, difficult situations, and persistent sin problems – to allow you to experience the power of faith and obedience. For students, situations born out of their experience in school is a prime testing ground. There are tests, relationships, crosses to bear as we live as servants of God while in school. I thank God for my university years. When I met Jesus I was already finished studying three years in Chemical Technology. I did not know the Lord and as a result could not submit to the Lord’s testing. But after meeting Jesus I went back to school. I started studying Soviet and Eastern European Studies. I studied the Russian language. Then I switched to study two semesters in Chemistry. After that was five years of studying to get my degree in nursing. All these years, after meeting Jesus I also tried to live as a servant of God’s word. I tried to seek God’s kingdom as of first importance. (Matt 6:33) When I had this mission in my life, I was subject to so many opportunities to be tested by God. There were times of great difficulty. But when I submitted to God’s testing, I discovered so many things about faith, Jesus, myself and my limitations and about the Kingdom of God. It was a wonderful experience that made me the man I am today. The testings provided me with the “faith tools” that I apply throughout my adult years. The Christian forfeits many opportunities to learn faith when they stay within the comfort zone of Christian living, when they ignore and avoid the “testings” of the Lord. They may learn that they can overcome some things using their own strength. But this breeds pride. They never experience, the Lord who brings them through the impossible. Let’s decide, in this year to submit to the Lord’s test. Part ll: Come Out And Be Separate (5-8) When the Israelites were left among the Canaanite nations, instead of passing the Lord’s test, they compromised their faith and their identity as a people of God. Look at verses 5-6, “The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 6 They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.” Their relationships with the surrounding nations affected their faith. The men and women of the surrounding nations were attractive. They intermarried with them and accepted their pagan gods. This was clearly prohibited by God for Exodus 34:15-17 reads, “Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. 16 And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same. 17 “Do not make any idols.” Deuteronomy 7:1-4 says a similar thing. The New Testament carries on with the same principle. (1 Cor ) They probably never saw a problem. The people seemed successful. They were religious. They worked hard. What was the problem? Many of the Israelites never saw a problem. But the God of the Israelites, our God, saw a severe problem. The problem with their compromises can be found in verse 7, “The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.” Archeologists have uncovered many Baal idols in Israel. Baal was the most worshipped god of the Canaanites. They were often cast in the form of a bull, or a man. He symbolized strength and fertility and was considered the god of agriculture. Asherah was Baal’s girlfriend, mother goddess of the sea who was worshipped by means of wooden pillars that represented sacred trees. In times of famine, the Canaanites believed Baal was angry with them and was withholding rain as punishment. You can image the types of sacrifices and worship that went on to court Baal’s favor. By accepting these gods into their homes, the Israelites gradually accepted the immoral practices associated with them. It also led to a broken relationship with God and to slavery. Look at verse 8,9, “The anger of the LORD burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years.” God removed his protecting hand and they were overrun and enslaved by the Arameans for eight long years. Idolatry always leads to slavery in some way. For the Israelites, it was to a worldly power. For us it is to Satan himself and to our own sinful nature. It is difficult to image the people of Israel trading worship of the Lord for worship of idols made of wood, stone and iron. How could they possibly do this after their many personal encounters with the Lord? But so often we do the same. As followers of Jesus we have experienced the love of God and the power of God again and again. We have tasted the goodness of knowing the Lord. But yet in this world we get enticed by the idols of our culture. We forsake worshipping God for other competing things and priorities. Our idols are not made of wood or stone, but they are still harmful to our souls and our relationship with God. Friendship with the world does not make the Christian more godly, but rather the Christian becomes more worldly. Most Israelites did not start out determined to be idolaters. They just “innocently” married into the Canaanite culture and then added the worship of idols to their worship of God. But before long they found themselves absorbed in pagan worship. A similar danger faces us. If we don’t hold onto Jesus’ words and have a clear identity as a servant of God, then a slow fade can occur. Think about the lyrics of the Casting Crowns song, Slow Fade. Some verses read, … “The journey from your mind to your hands is shorter than you're thinking. Be careful if you think you stand you just might be sinking. It's a slow fade when you give yourself away. It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray. Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid when you give yourself away. People never crumble in a day. Daddies never crumble in a day. Families never crumble in a day.” – Slow Fade by Casting Crowns. We must remember any worship of God that’s not anchored in the cross of Jesus is unscriptural, and idolatry. It will lead to a broken relationship with God and slavery to sin and the devil. Let’s be in the world but not of it. Let’s be God’s holy people revealing Jesus to the world. But if we do find ourselves slaved it is always good to know that God has raised up a deliverer for us. His name is Jesus. Let’s learn about the God who raised a human deliverer. Part lll: Othniel And The Source Of His Power (10-11) God worked through his peoples’ suffering and their slavery. Look at verse 9, “But when they cried out to the LORD, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them.” After eight years of suffering, the Israelites cried out to the Lord. Any time they cried out, the Lord always heard their cry and answered their cries with deliverance. This is a life giving truth. No matter what the problem, situation or condition of heart, if you will sincerely cry out to the Lord, he will hear and answer, irrespective to what you may have done in the past that is wrong. I experienced this just before I came to Jesus. I was spiritually lost. I felt so lonely and meaningless. One day I cried in my pillow “Oh God!” God heard this crying out prayer and he sent Christians to teach me the word and pray for me. I discovered that Jesus is the one who completely delivers me. I repented of my sins and accepted Jesus as my Savior. When I did, I was set free from my slavery. God has heard my crying out prayers on one occasion after another over the last 27 years of being in Christ. He will do the same for you. God answered the Israelites cries by sending Othniel as the first Judge. Let’s learn more about Othniel. He lived about 1460 B.C. His name means “Lion of God”. And was the son of Kenaz, the younger brother of Caleb. (Joshua 15:17; Judges 1:13; 3:9; 1 Chronicles 4:13) The great Caleb was Othniel’s uncle. The first mention of Othniel is on the conquering or the city of Debir. Caleb promised to give his daughter Achsah to whosoever should assault and take the city. Othniel took up the challenge, volunteering to lead and attack against a fortified city and won the prize. And now we see him as the one God raised up as the deliverer of his countrymen from the oppression of a Canaanite nation. He brought the people back to God and freed them from the oppression of the king of Aram, Naharaim. In every generation God raises up national shepherds to lead and inspire the people. God raises up shepherds in our own lives to lead and inspire us. Maybe God is raising you up to lead and inspire others. What was the source of Othniel’s power and influence? I will say that there are three reasons. First, he had good mentors. Second, he has a spiritual wife who was supportive of his life of faith. And third, the spirit of the Lord came upon him. First, he has a good mentor. As we studied his uncle was the great Caleb. Caleb was one of the spied out the Promised Land and encouraged his people with a good report. He was a man of faith and courage. I am sure that Caleb’s faith influenced the faith of his nephew, Othniel. Second, he had a supportive wife. He did not marry any woman from the surrounding nations. He married a woman of faith who worshipped the God of the Israelites. His wife, Aksah, was given to him as a prize for leading the charge against, and defeating a fortified city. She was Caleb’s daughter. She was given some land. If the field was to be given to her family, then she felt she also had the right to ask for the springs of water to make the field fertile, which she did and which she received. She had great faith. She asked and received God’s blessing and favor. She had a spirit of conquest in her heart. (1:12-15) They were a perfect match for each other and supported the work of God in each other’s life. There is lot of strength to be generated in a family where both the husband and the wife are on the “same page” when it comes to serving the Lord. Third, the most important reason that Othniel could rise to the occasion, is that the Spirit of God came upon him. Look at verses 10-11 read, “The Spirit of the LORD came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge and went to war. The LORD gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.” The phrase, “The Spirit of the LORD came on him, …” expressed a temporary and spontaneous increase of physical, spiritual and mental strength. This was an extraordinary and supernatural occurrence to prepare a person for a special task and so it is a little different than having the Holy Spirit today. (However similar occurrences can happen.) Even in this age we need the Holy Spirit of God to come upon us. There are all kinds of things that are greater than we are. But, do you know, there is nothing greater than the Sprit of the God? He is God in us. John 14:17-20 reads, “the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” When you feel overwhelmed by all that is in your path, depend on the Holy Spirit, who is already with you. The Holy Spirit can make you as courageous as Othniel and strengthen you to accomplish the task to which you have been called. Jennifer is facing a daunting challenge, going to college. Depend on the Holy Spirit who is with you. Augi and Sarah are facing the challenge of leading FCA next year. Pray to depend on the Holy Spirit who is with you. James is facing a tough internship and master’s degree studies in Accounting. Jason is facing online MBA studies. Both must depend on the Holy Spirit who is with them. Human leaders have a great influence over the people they lead. Look at verse 11, “So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.” He was a good leader. He administered justice and promoted the worship of the Lord. We need to pray that the right leaders may be raised up in our nation, community and in our churches. Then relative peace may come. But there are limitations to human leadership. After all human leaders are only …human. Right? After Othniel’s death, it did not take the Israelites long to fall back into their neighbor’s comfortable but sinful ways. They would once again become oppressed. How can we overcome this trend? We must make Jesus our deliverer and, at the same time enjoy the leadership of those whom he raises up. Jesus is the best deliverer. He can bring peace amongst us. Isaiah 9:6-7 reads, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” Under Jesus’ leadership the peace of God never ends. For he is alive forever more and leading his people. He is the Prince of peace. He is the eternal “Deliverer” raised up by God for our deliverance. In conclusion, we learn to be fully devoted to the Lord. We learn what it means to pass the tests of God and grow through them by personally experiencing God by applying our faith and obedience in all of life’s challenges. Let’s depend on the Spirit of God, who is with you, to strengthen and lead you. May our young people learn to cry out to God and submit themselves to Jesus our eternal Deliverer. And may God raise up Othniel’s throughout our land. (You may be one of them.) Part l: God Tests His People (1-4) 1. What does it mean that Lord tested the Israelites? (1) Why did they need testing? (1b,2) What was God looking for? (4) Part ll: Come Out And Be Separate (5-8) 2. What was there relationship with the surrounding nations? (5) How far did they adopt the ways of the Canaanites? (6) How did God feel about that? (Ex 34:15-17; Deut 7:1-4). How could the Israelites become like this? How could it happen to us? 3. How did their compromises affect their relationship with God? (7-8) What was the result? (8) Think about the nature of slavery? Part lll: Othniel And The Source Of His Power (9-11) 4. Who was Othniel? (Numbers 13:30; 14:23; Judges 1:13) What was his character like? Who was his wife? What were her character like? Think about their house church. 5. What was the source of Othniel’s power? (10) What does this mean? How doe believers receive the Holy Spirit today? What is the purpose of the Holy Spirit? (John 14:17-20) How does this give us hope? 6. What good did God produce through Othniel’s life? (11) Think about what influence your life can make during your time on earth?

2/12/12 the lord raised up judges for his people

2/12/12 The Lord Raised Up Judges For The People Judges 2:6-23 Lesson 3 Key Verse 2:16 Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF 2-12-12 “Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders.” As long as Joshua and his generation lived, the people served the Lord. But then Joshua died. They suddenly had no national shepherd who could lead them in faith and in the word of God. The seed of the Canaanite culture and religion was planted in the life of the people. A whole generation grew up who did not know the Lord or what he had done. As a nation, they suffered. Idolatry and moral corruption grew and a pattern of punishment and oppression became a fact of life. Eventually they cried out to the Lord. When they did, God raised up a judge to deliver them. For a time, they had peace, but this lasted only for the lifetime of the judge. Then, the people again begin worshiping Canaanite gods and following their evil practices. All this happened because ancient Israel violated their covenant with God and did not listen. God left the Canaanites in the land to test and train his people and this worked to bring his people back to their senses. Through this passage, may we decide to give our whole hearts to the Lord and may God grant us “steady” and unwavering faith. May we recognize God’s helping us and also recognize the servants of God he has placed in our lives. Most of all, may our Gospel faith be passed onto the next generation of young people. Part l: Failure To Pass The Faith On To The Next Generation (2:6-10) Ancient Israel’s great leader, Joshua died. Look at verses 2:6-9, “After Joshua had dismissed the Israelites, they went to take possession of the land, each to their own inheritance. 7 The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel. 8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.” This is a summary of Joshua’s death. (Refer to the end of the book of Joshua for more details (24:29)) Joshua was a great leader, in every way, spiritually, administratively and militarily. He led his people in faith and guided them with great courage and the word of God. Through Joshua, God led his people into many victories and into the Promised Land. But there is one thing that Joshua could not do. He could not help the next generation follow God. Look at verse 10, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.” One generation died, and the next did not follow God. Each generation failed to teach the next generation to love and follow God. This is a serious matter. Passing on the faith to the next generation is of utmost importance to every community of faith. It was part of God’s law. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 reads, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Joshua tried his best. He even set the example in his own family. Joshua 24:14 reads, “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Passing on the faith the next generation is never easy. In our family, we try to do it by setting the example. We have 1:1 Bible study with our kids. We have family daily devotions and involve the kids in all aspects of ministry. But whether or not the faith is being passed onto the next generation is God’s doing. I can not move my kids’ knowledge of Jesus from their heads to their hearts. I can not make them decide to share in this mission with Julie and myself on the campus mission field. This is beyond me. All I can do is make an environment, pray and depend on God. I also can not reveal to them the grace of God deeply on my own. Look at verse 7, “7 The people served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the LORD had done for Israel.” These leaders saw all the great things that the Lord has done personally, with their own eyes. Julie and I have experienced the grace of Jesus personally. But have my kids? Yes they have, but do they recognize it? Can I make them experience the grace of God? That is beyond me. I pray for God to reveal his grace to them and they may be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. At this month’s UBF staff conference we are reading and discussing the book, “We’re In This Boat Together.” Written by Camille F. Bishop, it is a book concerning leadership succession between the generations. I pray that God may grant us all wisdom in passing on the faith to the next generation. Part ll: They Forsook The Lord (2:11-15) Despite the best efforts of Joshua and the elders of his generation, the ancient Israelites forsook the Lord. Verses 11-13 read, “Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the LORD’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.” “Forsook” means to give up something that was formerly held dear. God was so full of grace to his people by entering into covenant relationship with them. He was with them through their wanderings in the desert. But they turned their backs on him. The new generation of Israelites abandoned the faith of their parents and began to worship the gods of their neighbors. One of the popular idols was Baal. Baal was the god of the storm and rains who was thought to control vegetation and agriculture. Ashtoreth was the mother goddess of love and war and fertility. She was also called Astarte or Ishtar. Temple prostitution and child sacrifice were a part of these Canaanite idols. They forsook the Lord for these idols. They not only turned their hearts to the idols, but they served other idols. God consistently sets himself up against idol worship. Why were idols so bad in God’s sight? To worship an idol violated the first of the two of the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 20:3-6) which read, “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 ‘You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” The Canaanite idols represented sensual, carnal aspects of human nature. To them, the Lord was just another god to add to their collection of gods. Ancient Israel, by contrast, was to worship only the Lord. One could not possibly believe that God was the one true God and at the same time bow down to an idol. God’s nature is spiritual and moral. Adding the worship of idols to the worship of God could not be tolerated by God or any of his followers. But the reasons go much deeper than that. It has to do with our relationship with the Lord. God really wants the best for his people. But the best comes when we give our whole hearts to God. We only have one heart to give. If we had two or more hearts, like earthworms, then maybe we could justify giving one heart to God and the others to an idol. But we have one heart to give and we must place it in the right place. God is really upset with idol worship because it creates a rift… a wall between him and the people whom he loves. He knows how much his people suffer when they do not have the right relationship with him and so he loves us with a jealous love. That is why verses 12b-13 reads, “…They aroused the LORD’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.” We don’t have these idols today, in our popular culture, but there are many things that can tempt us to forsake the Lord and abandon things that we know are right. For example, the desire to be accepted by our others and enjoy the things of this world can lead us to behavior that is unacceptable to God, breaking our relationship with him and sap us of the full life and eternal life that Jesus gives. Part lll: The Lord Continued To Help His People (16-19) God could have abandoned his people and left them to their own devices, but he did not. Look at verse 16 and 18, “ Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders…18Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the LORD relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them.” God remained faithful to his people and helped them by raising up servants of God called judges who proved to be very effective servants to God. Hebrews 11: 30-32 talks about the exploits of four of these judges, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, “…I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.” God showed great mercy by raising up these judge to save his people from their oppressors. God shows us the same mercy in our generation. Our oppressors are not other people. The Bible teaches us that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (Eph 6:12) Our oppressors are threefold, sin, self and the devil. But God has shown us his mercy by providing an escape from sin’s penalty through Jesus Christ, who alone saves us from the oppression of our sins. He is our Savior. He is our mighty King who fights for us and along side of us. When we take a step of faith and trust in Christ’s saving work on our behalf, we can experie But there is a fact that can not be ignored, God does raise up people who can inspire and encourage the people of their generation with the faith and the word of God. The peoples’ walk with the Lord is linked to the spiritual maturity of their leaders. That is why a pastor’s life influences the life of the congregation. Nationally, in many ways, Billy Graham was such a spiritual man in the last half of the 20th century. I am not sure whom God is raising up for this generation of believers. It is not very clear. Could he be Rick Warren? What do you think? I am sure that God is working in someone’s heart to stand up as a “modern day judge” who can give the gospel to a lost generation of young people. Maybe you are that next person. Pray about it. But despite of God’s abundant grace, the people turned from God. Look at verses 17 and 19, “Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. They quickly turned from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the LORD’s commands…19 But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.” With these judges, God gave gracious revivals, but after each revival, the nation fell into greater sin and bondage. Actually, throughout this period of history, ancient Israel went through seven cycles of (1) rebelling against God (2) being overrun by enemy nations (3) being delivered under the leadership of a judge (4) remaining loyal to God under the leadership of the judge and (5) again forgetting God once that judge died. How foolish they were to let go of the wonderful grace of God! How foolish they were to not enter into a stable, committed relationship with God that went beyond the presence of the judge! nce God’s deliverance and his mercy. What can explain this constant oscillation of their faith? The Canaanite religion appeared more attractive to the sensual nature and offered more short range benefits to the people. Attractive features of these religions dragged the people away for they could remain selfish and yet fulfill the requirements of some sort of religious life. They could do almost anything they wished and still be obeying at least one of the Canaanite gods. But faith in the God of the Bible, however, does not offer short term benefits that appeal to our sinful nature. The essence of God’s way of life is selflessness. Jesus tells his people to deny themselves and pick up their crosses and follow him daily. The constant tugging at their hearts proved to be too much for the nation to bear. We tend to follow the same cycle in our walk with the Lord. We remain loyal to Jesus as long as we are near those who are devoted to him, as long as there is an inspiring leader. But when we are on our own, the pressure from the world, to be drawn away from God and worship and serve its idols increases. The integrity of our spiritual life rises and wanes in successive cycles. Basically, we are incorrigible sinners. But God is merciful and with each cycle God is right there to bring us back to himself. If we are faithless, he is faithful for he can not disown himself. (2 Timothy 2:13) We must recognize our tendency and seek Christ’s help to live God’s way, especially in times when we are separated from other believers. That is why going to university is such and tough time for many young people. They say that 50% of Christian young people, who go to university, graduate from university as non-believers. Pray for our youth! Part lV: The Lord Did Not Give Up (20-23) God still did not give up on his people. But he would employ some tough love. Verses 20-23 read, “Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and said, ‘Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, 21 I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. 22 I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their ancestors did.” 23 The LORD had allowed those nations to remain; he did not drive them out at once by giving them into the hands of Joshua.” God no longer drove out their enemies. He used the Canaanites aggression to test ancient Israel and help to come back to him and walk in the ancient faith of their ancestors. This is God’s tough love and his fatherly love on his people. Jesus works in much the same way in our own lives. When we forsake the Lord and decide to walk in the ways of the world, we incur a lot of unnecessary suffering all by ourselves. These sufferings are not from God, but are a result of turning our backs on him and walking in the darkness. When we persistently do this God takes the hedge of protection from us and patiently waits for us to turn our hearts to him. (Romans 1:24) There are other times when God uses the hardships that we incur as training opportunities. They may be interpreted as God’s divine discipline. God is treating us as sons and daughters, so that we may share in God’s holiness. (Heb 12:7-11) Never doubt the love of God. Always respond with repentance and faith and draw near to God and he will raise you up. In today’s lesson we learn that we must find a way to pass on the faith to the next generation of our young people. But in order to do this we must protect our hearts for the lure of this nation’s idols. We have only one heart to give. We must give it to the Lord…all of it…and never to any idol. We must open our eyes and recognize God’s grace in helping us, through his word, through his Spirit and also through other servants of God. God never gives up on us, but his helping at times my be his tough love. Accept it and grow through it. Experience God’s love and grace in your life. Pray that God may raise up a “judge”…an inspiring servant of the Lord, who can inspire and lead this generation of young people. 1. What did the Israelites do? (11-13) What did Joshua do and what did he fail to do? Why was their rejection of God unreasonable? (12) 2. What is significant of referring to the Lord, as, “the God of our ancestors”? (12) What Why is it important to embrace an ancient/future faith? Why is it important to pass the faith onto the next generation? (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) How is it possible? 3. What does the Bible have to day about idol worship? (Ex 20:3-6) Think about why idol worship is a tragedy to our spiritual lives? 4. How did God continue to show his mercy on his people? (16) Who are the judges and what was their role in Israel? (Hebrews 11: 30-32) What does this teach us about God’s mercy? 5. What happened when the appointed judge died? (19) What does this tell us about the peoples’ personal relationship with God? (17) What does this teach us about having a personal relationship with Jesus? (19) 6. What was the Lord’s reaction? What was his decision? How did his people respond? Did it work? How is God working in your life? (Heb 12:7-11)

2/5/12 come before the lord

2/5/12 Come Before The Lord Judges 1:27- 2:5 (See also 1:4-7; 19-21; 34) Lesson 2 Key verses 2:4; Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF 2/5/12 “When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, 5 and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.” When the various tribes occupied their inheritances they tried hard to drive out the people, but were unable to do so completely. The original inhabitants were determined to live in the land. They were very tenacious and fought back and would not leave. The best the Israelites could do was subject them to forced labor. This fell short of what God wanted them to do. They tried, but in the end their lives were filled with trouble. But, by the grace of God, they were delivered time and time again by God. In this passage we will learn the importance of obeying the Lord wholeheartedly. We will also learn that we must not compromising with, and try to manage the sin in our hearts, but we must get rid of it totally through repentance and faith in Jesus. We will also learn of God’s graceful covenant and how he helps us to keep our relationship with him despite of our unfaithfulness. Let’s see. Part l: They Disobeyed The Lord The Israelites failed to closely obey God as they took the land. We see this in their dealing with the captured Canaanite king, Adonu-Bezek. Listen to how they dealt with him in verses 1:4-7. It reads, “When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek. 5 It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites. 6 Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. 7 Then Adoni-Bezek said, ‘Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them.’ They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.” It sounds like they gave the king what he deserved. After all he did the same thing to seventy other kings. But their treatment of this king was not what God wanted. They were to devote all things, even the kings of the conquered cities over to the Lord. (Deut 7:1-2; Joshua 6:20-21; 8:1-20; 9:24) This meant that Adoni-Bezek should have been killed. It seems very harsh to us today in the New Testament era. We would never do such a thing today, nor should anyone. But God had his purpose back then, and the Israelites disobeyed God in not putting Adoni-Bezek to the sword. They also failed to drive the people out of the land. Look at verses 19-36. Especially look at verses 19-21, which reads, “The Lord was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron. As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak, the Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.” There were many victories here in these verses but also many failures. Their failure to drive the inhabitants out doesn’t mean that the Israelites did not have the power to drive out them out, but rather they simply did apply their efforts and engage their faith as God want them to do for God had promised to be with them. Was it their fault? They had many good excuses. It all seemed reasonable. After all, the inhabitants were very strong and tenacious. They had the latest war technology, like giant walled cities and iron chariots. Who could blame the Israelites for not being able to completely conquer the land? We may tend to sympathize with them. But we see that God called them on it. God promised to be with them in Deuteronomy 7:17-24 in accomplishing the task. These verses read, “You may say to yourselves, ‘These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?’ 18 But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. 19 You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear. 20 Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished. 21 Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. 22 The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. 23 But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed. 24 He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand up against you; you will destroy them.” God promised to be with them and fight for them. He would drive the inhabitants out little by little, but they needed to pray and obey God with their whole hearts and fight the spiritual battle. Jesus promises to be with us as we serve his purpose in our lives. We think that living by faith in this world is just too hard. We think that it is impossible to pass a class, or an exam, to go into work even one more day, to share the gospel, to raise disciples, or conquer our own sinful nature even with the grace and truth of God. But Jesus says, “…surely I am with you to the very end of the age.” (Matt 28:20b) We may think we have tried our best. But did we pray? Did we get rid of fruitless things in our lives? Did we apply ourselves out of obedience to God? We are in disobedience if we neglect the things that God has brought within our grasp, like believing, repenting and taking hold of simple faith and obedience. These things are not dependent on others’ acceptance and rejection of Jesus. You can not change anyone else’s heart, but you have some influence over your own heart. This is a tough pill to swallow. We feel insulted that anyone, even God, should think I did not apply myself enough. But we can repent and accept the word of God and the grace of God. We can engage our faith and come before Jesus to be cleansed of our sin. We can stand up and take ownership of “the land” God has brought into our lives. When we “try again” we will discover that even if we do seem to fail, the act of trying again, by faith, is actually winning the victory because we have done it all through faith in Jesus Christ. The Israelites tried to make the best out of a bad situation. Look at verse 28, “When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.” They knew that it was not right for the idol worshipping nations to freely dwell among them. Since they could not drive them out, they tried their best to manage them by placing them into forced labor. But these people, whom they allowed to remain, would hinder the spiritual health of the nation. Ancient Israel did not win them over to their God, Jehovah. Rather, the people won the Israelites over to their idols. God warned them of this in Deuteronomy 7:2b-4, which reads, “…Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.” It was all happening according to God’s prediction. There are times when we allow sin to remain in our hearts. What do we do? Mostly, we try to manage and control our sin, without actual repenting of them and getting rid of them. When we do, then no matter what we do, we are spiritually harassed, robbed of the full life that Jesus wants to give to us. We need to root out all sin from within us and dedicate our hearts to the Lord by engaging faith and obedience in a life-giving struggle. This can be done by the power of God. When we repent and accept Jesus as our Savior, we are changed. We become new creations. 2 Corinthians 5:17 reads, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." (NIV 1984) Stop trying to manage your sins. Let’s come to Jesus and let him completely obliterate the sin from with us and let him make us into new creations! As we know, conquering our land never means to drive other people from our midst and communities. No! People should have a place to be among us and still not believe, a place where they can even dissent. The Bible does not teach isolation from the world, but it definitely does teach separation from the world. We Christians are “in” the world, but never “of” it. Think of our lives as being like a ship. The ship is on the water, but trouble comes when the water gets into the ship. In light of this, to clear the land means to conquer our own hearts with the Gospel and with the love of God. It means not giving into cultural pressures and letting the idols of our land take root in our hearts. It means driving out sins and evil spirits from every crook and cranny of our hearts and lives though repentance and faith. There is also and outward expression of “conquering the land.” We have the ”land” of our families, relationships, our jobs and the mission field that God has called us to, which for us, are the people of DeKalb and the students of our schools and of NIU. Conquering these lands does not mean that the vast majority of the people will believe in Jesus and grow as humble shepherds and Bible teachers of campus students. It does not mean that 10,000 Dekalbers will be meeting weekly for praise and worship. It means that the gospel is being faithfully and prayerfully preached. It means that one person’s heart is being changed and controlled by the power of God and the love of God. It means that at least one person has hope and stands up a servant of God with a heart full of faith. (And that one person could be our very own self.) With this definition of “conquering the land”, we can see that it is definitely within our grasp to conquer our land when the Lord is by our side. Part ll: God Has So Much In Store For Us…But We Must Clear The Land The Israelites disobedience hindered them from enjoying all the fruit of the Promised Land. Look at verse 34. “The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.” The plain is where the fertile soil was. The plain had the best farmland and access to the trade routes. There was prosperity in the plains. But the Danites had to dwell in the hill country. Their failure to drive out the Amorites cost them dearly. They also failed to take control of Jerusalem. Look at 1:21, which reads, “The Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.” If you look on the map, you will see that Jerusalem was the perfect location for a capital for their new nation for it was right in the middle. They could have utilized it as a very effective center of power. But they failed to drive out the Jebusites. Actually it would be 500 years later that the Israelites, under King David, would take Jerusalem and make it their capital. The fact remains that if we don’t completely dedicate our hearts to the Lord and let the light of the gospel drive out every shadow from within, we forfeit a lot to of the joy and blessings that the Lord has for us. We are forever struggling with one sin after another. Some people spend a life time of struggling with things that are totally unnecessary. Why do we do this to ourselves? Most of the time, we are our worst enemy. God has so much in store for us, but we must devote our hearts to him. Part lll: God Never Breaks His Covenant With Us (2:1-5) God calls his people to account for their sin. Look at verses 2:1-3, “The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’” What did God remind them of? He reminded them of the grace of God. Look at verse 1, ““The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you” God always begins with his grace, even if he is about the rebuke his people. It is always good to be reminded of the grace of God frequently. It is Jesus who brought us out of the land of slavery to sin, self and the devil and freed us to enter eternal life as children of God. He made us citizens of his kingdom, by his grace. We now have power to live by faith. During our time on earth we serve God’s holy purpose in our lives enjoying our life in him. This is the grace of God. Next, God reminded them of the covenant. A covenant is a two sided agreement. God promises one thing and he promises to come through if we keep our side of the covenant. At Mount Sinai, God made a sacred and binding agreement with the Israelites called a covenant (Exodus 19:5-8). God’s part of the covenant was to make Israel a special nation, to protect them and to given them a unique blessings for following him. Israel’s part was to love God and obey his laws. But because they rejected and disobeyed God, the agreement to protect them was to no longer in effect, but the promise to make Israel a nation through which the whole world would be blessed (fulfilled in the Messiah’s coming.) remained valid. God still wanted the Israelites it be a holy people, but now, instead of one-sidedly protecting them, he would use oppression to bring his people back to him, just as he warned he would (Lev 26, Deut 28). What is the covenant that God has made with us? Jeremiah 31:31 says, “’The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. 33 ‘This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’” The days that Jeremiah is talking about are the days of the new covenant in Jesus Christ. The “days” are the days when Jesus suffered and died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead giving us a living hope in the Kingdom of God. It is the days of the New Testament church which we are now living in. It is the Age of Grace, God’s grace poured out on sinners who stand at the foot of the cross in faith. The main gist of this covenant is found in verse 34b, “…For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” When we come to Jesus, confessing and repenting of our sins and accepting his sacrifice on the cross, he forgives us of our wickedness and remembers our sins no more. He gives us a clean slate and we can move forward in our lives of faith. When we are forgiven of our sins, God considers us his holy children and the Holy Spirit can come into our hearts like a flood and dwell with us. In this way the words in Jer 31:33b are fulfilled, “…“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” The Holy Spirit teaches us directly. He reminds us all that Jesus has taught us. He convicts our hearts with regards to sin, righteousness and judgment. He guides our feet on the paths of peace for his names’ sake. (This does not negate the necessity of Bible teachers however.) God promises to work in all peoples’ hearts, from the least of them to the greatest. God does not discriminate. He will dwell in any believer, from the most down and out homeless believer, to the CEO believer. Thank you Jesus. And so what is our part of this covenant? I believe it is nestled in the words of verse 34b, “…“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Our side of the covenant is to believe the gospel with faith. We must recognize our wickedness and come to God with humble contrite hearts confessing that it against God whom we have sinned. Then the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, whose sinless sacrifice satisfies God’s justice will cover our hearts. We are forgiven. We are God’s children with eternal life. The Holy Spirit dwells in us. The only thing keeping us from entering into this graceful covenant is our stubborn refusal to believe, which is born out of our pride. But even in these cases God is ceaselessly coming to our aid looking for any crack in the walls we have put up. Yes, we will fail again and again. But Jesus never fails. The Gospel never fails. By his grace, we can be held in a covenant relationship with Jesus. Praise God for that fact. Due to their own forsaking of the covenant, the people would have to deal with many snares. Look at verse 3; “And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’” God still loved his people. But the inhabitants of the land, would become snares that God would work through, to draw his people to himself, time and time again. And so there is no need to despair about anything in your life. God will work through it all to draw you to himself. It is amazing to see their response. Let’s see in 2:4-5, “When the angel of the LORD had spoken these things to all the Israelites, the people wept aloud, 5 and they called that place Bokim. There they offered sacrifices to the LORD.” The people repented of their sins. They cared about their broken relationship with God. The people of Israel knew they had sinned, and they wept aloud, responding with deep sorrow. Repentance is the true measure of spiritual sensitivity. Let us pray that God may give is a sprit of repentance for when we repent, we can renew our covenant relationship with Jesus. Then new beginnings and times of refreshing will come from the Lord. Today we learned the importance of obeying the Lord with faith and life giving struggle. We learned to not compromise with sin our hearts but come to Jesus and become new creations. We need to realize how much the Lord wants to bless us if only we will surrender the entirety of our hearts to him. Most of all lets us enter into the beautiful covenant with God, full of grace and full of forgiveness, by repenting and believing in Jesus.

Judges 1:1-26

Further Conquest Of The Promised Land.

Judges 1:1-26 Lesson 1
Key verse 1: 1 Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

“After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, ‘Who of us is to go up first and fight against Canaanites?”


Part l: Introduction To The Book of Judges

The book of Judges covers the period of history between the death of Joshua and the establishment of the monarchy. (1375 B.C. to 1055 B.C.) It spans a period of about 325 years recording six successive periods of oppression and deliverance. It is an account of a lengthy and gradual conquest of the Promised Land. Generally speaking, Judges is a book about sin and its consequences and about God who raises up his leaders to deliver his people during times of crisis.

First, Judges is a book about sin and its consequences. After the death of Joshua there was a leadership void. Under Joshua, the Israelites began strong, but soon they were sidetracked by fear, weariness, lack of discipline, and a pursuit of their own interests. As a result their faith began to wane and they were unable to completely defeat the powerful Canaanites.

The Canaanites lived in city states where each city state had its own government, army and laws. One reason that Canaan was so difficult to conquer was that each city had to be defeated individually. There was no single king who could surrender the entire country into the hands of the Israelites. They fought hard and met many political and military challenges, but facing spiritual challenges proved much more difficult for Canaan’s biggest threat to Israel was not its army, but its religion. The unholy but attractive lifestyle of the Canaanite proved more dangerous that their military might. Canaanite religion idealized evil; cruelty in war; sexual immortality; selfish greed; and materialism. The Israelites fell into idolatry and cultural pressures and compromised their faith. This happened time after time, one generation after another. Each time, God removed his hand of protection from his people, and allowed hostile neighbors to harass them. The Lord withdrew his promise to help drive the people out and bless the Israelites in battle.

What was the result of the Israelites abandonment of following God and worshipping idols? Judges 21:25 reads, "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit." After Joshua's death, there was no central government; there was no one who stood up as shepherd for the people of Israel. Each person became a law unto themselves. God could not bless them and they suffered endlessly. But there is a bright side to this story.

Second, Judges is a book about God who raises up leaders in times of crisis to deliver his people. When the people turned to God in repentance and cried out for help, he raised up a judge, a leader, who would deliver them. Then, for the rest of the judge's lifetime, the land would have peace. And so Judges is a book about these “heroes”…twelve men and women whom God worked through to deliver Israel from its oppressors. There were a variety of deliverers from Othniel to Samson. They were used to deliver God’s to freedom and bring about true worship of God. The major judges are listed among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. Listen to what verses 30-32 says about four of them, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, “…I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.” These judges were people. They were not perfect, but sinners in need of God’s salvation. They too, did what was right in their own eyes. But they were people of faith and who stood up for the Lord at the critical moment. They were submissive to God and God used them. As a result they stood out like bright stars in a night sky.

Nowadays it is hard for anyone to rise to greatness. It is easy for us to think that we are simply a cog in the wheel among other cogs. Who can be our heroes? Sports stars? Movie stars? Big business CEO’s? If we do want to rise to the occasion, what do we rise up to? The judges and their courageous lives of faith are great encouragements to us today. As we study the book of Judges, take a good look at these Biblical heroes. Learn their dependence on God and their obedience to his commands. Be amazed at God’s unlimited grace and mercy as he delivers his people again and again. Let’s see God who strengthens the weak and makes them strong and uses them to bring about wonderful deeds of salvation. Most of all let’s discover Jesus and the Gospel nestled in these exciting Bible accounts.

Part ll: Israel Fights The Remaining Canaanites (1-2)

And now let’s think about Judges chapter 1. The book of Joshua ends with the tribes taking a stand for God. They were ready to experience all the blessings of the Promised Land. The Lord had given Canaan to the Israelites, but they needed faith to go in and take it. Each tribe was responsible to take hold of their own particular region. But the problem is that their, leader, Joshua had died. Joshua was a great commander, for he had kept the people focused on God and his purposes. He faithfully obeyed the Lord and led the Israelites to one military victory after another until the people occupied the land. Joshua had been the obvious successor to Moses, but, now after his death, there was no obvious successor to Joshua. Soon, Israel began to loose its firm grip on the land.

During this crisis of leadership, Israel had to a make very important decision to turn to God. And so they did in verse 1, “After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, “Who of us is to go up first to fight against the Canaanites?” Joshua died but God did not die and the Israelites asked the Lord for direction. The peoples’ real leader is always God himself. In times of difficulty and transition, we should always ask the Lord what we should do. And when he answers, it is best to obey. Don’t get me wrong. God uses leaders. He works through leaders. But we must always ask the Lord as we acknowledge God as our commander-in-chief. He will come through with is his wisdom and clear direction every time, as we depend on him in prayer.
God called and inspired one tribe to stand up in the gap and take leadership. Let’s read verse 2. “The LORD answered, ‘Judah shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.’” Is it any mistake that Judah was asked to go first? I think not? The leadership of the tribe of Judah is alluded to in Genesis. Five hundred years previous, the man, Judah, was a great sinner. He even sold his brother Joseph into slavery. He lied to his father about Joseph’s condition. He slept with prostitutes. But when God worked through Joseph to help his brothers to repent, Judah was the first to repent. Later on, Jacob blessed his sons and their descents in Genesis 49. In regards to Judah, Genesis 49:8-12 reads, “Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. 9 You are a lion’s cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his. 11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk” The tribe of Judah would be totally blessed. His tribe would be strong and take the lead in battle against its enemies. His tribe would be first among the others. King’s and prophets came from Judah. King David was from the Judah. Jesus is the Lion of Judah. Judah was one the last of the tribes of Israel to exist. Most Jewish people today, I believe, are from the tribe of Judah. God clearly blessed Judah’s repentance and faith, by blessing his descendants. God still blesses the live and the descendants of those who embrace repentance and faith today.
The tribe of Judah accepted the challenge and took the lead. Let’s read verse 3, “The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, ‘Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.’ So the Simeonites went with them.” It is noteworthy that the men of Judah took the lead in battle. To take the lead meant sacrifice and suffering. It meant the possibility of failure and even death. But they had faith, courage and a deep sense of calling. There are times when we must hear the voice of the Lord and stand up and take leadership. It is never a time to shrink back, but a time to embrace faith and manifest courage.
Part lll; The Tribe Of Judah Is Like Christ (3)
Judah’s standing in the forefront and taking the lead is alluding to Jesus. Jesus Christ is from the house and the line of Judah. He is the Lion of Judah. So in essence, by showing that Judah is taking the lead in the conquest of the Promised Land shows us that Jesus has taken the lead and conquered the way for us to enter the Kingdom of God. If we follow our heavenly Judah, the Lion of Judah, Jesus, we will victoriously pass through this world and navigate the narrow way that leads to eternal life.
Simeon has been cursed because of the slaughter of the Schecemites. (Gen 34:1-31) Simeon and Levi did not like what Prince of Schecum did to their sister Dinah and so they put all the men of Schecem to the sword. They were men of violence. Jacob’s blessing to Simeon in Genesis was not good. Genesis 49:5-7 reads, “Simeon and Levi are brothers— their swords are weapons of violence. 6 Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased. 7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.” The curse meant that they would have no inheritance in Israel to their own. Their people would be scattered among the other tribes. This is a serious matter for any Israelite tribe for they really wanted their own identity and inheritance in the Promised Land. Not to have it constantly reminded them that they somehow being cursed.
But Judah stepped up and revealed the grace of God towards the Simeonites. Look at verse 3 again, “The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, ‘Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.’ So the Simeonites went with them.” First, Judah referred to them as brothers. Judah embraced them and gave them hope and a future in the land. They were to fight side by side in the battle as brothers. Second, Judah, who had the largest inheritance in the land, gave some of their inheritance to Simenon. It lay within their inheritance. (Gen 49:5-7; Josh 19:1) This is verified in Joshua 19:1, which reads, “The second lot came out for the tribe of Simeon, clan by clan. Their inheritance lay within the territory of Judah.”
The tribe of Judah is revealing the wonderful grace of God. Actually, we all, because of our sin, had no inheritance in the kingdom of God. We were like spiritual orphans, alone and destitute in this world. We were no part of God’s family and had no part in God spiritual blessings. We were destined to spend an eternity separated from God. Actually the whole humanity was cursed because of the fall; consequently, we all had no inheritance. But Jesus took pity on us. He saved us from our poor spiritual condition. He heard the cry of our hearts. He reached down to us and forgave us. He cleansed us of our sins and made us holy by his grace poured out on us on the cross. He made each of his us precious children. God is our Father. We are now part of his family with a rich inheritance in the Kingdom of God. And as we live in this world we fight the spiritual battle side by side with our Savior Jesus Christ.

The inheritance also reveals the origin of our salvation. Look at Joshua 19:1 again, which reads, “The second lot came out for the tribe of Simeon, clan by clan. Their inheritance lay within the territory of Judah.” Our salvation lies within Jesus. When we are in Christ we are saved and have a rich inheritance in the Kingdom of God. Nothing can take this away from us.

Part lV: The Battle Is Not Over (8-26)
Entering the Promised Land did not mean that the fighting was over. Look at verses 4-6 and 8-11. “When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek. 5 It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites. …. 8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire. 9 After that, Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills.10 They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. 11 From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).” There are more accounts of battles and victories in verses 16-26.
There is also some beautiful co-working going on in these accounts. Can we see some examples? In verse 17, The men of Judah and Simeon fought together. We can see that the individual men or each tribe, coming together to fight hard under one unit. The work of God is always done through co-working together. It is never a “one man” show.
Just because we have been saved and are part of God’s family does not mean that our struggles are over. We still have a spiritual struggle to grow and mature as Christians. We need to battle temptations and idol worship in our hearts, fighting the idols of our cultures around us, which are? I think you know what the idols of our land are. The Bible says, in our struggle against sin, we have not resisted to the point of shedding our blood. What about Paul’s exhortation to run like an athlete who wants to win the prize? This sounds harsh to some. But we need to struggle and grow and not be self confident in ourselves but rather confident in Jesus who goes along with us in the spiritual battle. If we think we are so confident we will fall.
There was one women who knew how the fight inwardly. Look at 1:12-15, “And Caleb said, ‘I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” 13Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage. 14 One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him[a] to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, ‘What can I do for you?’ 15 She replied, ‘Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.’ So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.” She was given some land. If the field was to be given to her family, then she felt she also had the right to ask for the springs of water to make the field fertile, which she did and which she received. She had great faith. She asked and received God’s blessing and favor. She had a spirit of conquest in her heart. God blesses those who ask. The Bible says that we can ask for the Holy Spirit. There is the parable of the persistent widow. Those who ask and dedicate what they ask for, to be used for God’s purpose and glory, receive from God. We need bold, claiming faith, not just for blessings and money for our own need, but for spiritual blessings that God wants bless us with. But be careful what you ask for, because those who are given much, much more will be asked.
In today’s study, we learn the importance of coming to God in prayer in times of crisis and transition. We learn the importance of standing up as leaders and taking the lead in the spiritual battles we face in this life. We also learn the importance of co-working and possessing a fighting spirit within us. Most of all we learn about the grace of Jesus, who calls us brothers and fights along side with us. We learn of his grace that conquered the way for us to enter into our eternal inheritance, the kingdom of God. All of this comes when we are found in Christ. Let us praise God for his “including” grace. May we be more inclusive to others.

1. What happened soon after Joshua’s death? Who did the Israelites turned to? (1) What direction did God give his people? Why did the tribe of Judah take the lead? (Gen 49:8-12) Why would taking the lead be difficult? Is God calling you to take the lead?


2. Who were the Canaanites and tell what you know about them? Can you explain how the strategy of conquering the land changed?

3. Why didn’t the tribe of Simeon receive and inheritance? (Gen 49:5-7; Josh 19:1) How does Judah’s treatment of the tribe of Simeon reveal the grace of God and the gospel?


4. What revealed the bold faith of Aksah, Caleb’s daughter? (15) What was she offered? What did she request? How can this be related to the spirit of conquest? Think about asking God for things in through prayer? (esp. think about the Holy Spirit, wisdom and strength and direction, to name a few)

Numbers 13:1-14:25

Explore The Promised Land
Numbers 13:1-14:25 Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF 1-22-12
Key Verse 13:2 Inspired by the message delivered by P. Abraham Kim UBF director
“Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites.
From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”
The Israelites reached the border of the land God had promised them. At the Lord's command, Moses sent twelve spies, one from each tribe, to explore it. They discovered that the land was good, but the people were fearsome. Almost everyone was dismayed. Caleb and Joshua, however, believed that the Lord would give them the good land if they had faith that pleased the Lord. They were men of faith and obedience who followed God wholeheartedly. There is also a promised land God has given to each of us and every community in Christ. The land that needs to be conquered is the land of our inner person and the mission field we have been called to serve. It also is the Kingdom of God that Jesus has conquered for us. Through as study this passage may God fill our hearts with a spirit of conquest and a spirit of victory. May we conquer the promise lands that God has led us too, beginning with our own hearts. May we also be sources of encouragement to others, like Caleb and Joshua were. May God bless you.
Part I: God Commands Exploration Of Canaan (13:1-25)
The Book of Numbers begins with numbering the Israelites who could go to war at Mt. Sinai, a year and a month after the Exodus. During that time, the Israelites made a covenant with God and became a special people who had fellowship with God at the Tent of Meeting. In spite of their sin of idolatry, God forgave them and led them to the Desert of Paran where they could see the Promised Land. This took forty years. When they got there, God commanded through Moses, “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.” (1-2) Why did God want to send in explorers? There were several reasons. Let’s see…
First, to go and explore the land required faith. In the land were great, walled cities. The people were huge and known for their cruelty in battle. They even had iron chariots. Why not just overwhelm the enemy with vast numbers of Israelites, for they numbered two or three million? God had his reasons. They needed to trust God that God had the best strategy in mind.
Second, exploring the enemy camp is a basic step before any military operation. It is true that God wants us to do everything by faith, but he doesn’t want us to do things blindly not knowing the situation and developing a strategy. In fact, the Bible records wars in which God commanded his servants to explore the battle fields, instructed strategies and tactics, whereby they won victories….how?…by obeying God’s instructions with faith. May we find God strategy in the coming year for serving our mission field. I believe it is through 1:1 Bible study, discipleship and alliance building with local Christians and Christian ministries.
Third, God wanted to encourage and inspire his people. God repeatedly called the land of Canaan “the land I am giving to the Israelites” or “the land I promised them on oath” (13:2, 14:16, 23, 30, 15:2). God’s command to explore the land is similar to his command to Abraham when he said, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever….Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” (Ge 13:14-17) Just like Abraham, God wanted the explorers to encourage the Israelites by helping them to know the beauty of the land, be thankful to God, and be filled with desire to conquer and possess the land. God wants us to look at the land he gives us and explore it. He wants us to walk through the land by faith and possess it in our hearts. Maybe we should go the walk around the campus, see its beauty and pray.
Part ll: The Promised Land God Has Called Us To Conquer
The land, in every generation, in every locale, (without and within) is full of idol-worship and corrupt secular cultural forces that oppose the Gospel. God wants to bring about His kingdom through our spiritual conquest and taking possession of the land. We aren’t talking about literal war, for our battle is never against flesh and blood. (Eph 6:11-13) Spiritually, however, the world is at war and the war will continue until our Lord’s Second Coming. We are leaders and foot soldiers of the Lord’s army. There is battle to win. And so, what is the Promised Land for us to conquer? The first is conquering our own hearts with the gospel. Second is entering the kingdom of Heaven following our conquering general, Jesus Christ. This is the most important aspect. And the third is “conquering” the mission field that God has placed us into.
First, conquering ourselves...our inner hearts. This means overcoming our sinful nature and growing in spiritual maturity. God’s will for us is to restore us in the image of Christ (Ro 8:28-29). For this purpose, God has given us the word of God and the Holy Spirit and works in all things in our lives. Christ’s image is formed through continuous battle with our old self, that is, the sinful nature. When our old self dies through obedience to God, we put on the new self and become spiritual men and women.
We should check where we are in this spiritual campaign. We should press on like Apostle Paul to be united with Christ by following Christ’s example in his death and resurrection (Php 3:10-12). Ephesians 4:22-24 reads, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” To put off our old self, often requires a spiritual battle to the point of shedding our blood. The only way to do this is to repent of loving our sinful nature more than God and give our hearts to God newly. The moment our old self dies, we experience the power of the resurrection and receive freedom in Christ.
Our inner spiritual enemies, such as pride, self-glory seeking, and lust, to name a few, have deep roots. To uproot them, we need a hydraulic hoe and dynamite. When we dig deep with the hoe of the word of God, we expose the root of our sin and the Holy Spirit blows it off by his power and transforms us to be a new creations. When we put on the new self, we can enter into life to the full which the Lord Jesus promised in John 10:10b, “…I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Which is our 2012 ministry key verse.
In order to conquer our hearts, we should also grow in love and righteousness until our own local church and the Christian community radiates the love of God. The kingdom of God comes when we obey the Lord’s new command, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (Jn 13:34). What a beautiful and precious community of brothers and sisters we have in our fellowship! Where can we find such wonderful friends in the world? Nowhere else, but in Christ! While focusing on our ministry, work, school and social life, we often miss the blessed love fellowship among those who love Jesus. Let’s continue building up a beautiful community of love among us so that the world may know God’s love through us. This is part of conquering our hearts with the gospel.
Second, conquering the land is entering the kingdom of Heaven following our conquering general, Jesus Christ. We can talk about the various “lands” that we need to conquer in this world, but by far, the most important land to conquer is the land that Jesus has already conquered for us, the Kingdom of God. Jesus conquered this land through his suffering, death and resurrection. (1 Cor 15:20-29) Jesus placed all of his enemies under his feet. That means sin, death and Satan and his cohorts. Jesus goes on ahead of us to prepare a place for us. We have assured victory because our Lord and Savior Jesus went ahead of us and fought for us and won the victory. All we need to do is repent and claim, through faith, what Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross. We need to follow him and dwell in the kingdom of God, even now, for the Kingdom of God is within you. When you dwell in the kingdom of God, Jesus will reign over you with his peace and his love. It sounds easy but not always. There are still many spiritual battles to engage as we walk by faith. When we have done everything to stand, God’s grace will be shown to be sufficient.
Third, exploring and conquering our own mission field. For us, it is the campus that we are ministering to, NIU and the grade schools and the people of DeKalb. The mission field is also our homes and work places that God has brought us into. God wants us to lift up our eyes and look at the Promised Land, both locally and globally and continue the conquest.
How do we know that our land is being conquered? It does not necessarily mean that there are 1000 people worshipping together to a fantastic praise band. It does not mean when 16,000 of us gather for a Bible conference at the Convo Center? To conquer our land means that the Gospel message is being faithfully preached there. It is occurs when God’s people are praying that Jesus may rule in the hearts of the people in that mission field. It is when one person is being changed and transformed by the grace of God, and that heart could be the one called to that mission field. It can not be measured in numbers.
Part lll. Reports of Exploration (13:26-14:9)
The 12 leaders returned with a huge cluster of grapes, some pomegranates and figs after exploring the 250 miles of the land. They said, “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey. Here is its fruit.” (13:27) People must have shouted with joy. But when they heard the explorers saying, “But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there,” (13:28) the atmosphere changed. Peoples’ hearts sunk within their chests. They were filled with fear. How could the Israelites ever conquer a land occupied by such people? .
At this time of crisis Caleb stepped up as a true leader. He silenced them, and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.” (13:30) But the ten men countered him and said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” (31) And they spread among the Israelites a bad report. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there. We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (32-33) What was their problem? Here, to “spread a bad report” means to “falsely accuse.” The land did not devour the people living in it, for if it did then those living in it, would have been ill-fed and weak. But that was not the case. They said, “All the people we saw are of great size.” They were exaggerating. They even exaggerated their weaknesses, reducing themselves to grasshoppers. (Which they were not!) When the ten leaders saw the land of Canaan with human eyes, they saw no possibility of victory in war, and so they gave up. Caleb, on the other hand, saw the same things the other explorers saw. But he could see the land with God’s eyes through the Holy Spirit who dwelt in him. He saw God at work among his people. He was convinced that God would use his people as His instrument and give them the land. So he could say, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (30).
All twelve experienced God’s power, character, and guidance together. Why then couldn’t the ten have the spirituality that Caleb and Joshua had? The problem was that these people had eliminated God from the equation. This was unreasonable. It is just as the Apostle Paul pointed out in 1 Corinthians 3:1 which reads, “1 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.” There are believers who grow mature to live by the Spirit and believers who remain worldly, spiritually immature. What determines one’s spiritual maturity? It is one’s reverence for Jesus and their obedient attitude toward God. One who reveres God and lives before him experiences God in all things, learns from Him and thus…grows. On the other hand, one who eliminates God from the equation and sees things from a human point of view cannot grow spiritually.
We are fighting against secular humanism, materialism, the goddess of pleasure and the spirit of ambivalence in this post-modern era. From the time of inviting young people to Jesus to the time of raising them as disciples, we feel as if we are fighting with giants. When we see our mission field with human eyes, we are filled with negative thinking, fear and feel small and powerless. We are weak but God is strong. God is indeed great. When we fix our eyes on God, God becomes bigger and bigger in our minds and hearts and the problems become smaller and smaller until they disappear. And the Holy Spirit fills our minds and hearts with courage and conviction that “We can certainly triumph and conquer in Jesus’ name.” Amen.
People who heard the report of the ten leaders raised their voices and wept aloud all night. It was not tears of repentance and faith. It was tears of despair, anger and frustration. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron and said, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” (14:2-3) “If only we had died in Egypt!”—this was the habitual grumble of the Israelites (Ex 14:11, 16:3, Nu 20:3). Think about the scene of two million people sitting and wailing under the light from the pillar of fire, which was a sign of God’s protection and love. This was a grave sin of forgetting the grace of God who had redeemed them from their miserable life of slavery. They even thought of going back to Egypt. Their reaction shows the tragedy of unbelief and leaving God out of the equation. Even though we forget all other things, we should not forget the grace of God who redeemed us.
These faithless people finally discussed about abandoning the place that God had led them and choosing a leader to take them back to Egypt. Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the congregation. (4-5) They were grieved. They might have expected God’s judgment at any moment. At this critical moment, Joshua and Caleb again stood up as true spiritual leaders and tore their clothes. In ancient times, clothes were rare and expensive. Therefore tearing clothes was a big decision as well as an expression of great sorrow and righteous anger. They said, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” (7-9). What can we learn from Joshua and Caleb?
First, faith that believes God’s promise. Joshua and Caleb had a conviction of conquest because they believed God’s promise. God had promised Abraham to give his descendants the land and had foretold their slavery in Egypt, their exodus and return to the Promised Land (Ge 15:7-21). God confirmed this promise to Isaac and Jacob and later said to Moses, “So I have come down to rescue them from the land of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey”—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (Ex 3:8). God surely keeps his word. Faith is 100% of trust in God’s promise. This is faith that pleases God. We have the Lord’s promise, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Mt 28:19-20). When we believe in the Lord’s promise 100%, we can have the conviction and courage to challenge any situation and reveal God’s glory.
Second, faith in God’s sovereignty and power. Joshua and Caleb said, “If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, … and will give it to us.” (14:8) To them, the strong enemies in the land were not a problem, for no one can stand against God if God leads his people into the land. If God Almighty, the Sovereign Lord goes ahead of us, nothing is impossible. We must believe this and do his work. When people says, “It is not possible,” we can say, “God can do it.”
How can we please God? We can please God by believing in him 100% (Heb 11:6). God is pleased with our obedience, devotion and shepherd heart. We should pray for raising 100,000 UBF missionaries by 2041 to evangelize the world’s major campuses by faith. We should pray for the pioneering of all of the campuses in our nation by faith. We should be praying for the evangelization of the students of NIU and the people of DeKalb. God is with us. He will lead us into the Promised Land and he will give it to us when we have faith that pleases God.
Third, victory in spiritual battle. Joshua and Caleb said, “Do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them.” (14:9) Other versions translate the latter part of this verse as “we will swallow them up.” Here we can see their appetite, confidence and desire to conquer in the Lord’s name. Joshua and Caleb were filled with the Holy Spirit because they defeated Satan’s attack. They were powerful servants of God. They remind us of the Lord’s promise, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Ac 1:8).
Satan attacks us with arrows of doubt and fear whenever we try to do anything. When we are hit, we lose our strength and desire, and fall into negative thinking and complaints. As commanders and leaders in God’s army, we must first win the spiritual warfare against Satan by holding on to God’s words of promise. When the Holy Spirit works, the evil spirits of secular humanism, materialism, and carnal pleasure seeking run away. Ephesians 6:16-17 says, “Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we can have a burning desire and vision from God and we can work by the power of God.
Joshua and Caleb warned the Israelites, “Only do not rebel against the LORD.” (14:9a) This verse teaches us that giving up the promised land due to unbelief is rebellion against God. Unbelief is a backward road that leads to failure and shame, while faith is a forward road that leads to victory and glory. In Christ we don’t have a backward road. The Holy Spirit points to only a forward road towards the Promised Land. Let’s not be afraid. Let’s not be disappointed because there seems to be little fruit in ministry. It’s all right if we love God with all our hearts and do what we should do each day by faith. We are doing what God wants us to do if we love our spouses, and our kids and those brought near to us. We are conquering our land when we raise the Bible students whom God gives us and our children to be spiritual men and women. God is working with us and He will fulfill His will in His way and in His time.
Part lll; Caleb’s Spirit
How did God see Caleb’s faith? Read verse 14:24. “But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.” The land Caleb went to was the hill country of Hebron. There lived the Anakites, the giants (Jos 14:12). God said, “my servant Caleb has a different spirit.” God was pleased with Caleb and promised that He would bring him into the land and his descendants would inherit it. Why could Caleb have a different spirit? God testified that Caleb followed God wholeheartedly. Here “wholeheartedly” means to fill a vacuum with something— 100%. Caleb filled his soul with God only. He did not allow anything else to occupy his heart along with God. He gave his whole heart to God. (Dt 6:5) God loved him and was pleased to dwell in him and wanted to bless him and his descendants. God leads those who follow Him wholeheartedly to the Promised Land and gives it to their descendants. Here we learn what kind of person God seeks. God does not seek able people. God seeks men and women whose hearts are wholly devoted to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9a reads, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him….”
In today’s passage, we learned to obey God’s command to go and explore the land and be encouraged by what you will find. The land that God calls us to conquer is first our own hearts and then the various mission fields that God has led us to. We must thank Jesus for being our conquering general and leading us into the Promised Land of the Kingdom of God. Let’s also pray to have faith that pleases God, like Caleb and Joshua and engage our faith in order to be a blessing to all of God’s people.

Mark 1:1-11

John’s Baptism And The Coming Of The Holy Spirit
Mark 1:1-11 Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF (University Bible Fellowship) ChristianfamilyonChristsmission.com
Key verse 1:11-12 Waterman Presbyterian Church 1/8/2012
“As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
What an honor and a privilege it is to be here to preach in this beautiful and historical church, a church where several of my friends have grown up and worship. I am eager to see them. Who am I and who is my family that I could be so blessed to stand in this pulpit where so many great servants of God have stood before? For example, I was here 1 ½ years ago when Dr @Prahbakar came to speak about his missionary work in India. Who remembers that day? @Jenn Kallas@ told me that there are families who have historically worshipped here for several generations. That makes me feel like you have included me in your family, by inviting me to preach. That is special to me and my family. It is also a privilege to preach at the beginning of the year. That is a pretty prestigious slot in my books. New Year’s is a time of new beginnings and new hopes for a fresh start. I was wondering what should I preach on? I asked Jenn, “what are the prescribed readings for this Sunday?” and she gave me a list. The passages were wisely chosen and a great choice for a New Year’s message!
In this passage we will talk briefly how Jesus’ Gospel ministry began, first through God’s promises and then through the ministry of John the Baptist. We will think about what John’s Baptism is and the importance of John’s baptism and its relationships to Jesus’ baptism of the Holy Spirit. I pray that 2012 may be a year where God can bless us with a spirit of repentance and brand new relationship with God with new beginnings in him, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let’s see.
Part l: The Gospel Began With Prophecy (1-3).
Mark takes us to the beginning of Jesus’ Gospel ministry in verse 1. It reads, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” “Gospel” literally means “good news.” This world is filled with bad news that saps us of strength. But good news fills us with joy, life, and hope. We all want good news. We all need good news. Especially at the beginning of the year! This good news is about Jesus Christ the Son of God.
“Jesus” means “Savior.” Our Savior, Jesus, came into this world as a tiny, baby in the manger, to save us from our sins (Mt 1:21). “Christ” means the “anointed king.” Jesus is descended from David, was anointed with Holy Spirit, and authority and power, to reign over all God’s people forever and ever, with peace and love. What a great king we have! “The Son of God” means that he is the promised Savior, sent by the Father, who can completely save all who put their faith and trust in him. Those who receive Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as their savior King, receive the forgiveness of sins, adoption as children of God, new hope, a glorious mission, the promised Holy Spirit as well as eternal life. What a great package deal. This is the Gospel. This is our Christ! How wonderful it is to learn about the Gospel this New Year! And so let’s see how this gospel began.
God prepared the peoples’ hearts for centuries. Look at verses 2-3. “It is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way’–‘a voice of one calling in the desert, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him’.” Though Mark mentions only Isaiah, this verse is actually a quotation of both Malachi and Isaiah. (Mal 3:1; Isa 40:3) Isaiah was the most prominent prophet in the Old Testament and Malachi was the last Old Testament prophet. Malachi wrote around 430 B.C. He proclaimed the Messiah’s coming. But before the Messiah would come, God would send “his messenger”. (Mal 3:1). Isaiah wrote around 700 B.C. He foretold that God’s messenger would live in the desert and preach a message of repentance. (Isa 40:3-5) John the Baptist precisely fulfilled these prophecies. Jesus came according to prophecy. Only God, who knows the end from the beginning, can do this. This gospel is not some “man-made” story. The gospel is the truth from God supported by historical facts. This sets Christianity apart from all other religions. You can build your life and stake your future on the Jesus and the Gospel.
Part ll: The Baptism of John - A Baptism of Repentance (4-8).
Isaiah said that God’s messenger would “Prepare the way for the Lord.” This did not mean that John was going to finance the building of an expressway from Nazareth to Jerusalem. No. He was referring to the Lord entering into the peoples’ hearts in a spiritual sense. Jesus started his ministry when he was 30 years old. For this great work to begin, peoples’ hearts needed to be prepared. That’s where John the Baptist comes in.
Luke refers to the nature of John’s ministry in Luke 3:4-6, “As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: ‘A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. 5 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. 6 And all mankind will see God’s salvation.’” Peoples’ hearts were not prepared to accept the Savior. Some peoples’ hearts were like valleys made impassable by self condemnation. Some peoples’ hearts were like mountains and hills, made impassable by varying levels of pride. Some peoples’ hearts filled with crooked ways, too crooked for God to navigate his way into them. Others had rough paths hindering God’s approach. And so thousands of people, with different hearts, came to John the Baptist, some self condemning, some proud, some crooked and rough. But despite of the varying condition of hearts, they all had one thing in common. They submitted to John’s baptism of repentance. They were attracted to his message. To be certain, they were tired of living without God and without hope and they wanted to see God’s Messiah. And so they humbly came to John.
John knew that there was only one way to prepare any heart. Let’s read verses 4 and 5, “And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” John knew the eternal truth that hearts need to be changed in order for God to dwell there. God is holy and can not co-exist with sin. God is the powerful, almighty Creator. He opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6b) He is the King of the Universe and will not dwell amidst challenges to his lordship. But yet this holy, powerful, Creator God really wants to come and dwell among his people, personally. But how is it possible? Our own efforts could never produce a suitable pathway. But God did not give up. He has shown us the way. Look at verse 5b, “…Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” It is the way of humble confession and repentance. (James 4:5-6)

John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. (Mk 1:4) Repentance is such a heavy word. Some pastors have been sued for using this word. But I feel safe around you all. To put it simply, to repent means to turn from sin and the world towards Jesus and his kingdom. It is a condition of heart, involving changing one's mind about something and dedicating oneself to the amendment of one's life. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/repent) In a word, to repent is to acknowledge one’s sin before God and to ask for his forgiveness and then chart a new course.
Repentance is a good thing and a pre-requisite for receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When Peter was addressing the crowds in Acts 3:19-20, he said, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.” Most people live in this world, loaded down with guilt, regrets and vague feelings of condemnation and failure. We don’t know how to unburden our hearts. But when we repent of our sins and come to Jesus, our hearts are strangely refreshed. The Lord forgives all of our sins. We are made right with God, by his grace, and have true peace. We experience the love of God. We can make a brand new beginning with new strength to follow the truth and to follow Jesus. With repentance we can become the happiest people in the world. Repentance is indeed a refreshing, healing balm to our souls.
There are different classes of repentance. First-class repentance is willing, and it is done with godly sorrow, recognizing the pain we have caused God and others. Second-class repentance may be done without emotional contents, simply as a matter of principle. Third-class repentance is the most reluctant, simply because we want to avoid punishment. Sometimes, our hearts are too hard to repent at all. It is never easy to repent. I will never forget one episode of Happy Days when Author Fonzerelli, better known as “The Fonz” had to say he was sorry. He stumbled and stammered and tried to force out the words, “I am sorry” and was barely able to do it. Repentance requires great humility. Mostly we must ask God for a spirit of repentance and when we do God will tenderize our hearts and help us.
People really want to hear the word, "repent". The response to John’s preaching was phenomenal. Look at verse 5. “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.” This teaches us that deep down inside people really want to repent. They want times of refreshing and power to change. They want to find a solution to their spiritual problems. They just need to know the way.
John was an excellent instrument for God to reach the peoples’ hearts. Look at verse 6. “John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.” John lived a pure and poor life, studying the Old Testament and praying in the desert. He wore humble camel hair clothes and ate humble food, like grasshoppers. He lived the message that he preached. When a servant of God is like this then the words he/she speaks are very powerful and people will listen.
Part lll: Jesus’ Baptism – The Baptism Of The Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:7-8)

Repentance must not be half way. We need to follow through and come to Christ, receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist also knew secret of following through repentance unto faith. He did not want to leave the crowds pummeling themselves with self condemnation. Let’s see how he helped them in verses 7-8, “And this was his message: ‘After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’” John explained that his water baptism was merely a first step in coming to God. It alone could not solve their sin problem. They needed forgiveness and to be changed in their “inner person”. In short, they needed the baptism of the Holy Spirit that only Jesus could give.

We see this same principle at work in Acts 19:1-7, Here Paul finds twelve new disciples who had only taken repentance half way. Let’s read verses Acts 19:1-3 together, “While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples 2 and asked them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ They answered, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ 3 So Paul asked, ‘Then what baptism did you receive?’ ‘John’s baptism,’ they replied.” These 12 disciples looked incomplete. They only received John’s baptism, which is a baptism of repentance. They admitted they were sinners. They knew they deserved God’s righteous judgment. But they did not know the marvelous grace of Jesus Christ or the work of the Holy Spirit. They remind us of people who always look grumpy and condemned, even after believing in Jesus.

Paul could not leave these young disciples in their misery. In Acts 19:4, Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance.” He told the people to believe in the one coming after John the Baptist, that is, Jesus. Then, on hearing these words from Paul, they were baptized into the name of the Lord. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them. They were filled with power and joy. They could speak about God and his marvelous work. They could see the coming of the kingdom of God. It was the beginning of God’s great work in Ephesus.
Let’s think why this baptism of the Holy Spirit so important? There are many reasons. Countless books have been written on the subject…but let’s think of six of them in order to wet our appetites for the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
First, Jesus’ baptism with the Holy Spirit transforms our inner person. The Holy Spirit is God himself who comes to dwell in us. Where God dwell’s, nothing stays the same for the Holy Spirit is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Through the work of the Holy Spirit we die to sin and rise to newness of life with Christ (Ro 6:4). We are transformed.
Second, Jesus’ baptism of the Holy Spirit, enables us to live a new life in the holiness of God bearing good fruit (Gal 5:22) for his glory.
Third, the Spirit gives us a burning passion to seek God and serve God. After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, when the apostles gathered to pray together in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit came upon them in power. Their fear vanished and they became bold witnesses of Jesus Christ (Ac 2:4).

Fourth, the baptism of the Holy Spirit fills our hearts with power, love and self discipline. Young Timothy was willing to serve God together with Paul. But he was timid and weak. Paul believed he would be changed into a spiritual leader, by the Holy Spirit. That is why Paul said to him, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Tim 1:7).

Fifth, the baptism of the Holy Spirit sets our minds free from the gravity of sin and enables us to think of heavenly things. Romans 8:6 says, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace.”

Sixth, the Holy Spirit gives a confirmation of the love of God. Verse 11. “And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” We will talk more about this in the upcoming section.

Wow! This sounds really great! The baptism of the Holy Spirit is good news for all people. Where can we get this Holy Spirit? Do they sell it at Walmart? God really wants to give us the Holy Spirit. Jesus explained that even human fathers, know how to give good gifts to their children. Then Jesus said, “...how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Lk 11:13) God really wants to give us the Holy Spirit. He really wants to dwell in hearts. All we need to do is ask. Have you asked? If you have asked, you can ask again for God to come and dwell in your heart newly. As we begin this New Year, let each of us ask God for the Holy Spirit.

Part lll: God Anointed Jesus As Christ (9-11).
To inaugurate his ministry, Jesus humbly submitted to John’s baptism. Look at verse 9, “At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.” John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. But Jesus did not need to repent for he was sinless. Still, Jesus made sure he was baptized. Why? Jesus’ baptism by John was a time of decision. Jesus, was committing himself to God’s holy purpose to take up his cross and live and die as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:29) This reveals that there is more to baptism than repentance. Baptism is also a decision of commitment.
After Jesus humbly submitted to John’s baptism, something amazing happened. Look at verse 10. “As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.” As Jesus was praying, the Holy Spirit descended on him (Lk 3:22), physically represented by a dove. This was literally God the Father, breaking through the darkness of the world, and anointing Jesus, his Son, with the Holy Spirit. What does this mean?
God’s great work always begins with a movement of the Holy Spirit. This is consistent throughout the whole Bible. Genesis 1:1-3 reads, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.” There was a time, when this world was formless, empty and dark. Not much was going on. The earth was without beauty, without life, and with meaning. But God was there. His spirit was hovering over the waters. That formless, dark and empty world was ready to be changed into a world full of life, light, beauty and meaning.

Think about the beginning of the Christian church. 120 followers of Jesus gathered in the upper room. The Holy Spirit came upon them as the Risen Jesus promised. They were all transformed and powerful Christian church was born. God’s work always begins with the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus’ anointing is unique. Being without sin, Jesus could receive the Holy Spirit without an atoning sacrifice on his behalf. Being without sin, Jesus could live in absolute obedience to the Holy Spirit all the days of his life. The Spirit was Jesus’ source of power and love. Jesus, in turn can baptize his disciples of all ages, with the Holy Spirit. Again, all we need to do is ask.
Another interesting event occurred in this passage. God the Father, declared his love for and his approval of his Son, Jesus. Look at verse 11. “And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.’” God confirmed Jesus’ identity as the Son of God. God, the Father said, “...whom I love.” Jesus treasured his Father’s confession of love in his heart and lived in assurance that he was God’s beloved Son all the days of his life. Jesus always called God, “Father” even in his passion when he was suffering and dying on the cross. Jesus shares this love relationship, through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with all who come to him in faith.
In today’s passage we learned about the baptism of John. John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. Repentance is a turning away from sins and a turning to God for forgiveness and newness of life. It is a necessary pre-requisite to receive Jesus’ baptism of the Holy Spirit. This New Year’s let’s enter into John’s baptism through humble repentance making a clear path for Christ to enter into our hearts. Let us pray newly for the indwelling of the holy spirit of God. We will enter into a new, life giving relationship with Jesus Christ. We will be enlightened to see new hope and new possibilities.
Let’s read the key verse together…
Key verse 1:11-12
“As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”