Title: Passing the Baton

Text: Judges 2:6-19

Problem: Our Unfaithfulness to the Covenant

Textual introduction:  Judges is a perfect book for this generation for two reasons.  First, it’s graphic and connects with this visual generation.  Great images (Ehud, Jael, Samson, dismembered concubine).  Disturbing images of judgment and triumphal images of heroism.  It also addresses our postmodern thinking.  There is no objective truth.  Everyone does what is right in their own eyes.  Who can deliver us from the depths of our sin?  God has raised up a righteous judge and king.

Conquest to compromise:  People lost sight of the fact that they were in a battle.  The primary cities were conquered in Joshua.  All they had left was the mop up operation in the villages and countryside.  But the people grew content with the land they had already acquired.  They did not continue the conquest.  They became comfortable and did not wipe out the idolatry from within their midst.

In Judges 2 we will see that through their compromise, Joshua’s generation dropped the baton.  They did not pass on the faith to the next generation, so a generation grew up that did not know the Lord, nor the works which he had done.

Object lesson:  Does any one know what this is?  It’s a baton.  When you are running a relay race you must pass the baton on to the next team member.  The two most important elements of this event are 1) make sure you have a sure grip on the baton.  2)  Then make sure the person you are passing it on to has a sure grip.  As Deuteronomy has reminded us.  We must have a personal relationship with God ourselves.  Then we must pass that faith on to the next generation.  In this passage we will see how the failure of Joshua’s generation impacted the successive generations, yet God is faithful, despite the faithlessness of his people.  Let us stand for the reading of God’s Word found in Judges chapter 2 starting in verse 6.

Read Sermon Text: Judges 2:6-19

Prayer:  Father, you are ever faithful.  As we look into your Word, lead us in repentance for our unfaithfulness.  Drive us to the cross, where we may find full pardon, and worship our Deliverer and Judge.  Bind our wandering hearts to you.

Introduction: Betsy loves to climb….  When I was a kid I also liked to climb….  When I called out my father came running.  He guided me down.  But when I was about seven feet up, I froze.  He said just give me your feet.  I’ll catch you, I promise.  I was scared, but I knew my father had been faithful in the past.  I let my self go and felt his sure grasp.  My dad was faithful.  He was there to rescue me.  Therefore I could depend on him.  How much more is our Heavenly Father faithful to his children?  As we see in this account, earthly fathers fail, but our God is eternally faithful.  Therefore depend on him.

Because God is a Faithful Father, we must depend on him.

1) God Does what he says, he’s going to do (Judges 2:1-3).

Now the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers; and I said, ‘I will never break My covenant with you, ²and as for you, you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed Me; what is this you have done? ³“Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.

a. God promises victory (Joshua 1:3 and 23:14-16).

“Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.”

“Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed. ¹⁵“It shall come about that just as all the good words which the LORD your God spoke to you have come upon you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the threats, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God has given you. ¹⁶“When you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will perish quickly from off the good land which He has given you.”

i. Uncompromising Victory (Judges 1:19; -3).

Now the LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots.

But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land. ²⁸It came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.

Contrast:  Caleb, a man who takes God at his word.

Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal, and aCaleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know the word which the Lord spoke to Moses the man of God concerning 1you and me in Kadesh-barnea.

 7 “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought word back to him as it was in my heart.

 8 “Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people 1melt with fear; but I followed the Lord my God fully.

 9 “So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden will be an inheritance to you and to your children forever, because you have followed the Lord my God fully.’

 10 “Now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today.

 11 “I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in.

 12 “Now then, give me this hill country about which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that Anakim were there, with great fortified cities; perhaps the Lord will be with me, and I will 1drive them out as the Lord has spoken.”

Caleb not only trusted God to keep his Word, but he passed down this virtue to the next generation.  In Judges 1:11 he offers his daughter to the man who conquers Debir.  Daniel Block gives the following commentary on this verse: “By offering his daughter as a reward, he not only expresses his commitment to the agenda but also ensures a noble husband for her.” [Block, 95]

Her husband Othniel is the first judge and in chpt 3 this marriage is contrasted with Israelites who let their sons marry Canaanite women, and gave their daughters to Canaanite men.  This compromise led Israel into great idolatry.

When we compromise and start making exceptions to God’s command, we undermine God’s authority in the eyes of our children.  And the next generation takes our exceptions one step further.  Example, breakdown of the family.  (Women’s rights & sexual revolution has devalued marriage and undermined family structure).  We are raising up a generation with no discipline and no respect for authority. 

Father’s do your children see you taking God at his word.

ii. Gradual victory (3:1-2, 4)

¹Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan; ²only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught war, those who had not experienced it formerly).

They were for testing Israel, to find out if they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which He had commanded their fathers through Moses.

1. test obedience

2. train next generation.

Chapter 1, Verse 27 rest of the tribes.  Forced labor.  Why kill them? Kinder gentler idea and get a lot more done for the kingdom.  Party evangelism.  Friend goes to parties and drives his drunk friends home.  Be a friend of the world and share the Gospel.  But do all these things to understand where they are coming from.  World influences us more than we influence the world.  “For me to live is Christ.” Paul says. Joshua’s funeral (10).  Testimony of children at Joshua’s funeral-For my dad to live is the LORD.  Each of you fathers will die.  What will your children say?  For Dad to live is _______.  What would they say?  Don’t wait till you die, ask them today.

b. God promises to be our God and the God of our children (Judges 2:10)

i. His Person

ii. His Power

Teach commands and morality without relationship.  Real God who has transformed your life.  Praise worthy deeds of the LORD-relationship with a God who works here and now.  Not just facts and information.  Is God’s grace a living reality in your life?

Do you get excited about Jesus?  Parents committed to teach kids sports.  Every practice, every game.  Parents get excited and screaming on sideline.  Jumping up and down.  Do we ever show that excitement for God?  No wonder this generation is so devoted to sports.  No time for ___, because we have sports.  Do parents show the same excitement for our children to participate in Sunday worship and the activities of the church?  I wish I could get as much commitment for Bible study and prayer as the youth have for their sports programs.  What are we teaching this generation?

2) God Disciplines his children (Judges 2:14-15).

a. God gives his children clear commands (Deuteronomy 5-6)

i. 10 commandments (Dt. 5)

ii. Love God with all your heart, soul, & strength (Dt. 6:5)

iii. No idols (Dt. 6:14-15)

Idolatry
Allegiances and attachments that bring us a sense of power or pleasure apart from God

Jeremiah 2:13 

 Power, Prestige,Control, Security, Safety, Appearance, People’s approval, Money, Success, Pleasures, Attitudes, Addictions, Busyness, Comfort, Intellect, Self

b. God gives his children consequences for disobedience (Judges 2:14-15)

i. Hands us over to suffering (14)

ii. Holds us back from accomplishing our tasks (15)

3) God Delivers his children in their distress (16-18).

a. God has compassion on his children (18)

b. God hears our cry (18)

c. God saves us by his mercy (16-17)

It’s hard to see God’s compassion in his discipline, but his relationship with his children is more important than their comfort, success, and pleasure.  He disciplines us to bring us to the point of repentance and we cry out to him.  And verse 18 says that he hears our cry.  He reaches out to us in our time of need and gives us a deliverer.

“Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived.” (18)

•           Christ is Alive to Help us Live

Hebrews 7:22-25

Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.           

God is faithful.  Will you depend on him.  Will you grab hold of the baton and then pass it on to the next generation.  Depend on him.

Prayer: Father, you are ever faithful.  You do what you say you will do.  You love us enough to discipline us when we stray.  And you compassionately deliver us when we are in trouble.  Please grant us the gift of true repentance.  May our children see us repenting and walking in victory.  May they know you and the work of your mighty hand.  We pray this in the name of Jesus.  Amen.