Dec. 3, 2025
TEXT: Judges 3:1-14

Introduction: Judges 3:1-5
God uses circumstances and trials to test us and help us to learn to trust in Him like those before us had to learn.
God does not want us to let these trials and difficulties to lead us away from Him, but rather to Him.
I. When we forget God, we will do wrong as God sees it (vv. 6-7)
A. Forgetting the Lord as your God causes us to disregard His Word to us
1. Disregarding God’s Word by ignoring what we know it says
2. Disregarding God’s Word by being ignorant of what it says
B. Forgetting the Lord as your God causes us to disobey His Word to us
C. Forgetting the Lord as your God causes us to dishonor His will for us

II. When we sin against God, we will experience God’s chastening (v. 8)
A. God often uses conviction to address our disobedience
B. God follows with chastening when we don’t heed His conviction
C. God ends with judgment when we fail to respond to His chastening
D. God’s children never will experience His complete wrath because of His love

III. When we cry out to God in repentance, we experience God’s deliverance (v. 9)
A. God is faithful to respond to a repentant cry
B. God is faithful to respond to a desire for His deliverance
C. God is faithful to respond to a submissive heart

IV. When we benefit from God’s Spirit, He can help us honor God (vv. 10-12)
A. God responded to the prayer of His people
B. God raised up His leader to use to lead His people
C. God empowered His leader with His Spirit to lead His people
D. God blessed His people through His leader with the help of His Spirit
E. God stopped blessing His people when they stopped obeying His will