Our scripture reading this morning is found in the book of Judges, chapter 2, which records for us significant Old Testament history. And surely whenever we consider the history of the Old Testament, we do well to have in mind the words of 1 Corinthians 10, verse 11, which says, now all these things happened unto them for in samples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Let's read then Judges chapter two. We'll read the whole chapter. And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochem and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt and have brought you onto the land which I swear unto your fathers And I said, I will never break my covenant with you, and ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land. Ye shall throw down their altars, but ye have not obeyed my voice. Why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, 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. And it came to pass when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochem, and they sacrificed there unto the Lord. And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. and they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-Herez, in the Mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill, Gaash. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers, and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. 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. And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtoreth. 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. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them, and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went to whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them. They turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord. But they did not sow. And when the Lord raised up judges, then the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For it repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass when the judge was dead that they returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers. Following other gods to serve them and to bow down unto them, they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant, which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice, I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died, that through them I may prove, Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein as their fathers did keep it or not. Therefore the Lord left those nations without driving them out hastily, neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua. We read the word of God thus far, and now we direct our attention to verse 10 of this chapter, which was the text that I preached on this past Sunday in Dune. Judges 2 verse 10, and also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers, and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. You all know, beloved, that God, as our covenant God, has blessed the church here with many children and young people. That gives to a congregation such as Edgerton PRC good hope concerning your future as a church. But that future is not automatically secure. Having many children doesn't itself guarantee the future of a church. That comes, as we know well, only in the way of the church, and especially parents, diligently and carefully instructing their children in the fear of God. And that's why the scripture speaks so often about that and repeatedly gives the instruction to parents, teach and guide and nurture and discipline and train and bring up your children in the fear of the Lord. The church is called to do that. All of us are to be involved in that, but especially the parents. And our text, seeming to be a rather negative text, serves to give us a warning A warning to the church and a warning to parents to take such instruction of the children that God is pleased to give his church seriously. It must be taken seriously because of God's covenant. God is a covenant God who is the one that gives children and who gives with those children his promise to save believers and their seed, his promise to include the children of believers in his covenant. And on account of God's covenant, the children that God is pleased to give are his children. They are precious to Him. And therefore, our instruction of them is serious because it concerns instruction that regards their faith, their salvation in Christ, and their eternal good. And therefore, may this word of God be a reminder to us as well as an encouragement to us to take that instruction seriously. May we, by the grace of God, be very diligent in this important calling as covenant parents and as a church so that it is not said of us one day And all this generation in Egerton, PRC were gathered unto their fathers and there arose another generation that did not know Jehovah and did not know the works of the Lord. May God keep that from coming true. Consider with me then a generation that knew not Jehovah. And notice three things concerning that the meaning, the reason, and the significance. Our understanding, beloved, of our text begins with the closing chapter of the previous book, Joshua. And in that closing chapter of Joshua, Joshua chapter 24, we read that Joshua gathered all Israel together. And he called them together in order to give a speech to them. And it was indeed a very stirring speech that he gave to them. A speech in which he gave them a history lesson. A speech in which he spoke to them as an old man concerning history that he was well acquainted with because he had lived much of that history. They hadn't. This was the generation that was born in the wilderness. All of their fathers had died, all who were 40 and above. But Joshua had lived it. And this was a history in which Joshua spoke to the nation of Israel concerning the great works that God had done for Israel. He had called them to be his people when he called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees. And he had caused them to develop as a nation through the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had brought them down into the land of Egypt where they multiplied and became a great nation. And then he had delivered them from Egypt and from bondage, and he had brought them through the wilderness and brought them into the land of Canaan. And in concluding his history lesson to the children of Israel, Joshua concluded with a very significant command to them, as well as a very significant confession that he made. The command is in Joshua 24 verse 14. Now therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord. The command was very clear to that. How could they do otherwise after all that God had done for them? But then Joshua added a confession, verse 15. If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. A remarkable confession because Joshua was saying to them, even if no one else serves the Lord, even if the whole nation decides we're not going to serve Jehovah but we're going to serve other gods, Joshua says, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord even if we are the only one. And the people responded to that. Verse 16, and the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. They basically were saying to Joshua, we also will serve the Lord Jehovah. And they did. And they did that for many years. They were faithful. As Judges 2 verse 7 points out, the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. They served the Lord. But then come the disturbing words of our text, verse 10. There arose another generation after them that knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which the Lord had done for Israel. Disturbing. Disturbing because this was not just one family out of one tribe that did not know Jehovah and his works. Disturbing because it was not simply one tribe out of the 12 tribes that did not know Jehovah and his works, but disturbing because it was an entire new generation in the church that did not know Jehovah and his works, the children of every tribe. There was, of course, still, by the grace of God, an elect remnant that was faithful But the nation as a whole had departed. The nation as a whole was ignorant of Jehovah and ignorant of the works of Jehovah. That was the chief characteristic now of the nation of Israel, the church. And this new generation was the church. They were now the leaders in Israel They were the adults in the church. They were the heads of the families in the nation of Israel. They were now the elders of the nation of Israel. But this generation was ignorant. The church was in danger of going under. In the words of Hosea 4 verse 6, they were in danger of being destroyed for lack of knowledge. That raises the question, what exactly did it mean that they did not know Jehovah? Well, it does not mean, beloved, that they knew nothing at all about Jehovah. This generation grew up in the church. They were surrounded by and they were very familiar with the things of God. They saw the work of the priests in the church. They saw the tabernacle. They observed the offerings that took place there in the tabernacle. They heard the Word of God that was proclaimed to them in the church. Intellectually, therefore, they had a knowledge of Jehovah. And intellectually, in their minds, they had a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as he was proclaimed to them and pointed out to them in all of that work and worship of God that took place in the tabernacle. But they did not know Jehovah. And what that means is this, they did not have a saving knowledge of Jehovah. They knew about him, but they didn't know him. That word know refers to an intimate and to a personal saving knowledge. It refers to the knowledge that characterizes a true faith. Refers to knowing Jehovah in love. refers to knowing Jehovah as one's covenant God and knowing Jehovah as one's father and as one's savior and knowing him in such a way that one in thankfulness loves him and loves him with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength. But this generation did not know Jehovah in that way. They knew about him at least a little, but they didn't know him. They didn't love him. He was not the God that they walked with. He was not the God with whom they had fellowship by faith in him. He was not the God that they believed in and trusted in. He was not the God whom they served. And that was related to the fact, as the text mentions, that they did not know the works of Jehovah. The works that he had done, as the text says, for Israel. A very close relationship between those two, knowing Jehovah and knowing the works of Jehovah, and that is a cause and effect relationship. Because they did not know the works of Jehovah, they did not know Jehovah himself. God revealed himself to them through his work. And God did that especially then because they did not have the complete scriptures that we have today. And so by means of his works that he did for them, he revealed Christ to them. He revealed the gospel to them. He revealed to them his power to save. He revealed to them his grace, his wisdom, his love for them. And these were great works that God had done for them, not ordinary works. Great works as Joshua had just reminded them in Joshua chapter 24. When he pointed out to them, God has chosen you and God has separated you unto himself as a special people when God called Abram out of heathen and he brought you into Egypt and there you multiplied and you prospered and you became a great nation under the guidance and the blessing of Jehovah God. and you were delivered from bondage by God, and God destroyed your enemies in the wilderness and protected you in the wilderness. And then Joshua pointed out to them in a very stirring verse, verses 12 and 13 of Joshua 24, that God gave them the land of Cana, when he says that they were given that land, but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. And then this, and I have given you a land for which ye did not labor, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them, and vineyards and olive yards which ye planted not, ye do eat of them. No different for us either. That's the wonder of the grace of God in Christ. He gives us all kinds of spiritual riches and blessings that we do not work for, we do not labor for them, and yet we enjoy them, we dwell in those riches of Christ, even though we do nothing to attain them. Joshua spoke very clearly of the marvelous grace of God to them. Destroying mighty nations, delivering the inhabitants into the hands of the children of Israel, giving them a land that they didn't labor for, giving them cities to dwell in that they did not themselves build, giving them fields to eat from which they did not plant. richly blessed and prospered by God because all of that was a blessing of God's grace to them as it was a picture to them of his saving work in Christ. These were not just ordinary works of God. These were not just simply works of God's providence for them. But God was revealing himself as Jehovah, revealing himself through all his works as the God who saved them in Christ from the land of Egypt and protected them through Christ in all of their wilderness wanderings and brought them through Christ into the land of Canaan, a picture of heaven and of their dwelling in the house of the Lord forever. Outstanding works of God. Spectacular works of God. How could anyone forget that? And yet they did. Surrounded by these mighty saving works of God's grace, which declared Christ to them. They said, these works of God are of very little value to us. These works of God are not worth remembering. We're interested only in the earthly things. And that's all that they were interested in. The earthly advantages, the earthly prosperity, the earthly riches, the earthly pleasures that they had in the land of Canaan and the earthly peace that God had given them. They did not know the works of Jehovah. And therefore, they did not know Jehovah, did not love and serve the Lord. The question is, beloved, what about us? And specifically, what about the next generation here? Is it a generation that knows Jehovah and His works? Or is it a generation that is ignorant? Why did this happen? Well, our text does not specifically answer that question in so many words. does not specifically state what the problem, the reason, the cause was, but the context does. And especially the context of Joshua chapter 24, and those words of Joshua when he said to the children of Israel, as for me, and then these three words, and my house, we will serve the Lord. That answers the question, beloved, how do children come to know Jehovah and the works of Jehovah? And it's not automatic. It's not automatic. They do not come to know Jehovah and the works of Jehovah simply because they have believing parents. They do not come to know Jehovah and the works of Jehovah simply because they are members in a godly home and family and members in a faithful church. They do not come automatically to know Jehovah because they attend a Christian school. It's not automatic. But God uses means, and the means that God is pleased to use especially is that of parents, parents teaching their children, each generation teaching the next generation concerning the works and the wonders of Jehovah, as Psalm 78 points out. four or five generations mentioned there in those opening verses of Psalm 78, with the thrust of the passage being that one generation passes on to the next, and they to the next, and they to the next, the knowledge of God. Or as Isaiah 38 verse 19 mentions, the father to the children shall make known thy truth. That's exactly what did not happen in Israel. That's exactly what parents failed to do. The parents took a vow with Joshua. When he said, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, the parents said, we will as well. Every one of them took upon their lips that confession, as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah. But they did not keep their vow, their promise. They stopped teaching their children. They stopped instructing their children concerning Jehovah and His works. They failed, first of all, as regards their example, as that's pointed out in the opening verses of the chapter we read, Judges 2. The angel coming to Bochum, the angel pointing out, you haven't thrown down the altars, you haven't kept yourselves separate from the nations around you. They failed by their example to live antithetically in the midst of a wicked and ungodly world. But then they also failed to sit down with their children and teach them. They failed to sit down with their children and tell them about all of the wonderful works of God. They forgot or they failed to teach their children concerning God's election of them through choosing Abram and God's preservation of them and God's salvation of them from Egypt and God's bringing them by His grace into the land of promise, into heaven. And even if those parents taught their children the history, as is simple enough perhaps to do, even for us, They failed to teach their children the spiritual and the saving significance of that history. They failed to teach their children the saving significance of God's works as Jehovah, their covenant God. They failed to teach their children that their deliverance from Egypt typified the gospel of God's salvation of his people from their slavery to sin. They failed to teach their children that God's preservation of his people from the wicked and from all the hardships that they experienced in the wilderness and God's provision for them in that was a picture of God protecting his church from Satan and from the ungodly world in which we live. they failed to teach their children that their entrance into the land of Canaan was an entering into the promised land that typified heaven, and their life there was for them to live with God, all of which was possible only because of Christ. And now the next generation The new heads of families, the new leaders, the new fathers and mothers in Israel, the new office bearers in the church in that day did not know God. Now the children, that generation was not blameless. Not today either if you children and you young people do not know Jehovah and do not know the works of Jehovah. You're not blameless. Children must learn. Children must live. Children must be vitally interested in this sacred history and interested in the knowledge of God and the knowledge of the works of God. Interested to the point that children ask questions. And his word and his work. And sometimes in spite of the fact that parents teach their children diligently, children don't listen. Children are not blameless. But the point of our text is that often the root cause of their ignorance of Jehovah and his works And their ignorance, therefore, of the true gospel of Christ and of God's sovereign grace in him is the failure of parents to instruct their children. And we note this too, beloved, this history really puts before us a very frightening truth, a frightening fact. And that frightening fact is that such apostasy, such departure from the ways of God, such a development in ignorance of God and His works, can happen very quickly. It is true, it didn't happen overnight. It wasn't just in terms of weeks and months that the next generation did not know Jehovah and his works. But still, it was merely one generation The previous generation was faithful. They vowed to serve Jehovah and they served him, but the very next generation turned away from God and embraced the world and embraced the religion of the world and served Baalim and served Ashtaroth. One generation. That's all it was. It can happen that quickly. And that should make us shudder. We look back at our history and we rejoice to see that the Lord has kept us faithful for many generations. Kept our churches and kept our families. But that doesn't take away from the warning here it could help which underscores the significance and the weightiness of the instruction that must be given to the next generation of the church. I'm sure, beloved, that the salvation of your children is very important to you. I'm sure you don't want them to be ignorant of God and ignorant of the works of God. You want them to know Jehovah. You want them to know Christ. You want them to have a good knowledge of the wonderful gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ. And you want them to know that because you realize that the child who does not know Jehovah is a child that is not saved. It is your desire that your children be saved. And that's why it troubles the believer and no doubt troubles some of you when children depart, they are uninterested, they are living, at least for now, an unbelieving life. That sometimes happens. Though parents diligently teach them, with weakness of course, but though parents diligently teach their children, they don't always believe. And that's a grief. And the reason that it is such a grief to godly parents is because a godly parent has that godly desire that children know Jehovah, love him, and walk in his truth. But because that's so, beloved, that that is the godly desire that the Lord gives to godly parents, then by his grace we will take to heart the urgent warning and calling that is set before us in this text. It's clearly implied and it's obvious. Teach your children to know Jehovah by teaching them concerning the works of Jehovah, as those works of Jehovah are given us and revealed to us in Scripture. And teach your children not simply to know Jehovah intellectually, but also to love him, to love him as a gracious God and Savior in Christ, so that by faith they believe in him, they seek him, and they are thankful to him for his grace to them, and they serve him. Godly parents doing that by providing spiritual instruction in the home. Instruction that includes discipline, Because discipline points out sin, and discipline corrects, and discipline directs our children to Christ, in whom is there only hope for them. And teaching our children spiritually by bringing them into the house of God every Lord's day. as little as they are, as young as they are, having them come to God's house to sit at the feet of Christ. Because the preaching is the chief means of grace, not only for adults, but also for children, in light of God's promise to save believers and their as little and as young as they sometimes are, they must hear and they will benefit by God's grace from the preaching of his word. And then also to be encouraged to see to it that your children are taught these things in a Christian school. and being thankful to God for the good Christian school that God has provided. And doing all of this out of gratitude. Gratitude because God has been gracious to you. Thankful for his marvelous salvation of yourself. from Egypt and from bondage to set. What a motivation to teach your children. And we cannot deny that it is a demanding and a difficult work, sometimes because of the effort involved, the time that it takes, the spiritual focus that it demands. Sometimes because of the resistance that can be received from children who don't want to listen, don't want to learn. Sometimes because of the discipline that must be applied, the discipline that is necessary but nevertheless very difficult to apply. to apply it in love in such a way that the children are pointed to Christ. God's encouragement is that he is pleased to use weak and sinful means to accomplish and bless your children with the greatest blessing possible. the salvation of their souls. And so may we be encouraged to be faithful as church, as parents, even as grandparents, as the Lord gives opportunity so that when we are no longer here, This will be said, there arose another generation in Egerton, PRC that knew Jehovah and knew his works and that loved and served him in thankfulness for his grace to them. May God grant that that be so, amen. Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee for Thy Word in this morning and for worship that enables us to sit under the preaching of the Gospel. We're thankful for Thy grace to us. I'm thankful for thy covenant promises and blessings. Be pleased, Lord, to preserve us in our generations, and to that end, give us thy grace and strength and diligence to instruct the future generations of thy church in the fear of thy name. Forgive our sins and grant us thy blessing. In Christ's name, amen.