Sunday Morning Service

Judges 3

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“Three Keys To Victory” • 6.22.14 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- It is safe to say that the general trajectory of the book of Judges is one that records the people of God moving from victory to defeat in what is known as the sin cycle.

- It begins with trouble, as the people embrace evil. This leads to travail, as God allows their enemies to overtake them. When they cry out there is triumph, as God raises a deliverer.

- Instead of remaining in that blessing, they turn back to their wicked ways. Each time, they digress into greater and greater wickedness. As we have stated, their history illustrates our journey.

- Many of us relate well to the sin cycle. What we need to know is how to break out! What are the keys to victory? How will be free? What breaks the sin cycle? Let's find out!

Text

• Judges 3:1-4 : "Now these are the nations which the Lord left, that He might test Israel by them, that is, all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan (this was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it), namely, five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to the entrance of Hamath. And they were left, that He might test Israel by them, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which He had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses." : God left these nations to test and teach them. They were a proving ground for their character and they provided experience in war tactics.

- These nations were never going to go away with negotiation or peace accords. They would need to be driven out militarily.

- Spiritually, God could simply wipe out every chance that we have to be tempted and He could simply set our eyes in the right and godly direction every time so that we never offend Him.

- If He did, what would that prove about us? How would we cultivate a fighting spirit? How dependant would we be upon Him? None of that would happen! We'd be robots!

- God wants godly character and people who know how to fight spiritual battles and that takes a dependant character and decisive spirit in the presence of enemies!

- These physical nations that we read about were all devoted pagan nations.

- Israel would see a deep contrast between a pagan life and a life directed by the Lord. For them, their separation from these enemies meant obedience.

- Primarily, that is how we conform our character and prove our love for the Lord: Obedience to His commands, both generally and specifically.

• Judges 3:5,6 : "Thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons; and they served their gods." : These two verses were never meant to be a part of national Israel's testimony. We read that it was THEY who dwelt among these people groups!

- They were not even dominant in their own land! They settled among their influence and settled for less that God's best. They may have conceived of a life that was separate enough.

- However they justified their inaction, far from maintaining a separate life, they intermarried, a grave consideration given that the Messiah would come through Israel!

- Profoundly worse, their intermarriage led to further idolatry! Instead of these nations serving the true God of Israel, God's people worshipped their false idols!

- Some believe that their Christianity will influence a non-Christian. "Certainly they will come to the Lord once we are married!" The exact opposite is true!

- Show me a person who has believed this and has been more godly, more focused on the things of God. Chances are you cannot! In fact, in most cases, you won't even find traces of Christ!

- Israel traded the true for the false! What a compelling thought. Why did the people not respond to the real God of Israel and the real relationship that defined them?

- Imagine what they would be giving up: A flesh feast centered on all of their own desires, wrapped up neatly in a religious facade! That's what Baal and Ashtoreth offered!

- A walk with God would require great sacrifice and walking away from all that they reveled in!

- The false is always more alluring and appealing to those in love with their own fleshly desires!

• Judges 3:7-11 : "So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs. Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years. When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel, who delivered them: Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-Rishathaim. So the land had rest for forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died." : Their evil in forgetting, better read, "ignoring" the Lord, brought the rule of this Mesopotamian King over Israel for 8 years.

- Cushan-Rishathaim's name means "Twice wicked" or "Most Malicious."

- Some question if this was his actual name or merely an adopted title. Either way, the people of God dwelt under a cruel thumb for their failure to obey the Lord.

- You can truly say that they invited "double wickedness" into their lives! I'm sure that they never intended that to happen, but sin always yields double for your investment!

- It's not clear if they began to cry out immediately or if they waited for 8 years to call out for God's help. You and I might cry out on the very first day, but we know some who have waited years!

- I'm inclined to believe that 8 years had gone by and then they cried out. I wonder how long some here will wait until they cry out to the Lord. It's a sobering thought that some wait at all!

- That being the case, I believe that the very moment that they cried out was the same moment that God raised up and freed Othniel to the task. God is our ever present help!

- He stands waiting for you and I to call and when we do, He is ready, willing and able to come to our aid!

- We've already seen the report of Othniel's exploits in taking the city of giants for his wife. Now, God awakens Caleb's kin to this new task.

- The Spirit of the Lord came upon Him. This is the first time that we see this phrase used in the Bible. What does it precede? An act of heroism! He rose up against this King and prevailed.

- The phrase is almost literally the "breath of God" and it has a wide meaning, from literal breath to an empowering or an endowing of God's power out through an individual.

- His life provides us with our first key to victory over the sin cycle. He rises up in the power of the Holy Spirit. You and I have this same privilege!

- When sin is present to overpower you, the Holy Spirit is waiting to empower you! He wants to fill you and come upon you in the same way that He came upon Othniel!

- Othniel presented Himself to God, who expressed Himself in power through Othniel, to the tearing down of the power of the King of Mesopotamia! He wants to do the same in your life!

- Othniel, whose name means "lion of God," prevailed and presided over the people of God for 40 years. During that time, the land was quiet, undisturbed. Then, he died.

• Judges 3:12-14 : "And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. Then he gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel, and took possession of the City of Palms. So the children of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years." : You would think that a life blessed of the Lord, free from strife because of the peace of the Lord, would do virtually anything to stay there! Not the Israelites and not us either!

- After Othniel died, they again did evil in the sight of the Lord! We don't know what they did. We don't know if anyone else thought it was evil, but we do know that it was evil in His sight!

- His opinion is always the only one that matters! Are your actions evil in His sight? I pray not!

- Whatever can be said of anyone's sin in terms of what is known, this can be known certainly, that God knows and sees it all! Nothing is hidden from Him and all sin is an offense to Him!

- The Lord sold the people to Cushan Rishathaim and then strengthened Eglon against them.

- The Moabites were thoroughly pagan cousins of the Israelites through Lot. The Ammonites were their brothers through incest. Amalek was a cousin through Esau's line.

- It's interesting how much flesh is involved in these people groups, from the spiritually lazy man Lot to his earlier predecessor Esau who gave up his spiritual heritage for a pot of red stew!

- Their combined reign over Israel was a direct result of the evil that God witnessed. They took the city of Palms, the city that had been taken by the Kenites in chapter 1.

- This began an 18 year occupation over the people of the land of Israel.

• Judges 3:15 : "But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon king of Moab." : Ehud was the special delegate of the Israelite people. He's a Benjamite.

- In chapter 1, we learn that the tribe of Benjamin had not driven out the Jebusites from Jerusalem. Eglon had moved deep into the heart of Israel if he had come that far.

- The scripture lets us know that Ehud was left handed. Southpaws are in the minority, yet, there were many within the tribe of Benjamin, a name meaning "son of my right hand!"

- There is an alternate way of understanding Ehud's "left handedness." Some believe that he experienced a paralysis of his right hand, which frankly, would make a lot of sense later.

- For now, understand that Ehud was the man who collected and delivered the payment, carried by others, to Eglon. That must have been a galling task to perform.

- Somewhere along the way, Ehud began to plan for the people's deliverance.

• Judges 3:16-23 : "Now Ehud made himself a dagger (it was double-edged and a cubit in length) and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. So he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.) And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. But he himself turned back from the stone images that were at Gilgal, and said, 'I have a secret message for you, O king.' He said, 'Keep silence!' And all who attended him went out from him. So Ehud came to him (now he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber). Then Ehud said, 'I have a message from God for you.' So he arose from his seat. Then Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly; and his entrails came out. Then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them." :  Ehud had planned this for some time, creating a double edged dagger. Keep that in mind.

- A cubit was thought to be the distance between your elbow and the tip of your middle finger, roughly 16 to 18 inches.

- If he was simply left handed, this would have aided him in hiding his weapon on the right hand side.

- If he indeed lacked the use of his right hand altogether, it would not be any wonder that Eglon's security would let him walk in without a thorough search.

- I imagine that to be the case, as when he announced that he had a special message, the King was happy to send everyone out and to invite harmless Ehud to come close.

- Ehud's message was the dagger itself. The violence that Ehud used shows in the penetration of the blade and the guts, in actuality, the "dirt" or bile that spilled out.

- Eglon himself is a type of the flesh, greatly bloated and self-satisfied. All that is in him is disgusting bile. What can penetrate? The double edged sword, God's Holy Word!

- The Holy Spirit completes this picture for us in Hebrews 4:12.

• Hebrews 4:12 : "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

- God's Word cuts one way and then another, piercing and discerning to the deepest parts of our lives! A steady diet in the reading of God's Word brings victory to God's people!

- Back to Ehud. Knowing that his mission had been accomplished, locked the guards out and quietly escaped out the back door.

• Judges 3:24,25 : "When he had gone out, Eglon’s servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked. So they said, 'He is probably attending to his needs in the cool chamber.' So they waited till they were embarrassed, and still he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key and opened them. And there was their master, fallen dead on the floor." : The Bible translators are so incredibly polite. A further consideration about Ehud's previous conduct was that he did not arouse suspicion.

- They did not even suspect Ehud in any wrongful action! They assumed that Eglon was catching up on some bathroom reading after receiving God's special message!

- They waited till they were embarrassed! Just hilarious! But to them it was a shock to find Eglon on the floor dead.

• Judges 3:26-30 : "But Ehud had escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the stone images and escaped to Seirah. And it happened, when he arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains; and he led them. Then he said to them, 'Follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand.' So they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. And at that time they killed about ten thousand men of Moab, all stout men of valor; not a man escaped. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years." : Ehud passed beyond the stone images. These are idols that were littering the land, that had been built up by the people of Israel! No wonder Moab had an easy time taking control.

- Ehud kept himself safe and when the time was right, he rallied the people of Ephraim into a military campaign. They cut off the route beyond the Jordan, which Moab had used to bring troops in.

- Those that were trapped in Israel, about 10,000 were all killed and in one day, God turned 18 years of subjugation into a time of freedom and the beginning of an 80 year rest!

• Judges 3:31 : "After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel." :  Shamgar, whose name means "sword" killed 600 Philistines. He had an ox goad.

- Essentially, Samuel is telling us that this man had a large stick that would usually be an annoyance to oxen, and that that was the tool that He used to deliver Israel!

- There is nothing imposing about a stick! Shamgar, or Sword didn't even have a sword, but God wanted the Moabites out!

- What does this picture for us? Availability to serve! Taking what is in your hand and giving it to God's use!

- People tend to believe that God can only use us when we have our theology figured out, our finances worked out or our training filled out.

- Others believe that in order to vanquish the enemy, they need equal weaponry and thus, they devote themselves to learning worldly ways in order to combat them.

- If one man would simply pick up a stick and go after God's enemies, there is no limit to what God would do through that man!

- Shamgar took what he had and God made it effective! He could have killed thousands of Philistines, not because of a great stick, but because he served a great God with a great purpose!

Conclusion

- The sin cycle is broken when the people of God take advantage of the life that they have in Christ. He has sent us a Helper, the Holy Spirit. Are you filled with His presence?

- He has left us His Word, the Holy Bible. Are it's pages filling your mind?

- He has given us His Hands, the Holy Life. Are they holding something that can be useful to God right now?

- A person filled with God's Spirit, full of God's Word and fruitful in God's service is as well protected from the effects of the sin cycle as one can get!