2011-5 DATE – JUST BAPTIST OUTLINES 8-15-10
THE MOST SOBERING TEXT IN THE BIBLE!
SETTLING DOWN WITH SIN – GETTING USED TO SIN
Judges 2:10
Jg 2:10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. (KJV)
INTRODUCTION: For the most part today’s Christian knows nothing of the mighty power of God. Our generation has repeated this tragedy just as we read it in this passage.
Jg 2:1 And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. (KJV)
In Vs. 1 we see the appearance of “The Angel of the Lord”. This is a Christophony. An earthly appearance of Christ. The fact that God came to deliver the message Himself shows how serious the matter was with Israel.
The people of Israel, in the Book of Judges, did not experience crossing the Jordan – conquering the enemy – claiming the inheritance – they did not see the mighty hand of God.
Following WW2 America was a great and powerful nation. All the world respected her – God was on the verge of pouring out great blessings on her.
The churches in America did not grab hold of the opportunities handed them by God through the sacrifice and victory of the war. Instead they leaned back on her lees and allowed Satan to capture the opportunity given us by God. The churches were not willing to continue in the mode of sacrifice yielded the spiritual offense to the opportunity of pleasure and wealth. We rejected the gift God handed us. There is no way evil could have gotten the foothold it did had we continued on in an aggressive mode with the Gospel – The next 30 years following proved to be our waterloo because we allowed another generation to rise up which knew not the Lord, nor the works which He had done. Instead we as a nation raised our children to primarily be “freeloaders” depending upon the government instead of God – we looked to Uncle Sam for our manna instead of the God of the wilderness.
For the most part we don’t need God to supply for us. We can take our Visa card and acquire anything we want.
Instead of praying we pay 15 or 20 percent interest on our credit card.
Instead of waiting upon the Lord we have pushed him aside and said we can do better than He can.
Instead of teaching our children the mighty works of God we have handed them a carefree hope that can bring anything for free.
But just like in the Book of Judges God will bring us to our senses by captivity and hardships. We have so digressed in our spreading of the Gospel that now true believers are of such a minority that we are soon to be captive of a sinful world. America has wasted Her suffering. We didn’t learn from our past mistakes.
I. PROSPERITY EXISTED WHEN THE PEOPLE REGARDED THE WORD OF GOD. Vs. 7.
Jg 2:7 And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel. (KJV)
A. The People Sacrificed And Worshipped God. Vs. 5. Jg 2:5 And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD. (KJV)
B. They Preceded To Inherit Their Land. They grew in the ways of the Lord. They saw God’s hand bring victory time after time. They experienced God at work in behalf of Israel.
C. They Served God All During Joshua’s Days And The Elders That Outlived Joshua.
There was a great outpouring of God’s great and mighty strength in overpowering the enemy battle after battle.
These had seen the great hand of God. But then comes Vs. 10 and 11.
II. REBUKE AND CHASTISEMENT WHEN THEY REFUSED GOD. Vs. 10-11.
Jg 2:10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.
11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: (KJV)
There is a tone in these two verses that sound like the writer was writing with tears.
The Jews became so accustomed the sinful ways of their pagan neighbors that those ways didn’t seem sinful any more. The Jews then became interested in how their neighbors worshiped, until finally Israel started to live like their enemies and imitate their ways. For believers today, the first step away from the Lord is “friendship with the world” which then leads to our being spotted by the world. The next step is to “love the world” and gradually be “conformed to this world”. This can lead to being “condemned with the world”, the kind of judgment that came to Lot, Samson, and Saul. (Wiersbe –“Be Available” page 17)
This is where the American Christian is today. We have been so influenced by the world’s music, the world’s dress, and the world’s lusts until we have become so like the world and can no longer stand holy and separated before the Lord God of Heaven.
A. The USA Has Refused God Today. Ps 33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. (KJV)
Instead we have multiplied the Gangs – Crime – Porno – Greed and total debauchery. All of these have become full grown under our watch.
B. The 2nd Generation Syndrome. Vs. 10. What caused this? Who was to blame?
1. We see the description of this generation. “….which knew not the LORD”. Whether it be indifference or just willing disobedience the result is still the same. It was mere ignorance of the spiritual truth.
2. The truth was available then and now. Israel rejected the truth. America has promoted it. We have made it part of our educational system. We have intentionally made this generation to be spiritually dumb.
We lost that Post WW2 advantage and now are nothing more than a poor heathen nation that has sold our heritage to the devil. Our national off-spring is nothing less than the breeding fields of Satan’s blueprints for the destruction of this generation.
III. THEY REBELLED AGAINST GOD. Vs. 12.
Jg 2:12 And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. (KJV) The sin they so willingly harbored eventually conquered them. They found themselves enslaved to one pagan nation after another.
The sins of the 2nd generation:
A. They Forgot What the Lord Had Done For Them. Vs. 10.
Jg 2:10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. (KJV)
B. They Forsook What The Lord Had Said. Vs. 11-13.
Jg 2:11 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim:
12 And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.
13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. (KJV)
When we forget the Word of God, we are in danger of forsaking the God of the Word, which explains why we have become a vile and vicious nation.
C. They Forfeited what the Lord Had Promised Them. Vs. 14-15
14 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
15 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. (KJV)
Their enemies eventually became their masters.
D. They Failed To Learn From What The Lord Did. Vs. 16-17.
Jg 2:16 Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so. (KJV)
God liberated them, but as soon as they were free and comfortable again, they went back to the same old sins. “And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.
In my lifespan I have seen several national events transpire that caused America to take notice and turn towards God, but as soon as the matter was settled down we returned back to our old sin and did evil in the sight of the Lord.
IV. GOD’S RETRIBUTION. Vs. 13-15.
Jg 2:13 And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
14 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
15 Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. (KJV)
The Israelites succumbed to the strong, sensuous appeal of the enemy nations and fell headlong into the sin of idolatry.
The retribution of God described in Vs. 14-15 summarizes God’ repeated judgments on Israel during the long period of the Judges. God’s anger against His people needs no justification. Idolatry and its accompanying immorality were totally incompatible with the covenant relationship between God and Israel. Consequently, He used Israel’s enemies on all sides to chastise this rebellious people.
This should convince any believer today that God still deals with His people in manners of rebellion and idolatry with great authority.
V. THEY REJECTED EVEN MORE. Vs. 16-17.
Jg 2:16 Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.
17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so. (KJV)
Their abandonment of idolatry was not permanent – following the death of the judge the people reverted back to idolatry, and relived the same experience again.
Without revival there is no way to stop the downward plunge into sin. America is sinning her way into oblivion.
The 2nd Generation Syndrome continues today. This second generation will always be satisfied with the status quo, and will take God’s blessings as coming from their own accomplishments and refusing to acknowledge Him, and will reject His Word again and again.
The spiritual experience of our generation cannot automatically be passed on to the next. The responsibility of each generation of believers is to build on the foundation of the past. The key to the period of the Judges was the failure of Israel to make an inherited faith a personal faith.
VI. THEY REPEATED THE CYCLE. Vs 19.
Jg 2:19 And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. (KJV)
Their idolatry intensified in each generation. “…and corrupted themselves more than their fathers….”
This will teach us that they were not grounded in the doctrine and history of their fathers. When the previous generation fails to instill the doctrines and the history then the succeeding generations are more likely to fail also. If we don’t know who we are nor where we came from we cannot know where to go, and we will end up as Vs 10 warns. Jg 2:10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. (KJV)
VII. RESULT OF ISRAEL’S SIN. Vs. 20-22.
Jg 2:20 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;
21 I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died:
22 That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. (KJV)
God gave us these scriptures as an example and for us to read and heed. This should frighten any believer to the point of seeking revival at any cost.
I read an article the other day that said that in 20 years, which would be 2030, the Muslims would be able to elect their own President in America. If that does happen – what will happen to Christians? We will see the chastising hand of God on America.
The purpose of a radical Muslim is to extinguish all believers in Christ. Go back to the time of Paul before he got saved and his mission was to extinguish all believers. If we have 30 or 40 million Muslims in America that are led by a Muslim government and Christians will experience the judging hand of God. All because we did not teach our succeeding generations the mighty works of God. How foolish we have been.
Books of reference:
“Be Available” – Warren W. Wiersbe.
“Judges – Leaders In Crisis Times” – Donald K. Campbell
“Judges” – Paul P. Enns
“Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary”
“Strong’s Concordance”
“Power Bible”
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