Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
June 1, 1986
The Spiritual Roller Coaster
Judges 2:8-19
Now that Memorial Day has come and gone, we have entered the amusement park season. It is the divine right of every American to pay $15 a head, cram yourself full of lukewarm hot dogs and cotton candy, then be strapped into an amusement. An amusement is something that makes you wish you hadn't paid $15 ... And eaten all that food.
Around here there is an intense rivalry. Some people like Cedar Point; others swear by King's Island. I personally prefer King's Island, because of one ride - The Beast. The beast is one of the largest and most rickety roller coasters in the world. Fanatics will try to get on at the very end, because the last seat gives the most whiplash. The Beast takes you up to the heights, where you have a breath taking view. Then it hurtles you down to the pits, with the difference between the heights and the pits being a matter of seconds.
Many people believe a roller coaster is an accurate description for their spiritual life. They have fantastic moments at the peaks where they feel close to God. They then crash down to the pits, where they are depressed and defeated.
Up and down. Up and down. If you are this kind of person, you will love the book of Judges. More than any other book in the Bible; Judges describes a spiritual roller coaster. In this book not only individuals, but also the whole nation of Israel went from victory to defeat to victory again. And if anything, the defeats won out.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. When the Israelites left the Sinai desert and invaded, the Promised Land Israel, things had gone very well. The book of Joshua records their long string of victories. They had stepbacks too, but those were only temporary. It was the victories that stood out.
Once Joshua died the situation reversed. Spiritually the people began to fizzle out. And when this happened, they started to lose their wars. Throughout the book of Judges a pattern is obvious. I call it the 4 S's. If you understand the four S's, you will understand the whole book.
Here they are: Sin, Slavery, Supplication, and Salvation. Chapter 2 introduces this theme. In verse 11 we find the sin: the Jews gave up God and served the Baal gods of the Canaanites. We know that they didn't give up God completely - what they really did was combine the worship of the true God with the worship of idols. But in God's sight, it's all or nothing. If you combine biblical faith with anything else, you cease to be Christian. You cannot have Jesus and horoscopes, or Jesus and humanism. It's Jesus and Jesus alone. This was the continual sin of the Jews. In verse 14 we find the slavery. "And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them. (We would say looters or raiders.)" Go down to verse 15: "Whither so ever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil…"
This is a hard saying - God was out to get them. So he enslaved them to spoilers till they couldn't take it any more. It's harsh, but the New Testament agrees with it. The Apostle Paul says if you serve something, you become its slave. If you want to be perked up by alcohol or drugs instead of God, you will become enslaved to them. God himself will see to it.
You may like getting into it, but soon you want out. Jews did, so the people made supplication with God. This is an old-fashioned way to say they begged him to send relief. This comes out at the end of verse 15, which says they were greatly distressed, and in verse 18 where it mentions their groaning to God.
When they had supplicated God because of their slavery to sin, he sent them a savior. Or, more specifically, a judge. Verse 18 says "And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge and delivered them (or saved them) out of the hand of their enemies…"
The judges saved them from their predicaments, but not for long. Because they always sank back into sin again. This provides a key to the Christian life. When a person accepts Christ as their Savior, he washes away their sins in the sight of God. Their salvation is eternal and certain.
But as long as you are alive, there is another element. In this life we need to have salvation from stress at work, depression, and all the effects of our sins. As long as we cling to God and his ways we can have victory. And as soon as we conveniently forget God, we can have instant defeat. In eternity you may be saved, but right now you can be utterly miserable. And millions of Christians are.
The book of Judges gives several reasons why the Jews had such a roller coaster relationship with God. On of the reasons is found in 2:10. Halfway through it says: "and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel." As the faith is passed down through families, there has always been the tendency for it to become diluted. Most children don't seem to have the same intensity in faith their parents did. If the parents had life changing conversions to Christ and really ordered their lives around his will, there's a good chance their children will be religious. They'll believe in God and the Bible and go to Church - but they may not have the same dramatic confrontation with the gospel.
Are your children born again? Are they living for Jesus Christ, or just going through some of the motions? Don't settle for second best. Make sure each generation in your family knows the Lord (like you do).
A second reason for Israel's cycle of defeat was that they did not apply moral absolutes to their society. The very last verse in the book says: "In those days there was no King in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Some of the people had high morals, like Gideon. But others had no morals at all. One chapter in Judges describes a violent rape. Which resulted in the women's death. To call attention to the crime, her husband cut her body into pieces and distributed them to each tribe.
Modern readers are appalled by this, at least I hope they are. The book of Judges does not approve of it either. It mentions the incident to show how deep things had sunk. Even some people in Judges who were used by God, had deep moral flaws. The best example is Samson. He defeated many enemies of Israel, but his own lust and recklessness destroyed him.
The United States is headed for this type of society. I understand that schools in Coshocton County teach sex education. They mention everything about sex except one area, morals. The schools don't feel they are in a position to tell the young people what they should or should not do. They can only give them the alternatives, and let them decide for themselves.
Recent history has shown some of the results. I cannot entirely blame the schools or any other group. But evidence is plain, when everyone makes up their own mind, by themselves, things start to slip.
A third area that contributed to Israel's backsliding was a lack of separation. Chapter 3:5-6 tells us: "And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods."
Many sincere Christians end up on a roller coaster because they allow their lives to be entangles in the world. We live among people who may have no regard for God. I hope you live among them, because that's how the gospel can spread. But sometimes they have more influence on us than we do on them. A big factor in the lives of young people is known as peer pressure. If one kid does something stupid, they all have to do it. Down in Florida the college students have invented a past time where you jump from one hotel balcony to another. Several haven't quite made it. Why do they do it? To save time in getting to the other room? No, but because their friends encourage them to do it.
We all have some control over who influences us. Use it. Or you may find yourself squeezed into doing things you know you shouldn't.
I have emphasized the factors that cause us to slide down the roller coaster. The book of Judges also shows us how to hit the up ramp. Whenever there is a victory in Judges, it is because the Spirit if God has come upon a person. The New Testament calls this being filled with the Spirit. It's something you have to seek after.
It comes when you know God, obey his standards and separate from evil influences.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Easy CHM and documentation editor