Good evening, let's all stand
and begin our evening service by singing Abide With Me, number
75, Abide With Me. Abide with me, fast falls the
eventide. The darkness deepens, Lord, with
me abide. When other helpers fail and comforters
flee, Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me. Swift to its closing fell life's
little day. Earth's joys grow dim, its glories
pass away. ? Change and decay in all around
I see ? ? O thou who changest not abide with me ? ? I need thy presence every passing
hour ? ? But thy grace can foil the tempter's
pow'r ? ? Who like thyself my guidance they can be ? ? Through
cloud and sunshine, O abide with me ? ? Hold thou thy word before my
closing eyes ? ? Shine through the gloom and point me to the
skies ? ? Ends morning breaks and earth's faint shadows flee
? In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me. Good evening. A scripture reading is from Psalm
16. Psalm 16. Preserve me, O God,
for in thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto
the Lord, thou art my Lord. My goodness extendeth not to
thee. But to the saints that are in
the earth, and to the excellent in whom is all my delight, their
sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god. Their
drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their
names into my lips. The Lord is the portion of mine
inheritance and of my cup, Thou maintainest my lot. The lines
are fallen unto me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a goodly
heritage. I will bless the Lord who hath
given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in
the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before
me because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad,
and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh also shall rest in hope,
for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer
thine holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life, and thy presence's fullness of joy. At thy right hand, there
are pleasures forevermore. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for gathering us together
tonight, Lord, to hear your word, to hear Christ, to be refreshed
in our spirit and, Lord, in our hearts and minds, in our soul,
that we would be strengthened by the Lord Jesus Christ. Father,
thank you for this place where we can meet. We thank you Lord
for the brethren that we have in this body here. Lord, we,
we thank you because we are gathered together by you in your name
for your glory, your praise, and your honor. And Lord, we
think of our brethren who are sick and those that, that, that
listen in and those that attend and those that are interested
in this work here. We pray, Lord, for those that
are sick, those that are hurting, those that have wounds and difficulties
and are struggling to get better. Lord, we pray that you would
look upon their situation, that you would look upon them, Lord,
that you would heal them, that you would be merciful, Lord,
to heal their bodies, to make them whole, to give them strength
and health, and to be able to be here as often as they indeed
desire to be here. And Lord, We know that you are
wise and sovereign overall, and you do all things well according
to your will. And so, Lord, we pray that if
it be your will, you would indeed heal them and restore them to
us. And those, Lord, that are struggling
to get better and be more self-sufficient, we pray that you would help them,
Lord. that they would be able to move
about and do the things that they need to do and getting to
the doctor and such. I think of my Aunt Marion in
this regard, especially. And Lord, we thank you for this
work here. We pray, Lord, that you would
indeed bless it, that you would cause your people who are sitting
in darkness and have no light who don't even know that they're
in darkness or in prison. Lord, we pray that you would
move your spirit upon this people in this area, and that you would
call out your people out of darkness, that you would gather them together
here, and that you would be pleased, Lord, to instruct and teach my
heart, and that you would instruct and teach the hearts of your
people, because we know, Lord, If the Lord does not keep the
city, the watchman watches in vain. But Lord, we are so thankful
for that which you've done here and that which you've given to
us. We bless and praise your name because we know that you
are good and perfect and right in all your ways. And Lord, we
pray that you would indeed continue to establish the churches in
our nation and in our world that you would give our leaders wisdom,
and that you would do that which is right and just in this world,
and that you would indeed execute and implement your will and purpose
in the earth, because we know it's all for good. It's all to
the praise, glory, and honor of your name. Thank you, Lord
Jesus. It's in your name we pray and
give thanks. Amen. All right, brother. Let's sing 340 near still near
340 Nearer, still nearer, close to
thy heart. Draw me, my Savior, so precious
thou art. Fold me, oh, fold me close to
thy breast. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. nearer, still nearer, nothing
I bring but as an offering to Jesus my King. Only my sinful, now contrite
heart Grant me the cleansing thy blood doth impart. Grant me the cleansing thy blood
doth impart. Nearer, still nearer, Lord, to
be Thine. Sin with its follies I gladly
resign. All of its pleasures pumped and Give me but Jesus, my Lord crucified. Give me but Jesus, my Lord crucified. Nearer, still nearer, while life
shall last. Till safe in glory my anchor
is cast Through endless ages ever to be Nearer, my Savior,
still nearer to Thee. Nearer, my Savior, still nearer
to Thee. Thank you. There you go. I really enjoyed
those hymns. They were nice. Have a blessing. All right, take your Bibles and
turn to the book of Judges, chapter 1. Judges, chapter 1. I want to look at verses 16 through
36. So that means we'll be going
to the end of the chapter. And what we have here is a series
of mini accounts which take place as the tribes of Israel are taking
possession of their inheritance, as they're coming into the land
and they're defeating the enemies that are there and pushing them
out, driving them out from their land to take possession of it.
And when you read this portion of scripture, you'll see that
there's portions that seem rather insignificant and others that
seem a little deeper and more important. And when you take
these as a whole, when you look at it, you'll notice that there's
a struggle. And there's a weakening of the
body, if you will, of the flesh. You see the decay. in the tribes of Israel. You
see this breakdown that occurs. And as we go through the accounts,
you'll see portions of it will meet characters that we've all
met at some point in our lives. And you'll even see yourself,
and you'll see reflections and portions in there that picture
you and speak to you more deeply. And as we go through and look
at others, we see experiences of great highs in the Lord, where
we feel lifted up. and near to the Lord and see
victories by the Lord in our lives. And then we see low lows
and times of just shame in ourselves and weakness in ourselves that
touch us and remind us of the weakness that we are in ourselves. And as we see Israel here and
we see their struggles and we see their times of unbelief so
that they can't do the things that they would, we're reminded
of our Lord when speaking to his disciples who said, oh fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. And we see that in ourselves. And so we'll step through these
pictures, these accounts, in the order that they come to us
in the scripture here. But in life, they may come to
us in a different order and in a different time or in a different
frequency or cadence, how it comes to us and in different
degrees. But one thing that we see as
we go through this is how that our flesh, as we go through life,
believing on the Lord, calling upon the Lord as the people of
God, we see the weakness of this flesh. We learn how corrupt this
flesh is and how defiled and vile it is. and how precious
the Lord is made to us and how thankful we're made for our Lord
Jesus Christ, that he is our inheritance, that he is our great
possession, which we'll take in that day when we awake in
that resurrection morning and see his face. and enjoy, rise
up to be forever with our Lord. And so as we see the decay and
as we see the change and the weakness of this flesh, we're
so thankful that Christ is made more precious to us and made
more needful to us because that's a blessing. That's a blessed
thing that our God does for us. And so I've titled the message,
Our Need Appears. Our Need Appears. So let's look
at this series of events in these scriptures here. And we'll begin
in verse 16. Here it says, and the children
of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm
trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah,
which lieth in the south of Arad, and they went and dwelt among
the people." Now you'll notice as you read The Old Testament,
and you read these scriptures, especially the historical ones,
there's mention made of the family members of Moses' father-in-law. They just come up at various
times, and it's usually very short. There's some longer accounts,
as we'll get to in the Book of Judges, of one of their wives
and how she delivers and implements judgment. in Israel, but they're
a rather hard people to figure out. They mingle with the people
of God. They come near to the people
of God so often. And you see them around, and
they're nearby, and they seem to go with them. And sometimes
they say they're not going to go, and then they end up going. And it's just an interesting
bunch of people that are very hard to figure out. because they're
always maintaining their difference. There's always a separation between
them and the people of God, even though they're near them and
in their midst. And while there's some accounts
that show some promise of them, and you're hopeful that maybe
they did just marry in and become one with the people of God there,
we see that We're not sure whether they're of the remnant of the
Lord's people. And they're just there, but they're
not there. They're not part of it. And the Lord, we see, we meet
other people in the scriptures that are so near to the truth,
and yet never come to a knowledge of the truth. And there was that
scribe that the Lord was speaking to, when he heard him answer
discreetly. And he said, thou art not far
from the kingdom of God. And that's not the place that
we want to be. We don't want to be not far from
the kingdom of God or very near to the kingdom of God. Our hope
is that We're in the kingdom of God, covered by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we are citizens of that heavenly
kingdom made so by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we are blood born of our Lord and Savior and are one with Him
and His people. And so in Revelation, our Lord
was talking to one of the churches there, and he said in verse 15
and 16, well, Revelation 3, 15 and 16, he tells them, I know
thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert
cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. And
we meet people like this in our lives and we talk to people and
there's a hope. because they show some interest,
and they're certainly not driven away or put off by us. And perhaps this was even us
at some point in our lives, listening, open to listening, but not really
part of it. We seemed near and close, but
weren't found in the kingdom. But by the grace of God, he delivers
his people from that lukewarm, indifference to whether or not
we know the Lord or we don't know the Lord. And it's only
the grace of our God that takes us from that indifference and
brings us in to his kingdom. And I pray that the Lord, when
he looks upon his people, that he sees us hot with his spirit. You know, what are those goggles? What are they, like a thermal
vision where they pick up body heat? I pray that the Lord, when
he looks upon his people here, he sees the heat of his sun,
the warmth of his sun filling the hearts of his people who
love the Lord and rejoice in him and in his kingdom with his
people. Now, in verse 17 through 19,
it begins to talk of the exploits of Judah and Simeon together. And you'll see now that Judah
here, along with all the other tribes that are spoken of, and
most of them are mentioned. Most of the 12 tribes are mentioned
here in this passage. But you'll notice now that these
take on a type of the church, a type of the people of God. And you'll see the tribes or
you'll even meet individual believers here. And on the other hand,
it speaks a lot of the Canaanites, a lot of the tribes that they're
driving out. We'll see the Amorites and the
Jebusites and the Canaanites and the Philistines weren't there
yet, but we see these other tribes that are there. And Most often,
if not every time, we see how that they are a picture of our
sin, of the wickedness of this flesh, that which is vile and
sinful and wicked, and the passions
of this flesh. They're pictured in these tribes
which are being driven out from the land by the grace of our
God. And so it says in verse 17, and
Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites
that inhabited Zepheth. Zepheth means a watchtower. And
utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was
called Hormah, or devotion. Also Judah took Gaza, that is
the strong, with the coast thereof, and Ascalon, which is I shall
be weighed, I shall be weighed, with the coast thereof, and Ekron,
which is to eradicate or rip up by the roots. And they took
that with the coast thereof. And the Lord was with Judah,
and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain. And so you see
there how that the Lord being with Judah and Simeon there,
they brought down that which was a strong tower. And all of us, by nature, have
a strong tower which is fortified and raised up and built up. And it's our lives which we trust
in, the wisdom of this flesh which we trust in, which must
be taken down. And the Lord takes that which
we are devoted to and trust and he destroys that in his people
so that we forsake that which we once trusted in and gave our
lives for. And he takes that which is our
strength and brings it to nothing. And we're found wanting when
we're weighed. And like Ekron there, it's all
ripped up by the roots and destroyed. That root of bitterness and wickedness
in the Lord's people is destroyed by the grace of our God. And
so we see that the Lord was with Judah and drave out the inhabitants
of the mountain, but could not drive out the inhabitants of
the valley because they had chariots of iron. Now we see here in this,
there on the mountaintop, those great highs. And we've experienced
those when we've had wonderful times with the Lord, where the
Lord is teaching us, and we're growing, and we're thankful,
and the things that troubled us and bothered us for so long
seem to be driven out and eradicated and just pushed aside and have
no more power over us. And then we see the lows in the
valley where we're brought to times of darkness and sadness,
and we're overcome by our enemies, and we're brought low again. So we see this description of
the believer who, by the grace of God, overcomes the enemies
of our hearts and minds and the things which trouble us and cause
us to stumble. And we see such powerful displays
of the accomplishments here of Judah when on the mountaintop,
or when on the mountain, that's where the Lord was with Judah.
And he handily defeated his foes. And then down in the valley,
we see the dark times in the believer's life, times when they're
brought low due to unbelief. it seems everything they do is
rendered ineffectual and weak and cannot drive out that which
troubles them and instead they seem overwhelmed and ineffectual
against the weapons of the enemy. It said Judah could not drive
out the inhabitants of the valley because they had chariots of
iron. Do you recall when Israel was
going out in the exodus from Egypt, and do you recall how
that Egypt came after them with chariots of iron? And what does
the Red Sea tell us about their chariots of iron? It tells us
that they weren't able to overcome the Lord's people. They weren't
able to overcome the Lord. The chariots of iron are nothing
for the Lord. And he tells us that because
they're strewn and mangled at the bottom of the Red Sea to
this day. And so the great troubles and
that which seems to render us ineffectual is really no great
hurdle for the Lord. The Lord is able, but in that
we see our unbelief. And there is a time when Christ
went into his own country, when he was here ministering in the
flesh, and he went into his own country, and it says that he
did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. because
of their unbelief. And so we see how that even believers,
like here in our text, are unbelieving at times and don't see what the
Lord is capable of doing and don't seek the Lord to overthrow
their enemies. But our God is able to defeat
all our foes. He's able to take down any strong
tower. He's able to destroy that which
we devote ourselves to in this flesh. He's able to rip it out
by the roots. He's able to defeat that which
is too strong for us to defeat. And the way that he does that
is through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how
you are strengthened. That's how you're fed and nourished
and encouraged in the Lord. It's through the gospel. Turn
over to 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10. And we'll just read verses three
through five. Paul says, 2 Corinthians 10.3,
for though we walk in the flesh, as Judah was going through the
land of Canaan, though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after
the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare
are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds,
strongholds like Zepheth. casting down imaginations, and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience
of Christ. And so everything that would
oppose Christ in us is a vain imagination. It's a vain imagination,
because anything that we ask in Christ's name, according to
the will of God, it shall be done. He tells us that. That
which is asked in accordance with the will of God, in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we'll see it. We'll see it accomplished
in Him. Believe Him. Trust Him. Your
God is able. He delights to glorify his Son,
and he's a mighty God who pulls down our strongholds, and he
encourages you and feeds you in the Gospel. Now, we see this
demonstrated in the next verse, in verse 20, with Caleb. It says, And they gave Hebron
unto Caleb, as Moses said. And that was God's will that
Caleb inherit Hebron. That was God's will that he inherit
Hebron for his faithfulness when they went 40 years earlier into
the country as spies and he spoke encouraging words to encourage
the people to say, let's go. The Lord has given this land
into our hands. And even in the midst of seeing
the giants, he said, the Lord's going to give us, he's given
us this land. It's ours. Let's just go in and
take it. Forget about those giants. And it's that very spot where
the giants were that was given to Caleb, and Caleb had no problem
expelling those giants from the land. It says there, and he expelled
from there the three sons of Anak. Those are those men of
tall stature, men, mighty men, fierce men, great warriors, and
and to this flesh we would tremble before it but Caleb and Faith
had no worries no fear about them and so he expelled those
three sons and we're told in verse 10 Judges 1 10 it says
when Judah went up went against the Canaanites that dwelt in
Hebron and that it used to be called Kirjath Arba, they slew,
and here's the three sons, Shishai, and Hymen, and Talmai. So Caleb triumphed over all his
enemies, trusting and believing in the Lord. As Paul, who went
through many difficulties, saw those difficulties as nothing
because he witnessed how that the kingdom of God was advancing
in the hearts of God's people throughout the world. So that
he wasn't set back at all by the whippings and the beatings
and the stonings and the shipwrecks and the going hungry and naked.
He wasn't affected at all by those adversities. He took them
joyfully, but what he saw is what he wrote in Philippians
4.13 saying, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me. And so that's, brethren, what
we see is that courage and that faith that keeps looking to the
Lord. Even though in the flesh there's
setbacks and weaknesses and trouble, but that's not what we're looking
at. We're not looking at the flesh.
We're looking at our Lord, our Savior, our mighty God, who blesses
us with His word with His Son, with the blood of His Son, Jesus
Christ, and gives us one another to fellowship with and to love
one another and to rejoice in the grace of our God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, contrary to this, without
Christ, we won't gain victory over sin. We will be just troubled
and down and distraught. And this is seen here with regards
to Benjamin. He's not able to take Jerusalem. He's not able to enter into Jerusalem
and take it for himself. It says verse 21, and the children
of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited
Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin
in Jerusalem unto this day. Well, do you know when the Jebusites
were finally driven out entirely from Jerusalem? Because it's
still not that way. They weren't at least in the
history of Israel. It was when David was king. When
David became king, who is the type of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that's when the Jebusites were driven from Mount Zion. That's
when they were delivered. Turn over to 2 Samuel. Go to
2 Samuel chapter 5. 2 Samuel chapter 5, and we'll be
looking at verses 6 through 9. And what's being described here
for us spiritually is how that it's Christ our King that drives
away the blindness that His people have. He drives away the blindness
that's in us, giving us sight to behold His glory, and takes
that which is lame and broken and unable, and He gives us a
walk in Him by faith. We're strengthened by Him. That's
the spiritual lesson here, 2 Samuel 5, 6. And the king, David, and
his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites. The inhabitants
of the land would spake unto David, saying, except thou take
away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither,
thinking David cannot come in there. Nevertheless, David took
the stronghold of Zion, the same as the city of David. And David
said on that day, whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth
the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind that are hated of David's
soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, the blind
and the lame shall not come in to the house. So David dwelt
in the fort and called it the city of David." And so the picture
there is how our King David slays the blindness that's in us. We
don't know the Lord in blindness, We know him in sight. He gives
us sight to behold. This is my King. This is my glorious
Savior, my God, my Lord, my Savior, my all. He makes us to see what
we are. I was blind, but now I see. And he takes that which was lame
and broken, and out of the way, and couldn't walk, and he gives
us strength to walk by faith in him. He gives us his Holy
Spirit so that we're made alive, born again, living in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And so, Christ is all, and our
God makes us to see that Christ is all. And He's going to make
us to come to know Him as our Lord and Savior. He will not
leave us in darkness. Our Lord said in John 14, 6,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me." And so we see how all these difficulties
and trials that show us the weakness of our flesh, and that break
this flesh down, that cause decay in this flesh, and cause this
flesh to just wither away. It's to bring us to see our need
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's to make us helpless in ourselves
and to not have confidence in this flesh and to cry out to
our Lord for salvation, to cry out to him for help and for mercy
in the hour of our great need. And so our Lord teaches us that
Christ is the gate. He's how we enter into the kingdom. He's the name that our God has
given to us, whereby we must be saved. We come through him. And until then, until the Lord
teaches us, we're like Nicodemus, where the Lord said, art thou
a master in Israel? And you don't know these things.
You don't know that you must be born from heaven above. So our Lord teaches us that we
must be born again. And we get that when we're born
again. We understand it when we are
born anew of the spirit of God. And so our Lord will save his
people and none of them is lost. which is a great encouragement
to us to know that all who are His, even though we haven't gotten
through to them, just like Israel couldn't drive out all the enemies
in the time that they wanted to drive them out, though we
can't get through to those that we love and those that we see
and speak to often and all the time, the Lord knows them that
are His. And he knows how to break through
that stronghold and bring it down, and cast aside that which
they're devoted to and trusting in, and bring them to see that
Christ is all, even as you see and believe that Christ is all. Our Lord said, no man can come
to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I
will raise him up at the last day. He said, This is the Father's
will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And it is written in the Prophets,
And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. And so this revelation where
the Lord shows us Christ, shows us that he is the door and leads
us through the door, that's seen in this next account, which is
here in Judges 1, verse 22 through 26. This is an account of the
house of Joseph. So the two tribes of Joseph would
be Manasseh, the half-tribe of Manasseh, and then Ephraim. And so it says the house of Joseph
here. And they weren't able to find their way into Bethel. Bethel means the house of God,
which Jacob so named it when he saw Jacob's ladder, which
is the only way to heaven. The only communication we have
with our God is through Christ the latter, in which angels were
ascending and descending upon Him. That's how we speak to our
God and hear from Him, is through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
it says, verse 22, the house of Joseph, they also went up
against Bethel, and the Lord was with them. And the House
of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. And that just means that they
sent men to search it out. They were going as spies to spy
it out. Now, the name of the city before
was Luz. And the spies saw a man come
forth out of the city, and they said unto him, show us, we pray
thee, the entrance into the city, and we will show thee mercy.
And when he showed them the entrance into the city, they smote the
city with the edge of the sword, but they let go the man and all
his family. And the man went into the land
of the Hittites and built a city and called the name thereof Luz,
which is the name thereof unto this day." Now Luz signifies
an almond nut. It means nut. means nut, and
that's really what this city was. Just to get into it, it
was a puzzle. It was a hard nut to crack. They couldn't get in there, and
so it was impenetrable. They couldn't even see the entrance
with the natural eye. It was invisible to them until
someone showed them the way, until someone pointed out the
gate and said, that's how you get into the city. That's where
you go into the house of God is through the gate, which we
know is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see how
that the Lord does bring his people. through various providences
and ways he brings his people to be brought under the preaching
of the gospel, to hear the good news, to learn that salvation
is of the Lord by the Lord Jesus Christ and that he gives mercy
and grace freely to whom he will. And they hear his voice and they
hear his word of instruction and follow him. being led out
of darkness, because they follow the Lord Jesus Christ and shall
not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life in the
Lord Jesus Christ. But isn't it curious how we meet
this man, this character, if you will, and we've met people
like this. Some of you definitely have met
people like this where they have much knowledge. They know a lot
of things and have said some pretty helpful things to you
in your life. Some good things, some true things
to which you said, wow, that was really good, that was really
helpful. I appreciate what they said. But they themselves don't
enter in. You enter in through the gate
and you go into the house of God, but they're not, they don't
go in with you. But instead, they go back to
their old ways. They don't go into the house.
They go back to their old ways, whether it be the old covenant
under the law for righteousness and trusting that, or they lock
themselves up in another nut of just knowledge or experience. other things which are old ways
according to their flesh like this man did he went back out
into the land of the Hittites when all was said and done and
built himself another city and called it Luz and so we see how
there's people like that that though they've been a help to
us in some way the Lord used them in some way but they themselves
never entered in and what a What a gracious thing when you see
how many do that, how many are so content themselves to sit
in darkness and build up an impenetrable wall, which no man can get in
or get out, and they're happy there. But the Lord, in distinguishing
grace, brought you through the gate of Christ and brought you
into the house of God and settled your heart there so that this
is your place and you're thankful in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so we see how that our Lord is so merciful to his people in
that regard. Now, after this point, the chapter
begins to close with this sad trend of unbelief. And you see
this weakness in the flesh. You begin to see this description,
this rapidity of a description of weakness in the tribes of
Israel here. And you'll notice there's five.
There's five verses here that all start with the word neither.
Neither. And it shows the unbelief that
they had with their truth mixed with error. So it says, verse
27, neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethsheem
and her towns, nor Tanak and her towns, nor the inhabitants
of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Iblium and her
towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, but the
Canaanites would dwell in that land. And it came to pass when
Israel was strong that they put the Canaanites to tribute and
did not utterly drive them out. Neither did Ephraim drive out
the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwelt
in Gezer among them. Neither did Zebulun drive out
the inhabitants of Kitron nor the inhabitants of Nahalal, but
the Canaanites dwelt among them and became tributaries. Neither
did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acho, nor the inhabitants
of Zayden, nor of Akhlab, nor of Akhzib, nor of Helba, nor
of Aphek, nor of Rehab. But the Azurites dwelt among
the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not
drive them out. Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of
Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but he dwelt among
the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the
inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries
unto them." And so you see how the Israelites were just lulled
into sleep and thinking that they had the Canaanites well
under control so that they became tributaries to them and seemed
enriched by these things. And we can see pictures in ourselves
in that regard, too, with various Canaanites and things that we
think we have under control and that they enrich us. And in some
sense, in this world, perhaps they do help us in this world's
riches and in this world's things, but not in the things of the
Lord. And so we see how Israel, through
all the seers, they became weak and lulled into a sense of sleep
and contentment. And eventually, we know with
them that those tribes, when they became strong, put them
in bondage and entrap them and held them until they were delivered
by the hand of the Lord, raising up a judge in Israel to deliver
them when they became tributaries to these other tribes. We see these things here and
we see a sight of the weakness of this flesh. We see, we were
reminded of how this flesh does not improve and get better and
better and no, we don't make things better by the things that
we do according to the flesh. We're ever dependent on the grace
of our God. The best we can do is make tributaries
of things, but it's only the grace of our God that delivers
His people. completely from their enemies
and drives them out. And so we see this account here
at the end of chapter one where we see various sites of characters
who have come and gone in our lives. We see pictures of ourselves
in the high highs and the low lows. And we also see how that
we're likened to Israel in the weakness and in the decay of
this flesh. which we're reminded so often
how desperately we need the grace of our God to save us. And so one thing that we see
here, which is outlined in the tribe of Dan at the very end,
these last three verses, we'll read it, and I'll just give a
short comment on it. It says, and the Amorites forced
the children of Dan into the mountain, for they would not
suffer them to come down to the valley. But the Amorites would
dwell in Mount Heres, which means sun. So they probably worshiped
the sun in Ajallam and in Shalbim. Those are, I think they're, if
I remember correctly, they describe I think a field of deer and a
flock of foxes or something like that. But the land, yet the hand
of the house of Joseph prevailed so that they became tributaries.
And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabim
from the rock and upward. And what we see there is that
as the Lord shows us our weaknesses and the decay and the the failing
away of this flesh and our struggles, like the Amorites, which wouldn't
even let Dan come down from the mountain, so it is that as the
Lord strengthens you, his people, and comforts you with the gospel
of Christ, And you see what we are in this flesh. You know what
we are in this flesh and the weakness of this flesh. How that
the Lord takes of those things and uses them to drive us nearer
to Him, to ever stay upon Him. And that's what we see here from
this, is that in ourselves, we're weak. When we have any victory
over something in this flesh, it's by the grace of our God. Our Lord, you stay upon Him in
His house of Bethel, where Christ is preached, and you stay upon
the Lord Jesus Christ and feed upon Him, and thank your God
for the nourishment of the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's
how. We're insulated from all the cares and worries of this
flesh in this world, which is all passing away anyway. And when you see the weakness
of the flesh, just let it drive you to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let it drive you to your God and trust in Him, believe Him,
pray to Him, be thankful to Him. Because your inheritance is not
the things of this world which are passing away. Your inheritance
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And you have an inheritance with
the saints in light in the Lord Jesus Christ and are even now
surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses who all testify
to the grace and the glory, the honor, the power, the loveliness
of your Lord and Savior I pray the Lord bless that word to your
hearts and cause you to rejoice in him. Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for your grace and mercy. Lord, we pray
that you would take these words of clay and simplicity, Lord,
that you would bless your people to be driven to the arms of Christ. to rest in the everlasting arms
which hold us up and are underneath us, keeping us. Lord, we're so
thankful for your grace and mercy, for the love that you show to
us in Christ. Father, help us. We're so weak. We see such weakness in this
flesh. We see decay and the coming undone
of just what we are, that we shall all return to dust. But Lord, we have a better inheritance. We have a more joyful salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you, Lord, that
you are our God, that you have been merciful and gracious to
us to save a dead, vile dog sinner like me. And Lord, we just pray
that your name would be honored and glorified in our midst and
that we would ever speak of the grace of our God and how wonderful
you are. It's in Christ's name that we
pray and give thanks. Amen. Our closing hymn is number 49,
Our Great Savior, 49. Jesus, what a friend for sinners. Jesus, lover of my soul. Friends may fail me, foes assail
me. Thee, my Savior, makes me whole. ? Hallelujah, what a Savior ?
? Hallelujah, what a friend ? ? Saving, helping, keeping, loving ? ?
He is with me to the end ? Jesus, what a strength in weakness,
let me hide myself in Him. Tempted, tried, and sometimes
failing, be my strength, my victory wins. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end. Jesus, what a help in sorrow,
While the billows o'er me roll. Even when my heart is breaking,
Thee, my comfort, helps my soul. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end. Put a guide and keeper while
the tempest still is high. Storms about me night or takes
me day, my pilot hears my cry. Alleluia, what a Saviour! Alleluia, what a Friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end. Jesus, I do now receive Him. More than all in Him I find. He hath granted me forgiveness. I am His, and He is mine. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving,
He is with me to the end.