It is to be able to gather together
in person or on Zoom, and we look forward to all those that
will join us on Sermon Audio. We're going to be in the book
of Judges tonight, Judges chapter 3. But before we go there, I
just want us to remember Marvin Stoniker in prayer. He had a
stroke yesterday. John has a conference down there,
remember that. Remember, Mike and Yovana will
be traveling this weekend, and Mike R. will be filling in on
the Bible class, 1 John, again, 1 John. We'll be continuing in
our great studies of the doctrines of grace. We'll be looking at
a continuation of the subject of elective grace on this Sunday. And I would like to plan the
following Sunday to come to the Lord's table. So let's remember
that in prayer. Remember, are there other prayer
requests? Also Betty Rivenbark, remember
her in prayer and her granddaughter? Jennifer and Caleb we've enjoyed
him so much, but they will be traveling on Saturday back to
Orlando I think you leave out of Portland 11. Okay at 11 o'clock. So remember them as they travel In July Over the fourth, there's
a memorial service for Nancy's mother in Dallas, Texas, and
they're looking at it more of a family reunion. So I guess
we have tickets to go down there. We'll be back on Saturday evening,
but remember us as we travel. Wayne Boyd, I got a note from
him today, and of all things, that guy turned 60. I just flabbergasted me that
he turned 60. So I sent him, I'm gonna send
him a card with some kind remarks in it about such a thing as that.
Yeah. All right. Turn with me if you
would to the book of Judges. Judges chapter three. And last
week, We looked a little bit about Othniel in verses seven
through 11. And we're going to, as we go
through the Book of Judges, we're going to be continuing a study
of the continuous, reoccurrent theme that we encounter in the
Book of Judges, and that is almost like a song by Crystal Gale. going down the wrong road again. Time and time and time again. Now, this really lends itself
to our studies that we've had recently about total depravity.
Of all of the things that God ever did for anybody, any nation,
he truly did it for Israel and yet It did not change one heart. Even the beatings did not change
their heart. The good times did not change
their heart. And we find that as the word
tells us that the natural course of events is to do evil. That's
just the natural course. We wonder how can people be so
crude? Well, it's the natural course.
I read an article or I'm reading an article that for a long time
there seemed to have been some instructions from the very beginning
of school, through school, college, and even in churches, that we're
to restrain ourselves some, you know, and don't act out. Well, some of that stuff is missing
right now, so we're seeing more and more, but it's Even when
we are holding ourself, as the little boy said, I'm standing
up inside after I've been sat down and seat belt put on, I'm
still standing up inside. Well, that's us by nature, but
we find how pleasant it is to at least be sitting down. Well,
we're going to find that as we follow this through with the
children of Israel, that they don't have much time to even
sit down. They are standing up a lot. The
death of Othniel, the first judge raised up by God, we see that
an interesting word is used right after that, and that is the word
and. And if you turn with me there to the book of Judges chapter
three and verse 12, Judges chapter three and verse 12, we have that
word there, and. Now, it was interesting, I was
reading that the word but is not here, but the word and, which
means a continuous. Ongoing, the children of Israel
and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the
Lord. It's been a constant ongoing
issue with the children of Israel and 40 years of deliverance did
not change their heart. We have their that the Othniel,
they had rest in the land for 40 years, and then he died, and
we find, and the children of Israel did evil in the sight
of the Lord again. Our blessing now, when we're
looking at these judges, it appears that when they passed from the
scene, when they died, when they were caused to pass through from
death unto life, from life unto death, and hopefully into life,
that it was almost a license for those people to go back to
their standard. And that is a very terrible standard. And you know, one of the blessings,
that's the anti-type, or the type, we have the anti-type,
and it's a blessing because of grace that we have a deliverer
that is eternal in the heavens and constantly makes intercession
for us. We don't have a judge like they
did, and we're thankful for it. We don't have going down the
wrong road again, and then God raises up a human deliverer,
and we're delivered for a season, and then we go down the wrong
road again. The Lord is gracious when he
raised up the judge, the Lord Jesus Christ. He ever liveth
to make intercession for us. And so we don't have that constant. God does something for his people
when he gives them the new birth, and that is My sheep hear my
voice and they follow me. Now, sometimes we may think we're
not doing a very good job, but I know that God has an attachment
to us. He will lose none. They all will
be accounted for. They all will be presented spotless. And so it is as we follow this
out with the children of Israel. Every time that the Lord sets
someone up We find that the Lord sent someone to put Israel into
slavery. It seems that they cried out
and made an effort to do better and they could not. Now the reason
for that, we brought this out on Sunday, can the Ethiopian
change the color of his skin? And can the leopard remove his
spots? Now that's the liberal translation.
but then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil."
So it's not our custom to do good. The Ethiopian cannot change
the color of his skin, the leopard cannot remove his spots, and
therefore it is impossible on our own to get out of the mess
that we're in. We find there going into Judges
chapter three in verse 12, it says, the children of Israel
did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened
Eglon, the king of Moab against Israel because they had done
evil in the sight of the Lord. So one more time, the Lord is
gonna sell them out. The Lord is going to strengthen
Eglon In this, now remember that the children of Israel, they
are in the land, they have all the benefits that God had promised
them in the land, and yet the covenant that they had is a conditional
covenant. And they were unable always to
keep that conditional covenant, even though they agreed to keep
it, they could not keep it. We find that the apostle Paul
was led to write about this, that the natural man is at enmity
with God. and we're unable to keep the
law of God, there's no way about it, and yet we find that they
were on a conditional covenant. Now, you know, God was more gracious
and more long-suffering than any of us would have been, because
he's going to give them 40 years in the wilderness, 60 years under Joshua and after that, and then
450 years under the judges and many years under the kings before
he finally says in the book of Ezekiel, you have proved yourselves. I
will not deal with you anymore. I am saying we're done. Now, a conditional covenant was
made between God and men. And it is bound to fail. Now,
God is always going to hold up his side. There is no failure
with God. He will always hold up his side.
He asked them if they would keep the covenant and they said they
would. We find it was a running experiment over many years and
nothing that God exercised on them, in them, or with them changed
them or changed their attitudes towards God. The carnal mind
is a terrible thing, and it is always at enmity with God. Now
we find that the everlasting covenant, now that's the one
we want to be under. That's the one we want to seek
out, is the everlasting covenant. The everlasting covenant has
three that bear witness. There are three covenanteers
in this everlasting covenant. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And when we deal with the everlasting covenant,
we are not involved in it except being recipients of it. The Father
determined to save a people, the Son determined to die for
those people, and the Holy Spirit determined to find those people
and apply the gospel to them through the new birth. This is
their covenant. It is their agreement and it
will not fail. Now the recipients of that covenant
are the elect of God. And he has promised that he will
find every one of those lost sheep. He may have 99 in a pen. And if one is still out in the
hinterlands, he is going after that one out in the hinterlands.
And he will rejoice when he finds it and bear it home on his shoulders. He bore our sins in His own body
on a tree, so He's going to take care of that. This everlasting
covenant is an agreement in the Godhead, and we are thankful. We are thankful that it was not
a conditional covenant that God is going to make with us. Now,
religion has conditional covenants. Religion says you do the best
you can and hope God does his best. Well, we find out God has
done everything and we will be ushered in everyone that he grants
the new birth to will be ushered in. We find that this covenant
is mentioned in the book of Hebrews chapter 13, and there in verse
20, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. So this agreement was sealed
in blood. It was sealed in the blood of
the Son. It was sealed in the blood of Christ. So we have an
everlasting covenant. It is sure. It is steadfast.
It will endure to the end. And everyone that is a recipient
of that, everyone that is a recipient of that covenant, everyone God
has in that covenant will be saved and saved for his glory
and by his grace. The God, this Jehovah God, did
something that we find here. He strengthened a worldly pagan
king to come against Israel. Did you notice that? It says
there in verse 12, the Lord, L, capital L, capital O, capital
R, capital D, verse 12, strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab. Now
that's an interesting word, that word strengthened. And you know,
if we are missing some thoughts about God, it's probably going
to make us upset. If we do not believe in the sovereignty
of God, this kind of language is going to make us upset. And we will probably say what
other people have said, I thought my God was a God of love, or
my God would never do that. Well, religious gods will never
do that, but the God of the Bible will do this. He is sovereign
over all. And he says, I strengthened the
Eglon, the king of Moab. Now that, that word, is translated
a number of different ways in the Old Testament, that Hebrew
word. But would you turn with me to the book of Exodus chapter
four? In Exodus chapter four, we have
this word translated, and it has to do with Pharaoh. In Exodus
chapter four, there in verse 21, Exodus chapter four in verse
21, we have the God of the Bible doing something with Pharaoh.
just as he did with Eglon, the king of Moab. He strengthened
him. He put him into a position so
that he could overcome Israel. And he put it in his heart and
in his mind to go do it. I can just see Eglon over there
in Moab saying, things are going pretty well for me. And lo and
behold, God moves upon him and says, you know what? I think
it's time for us to go over there to Israel and put them in servitude
and make them serve us and pay us money for doing it. Well,
we find here in the book of Exodus chapter four, and verse 21, that
the Lord said unto Moses, when thou goest to return into Egypt,
see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have
put in thy hand. Oh, that sounds wonderful. And
then he says, but I will harden. That's the same word for strengthen
over there with Eglon. I will harden his heart and he
shall not let The people go. Well, it looks like counterproductive,
doesn't it? Well, this is God's sovereign
pleasure. And he is doing it with egg-lung.
He strengthened him to come in and take over Israel. And here
in the book of Exodus, there's at least five times, right? One
right after another, where he hardened Pharaoh's heart not
to let the people, the children of Israel go. Now God's gonna
get glory in all of this. And you know, we read over there
in the book of Exodus, as well as in the book of Romans, that
God said through Moses to Pharaoh, for this very reason have I raised
thee up. I've raised thee up to harden
your heart, and I've also raised thee up that I might show my
power in you." Well, follow this, if you would, just a little bit
here in the book of Exodus chapter 9. In Exodus chapter 9, it's
not just a single incident. I got into a discussion one time
with a person that said, oh, Pharaoh hardened his own heart
and then God hardened it. No, that's backwards. God hardened
his heart. And then Pharaoh just practiced
what comes normally, hardening his heart. But God was involved
here. And in the book of Exodus chapter
nine, there in verse 12, we read these words. Now, some people
will say this isn't fair. And some people will say, my
God wouldn't do that. But the God of the Bible, the
God that saves his people from their sin, the God that moved
upon Moses to write the first five books of the Bible, the
God that determined to save a people from their sins, this God does
this. He exercises this over mankind
to demonstrate that he rules in the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or
say, what doest thou? Hath not the potter power over
the clay? Shall we say that God is unrighteous?"
And I love what the Apostle Paul instantly is led by the Holy
Spirit to say, no way, don't go there. God is not unrighteous. He is God, the very God. And here in the book of Exodus
chapter 9 and verse 12, the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,
and he hearkened not unto them. He told Moses, you go down there
and do all these things I've told you to do, and I'll harden
his heart. Moses went down there and did
all the things that he said he would do, and he hardened his
heart. I will not let them go. Why? God had a specific way of
dealing with Pharaoh, purpose before the foundation of the
world, and there were going to be nine plagues. And then there's
going to be the Passover. And this is the way he's going
to do his business, that those people, particularly Moses, Joshua,
and Caleb understood who's in charge here. Saved people would
know that God is in charge of what's going on here. So he hardened
the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them, as the
Lord had spoken unto Moses. He spoke it, the fulfillment
of it, and Pharaoh's heart was hardened. Turn with me just a
little bit. The next chapter, chapter 10 of the book of Exodus,
chapter 10, verse 20, we read these words about this very same
subject, the God that does things that he finds necessary. It is not a God. That is for
the weak. It is a God for the faithful.
And that is, He's a God that does whatsoever He pleases. He saves whosoever He pleases. He does whatsoever He pleases.
And you know what? Sometimes it may chafe us. Sometimes
we may question it, but it doesn't stop him one whit. He is God. All right, Exodus chapter 10,
let the Lord harden Pharaoh's heart. Chapter 10, verse 20,
so that he would not let the children of Israel go. Now, when
those plagues come along, and that Passover comes along, and
there is a dead son firstborn in every household of Egypt,
and a dead Passover lamb in every household of Israel, he says,
let them go, let them go. And you know what? God moved
on him again to go after them. And he went after them with his
whole army and was lost in the Red Sea. There are a number of
other verses that go along with that here in the book of Exodus,
but let us go back to the book of Judges, if you would. Judges
there in chapter three, in verse 12, we read these words. It says,
the children of Israel and the children of Israel did evil in
the sight of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon,
the king of Moab, against Israel, because they had done evil in
the sight of the Lord. And he gathered unto him the
children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and
possessed the city of palm trees." He possessed the city of palm
trees. You know, as we look at this,
we find out, as we have mentioned a number of times, God is the
director. And he will direct what's going
on directly and correctly. And nobody is going to come up
to him and say, we must change the script. This doesn't work. It doesn't sound good. It doesn't,
it is God. Now the church, the elect are
the actors. And they're the only ones that
God sees as important on the scene. He is there watching out
for his children. He's there watching out for his
people. He will be with his people and all the rest, even a dumb
ass, are props. Every rock, every
valley, every mountain, every sea, everybody else are props
for the glory of God. And we see that played out here
so many times in the book of Judges. He raised up a judge
and he judged and he had 40 years of prosperity and he died. And then the people and the people
sinned against God. And now we have another someone
Eglon, the king of Moab, coming in with some confederates. They
possess the city of the palm trees, and that is the place
just across the Jordan River from where the children of Israel
pass. That's another name for Jericho. And we find that in
the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 28 and verse 15. That's just
another name for Jericho. You know, the Lord's gonna punish
sin. Now, it's either gonna go on
his son, or it's gonna go on the individual. And I see God
punishing a whole bunch of people for their sin here, and there's
no hope for them. If that sin does not go on Christ,
there is no hope for them. They are taken out swiftly. and reserved in darkness, if
you please, for that great day when they stand before God and
hear him say, I never knew you. Well, the Lord will punish sin,
either in Christ or on himself. You know, as we follow this,
we find how true it is there in the book of Proverbs chapter
21. Let's just go over there for a moment. Proverbs chapter
21. we see here in the book of Proverbs chapter 21, the Lord
is dealing with what we're just reading about here in the book
of Judges, and we're gonna see it time and time again. Eglon
is a pagan king. He worships some of the worst
gods in the world, the requirements, and you know what? The children
of Israel picked up on those. The requirements to worship some
of these are the most heinous requirements that have been ever
invented by man. They're terrible. And yet Aglon is coming over
and here he's gonna fight a whole bunch of people worshiping the
same God that he's been worshiping. But here it tells us in Proverbs
chapter 21, verse one, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. as rivers of water, he turneth
with us wherever he will. So here's a guy sitting at home
and God moves upon him, strengthens him to come over to Israel and
take Jericho. One reason for that is to protect
his escape route, I'm sure, or bring in supplies or whatever's
necessary. But he also takes Israel and
puts them in slavery. That's what it tells us there.
We find along the same line, Ezra thanked the Lord God for
God intervening on a king. Thank you, Lord, for intervening
on this king that would allow us to go back to Jerusalem, and
besides that, pay for the trip. What a blessing that was. God
moved upon him to fulfill the prophecy of Jeremiah. You know, I like what we read
over there in Stephen. Stephen's message is just so
full of God's providence. And one of the things that he
brings out in that passage of scripture is about a son that
sold into slavery and promoted. And God gave him favor in the
eyes of Pharaoh. And it wasn't normal. That's
God doing his business. All right, our case here is the
children of Israel served Eglon. Let's go back there, if you would,
to the book of Judges. In Judges chapter three, it says,
so the children of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, 18 years. Now, if my memory serves me correctly,
the last time It was eight years. Now we have 18 years. And you
know, I was thinking about this. We're going to have some foxhole
conversions here after 18 years. Lord, we're sorry. No, we don't even find that.
We don't find them saying we're sorry. We find them saying, they
cried unto the Lord. But you know, I was thinking
about what did they say for that 18 years before they cried unto
the Lord? Well, I was just thinking about that. Oh, this isn't that
bad. Or it will get better when the
King knows us better. The King will show mercy. At
least we're eating. Next year will be better. We
could get rid of them if we wanted. And at least he hasn't interfered
with our worship. All the things that go through
people's minds when they're in that state of oppression. What
prevents people from coming to Christ? We're doing okay. Things are not that bad. And
we know the real reason for it is their enmity with God. Well, in Jeremiah chapter two,
Jeremiah chapter two, Jeremiah chapter two, he's dealing with
another period of time, but notice what he had to say here as God
gave him a message about my people, for my people, Israel, national
Israel, the one I've worked with so much. It's an ongoing experiment. He could always look back and
say, you know, I gave those generations and those generations and those
generations and those generations and those generations an opportunity
to change. But you know what? They didn't
because they couldn't, because they're all related to Adam.
So we have to intervene or everything is going in a handbasket. We,
I must intervene. I cannot not intervene. So here in the book of Jeremiah
chapter two, for my people have committed two evils. Well, that's
generous. My people have committed two
evils. Well, it could be summed up in these two evils. They have
forsaken me the fountain of living waters. Well, that's normal. I've been brought to attention, I don't
know how many times, that even when God is dealing with me,
I could reject. And I've had to say, why would
I want to? I rejected God in Adam. I refused God in Adam. I'm glad he interceded on my
behalf. And there was no thought of rejecting
him. I did that once. All right, for
my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters. And beside that, they've hewed
them out cisterns, broken cisterns that could hold no water. So
their whole religious scheme is broken. There's no hope in
it. There is no water in it. There's
nothing in there that would satisfy the eternal needs that we have. They have done two evils. Well,
we can follow this out in the book of Judges several times
that they have committed two evils against the Lord. They
finally say, as we go back here to the book of Judges chapter
three, Verse 14, so the children of
Israel served Eglon the king of Moab 18 years. And I can just hear what they
had to say all that time. But, verse 15, when the children
of Israel cried unto the Lord, I had the opportunity of becoming
very close to a World War I vet when I lived in Klamath Falls
many years ago and far, far away. And he told me about being in
France and being in the thick of it. And he made a deal with
God in a foxhole. So you talk about foxhole conversions.
I heard it with my own ear. He made a deal with God. God,
if you get me out of this, I will never bother you again. God got
him out of it, and guess what? He never bothered God again.
Well, the children of Israel cried unto the Lord. The Lord's
gonna deliver them. Guess what? They're gonna go
back into the pit again. It tells us here that the children
of Israel cried unto the Lord. The Lord raised 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, the king of Moab. Now we're not gonna
go much farther. We'll save that for another time.
But the Lord raised up a deliverer. We saw that under the first judge,
that God raised up a deliverer. This deliverer, it tells us the
tribe he's from, and it also tells us his father, and he's
the great-grandson of Benjamin, the son of Jacob. But every time I find that, it
reminds me where the real lineage goes back to. the son of Adam,
the son of Adam, the son of Adam. We can trace that line right
back to Adam, and he is fallen just like the rest of them. He
fell in the fall of Adam, just like the rest of them, but God
made an exception. Now, another thing about this
guy that we find is that he is left-handed. He is so different
than almost everybody else. You know, as we think about the
Lord Jesus, He couldn't be compared to anybody. He was so different
in every aspect than anybody around him. You know, I've been
thinking, I won't be asked to say a word down at that memorial
service. But, you know, if I did, I would
say, you know, most people would look out on this group and say,
everybody's saved here. But you know, when the Lord was
down here, he found that to be the exception. Hardly anybody
was saved. Religious people, they're not
saved. There was no salvation. He saw
Peter, James, John, woman at the well, woman washing his feet,
a few. Here's a man that's a Benjamite,
left-handed. He's different than everybody
else. He's the great-grandson of Benjamin. And Lord willing,
next week we'll look more at that. But would you turn with
me to the Song of Solomon, chapter five, that shares a lot about
the one he represents, the Lord Jesus. In the Song of Solomon,
chapter five, we have a question asked to the church. Now, Ehud and Othniel and the
rest of those judges, they are types of the true. And as we
found over there in the book of Hebrews, they are a picture
of good things to come. Jesus Christ is the good thing
to come. And here in the book of Song
of Solomon, we have a question asked to the church about what
makes the Lord so important to you. Now, this man is gonna be
very important to Israel. He's gonna deliver them for quite
a while. He's gonna take things into his own hand. Left hand
is going to be to his advantage. He's gonna take care of the king
with a left hand. He's different than most people.
He could be trusted because he didn't have a shield or a spear
on his, or a sword on his right-hand side where most people carried
it. So he got to go right in with the king. And the Lord is
gonna use that for his glory. Ehud is a left-handed different
than almost everybody else. And here we find that the church
says there's somebody that's different from everybody else. His name is Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the Jews. Notice this with me. This is
my beloved. What is thy beloved more than
another beloved? You know, one place we read there
in the book of Isaiah, seven women wanted to be married to
one man. We don't want your food. or bread,
and we don't want your clothes, but we want your name. That's
all we want. We want to be able to be called
Christians, but we'll take care of our own covering and we'll
take care of our own food. Well, here we have the one who
knows where the food comes from and who has the right covering
saying this about the one who covered her and fed her. What
is thy beloved more than another beloved? O thou fairest among
women. What is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou
dost so charge us? And now the answer, my beloved
is white and ruddy, the chiefest among 10,000. His head is as
the most fine gold. Now, every one of these is a
type, a shadow, and a picture of a quality about our Savior,
the Lord Jesus. I may not understand all of them,
but I know that that's what they are." Goes on to say, and his
locks are bushy and black as a raven. His eyes are as eyes
of doves by the rivers of water, washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices. And she's caught on to almost
every feature about this one that she's in love with. There's
some quality about every feature of him. You know, we see all
the facets of the Lord Jesus. We only get to glimpse some meaning
about them, but they're all there. Cheeks are as a bed of spices,
as sweet flowers. His lips are like lilies dropping
wine, smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set
with beryl. His belly is a bright ivory overlaid
with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet. Yea,
he is altogether lovely, head to foot. What do we read in Isaiah
chapter one about the condition of natural man from the head
to the foot? Bad. What do we read about this
one, the Savior from head to foot? Beautiful in every way,
every capacity. He's altogether lovely. This
is my beloved. And this is my friend. What qualities the Lord shares
with us about himself and then we get to regale in the thought
that he is my beloved and he is my friend. Now, have you heard
me, O daughters of Jerusalem? Didn't she truly share the gospel? Christ, Christ, Christ, every
characteristic and attribute of our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
So Ehud, the deliverer, raised up to deliver Israel by God,
and he will do what God raised him up to do, and he's gonna
do it in a way not known by most people. We're gonna find the
Lord does things If even, what's that say in the book of 1 Corinthians?
Even if the wicked one had have known, didn't know who he was, didn't
know what he was about, even his disciples thought he would
raise up a kingdom and he did everything exactly different
than everybody thought. So we'll hold off here in looking
at this great deliverer of Israel, a left-handed Benjamin, grandson
of Benjamin, going to go and deliver the children of Israel
in such a glorious way that they're going to have rest for many years. But you know what's going to
happen? Going to go down that wrong road again. We'll stop there for tonight.