so A place of quiet rest, near to
the heart of God. A place where sin cannot molest,
near to the heart of God. sent from the heart of God. Hold us who wait before Thee,
near to the heart of God. There is a place of comfort sweet,
near to the heart of God. A place where we our Savior meet,
near to the heart of God. O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent
from the heart of God, hold us who wait before Thee, near to
the heart of God. There is a place of full release
near to the heart of God, a place where all is joy and peace near
to the heart of God. O Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent
from the heart of God, hold us who wait before Thee, near to
the heart of God. Thank you. You may be seated. I would like to read Psalm 121. Psalm 121. A song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from
the Lord which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy
foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The
Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this
time forth and even forevermore. Our heavenly merciful Father,
we thank you, Lord, for allowing us to assemble together this
morning again, Lord. And from week to week, you continue
to allow these doors to be opened. And Father, we thank you for
this great opportunity. And it is such a rare blessing,
Lord, that we can hear every week the unsearchable riches
of our only hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, will you continue
to be with us and go with us into the unknown future? All
things are perfectly in your hands, and that we may look unto
the hills from whence cometh our help, which is you, Father,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, remember our pastor,
which you have sent here. We thank you for him. Continue,
Lord, to give him strength and health. And also, Sister Michelle,
continue to strengthen them, give them courage and all that
they need regarding their health and their strength and the courage
to go forward. We thank you, Lord, for allowing
him to stand before us each week and to rightly divide your word
and to allow us to sit here and listen to it. And remember them,
Lord, also in this coming week where they hope to travel, be
with them. Oh Lord, we think of our loved ones also. And Father,
all things are in your hands also with them. And would you
have mercy upon our loved ones, Lord? All things are possible
with you. And Lord, we know if you have
shed your blood for them, then you will also come for them and
you will quicken their hearts and give them a love for you
Lord, remember them in mercy. And we thank also Brother Scott,
Lord. Will you encourage his heart,
Lord, and give him comfort, which only you can give. And Lord,
perhaps soon he can once again assemble with us also. Remember
Sister Johnny, continue to give her strength and comfort. And
Lord, give us wisdom where we may help them also. Father, have
mercy upon us and bless our gathering. Remember Brother Eric as he hopes
to deliver a second message. Lord, encourage us, give us strength
for our souls, increase our faith, and that our eyes may once again
be turned and directed to our only hope, the Lord Jesus Christ.
For Jesus' sake alone, amen. As you remain sitting, let's
sing 262, trusting Jesus, 262. Simply trusting every day, trusting
through a stormy way. Even when my faith is small,
trusting Jesus at His all. Trusting as the moments fly,
trusting as the days go by, trusting Him whate'er befall, trusting
Jesus, that is all. Brightly doth His Spirit shine
Into this poor heart of mine. While He leads, I cannot fall,
Trusting Jesus, that is all. Trusting as the moments fly,
trusting as the days go by, trusting Him whate'er befall, trusting
Jesus, that is all. Singing if my way is clear, Praying
if the path be drear, If in danger for Him call, Trusting Jesus,
that is all. Trusting as the moments fly,
trusting as the days go by. Trusting Him what e'er befall,
trusting Jesus that is all. Trusting Him while life shall
last, Trusting Him till earth be passed, Till within the Jasper
wall, Trusting Jesus, that is all. Trusting as the moments
fly, trusting as the days go by, trusting Him whate'er befall,
trusting Jesus, that is all. Thank you. morning. And before I forget,
next week there's only one service. Brother Joe will be bringing
the morning message, the 1015 message, so we'll have just that
one service and pray for Brother Joe. Let the Lord bless him and
give him the strength to stand before you and preach the gospel
of Jesus Christ, which he's done faithfully every time I've heard
him and I'm thankful. for you, Joe, and I'm thankful
for Brother Scott and for your willingness to labor to bring
the word to your brethren that you brethren be fed. And then
the weekend after, we have Brother Darwin coming back and he'll
bring both messages, the 1015 and the 11 o'clock hour. So pray
for Brother Darwin and I'd imagine that Yvonne will be coming up
with him as well, so we look forward to seeing them and fellowshipping
with them. That will be the first Sunday
in June, so that'll be the week that we have the meal. So we'll
have a meal afterwards when they're here with them and send them
on their way. So pray about both of those. Michelle and I will be back then,
but it'll be nice because then I can have a nice time during
that week with Michelle and in California, Lord willing, it'll
be nice and enjoyable. And so there won't be a midweek
service for us on Tuesday. We won't have a message this
Tuesday, yes, but the following Tuesday, no, so. All right, returning to Judges
chapter 12, and we're gonna be looking at the
end of the chapter, which is verses 8 through 15. Now we've
just come through looking at Jephthah, the judge called Jephthah,
and we've had a lot of details about Jephthah. We've seen Jephthah's
calling. We've seen how the Lord used
Jephthah and the trials that Jephthah went through and the
victories that the Lord gave Jephthah. And he was a faithful
judge of Israel, but we're actually told in verse seven that he was
a judge for six years. All this happened in six years'
time. And then following Jephthah,
at the end of the chapter, we're then given an account of three
judges, and they're each very brief judges, although in reality
they actually were judges for a longer time, each of them,
than Jephthah. Jephthah was six years, and then
we have Ibsen, who was a judge for seven years, and then Elon
for 10, and Abdin for eight years. But we have very little details
of them. And they were all there longer as a judge, as a savior
of Israel, for a longer time. And so it's very easy when you
come to a passage like this in the scriptures to think there's
not a lot there to pass through it, to not really look for it,
but our Lord tells us that the scriptures are they which testify
of me. these scriptures testify of Christ. And while we don't have a lot
to glean from their deeds, per se, we are given a lot of instruction,
and we are taught the doctrine of Christ in their names, in
their lineage, and in their location. We'll see pictures of Christ
in these things, as well as a little bit from their deeds. So I've titled this three judges,
Ibsen, Elon, Abedin. Now the first judge that we meet
with is Ibsen, and we'll read verses eight through ten. It
says that after him, which is after Jephthah, Ibsen of Bethlehem
judged Israel. And he had thirty sons and thirty
daughters whom he sent abroad. and took in 30 daughters from
abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years,
then died Ibsen and was buried in Bethlehem. So the first thing
that stands out to us about Ibsen is where he was born, in Bethlehem. and so we as as being familiar
with the scriptures and knowing our savior who was born in the
flesh we recall wait a minute my savior was born in Bethlehem
and so the first of these three judges the first thing we learn
is that this one is from Bethlehem he was born in Bethlehem he lived
in in Bethlehem, actually, and the reason why that's important
is because we know that Christ, when he came, he had to fulfill
all scripture. He had to fulfill all righteousness. And so he fulfilled all the scriptures
in the Old Testament that were written concerning him, what
the Messiah would do, who he would be, what he would do, what
he would accomplish while he was here according to the scriptures. And the one that concerns Bethlehem
is Micah chapter five, verse two. I'll read it if you don't
think you can get there quickly. But Micah five two says, but
thou Bethlehem Ephrata. Bethlehem, because of where it
was situated between in Benjamin and Ephraim and Judah, the tribes
of Judah there. So Bethlehem Ephrata, though
thou be little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, and whose
goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. So that
this is the Son of God who has no beginning of days and no end. He is the eternal Son of God. And in Matthew, Matthew records
for us that Christ was born in Bethlehem. In fact, if you read
the Gospel of Matthew, what you notice is that Matthew's audience,
for whom he was writing in particular, were the Jews. So he takes a
great deal of time to show how that the Christ fulfilled, how
Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled these scriptures concerning Christ.
And so he tells us in Matthew 2 verse 1 that Jesus was born
in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king. Jesus
of Nazareth fulfilled all the scriptures concerning Christ,
all the prophecies, everything that God said that Christ would
do, Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled them all. He is the Christ of
God. Matthew records Micah's prophecy
as well in Matthew 2 verse 6, and thou Bethlehem, I want to
read this because it's important, thou Bethlehem in the land of
Judah art not the least among the princes of Judah for out
of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. So the first thing that we're
seeing here, that we're learning here, is not so much about Ibsen,
but as far as Ibsen is a type of Christ, a picture of Christ,
who was born in Bethlehem, it points to Christ who came, who
was born in Bethlehem. And Bethlehem means the house
of bread. the house of bread. And when
it says that the Messiah shall rule the people of Israel, if
you have a King James Version, in the margin, that word rule
means feed. He shall feed my sheep. The Messiah shall feed the sheep
of God, the people of Israel. So that when Christ came into
the world, He revealed to us all truth. He came and fed the
people. From the beginning of his ministry,
he began to preach the gospel, declaring unto the people that
the kingdom of God was at hand. That this was the day, this is
the hour, when God sent his salvation into the world. That the Christ
was now here. and he preached the gospel. John
6.48 speaks of him declaring him to be the bread of life. He, Christ Jesus, is the bread
of life. So that out of the house of bread
comes the bread of life. out of that house, out of Bethlehem,
which means the house of bread, comes forth the Savior, who himself
is the bread of heaven, the bread of life. He said that he is the
living bread which came down from heaven. He said in John
6.35, I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. And
again in John 6.51, I am the living bread which came down
from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. And
what the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching there is just as you
eat bread today, when you go home and you eat your lunch and
you have some vegetables and some protein and or starch, You're
eating to give yourself strength. You're eating for life. Eventually
you would die if you didn't eat anything. Well, Christ says we
eat his flesh. We feed upon him. And he's not
talking about the flesh. That is, we don't hear this in
the flesh, but his words are spiritual. Meaning that he is
our life. We have life with God because
of Christ. We believe on Him. We feed upon
Him. We're strengthened by Him. We're
nourished by Christ. We're kept alive by the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. He is all our food. He's all our bread. He's everything
we need for life. Looking to Him, trusting Him,
believing Him, you shall never fail. to inherit that life. You shall never come short because
He's all your bread and He's all your drink. He's everything. Everything. So we live upon Him. He's teaching us the very salvation
of God, that He is the salvation of God. When the people heard
him, they were astonished at his doctrine. They were amazed
at what he said because he spoke as one having authority. Because
he does. He has the authority of the Father
to come and to say and to do the things that he did. He fulfilled
all scripture. Believe him. Trust him. He is
the salvation of God. The bread that he gives is his
own body as the sin atoning sacrifice on the tree to put away your
sin. All who believe him, he is your
righteousness. He is your confidence. He is
your justification with God. All who believe him live. That's why he's the living bread.
That's why he is the bread that came down from heaven. He is
the bread that the Father has given to give you life who believe
him, who trust him. And he sends this gospel word
out into all the world to call his sheep, to bring them in. That's what it means when it
speaks of him being the world. It speaks to his dominion. There's
only one salvation. There is one great shepherd.
There's one who feeds the people and calls them to himself. And that's what's seen there
in Judges 12, verse 9. It's speaking of the gospel going
out and the people of God being called in. In Judges 12, 9, it
said that this Ibsen had 30 sons and 30 daughters whom he sent
abroad and took in 30 daughters from abroad for his sons. His daughter's going out is a
picture of the church. The church. And she goes out
carrying that word of life, which she has heard from her Savior.
And she brings that word out into the world. And then what
happens? All the daughters come back. The church is full. It's brought in through the preaching
of that word. And it blesses the brethren. It blesses the Lord's people.
Now, this name Ibsen, it means whiteness, like the whiteness
of tin, actually. It means whiteness, and we know
that speaks of our righteousness. that we're not made righteous
by our own works but we're made righteous by the Lord Jesus Christ. We're told that Christ gives
each of his children, each of his people, a white robe of righteousness. We're clothed not in our own
works of righteousness, we're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. He has fitted us with our wedding
garment. We are made acceptable unto God
by him in him. And so another thing that Ibsen
means is tin. It speaks of the tin. And so
the tin is a word that describes what we are by nature. It speaks
to our dross. It speaks to our sin. We were made in the image of
God. When God made Adam, he made Adam
in the image of God. But when Adam sinned, he fell.
and we come forth in the image of Adam. We come forth full of
dross, being corrupted and defiled and ruined by sin. Well, God
has promised in Christ to put away our sin, to put away that
dross, to purify us, to cleanse us, to purge us of the stain
of sin, to bring forth that whiteness of his righteousness. It says,
well, turn over to Isaiah 1. Let's see this description of
10. Isaiah 1. And let's look at verse 25 and
26. And then keep your finger in Isaiah because we'll come
back at a couple more verses in there later. So Isaiah chapter 1, verse 25,
and I will turn my hand upon thee. Now he's speaking to the
church. to the church. When did he turn his hand upon
us? Well, when we were in Christ and he turned his hand against
the shepherd. He smote the shepherd and so dealt with our sins, so
punished our sins and put them away. He says, I will turn my
hand upon thee and purely purge away thy dross and take away
all thy tin. He's taking away all that is
corrupt and defiled and ruined in us. He takes away our sin.
which is called Tin here, and I will restore thy judges as
at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning. Afterward,
thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful
city. And so that means that though
Israel went through days of darkness where all they did was dead works,
the Lord says, I'll give you pastors and teachers to feed
you with this gospel, to preach the gospel to you, to turn you
from dead works, to look to my son. I'll bless that word and
I'll teach you and instruct you. I'll deliver you from darkness.
I'll bring you into my kingdom clean and white and precious
and robed in righteousness, the righteousness of my son. So that
Paul tells us in Romans 5.19 that as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the righteousness of one many
shall be made righteous. And that's what Christ has done.
He has made righteous all his people. So Ibsen teaches us a
lot about Christ, about the mediator. We're instructed in the doctrine
of Christ. From Ibsen, we learn that Christ
is the Savior of the world. When he sent forth his daughters
into the world and he brought back daughters, he's the Savior
of the world. And don't be put off by that.
All that means is that God has provided one salvation. There is one name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. And so, there's not
many salvations. There's not many gods. There's
not many roads that lead to heaven. There is one narrow way. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
one door opened in heaven. That door is Christ. There is
one view. There's one window in Noah's
Ark that is looking into heaven. That is Christ. We know the Father
through Christ, only in Christ. He is the Savior. And when we
say he's the Savior of the world, when the scriptures say he's
the Savior of the world, it's speaking that there is one salvation
for Jew and Gentile. There's one salvation for male
and female. There's only one Savior that
God has given for the educated and the uneducated, for young
and old, for the rich and the poor. There's but one Savior.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what is meant by him being
the Savior of the world. And so What the Lord is speaking
of here as we come to Elon now is it's talking about his dominion. That his dominion stretches from
to the ends of the earth. To the ends of the earth, his
dominion is over all. There's one savior in the world. Look at verses 11 and 12. After
him, Elon, a Zebulonite, judged Israel. and he judged Israel
10 years. And Elon, the Zebulonite, died
and was buried in Ajalon in the country of Zebulon. So there's
really not a lot given to us here about Elon, except that
he's a Zebulonite. He's a Zebulonite. Now, the Zebulonites
were a seafaring people. Now, if you look in your map
in the back there, they look like they're landlocked. They
look like they're shut in and separated from the sea. And there's some descriptions
that where they think the cities were so that they say, well,
these people were just landlocked by the sea. And yet Jacob tells
us when he's blessing his sons, Jacob said, Zebulun shall dwell
at the haven of the sea. and he shall be for an haven
of ships." And what he's saying there is that Zebulun would benefit
greatly from seafaring trade with the peoples, with the nations,
the nations. So in spite of what the map says,
they stretched from sea to shining sea, from the Mediterranean over
to Galilee. And they touched so that they
had contact with the nations, with the nations. And so these
C's here are a reference to the Gentiles coming in, to the Gentiles
hearing this gospel, and it speaks to the dominion of Christ, which
reaches out to all the world. Turn back over to Isaiah chapter
11 now. Turn back to 11. We'll see here
that the C's are a reference for the Gentiles. Isaiah 11,
and we'll read from verses 10 through 12. And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people,
to which shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious. Glorious, those who never heard,
those who sat in darkness will see a great light, and they'll
be drawn to that light, to that ensign, which is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Though he's the son of David,
according to the flesh, he is his Lord, and he is the sign,
the ensign, which God has given to shine forth to the ends of
the earth, so that the Gentiles seek unto him and rest in him,
having never come under the law. Having no part with the law,
we are saved and delivered. How do you know how to live?
Christ. Christ teaches us. He gives us his spirit to teach
us and lead us and keep us and guide us so that we walk in him
by faith. By faith, looking to him, being
instructed of him. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second
time to recover the remnant of his people. which shall be left
from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush,
and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and, note this,
from the islands of the sea. So that, when speaking of the
lands around them, like Moab, and the Amalekites, and the Philistines,
or the Assyrians, or the Babylonians, you could get there by land.
But when you looked out over the Mediterranean, The Gentiles
were the islands of the seas. They were just people in far
distant lands. And he shall set up an ensign
for the nations and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the
earth. And so the Lord is telling us
by the prophet Isaiah, and there's other ones we could go to in
Isaiah 66 verses nine and 10, or 19 through 20, rather. We
could go there and it shows how that he sends out his gospel
into the world and then he brings him back. In fact, let's just
see that. Go over to Isaiah 66. We saw this when we finished
up our study not too long ago in Isaiah verse 19. Comes back to this same beautiful
picture of there being an ensign that God lifts up for the people.
He says, and I will set a sign among them, and I will send those
that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pole, and
Lod, that draw the boat to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar
off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory, and
they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles, And they shall
bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of
all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters,
and upon mules, and upon the swift beasts to my holy mountain
Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring
an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord. And
so the Lord sends this glorious gospel forth unto the nations,
and all the daughters come pouring back in. I'm pouring back in. So it's showing us, Elon is showing
us again, confirming the dominion of Christ, our King. It's his
dominion extends all the way. There's one savior in all the
world. Now Elon, that name means mighty,
mighty, and it's used also to describe the terebinth tree. I don't know the terebinth tree,
but... In how we would understand it,
it would be like an oak tree. A great, mighty oak tree. An
oak tree is a wonderful tree. It's strong, it's tall, it's
thick and round in its circumference. It's a mighty tree. And that's
because Christ is the mighty God. He's glorious. He's powerful,
all-powerful, all-wonderful, all-knowing. And He is the one
whom the Father chose to deliver His people in the day of vengeance. He chose Him to deliver His people.
Turn over to Isaiah 63. Isaiah 63. And we'll see a description of
our Savior who delivers His people. Who, at one and the same time,
delivers His people from their condemnation under the law, delivers
his people from their sin and their ruin, and at the same time
seals up and condemns all the rest of the inhabitants of the
world unto this day of vengeance of God. So verse one says, who
is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from Basra,
this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness
of his strength? He says, I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. This is Christ. He is our Elon. He is the mighty God who saves
his people by his own arm. Wherefore, we ask, art thou red
in thine apparel and thy garments like him that treadeth in the
wine fat? Meaning the grapes. And the grapes
in scripture are a picture of the wrath of God. And this one's
covered in the wine fat, the blood of the grape, because he's
traveled in the wrath of God. He says, I have trodden the winepress
alone. He did this for you and for me.
Who cannot save ourselves, who cannot deliver ourselves, who
cannot satisfy the just wrath of God, we would be there for
all eternity and never satisfy the perfect wrath of God. But
Christ went into the wine fat of the wrath of God for his people,
treading it alone for his people. and of the people there was none
with me for I will tread them in mine anger and trample them
in my fury and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments
and I will stain all my raiment so that the wicked are sealed
up to their to their judgment while the righteous while the
Lord's chosen people are healed and brought in by Christ He is
carried. He bore that wrath of God. So
it's not that we escape it. We went through the wrath of
God in Christ. He bore the wrath of God for us, for His people. For the day of vengeance is in
mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And so Christ is the mighty Savior
of God, sent to save His people from their sins. We are delivered,
and when He comes again, We shall be joined with him forever with
the Lord, and he shall destroy all our enemies and make all
things right before our eyes. We shall see it all and rejoice
in him. Now, in the death of Christ for
his people, we also see another thing. He is mighty, but we also
learn that he is the servant, the servant of God who took the
lowest place, who did that dirty, filthy work that we wouldn't
do, And we couldn't do it. We couldn't satisfy God. But
Christ came as a servant doing that, the work of the lowest
among us, so that he is the greatest among us. He laid down his life
for the rebels. Now, we see this Christ the servant
pictured in the final judge. Let's look at Judges 12, verse
13 through 15. And after him, Abedin, the son
of Hillel, a Pyrethanite, judged Israel. And he had 40 sons and
30 nephews that rode on three score and 10 ascots, which would
be 70. on 70 Ascolds. And he judged
Israel eight years. And Abedin, the son of Hillel,
the Pyrethonite, died and was buried in Pyrethon in the land
of Ephraim in the mount of the Amalekites. And so Abedin, his
name means serva. He is a picture of the servant
of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And our God tells us that in
Isaiah 41, verse one, he tells us, my servant you look to my
servant whom I uphold this is my salvation this is your savior
you look to Christ whom I have sent and the reason why we look
is because we're saved and delivered by his obedience him taking the
lowest place him doing the work of the servant which we could
not do now Abdin is also noted as the son of Hillel and Hillel
means praising or singing praising God, and singing. And because
of the obedience of God, and because of the obedience of Christ
as our Savior, as our mediator between God and men, we glorify
the Father. We rejoice in Him. We now are
brought to the Father and worship Him in spirit and in truth, rejoicing
in those hymns that we sing when we gather together. Think on
those things. We rejoice in what our God has
done for us in Christ, and He heals our hearts, and He comforts
us, and He blesses us to worship Him, to be comforted in and by
Him, so that we bow the knee before Christ, rejoicing in that
glorious name, which He has lifted up above every name, in heaven
and in earth. the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
who saved us. And he's also called a Pyrethanite,
a Pyrethanite. And what Pyrethanite, what it
means is princely. What it means is princely. So
that he is the prince. He is a prince and a savior for
the people of God. He is the king of kings and the
Lord of lords. So what you see in all these
descriptions is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was glorified
with the Father for all eternity, laid aside that glory to come
in the likeness of our flesh, yet was without sin. And He obeyed
the Father perfectly in all things. He came as a servant, not doing
His own will, not speaking His own words, not doing His own
thing, not doing and going where He would go, but He did what
the Father sent Him to do. And He spoke the words that the
Father gave Him to speak as a servant, being perfectly obedient to the
Father and gave His life and died and was buried and was raised
again by God and he returned to the Father. So that this glorious
servant is now praised and glorified as the mediator between God and
men. He's worshipped by the people
of God who rejoice in God and give him thanks and praise and
glorify the Father for what Christ has done. And his wisdom in sending
his Son and he is declared to be the King of Kings and Lord
of Lords. a prince and a savior for his
people. And so we see that there in Abednim. Paul wrote it this way, for ye
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty
might be rich. And so we have these three judges,
and there's not a lot seemingly that's said about them, and yet
we see through them how the Lord instructs us, how the Lord puts
our hearts and minds once again on his Son, whom he sent. to bless his people, to make
us meet for that inheritance with the saints. So rejoice in
him, brethren, be glad in him, and thank God to see him in the
scriptures for what he's done. Amen. All right, let's close in prayer.
And then we'll have one final hymn and then be dismissed. Our
gracious Lord, we thank you again for your grace. We thank you,
Lord, for showing us how that all the scriptures testify of
you. And that even in these seemingly
short descriptions of these three judges by whom you saved and
delivered and comforted Israel, so we see pictures of our Savior. who is our mighty God and our
deliverer and our savior, our husband, how you in wisdom send
forth your word to bless your people, to call us and deliver
us from death and darkness and bring us into the light of your
salvation. Lord, keep us. Keep us ever looking
to Christ. Bless us this day. Bless our
brethren who are here. Bless our brethren who are unable
to be with us. That you would comfort them,
and teach them, and bless them, and restore them unto us once
again in your might and power, according to your glorious wisdom
and power. It's in Christ Jesus' name that
we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 175, standing on the promises, 175. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King Through eternal ages let his praises ring Glory in
the highest I will shout and sing Standing on the promises
of God Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that
cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fears assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises
of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ
the Lord, Bound to Him eternity by love's strong cord, Overcoming
daily with the spirit's sword, Standing on the promises of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot
fall Listening every moment to the Spirit's call Resting in
my Savior as my all in all Standing on the promises of God Standing,
standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Thank you.