Sermon Prep Outline | Judges 1:17–2:5

Judges 1:17-2:5

Before the text: This is our third message in Judges. We are really still in an overview or introductory section of Judges that basically explains how Israel got to the point they are in starting in, Judges 3 and through the rest of the book. I think we may have one more introductory message before we get in to the meat of the book. The Children are finally about to receive the land that God had promised to Abraham many generations ago but before they can inhabit the land, they have to conquer it and drive out the people of the land so that they can become all God wants them to be. But, by the end of the book, we see that that does not happen. In fact, it looks more like news headlines than a book of the Bible. Murders happening daily, rape, sexual immorality, and a civil war between the nation of Israel. And the last verse sums it up pretty well “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” I believe that these introductory sections give us a very good idea of how they got here. This section and the next, are the most integral parts of how they got to that point. So, lets read…

17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. 18 Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof. 19 And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; (the start of this conquest is going well, the Lord is with them, they are getting victories… But this is kind of where they start to get off track.) but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. 20 And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak. 21 And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.

22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: and the LORD was with them. 23 And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el. (They went to spy out the land) (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) 24 And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy. (Notice that this is not what the Lord had commanded, God had commanded them to drive the people out, to conquer the whole land, to destroy it utterly, but this ins not what they are doing…) 25 And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family. 26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day. (It is kind of interesting to me that Joseph started out trying to conquer this Canaanite city and yet started another one in the process…)

27 Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. (This verse is very important to this section…) 28 And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out. (When Israel had the opportunity to drive the Canaanites out, the didn’t and instead made them their servants. Disobeying what God had commanded them to do.)

29 Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. 30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries. 31 Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob: 32 But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out. (Notice the change here… No longer is it the Canaanites dwelling with the Israelites, it is the Asherites dwelling with the Canaanites. How backward is that?!) 33 Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries unto them. 34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley: 35 But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries. (Again, not that they drove them out but that they forced them into servitude.) 36 And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

After the text: Whoah… What just happened? This was supposed to be the account of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. The heading over chapter one in my Bible reads “Judah’s Conquest of Canaan”. You would think that we would get to the end of this chapter and it would talk about Israel’s victory and it’s borders and coasts, but instead it talks about Israel’s compromise and the Amorites borders and coasts. It begs the question, “whose land is this anyway? Is this the Canaanites and the Amorites or is this the land of Israel?” What started in the beginning of chapter one as a journey of conquest ends in a journey of contamination.

I wonder if people say the same thing about us when they see our lives? “Hey I thought they were Christians? I thought they were God’s children? What happened here?” What can start as as a journey of conquest, the victorious Christian life that God wants for us, can end in a journey of contamination. And we can get to the end of our lives and wonder “Whoah what just happened?” I believe if we learn from the Israelites tonight, we can prevent that contamination and we can end our journey with conquest, victorious and able to receive the blessings that God desires for us. Let’s pray…

Introduction-Some of you may have heard of this news story before. In 2014 there was a water crisis in Flint, Michigan. A water crisis is basically when the water that is provided by the city has been contaminated. That would be your drinking water, shower water, sprinkle water, everything. It has happened in other places but this was one of the most infamous ones.

It started in April of 2014. Flint changed its water source from the previous treated city department water to the non-treated Flint River. The main reason they made the change was because it was cheaper option. When they did that, they began to have a some problems with lead contamination. The river water caused corrosion in the lead pipes that transported the water through the city and it leached lead into everyone’s water causing high levels of metal in the water. In Flint, between 6,000-12,000 children were exposed to lead which can cause all kinds of health problems. The contamination could also be linked to a disease that spread through the community that killed 10 people and affected 77 others.

In September of 2015 a team was sent to do a study of the water. The study found the water to be very corrosive and that it posed a major threat to the health of the community. Those doing the study could not believe the lack of concern and the carelessness from the people who were supposed to be protecting their residents from something so dangerous.

Many of the authorities knew that they had a problem and yet didn’t do anything about it. It is one thing if you don’t know that there is a problem and something bad happens. It is a whole other issue if you know that there is a problem, that you know there is contamination, to know that what is happening is wrong and dangerous, and yet you don’t do anything about it until it causes major damage. We could spend a whole lot of time right there!

It is very possible that there are some of you right now that are letting some things in to your life that you know shouldn’t be there and know could cause some serious issues down the road and yet you are down playing it, letting it slide.

So the authorities in Flint knew there was a problem, and even worse, there were warning signs…

Just a couple weeks after they changed their water source in 2014, residents started to complain about the water’s taste, color, and odor, they were getting rashes and they were concerned about the level of bacteria in the water. The Flint government, without any real proof, issued a statement that said “Flint water is safe to drink”.

A few months later they sent out a memo telling people to boil their water, still not doing anything about the contaminated source of water…

It wasn’t until October of 2016 that Flint finally decided to reconnect to the filtered and clean city water. It took two years of warning after warning of contaminated, dangerous water for the city to finally acknowledge that the source they had been drawing from was contaminated. It was a huge huge story and they are still in court proceedings about the whole situation.

While it was a huge story and affected a lot of people, there is another issue that is bigger than the Flint water crises, a level of contamination even larger than what happened there in Michigan. That is the level of contamination in the lives of Christians. Adults, teens, and children alike. I don’t mean your drinking water, I mean the level of contamination in our lives. When I say contamination, if you haven’t caught on yet, that is the presence of sin, little sins, big sins, it doesn’t really matter, all contamination is sin. I believe that we too like the City of Flint have in some areas let a little bit of contamination in, we know we need to deal with it but we just let it stay. And if you are not careful it can have some major consequences that you can deal with for years to come. We have a contamination crisis on our hands.

The Children Of Israel have found themselves in the same exact spot. They’ve got a contamination crisis.

Contamination is when we let things into our lives that God intends and commands for us to destroy, to drive out of our life, and for it to have no part in our lives. That is what He told Israel and warned them about before they ever got to the land…

Deuteronomy 7:1-5

When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; 2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them

This was God’s command but this is not what they did.

Judges 1:19 “And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.”

Judges 1:21 “And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem;”

Judges 1:27 “Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean…and the other towns that are mentioned…

Judges 1:28 “And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.”

Judges 1:29 “Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer;

The same thing happened to Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan…

This is complete disobedience. This is compromise, a bunch of contamination.

V2-thou shalt make no covenant with them, But here is what they do…

Judges 1:21 “but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.” They made a covenant, a compromise with them.

Judges 1:27 “but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.” A covenant, a compromise…

Judges 1:28 “And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, Compromise…

Judges 1:29 “but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.”

Judges 1:30 “but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.”

Judges 1:32 “But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out.”

Judges 1:33 “but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries unto them.”

V2- nor shew mercy unto them: This was the command but see what they did…

Judges 1:22–24 “And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: and the Lord was with them. And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy.”

And that is exactly what they did, they showed him mercy instead of destroying him like God had told them to.

This reminds me of what happened with Rahab the Harlot when the Israelites went to conquer Jericho. They sent spies in and Rahab the harlot hid them in her house so that they wouldn’t be found. And they spared her. But it wasn’t just because she helped them, it was because she had faith in God and she wanted to dwell with God’s people.

That was not this guys intention, he did not stay and believe in God, he went off and started another Canaanite city.

Before you think that this was heartless or cruel on God’s part to command them to do look at the rest of the verses…

3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. 4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. 5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

God had a plan for His people, He wanted to bless them but He knew that if they had the wrong influences, if they allowed contamination into their lives it would turn their hearts from Him, they would worship other gods, and they would sacrifice His blessing on their lives and in turn have to receive correction. It had happened before and it would happen again.

But instead of heeding this warning, instead of listening to God’s Word, they chose to do what was right in their own eyes, they started to draw from the source of their own feelings and emotions instead of drawing from God’s Word and His commands. Thus it lead to contamination and the consequences that come from it.

Look at Judges 2:1–3 This is a theophany, an Old Testamnet appearance of Jesus Christ. “And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.” It happened just like God said it would… The Israelites allowed contamination to remain in their life and because of it, they suffered consequences and sacrificed God’s blessings.

Transition- Before we get too hard on the Israelites thinking “How could they do this? How could they so easily let these things slide? How could they so quickly ignore God’s commands? Before we get too high and mighty, we have to realize that we do the same things.

We too have a contamination crisis on our hands. You are probably thinking, Okay, Bro. Samuel we are here on a Wednesday night, a WEDNESDAY NIGHT, how could we be like the children of Israel, it can’t be that bad.

Well, I am sure thats what they thought too. You see, they destroyed a lot of the cities, but not all of them. They defeated most of the people but they made servants out of some. They had obeyed quite a bit but they still allowed some things to slip that God had commanded for them to destroy.

We think that because we come to church, because we give, that it kind of balances us out. We think that because we serve in the nursery or Children’s Church that we are okay. We think that because we sing in choir or for specials that we can get by. I can think and others that fill the pulpit can think that because we preach or teach that we can get by with some sin or contamination. But that is not God’s standard.

Just like Israel, if you are saved, you are God’s child and He desires that we be set apart, that we would be holy because He is holy, strive to be perfect like He is perfect. That is His standard.

If, like it says in James, that even if you commit one sin that you are guilty of all, if one sin was enough to put Jesus on the cross, then one sin, one little bit of contamination is too much. Like we said earlier, Contamination is when we let things into our lives that God intends and commands for us to destroy, to drive out of our life, and for it to have no part in our lives.

I wonder what areas we have let slide, what things, thoughts, and ideas we have allowed to remain in our life that God wants us to deliver, to destroy? Whatever it is, that contamination will bring consequences in our lives and it will cause us to miss the blessings and the presence of God to be evident in our life. So what are some possible areas of contamination? (Some of these may sound like they should be more directed towards the teenagers but I really believe that we struggle with some of these same things… Because when we hear these things we immediately try to justify what we are doing.)

Entertainment-How about in our entertainment? Remember, God calls us to be holy, set apart, and distinct from the world. But we try to justify the things we take in on social media.

We follow questionable accounts on FB or Instagram and think well they only cuss every once and awhile so it’s not that bad… They only dress inappropriately every so often so I can handle it.

Yeah they think homosexual marriage is okay but they aren’t too pushy about it. It’s just a little bit, it’s okay…

Yeah this person gossips and puts others down but it won’t affect me.

You may not even use it for wrong purposes like that but if it distracts your from investing in your family like you should or it distracts you from walking with God like you should then it’s contamination.

Movies and TV Shows-

I don’t mean to be crude here but this is really the kind of justifying we do when it comes to our entertainment… “Well it does have some cussing but it only has one f-bomb…

It only has a couple sexual scenes and conversations, it’s still PG-13 so I’m okay.

Yeah, it promotes homosexuality but it’s such a funny show…

I’ve seen it so much it doesn’t really affect me anymore…” That’s not really the question, the question is do people think of Jesus when they hear that you watched that movie or tv show? Does it dishonor the Lord?

Friends- We think that this only applies to teens but ti doesn’t

“Yeah, they make inappropriate jokes sometimes but it’s not that big of a deal to laugh, they are just a work friend.

My mom and dad don’t really approve of this friend but they don’t know them like I do.

Music-

It’s just country music, it’s Taylor Swift it’s not that bad. That’s what parents can say sometimes about their teens music or what teenagers will say sometimes but I looked this up and I’ve already shared this with the teens… (9 of her 12 albums have explicit language in them, that’s not including all the songs full of innuendos.) But, it’s Taylor so it’s not that bad…”

I listen to the clean version so all the words are bleeped out. (You still have to answer for the message the song is portraying and the artist that is singing it…)

We justify it because those were the songs you listened to when you were young. It’s nostalgic… But, does it honor the Lord?

What about in your honesty?

I fudge my hours at work a little but it’s not that big of a deal because I work extra hard during the hours I actually work…That’s still a lie, still contamination.

Teens, I told my parents most of the places I went when we were out, yeah I left out that we went to a friends house that they wouldn’t approve of but it’s not that big of a deal.

I was honest with my parents, I told them I wasn’t talking to that girl because I haven’t actually “talked” to her, we just message each other on Instagram.

I got my school work done, so what if I looked at the back of the book for the answers, no one will know.

How about Bitterness?

We justify bitterness because someone did us wrong, because they hurt us. We get bitter at a parent or a wayward child, you get bitter at a fellow church member because of something they said to you, you get bitter at your spouse because of something they did, and we try to justify it because we were hurt. I am not trying to downplay any hurt that was caused but we have to remember what Jesus Christ went through without bitterness.

People lied about Him, treated him like he was a criminal, spit in his face, hit him, whipped him, nailed him to a cross, and killed him. And yet in the midst of all the hurt Jesus Christ forgave and loved them in return.

Not one person in this room has had someone treat them the way that Jesus was treated so if Jesus Christ could forgive and love the ones that hurt Him, so can we.

Even just a little bitterness is too much contamination.

Marriage

It’s just a little fighting with my spouse, it’s not that big of a deal.

My husband doesn’t love me like he should so I won’t respect him.

My wife doesn’t respect me like she should so I don’t feel like loving her. It’s still contamination.

Anything that God commands that we don’t do is contamination:

Like being faithful to church.

Being faithful to the ministry that God has allowed you to be apart of…

Speaking in a way that would honor God…

Witnessing to people around us…

Train up a child in the way they should go, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord…

We don’t think that our little sins are a big deal but anything that God condemns in His Word that we allow in to our life is contamination and it will bring consequences to our lives. We say it’s just a little envy, it’s just a little lust, it’s just a little discontentment it’s not that big of a deal… That is what we tell ourselves over and over again, justifying the little contamination we let in to our lives

And if we are not careful, we will be just like the Children of Israel, get so used to the contamination, allow little things in our lives that don’t please the Lord, and thus we bring the judgement of the Lord in our lives and we sacrifice the blessings that God wants to give us and we sacrifice what He wants to use us to do.

So, how do we prevent this contamination from taking place? How could the Israelites keep this contamination from taking place? God told them before in Deuteronomy and showed them again when He confronted them about their sin…

First, You prevent contamination by remembering God’s salvation in the past.

Judges 2:1 “And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers;” God was telling them that He had saved them and brought them out of slavery and because of this, they could have confidence that He could help them now and to remind them that they were indebted to serve Him because of what He had done.

The same is true for us. If you are saved tonight, that means that God has already taken care of your sin problem. He has forgiven your sins and given you the power through His Holy Spirit to overcome any temptation and sin that will come your way so you don’t need to be afraid to take on that habit, that lust, that bitterness, that broken relationship, God has given you victory over it and He promises His help.

But not just that, God gave us life, He saved us from our sins, from having to pay for our sins and spend eternity in Hell thus we are indebted to serve Him.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

We don’t own ourselves, we would have nothing without God so we ought to have no say in what we do or don’t do in our lives, He decides because He owns, He made us and saved us so everything we do should honor and glorify Him.

Second, you can prevent contamination by being faithful to God’s Word.

Judges 2:1–2 This is Jesus Christ “and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?”

The Israelites were commanded to review God’s Word and His commands, they were commanded to teach it to their children, to make it an everyday part of their lives but clearly they did not. They did not prioritize His Word and thus it lead to not obeying it and letting contamination take place.

The only way we know what God wants from us is to read His Word.

God’s Word is essential to getting victory over sin. Psalm 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, That I might not sin against thee.”

God’s Word is essential to know the direction we are supposed to go in life. Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path.”

Do you know how people are trained to spot counterfeit bills? By studying the real thing. It’s not from studying the most used counterfeit techniques or from studying fakes, you can only know what is genuine but studying a real bill.

The only way you are going to be able to spot contamination and sin in your life is by studying God’s Word, by knowing what God expects, by knowing what God’s standard for your life is.

If you want to prevent contamination from taking place you have to make God’s Word a priority in your life. That means you have to spend time personally reading it, memorizing it, meditating on it. You’ve got to prioritize the preaching of God’s Word and be here every time it is opened and seek to change something every-time it is preached.

How did contamination take place in Flint? They changed their source of water. They exchanged the tried and true source for the contaminated source and it brought some pretty severe consequences.

The same thing happened with the Israelites. They changed their source of living. Instead of looking to God and His Word to decide the things that they allowed and didn’t allow in their lives, they did that which was right in their own eyes and it became their downfall.

We too will fall into contamination and judgement from God if we change our source of living. If take your cues from how you feel in the moment, from what the culture tells you, from what a friend tells you, you will fail. The only way to keep contamination at bay is to go back to the tried and true, proven source of life and that is a right relationship with God and His Word.

Conclusion- If we continue to allow contamination and sin to remain in our lives, we not only bring consequences of sin and judgement from God but we sacrifice everything that He wants to do with us and through us.

So, how much contamination have you allowed in your life? Is there an area where you have started to live based off of your own feelings and desires instead of God’s Word? We have to be careful that we do not allow the things that God intends for us to eliminate to remain in our lives or else we will be just like the Israelites, opening ourselves up to the judgement of God.

Remember this, you can prevent contamination by remembering God’s salvation in the past and prioritizing His Word in the present.

Let’s stand, bow our heads and close our eyes as we prepare for invitation.

Tonight, let God examine your heart for any area that has been contaminated, any area that you are living based off of what is right in your eyes and not His.

Don’t bring God’s judgement and sacrifice His blessings all for something that you want in a moment.

Maybe you need to thank God tonight for your salvation and remember what He has done for you.

Maybe you need to recommit to prioritizing God’s Word on a daily basis so you can prevent contamination from taking place.