Avoiding Corruption in Canaan (Judges)

Formal Elements / Descriptive Data

Text: Judges

CIT: Israel became corrupted by Canaan as there arose a new generation that knew not the LORD neither followed His Word, but forgot their true King and every person did that which was right in his own eyes.

Proposition: As salt and light believers, we are called to be like Caleb while walking by faith; we must be ready like Ruth to let our life be led by God and His Word, even amidst a crooked and perverse generation (see Phil. 2:14-15).

Statement of Purpose:

(1) MO – Ethical

(2) SO – I want my hearers to resolve to foil corruption by living by faith like Caleb and Ruth in the midst of apostasy.

Title (Topic/Name): Avoiding Corruption in Canaan

Informal Elements / Rhetorical Data

Introduction:

· Quote - "Except in times of war or illness, moral awakening is as hard to come by as a winning number in the New Jersey lottery." ~ Lewis H. Lapham

· Note the flow of the Book’s matter (geographically): South (Judah), Middle (Ephraim), North (Dan)

· Note some of the highlights of the Book of Judges: Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, etc.

· Note the overall layout of the Book: scattered occurrences all over the nation; long spans of time between; general spiral of history of Israel from after Joshua to pre-Saul

· Note: Hebrew Bible = “The Former Prophets” – Genre that of Prophetic Narrative

· Develop the CIT and Proposition (above)

Body – Development – Outline:

I. The Source of Corruption: “But Ye Have Not Obeyed” the LORD’s Voice (Judges 1:1-3:6, esp. 2:2)

EXP:

· Note the context of Joshua’s death

· Note the Introduction of the Book (Judges 1:1-2:6) and explain the opening as it sets the stage to demonstrate Israel’s complete failure to drive out the Canaanites as they were commanded in Deuteronomy

· Note – Set the tone for the original author’s intent to describe how Israel became “Canaanized” (see Daniel Block’s commentary)

· Note – IMPORTANT: NOT ONE SINGLE TRIBE acquired the fulness of God’s blessing due to their lack of full obedience (even Judah)

ILL: See Clippings on “Reagan & Communism” and discuss the infiltration of such ideologies into American life; show the ultimate consequences of allowing these corrupt bases to remain unchecked in our country; expose the moral decay inherent in Marx’s teachings and show how Socialism inevitably leads its adherents into moral declension (e.g. BLM, Antifa, etc.)

APP: Nat’l – The source of America’s corruption occurred as her institutions of learning became increasingly tolerant of Socialistic tenants. Now she experiences moral breakdown as revolution (for revolution’s sake) is fomented in her children. Personal – See Jas. 1:12-16 and notice the beginnings of sin as small compromises made little by little as the conscience becomes “seared” as the sinner becomes more and more at home with his sin than with the Lord.

TS: What areas of your walk are you lax to “obey the voice of the Lord” fully? Notice next-

II. The Spiral of Moral Decay: “…Did Evil…Forsook Jehovah…Served gods…Angered the LORD” (Judges 3:7-16:31)

EXP:

· Note the deterioration of the Judges (see J. Vernon McGee’s comments), from Othniel to Samson, things get worse and worse

· Point out the indications of movement through the narrative – Judges 2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1; 16:31

· Note how the LORD responds to the increasing corruption and “Canaanization” of Israel

· Note the cycles of apostasy and deliverance

· Note how the LORD observes and tests (proving) the nation

· Note that sometimes God will allow the consequences of our sinful choices to play out fully

ILL: Describe some of the major turning points in America’s Philosophy and History of Education (see course notes from Dr. Phyllis Rand along with Logos Clippings from the Works of John Dewey); e.g. Reading (Bible); Blackstone (now Case Law); John Dewey; Charles Darwin; Hegel; Karl Marx; NEA, etc. Quote – “If God does not judge America, He will owe Sodom and Gomorrah an apology” ~ Wife of Billy Graham (from Christianity Today).

APP: Nat’l – At one point, a genuine awakening on every front may have saved America, but those citizens who are alert and discerning can see the infiltration of anti-American agendas taking over leading to the demise of what they once knew and held dear. Personal – what begins small with lust lures away from God until like the Prodigal, our substance is wasted with riotous living.

TS: The source of corruption: compromise with sin & lust which leads to a spiral of moral & spiritual decay. Lastly, see-

III. The Sorrow of the Word: Divided, Decimated, and Delivered to Destruction (Judges 21:25)

EXP:

· Note the contrast of blessing that attended two individuals during the Days When the Judges Ruled, Caleb & Ruth, with that of the overall downgrade of the nation in general

· Note how Israel eventually became completely “Canaanized” having thrown off Jehovah as their Commander-in-Chief, resulting in a moral free-for-all among the people

ILL: “You Have Cancer.” Surgery failed to remove all, patient becomes riddled by metastasizing of the cancer until finally death comes. So too, the Canaanite Cancer was never removed from Israel, and as she became more and more tolerant to its leaven, she gradually drifted from the LORD further into wickedness until destruction and judgment came and took her away.

APP: Nat’l – As America continues to forget the God her founders and framers knew, she grows more and more comfortable in her sin, and spirals toward inevitable judgment. Personal – Sin, like a spiritual cancer, might begin small, but left untreated, it eventually consumes its host as it operates unhindered in the mortal body. Quote – “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you” ~ Puritan Preachers. Like the Prodigal, we must “come to ourselves” and when we do, we find God is there waiting to restore.

Conc: The wages of sin is death. Sin begins with a slight compromise in lust (heat of the moment, ever-day decision). Unchecked, this begins a spiral of declension leading to the chasm of despair, grief and destruction. There is another way – the way of faith (Caleb & Ruth) which is life (Kinsman Redeemer).