If you'd open your Bibles tonight to the third chapter of the book of Judges. And we're going to look at the text again because we're handling the entire third chapter tonight as we go down through it. So before we begin the journey of that, we're going to go to prayer. There are a couple of things we're going to add to our prayer request tonight. First of all, Doug Van Dyke, who is Sherry Downing's father, his mother died, which would be Sherry's grandmother. So we're going to include them in the prayer tonight. And then tomorrow morning, Stacey Kadary is going to have a C-section to deliver a baby. So we get both spectrums of the work of God in the church in one prayer and in just a couple of days. So will you join with me, please, in prayer? Our Father, we bow before thee tonight, realizing thou art a sovereign God. There's a time, there's a season for everything. There's a time to be born, there's a time to die. We realize, Lord, that we're bowing tonight with those very issues right before us. We pray for the Van Dyke family. We ask, Lord, that you would give them comforting grace as they go through this valley of the shadow of death. We pray that you would draw people to thyself in the process. We're also grateful, Lord, for the wonderful privilege we'll have, Lord willing, tomorrow welcoming a brand new baby into the world. We pray for Stacy as she goes through this operation that it will be done successfully. This baby will be born healthy. We pray that he will grow up to be a young man who loves thee and serves thee. We are thankful for the grace of God, Lord, that we've seen in this book of Judges. What an amazing God you are to put up with your people when at times they are so deranged. We thank you that your program takes nobodies and turns them into somebodies. We pray that we'll see that grace take place here this evening. In Jesus' name, amen. When we lived out west, I learned of a man who at one time had ponied a 20 mule team into Death Valley to the mining camps in order to haul in supplies. I learned this from some guy, from people I bumped into in the mountains. They said that this guy still lived in Idaho Falls, which is about 50 miles north of Pocatello. So one day, Mary and I drove to his house. I got out of my truck. I banged on his door, and out he came. He didn't look like much. He had an aura about him, though, that you knew you were looking at the real deal. He didn't have a lot of formal training in school. He didn't have a whole lot of vocabulary. He didn't know much about science, mathematics, or grammar. But I tell you, you take this guy into the mountains, and he's the guy you'd want to have at your side. He could get you in and out of there very safely. He was in his 80s when I met him, and he was still sharp. We talked about the mountains. We talked about survival. We talked about different packing knots. In fact, I asked him about the diamond hitch knot. I asked him if he used that knot because it's a knot that holds things and can tie things tight on a horse. He said he used it all the time, and he asked if I would like to see him tie one. So he went into his barn, and he had a full mount mannequin of a horse. He grabbed a packing cinch with about a 40-foot piece of rope. He slung it over that mannequin. He tied it faster than anybody I've ever seen. He knew horses. He knew packing. He had amazing mountaineering skills. He had real knowledge. When you first met this guy, you wouldn't think he was much of anything, but I tell you, he was the real deal. He was a real Western type of hero. He is a man who'd been there. He'd seen it. He did it. That's what you see when you come to this part of the book of Judges. You're about to meet some interesting characters, some of whom initially don't look too impressive. And what you're going to see about these people is they certainly don't fit a mold, but they love God, they love the Word of God, they're willing to defend the Word of God, they're willing to obey the Word of God, and they become powerful leaders for God. They become real biblical heroes. There are different kinds of people with different skills all through the book. They will show up in different situations, but they're all used by God to do a job for Him. As we go through these next chapters, you'll see some Robin Hood types, you'll see some Rambo types, but you'll also see some average people who didn't have a whole lot of training, but what they did have was faith in the Lord. They believed God, they believed the Word of God, they were willing to defend the truth of God, they were willing to obey the scriptures, and God did mighty things with them. The one thing you see when you go through this text is God can and will use anyone of any background who will believe him and his word and is willing to obey it and go to war for him. If you're willing to obey God, you can be greatly used by God no matter what side of the tracks you have come from. You're about to see that in living color. People who initially don't look like too much become amazing servants of God. Now there are five historical realities that I want to point out to you in the third chapter of the book of Judges. First of all, God permitted enemies to exist for his purposes. Notice verse one. Now these are the nations which the Lord left to test Israel by them. That is all who had not experienced any of the wars of canaan only in order that the generations of the sons of israel Might be taught war those who had not experienced it formally These nations are the five lords of the philistines and all the canaanites and the sedonians And the hivites who lived at mount lebanon and from mount bahal hermon as far as level hamath They were for testing israel to find out if they would obey the commandments of the lord, which he had commanded their fathers through moses Now God has a reason for everything that he does and everything he permits. His sovereign purposes and reasons, sometimes we can figure out, sometimes we can't. In verse 3, there are four specific enemies that are named by God that he permitted to exist in that land. There were the Philistines, that big strong set of intimidating enemies who controlled the promised land of the Southwest. There were the Canaanites, who were the civilized enemies. They loved the arts and sciences. They controlled the promised land of the southeast. There were the Sidonians, who were the skilled, successful workmen. They loved their jobs. They controlled the promised land of the northwest. And there were the Hivites, who were the diplomatic pacifists, who didn't like war. They controlled the promised land to the northeast. God says, I want you to understand, I have allowed these enemies to exist. I've allowed them to be there in your land for two purposes. Number one is for the purpose of war. The purpose of war. God never wanted Israel to lose sight of the discipline and action that's needed for victory. Israel needed to understand that God expected her to go into that land, trust him, and go to war against those enemies and defeat them. Those enemies became the means whereby they could trust God. Those enemies became the means whereby they could see God do some great things. I like what one commentator said who, interestingly enough, had a name of George Bush. who wrote a great commentary on the book of Judges back in 1923. He said God left a remnant of nations to prevent his people from growing rusty. Now we need to grasp this point, ladies and gentlemen. We're at war in this world. We're supposed to be at war in this world. We're supposed to be at war for God. We're supposed to, by faith, wage a good war against the enemies, the world, the flesh, the devil. And if we're willing to wage a good war, we're going to see God give us some great victories. One reason, apparently, why God permits these enemies to exist in our world is so that we get to watch Him work. And spiritually speaking, we are not on friendly terms with this world. We're in a holy war against this world and its philosophies and goals that are anti-God. And God wants us to be good warriors, not cowardly wimps. There is certainly a common denominator among all of the judges mentioned in this chapter in that every one of them were courageous warriors. Didn't matter what their pedigree was, they were courageous warriors. This book of Judges teaches us that we need to be good God-honoring warriors. We need to take a stand for God. We need to take a stand for what's right. We need to trust the Lord. In the environment in which God puts us, we need to be a good warrior for Him. He puts us in various hostile situations, surrounded by people in this world, to teach us, I want you going to war for me. The second purpose of Him allowing these enemies to exist is the purpose of testing. He says in verse 4, they were there for the testing of Israel. If God intends to use us, if God intends to bless us, He's going to test us. And the real purpose of testing is trusting. In other words, what God wants to see is if my people believe me enough to take a stand for me. God says, I want my people to trust me. I want my people to trust my word. I've kept some enemies around your neck of the woods just to see whether or not you're going to obey me and trust me. The sad reality is that it didn't matter what the test. For the most part, God's people just kept failing. Over and over again, they kept being defeated. They quit fighting. They quit fighting a good fight. They quit waging a good war. At times, they seemed to just give up. Every test God would send to them, they seemed to fail over and over again. You would think that after suffering so many humiliating defeats, they'd finally say, you know, I need to get this right. I need to make a change here. But God's people didn't do it. They kept failing over and over and over again. Probably all of us here tonight have asked God a time or two to take away some enemy or some problem that plagues our spiritual life. Perhaps all of us here tonight have experienced the times of humiliation and failure, and we hate those experiences. So we go to God and we say, God, take that enemy away. I don't want to have to face that anymore. I don't like that. What we discover is it doesn't seem to ever fully go away. Every now and then, it seems to raise its ugly side. It can become a thorn in our flesh. God will keep running these tests until we get it right. If we're going to ask God for victory, He says, fine, I'll give you a test. Let me throw this at you again. Let's see where you're at in your faith. Let's see if you're willing to do something about it. And when we finally get to the point where we get it right, God says, I'll take you to greater levels of usability and peace and blessing. Which brings us to the second reality, God's people did not defeat the enemies, but they were influenced by them, verses five to six. The sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, and the Hivites and the Jebusites, and they took their daughters for themselves as wives and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods. In verse five, four more nations are given in the list of things that influenced Israel inner land. You have the Hittites, the big business commercial people, the Amorites, the people always wanting peace. You have the Perizzites, the rural type of people, the Jebusites who just wanted to be left alone in the high country. Now these people weren't wearing dark clothing and they looked like Satanists. Some of these people looked to be pretty good people. God said, I permitted them to live in your land and those people weren't all bad. In fact, they were so congenial that they actually lured God's people away from the Lord. They actually lured God's people into thinking, you know, we're just in one big happy land family with this world. And there are three ways that that world was influencing God's people. First of all, they lived among those people. That's what verse 5 tells us. Instead of driving them out of the land, which was their orders from God, they said, you know, let's just get along with these people. Who likes to fight? I mean, let's just let this thing go. Let's just live with them in the land. So they lived with them. Secondly, they intermarried with these people. Now ladies and gentlemen, that was clearly forbidden in the law of God. In Deuteronomy chapter 7, I've cited it in your notes, you can look it up. God's law forbidden that you marry these Gentile people. This is a direct violation of the scriptures. And I'm going to tell you this is true in both the Old and the New Testament. It is a big mess when a believer marries a non-believer. It is a big mess in the Old Testament dispensation. It is a big mess in the New Testament dispensation. And that is why there are scriptures that say, do not be unequally yoked together with someone who's not a believer. Solomon had big problems with this. Ahab had big problems with this. Samson had big problem with this. It was a big mess because they married the wrong woman. Which brings us to the third way they were influenced. They served the gods of worldly people. Verse 6 says, And they served their gods. See, that's why God said you get these people out. It's one thing to marry an unsaved person. It's another thing to get involved in worshiping things that are false. What happened here is that these idolatrous nations convinced God's people to turn their backs on God and they threw themselves into the pagan sensual worship of the Canaanite gods. Very simple principle, when we choose to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, there's much more biblical evidence that would suggest the bad will corrupt the good rather than the good reforming the bad. You can count on that. When God's people don't obey him, when God's people are fooling around with people that aren't interested in the things of God, there's a far greater risk that you won't affect them, they will affect you. Too many times godly people get pulled down by godless people. And it happened here to the whole nation. Which brings us to the third reality, God's people did evil in God's sight and angered God. Verse seven says, the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Kushan Rishat Haim, king of Mesopotamia, and the sons of Israel served Kushan Rishat Haim eight years. I want you to notice what verse 8 says, God sold them. That's slave talk. What God's basically saying here is I sold my people to become slaves. You fool around with sin long enough, God can sell you out to it. Don't kid yourself. There are passages that warn the ability to go on and grow in the things of God, the ability to grow on to maturity is a grant from the Lord. You want to fool around with sin and not deal with things, God said, I can sell you out to that sin, and that's what he did here. This is as bad as it gets. These people had turned their backs on God. They served these immoral idols. You would think God would get so fed up with His people, He'd say, I'm sick of you all, and I'll wipe you all out. But that shows you the great heart of God. He is a compassionate God to His people. He allowed them to come under the rule of this Mesopotamian king who was Kushan Rishat Haim. Not much is known about this king, but the name Rishat Haim is a name that means double wickedness. which would suggest that this was a doubly wicked king. This was a cruel king. This was a power crazed king who kept Israel in bondage for eight years. Charles Spurgeon said, God will never allow his people to sin successfully. You choose to sin against God, he'll let sin either destroy you or he'll chastise you. If you don't judge yourself, he will judge you. It is a known fact that God's people were often subjected to severe and cruel treatment. And keep in mind, God says, I'm the one doing this. I'm the one that is sovereignly permitted all of this to happen to you. I have orchestrated this for my purposes. Because what God is trying to do is get his people to turn back to him. God can use and does use bad people. God can use and does use bad things for his own sovereign purposes. And that's what he's doing here. He was using these bad people to actually make a statement to his people. He ordained this disaster. Which brings us to the fourth reality, God's people cry to him for help. Verse nine says, when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them. You know, there's just something to see in this book of Judges and all throughout the word of God. Really, when you think about it, sin leads to some very boring consequences. Sin leads to misery every single time. The misery may work itself out in one way or another, but that will be the boring consequence of sin. It will always lead to misery. God sovereignly backed his people into a corner. One of the purposes he had for doing that was to get his people to finally turn back to him. And finally, after eight years, eight years, this is how long it took, eight years of misery, God's people cried out to God for help. This shows you how stubborn some of God's people can be. This shows you how proud and arrogant some of God's people can be. Some of God's own people can become so stubborn and proud that they will not cry out to God for help. You'll have to back them into a corner and put them down eight years, 18 years, perhaps 28 years, until they'll finally come to their senses and say, I need help. God has always been ready to hear the cry of His people when they turn to Him for help. He has always been ready to answer that prayer, even when they deserve disaster. And that is all they need to do. That's all a person needs to do if their life has been a disaster and a big mess because of choices they've made. What they need to do is turn back to the Lord for help. That's what He's waiting for His people to do. That's why He allows His people to get in messes, cry out to God, He can turn the life around. Which brings us to the fifth reality, God raises up his judge leaders to deliver his people. Now, the verb raise up that shows up in verse 9, he raised up a deliverer. That same verb will show up again in verse 15. He raised up a deliverer, is in the hiphel stem, which means God is the one causing all of this action. That's what that language means. God is the one who is going to cause a leader to come into existence, who will stand up to help deliver his people, because his people finally cried out to him. God is the one, the only one, who can cause things in your world to turn around. He says, I am the God of my people. I have a lot of resources at my disposal. When you finally turn to me, which is what I've been waiting for you to do, when you finally come back to the basics and cry out to me for help, I can put my plan in motion because I can cause things to happen that can get you out of your jam. And there are three judge leaders that he raises up. The first one is a guy named Othniel, verses 9 to 11. When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the sons of Israel to deliver them, Othniel, the son of Canats, Caleb's younger brother. The spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel. When he went out to war, the Lord gave Cushan Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hands. so that he prevailed over Kushan Rishathaim. Then the land had rest forty years, and Atnio, the son of Canats, died. Now, Othniel first shows up in the book of Joshua, chapter 15. He's the son of Canats, the brother of Caleb. Either he was the younger brother of Caleb, or Canats was the brother and Caleb was his uncle. I'm not sure on that point. But Caleb would actually give his daughter to the one who attacked and captured Kiriath Sefer, and Othniel did that back in the first chapter of the book of Judges. There are four traits that we see about this guy. First of all, he did come from a solid family background. Now here's one guy who comes from the right side of the tracks. Othniel's the kind of guy that God can use. He comes from a strong pedigree of people who were faithful to the Lord. I mean, you have Caleb in your family line, for goodness sakes. Caleb is the guy who went in and spied out the promised land for Israel. I mean, he's in your pedigree. That's a great name. You're at a real advantage to be connected to a guy like that, to come from a line, to come from such a God-honoring family. And may I say, if you're here and you come from a God-honoring family that has taught you to love God and love the Word, don't throw away your heritage. Boy, you take that, you embrace that, you grab on to that, and you can be used mightily of the Lord. That's apnea. Secondly, Othniel was a man of proven ability. This is not some novice who's going up against this king. This was a man of valor. He already proved himself in war. He had already gone up and taken Debeer. This was not just a job for anybody. He was very skilled in what he was able to do. Thirdly, he was a man of great courage and reputation. We know that he was a fearless man. He earned a good reputation with his countrymen. He married Caleb's daughter. He was a man willing to attempt dangerous and difficult tasks. And finally, he was a man of personal faith. You know, there's nothing glorious or glamorous, really, you see, about Othniel. It was God that made him special. Sometimes when you have a bunch of relatives that are powerful people of God, it can begin to stifle you. You can begin to live in the shadow of that. But it didn't seem to affect Othniel that way. I remember Mr. Miles telling me years ago that his father, who had been a strong preacher of the Word of God, his brother George was president of Capital Bible College and Seminary in Washington, D.C., and Mr. Miles said that he would look at them and he would just admire them, but he didn't allow that to stifle him. He became a man of his own faith in walking with God. That was Othniel. He was a humble man who would not even ask his father-in-law for any special favors. That was Othniel's background. But I want you to notice what made him so powerful. Verse 10 says, The Spirit of the Lord came upon him. He had supernatural power to get a job done for God. God gave him the ability to do what he called him to do. God gave him the ability to minister for him. He went up against this Mesopotamian evil king and he won. Because God's in the business of using people who trust him, who are willing to take courageous stands for him. God's spirit can powerfully use you right where you are, it did with him. And according to verse 11, God gave Israel peace for 40 years. Perhaps you're here tonight and your life has just been one twisted, sordid story for eight years, just like Israel. Why not cry out to God tonight? Why not ask him for help and peace and blessing again? Why not turn your life over to him and obey words, pinpoint those evil enemies, get them out of your lives, and see if you do not experience great peace and joy and blessing once more. That's the story of Ateneo. But that brings us to the second leader, Ehud. verses 12 to 30. Notice carefully verse 12, now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. As soon as apnea was gone, evil comes back. You just hope when you leave this world you made a difference for God in somebody's life. I mean, most people who love the Lord hope that when they're gone, somebody will remember and say, wow, there's somebody that did something for God, but Athel didn't even make a dent. As soon as he's gone, these people of Israel go right back to evil. They stop judging things, and it doesn't take long that they find themselves right back in the same rut. So what God does, according to verse 12, is the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. So God strengthens this Moabite king to come against his people, whose name was Eglon, and he was a guy who had a whole lot of serious problems. And I want you to keep in mind that God sovereignly permits this guy to become a real problem for Israel. In fact, when you look down through verses 12 to 17, we'll go through them in just a moment, you'll notice that this phrase is mentioned that Aglon is the Moabite king. That seems to suggest he was somewhat of an egomaniac. I mean, he wanted to be called Moabite king all the time. He wanted to be identified by that. He was a very greedy man, a very undisciplined man, but this is the man that God would use. God permitted this king to gather neighboring tribes together. Notice verse 13, and he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek, and he went and defeated Israel, and they possessed the city of the palm trees. The sons of Israel served Aglom, the king of Moab, eighteen years. He permits this guy to form alliances with other fragments of nations that shouldn't even be in the land, the Ammonites and the Amalekites. and they form this coalition of nations and they defeat Israel and he sets up his headquarters near the city of the palm trees which according to Deuteronomy 34 is the city of Jericho. Now Jericho was gone by this point but obviously he has set up his headquarters somewhere in that Jordan Valley city near Jericho. And he dominated Israel for 18 years, 18 years. He dominates Israel. Israel lives in a existence that is just pathetic. But notice verse 15, when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord. Finally, somebody in Israel said, you know, we've got a real problem here and we're not gonna get victory here. We need to turn to God. And when they cry to the Lord, up steps judge leader number two. His name is Ehud. God sees when we're sinking. I'm convinced of that. God sees when his people seem to be going backward in their relationship with him. And God will appear to be far off until they're willing to turn to him for help. But when you finally reach the bottom and you finally cry out to God and you finally turn back to God, you can expect, you can see God work. Because for 18 years, these children of Israel had wandered around again in a pathetic existence and finally they turned back to God and He raises up Ehud. Now Ehud was a prominent man and a trusted man. Verse 15 informs us of that. Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man, and the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon, the king of Moab. So the first trait is Ehud is a prominent man and trusted man. He doesn't really come from a great pedigree. He's from the tribe of Benjamin, a very small tribe. But the people apparently trusted him because they gave him the tax money that he was responsible to take to the king. But the second thing I want you to notice is he was handicapped in his right hand. That's why he's left-handed. I want you to see this from verse 15. It says, Ehud, the son of Gerah the Benjamite, a left-handed man. The Hebrew literally reads here, a man whose right hand was bound. In other words, there was something physically wrong with Ehud's right hand. One writer said, if you take the Hebrew literally, he's living with some physical abnormality. The Hebrew word bound is one that means his right hand was impeded, shut down, he couldn't use his right hand. So he learned to use his left hand. This is about the last guy you'd ever expect to be a champion warrior. Here's a guy with a physical handicap, but physical handicaps are nothing for God. Emotional handicaps are nothing for God. If you don't believe that, just ask Fanny Crosby about physical handicaps. A blind woman who ends up writing more than 8,000 hymns. Emotional handicaps are nothing for God. If you don't believe that, ask William Cowper, who was a man of terrible depression, who wrote, There is a Fountain Filled with Blood Drawn from Emmanuel's Veins. Spiritual handicaps are nothing for God. Ask Augustine Luther. God can take any person with any handicap and make them His champion. You trust God. You learn the Word of God. You stand for the Word of God. You can be mightily used by God. He did that with Ehud. Now the third trait is he is a courageous man and he is a very careful strategist. Verse 16 says, Ehud made himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his cloak. He presented the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. Now, Eglon was a very fat man. It came about when he had finished presenting the tribute that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute, but he himself turned back from the idols, which were at Gilgal, and said, I have a secret message for you, O king. And he said, keep silence. And all who attended him left him. Ehud, came to him while he was sitting alone in the cool-roofed chamber, and Ehud said, I have a message from God for you, and he arose from his seat. Ehud stretched out his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. The handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of the belly, and the refuse came out." Now, Ehud has a God-ordained plan, led by the Spirit of God, I'm going to assassinate that king. That's what God is calling him to do. This evil king has been making your life miserable. We must assume that since God raises him up, this was not some self-induced impulse of some wild patriotic man. The whole strategy that he devises here, I'm convinced, comes from the Lord. This is the plan of God, and here's one of the bravest men you'll ever meet in the scriptures. The first thing that he did is he made himself a sword. That was no easy task if you have one hand. The text would seem to imply in Hebrew that it was about an 18 inch long double edged sword that he could hide under his clothing. He hid the sword under his coat strapped to his right thigh. The reason for that is it's easier for you to draw from your opposite side to get your weapon out in a hurry. A number of years ago when I was in the Teton National Forest, I struck up a relationship, somewhat of a relationship, with the sheriff of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Because we were hunting generally the same area, and I noticed that he would always carry a .44 Magnum on a shoulder holster across from his shooting hand. And so one time I said to him, why do you do that? He said, I can draw faster. He said, if you're on a horse, you can draw a lot faster this way than if you have to reach down to your side and try to pull a gun out. And that's apparently the thinking of Ehud. Then he presented the money to the king. This will be the last tribute this king's gonna get. Then Eglon, he dismisses all the other witnesses. Lots of people were bringing him money, but Ehud said, I have a secret message to give you from God. He knew the egotism of this king. He figured this king will want to hear this. I'm going to get a private meeting in this cool roof chamber area. And that's where Ehud went to meet with Aglon. And Ehud took out his sword and he thrust it into his belly. I'll bet he practiced that move hundreds of times. Quickly, reach down on your thigh, pull that sword out, and thrust it. You don't want to fumble around now under pressure. It's like David with a sling. You can be sure he practiced drawing that weapon many times. I practiced that in our home. I have a .44 Magnum that sits loaded on my dresser, and I practice in the dark grabbing that and pointing it real quick at the door. One night, Mary came home a little late, and she comes in and says, don't shoot! Don't shoot! But not only do we get here the description of what takes place, but we get the graphics of it. I mean, you're getting something graphic here. He's so fat that the handle of the knife closed over the blade, an extrament is released from his bowels and comes out on the floor. And what's amazing about all of this, in the hand of God, is he doesn't cry out in one ounce of pain. You don't find him groaning or shrieking. Because if he would have just yelled out one moment, his military force would have been in there. Which brings us to the fourth trait. Ehud was calm, controlled man with a strong confidence in God. Look at verse 23, then Ehud. went out into the vestibule and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them. When he had gone out, his servants came and looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber were locked. And they said, he's only relieving himself in the cool room. They waited until they became anxious, but behold, he did not open the doors of the roof chamber. Therefore they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the floor dead. Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying, and he passed by the idols and escaped to Sirah. Now keep in mind, this is a man with a physical handicap. You talk about cool under pressure. This is a calm you can only get from God. He doesn't panic. He kept his emotions in check. He stays cool and calm. He carefully, calmly shuts the door, he locks the door, and he slips away. He obviously had thought through this escape plan. Many have speculated he may have slipped out through the sewer system. It's possible he locks the door from the inside and then slips out through that sewage system. Or it's also possible he took the keys, locks the door, shuts it from the outside, and simply walks away. God had given him this serenity. Now, when the guards go to the door, they smell the odor, obviously, and they assume the king is going to the bathroom, so the odor serves as a decoy to give Ehud just a little more time. We like to do that when I take guys in the mountains hunting. We never take baths and don't brush our teeth much, so when grizzlies come around the tent, they'll say, we don't wanna go in there. One time, Jim VanderBeen got so bad, I pretended to get lost and stayed out in the mountains all night where I could breathe fresh air. But the fact of the matter is these guards went to the door, they smell the odor, they assume he's going to the bathroom, and Ehud gets away. Now watch his fifth trait. He's a God-glorifying man. Notice verse 28. He said to them, Pursue them, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hands. So they went down after him and seized the lords of the Jordan opposite Moab and did not allow anyone to cross. They struck down at that time about 10,000 Moabites, all robust and valiant men and no one escaped. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel and the land was undisturbed for 80 years. I love what Ehud does. He carries out his mission. He doesn't go back and he starts taking credit for this amazing assassination. He simply goes back and he says, God gave us victory. Now let's go get the Moabites. Let's rout them out of the land. That was our assignment in the initial phase of things. And so the Israelis rise up and they say, let's obey God. And some 10,000 were defeated that ended this Moabite oppression. Some Navy SEALs of our military just completed an impressive mission killing Osama Bin Laden. Wouldn't it have been something impressive if the President of the United States would have said, God gave us this victory. And now here's what we're going to do. We're going to chase all Arab enemies right out of the United States. Of course, that wouldn't be the politically correct thing to say or do. Politicians want the glory. They don't want to give it to God, but not Ehud. He was a man who said, God gave us this victory. The Lord has given these enemies into your hand. Now go get them out. And this episode brought peace to the land for 80 years. They controlled that Jordan River Valley and enjoyed peace there for 80 years. So Moab was subdued. But then verse 31 says, God raises up Shamgar. Verse 31 says, after him, Shamgar, the son of Anath, who struck down 600 Philistines with an ox goad, and he also saved Israel. We don't know a lot about this guy. All we get is one verse about him. He's mentioned again in chapter 5 and verse 6. We may assume that this episode occurs either in close proximity to the aftermath of the 80 years of the peace that they enjoyed, or it's in close proximity to Yael, whom we'll meet in another setting, because the words say, after him. That would connect us right back to that episode with Ehud. We don't know, but apparently Israel, again, got themselves back in a mess. They just forgot about God's word, and they didn't obey God's word, and they are in a mess. And so God raises up another guy. His name is Shamgar. There are four traits about this guy. First of all, he comes from a very obscure family background. The text simply says Shamgar, the son of Anath. We don't know anything about his family background other than he has the name Anath, and that's not a Hebrew name. In fact, I like what Clinton McCann said. It's possible he wasn't even an Israeli. The name Anath was the name of a Canaanite goddess of war, so Shamgar is not your typical Jewish boy who's been raised in a nice Jewish religious home given a nice Jewish name. If he was raised in a Jewish home, he didn't even have a Jewish name. He was named after one of the foreign idols. He must have been raised in that heathen culture. But I'll tell you something about this guy. Just because he was raised in a heathen culture didn't mean he couldn't dedicate himself to the Lord. And apparently he did. He was a man who dedicated himself to the Lord. What this Shamgar tells us is no matter what your background has been, God can use you to become a hero. The second thing that stands out about him is he was a peasant farmer, the text says, who struck down 600 Philistines with an ox goad. An ox goad. This was no highly trained military man here. He reminds me of Dr. H.A. Ironside who attacked the whole world with the word of God with a sixth grade education. Kind of reminds me of G. Campbell Morgan who, when he went to the first church to candidate at the first church, they said, well, this guy can't preach and they let him go. Boy, did they miss out. This ox goad was a long pole, about 8 to 10 feet. It was made of wood, about 6 inches in circumference. It had metal tips on the end. One end was a metal spike used for prodding the oxen, and the other end was a chisel type of thing you could actually plow the ground with. This particular weapon or pole would indicate he's a farmer. One commentator said, some of the most distinguished men and women of God have come from very poor backgrounds. What any person really needs to do to become a great success is cultivate a relationship with God. Because when you cultivate a relationship with God, nobody's become somebody's in the hand of God. J.C. Penney was the son of a preacher who didn't make a whole lot of money. When his dad died, he and his mother had no support because the church didn't provide at that time any life insurance or pension plan for him or his mom. So he and his mom decided they would take in washing to try to make ends meet. He resolved that one day, I'm going to make money and I'll take care of my mother and I'm also going to take care of poor preachers and their widows. He moved to Longmount, Colorado, where he started to work at a dry goods store. And after five years, he moved to Kemmerer, Wyoming, because they were going to open up a new store. He purchased one-third of that operation. In a very short period of time, God had blessed him, and he bought out all of his partners. By the time that J.C. Penney died in 1971, he owned 1,660 stores down in Florida. There is a place where only retired preachers and their widows can live. Its name is after J.C. Penney, a poor preacher's son still being used to this day to support people. He didn't look like much. He looked like a peasant farmer, but he wanted to do something for God. The third trait is Shamgar was skilled with primitive tools that he had. He doesn't have impressive weaponry. All he has is this ox goad. But he knew how to fight with this ox goad. You see, ladies and gentlemen, God was going to give him the victory. He must have been in somewhat good shape because you're going to physically take on a whole bunch of enemies here. But what we do see by this is that no matter how weak the person or weapon may appear to be, God can greatly use that person for his purposes. If a person will dedicate himself or herself to God, you can become a great tool in his hands. You become skilled in understanding the Word of God and applying it to your life, and God will greatly use you. Finally, we see he was a courageous man. The text says that he struck down 600 Philistines. He may have done this all in one shot. I don't know. The language doesn't seem to communicate what it is. It's possible he did this over a period of time. But whatever he did, he obviously saw these Philistines coming into the land. He saw them as a threat to the peace in the land. And he wanted to do something about it. And the text says at the end of verse 31, he saved Israel. God used this obscure guy to do big things. Look, no matter what God calls you to do, he's gonna give you the wisdom and strength to do it if you keep your focus on him. There are some believers who think, well, we can't be used much for God, we just don't fit in with the mold. Well, you meet these judges. Most of these judges don't fit any mold. Every judge here had a different personality. They had a different background. They had different abilities. They had different assignments, different ministries. Never is that more obvious than when you open up this book and meet the first three. Someone said a long time ago, this world is looking for better methods, but what God is looking for is better people. He's looking for men and women who love Him and His Word. And perhaps you're here tonight and you've been lacking victory, you've been lacking blessings, you've been lacking peace in your life. Why don't you turn back to your God? Cry out to Him. Go to Him for help again. Because if you'll do that, God will change your life. May we pray. If you're here tonight and you've never believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, this whole preservation of this nation Israel that we're seeing in the Old Testament was designed to bring one into the world who could save all of us from our sins. And right now, if you'll believe on him, you will be saved from all of your sins. Just call out to the Lord and tell him you're doing that. Our Father, we are so grateful for the challenges for the conviction, for the encouragement that come from this book of Judges. I pray that as we journey through this book that you will cause all of us to judge ourselves accurately in light of scripture so that we may be used of thee. For anything that you've accomplished on this Lord's day, it is your work, we thank you for it. It is your word and we thank you for that. In Jesus' name, amen.