TITLE:
You have
not obeyed
TEXT:
Judges 2:1-3
PROPOSITION:
Our failure to
obey God can turn around and cause us pain.
QUESTION:
How?
KEY
WORD:
Responses
SCRIPTURE READING:
Same
INTRODUCTION:
-
God gave a
command utterly destroy all the nations in the land.
-
Israel did not
do this. See Judges 1:28-36
-
There were four
responses from God.
A Troubling
Question
-
Many ask why
God would order the total annihilation of nations women and children and
animals
-
Many see God
here as a cruel, vicious, murderer. (I had one compare Him to Hitler [wiping
out the Jews].
-
This is not a
proper view of God.
-
Think of a
surgeon removing the diseased tissue; amputating a leg; removing organs,
etc.
-
There is a
difference in a home invasion where a man comes in and attacks with a machete
and cuts off a mans arm vs. a doctor amputating an arm to save a life
-
God is not a
maniac, causing havoc. He is a doctor seeking to save a life.
Four responses to
our incomplete obedience:
Covenant is
Covenant Judges 2:1
-
God made a
covenant and will not break it no matter what.
-
Judges 2:1
Then the Angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said: I led
you up from Egypt and brought you to the land of which I swore to your
fathers; and I said, I will never break My covenant with you.
-
God does not
make promises lightly.
I wont do your
work Judges 2:3
-
You made your
bed, now lie in it.
-
There are some
lessons that we will only learn if we have to solve on our own.
-
Dont think
that you can do anything you want, and God will get you out.
-
Judges 2:3
- Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out before you; but they shall
be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.
-
God is saying
I told you so. You did not listen. You deal with it.
These nations
will be a snare to you Judges 2:3
-
These will be
your enemies for the next 1,500 years
-
Judges 2:3b
- and their gods shall be a snare to you.
-
Their gods will
cause you more pain than you can imagine
-
Look at the
list read about them all through the OT
I left them for
you to learn Judges 3:1
-
God did not
protect them from harm.
-
He did turn the
bad (failure to obey) into something useful (helping Israel learn)
-
Judges 3:1
- Now these are the nations which the LORD left, that He might test
Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in
Canaan
-
Study Romans
8:28 All things work together for good
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