Do Not Forget the Lord

Hey, hey, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are at Judges. I keep saying Joshua. Judges, chapter 2, verses 7 through 10. Just a few short verses today. But what happens after Joshua dies? So let's have some coffee.
We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for the blessing it is to get to read your word. We pray that you would please help us. God, as we read your word, we need to see ourselves in it and not just over it. We pray that your Holy Spirit would not just let us be objective observers, but that you would teach us. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, here we go.
Judges, chapter two, beginning at verse seven. So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which he had done for Israel. Now Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was 110 years old, and they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Harez, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them, who did not know the Lord, nor the work which He had done for Israel." Well, it's a sad state. We need to ask ourselves, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this in? C, what are we called to do about this? So, what's this about?
Well, Joshua And all the generation with him, they died. That's what verse 7 said. They had seen all the great works that the Lord had done for Israel. And so Joshua dies, verse 8. Verse 9, they buried him. Verse 10 is really the crux of all of it. When all that generation had been gathered together to their fathers. Another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord, nor the work which he had done for Israel." What a sad statement. Right? All these people had come up out of Egypt. Right? There was a crooked generation, and they all died. But the younger generation, right, they made it into the Promised Land.
And then they go through, and they don't take care, pardon me, they don't take care of all the inhabitants of the land. And it seems as if instead of letting those different memorials that they had set up in the book of Joshua, the 12 stones next to the river, and then the monument of the altar on the other side of the river, the tabernacle at Shiloh, they just kind of end up existing, just forgetting the Lord Himself. Those people who had once seemed so zealous, I don't know if it's because they decided not to tell the stories of redemption to their children, or if it's because they just got busy with their farms, or they were ashamed of their inheritance. Either way, the God who had kept the covenant is now forgotten. The God who had given them the land, they're more in love with the land than the Lord who gave them the land. There's a new generation that rises up and they don't remember the Lord.
That's a constant danger today, right? I'm just going to say that, A, what is this about? This is about the people forgetting the Lord, drifting away from him. B, what's the best verse? I think it's verse 10. C, what are we called to do? This is a constant, innate danger of every generation. The Lord is faithful from generation to generation. His covenant endures. There's always a remnant, but yet there is always the danger every generation of failing to do what God has told us to do in Deuteronomy chapter six, to teach these decrees unto our children, or to have them on the doorposts of our house, to put them on our gates, to have them as frontlets between our eyes and upon our hands.
So easy to get busy about life and forget to instruct our children in the ways of the Lord. It's easy to forget the stories. It's easy to get distracted with sporting events and entertainment, whatever activity may come up and not take the children to church.
I mean, I've talked to a whole lot of elderly people whose children aren't walking with the Lord. And one of the things that they'll tell me is as these Christian people, they'll say, man, I wish I had taken my kids to church more. I wish I had done family worship with them and read the Bible with my kids. I wish I had given them a Christian education.
Because see, we're so prone to forget. It's part of our fallen nature. But it doesn't have to be that way. We can. We can, out of love for Jesus Christ, love our children so much. has to tell them the stories. Now whether or not they latch onto it, that's their own business. That's the Lord's doing. I cannot guarantee that a single one of my children will be Christians. Neither can you. Because salvation is by grace alone. It's God's work. It's not ours.
But we ought to learn as we read through the book of Judges that God has blessed us with an opportunity to tell our children about Jesus. to encourage them not to be this type of generation and to remind ourselves that we have all the possibilities and the proclivities to also act this way. To get so busy with the world that we forget who our God who redeemed us was and is. And so don't forget the Lord.
Bless your children with caring with them enough to bring them to Jesus Christ. Remind them of the great redemption that He has done, something far greater than Egypt. That He redeemed us by the blood of His own Son, Jesus Christ. And though we have not seen Him, yet we love Him. Let's pray. Father, we thank You so much for this day. We thank You for the joy of salvation. We thank You for the hope that You have given us in Jesus Christ. We pray that we would not forget You And we pray that you would not forget us. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well may God who raised up that great shepherd of the sheep watch over you. May you never forget his goodness towards you all your life. I'll see you next time. Bye.