I hate religion, and I'll tell you why. On this edition of Key Life, that was Steve Brown. Life isn't a dress rehearsal, and that's why this program Key Life is around. Honest, practical, and sweet, smart Bible teaching for the business of living. Here's Steve. Thanks, Mike. If you have your Bible open into the book of Judges, after having gone and done the spade work on this particular book, we're looking at some of the major themes, and when I finish with the major themes, we're going to come back, and I'm going to be a tour guide and take you to some of my favorite places in the book of Judges. There's a book we don't read very much, but it's a grand book. This is where you find the story of Samson, by the way, in Delilah. The Bible is a very interesting book and pretty earthy too. We'll do that when I finish with some of these major themes. If you've been listening, you're aware that we have seen in the book of Judges a biblical philosophy of history, and then we've seen a doctrine, a biblical doctrine of leadership. And then we saw yesterday the reason for trials and temptations and sin in our life. Judges 2, 21 through 23, I will not henceforth drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died. That by them I may test Israel whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord, as their fathers did or not. So the Lord left those nations not driving them out at once, and He did not give them into the power of Joshua. Now that's a national fact, but it's also an existential fact. We've got a lot of nations you have to conquer in our own lives. There are until we get home. The Bible says it does not appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, and we shall be like him. And we should in this life become more and more like him, but in between there are a lot of nations that haven't been driven out. A lot of sins and a lot of temptations and a lot of trials. And they have a purpose, because that test draws us to the throne. And if you're perfect, you shouldn't be listening to this broadcast because it's going to irritate you no end. I mean it's just going to drive you crazy. I always pray at the beginning of the week. Father, forgive the one who teaches His sins, and I get a lot of letters from people saying, if you keep saying that, they're going to really think you're a sinner. That's the point. This thing is about grace, and where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. Are you saying I can do whatever I want? God forbid the Apostle Paul wrote. You don't take advantage of grace. The place is where I'm obedient, it's because of His graciousness and because of His love. But enough on that. Let me give you another major theme. Fourthly, the book of judges not only gives us a philosophy of history, a doctrine of leadership, and a reason for the trials and the temptation and the sin. It also gives us a definition of religion. Look at judges, two teams. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord are the work which He had done for Israel. Two years after Washington became president of the United States. This is from that book that I quoted from last week, the line in the glory of Southern Methodist preacher. They've named Francis Appenwall, came to New England to visit the place where God had done some great work, a generation before. And these words are so sad. Sometimes they just blow me away. I rode over rocks and hills and came to Wilton. My house is very small in my carriage and convenient in such rocky and even joking ways. We are not in Connecticut and never out of sight of a house. I do feel as if there had been religion in this country once, and I apprehend there a little form and theory left. There may have been a praying ministry in people there, but I fear that they are now dead. You know what religion is? My friend Lee Klawar says, religion is for people who don't want to go to hell and Christianities for people who have been there. That's a good definition, but I want to go a little bit further than that and say religion is for people who have lost God. It happens sometimes, any dollar, the Pulitzer Prize winner, you ought to read her Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. In one of her other books, she says that she's a high-anglicant. She said that as a high-anglicant, we think with a liturgy, we've got God-figured and we dance around and do exactly the right thing and God ought to be pleased that we're doing exactly the right thing. And she said in some of the lower, she found out, liturgical churches. The more free churches, God could come and blast the whole thing to pieces. And nobody would be surprised. You know our problems sometimes we use religion to keep God at arm's link and religion is usually the sign that God has left the building. Religion is often the sign that Jesus decided to go some other place. Religion is often the sign that the Holy Spirit is no longer operative in a particular institution. You know something, I'm not throwing rocks at you. Listen, we're family, I'm talking about this. But you ever think that maybe God, if he gave up on the church, we wouldn't know it. I mean the machinery is so well oiled, we're organized so incredibly in a detailed way. I mean we've got this thing figured that the church would just keep on trucking because the techniques are right. Religion is sometimes the way we keep God at arm's link. And as long as you do that, you've got a real bad problem. John Moore at Montgomery wrote a book one time, it was called Daned Through The Church. I've seen religion hurt people. Religion say, you, how could you? God is angry at you. He will destroy you because you're a sinner. And I see people like living running into the sea doing really dumb things because of religion. Religion isn't God and God isn't religion. Religion in its best form points to the God who is real and who is loving and kind and gracious. And sometimes when God comes, do you hear about the bishop? And by the way, I'm not throwing rocks at the church. Listen, I teach you the theological seminary and we train leaders in the church. I'm for the church. Augustine said she's a prostitute, but she's my mother. I love the church. This is a lover's quarrel. But you hear about the bishop that went for his evening devotional to the cathedral and he knelt at the bottom of the stairs. And he said, oh, God. God said, yeah, what is it? They found a dead of a carn area the next day. Sometimes I think religious people have God really came would be just shocked to death. So you've got to be careful when you're religious. The generation also were gathered to their fathers and those that arose, another generation after them did not know the Lord of the work which he had done for Israel. God again has this wonderful way he describes what happens in the church. He says that what happens is that we get enamored and caught up in the reality of God. We follow him. We're obedient to him. We go to him for forgiveness and grace when we don't. And then our kids come along and they don't have that experience that we have, but they're still involved in the church. They're still seeing the hymns and seeing the same prayers and occasionally they sense God's presence. By the time the third generation comes along, they're like the ones described in Joshua 2.10. I mean, they may still see the hymns but they don't have the foggiest idea what they're about. They may still say the same prayers and if you ask them why they say, well, that's what we do. They may still even attend church on Christmas in Easter. They don't know why, but that's just what you do. And you can lose it and that's when an institution becomes institutionalism and there is the hardening of religious arteries. My friend Bill Bride is constantly calling our nation to revival and I'm not big on big movements and stuff like that because I'm always messing up when I get involved but I think he is a prophet. The only way this gets fixed is when God does his thing, it gets fixed in a life. Sometimes I go to God and say, God, I'm doing a lot of religious stuff. Man, I do a religious broadcast and I teach the Bible to a whole lot of people and I write books and I teach them a theological seminary and they call me Reverend and some even call me Doctor. Aren't you pleased with me? And I can't hear him talk anymore. And I realize that I've substituted my religious work for God and you what I have to do. There's nothing I can do. I just get home in the evening and say, God, my heart is cold and hard and it's because of religion. You've got to come. You've got to fill the forms. You've got to be the essence of who I am. You've got to be God to me so that my religion points to you and isn't a substitute for you. You've got to do that as a church and you've got to do that as a nation also. Let me give you one more theme and then tomorrow we'll start looking at some verses but I'm just going to mention it. We'll talk about it more tomorrow. The book of judges not only gives us a philosophy of history, a doctorate of leadership, a reason for the sin and the trials that we have and a definition of cold, hard, dead religion. It also gives us a model of patience. Judges 216 through 17, then the Lord God raised up judges who saved them out of the power of those who plundered them. And yet they did not listen to their judges for they played the harlot after other gods bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord so they did not do so. And then look at the 18th verse whenever the Lord raised up judges for them. The Lord was with the judge and he saved them from the end of their enemies all the days of the judge for here comes. And it is so incredibly important for the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. If I were God I would kick the world to pieces. Aren't you glad I'm not God? You think about that. Hey listen if you're not a part of our key life state family I'd like for you to do this. 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