The Consequences of Turning Away from God

You'd like to find that in your Bibles. You know, the Bible is a long, long book, all kinds of things in the Bible. But there are two places in which there is a summary of the Bible. In the Old Testament, the summary of all that God asked is wrapped up in the Ten Commandments. And the first one, you're to have no other gods before me. It means you're to have no other god in your life except me. And that's the primary commandment. And then the rest of them follow from that. Not have any idols or not take the Lord's name worthlessly. And remember to keep worshiping him, which the first four focus on God. In the New Testament, Jesus said that the great commandment was love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, which covers the first four of those commandments. And you're to love your neighbors yourself, which covers the final six of the commandments. So these two summaries kind of set the tone for where we're at. In the first one, these first four, or this command to have no other gods but Yahweh God, and loving the Lord your God with your heart, soul, strength, and mind, is the beginning of all the other things. You cannot do the final six or love your neighbors yourself. You can't just do those end ones. Because you have to start with the beginning. And that's the critical issue. That's the one God sees most significantly in our lives. So what takes place in the book of Judges, chapter six, is the first verse. Again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. And what he means by that is they violated the first commandment. It wasn't that they were robbers or thieves or murderers. That wasn't their problem. Their problem was they did some things God wanted them to do. And then they said, okay, here's some things that God says I should do, but I don't want to do them. Here's some things God says I shouldn't do, but I think it'd be okay in my own mind. And so they violated, just turned themselves away from instructing, doing what God told them was right. They compromised on the place that God had in their life. That was the big thing that he saw that was going wrong in their lives. Now, that is the foundation stone on which everything else is built. It didn't matter the rest of the things what they did. They had missed that one. It's sort of like a person says, you know, I've been a nice person all my life to my wife. I just, you know, hadn't been faithful to her, but I've been nice to her all the time. The fundamental thing that's there is the key ingredient that makes all the rest of it possible. What he's going to talk about, and here's what happens whenever you neglect the first part. So in chapter six, verse two, he says, because the power of the Midians was so oppressive, the Israelites sheltered for themselves in the mountain, clefts, caves, and strongholds. Here's a simple description. Whenever they turned away from letting God have complete control of their lives, they were violating the contract they had with God. Contract he made with Abraham. He renewed it at Sinai. And just before the people of Israel moved into the land of promise, he renewed it again. It's in Deuteronomy chapter 28. So he was making sure that they all understood what their responsibilities were. You're to love the Lord more than anything in all the world. He is to be the primary ingredient in your life. And when you do that, then he promises, I will guide you so you'll make good choices. I will protect you so that you will not be overrun from others. I will provide for you all that you need. Now notice what happens when the people of Israel entered the land of promise. They were not militarily trained. They were outnumbered in many of the battles that they were in, but they won those battles and secured that land because the power of God was with them to give them both the strategy they needed and the ability to conquer their enemies. Now the time has gone on. They no longer are letting God be the controlling factor in their life. So what God does now is he doesn't guide them anymore. They go into battle. He doesn't tell them what to do. They go into battle. He does not use his power to help them accomplish the victory that they had been used to having in the past. So the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountain cliffs, caves, and strongholds. The people of Midian didn't get stronger, but the people of Israel got weaker. And so in the weakness that they had so they could not defend themselves, all they could do was hide. And so they had to find places to hide where no one could find them. Here are the conquering heroes of Canaan who had been given the victories one after another, and now they were cowering in caves and holes in the ground because they could not even defend themselves or protect themselves. The power of God was no longer there. He was not now required to protect them or provide for them. So what happened whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, the Amalekites, and other eastern people invaded the country. They camped on the land, ruined the crops all the way to Gaza. That's all the way to the coast. And did not spare a thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. So what took place was God removed His provision for them. He made a promise. This is going to be a land of milk and honey. You will have everything that you need. That phrase talks about two very delicate things that they would have. Milk was considered a prized ingredient because it doesn't last very long. It spoils quickly in the heat that they would have. So having fresh milk is kind of like having a great thing. Honey, the sweetener that they would have, like having dessert. You will have the staples of your life, all that you need, and the luxuries of life. And now, instead of having milk and honey, they do not even have wheat or barley or anything to eat. Their sheep are scattered, taken away from them. Their cattle are taken away from them, and they are in poverty, in starvation. This is one of the symbols, I think, that helps us understand how God works in the world. When you make a promise to God to say, I give you my life, and you begin to read the Bible and try to live the way that you know that God says you should live, and you begin to make choices the way God says you should make your choices, and you begin to try to treat people the way you know God wants you to treat them, and help make disciples of other people, you find God grows in your life, His character and nature. Whenever you turn away from that, you will see, and it's incremental, I don't think now that this happened when they moved into the land of Canaan, and the next day all these bad things took place. What happens is, over a period, it says of 40 years, they had peace for 40 years before this took place, 40 years they began to dwindle farther and farther away from God, until one day they wake up, and they're so far away from God that they cannot even experience His presence with them. They can't depend on Him to protect them, they can't depend on Him to guide their choices, they can't depend on Him to provide their needs. It's as if they had no God. All of a sudden, their awareness comes to see what's taking place, but the Bible shortens this for us, so we don't see year after year what took place, but we see the beginning in which they were faithful to God, and then the day in which they become aware that God has abandoned them. He's abandoned them because they have rejected the covenant and contract that they made with Him. They are the ones that initiated this problem. So what God does is turns loose. And He quits giving you good choices to make. Have you ever noticed around you that some people just make stupid choices all the time? They just one stupid choice after another. Now if you go up and ask them, say, why are you making stupid choices? They'll say, well, I'm not doing that, I'm trying to make the best choice I know how. But we know from our perspective that their decisions are really deadly, dangerous, and destructive. But they can't see that. What they see is, I'm having fun, I'm enjoying myself, I'm doing the best I can, and having the best of life that I know how to make it. But when you step back and you look at their life, you see it from a different perspective. They've made choices that are going to be destructive. So you can try your very best to make the best choices you know how, but if you're not informed by the Spirit of God as to what the right choices are, you can't make them. You can't make the right choices. So what He did for them is He removed His presence so that they could no longer make the right choices. And then He removed His protection from them. So when the enemy came and they went out to fight in the beginning, strong and powerful in their armies, but they didn't win. And then the next wave came and they didn't win. And the next wave came and they didn't win. Finally they decided, we're not going to be able to win this battle. Our best opportunity is to hide in a cave somewhere and wait until they die or leave. They gave up on any kind of prospect of getting better. What happens then whenever we begin to drift away from God, we don't know it all the time. We're not aware that we're turning away from God, but all of a sudden we find ourselves in a hole where we can't do anything, can't make life work like it ought to. We should stop at that moment and say, what is my relationship to God? Am I living in obedience to Him? Is my life different now than it was in a time in the past when I was faithful to Him? And when you ask that question of God, He'll reveal to you what it is that's changed about you. This is an opportunity you have to change your life and to get back where God wants you to be. So He not only removes their protection, but He also removes their provision. They no longer, as their crops, they plant their crops, they're planting their crops every year. But as soon as they get a crop planted, the rains came just like they should, the wheat's up like it ought to be, just about the time of the harvest, then the enemy comes in and takes all of it. They have nothing. They raise cattle, the cattle are good, everything looks fine, a raiding army comes in and takes all their cattle. They have nothing. In the process of all this, it takes a long time, but finally what happens, they came up with their livestock and their tents swarm with locusts. It was like it was impossible to count the men and their camels. They invaded the land to ravage it. Medians so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help. It finally got bad enough that they said, God, would you help us? Now he's not talking about everybody at one time doing this, but the people began to recognize, you know, I can remember a time when my life was better than this. I can remember a time whenever we had more than we have now. I can remember that there were better days for my life. What's different about my life now than it was back then? And they identified that God was not with them. Now you'll notice this all the way through the book of Judges. They were remorseful for what they had done. They were sorry that they were in this situation. They wanted a change to be made in their life in this situation, but they never repented. The difference between remorse, I feel sorry for what situation I'm in, and repentance is, I feel sorry for the situation I am in. I realize why I'm here and I would like to change my behavior. That's repentance. Remorse makes you feel bad and it feels a little bit like repentance. It's preparation for repentance, but repentance is when you come to God and say, I see the situation I've gotten myself into and I don't want to live this way anymore. If you will show me what to do and take me step by step from here to where you want me to be, I will do everything you tell me to do. Repentance is acknowledging the Lordship of Christ. So they cried out to God, help me. Now I've seen a lot of people who get in this situation and their life is just a mess. And I can tell you that I've had people come to me and say, you know, my life's really a mess. I don't know what to do. And I say, well, here's what you need to do. You know about God and you give your life to him and say, from this moment on, I'm going to live the way you want me to. And they will pray and say, God, would you help me? And I'm going to live the way you want me to. And when they confess this to God, he does relieve the pressure from them. And they always say, I feel a lot better. But because they haven't taken the next step to say, I really want to change my life. I give them a Bible, say, okay, Sunday school starts at 9.30, church at 10.45, and they may come one time, many of them none. They feel better for a little while because God in his mercy does relieve their burden when they call on him, like here. But without repentance, the future does not get much better. Repentance means that you've changed the way you're going to live. And all the way through the book of Judges, we find over and over again that God rescues them, but their permanent change never takes place. So God hears their cry. Here's what God did. Verse seven, when the Israelites cried to the Lord because of the Midians, he sent them a prophet who said, this is what the Lord of God says. What God was trying to do in this situation was to say, I understand you're in this problem. I understand what you're crying out to me about, and I understand the circumstances that you're in. And you're asking me to drive out the Midianites. You're asking me to give you food. You're asking me to protect you from them. You're asking me to give you good choices. But I'm telling you, here's what you must do. Here's something you must do before all this can take place. And so he sent them a word from himself. The prophets in the Old Testament were not people necessarily who told the future. Sometimes we think that's what a prophet is. But a prophet is a person who delivers the message of God to people. And it can be any kind of person who can do that. The message of God, from God, is always a message that tells what God wants that person to do differently. The reason why life has changed for you and how you can get back to the place that you need to be. So the prophet was the one who brings the message of God as to what needs to be done so that changes could be made in their life. God will respond when you earnestly cry out to him. He will. He does not do for you always what you want unless you're prepared to do the things that would allow him to do that. God could not give the people of Israel the kind of change they wanted because they were not prepared to do away with the worship of Baal. Or I should say they were not ready to let God be in complete control of their lives. They're willing to give him a little bit, but not the whole ball of wax. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, I brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of your oppressors. I drove them from before you and gave you their land. What he does, the prophet reminds them of what God wants them to remember. Remember the time in your life, this is Israel's life, now it wasn't the people they were talking to right here, it was their forefathers. Remember what God does. For us, we'd say, okay, let's look back in the Bible and see what does it take for God to change my life. It takes me to be able to say, God, I want to live in obedience to you no matter what. And I promise you that if you will tell me what to do, I will do it from now on until the day I die. Remember that when people did this in the old days, he said, even though they were slaves in Egypt, they had no army. They had no way to break free from this. Egypt had the greatest military power in the world at that time. It's like a small group of people living in Russia, and they decide they want to get out. And the Russian premier says, I don't want you to leave. There's not a way in the world they could get out because their power, military power would not allow it. But miraculously, God delivered them from the greatest military power in the world when they weren't even soldiers and had no way to fight. It was impossible what he did. I want you to remember that. Now you compare the circumstances in which your people, your forefathers were in Egypt and compare them to what you're looking at right now. I can deliver you. I have done it before. I have the power to be able to help you. And if you've forgotten about that, I want to tell you how when I brought you to the land of Canaan and you went in to fight, you were able to win all the battles when you did exactly what I told you to do. And even though you weren't a military nation, you drove out the Canaanites everywhere you were faithful to do what I asked you to do. You have to have confidence that I can do what you need to have done for you. Here they were, no soldiers, no army, no military gear, hiding in caves and dug things that holes that they dug in the ground. And now they're saying, God, you've got to help us. Now you're going to think this is an impossible situation from where you're at, but I want you to think back about what I've done. Now this is a very important thing for us because whenever you get in situations that seem impossible to you and your human mind calculates what the odds are that you do something about it and you can succeed in it, you're going to most of the time see that it's not really possible for you to win. So you have to move past what your eyes see, past what your reason tells you to believe that if you have surrendered yourself to do what God wants you to do, any problem you face, He can overcome. Now people around you won't believe this. They'll tell you it's impossible or hopeless. But what you have to have confidence in is that you, if you do what God tells you to do in submission to Him, you're going to find the victory. Now here's a mistake you don't want to make. Your picture of the victory might be quite different than God's picture of the victory. You have a problem. You say, okay, God, I want to solve this problem and here's my problem and I ask you to help me to solve it. You might in your own mind sort of figure out what you're going to do. And then if you begin to pray for God and live in obedience to Him, He doesn't necessarily always accomplish this the way you think He was going to. So you can't lose confidence that in the end God is going to do what He needed to do in your life. You have to have confidence in that. The people of Israel never thought that they would go up out of Egypt and the army of the Egyptians would come after them. They never thought that. Whenever it happened, they were terrified and said, we made a big mistake. We need to go back. That was not God's plan. Their plan for not dying was to go back and be slaves again. And sometimes whenever we pray, we say, oh God, I've got this terrible problem. Make this happen, that happen, something else happen, something else happen. And then when it doesn't begin to happen like that, we lose confidence. Remember what God has done in the past. He always rescued His people, but it wasn't always the way they thought He was going to. So you can't lose confidence in it. You have confidence in God, not in your expectations about what will happen. And sometimes when you pray and you ask for God to relieve these circumstances, you may ask for more money, for example, or you may ask for more of whatever it is that you need. And it may not happen, but you'll find out when it's over, God's taken care of everything. So he starts by saying, look backward. Look at the times the people of God have been in desperate trouble. And God, by His power and His wisdom and His strategy, delivered His people. You've got to have confidence in that. You're not going to be able to face these Midianites if you don't believe that that's really the truth. So he said, they came up with their livestock and their tents and swarms of locusts, as if they were swarms of locusts. So when they came, they came in overwhelming force. They took everything that they had, like locusts would eat the grass, the greenery, just make it black or brown when they were through with it. It was impossible to count the men and their camels, and they invaded the land to ravage it. Now, the prophet said, I have snatched you from the power of Egypt and from the hand of your oppressors. I have drove them from before you and gave you their land. I said to you, I am the Lord, the position of ultimate authority and power, and I am your God. Here's all he told them. Do not worship the gods of the Amorites and whose land you live, but you have not listened to me. God's answer to them was not a military battle. It wasn't better farming conditions. He said, there is one key to change your whole future, and that is if you believe that I am the Lord and the ruler of your life. If you will allow me to shape your life in the way I want you to think and the things I want you to do. If you learn to behave like I want you to, I will take care of everything else. You see, in our trouble, whether it's financial, we want some financial answer. If it's a conflict with someone, we want that to be resolved. If it's whatever it is, we have it on our own mind what we need to do. What can I do? Well, you start one place. I will do everything I know God wants me to do. That's his proposition. I will take care of all the rest of it. And God can't help us if we don't have confidence in what he tells us. Because what he oftentimes tells us is contrary to our human nature and our human way of thinking. Because he wants us to live as he directs us to live, which may be contrary to all the people around us. But when our faith or trust is in him, and absolutely in him, then whatever he tells us to do from that time on will be a part of the remedy. We may not know it or see it at the moment, but it will be. We'll see in the story of Gideon as it goes on that God asked them to do some very ridiculous things. He asked them to do things that no military man would ever do in a battle. He asked them to do things that would ensure certain defeat. But what he asks them before he says any of these things, they wouldn't have done them if they hadn't started here. I want you now to look back and remember the great power that I had whenever I did these miraculous things with your forefathers in the past. Have that fixed in your mind. Then when I tell you to do things, I want you to do those not thinking this is the solution to my problem, but thinking this is what God has told me to do. And because he has told me to do it, I will do it. It will cost you some time. It may cost you some money. It may cause fear to come into your life. All kinds of things happen when you begin to do what God wants you to do that causes us to stop and say, I'm not sure this is a good thing to do. Because it doesn't always look reasonably correct or right. But God needed them before he started telling them what to do to say, I will give to you ultimate allegiance. You're here now because you have not listened. If you want to get from here to where I want you to be, you have to listen to me and do what I tell you. The story of what happens in the book of Judges with Gideon and the deliverance he gives is one of the longer stories that we have. It's not simply some of the others that started out and said, OK, here's what you need to do. They did it. And just like that, it was over. With Gideon, it didn't work that way. It started and he made a little bit of progress and then things fell back bad. And then he started again and things were better. And so we see the story is how the people waffled between continuing obedience to God and falling away from him. But God's remedy from the very beginning of the Bible, Adam and Eve to us, is everything will be fine with you if you will accept the fact that I am the Lord and ruler of the universe. And what I tell you to do is right in every single detail. And if you do it, I will guide your choices so that you'll make the right ones. I will provide your needs. I will protect you from being destroyed. And you will be a powerful influence on the people around you. People of Israel here made stupid decisions. They were overrun by the enemy. They didn't have any financial resources. And they were a joke to everyone who knew about them. When God withholds his commitments to us because we violated the covenant, that always happens. The way out of it is to listen to God. Now in this story, he fills us in on what he does. He will send a prophet to anyone who calls out on him. Anybody in the world who's in trouble and says, God, I need help, he will send you somebody. And if you are a person willing to be an agent of God, he will send you as an agent to talk to him. You'll find that happen to you over and over again if you're willing to do it. Because God has a passion to save people. He has a passion to make people's lives full and complete. He has the power to do it, but he needs two things. One person who says, God, please help me. And another person who will say, okay, I will tell you what I think God wants you to do. And if you do it, you will find God's fulfilled promise in your life. Would you bow your heads, please, for a moment? I want to ask first for you to reflect on your own life. Can you look back and see a time in which you said to God, I want to live my life the way you want me to live it. I make this promise to you. Can you look back on your life and see the times you were growing in your spiritual life? Now, I ask, is that still true of you? Do you see any evidence that you're not making good decisions anymore? Any evidence that you're in danger? Any evidence that you don't have the things that you need in your life? Those are all hints to cause us to stop and say, God, have I violated my side of this contract? You found that and you live in it. Do you know somebody around you whose life is sort of broken up? Do you ever pray for God to point you to someone who's in the place these people were in where life has crushed them? God has sent you in the world, if you're his child, to be his messenger to these people. We don't know the name of this prophet, because he wasn't important, it was that he brought the message of God, which is critical. If God were to tell you somebody that needs your help, the help of God, would you be willing to tell them what God has done to help you? We're thankful that you give us history to show us what happens when people live in obedience to you and how you use your power to rescue them, guide them, provide for them, and how you make them a great and powerful people. We also learn from those people who have compromised their devotion to you and see how terrible and tragic their lives become. Make an alarm go off in our spiritual minds, if we're on that road at all. Help us to renew our devotion of submission and obedience to you. And Father, if we're living in obedience to you, open our eyes to the people all around us who are in those caves and holes and think that life has crushed them. And if you tell us, we will say to them, here is God's answer for your problem. We know you came to save us and to save the people around us, so guide us day by day and step by step that we might be another chapter in the glorious story of how you changed the world and the lives of people. Thank you for allowing us to have a part in this. In the name of Christ we pray, Amen.