BULL-HEADED by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: As you saw in the video earlier, this past week was our VBS, and we had a record enrollment of kids! Not only were our kids here, but there were many families who were visiting us for the very first time. Kids learned what it means to “dive deep into friendship with God.” Each day had a different point: Day #1 – “God is a friend who is real!”; Day #2 – “God is a friend who loves!”; Day #3 – “God is a friend we can trust!”; Day #4 – “God is a friend forever!”; and Day #5 – God is a friend for everyone!” Each point was centered on Jesus Christ who brings us into friendship with God through his sacrifice on the cross. I truly appreciate our staff, especially Ryan and Elizabeth, and every volunteer and helper for going above and beyond in communicating the gospel message to the kids in a fun-filled environment. Also, we had more than 100 volunteers, which was phenomenal! As our society is getting further and further away from God and biblical values, this is even more essential. What’s more is that it is not just that we are moving away from God and biblical values, but our kids are being actively taught “secular humanism,” a philosophy that worships nature and denies God. This is nothing new. God’s people had the same problem three thousand years ago. It’s the gospel that brought them back, and it’s the same gospel that will bring us back. Rowland Hill, the pastor of the church in the video before I came up, once said, “No churches are empty, where the doctrines of the reformation are duly urged, with purity and energy, upon the people’s minds.” We are in our series through the Book of Judges, and we come to the portion of the text that deals with this very problem, and, to keep our Old West imagery, our message is titled “Bull-Headed.” Main Point: God wants us to worship him and him alone. Turning to false gods angers him and brings his judgment on us. Repentance through the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only answer. Also, God has entrusted us to teach our younger generation to follow him.
Judges 2 11 “Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals; 12 and they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the LORD to anger.”
Context: Why did the children of Israel provoke the Lord to anger? Because they served the Baals and the other gods and bowed down to them. Why did they bow to Baal and the other gods? Listen to Judges 2:10 “When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.” Here’s the big question: Why did another generation arise that “did not know the Lord nor the work which he had done for Israel?” There are 2 main sources from where children get their knowledge of the Lord: Home and Church. Both had failed.
1. Home: Maybe the parents were too busy conquering the land under Joshua, and they failed to teach their children how to follow the Lord. Deuteronomy 6 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
Application: Sometimes, even Christian parents can be so wrapped up in serving God that they fail to teach their children about God. On the other hand, there are parents who spend plenty of time with their kids but no time serving God. That’s also a failure. There is a need for balance. Parents – it’s also important for you to work on your marriage. Adam was supposed to lead his wife, but he failed by allowing the Enemy to get to his wife. This had dire consequences on the children.
2. Church: Maybe the Levites were too busy setting up the Tabernacle or preparing the people for the next battle, and they failed to teach the young how to follow the Lord. Leviticus 10 8“Then the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying: 9 ‘Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, 10 that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, 11 and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.’” The Levites were to be like a husband to the bride, the people of Israel. When they failed to guide, protect, and provide for the bride, she went into spiritual adultery.
Application: Lately, I’ve been saddened to see how even pastors are either unaware of the issues or are coming down on the wrong side of the issues. Even as recently as the boxing debacle at the Olympics, I saw a comment by a pastor that was not well-researched and directly contradictory to the Bible. Is it any wonder that the flock is scattered and gone into spiritual adultery!
What was the result? Judges 2:13 “They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.” Who or what was Baal and the Ashtoreth?
Baal was the Canaanite god of storm and fertility. We find information about Baal in the Ugaritic texts (See Anchor Bible Dict.). It was believed that the fertility of the land came from the rain that was supplied by Baal. In a stele found at Ugarit, Baal is depicted standing on top of mountains or clouds with a club in his right hand and a lance in his left hand. The torso is made in the form of a tree or lightning. In one of the myths, he is depicted with 2 clubs (thunder and lightning) to defeat Yam (the sea). Some of the titles given to Baal were “the victor Baal,” “the rider of the clouds,” and “the prince lord of the earth.”
Along with Baal, the children of Israel also worshipped the Ashtoreths. Ashtoreth or Astarte was a consort or companion of Baal, along with Anath. She is referred to as the “queen of heaven” in Jeremiah where the women made cakes of bread, burned incense, and poured out drink offerings to her (See Anchor Bible Dict.). She was responsible for the fertility of the land and of the flocks. In the Ugaritic, she is referred to as the “Astarte of the field.” Her worship was very popular in the Phoenician world. She later became identified with Aphrodite. Bottom line: she was the goddess of fertility.
The Baal-Ashtoreth religion was simply a way to give power to Nature. Here, Baal was the male and Ashtoreth was the female. The Canaanites saw their world as simply the coming together of the male and female. Somehow the sun god has sexual relations with the mud of the earth which gives birth to the creatures (human beings and animals). Of course, the Canaanite philosophers did not see it as sexual. They saw some kind of an interaction between the sun and the sea resulting in the creation of human beings and animals. Of course, this contradicted the Genesis account of how God made the heavens and the earth. By the way, this is no different than the theory of evolution today that talks about this vast primordial sea which is sparked by the sun to create the organic molecule that became the beginning of all life.
The fertility of the earth was the basis of the Baal-Ashtoreth religion. This was also directly contradictory to what God had promised them in Deuteronomy 7 13 “And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock.” As we are submitted to God, he blesses us by giving fertility. Instead, in the Baal-Ashtoreth religion, man is in charge of nature which needs to be stimulated. Remember the priests of Baal against Elijah on Mount Carmel. First, they cried out loud from morning till noon. Then, 1 Kings 18:28 “So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.” They even sacrificed their children to stimulate their god Molech, part of the same pantheon. For fertility, this stimulation happens by chaotic sexual orgies that bring about fertility of the land. By the way, this is no different today. We are also trying to stimulate nature to get what we want. Don’t misunderstand: Yes, we can harness nature for our benefit. We can find cures for sickness. We can make our world more habitable when we have a better understanding of the weather. We can use energy for greater causes. Yes, we need to take care of nature. On the other hand, in secular humanism, we are trying to stimulate nature so that can evolve to a better state. Here, nature is the author of life, and nature is the source of all good gifts. Science can make us better people and even allow us to achieve states that were previously thought impossible. Now, gender is no longer a fixed category. It can be changed, if the individual so desires. Now, we are doing everything possible to control, guide, protect, and stimulate nature, which has become our savior. We may not bow before nature, but we study it, write about it, and want to protect it. Again, don’t misunderstand, we need to learn from science and what they discover, but we submit to God. We don’t spend our lives making nature our god and stimulating it to get new and better things.
By the way, this philosophy is also applied to society. Just by stimulating society through social chaos, it is believed that we will reach a better place.
This philosophy has even crept into the church where just by stimulating previously accepted doctrines we can create chaos which will lead us to a better place. That’s where we get the expression – “shake things up.”
What was the result? Judges 2 14 “And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies. 15Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for calamity, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.”
This reminds me of Romans 1 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. 24Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; 32who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
Just like the people of Israel, who did not deny the Living God but accommodated the Baal-Ashtoreth religion into their lives, we are doing the same. We have to cry out against the Baal-Ashtoreth religion of secular humanism in our culture.
Illustration: Rowland Hill was often called an enthusiast. He replied – “Because I am in earnest, men call me an enthusiast; but I am not; mine are the words of truth and soberness. When I first came into this part of the country, I was walking on yonder hill; I saw a gravel pit fall in, and bury three human beings alive. I lifted up my voice for help, so loud, that I was heard in the town below, at a distance of a mile; help came, and rescued two of the poor sufferers. No one called me an enthusiast then; and when I see eternal destruction ready to fall upon poor sinners, and about to entomb them irrecoverably in an eternal mass of woe, and call aloud on them to escape, shall I be called an enthusiast now! No, sinner, I am not an enthusiast in so doing; I call on thee aloud to fly for refuge, to the hope set before thee in the gospel of Christ Jesus.”
Invitation: We need to repent. We need to teach our children and our next generation. Are you saved? Or will you be bull headed?