SEARCH THE SCRIPTURE by Pastor Kumuyi of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry for today is here. Digest the word of the lord and pray believing.
YOUTH STS LESSON 171_ CONSEQUENCE OF ISRAEL'S PARTIAL OBEDIENCE
TEXT: Judges 1:1-36; 2:1-23. MEMORY VERSE: "And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies" (Judges 2:14).
Every book of the Bible has divine lessons and instructions for heaven-bound saints. The Scripture says, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope" (Romans 15:4). This is very true, clear and fulfilled in the book of Judges. The book of Judges marks the beginning of Israel's fall and failure in their walk with God. The spiritual and moral condition of Israel had deteriorated compared with the time of Joshua. This generation that outlived Joshua became complacent and relegated the word of God. The purpose of this book therefore, is to expose the cause of Israel's downward journey from God and the consequences of their sin, backsliding and compromise. Israel had been allocated their portion of lands by Joshua. All the tribes were expected to destroy the enemies who were still occupying the lands. After the destruction of those inhabitants in the lands allocated to the tribes, they were meant to settle down. However, many of the tribes of Israel decided on their own not to drive out to the remnants against the instruction earlier given by the Lord.
Question 1: In what ways can a youth exhibit partial obedience today?
Many youths presumed to be serious minded often give several flimsy excuses to justify their continuance in sin. They sometimes say they were forced, deceived or assumed their sin was to ensure other people do not suffer. Some call lies white lies while others base their actions on the environmental factors around them. However, the Scripture is clear on what the Lord calls sin and the consequences are great. "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4). Israel suffered for their compromise and failure to fully carry out God's express command. This led to several battles ahead of them which could have been avoided.
PARTNERSHIP FOR SUCCESS AND COURAGE THROUGH STEADFASTNESS (Judges 1:1-18,20; Exodus 18:13-21; Acts 6:3,4; 2 Corinthians 4:1,2; Nehemiah 7:1,2;1 Corinthians 3:8,9; Proverbs 27:17)
"Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?" (Judges 1:1). The life of Joshua was an exemplary and challenging one. His death created a great vacuum in the leadership in Israel. The consequence is that since there was no king in Israel in those days, "every man did that which was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6). Youths occupying leadership positions both in church and society should ensure they mentor someone who can take over from them when they are no more there.
Question 2: What are the qualifications of a spiritual leader?
The qualifications of a spiritual leader include the following: (i) the person must have current spiritual experiences with the Lord. Such spiritual experiences are salvation from sins, purity of heart and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. (ii) He must have a good knowledge of the Scriptures. (iii) He must be faithful and God- fearing. (iv) He must be ready to obey God at all times. (v) He must be humble and meek. (vi) He must be ready to make necessary sacrifice for the expansion of God's kingdom. (vii) He must love God above the work itself. The children of Israel, due to disobedience, allowed idolatrous Canaanites to dwell in the land. They patterned their lives after them, intermarried and became contaminated with their abomination (Judges 2:13; 3:6). This relationship weakened their spiritual strength and the enemy nations took advantage of their state and attacked them. This led to humiliation, defeat, frustration, death, doom and doubt in the ability of God. It was in the face of one of these attacks and oppressions that the children of Israel asked God who should go for them. In responding to this question, Judah was chosen. As Judah was picked to lead the children of Israel against the Canaanites, he also called Simeon to join arms with him. The victory was outstanding. Ten thousand Canaanites were slain! The relationship between Judah and Simeon is called partnership. Partnership is an arrangement to put resources together for the benefit of the people involved for a certain purpose. The case of Paul the apostle and his fellow labourers is a typical example. This is similar to youths teaming up to accomplish a profitable purpose.
Question 3: What are the benefits of team work?
The benefits of team work are as follow: (1) It covers up for individual weakness. (2) It brings about better performance. (3) It makes resources abound. (4) It leads to better understanding; and (5) It gives a sense of fulfilment and encouragement. If you join courage with steadfastness, success will come.
PUNISHMENT AND SUFFERING THROUGH COMPROMISE AND SIN (Judges 1:19,21-36; 2:1-10; Deuteronomy 7:2; 12:2; 20:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18)
"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 1:19). Immediately after victories through a successful partnership between Judah and Simeon, there were series of failures. These were failures that came through compromise, sin and disobedience. God, on several occasions, had warned Israel against co-habiting with the Canaanites and other idolatrous nations. But Israel did not take God's command seriously. They failed to drive out these nations and collected tributes from some of them. This was Israel's greatest undoing. Incomplete removal of sin or evil influence always lead to constant defeat and failure. They meted out half-measured treatment against sin and shunned the command of God. Judges 1:19-35 is replete with flagrant disobedience to the express command of God to destroy enemy nations like the Canaanites, Hitites, Jebutites and others. Instead, the children of Israel accommodated these nation and had marital relationship with them, which came with dire consequences. Israel was a unique nation, which was governed and managed by God. Their wars and conquest had been based on His leading. In our last study, we saw how God gave victory to Judah and Simeon. However, the victory was short-lived because of disobedience. Almost all the tribes did not continue in full obedience to God's command to destroy all the inhabitants of the land. They compromised and left some of the inhabitants who occupied the land. This became a great stumbling block for them
later.
Question 4: What are the effects of partial obedience to the word of God?
"And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?" (1 Samuel 15:18,19). Partial obedience to the word of the Lord is not acceptable before Him. Saul, the first king of Israel, did not obey God fully, though he claimed to do so. Incomplete obedience will incur the wrath of God, loss of divine privileges, terminate relationship with God and bring defeat, doom and damnation. Beware of partial obedience! As a result of Israel's compromise and failure to obey completely God's instruction to "drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places" (Numbers 33:52), they suffered a lot of damnable and avoidable consequences. Obedience to God must be complete. God sees the heart and judges our activities; He knows when we do not fully respond to His commandments. Our secrets are open to Him and there is nothing we can hide from Him. Hence, the need to ensure that internally and externally, our thoughts and actions should be pleasing in God's sight. There are times that we may not fully understand the instruction God has given to us, we are not meant to challenge His will or question His authority. When we try to apply our human wisdom to implement or adjust God's plans, we run into trouble and miss His ultimate desires for our lives. After Israel's disobedience, the Lord spoke to them through His angel, saying, "...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" (Judges 2:3). The enemies they tolerated became thorns in their flesh. Permissive will often become thorns and cause pains in the lives of believers. Partial obedience also brings along lots of sorrows like Israel experienced. After the Lord revealed to them the error of their actions, they wept; yet, their weeping could not change the problem they had caused for themselves.
Question 5: How can youths avoid the consequences of their wrong and sinful actions?
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). God does not want any youth to perish. He wants every youth to be blessed and make heaven at last. But sinners need to get saved before they can reap the blessings. Believers need to ensure they always obey the word of the Lord.
THE PURPOSE OF CHASTISEMENT ON ISRAEL (Judges 2:11- 23; Deuteronomy 28:15,49-55; Proverbs 1:24-30; Zephaniah 1:17; 2 Samuel 22:7; 1 Kings 1:29; Psalm 118:5,6; 2 Chronicles 28:22-27; Luke 21:25-28)
The children of Israel in our text often went back into sin despite all that God did to bring them into a right relationship with Himself. This is called backsliding. God punished them for backsliding by making some heathen nations around them to afflict them and carry them into captivity.
Question 6: What is backsliding?
Backsliding is a state of slipping or sliding back from one's spiritual steadfastness. As revealed in the Scriptures, it is a state that the Lord detests (Revelation 2:4,5). God has never been favourably disposed to any backslider. He sent Ezekiel to declare to the people that, "When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it" (Ezekiel 33:13). "And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger" (Judges 2:11,12). God is kind and loving. It is never in His nature to take pleasure in distressing or afflicting anyone (Lamentation 3:31-33). But, our text reveals to us the reason the children of Israel were ruined and distressed. They "did evil in the sight of the LORD", "forsook the LORD", "followed other gods" and "provoked the LORD to anger". God took the initiative to help the children of Israel out of the hands of their enemies. So, He "raised up judges, which delivered them". Unfortunately, "they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring". If any did obey, they only did that as long as the judges were alive, after which "they turned quickly out of the way. They despised the plan that God made for their deliverance and salvation from their captors. They never turned "from their stubborn way". This kind of attitude to God's plan of salvation still finds expression in our generation as it was in the early church. "For cross is to them that perish the preaching of the foolishness..." (1 Corinthians 1:18). There are many people who, because of the simplicity of the gospel, would not believe. They have learnt so much of non-essential things that they know nothing about the most essential thing: the knowledge of "the salvation. They count every idea about salvation as foolishness of preaching". Sadly, what men despise is now important to their salvation. For the Israelites, the result of despising God's plan was not pleasant. Their enemies "oppressed them and vexed them".
Question 7: What are the consequences of despising God's salvation plan?
It never pays anyone to despise God's way. "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you" (Acts 13:41). Those who despise God's salvation plan would perish. Those who are stubborn in their errors would suddenly be destroyed without remedy. Paul tells us the best attitude to God's salvation plan, "...whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed" (Romans 9:33). The purpose of divine chastistment on backsliders is to bring them back to God through repentance and faith in Him.
