Redeemed by His blood, now worship
Him. We are chosen in His grace. Redeemed by His blood, now worship
Him. We are chosen in His grace, redeemed
by His blood, now worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Jesus Christ the
Lord. He is all our righteousness,
I stand in Him complete, now worship Him. He is all our righteousness,
I stand in Him complete, now worship Him. He is all our righteousness. I stand in Him complete. Now worship Christ the Lord. Worship Him, Jesus Christ the
Lord. Please be seated. I hope the Lord will give us
the grace to worship. That is a work of grace in the
heart. We can't just decide we're going to worship or work up worship,
but the Lord is pleased to speak to our hearts. We'll find ourselves
bowing before him and worshiping him. Let's open our Bibles together
to Hebrews chapter four for our scripture reading tonight. Hebrews
chapter four. And we'll begin reading in verse
10. For he that entered into his
rest, he also has ceased from his own works. He's quit trusting
in his works. Doesn't mean that the Lord doesn't
do good works in the lives of his people. He works in us, causing
us to will and to do after his good pleasure. But we've ceased
from trusting our works if we've entered into his rest as God
did from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner
of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Neither is there
any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are
naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great
high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of
God, let us hold fast our profession. What is our profession? Jesus
Christ is Lord. It is finished. For we have not a high priest,
which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly. And that word means confidently. Come before the throne of grace
confident that the Lord Jesus Christ has done everything necessary
for us to have acceptance before God. Let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. Fred Newman had his pacemaker
put in Monday and went home this afternoon, so he's doing better
and thankful for that. Let's pray together. Our gracious and merciful heavenly
father, our hope is that you will enable us by your spirit
to have a spirit of worship tonight, that your word would do its work
effectually in our hearts, discerning our thoughts and intents and
revealing to us our need for Christ and most importantly,
his glory his mercy, his grace, his accomplished work. We would
find ourselves looking in faith to him and resting all the hope
of our salvation in his glorious person and in his accomplished
work of redemption. We thank you for his shed blood.
We thank you for the forgiveness of sin. We thank you for the
hope of eternal life. Lord, we come thanking you that
your throne for your people is a throne of grace, that the law
has been satisfied, justice has been fulfilled, and that we have
the hope of grace at thy hand in thy dear son. We thank you
for Fred and pray, Lord, that you would continue to bring him
to full healing and return him back to worship here with us. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. Let's stand together again and
we'll sing hymn number 125 in your hardbacked hymnal, 125. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
in need is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me Thine
all at all. Jesus paid it all, All to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it clean, For now, indeed, I find Thine
power and Thine alone Can change the leper's spots And melt the
heart of stone Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe Sin had
left a crimson stain He washed For nothing good have I Whereby
thy grace to claim I'll wash my garments white In the blood
of Calvary's Lamb Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe synth
had left a crimson stain he washed it And when before the throne I
stand in hymn of lead, Jesus, my soul to save, my lips shall
still repeat, Please be seated. We're going to be back in the
first chapter of Judges tonight, if you'd like to turn with me
there in your Bibles, Judges chapter one. And hold your finger
there, mark that, and then turn with me to Hebrews chapter two,
because by way of introduction, I want to read passage of Scripture
here in Hebrews chapter 2. We come into this world spiritually
blind and spiritually dead. We're not able to believe God
until the Lord does a work of grace shining the light of the
gospel in our hearts and revealing to us his glory and giving to
us the faith to believe on Christ. And prior to that, we're held
captive, the scripture says, by Satan himself. Now, what our
Lord did when he came was that he destroyed the works of the
devil. He set the captives free. He told us that when we pray,
that we're to pray for the Holy Spirit. who will convict us of
sin because of our unbelief, of righteousness because the
Lord Jesus Christ has gone to be with his Father and is seated
at the right hand of God as all our righteousness, and of judgment
because the Prince of this world has been judged. When our Lord
bowed his mighty head on Calvary's cross and said, Amen, it is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. God's people were delivered by
his death. And here in Hebrews chapter two,
at verse 14, for as much then as the children are partakers
of flesh and blood, that's how we come into this world, partakers
of flesh and blood, inheriting the nature of our father, Adam,
He also himself likewise took part of the same, that through
death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is the devil. Our Lord destroyed death. He conquered hell. He put away sin. That's the success
of his work on Calvary's cross. And therein we find our hope.
Look what he goes on to say, "...and deliver them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."
Bound by unbelief. Bound by sin. That's really the nature of sin.
You know, people think every time you use the word sin, people
automatically think of some sort of bad behavior. The root cause
of all sin is unbelief. That's what our Lord said. I
just quoted that passage when he said he'll convict the world
of sin because they believe not on me. And so it's the fountain
of all of our bad behavior and everything else comes as a result
of unbelief. And that's what our Lord broke
the bondage of. Verse 16, for verily he took
not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of
Abraham. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. So that's
what he did. He took on him the nature of
a man. As we just read in Hebrews chapter
four, tried in all ways and tempted as we are yet without sin is
perfect, perfect humanity and perfect deity bound up in the
God man, able to stand in the presence of God and bear the
sins of his people and destroy the devil and death and make
reconciliation for us. for a teen, in that he himself
hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that
are also tempted." That word, succor, you know, means help.
He's able to come along beside of us and sympathize with us
and help us in our time of need. So here's the glorious, successful
work of Christ. He conquered death. He put away
sin. He destroyed the works of the
devil so that those for whom he died would not be held in
bondage to their unbelief, but would be given the grace to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and to have life. Now, we've seen time and time again,
I've titled this message Satan Conquered. Turn with me to Judges
chapter 1. Satan Conquered. I love the Old
Testament because these are all types and pictures and They're shadows of things that
are to come. And the Lord in these historical
events, real historical events, is illustrating for us the successful
work of Christ on Calvary's cross. And so it is. We saw Sunday how
that Judah Jacob's fourth son, Judah, whose name means praise,
was chosen of God to deliver the children of Israel from the
oppression of the Canaanites. And it reminds us of how our
Lord, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, came in order to deliver
us from all the enemies of God. And so Judah goes to battle. He leads the battle for the children
of Israel. And the first thing he's going
to conquer is a false Messiah, a false Christ. Now, you're probably
familiar with the word Adonai. It's the word Lord, and it's
always in lowercase when we read it in the Old Testament. It doesn't
necessarily relate just to our Lord. It means master or one who is
in control or one who's in charge. And there are those who have
this name, who've taken this name, representing who they believe
themselves to be. And when you find the word L-O-R-D
all in caps, which it most often is in the Old Testament, that's
the word Yahweh or Jehovah. That's the self-existent, immutable
nature of our God, the name that he gave to Moses at the burning
bush. So with that in mind, read here
with me in verse four. And Judah went up, and the Lord
delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand,
and they slew of them, in Bezek, 10,000 men. Now, Bezek was a
town. Translated, it means light. Light is the word Bezek here.
And they found Adonai Bezek, the Lord of Bezek, or the Lord
of light. This is a picture. This is what Satan presents himself
to be. He presents himself to be a minister
of righteousness and an angel of light. And yet in him is nothing but
darkness. So the very first thing that
we see in the book of Judges is that Satan is the master counterfeiter,
is he not? He's always wanting to represent
the things of God and particularly the things of Christ. And so
he presents himself as the light and yet in him is nothing but
darkness. And so the very first thing that
Judah does he conquers Adonai Bezek, the Lord of Light. Turn with me to 2nd Corinthians
chapter 11. 2nd Corinthians chapter 11. This is the devil's mode of operation. This is his, and he hasn't changed. He He presented himself to our
parents in the garden as one who was able to open their eyes.
If they would just disobey God, they could be like God. And so
he promised them something that he not only was not able to deliver,
but something that would do just the opposite. They became blinded
as a result of that. And all of us come into this
world spiritually blind as a result of that first lie that Satan
gave to Eve in saying to her, God knows in the day in which
you eat of the fruit that your eyes will be opened, the light
will be turned on, You'll know the difference between good and
evil, right and wrong. You'll be like God. You'll have
the power of free choice. You won't just be a robot living
in darkness under the authority of another. You'll have the light
in you. And of course, just the opposite
happened, and the same thing's true now. But here's the great
hope that we have, brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
the world to destroy the works of the devil. He said, I am the
light of the world. Light is coming to the world,
but men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their
deeds are evil. Look at me at 2 Corinthians chapter
11, and we'll begin reading at verse 13. For such are false apostles. Here's Adonai Bezek. started to say Adonai Zedek because
he was the king of Jerusalem and his name means Lord of Righteousness. And Joshua defeated him in the
10th chapter of the book of Joshua. So all of these chieftains, all
these kings of these cities are representative of of Satan and
the blindness that he brings into this world. And just as
Joshua is a picture of Christ, now Judah here is a picture of
Christ. Here's our hope. We look in faith
to the Lord Jesus Christ and the light of truth sets us free
from the lies and the bondage of the devil and of unbelief.
But look what he presents himself. Look at Look at 2 Corinthians
11 at verse 13. For such are false apostles,
deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ, and no marvel. These are the minions of the
devil. These are the false prophets. These are those who John warns
us of in 1 John 2, verse 1, when he says, try the spirits to be
sure that they are of God. Because there's a lot of lying
spirits and there's a lot of false Christ. But here's the
hope. When God delivers one of his
children from their idolatry, they can never go back to it.
Never go back to it. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into the angel of light. Here's Adonai Bezek,
the Lord of light. He's calling himself the Lord
of light. He's an enemy of God. He's the
enemy of the people of God. And the very first person that
Judah destroys is Adonai Bezek. Therefore, verse 15, it is no
great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers
of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
We ought not to be surprised. This is what he's been doing
from the very beginning. But here's the message that our
Lord is giving us in Joshua, in Judges chapter one, that our
Judah destroyed Adonai Bezek. He set his people free from the
lies of Satan and enabled them to see Christ in truth and in
light. Go back with me to Judges chapter one. And they found Adonai Bezek,
of Bezek. they slew the Canaanites and
the Perizzites and Adonai Bezek fled and they pursued after him
and caught him and cut off his thumb and his great toe. Now you read commentators on
this passage of scripture and they'll say well that was the
that was the practice of armies to keep the enemy from being
able to draw the bow or throw a spear or be able to run and
be able to fight in battle that would disable them permanently. And I'm sure there's truth to
that, but that's not the message here. The message here is that
the hand represents works and the feet represent walk. And in Exodus, when the Lord
gave Moses and Aaron, the the atoning blood sacrifice, Aaron
was to take the blood and anoint his thumb and his big toe and
his ear with that blood. So here's the gospel. Judah cuts off the thumb and
the big toe of Adonai Bezek. He shows the judgment of God
against those who trust in their works and trust in the way in
which they walk for the hope of their salvation. And what
a glorious hope that we have that it's the blood that opens
up the ear and enables us to hear the voice of God. It's the
blood of Christ that makes the works that we do with our hands
to be acceptable in his sight. It's the blood of Christ that
makes our walk acceptable to Him. We walk by faith, not by
sight. We're not looking at our works. We're looking at Christ. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
14. We looked at this passage recently. I want to go to it
again. Isaiah chapter 14. Satan has not changed his tactics. Child of God, you've been free. You're not under those lies. You see the truth of what the
Lord Jesus Christ did and you rejoice in him because he defeated
him. And by his blood, he cut off
your thumbs and your big toe in that you don't trust in the
way you walk and in the things that you do for the hope of your
salvation. And he's anointed those things with the blood of
Christ. Look at Isaiah chapter 14. We'll
begin reading at verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? Son of the morning? What is the
morning? The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the morning star. He's the sun that rises in the
east and sets in the west. And God has made a circuit for
him so that the whole earth sees his glory. And yet Satan is called
here. Well, we just saw he's called
the minister of light or angel of light, minister of righteousness.
Now here he's called, he's called the son of the morning. How art
thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations
for thou has said in my heart, I will ascend them to heaven.
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit
also among the mount of the congregation and the sides of the north, and
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like
the Most High." And there was a time, there was a time when
we were under his dominion and our attempts were to be like
the Most High. And yet, Thank God for the accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's destroyed the works of the
devil. He set us free from that lie. We're able to believe on
Christ. We're able to see the light of
the gospel in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ for what it
is. We never could before. Look at
verse 15. Yet thou shalt be brought down
to hell to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly
look upon thee and consider thee saying, is this the man that
made the earth to tremble and did shake kingdoms? Now there's
the voice of the child of God that's been free. Is that the
one? He's the false Messiah. He's the false light, the false
minister of righteousness who would have us look to the works
of our hands and to the walk of our life for the hope of our
salvation. And here, Judah, go back with
me to our text. Light has come into the world,
brethren. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. They won't come to Christ. won't come to Christ
because the Lord Jesus Christ robs them of the hope of their
salvation and robs them of their glory. And God's people who have
had the light shined in their hearts rejoice, rejoice in not
being able to trust in the works of their hands or the walk of
their lives for their salvation. Turn me to John chapter 3. Verse 19, and this is the condemnation. Light is coming to the world
and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. And that's not just talking about men not coming
to Christ because they want to continue in some sort of bad
lifestyle, some sort of shameful behavior. That's talking about
men's righteousness. I mean, there are people who
have no interest in the gospel because they're indulging themselves
in the pleasures of the flesh and would never want to even
think about God. But it's much more than that,
isn't it? It's men whose righteousness
God calls evil. The gospel refers to our righteousness
as our filthy rags. And that's what men won't have.
It won't come to the light because all their deeds, even their religious
deeds, even their presumed good deeds, even the deeds that men,
you know, boast in them for, are evil. And men won't have
that. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be exposed or reproved for what they are. And when God
brings you, when God slays your Adonai Bezek, and he, and I want
to say he cuts off our thumbs and toes, but he anoints them
also, doesn't he? He covers them with the blood
of Christ. Here's the works of the devil being cut off. And
here's our thumbs and our toes being anointed with the sacrificial
lamb. And we're thankful. God's people
rejoice in being called a sinner. They're thankful that God has
made them to be sinners, that they see themselves for what
they are, because that's the only hope they have, to have
Christ for all their righteousness is for them to have none. And
that's what our Lord's saying here. They don't want their deeds
to be reproved. They don't want their righteousness
to be exposed for what it is, unrighteousness in the presence
of God. And yet that's what happens.
It's what happened to Isaiah. When Isaiah found himself in
the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, high and lifted up, and
the seraphim hovering over the throne of God, crying, holy,
holy, holy, what did Isaiah say? Woe is me. I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
live among a people. My eyes have seen the king. I'm
a dead man. What'd the Lord do? He took a
hot coal from off the altar and touched his lips. He atoned for
his sins. Men go about trying to atone
for their own sins, and God calls those things evil. We find ourselves
thankful that the Lord has exposed us for what we are. Everyone,
look at verse 21. But he that doeth truth cometh
to light. What is it to do truth? It's
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. is to rest in Him, is
to know that the works of His hands, and the works and the
walk of His feet, and the ear that He had, and the voice that
He spoke, and the blood that He shed, the life that He laid
down is your life. That's what it is to do the truth. And those who do the truth come
to the light. They come to Christ. What did
Adonai Bezek do? He fled. What do they say? You can run, but you can't hide.
You know, that's what he was doing. He was running from Judah
and the army of Israel, and they caught him. They caught him. Now I see in here a picture of
God's elect as well. You can't run from God, can you?
And aren't you thankful? Aren't you thankful? You know,
the Lord The Lord pursues us with the irresistible grace,
and he turns us, and he makes us to believe, and he knocks
us just like he did Saul of Tarsus off our high horse of self-righteousness,
and puts our face in the dirt, and causes us to cry out from
our heart, Lord, what would you have me to do? Who art thou,
Lord? I'm Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou
persecutest. Oh, Lord, help me, save me. This is his, this is what he
did. He came to destroy Adonai Bezek,
the Lord, the one who called himself the Lord of Light. It's
the Lord Jesus that's the Lord of Light. Let's read on here.
But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds
may be manifest, that they are wrought in God. I love this word wrought. We use it when we talk about
rotting iron. And we use heat and pressure
and hammer to fashion a very plain piece of iron into something
beautiful. And that's what the Lord does
with his people. He rots the works in them. Sometimes there's some hammering,
sometimes there's some heat, but he's fashioning something
that he gets the glory for. And God's people know that whatever
work that he's done, he did it. He did it. They were wrought
in God. Lord, what works? When did we
do those things? Isn't that what the sheep say
on the day of judgment? Lord, when did we do those things?
We don't take notice of them, but the Lord's wrought in the
work and he wrought the work of faith. And sometimes that
work, well, say sometimes all the time, that work has to be
wrought out by the spirit of God. Look at chapter one in verse four, in him was life,
And the life was the light of men. And the light shined in
the darkness. The darkness comprehended it
not. Oh, the darkness is still, is
still bowing to Adonai Bezek. But our Judah has cut his hands. He's cut his thumbs and toes
off. He showed us what his work is. The light has come into the world. You're there in John, turn over
just a few pages to John chapter 8. Verse 12, then spake Jesus again
unto them saying, I am, I am. There's that word, there's that
capital L-O-R-D. Yahweh, Jehovah, I am the light
of the world. Those that, that, that aims,
that, that, that devil that presents himself as an angel of light
is really bringing darkness just as he brought darkness at the
beginning. But I've come into the world that I might bring
light into the world. And he that follow with me shall
not walk in darkness, but how shall have the light of life. The light of life shall have
the light of life. What a promise, what a promise
to the people of God. Our Lord has destroyed the works
of the devil. He's given us faith to believe
on Christ. And if we don't believe it's
because we're still in bondage to him. Turn back with me to
Matthew chapter six, Matthew chapter six. Look at verse 22. The light of
the body is the eye. Now the Lord's going to, he's
going to use again the physical body to illustrate a great spiritual
truth. And he said, the light of the
body is the eye. If therefore that I be single,
thy whole life shall be full of light. What is it to have
a single eye? is to look to Christ alone for
the work of your salvation, is to look to him alone for the
hope of having your sins put away and atoned for, is to look
to his shed blood and his perfect life of obedience, is to look
at his resurrection from the dead and ascension to the Father
and seated at the right hand of God. It's resting in his finished
work. And so if the I be single, we've
got one person, one Lord, one God and father of us all. We're
looking only to him. It's not Christ plus, my will
or my works or my knowledge or anything else. It is Christ alone. Don't you love it on the Mount
of Transfiguration when Peter, James, and John saw Elijah and
Moses there appear with the Lord Jesus and the Lord spoke with
them those things concerning his death at Calvary's cross.
What was he gonna do? He was gonna fulfill the law
and he was going to be the yea and amen of all prophecy. That's Moses and Elijah. And Peter said, Lord, let us
build three tabernacles. And, oh, he, he came up off the
ground and as scripture says, and he saw only Jesus. That's all he saw. The Lord Jesus
Christ was the only one standing there. Moses and Elijah, those
all been satisfied, all been fulfilled. Look at, look at verse,
Look at verse 23 in our text, in Matthew chapter 6. But if
the eye be evil. Now, you look up that word evil,
and it means full of labors. That's what that word translated
means, full of labors. And so if we're looking to what
we've done with our thumbs or where we've walked with our feet,
then if our Adonai Bezek has not had his toes and thumbs cut
off, then our eye is full of labors. The whole body shall
be full of darkness, not light. And if therefore the light that
is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? No one is more
blind than the one who thinks he can see when he can't. That
was the problem with the Pharisees when our Lord told them he was
the light of the world. And they came and they said,
are you saying that we're blind? And what did the Lord say? Oh, if you were, you're children
of the devil, he's got you blinded. And if you could see that you
were blind, your sins would be forgiven you, but because you
say that you can see, therefore your sins remain. Lord, you're gonna have to, you're
gonna have to destroy Adonai Bezek for me. You're gonna have to anoint just
like you did for Aaron, my thumbs and my toes. Go back with me
to Judges chapter one. Verse six, Adonai Bezek fled
and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and
his great toes. And Adonai Bezek said, three
score and 10 kings having their thumbs and their great toes cut
off gathered their meat under my table as I have done so God
hath requited me and they brought him to Jerusalem and there he
died. You know what this tells me? That all men know that there
is a just God that demands justice. What is Adonai Bezek saying?
He's saying, in my life, I have conquered 70 kings, and every
single one of them, I cut their thumbs and their toes off, and
I made them eat the crumbs like a dog that fell from my table. And now I'm getting my just due. What goes around comes around.
Justice is finally being satisfied in my life. Was it? You see, he thought he was atoning
for his sins. The things that he had done to
others was now being done to him. And he thought, well, God's
exercising his justice against me. No, he died. He died right there in Jerusalem. Yes, justice must be satisfied. But us suffering the consequences
of our own sin is not gonna atone for them. Not gonna atone for
them. Only the shed blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ will be sufficient to atone for our sins. Having
our thumbs cut off is not gonna atone for our sins. Only having
them anointed like Aaron did. Turn with me to Exodus chapter
29. Let's look at that passage real
quick. Exodus chapter 29. Look at verse Verse 19, and thou shalt the
Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron about making the atonement and
thou shalt take the other ram and Aaron and his son shall put
their hands upon the head of the ram, symbolizing the transfer
of guilt, the transfer of sin. This is what Hebrews chapter
6 is talking about when it talks about the laying on of hands.
It's not talking about, you know, the practice of transferring
some blessing to someone by putting your hands on them. I like what
Mr. Spurgeon said when he said, what
good is it going to do you for me to put my dirty hands on your
dirty head? You know, that's not the laying
on. This is the laying on of hands. This is where God laid
his hand on that ram, that sacrificial lamb, and transferred the sins
of his people onto him. This is the scapegoat. And look at verse 20. Then thou
shalt kill the ram and take of his blood and put it upon the
tip of the right ear of Aaron. Without the atoning blood, he'll
never be able to hear the voice of God. He'll never be able to
hear the gospel. And so it is with you and me.
The Lord doesn't take the blood of this lamb and put it on our
ear. Our ears will stay stopped. We'll
not understand the things of God. We'll not hear the voice
of God. We'll not believe the things that we'll not believe
on Christ. We'll remain in our sins. And upon the tip of the right
ear of his sons and upon the thumb of his right hand and upon
the great toe of his right foot and sprink of the blood upon
the altar roundabout. Here's what this is a picture
of in Judges. Adonai Bezek had his thumbs and
his toes cut off. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
destroyed the works of the devil. Light has come into the world.
And though men love darkness rather than light because their
deeds are evil, when God takes the light of the gospel and shines
it in the heart of his people, he causes them to see that they
were being deceived in thinking that somehow their works, what
they did with their hands were earning them favor with God.
And now they know that only the work of Christ can give them
rest and hope. Turn with me to Genesis, Galatians
chapter four. Galatians chapter four. Look at verse 21. Here's to those
who have not had the thumb and the toe anointed by the blood
of Christ. Here's what the Lord has done
for his people when he delivers them from the bondage of the
devil. Notice in verse 20 that Paul
says, I stand in doubt of you. Why? Because they were entertaining
these Judaizers who were suggesting, not just suggesting, but preaching
that in addition to Christ, you also had to, you also had to
have the works of the law in order to be made right with God.
They were mixing law and grace. And you mix law and grace and
it's a legalistic gospel. It's a works gospel every time.
Paul said, if you listen to these men and believe what they're
preaching, it's only evidence that you've not been saved. Tell
me you that desire to be under the law. Do you not hear the
law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, and the one by
a bondmaid and the other by a free woman. But he was of the bondwoman,
was born after the flesh, but he after the free woman was by
promise, which things are an allegory. For these are the two
covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage,
which is Hagar." Here's the bondage, the bondage of the law. Satan
uses the law. He's called a minister of righteousness.
He's called an angel of light. He's promoting morality and legalism
and religion. You know, people think of the
devil as some sort of, you know, grotesque figure that is always
going to manifest himself in some sort of horribly evil way. No. No. No, he manifests himself as Adonai
Bezek, the Lord of Light. He promises to give light and
life. He's trying to copy the Lord
Jesus Christ. These things are an allegory
of the two covenants. Look at verse 25. For this Hagar
is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which
now is, and is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem
which is above is free. It's free. Oh, here's what Judah
did. He set Israel free from Adonai
Bezek. He destroyed the works of the
devil. He slew this man. And no, let's go back to our
text. I wanna see one more thing before
we close. Verse eight, now the children
of Judah had fought against Jerusalem and had taken it and smitten
it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. Now
this is a reference back to what Joshua did. Notice it's in the
past tense. The Lord is putting this parenthetical
reminder of what had happened under the leadership of Joshua,
who's also a picture of Christ, who delivered the city from these
pagan nations. And afterwards, the children
of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites that dwelt in
the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley. And Judah
went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron. Now, the name
of Hebron before was Kirjath Arba. And they slew Shishah,
and Ahimon, and Taumeh. These were those pagan kings.
By the way, The word Kirjath Arba means the city of the book. And I think, you know, this is
the area of Jerusalem. Hebron is right there and west
of Hebron is where he's talking about here. This is where Jerusalem
was. This is the city of God. The
Lord's gonna deliver his city. The names of these people are
written in a book. This is the Lamb's book of life.
And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debor. And the name of Debor before
was Kirjoth Cipher. And Caleb said, he that smiteth
Kirjoth Cipher and taketh it to him, will I give Asa, my daughter,
to wife. Now I know Caleb is a picture
of the church. He's the faithful dog that came
with Joshua across the Jordan into the promised land. But don't
you see here that he's a picture of God the Father who is saying,
if any man conquer that city, I'll give him my daughter. And
the Lord Jesus Christ, just like Caleb said, By the way, Othnial
is the one who conquers the city, and that's Caleb's brother. And
he's also the first judge that's come up in Judges chapter 3. And Caleb, you remember, in Joshua
chapter 15 said, give me that mountain. He said, my strength
is not abated. I believe God just as much now.
You know, so many people read that and they think of Caleb's
talking about his physical strength because he goes to war. But here's
the truth of it. As we grow in grace and the knowledge,
Caleb believed God more at 80 years old than he believed him
when he was 40 or 20 or however it was when he went in the promised
land. He just kept believing God. That's what faith does.
Faith keeps believing God. And faith believes God more now
than it ever believed God before. And Caleb says, if any man conquers
that city, I'll give him my daughter. God the Father said, you conquer
that city of Jerusalem, I'll give you my daughter. The daughters
of Jerusalem, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Othniel,
the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it and he gave
him Axa, his daughter to wife. All these are a picture of what
the Lord Jesus Christ did when he conquered the grave and conquered
death and delivered his people from the bondage of sin, which
in essence is the complete inability to believe God apart from our
Lord setting us free. Our Heavenly Father, bless your
word to our hearts and keep us looking in faith to Christ. For
it's in his name we ask it. Amen. Number 36. Let's stand together. Number
36. Fortress is our God, a bulwark
never failing. Our helper, he amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe, doth
seek to work us woe. His breath and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate. On earth is not his heat, ? In our own strength confined
? ? Our striving would be losing ? ? Were not the right man on
our side ? ? The man of God so choosing ? ? Thus past who that
may be ? ? Christ Jesus ? Lord Samaoth his name, from age
to age the same, and he must win the battle. And though this world with devil's
filth should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God hath
willed His truth to triumph through us. The Prince of Darkness, grim,
we tremble not for Him. His rage we can endure. For lo, His doom is sure, One
little word shall tell Him, That word above all earthly powers,
No thanks to them abideth. The Spirit and the gifts are
ours, through Him who with us sideth. Let good and kindred
go, this mortal life also, the body they may kill. God's truth abideth still, His
kingdom is forever.