Text: Judges 19:1-21:25

 

We live and work among a great variety of gods—not only those of other formal religions but also the gods of wealth celebrity pleasure ideology achievement. Our era can be characterized by the phrase which sums up the book of Judges: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25 ESV).

The era of the Judges was a time when God’s people daily faced the choice between looking to God as their Lord or following the spirit and preferences of their age. The book of Judges shows us that the Bible is not a “Book of Virtues”; it is not full of inspirational stories. It is about a God of mercy and long-suffering who continually works in and through us despite our constant resistance to his purposes. Ultimately there is only one hero in this book and he’s divine.

So what are the main themes—or we might say truths about God—that the writer of Judges wants us to learn and live by? Here are six…

– God relentlessly offers his grace to people who do not deserve it or seek it or even appreciate it after they have been saved by it.
– God wants lordship over every area of our lives not just some.
– There is a tension between grace and law between conditionality and unconditionality.
– There is a need for continual spiritual renewal in our lives here on earth and a way to make that a reality.
– We need a true Savior to which all human saviors point through both their flaws and strengths.
– God is in charge no matter what it looks like.