Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,
and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today. A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us.
We're glad that you're here, and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,
but because we're following Jesus together as one community.
And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced there's no one so good, they don't need God's grace,
and no one so bad that they can't have it, which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in His Word.
Last week, we started a new series in the book of Judges, and you'll remember that the book of Judges is about many things.
Some of the things the book is about is the need for constant renewal and revival among God's people.
It's also about the need for a faithful and true king, a king who can do what no human king can do,
which is to change the hearts of men. And it's also about the power of leadership that's enabled by the Holy Spirit.
This week, as we come to the second section, we have before us what is a painful and tender topic for many of us
as we look at the challenges that the nation of Israel faced as one generation remained faithful to the Lord
and the next generation fell away.
And I know for us in this congregation, that's a topic that is all too personal.
And for many of us, very, very painful.
Of course, many of you are afraid not just of your children, but the future of your grandchildren.
And so this morning, we're going to try to hold kind of two truths in tension together.
And the first truth is this, that you cannot save your children.
That your children are 100% responsible before God about the decisions that they make
and the ways that they choose to serve Him or not serve Him.
The saying is true that God has no grandchildren.
So that's truth one.
Truth two is this, how we raise the next generation really matters.
It really matters and it has real consequences for their faith.
And so as we come to this passage, there's a variety of mistakes that we could make.
One mistake we could make is assuming that just because someone was raised in the church
and walked away from the faith, well, of course, it's their parents' fault, right?
That would be an incredible mistake to assume that.
Because God has no grandchildren.
The other mistake we could make is to wallow in shame.
As we think about this and maybe you look back and you think about mistakes that you've made as a parent,
places where you've failed,
it's important for us to recognize that God's forgiveness is real.
And it's also important to recognize that the story isn't over.
If you are alive and your child is still alive, you still have a role to play.
There is still great hope.
God is still, in fact, a powerful God.
And He's still able to change hearts and minds.
And so with that, remember that we're going to say, as I often say,
we're going to say something, not everything.
This is the beginning, not the end.
But with all of that in mind, I'm going to invite you to turn with me to God's holy word.
We are going to be in Judges 2, starting at verse 6.
You can read with me in your worship guide.
You can open up your phone.
You can open up your Bible.
No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's word.
And God tells us that His word is more precious than gold, even the finest gold.
And it's sweeter than honey, even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb.
Which is why we read now Judges 2, starting at verse 6.
Verse 9.
And they buried Him within the boundaries of His inheritance in Temnath-Herez,
in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gash.
And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers.
And there arose another generation after them,
who did not know the Lord or the work that He had done for Israel.
Verse 11.
And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.
And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers,
who had brought them out of the land of Egypt.
They went after other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them
and bowed down to them.
And they provoked the Lord to anger.
They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.
And He gave them over to plunderers who plundered them.
And He sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies,
so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.
Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm,
as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them.
And they were in terrible distress.
I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's Word.
Our Father in Heaven, we thank You once again that You haven't abandoned us,
You haven't forsaken us,
You haven't left us to try to piece things together on our own.
But instead, You've given us Your Word,
and You speak clearly to us through it.
You speak to us every Sunday morning,
and You speak to us as we open it throughout the week.
And we ask that You would continue to do that this morning,
that You would help us,
that we would see our great need for Your grace,
and we'd see how You meet us at that very same point of need,
and that You would convict us of our sin,
and You would encourage us with the hope that we have in Christ.
And we ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
When I was in high school,
I took a class or two on U.S. government,
and one of the things that we learned about
was this concept of political socialization.
And political socialization is just a fancy word
for how people come to the political beliefs that they hold,
and especially how they come to those beliefs
based on the people around them.
So that's why we use the word socialization.
And what they found,
if they do studies around these things,
is that there's an incredible impact
that your family of origin has on your political beliefs.
You are not, as some say,
as much of a free thinker as you might fancy yourself to be.
When you have two parents who are both of the same political party,
there is about an 80% chance that their kids are also going to hold to that party.
So if mom and dad are both Democrats,
80% chance the kids are likely going to be Democrats.
Mom and dad are both Republicans.
About an 80% chance kids are going to end up being Republicans.
Mom and dad have no affiliation.
This is where it gets even more interesting.
It's pretty evenly split.
About the same percentage Republicans,
same percentage Democrats,
and then you have your independents in the center.
And this highlights just a basic principle
that you probably know in life.
God has designed the family with incredible influence.
God has created families as the place where people are shaped and formed.
You don't need to look at a study about politics to figure this out.
You talk to any counselor who's worth their money,
and they'll tell you there is no influence more powerful
than someone's family of origin.
And within that, there's no influence more powerful than their parents.
And so that clarifies for us what is actually incredibly shocking
about this passage in Judges 2.
And what's shocking is that there's not just a lack of transmission to a few people.
It's not like we have a few Israelite children in the next generation who walk away.
No, we actually have an entire generation that just abandons things.
You know, we would expect from those numbers I just told you,
on average, one out of five kids are going to choose
a different political affiliation than their parents.
It's okay, that's to be expected.
But here it looks like five out of five of the Israelites decide
they are not going to hold to what their parents believe.
And so that's where we pick up in verse 6 with the death of Joshua.
We're actually having a second introduction to the book here in Judges.
This is not saying that the death of Joshua happened
after everything from chapter 1 and verses 1 through 5 of chapter 2.
No, we're having a second introduction to the book.
And so it's actually recapping what happened at the end of the book of Joshua,
the book that came right before the book of Judges.
In fact, the wording here is almost exactly the same
as some wording we see in Judges chapter 24.
So he's recapping the end of the book of Joshua,
saying, look, this is, remember what happened.
Joshua came into the land.
The people settled it.
Everything was great.
They went to their inheritance.
And then we see that there is a faithful generation
and an unfaithful generation.
Joshua comes in.
Joshua is the leader of the faithful generation.
And that's what we see in verse 7.
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 work that the Lord had done for Israel.
So great.
Got a generation.
They've seen God's work.
They remain faithful.
They serve the Lord.
They do what they're supposed to do.
Then the turn happens here, verse 10.
And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers.
Faithful generation dies, followed by an unfaithful generation.
And there arose another generation after them
who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
In fact, we're told it's worse than that.
It's not just that they don't know the Lord.
It's, in fact, that they turn to do not what's good but what's evil.
Verse 11, the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
Verse 12, they abandoned the God of their fathers.
And so we get a clear picture of what's been happening here.
The older generation has been restraining the younger generation.
The older generation has been providing leadership.
And so they've been holding at bay the influence of the younger generation.
They have been keeping the nation faithful.
When they walk away, there is nothing holding them back.
And so this next generation goes after other gods.
And we're told the exact problem here in verse 10.
They did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
Now, this is where people try to get creative with this passage and say,
oh, well, we understand what the problem clearly was.
The first generation, they had seen what God had done.
That's what we saw in verse 7.
The second generation, verse 10, had not seen what God had done.
And so there's no connection between these two.
It's just a function of timeline.
First timeline, they just happened to live at the right time.
And so because they lived at the right time, they were faithful.
Oh, it's just kind of a coincidence.
This next generation didn't live at the right time.
So because they didn't live at the right time, they weren't faithful.
That, however, gives us too easy of an explanation.
Because if we look at the rest of Scripture,
what we are told over and over again
is that the works of the Lord are to be remembered
as they're told by one generation to the next.
The older generation is meant to be telling their children
over and over about God's power and his faithfulness.
Remember, we talked last week,
what is it that they forgot when they went into the promised land?
They forgot God's power that he had demonstrated in the past.
They refused to believe God's promises in the present.
Of course, we could look at many places.
One is Psalm 145, which says this,
one generation shall commend your works to another
and shall declare your mighty acts.
Psalm 78 says the same thing,
that these things are passed down generation after generation.
And of course, the most famous instruction
comes in Deuteronomy 6, where it says this,
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your might.
And these words that I command you today
shall be on your heart.
And, verse 7,
you shall teach them diligently to your children
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house
and when you walk by the way
and when you lie down and when you rise.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand
and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house
and on your gates.
And so what's the problem in Judges 2?
Something was dropped between the generations.
The older generation failed to sufficiently tell the next
about the mighty works of the Lord.
The older generation served faithfully,
but they did not pass that on to the next.
This generation should know the Lord, but they don't.
Now, at the very beginning, I said,
one of the mistakes we can make
is to assume that it's the fault of the parents
when a child walks away from the faith, right?
The children are 100% responsible
for what they choose to do before the Lord.
And so did I just contradict myself?
No, and here's why.
What we see here is a shocking percentage.
This is not 20% walking away.
This is not a handful here and there.
This is an entire generation.
When we see an entire generation,
we're able to say, okay, something went wrong.
Something happened between the first and the second.
And so what do we do?
What is Judges 2 meant to teach us this morning?
First, it is a reminder of our responsibility
to train the next generation to know and love the Lord.
That responsibility falls to all of us.
It especially falls upon parents.
You'll notice on pages seven and eight of your worship guide,
there's a quote from research that was done very recently
on how children's faith is formed.
And it basically says this,
there is no influence that is more powerful
than the influence of a parent.
There is nothing more effective
in forming the faith of a child
than for that child's mother and father
to love the Lord
and to talk about the Lord with that child.
In fact, it doesn't say this in the quote,
but it comes from this entire book.
And the book talks about what is effective
in passing on the faith to the next generation.
And it turns out, surprise, surprise,
what's incredibly effective
is to do what Deuteronomy 6 talks about.
The most effective way for parents to pass the faith on
is to have conversations with their children
about what they believe.
To do what Deuteronomy 6 says,
to teach them diligently to your children
and to talk of them in the house
when you walk by the way,
when you lie down,
and when you rise.
Parents that talked about God's faithfulness
in the day-to-day of their lives
were the ones most likely to see their children
grow up to continue to love and follow the Lord.
By the way, the book notes,
and other folks have noted this as well,
when we talk about conversations with your children,
we are not talking about monologues.
We are talking about dialogues.
The author of this book says,
the most effective conversations
were the ones that centered around the questions
that the children themselves had
that they raised in the family.
That heavy-handed lectures
actually have a tendency to backfire.
The other thing that has a tendency to backfire
is if we present ourselves to our children
as if we are always right
and we never make mistakes,
which actually communicates the opposite
of the gospel to them, right?
Because the gospel is the news
that I must change
and I cannot change myself.
And so it's clear also to be careful
in what we're saying
and what we're not saying.
I am not saying you are able to save your children.
I am not saying you are necessarily
or wholly to blame
if your children walk away from the faith.
Again, part of why this passage is so clear
is because an entire generation dropped away.
What I am saying is this.
God uses the family
in a powerful way
as his instrument
in the lives of the next generation.
God uses the family
in a powerful way
as his instrument
in the lives of the next generation.
I am also saying this.
Do not be surprised
if you take your faith casually
that your children take it casually as well
or not at all.
Don't be surprised
if you believe
that it's the church's job
to raise your children in the faith
if it doesn't stick.
Now, you might look back
as we talk about these things
and realize
places you didn't live up
to Deuteronomy chapter six.
And I'll tell you the same thing
that I told you at the beginning.
As long as you are alive
and as long as your child is alive,
there is still tremendous hope.
God is still able
to change hearts and minds.
God does not stop
working in someone's life
when they turn 18.
You still have the opportunity now
to talk about
the mighty works
of the Lord.
You still have a chance
to share
what God has done
in your life.
And of course,
those mighty works
include your failures
and your mistakes
and the way God's met you
and shown you grace
in the midst of that.
So I asked,
what do we do with this?
The responsibility is first
and primarily to parents.
However,
it's not simply to parents.
This study that's referenced
in your worship guide
also goes on
to talk about
the incredible power
of grandparents.
He says,
grandparents can play,
and I quote,
a surrogate role
in instilling religion.
In fact,
grandparents can have
a powerful impact
in the lives
of their grandchildren
even when the parents
don't have faith.
And I say this
for many of you
in this room.
You are walking a road
as a grandparent,
but actually,
many of you
are functioning as parents.
God is using you
in a powerful way
in the lives
of your grandchildren.
Never underestimate
your ability
to influence
the next generation.
Never underestimate
the power
of a grandmother
or a grandfather.
In fact,
that's why
our New Testament reading
came from Timothy.
Remember,
Timothy,
this is on page three
of your worship guide,
2 Timothy chapter one.
Timothy's dad
was not a Christian.
Timothy's mom was,
you know who else was?
Timothy's grandmother.
So what does Paul
tell Timothy?
I'm reminded
of your sincere faith,
a faith that dwelt
first in your grandmother,
Lois,
and your mother,
Eunice,
and now,
I am sure,
dwells in you
as well.
Many of you
still have the opportunity
to be
a Lois
or a Eunice.
God doesn't just
use parents.
He uses
grandparents.
Now,
to say that parents
are the most powerful
and to say that
grandparents
are the second most powerful
is not to say
that the rest of us
don't matter in any way.
It means those
are the most influential.
It does not mean
that the rest of us
lack influence.
In fact,
if I said before
when we baptize children,
it takes a church
to raise a child.
You do not have
to be married
and you do not
have to have children
to tell the next generation
about the mighty
works of the Lord.
That's our hope
for this community
that parents
would not be
the only ones
telling their children
but that they would
be hearing it
from older
and younger members.
They would be hearing it
in Sunday school
and in youth group
that they would know
over and over
from a variety
of people
from an entire community
about God's grace
and His power.
And so all of us,
this entire church,
we have a role
to play in this.
Everyone
has a part
to play
in raising up
the next generation.
Now,
who cares
if our children
grow up to follow the Lord?
In fact,
if you're a non-Christian,
you might be thinking,
man,
these people
are like really uptight
about their children
becoming Christians
and don't you know
that not everyone,
you know,
religion's not for everyone
and maybe your child
just makes the choice
that religion's
not for them
and why should you
worry about that?
I mean,
why don't you just
set your child free
to make their own choices
about the world
and not try to influence them?
First of all,
no one actually
lives that out consistently.
Anyone who says that
has things
that they hope
are not true
for their child.
I remember hearing
a story about someone
who went off on that
and the person
sitting with them
said,
well,
would you want your kids
to join the Taliban?
Is that an open choice
for them?
And that person
realized in that moment,
no,
there are actually things
I want for my children
no matter what.
The second answer
is this,
everyone
is religious.
you will
worship
something.
Your children
will
worship
something.
In fact,
that's what we see
here in verse 12.
It's not simply
that Israel
stopped serving
the Lord
and then went on
with their lives.
No,
what did they do?
They had to fill that void.
They found something
else to worship.
Verse 12,
they abandoned the Lord,
the God of their fathers
who brought them
out of the land of Egypt.
they went after
other gods
and bowed down
to them.
The next generation
will worship
something.
The next generation
will love
something.
The next generation
will be religious
in some sense.
The question is
whether Deuteronomy 6
will be true
that they will love
the Lord their God
with all their heart
and with all their soul
and with all
their might.
Israel
went on
to worship
the gods
of the nations
around them.
Christian,
our nation
has many gods
as well.
We have the God
of sexual anarchy.
We have the God
of radical individualism.
we have the God
of consumerism.
And then there are
the gods
of every age,
the gods
of sex
and money
and power.
And we're reminded
in this passage,
all false gods
do
is enslave.
All false gods
put us
in bondage.
Verse 14,
the anger of the Lord
was kindled
against Israel
and he gave them
over to plunderers
who plundered them.
Any God
that you worship
besides the true
and living God
will be a plunderer
who plunders you.
If you worship
sexual anarchy,
you will be plundered.
If you worship
radical individualism,
you will be plundered.
If you worship
consumerism
and experiences,
you will be plundered.
If you worship
sex
and money
and power,
they will plunder
you as well.
And so,
where does this leave us?
It leaves us
with a reminder.
It leaves us
with a reminder
of what matters most
in this life.
It leaves us
with a reminder
of what matters most
for the next generation.
It is still true
that the next generation
is our greatest legacy.
It is still true
that the hand
that rocks the cradle
rules the world.
and it is true
that we are not here
at church
to be good moral people.
Notice that nothing
in this passage says
they forgot
the Ten Commandments.
No,
what is it that they happened?
They did not know
the Lord
or His work.
Why is it that we are here
gathered together?
It is not primarily
because we want
to be good moral people.
It is not primarily
because we want
our kids to live
in a certain way.
The hope
of the next generation
is not to live
by the Ten Commandments.
Although,
I hope they do.
the hope
of the next generation
is that they
would know
the mighty works
of the Lord.
The hope
of the next generation
is that they would know
God's mighty work,
that He holds
the world together.
That they don't live
in a universe
governed by chance
or fate,
but in fact,
there is a personal God
who sees
and holds together
everything.
The hope
of the next generation
is that they would know
the mighty works
of the Lord
in reigning
and ruling
over this earth
that we do not give
our ultimate allegiance
or fear
to politicians
or influences
or businessmen.
The hope
of the next generation
is that they would know
the mighty work
of the Lord
that He changes
hearts of stone
into hearts
of flesh.
The mighty work
of the Lord
in the Old Testament
was delivering
God's people
from Egypt.
The mighty work
of the Lord
in the New Testament
is not deliverance
from slavery
in Egypt.
It's deliverance
from slavery
and bondage
to sin.
mighty work
of the Lord
is no longer
the parting
of the Red Sea.
It is Jesus
in His life
and His death
and His resurrection.
The mighty work
of the Lord
is not
the fighting
of the Egyptians
or the taking
of the promised land.
The mighty work
of the Lord
is that Jesus
has come
and won the victory
once and for all.
Our hope
is not
that church
would be a place
for our children
to learn good
and right behavior.
Our hope
is that they
would learn
and know
the Lord
and His mighty works.
John Newton
was a man
who lived
mostly in the 1700s
and a little bit
in the 1800s
and he's famous
for writing the hymn
Amazing Grace.
He became a pastor
but before he was a pastor
he was actually
a slave trader.
After his conversion
to Christianity
he switched teams
completely.
Not only did he leave
the slave trade
he actually became
an abolitionist.
He made it his goal
to eradicate it
and he worked
with William Wilberforce
to be able to do that.
By the way
Newton's mother
taught him
about the faith
growing up.
So his conversion
did not completely
come out of left field.
He abandoned it
for a time
and then he returned.
And as Newton
came to the end
of his life
and he was shortly
to die
he said this
Although my memory
is fading
I remember two things
very clearly.
I am a great sinner
and Christ
is a great Savior.
Brothers and sisters
that
is our testimony
of the Lord's
great work.
it's our testimony
of his great work
to us
and it's the testimony
that we give
to the next generation.
I am a great sinner
and Christ
is a great Savior.
Let's pray.
Our Father in heaven
we
praise you
and thank you
that you work
powerfully
in families
and you've also
worked powerfully
in our lives.
we ask
that as we
examine
our hearts
that you would
not just challenge us
but encourage us
you'd remind us
of your grace
and your power
and that would give us
courage
and strength
to tell the next generation
about your mighty works.
We ask
that you would use
this church
in a powerful way
to raise up
men
and women
who till the very end
of their lives
are committed to you
and are committed
to your church.
We ask these things
in the mighty name
of Jesus Christ.
Amen.