Would you join me tonight in
the book of Judges chapter 3? And we're going to start with
verse 12, but we just want to review a few things that we've
gone over here with regard to this judge, Ehud. Ehud had many
similarities to everyone else in Israel at the time, but he
had one thing that was quite different that we found, that
he was left-handed. And we looked at that and we
find that the Lord Jesus had many commonalities with you and
I. He hungered, he thirsted, he
grew weary, he tired, those things. But he was very special in not
having sin. He was not a sinner, never was
a sinner, never thought a sinful thought, never did a sinful act,
never was tempted by doing a sinful act. He was tempted in all ways
that were tempted, yet without sin. So Ehud is kind of a representative
of our Lord in a picture, as we mentioned that these things
were a picture of good things to come. Ehud is a good picture
of good things to come, of Christ coming. And we also found out
as we looked at him that he made a dagger or that same word dagger
has been translated many times in the Old Testament as sword.
It was a double-edged sword that he made. He didn't leave it to
someone else. And this certainly represents
to us in type and shadow and picture that sword of the Spirit,
that double-edged sword. We read over there in the book
of Revelation that out of the Lord's mouth comes that sword.
Now, he didn't actually have a sword coming out of his mouth,
but he always was using the Word of God. I don't know how many
times today I had to stop a young man and say, this is the word
of God. We're going to have to use the
word of God. That's all we have. And if we start using philosophy
or other people's feelings about things or how other people interpret
things, we're going to get off in the left field. But the Lord
will keep us on center stage if we have his word. And we have
to have all his word. Sorry, but a young man quoted
a verse of scripture. I said, you didn't quote that
verse. You didn't give it all. And what do you mean? And I says,
well, it doesn't say that exactly. It says he is long suffering
to Oxford. not willing that any should perish. He didn't just make a blanket
statement and say he's not willing that any should perish. If he's
not willing that any should perish, then nobody's going to perish
because he performs his will. He's not a slacker about that
like we are. So his will will be done, and
he says that. So he's not willing that any
of the Usward should perish, and they will not. He will present
them all spotless. All right. Would you turn with
me as we think about Ehud and the sword, turn with me if you
would to the book of 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. And we want to
look here and we want to read a few verses of scripture again
that share with us about the Word of God. And the Word of
God is filled a lot about the Word of God. 1 Peter 1, verse
21, we read these words about that double-edged sword, that
sword with two sides. And we find that it cuts for
benefit, it cuts for damning. The preaching of the gospel is
a saver of death unto death and life unto life. And there's no
two ways about it, there's no middle ground. Who by him do
believe, let me see here, 1 Peter, Verse 23, okay. Being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever. And let me go over here
to 2 Peter 1, verse 21. Okay, and here again we have
about the word of God. 2 Peter 1.21 For the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man. I am so thankful that even
as just and righteous as God declared Moses to be, he did
not leave the writing of the first five books of the Bible
to Moses' words. He intercepted that. He, the
Holy Spirit, spake through Moses. He did not just leave him, even
though he was a believer and even though he was one of God's
people, and God visited as friend with friend, and there was no
man meeker than Moses. God did not give him the responsibility
of writing a book on his own. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved. So we have a two-edged sword. It says there, but holy
men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So God
moved in them through the Holy Ghost and gave him that. And
we're gonna see that a little bit later here in the book of
Judges chapter three. In the book of Timothy, 2nd Timothy
chapter 3, 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16, we read 2nd Timothy
chapter 3 and verse 16, we read this about the Word of God. All
scripture, Old Testament, New Testament, all scripture is given
by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof. So if we're going to do some
instruction on God, God's Word, God's salvation, God's mercy,
God's grace, God's attributes, we have the place to go to right
here in the Word of God. It's profitable for doctrine,
for reproof for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
So this is the profitable place to go. It is the place where
doctrine is and reproof is and instruction and correction is.
And so if we have a question about all of these things, we
have the Word of God to go to. The Word of God is so plain about
the attributes and characteristics of God. We don't have to go anywhere
else. I'm thankful for people that
take those subjects and write about them and bring, synthesize
that verses of scripture that share with us those qualities.
But it must be the Word of God that is going to be there. In
the book of 2 Samuel chapter 23, I appreciate this as David
himself understood 2 Samuel chapter 23. 2 Samuel chapter 23 and verse
2. David understood this. He's just
not writing the Psalms or parts of 2 Samuel or anything else. He's just not writing it off
the cuff. He's not just spouting it. We
find out here the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Samuel chapter 23 and
verse 2. The Spirit of the Lord spake
by me, and His word was in my tongue. He understood that when
he was given the message, God gave him the message. And we
go on here just a little bit, we find out David was speaking
about the everlasting covenant that God had made with him. He
understood that because God revealed it unto him. And in, going back
just quickly to the book of Acts, if you would, Acts chapter one,
Acts chapter one, and there in verse 16, as we think of he had
being a type and a shadow and a picture of the Lord, and also
He's the one that made His own sword. And we find that God did
not leave the writing of the sword of the Spirit, the writing
of the Word of God, to man. He used men as secretaries, but
nothing else. He did not permit them to add
one thing or take away one thing from His Word. It was perfectly
given by God. The original Hebrew and the original
Greek Bibles were absolutely flawless. There was no misinterpretation. There was no mistranslation. But when we start putting words
into other languages, or over a period of time, different languages
change over time, We find that we have to explain sometimes
what that word meant in its original form. Here in the book of Acts
chapter 1 and there in verse 16, we read this, Men and brethren,
this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy
Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which
was guide to them that took Jesus. This scripture must be fulfilled.
It was spoken by the mouth of David, but the Holy Ghost gave
him that message. So as we follow this out throughout
the scriptures, we find that God is quite careful that it
was His two-edged sword, and it was His word that was being
used. And we find that as we looked
there last week in the book of Revelation, how that the Lord
has spoken of having a two-edged sword coming out of His mouth.
The Lord never used physical force. Now, He does use spiritual
force, and we'll be dealing with that on Sunday. God does use
spiritual force. He makes His people willing in
the day of His power. And, you know, when God saves
us, we say, Thank you, Lord. We'd have never come out of the
pit we were in. would have never done that. Thank
you for getting involved and exerting your will on me. And I'm just thankful, just thankful
for that. So, and then we found that the
salvation of these people, as we think about judges again,
the salvation of these people that is going to happen through
this one judge, There had to be absolutely and complete destruction
of the enemy. Now, that's another thing that
we find out with regard to the Lord Jesus. He didn't leave anything
to chance and He didn't leave anything for us to participate
in. He took care of every enemy of
the church on the cross. He took care of our sin. He took
care of our hell. He took care of our death. He
took care of everything. Every enemy of God and every
enemy of the church, Jesus Christ took care of. And knowing our
frailty, He didn't leave it to us. And you know, again, I just
have to say, thank you, Lord. I can't take care of myself now.
I'm thankful that it is the love of Christ that constrains me.
I'm thankful for the love of Christ that keeps my hands folded
to my side. And I'm thankful for God promising
that he would present his church spotless. It's not we. Now, we want to. I like that
saying that that old man, that old preacher said, I'm not what
I want to be, and I'm not what I should be, and I'm not what
I'm going to be, but thank God I'm not what I used to be. So
God is using his great word to bring us to the point we'll be
satisfied with the Lord dealing in our lives. So in this remainder
of the chapter, so let's go over to the book of Judges chapter
3 now. Judges chapter 3 as we look at this passage of scripture
with regard to this this judge Shamgar and He's different than
the other judges. We're going to find he's going
to handle things different than the other judges Every one of
the judges are going to be led by God because it is God that
raised them up in Judges chapter 3 and there in verse 15 we read
these words, but when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord
and The Lord raised them up a deliverer. Ehud, the son of Gerah, a Benjamite,
a man left-handed. And by him the children of Israel
sent a present unto Eglon, king of Moab. Now Moab has been thrashing
the children of Israel for a long time. And it's just interesting
here that the children of Israel, now I'm convinced that not all
the children of Israel, are spoken of in that. I think it is that
those who know something about grace, they know that this man
is our deliverer. They know that this man is the
one that God raised up, and this man is going to take care of
the business. And so they sent a gift, it says there, sent a
present unto Eglon, but Ehud made him a dagger, which had
two edges of a cubit in length, and he did gird it under his
raiment upon his right thigh. And he brought the present unto
Eglon. He brought the present unto Eglon. It is, as we follow this out,
we're gonna find out that this Ehud is going to absolutely take
care of business. He's gonna take care of business.
He's not gonna leave any enemy behind. He's not gonna placate
to anybody. I was reading an article or a
sermon by Rob Barnard. And he mentioned in that sermon
that I'm gonna talk to you about my God. Now, in order for me
to do that, I have to kill yours. And that's generally what has
to be done. I gotta kill your God, because your God is worthless.
And we're gonna find out that Ehud knew that Eglon's God is
absolutely worthless. In fact, the pantheon of gods
are worthless. They are absolutely worthless.
They can't help him. He's gonna demonstrate that.
Nobody is going to get any help out of a piece of stone a piece
of log, a piece of gold, a piece of silver, something carved,
something like that. And God said, who will you liken
me to? Well, natural man likens God
to a piece of wood, to a piece of stained glass, to, you know,
all of the things that we have. And the worst idol that we as
natural people have is our own will. Our own being, we have
a will worship about ourselves. And God says, I'm going to kill
that. I want to kill that part of you.
I'm going to give you me and I'll take care of that part.
He shares with us in the book of 1 Thessalonians 1 that I am
going to take care of those gods that you worship. I'm going to
turn you in repentance from worshiping, worship God from worshiping dumb
idols. And I'm so thankful to God that
He is the one that swings us around. Nowhere in the Bible
do we ever ask, find that God ever asked anybody to repent
of their sins. But He is called on them, and then He provides
the grace to do it. He is called on us to repent
of our old gods and turn to the living God. That's what repentance
is, a change of mind about God. He is different than we have
ever thought. We can't put words in it. So
Ehud is going to be the one that is going to lead us in this venture.
As we find out, he's been raised up of the Lord. He is going to
bring deliverance to the children of Israel. He makes a dagger
with two edges. He puts it on his thigh. He's
left-handed. He's different than almost everybody else that he
knows. We don't have a record anywhere in the Bible except
there were a bunch later in the book of Judges that were able
to sling with their left hand a sling and hit a hare with it. human hair. And he brought, verse
17, and he brought the present unto Eglon, king of Moab. And
Eglon was very fat. There was a remnant, according
to the election of grace, that understood that Ehud had been
raised up by God and was God's spokesman, and he was truly a
gift from God. Now, I think there was probably
some tribute that was taken, literally. Mr. Gill said it,
probably that's what it was. But I think there was more to
it than just that. When these people sent their
gift, they're sending the man that's been raised up by God,
they're sending Ehud to this Eglon, this king of Moab. They have a message in verse,
is it verse 30, verse 20, verse 30. In verse 20, this is what
he had had to say unto Eglon, the king of Moab, who worshipped
diverse gods. He says that he there, I have
a message from God. That's very interesting, that
this man of God would come and say, I have a message from God.
He didn't say, I have a message. He didn't say that the people
have sent a message, but I have a message from God. And this
message from God is going to be that he doesn't give any quarter. We're not here to negotiate.
We're not here to see if we can't sit down and make things better.
That's one of the things that I noticed there about the Lord
Jesus when those 5,000 men at one time left him. He didn't
send an entourage to see if we can't negotiate this and get
it so we can all live together. He just said, I remember what,
I think I brought this up recently about what Scott Richardson said.
Someone said, you know, is that church that's going in down here,
is that going to take some of your people that go to your church? He says,
if it can, they can have them. And you know, that's the truth.
If the truth will not keep people They left us because they were
not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued
with us. And that's just the truth about the matter. And the
itching ears won't catch anybody. So here we have, he goes in there
and he has a message from the Lord. I have a message from the
Lord and I hope every time I am asked
to preach somewhere that you folks say, whether you say it
out loud or not, we're sending you a gift. Now, I've never gone
anywhere and preached anything that I would not have preached
here. That's not our business. And
Ehud never went to Eglon with anything else but what God had
given him. He's not negotiating. Now we're gonna find out he kills
that man. You know what? That sword of the Spirit will
never leave anybody the same. Never. They may never bow. They may never come, but they
will never be the same if they've ever heard the gospel. It tells
us here concerning Ehud. He'd been raised up to deliver
Israel, and God also provided the means. He has instructed
Ehud in his mission. Now, Ehud has two qualifications
mentioned to us in verse 17. It says, number one, that he
was the king of Moab, all right? If we take care of the king,
we can take care of the rest. And it also tells us that he
was very fat. Now, I think he was very fat,
but I think that there's some spiritual things about this man,
too, that we find with regard to most people, they're very
fat in their own self-righteousness. That Pharisee that went down to the
temple to pray, He is very fat in his own self-righteousness. I am so glad God that I love
you and I'm not like other folks. I am so fat in my own self-righteousness
that I don't need what that man needs. And he's pointing to a
man that goes down to his house justified. The Pharisee never
went down to his house justified, but the guy he's talking about
went down to his house justified, and that means he is right with
God. What was his comment? God, be
merciful to me, a sinner. That was his comment. So he didn't
have to rise, he'd already identified himself. Turn with me if you
would as we think about this Ehud being very fat. He is, we
find out he's going to be able to stand though. He's going to
stand up. Ehud is going to mention, I have
a message from God. And you know that guy's going
to stand up on his two legs. So, yes, he's probably very pleasingly
plump. In fact, he is so plump that
when he sticks a cubit sword in him, the fat covers it up.
Can't get it back. Well, that certainly speaks about
God's word. It doesn't matter how thin we
are or how big we are, God's word can never, ever be taken
back. It is there. Now, they may never
do a thing with it, but God has purpose to leave it there. All
right, turn with me to the book of Isaiah, if you would. Isaiah
chapter six. In Isaiah chapter six, we have
this passage of scripture about the subject that we're looking
at and this king, Eglon. In Isaiah chapter six, verse
eight, Isaiah chapter six and verse eight, it tells us here,
also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send?
And who will go for us? Then said I, here am I, send
me. And he said, go and tell this people, hear ye indeed,
but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make
the heart of this people what? make the heart of this people
fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they
see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand
with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Your word is going
to make them fat. They're gonna be self-righteous
in this whole thing. It appears that this fatness
may be more than just girth. Now, Eglon has been throwing
his weight around, we know that, in how he has dealt with Israel. He's been doing this, and it
reminds me of what we find over in the book of Revelation 3,
verse 17, when God is speaking to one of the churches. He says,
you say you're rich. you're not rich at all. Turn
with me over there to the book of Revelation chapter 3 and verse
17. We're dealing with, in this passage
of scripture, we're dealing with an enemy of the church. We're
dealing with what we are by nature. We're dealing with self-righteousness.
We're dealing with power. We're dealing with, we will not
bow. We have all the gods we need. And here in the book of
Revelation chapter 3, Revelation chapter 3, and there in verse
17, these words are recorded for us. Because thou sayest, he's writing
to a church. He calls it his church, you know.
We be careful, we be careful. Because thou sayest, I am rich,
and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest
not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind,
and naked. You know, a man is walking in
here that knows he's wretched, and he's speaking to a person
that doesn't know he's wretched. We have Ehud walking in there
because he's been called of God and he knows how wretched he
is. He knows, as the Apostle Paul would confess, oh wretched
man that I am. But Ehud because he has this
great relationship with all these gods, had no idea how wicked
and wretched he was. He comes in there, we find, and
it tells us there, in going back to the book of Judges chapter
three, follow me over there again if you would, Judges chapter
three, We follow here in Judges chapter
3 and verse 19. Judges chapter 3 and verse 19. Now Ehud has delivered this gift
that Israel sent. The man is a king of Moab and
he's very fat. And when he had made an end to
offer the present, verse 18, he sent away the people that
bear the present But he himself turned again from the quarries
that were by Gilgal. Now, I look that up because I
don't know what that means. And one of the commentators said
that this quarry is where the slaves were carving out the gods
for the Moabites. Well, that's probably true. He
walked by there and saw this nonsense going on. And he says
there he's, and we're at Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand
unto thee, O king, who said, keep silence, and all that stood
by him went out from him. So he said, I need to talk to
you alone. That's the best. That is absolutely the best.
And you know that's how God talks to us? It's not a blanket statement. It's an individual statement.
God speaks to us individually. And he goes on to say here, Verse 20, and Ehud came into
him, and he was sitting in the summer parlor, which he had for
himself alone, and he had said, I have a message from God unto
thee. And he arose out of his seat.
Now, Ehud uses a term. This term is used many, many
times in the Old Testament. It's Elohim. Now, Elohim to Ehud
was the God of heaven. But to Eglon meant any of these
gods. Elohim could apply to any of
these gods, that term. There's only one term that is
absolutely set aside for God and God alone, and that's the
name Jehovah. Others that we find in the Old
Testament, in particular, have been applied to other things
too. But that name Jehovah is God's name. But in Ehad's heart,
he knew who Elohim was, the Almighty. But to Eglon, oh my goodness,
he's talking about the pantheon of gods that we have, because
that's how he would have used the term from a Hebrew standpoint.
The word used for God is that word Elohim, and it meant two
different things. And you know what? When we're talking to people
that don't know the gospel, we're talking about two different gods.
I may be talking about the God of heaven and they're interpreting
it as they understand God. And most people that have some
religion at least believe that God is manipulated and God is
dependent upon us to do something. And that's not the God of Ehud.
The God of Ehud, the God of the church, the God of the everlasting
God is not dependent upon anything for anybody for anything. And
so as he comes in here, we find out Jesus used a term there with
a bunch of Pharisees one time in John chapter eight and verse
43. Would you turn there with me? As we think about the word
God in a conversation with somebody, we mean the sovereign God of
heaven And our hearer hears the word and immediately their meaning
goes to their understanding of the word. And if you don't have
the new birth, then your understanding about God is flawed. It's a terrible
conception about God. Adam's conception about God was
very flawed after he fell. He's very flawed. He could hide.
Very flawed. He could be covered. Very flawed.
And yet, when God saves somebody and gives us the understanding
that he's the Lord God of heaven, we have a totally different understanding
about who God is. Saul of Tarsus had an understanding
about little G-O-D. When God saved him on the road
to Damascus, he found out he's the capital G, capital O, capital
D. Lord God, totally different meaning
struck him now. Over here in the book of John,
John 8, verse 43, we're talking two different languages. It's
no wonder people walk away scratching their head and we do the same
thing. Why can't they understand? Well, it's the two different
languages. I'll never forget a young man I had in English
class at the high school that was from Mexico. And he could
read you the words, but you ask him the meaning of those words
and he had no idea what they meant. And it's just the same
way talking to someone that doesn't know anything about God. They
can read the Bible and think they have some understanding,
but they have no comprehension about what the words mean. This
is talking about the Lord God of heaven. And that's who Ehud
is talking about. And his counterpart over here
says, well, look at all mine, all of my Elohims. Aren't they
beautiful? John, we'll get there. John chapter
eight. John chapter eight, verse 43. This just shares with us, as
the Lord dealt with people, he's dealing the same thing that we
deal with when we talk to people about the word, about God. He
says, why do you not understand my speech? Even because you cannot hear
my word. Because your ears are shut to
my teaching, is another translation. And another one is because you
are not able to hear my words. People had difficulty hearing
the word of the Lord from the Lord because he was speaking
from a almighty God standpoint, and they were understanding him
from a manipulative God standpoint, and they're not the same. So,
Ehud comes in and says, I have a message from God. The king
stands up. He said, I'm ready. I'm ready
for the message from the gods. And Ehud was a righteous person.
While Eglon waited for the message from his idols, Ehud delivered
the message from the Lord. A two-edged sword. Now, you know,
we are never called on to use physical force. Did you know
physical force? We have an older granddaughter,
and one time something came up, and I says, if I paddle you,
is it going to make you feel better about this? And she says,
no. You know, you can't beat anything into anybody. That's
where religion really gets involved. We can just beat them with the
law. We can beat this into them. Well,
God doesn't have to beat. He reveals. Going back to the book of Judges
there, Ehud is on his ministry. He is called of God. He is the
deliverer that God has raised up. In Judges 3 again, if you
turn there with me, we find Judges 3. Judges 3, and there in verse
19 again. He turned again from the quarries
that were by Gilgal and said, I have a secret errand unto the
king. O King, who said, keep silence, and all that stood by
him went out from him, and Ehud came unto him, and he was sitting
in the summer parlor, and he had for himself alone, and Ehud
said, I have a message from God, from Elohim, unto thee, and he
arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand,
and took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into
his belly, and the half also went in, after the blade and
the fat closed upon the blade so that it could not withdraw,
draw the dagger out of the belly and the dirt came out. As we notice here, that two-edged sword so often
is a saver of death unto death. I wish that every time we spoke
to someone from the pulpit or person to person, that person
says, man, the Lord just saved me. The Lord just saved me. But more times than not, I say,
you know, I don't like this. I don't want to hear it again.
thankful that God moves in people that they might hear it, but
the saver of death unto death and to others is the saver of
life unto life. Here we have the sword of Ehud
pushed deep into, the sword of Ehud into Eglon and Jesus told
a whole group of people one time, unless you believe, you shall
die in your sins. This man died, and he died in
his sins. And you know, when the word strikes,
we have here that the dirt come out. We know what that is. You know, the Apostle Paul used
that very same term in the New Testament when he started going
over his old religious life. He said, I count all this but
done. You know, when the Word of God
strikes a person, we're going to hear immediately, if not sooner,
how that strike was. And nine times out of 10, we
hear, it can't be that way because I was saved this way. Lady sitting
out in our church building one time, I mentioned about the new
birth and she said right from her place there out loud, that's
not how I was saved. And I had to say to myself, you're
right. That's not how you were saved. Because unless you're
born again, you cannot. know the first thing about God.
So he delivered this. It tells us there going on, the
word reveals whether you are a child of God or an idolater
every time it's preached. I'll not have this man rule over
me or thank God. I'll not agree with this or thank
God for convincing me. And then it tells us going on
in this passage of scripture in verses 27 through 30. Our
time is getting close, but look at verses 27. Came to pass when
he had come that he blew the trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim,
and the children of Israel went down with him from the mount,
and he before them." And this is Ehud leading the army of Israel
against Moab. The king is dead. The head is
dead. We'll take care of the body.
And he said unto them, follow after me, for the Lord hath delivered
your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand. And they went down
after him and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab and suffered
not a man to pass over. And they slew of Moab at that
time about 10,000 men, all lusty, all men of valor, and there escaped
not a man. Now that's victory. And that's
the victory the Lord wins for his people. I don't leave one
sin for you to deal with. I don't leave one sin for you
to answer to. I don't leave any. I take care
of them all. He went to the cross and was
able to cry with great gusto, with a loud voice, it is finished.
So I'm not leaving anything for you to deal with. I'll take care
of it all. And he did. And so they slew
all the Moabites. In verse 30, so Moab was subdued
that day under the hand of Israel and the land had rest 80 years. Ehud was a great leader that
God raised up to deal with the problem. And that problem was
Ehud and all the Moabites. And before it was over, Ehud
had taken care of Eglon the king. And he demonstrated that just
as God sends his sword of the spirit out, there's some that
hear it and some defy it. And So Moab was subdued, and
they had four score years, 80 years of rest. And then we have one verse about
our next judge, and we'll spend some time on that next time.
And then we find very next. The children of Israel did what
they do best. They fell back into their own
lifestyle. They fell into the idolatry and
sin of Israel. He has put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. Hebrews chapter nine and verse
26. Moab was subdued. The land had rest for 80 years.
Absolute, complete, and total victory. If it's partial victory,
it's not victory. If it's total victory, we rest. We'll stop there for tonight.