Judges chapter three. And I'd
like to start reading with verse seven and read down through verse
11. This section of scripture has
to do with the first judge of Israel. A lot is said in here
about what it was to be a judge and how the Lord performed that
great service to Israel. And then there's quite a bit
in here about the judge himself and what he depended upon. And
so let's just read here. There is no surprise about verse
seven. And the children of Israel did
evil in the sight of the Lord. Now, I was working on this this
afternoon, going over it, and it struck me. Why was this noticed? The children of Israel did evil
in the sight of the Lord. Do you know we never find one
of God's children with that accusation? The children of Israel did evil
in the sight of the Lord. Now there's only one reason that
that would be said is their sins were not under the blood. They
didn't have any forgiveness. And it was just common for them
to have this kind of life. So they did evil in the sight
of the Lord. There were a few, and we're going
to find out that one of them was Othniel, that the Lord did
a work of grace. His sins were as far as the east
starts from the west. never to be remembered again. And when I hear people say about
themselves or others that those people are being punished by
the Lord for their sin, but they're really saved, then they don't
understand salvation, number one, or they don't understand
what Christ did on the cross. Now, if Christ went to the cross
and died and was able to say with a great voice, it is finished. Then every charge against everyone
of God's elect is finished and we'll never hear him say, you've
done evil in my sight. Now he took that sin and placed
it on Christ. And you know, the church is satisfied. We don't want anything different.
We don't want any, we don't want justice. So the children of Israel
did evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their
God. Now he was their God in a institutional
sense. Let me put it that way. He was
their God as they were national Israel. He was the one that was
directing them He gave them the law and you know, an interesting
thing about the law, God never expected them to keep it. Now
people expect other people to keep it, but God never expected
Israel to keep it. He never expected you to keep
it. Never expected me to keep it because it's impossible to
keep. It was just there so that people could say, there's the
standard of God's holiness and I come far short of it. Now,
most people said, well, other people came far short of it.
I did pretty good myself, but they did evil in the sight of
the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served Balaam and
the grove. So it's going, starting up here
and going downhill quick. And that's just what we find
as a result of the fall. We find Adam started at a very
high level, And because of his sin against the Lord and his
hatred for God, it went downhill and has continued to go downhill
and has never risen. It has never risen. Now we may
find a king once in a while that straightens things out for a
bit, but it didn't change anybody else. it is still going downhill. So the Lord brings out this passage
of scripture, and then in verse eight, therefore the anger of
the Lord was hot against Israel. Now, I don't know about you,
but when I read that about God, having anger that was hot against
someone, that is not a positive thing. The anger of the Lord
was hot against Israel. And then he said, he sold them. Now that's an interesting word.
It's used a number of times in the Old Testament. That particular
Greek word, Hebrew word is used a number of times, but very seldom
is it used in a positive sense. Now, I'd like to look at three
places. All of them are in the book of Genesis, and they share
with us a little bit about the meaning of that particular word.
And here we find that the Lord sold them. Just remember that.
It's the Lord that sold them. And the Lord sold them into the
hand of the king of Mesopotamia. Now, I'll give you the opportunity
in your own mind to pronounce that guy's name. But I'm just
going to say he's the king of Mesopotamia and the children
of Israel served him eight years. Now look with me in the book
of Genesis chapter 25 as we read this word as it's used in context
in other examples to share with us what that word means. And
here is not some human that's selling Israel, it's God that
sold Israel into the hand of this king. It's not a positive
experience, and yet we find that God did that. In the book of
Genesis, Genesis chapter 25, Genesis chapter 25, we read these
words there in verse 33. Now, people will say God would
never do that. Well, God does that. That is God's prerogative as
creator to do as he pleases. And for us to say that's not
fair We're getting all fouled up. All right, here it says,
and Jacob swear. Jacob said, swear to me this
day. Now he's talking to his brother
and we find out his brother is Jacob have I loved and Esau have
I hated. He's speaking to his brother
Esau. Esau is the oldest. Esau has a lot of blessings given
to him just because of an inheritance. primogeniture. He's the firstborn. He has the birthright and he
has the blessing. And it says here, and he swear
unto him and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Now he gave his birthright
for a mess of pottage. He sold. Now, what does that
mean? It was never a significant thing
for Esau to have that blessing. It was never. for Esau, he didn't
think highly of that at all. He didn't think highly of where
he was born. He didn't think highly of the blessings that
that was. He didn't think highly of God. He thought highly of
himself and he sold that for a mess of pottage. All right,
turn with me in the book of Genesis again in chapter 37. Genesis
chapter 37, we read about another one of the descendants of Jacob
and his name is the name of one of the tribes of Israel or two
of the tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim came from this guy. This is Joseph.
Now in the book of Genesis chapter 37 and verse 28, we read about
this word as it is applied by 11 brothers. It says here, then
there passed by Midianites, merchant men. You know, from knowing the
outcome of this, this is very providential that these guys
came along at that time. It was God's eternal purpose
that these guys come along at this time. It was no mistake
that these guys came along at this time, and it was no mistake
where they were headed. They were headed to Egypt. So
we find that God is working these things out according to his eternal
purpose. And they came by and they drew
and lifted up Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites
for 20 pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into
Egypt. Now this is, we know the story,
we know the account, and this is all in God's providence, but
those boys, those 11 brothers sold him for 20 pieces of silver. And you know what? They really
never got to spend that. What would dad say if they came
back with 20 pieces of silver? They can't share that kind of
information. Nobody could they share that
information. It's like not getting anything
for him. Well, one other place in this same chapter, in chapter
37 and verse 36, the Midianites, those who carried him from where
he was in that pit down to Egypt, the Midianites sold him into
Egypt. Now, so often we find out that
this is a selling of a slave. This is the selling of a slave.
And the Lord uses this word with regard to Israel there in the
judges. He sold them. He turned them
over to. Now he didn't get 20 pieces of
silver out of it, but he turned them over to the king of Mesopotamia. Now here it goes on and says
here in this passage of scripture, the Midianites sold him into
Egypt, onto Potiphar, an officer of pharaohs and captain of the
guard. So one more time, since we know the account here, we
find out this is absolutely God's providence, purpose of grace.
Here, every step that Joseph took, God brought this about
on purpose. Now, I don't know how Joseph
felt about it, but I know how he felt about it later. I don't
know how this affected him when his brothers sold him for 20
pieces of silver to the Amidianites. I would be pretty upset myself.
And I don't know how he felt when he was sold to Potiphar
once he got down to Egypt. His heart was not in Egypt at
this time. His heart was with his dad back
there. But anyway, things worked out and he said, you know, you
did that and you meant it for evil. But God meant it for good,
and He was settled on that. He was settled on that. So God
sold them. Let's go back over here to the
book of Judges now. In Judges 3, verse 8, the anger
of the Lord was hot against Israel. He sold them into the hand of
the king of Mesopotamia and the children of Israel served him
eight years. Now, last time we were together,
I mentioned, why didn't they do verse nine in two years? Or three? And when the children
of Israel cried unto the Lord, and it's really, we're sorry
we got caught. There's not much repentance in
that. You know what repentance truly
means? It is not repentance of sin. It's repentance means a change
of mind about God and we don't ever find that happening with
the general population of Israel. They didn't have a change of
heart about God. It's not gonna be very long and
they're doing the same thing over and over and over. Now,
those who had a change of heart, those who had true repentance
granted unto them, as we find that God should grant repentance
to the Gentiles, we find those folks had a different view of
God. And they quit arguing with Him.
They were settled in Him. They had Him as their hope and
their salvation. And as David said, when he was
given, repentance about God. He is all my hope and all my
salvation. So that's what true repentance
does. These people crying about being
pinioned by the king of Mesopotamia, crying about being slaves of
the king of Mesopotamia. And then it says, they cried
unto the Lord. The Lord raised up a deliverer
to the children of Israel. Who delivered them? Now I really
appreciate that because I think of the pastor who brought me
the gospel, he shared with me in that message that I just completely
took offense to, that Jesus is a savior that actually saves.
And he is a redeemer that actually redeems. And we could say he's
a deliverer who actually delivers. And so we find here that the
Lord delivered the children of Israel from the hand of the king
of Mesopotamia. He delivered, he raised up a
deliverer and they were delivered. And we find that out, it says
he raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel who delivered
them. Even Othniel, the son of Kinnah,
Caleb's younger brother. Verse 10, and the spirit of the
Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel and went out to war, and
the Lord delivered that king of Mesopotamia into his hand,
and his hand prevailed against the king of Mesopotamia. The
whole thing here, and we'll recognize this, is that Othniel realized
that the deliverer was not him. He is just an instrument in the
deliverer's hand. You know, as we think about this,
we find that there is a wonderful commentary on this section of
the Judges over in the book of Nehemiah. Would you turn with
me to the book of Nehemiah? We went through the book of Ezra
one time, and many ways they're very close together in what they
have to say and who they have to say it to, Ezra and Nehemiah. But in the book of Nehemiah chapter
nine, Nehemiah chapter nine, beginning with verse 24. Now,
he's going over a lot of history about the judges many years after
the judges and after the kings, and he has spent all that time
in Babylonian captivity. So he's reflecting over a great
deal of years. You know, the whole incident
between verse 7 and verse 11 of the third chapter of the book
of Judges is about 48 years. I mean, we're reading a lot of
time there. 48 years has taken place out of about 300 or 450
years, the judges. All right, notice with me here
in Nehemiah chapter nine, verse 24. So the children of Israel
went in and possessed the land. And thou subdued us before them,
the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave us them
into their hands with their kings and the people of the land that
they might do with them as they would. And they took strong cities
and a fat land and possessed the houses full of all the goods,
wells digged, vineyards and olive yards and fruit trees in abundance. So they did eat and were filled
and became fat and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. Nevertheless, they were disobedient,
and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs,
and slew thy prophets which testified against them, to turn them to
thee, and they wrought great provocations. Therefore thou
deliverest them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them. And in the time of their trouble,
when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven. And
according to thy manifold mercies, thou gavest them saviors, who
saved them out of the hand of their enemies." Now we're going
to see that Othniel, like the other 11 judges that are found
in this book of the judges, they are like what we read with regard
to the law. The law was a shadow of good
things to come. Now, Othniel is going to be a
shadow of the good judge to come. And the rest of those judges
are going to do the same thing. They're going to be a shadow
of the real judge, the true judge, the one that truly delivers his
people from their sins. So this, when it says that he
delivered them, it's a great statement to be made by a judge
that they were given the power by God to deliver the children
of Israel out of the hand of this great king. And they raised
up deliverers, and they delivered them. Well, we have this written
here by Nehemiah in verse 28. But after they had rest, they
did evil again before thee. Therefore leftest thou them in
the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over
them. Yet when they returned and cried
unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven, and many times didst
thou deliver them according to thy mercies. And then it says,
and testify us against them, that thou mightest bring them
again unto thy law. Yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened
not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments,
which if a man do, he shall live in them, and withdrew the shoulder,
and hardened their neck, and would not hear. Yet many years
didst thou forbear them, and testify against them by thy spirit
in thy prophets. Yet wouldst they not give ear,
therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the
lands. Nevertheless, for thy great mercy's
sake, thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them,
for thou art a gracious and a merciful God. Now, therefore, our God,
the Great, the Mighty, and the Terrible God, who keepest covenant
and mercy, let not all the troubles seem little before thee that
hath come upon us, on our kings, and on our princes, and on our
priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all
thy people since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this
day. Howbeit, thou art just in all that is brought upon us.
For thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly. Neither
have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers
kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies,
wherewith thou didst testify against them. For they have not
served thee in their kingdom. and in thy great goodness that
thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou
gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.
Behold, we are servants this day, and for the land that thou
gavest unto our fathers, to eat the fruit thereof and to the
good thereof, behold, we are servants in it. and it yieldeth
much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because
of our sins. Also they have dominion over
our bodies and over our cattle, and at their pleasure we are
in great distress. And because of all this, make
a sure covenant and write it, and the princes, Levites, and
priests seal unto it. We're still dependent upon a
great covenant, God's covenant. Now I just found that that was
a very interesting commentary on 450 years of of judges and
all of those centuries of kings, and not one of them ever changed
anybody's heart. That, we know, belongs to God. It's not by might, we find, and
it's not by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
That's what we're going to find out with regard to Othniel. The
Spirit blessed him in such a mighty way. I'm convinced that the Lord
gave him the new birth. And that's the only thing that
could prevent him from ever going against the Lord. And we read
in John 1, verse 13, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor
the will of man, but of God. And that's exactly what we read
with regard to Othniel here in these very short verses of scripture
about his administration as a judge in Israel. His name means a lion
of God. And you know, we're going to
read the verse again that we often do about that Lion of God,
and that is there is a Lion of the tribe of Judah, and he has
been successful. It is not of him that willeth
or him that runneth, but that God showeth mercy. And so as
we look at this particular judge, this king or this judge that
the Lord raised up, his name is Othniel. We've already been
introduced to him in the past. He's the one that took a city
and was given a wife as a result of it. He was successful. He
didn't stop. He went ahead and took it completely.
And he was granted that wife. You know, as we went over that,
it's such a beautiful picture. The Lord of glory took all that
he had to date. And as a result, he's given his
bride. He's given the church. Othniel
did not owe his victory to himself. There's not a word in here. I
don't think that there was a thought in his mind that this is something
that I am doing and I'm proud of it. We find out it was the
victory that the Lord gave him and he was rejoicing in the Lord
about it. Going back to the book of Judges
chapter three there, let's look at that just a little bit as
we follow Othniel's life here. And you know, from a, excuse
me, I better get chapter three. From a standpoint here, very
little is said about Othniel as a judge, except the Lord raised
up judges, The Lord gave them victory. The Lord was with them. What a statement is made. In
the victory that Othniel was given, the land had rest for
40 years. And then the price of the fall
caught up with Othniel. What does it say about him? He
died. The price of the fall. It is
appointed and the man wants to die. The Lord raised up a deliverer
of the children of Israel who delivered them. I like those
words as it's brought out here in this book of Judges chapter
three, that it tells us there in verse, the children of Israel
did evil. Oh, I'm too far. Judges chapter three, verse nine. And when the children of Israel
cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up and delivered to the
children of Israel, who delivered them? You know, it's one thing
to have someone raise up and say, I'll take care of the problem,
and someone else to be raised up and they take care of the
problem. We read about the Lord Jesus.
the Savior that actually saves, the Deliverer that actually delivers
us. He was raised up. That's an interesting
thing. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one, as we read
about the Savior, here in the book of Luke chapter one, in
verse 69, Zacharias made this prophecy. about the Lord. It says in verse
67, and his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost
and prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel who
hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up an
horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. The Lord raised up delivers,
and they deliver them. And we really read this with
regard to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is the
one that was truly raised up and delivers his people in a
permanent basis, on a permanent frame. And it's not ever going
to slide back, never allowed to release us. I will present
them spotless. You know, we're going through
the great doctrines of grace, and we came to that last one,
and we often call it perseverance of the saints. I'm going to call
it, I Will Lose None, because it is all up to Him to have us
presented spotless. All right, in the book of Revelation
chapter 5 and verse 5, we read about this lion of the tribe
of Judah that is so victorious. Othniel's name means lion of
God. The Lord Jesus Christ is truly
the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the monarch. He is the
rex. In the book of Revelation, chapter 5 and verse 5, we read
these words. Revelation 5, 5, it says, and
one of the elders said unto me, weep not. Behold the lion of
the tribe of Judah, the root of David. You know, that tells
us that there's the God-man here, the lion of the tribe of Judah.
the root of David hath prevailed to open the book and to loose
the seven seals thereof." It's so much like those children of
Israel in old. There didn't look like there
was any hope. And the Lord sent them a deliverer. And here in
the book of Revelation, he wept when there was nobody to open
those books. And someone came along and says,
don't worry about it. We have someone here that can
take care of the problem. He's the root. He is the lion. And he is the horn of our salvation. He's the one that's been raised
up as the horn of our salvation. Now, the wonderful thing about
this is that he is the deliverer who delivers. He's not given
an assignment that he cannot carry out. He is not given a
salvation that he cannot save. He's not, is his hand short that
he cannot save? This is the Lord. And so this subject continues
on to the scriptures. What did he do? He has delivered
us from the power of darkness. Turn with me to the book of Colossians
chapter 1 verse 3 there, as we think about the Lord Jesus being
the antitype of Othniel and of the other judges. Here in the
book of Colossians chapter 1, Colossians chapter 1 and verse
13, The scriptures share this. It says, who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness, not just darkness, but the power
of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son. Not only did he deliver us from the power of darkness,
but he translated us into pure light. He translates into the
kingdom of his dear son. So he is a true deliverer that
truly delivers his people. And he has done that. And he
does that for his people every time. And another place in 1
Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 1, we read these words about
our deliverer. In 1 Thessalonians 1, and there
in verse 10, it says, and to wait for his son from heaven, Now here he has delivered us
from the wrath to come. You know, as we study, we find
out we're the only ones that would consider that we had wrath
coming. We've never been under wrath.
Jesus Christ was under wrath on our behalf. But we think about
it, we should have been under wrath. We should have had the
wrath of God. And you know, the church is the
only one that feels that way. Everyone else says, I shouldn't
be. I'm not a Hitler. I'm better
than most people. I'm better than that publican
over there at least. So anyway, he goes on to say
here, and to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from
the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. How
did he deliver us? By him taking our wrath. Those messages Brother David
brought about that subject, you know, just... I think that's probably as close
as I've ever been to the crucifixion and seen what was going on there.
It just was overwhelming, but he has delivered us and it's
a great deliverance. And then we find out the church
has never been put into a position of wrath. We've always been hid
from wrath. He's always had it behind us.
He's never, and he doesn't have to use it for a threat either.
No, God never threatens. It is the love of God that constrains
us. It's the love of God that comes
upon us. It's His gentleness and His goodness. It's not the
law. The law has never converted anyone. How many years in the desert
prove that? How many years in Canaan prove
that? How many years under judges and
under kings and prophets and priests? Nobody was ever converted
by the law. We are converted by the Holy
Spirit, by the blood of Christ. All right, as we look at this,
turn with me, if you would, to the book of 2 Peter, 2 Peter
chapter 2. 2 Peter chapter 2 shares with
us something about Lot. You know, for a long time, you
kind of think of Lot as just being a maggot. He's just slippery,
and he wants a better place to have his cattle, and he's gonna
do anything he possibly can to cheat it out of his uncle Abraham's
opportunity. Isn't Abraham? If you go that
way, I'll go this way. You go this way, I'll go that
way. And he saw the well water place. Oh, what a rat. Well, when we get to looking
at him from God's side, we say, oh, he's a brother. He lived
in one of the worst places in the world. But look at this,
in the book of 2 Peter 2, and I wanna read verses four through
nine. For if God spared not the angels
that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into
chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, and spared not
the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher
of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the
ungodly, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
condemn them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those
who that after should live ungodly and delivered. Just law. You know, I've heard preachers
say that he was the only one delivered. That kind of, no,
this means justified. It's not just, it's not a number.
It's justified law, vexed with the filthy conversation of the
wicked. Now, you know what? We live in
almost the same conditions and every generation has, and you
know what? God's people are vexed. What's
it say? vexed with the filthy conversation
of the wicked. And you know the worst filthy
conversation of the wicked? I've told you about going out
and running the pounds with Gary down there in North Carolina.
And he wanted to warn me before I got down there that we're going
to be around farmers. And you'll probably hear some
words that you're not used to because they're farmers. There's
a greater vexation to me than that. I would rather be around
farmers that use that kind of language than around religious
people that lie about my God. That's vexing. Turn on a TV,
it's vexation. Go visit with somebody that's
religious, that's vexation. I cannot even visit with my oldest
sister because all they got to talk about is their menorahs
and how good their church is and the programs their church
has, and never a word about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's
vexation. That's vexation of spirit. Oh,
how terrible it is. Delivered just law, vexed with
the filthy conversation of the wicked, For that righteous man
dwelling among them in seeing and hearing vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds." Still going
on. God's people are still vexed.
You know, the only reason that we don't get upset about it is
except for the grace of God, there go I. We live here and pray that we
can run into some souls of Tarsus that vex our righteous soul. All right, the Lord knoweth how
to deliver the godly out of temptations. You know what he do? He knew
how to deliver Israel. He sent a deliverer who delivered
them. And the same is with the church.
How is he gonna deal with the church? He's gonna send a deliverer
that delivers them. And guess what? They're gonna
be delivered. Everything's gonna be behind them. Sin, death, hell,
and the grave is behind them. So we have this wonderful savior.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer. He has delivered
me. He has taken action and delivered
the church. He's taken action by having sin
put on himself. What? It's just... cannot completely get there on
that subject. That's as close to knowing our
sin as anything we could know is to see Christ on the cross
as who became sin for us. The Lord is my rock and my fortress
and my deliverer. Galatians, if you turn with Mary
to the book of Galatians chapter one and verse four. Galatians
chapter one and verse four. Read with me here in Galatians
chapter one, verse four. It says, who gave himself, I'll
let you turn there. I want you to read this with
me. Who gave himself. I like what he had to say about
it. No man takes mine. He's not a martyr. He's a savior. No man. Who can? who gave himself for our sins
that he might deliver us from this present evil world. What did he deliver us from this
present evil world that is so valuable? He delivered us from
our own confidence in ourself and in our religion That is the
best deliverance we could have, to have our, everything that
we stood for, we've been delivered from, all works. You know what?
We get to rest. We find out he is actually our
Sabbath. And as God rested from his works,
we're commanded to rest from our works. And you know, that's
easy part. When God gives a command to the
child of God, he's already provided it. So we get to rest. It's no longer a toil, it's a
rest. And it goes on, according to
the will of God and our Father. God is made known unto us as
our spiritual father. He of his own will begat he us. You must be born again. There is this necessity and the
religions of the world want to escape that point, throw it out.
But that's just the way it is. I had to tell a young man today,
there is no buts. I read a verse of scripture,
he says, but, and I says, there's no buts. It's only the word of
God. We can't have any buts about
it. All right. Second Peter. We just read that. The Lord knoweth
how to deliver the godly out of temptations. All right. And then would you turn with
me to the book of Romans? The book of Romans. Along with everything else we
have been given in salvation is a blessing that he doesn't
expect us to keep the law. Someone else kept it. Someone
else kept the law. He is the righteous one. He kept
it perfectly. And by his great grace, he imputes
that keeping of it to us. So he says here, but now we are
delivered from the law. Don't tell me you're keeping
the Ten Commandments. I'll just have to say, liar,
liar, pants on fire. You can't. And if we're keeping
it for salvation, we're deceiving ourselves because we're not saved
by it. But now we are delivered from
the law that being dead wherein we were held, that we should
serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter."
What's that? We have the new birth. God's
taken care of that. So as we look at Othniel, the
first one, just a very few verses of scripture. Now chapter three,
verse seven, where it says, and the children of Israel did weaken
us again. We're going to run onto that time and time again
as we go through the book of Judges. And we're going to run
on to someone God raised up to deliver them, a deliverer to
deliver them. Now for 40 years, Othniel was
the deliverer. He delivered them and he didn't
take the credit himself. He gave that credit to the Lord
and the Lord gave him the spirit of deliverance. The Lord granted
that to him. He was truly a deliverer. a picture,
a type and a shadow of the deliverer, our deliverer, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, a blessing about the Lord is we get more than
40 years out of it. They got 40 years and then, oh
man, they started whining again. They sinned in the eyes of the
Lord. Now, the reason that's reported
time and time again, as generation came and generation came and
generation came, The Lord is sharing with us when they had
this sin before the Lord, it's not under the blood. They will,
this will be answered by them and there will never be enough.
answer for it. So the Lord, when he talks to
his children, I have taken their sin as far as the east is from
the west. I've thrown it behind my back. I've buried it in the
deepest sea. I'll never bring it up again. It'll never be charged
again. And to those without Christ, I will charge you with every
one of these. And eternity will not be enough. So we see what Christ did on
the cross for the church in three hours. He compacted time. He compacted eternity for us
on the cross. So just as we close, would you
go back to the book of Judges, just for a very short reading.
Judges chapter three, verse seven tells us about the children of
Israel that did evil in the sight of the Lord. Verse eight, the
anger of the Lord was hot. He sold them. This is gonna happen
again and again and again. And when the children of Israel
cried, he raised up, notice this. The Lord raised up a deliverer
to the children of Israel who delivered them. Even Othniel,
the son of Kinnah, Caleb's younger brother, and the spirit of the
Lord came upon him and he judged Israel and went out to war and
the Lord delivered the enemy into his hand. and it has in
his hand prevailed against. That's just such good language
about our Savior. The land had rest for 40 years
and Othniel proved to us that he is not the real deliverer.
He died. We'll stop there tonight and
we'll pick up some, well, the next verses. The children of
Israel did