About this Series
Our major Old Testament preaching series in Judges is called "Faithful and Flawed" which represents the tension throughout the entire book. In some ways it is a very dark book. It begins with war and death (1:1) and ends in chaos – "in those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit" (21:25).
In between we will meet a series of leaders who are sometimes exemplars of faithfulness but more often embody the flawed human nature that bedevils us all. Throughout the troubling narrative there is an ever faithful God who continues to work with his people despite all their failings.
| Judges 19 | Peter MacPherson |
The last five chapters of Judges show us what life was like in Israel when the people failed to follow God. We've seen throughout the book that the people "did evil in the eyes of the Lord" and these chapters give us examples of what such "evil" involved. We'll be looking at Chapter 19 as an illustration of such depravity. Tim Keller says "This view of humanity without God is so bleak that these passages are almost never preached upon or even studied." (Judges for You p.167)
Chapter 19 is pretty disturbing. It may be inappropriate for some of you or for younger members of families. Please read ahead and decide what you would like to do. If you are disturbed by anything in the reading or the sermon please do talk to Peter MacPherson or the service leader afterwards.
This brings our series almost to an end. We will have one last sermon called "The God I Don't Understand" to look back at the whole idea of the conquest of Israel. This will be at the morning service of Dec 14.