Judges 3:7: "The sons of Israel ... forgot the Lord their God."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in an address reflects on the tragedies that had happened
his native country, Russia.
He said, "Over half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number
of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters
that had befallen Russia: "Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.' "
Since then I have spent well--nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution.
In the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies,
... and if asked today ... the main cause of the revolution that swallowed up
some 60 million of our people, I would have to repeat:
"Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened."
Anyone seeking an explanation of the great disasters that befell Israel during the period
of the Judges need not look beyond this -- men forgot God.
Our Scripture passage for this message said: "the sons of Israel... forgot the Lord their God."
(Judges 3:7)
God confronted the people of Israel with their spiritual failure in the second chapter
of the Book of Judges.
God Lord reminded the people that He had redeemed them out of Egypt,
and had established a covenant with them requiring that they make no treaty
with the Canaanites; and that they avoid the idolatry of the land.
The Israelites failed on both counts.
They made a covenant with the inhabitants of Canaan. (Joshua 9:1-27; Judges 1:28-33)
And they failed to destroy the pagan altars.
God would not accept any excuse or rationalization, but charged Israel with blatant disobedience
and asked the searching question:
"Why have you done this?" (Judges 2:2, NIV)
It was a question spoken in grace, and was designed to bring the sinning Israelites
to repentance.
A parent addresses the same question to an erring child with purpose of producing
a change of heart in that child.
But the people of Israel were silent.
They had no answer or perhaps they dared to admit the real truth.
One expositor explains it like this:
"No, the awful truth of the reason why they had not driven out the inhabitants
and destroyed their altars and their worship was simply this:
they did not want to drive them out.
They chose to allow these people with their evil, lustful ways to remain there.
It seems like God's people wanted what they saw in the world."
Because of such plain obvious failure, God affirmed two things.
In Judges 2:1, we read: "I will never break My covenant with you."
However Israel had sinned broke the covenant, and God had kept His covenant.
Then in Judges chapter 2:3, we read: "I will not drive them out before you."
(Judges 2:3)
Though God remains faithful to His covenant promises to Israel,
her sins always brought divine chastisement.
In this case, the Lord declared that He would not drive out the Canaanites,
but instead they would become as thorns in the sides of the Israelites.
When the people heard the stern words of judgment, they wept, and then offered sacrifices.
But when we see what followed, we must conclude that the tears were not signs of regret
for the penalty than it was signs of repentance for the sin.
The sacrifices were only an empty ritual.
True repentance must go beyond tears of sorrow, and achieve a right-about-face
-- a turning of a person's entire life from sin to a walk that pleases the Lord.
There was a generation of Israelites who were faithful to the Lord.
Judges 2:6-9 tells us that the Israelites were faithful during the lifetime of Joshua
and the elders who outlived him.
This is attributed to the fact that generation had first-hand, knowledge of the great acts of God
-- the deliverance from Egypt, the miraculous crossings of the Red Sea and Jordan River,
and the victories in the wars of conquest.
Here we give tribute to Joshua, a great soldier and dynamic leader,
and here simply called, "The servant of the Lord." (Judges 2:8)
This godly man of faith had a tremendous influence on his times, extending beyond his death.
We could ask ourselves the question, "What about our influence after we are gone?"
One person, committed unreservedly to God and His Word, can make an enormous difference
for good in the lives of God's people.
One person, living his or her life for Jesus Christ, can bring bountiful blessings
to a whole group of people -- even a nation.
If you will trust God, and build your life on His Word, you can have a godly influence
on your family, upon your close friends, your local church, and your community.
We see this truth written many times on the pages of Scripture.
Then, a new generation is introduced and the situation changes -- for the worse.
Judges 2:10: "And their arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord,
nor yet the work which He had done for Israel."
How could this happen?
Who was to blame?
An evangelist was conducting a revival and observed that the congregation was composed
almost exclusively of older people.
He asked the pastor about the absence of younger people, and the pastor said:
"This generation is simply not interested in spiritual things!"
Now who was responsible for this sad state of affairs?
We look to 1 Samuel 2:12 where it says, "Now the sons of Eli were worthless men;
they did not know the Lord."
Who was to blame?
With reference to the situation in Judges, many are quick to blame the parents,
the first generation, assuring that they failed to carry out the charge
of Deuteronomy 6:7-8, 20-25, and that they failed to pass on spiritual truth to their children.
Someone has written, "Apparently Israel had failed to discharge this responsibility,
and the result was a godless generation."
While such an explantation may account in part for the spiritual indifference of the new generation,
but the Scriptures do not put the blame there.
Rather, the second generation was held responsible for their own spiritual apostasy,
and were judged accordingly.
They were not permitted to shift the blame to anyone else.
Furthermore, the description of the second generation was described as a generation
"who did not know the Lord." (Judges 2:10)
This may be understood in the sense of not acknowledging God.
So, the failure was due more to their indifference or unbelief then to mere ignorance
of spiritual truth.
Parents are admonished to bring up their children properly,
and are to be accountable for that upbringing.
And children are admonished to respond wisely to parental correction.
If both did their part, then everything would be well.
But it takes both -- a parent-child team working in harmony to produce this happy result.
Good parenting is part of the story, and maybe, the major part of the story.
A great deal of emphasis is placed on attentive obedient children who listen
and welcome the correction of their parents.
Some have described Israel's lack of response to the Lord as an illustration
of the "Second" generation syndrome.
This generation being lukewarm, complacent, and apathetic about wonderful Biblical truths.
The second generation was satisfied with the status quo.
They took God's blessings for granted, and they refused to acknowledge Him.
They also neglected the Word of God.
This lesson is profound.
The spiritual experience of our generation cannot and will not automatically be passed on to the next generation.
The responsibility of each generation of believers is to build on the foundation of the past.
This second generation, which was apathetic and indifferent to the faith of their fathers,
now turned its back on the true God of their fathers to serve the false gods of Canaan.
This is happening in our world today.
God's grace was needed then, and God's grace is needed today.
An old Indian chief, after living many years in sin, was led to Christ by a missionary.
Friends asked him to explain the change in his life.
Reaching down, he picked up a little worm, and placed it on a pile of leaves.
Then, he touched the leaves with a match, and watch them smolder and burst into flames.
As the flames worked their way up to the center where the worm lay,
then the old chief suddenly plunged his hand into the center of the burning pile
and snatched the worm out.
Holding the worm gently in his hand, he gave this testimony to the grace of God:
"Me ... That worm!"
The grace of God is seen in the history of Israel and in the life of every believer
who has been delivered "from the dominion of darkness and transferred
... to the kingdom of His beloved Son." (Colossians 1:13)
So we see that God permitted the Israelites to fall into straits
from which they could not be delivered apart from His intervention.
So they were forced to acknowledge the true God and seek His help.
This is also true with His people today.
God knows how prone we are to lose sight of Him when we do not seem to need Him,
and we tend to forget Him when things are going well.
So, God often allows adversities to stand in our way, such as, sickness,
unfaithfulness from those who professed loyalty, an unfair employer, an unpleasant neighbor,
an unfaithful friend ... in order to keep us close to Him.
The question that all of us here today must answer is "What will it take?"
Maybe another question would be "Why have I done this?"
God made a covenant with the inhabitants of Canaan, and they failed to destroy the pagan altars.
Have we failed to destroy the pagan altars in our lives.
God is asking us today, "Why not?"
Some would have to honestly say that they simply do not want to.
God sent His Son who came into the world ... and died for our sins to save us.
In accepting His invitation to receive Jesus as our Saviour,
we made a covenant with God that we would always love Him and serve Him.
So, why have we not done so?
What in the world will it take for us, for our nation, to wake up!
Sermon adapted from several sources by Dr. Harold L. White
