Theological Status: ACTIVE HERESY
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Thyatira
❓ What do these grades mean?
🔍 Biblical Discernment: The 7 Church Parallels
The Cold Orthodox Parallel
Ephesus
Teaching that upholds doctrinal precision yet parallels the loss of the "first love"—the vital, motivating power of the Gospel (Rev 2:4).
The Formalist Parallels
Pergamum
Teaching that parallels churches tolerating the "doctrine of Balaam" through cultural accommodation (Rev 2:14), characterized by weak boundaries, sloppy theology, and worldly compromise.
🧐 Overview
Sermon Summary: A call to covenantal loyalty and resistance to idolatry, yet marred by a critical error in communion practice that risks spiritual harm to participants.
Big Idea: God demands passionate, covenantal loyalty — not convenient worship — because He is a jealous, loving God who refuses to be treated as a consumer deity; idolatry is spiritual adultery, and the 'easy' path of pagan religion leads to greater hardness, while Christ's hard way leads to true rest. [00:22:58 ▶️ 📄]
Pastoral Analysis: The sermon powerfully addressed the dangers of idolatry and the necessity of Christ-centered worship, but the open invitation to communion without biblical safeguards undermines its message. This practice contradicts Scripture's instruction for self-examination before partaking in the Lord's Supper, potentially leading congregants into unworthy participation.
Biblical Parallel(Archetype): Thyatira — The sermon's unauthorized open communion practice disregards biblical safeguards for the Lord's Supper, aligning with the warning in Revelation 2:20-23 against tolerating false teaching that compromises sacred ordinances.
🎨 The Visual Metaphor
The cracked bread and golden calf symbolize half-hearted, idolatrous worship—empty rituals and compromised loyalty. The olive branch, growing from covenant soil despite decay, represents Christ’s faithful covenant: hard-won life emerging from brokenness. True worship isn’t convenient ornamentation; it is rooted, resilient, and born of surrender to the jealous, redeeming God.
📖 How they Handle Scripture & Jesus
- Primary Text: Judges 2:10-20
- Usage Classification: Expository
- Text-to-Talk Ratio: High
- Pulpit Decorum: ✅ PASS - The delivery maintained scriptural precision and respectful tone throughout.
✝️ Christological Focus: Direct
"Christ was clearly presented as the antidote to idolatry through His sacrificial work."
Scripture Saturation: Verses Read: 11 | Referenced: 4 | Alluded: 5
Passages Read Aloud:
-
Judges 2:10-20
[00:24:55 ▶️ 📄]
"all that generation that was part of the taking of the promised land were gathered to their fathers they died and there arose another generation after them who did not know the lord they knew who the lord was what that means is that that's that knowing that deep knowing they weren't committed to god he wasn't uh primary to them you know paul will talk about in philippians the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord they knew about God they didn't know God they didn't love God God was not intimately part of their lives that's what's going on they did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel they didn't remember the deliverance from Egypt they did not remember the deliverance through the wilderness they did not remember the taking of the promised land it's one of the reasons why we have communion regularly that we not be a generation or even go a month without remembering what jesus has done and the people of israel did what was evil in the sight of the lord and served the bales who are a set of pagan gods about whom we shall learn a little bit today so they served the pagan gods who were in the land that they that the canaanites the people who were left over that they worshiped the bales were about making sure you had a good crop which when you're a farmer is a pretty big deal they abandoned the lord the god of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of egypt they went after other gods from among the gods of the people who were around them and they bowed down to them and they provoked the lord to anger this is something that bothers us the idea that god is angry at us the new testament this is not just an old testament thing paul will talk in [romans 12](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+12&version=KJV) about the wrath of god being revealed against us angry God being angry God judging they abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreth so Baal is a guy and he has a girlfriend named Ashtoreth okay so the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he gave them over to plunderers to other nations who came and oppressed them and took over their land or let them do their thing and came and took their crops and taxed them and oppressed them and ran them they ran israel the lord gave them over to plunderers who plundered them which is what plunderers do and he sold their land into the hand of their surrounding enemies so they could no longer withstand their enemies i thought god was on our side whenever they marched out the hand of the Lord was against them against them for harm as the Lord had warned and that's what we're going to read from Deuteronomy and Joshua as the Lord had warned and as the Lord had sworn to them and they were in terrible distress then the Lord raised up and this is a terrible translation but we're stuck with it because once a translation gets in there it just stays in there they're called judges what we think of judges we think of people who sit in courtrooms and settle internal internal disputes court cases laws etc what the what the what the hebrew word there is really better translated deliverers warlike leaders who deliver he raised up deliverers who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them yet they did not listen to their judges and they hoard which is a word you will see throughout the old testament when it talks about israel sinning it will use the language of adultery which we will talk about some today and at length as we go along but i would just like you to feel this okay here is how we think of sinning we think of sinning as beating the rules we think of sinning as you know having a radar detector and not getting caught speeding we think of sinning as you know learning the loopholes in the irs code god sees my sin and your sin as you and i committing adultery on him they whored after other gods and bowed down to them they soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked who would obey the commandments of the lord and they did not do so whenever the lord raised up deliverers judges for them the lord was with was with the judge and he saved them from out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge for the lord was moved by pity from their groaning it's the same word used when they're back there in israel and pharaoh is oppressing them they're oppressed they're groaning this stinks we are in trouble what the hebrew word does not connote is a whole lot of repentance god just hears them he feels sorry for them he takes care of them he delivers them gives them another chance the lord was moved by pity to their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed to them but whenever the judge died they turned back the book of judges is a 21 chapter cycle of we're in the land we're doing well we stray it's awful we get really off off the rails god sends a an oppressor to get our attention and then we groan and then he sends a deliverer and we pay attention to god for a while this we being israel and then we forget and we chase after other things and we whore after other gods. Israel does. And the cycle repeats multiple times in the book of Judges. It's a mess. Whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he said, because this people have transgressed my covenant that I've commanded their fathers and they have not obeyed my voice."
Key References: Deuteronomy 30:15-20, Joshua 23-24, Romans 12:1-2, Philippians 3:8
💧 Liturgy & Sacraments
Fencing the Table (Communion):
- Believers Only Stated: ✅ Yes
- Warning Against Unworthy Manner: ✅ Yes
- Open Invitation: 🔴 Active Commission (Unbelievers Explicitly Invited)
- Verbatim Warning: "Everyone who would like to eat of this bread and drink of this cup is welcome to. Everyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is invited to do that. Just understand that if you do, you're making a profession of faith, renewing your commitment. There are responsibilities and privileges that come with that. You're taking on both. We come here to remember the motivation for our love that we were created out of nothing given the only life we're ever going to have saved from the penalty our sin deserved blessed promised hope forever so we come to recommit ourselves so let's pray Almighty God enable us each to take this supper in the right manner to do so requires that we acknowledge our need for a Savior and our willingness to follow the Lord"
🎙️ Sermon Content & Delivery
Word Count: 4,135 words
📌 Key Topics Addressed
-
Covenant Unfaithfulness
[00:24:55 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor explains that Israel's sin was not merely disobedience but forgetting God's deliverance and replacing Him with idols, reflecting a failure of relational knowledge and loyalty. -
Divine Wrath
[00:26:46 ▶️ 📄]
> He affirms that God's anger is biblically legitimate and active, not merely a cultural relic, and is revealed against covenant-breaking, as seen in Judges and Romans. -
Idolatry as Spiritual Adultery
[00:29:34 ▶️ 📄]
> Sin is redefined not as rule-breaking but as unfaithfulness to a covenant relationship—Israel 'whored after other gods,' a metaphor for betrayal of intimate divine love. -
The Nature of True Worship
[00:35:20 ▶️ 📄]
> Worship is not confined to Sunday services but is defined by what one trusts for meaning, hope, and identity—thus, modern idols (career, comfort, control) are equivalent to Baal worship. -
The Cost of Discipleship
[00:44:53 ▶️ 📄]
> Christianity is not about choosing between hard and easy, but between two hards: the hard of obedience leading to rest, versus the hard of rebellion leading to ruin. -
Substitutionary Atonement
[00:46:11 ▶️ 📄]
> Christ absorbed the 'hard' of sin on the cross so believers might choose the hard path of obedience that leads to true rest, framing the cross as the solution to human inability.
🖼️ Illustrations & Stories
-
Sermon Illustration
[00:23:32 ▶️ 📄]
> The pastor compares the Book of Judges to the Articles of Confederation period in American history—both were messy, unstable, and led to collapse without strong leadership. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:39:12 ▶️ 📄]
> He uses the analogy of pagan Baal worship as a sexual rave involving cult prostitutes to illustrate how ancient idolatry was seductive, sensual, and demand-free. -
Sermon Illustration
[00:44:53 ▶️ 📄]
> He contrasts the 'easy road' of consumer Christianity with the 'hard road' of covenant faithfulness, using financial, health, and relational examples to show that all life choices involve two hards.
🚀 Calls to Action (Application)
-
Pastoral Charge
[00:41:39 ▶️ 📄]
> Participate in communion as a recommitment to the covenant God who demands loyalty and bore the cost of our unfaithfulness. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:35:09 ▶️ 📄]
> Recognize and repent of personal idolatry—whether in career, comfort, or control—and choose to love God with wholehearted, demanding devotion. -
Pastoral Charge
[00:45:35 ▶️ 📄]
> Embrace the 'two hards' framework in daily life: choose the hard of faithfulness over the illusion of easy living.
🧭 Biblical Alignment Dashboard
Overall Verdict: Fundamentally in Error
| Category | Status | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Gospel Presentation | ✅ PASS | The sermon clearly presented Christ's sacrifice as the solution to idolatry, emphasizing His role as the only mediator and the necessity of His atonement for sin. |
| Soteriology | ✅ PASS | Salvation doctrine was accurately presented, affirming God's grace and human responsibility without error. |
| Bibliology | ✅ PASS | Scripture's authority and interpretation were handled with fidelity to its intended meaning. |
| Hermeneutic | ✅ PASS | The passage was interpreted in context with sound exegetical principles. |
| Theology Proper | ✅ PASS | God's nature and attributes were portrayed accurately, reflecting His holiness and love. |
| Sacramentology | ❌ FAIL | The open communion practice violated biblical requirements for self-examination and believer-only participation. |
| Confessional Depth | ❌ FAIL | The failure to uphold biblical safeguards for the Lord's Supper indicates insufficient attention to the church's historic commitment to sacramental discipline. |
⚙️ The Gospel Engine (Confessional Distinctives)
✅ The Law And Wrath:
"the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he gave them over to plunderers to other nations who came and oppressed them and took over their land or let them do their thing and came and took their crops and taxed them and oppressed them and ran them they ran israel the lord gave them over to plunderers who plundered them which is what plunderers do and he sold their land into the hand of their surrounding enemies so they could no longer withstand their enemies i thought god was on our side whenever they marched out the hand of the Lord was against them against them for harm as the Lord had warned and that's what we're going to read from Deuteronomy and Joshua as the Lord had warned and as the Lord had sworn to them and they were in terrible distress" [00:27:17 ▶️ 📄]
✅ Total Depravity And Inability:
"they did not know the lord they knew who the lord was what that means is that that's that knowing that deep knowing they weren't committed to god he wasn't uh primary to them you know paul will talk about in philippians the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord they knew about God they didn't know God they didn't love God God was not intimately part of their lives that's what's going on they did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel they didn't remember the deliverance from Egypt they did not remember the deliverance through the wilderness they did not remember the taking of the promised land" [00:24:55 ▶️ 📄]
❌ Active Obedience Of Christ: Not observed in the sermon.
✅ The Cross And Atonement:
"Christ absorbed the hard of our sin on the cross so we might choose the hard path of faithful obedience that leads to true rest" [00:46:11 ▶️ 📄]
✅ Commendations
Preaching Style | Scriptural Precision and Respectful Delivery
The pastor delivered the sermon with clear respect for Scripture, maintaining appropriate pulpit decorum throughout.
Christ-Centered Focus | Clear Emphasis on Christ's Role
The sermon effectively highlighted Jesus Christ as the antidote to idolatry, connecting His sacrifice to the call for covenantal loyalty.
⚠️ Theological Concerns
🔴 Sacramental Administration Error (Unauthorized Open Communion Practice)
Root Cause: This error stems from failing to uphold the biblical requirement for self-examination before partaking in the Lord's Supper, as taught in 1 Corinthians 11:28.
"[OMISSION: No specific quote available]" [00:00:00 ▶️ 📄]
Correction: Only believers who have repented and confessed faith may partake in communion, as instructed in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29, which warns that unworthy participation brings judgment.
📜 Full Sermon Transcript (Audit)
Use the 📄 icons next to quotes above to automatically jump to their location in this raw transcript.
[00:03:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:03:09] To worship this morning at Prospect Presbyterian Church, glad everybody's here.
[00:03:14] And as always, we pray this will be an opportunity for all of us to worship our Lord in spirit and in truth.
[00:03:20] The announcements and schedule are there for your consideration.
[00:03:24] A couple of things to note.
[00:03:27] I've been asked by the family, the lovely flowers, as noted in your bulletin, are in memory of Patricia Vaughn.
[00:03:34] that would be the the daughter of Helen Barber and her sister Elaine Trent so in in memory and honor uh honor honor of God in memory of Patricia Vaughn uh the Easter uh season program that we've
[00:03:49] been preparing for Concordia no practice there tonight for anyone interested in that but we'll pick up next week at Concordia the music work there and then the secret sister program kicking off the envelopes for everyone who signed up are down on the table down the
[00:04:09] table downstairs in the common area and also that will include the year's schedule as well the year's schedule as well so so that's the announcements Also, 2 o'clock today, 2 o'clock today, the shower for Hunter and Allie Setzer and their child, 2 to 4 today.
[00:04:32] So excited about that.
[00:04:34] Excited about that whole project.
[00:04:36] So, all good.
[00:04:38] That being said then, let us prepare our hearts and minds for the worship of our Lord.
[00:07:16] Let's pray together.
[00:07:18] Almighty God, what a great privilege to be in church, to be in your house.
[00:07:25] Set the week for us today.
[00:07:27] first day of the week we come to celebrate the resurrection of jesus christ set the week for us that we might be primarily interested in what you want us to be and who you what you want us to do
[00:07:39] and reflect you and serve you wherever we are we thank you for our families we thank you for our work we thank you for the variety of things we get to do and be a part of each each day each
[00:07:51] week it all flows from you help us serve and obey you feel your joy trust your way and all we do so we've come to worship you to show you our loyalty to pledge our devotion to you
[00:08:10] to learn from you what the good is and the good life is and how to chase after it we've come for mercy we come for wisdom holy spirit grant all these as you are with us we ask humbly in this
[00:08:25] hour of worship and throughout the week have mercy on us in our sin forgive us enable us to leave the guilt of that at the cross and move forward freer and without that weight help us forgive as we've
[00:08:44] been forgiven help us love you with all we got and our neighbors we love ourselves to show our gratitude for the life and hope we have we pray all these things in jesus name and hear us now
[00:08:57] please as we pray together the prayer he taught his disciples our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our
[00:09:15] daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen our
[00:09:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:09:34] opening hymn is number 18 stand together as you sing please let us pray together somebody got here
[00:12:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:12:04] now our prayers for those in need around us uh we can start with ourselves we got need and we pray in thanksgiving for you how you have addressed our needs and are with us in our wants and needs
[00:12:21] we pray you would help us discern well how to pray for what to pray and appreciate how you have blessed us so that we may then go forth and be a blessing to other people
[00:12:41] to bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ to enable us in our plenty to see the hungry and thirsty, the sick and imprisoned, the lonely, the grieving, those folks listed in Matthew 25
[00:12:58] and other places in the Bible where we are called to be a blessing and to be generous and to love being generous.
[00:13:07] We pray for our ability to make a difference, to be salt and light and cause us to remember the way we carry the gospel, the way we share the gospel, the way we promote the teaching and living of the gospel through our church, through missionaries.
[00:13:32] I pray for Justin, Kristen, Rob, and Sandy in the church, here at Prospect, throughout the community of Bethel, Presbyterian Church is on our list today.
[00:13:43] Bless them, prosper them, use them as you have used them, and your church throughout the world.
[00:13:53] help us know that the gospel and the joy and the hope of the gospel is the great offering we have able this church to get it got to get the gospel out well to live it enable each one of us
[00:14:07] to live lives that draw people to you and have an enable us to have an explanation for the hope that's in us the other people are hard sometimes the other people are hard remind us that in our
[00:14:29] sin we pose our own difficulties to them and you we thank you that your grace makes our sin and difficulties as nothing and you overcome them and cover them help us forgive as we've been forgiven
[00:14:47] love as we've been loved thank you for not giving up on us when we were hard when we are hard when we will be hard holy spirit get that into us that that's who we are that's what the world needs to
[00:15:08] see that's what pleases you to be this kind of people enable us to be this kind of people that we might glorify you and that we might bring you honor blessing to the people around us and that
[00:15:22] our joy may be full convince us that living the life you want us to live listening to your word
[00:15:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:15:29] and promise will lead us to the joy fullness we seek we pray in jesus name amen thank you friends
[00:19:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:19:00] the children any children who would like are welcome to meet joy back in the in the in the front lobby to go to children's church and then while they're doing that our ushers will come
[00:19:11] forward to collect the morning offering as they do that we are all given opportunity to consider
[00:19:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:19:16] all our many blessings and how we may use them all in the service of our lord the primary scripture
[00:22:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:22:42] reading for the morning will be from the book of judges chapter 2 verses 10 to 20 before we read that i'm going to ease in with a couple of reminders from back when we used to go to church
[00:22:58] so you may or may not remember that where we left off we're working our way through the old testament israel is coming to the promised land we talked about joshua and deuteronomy so we're going to pick up in the book of judges we're going to do book of judges for about three
[00:23:16] weeks four weeks it's going to be a slog um the good news is you'll get about 375 380 years of biblical history knocked out not bad for a month and it's this kind of interval
[00:23:32] period for those of you who have vague recollection of American history class you know after the revolution was over the American Revolution ended it ended and then you celebrate the Constitution the Constitution came about about eight
[00:23:48] years after the Revolutionary War ended more or less and there was this interval period where this nation was under the rule of what was known as the Articles of Confederation which was a big sloppy mess. The book of Judges is Israel before
[00:24:03] the king which was a big sloppy mess and Israel was much better at being bad than as at least shows up in your American history books although I'm sure we were just as bad. Judges is a period of a big sloppy mess and we're gonna talk
[00:24:21] about that a little bit and so I want to read so we're gonna we got the printed material here on the on the screen and then I'm gonna have a couple of long readings from books that you've heard before I just want you to hear them
[00:24:34] they're not going to be printed for you and so here's what you have in Judges 2 so this is after Israel has come into the Promised Land Joshua as led Israel in the taking of the promised land and we have this these words and all that generation that's
[00:24:55] the generation that was part of the taking of the promised land were gathered to their fathers they died and there arose another generation after them who did not know the lord they knew who the
[00:25:07] lord was what that means is that that's that knowing that deep knowing they weren't committed to god he wasn't uh primary to them you know paul will talk about in philippians the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord they knew about God they didn't know God they didn't love
[00:25:25] God God was not intimately part of their lives that's what's going on they did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel they didn't remember the deliverance from Egypt they
[00:25:36] did not remember the deliverance through the wilderness they did not remember the taking of the promised land it's one of the reasons why we have communion regularly that we not be a generation or even go a month without remembering what jesus has done and the people of israel did
[00:25:55] what was evil in the sight of the lord and served the bales who are a set of pagan gods about whom we shall learn a little bit today so they served the pagan gods who were in the land that they
[00:26:09] that the canaanites the people who were left over that they worshiped the bales were about making sure you had a good crop which when you're a farmer is a pretty big deal they abandoned the
[00:26:21] lord the god of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of egypt they went after other gods from among the gods of the people who were around them and they bowed down to them and they provoked
[00:26:31] the lord to anger this is something that bothers us the idea that god is angry at us the new testament this is not just an old testament thing paul will talk in romans 12 about the wrath of god
[00:26:46] being revealed against us angry God being angry God judging they abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreth so Baal is a guy and he has a girlfriend named Ashtoreth okay so the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he gave them over to plunderers to
[00:27:17] other nations who came and oppressed them and took over their land or let them do their thing and came and took their crops and taxed them and oppressed them and ran them they ran israel
[00:27:31] the lord gave them over to plunderers who plundered them which is what plunderers do and he sold their land into the hand of their surrounding enemies so they could no longer withstand their enemies i thought god was on our side whenever they marched out the hand of the
[00:27:48] Lord was against them against them for harm as the Lord had warned and that's what we're going to read from Deuteronomy and Joshua as the Lord had warned and as the Lord had sworn to them and they
[00:28:02] were in terrible distress then the Lord raised up and this is a terrible translation but we're stuck with it because once a translation gets in there it just stays in there they're called judges what we think of judges we think of people who sit in courtrooms and settle internal
[00:28:20] internal disputes court cases laws etc what the what the what the hebrew word there is really better translated deliverers warlike leaders who deliver he raised up deliverers who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them yet they did not listen to their
[00:28:45] judges and they hoard which is a word you will see throughout the old testament when it talks about israel sinning it will use the language of adultery which we will talk about some today and at length as we go along but i would just like you to feel this okay here is how we think
[00:29:08] of sinning we think of sinning as beating the rules we think of sinning as you know having a radar detector and not getting caught speeding we think of sinning as you know learning the loopholes in the irs code god sees my sin and your sin as you and i committing adultery on him
[00:29:34] they whored after other gods and bowed down to them they soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked who would obey the commandments of the lord and they did not do so
[00:29:48] whenever the lord raised up deliverers judges for them the lord was with was with the judge and he saved them from out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge for the lord was moved by pity from their groaning it's the same word used when they're back there in
[00:30:05] israel and pharaoh is oppressing them they're oppressed they're groaning this stinks we are in trouble what the hebrew word does not connote is a whole lot of repentance god just hears them he feels sorry for them he takes care of them he delivers them gives them another chance
[00:30:23] the lord was moved by pity to their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed to them but whenever the judge died they turned back the book of judges is a 21 chapter cycle of
[00:30:37] we're in the land we're doing well we stray it's awful we get really off off the rails god sends a an oppressor to get our attention and then we groan and then he sends a deliverer and we pay
[00:30:51] attention to god for a while this we being israel and then we forget and we chase after other things and we whore after other gods.
[00:31:01] Israel does.
[00:31:03] And the cycle repeats multiple times in the book of Judges.
[00:31:06] It's a mess.
[00:31:08] Whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them.
[00:31:15] They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.
[00:31:19] So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he said, because this people have transgressed my covenant that I've commanded their fathers and they have not obeyed my voice.
[00:31:29] that is the reading of God's word for the morning let us pray together almighty and everlasting God we appreciate the word we pray now that your Holy Spirit the same Holy Spirit that inspired the recording of these words we pray
[00:31:43] he your Holy Spirit would now be in our hearts and minds and souls to teach us what the word has to say and would enable us to live as the word teaches focus us then not on our
[00:31:54] flesh but upon your body and our place in it we pray humbly in Jesus name Amen feeling a little stressed this morning several people have said sermon better be good you've had three weeks to work on it and as you know I can't call it I cannot comment on the quality
[00:32:21] of the content I can only comment on the quantity of the content you know that with one week I can I got quantities not an issue for me and so I am trying to behave we got communion my wife about
[00:32:35] every time that we drive home for communion service she says you know for communion you could cut it down a little bit all right you could you don't have to you could so i got all kinds of
[00:32:49] pressures all right i'm gonna do my best all right and so we're gonna lead off after that eight or ten minute bible reading with more bible reading all right so we read this thing that that the
[00:33:01] judges is going on and and god is sending these oppressors i thought god was supposed to keep the oppressors off of me God is sitting after they sin and sin and sin God is sending people
[00:33:11] to discipline them we're going to talk about this next week too going to break it up into two weeks I'm going to talk about he's disciplining them he's challenging them he's correcting them we do
[00:33:20] not like the concept that God uses what we call in psychology negative reinforcement we like that God uses positive reinforcement I love you I forgive you here's some blessing go do what's right. That's really what God majors in. That's what God spends most of his time doing. The Bible
[00:33:38] says that God uses negative reinforcement. We respond to negative reinforcement. We're going to break down all the details of negative reinforcement next week. In our reading today, it says he's brought these oppressors, he brought these correctors, he brought these challengers to
[00:33:53] Israel, just like I told you I would. Going to briefly summarize Deuteronomy 30, 15 through 20, if you'd like to read it you can he says this i've you're about to go into the promised land
[00:34:06] i've set before you life and death choose life but if you disobey i will send people and i will send people and i will get and they will they will mess with you and they will oppress you
[00:34:16] and they will bring my my judgment they will bring my anger they will bring my wrath god says likewise a couple decades later after joshua and the clearing of the land in joshua 23 and 24 he
[00:34:30] says choose this day whom you will serve we talked about that a few weeks ago as for me in my house we will serve the Lord all the people say we'll serve the Lord and Joshua says no when you get
[00:34:40] over there you're you're going to chase after other gods and you're going to be fine things more interesting and God's going to bring a challenge to you he's going to bring these other nations in there and they're going to discipline you and they are going to challenge you and they're
[00:34:53] going to get you back on track just like God promised they abandoned Yahweh our text for today says what does that mean they worshiped other gods what we have to understand is this this nice
[00:35:09] little hour that we do here this is one of the more important hours of my week hope it's one of the more important hours of your week i think that it is we call this worship and it is we worship
[00:35:20] god as we pray every sunday that we worship god with the way we live all week long what it means to worship something is to look to something for it to give you meaning for it to define the good
[00:35:34] life for you to be the thing in which you trust the thing in which you hope see all the humans worship all the humans look to a way of being or something to define the good life for them
[00:35:50] to trust to be loyal to this is what's going to make me happy this is what's going to bring me prosperity this is what's going to give me hope for the future that's what you worship what is
[00:36:03] specific to today's text and what is specific to the next several hundred years are these things called the Baals or the gods the pagan gods that that were in the land that Israel came to
[00:36:14] now this is the pg-13 rated portion of our sermon everybody goes oh okay cool all right here's what's interesting about the Baals as a representative of paganism in general we're going to read that you know for generation after generation into the second first and second
[00:36:35] samuel into first and second kings israel is leaving god to worship these other gods and they don't quite get it they don't remember the deliverance from from egypt they don't remember the wilderness they don't remember the promised land they're like the rest of us when things are
[00:36:52] good we forgot that it was ever bad that is a tendency of the human beings and we are looking for fewer demands put on us i would argue that one of the things that you were looking for in
[00:37:06] your life as you would like for there to be fewer demands put on us how do i make it easier here is the problem with god the father of our lord jesus christ here is the problem with yahweh the
[00:37:19] deliverer of israel he does not hesitate to put demands on you he gives you all kinds of cool things like the only life you're ever going to have and salvation from the pit of hell
[00:37:31] and all kinds of blessings he gives you all kinds of things but he is not afraid to put demands on you. When you sign up for God, the God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Yahweh, the
[00:37:44] deliverer of Israel, you sign up for a God who makes demands. Here's one of the perks of being a pagan. Here's one of the perks of worshiping the Baals or Aphrodite or Zeus or any of the pagan
[00:37:57] gods. They do not require that you serve them, that you get your whole life centered around them.
[00:38:06] that's what our god does they only require that you placate them bring me an offering every now and then and i will give you some specific things what the bales brought was a good crop bring me an offering i will bring you a good crop and here's what is interesting
[00:38:31] about paganism versus christianity paganism makes no moral demands on you complicate the god do whatever you want that is the god we are looking for in our human flesh that is the god we're looking for now here's the bonus here's the pg-13 section of the sermon today and i debated
[00:38:59] whether or not we're going to share this but you know what we really need to get it to get it there's bale and ash tart and in ancient pagan religion here's what you did you acted out what
[00:39:12] you wanted and so what they want is fertility of the land and fertility of the family and every now and then you will find in the old testament this expression cult prostitutes there's all kinds
[00:39:32] of warnings don't go to the cult prostitutes don't become none of your daughters shall become cult prostitutes here is what we know historically those of you who are at wednesday night bible study by any chance. The topic of we just can't have a church where people get up on the stage
[00:39:49] and dance naked. It's interesting how we got there. You should come. It's pretty fun. Eventually we got to the phrase, we can't just have a church where people get up on the stage and dance naked.
[00:40:02] And I said, oddly enough, that's going to come up in the sermon on Sunday. Here is what Baal worship was. It was a rave. If you don't know what that is, ask someone under 40 or look it up on the
[00:40:17] internet. It's a dancing thing where people are going on and it's very sexual. And all this thing about cult prostitutes, here was part of your religious obligation. Your religious obligation under Baalism was to go to the temple and pay a fee and have sex with a cult prostitute.
[00:40:37] one can imagine how this could be interesting to people I say this for us to get an understanding of that's how all pagan religions are they are coming to you creating a religion that you want that is interesting to you right I'm
[00:41:03] interested in something well advanced my career I'm interesting something that will give me more control and stuff I'm interested in that I'm interested in turning Christianity into something like that, where its primary job is to get me what I want.
[00:41:20] That's what Baalism was. That's why it's always so interesting to all of the people. That's why Israel keeps falling for it. It's easier. It's more directly satisfying. It's more directly rewarding. And it doesn't make any demands on us. When you show up and eat this bread and drink
[00:41:39] this cup what we're going to say is you're taking on all kinds of obligations and demand because you got this real god and this god gets mad when you cheat on him and that does not surprise us
[00:41:57] because when we love and somebody cheats on us in whatever way they lie about us they gossip about us they cheat on us it makes us angry that is how God has made love when we talk about the passion
[00:42:18] of God the passion of God that caused him to hear the groanings of his people and deliver them out of slavery and and the passion that caused him to go to the cross for us he passionately loves us
[00:42:32] and he passionately demands that we return it not when we get around to it not if it's convenient not if it doesn't cost too much not if it doesn't get in the way of these other things that i have
[00:42:45] in mind because that's what's going to bring me the good life and don't worry god you'll always be there that's how people who cheat feel about the loved object they'll always be there taken for granted things of that nature they did not know Yahweh they forgot Yahweh when you are in
[00:43:09] love with someone you want them to do two things the first thing you want is you want them to be more committed to us than they are to themselves that when you have a real friend when you have
[00:43:30] when you are married when you are in love what you want is for them to be more committed to us than they are to themselves that is exactly what God wants when he says I have loved you to hell
[00:43:45] and back and I'm offering you the privilege of loving and being loved by me but when you sign up to love God you sign up to love you and God more than you love you and the second thing God
[00:43:59] expects that you expect when you love someone is you know it's going to be hard and you want them to choose the hard of being faithful faithful to their promises faithful to the responsibilities faithful for to how hard it is to love somebody and that is exactly what god expects of us
[00:44:25] and israel what we are going to watch is that israel does not choose the hard and here's what we have to know about life life is not about choosing between hard and easy life is not about choosing between hard and easy life is about choosing between two hards
[00:44:53] let me give you an example or two it is hard to be responsible with your money it takes discipline and it is hard to be loose with your money eventually it is hard to be
[00:45:13] careful with your money and it will eventually be hard if you are loose with your money and life is not choose between hard and easy. Life is choose between those two hards. It is hard to
[00:45:23] keep up with your health. It is hard to keep up with your health. And it seems easy at first not to keep up with your health, but eventually it will be hard if you do that. Life is not a choice
[00:45:35] between hard and easy. Life is a choice between two hards. And we could go on and on and on and on and on about this. Christianity is not a choice. It's like Christianity looks hard. I think I'll
[00:45:50] take the easy road. Guess what the easy road leads to? Hard. What the gospel is about is your sin makes it hard. And Jesus Christ has come to the cross and absorbed the hard to give you the choice
[00:46:11] of the hard that will lead you to what you want. Israel over and over and over, we over and over and over, we see a consumer God. We see a God who gives us what we want. We see a God we can use to
[00:46:25] get what we want. We see a guy, hey, I'm looking for a God that doesn't make many demands upon me.
[00:46:30] You know, I'm looking for a God who doesn't restrict my impulses. I'm looking for a God who doesn't make other people's problems my problem. Love your neighbors, you love yourself. To get you out of hell is hard. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Father, if it be possible, let
[00:46:54] this cup pass from me. And he does it anyway. You know why? Because he passionately loves you.
[00:47:01] and he rightly expects and demands that you passionately love him back day after day after day when it's hard.
[00:47:19] And that is, we do this communion, we read about these people and say they forgot, they forgot, they forgot.
[00:47:26] They didn't know him. You know him.
[00:47:33] And we read this cycle of they sinned and they came back and they sinned and they came back and they sinned, they sinned and he kept chasing after them. Here's more gospel. You sin, I sin, and he keeps
[00:47:43] chasing after us. And he will keep chasing after us. And he says, actually, my way is less hard.
[00:47:56] Come unto all me who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Yoke up with me and we will work. But trust me, at the end of the day, it will be less hard. Are we smart enough to choose
[00:48:09] the one who loves us and commit to him are we smart enough to choose the correct hard that is the offer before each of us we see the crucified christ we see the risen christ we see the
[00:48:24] passionate love we see what we owe embrace what you owe the life and joy you're seeking is just on the other side of it and he will see you through to it let's pray together almighty
[00:48:49] an everlasting God. Follow then, please, the preaching of your word with the blessing of your Holy Spirit. And where if, because of human error in the preacher, there may have been something false or misleading in the preaching, cause that error to be quickly forgotten and do no harm.
[00:49:06] But if because of your grace working alone, there may have been some truth in the preaching, we pray your truth would be burned into our hearts and minds and souls that your truth might lead us in the everlasting way. We pray humbly in Jesus' name. Amen.
[00:49:24] Will the elders who are serving communion please join me at the front of the church.
[00:49:29] Friends, on the night that he was betrayed, Jesus was having a meal with his friends.
[00:50:27] And at that meal, he took the bread and he broke it.
[00:50:29] He said, this is my body, which is broken for you.
[00:50:32] Likewise, after supper, he took the cup and he poured it out.
[00:50:35] And he said, this is the cup of the new covenant, the cup that is in my blood.
[00:50:41] He reminded his disciples and us to eat of this bread and drink of this cup in remembrance of him.
[00:50:47] The Apostle Paul tells us that every time we eat the bread and drink of the cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until He comes again.
[00:50:54] And we proclaim our obedience.
[00:50:56] And we express our commitment to this Lord.
[00:51:01] The good news of the Gospel is not that there is no judgment.
[00:51:06] There is judgment.
[00:51:09] And frankly, judgment makes your life worthwhile.
[00:51:13] Judgment is saying your life matters, what you do matters.
[00:51:16] The great good news of the gospel is, even though we fail at times, Jesus Christ has taken the judgment, taken the penalty our sin deserves.
[00:51:27] He loves you that much so that you and I and anybody else who wants it may be part of his life today and in the eternal kingdom.
[00:51:37] You are incredibly loved and it is expected that you will love passionately and incredibly back.
[00:51:43] we come here to remember the motivation for our love that we were created out of nothing given the only life we're ever going to have saved from the penalty our sin deserved blessed promised hope forever
[00:51:58] so we come to recommit ourselves so let's pray Almighty God enable us each to take this supper in the right manner to do so requires that we acknowledge our need for a Savior and our willingness to follow the Lord
[00:52:21] Almighty God enable us to commit ourselves anew and afresh and to receive this supper in the right manner.
[00:52:33] We pray humbly through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
[00:52:37] Amen.
[00:52:40] Friends, everyone who would like to eat of this bread and drink of this cup is welcome to.
[00:52:45] Everyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is invited to do that.
[00:52:49] Just understand that if you do, you're making a profession of faith, renewing your commitment.
[00:52:55] There are responsibilities and privileges that come with that.
[00:52:58] You're taking on both.
[00:52:59] I'm going to let everyone get their own bread, please.
[00:53:04] This is the body of Christ which has been broken for you.
[00:56:08] Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me.
[00:56:10] The body of Christ which has been shed for you is the cup of the new covenant.
[00:59:27] You may have an everlasting relationship with a God who loves you this much because of your trust and commitment to live under the blood of Jesus Christ.
[00:59:37] Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me.
[00:59:48] Let us pray together.
[00:59:49] Almighty and Everlasting God, seal in our hearts and memories and in our consciousness and let it shape us every day.
[00:59:58] What you have done for us, the life you give, the blessing you give, the salvation you give, help us never forget.
[01:00:08] Keep it in the front of our minds.
[01:00:10] Let it shape us.
[01:00:13] We do not want to cycle into this forgetting, into this distraction.
[01:00:18] The world is busy.
[01:00:19] The world is distracting.
[01:00:21] sometimes our minds are going 100 miles an hour keep us on you cause us to know you will go with us in our work and in us in our families and in us in all we do
[01:00:33] and bless us and correct us help us be more committed to you and to our relationship to you than we are just to ourselves and help us trust that's what works best for ourselves help us embrace the hard
[01:00:52] trust that you're carrying the load that you who have begun a good work in us we'll see you to completion.
[01:01:04] Our life is our commitments.
[01:01:06] It's made up of our commitments.
[01:01:08] Help us commit to you first and cause us to trust the rest of our commitments with you.
[01:01:12] We pray humbly in Jesus' name.
[01:01:15] Amen.
[01:01:16] Thank you, friends.
[01:01:17] Let's stand together and sing our final hymn, please.
[01:01:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:01:19] One of the things that we are
[01:03:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:03:58] is we're consumers.
[01:04:00] That's how the world sees us.
[01:04:01] In time and ways, that's how we see ourselves.
[01:04:03] The pagan religions, the Baals, the religions you're going to encounter as we read through the Old Testament, they're consumer religions.
[01:04:11] come placate the god you'll get the crop you'll get the love you'll get the victory in war you'll get what you want come placate the god if you stay on the right side of the boss if you stay
[01:04:22] on the right side of the law if you stay on the right side of your conscience you do whatever you want those are the religions we create the religions that keep us in control we get us what
[01:04:34] we want that have the fewest demands that is not the jesus christ who came to get you he came and saved you comprehensively he came and saved the whole of you for all of eternity and he wants all
[01:04:48] of you for all of your life and beyond he came after you passionately he wants you to return to him passionately the great good news of the gospel is anybody who wants it can have it you will cycle
[01:05:01] into sin and you will keep being forgiven and this is the love and the life you've been looking for and this will lead you into the joy that lasts that you can look yourself in the mirror
[01:05:15] and God in the face go forth in this place in great joy and confidence you are forgiven and empowered by the work and spirit of Jesus Christ go have a great week and as you go may the Lord bless you and keep you
[01:05:31] the Lord cause his face to shine upon you the Lord lift up his countenance look upon you well and give you peace this day and forevermore Amen
[00:03:09] To worship this morning at Prospect Presbyterian Church, glad everybody's here.
[00:03:14] And as always, we pray this will be an opportunity for all of us to worship our Lord in spirit and in truth.
[00:03:20] The announcements and schedule are there for your consideration.
[00:03:24] A couple of things to note.
[00:03:27] I've been asked by the family, the lovely flowers, as noted in your bulletin, are in memory of Patricia Vaughn.
[00:03:34] that would be the the daughter of Helen Barber and her sister Elaine Trent so in in memory and honor uh honor honor of God in memory of Patricia Vaughn uh the Easter uh season program that we've
[00:03:49] been preparing for Concordia no practice there tonight for anyone interested in that but we'll pick up next week at Concordia the music work there and then the secret sister program kicking off the envelopes for everyone who signed up are down on the table down the
[00:04:09] table downstairs in the common area and also that will include the year's schedule as well the year's schedule as well so so that's the announcements Also, 2 o'clock today, 2 o'clock today, the shower for Hunter and Allie Setzer and their child, 2 to 4 today.
[00:04:32] So excited about that.
[00:04:34] Excited about that whole project.
[00:04:36] So, all good.
[00:04:38] That being said then, let us prepare our hearts and minds for the worship of our Lord.
[00:07:16] Let's pray together.
[00:07:18] Almighty God, what a great privilege to be in church, to be in your house.
[00:07:25] Set the week for us today.
[00:07:27] first day of the week we come to celebrate the resurrection of jesus christ set the week for us that we might be primarily interested in what you want us to be and who you what you want us to do
[00:07:39] and reflect you and serve you wherever we are we thank you for our families we thank you for our work we thank you for the variety of things we get to do and be a part of each each day each
[00:07:51] week it all flows from you help us serve and obey you feel your joy trust your way and all we do so we've come to worship you to show you our loyalty to pledge our devotion to you
[00:08:10] to learn from you what the good is and the good life is and how to chase after it we've come for mercy we come for wisdom holy spirit grant all these as you are with us we ask humbly in this
[00:08:25] hour of worship and throughout the week have mercy on us in our sin forgive us enable us to leave the guilt of that at the cross and move forward freer and without that weight help us forgive as we've
[00:08:44] been forgiven help us love you with all we got and our neighbors we love ourselves to show our gratitude for the life and hope we have we pray all these things in jesus name and hear us now
[00:08:57] please as we pray together the prayer he taught his disciples our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our
[00:09:15] daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever amen our
[00:09:34] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:09:34] opening hymn is number 18 stand together as you sing please let us pray together somebody got here
[00:12:04] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:12:04] now our prayers for those in need around us uh we can start with ourselves we got need and we pray in thanksgiving for you how you have addressed our needs and are with us in our wants and needs
[00:12:21] we pray you would help us discern well how to pray for what to pray and appreciate how you have blessed us so that we may then go forth and be a blessing to other people
[00:12:41] to bear one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ to enable us in our plenty to see the hungry and thirsty, the sick and imprisoned, the lonely, the grieving, those folks listed in Matthew 25
[00:12:58] and other places in the Bible where we are called to be a blessing and to be generous and to love being generous.
[00:13:07] We pray for our ability to make a difference, to be salt and light and cause us to remember the way we carry the gospel, the way we share the gospel, the way we promote the teaching and living of the gospel through our church, through missionaries.
[00:13:32] I pray for Justin, Kristen, Rob, and Sandy in the church, here at Prospect, throughout the community of Bethel, Presbyterian Church is on our list today.
[00:13:43] Bless them, prosper them, use them as you have used them, and your church throughout the world.
[00:13:53] help us know that the gospel and the joy and the hope of the gospel is the great offering we have able this church to get it got to get the gospel out well to live it enable each one of us
[00:14:07] to live lives that draw people to you and have an enable us to have an explanation for the hope that's in us the other people are hard sometimes the other people are hard remind us that in our
[00:14:29] sin we pose our own difficulties to them and you we thank you that your grace makes our sin and difficulties as nothing and you overcome them and cover them help us forgive as we've been forgiven
[00:14:47] love as we've been loved thank you for not giving up on us when we were hard when we are hard when we will be hard holy spirit get that into us that that's who we are that's what the world needs to
[00:15:08] see that's what pleases you to be this kind of people enable us to be this kind of people that we might glorify you and that we might bring you honor blessing to the people around us and that
[00:15:22] our joy may be full convince us that living the life you want us to live listening to your word
[00:15:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:15:29] and promise will lead us to the joy fullness we seek we pray in jesus name amen thank you friends
[00:19:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:19:00] the children any children who would like are welcome to meet joy back in the in the in the front lobby to go to children's church and then while they're doing that our ushers will come
[00:19:11] forward to collect the morning offering as they do that we are all given opportunity to consider
[00:19:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:19:16] all our many blessings and how we may use them all in the service of our lord the primary scripture
[00:22:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:22:42] reading for the morning will be from the book of judges chapter 2 verses 10 to 20 before we read that i'm going to ease in with a couple of reminders from back when we used to go to church
[00:22:58] so you may or may not remember that where we left off we're working our way through the old testament israel is coming to the promised land we talked about joshua and deuteronomy so we're going to pick up in the book of judges we're going to do book of judges for about three
[00:23:16] weeks four weeks it's going to be a slog um the good news is you'll get about 375 380 years of biblical history knocked out not bad for a month and it's this kind of interval
[00:23:32] period for those of you who have vague recollection of American history class you know after the revolution was over the American Revolution ended it ended and then you celebrate the Constitution the Constitution came about about eight
[00:23:48] years after the Revolutionary War ended more or less and there was this interval period where this nation was under the rule of what was known as the Articles of Confederation which was a big sloppy mess. The book of Judges is Israel before
[00:24:03] the king which was a big sloppy mess and Israel was much better at being bad than as at least shows up in your American history books although I'm sure we were just as bad. Judges is a period of a big sloppy mess and we're gonna talk
[00:24:21] about that a little bit and so I want to read so we're gonna we got the printed material here on the on the screen and then I'm gonna have a couple of long readings from books that you've heard before I just want you to hear them
[00:24:34] they're not going to be printed for you and so here's what you have in Judges 2 so this is after Israel has come into the Promised Land Joshua as led Israel in the taking of the promised land and we have this these words and all that generation that's
[00:24:55] the generation that was part of the taking of the promised land were gathered to their fathers they died and there arose another generation after them who did not know the lord they knew who the
[00:25:07] lord was what that means is that that's that knowing that deep knowing they weren't committed to god he wasn't uh primary to them you know paul will talk about in philippians the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord they knew about God they didn't know God they didn't love
[00:25:25] God God was not intimately part of their lives that's what's going on they did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel they didn't remember the deliverance from Egypt they
[00:25:36] did not remember the deliverance through the wilderness they did not remember the taking of the promised land it's one of the reasons why we have communion regularly that we not be a generation or even go a month without remembering what jesus has done and the people of israel did
[00:25:55] what was evil in the sight of the lord and served the bales who are a set of pagan gods about whom we shall learn a little bit today so they served the pagan gods who were in the land that they
[00:26:09] that the canaanites the people who were left over that they worshiped the bales were about making sure you had a good crop which when you're a farmer is a pretty big deal they abandoned the
[00:26:21] lord the god of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of egypt they went after other gods from among the gods of the people who were around them and they bowed down to them and they provoked
[00:26:31] the lord to anger this is something that bothers us the idea that god is angry at us the new testament this is not just an old testament thing paul will talk in romans 12 about the wrath of god
[00:26:46] being revealed against us angry God being angry God judging they abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtoreth so Baal is a guy and he has a girlfriend named Ashtoreth okay so the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he gave them over to plunderers to
[00:27:17] other nations who came and oppressed them and took over their land or let them do their thing and came and took their crops and taxed them and oppressed them and ran them they ran israel
[00:27:31] the lord gave them over to plunderers who plundered them which is what plunderers do and he sold their land into the hand of their surrounding enemies so they could no longer withstand their enemies i thought god was on our side whenever they marched out the hand of the
[00:27:48] Lord was against them against them for harm as the Lord had warned and that's what we're going to read from Deuteronomy and Joshua as the Lord had warned and as the Lord had sworn to them and they
[00:28:02] were in terrible distress then the Lord raised up and this is a terrible translation but we're stuck with it because once a translation gets in there it just stays in there they're called judges what we think of judges we think of people who sit in courtrooms and settle internal
[00:28:20] internal disputes court cases laws etc what the what the what the hebrew word there is really better translated deliverers warlike leaders who deliver he raised up deliverers who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them yet they did not listen to their
[00:28:45] judges and they hoard which is a word you will see throughout the old testament when it talks about israel sinning it will use the language of adultery which we will talk about some today and at length as we go along but i would just like you to feel this okay here is how we think
[00:29:08] of sinning we think of sinning as beating the rules we think of sinning as you know having a radar detector and not getting caught speeding we think of sinning as you know learning the loopholes in the irs code god sees my sin and your sin as you and i committing adultery on him
[00:29:34] they whored after other gods and bowed down to them they soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked who would obey the commandments of the lord and they did not do so
[00:29:48] whenever the lord raised up deliverers judges for them the lord was with was with the judge and he saved them from out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge for the lord was moved by pity from their groaning it's the same word used when they're back there in
[00:30:05] israel and pharaoh is oppressing them they're oppressed they're groaning this stinks we are in trouble what the hebrew word does not connote is a whole lot of repentance god just hears them he feels sorry for them he takes care of them he delivers them gives them another chance
[00:30:23] the lord was moved by pity to their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed to them but whenever the judge died they turned back the book of judges is a 21 chapter cycle of
[00:30:37] we're in the land we're doing well we stray it's awful we get really off off the rails god sends a an oppressor to get our attention and then we groan and then he sends a deliverer and we pay
[00:30:51] attention to god for a while this we being israel and then we forget and we chase after other things and we whore after other gods.
[00:31:01] Israel does.
[00:31:03] And the cycle repeats multiple times in the book of Judges.
[00:31:06] It's a mess.
[00:31:08] Whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them.
[00:31:15] They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.
[00:31:19] So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he said, because this people have transgressed my covenant that I've commanded their fathers and they have not obeyed my voice.
[00:31:29] that is the reading of God's word for the morning let us pray together almighty and everlasting God we appreciate the word we pray now that your Holy Spirit the same Holy Spirit that inspired the recording of these words we pray
[00:31:43] he your Holy Spirit would now be in our hearts and minds and souls to teach us what the word has to say and would enable us to live as the word teaches focus us then not on our
[00:31:54] flesh but upon your body and our place in it we pray humbly in Jesus name Amen feeling a little stressed this morning several people have said sermon better be good you've had three weeks to work on it and as you know I can't call it I cannot comment on the quality
[00:32:21] of the content I can only comment on the quantity of the content you know that with one week I can I got quantities not an issue for me and so I am trying to behave we got communion my wife about
[00:32:35] every time that we drive home for communion service she says you know for communion you could cut it down a little bit all right you could you don't have to you could so i got all kinds of
[00:32:49] pressures all right i'm gonna do my best all right and so we're gonna lead off after that eight or ten minute bible reading with more bible reading all right so we read this thing that that the
[00:33:01] judges is going on and and god is sending these oppressors i thought god was supposed to keep the oppressors off of me God is sitting after they sin and sin and sin God is sending people
[00:33:11] to discipline them we're going to talk about this next week too going to break it up into two weeks I'm going to talk about he's disciplining them he's challenging them he's correcting them we do
[00:33:20] not like the concept that God uses what we call in psychology negative reinforcement we like that God uses positive reinforcement I love you I forgive you here's some blessing go do what's right. That's really what God majors in. That's what God spends most of his time doing. The Bible
[00:33:38] says that God uses negative reinforcement. We respond to negative reinforcement. We're going to break down all the details of negative reinforcement next week. In our reading today, it says he's brought these oppressors, he brought these correctors, he brought these challengers to
[00:33:53] Israel, just like I told you I would. Going to briefly summarize Deuteronomy 30, 15 through 20, if you'd like to read it you can he says this i've you're about to go into the promised land
[00:34:06] i've set before you life and death choose life but if you disobey i will send people and i will send people and i will get and they will they will mess with you and they will oppress you
[00:34:16] and they will bring my my judgment they will bring my anger they will bring my wrath god says likewise a couple decades later after joshua and the clearing of the land in joshua 23 and 24 he
[00:34:30] says choose this day whom you will serve we talked about that a few weeks ago as for me in my house we will serve the Lord all the people say we'll serve the Lord and Joshua says no when you get
[00:34:40] over there you're you're going to chase after other gods and you're going to be fine things more interesting and God's going to bring a challenge to you he's going to bring these other nations in there and they're going to discipline you and they are going to challenge you and they're
[00:34:53] going to get you back on track just like God promised they abandoned Yahweh our text for today says what does that mean they worshiped other gods what we have to understand is this this nice
[00:35:09] little hour that we do here this is one of the more important hours of my week hope it's one of the more important hours of your week i think that it is we call this worship and it is we worship
[00:35:20] god as we pray every sunday that we worship god with the way we live all week long what it means to worship something is to look to something for it to give you meaning for it to define the good
[00:35:34] life for you to be the thing in which you trust the thing in which you hope see all the humans worship all the humans look to a way of being or something to define the good life for them
[00:35:50] to trust to be loyal to this is what's going to make me happy this is what's going to bring me prosperity this is what's going to give me hope for the future that's what you worship what is
[00:36:03] specific to today's text and what is specific to the next several hundred years are these things called the Baals or the gods the pagan gods that that were in the land that Israel came to
[00:36:14] now this is the pg-13 rated portion of our sermon everybody goes oh okay cool all right here's what's interesting about the Baals as a representative of paganism in general we're going to read that you know for generation after generation into the second first and second
[00:36:35] samuel into first and second kings israel is leaving god to worship these other gods and they don't quite get it they don't remember the deliverance from from egypt they don't remember the wilderness they don't remember the promised land they're like the rest of us when things are
[00:36:52] good we forgot that it was ever bad that is a tendency of the human beings and we are looking for fewer demands put on us i would argue that one of the things that you were looking for in
[00:37:06] your life as you would like for there to be fewer demands put on us how do i make it easier here is the problem with god the father of our lord jesus christ here is the problem with yahweh the
[00:37:19] deliverer of israel he does not hesitate to put demands on you he gives you all kinds of cool things like the only life you're ever going to have and salvation from the pit of hell
[00:37:31] and all kinds of blessings he gives you all kinds of things but he is not afraid to put demands on you. When you sign up for God, the God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Yahweh, the
[00:37:44] deliverer of Israel, you sign up for a God who makes demands. Here's one of the perks of being a pagan. Here's one of the perks of worshiping the Baals or Aphrodite or Zeus or any of the pagan
[00:37:57] gods. They do not require that you serve them, that you get your whole life centered around them.
[00:38:06] that's what our god does they only require that you placate them bring me an offering every now and then and i will give you some specific things what the bales brought was a good crop bring me an offering i will bring you a good crop and here's what is interesting
[00:38:31] about paganism versus christianity paganism makes no moral demands on you complicate the god do whatever you want that is the god we are looking for in our human flesh that is the god we're looking for now here's the bonus here's the pg-13 section of the sermon today and i debated
[00:38:59] whether or not we're going to share this but you know what we really need to get it to get it there's bale and ash tart and in ancient pagan religion here's what you did you acted out what
[00:39:12] you wanted and so what they want is fertility of the land and fertility of the family and every now and then you will find in the old testament this expression cult prostitutes there's all kinds
[00:39:32] of warnings don't go to the cult prostitutes don't become none of your daughters shall become cult prostitutes here is what we know historically those of you who are at wednesday night bible study by any chance. The topic of we just can't have a church where people get up on the stage
[00:39:49] and dance naked. It's interesting how we got there. You should come. It's pretty fun. Eventually we got to the phrase, we can't just have a church where people get up on the stage and dance naked.
[00:40:02] And I said, oddly enough, that's going to come up in the sermon on Sunday. Here is what Baal worship was. It was a rave. If you don't know what that is, ask someone under 40 or look it up on the
[00:40:17] internet. It's a dancing thing where people are going on and it's very sexual. And all this thing about cult prostitutes, here was part of your religious obligation. Your religious obligation under Baalism was to go to the temple and pay a fee and have sex with a cult prostitute.
[00:40:37] one can imagine how this could be interesting to people I say this for us to get an understanding of that's how all pagan religions are they are coming to you creating a religion that you want that is interesting to you right I'm
[00:41:03] interested in something well advanced my career I'm interesting something that will give me more control and stuff I'm interested in that I'm interested in turning Christianity into something like that, where its primary job is to get me what I want.
[00:41:20] That's what Baalism was. That's why it's always so interesting to all of the people. That's why Israel keeps falling for it. It's easier. It's more directly satisfying. It's more directly rewarding. And it doesn't make any demands on us. When you show up and eat this bread and drink
[00:41:39] this cup what we're going to say is you're taking on all kinds of obligations and demand because you got this real god and this god gets mad when you cheat on him and that does not surprise us
[00:41:57] because when we love and somebody cheats on us in whatever way they lie about us they gossip about us they cheat on us it makes us angry that is how God has made love when we talk about the passion
[00:42:18] of God the passion of God that caused him to hear the groanings of his people and deliver them out of slavery and and the passion that caused him to go to the cross for us he passionately loves us
[00:42:32] and he passionately demands that we return it not when we get around to it not if it's convenient not if it doesn't cost too much not if it doesn't get in the way of these other things that i have
[00:42:45] in mind because that's what's going to bring me the good life and don't worry god you'll always be there that's how people who cheat feel about the loved object they'll always be there taken for granted things of that nature they did not know Yahweh they forgot Yahweh when you are in
[00:43:09] love with someone you want them to do two things the first thing you want is you want them to be more committed to us than they are to themselves that when you have a real friend when you have
[00:43:30] when you are married when you are in love what you want is for them to be more committed to us than they are to themselves that is exactly what God wants when he says I have loved you to hell
[00:43:45] and back and I'm offering you the privilege of loving and being loved by me but when you sign up to love God you sign up to love you and God more than you love you and the second thing God
[00:43:59] expects that you expect when you love someone is you know it's going to be hard and you want them to choose the hard of being faithful faithful to their promises faithful to the responsibilities faithful for to how hard it is to love somebody and that is exactly what god expects of us
[00:44:25] and israel what we are going to watch is that israel does not choose the hard and here's what we have to know about life life is not about choosing between hard and easy life is not about choosing between hard and easy life is about choosing between two hards
[00:44:53] let me give you an example or two it is hard to be responsible with your money it takes discipline and it is hard to be loose with your money eventually it is hard to be
[00:45:13] careful with your money and it will eventually be hard if you are loose with your money and life is not choose between hard and easy. Life is choose between those two hards. It is hard to
[00:45:23] keep up with your health. It is hard to keep up with your health. And it seems easy at first not to keep up with your health, but eventually it will be hard if you do that. Life is not a choice
[00:45:35] between hard and easy. Life is a choice between two hards. And we could go on and on and on and on and on about this. Christianity is not a choice. It's like Christianity looks hard. I think I'll
[00:45:50] take the easy road. Guess what the easy road leads to? Hard. What the gospel is about is your sin makes it hard. And Jesus Christ has come to the cross and absorbed the hard to give you the choice
[00:46:11] of the hard that will lead you to what you want. Israel over and over and over, we over and over and over, we see a consumer God. We see a God who gives us what we want. We see a God we can use to
[00:46:25] get what we want. We see a guy, hey, I'm looking for a God that doesn't make many demands upon me.
[00:46:30] You know, I'm looking for a God who doesn't restrict my impulses. I'm looking for a God who doesn't make other people's problems my problem. Love your neighbors, you love yourself. To get you out of hell is hard. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Father, if it be possible, let
[00:46:54] this cup pass from me. And he does it anyway. You know why? Because he passionately loves you.
[00:47:01] and he rightly expects and demands that you passionately love him back day after day after day when it's hard.
[00:47:19] And that is, we do this communion, we read about these people and say they forgot, they forgot, they forgot.
[00:47:26] They didn't know him. You know him.
[00:47:33] And we read this cycle of they sinned and they came back and they sinned and they came back and they sinned, they sinned and he kept chasing after them. Here's more gospel. You sin, I sin, and he keeps
[00:47:43] chasing after us. And he will keep chasing after us. And he says, actually, my way is less hard.
[00:47:56] Come unto all me who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Yoke up with me and we will work. But trust me, at the end of the day, it will be less hard. Are we smart enough to choose
[00:48:09] the one who loves us and commit to him are we smart enough to choose the correct hard that is the offer before each of us we see the crucified christ we see the risen christ we see the
[00:48:24] passionate love we see what we owe embrace what you owe the life and joy you're seeking is just on the other side of it and he will see you through to it let's pray together almighty
[00:48:49] an everlasting God. Follow then, please, the preaching of your word with the blessing of your Holy Spirit. And where if, because of human error in the preacher, there may have been something false or misleading in the preaching, cause that error to be quickly forgotten and do no harm.
[00:49:06] But if because of your grace working alone, there may have been some truth in the preaching, we pray your truth would be burned into our hearts and minds and souls that your truth might lead us in the everlasting way. We pray humbly in Jesus' name. Amen.
[00:49:24] Will the elders who are serving communion please join me at the front of the church.
[00:49:29] Friends, on the night that he was betrayed, Jesus was having a meal with his friends.
[00:50:27] And at that meal, he took the bread and he broke it.
[00:50:29] He said, this is my body, which is broken for you.
[00:50:32] Likewise, after supper, he took the cup and he poured it out.
[00:50:35] And he said, this is the cup of the new covenant, the cup that is in my blood.
[00:50:41] He reminded his disciples and us to eat of this bread and drink of this cup in remembrance of him.
[00:50:47] The Apostle Paul tells us that every time we eat the bread and drink of the cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until He comes again.
[00:50:54] And we proclaim our obedience.
[00:50:56] And we express our commitment to this Lord.
[00:51:01] The good news of the Gospel is not that there is no judgment.
[00:51:06] There is judgment.
[00:51:09] And frankly, judgment makes your life worthwhile.
[00:51:13] Judgment is saying your life matters, what you do matters.
[00:51:16] The great good news of the gospel is, even though we fail at times, Jesus Christ has taken the judgment, taken the penalty our sin deserves.
[00:51:27] He loves you that much so that you and I and anybody else who wants it may be part of his life today and in the eternal kingdom.
[00:51:37] You are incredibly loved and it is expected that you will love passionately and incredibly back.
[00:51:43] we come here to remember the motivation for our love that we were created out of nothing given the only life we're ever going to have saved from the penalty our sin deserved blessed promised hope forever
[00:51:58] so we come to recommit ourselves so let's pray Almighty God enable us each to take this supper in the right manner to do so requires that we acknowledge our need for a Savior and our willingness to follow the Lord
[00:52:21] Almighty God enable us to commit ourselves anew and afresh and to receive this supper in the right manner.
[00:52:33] We pray humbly through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
[00:52:37] Amen.
[00:52:40] Friends, everyone who would like to eat of this bread and drink of this cup is welcome to.
[00:52:45] Everyone who professes Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is invited to do that.
[00:52:49] Just understand that if you do, you're making a profession of faith, renewing your commitment.
[00:52:55] There are responsibilities and privileges that come with that.
[00:52:58] You're taking on both.
[00:52:59] I'm going to let everyone get their own bread, please.
[00:53:04] This is the body of Christ which has been broken for you.
[00:56:08] Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me.
[00:56:10] The body of Christ which has been shed for you is the cup of the new covenant.
[00:59:27] You may have an everlasting relationship with a God who loves you this much because of your trust and commitment to live under the blood of Jesus Christ.
[00:59:37] Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me.
[00:59:48] Let us pray together.
[00:59:49] Almighty and Everlasting God, seal in our hearts and memories and in our consciousness and let it shape us every day.
[00:59:58] What you have done for us, the life you give, the blessing you give, the salvation you give, help us never forget.
[01:00:08] Keep it in the front of our minds.
[01:00:10] Let it shape us.
[01:00:13] We do not want to cycle into this forgetting, into this distraction.
[01:00:18] The world is busy.
[01:00:19] The world is distracting.
[01:00:21] sometimes our minds are going 100 miles an hour keep us on you cause us to know you will go with us in our work and in us in our families and in us in all we do
[01:00:33] and bless us and correct us help us be more committed to you and to our relationship to you than we are just to ourselves and help us trust that's what works best for ourselves help us embrace the hard
[01:00:52] trust that you're carrying the load that you who have begun a good work in us we'll see you to completion.
[01:01:04] Our life is our commitments.
[01:01:06] It's made up of our commitments.
[01:01:08] Help us commit to you first and cause us to trust the rest of our commitments with you.
[01:01:12] We pray humbly in Jesus' name.
[01:01:15] Amen.
[01:01:16] Thank you, friends.
[01:01:17] Let's stand together and sing our final hymn, please.
[01:01:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:01:19] One of the things that we are
[01:03:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[01:03:58] is we're consumers.
[01:04:00] That's how the world sees us.
[01:04:01] In time and ways, that's how we see ourselves.
[01:04:03] The pagan religions, the Baals, the religions you're going to encounter as we read through the Old Testament, they're consumer religions.
[01:04:11] come placate the god you'll get the crop you'll get the love you'll get the victory in war you'll get what you want come placate the god if you stay on the right side of the boss if you stay
[01:04:22] on the right side of the law if you stay on the right side of your conscience you do whatever you want those are the religions we create the religions that keep us in control we get us what
[01:04:34] we want that have the fewest demands that is not the jesus christ who came to get you he came and saved you comprehensively he came and saved the whole of you for all of eternity and he wants all
[01:04:48] of you for all of your life and beyond he came after you passionately he wants you to return to him passionately the great good news of the gospel is anybody who wants it can have it you will cycle
[01:05:01] into sin and you will keep being forgiven and this is the love and the life you've been looking for and this will lead you into the joy that lasts that you can look yourself in the mirror
[01:05:15] and God in the face go forth in this place in great joy and confidence you are forgiven and empowered by the work and spirit of Jesus Christ go have a great week and as you go may the Lord bless you and keep you
[01:05:31] the Lord cause his face to shine upon you the Lord lift up his countenance look upon you well and give you peace this day and forevermore Amen
