Objectives
To understand:
- The deteriorating cycle of sin and restoration in Israel and the church today
- The secrets of recovery and victorious living
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The Repeating Cycle
Israel’s Downfall
- Failure to receive/ pass on God’s word
- Foolishness to covenant with “Trojan horses”
- Faithlessness of leaders/judges
- Falling away from God
Failure to Pass on/ Receive God’s Word
God’s command through Moses
Deuteronomy 6:6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Failure to Pass on/ Receive God’s Word
God’s command through:
- Abraham (Gen. 18:19) For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his childrenand his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just…
- Paul (Eph. 6:4). Fathers,do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
- Jesus charged the parents and his disciples, to bring the little children to him (Luke 18:15-17).
Failure to Pass on/ Receive God’s Word
- Judges 2:8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died… of Mount Gaash.
- Judges 2:10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel”
Failure to Pass on/ Receive God’s Word
Results in:
- God turning away from them and becoming not a helper but an enemy (2:11-15).
- Loving the world and the things in the world (1 John 2:14-17).
Foolishness to Covenant with “Trojan Horses”
Foolishness to Covenant with “Trojan Horses”
Joshua’s mistake of allowing the Gibeonites repeated itself.
- The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokimand said,
“I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,2 and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? 3 And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’” – judges 2:1-4
Foolishness to Covenant with “Trojan Horses”
- What are the trojan horses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td1uPq9K–E
- In our country
- In our churches
- In our lives?
- How do we deal with them?
Faithlessness of Leaders/Judges
The cycle of sin continues though God raises Caleb’s brother, Ehud:
- Faith of leaders’ deteriorate
- Barak does not have courage
- Gideon requires a fleece
- Jepthah sacrifices his daughter
- Samson yields to carnality
Falling away from God
In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit. Judges 21:25
Discussion
Which of the following is the most dangerous in your view?
- Failure to receive/ pass on God’s word
- Foolishness to covenant with “Trojan horses”
- Faithlessness of Leaders/Judges
- Falling away from God