Repent! For the Lord is at hand.

 

And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart.  --Genesis 6:6

A contronym is a word that has two meanings that are opposite or nearly opposite.  An example is cleave; it can mean tear apart, and it can mean attach oneself to.  Genesis 2:24 says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast (KJV: "cleave") to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."  A lot of marriage ceremonies quote Matthew 19:6, which says, "What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."  The verse could be paraphrased, "What God has cleaved together let no man cleave apart."

In my study of 1 Samuel 15 I discovered a Hebrew antonym in the word translated repent.  Now I am not a Hebrew scholar by any means, but in Strong's Definitions we find that the Hebrew word nāḥam can mean "to be grieved" or it can also mean "to be consoled" or "comforted."

Let's come back to that.

1 Samuel 13 recounts the first major conflict between Samuel, the prophet of God, and Saul, the first king of Israel.  It was when Samuel had instructed Saul to wait for him 7 days before going to war against the Philistines.  Saul saw that the Philistine army grew day by day, and he was getting pretty nervous.  On the seventh day Samuel was late.  Since he was not there, Saul offered a sacrifice so that they would be blessed in the battle.  As soon as the sacrifice was done, Samuel showed up and chided Saul for taking it upon himself.  God would not accept Saul's sacrifice for a number of reasons: he had disobeyed the word of the Lord given by Samuel; he was not authorized to offer sacrifices (Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin, so he was not a Levite); Saul had offered the sacrifice, not as an act of worship that might invoke the blessing of God, but rather as a superstitious ritual designed to bring good luck.

The second conflict between Samuel and Saul is in chapter 15, which is the focus of our study today.  The word of the Lord came through Samuel, who told Saul that when he went up against another enemy, the Amalekites, he was to give them over to destruction. "Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have.  Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. (verse 3)"  The wickedness of Amalek was so great that God was done with them, and commanded Saul to destroy them completely.

God did give the army of Israel victory over the Amalekites.  However, Saul did not utterly destroy them.  "But Saul and the people spared Agag (the King of Amalek) and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them.  All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction. (verse 9)"  Saul took it upon himself to decide what was worthless, and everything else he counted as spoils of war.

The word of the Lord came to Samuel: "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.  And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning.  And it was told to Samuel, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal."  And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed be you to the Lord.  I have performed the commandment of the Lord."  And Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of oxen that I hear?"  (1 Samuel 15:10-14)

Turning Away

Note the complete turning away of Saul in the passage.  "he has turned back from following Me."   Instead of giving God the glory, "he set up a monument to himself."  When Samuel confronted him, Saul lied: "I have performed the command of the Lord."  Sin gives way to sin.  When you have to lie to cover up a sin, the sin is compounded.  Sinning against the Lord is equal to setting yourself up as the supreme being, the one who has the last word.

Setting himself up as a god, Saul erected a monument to himself.  But even before that, he had decided that there was some good in the Amalekites.  He spared their king, perhaps wanting to make him a servant in Saul's court, so that all could see how great Saul was.  He spared the best of the animals, then tried to cover his sin--when Samuel asked how he could hear the sounds of the animals, Saul said, "The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction. (verse 15)"  Again with the lies.  "Then Samuel said to Saul, 'Stop!  I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.'  And he (Saul) said to him, 'Speak'. (verse 16).

Samuel went on to tell Saul that God regretted making him king.  God had turned away from Saul.  If only Saul had been obedient, God might have made him a dynasty.  Instead, Saul made his own sacrifice before the battle with the Philistines (chapter 13) and now in chapter 15 he lies to Samuel again, saying that he had intended to sacrifice the sheep and oxen to the Lord.  God will not accept a sacrifice that He Himself did not command, or one that is given in disobedience to His express will.  "And Samuel said, 'Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen that the fat of rams.' (verse 22)."

Repentance

Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.  Now therefore please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord."  And Samuel said, "I will not return with you.  For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel."  As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore.  And Samuel said to him, "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor or yours, who is better than you.  And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for He is not a man, that He should have regret."  --1 Samuel 15:24-29

Saul said he was sorry, but then gave excuses.  I have sinned, he said, but it was because I feared the people.  Saul was king, for goodness sake.  Whatever he told the people, they would do; and if they disobeyed, then the sin would be on them, not on Saul.  Any time we say, "I'm sorry, but..." that is a false repentance.  "I'm sorry, but it's not my fault."  Yes, actually, it is.

Saul said he repented, but did nothing to show it.  Jesus said in Matthew 3:8 that we should "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance."  When Paul was making his case to King Agrippa, he said he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, "but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance."  God doesn't want lip service.  He expects our actions to show new motivation.  A new motivation leads to new motions.  Matthew 7:20 says, "Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."

It was Samuel, not Saul, who killed Agag the king of the Amalekites.  Samuel said (in verse 33), "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women."  Agag probably had participated in child sacrifice, which the Bible says God did not command "nor did it ever enter His mind." (Jeremiah 19:5).  Today we do not burn children on an altar to an idol, but we do condone child sacrifice in utero, sacrificing children to the god of convenience.  People, we need to repent.

Jesus commanded us to "take up our cross daily" and follow Him.  We need to repent every day, because we sin every day.

God is our example

So how do we reconcile verse 29, which says "(God) is not a man, that he should repent (or have regret)", and verse 35 where it says, "And the Lord repented (regretted) that He had made Saul king over Israel"?  God does not sin, so why would He repent?

This is where the lesson in language can be helpful.  Remember we said that the Hebrew word for "repent" or "regret" was nāḥam?  It can mean to be sorry, to rue, to repent, to suffer grief.  It is helpful to remind ourselves that God suffers grief from our sin, not His own.  He comforts Himself, or consoles Himself or eases His own discomfort by finding another way.  In this case He called David to be the next king; David was one who was called "a man after God's own heart."  David showed the fruit of repentance when he messed up, and did not just give lip service like Saul did.

This Hebrew contronym that we translate as regret or repentance can be evident in our lives as well.  When we have sinned, our grief and sorrow is almost unbearable.  When we repent, we experience relief.  Many people testify that when they turned from their sins, the weight of the world was lifted off their shoulders.

I think God put these verses in our Bible, the ones that say He repented, to be our example.  Not that He had sinned, but that He had turned to a different way.  Exodus 32:14 says, "And the Lord relented (or repented) from the disaster that He had spoken of bringing on His people."  In that case, He had pronounced judgement on the people of Israel for their sin.  When they repented, He relented.  It is the same with us: when we repent, He will relent.  

Will Lamrtine Thompson (1847 - 1909) wrote the words to the hymn "Softly and Tenderly".  In it is this line: "Though we have sinned He has mercy and pardon, pardon for you and for me."  We are weighted down by sin, and it grieves God.  Our sorrowful repentance causes Him to joyfully relent, producing consolation for both Him and us.  No wonder "there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10).

 

 

Birth announcements and promises fulfilled

 

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign.  Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.  --Isaiah 7:14

How do you feel when you receive a birth announcement in the mail?  Are you overjoyed for the mother-to-be?  Are you amazed at the miracle of birth itself?  Or are you in awe of how the lives of the young parents will be changed?  Perhaps you recall your own experience of pregnancy and childbirth, or maybe you were not able to have children of your own; in either case, the emotions that well up can be overwhelming for some.  For others, they count it all joy when they recall experiencing the baby's first steps or his first words.

We know that Jesus had a very special birth announcement, which came even before He was conceived.  Scripture tells us that the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary with the news that she would fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, that "a virgin would conceive and bear a son, and His name shall be called Immanuel, meaning God with us."  Further, she was told her child would be the Child of Promise as foretold in Genesis 18, during the birth announcement to Abraham and Sarah of their son Isaac.

As we study Scripture, we see that Mary was not the first to receive a prophetic birth announcement prior to conception.  There are in fact seven passages of Scripture where the birth of a son is foretold, and all of them point to Jesus in a particular way.  I want to touch on all of them today, because each announcement came with a promise, and that promise was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.

Isaac

Isaac was the original "child of promise."  God had promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations.  In Genesis 15, Abraham looks at his circumstances and starts to get worried.  "Behold," he says in verse 3, "You have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir."  God reiterated the promise of a son in the very next verse: "And the word of the Lord came to him: 'This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir."

A few years later Abraham still had no son.  He was met with a Christophany, an appearance of the pre-incarnate Jesus described as "the Angel of the Lord."  It was Jesus Himself who told Abraham in Genesis 18:10, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son."  When she heard about it, Sarah laughed.  She had reached menopause many years ago, and the thought of having a baby at her age was hilarious.  Abraham had laughed out loud as well, as we see in Genesis 17.

"I will bless her (Sarah), and moreover I will give you a son by her.  I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."  Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?  Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?"  And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!"   God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son and you shall call his name Isaac.  I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him."  (Genesis 17:16-19).

The name Isaac means "he laughs."  Indeed, we see Abraham literally rolling on the floor laughing when he heard the news.  God tells Abraham that it is true, then gives a promise: "I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him."  That covenant, that promise, was three-fold in nature: the promised land, the promise of descendants, and the promise of blessing and redemption.

We have untold joy and laughter, not because we are descendants of Abraham, but that through Christ we have received the blessings of the promise.  Our inheritance (the "promised land") is heaven; our descendants are those who come to know Christ by our testimony; and our blessing and redemption is through Christ Himself.

Ishmael

We saw this name mentioned in the verses above.  Ishmael was indeed Abraham's first son, but he was not the child of promise.  We see the foretelling of his birth in Genesis 16.  Sarah was jealous of her servant Hagar, because she was pregnant and Sarah was not.  Hagar ran away after Sarah mistreated her.  Hagar then experienced a Christophany of her own, when the Angel of the Lord (the pre-incarnate Christ) found her in the wilderness next to a spring of water.

And the Angel of the Lord said to her, "Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son.  You shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has listened to your affliction.  He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." (Genesis 16:11-12)

 "Ishmael" means "God will hear."  The promise was that "he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren"(NKJV).  The ESV translates this phrase "he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen"; in the Amplified Bible it is rendered "he will dwell in defiance of all his brothers".  The Hebrew word pānîm, which is translated "over against" or "in the presence of" or "in defiance of" could be translated "in your face".

When Jesus was on earth, He was always,"up in the business," of the Pharisees and the spiritual leaders--that's why they hated Him enough to put Him to death.  Many times we hear the testimony of how a hardened sinner came to know the Lord.  They will often describe Jesus as being "in their face" or "all up in their business", encouraging them to repent and follow Him.  Acts 2:25 says, "For David says concerning Him: 'I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken'."

Samson

Let's look now at Judges 13, where the wife of a man named Manoah, was visited by the Angel of the Lord.

Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children.  And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.  Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son.  No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines."  (Judges 13:2-5)

The child was named Samson, which means "like the sun".  Psalm 84:11 says, "For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor.  No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly."  We know that Samson did not always walk uprightly, and that his blessing was taken away because of his sin.  But the promise was fulfilled, that he would begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.

The promise is fulfilled further through Jesus, who not only saved Israel from the hand of her enemies, but saves the elect from the grip of sin and despair.  The very name Jesus (Hebrew yeshua, derived from the name Joshua) means "Jehovah is Salvation."

Samuel

Hannah was a godly woman who prayed earnestly for a child.

She (Hannah) was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly.  And she vowed a vow and said, "O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your servant and remember me and not forget Your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head."  As she continued praying before the Lord, Eli observed her mouth.  Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved and her voice was not heard.  (1 Samuel 1:10-13)

Eli was the priest at Shiloh, serving at the Tabernacle of the Lord.  He saw a woman in dire straits, and at first thought she was drunk.  When she explained to him that she was not, he said to her, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to Him."

Samuel means "His name is God" and the promise is that he was the answer to Hannah's prayers.  The  parallel with Jesus is obvious: He is God; He is the answer to our prayers.  Ultimately Jesus is the answer to Hannah's prayers, and to thousands after her who prayed for a Messiah.

Josiah 

Jereboam was an evil king in Israel.  He was the first king of the divided kingdom: Israel in the north, and Judah to the south.  Jerusalem was the center of worship, and it was in the Southern Kingdom.  Jereboam stopped all pilgrimages to Jerusalem, and set up golden calves to worship, one at Behel and one in Dan.  An unnamed prophet foresaw that Jereboam would have a son called Josiah, and that Josiah would tear down the idolatrous altars.

And behold, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the Lord to Bethel.  Jereboam was standing by the altar to make offerings.  And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord and said, "O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: 'Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'  And he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign that the Lord has spoken: 'Behold, the altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out'."  (1 Kings 13:1-3).

The king did have a son and his name was Josiah, just as had been promised.  Josiah did, in fact, kill the false priests and burned their bones on the altars.  Josiah means "whom Jehovah heals."  Part of the ministry of Jesus was that he came healing.  Matthew 11:4-5 says, "And Jesus answered them, 'Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them'."  

The son of the Shunamite woman

The prophet Elisha often stayed in the home of a wealthy woman in Shunem.  She would feed him and give him lodging.  Elisha inquired what he could do for her.  She lacked for nothing, except that she had no son, and her husband was old.  He called her and gave her this message: "At this season, about this time next year, you shall embrace a son." (2 Kings 4:16).  This was the prediction of the child's birth by the prophet, which is why it is listed here.

There was no express promise made, but what happened later was telling.  The child went to his father in the field, and complained of terrible headache.  The child was carried home, where he died.  The woman, heartbroken, sent for Elisha.  Elisha came and laid his hands on the child.  Miraculously, the child was raised from the dead.  This whole story is a precursor to the life of Jesus, who was Himself raised from the dead.

John the Baptist

Finally, we come to a story we are perhaps more familiar with.  Zechariah was a priest, serving in the Temple at Jerusalem.  He and his wife Elizabeth were older, and they had no children.  An angel of the Lord appeared to him, and told him he would have a son.  We are not sure whether this was the Angel of the Lord (Christophany) mentioned in the Old Testament, or an unnamed angel serving as the messenger.  Not only did he tell Zachariah that a child would be born, but that his name would be John.

"John" means "Jehovah is a gracious giver".  The promise was that "you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth." (Luke 1:14).  John, of course, was sent as a forerunner of Jesus, to "make straight the path of the Lord."  I don't think it is pressing the issue too much to say that John's predicted birth, like those of Isaac, Ishmael, Samson and the others was a sign and a symbol fulfilled in the birth and life of Jesus.

Jesus brought joy and gladness, and many rejoiced at His birth.  He brings joy and laughter, and establishes a covenant with us.  He gets up in the face of sinners and scoffers.  He saves Israel from her enemies.  He is the answer to our prayers.  He tears down altars and strongholds.  He was raised from the dead.  Every story in the Bible points to Jesus.  He is the fulfillment of all the Scriptures, not just the seven we mentioned.  These are just examples of the fulfillment of the covenant, of the promise of God.

The very soul of God

 

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee, though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see; only Thou art holy, there is none beside Thee, perfect in power, in love, and purity.  --Reginald Heber (1826).

When a person is shocked or surprised, he may make an exclamation invoking holiness.  According to Wikipedia, the phrase "Holy Cow!" may have been adopted as a means to avoid using obscene or indecent language.  It may have been based on the general awareness of the holiness of cows in some religious traditions like Hinduism.  A similar phrase would be "Holy Moses," referring to the biblical figure so important in Jewish and Christian tradition.  This may have been shortened to "Holy Moly" not only because it rhymes, but also because more conservative religious people thought that invoking Moses or other saints was tantamount to idolatry, or perhaps was disrespectful of the saints whose names were invoked.

Other examples from Catholic tradition include "Holy smoke", referring perhaps to the selection of a new Pope; "Holy mackerel" from the tradition of eating fish on Fridays; and even "Holy mother of God", referring of course to the Virgin Mary.  A more obscure reference is made in the phrase "Holy Toledo", as it refers to the city in Spain which was a center of three competing religions a millennium ago.

In today's study, I want to attempt to gaze at the very soul of God.  When we try to peek behind the curtain to see who God is, we are immediately blinded by the intense light of His holiness.  Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, said, "What are we, that we should think to stand before Him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?"  Isaiah 6:1-5 says,

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train his His robe filled the temple.  Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet and with two he flew.  And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.  So I said, "Woe is me, for I am undone!  Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts."

What struck Isaiah immediately upon encountering the holiness of God was his own sinfulness.  R.C. Sproul wrote in The Holiness of God, "God's grace is not infinite.  God is infinite, and God is gracious. We experience the grace of an infinite God, but grace is not infinite. God sets limits to His patience and forbearance.  He warns us over and over again that some day the ax will fall and His judgment will be poured out."

We see this judgment being poured out in our text today, from Judges chapter 10, beginning in verse 6:

Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him.  So the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel; and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon.  From that year they harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years--all of the children of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, in Gilead.  Moreover the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed.  (Judges 10: 6-9)

According to Matthew Henry's commentary, it appears as if Israel's chief trade was to import deities from all countries.  "It is hard to say whether it was more impious or impolitic to do this. By introducing these foreign deities, they rendered themselves mean and despicable, for no nation that had any sense of honor changed their gods."  Since Israel had turned their hearts from the one true God, there was no distinction between them and the nations around them.  Idolaters from Syria, Sidon, Moab, Ammon and Philistia found comfort in the temples that Israel had erected for these false deities.  The foreigners would take root there, and Israel found that strangers would devour their strength.  "If they did it in compliment to the neighboring nations, and to ingratiate themselves with them, justly were they disappointed; for those nations which by their wicked arts they sought to make their friends by the righteous judgments of God became their enemies and oppressors. In quo quis peccat, in eo punitur-Wherein a person offends, therein he shall be punished." (Matthew Henry).

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses, Joshua, and Gideon--this God did not become one of the several that Israel worshiped.  Instead, they turned their backs on Him entirely.  "They forsook the Lord," Scripture says, "and did not serve Him at all."  Again from Matthew Henry: "Those that think to serve both God and Mammon will soon come entirely to forsake God, and to serve Mammon only. If God have not all the heart, he will soon have none of it."

A Humble Confession

Here is where we begin to see the heart of God.  Verse 10 says, "And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord saying, "We have sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the Baals." Sproul writes:

When we understand the character of God, when we grasp something of His holiness, then we begin to understand the radical character of our sin and hopelessness. Helpless sinners can survive only by grace. Our strength is futile in itself; we are spiritually impotent without the assistance of a merciful God. We may dislike giving our attention to God's wrath and justice, but until we incline ourselves to these aspects of God's nature, we will never appreciate what has been wrought for us by grace. Even Edwards's sermon on sinners in God's hands was not designed to stress the flames of hell. The resounding accent falls not on the fiery pit but on the hands of the God who holds us and rescues us from it. The hands of God are gracious hands. They alone have the power to rescue us from certain destruction.

The people of Israel found themselves again oppressed and enslaved by pagan peoples.  They realized the double-sin: forsaking God, and serving other gods. They repented from the first, but not necessarily the second when they cried out to God.  In his book Night Driving: Notes From a Prodigal Soul, Chad Bird writes: 

Jeremiah diagnosed our ailment long ago: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9).  If our hearts were only deceitful or only desperately sick, that would be tragic enough. But the alliance of the two is deadly.  The Hebrew word for "deceitful" is the same root in the name of that devious patriarch Jacob, whose life is punctuated with grasping, self-serving lies.  The Hebrew word for "desperately sick" is better translated as "beyond remedy" or "incurable."  It describes hearts no merely afflicted with clogged arteries in need of a spiritual stent or two.  There's no plumbing the depths to which our hearts have fallen.  None of us like this unflattering description of ourselves.  We spend most of our lives in an ongoing state of denial about our true condition.  We're like chain-smoking couch potatoes who keep boasting about the marathons we'll run.  The deceitful heart achieves that goal easily.  It is, as John Calvin described it "a perpetual factory of idols."  

A Humbling Message

I remember when Muslim extremists hijacked airplanes on 9/11 and carried out a number of attacks on American soil, Americans cried out to God.  There was a short spike in church attendance, as more Americans cried out to God for help.  Unfortunately this new-found religion was short lived.  Within a few weeks, church attendance settled back into its previous level.

God knows the hearts of men.  His response is therefore reserved.

So the Lord said to the children of Israel, "Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines?  Also the Sidonians and Amalekites and Maonites oppressed you; and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand.  Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods.  Therefore I will deliver you no more.  Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.  (Judges 10:11-14)

 Sproul writes, "Every sin is an act of cosmic treason, a futile attempt to dethrone God in His sovereign authority."  God is perfectly justified in His response.  Time after time He had come to their rescue, and time after time they had forsaken Him and served other gods.  They did not deserve grace now, no matter how sincere their cries.  Chad Bird writes:

To realize the heart of our problem is to also realize the heart of God's solution.  But it's not what we might first imagine.  We might suppose that our Lord, seeing us struggle with false worship and its manifold fruits in our life, pumps strength into our hearts so we fight free of our attachment to lies.  Or that He's like a life coach who teaches us how to rid ourselves of harmful practices so we can begin to live to His glory.  The fatal flaw? Both these views of how God works are only slight amendments of the fiction that we're capable of redeeming our lives no matter how bad things become.  All that's different is we've added "with God's help."  With God's help, we will conquer our obstacles.  With God's help, we will redeem any tragedy our lives become.  God, however, is not here to help us.  He is not our assistant, our coach, or our motivator.  He is here to do for us what we cannot, and will not, do for ourselves.  Part of how He does this is by launching a full-scale assault against the temple of our hearts.

Man's nature is not so much fickle as it is hypocritical.  We turn to God when we need Him most, but when things are going well for us we forget about Him and follow our own desires.  Why should God think our prayers and petitions are sincere if we were not faithful to Him all along?  What's to keep us from falling again into sin and debauchery?  What is the guarantee?  In the Christian world view, Christ is our guarantor, for it was He who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.  Yet how often do we turn our backs on Christ, as well?  This is why true repentance is of paramount importance.

A Humble Submission to God's Justice, and a Humble Plea For His Mercy

"And the children of Israel said to the Lord, 'We have sinned!  Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray.'  So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord.  And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel." (Judges 10:15-16, emphasis added).

One of the purest signs of true confession is the admission that our sin deserves punishment.  Until we come to the realization of God's holiness, we cannot begin to fathom the depths of His grace.  Sproul says, "When God's justice falls, we are offended because we think God owes perpetual mercy. We must not take His grace for granted. We must never lose our capacity to be amazed by grace."

Let's take another peek at the soul of God, after putting on the sunshades of grace.  At what point is God's soul ever grieved?  Genesis 6:6 says, "And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart."  Our sin grieves God's heart.  There is no other way to put it.  Our actions are grievous to Him.  And yet He delivers us.

Psalm 106:42-45 says, "Many times He delivered them; but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.  Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their cry; and for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies."  Jeremiah wrote in Lamentations 3:22-23, "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness."

Remember the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15?  When he came to himself, the son desired to repent, but he knew that the father had every right to refuse him.  Jesus gave us some insight into the heart of God the Father, as we read in verse 20, "But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him."  This is the heart of God, who longs to forgive and welcome us into His holy presence.

Knowing this, we dare not grieve the Holy Spirit, which is described by Jesus as the unforgivable sin.  There will come a time when God's limited mercy will expire.   Jonathan Edwards said, "The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood."

Repent and believe, and God will rescue you.  Repent now, while there is still time.  

Accountability tactics

 

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.  Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.  --Galatians 6:1

If you work in the corporate world, you are probably familiar with annual reviews.  A manager or supervisor will usually have one-on-one conversations with each individual team member, examining strengths and weaknesses.  Each employee is held accountable to how well they have achieved the goals of the business, and the steps that he or she needs to take to meet those goals.

It is during these evaluations that decisions are made on whether to reward the employees with pay raises or bonuses.  It can also go the other way; during performance reviews, the manager may inform the employee that he or she is not meeting goals or performing up to standard.  In some cases, steps can be outlined that, if certain business goals or functions are not met, could result in reprimand or even termination.

In Joshua 22:1-6 we see a kind of evaluation of the tribes of Israel, especially those to whom Moses had promised a possession on the east side of the Jordan River.  For context, we can look back to Numbers 22.  Before the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River to enter into the promised land, leaders of two of the tribes looked at the fertile plain they were standing on and said to themselves, "I don't know about Canaan, but this land looks pretty good to us."  They had a great number of flocks and herds, and the fields on the east side of the river (in present day Jordan) were good for grazing.  So they went to Moses and asked to be excused from the rest of the group.  "If we have found favor in your sight," they said in Numbers 32:5, "let this land be given to your servants for our possession.  Do not take us across the Jordan."

Moses promised that they could settle in and possess this land, but that their men of fighting age must go across the river and help drive out the Canaanites.  Only after the whole of Canaan was conquered could they return to their chosen allotment east of the Jordan.  It is in this context that, after the conquest of Canaan, Joshua gave this report.

At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and said to them, "You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you.  You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God.  And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them.  Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan.  Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul."  So Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.  --Joshua 22:1-6

So they were given a good performance review by their leader.  They had done all that both Moses and Joshua had asked of them.  Future goals were given as well--to continue to observe the Law of Moses, love God, and obey Him.  It was like the Company president telling the Eastern Division, "Well done.  You have met or exceeded all expectations.  Going forward, let's keep these standards in mind."

Further on in the narrative, the two and a half tribes went back toward their homesteads.  When they got to the Jordan River, they decided to build a memorial.  Joshua 22:10 says, "And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size."

When the other 10 tribes heard about it, they despaired.  Why would our brothers build this huge altar on the boundary of our land unless they were going to use it to offer sacrifices?  First, God had commanded that sacrifices only be made at the Tabernacle, which is located in Shiloh.  Sacrifices made anywhere else are a violation of God's law.  Second, if you intend to make sacrifices somewhere else, it stands to reason that you would be sacrificing to other gods and not to the God of Israel.  That's even worse than the first sin, like ten times worse.  What should we do about it?

The call for civil war

Verse 12 says, "And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them."  Remember, they had just finished a military campaign across the whole region where they were directed by Joshua and by God Himself to take no prisoners.  They were to totally destroy all the idolaters and people in the region who served other gods.  And now they find out that their brothers, their fellow Israelites, may have gone to the other side and started living in idolatry themselves.

God calls us to go to great lengths to keep ourselves pure and to hold our brothers accountable.  "Iron sharpens iron," Proverbs 27:17 says, "and one man sharpens another."  Jesus said, "Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!  It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.  Pay attention to yourselves!  If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him." (Luke 17:1-3).

In Luke 12, Jesus told a parable about staying faithful, because one day you will be held accountable.  He said it was important to stay ready, for the master could come at any time.  If the master comes in the evening or even in the middle of the night, and finds the servant alert and ready, the servant will be blessed.  "You must also be ready," Jesus said, "for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."  Peter then asks if this is a general parable for everyone, or if it was meant especially for the disciples?  Jesus then continues the story, saying that if the master finds his servants faithful, then he will bless them.  But if the servant stops being faithful because the master is delayed, and becomes violent, and gets fat and lazy or even drunk, then "The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him into pieces and put him with the unfaithful." (Luke 12:46).  Jesus goes on to say that the man who knows what to do and disobeys will receive a severe beating, unlike the one who sins but didn't know what was expected.

These are the lengths to which God will go to hold men accountable.  These are also lengths that godly men should attend to hold their brothers accountable.

The call to choose good or evil

Although the men were prepared for war, they sent leaders from each of the ten tribes to speak with the people who had built the altar.  Their argument is reasoned, and based on wisdom and experience.

Have you left the faith?

"And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, "Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, 'What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning this day away from following the Lord by building yourselves an altar this day in rebellion against the Lord?'" (Joshua 22:16)

Examples of unfaithfulness, and the consequences that followed

"Have we not had enough of the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the Lord, that you too must turn away this day from following the Lord?  And if you too rebel against the Lord today then tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel." (Joshua 22:17-18)

We recall that in Peor from the story in Numbers 25 was that, even after Balaam refused to curse the people, the Midianites were able to get some of the people of Israel to intermarry with them, and follow after their gods.  This resulted in 24,000 Israelites dying by the plague.  There was also a rather gruesome account of Phinehas the priest, the grandson of Aaron, driving a spear through an Israelite man and a Midianite worman who were engaging in sexual activity near the altar of God in the Tabernacle.  This was the terrible sin that the leaders of Israel were trying to avoid, because the consequences would involve the whole nation, not just the ones that had turned to other gods.  

"Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel?  And he did not perish alone for his iniquity." (Joshua 22:20).  This refers to the time after Jericho fell, and the fighting men of Israel turned their sights on the much smaller village of Ai.  In a battle they should have won, they instead were chased away.  Not only did they suffer an embarrassing defeat, but 36 men died.  Why?  Because Achan had taken some booty from the ruins of Jericho, things that God had said to destroy.  Achan hid these spoils under his tent, only to confess and suffer capital punishment after the men had been turned back from the first battle of Ai.

Please return to us, even if it requires sacrifice on our part

"But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord's land where the Lord's tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us.  Only do not rebel against the Lord or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God." (Joshua 22:19).  These leaders pleaded with their brothers to turn their backs on idolatry.  Even if it meant losing their land and possessions east of the Jordan, it was worth it if they repented and turned back to the Lord their God.  The people of Israel were willing to share--that is, divide their own property and possessions with the tribes that they thought had strayed.  This would, of course, mean that their own inheritance would be smaller, but it would be worth it to avoid the greater punishment from the wrath of God.

The call for us today

How many of us would be willing to reach out to a fallen brother, to beg him to repent?  More than that, how many of us would be willing to share our own possessions, our own stuff to give a brother or sister a second chance, to entice them to leave all of their stuff and their past behind?  Most telling of all, who among us would be willing to go to war to save the souls of those who have gone astray?

Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 4:-10, "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.  For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.  But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!"  Paul wrote in Galatians 6:1-2 says, "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.  Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.  Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all at the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.  For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.  Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.  Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.  Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play."  We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.  We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.  Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.  Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.  No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.  God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. --1 Corinthians 10: 1-13

Our story in Joshua 22 has a happy ending.  The tribes with the possession east of the river said they did not intend to make sacrifices on this altar, but that they had built it as a memorial.  They did not want their children to be cut off from Israel, whose own children may someday say, "The promised land is on this side of the river, so you all are cut off."  I think there is also a lesson for us to not fall into temptation, and to hold accountable those who may be tempted to sin.  We may think we are called to fight a crusade for Christ, but in actuality a little conversation could avoid conflict, if it is done in the name of Christ.