The book of Judges shows the downward spiral of the nation of Israel. In the previous book of the Bible, Joshua, the nation showed so much promise. However, by the end of Judges, they were spiritually in shambles. So what happened? What went wrong? In this first chapter, the author of Judges lays a foundation for their spiritual failure. Let’s learn from the Israelites so we can know what NOT to do.
Failure comes when you only follow God half-heartedly.
Sermon Clip
MESSAGE Notes
Judges 1:1-2:5 – How to spiritually fail – Part 1 – Following God Half-Heartedly
Pastor Kyle Lewis
*** This sermon series was inspired by J.D. Greear’s sermon series with the same name. You can listen to his messages here.
Joshua 24:15 – …choose this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Main Idea: Failure comes when you only follow God half-heartedly.
Joshua 1:1-4 – After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the Lord, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?” 2 The Lord said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.” 3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you.” So Simeon went with him. 4 Then Judah went up and the Lord gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek.
- POINT 1 – Following God half-heartedly leads to listening to some of God’s words, but not all of them.
- Disobedience sets us on a path for consequences.
Joshua 1:17-18 – And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and devoted it to destruction.… 18 And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.
- So from a human perspective, it seems reasonable that they were scared. Chariots are scary!
- Their problem is not the chariots, but their lack of faith in God.
- POINT 2 – Following God half-heartedly results in half-hearted faith.
- God had shown that he was strong enough to defeat chariots!
Sadly, most of the Israelites had this problem:
- v. 21 – “the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem”
- v. 27-28 – for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land.28 When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely.
- v. 29 – Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
- v. 30 – Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants… so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor.
- v. 31-32 – 31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants… so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.
- v. 33 with Naphtali and v. 34 with Dan
- “Taken on its own terms, chapter 1 reads like a collection of Israel’s press releases about their campaign. It is their ‘spin’ on why they weren’t as successful as we (and God) might have expected. As we read, we are lulled into sympathy with the Israelites. When we are told that they ‘could not drive out’ the Canaanites, we are inclined to agree. They did their best.” – Tim Keller
- Israel said, “But God, we can’t drive them out. We tried.” God says “Actually, it’s not that you can’t; it’s that you won’t.” It has nothing to do with you not being strong enough; it has to do with you not being confident enough in God’s grace. Here’s a question you should ask yourself: “Where are you saying, ‘I can’t but God says, ‘Actually, you won’t’ drive them out”? You need to look at your life like the unconquered land of Canaan… Lurking in every crevice of your heart are your own little Canaanites of unbelief and sin. Where are you saying, “I can’t… when God would say, “You won’t”? – J.D. Greear
Where are you saying, “I won’t”?
- 1) Your devotional life.
- 2) Areas of sin.
- 3) Bitterness and forgiveness.
- 4) Areas of faith.
- 5) Generosity.
- Every “I won’t” leads you down the path of compromise.
The result of half-heartedly following God.
- 2:2-4 – “But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?3 So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” 4 As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.”
- We must see that continued compromise leads to disaster.
- Sin restricts our intimacy with God.
- The Lord said, “Judah shall go up…” (1:2)
Island Pond Baptist Church is an SBC church in Hampstead, NH, just seconds from Derry, NH. We also have many people at our church from surrounding cities such as Chester, Sandown, Danville, Kingston, Fremont, Plaistow, Atkinson, Derry, Londonderry, Salem, and Haverhill. If you live in Southern New Hampshire, we would love for you to come and visit!