for the last, you know, since we left up to Riverside. So anyway, try to get my head straight with what I'm going to share with you this morning. Are you ready now, Charles? All right. So taking our Bibles and turning to the book of Judges, and we're going to, as you learned last week, the last couple of weeks, we're going through a study in the book of Judges And we talked about as we opened the book, we looked at all the circumstances that we find in the book of Judges and we find that many of those circumstances are present even in our present day world. And so this book is very applicable to us even though we may think that, there's Chase. Hey, good to see you back. Anyway, so we know it's applicable to our day today because so many of the events that took place in the book of Judges we find in our lives and so there's much to be learned even from this book. And so when you're studying a passage of Scripture and you're reading the Scripture, we know that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and it tells us and is profitable. So we know that all the scripture is profitable, even those passages of scriptures that sometimes seem obscure. And sometimes you ask the question, well, I wonder why this is in the scripture. Why did God mention that? Maybe you're reading through this long list of genealogies of this one begat, this one begat, this one begat, this one begat. Why is that even in the scriptures? And you find that every passage of scripture there is beneficial for us As we read this story, we're going to read the account of Othniel and Achish and how that she asked for a field and you'll say, well, why is that in the passage of Scripture? We're going to talk about that today. We're also going to see, as you read through this passage of Scripture though, but it's very evident why the book of Judges is here because you learn of the compromise that Israel allowed and how that compromise caused them difficulty. The title of our message today is The Problem of Compromise. The nation of Israel will not fully comply with God's demands. And because they do not fully comply with God's commands, it leads them into difficulty in their lives. Decisions that they made caused them difficulties in their lives. And we understand that when we compromise, it always causes us difficulty. So we're going to read today verses 10 through 15 of Judges 1. Then we're going to skip down to verses 27 through 36 and we're skipping that portion of Scripture because we read part of that yesterday or last week. Noma, good to see you here today too. I can't call out everybody because it's good to see everybody, but some that's not been able to be with us because of sickness and things and because of school, it's good to see them back. So let's read. And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelled in Hebron. Now the name of Hebron before was Kiriath Arba. And they slew Shishai, and Ahaman, and Talmai. And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debor. And the name of Debor before was Kiriath Sefer. And Caleb said, He that smiteth Curiath Sefer, and taketh it to him, will I give a cash my daughter to wife? And off Neal the son of Kenaz Caleb's younger brother took it, and he gave him a cash his daughter to wife. And it came to pass when she came to him that she moved him to ask of her father a field, and she lighted from off her ass. And Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? And she said unto him, Give me a blessing. For thou hast given me a south land, give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the neither springs." Now down to verse 27. Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Tanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Iblium and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. And it came to pass that when Israel was strong that they put the Canaanites to tribute and did not utterly drive them out. Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kithron nor the inhabitants of Nahalal, but the Canaanites dwelt among them and became tributaries. Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Acho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Aleph, nor of Exib, nor of Helba, nor of Aphek, nor of Rehob. But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanah, but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anah became tributaries unto them. And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain, for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley. But the Amorites would dwell in Mount Ares, in Eijalon, and Sheolbim. Yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries. And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to from the rock and upward. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your word directing us. We pray that you'll open our hearts to receive your word. I pray, Lord, that we will be submissive to your Holy Spirit and God that help us to honor you with our lives. Help us to understand the dangers of compromise and help us to be warned about compromise and help us to love you and serve you wholeheartedly because we recognize the gift of eternal life that you gave us through your son Jesus Christ. It is in his name that we pray. Amen. First things first, as we go to verses 10 through 15 and we look at this interesting story about Caleb giving his daughter to the one that would defeat this city, Kyriacephor. And you might wonder why is that in the scripture? First things first, we understand that this is in the book of Judges because if you notice in Judges 1 and 1 it says, now after the death of Joshua. And so we're thinking about the events that's happening after the book of Joshua, but some of these events that we're looking at here in chapter number 1 and chapter number 2, they're not after the death of Joshua. The book of Judges, the overall book of Judges happens after the death of Joshua. But we're getting an understanding of the events that led up to the main events in the book of Judges. This event here with Caleb giving his daughter away to Othniel is a marker for us. If you want to turn very quickly just back a few pages to Judges 15. I'm sorry, Joshua 15. Turn back to Joshua chapter number 15. I'm not going to read the whole account, but begin in verse number 13. It says, And unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a part among the children of Judah according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, even the city of Arba the father of Anak, which is the city is Hebron. And Caleb drove thence the three sons of Anak. And if you go on over to verse 18 it says and as it came to pass unto him that she moved him to ask of her father a field and she lighted off Her ass and Caleb sent it to her. What wouldest thou? What's going on in Joshua 15 and what's happening here in Judges 1 are the same event? And so this event in Judges 1 is a time marker for us that we can read in Judges 1 and these events that's happening in Judges 1, we can go back to the book of Joshua and we can say, these are the same events. And so it's a time marker for us to know where the events of Judges 1 happened in the life of Joshua. So that's one of the reasons that you see this story here in the book of Judges. It's a time marker for us. But that's not the only reason. There are some other reasons that this story is here in the book of Judges in chapter number 1. And we're going to look at some of the characters that we'll find in the book of Judges, which means we'll take a brief look at Caleb and we'll take a brief look at Othniel. First things first, when it says, and Caleb said, who is Caleb? What do we know about Caleb? Well, you remember when the children of Israel sent out the spies to go and spy out the land of Canaan. There were two judges, or two judges, two of the spies that came back and said, yeah, we can go up, we can defeat the land. Who was that? Joshua and Caleb. They were the two spies that believed that they could defeat the giants that were in the land of Canaan. As I thought about that, I thought about this. Remember last week when we talked about the absence of a leader in the land of Israel? We talked about how that Joshua followed Moses and we would think that there would be the next person in succession. Who's going to be the next leader? For me, I would think that the next leader, the next man that would be up to be a leader in a nation of Israel would be Caleb. Because Caleb is the one that was with Joshua. Caleb is the one that was faithful. Caleb was the one that believed God. And so after the death of Joshua, Caleb to me would be the next man that would be the natural replacement. But if you read the account in the book of Joshua and how that Caleb went up and defeated the mountain, it tells us how old Caleb was. He was advanced in age like Joshua was. So therefore, Caleb is not really a successor for Joshua because he's advanced in age. But we do know Caleb here is a faithful man of God. So that's why this account is there because we see again the faithfulness of a man who would serve God wholeheartedly. What about Othniel? You see Othniel here and this is the first place you really see him mentioned. But as we go on in the book of Judges, we'll find more about Othniel. Remember last week when we told you that instead of one man individually leading the nation of Israel that was going to be the tribe of Judah now, that was going to be the leader, the tribe of Judah had the military power. And as we read last week, all of the victories that Judah gained as they went into the land of promise. So who is Othniel? Well, as we learned last week, about the tribe of Judah, we're also going to find out that Caleb was of the tribe of Judah, and so Othniel is going to marry into the family of Caleb. What's the significance of that? Well, the significance of that is this. Othniel is going to become the first judge in Israel. He's going to be the first one to lead Israel against an enemy who has been attacking. So in this account we find him going up against the city of Kiriasipur and there he defeats this city. Why is that significant? Remember the New Testament where it says that we're to lay hands suddenly on no man? You don't want a man to be your leader who has not been proven. Yesterday in the ordination of the deacon, it says that the man that's going to be the deacon, he needs to be first proven. If someone's going to lead Israel into battle, I mean, if you were going to go into the battle Who would you want to lead your army? Would you want MacArthur to lead your army? Or would you want General Custard to lead your army? I don't know about you all, but if I'm going into battle, I would much rather have MacArthur, who is a man that I know was victorious in all of his battles in World War II and General Custard, you know, who kind of faced defeat at Little Bighorn. If I'm going to fight in the battle, I want someone who's a great leader, who's successful, right? He goes up against Curiassephir. He defeats the city. They're not laying hands suddenly on no man. Othniel is not one that comes from obscurity to lead Israel. He is one that has proven he has the ability both militarily He has the ability to lead. And so we see this account here of Othniel being a man who is worthy to be followed and to lead Israel into battle against their enemies. He has the ability to organize a battle plan. He has proven his ability to fight a battle and to be victorious. And so therefore he qualifies as a judge. That's the reason this story is here. Also we find that Othniel marrying into Caleb's family. John Gill has this to say that marrying into the family of Caleb is a great honor. To be married into the family of the chief prince of the tribe of Judah was a great honor. And so Othniel just by being married into the family of Caleb comes to a place of prominence and position in the tribe of Judah which is going to be the tribe that is leading Israel. Also we understand that if you go back and read there in Joshua about Achash coming to Othniel and asking her father a question, that's a picture of a Jewish wedding and I'm not going to dwell on that too much but Achash is being delivered from her father's house to her husband and it was during that time that she requested, again does this seem interesting to you that She asked her father for springs of water, and he gives her both upper springs and lower springs. Well, when you think about the desert land that was there, and if she had a land that had no water on it, it'd be difficult for her family to provide for their needs, for them to supply their cattle. Those of you who deal with cattle, you know that they, Jerry, do they need a little bit of water? J.R., do your sheep need water? I mean, they do, right? And so if you're in a place where there's no water, it would be difficult for your family to prosper. And so what actually What actually Caleb is doing here for his daughter is he is giving her abundantly. He's providing for her so that her family can grow and prosper. He's given her not just one spring, but he's given her two springs. He's given her where they'll be in the spring of the year, they'll have water. And in the fall of the year, they'll have water. He's providing for her needs. So we see that here. So we see if you ask the question, why is this story included? You see that it shows us this care and concern that Caleb had for his daughter and that he desired to provide for her what she needed. And so we see the relationship between a father and a daughter and his desire to provide for her. How does that encourage us? Well we have a Heavenly Father who loves to provide for our needs also. And just as a cash should expect her earthly Father to provide for her, we should expect our Heavenly Father to provide for us. Second of all, we might find a reason why this is included in the scripture is that God loves to tell the stories of those who have been faithful to Him and who have trusted Him. That's what we find throughout the scriptures. We see the scriptures full of God giving us account of those who have trusted Him. And so God gives us this story of Caleb and Othniel because both of these men were men who trusted God. Both trusted the promises of God. And God gave them victory. Now, that stands in contrast to the rest of the book, what we'll see in the book of Judges. In the book of Judges, we'll see those who did not trust God, those who did not believe in God, and those who were disobedient to God. And so instead of gaining victory like Caleb and Othniel, they're going to face defeat. And so God is giving us an example in the beginning of the book. If you're faithful to me, this is what the expectation can be. This is what you expect. You expect victory when you faithfully trust me. And throughout the rest of the book, we're going to see those who did not trust God and they face defeat. That's a lesson to us too. If we will trust God wholeheartedly, we can expect Him to lead us and bless us. If we turn from Him in disobedience, we should not have the expectation of victory. Thirdly, I'm going to read you a quote here by George Appolito. Our Heavenly Father, like Caleb as he is depicted in this narrative, loves when His children come to Him and ask freely for what they want. All Akash did was ask her father for springs of water and he generously gave springs in the north and the south. She didn't jump through spiritual hoops. She simply asked Caleb. And Caleb supplied. And Caleb reflected the generosity of our heavenly father. Caleb gave what he thought was best for Akash. And we can expect that God will give us what he thinks is best for us. So we know that we have a Heavenly Father who is more generous than Caleb. How much more should we then be diligent in our approach unto God, our Heavenly Father, who with our needs and our requests and our concerns. After all, if Caleb knows how to give, if Caleb being evil knows how to give good gifts to his child, how much more shall our Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask Him. So we see an example of the supply of the needs of one of God's people because one of God's people ask Him. And that's true for us. God ask us to ask. God ask us to ask Him. And so we should have the anticipation that God would give good gifts to us if we ask Him. That's why this story is in the book. Let's jump over now. So again we see it's a marker and we see an example of a father providing for his child and we learn that if we will ask our father he will supply our need according to his riches and glory and we ought to have that expectation when we are faithful to him to have the expectation that he will supply our need. But then we go on and we We read more about some of the different characters in the book. I just want to stop and mention verse number 16 of Judges 1 for just a second. It talks about the Kenites. And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad. And they went and dwelt among the people. First thing, the Kenites are going to dwell with Judah. The only thing I want to mention to you, remember this is Moses' father-in-law. Jethro is Moses' father-in-law. You study the history of the Kennites, you'll find out that they continue with Israel until the days of Jeremiah. As you go throughout the Bible, you'll see them mentioned sometimes as the Rechabites. They will dwell in the land with Judah. What's this tell us? That God is providing for Moses' father-in-law. That God makes provisions for the descendants of Moses' father-in-law in the land even though he doesn't give them an inheritance. So God is providing for those who are not the children of Israel. That should be encouraging to us. Also, as we go throughout the Book of Judges, and really throughout the Bible, we'll come across the people known as the Canaanites. Who are the Canaanites? The Canaanites are the descendants of Ham. There were six tribes of those. These are names that you will hear. The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, and sometimes the Girgashites are included. That's where they're at in the Bible, but if you go and look at secular history, You might know them a little better as the Phoenicians. As the Phoenicians. And so as you go and you look in history and you're reading about the Phoenicians and ancient history, That's the Canaanites. These are the people that the children of Israel are driving out of the land. They are dwellers in lowlands and two of their main cities are cities you may have heard about as you get into the New Testament. You know, Tyre and Sidon. You'll hear about them throughout the Scriptures. Those were the cities in Canaan. They were shipbuilders and traders. They say they went up into parts of England at this time with their ships and their trade. And so to be a Canaanite became to be synonymous with the word trader. As a matter of fact, Tyre and Sidon were two great cities and they were great in the textile business. They were the makers of purple and so they were the two greatest textile cities in the world at this time. Under the name of Cana, the Canaanites appear on Egyptian monuments. Listen to this. wearing a coat of mail and a helmet and distinguished by the use of spear and javelin and the battle axe. They were called Phoenicians by the Greeks and Poenai by the Romans. By race they were Semitic. They were famous as merchants and seamen as well as for their artistic skill. The chief object of their worship was the sun god who was addressed by the general name of Baal, which means Lord. Each locality had its special and the various local balls were summed up under the name of Balaam. Now, one thing we don't always understand is why is God having the children of Israel drive them out of the land? Well, let's look at a couple of passages of Scripture. Keep your hearing in place in Judges 1. Let's go back and look at the book of Leviticus in chapter number 18. What does the Bible tell us about these inhabitants of the land? Are they just good, peace-loving people who loves God with all their heart, all their soul, all their mind, and all their strength? Leviticus chapter number 18 and verse number 25 says, And the land is defiled, therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomited out her inhabitants. In other words, the land is so defiled, that it vomited out of her inhabitants. Verse 26, you shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments and shall not commit any of these abominations, neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you. For all these abominations have the men of the land which were before you, and the land is defiled. And so the land of Canaan and the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, they practiced abomination, they worshiped in abomination, and they were defiled. They were sinners and great sinners against God. If you look to Deuteronomy in chapter number 29, in verse number 17, It tells us about them, Deuteronomy 29, 17. And you have seen their abominations and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them. So they are described as idolatrous. Go back to Deuteronomy 18, read verses 9 through 11, and we find that they were superstitious. Deuteronomy 18 verses 9-11 says, When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire. So what was part of their worship? They would send their children. They would sacrifice their children alive to Baal. Get it? Thea. They would take Thea, put her in the idol ball, and they would light a fire, and she would be burned to death as a sacrifice to Baal. Do you get it? They weren't just good people. They weren't just your everyday American. They were wicked. God was just in driving them out of the land. Verse 10, There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or that uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all these things are an abomination of the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord thy God does drive them out before thee. Leviticus 18 verse 27 describes them as profane and wicked. We'll not take the time to look there because I think I have given you the point. You understand the Canaanites and their culture was wicked. So this is the reason that God wanted them driven out. Because if they were not driven out, they would influence the children of Israel. And the children of Israel were called to love the Lord their God with all their heart, all their soul, all their mind, and all their strength. And if they would not drive out the Canaanites, if they would not remove them completely from their presence, all of a sudden what you have is you have compromise with the Canaanites. And so as we go back to Judges in chapter number 1, We see the four stages of compromise, and the first one we looked at last week, if you'll remember, verse number 19 of Judges 1, and the Lord was with Judah, and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountains, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron. So the first stage of compromise was not completely driving them out, because they looked at the circumstances. They looked at the chariots of iron that the Canaanites possessed and they said, we can't drive them out. Listen, this failure here is a lack of belief in the sovereignty of God. It is a lack of belief in the believing that God is more powerful than the Canaanites. That God could provide a way that they could have driven them out, but they did not trust God with their whole heart. They did not believe in the providence of God. They did not believe in the sovereignty of God. And they looked at their circumstances, and because of their circumstances, they didn't know how they were going to answer those circumstances. They lacked faith and they did not completely follow God. First stage of compromise is that you look at your circumstances and you allow your circumstances to appear bigger than God can provide and you lack faith in the sovereignty and the providence of God and because of that you are not completely obedient. That's the first stage of compromise. The second stage of compromise is you read through verses 21 through 30. You read where they allowed the people to remain to live among them. They allowed the people to live among them. Let's just read verses, starting verse 27. Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-she-an, and her towns, nor Teanoch, and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor, and her towns, and the inhabitants of Ibliom, and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo, and her towns, but the Canaanites would dwell in that land." Remember evil associations corrupt good manners? You may think, oh, I'm going to serve God. I love the Lord wholeheartedly, and I'm not going to let the world influence me at all. I'm sure the children of Israel, they're thinking, hey, listen, we're going to make them tributaries unto them. We're going to make them be slaves unto us. It'll be all right. We'll be in control of them. We'll be rulers of their lives, but they'll just be our servants. We're going to let them live. We're going to let them stay. We're going to let them stay around. They didn't completely remove evil from their lives. And what happens? Let's remember it is the little foxes that spoil the vines. Let's remember that small compromises lead to complete obedience. And because they did not completely drive them out, but said, we're in charge of them, we'll leave them here. Leaving them there leads to complete obedience. As you read verses 31 through 33, verse 32 says, for they did not drive them out. Again we see them failing to drive them out. Now we see that they live among them. Instead of them being just only slaves, now they live among them. Notice verse 33, neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemes, nor the inhabitants of Bethanah, but he dwelt among the Canaanites. So now, not only did they not drive them out completely, now not only are they not just tributaries to them, but now, hey, listen, we're going to live in the same place. They dwell among them. They may have thought, well, this is no big deal. This land is big enough for all of us. The Canaanites and the children of Israel, why can't we all just get along? Why can't we all just coexist? Why can't we all just have our own little place? This place is big enough for both of us. Oh, I can allow this little sin in my life. It won't affect me too bad. I got power over that thing. I can keep it over here. It's not that bad. What happens when you begin to compromise with sin? You don't find it in this passage but if you would take the time to go back to Genesis 34 when Jacob is talking to, the sons of Jacob are talking to Hamor and Sechem. It says, here's what happens. Then will we give our daughters unto you and will you take your daughters unto us and we will dwell with you and we will become one people. Here's what happens when you start dwelling among one another. Before long, there's no longer the distinction between two people. Before long, they start coming together and marrying one another and now instead of it being the Canaanites and the Israelites, there becomes one people. What's the problem with that? The problem with that is that remember the world was to be able to see God working in the nation of Israel. They were to be able to see how God blesses His people and how that when you live according to the Word of God and the Law of God that you can see the goodness of God upon His people. And so there was to be a distinction between the children of Israel and the rest of the world because the rest of the world was to see in Israel what it means to be faithful to God and how God blesses His people. And now, if you intermingle, now that distinction is no longer present. That distinction will not be noticed. They won't be able to notice that the blessings come from Jehovah. Maybe they begin to think that some of these blessings came from Baal. As a matter of fact, if you go on and think about the history of Israel, you'll see that's exactly what happened. The children of Israel no longer recognized that God was the giver of all good things and that God was the sole supplier of everything that was good. They began to think that some of the good things came from Baal. And when you get in the days of the prophets, they had to prove that God was the Lord. It caused them lots of difficulty. Beth-shemesh and Beth-anah, which is the shrine to the sun god and a shrine to the goddess of Anath. Instead of driving idolatry away from them, they allowed it to dwell in their midst. Instead of the children of Israel staying true to God, they began to move over into accepting the worship of Baal. Verse 34 says, and the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain, for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley. So now not only are the Canaanites living among the children of Israel, but now the Canaanites say, uh-uh, Bobby, this is our land. You ain't coming here. So instead of the children of Dan, receiving their inheritance as they were promised by God because of compromise, they never gained their inheritance. They were hindered from coming into their inheritance. They were pushed out completely by the Canaanites. Although, verse 35 says, Yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed. So Joseph, the descendants of Joseph were able to gain their inheritance. So what do you see? Dan not allowing, not coming to their inheritance, but the children of Joseph gaining their inheritance. You see a division in the children of Israel. You see a division in the land. Those that are faithful receiving their inheritance. Those who are not faithful not receiving their inheritance. That's what you're going to see throughout the rest of the book. You're going to see pockets of faithfulness and pockets of disobedience. And when they're faithful to God, you're going to see the hand of God upon them and God blessing them. And when they're unfaithful and turning their back on God, God sends judgment upon them. So today, what do we see in this lesson? What do we see in this scripture? First of all, we see the danger of compromise. Compromise is a problem. It was a problem for Israel and it's a problem in our lives. Compromise always leads you to giving more than you anticipated. First of all, well, you know, we'll just let them down there in the valley. We'll just let them live down there. You know, it'll be all right. You know, we're not going to completely drive them out and it'll be okay. And before long, not only did they not inhabit their inheritance, but they were not allowed to come into their inheritance. It causes you a lot more difficulty than you realize. As you let down your guard, as you allow things in your life which you once forbade, problems arise in your faithfulness. And before you know it, you are completely removed from faithfulness. So you need to guard against compromise in your life. As we always do, we try to look for Christ in the passage. Remember that one of the things we're going to see in this book is the faithfulness of God. That even though the children of Israel were unfaithful to God, God was faithful to them. Even though they turned from Him, He never turned from them. He was always faithful to them. He never completely forsook them. He allowed them to suffer, but He was always there to send deliverance. What do we see about Christ in this message? The children of Israel were compromised. They didn't wholeheartedly follow God. What do you know about Christ? Christ never compromised. He never went away from following God. He was in all points tempted like us, yet without sin. He does always those things that please His Father. Having loved His own that were in the world, He loved them until the end. He didn't say, wait a minute, time out, this is too tough for me. I didn't sign up for this. You know, they're whipping him there before Pilate. No, no, no, no. They're plucking his beard out, you know, with their hands. No, no, wait a minute. This is too much. No, he didn't say any of that. He never compromised. Completely faithful in every way. How's that encouraging to us today? We are guaranteed the victory. We who have trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we've repented of our sins and we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we are guaranteed victory because we have a faithful Savior who never compromised. And if you will trust Him, His faithfulness is your faithfulness. His righteousness is your righteousness. Him being blessed through the Father guarantees you are blessed by the Father. Completely defeated the enemy, overcomes the power of Satan for us. And so now we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Jesus never compromised. Let's follow him. Let's love him. Let's serve him because we know that he never compromised. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to you today, we are thankful for your word and all that you've given us in your word and the promises you've given us in your word and Lord, the example that you've given us in your word. And Lord, we're thankful that you're faithful. You are faithful to the children of Israel and you will be faithful to us. Thank you for the example of faithfulness that your son Jesus Christ has given us. And I pray, Lord, today that if one doesn't know your son, that they will come to see that they can trust him and he will always be faithful to them in forgiving of their sins and giving them eternal life. And God, those of us who know Jesus Christ, I pray that our hearts will be stirred to faithfulness to him as we recognize his faithfulness to us. Thank you for your son, Jesus. It is in his name we pray. Amen.