sin – Page 3 – The Words Of David C. Frampton

Workers Together

Judges 1:1-7

We serve a very generous God. He richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17; cf. Acts 14:17). We ought to enjoy and give thanks for every good gift that comes from our Father in heaven. However, the possession of wealth and what it can acquire is not an invitation to self-indulgence. God made us to work and to do his will. And he made us to work with one another to reach people with the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. Christians may say they want to do this, as long as it doesn’t inconvenience them by having to work with other believers. Far too many are on a lonesome quest to satisfy their own needs. What we have in our text is an example of the people of God working together for his purposes.

The Lord caused Israel to prosper when they cooperated with one another (1:3). The tribe of Judah made a godly request for their brother’s help. Since God in his providence had placed the two tribes together in their inheritances (Joshua 19:1-9), the tribe of Judah rightly saw this as a task on which they could join together. God’s people are to seek to help one another (1 Corinthians 12:7, 21-26). Paul also teaches this to the church at Rome (Romans 1:11-12; 15:24, 30-32).

We see a godly response in helping their brothers. The tribe of Simeon did not shrink back from its brotherly duty. They went to war with Judah! The New Testament Scriptures show Christians helping each other (Philippians 4:14-19). God honored Simeon’s assistance to Judah, for they were preserved with Judah many years after the other tribes fell into apostasy and then into captivity. This was beyond anyone’s knowledge at that time, but there were future benefits. God’s blessing comes as his people give and receive help one to another. Don’t allow pride to keep you from either activity. In Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian couldn’t get up when he fell until his brother Faithful helped him. (By the way, if you haven’t read Pilgrim’s Progress, I encourage you to do so.) The life of faith is not meant to be walked alone; in fact, it cannot be.

The Lord caused Israel to prosper when they obeyed his will (1:4-7). In this event, God gives an example of the defeat of the world. This is actual history, and all events had meaning in the history of redemption. God was acting for the future prosperity of Judah and providing for the line of the Messiah. We must not fail to recognize the historic importance of this event. God was acting in history to prepare for the sending of his Son in human flesh through the tribe of Judah. But the Lord also has lessons for us from it. When God is in our warfare, the armies of the world go down to defeat. “The Lord gave….” Though the leaders of people style themselves as “lords”, they have no power against the all-power of the Lord. A king with his army around him has a high opinion of himself and acts accordingly (Proverbs 30:29-31). But no person has power against the Lord (Proverbs 21:30-31).

God gave an example of divine vengeance. Some question the destruction of the Canaanites, but they were justly condemned for their wickedness (cf. Genesis 15:16; Deuteronomy 7:10; 18:9-12; 20:16-20). Some question the treatment of Adoni-Bezek, but he received what the Law required—justice (Exodus 21:23-24; Leviticus 24:19-20; Deuteronomy 19:16-21). He acknowledged God’s justice against him. The church is not a physical nation charged with carrying out physical justice. We live in the new covenant age. The mission of the church is to extend grace to the undeserving (Matthew 5:38-42). However, the real problem that people have with this topic is that they hate God’s holiness, and they don’t want God’s judgment to fall upon them for their sin (rejection of God as God, refusal to love God, and rebellion against God and his ways. But how are we living? Do we want to work with other followers of Christ for the glory of God and the good of people? Let us learn from the good example of these two tribes of Israel.

Grace and peace, David

A Picture of What Might Have Been

DSCN2766 Judges 1:1-7

I think in every human heart there is a desire to know what might have been. Everyone makes countless choices daily. Most are seemingly minor and we give no thought to them. Others are more major, and they can trouble us, especially if the decision produces consequences we do not like. Then we ponder, “Did I make the right one? What if I had done such and such instead?” Yes, it’s that “what if” that troubles us.

Judges is not the book in the Bible that you read if you are looking for peace and encouragement. The book disturbs people greatly, because of its record of the sins of people and God’s judgments on those sins. Yet it is part of the story of God’s glory that leads us to realize why people need God’s king. The old covenant people of God (Israel) had been given many opportunities and advantages to live with God in peace and joy. But the first section of Judges (1:1-3:6), reveals their failures and judgment that fell upon them, because they did not in faith obey the Lord. In other words, we see the cause of Israel’s spiritual decline after the time of Joshua. As a contrast to the rest of the section, in the opening verses the Holy Spirit records how Israel should have acted after the death of Joshua.

Before we come to the text, we must remember a crucial difference between Israel and the church. The church is God’s spiritual nation, which is not of this world, and since it is not of this world, it does not fight with the weapons of this world (Jn 18:36; 2 Cor 10:3-6). However, Israel was a nation like the other nations of the world, except that they were to live for God’s glory and had God’s word and promises and the way to live with God (Romans 3:1-2; 9:4-5). Since they were a physical nation, they had to use worldly weapons to maintain their existence. Their enemies, the Canaanite people groups, were to be removed from the Promised Land, because of their total wickedness. During the time before Christ’s death and resurrection, God let the nations walk their own way, and this they did, turning their backs on God, and in the process committing great acts of wickedness (Acts 17:26-30; Romans 1:18-32). The Canaanites were notoriously wicked in their rebellion against God, and God decreed that their civilization was to end (Deuteronomy 7:1-5). Again, this is uncomfortable, since people do not like to hear about judgment, until they have a deep and bitter experience of the ruin that sin causes.

The Lord caused Israel to prosper when they submitted themselves to him (1:1-2). The people started the post-Joshua period with a wise request. They did not allow the passing of their leader to deflect them from their duty. There was still much land to be conquered and effectively occupied (cf. Joshua 13:1-7; 23:1-13). As you can read in Judges 2:10ff, this did not last long, but at least they started out in the right way. Some don’t even make it this far! Godly leadership is a good gift from God. We ought to be concerned about the next generation.

They recognized God’s rule over their nation. This is the important point. Here is the theme: The Lord’s kingship over his people. In this event, they wanted to do as he pleased, instead of pursuing their own pleasure. When God’s people have this desire, they are showing the character of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:5-7). The sons and daughters of God are to act like the Son of God.

The Lord graciously responded to their request. The Lord provided them with an answer. He specifically directed that Judah was to act first. The Lord used means in this answer, for Judah was the most powerful tribe, and the one God had already chosen to lead (Numbers 2:9; cf. Genesis 49:8-12). The Lord promised them the victory: “I have given the land….” As ruler over all things (Ephesians 1:11), God assured them of triumph consistent with his purpose and promise.

We should lay hold of this truth in our own lives (Romans 8:37). The truth of who and what we are in Jesus Christ frees us to trust in our sovereign Lord, even when life seems to be against us. The promise of victory is just as sure to us as we walk by faith (1 Jn 5:4).

Grace and peace, David

The Cure for a Guilty Conscience

Hebrews 10:22

The letter to the Hebrews is a powerful presentation of the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is better than angels and Moses; he is better than Aaron and his priesthood and the sacrifices offered by them in conformity with the old covenant. Christ has a better covenant built on better promises. The writer is teaching the same thing as the apostle Paul in Colossians 1:18. In everything Christ must have the supremacy. Since this is so, Christ’s followers must live in a new way. The truth of his superiority must control all that we are: our worship, our attitudes, our lifestyles, and who we are inside. We see this in this section of this great letter.

In the inner person of the heart of everybody, there is a capacity for self-judgment, which the Bible calls the “conscience”. As Paul writes in Romans 2:15, the conscience functions inside us to either accuse or defend us in reference to guilt. Since mankind’s fall into sin (the Bible doesn’t discuss the human conscience prior to the fall, so we will avoid speculation), the human conscience has had a problem with guilt.

By guilt we mean “the fact of having performed a wrong act”. According to the Bible, all of us are guilty. We all have done what it worthy of blame, whether by failing to live for God’s glory, or not seeking God, or by transgressing the Two Greatest Commandments, or by numerous transgressions of other of God’s commands, or by opposing the good news of salvation in Christ alone.
Everyone is guilty because everyone has disobeyed God’s law (Romans 3:9-20). So then, we are law-breakers, guilty, and under condemnation.
Since we are guilty, the conscience produces bad feelings—a sense of guilt. The emotional pain produced is a warning signal of our guilt.

Think of the red engine lights on your car’s dashboard. They come on to warn you that your car has a problem. The lights are for your benefit.

The human problem is, “How can a person be rid of guilt and so the sense of guilt? Humankind has proposed various “solutions”.

“Let’s make our own religion and seek to pacify God or whatever gods we want to imagine by religious rituals and/or good works.” This is like putting electrical tape over the red light on the dashboard.
“Let’s deny that there is such a thing as guilt and perhaps also deny that there is a God.” This is like looking the other way when the warning light comes on.
“Let’s treat the guilt feelings by whatever means is available—medication, meditation, pop therapies, alcohol, drugs, sex, etc.” The list of proposed remedies goes on and on. This is like smashing the warning light with a hammer!

The problem with all human solutions is that they deal only with the sense of guilt and not with guilt itself that produces the guilt feelings. They don’t reach the root of the problem.

God has designed the nerve endings in your fingertips to warn by pain if something dangerously hot is touched. The answer to the pain is to stop touching the hot object and not to wish that you couldn’t feel the pain or to pop painkillers in the hope that you can keep your hand on the hot object! God has the only solution or cure for a guilty conscience. However, people prefer their inadequate and dangerous remedies to God’s way to cleanse a conscience from guilt. This way is in Jesus Christ and his saving work. Next time, we’ll look at this way closely. But for the present, look to Jesus, our great high priest. He is able to help you today.

Grace and peace, David