That which we don’t intentionally remember, we unintentionally forget.

• Last week from the book of Joshua: You can be active or you can be passive. If you actively engage in worshipping the Lord, you are

something that honors the Lord and makes the world around you better.
• If you are

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spiritually, you will worship other things, struggle with fear, and become someone that cultivates bad habits relationally with those around you, possibly even becoming someone that victimizes or objectifies them.
• This week, we see passivity and forgetfulness horrifically converge in the book of Judges.

The Story So Far…

• God was

to raise up leaders like Moses & Joshua. But the problem with human leaders is that they all die.
• And that is where we begin in the book of Judges, “After the death of Joshua” (1:1).
• Remember how he challenged them in Joshua 24? “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (vv. 14-15)

Three Main Sections:

• Chapters 1-2 are a recap of what happened in Joshua
• This part of Israel’s history is just going to be one repeated cycle.

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>> Israel turns from God and falls into idolatry
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>> As a consequence of their disobedience, God allowed foreign nations to oppress them
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>> God allows them to SUFFER at the hands of a surrounding nation
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>> Israel cries out to God in repentance
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>> God raises up a judge to deliver them (these judges are like regional, political military leaders)
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>> Israel experiences peace, but then returns to idolatry, which causes the entire cycle to start over again.

• Chapters 3-16 tell the story of how Israel’s leaders go from pretty good, to okay, to bad, to worse
• Chapters 17-21 >> things hit rock bottom. Israel is completely corrupt and devolves in godless, X-rated practices, and experiences their first civil war.

The Warning of Judges

• Don’t ever doubt the capacity of human

.
• Some will answer that the source of Israel’s unfaithfulness was the influence of the surrounding nation. Joshua knew this would be a possibility.
• But the real reason is found in Joshua 2:10 | And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.
• How is it possible that an entire generation arose that didn’t know the works of God? It is because the older generation didn’t tell them. They didn’t follow God’s design.
• Ways to Remember

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it down
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about it
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it
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it
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