July 9, 2025 • 41 mins
Ever feel like you're caught in a never-ending cycle of making the same mistakes? Like a laboratory mouse running through a maze toward the same cheese, we often find ourselves responding to life's triggers—stress, loneliness, anger, boredom—by pursuing temporary satisfaction through sin rather than lasting fulfillment in Christ.
In this powerful opening message of the "Relentless" series, we dive into the book of Judges to uncover a pattern that feels strikingly familiar: God's people repeatedly choosing sin, experiencing oppression, crying out for help, and receiving divine deliverance—only to start the cycle again. But this isn't just ancient history; it's a mirror reflecting our own spiritual struggles.
The fundamental reason we choose sin is that we forget God. In moments of temptation, we believe the lie that sin will satisfy us more completely than obedience to God. This forgetting often happens during seasons of comfort when we lose our desperation for God's presence. Without realizing it, we begin serving modern-day "Baals and Asherahs"—success, pleasure, money—that promise fulfillment but deliver bondage.
Yet here's where hope breaks through: God's relentless grace is stronger than sin's relentless pursuit. When we cry out to Him with genuine confession and repentance, He doesn't hesitate or criticize—He delivers. Like a father who instantly runs to rescue his fallen child, God responds to our cries with compassion and power. Through Jesus Christ, our ultimate Deliverer, we find not just temporary relief but lasting peace.
Ready to break the cycle? Choose Jesus over sin, maintain an attitude of dependence, and fix your mind on Him to experience the perfect peace that transcends circumstances. Your freedom is just a cry away.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
women who have served to protect our country, for our
freedoms to worship Jesus.
We thank you, we appreciate you, we are grateful for you.
All those who are serving haveserved and those who have given
their lives in serving for ourcountry.
We thank you.
You can have a seat.
Thank you for coming thismorning.
God is so good and he is doingso many things in our church.
(00:22):
He's doing so many things inour community.
He is doing so many things inour church.
He's doing so many things inour community.
He is doing so many things inour lives and I'm just so
thankful that you are here, thatyou're a part of it and that we
just get to experience thegrace and the glory of God
together.
I've just got to shout out tothe Lord for all that he is
doing.
I want to show you a couple ofthings here.
First of all, we have had a lotof baptisms.
(00:46):
Just last week, we had two kidsget baptized.
We had three teenagers getbaptized.
A week ago, one of ourteenagers got baptized at camp.
We had a young adult getbaptized in our 930 service.
This morning, of course, masonand Joseph got baptized.
Today, put your hands togetherone more time for all that God
is doing, as he is just changinglives, man.
We're seeing people saved,seeing people baptized.
God is so good.
Pastor James mentioned it.
We just had Wind Shaped Campthis past week 217 campers from
(01:11):
our community, from our church,336 total people in all and, the
best part, 10 kids gave theirlife to Jesus.
Their eternity has changedforever.
God is so good and we got toexperience a baptism this
morning.
I got to give a shout out to ourOregon Park baseball team and
family.
If you're here with our OregonPark baseball team and family,
(01:33):
would you stand up right now,please, and you are our guests
this morning.
Y'all stand up, all of ourOregon Park there.
They are right there, man.
We're so thankful to have y'allhere today.
What a blessing, what an honorit is to have y'all here with us
.
We had the honor of shooting adevotional video every Sunday
for all of our Oregon Parkbaseball teams, because they
were travel ball during Sundaysand, man, my heart just went out
(01:57):
to them knowing that theycouldn't go to church during
travel ball.
But I wanted to remind themthat, first of all, the church
can always go to them whereverthey are and, secondly, they can
always be the church whereverthey are, and so we're going to
feed them a lunch today, rightafter just for our Oregon Park
baseball teams and families.
We are so thankful that you arehere, a part of us.
We're starting a brand newseries today called Relentless.
(02:19):
Everybody say relentless,relentless.
This is coming from the book ofJudges.
You can open up your Bible tothe book of Judges or you'll see
it on the screens this morningand we're talking about how
relentless sin can be, howrelentless sin can be.
Man, sin never stops.
Sin is always coming after you,sin is always coming after me.
(02:42):
We just like to be an honestchurch.
We like to be real.
I'm going to talk about somesin in my life this morning
because it is just somethingthat is relentlessly pursuing us
as sin.
But aren't you thankful thatGod and his love and his grace
and his mercy and his salvation,that God's relentless pursuit
(03:03):
is even greater than therelentless pursuit of sin?
Can I get an amen, man?
God's grace is always greaterthan our sin.
You ever seen those scientistswhere the scientists, they do
the little experiments and theyput the mice in a maze and they
ring a bell and the door goes upand the mouse goes throughout
(03:24):
the maze and it finds its way togo and get the piece of cheese.
And so the scientist is doingall these tests and all these
experiments and all thesetheories.
It's like the bell, the door,the mouse, the cheese.
Over and over and over again.
Finally it just becomes secondnature for the mouse.
Here's the bell, door's open,runs straight to the cheese.
Boom, there it is.
(03:53):
It's just that easy, and oftenthat is what it's like how sin
works in our life that somethinghappens and we all have
different triggers.
We all have different bells inour life.
Maybe your bell that dings inyour life that Satan is trying
to get your attention to go andget the cheese that he's
offering you.
You know, maybe that bell foryou is.
Maybe it's stress, maybe it'sthat feeling of anger, maybe
it's boredom.
Maybe it's when you feelinsignificant.
(04:13):
Maybe it's when you feelstepped on or stepped over.
Maybe it's when you feeldevalued.
Maybe it's when you feel lonely.
Or maybe Satan just throwstemptation at you and just boom,
there's the bell, the door isopen.
And now you're just like atrain mice in a maze and you
just go after that cheese thatthe devil is offering you.
Can I just remind you thismorning that God did not create
(04:33):
you to be a mouse in a mazechasing after cheese.
God created you as a child ofGod, created in his image, so
that you're not going aftercheese, you're going after Jesus
.
Can I get an amen?
And that's how we are torelentlessly to be pursuing our
life.
But let's be honest, sin isreal, sin is powerful, sin is
(04:55):
tempting, sin is something thatour flesh wants, and so this
morning I just wanna remind youthat we are all called to break
this cycle of sin.
I want to talk to you thismorning about how to break the
cycle.
Look at somebody and say breakthe cycle.
Break the cycle, because that'swhat this book, the book of
Judges, is all about is, whenyour sin feels relentless in
(05:18):
your life, how that you can seekGod's deliverance for your life
, because that's what we allwant.
You know, as we're allcelebrating over the weekend,
july 4th, independence Day,freedom right from foreign
oppressors.
Well, in the same way, we don'tjust want freedom from the
outside, we want freedom on theinside.
And the freedom on the inside,that freedom from sin, that
(05:41):
freedom from bondage, thatfreedom from evil, oppression
that only Jesus can give, andthat's what the book of Judges
is all about.
The book of Judges is thisincredible story about how God's
people continue to fall in sinover and over again and God
continues to deliver them overand over again.
And God's not just telling usabout the past, he's telling us
(06:04):
about the present.
He's not just telling us aboutother past, he's telling us
about the present.
He's not just telling us aboutother people, he's telling us
about ourselves.
He's telling me about myselfand he's telling you about
yourself.
Break the cycle.
So here we go, number one whatis the cycle that you, that I,
that we find ourselves in?
First of all, the cycle oftenstarts with that you choose sin,
or I choose sin, or we choosesin.
(06:25):
We see that in Judges, chapterthree, if you look with me and
you can turn there or just checkit out on the screens.
Judges three, verse seven, saysand the people of Israel did
what was evil in the sight ofthe Lord.
They forgot the Lord, their God, and they served the Baals and
the Asherah.
Well, first of all, I just wantyou to see just a couple of
(06:46):
things here.
First of all, we see the peopleof Israel.
Who are the people of Israel.
The people of Israel are thepeople of God.
Isn't it interesting that Goddidn't write his word to tell us
all about everybody else's sin?
No, god is writing his word tohelp us to understand our sin.
Sometimes, christians, they'realways talking about man to help
us to understand our sin.
Sometimes, christians, they'realways talking about man.
(07:07):
Did you see what that othercountry was doing, or did you
see what so-and-so was doingacross the street?
Did you hear what he did?
Did you see what she did?
Or did you understand, did youwatch on the news, what the
other political party did?
And often we talk about sin, asalways in somebody else, but
never in ourselves.
And God says look, I'm not justtalking about the sin of the
world, I'm talking about sin inthe church, right, I'm talking
(07:29):
about sin in life.
I'm talking about sin in yourpastor.
I'm talking about sin in thepeople.
I'm talking about sin in thepeople of God.
He said, and the people ofIsrael did what was evil.
Did what was evil in the sightof the Lord.
In other words, what is sin?
Unfortunately, that is a bigquestion today that so many
(07:50):
people get confused on.
So many people are trying toanswer, so many people have all
these debates and disagreementsand arguments what is sin To
where?
Often you know where theargument ultimately leads.
There's no such thing as sin.
Everybody can just do whateverthey think is right.
Whatever is right for them isright for them.
But the Bible says that'sactually exactly what's going on
(08:14):
in the book of Judges.
He says that they are all doingwhat's right in their own eyes.
The problem is is that theywere, while they were doing
right in their own eyes, theywere doing evil in the eyes of
the Lord.
In other words, who gets todefine sin God does?
And where do we find what sinis so that we can know am I in
(08:34):
sin or am I not in sin?
Is this a sin or is this not asin?
How do we know what sin is?
Because one of the mostimportant things you know for
your life is whether you areobeying or whether you are
disobeying God, and it is allfound in the word of God.
And the people of Israel didwhat was evil in the sight of
the Lord.
And why did they do it?
Because they forgot.
(08:56):
Everybody say forgot.
They forgot the Lord, their God.
When I sin, when you sin, thereason we sin is because we
forget that God is better thanthat sin.
The reason we choose sin isbecause we think that that sin
is going to do better for usthan God's going to do for us in
that area of our life.
(09:16):
So we think that sin is goingto make us feel better, that sin
is going to satisfy us more,that sin is going to fulfill us
more, that sin is going to serveus better than God can serve us
.
And so when I choose sin, it isbecause I falsely believe that
that sin is going to be betterto me than God.
But what happens?
It says that when we sin, whatwe're ultimately doing is we are
(09:37):
serving.
It says they forgot the Lord,their God, and they started to
serve the Baals and the Asherah.
Who were the Baals?
The Baals were the God of money, success and position and
career.
Is there anything with earningmoney?
No.
Is there anything wrong withhaving money?
(09:59):
No.
What's wrong is when your moneyhas you Right.
And so we see the Baals rightwhere these were gods of money
that if you serve these Baals,then they believed that they
would get a lot of money.
The Asherah was the goddess ofsex and pleasure.
So basically they said if youcan simultaneously both serve
(10:20):
Baal and Asherah and you get allthe success and all the
pleasure you want, then you arethe happiest people on the
planet earth.
Now here is what we understandis what God is doing, and I want
to show this to you because youmight be wondering.
Well, how did they get here?
Because last week, pastor Jamespreached an incredible message.
I was sitting right back herewith my wife, michelle, and he
(10:42):
preached an incredible messageon finishing strong, and one of
the points that he made was isthat sin will always cost us.
Sin will always cost us.
We think that it's gonna giveto us, but rather it cost us.
So the question is how did theyget here?
Because we were just in thebook of Joshua last week and God
was with them and they wereobeying God and they were
(11:04):
marching throughout the promisedland and they were fighting all
these battles and God wasgiving them all these victories
and all this type stuff.
And I just gotta show you whathappened.
In Judges, chapter one, it saidthat Joshua died and God called
Judah, which is a tribe, a groupof people, to lead.
In other words, they lost aspiritual leader.
You know what happens oftenwhen we sin is when we don they
(11:24):
lost a spiritual leader.
You know, what happens oftenwhen we sin is when we don't
have a spiritual leader or aspiritual mentor in our life
that we can talk to, who willpray for us, who would encourage
us.
Judges is a messed up bookduring messed up times.
You can just read chapter one,verse six, and it's all
throughout the book of Judges.
And isn't the world?
Isn't the world a messed upplace?
And aren't we living in messedup times?
(11:45):
Israel did not drive out all ofthe Canaanites from the land,
and it's a reminder to me and toyou.
When we sin, why is it that wesin?
We sin because we don't driveout every sin in our life, and
the sin that we allow to stay isthe sin that often comes back
and destroys us.
We see, the angel of the Lordsaid I brought you up out of
(12:08):
Egypt, meaning God saved themright from slavery in Egypt.
He said I will never break mycovenant with you.
We see the faithfulness of God.
Then we see the command of God.
He said in Judges 2 too, makeno covenant with inhabitants,
break down their altars.
But then he says at the end ofthat verse, but you did not obey
me.
In other words, sin.
(12:30):
When I sin, it is not becausethat God isn't being faithful to
me.
When I sin, it's because I'mnot being faithful to God.
God is always faithful to me.
God is always faithful to youthrough Jesus Christ.
But the issue is is that whenwe don't appreciate the
faithfulness of God and he saysthose inhabitants that you did
(12:51):
not drive out, they will becomea pain and a temptation.
In other words, the little sinsthat we keep in our lives are
the sins that grow and festerand multiply and they are the
ones that will sneak up on usand they were the ones that will
ultimately bring us down.
It also says in Judges 2.10,another generation arose who did
(13:13):
not know the Lord or his work.
So now we have a new generationof Israelites coming up and no
one told them about God.
A whole brand new generation oflittle boys and little girls to
become young men and becomeyoung women.
But it says that they did notknow the Lord.
They didn't know who God was orthe work.
(13:33):
Why?
Because God was forgotten amongthe people of God.
Do you know what happened?
Life got good.
Often, when life is good is whenwe lose our desperation for God
, when we lose our depth in theword of God, when we lose our
(13:54):
desperation in prayer with God.
And often what we do is weforget God.
And when you forget God is whenyou fall into sin.
When we forget God is when wefall into sin.
Psalm 39, verse 23, says Searchme, o God.
Know my heart, try me and knowmy thoughts.
See if there be any grievousway in me and lead me in the way
(14:16):
of everlasting Meaning.
God, I'm not even aware of allof my sin.
I've got sin in my life thatare blind spots to me.
God, I need you to search me.
I need you to seek me, god, Ineed you to show me even areas
that I'm not aware of, that I'msinning against you.
(14:37):
And the Bible continues to say,and goes on to say, that it is
often the good times in our lifewhen we struggle the most with
God.
Here's what happens when I'mgoing through good times in my
life and everything's easy andeverything's comfortable and
everything's kind of going myway, then what I tend to do is I
drift in my devotions because Ifeel like that I don't need God
(14:57):
as much as when times are bad,and so my devotions can become
shallow or rushed or hurried orsporadic.
And then there are times thatmaybe I go through a hard time
and I get real close with Godand I'm in God's word and I'm in
prayer, and I don't know if thesame is for you.
(15:18):
But then a temptation will comemy way and Satan will start to
deceive me and maybe I take thebait and maybe I sin.
And you know what happens Idon't have the same faith,
intimacy with God that I didbefore, because I know that
there is something in my lifethat I'm not living for him, and
(15:41):
so I feel this hindrance, nothim towards me, but me towards
him that I'm not giving him allof me because he gave me all of
him.
So we see here that we choosesin.
And then, number two sinoppresses you.
Everybody say oppress, oppress.
I think this is actually a veryappropriate word.
And I number two sin oppressesyou.
Everybody say oppress, oppress.
I think this is actually a veryappropriate word and I want to
explain this word, but let meshow you where we're going here.
(16:02):
It says in Judges 3.8,.
Therefore, the anger of theLord was kindled against the
people of Israel and he said tothem and he sold them excuse me
into the hand of the Cushan RoshHathim.
I sounded that out like 20times this week.
King of Mesopotamia and thepeople of Israel served under
Cushon Rosh Hathim for eightyears.
(16:23):
What do we see here?
The anger of the Lord, thatanger of the Lord.
The Hebrew word is af and itactually means it's a word
picture.
It's like a forehead that iscrinkling up, it's nostrils that
are flaring, it's smoke that iscoming out.
Like we've got an emoji for theanger of the Lord.
Can I get an amen?
And this is often how I feellike, sometimes, like when my
(16:47):
kids like deliberately disobeyme right in front of me, like
don't do that, don't do that,don't do that, and they do it.
And it's like how is thatpossible?
And I feel my forehead creakleup and my nose flare and I start
breathing like a hog, you know,and I feel like that.
(17:13):
But isn't it interesting that weserve a God who has anger
against sin?
Aren't you thankful that ourGod hates sin?
He doesn't hate us, he doesn'thate the sinner.
He loves the sinner, but hehates the sin.
Could you imagine having apolice department?
And I'm so thankful for thepolice of Powder Springs, the
police of Cobb County, sothankful for all that they do.
Could you imagine a policedepartment who's apathetic to
(17:33):
crime?
Can you imagine a judge who isapathetic to sentencing
criminals?
No, we have a just God, we havea holy God, and we should be
thankful.
And we should be grateful thatsin angers God, and it says that
his anger was kindled againstIsrael and he sold him into the
(17:53):
hand of Cushon Rosh Hathim.
Now let me explain that realquick.
That word to sell is makar inthe Hebrew, and I need to
explain this.
Makar does not mean that he wastrying to make money off of his
people.
You know what makar means.
Makar means that he handed themover to what they really wanted
most.
I want you to know one of theworst things that God can do is
(18:19):
to let you have the sin you wantthe most.
One of the worst things thatGod can do in your life and it's
because of you, not because ofhim is you want it, you want it,
you want it, you go after it,you go after it, you go after it
.
And finally God says, says I'mgonna let you have it.
But he does it redemptively.
(18:40):
He hands you over for a seasonto show you that that sin can
never provide for you what hewants to give you, that that sin
can never satisfy you like hecan satisfy you.
It says.
So he goes on the anger of theLord, he sells them into the
(19:01):
hand of the Cushites and thepeople of Israel served.
So often.
We feel like man.
If I do this, the sin is goingto serve me, the sin is going to
satisfy me, the sin is going tohelp me.
But here's what happens we endup becoming slaves of that sin,
we end up serving the sin, weend up serving Satan.
In a sense, we end up givingour lives to him, living for him
(19:23):
instead of living for the Lord.
And I see this in my life,because it says that they served
for eight years, or in otherwords, there can be seasons in
the life of a believer that isgiven over to sin, the bondage
of sin, the oppression of sin,and I've gone through these
years in my life and these yearsof our life.
(19:47):
It's like the mouse in a mazeand you get a little cheese and
you forget that you're just usedby the devil, that you're just
used by the devil and you forgetthat there's so much more for
you outside of the sin and thatsin doesn't truly satisfy.
That sin doesn't truly fulfill.
(20:08):
I think about the years of mylife that I have been enslaved
to sin and I remember the timesthat my worship just felt so
stale, like I didn't even feellike singing to the Lord.
I remember my devotions wereboring, my prayers felt like
that they just bounced off theceiling, like I didn't want to
(20:29):
be in community.
I didn't want to be in a group.
Why?
Because I didn't cherish theword of God with other believers
.
I didn't want accountability.
I didn't want to serve and usemy gifts in the local church
because I wanted to serve my sin.
I didn't want to serve God.
I didn't want to go out andspread the gospel and tell
people about Jesus.
Why?
Because I wanted sin to spreadfurther into my life.
(20:52):
I didn't want to givegenerously to God and the
mission of God and all that Godwants to do to change people's
lives and power springs and allthroughout the world.
I didn't wanna give because Iwanted to give to sin, not give
to myself, not give to him.
This is what happens in our lifewhen we go through the sin, and
I just I want you to see thatPsalm 32, three and four talks
(21:13):
about the oppression of sin.
This is how King David felt.
And, by the way, king David wasknown as a man after God's own
heart.
In other words, god's greatestlabel on your life is not your
sin, but God's greatest label onyour life is your savior.
God knows you're a sinner, andso God is calling us to make
sure that we are fixing our eyeson him, he says.
(21:35):
King David said, for when I keptsilent, in other words, when I
wasn't confessing my sin to God,my bones wasted away.
There's something physical thathappens within us, though my
groaning was all day long.
There's something verbal thathappens within us, for day and
night, your hand was heavingupon me.
It's the conviction of the HolySpirit, he said.
My strength was dried up.
We lose our vigor, and as by theheat of the summer, selah, if
(22:01):
you're like me and you findyourself in times like this,
here's some things that I've hadto learn to remember.
First of all, when I am in sinand I give my life to sin, I
have to remember this.
I have to remember how muchbetter my life was when I was
following Jesus in obediencethan living in disobedience.
(22:23):
And there are times in my lifewhere, as I am following Jesus,
as I am obeying Jesus, as I ampursuing Jesus, and I have to
remember when temptation comesmy way, I gotta remember.
Oh, I remember what it feltlike when I gave my life to sin.
I remember what it felt likewhen I gave my life to sin.
I remember what it felt likewhen there's no such thing as
one sin, there's no such thingas just giving myself to it one
(22:46):
time.
That sin is never satisfied.
That's why they call it lust,because it's relentless in our
life.
In that we cannot control sin.
Sin controls us.
The only control that we haveis by living our life.
In that we cannot control sin.
Sin controls us.
The only control that we haveis by living our life for Christ
.
And so I gotta remember in mylife, as I'm living my life for
Jesus, that sin seems so good.
(23:07):
It seems like it'll satisfy, itseems like it'll fulfill, it
seems like it'll make me happy,it seems like it'll give me
whatever I want, but actually itis only going to oppress me,
enslave me and trap me and trickme and destroy me.
Can I get an amen.
So that's what we see that Godis doing in our life.
So what happens when sin doesoppress you?
(23:28):
When sin oppresses you, what dowe do?
We cry out to God.
We cry out to God, and aren'tyou thankful for a God that he
says even when you're in sin?
Cry out to me.
Judges 3, 9,.
But when the people of Israelcried out to the Lord, that word
Hebrew word, za'ak and I lovejust studying the Hebrew on all
this because it gives us afuller meaning.
(23:48):
So just let me nerd out for asecond if you don't mind.
So za'ak means not just to sayGod, help me.
It's not just to say God, helpme.
It's not just to say God, getme out of this.
It's not just to say God, helpme with all these consequences.
No, za'ak is saying you arecrying out to the Lord and
(24:08):
you're saying, god, you wereright, I was wrong, forgive me,
I repent, I confess God, I'mcoming back to you.
God, would you take me backagain?
I love being a dad to our threekids Brooklyn six, cruz two,
(24:30):
eliana one and typically youknow it's zone defense in the
house, right, we got three, it'stwo on three and so typically,
michelle, she takes Eliana theright.
We got three, it's two on threeand so typically, michelle, she
takes Eliana, the one-year-old,because baby just needs mama.
And at times when I'm there,when I can, I'm taking the other
two, and so I love giving bathsevery night.
So I bathe, typically batheCruz first and then I bathe
(24:52):
Brooklyn, and Brooklyn is sixyears old.
She was in here a little bitearlier for Mason's baptism.
She was a little six-year-old inthe wheelchair.
We adopted her from birth.
We learned at her around herfirst birthday, that she has
cerebral palsy.
She's not able to stand, she'snot able to walk, she's not able
to get herself up.
She can be on her knees and shecan walk around a little bit on
(25:12):
her knees, but we have to puther on her knees so in the bath.
When I'm putting her in thebath, I have to be in the
bathroom the entire time becauseif she falls over in the water
she can't get herself back up.
Okay, so I stay in the bathroomthe whole time and let her play
and let her splash and let herhave her fun, but I don't leave
because she could fall overunder the water.
But there are times when I amthere that she falls.
(25:36):
There are times when I am therethat she falls, and when she
does, she can feel herself,start to fall.
And she knows because I toldher to scream as loud as you can
and just say scream, help.
Just make sure that whoever'spaying attention they're
watching, they're looking,they're there, scream, help,
help, help.
And so she'll start to fall andshe'll say help, daddy, help,
daddy, help.
And then she'll go down.
Sometimes, daddy, help, daddy,help.
And then she'll go down.
Sometimes she'll go under,sometimes she'll land on the
(25:56):
shoulder, whatever it might be.
And I'll tell you what I don'tdo.
When she screams, daddy, help,I don't say, hey, baby, let me
finish this email real quick andI'll get to you in just a
second.
I'll say, hey, baby, daddy.
I won't say Daddy's real busyright now and so, ken, I is
(26:18):
wrong with you.
Get yourself up.
We've talked about this so manytimes.
Sit yourself back up.
I don't say that.
You know what I do, because Iam my baby girl's daddy.
I'll run to her rescue thewhole, every single time when
she cries out to daddy, becauseit's my job.
God put me in her life to saveher, to deliver her, to protect
her?
And don't you know that God isyour heavenly father and when
you cry out to him at any timebecause of your sin, he comes to
(26:39):
your rescue and he delivers youand he saves you.
And he doesn't say wait, hedoesn't say what's wrong with
you, he doesn't say I'm busy, heis locked on you and God
delivers you.
That's exactly what this verseis saying.
God promises you if we confessour sins.
God is faithful, even whenyou're unfaithful, when I'm
(27:03):
unfaithful, god is faithful.
He's just to forgive us of oursins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
You can write this down.
Five quick things about cryingout to God.
Number one write this down.
Number one is conviction.
Feel the conviction of the HolySpirit in your life when you
(27:24):
sin.
Number two is confession.
When you feel the conviction ofthe Holy Spirit when you've
sinned, go ahead and confessthat sin to God and ask for
forgiveness.
Number three is forgiveness.
Believe the forgiveness of God.
Why does the Bible never say toforgive yourself?
Because when God forgives you,that's all the forgiveness you
(27:45):
need.
Can I get an amen?
Number four is repentance.
What is repentance?
Repentance is when we areliving for our sin and we turn
the other direction and we startliving for him, for Jesus,
again.
And number five is obedience.
Obedience is a long obediencein the same direction.
It is living your life forJesus, day after day, step after
(28:06):
step, decision after decision,over and over and over again.
How do we confess our sin to God?
I would encourage you this iswhat I practice Confess the
nitty gritty details, because healready watched it, he already
knows.
Just go and confess it all.
Don't just be like, oh God, Imessed up.
Would you forgive me?
Tell him what you did.
Because sometimes when we sayit to God, when we describe,
(28:34):
recount our evil and our sin toa holy God, it just sounds awful
and it's a deterrent of doingit again.
So you don't have to confessagain, even though he invites us
to confess again over and overand over again.
Don't just confess your sin,also confess the gospel, because
(29:00):
God isn't just saying it's okay, god's not saying it's okay.
When we confess our sin, god issaying I got you, I've already
sent my son, he's already diedfor it, his blood has already
covered it.
He doesn't say it's okay.
He says I forgive you becauseJesus has already died for our
sin.
Well, to whom all should youconfess your sin, to Confess
(29:23):
your sin as far as your sin went.
In other words, I wouldencourage you to confess your
sin.
If your sin was in private,confess it in private to God.
If your sin was against someoneelse, confess it to God because
you sinned against him andconfess it to them because you
sinned against them too.
If your sin was against someoneelse, confess it to God because
you sinned against him andconfess it to them because you
sinned against them too.
If your sin was public, then Iwould encourage you confess it
to God and confess it publicly,so that other people forgive you
(29:45):
as well.
And what we see from thescriptures is that when we cry
out to God, we're saying God,you're right, I'm wrong, I
confess, I repent, forgive meand I'll live for you.
And what happens when we cryout to God?
Number four God delivers you.
Everybody say deliver, goddelivers you.
(30:06):
I love this.
This is my favorite part Judges3, 9, and 10.
But when the people of Israelcried out to the Lord, the Lord
raised up a deliverer.
Who was the deliverer?
It was a judge.
God would raise up in the bookof Judges some 12 different
judges because they kept fallinginto sin over and over and over
again.
Sound familiar, just like me,just like you.
(30:27):
And God sends a deliverer intotheir life to deliver them from
sin.
It says for the people ofIsrael, who the deliverer saved
them.
Now, who is the deliverer inthis story?
I want to show you real quick.
It's Othniel.
Everybody say Othniel.
Who is Othniel?
This is important the son ofCanaz, caleb's younger brother.
Here's why that's so importantBecause Caleb was a rock star in
(30:50):
Israel.
Only Joshua and Caleb youremember this Only Joshua and
Caleb went into the promisedland from that whole generation,
which means everybody enteringinto the promised land is at
least 20 years younger thanJoshua and Caleb.
Caleb was one of those guys,one of the 12 spies that went
into Canaan to spy out the landwhile they were still the
(31:11):
Israelites were still in thedesert.
Caleb was one of two that cameback with a positive report.
Caleb was known to be in his80s, saying he had more energy
in his 80s than he did all ofhis years previous.
Caleb was a rock star.
Othniel was a nobody.
Can you imagine being Caleb'syounger brother?
Like, hey, we don't know yourname, but could you get us a
(31:32):
meeting with Caleb?
We'd really like to meet himand maybe get his autograph one
day.
Hey can't remember your name,but we're pretty sure you're
related.
Tell us that story about Calebagain, what it would feel like
to be Othniel and sometimes whatit feels like to be me and what
it feels like to be you, thatwe often feel insignificant,
(31:54):
like a nobody, like God couldnever use us.
But what did God do?
The spirit of the Lord cameupon Othniel, just like the
spirit of the Lord comes uponyou, so that God can use you
greater in your life through hisspirit than you could ever be
in your life by yourself.
And Othniel judged Israel.
(32:14):
In other words, he came and hesaved.
The day he went out to war andthe Lord gave Kishon, the
Rishayim, the king ofMesopotamia, into Othniel's hand
.
So here's what we need to see.
Ultimately, this is about Jesus.
Othniel is a picture of Jesus,for the Lord is our judge, the
Lord is our lawgiver, the Lordis our king and he will save us.
(32:34):
Who is our ultimate judge?
It is Jesus.
Let me show you some coolconnections very quickly.
Othniel was raised up by God tosave, but Jesus was sent by God
to be our savior.
Othniel was filled with theHoly Spirit, but Jesus was
anointed by the Holy Spirit andhe fills you with the Holy
Spirit too.
Othniel defeated an earthlyoppressor, but Jesus came and he
(32:57):
defeated the eternal oppressorssin, death and Satan.
Othniel brought temporary peace, but Jesus brings eternal peace
.
Othniel came from the tribe ofJudah, but Jesus is the lion of
the tribe of Judah.
Othniel's name means God is mystrength, but Jesus is both
God's son and our strength.
Put your hands together forJesus as our judge.
(33:23):
So let me lay on this plane.
What do we do?
I wanna encourage you torelentlessly seek and pursue
Jesus as the deliverer of yourlife.
And when Jesus is yourdeliverer, then Jesus.
He fills you with his HolySpirit and through him you can
(33:43):
go and help deliver people outof their sin too.
We're called to be evangelists.
We're called to be missionaries.
We're called to be disciplemakers.
We're called to be ministers ofthe gospel.
And so you choose sin.
Sin oppresses you.
You cry out to God.
God delivers you.
For what purpose?
That we experience peace, theend of the passage.
(34:05):
So the land had rest for 40years, then Othniel, the son of
Kenes, died.
What did they experience whenthey were delivered by Othniel?
The same thing that you want,the same thing that I want.
What we hear on the news everyday, the deepest desire of every
(34:31):
single human heart, I just want.
I just want peace.
People are looking for peace ofmind, people are looking for
peace of heart.
People are looking forrelational peace, emotional
(34:51):
peace, mental peace.
Can I remind you that Jesus isthe only one who can give real
peace.
Jesus said I've said thesethings to you, that in me you
may have peace.
Peace is only found in him.
In the world you will havetribulation, but take heart.
(35:14):
Jesus said.
I have overcome the world.
Jesus is saying even when youare surrounded by tribulation,
by hardship, even wheneverything is falling apart
around you, he is holding youtogether within you.
How do you get it, david, I'msorry.
Isaiah said David, I'm sorry.
Isaiah said God, you keep him inperfect peace, whose mind is
(35:36):
stayed on you because he trustsin you.
When your mind is stayed on God, when your mental capacity is
fixed on Christ, when you'refocusing your heart on him and
on him alone, and you trust him,even when it looks like that he
(35:58):
is losing control.
But you trust him and God, Iknow you can never lose control
because you're provident, you'resovereign, you always have
control.
God, I trust you, no matterwhat.
Then it says that he gives youperfect peace in your life.
That's not perfection aroundyou, that's perfect peace within
you.
So what do you do?
(36:22):
How do you break the cycle?
I would encourage you don'tchoose sin.
Don't choose sin.
Choose him.
Choose him over and over andover and over again, because
there is no sin that is betterthan Jesus.
There is nothing the world cangive you, there is nothing that
(36:44):
Satan can offer you, there isnothing that sin can satisfy
within you, that Jesus cannot dobetter and fully and eternally.
And when we don't choose sin,then sin won't oppress you,
you'll be free, you'll have thejoy of Christ, you'll have the
peace of God in your life.
But I would encourage you, asyou do that, as you choose him
(37:07):
and you experience the freedomof God, never stop crying out to
God, never stop, never quit Cryout to him and say God, I need
you to continue to deliver me,because sin is tempting and it's
relentless and it's constantlycoming my way.
And what God does is hedelivers you not just from the
(37:29):
sin, but he delivers you beforethe sin.
He delivers you, the Bible saysfrom the temptation, because
when you choose him, you'rechoosing his peace in your life.
Can I ask us all to bow ourheads and close our eyes?
(37:50):
Every head bowed, every eyeclosed.
Maybe you're here this morningand maybe you've been in the
cycle.
Maybe you've been strugglingwith sin, tempted with sin,
struggling with finding peace,keeping your eyes on him.
(38:11):
Here's what I wanna encourageyou to do right now Just cry out
to your father, cry out to yoursavior.
Jesus, deliver me again.
And he will again and again andagain and again.
And maybe you're here and youcan't do that yet because you
(38:31):
haven't given your life to him.
And here's what he's saying.
He's saying I can't wait tosave you, I can't wait to
forgive you, I can't wait todeliver you because he created
you and Jesus died for you, andso God desperately wants to save
you.
But you've got to your life.
To him, right here, right now,you can say a prayer that I can
(38:52):
help you with, that you can giveyour life to him this morning.
You can pray right here, rightnow, and just say God, I believe
in you and God, I need you.
You can tell him God, I believein Jesus, I believe that he
died on the cross for my sins,and so I'm asking you to forgive
me of all my sin, past, presentand future.
(39:15):
You can tell him God, I believethat Jesus rose from the dead.
I believe he's alive, I believehe's real, and I wanna turn
from my sin and I wanna followhim with my life.
And the Bible says if youconfess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord, you will be saved.
If you believe that with yourheart that God raised Jesus from
(39:36):
the dead, you will be saved.
So right now, just tell JesusJesus, be the Lord of my life,
be my Lord, be my God, be mysavior.
Jesus, we thank you for thatpromise, we thank you for that
truth.
We thank you for your salvation.
We pray these things in Jesus'name, and all God's people said
put your hands together foranybody that prayed that prayer
this morning.
The Bible says that heavenrejoices every time a sinner
(39:58):
repents and gives their life toJesus, and we are so thankful.
I'm gonna hand it over toPastor James.
women who have served to protect our country, for our
freedoms to worship Jesus.
We thank you, we appreciate you, we are grateful for you.
All those who are serving haveserved and those who have given
their lives in serving for ourcountry.
We thank you.
You can have a seat.
Thank you for coming thismorning.
God is so good and he is doingso many things in our church.
(00:22):
He's doing so many things inour community.
He is doing so many things inour church.
He's doing so many things inour community.
He is doing so many things inour lives and I'm just so
thankful that you are here, thatyou're a part of it and that we
just get to experience thegrace and the glory of God
together.
I've just got to shout out tothe Lord for all that he is
doing.
I want to show you a couple ofthings here.
First of all, we have had a lotof baptisms.
(00:46):
Just last week, we had two kidsget baptized.
We had three teenagers getbaptized.
A week ago, one of ourteenagers got baptized at camp.
We had a young adult getbaptized in our 930 service.
This morning, of course, masonand Joseph got baptized.
Today, put your hands togetherone more time for all that God
is doing, as he is just changinglives, man.
We're seeing people saved,seeing people baptized.
God is so good.
Pastor James mentioned it.
We just had Wind Shaped Campthis past week 217 campers from
(01:11):
our community, from our church,336 total people in all and, the
best part, 10 kids gave theirlife to Jesus.
Their eternity has changedforever.
God is so good and we got toexperience a baptism this
morning.
I got to give a shout out to ourOregon Park baseball team and
family.
If you're here with our OregonPark baseball team and family,
(01:33):
would you stand up right now,please, and you are our guests
this morning.
Y'all stand up, all of ourOregon Park there.
They are right there, man.
We're so thankful to have y'allhere today.
What a blessing, what an honorit is to have y'all here with us
.
We had the honor of shooting adevotional video every Sunday
for all of our Oregon Parkbaseball teams, because they
were travel ball during Sundaysand, man, my heart just went out
(01:57):
to them knowing that theycouldn't go to church during
travel ball.
But I wanted to remind themthat, first of all, the church
can always go to them whereverthey are and, secondly, they can
always be the church whereverthey are, and so we're going to
feed them a lunch today, rightafter just for our Oregon Park
baseball teams and families.
We are so thankful that you arehere, a part of us.
We're starting a brand newseries today called Relentless.
(02:19):
Everybody say relentless,relentless.
This is coming from the book ofJudges.
You can open up your Bible tothe book of Judges or you'll see
it on the screens this morningand we're talking about how
relentless sin can be, howrelentless sin can be.
Man, sin never stops.
Sin is always coming after you,sin is always coming after me.
(02:42):
We just like to be an honestchurch.
We like to be real.
I'm going to talk about somesin in my life this morning
because it is just somethingthat is relentlessly pursuing us
as sin.
But aren't you thankful thatGod and his love and his grace
and his mercy and his salvation,that God's relentless pursuit
(03:03):
is even greater than therelentless pursuit of sin?
Can I get an amen, man?
God's grace is always greaterthan our sin.
You ever seen those scientistswhere the scientists, they do
the little experiments and theyput the mice in a maze and they
ring a bell and the door goes upand the mouse goes throughout
(03:24):
the maze and it finds its way togo and get the piece of cheese.
And so the scientist is doingall these tests and all these
experiments and all thesetheories.
It's like the bell, the door,the mouse, the cheese.
Over and over and over again.
Finally it just becomes secondnature for the mouse.
Here's the bell, door's open,runs straight to the cheese.
Boom, there it is.
(03:53):
It's just that easy, and oftenthat is what it's like how sin
works in our life that somethinghappens and we all have
different triggers.
We all have different bells inour life.
Maybe your bell that dings inyour life that Satan is trying
to get your attention to go andget the cheese that he's
offering you.
You know, maybe that bell foryou is.
Maybe it's stress, maybe it'sthat feeling of anger, maybe
it's boredom.
Maybe it's when you feelinsignificant.
(04:13):
Maybe it's when you feelstepped on or stepped over.
Maybe it's when you feeldevalued.
Maybe it's when you feel lonely.
Or maybe Satan just throwstemptation at you and just boom,
there's the bell, the door isopen.
And now you're just like atrain mice in a maze and you
just go after that cheese thatthe devil is offering you.
Can I just remind you thismorning that God did not create
(04:33):
you to be a mouse in a mazechasing after cheese.
God created you as a child ofGod, created in his image, so
that you're not going aftercheese, you're going after Jesus
.
Can I get an amen?
And that's how we are torelentlessly to be pursuing our
life.
But let's be honest, sin isreal, sin is powerful, sin is
(04:55):
tempting, sin is something thatour flesh wants, and so this
morning I just wanna remind youthat we are all called to break
this cycle of sin.
I want to talk to you thismorning about how to break the
cycle.
Look at somebody and say breakthe cycle.
Break the cycle, because that'swhat this book, the book of
Judges, is all about is, whenyour sin feels relentless in
(05:18):
your life, how that you can seekGod's deliverance for your life
, because that's what we allwant.
You know, as we're allcelebrating over the weekend,
july 4th, independence Day,freedom right from foreign
oppressors.
Well, in the same way, we don'tjust want freedom from the
outside, we want freedom on theinside.
And the freedom on the inside,that freedom from sin, that
(05:41):
freedom from bondage, thatfreedom from evil, oppression
that only Jesus can give, andthat's what the book of Judges
is all about.
The book of Judges is thisincredible story about how God's
people continue to fall in sinover and over again and God
continues to deliver them overand over again.
And God's not just telling usabout the past, he's telling us
(06:04):
about the present.
He's not just telling us aboutother past, he's telling us
about the present.
He's not just telling us aboutother people, he's telling us
about ourselves.
He's telling me about myselfand he's telling you about
yourself.
Break the cycle.
So here we go, number one whatis the cycle that you, that I,
that we find ourselves in?
First of all, the cycle oftenstarts with that you choose sin,
or I choose sin, or we choosesin.
(06:25):
We see that in Judges, chapterthree, if you look with me and
you can turn there or just checkit out on the screens.
Judges three, verse seven, saysand the people of Israel did
what was evil in the sight ofthe Lord.
They forgot the Lord, their God, and they served the Baals and
the Asherah.
Well, first of all, I just wantyou to see just a couple of
(06:46):
things here.
First of all, we see the peopleof Israel.
Who are the people of Israel.
The people of Israel are thepeople of God.
Isn't it interesting that Goddidn't write his word to tell us
all about everybody else's sin?
No, god is writing his word tohelp us to understand our sin.
Sometimes, christians, they'realways talking about man to help
us to understand our sin.
Sometimes, christians, they'realways talking about man.
(07:07):
Did you see what that othercountry was doing, or did you
see what so-and-so was doingacross the street?
Did you hear what he did?
Did you see what she did?
Or did you understand, did youwatch on the news, what the
other political party did?
And often we talk about sin, asalways in somebody else, but
never in ourselves.
And God says look, I'm not justtalking about the sin of the
world, I'm talking about sin inthe church, right, I'm talking
(07:29):
about sin in life.
I'm talking about sin in yourpastor.
I'm talking about sin in thepeople.
I'm talking about sin in thepeople of God.
He said, and the people ofIsrael did what was evil.
Did what was evil in the sightof the Lord.
In other words, what is sin?
Unfortunately, that is a bigquestion today that so many
(07:50):
people get confused on.
So many people are trying toanswer, so many people have all
these debates and disagreementsand arguments what is sin To
where?
Often you know where theargument ultimately leads.
There's no such thing as sin.
Everybody can just do whateverthey think is right.
Whatever is right for them isright for them.
But the Bible says that'sactually exactly what's going on
(08:14):
in the book of Judges.
He says that they are all doingwhat's right in their own eyes.
The problem is is that theywere, while they were doing
right in their own eyes, theywere doing evil in the eyes of
the Lord.
In other words, who gets todefine sin God does?
And where do we find what sinis so that we can know am I in
(08:34):
sin or am I not in sin?
Is this a sin or is this not asin?
How do we know what sin is?
Because one of the mostimportant things you know for
your life is whether you areobeying or whether you are
disobeying God, and it is allfound in the word of God.
And the people of Israel didwhat was evil in the sight of
the Lord.
And why did they do it?
Because they forgot.
(08:56):
Everybody say forgot.
They forgot the Lord, their God.
When I sin, when you sin, thereason we sin is because we
forget that God is better thanthat sin.
The reason we choose sin isbecause we think that that sin
is going to do better for usthan God's going to do for us in
that area of our life.
(09:16):
So we think that sin is goingto make us feel better, that sin
is going to satisfy us more,that sin is going to fulfill us
more, that sin is going to serveus better than God can serve us
.
And so when I choose sin, it isbecause I falsely believe that
that sin is going to be betterto me than God.
But what happens?
It says that when we sin, whatwe're ultimately doing is we are
(09:37):
serving.
It says they forgot the Lord,their God, and they started to
serve the Baals and the Asherah.
Who were the Baals?
The Baals were the God of money, success and position and
career.
Is there anything with earningmoney?
No.
Is there anything wrong withhaving money?
(09:59):
No.
What's wrong is when your moneyhas you Right.
And so we see the Baals rightwhere these were gods of money
that if you serve these Baals,then they believed that they
would get a lot of money.
The Asherah was the goddess ofsex and pleasure.
So basically they said if youcan simultaneously both serve
(10:20):
Baal and Asherah and you get allthe success and all the
pleasure you want, then you arethe happiest people on the
planet earth.
Now here is what we understandis what God is doing, and I want
to show this to you because youmight be wondering.
Well, how did they get here?
Because last week, pastor Jamespreached an incredible message.
I was sitting right back herewith my wife, michelle, and he
(10:42):
preached an incredible messageon finishing strong, and one of
the points that he made was isthat sin will always cost us.
Sin will always cost us.
We think that it's gonna giveto us, but rather it cost us.
So the question is how did theyget here?
Because we were just in thebook of Joshua last week and God
was with them and they wereobeying God and they were
(11:04):
marching throughout the promisedland and they were fighting all
these battles and God wasgiving them all these victories
and all this type stuff.
And I just gotta show you whathappened.
In Judges, chapter one, it saidthat Joshua died and God called
Judah, which is a tribe, a groupof people, to lead.
In other words, they lost aspiritual leader.
You know what happens oftenwhen we sin is when we don they
(11:24):
lost a spiritual leader.
You know, what happens oftenwhen we sin is when we don't
have a spiritual leader or aspiritual mentor in our life
that we can talk to, who willpray for us, who would encourage
us.
Judges is a messed up bookduring messed up times.
You can just read chapter one,verse six, and it's all
throughout the book of Judges.
And isn't the world?
Isn't the world a messed upplace?
And aren't we living in messedup times?
(11:45):
Israel did not drive out all ofthe Canaanites from the land,
and it's a reminder to me and toyou.
When we sin, why is it that wesin?
We sin because we don't driveout every sin in our life, and
the sin that we allow to stay isthe sin that often comes back
and destroys us.
We see, the angel of the Lordsaid I brought you up out of
(12:08):
Egypt, meaning God saved themright from slavery in Egypt.
He said I will never break mycovenant with you.
We see the faithfulness of God.
Then we see the command of God.
He said in Judges 2 too, makeno covenant with inhabitants,
break down their altars.
But then he says at the end ofthat verse, but you did not obey
me.
In other words, sin.
(12:30):
When I sin, it is not becausethat God isn't being faithful to
me.
When I sin, it's because I'mnot being faithful to God.
God is always faithful to me.
God is always faithful to youthrough Jesus Christ.
But the issue is is that whenwe don't appreciate the
faithfulness of God and he saysthose inhabitants that you did
(12:51):
not drive out, they will becomea pain and a temptation.
In other words, the little sinsthat we keep in our lives are
the sins that grow and festerand multiply and they are the
ones that will sneak up on usand they were the ones that will
ultimately bring us down.
It also says in Judges 2.10,another generation arose who did
(13:13):
not know the Lord or his work.
So now we have a new generationof Israelites coming up and no
one told them about God.
A whole brand new generation oflittle boys and little girls to
become young men and becomeyoung women.
But it says that they did notknow the Lord.
They didn't know who God was orthe work.
(13:33):
Why?
Because God was forgotten amongthe people of God.
Do you know what happened?
Life got good.
Often, when life is good is whenwe lose our desperation for God
, when we lose our depth in theword of God, when we lose our
(13:54):
desperation in prayer with God.
And often what we do is weforget God.
And when you forget God is whenyou fall into sin.
When we forget God is when wefall into sin.
Psalm 39, verse 23, says Searchme, o God.
Know my heart, try me and knowmy thoughts.
See if there be any grievousway in me and lead me in the way
(14:16):
of everlasting Meaning.
God, I'm not even aware of allof my sin.
I've got sin in my life thatare blind spots to me.
God, I need you to search me.
I need you to seek me, god, Ineed you to show me even areas
that I'm not aware of, that I'msinning against you.
(14:37):
And the Bible continues to say,and goes on to say, that it is
often the good times in our lifewhen we struggle the most with
God.
Here's what happens when I'mgoing through good times in my
life and everything's easy andeverything's comfortable and
everything's kind of going myway, then what I tend to do is I
drift in my devotions because Ifeel like that I don't need God
(14:57):
as much as when times are bad,and so my devotions can become
shallow or rushed or hurried orsporadic.
And then there are times thatmaybe I go through a hard time
and I get real close with Godand I'm in God's word and I'm in
prayer, and I don't know if thesame is for you.
(15:18):
But then a temptation will comemy way and Satan will start to
deceive me and maybe I take thebait and maybe I sin.
And you know what happens Idon't have the same faith,
intimacy with God that I didbefore, because I know that
there is something in my lifethat I'm not living for him, and
(15:41):
so I feel this hindrance, nothim towards me, but me towards
him that I'm not giving him allof me because he gave me all of
him.
So we see here that we choosesin.
And then, number two sinoppresses you.
Everybody say oppress, oppress.
I think this is actually a veryappropriate word.
And I number two sin oppressesyou.
Everybody say oppress, oppress.
I think this is actually a veryappropriate word and I want to
explain this word, but let meshow you where we're going here.
(16:02):
It says in Judges 3.8,.
Therefore, the anger of theLord was kindled against the
people of Israel and he said tothem and he sold them excuse me
into the hand of the Cushan RoshHathim.
I sounded that out like 20times this week.
King of Mesopotamia and thepeople of Israel served under
Cushon Rosh Hathim for eightyears.
(16:23):
What do we see here?
The anger of the Lord, thatanger of the Lord.
The Hebrew word is af and itactually means it's a word
picture.
It's like a forehead that iscrinkling up, it's nostrils that
are flaring, it's smoke that iscoming out.
Like we've got an emoji for theanger of the Lord.
Can I get an amen?
And this is often how I feellike, sometimes, like when my
(16:47):
kids like deliberately disobeyme right in front of me, like
don't do that, don't do that,don't do that, and they do it.
And it's like how is thatpossible?
And I feel my forehead creakleup and my nose flare and I start
breathing like a hog, you know,and I feel like that.
(17:13):
But isn't it interesting that weserve a God who has anger
against sin?
Aren't you thankful that ourGod hates sin?
He doesn't hate us, he doesn'thate the sinner.
He loves the sinner, but hehates the sin.
Could you imagine having apolice department?
And I'm so thankful for thepolice of Powder Springs, the
police of Cobb County, sothankful for all that they do.
Could you imagine a policedepartment who's apathetic to
(17:33):
crime?
Can you imagine a judge who isapathetic to sentencing
criminals?
No, we have a just God, we havea holy God, and we should be
thankful.
And we should be grateful thatsin angers God, and it says that
his anger was kindled againstIsrael and he sold him into the
(17:53):
hand of Cushon Rosh Hathim.
Now let me explain that realquick.
That word to sell is makar inthe Hebrew, and I need to
explain this.
Makar does not mean that he wastrying to make money off of his
people.
You know what makar means.
Makar means that he handed themover to what they really wanted
most.
I want you to know one of theworst things that God can do is
(18:19):
to let you have the sin you wantthe most.
One of the worst things thatGod can do in your life and it's
because of you, not because ofhim is you want it, you want it,
you want it, you go after it,you go after it, you go after it
.
And finally God says, says I'mgonna let you have it.
But he does it redemptively.
(18:40):
He hands you over for a seasonto show you that that sin can
never provide for you what hewants to give you, that that sin
can never satisfy you like hecan satisfy you.
It says.
So he goes on the anger of theLord, he sells them into the
(19:01):
hand of the Cushites and thepeople of Israel served.
So often.
We feel like man.
If I do this, the sin is goingto serve me, the sin is going to
satisfy me, the sin is going tohelp me.
But here's what happens we endup becoming slaves of that sin,
we end up serving the sin, weend up serving Satan.
In a sense, we end up givingour lives to him, living for him
(19:23):
instead of living for the Lord.
And I see this in my life,because it says that they served
for eight years, or in otherwords, there can be seasons in
the life of a believer that isgiven over to sin, the bondage
of sin, the oppression of sin,and I've gone through these
years in my life and these yearsof our life.
(19:47):
It's like the mouse in a mazeand you get a little cheese and
you forget that you're just usedby the devil, that you're just
used by the devil and you forgetthat there's so much more for
you outside of the sin and thatsin doesn't truly satisfy.
That sin doesn't truly fulfill.
(20:08):
I think about the years of mylife that I have been enslaved
to sin and I remember the timesthat my worship just felt so
stale, like I didn't even feellike singing to the Lord.
I remember my devotions wereboring, my prayers felt like
that they just bounced off theceiling, like I didn't want to
(20:29):
be in community.
I didn't want to be in a group.
Why?
Because I didn't cherish theword of God with other believers
.
I didn't want accountability.
I didn't want to serve and usemy gifts in the local church
because I wanted to serve my sin.
I didn't want to serve God.
I didn't want to go out andspread the gospel and tell
people about Jesus.
Why?
Because I wanted sin to spreadfurther into my life.
(20:52):
I didn't want to givegenerously to God and the
mission of God and all that Godwants to do to change people's
lives and power springs and allthroughout the world.
I didn't wanna give because Iwanted to give to sin, not give
to myself, not give to him.
This is what happens in our lifewhen we go through the sin, and
I just I want you to see thatPsalm 32, three and four talks
(21:13):
about the oppression of sin.
This is how King David felt.
And, by the way, king David wasknown as a man after God's own
heart.
In other words, god's greatestlabel on your life is not your
sin, but God's greatest label onyour life is your savior.
God knows you're a sinner, andso God is calling us to make
sure that we are fixing our eyeson him, he says.
(21:35):
King David said, for when I keptsilent, in other words, when I
wasn't confessing my sin to God,my bones wasted away.
There's something physical thathappens within us, though my
groaning was all day long.
There's something verbal thathappens within us, for day and
night, your hand was heavingupon me.
It's the conviction of the HolySpirit, he said.
My strength was dried up.
We lose our vigor, and as by theheat of the summer, selah, if
(22:01):
you're like me and you findyourself in times like this,
here's some things that I've hadto learn to remember.
First of all, when I am in sinand I give my life to sin, I
have to remember this.
I have to remember how muchbetter my life was when I was
following Jesus in obediencethan living in disobedience.
(22:23):
And there are times in my lifewhere, as I am following Jesus,
as I am obeying Jesus, as I ampursuing Jesus, and I have to
remember when temptation comesmy way, I gotta remember.
Oh, I remember what it feltlike when I gave my life to sin.
I remember what it felt likewhen I gave my life to sin.
I remember what it felt likewhen there's no such thing as
one sin, there's no such thingas just giving myself to it one
(22:46):
time.
That sin is never satisfied.
That's why they call it lust,because it's relentless in our
life.
In that we cannot control sin.
Sin controls us.
The only control that we haveis by living our life.
In that we cannot control sin.
Sin controls us.
The only control that we haveis by living our life for Christ
.
And so I gotta remember in mylife, as I'm living my life for
Jesus, that sin seems so good.
(23:07):
It seems like it'll satisfy, itseems like it'll fulfill, it
seems like it'll make me happy,it seems like it'll give me
whatever I want, but actually itis only going to oppress me,
enslave me and trap me and trickme and destroy me.
Can I get an amen.
So that's what we see that Godis doing in our life.
So what happens when sin doesoppress you?
(23:28):
When sin oppresses you, what dowe do?
We cry out to God.
We cry out to God, and aren'tyou thankful for a God that he
says even when you're in sin?
Cry out to me.
Judges 3, 9,.
But when the people of Israelcried out to the Lord, that word
Hebrew word, za'ak and I lovejust studying the Hebrew on all
this because it gives us afuller meaning.
(23:48):
So just let me nerd out for asecond if you don't mind.
So za'ak means not just to sayGod, help me.
It's not just to say God, helpme.
It's not just to say God, getme out of this.
It's not just to say God, helpme with all these consequences.
No, za'ak is saying you arecrying out to the Lord and
(24:08):
you're saying, god, you wereright, I was wrong, forgive me,
I repent, I confess God, I'mcoming back to you.
God, would you take me backagain?
I love being a dad to our threekids Brooklyn six, cruz two,
(24:30):
eliana one and typically youknow it's zone defense in the
house, right, we got three, it'stwo on three and so typically,
michelle, she takes Eliana theright.
We got three, it's two on threeand so typically, michelle, she
takes Eliana, the one-year-old,because baby just needs mama.
And at times when I'm there,when I can, I'm taking the other
two, and so I love giving bathsevery night.
So I bathe, typically batheCruz first and then I bathe
(24:52):
Brooklyn, and Brooklyn is sixyears old.
She was in here a little bitearlier for Mason's baptism.
She was a little six-year-old inthe wheelchair.
We adopted her from birth.
We learned at her around herfirst birthday, that she has
cerebral palsy.
She's not able to stand, she'snot able to walk, she's not able
to get herself up.
She can be on her knees and shecan walk around a little bit on
(25:12):
her knees, but we have to puther on her knees so in the bath.
When I'm putting her in thebath, I have to be in the
bathroom the entire time becauseif she falls over in the water
she can't get herself back up.
Okay, so I stay in the bathroomthe whole time and let her play
and let her splash and let herhave her fun, but I don't leave
because she could fall overunder the water.
But there are times when I amthere that she falls.
(25:36):
There are times when I am therethat she falls, and when she
does, she can feel herself,start to fall.
And she knows because I toldher to scream as loud as you can
and just say scream, help.
Just make sure that whoever'spaying attention they're
watching, they're looking,they're there, scream, help,
help, help.
And so she'll start to fall andshe'll say help, daddy, help,
daddy, help.
And then she'll go down.
Sometimes, daddy, help, daddy,help.
And then she'll go down.
Sometimes she'll go under,sometimes she'll land on the
(25:56):
shoulder, whatever it might be.
And I'll tell you what I don'tdo.
When she screams, daddy, help,I don't say, hey, baby, let me
finish this email real quick andI'll get to you in just a
second.
I'll say, hey, baby, daddy.
I won't say Daddy's real busyright now and so, ken, I is
(26:18):
wrong with you.
Get yourself up.
We've talked about this so manytimes.
Sit yourself back up.
I don't say that.
You know what I do, because Iam my baby girl's daddy.
I'll run to her rescue thewhole, every single time when
she cries out to daddy, becauseit's my job.
God put me in her life to saveher, to deliver her, to protect
her?
And don't you know that God isyour heavenly father and when
you cry out to him at any timebecause of your sin, he comes to
(26:39):
your rescue and he delivers youand he saves you.
And he doesn't say wait, hedoesn't say what's wrong with
you, he doesn't say I'm busy, heis locked on you and God
delivers you.
That's exactly what this verseis saying.
God promises you if we confessour sins.
God is faithful, even whenyou're unfaithful, when I'm
(27:03):
unfaithful, god is faithful.
He's just to forgive us of oursins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
You can write this down.
Five quick things about cryingout to God.
Number one write this down.
Number one is conviction.
Feel the conviction of the HolySpirit in your life when you
(27:24):
sin.
Number two is confession.
When you feel the conviction ofthe Holy Spirit when you've
sinned, go ahead and confessthat sin to God and ask for
forgiveness.
Number three is forgiveness.
Believe the forgiveness of God.
Why does the Bible never say toforgive yourself?
Because when God forgives you,that's all the forgiveness you
(27:45):
need.
Can I get an amen?
Number four is repentance.
What is repentance?
Repentance is when we areliving for our sin and we turn
the other direction and we startliving for him, for Jesus,
again.
And number five is obedience.
Obedience is a long obediencein the same direction.
It is living your life forJesus, day after day, step after
(28:06):
step, decision after decision,over and over and over again.
How do we confess our sin to God?
I would encourage you this iswhat I practice Confess the
nitty gritty details, because healready watched it, he already
knows.
Just go and confess it all.
Don't just be like, oh God, Imessed up.
Would you forgive me?
Tell him what you did.
Because sometimes when we sayit to God, when we describe,
(28:34):
recount our evil and our sin toa holy God, it just sounds awful
and it's a deterrent of doingit again.
So you don't have to confessagain, even though he invites us
to confess again over and overand over again.
Don't just confess your sin,also confess the gospel, because
(29:00):
God isn't just saying it's okay, god's not saying it's okay.
When we confess our sin, god issaying I got you, I've already
sent my son, he's already diedfor it, his blood has already
covered it.
He doesn't say it's okay.
He says I forgive you becauseJesus has already died for our
sin.
Well, to whom all should youconfess your sin, to Confess
(29:23):
your sin as far as your sin went.
In other words, I wouldencourage you to confess your
sin.
If your sin was in private,confess it in private to God.
If your sin was against someoneelse, confess it to God because
you sinned against him andconfess it to them because you
sinned against them too.
If your sin was against someoneelse, confess it to God because
you sinned against him andconfess it to them because you
sinned against them too.
If your sin was public, then Iwould encourage you confess it
to God and confess it publicly,so that other people forgive you
(29:45):
as well.
And what we see from thescriptures is that when we cry
out to God, we're saying God,you're right, I'm wrong, I
confess, I repent, forgive meand I'll live for you.
And what happens when we cryout to God?
Number four God delivers you.
Everybody say deliver, goddelivers you.
(30:06):
I love this.
This is my favorite part Judges3, 9, and 10.
But when the people of Israelcried out to the Lord, the Lord
raised up a deliverer.
Who was the deliverer?
It was a judge.
God would raise up in the bookof Judges some 12 different
judges because they kept fallinginto sin over and over and over
again.
Sound familiar, just like me,just like you.
(30:27):
And God sends a deliverer intotheir life to deliver them from
sin.
It says for the people ofIsrael, who the deliverer saved
them.
Now, who is the deliverer inthis story?
I want to show you real quick.
It's Othniel.
Everybody say Othniel.
Who is Othniel?
This is important the son ofCanaz, caleb's younger brother.
Here's why that's so importantBecause Caleb was a rock star in
(30:50):
Israel.
Only Joshua and Caleb youremember this Only Joshua and
Caleb went into the promisedland from that whole generation,
which means everybody enteringinto the promised land is at
least 20 years younger thanJoshua and Caleb.
Caleb was one of those guys,one of the 12 spies that went
into Canaan to spy out the landwhile they were still the
(31:11):
Israelites were still in thedesert.
Caleb was one of two that cameback with a positive report.
Caleb was known to be in his80s, saying he had more energy
in his 80s than he did all ofhis years previous.
Caleb was a rock star.
Othniel was a nobody.
Can you imagine being Caleb'syounger brother?
Like, hey, we don't know yourname, but could you get us a
(31:32):
meeting with Caleb?
We'd really like to meet himand maybe get his autograph one
day.
Hey can't remember your name,but we're pretty sure you're
related.
Tell us that story about Calebagain, what it would feel like
to be Othniel and sometimes whatit feels like to be me and what
it feels like to be you, thatwe often feel insignificant,
(31:54):
like a nobody, like God couldnever use us.
But what did God do?
The spirit of the Lord cameupon Othniel, just like the
spirit of the Lord comes uponyou, so that God can use you
greater in your life through hisspirit than you could ever be
in your life by yourself.
And Othniel judged Israel.
(32:14):
In other words, he came and hesaved.
The day he went out to war andthe Lord gave Kishon, the
Rishayim, the king ofMesopotamia, into Othniel's hand
.
So here's what we need to see.
Ultimately, this is about Jesus.
Othniel is a picture of Jesus,for the Lord is our judge, the
Lord is our lawgiver, the Lordis our king and he will save us.
(32:34):
Who is our ultimate judge?
It is Jesus.
Let me show you some coolconnections very quickly.
Othniel was raised up by God tosave, but Jesus was sent by God
to be our savior.
Othniel was filled with theHoly Spirit, but Jesus was
anointed by the Holy Spirit andhe fills you with the Holy
Spirit too.
Othniel defeated an earthlyoppressor, but Jesus came and he
(32:57):
defeated the eternal oppressorssin, death and Satan.
Othniel brought temporary peace, but Jesus brings eternal peace
.
Othniel came from the tribe ofJudah, but Jesus is the lion of
the tribe of Judah.
Othniel's name means God is mystrength, but Jesus is both
God's son and our strength.
Put your hands together forJesus as our judge.
(33:23):
So let me lay on this plane.
What do we do?
I wanna encourage you torelentlessly seek and pursue
Jesus as the deliverer of yourlife.
And when Jesus is yourdeliverer, then Jesus.
He fills you with his HolySpirit and through him you can
(33:43):
go and help deliver people outof their sin too.
We're called to be evangelists.
We're called to be missionaries.
We're called to be disciplemakers.
We're called to be ministers ofthe gospel.
And so you choose sin.
Sin oppresses you.
You cry out to God.
God delivers you.
For what purpose?
That we experience peace, theend of the passage.
(34:05):
So the land had rest for 40years, then Othniel, the son of
Kenes, died.
What did they experience whenthey were delivered by Othniel?
The same thing that you want,the same thing that I want.
What we hear on the news everyday, the deepest desire of every
(34:31):
single human heart, I just want.
I just want peace.
People are looking for peace ofmind, people are looking for
peace of heart.
People are looking forrelational peace, emotional
(34:51):
peace, mental peace.
Can I remind you that Jesus isthe only one who can give real
peace.
Jesus said I've said thesethings to you, that in me you
may have peace.
Peace is only found in him.
In the world you will havetribulation, but take heart.
(35:14):
Jesus said.
I have overcome the world.
Jesus is saying even when youare surrounded by tribulation,
by hardship, even wheneverything is falling apart
around you, he is holding youtogether within you.
How do you get it, david, I'msorry.
Isaiah said David, I'm sorry.
Isaiah said God, you keep him inperfect peace, whose mind is
(35:36):
stayed on you because he trustsin you.
When your mind is stayed on God, when your mental capacity is
fixed on Christ, when you'refocusing your heart on him and
on him alone, and you trust him,even when it looks like that he
(35:58):
is losing control.
But you trust him and God, Iknow you can never lose control
because you're provident, you'resovereign, you always have
control.
God, I trust you, no matterwhat.
Then it says that he gives youperfect peace in your life.
That's not perfection aroundyou, that's perfect peace within
you.
So what do you do?
(36:22):
How do you break the cycle?
I would encourage you don'tchoose sin.
Don't choose sin.
Choose him.
Choose him over and over andover and over again, because
there is no sin that is betterthan Jesus.
There is nothing the world cangive you, there is nothing that
(36:44):
Satan can offer you, there isnothing that sin can satisfy
within you, that Jesus cannot dobetter and fully and eternally.
And when we don't choose sin,then sin won't oppress you,
you'll be free, you'll have thejoy of Christ, you'll have the
peace of God in your life.
But I would encourage you, asyou do that, as you choose him
(37:07):
and you experience the freedomof God, never stop crying out to
God, never stop, never quit Cryout to him and say God, I need
you to continue to deliver me,because sin is tempting and it's
relentless and it's constantlycoming my way.
And what God does is hedelivers you not just from the
(37:29):
sin, but he delivers you beforethe sin.
He delivers you, the Bible saysfrom the temptation, because
when you choose him, you'rechoosing his peace in your life.
Can I ask us all to bow ourheads and close our eyes?
(37:50):
Every head bowed, every eyeclosed.
Maybe you're here this morningand maybe you've been in the
cycle.
Maybe you've been strugglingwith sin, tempted with sin,
struggling with finding peace,keeping your eyes on him.
(38:11):
Here's what I wanna encourageyou to do right now Just cry out
to your father, cry out to yoursavior.
Jesus, deliver me again.
And he will again and again andagain and again.
And maybe you're here and youcan't do that yet because you
(38:31):
haven't given your life to him.
And here's what he's saying.
He's saying I can't wait tosave you, I can't wait to
forgive you, I can't wait todeliver you because he created
you and Jesus died for you, andso God desperately wants to save
you.
But you've got to your life.
To him, right here, right now,you can say a prayer that I can
(38:52):
help you with, that you can giveyour life to him this morning.
You can pray right here, rightnow, and just say God, I believe
in you and God, I need you.
You can tell him God, I believein Jesus, I believe that he
died on the cross for my sins,and so I'm asking you to forgive
me of all my sin, past, presentand future.
(39:15):
You can tell him God, I believethat Jesus rose from the dead.
I believe he's alive, I believehe's real, and I wanna turn
from my sin and I wanna followhim with my life.
And the Bible says if youconfess with your mouth that
Jesus is Lord, you will be saved.
If you believe that with yourheart that God raised Jesus from
(39:36):
the dead, you will be saved.
So right now, just tell JesusJesus, be the Lord of my life,
be my Lord, be my God, be mysavior.
Jesus, we thank you for thatpromise, we thank you for that
truth.
We thank you for your salvation.
We pray these things in Jesus'name, and all God's people said
put your hands together foranybody that prayed that prayer
this morning.
The Bible says that heavenrejoices every time a sinner
(39:58):
repents and gives their life toJesus, and we are so thankful.
I'm gonna hand it over toPastor James.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.