If I were to ask the children, if I were to ask the children, who is your favorite Old Testament Bible character? Who would it be? I wonder how many of the children would say, my favorite Old Testament Bible character is Tola. Or how about Jair. Tola. Jair, who are they? Most of the kids probably don't even know who Tola and Jair are. Probably a number of the adults don't even know who Tola and Jair are. You know, you'd probably say Noah is my favorite, or you might say Moses is my favorite. You might say David's my favorite. He killed the giant. He's my favorite. But you wouldn't say Tola or Jair. That's because we don't know very much about Tola or Jair. The Bible doesn't tell us very much about either of these men. But that doesn't mean they weren't important. Some of you may remember our studies of the Old Testament kings a number of years ago. We saw that there were major kings. There was Saul, David, Solomon. They were the major kings. Then there were the minor kings, and we didn't study the major kings. We only studied the minor kings. There's a lot less space devoted in the Bible to the minor kings than the major ones. But that doesn't mean that the minor kings weren't important. They were. Same thing with prophets. You got major prophets and you got minor prophets. There's a lot less space in the Bible, a lot less information in the Bible about the minor prophets than the major ones. But that doesn't mean that the minor prophets are unimportant. And the same is true for the judges. You've got major judges like Deborah, Gideon, and you've got minor judges, some that we hardly know anything about, like Tola and Jair. And for whatever reasons, only God knows, the inspired historian, the inspired writer of judges, has only seen fit to tell us a very little about judges like Tola and Jair. Let's open our Bibles to Judges chapter 10. Judges chapter 10 and our consecutive expository studies of judges bring us this morning, as you might have guessed, to Tola and Jair, the eighth and ninth judges of Israel. The accounts of Tola and Jair are brief. Together, they only take up five verses, five verses in chapter 10. And these verses form the conclusion to the Gideon cycle. There's a section in Judges. It starts in chapter six and verse one, goes all the way through to chapter 10 and verse five. And we could call this section the Gideon cycle. This portion of Judges is a distinct section of the book of Judges. We know that because it's marked off on both ends by the standard formula, then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. That's on both ends. So this is a distinct section in the book. And there are four men who are described in this section of Judges. Gideon is the first one, then Abimelech, And then the last two are Tola and Jair. Now we've already studied the first two of these individuals, Gideon and Abimelech. Today we're going to study the final two. Before we take up these final two minor judges, there are three introductory observations that I want to draw your attention to. First, Abimelech's tragic end seems to have awakened repentance among the people. Now the scripture doesn't explicitly say that, but it seems to be a reasonable conclusion. Abimelech's tragic end seems to have awakened repentance among the people. Remember that the chapter divisions of the Bible aren't inspired. And so when we come to chapter 10, we should read it. The opening verses should be read right along with chapter 9 as one unbroken account. The first five verses of chapter 10 belong, properly speaking, to the period of Abimelech. Abimelech's mention in chapter 10 and verse 1 connects chapter 9 to chapter 10. Those words about Abimelech in verse 1 of chapter 10 are a lead-in to the judgeships of Tola and Jeir. Remember that chapter 6, 1 through 10, 5 stand as a distinct unit in judges And so in this section, Gideon comes first. And then we saw that Abimelech is the sequel. The Abimelech account is really the sequel to Gideon. And now we've got Tola and Jair, and they follow Abimelech. They are the conclusion to the Abimelech sequel. So these accounts should be read. These portions should be read with this structure in mind. And apparently the events associated with Abimelech have awakened in the people a measure of repentance. This is implied by the mention of Abimelech in verse 1. After Abimelech died, Tola arose to save the people. Now you remember all those grievous and gruesome events that were associated with Abimelech. How he turned against his own father, betrayed his own family, how he murdered 70 of his brothers in order to secure the throne for himself. Later, how he burned the leaders of the Tower of Shechem alive, burned them alive. Later, how he killed all the people of Shechem and thoroughly destroyed the city. And then how he attempted to do the same to the men of Thebes. You may remember that. And then finally, how a woman, an unnamed woman, through a millstone from the top of the Tower of Thebes down onto a bimelac crushing his skull. These are gruesome, tragic events, hideous events that apparently brought about a measure of restoration, some sense to some degree, a measure of repentance in the people so that now we see a period of peace ensues under the leadership of Tola and Jair. Secondly, by way of observation, the ephod worship of Gideon, remember his ephod cult that Gideon established, apparently this has come to an end. The tragic developments which overtook the house of Gideon, culminating in the death of Abimelech, seems to have brought Gideon's ephod worship to a conclusion. And consequently, now there's a shift in the worship of God. Now the worship of God returns once again to the sanctuary at Shiloh and attention is drawn once again now to the Levitical priesthood that ministered there in Shiloh. Now they regain a place of prominence and maintain a place of prominence in Israel. And to prove this, to demonstrate this, I would just ask you to recall to mind your general knowledge of the Scripture. After Judges comes Ruth, and after Ruth comes what? 1 Samuel. And you remember how 1 Samuel opens up. One of the first scenes in 1 Samuel is there's Hannah and her husband, and there's yearly sacrifices being offered at Shiloh under the direction of Eli, the high priest. So there's a shift apparently occurs After Gideon dies, the ephod worship comes to an end and now the prominence is once again focused upon Shiloh and the Levitical ministers. Third introductory observation. There's just an interesting chronological note. I thought it was interesting. It may help you to get your historical bearings in the Old Testament. The first 20 years of Eli, remember Eli the high priest. Eli is the one who raised up Samuel. Eli the High Priest, the first 20 years of his administration were contemporary with that of Jair, who we're studying this morning. There was an overlap between these men of at least two years, maybe more, but an overlap of at least two years. Now the final 20 years of Eli were concurrent with the first 20 years of the Philistine oppression. You remember how in 1 Samuel the ark of God was taken by the Philistines? And then it was on that occasion that Eli and his sons died. His sons were also priests in Shiloh. Now the Philistine oppression began before Samson was born, didn't it? Because God raised up Samson to come against the Philistines. That means that Samson must have been born and grown up during the high priesthood of Eli. We don't often connect those two. It also means that Samson, a later judge in Israel, and Samuel the prophet were contemporaries. They lived during the same time, with Samuel being much younger than Samson. And of course, after Samson dies, then Samuel the prophet judges Israel. Just a little historical note to help you get some bearings. All right, having made these introductory observations, we come now to the minor judges, Tola and Jeir. Let's consider first of all Tola, the eighth judge of Israel, verses 1 and 2 of chapter 10. Now, after Abimelech died, Tola, the son of Pua, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to save Israel, and he lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. He judged Israel 23 years. Then he died and was buried in Shamir. Now the inspired historian gives us five pieces of information about Tola. First of all, concerning his family. Tola was the son of Pua and the grandson of a man named Dodo. Tola's family must have had some prominence. This must have had some significance. This identification, this lineage must have had some significance for somebody among the original readers of Judges. Secondly, we learn about Tola's tribe. Tola was of the tribe of Issachar. Third thing we learn about Tola is his residence. Though Tola was of the tribe of Issachar, he lived in Shamir, and apparently Shamir was located in the hill country of Ephraim. Why someone from Issachar would live in Ephraim, nobody knows. And furthermore, nobody knows the precise location of Shamir. And then fourthly, the inspired historian tells us about Tola's length of tenure. Tola judged Israel 23 years. And then fifthly and finally, we learn about Tola's death and burial place. Tola died and was buried in Shamir. In verse 1, we're told that Tola arose to save Israel. He saved Israel. Saved Israel from what? And how did Tolal save Israel? Did he save Israel by military victories like some of the other judges? Or did he save Israel perhaps by more peaceful means? Well, the scripture doesn't tell us. The account is deliberately ambiguous. There's just bullets of information given and not much else is told. It's deliberate. Tola probably saved Israel from various enemies in various ways. At the very least, we can say that Tola saved Israel from the evils associated with the reign of Abimelech. Remember the connection of Tola to the previous account concerning Abimelech. Abimelech had been a destroyer of Israel. Abimelech didn't care about the people. There was civil war. There was chaos, treachery. These were the kinds of things that characterized a Benelux brief reign. And God used these things. He used the treachery of the Benelux. He used the chaos of the civil war and the disorder. He used these things to chasten his people, Israel. But now in great mercy, God sends a savior. He sends a deliverer. A deliverer they didn't deserve. More about that later. That's Tola, the 8th Judge of Israel. Let's look at Jeir, the 9th Judge of Israel, verses 3-5. After him, Jeir the Gileadite arose and judged Israel 22 years. He had 30 sons who rode on 30 donkeys. And they had 30 cities in the land of Gilead that are called Habaf-Jeir. to this day. And Jair died and was buried in Cayman. Now the inspired historian gives us four pieces of information about Jair. The first concerns his residence. He lived in Gilead, and Gilead was that territory that lay to the southeast of the Sea of Chinereth. It's what we know of as the Sea of Galilee. So if you picture in your mind, here's the Sea of Galilee, and then here's the Jordan River, and then down here is the Dead Sea. Up here by the Sea of Galilee, just to the southeast, was the land of Gilead, and that's where Jair lived. Secondly, we're told about his length of tenure. Jair judged Israel 22 years. Tola, 23. Jair, 22. Thirdly, we learn some things about Jair's family. Very interesting family. Verse 4, he had 30 sons. who rode on 30 donkeys, and they had 30 cities in the land of Gilead that are called Hevah-Jeir to this day. Now evidently, Jeir was a powerful man, an influential man. The description that's given of his family here indicates that they were a family of rank and influence. And there are several indications of this. For one thing, in order to have 30 sons, he must have had more than one wife. If he only had one wife and had 30 sons, I pity that woman. He had to have more than one. How many wives did he have? We don't know. The scripture doesn't tell us. But clearly, he had more than one wife. He had a harem. For another thing, riding upon a donkey. Now, we laugh at that. If we saw somebody riding on a donkey in our day, in our culture, we would laugh about this. But in that day, that was a sign of distinction. Riding on a donkey was a sign of distinguished rank. That was at a time when Israel had no horses. And so riding on a donkey marked you out as someone distinguished, someone who had money, someone who had wealth. In fact, to ride at all in that day was a mark of wealth. Maybe a little bit. It would be sort of like driving your own Lexus as opposed to somebody riding the bus. Maybe it's a little bit like that. A similar statement is made of Abdon. He's the 13th judge of Israel. We'll study him later on. Let's flip over to Judges 12, verse 14. And notice what it says about Abdon. Judges 12, verse 14. He had 40 sons. Wow! 40 sons and 30 grandsons who rode on 70 donkeys. And he judged Israel eight years. So see, this was a way to designate someone. It was an indication that they had influence and they had wealth. And then finally, another indication of this was Jair's family controlled considerable territory. His 30 sons were leaders. They were chiefs of 30 cities in a region in Gilead called Havah Jair. located east of the Jordan, southeast, as I said before, of the Sea of Chinereth. Now, we're not going to turn there now, but if you look at 1 Kings 4.13 and the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 2.23, you'll see there that there were a total of 60 cities in Havoth-Jair, and Jair's sons controlled half of them. They controlled 30 of the 60 cities, which explains the name of the place, Havoth-Jeir, which means the towns of Jeir. And then fourthly and finally we're told about Jeir's death and burial place. Verse 5, Jeir died and was buried in Caiman. And just like Shamir, the location of Caiman is unknown. Nobody knows where it was or where it is. Now, it isn't said of Jair that he saved Israel. It is said of him that he judged Israel. And given Tola's peaceful administration, there was probably very little to save Israel from at the time that Jair was raised up. There are hints, however, if you look at this description of Jair and his family, hints here of indulgence and hints of ostentation in his administration, just hints. He's got many sons. He's got position. He's got influence. Nothing negative is said in the passage about this man. And surely our theology, our understanding of scripture doesn't doesn't compel us to condemn him because he was a man of wealth or a man of influence. Neither should we criticize him for his evidently peaceful administration. My only point here is that we see a trend. We see a tendency in this man toward worldliness and status seeking. And furthermore, if you think about it, apparently Jair's legacy to his sons left something to be desired. As we're going to see in future studies, Jair's sons were of no use against the coming Ammonite oppression. The next major judge is Jephthah. We're going to be starting to study him next week, maybe the week after, God willing. And Jephthah was raised up when the Ammonites were oppressing Israel. Well, where are Jair's sons? If Jephthah was next, why aren't Jair's sons standing up and defending Israel against the Ammonites? And yet, having said all of those things, we still need to see here 22 years of the Lord's kindness, 22 years of peace under Jair, 22 years of God's mercy, 22 years of God's kindness In addition to Tola's 23 years. All right, so by way of summary, not much information is given about these two judges, but the very same verbs are used to describe their activities. Same verbs are used to describe their activities as the verbs used to describe the more prominent judges of Israel. For example, Tola and Jair both arose just like Deborah did. Tola saved Israel as it is said that Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, and Gideon saved or delivered Israel. Tola and Jeir both judged Israel just like Othniel and Deborah. The same verbs are used. Between the two of these minor judges, 45 years of peace were enjoyed by Israel. Even after the atrocities, associated with Abimelech. And there were terrible times during Abimelech's reign. Terrible things took place underneath the watch of Abimelech. And yet, in spite of those things, in spite of that sin and wickedness, we still see God gives the nation a space for repentance. Still gives them an opportunity for repentance. So we see here that these brief accounts here of Tola and Jeir They're not just stuck in there. They're not just inserted arbitrarily at this point. They are in keeping with the overall message of the Book of Judges. They are but a piece of the overall message of the Book of Judges. They're not unrelated accounts that we're just stuck in. But what we see here are the peaceful administrations of Tola and Jair that stand in sharp contrast to all the wickedness that took place under Abimelech. Abimelech's treachery, the bloody rule, the bloody tyranny of Abimelech. That's the backdrop to the mercy and the peaceful reigns of these two minor judges. We see God here giving to an undeserving nation, giving these judges to them, peaceful judges. It reminds you a little bit of the title of one of John Bunyan's books, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. And that's a picture of Israel at this time. Grace abounds toward the chief of sinners. Well, what practical lessons can we take with us from this passage? We've looked briefly at these two judges. There are two simple lessons that I want to draw to your attention. The first one is this, simple lessons. First lesson is everyone has an appointed station in life. Everyone has an appointed station in life. In Scripture, we find large portions devoted to some individuals and huge portions of Scripture describing their deeds, elaborately describing the events that are associated with these individuals, while other people are passed over in relative silence. So it is with Tola and Jair. Hardly anything is said about these two men in the Bible. And yet God used these men. And this is what we need to see. God used these men to give to Israel 45 years of peace. In the world today, some people are given a lot of attention. And unfortunately, in our society, The people that get the most attention aren't always truly great people. Not by any standard. And the reverse is true as well. Sometimes truly great people, nobody pays attention to them at all. It pays them very little attention. But yet God is the one. No matter why this is or how this is, God is the one behind it. God is the author of this. He's the agent in bringing this about. Everyone has an appointed station in life, and God is the one who appoints our places. We are His creatures, and He appoints us our place. In Acts 17, verses 26 and 28, we read these words, He, that is God, made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation." God is the sovereign master who made from one man all the nations of the earth, and He's the one who draws the lines, the boundaries of their habitation. He's the one who determines where they will live and how long they will live. And then Paul goes on there in Acts 17 and verse 28 to say, in Him we live and move and exist. This is the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is huge. He's infinite. He's sovereign. And in His sovereignty, He appoints our stations in life. To some, He gives places of great prominence. and influence. To others, he gives places of obscurity. But whatever place he allots to individuals, he always does so in wisdom. God's ways are always wise, always good. And he always selects instruments that are suitable to the fulfillment of his purposes. He has every being, every person in exactly the place he wants them to be so that he can work out his purposes. And his purposes are wise and good. And as the sovereign of the universe, he has the right to make use of his creatures, his instruments, as it pleases him. His appointments are always wise and good. And there's not a single one of God's creatures that has any right to complain or any right to claim for themselves a more prominent position than what they have. What we're really talking about here is the matter of calling and vocation. What is your appointed place? What is my appointed place? Is really to ask the question, what is your calling in life? What is your vocation in life? And as we think about this question, we're really what we're talking about is a very simple, basic issue, and that is doing the will of God for our lives. What is the will of God for us? And sometimes we find ourselves desiring things that are different from what we have. Sometimes we desire more than what we have or something different, usually something better, what we think is better, than what we have. And God doesn't always appoint the things that we desire. God doesn't always give us the prominence that we desire or the place that we desire. Let me give you some examples. You desire friends. Maybe you don't have very many friends and you desire friends. Well, God has you exactly where he wants you. There may be some reasons why you don't have friends, and maybe you ought to think about that and pray and maybe try to correct it. There might be some reasons why you don't have very many friends. But if you look over those things and you can't find the full explanation there, just understand God has put you where you are. It's God's will for you. Maybe you desire a boyfriend. Anybody here desire a boyfriend or a girlfriend? Maybe that's what you desire. You'd like that for yourself, but you don't have one. Maybe you desire to be married. For sure you're not going to raise your hand now. You desire to be married, but you're not. You really wish you were, but you're not married. Maybe you desire to have children. Maybe you're married, but you desire to have children. You don't have kids. Maybe you have a child, but you desire to have more children, and you don't. Or maybe you've got two boys, but you really like a boy and a girl. Maybe you've got three kids, you've got two girls and a boy. Maybe you want two boys and a girl. On and on it goes. It seems like we're never satisfied. And admittedly, there's a difference between being single and being married. Admittedly, there's a big difference there. But it just seems that we always want a different situation. I think this would be better. I think that would make my life better. I think that this would be a place of better prominence for me. I think I would desire this and enjoy this much better. Maybe you would like a better career. Maybe you're not too happy with the career track you're on. You don't quite know what to do about it, so maybe you'd like a better career. Maybe you'd like to be able to earn more money. Maybe you would like a more successful business. Maybe you desire a different domestic situation. Maybe you're not totally happy with the way things are in your house and you'd like a different domestic situation. You know, you're getting by. You're limping along and you're getting by. It's okay for now. It's a temporary measure, but this is not where you want to be. You would rather be somewhere else domestically. Maybe you desire your own home. You don't have a home and you'd like to have a house. You know other people have a house and you'd like to have a house, but you don't have one. Maybe you desire to work. Maybe you don't work and you desire to work. Or maybe you do work and you desire not to work. Maybe you'd rather not work outside the home. Maybe you would like to have greater prominence and influence in the community. Maybe that would be something you would desire. Or maybe you would desire more profile in the church. And I don't mean that in a selfish way. It's not necessarily wrong. to desire more profile in the church, but maybe you would like to realize greater usefulness in the Church of Christ, greater usefulness in the Kingdom of God. There's all these different things that we desire. But when it's all said and done, we really shouldn't desire to be anywhere else than where God puts us. Right? Where does God want me to be? That's the question. It's not a question of what I want or what's normal for somebody my age, my situation. Where should I be? These are arbitrary standards. Who says that this or that is normal? and that as an American living in the 20th century, by the time you're a certain age, you should have this much possessions and you should have this much income, this much in savings, this many kids. Who says that? You don't find that in the Bible. I mean, if you want to use it for a general guide, that's fine, but God never says in His Word that you have a right to those things. Never. If you have many of those things, that's icing on the cake. That's a blessing. But God doesn't say that you must have those things. And there's something wrong if you don't have those things. And whatever we desire, we must desire to be exactly where God wants us to be. And that's the question. That's the real issue. I'll tell you, you do not want to be anywhere other than where God wants you to be. You want to do the will of God in your life. That's what you should desire, not my will, but thy will be done. That should be your desire. That has to be our ruling desire. And if you desire something that isn't God's will for you. And you start getting frustrated about it and anxious about and upset about it. You're in for some real trouble. Because you don't want to have anything except what is God's will for you. If you get something other than this is God's path for you, you get something other than that, you will regret it. What starts out as sweet to the taste becomes like dirt in the mouth. I could tell you stories of how God has dealt with me in terms of this concept, this principle. how he's dealt with me in my own life over this issue. And I can tell you, these lessons are not usually learned easily. They're not learned easily. It's a good idea not to take yourself too seriously. Learn to laugh at yourself. Learn to laugh about your situation. You start taking yourself too seriously, you're in trouble. As we look at our lives, they may appear to us to be obscure and unimportant. We may lack a sense of purpose in our lives. We seem so obscure compared to the larger scheme of things. When you think about how great God is and the great things he's doing and the great events that take place in the world, we seem to be obscure and unimportant. But let us not forget that God has a place for each one. For some he has a big place, for some he's just got a little place. But whatever it is, he has a place for each one. He's got a place for each one of his people. He's got a place for each one, period. Proverbs 16 verse 4 says, The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil. What a thought that is. God will glorify himself. not only through his own people, but he'll even glorify himself through those who aren't his people, through those who are wicked. He's made everything to ultimately glorify himself. So as we think about this whole matter of every person having their place, how can we deal with this? How can we cope with this? We need what might be called responsible contentment. what I'm calling responsible contentment. God's words through Baruch, through the prophet to Baruch rather, his secretary, are fitting for many. Remember what God said through Jeremiah to Baruch? He said, Are you seeking great things for yourself? Jeremiah 45 verse 5. Are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them. And that's generally good advice. There are some who settle for less than what they should, and it doesn't glorify God. And they call it contentment. They call it humility. And what it is many times is laziness and self-indulgence. I don't have to push myself in this or that thing. If I can get by with less, you know, I'm satisfied with my little life just the way it is now, my little teeny weeny life. And I'm happy with this and I don't need to push too much. They're content. You don't need to preach sermons to them about contentment. They're very content. But they're not being what they can be for God's glory. They don't have great usefulness, as great usefulness in the kingdom of God that they might have otherwise. And then there are others, probably more of us fit in this category. We desire more than we should. We desire things more other than we should. And then we call it stewardship. Well, I can glorify God better in this way. You know, we have ways of rational. I can glorify God in this. If I were able to do this, then I would be able to better glorify God, be a better stewardship, do a better steward. Well, you know, we never glorify God more than when we responsibly occupy the place of his appointment with contentment. Now, we need wisdom in these things, don't we? These are not easy questions to answer. They're not easy issues to address. Be all that God calls you to be. In some cases, that may mean being more than you presently are. It may mean that. Live up to your calling, but no more. In some cases, it may mean being content with less. It may mean taking some of the things that you desire, some of the things you'd like, that God is not bringing about in your life and just shelled them for the time being. You are wise and you can make the application to yourself. That's what the Puritans used to say. That's where I'm going to leave it. Everyone has an appointed station in life. There's a second practical lesson that we can take with us from this passage. Very clearly in this passage, God has great mercy toward the undeserving. He has great mercy toward the undeserving. The tragedy surrounding Abimelech is offset by the rise of Tola and Jeir. When we were studying the Abimelech accounts, it was depressing, wasn't it? It was gruesome, not very edifying. And yet all of that is offset by the rise of Tola and Jeir. And peace comes to the nation through these two minor judges. We see here the greatness of God's mercy. the greatness of God's mercy in that he rescues an unfaithful people from themselves and rescues them from their sin. As we look at these accounts, we see the idolatry of Israel, and we can get all caught up with that. We see the wickedness and the evil of an Abimelech. We get all caught up with that. We can even see the great deliverance that came about through a Gideon and get caught up with all of that. But beyond the actions of men, Beyond the activities of these characters on the stage, we need to get behind the scenes and look and see who the real actor is. It's God. We see here the mercy of a covenant-keeping God who is kind to those who are undeserving. Israel should never have survived the Abimelech incident. They didn't deserve it. They had forfeited every claim to God's approval because of the wickedness and treachery of Abimelech. Justice at this point. Don't you agree? Didn't justice demand the rejection of this people? They had no further claims to God's mercy. And yet we see that God is a God of mercy as well as of justice. Full of mercy. And he comes And instead of destroying the nation, He gives them 45 more years of peace. That's a long time. 45 more years. Right on the heels of the ebimelech incident, you almost can feel the anger of God kindling. And when you feel like He's just going to come down on them and smash them in His judgment, what does He do? He raises up these two men, gives them better than four decades of peace. He gives further opportunity for repentance. He gives further opportunity for renewal. He's doing that with some of you. Right now. In your life. He's giving you more opportunity for repentance. He could have crushed you long ago. It wouldn't have been wrong for God to crush you long ago, but he didn't. He continues to show you mercy, continues to give you an opportunity to repent, to put away your sins and start having some real serious dealings with the living God through faith in Jesus Christ. Now, what are you doing with that mercy? What have you been doing with it? Has it become a kind of a habit with you? to receive his mercy and do nothing with it. That could be the case. I believe that's the case with some here this morning. It's become a kind of a habit for you to continue to enjoy God's mercy and you get used to it and you get into a habit of receiving mercy from God and doing nothing with it. Romans 2.4 says that the riches of his kindness and patience and forbearance are intended to lead you to repentance. They're not intended to allow you more time to procrastinate and indulge your sin and indulge yourself. How are you using the mercy of God? Are you using the mercy of God? Have you used the mercy of God at all to seek the Lord? Have you ever gone home from this church or some other church And you were serious about seeking God. I just want to take some time this afternoon to read my Bible and pray and seek after God. And really have some honest dealings with God. And to think seriously about Jesus Christ and who He is. And whether or not I really know Him. And whether or not I'm really in union with Him. To think seriously about whether or not if I died tonight, if I would know that I could face God in peace. Because Christ is my Savior. What are you doing with the mercy of God? Are you seeking the Lord, as it says in Isaiah 55 verse 6, seeking the Lord while he may be found? You know, those words imply seek the Lord while he may be found. Those words imply a time is coming when he will not be found. Not by you. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon Him while He is near? Those words imply that right now He is near, but He is not going to be near forever. And who can describe the pain of soul, the deep, deep felt grief and misery of soul to want to call upon the Lord, but He is not near. He's not there. That misery of soul is impossible to describe. The disappointment of heart is impossible to describe. To call upon the Lord, and you can't find Him. But right now, He's near. Right now, He may be found. Now is the time to call upon Him, not later. Now is the time to seek after Him, not later. You say, well, what good will it do for me? I've lived so many years in sin. I've done so many things. I'm not even sure right now that my heart is very sincere, really, about seeking God. What good is it going to do for me to seek after God? Listen, God is full of mercy. If you get anything from from this account, judges, get this. How merciful is God? After all of that wickedness under Abimelech, and what does God do instead of cutting off the nation and destroying them and giving them over completely to their enemies? What does he do? He raises up two judges, gives them 45 years of peace. Mercy. How merciful is God? He delights in mercy. And here's one important point as we close. When God shows mercy, he doesn't do it arbitrarily. It isn't a matter where God is just here and then, oh, he just arbitrarily decides to show mercy. Now, the New Testament teaches us that God is merciful and just at the same time. How can God be merciful and just at the same time? He does so in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, mercy and justice meet together. Righteousness and peace kiss each other, the scripture says, in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's justice demands that all sin be atoned for. God's justice demands that his own son would suffer underneath his own just anger, his own just wrath. If he would receive sinners to himself, if he would forgive their sins and show them mercy, their sin has to be paid for. And God pays the penalty. He satisfies his own justice by punishing his own son. It's there in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ that mercy and justice come together. 1 Peter 3.18, Christ also died for sins once for all, but just for the unjust that He might bring us to God. That's the Gospel. That's the glory of God's way. This is the message of salvation. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Repent of your sins. Turn from your sins. Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Can you imagine the deep delight of soul that you will know to be able to call upon God and face death, face suffering, face whatever it is you have to face and know that you can do that because Christ has died for you and He's your Savior. It doesn't matter what happens to me. I'm safe in Christ. That's all that matters. What deep joy comes to the souls of God's people. because they're in Christ. Are you looking to Christ? This is what a Christian is. A Christian is someone who looks to Jesus Christ. Are you looking to Christ and trusting in Christ to save you from your sins? Now is a day of mercy. Today is a day of mercy, not later. Today is a day of salvation, not tomorrow. Call upon Him while He is near. Seek the Lord. while he may be found. God is full of mercy. He's even full of mercy and pity and compassion for someone like you. He is. Let's pray together. Holy Father, we see you to be the sovereign God who sovereignly dispenses to us our appointed stations in life. Teach us, Father, to be content, but Lord, help us at the same time to be responsible in that contentment. We also thank You for Your mercy. We recognize You to be the merciful God. Again and again in the book of Judges, we've seen You show great mercy to those who are undeserving. Father, have pity upon us. Have pity upon many of us. For Lord, we are not right with You. Our hearts are not right with you, many of us. In wrath, remember mercy. Father, come and do a work in the hearts of some. Please cause them to see the foolishness of continuing on in service to sin. Show to them the great delight and joy and glory of believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Grant that many in this place would taste of Your mercy and discover You to be the God who is full of mercy and compassion to those who will put their trust in Your Son, Jesus Christ. And we pray these things in His name. Amen.