1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:07,600 When you find yourself in a hole, sometimes people feel like 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:11,320 they're in a hole, and sometimes they are, figuratively speaking, 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:16,200 in a hole. Do you find yourself in a hole 4 00:00:16,200 --> 00:00:20,800 today, squeezed and pressured and confined and hemmed in? 5 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,240 Maybe you find yourself in the place you can't get out of, or 6 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:29,080 you wish you were not in stuck in a hole and the hole is deep 7 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:32,880 and you feel there's no way out unless someone helps you out. 8 00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:39,400 The word quote UN quote in a hole is figurative language, but 9 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:42,360 we can get ourselves in a hole in many different ways. 10 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:47,880 Maybe you're in a financial hole in the place where you thought 11 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:50,760 this deal was going to be in your favor and it was going to 12 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,480 bring you so much prosperity and only to find out it was a scam. 13 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,240 It's amazing how many people I meet with who fallen for quick, 14 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:03,720 easy get rich quick schemes and they lose thousands. 15 00:01:04,640 --> 00:01:07,040 They're worse on worse off than they were before. 16 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:09,440 Maybe it's a different kind of hole. 17 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:12,360 Maybe you got yourself stuck in a relationship that you should 18 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:15,360 never entered in the 1st place. It felt so good. 19 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:17,840 The chemistry was right until it wasn't. 20 00:01:18,880 --> 00:01:21,360 Everything got messed up and this person who you thought was 21 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,520 going to be true and committed and loyal wasn't. 22 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,200 But now you've made your promises, maybe even married. 23 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:31,240 You're emotionally in a dark hole. 24 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:33,760 You can't get out. Maybe you're even warned about 25 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:35,160 that relationship shouldn't do it. 26 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:38,800 But you did, and now you can't get out. 27 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,160 Or at least if you do, it's going to be catastrophically 28 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,400 painful. And it can be a whole of many 29 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:47,720 different kinds. Maybe compromised convictions, 30 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,120 compromised boundaries. You promised yourself never to 31 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:54,680 do this or that or the other because you have convictions. 32 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:59,880 But you got pressured, pushed, and pulled, and over time they 33 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:02,680 wore you down. You started doing things, 34 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:06,520 participating in things, engaging in things, and now 35 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:10,080 you're in a hole. It's so easy to destroy our 36 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:15,360 lives, so much easier than we realize, whether it is through a 37 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:19,680 long line of small, incremental decisions or through a few big 38 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,480 jumps. Compulsive impulsive jumps. 39 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:25,960 How it happens is not really the big issue, although that does 40 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:29,360 play a role, but it happens one way or another. 41 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:33,880 A question we might ask is how does it happen that people and 42 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,880 communities and societies and whole nations end up in a whole? 43 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,720 You know how much money our government owes taxpayers have 44 00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:41,960 to foot the bill for these things? 45 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:44,920 It's over a trillion dollars by now, I hear. 46 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:47,160 I don't know how that's going to work out. 47 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,160 Often times people have it good. Over time, they forget to have 48 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:56,240 it good because they get used to having it good and they start 49 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,120 taking it for granted. And as pastor Pastor Joel 50 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,640 preached last Sunday, they forget to remember. 51 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:06,720 We forget to remember over time. We forget the lessons, the 52 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:10,880 experiences, the teachings, the values, the traditions. 53 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:15,000 And we don't guard them, protect them anymore, and we part with 54 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:17,080 them. And then we start bringing new 55 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:19,760 things into our lives, different things that we have no way of 56 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,760 knowing where they'll take us, not thinking maybe these are 57 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:25,640 traps. Maybe they'll get us in a hole. 58 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,440 Servitude, bondage, whatever it may be. 59 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,400 It often happens when there's this lure, this way of doing it, 60 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,800 ease the easy way and each one doing as they see fit. 61 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:38,440 And as we read the book of judges, we'll go there in a few 62 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:41,800 minutes, out with the old, in with the new. 63 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:44,200 And getting into a hole is not new. 64 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:48,680 It's as old as humanity. People have gotten themselves 65 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:52,200 into holes in Bible times, and we get ourselves into holes 66 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:56,320 today. Today, nothing has changed in 67 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,080 Bible times. Those people went after idols. 68 00:03:59,560 --> 00:04:02,840 What do we go after? We go after idols too. 69 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,600 And the idols of our time, There are many a long list, and it's 70 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,160 growing, not getting smaller. And the holes we find ourselves 71 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:15,880 in are increasing and becoming closer together and getting 72 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,640 deeper. We look at the idols of the 73 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,920 people of the Bible and think, oh, we would never bow to a 74 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:26,000 statue of stone or wood or things like that, but we do. 75 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:30,200 What do we look for? What are we ambitious about? 76 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:35,520 We chase for money and power and control and domination, our 77 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,040 homes, our institutions, the business world, in our country. 78 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:40,840 Just listen to the top leaders, not just in our country, but 79 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:43,200 different countries. What's humanity after? 80 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:46,600 Look at how countries operate, how communities operate. 81 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,440 We chase the gods of money, wealth and luxury. 82 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:52,880 Just look how we chase convenience, easy living, 83 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:56,720 earthly temporal security. We chase after the God of 84 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,560 appearance, looks, and beauty. Just look at what people do to 85 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,760 deny the reality of physical appearance and ongoing aging. 86 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:07,680 And then our culture chases the God of sex and perversion. 87 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:10,640 I can't begin to describe the horrible sins that are committed 88 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:12,600 in the name of my body, my choice. 89 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,440 But let's remember, God remembers. 90 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,800 He doesn't forget to remember. We learned last Sunday 91 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:22,640 forgetting God comes at a high cost. 92 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,280 In the Book of Judges, we find that the stories were written 93 00:05:26,280 --> 00:05:28,840 down South. Future generations would hear 94 00:05:28,840 --> 00:05:34,320 and they would listen and they would learn and apply. 95 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:38,400 And it got to the point, not only did they not apply, not 96 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:41,520 learn, not hear, not listen, not hear, they didn't even hear. 97 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:46,120 As we're going through the Book of Judges, the lessons in this 98 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:49,720 book are for us to learn from so we do not have to go through the 99 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:54,120 same cycles of rebellion, repentance, and rescue that they 100 00:05:54,120 --> 00:05:56,400 did. I mentioned at the start of our 101 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,520 series, we're not presenting history lessons as it were. 102 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:03,240 We want to preach these sermons from the perspective of learning 103 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:07,720 God's principles of truth that He wants us to live by, wants us 104 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:10,760 to love Him. Repent when we sin, yes, but 105 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:13,520 depend on His mercy and justice, His wisdom and direction, and 106 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,000 not go into all these trails that are full of holes. 107 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,200 The book of Judges itself is not a history book. 108 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:22,960 It is not a prescript. It is history book. 109 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:26,160 It is not a prescriptive book. It's a history story of what God 110 00:06:26,160 --> 00:06:29,120 did in the times of the Israelites in those days. 111 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:32,720 But the world as such has not changed our time. 112 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:35,440 It is not as though the problems are erased. 113 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,040 We're now brand new in a brand new time. 114 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:42,040 It's as old as the Bible. Let's look at today. 115 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:46,400 We don't know how much longer we will have freedom in our land. 116 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:49,360 We have to admit we're not the culture we once were. 117 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,640 Our freedoms in our country are increasingly coming under 118 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:56,080 pressure and the pressure to conform and given it's 119 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,360 increasing, different beliefs and world views are being 120 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:01,800 pushed. The Christian faith is being 121 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,440 marginalized increasingly. We as people of faith in God, 122 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:09,280 believing the Bible, we do well to prepare ourselves, get right 123 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:13,680 with God, live in obedience now so we don't have to say later we 124 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:15,240 wish we had. Who will get us out of this 125 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:18,480 hole? This morning in our series in 126 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:22,360 Judges, we'll be going through Judges chapter 3, verse 12 to 127 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:24,320 31. And we learned last Sunday in 128 00:07:24,320 --> 00:07:27,920 Chapter 2 and the first part of Chapter 3, how the people had 129 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,320 sinned, gotten themselves in trouble and in a hole. 130 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,600 And once they were in misery and distress, they remembered that, 131 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,160 forgotten to remember. Isn't that interesting? 132 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:42,320 And then they did what they should have done before they 133 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,960 even got themselves in the hole, before they even turned away 134 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:47,280 from God. They should have corrected 135 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:50,520 themselves and said something like, you listen guys, unless we 136 00:07:50,520 --> 00:07:52,440 hold steady, we're going to go off track. 137 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,600 But they didn't do that well. They got themselves into bondage 138 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:01,640 and to into sin and then into bondage and then they repented 139 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:05,160 and God raised up often Neil and he helped them out of the 140 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:09,240 problem. There was war and God rescued 141 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,320 them and then they had a 40 year time of peace. 142 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:15,320 Lesson learned. OK, now we won't do that again, 143 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:16,800 right? Wrong. 144 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:21,280 After 40 years they took their freedom for granted again and as 145 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:24,560 of the first time they forgot to remember the blessings of God. 146 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,440 They went right back into what their forefathers had done, just 147 00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:31,720 as their forefathers had done. So this morning our story is the 148 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,039 story of a man named Ihad. I don't know if I pronounced him 149 00:08:34,039 --> 00:08:35,919 correctly, but that's the way I learned to pronounce him when I 150 00:08:35,919 --> 00:08:39,280 was young. Ihad, whom God used to free his 151 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:41,520 people, Israel, from the hand of Eglon. 152 00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:44,920 Eglon, king of Moab. And the reason they needed to be 153 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:47,960 freed was exactly because they had forgotten to remember. 154 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,960 They had grown careless, had fallen into sin, had done evil, 155 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:57,080 and God punished them for it. So let's read Judges 12 verse, 156 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,440 Judges 3 verse 12, rather Judges 312 to 14. 157 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:04,840 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the 158 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,720 Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon 159 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:11,440 king of Moab against Israel, because then they had done evil 160 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:14,800 in the sight of the Lord. Then he, meaning Eglon king, 161 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:18,920 gathered, gathered himself, the people of Ammon and Amalek, and 162 00:09:18,920 --> 00:09:22,760 went and defeated Israel and took possession of the city of 163 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:25,480 Palms. So the children of Israel served 164 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:29,880 Eglon king of Moab 18 years. Do you see what's happening 165 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:33,120 here? From the first oppression when 166 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,080 it ended to the oppression described here, the in between 167 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:41,520 time was a 40 year time span. And after the 40 year time span, 168 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,720 it was back to sinning again. And that's how long it took for 169 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,080 them to read, to forget, to remember. 170 00:09:47,960 --> 00:09:50,800 This time God gave his people over to be oppressed by a 171 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:53,440 different ruler. This was the king of Moab, 172 00:09:53,480 --> 00:09:55,560 Eglon. And I could go into the meaning 173 00:09:55,560 --> 00:09:57,680 of the words and all that, but our sermon time is too short, so 174 00:09:57,680 --> 00:10:01,760 I'll leave those things out. But Eglon's oppressed the people 175 00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,560 of Israel 18 years. He he made war against them, 176 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:09,120 overpowered them, and now it was an 18 year oppression. 177 00:10:09,600 --> 00:10:11,840 Think about it. This is now more than twice the 178 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:13,800 previous time. The first one was eight years 179 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:17,760 when Othneil became the judge, when the king of the north from 180 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,680 Mesopotamia had oppressed them. Now it's King Eglin from Moab, 181 00:10:21,680 --> 00:10:26,160 he's further to the east and it's an 18 year oppression and 182 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:29,040 says the Lord strengthen him. Here was a Pagan king whose 183 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,360 heart was not focused on God. He was an evil ruler, but God 184 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:36,240 removed the barriers, remove the boundaries of safety and 185 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,120 protection over his people and says he strengthened the king of 186 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:44,000 the Edom Moab and King Eglon came in, attacked and he 187 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:46,920 oppressed them. And that oppression lasted 18 188 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:49,680 years. What is noteworthy, as we go 189 00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:54,280 through the book of Judges, we see these cycles enjoying rest, 190 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:58,440 forgetting to remember, then sinning, then in their sin, 191 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:01,600 remembering and then repenting. Why not just skip that part? 192 00:11:01,800 --> 00:11:03,920 Why not just keep remembering and skip the sin part? 193 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:07,640 Well, it's easy said, right? How easy it is in our lives. 194 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:11,600 The nation here was in a downward spiral, steadily 195 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:14,560 spiring down, and they would get rescued again. 196 00:11:14,560 --> 00:11:17,720 And we'll go into that in a minute, but this was going to 197 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:21,400 repeat itself repeatedly. And they would spiral. 198 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:24,840 And what's interesting to note is it was not like every spiral 199 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:26,720 was smaller. They learned some that spiral 200 00:11:26,720 --> 00:11:27,760 was smaller. They learned some more. 201 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:29,240 And eventually there's no more spirals anymore. 202 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,960 No, it's the other way around. The spirals got bigger and worse 203 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:35,520 and more destructive. And we're going to see some very 204 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:37,840 horrible things that these people did. 205 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,520 The children of Israel, what they did in their promised land, 206 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:44,760 toward the end of the book of Judges, we see they repented, 207 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:47,640 God responded. And whenever they did cry out to 208 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:51,240 God, he would listen. At the same time also, the moral 209 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:55,600 standards just kept shrinking, eroding, declining continually 210 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:58,040 as the judges came and went. And some of these judges, they 211 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:01,520 were not that great either. Think of Justa or Samson. 212 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:04,280 Some of those guys were just not that great. 213 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:08,840 So let's look at what's going on here first. 214 00:12:09,080 --> 00:12:10,760 We don't need help to get in the hole. 215 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:14,200 Ever thought of that? Anybody can fall in. 216 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:16,360 What do you do? How do you get into a financial 217 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:19,480 hole? Nothing, just let yourself go on 218 00:12:19,480 --> 00:12:22,880 your suspending, borrow, spend like there's no tomorrow and you 219 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:24,320 will get in a hole. Absolutely. 220 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:25,720 Doesn't matter how much money you have in the bank. 221 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,280 Depends on your habits. You can get into a hole very 222 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:30,240 quickly. Just stop being on guard. 223 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:34,560 Do nothing. Nowadays we have self driving 224 00:12:34,560 --> 00:12:36,280 cars. Almost not every car is like 225 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:38,960 that, but some are. But back in the day every every 226 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:40,600 car was built. Oh, you have to hold on to that 227 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:42,640 wheel and you have to look ahead on the road because if you 228 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:43,760 don't, it's going to go in the ditch. 229 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:48,080 There's never a time to just let go, to get into the hole. 230 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:50,720 Just let go. Financial, just let go. 231 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:55,600 You'll be in a financial hole. The path to sin is often slow 232 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:58,360 and easy, smooth and comfortable. 233 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:01,560 No resistance, no pressure. Just follow the drift. 234 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:04,040 Soothing, relaxing. Until one day. 235 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:06,840 What happened? How'd they get up with end up 236 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:08,640 with this massive debt? I don't know what to do with. 237 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,680 That's a financial hole. This was not a financial hole in 238 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:16,080 the book here, but that's what we sometimes do. 239 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:21,080 We're sinful by nature. We can sin all by ourselves, 240 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:23,760 don't have to listen to anybody. We don't need courses, don't 241 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:25,760 need training, don't need diplomas or degrees for this. 242 00:13:25,920 --> 00:13:29,160 It just happens. Breaking God's commands is 243 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,400 something we can all do and easily do. 244 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,960 We don't need instructions, no advice, it just comes naturally. 245 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:39,480 We can do it all by ourselves, but then getting out of the 246 00:13:39,480 --> 00:13:41,760 hole, that takes help from the outside. 247 00:13:42,560 --> 00:13:44,800 Once a person's deep in trouble, deep in the hole, the fun is 248 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:46,600 gone. The sin has kind of soaked you 249 00:13:46,600 --> 00:13:49,080 in. And what sounded so inviting, so 250 00:13:49,080 --> 00:13:53,440 promising now is dark and bitter and fearful and scary and was so 251 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:55,680 innocent and benign now. And so now it's just a dark 252 00:13:55,680 --> 00:13:57,160 hole. It's going to swallow you alive. 253 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,760 You know what we can do then what the Israelites did? 254 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:04,920 Repent. Remember to remember. 255 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:06,720 Oh, yeah, we had a good at one time. 256 00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:10,520 Repent. And when you repent of 257 00:14:10,520 --> 00:14:13,360 something, it simply means you have been going one way and now 258 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:16,120 you start going the other way. That's what repentance means. 259 00:14:16,360 --> 00:14:23,120 You do the other thing. God's intention is not good. 260 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:25,400 Intentions are not the definition of repentance. 261 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:27,880 One man said. Repentance is when you stop 262 00:14:27,880 --> 00:14:29,640 doing the things you say you're sorry for. 263 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:33,440 I talked with someone some time ago, very dear to me, and he and 264 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:35,720 I were talking about this and he said something very deep and 265 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:39,040 profound. He said talking about somebody 266 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:42,200 who was constantly confessing but not changing anything. 267 00:14:42,200 --> 00:14:44,920 He said they're good at confessing, just not repenting. 268 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:46,480 I thought, wow, that's pretty deep. 269 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:52,320 Just saying, Oh yeah, I sinned, sorry, that's not change. 270 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:55,440 There has to be a decision that has to be implemented. 271 00:14:55,920 --> 00:14:58,240 Repentance means doing something about what we did. 272 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:00,760 And of course we need God's help. 273 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,600 We can't just one day say I won't sin anymore, as good as we 274 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:06,360 may intend to not sin anymore. We're human sinful nature. 275 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:10,040 We have to have Christ. We have to surrender. 276 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:15,320 Lay down our pride, set aside our ego, lay down our weapons, 277 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:17,080 our arguments, our rationalizations, our 278 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:19,560 justifications, and just say, Lord, here I am. 279 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:22,480 I messed up. I, I, I repent. 280 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:26,680 I ask you to forgive me humbly with a contrite heart. 281 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:28,840 I've said on different occasions, and those of you who 282 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:33,400 know me well know this true repentance has no demands, no 283 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,880 conditions. Simple, humble surrender. 284 00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:39,280 That's it. There's a story in the Bible 285 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:42,880 what we call the prodigal son in Luke chapter 15 where Jesus 286 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:46,080 tells 3 parables. Each story illustrates God's 287 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:49,640 love for his people. And the third story, Jesus tells 288 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:51,960 the story of a man who had two sons, and the younger son 289 00:15:51,960 --> 00:15:54,360 demanded his future share of his inheritance. 290 00:15:54,720 --> 00:15:57,160 The father gave it to him and the young son went and 291 00:15:57,160 --> 00:15:59,800 squandered it with wild, righteous living and time. 292 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:01,480 The money ran out as it always does. 293 00:16:01,800 --> 00:16:05,440 He became destitute, poor, broken, alone, got himself in 294 00:16:05,440 --> 00:16:08,120 the hole financially, socially, relationally, spiritually and 295 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,160 emotionally in every which way, when he was at his lowest 296 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:13,560 working for a pig farmer, which Jews abhorred. 297 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:15,240 And that's why the story is written that way. 298 00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:17,880 Taking care of pigs was the last thing he would have ever done. 299 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:20,600 He remembered that he had forgotten to remember. 300 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:23,600 He suddenly remembered how good he had it back home, living with 301 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:25,360 his father. He remembered he had dishonored 302 00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:27,080 his father by demanding the inheritance. 303 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:30,120 He remembered how he had squandered his father's money 304 00:16:30,280 --> 00:16:33,000 with carnal living. He remembered he had gone wrong. 305 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:36,960 He took stock of the situation, realized because of his own 306 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:39,400 sinful decisions, he was here with the pigs and he was 307 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:43,360 starving in a deep hole. He decided to do the right 308 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:45,320 thing. He decided to repent. 309 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,880 He got up, left that hole, went back home to his father, and he 310 00:16:49,880 --> 00:16:51,800 confessed, got himself a little speech ready. 311 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:54,000 He was going to repent before his father. 312 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:56,080 He started repenting or confessing. 313 00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:59,200 His father said quick, bring the fat, bring a robe, the fatted 314 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:01,000 calf in a ring, and he had a son back. 315 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,240 He began to celebrate. He was going to have food again. 316 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:06,440 The Father saw him for what he really was. 317 00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:09,160 He was his son. The Father never stopped loving 318 00:17:09,160 --> 00:17:10,839 him. And just because we're in a hole 319 00:17:10,839 --> 00:17:12,160 doesn't mean God doesn't love us. 320 00:17:12,240 --> 00:17:16,720 Not at all. He grieves, He misses us. 321 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:20,280 He wants us to get out. The Pharisees didn't want the 322 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:22,960 young son to get back He. They wanted him in the hole. 323 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:25,640 Do we sometimes wish people were in a hole? 324 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,840 Anyone who repents and returns to Christ will receive 325 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:34,480 forgiveness, but he has to do that for us. 326 00:17:34,920 --> 00:17:37,640 The point of the story is God will receive whoever turns to 327 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:39,600 him, and he will restore that person. 328 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:42,200 But there's a past. There's a thing that we must do. 329 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:46,160 We must want it. We must want to repent, and then 330 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:49,520 we must repent. Think for a moment any of the 331 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:52,240 stories of the nation of Israel. We do not find, I do not find 332 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:56,520 one story where restoration ever happened without repentance. 333 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:02,080 It's not how it works. We must hate the sin. 334 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,400 If you love this sin, it's not going to work, then align 335 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:09,080 ourselves with God outside of an alignment with God, it's not 336 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:13,440 going to work. Then we must confess and say, 337 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:16,600 Lord, I sinned here I am surrender to Christ, turn away 338 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:18,720 from the sin. That's how it goes. 339 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:22,880 But how many people do they just love their sin? 340 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,600 They don't like the product of the sin, the fruit of the sin, 341 00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:28,640 the consequence of the sin. But the sin, it's fun. 342 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,200 The sin itself, hey, I love it. That's how it goes. 343 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,280 Expect no help. If that's your thought. 344 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:38,400 They have no intention of going back. 345 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:40,600 The idea is Lord. Lord, can you just make it work 346 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:47,040 for my favorite while I'm in it like this, Like this couple, a 347 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:51,720 man and a woman, go for marriage counselling and the council kind 348 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:54,720 of think something's off here is are you guys married? 349 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:58,520 No, no, not to each other. We have separate spouses. 350 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:01,520 I'm married to a woman and she's I'm married to another man. 351 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:05,520 But can you counsel us to make this work in the whole? 352 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:10,720 But wanting to make it work, that's not repentance, that's 353 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:14,720 pride, rebellion. We are living in times of moral 354 00:19:14,720 --> 00:19:18,280 chaos and confusion the likes of which we'd have never dreamed 355 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:20,280 would happen. The children of Israel had 356 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,160 gotten themselves into a whole. They're in deep oppression. 18 357 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:24,840 years it says. And they cried out to God and 358 00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:26,000 asked for help. And God was ready. 359 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:29,800 Let's read 5 verse 15. But when the children of Israel 360 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,920 cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them. 361 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:35,640 He had son of Guerra the Benjamite, the left-handed man. 362 00:19:35,840 --> 00:19:38,800 By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon, king of 363 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:42,440 Moab. As I mentioned a bit ago, we do 364 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,240 not need help in sinning. We can do that all by ourselves. 365 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:48,280 But we do need help in getting to where we truly want rescue, 366 00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:50,520 where we know we believe God can and will rescue us. 367 00:19:50,520 --> 00:19:53,840 And usually that's hardship. God could have said, all right, 368 00:19:53,840 --> 00:19:56,120 you chose this mess. You did not want my rule of law 369 00:19:56,120 --> 00:19:58,360 in your life anymore. You're attracted to the ways of 370 00:19:58,360 --> 00:20:00,360 the culture around you. Go and do that. 371 00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:02,080 I'm done. But he does not do that. 372 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:04,200 That's not his character. That's not his nature. 373 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,520 God knows we cannot rescue ourselves. 374 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:10,280 God knows when the human heart falls into this hole, when that 375 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,760 we are truly just desperate, we need him. 376 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:14,680 He knows we need him. We have to have him. 377 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:18,120 And so the second point is we can't get out of the hole by 378 00:20:18,120 --> 00:20:20,000 ourself. God listened. 379 00:20:20,600 --> 00:20:23,720 He had compassion, he tells us. He raised up a deliverer named 380 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:26,880 Ihad. Ihad was a clever man, but he's 381 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:30,120 also a left-handed man. Commentators say that in that 382 00:20:30,120 --> 00:20:34,760 culture, to be left-handed was out of ordinary, was not normal. 383 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:38,840 Fighting men would be normally right-handed, but for Ihad his 384 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:40,680 left handedness would be to his advantage. 385 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:43,000 God was going to use this man to do his work. 386 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,160 He was going to rescue his people through Ehud. 387 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:48,040 And so he had the left-handed man from the tribe of Benjamin 388 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:50,640 went to work. It tells us, and Judges 389 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:53,880 misspelling there Judges chapter 316 to 19. 390 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:56,280 Now he had made himself a dagger. 391 00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,360 It was a double edged and a cubit in length. 392 00:20:58,360 --> 00:21:00,760 Some writers say it may be between 18 to 22 inches. 393 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:03,520 And fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. 394 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:05,600 This is key. So he brought the tribute to 395 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:08,720 Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. 396 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,400 And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent 397 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:13,760 away the people who had carried the tribute. 398 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:17,040 But he himself turned back from the stone images that were at 399 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:18,840 Gilgal. And again, his geography won't 400 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:20,840 go into that. And he said, I have a secret 401 00:21:20,840 --> 00:21:23,840 message for you, O king. He said keep silence. 402 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:26,720 The king said that and all who attended went out from him. 403 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:30,400 Dagger simply are short swords for close combat. 404 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,160 He made himself one fully knowing what he was going to do. 405 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:35,880 He fastened it to his close and fastened it on his right hip. 406 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,440 So he would grab the dagger with his right hand and use it with 407 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:40,400 his left. If he was right-handed, he would 408 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:43,000 have put it on his right hip and use it with a left hip and put 409 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,000 it on his right hand. So there was a reason for this. 410 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:50,960 So he goes to the king with his people to bring what would be 411 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:54,640 the taxes. And of course, the king has 412 00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:56,960 bodyguards and the king would be protected. 413 00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:59,560 And so they would most likely have frisked him. 414 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:01,360 Where would they frisk him? On his left side? 415 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,400 Because that's where he would wear that sword if he had any 416 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:07,720 weapon at all. But he's got nothing there and 417 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,480 was safe on his right hip. That's what commentators 418 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:12,200 suggest. We don't have definite 419 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:16,000 confirmation for that. But there's a reason why this 420 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:18,560 part of the story is there. And that's a good, that's a good 421 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:21,080 explanation. After he had and his men have 422 00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:24,200 brought tribute to King Eglan, he said as they're turning back. 423 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:25,840 I have a secret message for you, O King. 424 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:29,360 So he's he's drawing the King in and the king listens and king 425 00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:32,840 did not suspect anything wrong. He commands the silence. 426 00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:36,000 He does not want anyone else to hear the secret and all who are 427 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:39,400 attending the king went out. This is now coming to the 428 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,200 crucial point in the story. Would he be able to get close 429 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:44,840 enough to the king to be able to king him A long short would not 430 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:46,040 have been good. They would have caught that 431 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:47,960 right away, but a dagger hidden on his right hip used it with 432 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:49,840 his left hand. That was feasible. 433 00:22:49,840 --> 00:22:52,600 So let's look at Judges 3 verse 2023. 434 00:22:52,600 --> 00:22:55,320 Now it gets interesting. So he had came to him. 435 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:59,160 King egg on that is now he was sitting upstairs in this cool 436 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:00,960 private chamber. Then he had said I have a 437 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:02,720 message from you from God for you. 438 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:06,080 So he arose from his seat. Then he had reached with his 439 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:09,080 left hand no suspicion, yet took the dagger from his right thigh, 440 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:11,600 thrust into his belly. Even the hilt went in after the 441 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:14,120 blade in the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the 442 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:16,320 dagger out of his belly, and his entrails came out. 443 00:23:16,720 --> 00:23:19,040 Then he had went out through the porch and shut the doors of the 444 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:21,240 upper room behind him and locked them. 445 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:25,080 When he had gone out, Aglon's servants came to look, and to 446 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:27,520 their surprise the doors of the upper room were locked. 447 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:30,120 So they said. He is probably attending to his 448 00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:33,000 needs in the cool chamber. So they waited till they were 449 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,760 embarrassed and still he had not opened the doors of the upper 450 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,280 room. Therefore they took the key and 451 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:41,240 opened them, and there was their master, fallen dead on the 452 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:44,400 floor. There he was, King Eglin of 453 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:48,200 Moab, oppressor of the people of Israel, now dead. 18 years had 454 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,480 had come and gone since he had taken control and started 455 00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:55,360 oppressing the Israelites. Eglin was an evil Pagan king. 456 00:23:55,360 --> 00:23:58,120 God had given the opportunity and enabled him to oppress 457 00:23:58,120 --> 00:24:01,120 Israel, and Israel had rebelled. That walked away from God and 458 00:24:01,120 --> 00:24:03,640 gods and God was no longer present with them. 459 00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,520 So his lack of presence was taken over by King Eglon. 460 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,880 And for 18 years now they had suffered well. 461 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:13,920 Now through the repentance, their cry for for for rescue, 462 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:17,800 God has rescued them and Ehud now has to run. 463 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:20,000 He leaves in a hurry. The King's attendance know 464 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,400 nothing of what just transpired. For all they know, he's tending 465 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:24,920 to his personal needs. Commentators say that this 466 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:26,960 description rightly talks about he's not going into the 467 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:28,760 bathroom. There's so much more that could 468 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:30,040 be said here, but leave it at that. 469 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:32,800 The death of this king is a gruesome story, not a pleasant 470 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:35,240 story. When the people enter a life of 471 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,760 sin, there's no telling where those paths will lead to and 472 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:40,560 what pain and destruction that will bring. 473 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,560 And sometimes God uses sinful people in their rebellious state 474 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:46,480 to bring his attention, other people to attention. 475 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:48,560 And we don't know exactly how God does all those things, but 476 00:24:48,560 --> 00:24:52,000 we do know it's never safe to rebel against God. 477 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:53,760 So God used this rebellious king. 478 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,720 In the end, his life was ended too. 479 00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:00,520 For the people of Israel help had been sent, but now the hard 480 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:02,400 work of repentance had to be done. 481 00:25:02,600 --> 00:25:04,760 The man behind the oppression was now dead, and now it was 482 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:07,200 time to celebrate, right? Nope, not yet. 483 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,760 There was work to do. Let's continue verse 26. 484 00:25:11,800 --> 00:25:15,160 But he had had escaped while they delayed and passed through 485 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:17,240 the stone images and escaped to Sierra. 486 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:20,360 And it happened when he arrived that he blew the trumpet in the 487 00:25:20,360 --> 00:25:22,840 mountains of Ephraim, and the children of Israel went down 488 00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:24,720 with him from the mountains and he led them. 489 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:28,320 Then he said to them, Follow me, for the Lord has delivered your 490 00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:31,000 enemies, the Moabites, into your hand. 491 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,200 So they went down after him, seized the Fords of the Jordan 492 00:25:34,200 --> 00:25:37,320 leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to crossover. 493 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:40,360 And at that time they killed about 10,000 men of Moab, all 494 00:25:40,360 --> 00:25:42,920 stout men of valor. Not a man escaped. 495 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:46,560 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel, and 496 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:53,920 the land had rest for 80 years. Killing this king was the start 497 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:56,360 of the task. Now the clean up work began for 498 00:25:56,360 --> 00:25:58,480 everyone. He had led by example. 499 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:01,160 He took out the key figure of this oppression, the evil king. 500 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:04,360 Now the mop up. The mop up work was still left 501 00:26:04,360 --> 00:26:07,160 to be done. Notice how this unfolds. 502 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:11,120 The rescue mission involved the very same people who had earlier 503 00:26:11,120 --> 00:26:14,520 walked away from God. They were now in repentance mode 504 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:17,880 in walking with God. The journey to freedom was not 505 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,520 free. It took their involvement, their 506 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:22,760 participation and engagement in the process. 507 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:26,320 That's our Third Point. The way out of the hole is hard 508 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,120 and costly. It's not that you can short 509 00:26:29,120 --> 00:26:31,280 circuit it. OK, now let's just skip that 510 00:26:31,280 --> 00:26:33,440 part. No, no, you walk 10 miles the 511 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:35,040 wrong way. You got to walk 10 miles the 512 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,240 right way. When people sin, they come to 513 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,160 their senses. They did what was wrong. 514 00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:42,680 They need to deal with the fact where sin happens. 515 00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:45,200 For restoration, cleanup has to follow. 516 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:47,480 It can't be left as if nothing happened. 517 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:50,200 And it often does not just cost the person who's getting 518 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:51,640 rescued. Often there's others who have a 519 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,840 huge price to pay as well. In this story, they did the 520 00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,120 right thing by crying out to God for rescue. 521 00:26:57,760 --> 00:26:59,880 But God did not just magically make it go away. 522 00:26:59,880 --> 00:27:03,000 Tada, it's all better. No, now the painful journey 523 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:04,920 begins. In this passage He had led by 524 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:07,040 example. Now we got to get rid of the 525 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:10,680 enemy. The road back to God is very 526 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:12,720 different than the road away from God. 527 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:15,000 The road away from God to the whole nothing, just drift. 528 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:18,080 Just just go with the flow. Do what's easy, all downhill. 529 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:22,160 Doing that you're back. Ruin and destruction happen 530 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:25,320 naturally. The road to God is a road of 531 00:27:25,320 --> 00:27:28,880 self evaluation, admitting we're sinners, humbling ourselves, 532 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:30,680 repenting, aligning ourselves with God. 533 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:34,880 Walk in His ways after the people of Israel truly repented 534 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,680 and turned back to God. God that he had to rescue them, 535 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:39,400 but they had to have a part in it. 536 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:45,920 That's not pleasant. Then we have one final passage 537 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,600 here, one final verse. A man named Chandler stands up 538 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:50,200 for Israel. Verse 31. 539 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,880 After him, meaning after Ehud, was Shamgar, the son of Anath, 540 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:56,680 who killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox code. 541 00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:59,520 He also delivered Israel. So it's an ongoing process, an 542 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,120 ongoing journey. Just because they are now back 543 00:28:02,120 --> 00:28:04,760 in control does not mean there's no struggle, no fight. 544 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:06,960 Very little is known about Shamgar. 545 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:09,040 It only tells us this. He was the son of Anath. 546 00:28:09,080 --> 00:28:11,920 He fought for Israel and he had an ox go not even a military 547 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:14,560 weapon. Ox goes were sticks about 8 inch 548 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,480 8 foot long sticks with a sharp point to go the ox when you were 549 00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:19,640 plowing and to clean the clean the plow and so on. 550 00:28:20,080 --> 00:28:23,120 But judges 5 or 6 to 8 does talk about him a little bit. 551 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:28,240 And song of Deborah, let's read that Judges 5 or 6 to 8 in the 552 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:32,600 days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of jail, jail, the 553 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:36,000 highways were deserted and the travelers walked along the 554 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:37,920 byways. Village life ceased. 555 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:41,360 It ceased in Israel until I, Deborah arose, arose a mother in 556 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:42,560 Israel. So we're going to get there yet 557 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:45,400 in our preaching. But here's a little window into 558 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:48,000 what life was like during the days of Shamgar. 559 00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:50,520 Sure, they were not under the oppressors anymore, but still 560 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:53,000 life wasn't easy. Life was still a struggle. 561 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:55,760 That's how often life, how life often goes. 562 00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:01,120 There was peace and rest in a sense, but still there was work 563 00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:04,280 to do. God used Chamgar to bring peace 564 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,600 into the community as well. How does all this make a 565 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,440 difference for us today? How often do we not just want to 566 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:16,760 carve out our own way and after repeated tries we find it just 567 00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:19,640 doesn't work and then we want a shortcut back to where we went 568 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:22,480 off track originally? It doesn't work that way. 569 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:27,880 We can't just bypass the hard work that we got our that it 570 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,360 takes to get ourselves away from this hole that caused so much 571 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:34,720 pain and misery. Let me put it this way, I do not 572 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:38,200 find in the Bible a single shortcut to the path of 573 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:39,720 repentance. Not a single one. 574 00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:43,640 It's not an easy path, but it is the only path out of a whole. 575 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,160 Repenting is hard, it's humbling, it's not fun at all. 576 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:52,000 And those who've done it, they know from experience the flesh 577 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,320 doesn't want it. In our time, repentance is not 578 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:57,280 preached much anymore in many churches. 579 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:01,120 Oh, people make poor choices, and then we find ways to 580 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:03,120 mitigate the problem. OK, We'll just do this and that 581 00:30:03,120 --> 00:30:05,480 and the others so they don't have to deal with their issues. 582 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:08,800 What if God had said to Adam? Eve. 583 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:10,480 Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have put that on 584 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:12,000 you. Oh, yeah, I know you ate fruit, 585 00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:13,760 but that's OK. We'll give you another chance. 586 00:30:14,320 --> 00:30:16,920 It's not how it worked. Adam and Eve faced the 587 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:18,720 consequences of eating the forbidden fruit. 588 00:30:19,560 --> 00:30:22,880 That rule applies. Does God show grace and give us 589 00:30:22,880 --> 00:30:24,960 second chances? We can repent and come back all 590 00:30:24,960 --> 00:30:28,520 the time. If we find ourselves in the 591 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:31,280 whole of sin of any kind, let's not pretend it's OK. 592 00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:35,600 It's not so bad when we live with unrepentant sin in our 593 00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:37,760 lives. Let's not expect God to give us 594 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:41,440 peace or blessings. God will give us grace to 595 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:43,760 repent. Opportunity margin. 596 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:46,080 He'll give us space to do it, which we pray for. 597 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:49,360 But that's not so to make the road easy. 598 00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:51,680 That's just so we can walk that road. 599 00:30:52,400 --> 00:30:56,280 The Repentance Rd. is not easy. As I said, there's no shortcuts 600 00:30:56,280 --> 00:31:01,440 to this in the Bible. How could this have all been 601 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:04,480 prevented? How about if after the 18 years 602 00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:09,880 that the Israelites were, when did the 40 year time of peace 603 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:12,520 they had before? How about if they as a nation 604 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:15,000 had said, you know what? We know what happened before off 605 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,200 Neil was a judge. We know what happened then. 606 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:21,480 We're not going to take chances. God's number one, anything that 607 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:25,160 does not align with him, does not honor him, does not enhance 608 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:27,200 our worship, we're not going to do. 609 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:30,200 But they did. They compromised inch at a time 610 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,760 when sin at a time and time got them to a whole. 611 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:35,240 We as a culture doing the exact same thing. 612 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:38,880 We're allowing ourselves things we know are not right. 613 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,720 We're allowing ourselves to engage in activities that we 614 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:44,640 should have convictions of but don't. 615 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:48,880 Oh, we won't lose control. I'm just watching a little bit. 616 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,280 I'm just going a little bit beside the truth. 617 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:55,200 I'm just compromising a little bit. 618 00:31:55,800 --> 00:32:01,320 And little by little we chip and chisel away at the values and 619 00:32:01,320 --> 00:32:04,560 the moral principles until one day, oh, how do we get here? 620 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:11,480 I'm reminded of many stories in the past when wickedness is 621 00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:15,520 ignored here, ignored there, left to grow here, left to grow 622 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:16,880 there. In time that chokes out 623 00:32:16,880 --> 00:32:21,000 everything that God has for us. History's littered with stories, 624 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:23,880 little compromises here, little change here in the moral 625 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:27,400 standards are wiped away and finally nothing is left anymore. 626 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:35,440 When trust in God, commitment to God, dedication to God, loyalty 627 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:38,320 to God, when that is compromised and favored to have a little bit 628 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:41,480 easy, it's a road that will lead to ruin into a hole that we 629 00:32:41,480 --> 00:32:45,640 can't get out of by ourselves. We want to spare that ourselves. 630 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:50,400 This we're not called to wallow in the holds of sin and shame. 631 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:54,160 We're called to be image bearers of God, reflecting His goodness 632 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:56,600 and grace and glory in a dark and sinful world. 633 00:32:57,520 --> 00:33:01,400 God's desire is that His grace will reach to our hearts, and we 634 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,680 repent and realize that without Him we're nothing, that He will 635 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,640 lift us out of the whole of sin. And it's only as we walk by 636 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,320 faith we have firm foundation under our feet. 637 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:15,120 Walk in humility and repentance, and then we can succeed. 638 00:33:16,040 --> 00:33:19,720 May God give us grace to that end as we seek to avoid the 639 00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:23,200 holes of sin. And if we're in them, it's not 640 00:33:23,200 --> 00:33:26,520 too late. If there's time today and 641 00:33:26,680 --> 00:33:30,120 there's opportunity, we can repent and begin the journey to 642 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:32,440 repentance. Get back in relationship with 643 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:33,520 God. Let's pray. 644 00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:38,720 Thank you, Lord, for your grace to us, for your blessings and 645 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:41,960 goodness to us. Help us, Lord, as we have seen 646 00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:44,440 in your Word. You're serious about Your word 647 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:48,200 when you call your people out on their sin, you want them to 648 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:51,720 repent, to listen, and instead of deciding to go their own way, 649 00:33:51,720 --> 00:33:53,280 you want to help them to walk your way. 650 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:57,560 Or help us to be mindful of what it took you to save us when you 651 00:33:57,560 --> 00:33:59,840 died on the cross. What you expect from us. 652 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:02,840 Lord, thank you for saving us and giving us your word as a 653 00:34:02,840 --> 00:34:05,880 lamp to our feet and a path to walk in Jesus name.