THROUGH THE BIBLE - Judges 3..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So Judges chapter 3, and I'll be reading from the ESV. I had my Bible open to Joshua, so give me a moment to go back to Judges.

Judges chapter 3 from verse 1. Now these are the nations that the Lord left to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. These are the nations, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites, who lived on the Mount Lebanon. from Mount Balhernon as far as Lebo Hamath.

They were for the testing of Israel to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. And their daughters They took to themselves for wives and their own daughters they gave to their sons and they served their gods. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.

Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishat Thayim, king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan Rishat Thayim eight years. But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them for the people of Israel who saved them, Ophmiel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. The spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan Rishathayim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand, and his hand prevailed over Cushan Rishathayim.

So the land had rest for 40 years. Then Ophmiel, the son of Kenaz, died. And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites and went and defeated Israel.

And they took possession of the city of Palms. And the people of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, eighteen years. Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gerar, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon, the king of Moab. And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes.

And he presented the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, I have a secret message for you, O king. And he commanded silence and all his attendants went out from his presence.

And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in the cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, I have a message from God for you. And he arose from his seat, and Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade. For he did not pull the sword out of his belly, and the dung came out.

Many who'd went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them. When he had gone, the servants came and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, surely he's relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber. And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them. And there lay their Lord dead on the floor.

Yehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Sirah. When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. And he said to them, Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand. So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over.

And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, abled, bodied men. Not a man escaped. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest for 80 years. After him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an ox goad. And he also saved Israel.

Amen. This is the word of the Lord. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord, it remains forever. Well brothers, sisters and friends, it's taken us a full three chapters before we are now introduced to the very first judge in the book of Judges. In fact, we're introduced here in chapter 3 to three judges.

But the question we need to ask ourselves is why? Why has it taken three full chapters for us to be introduced to the first judge in the book of Judges? And I think our brother taking us through the first two chapters of the previous weeks has explained to us that those chapters are purposed to reveal the very reason that the judges were required. You see, the people of Israel are a people who will get themselves into a lot of trouble with the Lord God. There are people who over and over again, time and again, as we work our way through the book of Judges, will come to realize that time and again, they will break faith with God.

They will break covenant with God. And as a result of breaking covenant with God, as covenant breakers, the Lord God will bring down judgment upon them, even by using some pagan kings and pagan nations to do so. So they'll be the recipients of the judgment of God. And they'll be oppressed for a period, and then after a period, they will cry out to the Lord. Look at our plight.

Look what we're in. Save us, O God. And the Lord God, although they are unworthy of being saved or redeemed, unworthy of His mercy or His grace, the Lord God will hear them, hear their cry, and He will have pity upon His people, and He will send a deliverer, a judge. to redeem these people. And then the people of God, the people of Israel will then enjoy the saving grace of God.

and they'll enjoy peace for a period, but then it won't be long after that. We'll see this as a cycle, a repetitive thing, that not long after that peace or into that peace, they will break faith with God once again. And thus the cycle continues. It gets darker and darker. Towards the end of the book of Judges, we will find that it is a really dark book.

Actually, it's not so much the book that's dark, but it's the heart of man that is so dark. How could this be? How could it be that a nation that is so rich in heritage, a nation that is covenanted with the only true God of the universe, we worked our way through the Old Testament, we know how privileged this nation is. That the heritage that runs back, that has seen the demonstration of the power of God, the faithfulness of God, the goodness of God. How could it be that a nation would so quickly turn their back upon Him and rebel against Him and commit to apostasy?

In fact, how could it be, when we add to that, that even just the previous generation, as we heard in the last chapter of Joshua, the previous generation was a generation that was serving the Lord God faithfully. So they began so well. How is it that now they find themselves in apostasy? As we just read, we see the apostasy circulate over and over again. We'll see that as we continue through the book of Judges.

How can this be? Well, I propose something to you. Could it be? Could it be that that last generation that we're told were faithful to the Lord, faithfully served the Lord, could it be that some of the blame may, in fact, be on their own shoulders. else.

They also know they did not drive out all the inhabitants of Canaan as they ought. The enemy still lurks within. The enemy is still among them. And as long as the enemy is still among them, they ought to be on high alert. Their vigilance level ought to be at the absolute max.

In fact, you ought to be like a soldier engaging in war, not knowing where the ambush can come from. Because you may be in peace one day, and the very next it may be war. The people of Israel need to notice, need to recognize that they are always at war. I believe the previous generation knew this, but did they teach their children? Did they instruct their children, the future generations, in the ways of the Lord?

Did they bring the commandments of God and the covenant of God and the stipulations of the covenant, the blessings that God will bless His people with and the curses that He'll curse them with in the case of disobedience? Did they do that? I can't answer yes or no because text doesn't tell us, but I can propose something to you. It concerns me when I read the contents of verse 7 that is before us. That the people of Israel forgot, forgot the Lord their God.

Had they immersed this people with the Word of God? Reminded them daily of this, the goodness of God and the faithfulness of God. How is it that they forgot the Lord their God? Beloved brothers and sisters, this is conjecture because the Bible doesn't tell us if that is the case or not, but there's enough here to bring out a point, and that is parents, fathers and mothers, how important is it that we train our children and immerse them in the Word of God? Not only is it important that we ourselves are faithful and pursue holiness and pursue faithfulness to the Lord God, not only is that incredibly important, but we also ought to bring His Word, bring our faith, so that our children not only see our lives, but hear from our mouths the teachings according to the Word of God.

Because if we live faithfully on our own, and yet we don't teach our children, all is lost. All is lost. How important is it that we are concerned for the next generation and that we immerse them? Look, salvation is of the Lord. He needs to move for salvation to take place.

But it is our responsibility to make the ears hear the Word of God, to immerse them in the truth of God, to show them through our lives the goodness of God so they would not forget. People of Israel, for God, the Lord their God. The nations weren't driven out. But there's another reason the Lord allowed that the nations that weren't driven out to remain undriven out for a period. That was because in the previous chapters we're told it was to, and in this chapter, to test Israel's obedience.

To test Israel to see whether they will obey the commands of the Lord also that they would know war, verse two. For those who haven't experienced war will also experience war. They would know. They would know that the enemy lurks. They would know that there is danger.

There is threats among you. In other words, Israel, don't get comfortable. Don't get comfortable. As long as the enemy is within reach, don't get comfortable. All the more reasons we ought to press into the Lord.

Now when we look at the pagan nations surrounding Israel, very much they are depicted as sin in the life of the Christian. And beloved brothers and sisters, you can relate to this. Let me tell you, as long as Israel will exist, the enemy will also be among them. It might not be directly among them, but they'll always have enemies throughout the history of people of God. There's always enemies and we are no different because sin lurks.

Our brother said only a few weeks ago when he was working through 1 John that there is an ambassador for Satan himself and he is within us and that is our flesh. We are at war every single day. At war every day. The enemy was relentless. The question is, do we know it?

And the question is, have we equipped ourselves with the Word of God and His faith to be able to walk every day? Or are we thinking that we'll be okay by our own understanding and our own strength? Beloved brothers and sisters, we must never put our swords down. Ever! We must never get comfortable.

The sword of the Spirit which is according to Ephesians chapter 6 what? The Word of God. It is the weapon. It's the weapon of offense. It's the weapon that we must never put down.

The Word of God. These people have forgotten, have forgotten the God who said that you are my people. I've called you out of Egypt. You are my people. I've covenanted with me.

You're a peculiar people. You're to be different to the people in the nations. You're to look different and you are to act differently. Yes, you live in the world, but you're not of the world. It reminds me of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in his high priestly prayer in John chapter 17.

If you remember Jesus speaking to the father, I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Then he says these beautiful words that you've all come to realize. And remember, sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth.

The people of Israel had forgotten the Lord their God. forgotten the word of God, they'd forgotten that they're at war. They'd become complacent. And one tiny incremental step at a time before they knew a people that was so peculiar, so different, had become no different to the people and the pagans around them. They assimilated with the enemy.

Rather than them influencing the enemy, that they were to be as God promised Abraham, the light unto the nations. It was the nations that influenced them. No longer seeing the nations as a threat. No longer recognizing the enemy for what it is. They gave the enemy their ears.

The derogatory words that would come that was so offensive at one point no longer offended them. They gave the enemy their eyes, the entertainment that they would have recognized amongst the pagans in the world. That entertainment that is so perverse at times you'd have to look away in blushing. No longer would they look away, but now they're involved and are desiring these things. It's only one tiny little incremental step at a time.

They gave the nations their hearts. They saw how they worshipped. They understood their idols. They've seen their pagan idolatrous worship that, brothers and sisters, it would be a shame for us to even mention some of the practices that would take place in pagan idol worship of the Baals and the Asheroth. And they knew it.

And what once infuriated them because they were zealous for the Lord God, hero Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. What once infuriated them was now accepted by them, and not only accepted by them, but now they are coveting to do the same. The very people that they never wanted anything to do with. And remember, the people are a symbol of sin. The people that wanted nothing to do with, now they've accepted them into their own households, not for the purpose of evangelizing them, but in purpose of giving their daughters and their sons to their daughters and sons and vice versa, into marriage.

Why? Because there's no difference between us and you. There's no difference. Beloved, the moment the door opens to the world, Satan will take a foothold. He'll put his foot in that door passage and he will slowly creep in and that is the very moment they began the slippery slide to apostasy.

If it's the nations you want, the nations you shall have, you can almost hear the voice of the Lord for the Lord gives them over to the evil kings of the nations. Before long, whether it's the eight years under the Mesopotamian king or it's the 18 years under the king of Moab, it matters not. Israel now will experience that dreaded nightmare, the dreaded nightmare of Egypt. The once free people become enslaved. The ones people who were rescued from the land of Egypt to be free to know the only true God and the bliss around that are now enslaved under pagan kings.

How destructive is sin? Take your eyes off the Lord in one incremental step at a time before you know it, all is lost. The thing is that in that situation, just like the people of Israel were in Egypt, they are helpless. They cannot do anything on their own. They are at the complete mercy of God at that point.

Now, beloved brothers and sisters, those enemies are not simply just trying to subdue these people. They want to get rid of all godly influence as well. I hope you saw it. In verse 13, as we came across it, is the king of Moab. He alliances himself with the king of the Ammonites and the king of the Amalekites.

And he brings them as a people. And then he goes into Israel and fights against the people of Israel. And we're told that he gains possession of a particular city. It's called the City of Palms. Did you see that in verse 13?

The city of Palms. Now Deuteronomy chapter 34 tells us that the city of Palms is Jericho. Jericho. You remember what happened in Jericho. Those big, thick walls.

The city that was said to be impregnable. The Lord brings down, collapses that city by miraculous means. And then Joshua, the leader of the people of Israel, he curses that place and says, a curse that it will never be rebuilt again. Let those ruins and let those rubbles always testify to the power of God and the God of Israel. Every time Israel were to see the rubble there in Jericho, they were to remember the testimony that rubble represented, and that is that God is a powerful God, but no more, because now the Moabites have that city.

There's a testimony for them, a remembrance, a memorial that may have now been set aside. Let me tell you another one. In verse 19, when Ehud, the second of the judges that are before us, After giving the tribute to Eglon, the king of Moab, and then coming back and returning seemingly home, he sends the caravan, the people that were with him, away. And then he decides to go back to Eglon. But what is the city that he gets to before he begins to go back?

We're told it is Gilgal. Gilgal. And Gilgal should be a name that rings a bell in our minds. If you don't remember what took place here, it is okay. You can be forgiven that we've gone through so many names in the Old Testament that you may forgive.

But let me remind you what happened at Gilgal. Just after the people of Israel come over from the eastern side of the Jordan River and they enter into the Jordan River by miraculous means on dry land and find themselves on the other side, Joshua asks or commands men to take 12 stones from the Jordan. And to bring those stones to a place not very far from the Jordan River, to a place called Gilgal. And what does he do with those stones? He sets them up as a memorial.

A memorial to testify to the faithfulness of God. And in fact, that text tells us that Joshua tells the people of Israel He says that when your children ask of these things, when future generations ask, in other words, parents, it's your responsibility to teach future generations, you are to tell them that this is a testimony to the mighty hand of the Lord our God. And it's not only a testimony to the people of Israel. In fact, he says this is a testimony to all the peoples of the world, the earth. This now Jericho or the city of palms is under the rule of the Moabites.

And what are we told? It's an interesting detail. It's not that the rocks or the memorial that Joshua erected that defines that place anymore, but rather we're told idols or literally stone images pointing to Gilgal. And the thing that defines that place is stone images. That's what the enemy does.

He wants to get rid of anything and everything that points to the truth of God, all the testimonies. If you give him a chance, he'll burn your Bibles, he'll come into your home and burn all the verses you have on your walls. And brothers and sisters, it's not simply a case of binding you, but rather it is a case of removing all testimony that points to the good God of the universe. That's what He's out to do. If we neglect to teach our children, if we neglect to immerse our children in the Word of God, in the principles, in the commands, in the truth of the faith that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, that faith, the salvation that comes by grace through faith in the only Savior, in the only Savior Jesus Christ.

If we neglect to immerse them daily in the Word of God, you can't save them. But bring the word of God and bear upon them. Bring up a godly generation. Trust the Lord that he will save them and he saves them through means and through the means of the gospel, through the preaching and the faithful preaching of the word of God. If we neglect to teach our children what hope remains.

And then the people of Israel cry out in this state. In both cases we've got before us. They're in misery and the Lord has pity. And the Lord sends them a deliverer. And through him once again he teaches Israel war.

Guess what we're told? He takes and leads the people of Israel into war. Ehud, he takes the men of Israel and leads them into war and defeats 10,000 able-bodied men of Moab. He leads them into war, reminding Israel, this is a war. This is the problem you neglected to realize that this is a war and you need to be ready.

And the only way you can be ready is to embrace the word of God, fix your eyes upon him, your affections upon him, serve him alone, because he is the one who is your strength, both past, present and into the future. Teach your children these truths and never put your sword down. Ophniel was a brave man, no doubt, but the Bible tells us here in verse 10, the spirit of the Lord came upon him and that's why he was enabled to lead Israel. Look, I want you to realize as we walk through the book of Judges, these men are nothing special. That's a big statement.

Very likely by the time we get to the end, you've probably not once told your children that I want you to be like any of these judges. You're going to have a look and you're going to see these judges, these are fallible men, but they're serving an almighty good God. The reason why Ophniel was able to lead the people of Israel in defeat and defeat the pagan king of Mesopotamia was because he was filled with the spirit of the Lord. And let me tell you, Ehud was no special man either. He looked so brave.

But it's interesting that when he's introduced to us, he's introduced as a Benjaminite. And Benjamin literally means Ben Yamin, which means the son of my right hand. So it's a little bit ironic that the son of your right hand is introduced to us as a left-handed man. And it could derive, and you could derive from this text, that the author of the Book of Judges has a bit of a sense of humor. And I would agree with that, because if you continue to read the narrative of Ehud, It is pretty funny.

However, there's more to it than that. Because in fact, the first time we're introduced to Ehud, the fact, the word left, that he's a left-handed man in the original, not even there. He's introduced to us as a man who was restricted in his right hand. There's no mention of his left. The fact he cannot use his right hand, restricted or bound, means that he can only use his left.

Do you see the difference? It's very likely this man was a handicap. It's very likely he was disabled in that way, that he only had functional use of one hand. What good would a redeemer or a saviour for the people of Israel be if he can only use the one hand? That's a pretty good question.

I'll tell you what good he is. He's absolutely no good at all on his own. But when the Lord God, the Lord of the universe, the Lord God of Israel, the only true God, says, I want you for a purpose, and equips him by his spirit to accomplish that purpose, then no one can stand in his way, because our God's will and his plans cannot be thwarted. His hand cannot be stayed. That's what we need to learn from the book of Judges.

That these men are nothing to write home about. But the God of these men is. Oh, I can see I've gone way over. So let me end with this. The cycle repeats and repeats and repeats.

Israel will enjoy deliverance. But then we're told previously in the previous chapter, yet they do not listen to their judges. They enjoy the freedom that they have and the bit of peace that they've been given, but they don't listen to the judges. But then we're told, but they whore after other gods and bow to them. These generations, they see the mighty hand of God.

Is it a fact that they just simply keep forgetting? Is it that they just need to be nudged with reminders? Is it a fact that they need to have more memorials around the place to remind them over and again? It is a good idea, but let me tell you, there's a greater problem than that. The Old Covenant is a good covenant because the law of God is a good, wholesome law.

He's holy, and he is a God who cannot look upon sin. And he's covenanted with these people and he requires of them perfection and nothing short of perfection because nothing short of perfection can enter into his presence. The old covenant is a good covenant but this is the problem. It is impotent to deal with the core of the problem for which these people continue to commit apostasy. That's the problem.

And the temporal saviors, the deliverers that come, they may have a function in the Lord and the Lord will accomplish that, but they too are impotent to bring about the true salvation that requires something more than a leader, a simply directing the people in their path to do what is right in the power of the Lord. Beloved, the core problem and the reason for their apostasy is the heart. It's the heart. You see, the heart needs to be changed. There needs to be a heart transplant.

The heart is corrupt. It's desperately wicked. It's dark. It's in deep, deep, deep darkness. And no matter how much one speaks, that darkness cannot go away.

It cannot pervade it. You can proclaim the gospel and the word of God as much as you want. It needs something greater than that. God needs to move. You heard me say it many times.

God needs to move. Salvation cannot be found inherently in the Old Covenant, but the Old Covenant does point to the one in whom that salvation is found. Salvation cannot be found in any of the judges that we'll find in the Book of Judges, but every one of those judges was pointing towards someone greater to come. Beloved, something far greater than what we see before us to come in the new covenant, prophesied in the old. You remember the book of Jeremiah, where he says, and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you.

I will remove the heart of stone and the heart of flesh. I will give you a heart. Sorry, I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you. Listen to this.

and cause you to walk in my statutes and carefully obey my rules. What does it take to actually walk in the ways of the Lord? A brand new heart and His Holy Spirit. And the Bible teaches us that that only comes one way, and it's the one who says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.

Beloved brothers and sisters, no matter what the world says, there is only one Savior. There is only one way to salvation. There is only one way that any of us can stand before the holy God of the universe and not be crushed under the weight of his judgment, and that is if Jesus Christ has borne my sins upon the cross. And he said to me, come, for you are wrapped in my righteousness, because you have come to believe upon me. Let's pray.