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Good morning. Everybody doing okay? Good, good. It's great to be here with you guys this morning. And we are chucking along through this series called The Big Picture. And let me just remind you really quickly why we are doing this teaching this way. And that is because many of us in this room have heard stories from the Bible, and many times don't really know how those stories fit together in the bigger narrative of the Bible. Okay? And why that's important is because there is a main narrative, a main story going on that kind of weaves its way through the entire Bible that helps us understand God's plan and his purpose for humanity. Right? And the Bible is not primarily a story about people. The Bible is a story about God. And we get to be a part of that story, which is amazing, isn't it? That the God who created the heavens and the earth, the God who spoke the world into existence, like we said in week one, the God who dreamed up this crazy planet that we look around and see, the fascinating animals, the heavens and the earth, uh, the stars, the moon, the sun. When we look around, the God who dreamed this stuff up, he wants to have a personal relationship with you and with me. And I don't know about you guys, but that that just blows my mind. And honestly, if it doesn't blow your mind, then you don't understand the enormity of that reality. You don't really fully grasp it. And I get that because sometimes it takes a little bit to get our minds around that. But if just for a moment we could get a glimpse of the God who has made us and who loves us, we would be blown away that he would want to have anything to do with us as these little frail, feeble human beings, right? But that's the great thing today. Is no matter how much you've been in church, no matter how much you know about this God or about this Bible or any of those things, I just want you to know today you are loved. The Bible says that we are a loved people because He made us and He has a plan for our lives. So we've been trucking along through this series, and we are now in week three. And in two weeks, um, the previous two weeks, we've already covered the first five books of the Bible, known as the Pentateuch, okay? Uh which is just a fancy name for five, right? Five books. And specifically within those books, we talked about creation. We talked about the character of Adam there in the garden. He was the first man that God made. He fashioned him out of the dirt and blew breath into his nostrils and made him alive. And then he fashioned a woman. Thankfully, all the men said, Amen. Thank you, God, that you didn't leave us just with men, uh, that there's women, and we can appreciate them. And so Adam gets a helpmate in Eve, and he gives them one rule, and they break the one rule, right? And we all go, man, I can't believe you. He gives you one rule, and you break it. But we would have done it too, wouldn't we? Because we know in human in our humanness, in our humanity, uh we are broken, and we want to do it our way, and we are easily deceived, which is what happened to them. They were deceived by the serpent. But then we went on and said that God, being good and gracious and merciful, he calls a man named Abraham. Actually, Abram at the time and changes his name to Abraham. He calls him out and he says, Abram, I am going to bless you, and I'm going to bless all the nations of the world through you. And I'm going to make you great, and I'm going to make your descendants as numerous as the sands of the sword and the stars in the sky, right? And so God begins this process of raising up a nation of people, a chosen people, a holy people that are going to represent him to the rest of the world for all uh for all of humanity to see that God is good and that he is great. And he's awesome. But, as we know because we've read the story, they didn't do a great job of representing God, did they? A lot of dysfunction in their families, a lot of dysfunction in their personal lives, a lot of places and situations where they dishonored God and they disrespected God and they chose to do it their way instead of God's way. But God, he just continues to love them and care for them. But in the process, they find themselves enslaved in Egypt. And Harley last week did a great job as he talked about God stepping in to the slavery and calling the people out through this great leader named Moses. And setting aside this man named Moses and saying, Moses, I'm going to use you. You're going to be a leader for my people, and I'm going to call them out from underneath the hand of Pharaoh, and out from underneath making mud bricks to build these gigantic buildings and all these things that Pharaoh once made so that he can be about his glory for himself. And I'm going to call you out of that slavery. And I'm going to give you a promised land, a place where you can settle, and it'll be your place. It'll be your spot on the planet, if you will. And so last week, Harley took us all the way through that and talked about how the people received the law and how the law is actually a really good thing. There's different types of law that we get in the Bible. And it's important to understand those because we don't operate and function in all those laws today, especially some of those dietary laws. And again, I say amen because I like shrimp and I like pork ribs. And there's some things that I like to enjoy in this life that God has made clean, thankfully. But we also know that there were laws that were given to protect humanity, but also to make them a distinct people, right? To make them very distinct so that when everybody looked at this nation, they're like, wow, these people really stick out. They really stand out. They're not just like every other human tribe on the planet. They really are just different. And why are they different? Because they're following this God Yahweh. And he's told them this is how you're going to live. You're going to be set apart, you're going to be different. Well, today, we're going to come to the end of Deuteronomy, the last book in this Pentateuch, these first five books. And in Deuteronomy 31, we get a passage that tells us that Moses is going to die. He's going to his life is going to end, and someone's going to take over for him. And so we're going to talk about that in just a second. My wife and I, a couple years ago, we got the opportunity to go to Orlando. Has anybody been to Orlando before? Anybody know what's in Orlando? Disney World, right? Okay, and no kids are in here, are in here right now to go crazy. Or not, I see a few, but they probably don't know what I'm talking about. Abby does here, okay? But here's the thing. My wife and I got to go to Orlando and spend a little time there. And we've never been to Disney World, we've never taken our family there. I don't know if we ever will, but uh we haven't. And uh it just sounds like miserable to me, okay? Um but um uh but but also obviously, you know, Disney World, an amazing place. And so my wife and I were at this conference, and one of the days we had the opportunity to go over to Disney World, just check it out. And so we went into what's known as the, I think it's called the boardwalk area, uh, and and and there's some restaurants, and you kind of get a little bit of flavor and taste of Disney, but you're not like in the park. It's like you can see the park like right over there, and you can see the rides, and you can see all the cool stuff, but you're kind of stuck over here with just the restaurants on the outside looking in. And and I'm thinking, here we are in Orlando, and we're we're we're we're hanging out at these cool restaurants, but I want to go over there, especially because we don't have our kids with us. I mean, this would be like, this would be amazing. I think every parent should get to go to Disney World without their kids, right? And just enjoy the park like that. And we're looking over there, and I'm thinking, like, there's the promised land right there. And we're like over here, just I mean, it's a great burger and all, but man, I really want to go over there and check all that stuff out and not have a crying kid, you know, saying, uh, hey, dad, I want to go back, or, you know, let's do this, or it's hot, or whatever. It's perfect weather, amazing night, and we can't go there. And I, and and I I know this isn't, this is not equivalent, but here in the Bible, in the scripture, what we do is we find this group of people, the Israelites, and they've been camping out on the edge of the promised land, and they're looking over and they're seeing this land, and they're seeing this amazing piece of property on the earth that God has given them, and they can't go in. You know why they can't go in? Because they sent ten spies, or actually 12 spies, over into the land to check it out, and ten of them came back and said, Oh, man, these guys are too big, they're too powerful, there is no way. We can't go in, we can't take over them. I mean, we're we'll get decimated. Two of the spies, though, say, Oh no, God's got this. He's big enough, he's great enough. You know who they were? Joshua and Caleb. These two spies, they came back and they said, No, man, God's got this. He's carried us this far, he's gonna take care of us. Yeah, they're big, but but we've got God on our side. But because the ten spies came back and said, No, there's no way, they're stuck now outside of the promised land. On the cus of going in and taking this land that God's promised them. Now remember that, God's promised it to them. This is the God who always, always, always keeps his promise. And they're stuck here. And Moses does something really bad. I mean, he's done all these amazing things, God's done all these incredible things through Moses. And God says to Moses, I want you to speak to a rock and bring out water, but what does Moses do? Wax it. Because that's what we men like to do. When something's not working, we whack it. And that fixes it, right? So he whacks the rock instead of speaks to the rock, and as a result, he is now on the outside looking in too. Despite the fact he's done all these incredible things, now he's stuck out here. And so for 40 years they wander in the wilderness, and all that generation dies off. And then in Deuteronomy 31, it says this. It says, then Moses continued to speak these words to all of Israel, saying, I am now 120 years old. Anybody hear 120? 120 years old. And he's still surprised. He's still he's still raring to go. He says, I'm now 120 years old, and I can no longer act as your leader. God had told him, You're done. Your time has come. Life is gonna end. Time to transition. And the Lord your God is the one who will cross ahead of you. He will destroy the nations before you, and he will drive them out. And Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, as the Lord has said. The Lord will deal with them as he did Sion and Og, the king of the Amorites, and their land when he destroyed them. The Lord will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you. Be strong and courageous. Don't be terrified or afraid of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. Man, what a great, great verse. He will not leave you or forsake you. Moses then summoned Joshua, and he said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people and into the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers, and you will enable them to take possession of. The Lord is the one who will go before you. He will be with you, he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Now, here's the succession plan. Moses is gonna hand off the baton, this man named Joshua. And Joshua, like I said a while ago, he's one of the spies who came back and said, Yeah, God's got this. He can do it. So he's a man full of faith. A man full of faith. He's been watching Moses. He's been tracking along this whole thing. He's been with him, experiencing life now, wandering in the wilderness because they were disobedient, because they didn't believe God. And now Moses stands up in front of all the people and he says, God has told me that Joshua's your new leader. This is a great day, isn't it? Joshua's your new leader, you're gonna follow him. Do you think the people were like going, Who is this Joshua character? Are you sure, God? Are you sure this is a good plan? Are you sure we can follow him? But I love what Moses says. He says, Joshua, do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged, because I am what? I am with you. I am with you. Just like I was with Moses, I'm gonna be with you. Now, if I'm Joshua, I'm thinking, now, God, with me, like like uh, like burning bush with me? Like, like take off my sandals on holy ground and you talk to me and I throw my staff down and it turns into a snake with me? Like stand in front of Pharaoh and like call Pharaoh out when he's the most powerful man in the world, like that with me? Like, like the the like with me, like we're crossing the Red Sea on dry ground with all the people of Israel, like that kind of with me? I mean, can you imagine for Joshua how powerful this moment was? Like, God, you're saying you're gonna be with me? Like that? Think that built him up a little bit, got him ready for the job? Anybody ever had to get a pep talk because you got a new job or a new role or responsibility, and somebody's trying to like really get you excited about it and get you fired up about it? I mean, this is the greatest pep talk ever, right? God's gonna be with him. God's gonna be with him and help him as he has to lead this people. What a great responsibility, but what an incredible opportunity to see God work and to be a part of it at that level. And so Joshua is there. So he says, be strong and be courageous because I'm with you. So the first storyline, if you've got your listening guide and you're following along with us there, is this Joshua leads the conquest of the promised land. He leads the conquest of the promised land. He is going to be the one who leads God's people into this land that was promised by God, and he's gonna help them take over the land. It's actually broken down into four parts in the book of Joshua. If you understand the big picture of what's going on in this book, first, remember what I just said. He said he would, God said he would be with Joshua, right? What's the first thing he does? First rattle out of the box. They got to cross over the Jordan River. How in the world are the people of Israel going to get across the Jordan River? I'll tell you how. The same way they got across the Red Sea. They take the men who were the priests and the leaders, and they take the Ark of the Covenant, this fancy, fancy box that God had told them to build and to keep these mementos in, these, these artifacts, these things like the Ten Commandments tablets and Moses' staff and pieces of manna, and they start to walk into the Jordan River, and the moment their feet hit the water, what happens? It says that the water stops on both sides and the ground dries up. And the people walk across the Jordan River. You think that was a confidence booster? They've been wandering around for 40 years. They've been hearing all these amazing stories of what God had done. And now all this group of people, this new generation of the people of Israel, they watch firsthand God do amazing miracles as the people walk across dry land, the Jordan River, and they walk into this promised land. In your life. In my life. How many of us feel like that God has said something to us? He has promised something to us. He has declared something to us, but it hasn't happened yet. And how quick do we lose faith? How fast do we forget? How quick are we to forget that we have a God who is with us? And yet he gives them this very first sign reminding them, hey, listen, I am with you. I got this. God's got this. He's bigger than all this, right? And so this is where we start the process. But then they go to Jericho. Now, I don't know if anybody in here is a Veggie Tales fan. This is one of the greatest Veggie Tales cartoons out there, okay? I'm just telling you. If you don't know Veggie Tales, um, go see if you can find it, you know, at a bookstore or get it on Amazon. But you gotta watch this one, right? Josh and the Big Wall. Especially the French peas throwing the Slurpees down on them, okay? And here's the thing. In the story of Jericho, you get this crazy, crazy plan. God says to them, He says through through this warrior, the head of God's army, he tells them, he says, Listen, Joshua, you're gonna take over Jericho. This is a big city, it's a fortified city, it's got this massive wall around it. He says, You're gonna take over the city, and here's how you're gonna do it you're gonna march around the wall one time every day for six days in a row. Okay. And then on the sixth, on the seventh day, you're gonna walk around seven times, and at the end of it, you're gonna yell really loud, and you're gonna take over the city.

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What?

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I mean, some of us have been in church, we've heard this story far too often that we just think it's like, oh, okay, yeah, sure. Okay, all right. You're gonna walk around the wall, and that's what's gonna happen, it's gonna fall down. It's great, right? Like, think about how crazy this is, how ludicrous this is. I mean, can you imagine? He's telling them you're gonna march around a wall, and then on the seventh day you're gonna walk around seven times, which is apparently, I mean, you're gonna get a workout. I was thinking about this week as I was reading this story. I was thinking, by the time they get around the seventh time, they're gonna be tired. And then they've got to yell really loud, and then the wall's just gonna fall down. And guess what happened? They do what God said, and the wall comes down humbly down, and they take over. Why? Because they were great? Because they were amazing, or because they serve an awesome God. They serve an awesome God. And so in the story, we get to read how God's people follow God's instruction, and he decimates the city. But this is just the beginning. From that point forward, they begin conquest of the entire area of Canaan and they defeat the whole area. In fact, Joshua 7 through 12 gives us these pictures, and then ultimately in Joshua 13 through 20, we see dominion as they finalize their um their domination of the entire area and that the promised land becomes there. They possessed it the way that God intended. But but I can't move forward without telling you this because this is one of the greatest scriptures in the Old Testament. Are you with me? Okay, if you've got your Bible, and if you don't have a Bible, there's a Bible in front of you. If you don't own a Bible, take it with you. That's a gift to you, okay? I want you to have a Bible, because this Bible is more than just some book. It's it, we believe it's the living word of God. And it's got some amazing stories. It is not a boring book, by the way. Except for maybe the book of Numbers, okay? But as you read this story in Joshua chapter 10, I want you to look there really quick. Joshua chapter 10. Verse 9, it says that Joshua, he caught this group by surprise after marching all night from Gilgal. So one of the groups of people there at Gibeon, uh, they are they are chasing this group of people. And what it says is that as they are marching against them and as they are chasing them down, it that God, it says this in verse 11, as they fled before Israel, the Lord threw large hellstones on them from the sky along the descent of Bethorah. So, first off, this army that's trying to stand up against God, they're running, and these hailstones are coming down out of the heavens. Can you imagine? I mean, this book, Joshua, this is a man's book. It is gory, okay? It's got some gory stuff going on here. But these hailstones are coming down out of heaven, they're running. And here's the thing, it starts to get dark. It starts to get dark, and Joshua's thinking, hey, we need to really finish the job today. We don't really want to have to do this tomorrow. We need to finish this job while it's still light. We don't want them to get away. We want to do what God's asked us to do. We want to decimate these people. We want to take over, make sure they know that God is in charge and that he has given us this land. And so this is what it says. Joshua, talk about some boldness. I don't know if you guys have ever prayed anything crazy to God before, but listen to this prayer. Joshua says this in the presence of Israel, sun stands still over Gibeon, and moon over the valley of Agilon. What does he ask for? He asked for the sun to stand still in the sky. And he asked for the moon to stand still. And this is what it says. And the sun stood still. And the moon stopped until the nation took vengeance upon its enemy. Can you imagine? What an incredible day. What a crazy day. That literally Joshua prayed, God in heaven, would you just adopt the sun so we can have a little bit more light and we can finish the job? And it says that if the sun is a hill. That the moon died. You know what, guys? I want to have that kind of faith to pray those kind of prayers. Anyone in here with me? I think we have so tamed down our God. I think we have so deconstructed the possibility that he could ever have power like this that we don't even buy the fact that he could do miracles like this in our day. And I read these stories and I'm like, I want to have faith like that. I'm not talking about name it and claim it faith where God has to do what I think he should do anytime I think he should do it. He's God. I'm I'm made. But I want to be able to have the kind of faith that says, I'm willing to pray things like that and believe he could actually do it. To believe that he could actually do miracles like this. So we see in this passage that literally the sun stood still. Well, in Joshua 12, it tells us a whole list of kings that Joshua is able to overcome. In fact, it gives us the list of 31 different kings. I won't read all of them off to you. They all got a little bit funky names. But here's the thing. Point being is that when God promised that he was going to give this land to them, did he keep his promise? Did God keep his promise? Absolutely, he kept his promise. He just decimated, he destroyed every single one of these kings and their army and their people. Now, I gotta stop here. Time out. Time out. When I'm reading this book, even this week, I was reading this book, and I gotta tell you, it's intense. In fact, it's actually a hard pill to swallow. That God would call his people to wipe out men, women, and children. Are you with me? Men, women, and children, wipe out people groups. Anybody in here feel a little tension in that? Does anybody feel like that there's part of that that messes with you a little bit? Like, how could a God who we see as this gracious and merciful Savior, how could he call his people to destroy these people groups like this? Just literally wipe them out. I mean, if it doesn't mess with you a little bit, something's wrong with you, right? Because as a human being, unless you just get really callous and you just kind of shut, you know, push it away, or if you don't believe this is true, then it does mess with you. And I just want to give you four things to think about in light of the fact that God causes people to do this. Number one, we need to remember today that this land did not belong to these people groups, right? It didn't belong to these people groups that they go in and take over from. The land belonged to who? God's chosen people. Okay? So, first off, we just need to know God had said this is your promised land. This is your land to live on. So God's helping them accomplish the task of getting the land that was rightfully theirs. Because I would assume that since God owns everything and he gives it to them, it belongs to them, right? Second thing is this, though. We have got to understand just how brutal these people are. These people groups that were going in. I mean, it sounds pretty horrific, the things that they did and coming in and wiping out these tribes, but I want you to understand something. This is judgment on their sin. This is judgment on their issues and all of their disobedience to a God in heaven and their rejection of a God. Because these guys were all idolaters. They were worshipers of all these pagan gods. They did these crazy things. And specifically, I want you to understand that when Joshua and his people, when they went into the land, when the Israelites went into the land, you know what they found there? They found horrific acts of people worshiping these false gods through a couple of things that are just, honestly, it's just mind-blowing. One, that literally they would have these gigantic sexual orgies, and they would they would have sex with women and children and just exploit them for the sake of these gods. And so they were just, this culture was just out of control. The evil was so intense. Not only was it sexually promiscuous, um, like uh just perverted beyond, perverted, but they also sacrificed kids. These cultures were sacrificing children. In fact, we know not just from the story in the Bible, but from writings outside of the Bible that help us get a little bit of insight into the culture of that day, that they would literally take children under the age of four years old, and they would go and they would sacrifice them so that they could hopefully have a good crop the next year. So for the sake of their crops, they would kill their children. They would behead them, they'd cut their hands off, their feet off. I'm not trying to just tell you gory stuff to tell you gory stuff. I'm telling you, these people were brutal. They were messed up, and God was actually using his people to discipline and to punish their wickedness. And maybe you're thinking, okay, that's great, Nick, but like what? I still don't know if I can really get this. I still don't really know that I can agree with a God that would go in and destroy groups of people like this. I want you to understand also that the third piece of the puzzle was that God wanted to protect this people from being influenced by this group, these groups that were there. So we see this in other passages in scripture where it says, don't go in and marry, intermarry within these groups, because if you intermarry, they're going to start to lead you astray. And guess what happened? Later on in the Old Testament, we find they did exactly that, and they begin to intermarry, and as a result, they begin to fall away from God. They stopped worshiping God. And they started worshiping these false gods. So God wanted to protect his people, and so he said, wipe them out. You want to start with a clean slate. But the fourth thing, and maybe this just gives me some solace today, in Deuteronomy chapter 20, when God has given them instructions about going into this promised land and going in and taking over these groups of people, in Deuteronomy chapter 20, we get this little verse. And it says there it says that when you go to these people groups, offer them terms of peace. Offer them terms of peace. Now, we don't get to see how this all works, but we do understand that every time God's people engage another people group, that the first thing that they did was they said, listen, God has given us this land, and we are going to worship God in this place, and we're going to offer you peace. And if you will accept that offer of peace, then we won't destroy you. But if you reject it, guess what? God's going to destroy you. And every single time they rejected, and God destroyed that group of people. And I and I think, I think it's important to understand that God is not just a big moral monster in the sky. That he's not just up there hoping that he can just wipe people out. I mean, it broke God's heart when we read the story about Noah and about the flood, and when he had to separate the people there at the Tower of Babylon, and when and when now he's coming in and wiping out people off the planet because they have gotten so far from what his intent was for their lives. And I think it's very important that we understand that this morning. So what happens next in the book of Joshua? Well, in chapters 21 through 23, God actually calls Joshua to divide up the land. He's driven them out, and now he begins to divide up the land. In fact, I've got a map for you here. Maybe you guys have seen this, and maybe you know much about this, but anybody know what part of the world this is in? This is Israel, isn't it? You want to know why we still have issues going on in Israel today? Because this is what God gave the people, the tribes of Israel. And so when we look at this part of the world today, we are looking at the promised land. And so guess what? When other people groups come in and try to take over this land, what do the people that live there say? God gave this to us. We're not giving it up. And so, even to this day, we have strife, we have issues, we have wars going on over this property. But this is what Joshua did. He did what God told him to do. He divided up the land, and he divided it up among the twelve tribes in this way. And that's verse, that's chapter 21 to 23. And as we get to the end of 23 of Joshua, we kind of wrap up the book of Joshua. I want you to notice in chapter 23, verse 9, it says, The Lord has driven out great and powerful nations before you, and no one is able to stand against you to this day. One of you routed a thousand because the Lord your God was fighting for you, as he promised. What is he saying? He's saying, every promise that God made, he has kept. Everything that God said he would do, he's done. But then he goes on to say something that's very important. He says, So be very diligent to love the Lord your God for your own well-being. For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations remaining among you, and if you intermarry or associate with them, and they with you, know for certain that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out before you, but that actually they will become a snare and they will trap you, and they will scourge you, and they will be thorns in your eyes until you disappear from this good land the Lord has given you. What is he saying? Listen, it's the same thing that he says to us as humankind today. He says to the people of Israel, he says, Listen, I'm gonna keep my promises. I've done everything I can. Now it's up to you. Will you follow me? Will you obey me? Will you live your life in submission to me? Will you follow my instruction? I think the decision you and I have to make every day is, are we going to follow God, the one who has done miracles, who's crossed the heavens in order that we can have a personal, living relationship with him? Are we going to engage him by saying, God, I trust you, and I will follow your ways, I will listen to your instruction, or are we going to do it our way? Are we going to follow our own path? You see, we as humanity, just like we see in the Garden of Eden, we're bent towards self, aren't we? We're bent towards doing things the way we want them to be done. If we fail, if we fail in this life, it's not God's fault. You hear that? If you fail and I fail in this life, it's not God's fault. But I want you to hear this very sad passage from Judges chapter 2 as we transition from the book of Joshua into the book of Judges. It says this in verse 10. That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors, and after them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord for the works that he had done for Israel. Anybody else that like that just makes you really sad? Do you understand what just what I just read? God's given them everything. He followed through his promises, he gave them the promised land, he gave them instruction, he showed them exactly how to live, he told them, here's what you need to do. And it says, within one generation, what happened? Within one generation, you've got a group of Israelite people who don't even remember that God brought them across the Red Sea, that he called them to march around a city and destroyed it just because he is so powerful. They don't even understand or remember that Joshua prayed that the sun would stand still and it did. Isn't that sad? Let me just give us a little insight here. How many of you are parents? Parents? Listen. I want you to understand that if you are a follower of Jesus, if you are a believer in Jesus, parents, our greatest responsibility and opportunity is to tell the next generation of the great things that God has done. Because here's what happens: what one generation assumes the next gets, that generation takes that assumption, and they begin to operate without truth. And by the time they raise up their children, you know what happens? Those kids don't even remember who God is and what he's done. What one generation assumes, the next generation forgets, and the next generation abandons. You with me? You see, we're only a couple generations from seeing that in our own country. In fact, if you don't know anything about the United States right now, we are on a post-Christian, like, we are we are headed down in a hurry. And I'm not a doom and gloom guy, but I'm just telling you, we've got a whole generation of students, a whole generation of young people right now, and because of what they have been sold, and their picture and their view of God and their picture of the Bible and their view of what it means to follow Jesus, they are walking away from God left and right. And I think it's sad. Anybody else think that's sad? I mean, if you don't believe this, you don't buy this message, I get it. Maybe you don't understand that. And I understand I I guess in some ways I can I can get it. It doesn't make sense, but if you believe in this Bible and if you believe in this God, we have an incredible responsibility. In fact, Psalm 78 says it this way. It says that we should tell the next generation of the great and glorious deeds of the Lord. So is a dad of five kids soon to be sick. I want my children to know who God is. Practically speaking, and before we go to bed at night, when we get up for breakfast in the morning, we sit down and we talk about God. We talk about God. And we don't talk about him as, man, we better obey God or He's gonna wipe us out. We talk about God as that He is an awesome, amazing, incredible God who is given life and death. And that He holds it in His hand and that He that He offers us salvation. And we talk about how that God is good and how He's great. Because here's the thing, Christian families, listen, what's most impactful for your kids is not the rule of the Bible, it's the attractiveness of what the grace that God has done in us that we don't measure up and we don't meet and we're not able to accomplish all that God has called us to accomplish in ourselves. So our kids need to be more attracted to God than fearful of screwing up. Should they understand God's rules and God's ways? Absolutely. Because in the midst of that, we begin to understand how much we need God. And this generation of people, the Israelites, did not share the truth with their children. But God is good, isn't he? He's gracious. So in chap in chapter 2, verse 16, it says this that the Lord raised up judges who saved them from the power of their marauders. What does God do? He raises up judges. So the whole book of judges in the Bible, if you want to know what it's about, it's about judges. It's about these people, these leaders that he raises up to protect his people. And so the storyline there, if you've got your God and you're following along again, Samson and others were chosen as judges to govern God's people for about 400 rebellious years. Now, we start to see a pattern from this point forward, though. Sadly, this pattern is not new. In fact, Harley even alluded to it a little bit last week, in that we have spiritual amnesia. We quickly forget what God's done for us, don't we? But here's what it says. In chapter 2, verse 17, it continues on right after it says that God raises up judges because he's compassionate and he's gracious. It says they did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods, bowing down to them, and they quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the Lord's commands, and they did not do as their fathers did. And so, whenever the Lord would raise up a judge for the Israelites, the Lord was with them, and he would save his people from the power of the enemies while the judge was still alive. But then what would happen is the judge would die, verse 19, chapter 2, the Israelites would act even more corruptly than their fathers, going after other gods to worship and bow down to them. And they did not turn from their evil practices or their obstinate way. And here's the thing in Judges 3, chapter 12, or chapter 3, verse 12, it says, Once again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil, the Lord gave Eglon, king of Moab, power over them. And then Judges chapter 4, verse 1, after Ehud died, another judge, the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Judges 6, 1. Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Now, again, parents in the room, and even if you're not a parent, I mean, when we teach our kids something, don't we just expect them to get it? So I teach my kids, hey, before you go to bed at night, you brush your teeth. So they should just get that, right? But do they? No, every night. Have you brushed your teeth? No. Why have you not brushed your teeth? Go brush your teeth, you know? We teach them how to obey and how to treat adults. When a man uh talks to you, you you look at him in the eye. You say yes, sir, you say no, sir. When a woman talks to you, you say misses, and you say yes, ma'am, and no, ma'am. But do they do it? No. Why? Because they're just like me. They forget fast. You think they would learn it and stick with it, but it doesn't work that way, does it? Because we're we're we're we forget. And we have to hear it over and over and over again. And so these people, they keep hearing truth and they keep turning away from it. And God raises up another leader and he instructs them and they turn away from it. And God raises up Gideon. Many have heard of the man named Gideon. Again, uh special for you. But God takes this man Gideon and raises him up as a judge. He's got 30,000 men, 30,000 soldiers, and he's gonna go and attack his enemy. God tells him, I want you to go and fight against this enemy. And as he starts to fight, to go fight, God begins to send his army out. And literally goes from 30,000 men to how many? 300. All the way down to 300 men with uh with some little uh horns and some glass jars with some fire in them. What do you think God's trying to say here? God's trying to teach them that if he's on their side, that's all that matters. That if they will listen to him, if they will follow him, he will take care of them. He doesn't need 30,000 men to defeat an enemy. He'll take 300 with some glass jars and some little trumpet. And so we see this story play out. But you know what happens? Even though God destroys the enemy with this little small band of 300 men, it says that in Judges 10, 6, again, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the bells and the asterisk. In Judges 13, 1, again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years. This is an easy book to write. Just the same thing over and over. The same pattern, the same cycle over and over. In fact, on the screen here, we've got a picture of the cycle that we see these people in. Apostasy, which is really just abandoning God, right? Apostasy. Then God steps in and he punishes them, and then they repent, and then they're delivered, but then they fall back into complacency. And then what happens? They abandon God again, and then they are punished, and then they turn because they repent and they're delivered. Because God's good and he's gracious and he wants them to be delivered, and then they get complacent again. I know we never do this in our lives, but them, this is this was their problem, okay? Right? Why are you laughing? Truth of the matter is, this is all of our lives, isn't it? I mean, isn't this the cycle we all live in? And it's not years and years and years all the time. It's literally every week we go through the cycle. It's like, let me let me let me try to break it down for us. We we go to a Bible study. Maybe it's Sunday morning, maybe it's the group, maybe it's some other Bible study you attend. We go to Bible study, we hear good teaching, uh, maybe we get to worship God. We were moved and stirred by singing, and we we love to worship God, and something in us is like, man, I love you, God. I want to follow you, God. And then we walk out the door, and within a few hours, what's happened? We start to get distracted. We start to deal with life, we start to deal with relationships, we start to deal with The hardships of the world around us, and we start to forget. We get complacent. I watched this for years as a pastor of teenagers. For 10 years I worked in student ministry and I could watch students' lives, and I could basically tell you that every year we went to summer camp, they were going to be like on fire for Jesus. That's the way we'd always say it, right? They were going to be passionate for Jesus. And we get home, and that relationship with that boy or that girl that they knew they didn't need to have, they went back to it, and what happened? Within no time, they're no longer walking with God again. But it's not just teenagers, it's all of us, isn't it? Because this is the pattern that we follow, just like the people of Israel. So what do we do with that? How do we fix that? How do we correct that? Well, there's really only a couple things I think that we can do. There may be more, but these are the things that come to mind in my own life. Number one, listen, you and I, we've got to understand this about ourselves enough to be on our faces every day before God, saying, God, you've got to help me because this is my tendency. My tendency is going to be to drift away from you. My tendency is going to be to pursue selfish gain. My tendency is going to be to take my eyes off of the author and the perfector of my faith and put them on me and what I want and what I need. And so every day you've got to wake up. You've got to put some habits in place to spend time with God. Listen, some of us in this room, we wonder why God feels so far off, why he feels so distant. If you don't pursue to spend time with God, if you don't spend time in his word, if you don't pray, like, and I'm not talking about like praying these same rope prayers every day. And that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about having a real conversation with God where we talk to him and he talks to us, where we have an interaction with God. Guess what? Your heart and my heart, it's gonna drift. It's gonna drift. Because we get too distracted and caught up with the things of this world. And so I know that number one, you and I have got to set in place habits that help us stay connected to the heart of our God. But we also need this. We need people in our life who will speak truth to us. Anyone in here need friends who will just tell you like it is? Listen, there's a proverb, one of my favorite proverbs, even though I actually hate what it says in some ways. It says this. It says that wounds from a friend are better than kisses from an enemy. Wounds from a friend are better than kisses from an enemy. You know what we need? We need someone in our life who, when they see us starting to drift, will tell us, because they love us enough to speak truth, will tell us. Not because they're mad at us, not because they're angry at us, not because they're trying to make themselves feel better, because they think they're better than us. Somebody who will tell us the truth and say, listen, do you see what you're doing? Do you see that you're drifting? Do you see that your life is headed down a path of destruction? Some of the most loving things we can do is to speak truth to the people that we care about, right? And so we need that in our life. But we see this cycle again. Judges 13, 1. Again, Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. And then God raises up this guy named Samson. And we don't even have time to talk about his story and how crazy it is. But, I mean, seriously, get your Bible and just read some of this stuff. Turn the TV off. It's way better than stuff on TV anyway. Read the Bible. Read some of these stories and listen to this story about Samson. You know, he he's raised up, God sets him apart. He gets long hair, so he's like this strong hippie guy. And basically, like he just starts to lead God's people. He does these crazy things like tying foxes' tails together and and uh and and beating somebody, beating a whole army up with a jawbone of a donkey. I mean, this is crazy stories. Who makes this stuff up, right? And so these these but these we have these stories, and and then he, of course, falls himself as a judge. He falls into temptation because the Lila uh girl, she convinces him to tell him to tell her the secret, and they cut his hair off. And then the Philistines take over him and he gets put into captivity. But then at the end, he prevails because God brings him out into a place where his hair has grown back, his strength has been renewed, and he stands and he pushes over the pillars of this uh gathering place where all these Philistines are, and it kills a ton of them. But here's the thing every one of these judges in the Bible, every one of these judges that are in this book called Judges, they were insufficient to save the people from themselves. Whether it was Gideon and 30,000 going down to 300, or whether it was Samson and his amazing strength, they were insufficient to save these people from themselves. And what it reminds us of today is that God had to provide someone to rescue his people. Someone to come and to rescue them. Someone that was greater than these judges. But I want you to catch this as we end the book of Judges. Judges 17, 6 says that in those days Israel had no king, and everyone did as he saw fit. It's repeated again in Judges 18.1, then again in Judges 19.1, and then even in the very last verse of the book. Judges 21, 25, it says, In those days Israel had no king, and everyone did as he saw fit. Now maybe you're thinking, like me, reading that, maybe you're thinking, they have no king? Okay, God, give them a king. I mean, if that's what they need, is give is a king, give them a king. Here's the thing. They had a king. His name was Yahweh. And they didn't want to worship him as king. They didn't want to follow his instruction. In fact, 1 Samuel tells us again next week, that God's going to give them a king. Does it save them? Does it rescue them? No. Because here's the thing every one of these human beings, as great as they might be, even as great as King David's going to be when we're talking about him. They fell short because they weren't efficient to save other people. My question to us as we close out today is do you see God as king? Do you see God as king of your life? Do you understand that he's in charge? Because here's the thing. If we don't, if we don't see him as king, if we don't submit to him as king, I can just go ahead and guarantee you, I'll be your friend today that will speak truth to you, okay? Your life is going to be a train wreck. Because as long as you are on the throne in your life, you're going to choose to do things that benefit you, and they're all about you. And as you do that, there is nothing more destructive in your life than being your own God. Than worshiping yourself as God. And I don't think anybody here in this room would say, yeah, I see myself as God. And yet, there's really only two choices to see the one who made you as God or to see yourself as God. And my quest to you today, my challenge to you today, is to see a king on the throne as the one who made you, love you, and as the one that the Bible is talking about.