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Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Song number 422. Let's all stand together for this first song if you're able. Song number 422. Nice and loud on that first verse. Thou didst leave thy throne And thy kingly crown When thou camest to earth for he. But in Bethlehem's home Was there found no room For thy holy nativity. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus There is room in my heart for thee. Heaven's arches rang when the angels sang Proclaiming thy royal degree. But of lowly birth didst now come to earth And in great humility. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus There is room in my heart for thee. The foxes found rest And the birds their nest In the shade of the forest tree. But thy couch was the sun O thou Son of God In the deserts of Galilee. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus There is room in my heart for thee. Thou camest, O Lord With the living Word That should set thy people free. But with mocking scorn And with crown of thorn They bore thee to Calvary. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus There is room in my heart for thee. When the heavens shall ring And the angels sing At thy coming to victory. Let thy voice call me home, saying Yet there is room, there is room At my side for thee. My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus When thou comest and callest for me. Amen. Wonderful scene. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Lord God, Heavenly Father, I thank you for giving us this day that we can come to your house, Lord, in fellowship and hear the preaching of your word. And I thank you for the souls that were saved this afternoon, Lord. And I ask that you please just bless the service tonight. Please bless the singing, Lord. And most of all, bless the preaching of your word. Feel past your Holy Spirit. And help us, Lord, to take what he preaches and apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Turn to song number 427, you maybe see it. Song number 427, We Three Kings of Orient Are. Song number 427, all together nice and strong on that first verse. We three kings of Orient are Bearing gifts we traverse afar Field and fountain, moor and mountain Following yonder star Star of wonder, star of night Star with royal beauty bright Westward leading, still proceeding Guide us to thy perfect line Born a king on Bethlehem's plain Gold I bring to crown him again King forever, ceasing never Over us all to reign Star of wonder, star of night Star with royal beauty bright Westward leading, still proceeding Guide us to thy perfect line Frankincense to offer have I Incense, souls the deity nigh Rare and praising, gold man raising Worship him, God on high Oh, oh, oh Star of wonder, star of night Star with royal beauty bright Westward leading, still proceeding Guide us to thy perfect line Mur' is mine, it's bitter perfume Breathes a life of gathering gloom Starling, sighing, pleading Dying, sealed in the stone cold tomb Oh, oh, oh Star of wonder, star of night Star with royal beauty bright Westward leading, still proceeding Guide us to thy perfect line Glorious now, behold him arise King and God and sacrifice Hallelujah, hallelujah Through the earth and skies Oh, oh, oh Star of wonder, star of night Star with royal beauty bright Westward leading, still proceeding Guide us to thy perfect line Our services are as follows Sunday morning is at 1030 Sunday evening is at 5pm And then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock and we are currently going through the book of 2 Thessalonians We'll be in chapter 2 this coming Thursday you see the soul winning times and teams The list of expecting mothers if you can continue to pray for them and the important reminders there Some of the upcoming church events of course yesterday we had the Christmas caroling And man we had a great time, let's just say that Anaheim is a lot different than El Monte They're a lot more receptive, a lot more grateful Did we go caroling last year? The year before that right? So the year before that when we went caroling in the city of El Monte We had a few people that were nice and everything like that And then there were some people who were just flat out rude, they'd slam the door, they would close the garage They would just go inside, so we said okay What we'll do is that if they don't like what we're saying or what we're singing we'll just switch the song to Psalm 139 As we're walking away or something like that, but we didn't have to do that last night It was great, a lot of people were grateful and they were very happy and they actually said they can't wait until next year When we come back again, so that was a blessing But we got the First Works Christmas program coming up this Saturday December 18th And I believe if I'm not mistaken where's Brother Maury? I believe that's at 6 o'clock right? Is that 6 Brother Maury? The Christmas program? 6 o'clock So that'll be this Saturday at 6 o'clock and of course the orchestra is going to be playing And then after the orchestra the children are going to be acting out the Christmas story And they're going to be singing as well and so I want to encourage you to bring your family and friends, co-workers there To watch the little ones sing and then I'll be giving a gospel presentation at the end of that Now along with that, there's going to be one last practice tonight They practice after the service in the morning, but we want to do one last run with the lighting And the mics and the CGI and the lasers and we're going to have a pulley here So make sure you don't leave right away, especially if you're part of the Christmas program But if you could do us a favor, because we're going to basically start right away If you could do us a favor, please, if you're going to hang out in fellowship that's great But please do it in the fellowship hall just for tonight because they need to practice And so just keep that in mind and along with that we're going to have a pizza Typically we have pizza for the kids and everyone who stays for the Christmas program Those who are on the Christmas team, but we're just getting pizza for everyone But keep in mind though that the Christmas team gets first dibs on the pizza Because they're the ones who put in all the work And so once the pizza gets here, that'll be for them And then everyone else can have some thereafter And so looking forward to a great Christmas program Pray that we see some folks saved, that everything would go well And so looking forward to that Friday, December 24th, we have the Christmas Eat Fellowship with Pastor And the Ugly Christmas Sweaters Bring your ugly Christmas sweater and hopefully you win And we'll have a prize for the ugliest sweater New Year's Eve Service and Vision Nights and Fall Fellowship is coming up Friday, December 31st So that evening we'll have a Jenga tournament in the fellowship hall We're also going to have a prayer meeting, just do different things And we'll be here until midnight And so you're welcome to hang out until then And then Sunday, January 2nd is the January Birthday Breakfast And then Saturday, January 15th, we have the Soul Winning School The Fishers of Men If you're new to Soul Winning or you just need to brush up on some Soul Winning principles I want to encourage you to be there for that training We have a booklet for everyone to fill out We're going to give you some materials, some stuff to work with To help you in your Soul Winning And so make sure you don't miss out on that We'll have a sign up sheet for everyone to sign up for that And then you see the important reminders right there at the bottom Make sure you silence your phones during the preaching So as to not be a distraction during the service Let's go ahead and take some Soul Winning numbers from this past week From Monday to Thursday Any salvation from Monday to Thursday? One, okay, anybody else? How about Friday and Saturday? Friday and Saturday, three Right over here, Riverside, one Brother Huyck, one, anybody else? Okay, this afternoon, salvation for this afternoon? Brother Morrie? Two for Brother Morrie's team, one for Brother Ulysses' team Two for Brother Marcos' team One for Brother Huyck's team, anybody else? Did I miss anybody? Okay, great job on the solo one Let's go ahead and sing our next song 425, No Room in the Inn Song number 425 Song number 425, No Room in the Inn All together on that first verse No beautiful chamber No soft cradle bed No place but a manger Nowhere for His hand No praises of gladness No thought of their sin No glory but sadness No room in the inn No room, no room for Jesus Oh, give Him welcome free Lest you should hear at heaven's gate There is no room for thee No sweet consecration No seeking His part No humiliation No place in the heart No thought of the Savior No sorrow for sin No prayer for His favor No room in the inn No room, no room for Jesus Oh, give Him welcome free Lest you should hear at heaven's gate There is no room for thee No one to receive Him No welcome while here No hope to relieve Him No staff but a spear No seeking His treasure No weeping for sin No doing His pleasure No room in the inn No room, no room for Jesus Oh, give Him welcome free Oh, give Him welcome free Lest you should hear at heaven's gate There is no room for thee Amen. At this time, the ushers will come forward to collect the offering. . . . . . . . Good evening. Tonight we'll be in Judges chapter number three. Judges chapter three. Judges chapter three, and the Bible reads, And they were to prove Israel by them to know whether they should hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which He commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites. And they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons and served their gods. 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 Tushan Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, and the children of Israel served Tushan Rishathaim eight years. And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel who delivered them, even Onethiel, the son of Kinaz, Caleb's younger brother. And the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war. And the Lord delivered Tushan Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand, and his hand prevailed against Tushan Rishathaim, the land that had rest forty years. And Onethiel, the son of Kinaz, died. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. And he gathered unto them the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. So the children of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, eighteen years. But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gerah, a Benjamite, a man left-handed. And by him the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon, the king of Moab. But Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges and a cubit length, and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. And he brought the present unto Eglon, king of Moab, and Eglon was a very fat man. And when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away his people that bear the present. But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king, who said, keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And Ehud came unto him, and he was sitting in a summer parlor, which he had for himself alone. And Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee, and he arose out of his seat. And Ehud put forth his left hand and took the dagger from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly. And the haft also went in after the blade, and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly, and the dirt came out. Then Ehud went forth through the porch and shut the doors of the parlor upon him and locked them. And when he was gone out, his servants came. And when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked. They said, surely he covereth his feet in his summer chamber. And they tarried till they were ashamed. And behold, he opened not the doors of the parlor. Therefore they took a key and opened them. And behold, the Lord was fallen down dead on the earth. And Ehud escaped while they tarried, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped unto Sarah. And it came to pass, when he was come, that he blew a trumpet in the mountain of Ephraim. And the children of Israel went down with him from the mount, and he before them. And he said unto them, Follow after me, for the Lord hath delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of Jordan toward Moab, and suffered not a man to pass over. And they slew of Moab, at that time about ten thousand men, all lusty and all men of valor, and there escaped not a man. So Moab was subdued that day unto the hand of Israel, and the land that had rest four score years. And after him was Shagmar the son of Anath, which slew the Philistines of six hundred men with an ox goad, and he also delivered Israel. Let's pray. Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, we thank you for this day, Lord. We thank you for this church you've given us, and we thank you for pastors as well, Lord. We pray that you fill him with your Holy Spirit, and bless him as he preaches your word, and pray that we're edified by the preaching of your word, Lord. And we pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Now let me explain a couple things here before we actually get into the actual story itself with Ehud in Eglon. Let me explain to you where we're at right here in the book of Judges. Of course, the book of Judges is a time period in the history of the children of Israel prior to the establishment of an actual sovereign, a king, an earthly king. We obviously understand that the kings were not necessarily instituted until Saul came on the scene. And the children of Israel wanted to be like all the other nations. They asked God to make them a king, an earthly king, just like everyone else. But prior to that, Israel was basically run with a system of judges. And what these were were simply military generals who would come and deliver, not only deliver the children of Israel from the hand of their oppressors, but also judge them, teach them, admonish them, instruct them, rebuke them because of whatever sin that they might be involved with at that time. And here in the book of Judges, you have a list of approximately about 12 judges that are highlighted that came at different times throughout the history of Israel to do just that. And Ehud here is actually the second judge that we see highlighted after Othniel. Now let me just explain something is that, you know, although there's no king in Israel at this time, you know, there's still a spiritual leader that has risen up. Okay. And this is known as the judge. If you go to Judges chapter 18, if you would, Judges chapter 18. And we obviously know that when you read throughout the book of Judges, we see this constant pattern, we see this phrase, but we see this pattern more often than not, that every man is doing that which is right in their own eyes, right? You know, they're just kind of going according to their own wisdom, according to their own knowledge, and it leads them astray, it gets them involved in idolatry and sin, and basically causes God to punish them because of it. And what we see is that any time they decide not to follow the leader, not to follow the judge, they get themselves into a lot of trouble. Okay. Look what the Bible says in Judges 18 verse 7, it says, Skip down to verse 27. So what we see here is that these folks that are dwelling in Laish, they don't have a magistrate, they don't have a leader, they don't have anybody really telling them what to do, and we see that a magistrate, one of the responsibilities of a magistrate is to put the people to shame. Okay. In other words, they're supposed to know laws and rules, and when people start doing abominably, they start committing sin, they need a leader to come and shame them so they can correct that, right? So it says they had no magistrate in the land, that's why they dwell carelessly. They just kind of did whatever they wanted, they did that which is right in their own eyes. Look at verse 27, Verse 28, So we see that the equivalent to a magistrate is a deliverer, right? So what's the principle that we can learn there? The principle is this, you know, leaders are there for a reason. Hey children, your parents are your magistrates, but they're also your deliverer. Okay, your leaders, your spiritual leaders, your mom, your dad, your boss, anybody that God places in your life as your authority, they're there to put you to shame, they're there to basically kind of rule over you, but they're also there to deliver you. And it shows us that God places a heavy emphasis on authority. Authority is necessary in the Bible, authority is necessary in our lives, and in fact we see that with these folks here, because they had no authority, they had no magistrate, they had no deliverer, they suffered the consequences because of it. They couldn't reach out for help or any other because no one was there to deliver them. They weren't a people that were under authority. Go back to Judges chapter 3, so this is what the judges were. They came as the authority, they came as the magistrate, they came as the deliverer to help the children of Israel, to understand what God required of them, and to deliver them from the hand of the oppressor. So what we see here is that in the book of Judges, obviously the timeline here is after the children of Israel are coming into the Promised Land, God promising them cities and wells that they did not dig, vineyards that they did not plant, and God basically told them, you need to go in here and rid the people who are in this land, you need to fight for the land. This is all yours, it's promised to you, but you've got to go in and fight the battles in order to overcome those things. Let's look at a couple principles that we can learn from that before we get into the story of Ehud. Look at verse number 1, it says here, Now these are the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them, even as many as Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan. Only that generation of the children of Israel might know why, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof. Now, one thing we see here is that when the children of Israel go into the Promised Land, God didn't just go and wipe out all the nations in one swipe. He didn't remove them all in one swipe, he didn't take them all away, why didn't he do that? Because he wanted to teach his people how to fight, that's why. I mean think about this, what if when you got saved, everything just came, batteries included. You knew how to overcome sin, you knew how to live righteously, you're just kind of ready-made, right? Well, what would be the point of living? If we just do everything right. You know, right when we got saved, God didn't take us home, no, we're still here and we're going through the process of what the Bible refers to as sanctification. You know, when you think of our salvation, you could really break it up into three parts, two parts really. You have justification, where you're sealed into the day of redemption, you have salvation. You have glorification, which is at the end of your life, or should we say at the rapture, should I say, where we receive the redemptions of our body, but in between that, you have a process called sanctification. Now, justification and glorification have nothing to do with us, right? We don't have to do anything in order to be justified and in order to be glorified. But let me say this, is that that middle part, sanctification, we do have a part in that. We have to live a holy life, we have to obey the word of God, we have to fight the spiritual battles in order to live a sanctified life. You understand? And so when we came into the Christian life, we came to war, we came to battle. Now, who are we fighting, who are we battling? Well, ourselves, right? The Bible says that the flesh lusteth against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. The Bible says that we're strangers and pilgrims on this earth, and he says abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul. So what is the Bible telling us? It's telling us that we're constantly warring against the members of our body. We're constantly warring with the old man. We're constantly going to battle. This is why God didn't remove the old man completely when we got saved. Now, you have a group of people out there that think that, you know, the old man is literally just God. You know, once you get saved, you're not going to desire to sin. You're not going to do any bad thing because if you're really saved, you're just going to do right from day one and here on out. False. You know, the Bible says if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things no longer exist. No, old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Passing away doesn't mean it no longer exists. passing away simply, another way to say it is it's dead. Our old man is crucified with Christ. That's what that's referring to. You understand? And the reality is this is that when we get saved, you know, yeah, we have the new man dwelling within us. We have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling within us, but we still have this old man present. You understand? We still have the old man, the old nature that we have to constantly battle with and go to war with. And there's still many cities to conquer in this land. You understand? And here's the thing is that in the Old Testament, when God instructed his people to go into the land and remove the inhabitants, he told them, if you don't, what will happen? They would become thorns in your sides and pricks in your eyes. They would become a stumbling block to you later on. They would become like chariots of iron in your flesh later on, right? Well, the way we can apply that is that, you know, when you get saved, if you don't take care of those little pet sins you got going on, if you don't take care of those things, eventually they'll become like chariots of iron later on in your life, okay? You know, when you commit a certain sin or you open a certain door in your life to cause you to sin, you have to work twice as hard not to be involved in that specific activity or whatever it may be, whatever sin that might be. Why? Because of the fact that if you don't take care of it right away, it's going to become like a chariot of iron. Now, there's people who grew up in church where a drop of liquor never touches their mouth and they don't struggle with liquor. They don't struggle with drinking alcohol. They don't struggle with drugs or smoking pop. To them it's just like, that's not even a thing for me, right? Whereas others, you know, that is a struggle. You know, they have triggers in their mind, triggers in their things that they see or things that they hear, where it would trigger them to be tempted to get involved in that specific sin. What is it doing? Well, if they're not careful, they can cause that sin to be like a chariot of iron in their personal life. That's why it's important that when you go into the Christian life, you start cleaning house right away, right? You start cleaning house, getting right with God, cleaning up your life, repenting of your sin, seeking to live a holy life, not a perfect life, but a sanctified life, you know? And don't play with sin. Don't have one foot in the church or one foot in the will of God and one foot in the world. Don't make provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Why? Because eventually those sins will become thorns in your sides and pricks in your eyes. It'll cause you to stumble and it'll be the cause of your downfall later on in your Christian life, okay? You say, why can't God just get rid of all these things? Because then you just die. You know, why can't God help me just get rid of all these things in my life? Because at that point you'd just be dead. You know, the Christian life is a lifelong battle, folks. It's a lifelong battle. And can you turn it on? Now you've got to turn it on, brother. Now it's getting warm in here. It was cold before. It was like an icebox in here. But I'm getting warm now, so... What was I saying? It's a life... Yeah, it is a lifelong battle. What else was I saying? I lost my train of thought. It's a lifelong battle between you and the flesh, between you and your old man. Oh, that's what I was going to say. Now I remember. You know, think of a car, okay? Especially these used cars that we get sometimes. You know, you fix one aspect of the car and it's just like, oh man, it's good to go. No, in about three months you're going to have something else you have to fix. And once you fix that, then it's the alternator. Then it's the transmission. Then you blew a head gasket because, you know, you don't put that black stuff in there, you know, the oil. You know, then you got to check the tires. It's like one thing after another with vehicles. It's a constant battle to keep a car running. And you never get to a point where it's just like, now it's perfect. It will no longer need any type of maintenance, any type of assistance. I'm not going to have to pay for anything. No, you're always going to have to do something with that vehicle. Right? It's just a constant work. It's a constant work. And you know what? That car is just like the Christian life. Once you fix the alternator, don't worry, three months from now you're going to figure that there's something else wrong under your hood. Something else is wrong. You know, and you just got to keep fixing it. It's a never-ending battle with the flesh. And he tells them, look, I didn't rid you of all these people because I want to teach you how to fight. I want to teach you how to go to war because you have not known war. And look, this is actually very encouraging for maybe people who maybe didn't grow up with a rough background or, you know, you didn't struggle a lot in your life. Well, you know what? The Christian life is filled with struggles. Yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you live a godly life, if you believe the Bible, you stand for the Word of God, it's going to cause tribulation and struggles in your personal life and it's going to teach you how to fight. Now there's people who forfeit that, right? They just don't want to be involved in any drama. They don't want to be involved in any fights. They don't want to battle. They don't want to war. They just want to play it safe. They want to hang around with the Cainites. They want to hang around with the inhabitants of the land. They just want to pacify them. Folks, the Lord wants us to fight against them and to win those battles and to teach us how to fight. And, you know, one thing that helps us when we think about these wars that we go through in the Christian life, it teaches us how to read our Bible more. It teaches us how to pray more. The Christian life, if you do it right, will teach you to pray more. If you do the Christian life correctly, it will teach you the Bible more. The Christian life, if you do it right, will teach you the importance of church. It will teach you the importance of preaching. It will teach you the importance of authority. It will fortify you. You'll be meat for the master's use, prepared unto every good work. You know, and that's what God wants of us. He wants us to be in this life and face it as a fight, as a battle, as a war, because that's exactly what it is. Okay? Don't be a Christian pacifist. Don't be this person who's just like, well, I'll just take life as it comes and whatever happens, happens. Folks, by default, you're just going to lose if you have that attitude, because God expects you to fight these battles. You know, the Bible says, likewise, reckon yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal bodies that ye should obey in the lustre of. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. What is the Bible telling us? Hey, these members that are in your body, they're seeking to reign over you like these guys did, like the Moabites. They want to rule over you. The world wants to rule over you. Your flesh wants to rule over you. God says, don't let it reign over you. Keep your members in subjection. Keep the world in subjection. Keep fighting. Keep gaining ground. Keep possessing the land. It's a battle to war that you have to continuously fight. The surrounding nations were left to teach the children of Israel how to war. He says, only that the generation of the children of Israel might know to teach them war at the least such as before knew nothing thereof. Maybe you grew up in a home where there's not a whole lot of battle going on. Well, if you really love the Lord and you really want to learn the Bible, you're going to face some battles. He says, namely, five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites that dwell on Mount Lebanon from Mount Belherman unto the entering in of Hamath. And look what it says in verse four. And they were to prove Israel by them to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. Every battle that we face is an opportunity for us to prove that we can keep God's commandments, that we can, you know, hold to the word of God, that we can pray during a difficult time, that we can win these battles. Let me read to you from Exodus 23. Exodus 23 verse 27 says this. And the Canaanite and the Hittite from before thee, I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little, I will drive them out from before thee until thou be increased and inherit the land. I love this verse. Actually, I preached a sermon called By Little and Little a couple years ago. And it was at Faithful Word. I preached at Faithful Word. And the concept of it was this, is that, you know, the Christian life is a little here and a little there. So this should be an encouragement to us when we feel discouraged, like we're not growing enough. Like, man, I'm not where I need to be. Yeah, but just little by little, though. You know, you're not going to be a great Christian overnight. It happens by little and little. Hey, how do you build some muscle, right? How do you deadlift a certain amount of weight? Well, 2.5 pounds. 5 pounds, 10 pounds, right? That's how you do it. How can you get stronger? By little and little. The problem with the children of Israel, they're like, we want to be like the other nations. What was the problem? They were comparing themselves with other people. What they should be doing is recognizing that God told them, hey, I can just drive them all out. I can just cause you to deadlift 500 right off the bat if I wanted to. But then where's the struggle in that? How are you going to learn? You've got to learn how to struggle. You've got to learn how to fight. You've got to learn how to discipline yourself. You've got to learn to have tenacity. You've got to learn to have patience. You've got to learn to be disciplined. And so what he's telling them is, you know, I have work for you to do. You're going to war against these people. But it's not going to happen in one year because no one is a great Christian in one year. It takes years to learn the Bible, to learn how to be a great husband, to learn to be a great wife, to learn how to raise children, to be a great employee, to be a great church member. It takes a lifetime. And we're constantly learning these things, OK? Not only that, look at verse five of Judges chapter three. I've mentioned this already, but he says in verse five, And the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites. And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their daughters to their sons, and served their gods. And the children of Israel did evil on the side of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served Balaam and the grove. So what happened here? Well, the concept is simple. Fight the flesh or the flesh will reign over you, right? So instead of fighting the Canaanites, they made an affinity with them through their daughters, OK? And they began to intermingle. Obviously, one of the principles that we can learn from here is that God does not want us as his people getting married to unsaved people. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, the Bible says. And look, this is not a command of the Lord. This is just my opinion. I think you should marry a Baptist. I mean, what's wrong with that? If you're going to get a Christian, if you're going to marry a Christian, you might as well get the best ones. I would even go a little further and say you should get yourself an independent fundamental Baptist. I would even go a little further than that and say you should get a new I of B Baptist. Or convert them to be an independent fundamental Baptist. Convert them to be a new I of B Baptist. But what I'm saying is this, is that, you know, obviously the Bible strictly condemns marrying an unsaved person as a Christian, OK? It's forbidden. Why? Well, because what we see here is that they begin to intermingle with the four nations. And the four nations, instead of the believers, the children of God, or the nation of God, influencing the heathen to worship the true God, the reverse happened. The heathen caused them to worship their false god Balaam, OK? And I've seen this, you know, in my personal life with people that I know where, you know, they got involved in a relationship with an unsaved person, they got married to them. And now they're like visiting a Mormon church and stuff. They're going to the Catholic Church. They're going to whatever, you know, something that's not Christian at all. And you think to yourself like, man, people would actually do that? Yeah, when you're in marriage, you're kind of screwed. Let's just be honest. You have a covenant with that person. And, you know, a lot of people just choose not to fight that battle. Like, I'll just go to the stupid Catholic Church with them. And I mean, we see it over and over again in the Bible where this happens. This is why God tells us, he tells his people not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, because they'll drive your heart away. And I'm not saying that if you marry like a Catholic, you're just going to become a Roman Catholic or something like that. And if that's the case, you just believed in vain. What I'm saying is that you will compromise. And you might even step into a Roman Catholic Church. You know, you go into a Roman Catholic Church and you'll kneel down, but in your heart you'll be like, but I'm standing up in my heart, though. You just... You understand? The Bible says in verse 7, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot their Lord, their God, and served Balaam and the groves. So, their little pacifist attitude here caused them to compromise, to worship false gods, and they live happily ever after after that. No, verse 8, therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. You know, actions have repercussions, folks. And, you know, these are the people of God, and so God has seen fit to judge them. And he says, and he sold them into the hand of Cushah Rishathayim, king of Mesopotamia, and the children of Israel served Cushah and Rishathayim eight years. So this is actually something pretty common that we see in the Bible is that when God's people would serve false gods and they get away from him and they disobey him, he allows a foreign nation to come in and basically oppress them. And this is what we see here. Cushah Rishathayim, king of Mesopotamia, comes in as a judgment from God to judge his people because they've strayed away from the Lord. Look at verse 8. Now, what's the principle, before we move on, what's the principle that we can learn there? Well, the principle that we can learn there is this. Either fight the flesh, the world, and the devil, or you're going to find yourself fighting against God. But here's the thing, though. You can win against the flesh, you can win against the devil, and you can win against the world, but you will never win against God. Never. You will never win against God in your rebellion and your disobedience to him. You'll never win. And in fact, it will be a landslide of a victory against you if you decide to fight against God. I mean, Hebrews 10 tells us it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He's basically saying, you're done. So it's better to just choose to fight your flesh than to choose to fight the God of the universe. You know what I mean? Choose beginner level instead of trying to go into the advanced level. Choose the beginner level and know what you can handle, which is your flesh, the world, and the devil. You stand a fighting chance against that rather than fighting against God himself. But that's not what they chose. They chose to go against God. They chose to disobey him. And God said, okay, what king shall I use to get you to come to where you need to be? Let's just use this dude with a really long name, Kushar Rishatayim. What parent would name their child that? Just call him Kushi. For eight years! Eight years! I mean, that's eight years wasted of their life. You know what? Sin will cost you more than you want to pay. It'll keep you longer than you want to stay and it'll take you farther than you want to go. You know what I mean. It's bad for you. It'll cost you more than you want to pay. Keep you longer than you want to stay. And they're thinking to themselves, well, we're in Canaan land. This is great. Yeah, you're about to be oppressed for eight years. Not under someone else's guidance and loving care for eight years, under the hand of the oppressor for eight years. In order for them to learn to obey the Lord. Look at verse eight. The next thing we're going to look at here is that God raises up a judge to deliver his people. Verse eight says, Therefore the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushah Rishathayim, king of Mesopotamia. And the children of Israel served Cushah Rishathayim eight years. And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel. One thing I want you to notice here is that God is very merciful. Very gracious. You see, a lot of times people have this misconception that God just wants to judge you. He just wants to punish you. He just kind of just angry at you all the time. What people fail to understand is the fact that if you sin against God, of course he's angry. But his judgment is there for the purpose of bringing you to repentance. In fact, the Bible says that the goodness and forbearance of God should lead you to repentance. But let's just be honest. Sometimes the goodness and the forbearance of God does not lead people to repentance. They kind of just take it for granted. So then the Lord has to bring punishment, and that punishment gets people's attention to lead them to repentance. And what do they do? They cry unto the Lord. You know, there's times when people can get so far from God or so disobedient and, you know, they're crushed by it. It bothers them. They're grieved by it. And what does it cause them to do? Cry unto the Lord. Cry unto the Lord. Lord, help me, please. I'm at the end of my wits here, at the end of my rope. I'm just struggling. I know that you're judging me. Help me! Right? And the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel. So how does God bring forth deliverance? Through a person. Now this deliverer, obviously we know to be othniel. He's a judge. But from a spiritual perspective, if we were to apply it to ourselves, this would kind of be like the man of God. Right? Because let's just be quite honest with ourselves is that a lot of the times when we got right with God, if we were away from the Lord, it was some man of God who preached to us and helped us to get right. We heard some sermon, some preaching, some form of rebuke and reproof that ripped our faces off and we got right with God because of it. We might have not liked how they said it or how much spit came out of their mouth and what manner in which they said it to us. But you know what? God is right with God. And you know what? The deliverer is a judge. He came to judge the people. Now let me just make myself very clear is that when the Bible talks about the judges of Israel, it's not like they're coming and saying, Hey, just continue to serve Baal. God's not mad at you. I'll go take care of Cushah or Shetham. Don't worry about it. I'll let you know when I'm done. And then you can just continue on as you were. No, he's judging them saying you guys are wicked. But God's going to deliver you because you've cried out to him. But you need to get right with God. Well, you know what? Each of us have had a person like that. I know I have. Throughout my Christian life, I've had many men of God that have rebuked me and reproved me and shamed me. And it helped me to get right with God or stay right with God. They told me what I needed to hear, not necessarily what I wanted to hear. You know, and they delivered me in a sense where the preaching of God's word caused me to change course, caused me to change the way I think, caused me to change my actions, which ultimately resulted in being blessed of God. And, you know, don't minimize the importance of preaching, folks. We need preaching. We don't need Sunday school classes where we're teaching a story with, you know, these little pictures or whatever and sing cute little songs. We need preaching. Hard preaching still changes lives. We're, you know, preaching that rebukes, reproves with all long-suffering and doctrine, preaching that tells us what we need to hear, preaching against sin, preaching against the world, preaching against the trends of today. We need that type of preaching and that's what changes our lives. He says, And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. So this is the first judge of the children of Israel. And this guy made a cameo appearance in chapter one. And so, you know, he did a great exploit and he ended up marrying, I believe, I can't remember her name right now. Let's see. Let's take a look. Chapter one. I don't want to misquote it. Look at verse number 12 of chapter one. It says, Caleb said, He that smiteth Kurtjeth Seifer, and taketh it, to him will I give Aksa my daughter to wife. And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it, and he gave him Aksa his daughter to wife. So this guy's already doing big stuff in chapter one. He did big stuff in chapter one. He's basically proven himself. He has a good reputation. And it shows us that this probably would cause him to be qualified to become the first judge of Israel. What's something that we can learn from that? Well, you know, a lot of times young men who want to be pastors, they want to be the chapter three judge before they do the chapter one action. Right? They want to be able to be the judge of Israel right off the bat, but they don't want to put in the work to do the chapter one. Which are the exploits that no one really sees or pays attention to. So, you know, if you want to be a pastor, you should be a servant. Learn how to serve in your church. You know, conquer that which is before you today. Learn how to rule yourself. Amen? Learn how to rule yourself. Learn how to invest in people. Learn how to win souls to Christ. Learn how to take a stand now. And then you'll be that chapter three judge. Look at verse ten of chapter three. It says, And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war. And the Lord delivered Cushah Rishatthaim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand, and his hand prevailed against Cushah Rishatthaim. And the land had rest forty years, and Othniel the son of Canaz died. So we see here that Othniel takes over, he delivers the children of Israel, and they have peace. End of story, right? No. Look at verse twelve. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. And he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went and smote Israel, and possessed the city of palm trees. So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. Now, don't miss this. We're going to see history repeating itself. And in fact, this is something you see throughout the book of Judges. And this reminds me of a quote that I'm seeing very frequently on social media. I've seen it on Facebook, and I've seen it on Instagram, and it's very much true. Because think about what just happened. You have Othniel, or excuse me, you have the children of Israel, they're serving God, what happens? They disobey God, God judges them, they become oppressed, they cry unto the Lord, God raises up a strong leader. He comes, he delivers them, and then they enjoy peace. Othniel dies, and what happens after he dies? They go back to their wicked ways. And this is the quote that I've been seeing on social media, and it's very much true. Tough times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create tough times. And this is exactly what we see with the book of Judges. That's what it is. Because a bunch of weakling Israelites, who don't know how to fight in the wars of God, are giving in. And what happens? It creates tough times. Disobedience and rebellion causes tough times. Right? Tough times though, throughout those tough times, what does it cause? It causes an Othniel to be raised up. A strong man. A leader. A fighter. A man who is a man of war. A man who battles. A man who is willing to stand up in the gap, to make up the hedge, and fight the wars of the Lord. Right? And what happens? Well, strong men create good times. Why? Because he delivers them from the hand of Cushat Reshathayim. Creates a good time, peaceful time. We're delivered, now we get to live the way we used to live, and serve the Lord, and do all these things, but then what happens is the strong men come off the scene. They die. And these good times, because those people were not fighting, what happens? It creates weak men. And weak men then creates tough times, and the cycle continues over and over again. I think we, in the United States of America, or this generation, we're going through tough times. And it's because the previous leadership were weak. That's just it. Weak men, right? Weak men who chose not to fight certain battles in the Christian life, you know, they chose not to fight the wars and teach the doctrine, and were suffering the consequences because of that. It's creating tough times. Now they don't have to worry because they're about to pass off the scene. We're left with all this nonsense. If someone time traveled 50 years ago to today, they would think it's a joke. They're like, this can't be real. You guys made this up. Joke's over. Stop. Because it is a joke. I mean it seems though every year we're seeing a new joke come out. Where it's like, this is crazy. Stuff with the vaccines, right? With the sodomites and the trannies. All this filth and perversion that's being put forth. The leftists are just getting stupider and stupider by the day. Changing the narrative of everything that's going on. It's like, what in the world has happened? There are tough times that are a result of weak men. But it's okay though because tough times creates strong men. Because in every generation when there is a tough time, you have a group of men who are just fed up. They're just sick of it. They're sick of Biden. They're sick of the liberals. They're sick of all the stupid mandates. They're sick of the sodomites and the perversion that's out there. They're sick of weak, limp-wrested preachers and bad doctrine. And men who aren't willing to just scream and cry out and just preach the way it needs to be preached. They're sick of it. Strong men then create good times. I mean we're having a good time right now. We create good times. Why? Because we fight the battles. So in the next couple years we're going to create good times. But if we're not careful, those good times can create weak men and those weak men might be our offspring. Right? Let's just be honest. Our children, man, they're privileged. Forget white privilege. How about church privilege? Church privilege is the best privilege right there. You grow up in church. I mean some of you out there, you couldn't sing a lick if your life depended on it. But your children are going to be like amazing singers though. I mean don't be offended. I'm just being honest. It's true. Why? Because they grew up in church singing the hymns. It's part of their life. They're going to grow up learning instruments and playing the songs or singing the songs and soul winning. They're already going to have that independent fundamental Baptist DNA already integrated into them. They already know how to do it all. We've had to fight to learn these things. They just kind of, not by osmosis, but because they grew up in that environment, it just comes naturally to them. And that's a blessing, but it can also be a curse. Because they're not fighting. You know, David was a man of war. Solomon, eh. I mean don't get me wrong, Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived. He was a great guy. He knew how to execute, but let's just be honest, he wasn't as tough as his dad David. Because he spent most of the time in the palace not in the field fighting any battles. Because in his time it was a time of peace. And you know, I think about this a lot. Because I don't want, you know, I consider myself to be a strong leader. I'm fighting the battles of God, but I don't want to create good times that cause the next generation to be weak. So we've got to teach the next generation to continue to fight. To continue to fight, even if it seems peaceful, I don't want peace! I want problems! Look for the problems, look to fight the battles, because if not they're going to be weak men and it's going to create more tough times. And that's exactly what we see. We see history repeating itself here in the book of Judges. Look at verse 15. But when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer once again. Ehud the son of Gerah of Benjamin, a man left-handed, by him the children of Israel sent the president unto Eglon the king of Moab. And Ehud made him a dagger which had two edges of a cubit length, and he did gird it under his raiment upon his right thigh. So we see here that he raises up another leader to deliver the children of Israel. And it gives us some details regarding Ehud. They're kind of unique. First and foremost, we see that he's left-handed. He's a Benjamite and he's left-handed. Now, before I get into that, let me explain something else before I get into that particular point there. It says, and by him, listen to this, the children of Israel sent a present unto Eglon the king of Moab. Now that's pretty interesting, and I didn't notice this before. So, what are they doing? The children of Israel are trying to appease Eglon. Send him a present to pacify him, to placate him. Now, Ehud, whether they came with him or not, based upon the story, it kind of looks like maybe there were some bears of the present because the Bible says that he sends them away after they give him the present. Maybe you have a couple of weenies there and they're just kind of bringing the present, and he's like, do what you came to do. And he gives them the present, and the Bible tells us that he sends them away. Why? Because Ehud knows this is not how he fixed a problem. The problem's not fixed by giving some sort of present, by trying to placate the enemies of God. Right? Now, how do we apply that today? You know, there's a lot of people like this today, where it's just like, well, you know, we've got to placate the Sodomites, we've got to send them a present, welcome them to the church. God loves everyone, and try to placate them, try to give a present unto them, and it's just like, alright, do whatever you've got to do. I'm going to show you how it's done, though, because that present ain't going to do nothing. Trying to placate the enemies of God does nothing. You say, why do you double down so much on the Sodomites and on the reprobate doctrine? Because the other way doesn't work, that's why. It's never worked. Ask any independent fundamental Baptist if it's worked out for them. It hasn't. Why? Because they're implacable. The enemies of God are implacable, so why don't we just double down and be rude about it? Might as well. You can bring your present, I'll bring the sword of God's word. I'll bring the two-edged sword of God's word, do whatever you have to do, try to placate them, welcome them into your churches if that's what you want. Try to just play it safe and play it easy and be friends with the world, be friends with the devil, bring in the purple lights and the smoke detector, not the smoke detector, the smoke machine. Bring up the hoochie mamas and be like the world and dance like the world and sing like the world and try to placate the world. What you should be doing is just bringing the dagger to the fight. We need e-huds to say, go ahead and present your present, I got a present too. Right? And so this is a great verse right here. Children of Israel sent the present. And it's like the children of Israel, that's like a lot of people. You know, they all in unity were just like, yeah, we should just give him this gift and maybe he'll treat us a little better. We should just be nice to them. Be nice to them. Yeah, but look what happened to your church though. Yeah, we got a bigger one, bigger building. So there you go. You know, without apology. We didn't apologize to anybody. We doubled down. We doubled down. I preached it even harder. I preached a sermon called things that make you vomit. Nothing changed. Why? Because I'd rather placate God, pacify the Lord by obeying him, than placate the enemies of God that cannot be placated. So yeah, keep your present to yourself. I'll show you how it gets done. I like e-hud. I wonder how that meeting went. A present, you guys trying to bring a present? Alright, whatever. Bring your present. So he came and he says that he was left-handed. Now this is what's interesting about this is that it specifically says that he's a Benjamin and he's left-handed. There's probably two interpretations to this that we can derive from it. I don't really know which one it might be. I think it's the latter of what I'm about to explain right now. But it could mean that he literally, because we see the Benjamites also left-handed in Judges 19, right? Which are a group of reprobates who are left-handed, but regardless of the reprobates or not, the tribe in and of itself basically were all left-handed. And I think what it is is that they trained themselves to be ambidextrous because it gave them a military advantage. You understand? And the reason I say that even with e-hud is because of the fact that he places, because he's left-handed, he places the dagger on his right side. Whereas if you're right-handed, you place it on your left. And you say, what's the importance of that? Well, if he goes into the palace and they have security, he's able to bypass TSA, you know what I mean? Because they're going to check, they're like, let's see if he has a sword there or something, you know, and they don't see anything. Like, all right, you can come on through. So you can see how he can use that to his advantage. You know, he comes in, got his sword, he's left-handed, so he's able to bring that weapon in. And I do think that's probably the reason why, but maybe the spiritual application as to why this is is it's really, the Bible's trying to tell us that e-hud is not some big, strong, fortified military general. Because being left-handed, let's just be honest, has always been looked down upon for many years. It's been stigmatized as being like a bad thing. You guys know what I'm talking about? By the way, I'm left-handed, so, you know, I am. Who's left-handed here? All right! Whoo! No, I'm just kidding. But it's always, you know, have you guys heard of that? You know, it's been stigmatized as being something bad. It's just like, oh, you're not as smart or something. I don't know what they say. It's just like, I'm sorry, man, you know. But it's always had that characteristic that, you know, people who are left-handed are weak or, you know, I remember growing up and my brother was showing me how to write. And I grabbed the pencil and I started writing and he would take the pencil out of the left hand and put it into my right. And then I'd go, like, what are you doing? You know, and he did that over and over and over and over again and I would never catch on to it because I was just left-handed. You know, I was handicapped, apparently. So I think that's the stigma that is being put forth here. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, if you will, 1 Corinthians chapter 1. And I think what this is saying is that Ehud's weakness became his strength. Because one thing that you see throughout the Bible is that God uses the weak things of this world to confound the wise. You know, think of the story of Samson, who's another judge. Samson is not the rock. He's not, like, yoked up and just jacked and steroid-ed out or something like that, as Hollywood would like for you to believe that. You know, they always got, like, some Samoan who's just, like, huge. Because in their minds, they're like, well, this is the only way a man like that can do great exploits like that. Whereas the biblical model is that his strength does not come from his muscle fibers, it comes from the Spirit of God coming upon him. He was strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. So Samson probably looked like a skinny guy, you know, or maybe just a regular person. And that's what made him unique and mighty was the fact that the strength that he got was from the Spirit of God that would allow him to do these great exploits. And this is a pattern that we see throughout the Word of God. I mean, you think of the Apostle Paul, right, who had ailments, he had all these flaws, yet God used them in a great way. Look at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the things that are mighty, and base things of the world and things that are despised that God chosen, yea, things which are not to bring to naught the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence, the Bible says. So why does God use the weak things of this world? So he can get more glory. So he can get more glory. So he uses that which is weak, that which is despised, that which is base, because he knows that if he uses that, the counterparts of the people who are observing that person will say, well, that has to be God. Which is exactly what God wants. So I love it when people criticize our church. Oh, that little church over there, First Works Baptist Church, those bunch of Andersonites, those new IFB Andersonites, those little small churches of 30. I love it when they say that, because of the fact that that means God gets more glory. Yeah, you can't grow a church preaching like that. You can't get people saved the way you guys do it. You know, you can't do anything for God, but the way you talk and the words that you use, you can't do it. Maybe you're right. So when it happens, you have no choice but to give the credit to God. And I've literally had people tell me, well, that has to be God. And I was like, you got it right. So I'd rather be base, not just based, but base. I'd rather be despised, I'd rather be weak, so that God gets more glory. And that will motivate God to continue to use our church to do great works, because he's like, no one believes that they can do it. Because they're such a small church. They're meeting in a strip mall or whatever. They're meeting in this little office space or whatever it may be. You know, how they're going to do great works. Well, you know, this is what God uses. God uses this type of preaching, this type of church. God can use the base things of this world to confound the things which are not. And look, it says the things which are despised. That's us. I don't know if you knew that. We're hated. When we were at Christmas caroling yesterday, I was expecting someone to grab the truck and be like, whoa. And I was always thinking, I was like, I wonder what happens if they go look it up. What are they going to say? Like, hey, they're saying all right. That's that church? I had a relative of mine who I recently got in contact with, I haven't spoken to in years. They contacted me and they're like, Bruce. I'm like, what's up? They're like, how are you? And I was like, good. They're like, your church got vandalized. I'm like, yeah. He's all, it got blown up. Yeah. He's like, you were on the news. I know. I know. And he's like, he's like, the FBI was involved. Yeah. Like, he's telling me this, like, I've never heard this before. Like, like, are you asking me or are you telling me this? You're a little late. You know, and he's just like, maybe when you have time, you can explain to me why that happened or whatever. I'm like, well, just watch the channel. You'll see why. That no flesh should glory in his presence. You know, I think Iha, the reason it says that he was left handed was to show us, to be an example to us, that God can use anybody, even a left hander. That's what it is. Because that's who God wants to use. Now, obviously, God can use anyone. God can use the five talented Christian, the five gifted Christian. But you know what? If you have one talent, or let's just say hypothetically, if you had no talents, God can still use you. God can still use you. He used Iha to do a great work. Go back to Judges, if you will, chapter three. Look at verse 17. And he brought the present unto Eglon, king of Moam, and Eglon was a very fat man. I always thought that was just very interesting that it said that. Because he's not being facetious. God is just stating a fact. And one thing I've noticed is that when he says that, obviously this means that he was probably very fat. For God to kind of go out of his way and say, you know, he brought it to Eglon, and Eglon was a very fat man. And it could be that the reason he put that detail in there is because what's going to happen later on will explain why the blade did what it did because he was a very fat man. He says in verse 18, when he had made an end to offer the present, he sent away the people that bear the present. That's why I think that maybe someone came with him. But he himself turned again from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand unto thee, O king, who said, keep silence. And all that stood by him went out from him. And Eud came unto him, and he was sitting in the summer parlor, which he had for himself alone, and Eud said, I have a message from God unto thee, and he arose out of his seat. Now, is he lying? No. He does have a message. It's just in the form of a dagger. It's called stab. It's called the wages of sin is death. It's called Hebrews 4.12. Verse 21, and Eud put forth his left hand and took the dagger from his right thigh and thrust it into his belly, and the haft also went in after the blade. My favorite knife! And the fat closed upon the blade, this is crazy, so that he could not draw the dagger out of his belly, and the dirt came out. This really happened. So he's like, ahh! And then it just sucks in the blade, and he's just like. The Bible says the fat closed in and swallowed the blade. And the strangest phrase, one of the strangest phrases in the Bible, the dirt came out. Now what that's referring to is the excrement that's inside of Eglon. Because he's stabbing him in his belly, got him in his intestines, and that's what came out. Now, that's a cool story. What little kid does not like a story like that? Like, that's cool. You know, Hollywood can't come up with something like, this really happened. Well, what's the spiritual application? Well, obviously we know what the spiritual application is, because he brings the message from God, and you can't bring a message without the sword. The sword of God's word. The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even if the dividing of the center of soul and spirit joins in the marrow, and is a discernment of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. So, spiritually speaking, this is exactly what the word of God does. Think about it. The word of God goes in, and the crap comes out. Isn't that true? You know, because when you think of Hollywood, for example, Hollywood always paints these abominable things as being something pretty and beautiful and nice. It's the Bible that actually goes in and shows you all the crap, and says that it's filthy, it's perverse, they're pedophiles, they're rapists, and it's very offensive. I mean, Marcos is walking out of the sky. The word of God sheds light on what people think is nice. It goes in, and the dirt comes out. In light of the Bible, the Bible shows you the filthiness of this world for what it really is. It pulls back the mask of what the world portrays itself to be, and its attitudes, and its agenda, and it shows you what it really is. It's all dirt. It's all excrement. Isn't that true? What did the blade do? It only showed what was the contents of Eglon, what he was made of. Right? That's what it showed. And you know what? That's exactly what the Bible does. By the way, the King James Bible, right? You're not going to get that from an NIV. NIV is like a plastic fork. It's like a spork. It's all... It's not going to pierce anything. It's going to poke you, but it ain't going to do anything else. The ESV, all these are lame versions. It will not pierce anything. Whereas the King James Bible just cuts all the way through, and it goes all the way in, and it exposes all the excrement, all the dirt, all the filthiness of this world, and it shows you what it really is. This is why someone who is a true truther will eventually come to the King James Bible. Because the Bible is the ultimate light that sheds light on the filth of this world. But you know what? Also, if you think about it, the Bible, which is the sword of God's word, can go into us as well and take out all the dirt. You know, throughout your life or throughout your week, you know, you pile on a lot of dirt, you eat a lot of junk. Right? And what does the word of God do? You read it in the morning, you think about it throughout the day, you meditate upon it, you memorize it, you preach it, you utilize it. What does it do? It brings out all the dirt. It brings out all the worldliness. It takes all that stuff out. 1 John 2.13 says, I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young man, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young man, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. The Bible says to hide the word of God in our hearts that I might not sin against thee. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. You put the sword in, and the dirt will come out. You don't need a five-step program. You don't need some devotional booklet. You just need the Bible to go in so that the dirt could come out. Let's finish up here. Look at verse 23. Then he had went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlor upon him, and locked them. When he was gone out, his servants came, and when they saw that, behold, the doors of the parlor were locked, they said, Surely he covered his feet in his summer chambers. Basically, they thought that he was just using the restroom because of the fact that they could probably smell all the excrement. And they tarry till they were ashamed, and behold, he opened not the doors of the parlor. Therefore, they took a key and opened it, and behold, their Lord was fallen down dead on the earth. I'm not going to finish this for the sake of time, but what we see here is that he ends up delivering the children of Israel out of the hand of the Moabites. And what it shows you is that one person can make a difference. He released the captivity of the children of Israel through his actions, through his exploit. And may that be a lesson to us that, you know, you may not think that you can do much, or you're thinking, man, our church, I mean, what can we really do? What kind of dent can we really make? But you know what? Ehab was one man who was able to make a huge difference. Read Romans chapter 5 and see how one man by the name of Adam damned the whole world, but by one man, Jesus Christ, many were made righteous. All it takes is one man. And by the looks of it, we have more than just one here. We have many. So if you just make that decision to say, you know what, I'm going to give it a shot. I'm going to give it a stab. I'm going to be like Ehab, and I'm just going to do what it takes to get it done, to bring the message of God, to expose the world for what it is, the devil for what it is, and I'm going to continue to fight this battle. Some great lessons here from the life of Ehab, amen? And if you get anything from this sermon, just get this, you know, understand that God uses the weak things of this world to confound the wise. And the reason I say this is because, you know, sometimes Christians can get down on themselves, like, oh, you know, who am I? Well, you know, you're a perfect candidate to do something great for God. The less you have, the better. As long as you're willing to just do as God tells you to do, you can do something great for God, too. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the example of Ehab. What an awesome story. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to take to heart the principles thereof, and that we would go into this battle with the message of God, which is the sword of the Spirit, to expose the wicked things of this world. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather approve them. And I pray that, Lord, you'd help us to do so, to recognize that at the end of the day, you need to get all the glory. And so bless us as we go on our way. In Jesus' name, amen. You take your song sheet. If you don't have a song sheet, actually, please raise your hand and one of the ushers will give you one. Miss DJ needs one over here. Anybody else need a song sheet? We're going to be singing Oh Holy Night. Brother Geo needs a song sheet. Anybody else? Anybody else? Alrighty. We're going to sing Oh Holy Night. Sing it on that first. Oh Holy Night, the stars are brightly shining. It is the night of our dear Savior's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining. Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices. For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees. Oh hear the angel voices. Oh night divine. Oh night when Christ was born. Oh night, oh night, oh night divine. Truly He taught us to love one another. His law is love and His gospel is peace. Change shall He break for the slave is our brother. And in His name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we. Let all within us praise His holy name. Rise is the Lord. Oh praise His name forever. His power and glory evermore proclaim. His power and glory evermore proclaim. A wonderful scene. You are dismissed. Oh yeah. Sing song number 421, the first Noel. Song number 421. Sign number 421. See it on that first. Oh bring His shield of a cold winter's night. That bought us so deep. Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel. Born is the King of Israel. All right tell us your name. Sarah. Sarah have you trusted Jesus as your savior? Yes. Okay upon your public profession I'm going to baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit going to cross your arms over your chest. Buried in the likeness of His death reigns to the newness of life. We got one more. Congratulations. All right you're going to walk right up here. You're going to step in here facing that way all right. You can use my arm if you like. Watch your step. There you go. Facing that way. Sitting down on your bottom legs forward facing that way. Looking forward as much as you can. There you go. All right tell us your name. Rhea. Rhea have you trusted Jesus as your savior? Yes. Upon your public profession I'm going to baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit going to cross your arms over your chest. Buried in the likeness of His death reigns to the newness of life. Congratulations. Let's pray and we'll be dismissed. Father we thank you for this day. So thankful for the word of God. Lord we're thankful for the baptisms. I pray that you bless us as we go on our way. Lord bless the practice, fellowship and all there is in Jesus name we pray. Amen. You are dismissed.