We want to return to these verses we read in Judges, from chapter 2, verse 20, down to chapter 3 and verse 11. These are the verses we read earlier. We have been going through the book of Judges. And we're really now coming into the heart of the book, because here we have the first judge mentioned for us. And the title I want to give to the sermon this evening is A Paradigm of Salvation. A Paradigm of Salvation. And what that simply means is we have here a typical example of what the Lord did for his people. He raised up a deliverer. He raised up a savior. He raised up a judge. And the people were delivered, but they soon went back to their old ways. And this is really what we find repeated throughout the whole of the book of Judges. Now, when we did introduce the book of Judges, we did say that Some of the material is not presented in a chronological order, and we will touch upon that in the sermon tonight. But really, from this point onwards, the book does go in a chronological order until we come to the desperate part of the book at the end of the book, which is really an appendix. So when we look at this book, we cannot start at chapter 1 and work our way through thinking that we are going through this book chronologically, because that is not the case. But here we do have a typical example of what the Lord did in the time of the judges. And we would notice here the wonderful grace of the Lord our God. One or two introductory remarks that would help us, and we can apply them to ourselves. In verse 20 of chapter 2, we are told, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, Because the people did not obey, they did not do what they should have done, and therefore the Lord delivered them into the hands of their enemies. And because they had forsaken the Lord, he had withdrawn from them. And this was both a punishment, but it was also ultimately for their own good. Because verse 22 of chapter 2 says, that through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. So the fact that they departed from God was indeed to prove them, and it was to test them. But chapter 3 in verse 2 tells us, there was another reason for this, only that the generations of the children of Israel might know to teach them war at the least such as before knew nothing thereof. So God withdrew from them to prove them and also to test them, and also that they might Learn warfare, because the generation that's mainly mentioned in this book was the second generation, not the first generation who captured the land, but those that followed after them. And that second generation really knew nothing of warfare. And therefore, God was going to withdraw from them, to correct them, but also that they might know to fight and warfare. And as I said in my introduction, I do believe that this has an application for ourselves, for Christians, because Those who are in Christ and those who have begun to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and who are serious about their Christian walk and pilgrimage will know that the Christian life is not easy. It is not easy, and that's why the Scriptures describe the Christian life as warfare, as fighting the good fight of faith, and of laying hold on eternal life, and of enduring hardness as a good soldier, we are told. Now the Lord in His infinite wisdom could have simply, maybe simply is not quite the right word, but God in His infinite wisdom could have saved the Christian and avoided warfare for him if He wished. But He didn't. And that's why the Christian is a very complex individual. The Christian will have the old flesh, the old sinful nature working in him, but he will also know by regeneration he will also have the new nature. And these two compete against each other. There is a warfare within the Christian. Now God, if He wanted to, could have completely and utterly erased and crucified the old nature at regeneration, but He didn't. For wise and good reasons, the old nature is there, and this is to remind us that we have a fight in our hands, and we are to be Christian soldiers. And of course, the minister is repeating again that we're not in any sense talking about physical fighting. No, we're talking about spiritual fighting. And this is something that we must grasp as Christians. as ones who follow the Lord Jesus and take up that cross and deny ourselves daily that there is warfare to fight and to accomplish. And that's why, for instance, we have exhortations in the Word of God like what we find in Galatians. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 24 says to the Christian, They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." And now, there we have some military terms for us, do we not? Are we not reminded that we have to crucify, that we have to mortify, we have to put to death the deeds of the body, the sinful deeds of the body? This is what's required of the Christian. And as God withdrew from the people, that they might know warfare, so God has left the old nature in us, and the devil against us, and the world against us, that the Christian might know warfare, that we might know this spiritual battle and this spiritual fight. And many Christians might think that maybe they're not Christians because they have this battle. Once upon a time, things never bothered them in their lives. Their own indwelling sin, once upon a time, it never, ever bothered them. But now, since they've been following Jesus Christ, now things are bothering them, and they begin to wonder why this is. And maybe they think to themselves, well, can I be a Christian when I have this fight? Friends, the truth is, you cannot be a Christian unless you do have this fight. Paul says in the Colossians, again to Christians, reminding them of the warfare mortified, that is put to death, therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. He lists the various sins that were prominent amongst New Testament people. amongst the first century people from which the early Christians came. These were the sins that were dominant in society. And he says to these newborn Christians, put to death these things. Put to death fornication. It was rampant in the Gentile world. And Christians had come out of this world, and they were to be different, and they would struggle against it. But he says, you must put to death fornication and all kinds of uncleanness, telling us there's a battle. Now, as we said, God could have withdrawn us from that battle so that we wouldn't need to have this battle if He wanted to. One day, of course. When our salvation is complete, we will know nothing of this battle. It will be in our memories only. But in the here and now, we have a battle. As these people did, they had a battle. They had to fight. The former generation fought, but the new generation was somewhat soft. And because of their infidelity, God was going to withdraw from them to a certain extent and teach them warfare. And the point is, friends, before we pass on, real Christianity is warfare. It is warfare. We're all out and out against sin. We cannot tolerate sin. Sin is what put Christ to the cross. Sin is what called Christ to call out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It was sin that brought Christ from heavenly glory to the sin-cursed world. And therefore, are we going to revel in it? Are we going to delight in it? No! Is this not the essence of salvation, to be delivered from sin? We've already been delivered from its guilt. Praise God for that. We no longer have this troubled conscience because of what Christ has done. But, friends, salvation is to be free from sin, not to pander to it. And we must fight against it. This is something that's required of every single Christian. And the fact that we know something of it is a sure testimony that the Spirit of the living God is in us. And if we can carry on living in sin and the sin does not trouble us, we must question the reality of our profession. Well, we want to notice one or two things from these verses, and we particularly want to notice the first judge. And really, I suppose we find this from chapter 3 and from verse 8 onwards to verse 11. And the first thing we notice from these verses, from verses 7 and 8, is we have here Israel's unfaithfulness, and the Lord's wrath. Verse 7, and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served Balaam and the groves. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushon, Rishem Atham, king of Mesopotamia. There is a direct connection between their unfaithfulness and between their apostasy and the fact that the Lord sold them and delivered them into an oppressor. The people began to serve Balaam, Baal, and Ashtaroth. They began to follow the gods of those around them. And therefore, when God saw this, his anger was hot against them, and he sold them. He delivered them. He handed them over, his own people, to an oppressor who truly did oppress them. And from this, friends, we are to derive a number of things. And we must notice here surely that as we look at history, as we look at all the things that goes on in this world, We must surely recognize again, for the Scriptures do clearly teach this to us, that the Lord is the one who makes and orders history. His people apostatize. His people turn to idolatry. And God is not indifferent. He does something about it. His anger is hot. It's poured out upon them to that extent that He hands his people over to a foreign power, to someone who will whip them, someone who will be used by God to ultimately bring them back to himself. You see, friends, when it says here that the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, It was only hot against Israel because his love for Israel was white hot. It was passionate. It was all out. And when he saw them committing idolatry, and when he saw them forsaking the Lord and turning their backs upon that one who had taken them out of the house of bondage, his anger was kindled because his love was spurned. Therefore, we must realize that the Lord has not changed, and the Lord is a jealous God. And when He sees denominations and congregations and individual Christians, when He sees them going away, when he sees them drifting, when he sees their obedience and love somewhat waxing and waning, then the Lord moves and works because He loves His people. Oh, Christian, do you not realize, have you not grasped this, that the Lord loves His people with an everlasting love? And although we might not experience and know and delight in that love continually, but that is true. God cannot change. And those He has loved in eternity past, He loves now and will love throughout all the ages of eternity. Does this not humble us, Christian, to think that this great One has set His love upon us? And are we going to wander away from this? This is what happened here. The Lord demonstrated His love continually towards them, and they spurned it. And then His anger was kindled, only because His love was first white-hot towards them. You see, the lesson we're to learn here is The Lord is not above inflicting misery in order that He might restore them. That's the God that we deal with, the God that sold them, the God that sought it. He's the one who is visiting them for their unfaithfulness, and there is a direct connection between their unfaithfulness and the wrath of God." Well, then, maybe secondly, we might notice from these verses we read, we have Israel's cry and the Lord's Savior. Israel's cry and the Lord's Savior. Verse 9, and when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a Deliverer to the children of Israel." And that word, Deliverer, there is Savior. That's really what it means. The people in their misery, in their bondage, under the leadership and the thralldom of Cushan, Rishithim, they found that life wasn't that good after all. They found that by serving Balaam and Baal and Ashtaroth, it may have pleased their senses when they first began, but they soon began to realize it wasn't a very good thing. And they cried out unto the Lord. And we're told the Lord responded by sending them a deliverer. But the really important point that we want to notice from this incident here is, friends, that although Israel cried out, there is not the slightest evidence that they cried out to the extent that they repented. It was their misery that God responded to, not their penitence. We're so accustomed to think that God moves when He sees repentance, and of course, that is true. But on this occasion, friends, there's no evidence. There's no evidence that the people of God in any sense repented. Yes, they cried out because of their misery. But God was responding to their cries and not to their penitence. It was because he's a God of mercy that he responded. Well, you may well be saying to me, well, we've heard all this before, and the fact that God did indeed respond to the people's cries, so what? Does it really matter? Well, If we are thinking like this, friends, then I'm sorry, our hearts are truly cold. If this is what's going through our minds, that God moved and was motivated by their cries, and if this does not, in some sense, inspire us and motivate us and cause us to worship God, then there's something far wrong, friends, because this here is what God has done for mankind. Here we have a picture of what God has done for mankind. Is it not true that mankind is in sin, and mankind is in misery because of sin? And who is the one who has responded? You know, you go back to Genesis chapter 3. You go back to the fall of our first parents. Everything laid on for them, everything provided for them. God give them a simple command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They disobeyed, and the moment they did this, they recognized that they did wrong, and what do they do? They go and hide from God. And we find the Lord coming and calling out, where art thou to Adam? And this is the way that God does deal with mankind. God is the one who has instigated and initiated salvation. He is the great author and the architect of the glorious plan of redemption. It was in the mind of God even before mankind sinned. to send forth Jesus Christ, whom the Bible says was slain before the foundation of the world. What does this tell us about the greatness and the glory and the compassion and the mercy of our God? That even before mankind cried out, even before mankind was in misery, the Lord was working something wonderful. And the day would surely come when that long-promised Savior and Messiah would come, and He did come. It's not that mankind called out to God. You don't find that in the Word of God. You don't find mankind racing after God. You don't find mankind calling out to God. Is this not what makes Christianity unique? If you look at all the other world religions and all religions, you look at them, examine them, look at their teachings, is it not true? that there you find man is trying to make his way to heaven by his own efforts? That's their answer to man's problem? Man seeking to ascend up into heaven when Christianity is completely and utterly unique because it's God coming down from heaven and doing something wonderful and glorious? And is he doing this at the response of mankind's cry and call? No, it's surely by grace alone you see the Lord looks upon mankind and He sees mankind lost. He sees mankind perishing. He sees mankind without God and without hope in this world. And the great plan of salvation comes. And he sends forth a Savior. And he doesn't send an angel or an archangel. No, he sends his Son. He gives the ultimate gift. Here he sent a deliverer, a Savior. But friends, this is pointing to the day when the Lord would send the Savior of all saviors, his Son. Surely they will listen to Him." Is that not what the parable says? If they'll send the Son, surely they will listen to Him. Why is it today, friends, as we're in our sins, we're not responding? We think so little of the grace of God. It doesn't motivate us. It doesn't thrill us. We're not taken up with this. What is the problem? Why is it so? The problem is, friends, we don't appreciate our plight. We don't see the depths of our depravity, and we don't see what only the Lord Jesus Christ can do and is doing. Here God responded to their cries, but in the salvation and the sending forth of His Son, mankind never cried out. Mankind doesn't want to be reconciled to God. The natural man runs from God, and although he's entrapped And he's under a terrible thralldom. He's under the sway and the power of the devil, and he cannot break his fetters or shackles. Yet because of his depravity, he will not cry out. But God has done something wonderful in grace. Let us never despise or think little of the grace of God. And surely the fact that Israel's God reacted even to the cries of Israel's people without repentance, does it not lead us to that greater illustration of the mercy and the compassion and the grace of God in sending forth Christ to those who do not want came unto his own, and his own received him not. Let us not be like them. Let us call upon him, and let us avail ourselves of this glorious salvation." Well, thirdly from these verses, we might notice Israel's oppressor and the Lord's power. Israel's oppressor and the Lord's power. You'll have to think a wee bit here, and you'll have to bear with me here as we look at Cushan, Rishathim, and his name and where he's from. because there is a lesson here for us, and the Spirit of the living God has recorded something for our edification in this. Cushon, Rishithim, was king of Syria, which lay between two rivers of the Tigris and the Euphrates. And it's called Mesopotamia. That's what it says here. Kushan Rushathiam, king of Mesopotamia, that's Syria, and it's situated between two rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris. Now, Mesopotamia, in Hebrew, is pronounced Aram Na Heram. Aram Na Heram. And you can instantly see there is a rhyming between rishathiem and the Hebrew spelling of Mesopotamia, aram na heram. Is there something there for us? Well, we do believe there is, because kushan rishathiem in Hebrew means Double wickedness. Double wickedness. And this is what the Holy Spirit is leading us to look at here is, here we have this person from Mesopotamia, from the two rivers, from the double rivers. This person is double wickedness. And of course, it's a derogatory remark. It's a remark from people who are suffering under this oppressor, under this cruel oppressor. Here we have this person from the double rivers, and he's double trouble, he's double wickedness. And surely what the spirit of the living God is seeking to bring to our attention here is that the people of Israel were in sore bondage. There's that man, from the place of double rivers, double wickedness he brings. And they were under a terrible thraldom. They were under fetters. They were indeed oppressed because of their sin. But the point we want to realize, although how this man was a great and a wicked man and a man who did oppress the people, yet, friends, he was no match for Othniel. And why was this so? Because the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Now, we did say earlier on that this book is not all chronological, and we must realize this. Because earlier on in the book, it told us that Joshua and all the elders had gone. They had gone the way of all the earth. But here we find one of them did not go. Because here was Othniel, the son of Tinas, Caleb's younger brother. And he was one of the first generation, and he was still alive at this time, and he had known war and fighting. And here the Lord raises up what we would describe at this time an old man. An old man. He fills him with the Spirit of God, commissions this old man to be a judge and a deliverer, someone who had known warfare and had fought with the Canaanites before. And this man, although he was old, Filled with the Spirit of God, he was more than able to handle this wicked oppressor, Cushan Rishathim. Well, this is not just a history lesson for us. It surely has some present-day application for us. And it does. For here we have an old man A man who was the first generation who fought for his territory, and now the Lord was using him again to do something wonderful and to fight again. And what does he find in this old man? He finds the same old faith that he had before. Here was a man who was consistent. At his younger days, he was a fighter. At his younger days, he would go out and fight the enemies of the Lord. And in his older days, when his natural strength was abating, yet friends, he was still fighting the Lord's battles. Is this not something that we can emulate? Is this not something that we can look upon and delight in? Oh, are we old? Or are we getting old? And of course, all of us are getting old. How's our faith? How is it? Is it still hot? Is it still lively? Is it as it was 10 years ago, 20 years ago, or 30 years ago? Is it not time, friends, in this time of declension, that we need men and women who have faith? It is relatively easy to be a Christian or to be a churchgoer when everybody's going to church. When Partick had Many more going to the house of God. It was easy just to pitch up and go along, take your Bible and take your place in the pew. There was plenty of people there. But now, friends, when things have changed, what is the great cry and the great need of our day? for men and women to have the same faith that they once had. Has the Lord changed? Has the gospel changed? Has the good news changed? Has the spiritual battle changed? No! And when Israel needed a deliverer, it was someone from the old school, someone who had fought the Lord's battles. and whose faith was still on fire. This is what we need, surely. This is what the Christian church needs. This is what our denomination needs. This is what this congregation needs, men and women who are fixed and focused upon the Lord and who still know and enjoy Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But we notice, friends, before he began to fight, in verse 10, we're told, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. And then, we're told, and went out to war, and the Lord delivered him, and so on. But the important thing for us to notice, friends, is when Othniel was found to be a judge. Before he went out with his sword, before he encountered the enemy, he had something else to do which was vital, which was more important. He had to judge Israel. You see, Israel was where they were because of their apostasy, because they had abandoned the living God, and therefore to be a true-hearted judge and to be a real deliverer, he had to get to the root of the problem, and the problem was with the people of God, and he had to judge them first and deal with them first. And surely this is something that we must embrace. We want to reach out, and that's good, good, commendable. We want more people to come in, good, commendable. But friends, we must judge Israel first, the people of God first. Start at home first. Start where we are first. Because here is the problem, and He judged Israel first. And each and every one of us, we must go real back to basics. We must look at our own lives. The minister must look at his life. The minister must look at his home life. The individual Christian must look at his home life or her home life. He must look at the things that are just there, and we must be ones who are consecrated and dedicated to serve the Lord. There's no point in reaching out to others if our own lives are not right. If we're not living as Christians, there's no point in reaching out to others. He judged Israel first. He got Israel's house in order, and then he fought the enemy. Because if he had fought the enemy, the problem that brought the enemy in the first place would still be there. Is this not what the Scripture says? Judgment must begin with the house of God first? Every single Christian must look at themselves. What are we like? Are we what we should be as Christians? Are we living as dedicated, enthusiastic Christians? Is it true that Christ is on the throne of our hearts as individuals? He judged Israel first. before he tackled the enemy. And he found, or at least the enemy found, that he was no match for the Lord. And finally and briefly, friends, we've noticed, fourthly, we have Israel's opportunity and the Lord's gift. Israel's opportunity and the Lord's gift. Verse 11, briefly, and the land had rest 40 years. He was a mighty deliverer. We don't know much about the battle. We know very little about it, in fact. But the land had rest for 40 years. They had been under bondage for eight years. And then, by the Lord working through his deliverer, The land had rest for 40 years. And during that 40 years, the Lord no doubt was good to them, as indeed the Lord is good to us. Peace is a wonderful thing. And here, friends, we must realize that God would have us benefit from times of peace as well as times of his wrath. The people had been under bondage for eight years because of their sins, and God was going to teach them lessons as a result of that. And now they had 40 years of rest, and God would still have them learn lessons. And therefore, the lesson is that God is continually always teaching His people, whether it be when His hand is upon them heavy or when they're enjoying times of peace and prosperity. The Lord is always working. Despises thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, Not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance, they had a period of rest. It should have caused them to bless God and to serve Him and to repent of their former sins, as it should for us. God has been good to you, every single one of you. God has been good. Has the goodness of God led you to repentance? That's the important thing. It would seem that even the wrath of God and even the goodness of God did not lead the people to repentance. They had a wonderful opportunity, experienced again fresh grace, but no repentance. Let us not fall into their trap. And let us acknowledge the goodness of God by repentance. Amen. May God bless His word to us. Let us pray together.