The book of Judges, if you would please. You remember how to get there? The book of Judges, chapter number 10. We actually, I thought about this. We preached, the last sermon I preached out of here was when my dad walked in as I was preaching that Sunday night before we left to go to Israel. So that's how long ago it's been. It was actually end of November. between things that have occurred and me showing pictures, video from the trip to Israel, it's actually been two full months. So you may have forgot how to get to the Book of Judges, but I hope you haven't forgot everything I've taught you from the Book of Judges. Anyway, one of the reasons why I didn't want to get right back into it like a week before last was because this is going to really open the door to a larger subsection of the book. We're going to be introduced very shortly next week to a man by the name of Jephthah. But before we get there, the author again, sort of like we've been looking at on Wednesday nights, the author's just sort of setting the stage for the entrance of Jephthah. And before we get to him, we'll look at a couple of what are called minor judges, a couple of minor judges. Judges chapter 10, verse number one. And after Abimelech, remember old rotten Abimelech? After Abimelech, there arose to defend Israel, Tola, the son of Pua, the son of Dodo. What a great name, right? A man of Issachar, and he dwelt in Shamer in Mount Ephraim. and he judged Israel 20 and three years, and he died and was buried in Shamir. And after him arose Jair, a Gileadite, and judged Israel 20 and two years, and he had 30 sons that rode on 30 ascots, and they had 30 cities, which are called Havoth, Jair, unto this day, which are in the land of Gilead. And Jair died and was buried in Canaan and the children of Israel. did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Balaam, and Ashtoreth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zion, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served him not. And 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 children of Ammon, And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel 18 years. All the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. Moreover, the children of Ammon passed over Jordan to fight against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim. So that Israel was sore distressed. The children of Israel cried unto the Lord saying, we have sinned against thee. both because we have forsaken our God and also served Balaam. And the Lord said unto the children of Israel, and did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines, the Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Mayonites that oppress you? And you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand. Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods, Wherefore, I will deliver you no more. Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. The children of Israel said unto the Lord, we have sinned. Do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee, deliver us only, we pray thee this day. And they put away the strange gods from among them and served the Lord. And his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. And I'm gonna actually stop there because I think that's a good place to stop for this evening. My title for tonight's message is The Anger and Mercy of God. The Anger and Mercy of God. Very quickly, I'm gonna rehash two or three weeks worth of study. Abimelech, you will remember, had appointed himself as king over Israel, at least over a portion of Israel. He was what we called the Bramble King. He had set himself up, but if you'll remember, he met an early death when a woman threw a millstone off the top of a tower. And as he was attacking that tower to try to destroy it and actually burn it down, the millstone fell and crushed him and hit him in the head. And if you will remember, he asked his armor bearer to take his sword and to finish him off because he didn't want to be remembered as somebody that was killed by the hand of a woman. I know I said it, but it's just so cute. I gotta say it again. You gotta be careful when a woman gets a crush on you. And so that was the case there. But more than that, you know how silly it is, how prideful man is that he desired to be thrust through with a sword because even though he's dead and gone, he's worried about what people are gonna say about him. Just how silly and arrogant people sometimes are. But Abimelech, though I listed him in your handouts that I gave you on the Book of Judges, even though I listed him as a judge, he was not a judge in the strictest sense. And that God had not called him, God had not led him like God had led Gideon or He will Egypt or Samson or some of these others. God had not called him, rather he appointed himself as regent or vice-regent over certain parts of Israel. And God allowed him actually to serve as a measure of judgment over Israel because of their unfaithfulness. However, following Abimelech, there is a return to the judges, the typical judges that God raises to restore the wandering Israelites back to Yahweh, to Jehovah God. Remember that sin cycle. That's something you've got to keep in your mind as you go through the book of Judges, is that constant cycle of sin. They would turn away from God. God would bring judgment on them. They would cry out to God. God would raise up a deliverer. They would then return to God. And then there would be peace. And then that whole cycle would start over again. Sort of the problem is, is the more we go through the book of Judges, the deeper that cycle gets. In other words, when they turn from God, they turn further and further from God. and then if it's not for God's great mercy and love over them they would cease to be a people and tonight we're going to learn some both about the anger and the mercy of God as extended to these wandering Israelites. In verse one here we are introduced to what's called a minor judge and his name is Tola, T-O-L-A, Tola And you could take all we know about him and fill up a thimble, pretty much. We don't know hardly anything about this man named Tola. He's called a minor judge. And there's a lot of things that could be said, and I'm trying to move forward. But he's called a minor judge, not because of what he did was any less important than Jephthah, Gideon, Samson, some of these big name peoples, Deborah Barrett or Barrett. He's called a minor judge simply because we don't know much about what he did. Minor to us because we know very little of what he did, but major to those whose life he impacted. Minor to us because we have very, very little history about him, major to those whom he delivered, to the Israelites whom he helped. He is a minor judge. That doesn't make him any less important. Just like the minor prophets are not any less important than the major prophets. It's just the minor prophets didn't have as much to say, at least as much as inspired on the page as the major prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and so on. But simply, we don't know much about him. Rather, we do know that he was important. God put his name in the Holy Writ. He was successful like any other judge. It's just that the Holy Spirit did not inspire the human author to record as much about his life as he did about other people. You know, sometimes as we read these stories, sometimes as we read these stories, we think, man, I wish we knew more about him. Isn't the Bible long enough for you already? Do you wish it was a whole lot longer, knowing more details? I just say that sort of tongue-in-cheek, but many of us struggle to read through our Bibles as they are. Do you want every detail about every character? If we needed to know, God the Holy Spirit would have inspired the human author to include more than what he did about this man. And I just simply say, we know enough about him that we believe that God used him. We don't know Much hardly at all. In fact, I'll just give you this. We know who his father was. We know his father was, as you read here, verse 1, he was the son of Pua, the son of Dodo. And his father, Pua Dodo, his tribe, he's from the tribe of Issachar. However, even though he's from the tribe of Issachar, he is reared up in Judges in Mount Ephraim. That's not his hometown. So it's a little bit odd that he's being raised or come from a different part of Israel rather than from his hometown. We know his tenure was 23 years. 23 years he judged Israel. And we know his burial place is in Shamir. And while this is the extent of the inspired account, God knows, and this is what I love about this, we don't know much of anything about what he did, but God knows everything that he did. And I'm often reminded of that glorious verse, Hebrews 16, that says, for God is not unrighteous to forget your works and your labor of love and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister to them. And that should always be a constant reminder to us. I don't want to make too much of judges, minor judges, because we don't know a lot about them. I don't want to try to manufacture something about their life just so it is interesting to you and I. I would say that the vast majority, the vast overwhelming majority of Christian men and women who have lived on this earth, the whole world as a whole hasn't known anything about them. Hasn't known about their giving, their faithfulness, their love, their sacrifice. The world hasn't known anything about them, but God has kept a record of what they've done. And we don't know much about this minor judge and the lives that he changed and the people he delivered, but God's got a record of all of it. And if you're looking to get your name up in lights and the behalf of God, you got the wrong motive anyway. If you would allow me to say this, if we were to sit down and talk to Tola right now, he wouldn't have us sit together tonight and brag on him. He'd want us to brag on Jesus of Nazareth. That's who he'd want us to brag about. And so I don't want to manufacture a whole lot about him, but we know this much. The people he helped, the lives he changed, they knew about him. And I tell you what I do think is I think eternity and probably the judgment seat of Christ is going to bear out a whole lot about what this man did. Nothing that we do for Christ should ever be done for our glory or our merit, but only for him. Listen to these words. Tola is not disappointed that his mighty deeds are not recorded on the page of inspired writing. He's not disappointed one bit about that. He would not have us wrongly exalt him. Only Tola would have us speak about the one who called him to serve. And the same holds true now for the second minor prophet that we were introduced to, and his name is Zahir. And we learn about him in verse number three, and after him arose Zahir. And he is a Gileadite, and he judged Israel 20 and two years. You're looking at a map of Israel. You're looking on the left of the Jordan. That is where our first man, Tola, was from. the land of Ephraim, of the tribe of Issachar, but in the land of Ephraim. However, this judge, and this is important for the rest of this chapter and moving forward, this Judge Jair was on the east of the Jordan. As I'm looking at a map, it would be to my right, of course, the opposite for you. But if you pictured the Sea of Galilee and moved down southeast, A big hunk of land right there that this man and his sons governed or were judges over. Again, we know very little about him. We're given some interesting details. Are we not about this man? It's curious, I'll say that, that God the Holy Spirit included what he did about his life. We know his home. He's from Gilead. Again, this is the land of the Amorites. This is on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Verse four tells us he had 30 sons. He's a busy man. Not a polite way of saying it. Almost certainly, then, he had a plurality of wives, a harem, if not his own concubines. Again, in this position, the author is not condoning his behavior. He's just recording his behavior. We don't know how many daughters he had, but we know that he had, in verse four, he had 30 sons. And those sons rode on 30 asscolts or 30 donkeys. And while that doesn't impress you and I, it would have said something to the original readers of this. If we were to put it in today's vernacular, we would say he had 30 sons and they drove in 30 BMWs. or 30 Lexus or whatever, they had authority. That's what this is really all about. When it talks about them riding on these donkeys, that was a symbolism. It was normally how rulers, kings even, would be known as for riding on young donkeys. And all that the Holy Spirit is telling us, all that the human rider is telling us is that this man While we don't hear anything negative about Tola, we hear these negative things about Jair. Number one, he has a plurality of wives, which produces 30 sons, and his sons are elevated to a place of prominence, sort of like governors, if you will, over the land of Gilead, because you read they had 30 cities, so each son had his own little city, and you could just well imagine This man is raised up to be a judge over Israel. But listen, I told you as we studied this, these judges are far from perfect. I mean, Samson's got some real problems, right? I mean, we know that about him. All of them have it. They're just humans, just like you and I are. They're just mortal beings with their own failures. Sometimes it's good that God limits us like He does so we don't get ourselves in more trouble. And we don't need the power and authority that's, I don't, I can tell you that, I don't need the power and the authority and the sway that some of these men had. It would probably ruin me like it ruined him. And so you have Jair right here and he has 30 sons and they go trotting around on their donkeys there thinking they're all this and that and they're governors or mayors, if you will, over their own cities. So he is sort of promoting his own family, even though he's supposed to be judging Israel, and he does. Obviously, he does as spoken of, yet he's also promoting his power, prestige, wealth, and that just goes to show that God uses, and I've said it, but God uses even in spite of our failures. Not much is said about them, about these two men, and I want to read something to you. I thought about this verse as I was preparing this message. These two men, Tola and Jair, that we don't know much of anything about, and it caused me to think about this Bible verse, and John chapter number 20, verse 30 says, and this is talking about Jesus, We know nothing, really almost nothing about what these men did. But listen to what it said about Jesus. In John 20 verse 30 it says, And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His name. And then in John 21, 25, it says, and there are also many other things which Jesus did. We don't know much about them, but I tell you something else, we don't know everything Jesus did either. We only have what the Holy Spirit gave us about Him. John 21, 25 says, and there are also many other things which Jesus did. Listen to this, the witch, if they should be written to everyone, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. And amen, that's exactly how that book closes. We don't know much, but that's okay, because we don't know everything about what Jesus did, but we've got enough that teach us to believe on Him as the Son of God. Now, after their deaths, verse 6 should stick out to us like a sore thumb at this place. In fact, as we read verse number 6, these words should haunt us by now. We find this repeated again and again throughout the book of Judges. Tola raised up, he serves, he dies. Jair raised up, he serves, he dies. And verse six, and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. Again. There's that cycle. But this time, the author is not so broad in his accusation. In fact, he's more sin-specific. in his accusations against Israel. You know how very often as we pray, we say, God, forgive us of all of our sins. We like to pray in the generic sense. We like to sin Retail and ask forgiveness wholesale You with me on that who just forgive me all of our sins rather than us getting specific saying God forgive me of gossip forgive me of Lying forgive me of cheating forgive me of whatever that condo. We don't like to do that. But here the human author is inspired to list Specifically some of the failures of Israel not just that they turned away from God but verse 6 says very clear the children of Israel did evil again inside the Lord and there's a list and it's important when you read in this in Hebrew writing that they go to the trouble of writing this list like this important they serve Balaam But it wasn't just Balaam, they served Ashtaroth. And not just him, but the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zion, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. That's just stab after stab after stab into the spiritual heart of Israel because of their departure from Jehovah God. And then he puts the final capstone on his accusation at the close of verse six and said, and forsook the Lord and served him not. You might think that they'd learn a lesson eventually, right? They do this again, and this is the cycle, and in fact, it's going to continue even after the judges and the kings to the point where God just eventually just turns away from the Jews and puts his focus on the Gentiles for a little while, and thank God he does, right? Amen, that he turns his attention to the Gentiles. But verse seven, I told you I'm gonna speak on the anger and the mercy of God. Look at verse seven. The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. And God is angry, and rightly so. Time and again, He has delivered them. Time and again, He has shown His kindness and goodness to them in delivering them from the hands of their enemies, yet every time, they end up turning back to their old ways. He's angry with them. He's hot against them. And verse 7 says, He sells them into the hands of the Philistines and the hands of the children of Ammon. God uses these Gentile powers as a hand of chastening on His Jewish people. Now just get that, because God does that again and again, all the way up to the dispersion when Babylon and the Assyrian Empire comes in. God uses these Gentile nations as His hand of judgment or chastisement on His people because of their stubborn rebellion against Him. That cycle goes on, and the deeper they get, it is as if the more angry God becomes at them. And it is interesting, and in fact, it's important that we know that when he says that they are sold into the hands of the Philistines and the children of Ammon, that that is painting a broad stroke for us. The next Judge Jephthah will do battle with the children of Ammon, or the Ammonites. The judge after him is Samson, who will do battle with the Philistines, or Philistines, however you want to say it. So, verse 7 there, the close of that, is sort of an introduction into the next six chapters of the book of Judges. Jephthah will deal with the Ammonites, Samson will deal with the Philistines. And just so, here's the sweet little nugget, it is thought, and it's probably right, that both Jephthah and Samson serve Israel roughly during the same time period. The Ammonites are gonna attack from one side, the Philistines are gonna attack from another side, and Jephthah will rule or judge in one area while Samson rules and judges in another area. So verse seven's an important verse. The Ammonites, they dwelled on the east of Jordan, there in the land of Gilead, where this man we just studied about, Jair. The Ammonites, they dwelled on the east side of Jordan. The Philistines are on the far west of Israel. If you know your Bible map at all, you know the Philistines are carved right up against the Mediterranean Sea right there on the southwestern part of Israel. If Israel would have done their job, they'd have that land then and they'd have it now, but they didn't. So they're still dealing with all that. And so verse eight says this, that, that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel, speaking particularly of the Ammonites right here, verse number eight, that they attacked and oppressed the children of Israel for 18 years. And notice this, all the children of Israel that were on the other side, Jordan, So you had the nine and a half tribes on one side, the two and a half tribes on the other side. You had Gad, Reuben, and the half Manasseh. They were subject, became subject to the Ammonite powers. On that side of the Jordan, as I'm looking at it, it's on that side of the Jordan River. Notice this, notice at the close of verse eight, which is in Gilead, okay? This is interesting. Where was Jair's 30 sons on their 30 donkeys, ruling their 30 cities? In the land of Gilead. Where was Jair's spoiled little boys when Israel needed them? When the Ammonites attacked, Where was the 30 sons of Jair to stand up and defend Israel? That's their land. The Ammonites attacked specifically where these 30 sons are governing. But we don't read where they stand up to defend Israel. I don't know this. This is just my, in this case, unsanctified imagination. I imagine them getting on their little donkeys and hightailing it out of town is what I imagine about them. They got in their Lexus and they hit it highway and got out of there. But of course, I don't know any of that. And I might have to apologize when I get to glory and see some of them. I don't know. But anyway, the children of Israel and the two and a half tribes that are living on the east of the Jordan, they are attacked in the land of Gideon. But notice the Ammonites don't stay on that side of Jordan. Look at verse nine. Moreover, the children of Ammon passed over the Jordan. And they fought, and they invaded the tribal divisions of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim. So they crossed over the Jordan, and they attacked three tribes there. And the close of verse 9 tells us, and Israel was sore distressed. Sore distressed. Things were very bleak for the Israelites. And probably, while they're doing battle right there, Jephthah's going to go up, and he's going to go battle with them probably over on this side of it. Samson's doing battle with the Philistines, so things are just bleak for Israel. And verse 10 says, and they call out, the children of Israel, God's angry with them. And they call out unto the Lord and they confess. This confession's somewhat confusing to me, if you'll notice verse 10. They cry out to the Lord, saying, we have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God and also served Balaam. And if you will allow, it's almost half-hearted what they're saying for this reason. Balaam is not the only god that they were serving. There's a list in verse 6 of a whole bunch of gods that they were serving. And it's almost as if they are confessing, we've done this and this, but they're not getting totally right with God about the things. You and I have probably done that many occasions, have we not? Lord, forgive me of this and this and we ignore some of the other things we know we've done wrong. So almost in response to their half-hearted repentance in verse number 10, God answers them sharply in verse number 11 and the Lord begins to chide them, scold them in verse 11 all the way to verse 14. And the Lord says unto them, here's what I've done for you. I delivered you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, verse 12, the Zidonians, the Amalekites, the Mayonites, all of them oppressed you and you cried to me and I delivered you out of their hand. Again and again I've been faithful to you and you've been unfaithful to me. Now God is angry and He's scolding them here. Rather than God hearing their cries and sending down a judge, God is instead, and I don't want to speak irreverently, but He is just letting the Israelites have it. It's almost as if His anger is at a bowling point. Look what I've done for you. I've delivered you again and again, and you just keep turning away from me. Verse 13, I think, is One of the most frightening things that God ever says. Look at verse 13. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods. In spite of what I've done, look at what you've done. And now listen to these haunting words. Wherefore, I will deliver you no more. Those are some frightening words, brothers and sisters. As parents, my mom and dad used to say to me, son, I've had it up to here with you. It's almost as if God is saying to the Israelites, I've had it up to here with you. And in his anger, he threatens them and says to them, I'm done delivering you. You know why? Because you're just going to turn right around and do the same thing again. I know you. I know your stiff neck and your hard heart. No matter how good I am to you, you turn right around to the baser elements again. And then to build on this, there's almost a measure of divine humor mingled with sarcasm in verse 14. I underscored the close of 13 and 14 in my Bible. I underlined it because of the severity of God's anger against them. Listen to what God says in verse 14. Go and cry unto the gods which you have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation. You wanted the gods of Ashtoreth, the gods of Zidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of Ammon, the gods of the Philistines. You wanted Balaam. Call out to Balaam. Call out to the gods of the Ammonites. Call out to the gods of Ashtoreth. They're the ones that you love so much you set up in your house and you bow down to them. Call out to them for help. Is there not a measure of anger Some kind of a heavy humor and sarcasm in God when he says to them, that's the God you love? Ask them for help. You want to bow down and serve them instead of serving me? Ask them to get you out of this mess you're in. You love them? Let them deliver you. It's sort of like that foxhole religion people get. When they get in a foxhole, when they're in a mess, they want to cry out unto God and say, God, get me out of this mess I'm in. But as soon as they get out of the mess, they forget about the God that they called out for. I mean, God is essentially like an angry parent with them. A loving father, but he's just almost, I've had enough of you. You wouldn't want to listen to me. You wouldn't obey me, no matter how loving and faithful and good I've been to you. Go out there. That little carved out image of the gods of the Philistines, that little rock laying there with a face and fat belly on that, and ask that rock to deliver you from the hands of the Ammonites. See what good that does you. And that's just how foolish some people are though, isn't it? They call out to dead stone and wood gods that are not alive and can't do a thing for them, bow down before statues and crucifixes, none of that that can save only the living God that can deliver. And God is angry, and rightly so, when He says, you wanted them? False idols, you wanted them? You can have them. Let them deliver you, if they can. Children of Israel, I think as they hear these frightening words from the Almighty, afraid that God would abandon them, I think they really get serious about repentance in verse 15. Children of Israel said unto the Lord, look, we've sinned. We're not going to make any more excuses. We're not going to try to downplay it. We're not going to try to pretend like it's not all that bad. We've sinned. We deserve your judgment. Judge us. Pour it out on us. Whatever is right, you give it to us. Just don't abandon us. Don't leave us. Deliver us this day. Folks, I can't speak for everybody sitting in this building, but there have been times where I've turned away from God. Got into sin, and he delivered me. And then I fell back in that same sin again. And he delivered me again. And then I fell back in that same sin again. And he delivered me again. But at some point, even every child of God, you have to start saying, God, I don't know how many more times you're going to bail me out of this mess. And there needs to be a place where we reach, where we really get serious and repent and turn away from that sin. Doesn't mean it'll never be a temptation, but we certainly pray, God, I don't ever want to do this again. Will you just do whatever you got, just break me, judge me, deal with me however you must, just don't leave me. Just don't abandon me. I think that's what David meant when he cried out and said, don't take your spirit from me. I think he said, Lord, you judge me because of my sins, just don't abandon me. Don't leave me to myself. I mean, the worst thing that happened to anybody is God abandoned them. Do whatever's right. We sin, but please help us. And in verse 16, notice the change. Notice this. It's not just words now, it's actions. And that's what repentance looks like. And they put away the strange gods from among them and served the Lord. It wasn't just words, it was actions. They put those false gods away. They served the Lord. I told you I was preaching tonight on the anger and the mercy of God. Look at the close of verse 16, and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. There's the mercy of God. Angry. As a parent, you've been bowling mad with your children before, right? But you still love them because they're your children. You might want to wring their little necks. You might want to pick them up and shake some sense into them, but they're still your children and you love them. We ought to see a wonderful picture here, not just of God's anger, but of God's mercy. I like what Jeremiah wrote in the book of Lamentations, and it says, of the Lord's mercies. It is the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. They are new every morning. His compassion does not fail. His faithfulness, great is His faithfulness. We read in Psalm 79, Psalms 85, Psalms 103, that God will not be angry with his people forever. Thank God he has not just anger, but also mercy for us. And just like Israel, most of us have angered God by our stubborn rebellion, yet he's been merciful to us again and again. Thank God that he loves us enough to get angry. You know, if he didn't care, he'd let us go on and do what we wanted to do, but he loves us too much. And he gets angry with us. Thank God for the anger of God that keeps us. But also thank God for the mercy of God that forgives us. And may I point your mind to a place called Calvary, where I believe the greatest display of God's anger and mercy was ever seen. At Calvary, we see God's anger as he poured out his divine fury on his holy son because he made him to be sinned. But mingled in with the wrath and anger of God, there's the love and mercy of God in redeeming a lost people for their sins. I tell you, at Calvary, mercy and truth were met together, and righteousness and mercy, righteousness and peace kissed each other. There, in our Lord Christ, we see Him suffering at God's anger and Him displaying the greatest act of mercy the world has ever known. Israel is going to cry out for a deliverer, and God will hear their cry again. And that's how the rest of this chapter and chapter 11 points us towards our next judge named Jephthah.