Let's turn back, if you will,
to the third chapter of Judges. This is a solemn portion of Scripture. It's a sobering portion of Scripture. It's one that if you read it,
it stays with you for a long time. This story does. The children of Israel had been
under the dominion of the Moabites, it says here in verse 14, for
18 years. They were oppressed. They were
in a type or form of slavery. And this king, Eglon, had held
them under this dominion and this slavery all these years.
And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord for deliverance.
They cried for help. And it says in verse 15 that
God raised up a man by the name of Ehud, the left-handed man. And this was the plan that they
received from the Lord. They were to take a present to
the king of Moab. The people with Ehud, the leader,
prepared the present. And while they were preparing
the present, it says that Ehud made a dagger, vicious dagger,
18 inches long, two-edged dagger. And he put it under his clothing
over here on his right thigh. And the children of Israel came
before King Eglon. He was sitting out on his parlor,
out on his summer porch, an enclosure evidently, because it had a door
that could be locked. He was sitting out there, and
the Scripture says he was a very large man. And the people with
Ehud came up to the king and with his, of course he had his
folks around him, his princes and captains and servants. And
Ehud and the people of Israel brought the present. They evidently
bowed before King Eglon and then presented the present to him.
And he accepted it. And then they turned to walk
away. And he had sent the people of Israel away, and they left,
and he himself turned to walk away. And he got as far as the
graven images, and he turned back and walked up in the direction
of the king, and he said in verse 19, I have a secret errand to
perform toward thee, O king. And the king ordered everyone
to keep silence. I'm pretty sure everybody was
excited about the present. They wanted to see what it was
and wanted to carry on the goodwill that had been brought forth there
with the children of Israel. And the king told them all to
keep silent. This man, Ehud, was approaching
him on a secret mission, a secret errand. He said, just keep quiet. And then he sent them all away.
It's a secret errand. It's just between me and you.
And the king sent them all away, and that's when the messenger
of the Lord said to the king, I have a message from God for
you. And it tells us that the king,
the large man, stood up, rose out of his seat, stood up to
face this man Ehud. And when he did, the messenger
of God put his left hand over his right thigh and took out
that instrument of death. And he drove it with all his
strength and force into the belly of that evil king. So deeply
did he drive it that the whole thing went into his belly and
the fat closed around it. And when Eglin took hold of it
to withdraw it, he couldn't even get it out. And he fell down
on the ground and the messenger of God slipped quietly out and
shut the door and locked it and left him to perish. I have a message from God unto
you. I wonder if there's a person
here tonight who thinks that he has never in any form heard
from God. Brother May, and I've never seen
a vision, I haven't either. I've never received what I thought
was a visit from an angel, nor have I. Will I never have received
what I believe to be a message directly from God to me? Well,
I have. And you have too, whether you
recognize it or not. But the thought of God Almighty
sending us a message kind of startles us, doesn't it? Herman, when you and I think
we're just human creatures, and so small and worthless and finite,
and to think that the infinite, invisible, almighty creator of
all things should send a message to you or to me. It startles
you, doesn't it? It kind of takes you back. I have a message from God for
you, for me. God has a message for me. Yes,
God speaks to all men. God is our Creator and He speaks
to His creation. God speaks to His creation. God
is our King and God speaks to His subjects, every one of them.
God Almighty is the shepherd of his sheep and he speaks to
his sheep. God is the father of his family
and he speaks to his sons. God speaks to all men. There
isn't a living human being in the world that God has not sent
that person a message. That's what I'm saying. There
isn't anybody here tonight that has not heard from God, in some
way a message from God, because God has not left himself without
a witness. God has not left himself without
a messenger. My friends, the truth is that
God has sent us many messages, and we fail to hear them. That's
what the truth is. The truth is that God has sent
many messages, but we have not listened to them. We have not
heard them. We are deaf to the messages of God. Somebody said
one time, God hasn't left this world, this world left God. This
is condemnation that light has come into this world, but men
love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
Christ said, How oft would I have gathered thee, but you would
not. God's ear is not heavy that he cannot hear, nor his arm short
that he cannot save. We have ears, but we don't hear. God speaks, but we're not hearing.
We've got eyes, but we don't see, and hearts, and we do not
understand. We have a mind of our own. Isn't that what we say? But God says, your thoughts are
not my thoughts, and your ways are not my ways. Naaman came to the door of the
tent of the servant of God, and the servant of God delivered
the message, but it wasn't what Naaman expected to hear, so he
turned away. If you will turn to 2 Timothy
chapter 4, listen to this. We hear what we want to hear.
God speaks, but we're not listening. I have a message from God for
you. And our God has spoken to us
many, many, many, many times. And we've just not heard. And
the reason we've not heard is what He's saying we don't want
to hear. That's the problem. So what do we do? Well, we tune
our ears in the direction that we can hear a voice that's saying
what we want them to say. In 2 Timothy 4.3, the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their
own lust shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. These people, they want to hear
what they want to hear. And if you're determined to hear
what you want to hear, you'll find somebody saying it. You'll
find somebody who'll tell you what you want to hear. And they
turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned to
fables. Does God speak to men? Does God
send messengers directly to men? Messengers too. He certainly
does. I'm going to give you a few.
How does God send his message to men? This servant of God,
Ehud, stood before the wicked king. And I'm not talking about
just believers. I'm talking about unbelievers.
I'm talking about every son of Adam receives a message from
God. Many messages. Many messages. And he said to
this wicked king, I've got a message from God for you. I've got a
message for you. All right, how does God send
his message? Well, first of all, He sends
his message through his word. There's not a home in the city
of Ashland, I don't suppose, that does not have one of these
books somewhere in the home. Almost every motel room, every
jail cell, every office has one of these books right here. And
God Almighty speaks through his word, the word of God. There
on your table, this book on your desk, this book beside your bed
says over and over again, I've got a message for you. I've got
a message for you. I've got a message for you. Open
me and listen to the message. I've got a message from God for
you. That message tells every sinner,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. This book
here delivers the message that God is pleased to show mercy.
I will be merciful. I will be gracious. This book
declares that Christ is the only hope. Christ is the only foundation. Christ is the only Savior. That's
what this book says. Christ is the only Redeemer.
That's what it declares. And wherever it is, and wherever
you see it, you've got it open there in your hand right now,
and it keeps saying, I've got a message for you. A message
for you. Someone was in the study the
other day and we were talking, a friend of mine, and we were
talking about the importance of fathers assuming a position
of responsibility in the home. We were talking about fathers
to whom God has committed the priesthood of the home. Most
every man here tonight is a believer. And God has given you a serious
responsibility to to speak for your house, like Joshua spoke
for his. That's what this book says to
you. Joshua could speak for his house. How many men can speak
for theirs who are here tonight? Joshua said, I don't know about
the rest of you, but I'll tell you what the household of Joshua
is going to do. It's going to serve the Lord. And he meant
that. I'll tell you what the household
of Joshua is going to do. You know what Esau sold was not
just not just some money that his daddy was going to leave
when he died. It wasn't just a bunch of cattle. That wasn't
what he violated. He sold, Jay, his birthright. He sold his responsibility. He sold his place of position
of leadership over his household. over the family. He was the first
son, and when Isaac died, he was to pass on to the first son,
the oldest son, the responsibility, the priesthood, so to speak,
of that family. And he counted it worthless.
He counted it so worthless, he exchanged it for a bowl of beans. And I'll tell you, this book
says, I've got a message for you, Daddy. I've got a message
for you, husband. God puts you in that home as
the priest of that home, as the head of that home, as the authority
of that home, as the king of that home, and God Almighty will
require from you those responsibilities. Fail, and God will hold you accountable.
Mom was not the religious leader. Daddy is. Mothers and children,
I've got a message for you. That's what the children, what
the Bible says to mothers and children. You're under authority. You're under the authority of
God and under the authority of the husband. And children, under
the authority of your parents, preacher, I've got a message
for you. Preach the Word. Be instant,
in season, out of season. Young people, I've got a message
for you. Remember thou thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Yes,
God speaks to men through His Word. I have a message for you. It's all right here. The fact
that we don't read it doesn't lessen our responsibility. The
fact that we do not listen to the Word, the fact that we do
not find it to our liking does not reduce our responsibility. God speaks to men through the
Word. He says, My Word will judge you. All right, what's the second
way that God speaks to men? Well, God speaks to men, I have
a message for you. That's what this Bible says,
I have a message for you from God. This is God's Word. As old brother Shelton used to
say, it's infallible. It's inerrant, it's unbroken,
and it's verbally inspired. And it has a message for you.
And then the second way that God speaks to men, he speaks
to them through providence. Providence says, I have a message
for you. God speaks to men through prosperity. I know something good happens
in the household and we say, well, we've had a bit of luck.
Or perhaps you get a raise down on the job and you say, well,
the boss has taken a liking to me. Or perhaps your business
begins to grow and increase and you say, well, times are good
or times are bad. The Lord maketh rich and the
Lord maketh poor. The Lord maketh his son to shine
on the just and the unjust. Every good gift and every perfect
gift cometh from God. Prosperity says, I have a message
for you. God has shown favor to you. God
has been merciful to you. God has entrusted unto you some
things that he expects you to use for his glory. That's a message
from God. What about adversity? Well, the
Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. When the Lord takes away,
the Lord has a message for you there. You know, he said over
there in the book of Amos to those people, you know, we're
always seeing this sign, prepare to meet thy God. Not as much
now as you used to, but back when I was a boy on the highways,
there were big cement crosses that said, prepare to meet thy
God, all over the countryside. Well, over there in that passage
in Amos, I don't know whether it's chapter 4 or 5, somewhere
there, but God keeps saying this to those people. He said, I've
sent you pestilence and distress and sickness, and yet you haven't
returned. He said, I've sent you drought
and famine when there was yet three months to the harvest,
and yet you haven't returned. He said, I've sent you warriors,
and your young men have died by the sword, and yet you haven't
returned unto Me. I've sent you this... In other
words, what God is saying in that chapter of Amos is, I've
spoken to you by adversity. I've spoken to you through judgments.
I've spoken to you through failure. I've spoken to you in all these
ways, and yet you haven't returned to Me. Then He says, so prepare
to meet God. But I've given you the message. I do not believe that any man
perishes totally unworn. And then God speaks through sickness.
When I'm sick, it reminds me of this. It's appointed unto
me and wants to die. God speaks to me through health.
In Him I live and move and have my being. My breath is by the
permission of God. So these messengers come. They
come in white and they come in black. These messengers come
by day and they come by night. These messengers come with tears
and they come with smiles. These messengers come in old
age and they come in youth, but they all come saying one thing,
I have a message from God for you. Do well if you listen. Mr. Spurgeon, what made him a
great preacher is he could hear, he could listen to the rippling
brook and get a message from God. What made him a great preacher
is he could listen to the singing of the birds and get a message
from God. He could leave his pulpit in
London filled with distress and pain and go to the seashore in
Mentone and lie there on a bed racked with pain and spend weeks
there away from his church and hear from God. Or he could preach in a great
cathedral of people and have some malicious person scream,
fire, fire, and everybody start running out and crush ten people
to death and hear from God. Do we hear God speak? God speaks,
I have a message from God for you. That's what this book says
on every page. I have a message from God for
you. I have a message from God for
you. You listening? He said, God's
never spoken to me. You've got the message right
there in your hand, Bob, hasn't you? There it is. God's spoken,
but we're not listening. We're not listening. That's our
problem. We're not listening. And God
speaks in providence. He deals with every man providentially. He deals in prosperity, adversity. He deals in sickness and health.
He deals in old age and youth. He deals in death. God Almighty,
the birth of a son, the birth of a daughter. These messages,
as I say, they come many ways. They come in the glowing brilliance
of a white satin invitation, or they come like a letter trimmed
in black. But God speaks, always, always
God speaking. And then, how else does God speak? Well, He speaks through His Word.
He speaks by providence. And we'd be wise to have our
ears tuned to hear His voice. He speaks in the lightning and
the thunder. He speaks in the soft breeze
of a spring morning. He speaks in the silence of the
snow as it descends upon the earth. He says, though your sins
be as scarlet, I'll make them white as snow. We see the deep
flowing river, there's a river that flows from the throne of
God. We see the fruit hanging upon the tree, and they talk
about the fruit of the tree of life. All of these things speak
of God. The sparrow, Christ said, not
one falls to the ground without your Father. You ever think of
that when you see a bird? God speaks, and then He speaks
through His preacher. David had his Nathan. Thank God
he heard him. Saul of Tarsus had his Ananias. Thank God he heard him. We can
go through the Word of God and we can hear God speak to different
men. Felix had his Paul, but he didn't
hear him. Agrippa, God sent his messenger,
but he didn't hear him. Ananias and Sapphira. God sent
Simon Peter, and they made out like they'd listened to him,
but they didn't. And God's preacher comes and says, except you repent,
you'll perish. Except you be born again, you
shall never enter the kingdom of God. Except your righteousness
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall
in no case enter the kingdom of God. Except you be converted
and become as a little child, you shall not inherit the kingdom
of God. A man can receive nothing except it be given him from above." What I'm saying to you is what
Ehud said to Eglin. I have a message from God for
you. I have a message from God. God
speaks. He speaks through his word. He speaks through providence.
He speaks through his servants. He speaks through the heavens
declared the glory of God. The firmament showeth his handiwork.
God's not silent. God is speaking. We hear the noise of this world.
We hear the clamor of this world. We hear the wrong voices like
Eve listened to Satan. God speaks. What is the message
that God brings? Well, it's a message of love
and grace. The Lord is plenteous in mercy. He delights to show mercy. He
says, come and I'll give you rest. He speaks in love and grace. Our God brings a message not
only of love and grace, but He brings a message of pardon and
forgiveness. Though your sins be as scarlet,
I'll make them as white as snow. Oh, everyone that thirsted, come
to the water. Come and buy wine and milk. Don't
bring any money with you. Come empty-handed. I'll fill
your pockets and fill your heart. You don't need anything to give
in return. It's a message of comfort. It's a message of strength. Oh, God, my trials are too heavy. I'll bathe in my child. Oh, God,
this thorn is too sharp. My grace is sufficient. It's a message of life eternal,
and this is the record. God has given us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son of God hath
life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life, but
the wrath of God abideth on him. You know, one day our Lord said
to the disciples, whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?
And the disciples said, well, some say you're John the Baptist,
some say you're Elijah, some say you're one of the prophets,
but whom do you say that I am? And Peter said, thou art the
Christ, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And
our Lord said, blessed art thou, Simon, Barjona, flesh and blood,
didn't reveal that to you, but my Father which is in heaven,
Blessed are your ears, they hear. Have you got blessed ears? I
want blessed ears. I want to be able to hear. God
speaks. God speaks. I want to hear. Blessed
are your eyes, He said, they see. I want blessed eyes. Don't
you? I want to see. I don't want to
just see theology. I want to see God. I don't want
to just see doctrines and dispensations and dealings of God with men.
I want to see God's ways and God's will and God's mysteries
of God's kingdom. I want to see Him. Blessed are
your hearts, they understand. Renewed hearts, regenerated hearts,
single hearts. But I'll tell you this, if we don't receive the message
that He has for us in His Word and in His providence and from
His preacher. If we do not in our hearts receive
this message that He has for us, this message of grace and
love in Christ, this message of pardon and forgiveness through
the blood, this message of comfort and strength by His grace, this
message of life eternal that's in His Son, one of these days
we're going to get a message like Eglin got here. We're going to get a message,
and we'll hear that message. We'll hear that message. I'm
sure in these 18 years that the Lord dealt with this man or manifested
himself in some way to this man, but like Pharaoh, he hardened
his heart. I cannot explain. I cannot explain
how God hardens a man's heart and a man hardens his own heart.
But I do know this. As each messenger came to Pharaoh,
the Scripture says again and again, and he hardened his heart,
and he hardened his heart, and he hardened his heart. In other
words, the messengers kept coming. They just kept coming, messenger
after messenger. There was plague after plague.
There was exhortation after exhortation. There was warning after warning.
You know, God's longsuffering, and God is patient. Here, 18
years we're talking about. 18 years. And Israel was in Egypt
400 years, and God's patient. And because execution against
an evil work is not executed speedily, the hearts of men are
setting them to do evil. That's what the Bible says. And
we know we have a responsibility to repent, we have a responsibility
to believe, we have a responsibility to obey, we have a word, a message
from God to which we are told to submit, and yet, We're like
that old ruler of old told Paul, when I have a convenient season,
I'll send for you. I'll send for you. But the message
keeps coming. Keeps coming. God keeps dealing.
And finally one day, the Lord whispered to a man that he raised
up named Ehud, my patience is ended. My patience is ended. The cup of my wrath is filled
to the top. Now you get your sword, and Eaglin
didn't know this, you see. He was over there in his parlor,
in his palace, having a big time. He was surrounded by all of his
cronies, you know, and this man E. Hood was making that dagger,
preparing the instrument of death, preparing the instrument of death.
He made it two-edged, and he made it sharp, and he made it
18 inches long. And he strapped it on his right
side here. He was a left-handed man. Some
commentators say that he had no right arm at all. That may
be. I do not know. That's not the point. But he
was a left-handed man. He strapped that dagger over
here. And he was sent by God to this man Eglin. And he came
to his palace and brought the children of Israel. He's got
a present for you. He's got a present. And oh, we've had many presents
from the Lord, haven't we? I think about the presents we've
had. All of the good gifts, all the blessed gifts. You know our
Lord Abraham said to that man in hell, he said, remember son,
remember during your lifetime you had good things. You had
good things. God gave you good things. You
just remember that. Bear that in mind. You had good
things. Not anybody here tonight that
can't say I've had good things. Good things. Not anybody in this
town who cannot say I've had good things. Good presence from
God. And they presented the present
and they had a little whoop-dee-doo over it, you know, and then Ehud
turned to walk away. And that's the way the judgment
of God is done many times. It's turned. You've been in an
automobile and it's come close to an accident and you escape.
Or you went to war and the man next to you got killed and you
escape. Or something happened and you escape. Each time the
judgment, death, The hand of God comes a little closer, and
each time you escape. And this time, here's the judgment
of God, the instrument of death, already prepared, the psalmist
said, strapped to his thigh, and he had turned to walk away
with all the rest of them. And the rest of them left, and
he turned back. It's judgment time. It's the
day of reckoning. As R.G. Lee says, it's payday.
And he turns and faces that big king sitting there in his luxury,
sitting there in his riches, sitting there in his satisfaction,
sitting there surrounded by all his supporters. And the messenger
of God says, I've got a secret errand to perform in regard to
you. And the king snapped his finger
and people began to leave. His supporters began to leave.
And all the folks that bore the presents began to leave. Everybody
was gone and here stood God's man and the wicked king. And he said, I've got a message
from God just for you. And the king stood up and when
he did, Ehud took that dagger and shoved it right up into his
insides. That's God's message for you.
And rather than I looked at that and I thought, God's messages have been so sweet,
one day they'll be bitter if I don't hear the sweet ones.
God's messages have been messages of love, and if I don't hear
the messages of love, I'm going to hear that message of wrath.
And I'm going to hear it too. I'm going to hear it. There's
not going to be anybody around. You're going to walk that lonesome valley
by yourself. You're going to meet God by yourself.
You're going to face His judgment by yourself. What a lonesome
time. When God's servant put that dagger
in that man's stomach and he fell on his face and lay there
dying and bleeding to death, he was as alone, more alone than
he'd ever been before. There wasn't anybody there to
help, and there won't be anybody there to help when God comes
to deal with us in judgment. Now when God deals in mercy,
there's somebody to help. Christ is my helper. Christ is
my support. Christ is my hope. Christ is
my Redeemer. Christ is all things in that
message of grace. But in that day of judgment,
in that day of reckoning, in that awful payday, there won't
be anybody there to help. I wish we'd listen to him, I
do. What shall it profit a man if
he gained the whole world and lose his soul? What would that
man, Eglin, lying there spitting up his blood, dying under the
wrath of Almighty God, what would he give in exchange for his soul? And that day's coming for everybody
here, for this preacher included. If a man save his life, he's
going to lose it. That is, if you preserve your
life, if you give your life to the things of this world, to
the materialism and to the flesh, you're going to lose it. But
if you lose your life, for Christ's sake, you'll save it. Hear his
message. Hear his word. Listen to God
speak in providence. Hear his preacher. May your heart
be open and your ears open to hear his voice and your eyes
open to see his glory and his beauty. For if you hear him now,
There is no death. There is no Ehud coming with
a dagger. I'm not afraid. There is no Ehud
coming with that message from God, that awful message, that
message of judgment. I got a message for you from
God. Wouldn't that be something? Our Father in Heaven, hear our
prayers. Refills.