Sermon Tone Analysis

Let me set this up for you.

Under Joshua’s leadership the Israelites were to possess the land given to them by God.

They had great success, but they failed to drive out the Canaanites, and rid the land of the pagan worship places that would later ensnare them.

The book as a whole, is a compendium of the Israelite failure to take God seriously, and so they would cycle in and out of persecution and rule of Heathen kingdoms, until they turned their heart back to God and He would send a judge to liberate them.

What was their failure?

Not to obey God’s command.

Posses the Land given to them.

Drive out the inhabitants.

Destroy their places of worship.

Listen to the indictment against them:

Judges 2:1

Here’s what God told them to do:

Posses the Land given to them.

Drive out the inhabitants.

Destroy their places of worship.

God’s command was simple:

Posses the Land given to them.

Drive out the inhabitants.

Destroy their places of worship.

Sounds like a simple enough proposition, and considering that God would be fighting for them, and they’ve already seen what He did with Jericho, this should have been a “slam dunk” so to speak.

Sounds like a simple enough proposition, and considering that God would be fighting for them, and they’ve already seen what He did with Jericho, this should have been a “slam dunk” so to speak.

But what does the scripture say?

That the Israelites did not do what God said!

Now you know as God’s people, that we many times set our minds to accomplishing that which the Lord commands, only to find ourselves falling short.

Now you know as God’s people, that we many times set our minds to accomplishing that which the Lord commands, only to find ourselves falling short.

“But it’s OK”, we tell ourselves, because we got 90% of it done!

And yet, like the Israelites we justify ourselves in having done the best we could, even though we didn’t get it done exactly as He said.

I mean, that’s pretty good, right?

Come on, the weather men can’t get it right 50% of the time!

God knows we’re only human, so it would make sense that He’d cut us some slack!

We console ourselves in that we got 90% of it done!

But does He really cut us some slack?

And, does it suffice?

Is it really OK if we don’t do everything He commands?

This may be difficult to hear, but the answer is, no!

It’s not OK to not do everything - and here’s the point...

Because God is inflexible with His demands!

Because God is inflexible with His demands!

But why does He have to be inflexible?

But Why?

Why?

This is the big question!

If we want to understand why God is inflexible, we need to look at...

And this is the big answer!

If we want to understand God’s inflexibility, we need to look at...

He wants the best for us.

He wants the best for us.

And it’s very simple -

He wants the best for us.

He desires the best for us.

Too many times we view God as some overbearing dictator who just wants us to be miserable.

I can certainly understand why so many today think this way.

They have dreaded memories of an overbearing, cruel, or even abusive father, and every time they hear Father God, they cringe!

People are stuck in their relationship with the Father of lights, because they can’t get past the dis-functional relationship with their earthly father.

And this is tragic, and yet for the most part the church has done little to address the problem.

You see, God the Father is not like any earthly father.

But God the Father is not like any earthly father.

No, our heavenly Father is gracious.

And our heavenly Father’s character is seen in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus demonstrated in real life what the Father is like:

No, Our God is love!

Loving

Compassionate

Gracious

Approachable

forgiving

Merciful

So we can see He wants the best for us, but how does that play out?

So we can see He wants the best for us, but how does that play out?

Let's look at two specifics:

The definition of freedom is not to be free to do anything we like, but to live within the influence of sin and not participate in it.

It is with this understanding that we can realize the reason for God’s inflexibility!

It is with this understanding that we can realize the reason for God’s inflexibility!

I.

He wants us to experience the fullness of joy.

As a parent, that is all i ever wanted for my children.

The restrictions I placed upon them were to protect them from the heartache that comes too easily from poor influences, and bad choices.

Young people crave freedom.

All people crave freedom!

But what is freedom?

My definition of freedom is -

Freedom is not the license to do what ever one desires whenever one desires it, but to choose to live by God’s standards in the midst of evil influences.

And when we truly are living freely, then and only then, do we experience the true fullness of joy!

You see, He knows what will make us truly happy, because He created us.

Who better to then set the parameters for what brings Joy!

Secondly:

II.

He wants us to be free from sin’s grip.

II.

He wants us to be free from sin’s grip.

II.

He wants us to be free from sin’s grip.

The apostle Paul said this to the Corinthians -

If we are constantly watering our roots in the stream of wickedness, we will produce wicked fruit.

If our roots are soaking in the heavenly streams, we bear heavenly fruit.

Because the fruit is the habit that is formed from the influence.

Recently, we saw the tragic story of two young ladies that were out partying in the Boston night scene that never made it home, because they fell victim to individuals who have no regard for human life!

This is horrendous and unacceptable in an enlightened society, and our hearts and prayers go out to those families.

But there is wisdom in heeding the warnings of staying away from certain places where darkness is so pervasive, because there is an inherent danger associated with them.

but there is wisdom in heeding the warnings of staying away from certain places, because there is an inherent danger associated with certain places.