SERMON SUMMARY

The book of Judges is so disturbing, it’s not uncommon to ask, “Why is this book even in the Bible?” Like all Scripture inspired by God, it was “written to teach us and to give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled” (Romans 15:4 NLT). You see, the Bible is not a book of virtues. The Bible doesn’t sugar coat life in this broken world. Rather, the Bible tells us the ugly truth about us and why the world is so messed up. And Judges paints this ugly picture so clearly that we are shocked awake by how God’s very own people so easily fall away from their faith and end up under God’s discipline. In Judges 1:1-2:5 we see that when God’s people forget who God is and what he’s done for them, they inevitably compromise their faith and obedience to God and they end up living like people who do not know God.

SCRIPTURE: Judges 1:1-2:5

SERMON SCREENSHOTS & KEY POINTS

• Our primary concern: How life in the book of Judges intersects with life in our world today.
• “In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes” (21:25).
• We live in a day very similar to the days of the Judges–a day when everyone does what is right in their own eyes.
• God commanded Israel to wage a bloody, military campaign against the Canaanite nations. How do we make sense of that? First, this was God’s judgment on those pagan nations for 100s of years of cruelty and violence. God, in his holiness, cannot tolerate or excuse sinful rebellion forever. But God is also patient and merciful. He gave those nations 400 years to repent (see Genesis 15:13-14). These Canaanites were a violent people. They were cruel and merciless in warfare. They offered their children as sacrifices to their gods—burned them with fire. They were evil and immoral to the core, and yet, God waited patiently for them to repent and change their wicked ways for 400 years. But their wickedness went from bad-to-worse-to–“that’s it—time’s up”—and God’s judgment came upon them. (two examples of the Canaanites who understood this–Adoni-bezek (1:4-7) and Rahab the harlot (Joshua 2:9-13). Second, God related to ancient people in a way they could understand, not in a way modern people feel comfortable with.
• As the book of Judges opens, the people seem to start strong but there are hints of compromise from the very beginning. They had the promises of God (Joshua 1:2-6, 9) and they had seen God do great and mighty miracles when God delivered them out of Egypt, but they didn’t act in line with what they knew about God.
• Several things led to the downfall of the Israelites. First, the Israelites faced seemingly impossible circumstances–iron chariots and enemies more determined to keep their land than the Israelites had to take the land. Plus, it made more economic sense to force their enemies into slavery than to drive them out completely. These things led to one compromise after another.
• Compromise begins with looking at our circumstances and saying, “I can’t.” But, when God says, “You can,” if you say, “I can’t,” then God hears, “I won’t.”
• Compromise ⇒ outright disobedience ⇒ God’s discipline
• Compromise is the result of our forgetting who God is and what he’s done for us.
• There is a dramatic tension in this story and all through the book of Judges. ​​You see the tension when you compare verse 1 and verse 3. In verse 1, God says, “I said, I will never break my covenant with you”—and then in v3 he says—“But I also said (my paraphrase)--if you compromise with these nations I will not drive them out.” On the one hand, God is holy and just and cannot tolerate or live with or bless evil. But on the other hand, God is loving and faithful and cannot tolerate the loss of the people He has committed himself to. This tension hangs in the air all through the book of Judges, and really, it hangs in the air of the entire OT. So the question is–How does God resolve the tension between his holiness and his faithfulness to the people he loves?
• The tension is resolved in Jesus. It is only on the Cross that we can understand how God is able to resolve the tension. On the Cross, our sin was imputed to Christ so that his righteousness could be imputed to us (2 Cor.5:21). On the Cross, Jesus took God’s judgment into/upon himself. He died in our place and he satisfied God’s justice because sin was punished. And on the Cross, we see God’s great and limitless love for us so that now he is forever able to accept and forgive us. That is why Paul says only the Cross makes God be both “just and justifier of those who believe” (Rom4:26).

*We are a church located in Greenville, South Carolina. Our vision is to see God transform us into a community of grace passionately pursuing life and mission with Jesus.

• Read Joshua 1:1-9 and 23:3-13. Here is the mission of the Israelites, given by God through Joshua just before he died. What are the specific directions they are given? Why do you think God is so careful to insist that military bravery be combined with whole-hearted obedience in this campaign? Do you see in this passage any of the reasons that this is not a warrant for other “holy wars?”     
• Look at 1:19-35. Though beginning well (1:1-18), the Israelites eventually fail to drive out the Canaanites. Why is that? Where in the text do you see them compromising their mission?     
• Read 2:1-3. How does God assess the reasons for the Israelites’ failure to drive out the Canaanites? What does he say in v2 the real purpose of the campaign was? c) In the light of Joshua 1 and 23, why do the reasons given in vv.19-36 constitute not just military failure but spiritual unfaithfulness?
• Are there any areas of your life where you are saying “I can’t,” but God is saying “you won’t?”
• Are there things that you’ve allowed to stay in your life that need to be broken down? Are there things that have become “thorns” and “snares” for you?     
• In 2:1-3, what two things does God say the Israelites forgot that led them to compromise their faith, their obedience, and their mission?   
• How does forgetting these things lead to compromises in your life? 
• There is a tension between v1, “I said, I will never break my covenant with you” and v3, “So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they will become thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.” What is the tension here?
• How is this tension resolved in Jesus Christ?
• How does remembering Cross–preaching the Gospel to yourself–help you resist the urge to make compromises that can lead you away from faithful obedience?