Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What it Takes to Forgive | Historical Books | Judges 20

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. How would you respond if I told you that I paid one of your bills? I'm sure you'd say thanks, but any response beyond that depends on which bill I paid off. If I paid off a parking ticket or a library fine, saying thanks would probably be sufficient. But if I paid off your student loans or your home mortgage, you'd probably be a little bit more excited, depending on how much you owe to the bank. And the same is true with the debt Jesus paid for us.

Starting point is 00:00:38 Jesus paid it all is an old hymn. And the chorus says, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Jesus paid it all. He paid for all our sin, but how big of a debt did we owe? Some people act like Jesus paid a small but important debt. These people are thankful for what Jesus did, but they're not really enthusiastic.

Starting point is 00:01:04 They know they sinned, and therefore they need a savior, but in their opinion, sin isn't that big of a deal. Jesus paid the equivalent of their parking ticket or their library fine. They are appreciative for sure, but they're ready to quickly move on. Other people can't get over the fact that Jesus paid for all their sin. They are overwhelmed. They are amazed. They are shocked by the love that God showed a sinner like them. They can't move on.

Starting point is 00:01:32 They don't want to move on. and they are stuck on the great love that God demonstrated and that while they were an enemy of God, God's son Jesus died for them. So what's the difference between the two people with two very different responses? It's not that one sinned and one didn't. It's not that one person's sins deserved eternal judgment and the other person's sins didn't deserve as much judgment. No, no, not at all.

Starting point is 00:01:58 It's that one sensed, one grasped, one felt the gravity of their sin. and one didn't think their sin was that big of a deal. I've been saying that Judges is a dark book because it reveals who people are apart from God's grace. It's one sad story of sin destroying people's lives and leaving them an utter darkness. I'm glad Judges is in the Bible because it reminds me of the darkness that's inside my own heart. It reminds me of how sin may look appealing in the short run, but it has devastating consequences. Finally, the book of judges helps me appreciate that Jesus paid it all. He paid all my sin.

Starting point is 00:02:36 I never want to become so familiar with the gospel, the good news that in Jesus, I never want to become so familiar with the gospel that in Jesus our sin can be forgiven, that it somehow becomes ho-hum. I never want to get used to the story that in Jesus, the one true and holy God forgives a desperate sinner like me. I hope that I'm always astonished that Jesus died for me, that he forgave me, that he loves me. I say all that because I feel like we have to make sense of the evil that occurred in Judges 19 and the fallout from that evil that continues into Judges 20. You can listen to the episode on Judges 19, but the short version is that two women were brutally

Starting point is 00:03:19 raped and killed. The whole thing is sickening. In Judges 20, the people gathered to go to war against the perpetrator. of those crimes. Verse 1. Then all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and from the land of Gilead, came together as one and assembled before the Lord and Mizpah. This is like saying all the people from Maine to Florida gathered to go into battle.

Starting point is 00:03:41 And they told the story of how the people living in a city called Gibbia had acted evilly against these two women, and they determined to bring those evil doers to justice. Verse 11. So all the Israelites got together and united as one against the city. the tribes of Israel sent messengers throughout the tribe of Benjamin saying, What about this awful crime that was committed among you? Now turn those wicked men of Gibia over to us so that we may put them to death and purge the evil from Israel. But the Benjaminites would not listen to their fellow Israelites.

Starting point is 00:04:14 The Israelites are finally united, but sadly it's against their own people. The sin of the surrounding culture has led them to commit grievous sins. The evil events happen to Ingibia, which is part of the tribe of Benjamin, so the Israelites tell the tribe of Benjamin to turn over the people who did these wicked things, but the Benjaminites won't. Why not? Well, this is tribalism. See, these people who did evil are part of my community, my family, and I won't turn them over to outsiders. The ties to family or to our country or to our race or to political party, well, oftentimes they are stronger than our commitments to faith and truth in Jesus. When we put our blood ties or our racial ties or our political beliefs above the truth, above the common good, above Jesus, we make an idol out of our own people. This is why Christians go to churches where almost everyone looks and thinks like them. A politically diverse church is as difficult to find as a racially or economically diverse church. It's why too many Christian parents say they'd rather their child marry a non-Christian of the same political party

Starting point is 00:05:20 rather than a Christian belonging to a different political party. That's messed up. That's having your priorities completely backwards. Much of Judges 20 describes the battle between the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of Israel. Like all wars, it's horrific. There's a lot of death and destruction. Finally, the larger army wins. The 11 tribes defeat the tribe of Benjamin.

Starting point is 00:05:43 Now, here's what should have happened. The people who committed the crimes against the women should have been brought to justice for what they have done. That would include all the people who hid, helped, or otherwise enabled them to commit the crime or to cover it up. But unfortunately, what happens is that there's an excessive reaction rooted in bitterness. The 11 tribes went beyond justice. After they had already won a decisive victory, the chapter ends with this, verse 48. The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found, all the towns they came across they set on fire.

Starting point is 00:06:21 This is vindictiveness. This is retribution. This isn't justice. It's more akin to genocide. There's no justification for it. On a personal level, bitterness isn't so extreme, but it's still very real. People sin against us, and our desire is to get even, to make them pay in some way for hurting us. Maybe we make them pay by gossiping about the person to damage the reputation, or,

Starting point is 00:06:46 Or maybe we make them pay by ignoring them, like giving them the cold freeze. Or maybe it's blowing up at them and humiliating them. Or maybe we make them pay by replaying their sin in our mind so that they can never move past it, never recover from what they've done wrong. The only thing that resists bitterness and resentment is forgiveness. Instead of holding a grudge, instead of nursing a grudge, we can forgive people who hurt us. Now, I think there's a lot of people who misunderstand forgiveness. forgiveness. Forgiveness isn't forgetting. To forgive is not to forget. God forgives us, but he's omniscient. He never forgets. When God forgives us, what it means is that he doesn't hold our sin against us. And it's the same when we forgive others. We refuse to use their sin against them. We refuse to use their sin as a weapon to beat them up to make them pay. Forgiving someone is a promise to not dwell on the hurt they cost. It's a, promise to release them from having to pay for it. The only way we can forgive others is to remember

Starting point is 00:07:50 how God forgave us in Jesus. And this takes us all the way back to where we started our time together. The more amazed we are that Jesus forgave our sin against God, the more we will have the power to forgive other people's sins against us. Those who know the great forgiveness they have in Jesus will want to forgive others. But we must recognize that forgiveness isn't the same as reconciliation. Ideally, we'd be able to relationally reconcile with the people who hurt us, but that's not always possible or wise. Imagine an employee who stole money from their boss. The boss could forgive them without restoring the employee to their previous position. Or imagine a husband or wife who cheated on their spouse. There could be forgiveness without

Starting point is 00:08:35 reconciliation. I don't usually recommend resources in an episode on TMBT, but I'm going to make an exception here. If you want to learn more about forgiveness, I suggest a book by a guy named Chris Braun. It's called Unpacking Forgiveness. It's been a while since I've read it, but I still remember a lot about it. It's an excellent and helpful book. Whether or not you feel like you need to learn more about forgiveness right now, there's something we all need, and that is to stand in awe of the forgiveness that God offers us in Christ. Our sin is great, but His grace is greater. Let's close with the chorus from another hymn. This one is, and can it be? The chorus is, amazing love, how can it be, that thou my God should die for me? May we always be amazed at God's love for us in Jesus. Amen.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What it Takes to Forgive | Historical Books | Judges 20

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