The faith of Gideon and the children of Israel went from good to great to gone. What happened to them and what can we learn from their spiritual decline? How does studying this account make us look for and long for the more faithful and greater deliverer, Jesus Christ?
Sermon Notes
The repeated theme found in the book of Judges is:
“The sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” occurs 7 times! (2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1)
Repeating cycle of spiritual decline in Judges:
- Rebellion
- Retributive justice
- Regret/Repentance
- Rescue & Restoration
“Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle.”
Andrew Bonar
Downward slide of spiritual declension…
- (v. 1-3) Pride that divides
- (v. 4-17) Fear and unbelief
- (v. 18-21) Personal revenge
- (v. 22-35) Spiritual drift
“I find the greatest thing in this world not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind, and sometimes against it, but we sail, and not drift, nor live at anchor.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes
“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”
C. S. Lewis
Mere Christianity
“For most of us the threat of life is not so much that we should plunge into disaster, but that we should drift in to sin. There are few people who deliberately and in a moment turn their backs on God; there are many who day by day drift farther and farther away from him… We must be continually on the alert against the peril of the drifting life.”
William Barclay