The result was that the people turned from the covenant and worshiped idols. This is the natural consequence of the beginning of the book, yet it is the decision of the generation to turn from God. What can we learn from the generation hooked on idols for our own day from Judges 2:6-3:6?
SERMON OUTLINE
But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)
The place of meeting with God…a garden of gracious trees
- e.g. the couple who knew in 5 min that they had blown it!
- e.g. the rest of us now join them in our choices
- e.g. God had already decided the Cross and His life list
Joshua died and all that generation who had seen all the great things YHWH (I Am) had done for Israel (Judges 2:6-10)
The strange place chosen by the man and his wife…a space-time where in freedom we experience Good and we experience evil and we decide our destiny.
- e.g. the nations under judgment…the alcohol and sex people
- e.g. the generation that left Egypt…the garlic, leeks people
- e.g. the generation that entered the land…the humbled & obedient
- e.g. the generation that paid no attention and wandered off
The next generation knew neither YHWH nor what he had done for Israel…they forsook YHWH who had brought them out of Egypt…they aroused His anger because they forsook Him and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths…the people lived among them and intermarried (Judges 2:11-3:6)
YHWH’s plan was for His People to be a life destination for the nations
- e.g. Rahab, Ruth, Itai the Gitite,
- e.g. Samuel, David, Daniel
- e.g. the Church…a place for sinners to find life (Philippians 2:14-15)
Jesus has prepared a place of life for us in Father’s bosom (John 1:14; Revelation 12:7-12)
Praise God the strange place is passing away! (1 John 2:15-17)
DISCUSSION GUIDE
- Even a cursory reading of Judges leads to the question…Why did God design a world with so much evil?
- It is helpful to approach our world with a theology of place. How many different places does God lead His people to inhabit on their way to glory and why?
- In your own words what are the difficulties God must solve in order to establish a kingdom where evil will never happen again yet all its citizens will remain loving and free?
- Why do you think God wrote the Lamb’s Book of Life before He created the world? (Revelation 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12-15, 21:27; Acts 2:23)
- List, if you can, the godly people who were light for the nations who came under God’s judgment. (Amorites, Philistines, Arameans,and the seven nations)
- What kind of lifestyle will qualify as ‘saving light’ in a drug and sex oriented generation? (Philippians 2:14-15)
- We read in John 14 about Jesus preparing a place in the Father’s house for us. When do you think He plans to come for those who die before the end of the age?