Where Are The Othniel's? Series

Pastor Allan Kircher

Shell Point Baptist Church

4 Aug 2013

Judges 2:20-3:11

The Period addressed/book/Judges/period of time defined by lawlessness, rebellion/moral failure among/people/Israel.

Whole attitude of Israel/time/judges can be summed up in the words of Judges 17:6; 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

That’s a pretty good description of our world as well!

• God had redeemed Israel from Egyptian bondage.

• He led them for forty years through a wilderness.

• He brought them safely/land/Canaan

• promised to defeat all their enemies

• If only they would walk with Him in holiness.

God commanded them to enter Canaan/conquer it, Deut. 7:1-6.

Commandments/ those verses/crystal clear/They were to:

• v. 1 Possess the land

• v. 2 Utterly destroy all the nations of Canaan

• v. 2 Make no peace treaties with them

• v. 2 Show them no mercy

• v. 3 Refuse to intermarry with them

• v. 5 Completely destroy every trace of their pagan religions

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The reason they were commanded to do this:

• Israel was/different from all/people around them

• Had been chosen by God.

• He had saved them, blessed them

• Promised them victory, if they would walk with Him.

God demanded total separation among His people.

God knew if Israel allowed themselves/entangled/Canaanites

• they would become corrupt spiritually

• Be drawn away from God, Deut. 7:4.

When that happened, God promised He would visit them suddenly, in His wrath.

Israel had their instructions/failed/carry out/Lord’s command.

• After a while, they became like their enemies

• Adopting/wicked ways/various Canaanite tribes around them.

• Israel began to worship the false gods/Canaanites.

• When they followed this downward path

• God allowed them to know His displeasure/His judgment.

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Israel would follow a Judge until/Judge died, then they would revert to their wicked ways and the cycle would begin again.

This continued/Israel 400 years until they got their first king.

• The book of Judges is profitable for us today.

In its pages, we see that Israel faced many of the same problems that we face in our world today.

• They faced physical enemies; so do we.

• They faced problems from the world

• The flesh and the devil; so do we.

Few Sundays/bring a series of messages I am entitling Losers, Laymen and Leaders.

• Some Lessons From The Lives Of Israel’s Judges.

• God is no longer looking for judges

• He is looking for leaders.

Men/women who can stem the tide of evil that threatens to overtake the church in these dark days.

He is looking for people:

• Who will rise up, taking their stand/God/Bible.

• He can use to change the world for the glory of God.

• People He is looking/sitting in these pews today!

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Intro:

Israel refused to walk/Lord so the Lord refused to drive out all their enemies/land/Canaan.

• Forced to live alongside/very people/sent to destroy!

• Why did God leave the people in the land?

• Let’s look at the reasons

1. v. 1 He left them there to test Israel –God allowed the pagans to live around His people to test Israel.

• Tested to see how they would live when surrounded by the wicked.

• tested to see if they would keep His commandments or not,

• v. 4. They failed this test!

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2. v. 2 He left them there to teach new generations about spiritual warfare.

God wanted them/learn/lessons/battle their fathers had known.

God wanted them to be strong and to know how to fight the enemy when he came around.

• They failed this test too!

• Caused some serious problems among the people of Israel.

Israel proved:

• Could not be trusted to stand up against the enemy.

• They would rather join the enemy than fight them.

Let’s notice how God delivered Israel from a time of cruel bondage by raising up Othniel: The Lion Of God.

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I. v. 5-7 ISRAEL’S COMPROMISE

• Verses give us the ugly details of Israel’s first great failure.

• stands as a stark warning to the people of God in any age

What Israel did then is what we see people doing all around us today.

Notice how they compromised the Word of God and the will of God to do the things they wanted to do.

A. v. 5 Interaction With The Canaanites – The Bible says that the children of Israel “lived among” the various tribes of Canaan.

• When Israel arrived in Canaan.

• commanded to destroy people without mercy

• Now they are living among them.

• took very short time for their former enemies to become their new neighbors.

Here’s the problem, Israel was be separate world around them.