 The title of our sermon tonight is a lion from Judah a lion from Judah judges chapter 3 verses 7 through 11 And it's our joy this evening to come back to the inspired infallible Inerrant word of God and continue our study through the book of judges And we're in chapter 3 we're in verses 7 through 11 where our author likely the prophet Samuel a Looks back over a period of the judges that precedes the monarchy in Israel and he records the scripture in scripture The history of Israel's first warrior warlord judge Othniel This was a period of time in Israel's history after the conquest of Canaan under Joshua and Before the time of the monarchy that began under Israel's first king Saul that period the period of the judges Was a time when there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. It was a time of chaos The introduction now has been set introduction has been completed in chapters 1 and chapters 2 the tables been set So to speak and chapter 1 dealt with the historical record of the conquest and depicts alongside the conquest of the land What we have called an ever-increasing conquest of compromise We see how the Israelites compromise with the word and commands of God the chapter 2 then explores them the theological Underbelly of that compromise the children of Israel neglect to obey the word of God To drive out the inhabitants of the land and after that inheritance generation then dies Another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the works that he had done for Israel And what we've come to see now in the opening chapters of this book of judges is the Canaanization of Israel and we've compared haven't we how the cananization of Israel is a picture of the worldly Influences that impressed themselves upon the church today and encroached upon God's people even today and we need to take lesson and take example here from the children of Israel in this period of the judges To cut off worldly influences and avoid the cananization of the modern-day church It's then now after this Introduction has been completed in chapters one and two. It's then that we see a tragic summary of the book of judges in Chapter 2 verse 11 this text serves as a prologue or as a preamble to the cycle of the judges that now follows So in chapter 2 verse 11 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and they served the bales They forsook the Lord God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt And they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who are all around them And they bowed down to them and they provoked the Lord to anger They forsook the Lord and served the bale in the asherists Now having failed to obey God's word The inhabitants of the land then become an idolatrous snare To Israel and the covenant people of God become idolaters themselves Spiritual adulterers spiritual adulteresses they commit spiritual harlotry In verse 14 then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel And so he God Delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them and he that's God Sold them into the hands of their enemies all around so that they could no longer stand before their enemies Wherever they went out the hand of Almighty God was against them for calamity As the Lord had said and as the Lord had sworn to them and they were greatly distressed Nevertheless in the midst of this misery in the midst of judgment for their sin verse 16 The Lord raised up judges who delivered them out of the hand of those who plundered them Yet they would not listen to their judges but played the harlot with other gods and bowed down to them They turned quickly from the way in which their fathers walked and obeying the commandments of the Lord. They did not do so This is a stiff necked and stubborn people Not unlike us when we were unconverted stiff necked and stubborn unlike not unlike many of us can still be even now Converted sometimes stiff necked we need to take a lesson here from the children of Israel and not harden our hearts When the Lord raised up judges for them in verse 18 The Lord was with the judge delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge for the Lord was moved to Pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed them and harassed them It came to pass notice in verse 18 that they're crying their groaning was because of their oppressors Because of those who harassed them. It wasn't because of their sin But it was because of their judgment verse 19 then it came to pass that when the judge was dead That they reverted Behaved more corruptly than their fathers by following other gods to serve them and bow down to them And they did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way That's in this summary that we see the memorable pattern that marks the period of the judges a pattern that we've talked about before rebellion retribution Repentance we have to put repentance in quotation marks because it's not Genuine repentance. Maybe we could replace the word repentance with the word response But it's not genuine repentance. It's a cry for Help in pain. They're in misery, but we have rebellion retribution response rescue and then we see in this segment of text rest During the life of the judge the Lord gives them rest and then relapse rebellion retribution response rescue rest and relapse and The Lord tells us why Israel is subjected to this tragic pattern one Israel's rebellion the canonization of the nation the canonization of God's people they disobey They fail to drive out the idolatrous pagan influences as the Lord had commanded them And so God delivers the Israelite God Sells them into the hand of their enemies in judgment and their rebellion leads to an outpouring of God's retributive justice And then secondly they're subjected to this pattern because God intends to test them not that God should find out what that was in their heart or if they would obey him But so that they could learn to depend upon him in faith Through the pattern of sin and rebellion the glory of God will be on display And through the pattern of sin and rebellion they would learn to depend upon God and submit to him We are hopeless Apart from God who is our deliverer? And we must continuously look to him in faith And it's this record of the nation of Israel from the period of the judges that should teach us to do that Okay, so now our our record of the first judge then begins in chapter 3 verse 7 and notice with me that the record begins with Israel's rebellion Israel's rebellion look at verse 7 and so the children of Israel Did evil in the sight of the Lord? They forgot the Lord to their God and they served the bails and asherets And we'll see this statement the Israel the children of Israel did evil on the side of the Lord They forgot the Lord their God will see this statement at the beginning of six Narrative records in the book as we look at various judges throughout the period of the judges We're gonna see that statement that formula if you will that theme Beginning six of those narrative records. It's as if our author Wants to remind us at the outset of every single account that this is what Moses warned the people about under the law Moses warned the people for example listen to what Moses said in Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 29 Moses says I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt You will turn aside from the way in which I have commanded you and evil will befall you in the latter days Because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands Moses Joshua warned the people that this would happen. They need to remember those warnings right take heed to the warnings given us in Scripture The word forget in verse 7 far from passive most of the time when we think of the word forget when we when we Forget something it's very passive and the older I get it seems like the more passive I get and the more stuff I forget but forget here in verse 7 is not passive forget here is willful they Suppressed the truth of God in their unrighteousness. That's what they do doing evil They suppressed the truth because what may be known of God was made manifest to them It was clear to them even his eternal power in Godhead and yet they suppressed that truth of God in their unrighteousness Instead of acknowledging him in all their ways that he might direct their paths. They disregard him That's what the word means they ignore him They exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for an image made like corruptible man And verse 7 they served the bales and the asheras They've got themselves in a world of trouble. They've become idolaters The King James version refers to Balaam and the groves you see that word there not the asheras, but the groves the ashera were the ashera was a cult Goddess of fertility goddess a consort of Baal and she was supposed to have birthed 70 pagan gods, okay But the ashera to symbolize the ashera they used cultic poles or cultic trees And the trees here many of them Gives us the reference to the groves. This was a grove of cultic trees or cultic poles Later understood she was a fertility goddess associated with Baal But this absurdity the groves these cultic trees cultic poles this absurdity is what Israel exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for this is what Idolatrous men give themselves over to when they forget the Lord their God Now we can look back at that that account right and think how absurd They would erect poles erect trees that they would exchange the glory of God for the Incorruptible glory of God for images made like corruptible man serve these idols But listen people in our day and age do it all the time don't we? Exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for a corruptible temporary pleasure in our day, right? Exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for living life for ourselves in our own current day We can't make the same idolatrous errors the same idolatrous sins and mistakes that they did We need to think we have the word of God. We have the spirit of God if you're in Christ Worship him don't turn to the idols of this world Don't turn to the idols of leisure or pleasure or entertainment. They are just as foolish as these Asherapoles in Canaan. Do you see just idols of this world idols come many different shapes forms fashions Luther said that our hearts are idol factories. We just produce idols from the heart We must not be idolaters be careful brothers and sisters listen Be careful take a look at your life. Take a look at what's important to you What you spend your money on what you spend your time doing and turn away from idolatry. This is absurd The children of Israel the covenant people of God have forgotten the Lord their God who has delivered them How many times right how many times they've forgotten him they've turned away from him They disregard him they ignore him and they're serving wicked pagan idols so how Does then the Lord respond to this we see Israel's rebellion Well, the Lord responded With righteous retribution the second point in the pattern we're following right along the pattern here, aren't we the Lord? Responds with righteous retribution look at verse 8 therefore The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel He sold them into the hand of Kushan Rishatayim King of Mesopotamia and the children of Israel served Kushan Rishatayim eight years I mean reading through this text. It's like our author here likely Samuel just wants to drive that name home What's that to remember it many many times in this text? We're mentioning here Kushan Rishatayim With a word in verse 8 that refers to a blast of hot air out of the nostrils of God So to speak using an anthropomorphism right language that helps us to understand With a word that refers to a blast of hot air out of his nostrils The Lord's wrath is said to be in verse 8 like a searing heat against Israel a hot blast Lord's anger was hot and we've discussed this before as a fruit if you will of God's jealous Covenant love if his own holiness wasn't important There'd be no blasting heat of retributive justice if his love for his own covenant people Wasn't there there'd be no Retributive justice to bring them back from their sin and notice now that he himself in verse 8 Sells them the Lord surrenders them. He gives them over that is not a result of Unfortunate circumstances right that this happens they get defeated they get conquered There's an oppressive king now that has them under his thumb has them in his iron grip It's not merely that things didn't work out or this is just how things turned out the Lord himself Who is sovereign over all things works all things according to the counsel of his own will Omnipotent the Lord was against them for calamity, and he sold them into the hand of this wicked king Kushan Rishithaim the Lord Works providentially to accomplish his will and this is one of the ways that he does it. He does it through retributive Justice it's right. It's just it's fair if you want to use that term. It's just this is retributive justice Not Allowing them think with me now. We're talking about the covenant people of Israel the covenant people of God not allowing them to remain comfortable in their sin and rebellion not Turning away from them listen the people have sinned so I'm going to write them off and I'm gonna go over to like he said to Moses right I'll make of you a great nation What does Moses do he intercedes to the people and God delivers his people same thing here God doesn't turn away from them He pours out his anger his righteous wrath in retributive justice against the people Because he doesn't want them remaining comfortable in their sin and rebellion right he gives them over to kushan Rishithaim Because he wants them to return to him he wants them to turn in Repentance and faith Trusting the the Lord trusting their covenant God So the Lord in faithfulness delivers them over in faithfulness He sells them into the hands of those who would dispoil them It's interesting He gives them over to kushan rishithaim The name is kushan of double wickedness. That's what his name means kushan of double wickedness the king this king is from Mesopotamia and the word Mesopotamia is Aram Naharaim Aram Naharaim is translated Mesopotamia It's interesting. Mesopotamia or Aram Naharaim means double rivers Double rivers two rivers so this guy from two rivers is twice wicked, right? That's what you have here. You got a guy from double rivers. Who's double wicked? It sounds like a mocking dig doesn't it you can imagine and this is The way the children of Israel might have looked at this guy got this guy from Aram Naharaim even the name's rhyme Right Naharaim rishithaim They're thinking this guy from two rivers is double evil right double wicked the evil king from double rivers was double wicked Rishithaim from Aram Naharaim Now here's what we ultimately have then in verse 8 God instead fast Covenant love for his people not willing to allow them to continue their betrayal against him Certainly willing to inflict misery if it means bringing them back from their harlotry God delivers them into the hand of a wicked one to bring them back to a sense of their need for the Lord He wants to wake them up Right. It's like taking him by the lapels and shaking them saying return to me return to me Right not willing that they should wallow in their rebellion This is a picture if you will of God's grace in salvation through judgment There's a time in your life if you're in Christ if you turn from your sin to trust him alone There was a time in your sin When you are under the sway of a double wicked one, right and God comes along not because you earned it not because you deserved it not because your Repentance had raised to a level that it was satisfactory before God and he says okay now you've earned it right not because of any of that Not because you're more righteous than someone else You are equally unrighteous. We are equally unrighteous apart from Christ, right? But God intervenes he comes in he shakes you by your lapels and says essentially wake up He opens your eyes, right? He gives you a new heart. He indwells you with his spirit He causes you to be born again, and he saves your wretched soul, right? That's God's intervention This is a picture a picture of that God's grace in salvation through judgment God intends to judge the world and if you are not in Christ You will face his retributive justice those who are in Christ will be saved This is God's grace and salvation through judgment and later As we continue to read through the Old Testament narrative. We're introduced to the double evils of Double rivers Mesopotamia, okay? We're introduced to a Syria who later conquered the northern tribes Took them away into captivity that evil empire that took the northern tribes into captivity and the other evil of Mesopotamia is Babylon Kingdom who later conquered Judah and carted Judah off into captivity the double evils of Mesopotamia the Mesopotamia is It's the first mention if you will or an opening theme to what will be a long-term Problem for the nation of Israel a long-term picture of judgment before the coming Messiah So it's in this brief account then five verses That we seem to be introduced in it to sweeping themes that run throughout the whole of God's Redemptive revelation you have the covenant breaking history of God's own people the vile Enemies that will plague the people of God throughout their history You have the righteous judgment of God delivering his people over to an evil one all to be held captive by him to do his Will and then you have God's gracious salvation through judgment all introduced in five verses right here in Judges chapter 3 with Othnial right these themes being introduced so Having served Baal and the Asher is then in verse 7 The Israelites then end up serving a king of double evil from a place of double trouble in verse 8 rebellion Retribution and then how do the people then respond look at verse 9 Rebellion retribution response when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord After eight years of this oppression The people cried out zaak. It's like considered an onomatopoeia. It sounds like what they did right they cried out zaak Brief terms is a brief statement in verse 9 describing here a cry of pain This is a cry of misery a cry for help not a cry in misery over sin Not a cry of genuine repentance. They're not humbled Not even able to lift their face like the tax collector in the temple This people are stiff neck, but they don't like pain. They don't like suffering. They cry out to the Lord for help They grew weary Under their bondage and so they cry out to God for mercy and the Lord what does the Lord do? the Lord in great pity in great mercy hears their cry and Bearing witness to a steadfast faithfulness he provides for their rescue Rebellion retribution response and rescue That's the covenant faithfulness of God. Isn't it that even in our sin? God remains steadfast and faithful to his word. He will always Remain faithful to his word the Lord in great pity and great mercy We serve a God who is rich in mercy abounds in grace. Amen and sometimes, you know if you're like me in our You know Christian experience or in the course of our Christian lives at some points in time When we're battle battling our sin We're in battle over sin and we begin to think of God as somehow withholding grace or as a God who withholds mercy a God who oppresses Rather than delivers and we even in our own thinking because of our own sin Not understanding the God of the Bible we in our own thinking begin to erect an idolatrous view of God and our own Minds as a God who withholds good things from us as a God who oppresses or a God who's always pouring out judgment and not merciful and not gracious but listen God is infinitely merciful God is infinitely gracious and if you will turn from your sin if you will humble yourself you will Look to him for grace. He is abounding in it if you will cry to him for mercy He is overflowing with mercy right we serve a merciful God a loving God Infinite a mercy abounding in grace It's just a picture here when you've got these stiff necked Israelites who are steeped in idolatry and yet the Lord raises up a judge Right nevertheless God raises up a judge for their rescue. It's amazing, right? It's an amazing witness to his steadfast faithfulness and love Not because they earned it not because they deserved it, but simply because of the mercy of our God so in verse 9 When the children of Israel cried out to the Lord the Lord raised up a deliverer for the children of Israel who delivered them Othnial son of Kenaz Caleb's younger brother. I want us to remember right. I want us to remember when we're Coming to a sense of our own sin before God when you're Embattled over sin when you're striving against sin remember that God has raised up a savior Raised up a deliverer Jesus Christ the righteous and when we sin we can confess our sins to him And he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all our iniquity all our iniquity That's what God does in Jesus Christ. He pours out mercy So don't refrain from going to him in mercy like a like a child in need go to him for mercy Go to him for grace. God raises up deliverers. God raises here a savior He is a merciful merciful God Here in verse 9 we're introduced to God's deliverer. It's Othnial the son of Kenaz Caleb's younger brother The same God now who delivered them into bondage Due to their sin who turned them over to judgment Now is the same God who raises up a deliverer to save them out of that bondage The word for deliverer here is Moshea. It means Messiah means savior God raises up for them a savior And that savior is Othnial who is the nephew of Caleb the son of Caleb's younger brother Kenaz The name Othnial means lion of God That's what the name means lion of God and Othnial was a lion of a man. You remember Othnial from previous chapter Othnial was the hero of the beer Right who conquered the city conquering the city. He won AXA Caleb's daughter as his wife and Othnial like Caleb the lion was from the tribe of Judah We have here a lion from the tribe of Judah, right? A lion from the tribe of Judah sent by God to save his people By destroying the evil one who held them captive because of their sin, right? What's the Lord trying to tell us here? What's the Lord picturing for us? This is not a coincidence No such thing in the Bible This lion from the tribe of Judah came in the power of the spirit of God look at verse 10 The spirit of the Lord came upon him and he judged Shaphat. He judged Israel He was the anointed anointed by the spirit. He was the anointed warlord warrior Governor of God anointed with the spirit of God and what did he do? What did this? Messiah, what did this Savior do? He went out to war Right verse 10. He went out to war He went out to war and the Lord delivered Cushan, Rishitha. I am king of Mesopotamia into his hand Just um Eschatological end times overtones all over this isn't there, right? The Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back and he comes back to wage and to make war He will conquer his enemies. He will throw down the wicked pagan idolatrous kingdoms of this world and he will conquer and reign, right? This one goes out to war and the Lord delivered Cushan, Rishitha I am king of Mesopotamia into his hand that double wicked man from double rivers is Conquered and his hand prevailed over Cushan, Rishitha. I am the people powerless to save themselves from the the grip of this evil one There was nothing that they could do but a cry allowed to God in their misery and then God Raises up one man from among them Raises up a man from among them He empowers him by the Spirit of God to come and to conquer and this lion of Judah Bound the strong man Plundered his house set at liberty the captives and gave his people rest It's what Othniel does the people of Israel in conquering Cushan, Rishitha So verse 11. What was the result then? The land had rest for 40 years and then Othniel the son of Kienaz died all this foreshadowing, isn't it? I'm there those who would say that Types or typology doesn't exist in the Bible That the only way that you would be able to see types and shadows and their Fulfillments or their substance is that the Bible specifically says it's a type, right? So like the Ark through the water is a type of baptism Peter says so but listen types shadows Substance reality is pictured all over the biblical text, right? It's everywhere in the biblical text these things are analogous to their illustrative of Realities that are heavenly realities that the people of God should take great encouragement from right to see this Story take place should encourage us to look forward to our own Conquering warlord warrior judge who is coming to deliver his people and to enter into the kingdom with us, right? This should cause us great encouragement to look forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ This is a shadow Jesus Christ is the substance right this is a foreshadowing Jesus Christ is the coming reality this Eschatological warrior savior king is also a lion from the tribe of Judah, but a far greater lion And he is coming back This is a shadow of future such substance. It's pointing us forward Reminded of the the men who walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, right? He beginning with Moses and all the prophets he expounds for us in all the scriptures the things concerning himself this text concerns the Lord Jesus Christ you see So how does then This judge this Moshea How does he accomplish such a miraculous? Deliverance well, he does so in the power of the spirit the power of the spirit We talked very briefly last week about the inseparable operations of the Trinity right in our redemption in Redemptive work in creation. We saw it also in the redemptive work of God for his people All three members of the Godhead are in perfect harmony in perfect economy of work labor in Perfect work in perfect harmony to redeem his people They all play each person of the Godhead playing a role in our redemption. We see that even here God sends the deliverer the deliverer comes in the power of the spirit of God in awesome power and delivers his people There's a common misconception though But how the spirit of God operates in the Old Testament? Very common misconception in the Old Testament people would say people will say that the spirit of God comes upon God's people because as we see here the spirit of God came upon Othnial okay, and people would say well in the New Testament the spirit of God indwells his people So it looks like there's discontinuity in the Old Testament the spirit of God comes upon his people in the New Testament The spirit of God indwells his people. That's a misunderstanding of the spirit's work. That's not how it works. Okay? That's the misunderstanding of Pneumatology the spirit's work. There's a continuity Between the testaments and here's basically what it is when someone is saved in the New Testament They are saved by virtue of the New Covenant Secured by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ And when they're saved by virtue of the person in work of the Lord Jesus Christ under the New Covenant They receive all the blessings all the promises of the New Covenant right where God says I will take your heart of Stone out of your chest, and I'm gonna give you a heart of flesh I will put my spirit within you, and I will cause you to obey me Right the Lord says that as a covenant promise of the New Covenant God says I will put my spirit within you, and I'll cause you to walk in my statutes and judgments Right well when someone is saved in the Old Testament, how are they saved are they saved any differently in the Old Testament than we are In the New Testament. No, they're not there's continuity between the testaments They're saved in the very same way when someone is saved in the Old Testament They are saved by virtue of faith in the Lord's promised Messiah. They're saved by virtue of the New Covenant Secured by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they as we do receive all the blessings and promises of the New Covenant In other words, God indwells all believers They receive the promises as we do that means God gives them a new heart God indwells them with his spirit and God causes them to walk according to his statutes That begins with all believers at regeneration Everyone who comes to faith in Christ comes to faith as a fruit of God's regenerating work in the heart of that sinner They are born again and the Lord grants them repentance and faith That begins at regeneration and the spirit empowers them then to live for the Lord and persevere in the faith The spirit applies all the blessings of redemption So what then explains the work of the spirit that we see for example in the Book of Acts And the coming of the spirit upon believers in the New Testament that we see outlined particularly in the Book of Acts There's another contextual reason why the spirit is seen, evidenced, observed as coming in the Book of Acts And I want us to understand that Notice with me when the spirit comes upon believers in the Book of Acts The spirit comes in power at Pentecost to who? In chapter 2 of Acts To Jewish believers Now think with me The spirit comes in power at Pentecost to Jewish believers in Acts chapter 2 He is shown to come to Samaritan believers in Acts chapter 7 He is shown to come to Gentile believers in Judea in Acts chapter 10 With Cornelius and Cornelius' household And he is shown to come to Gentile believers outside Judea in Acts chapter 19 So what's happening as he comes to Jews in Jerusalem Gentile believers in Judea or Samaritans Then Gentile believers in Judea Then Gentile believers outside of Judea What is the Lord doing? What is the Lord showing us? He is showing us that in the New Covenant In the New Covenant one secured by the shed blood, the person in work of the Lord Jesus Christ That every tribe, tongue and nation is together in that Covenant all having the spirit That way the coming of the spirit There's no Samaritan church And there's no Gentile God fearing church And there's no Jewish church We all have the spirit Everyone in that Covenant has the spirit of God in them, in dwelling them You see, so the spirit's not coming in a new way per se Everyone who's saved in the Old Testament has the in dwelling Holy Spirit He's coming for a specific reason Shown to be coming in Acts for allowing us to see For the unity of the church to see the expanding boundaries associated with the New Covenant That's the reason we see the spirit given in that way in the Book of Acts In each case the giving of the spirit in New Testament context Shows the boundary of the New Covenant church and the gift of the spirit to all believers Here in texts like this one When the spirit of the Lord comes upon a person Or when the Bible says that the hand of the Lord was with him Instead of saying that, it's referring to as one commentator put it The arresting presence and power of God The spirit of God comes upon Othniel as judge and he arrests him Empower and works through Othniel to accomplish his will The empowering presence of the spirit of God Transforms this simple man from Judah into the mighty Shaphat of God The conqueror of kings Not unlike the miracle that takes place in the heart of a sinner When the spirit of God comes in regeneration Think about it with me The spirit of God coming upon Othniel The spirit of God coming upon Samson as we'll see The spirit of God coming upon the mighty men of David And their conquests Or the spirit of God coming upon or indwelling That wretched sinner and miraculously changing them From the inside out from a God hater To one who loves the Lord Jesus Christ From one who is persisting in their sin To one now who hates their sin and turns from it to faith in him That's a miracle of the powerful working of the spirit of God In the life of believers In preaching to Cornelius in his household in Acts chapter 10 Peter described Jesus as anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power Jesus who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil For God was with him Jesus Christ we know to be God in the flesh But he came and he worked in the power of the spirit of God And God was with him God exercises his will through his spirit Jesus Christ went out in the power of the spirit Othnial, the spirit of God comes upon him The inseparable operations of the Trinity As long as Othnial lived, the land had rest Verse 11, that's a foreshadowing of our final rest that is yet to come As long as Othnial lived, the land had rest How long will our conquering savior live? He ever lives He ever lives So how long will our rest be? Forever and forever and forever and forever Amen In their difficulty, they were made to remember the Lord Their hearts were turned back to him And the Lord provided rest Well, what happened then when the judge died? Verse 12 The children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord Don't we need a full and final deliverance A once for all work of our savior to deliver us from sin and death What they needed was a judge who would conquer death Wouldn't die, but they needed a judge who would conquer death And win not a temporary peace, a temporary rest But an everlasting peace, an everlasting rest We were born in a far more debilitating and destructive bondage Our bondage far more destructive than theirs We were subject to a far more wicked, far more destructive enemy Not just double wicked, the most wicked Our own sin, double evil in the sight of God But by God's grace, by God's mercy We've been provided with far better promises We have a far better covenant All won by a far better and ever living conquering warlord king Who has defeated sin and death, has defeated the wicked one And has set us free from bondage to our sin What should be our response? Will you be like the Israelites And just turn back and revert to the wickedness That you once participated in before he delivered you? Really, is that what we'll do? Trust the Lord, trust the Lord Will we, like a dog returning to his vomit, go back to our sin? Like a pig wallowing in the mire, will we go back? God is anointed, a conquering warlord king He will come and will come with the spirit of God upon him He has on his robe and on his thigh a name written King of kings and Lord of lords, amen He is appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness By that man whom he's ordained And he's given assurance of this to all By raising him from the dead Will he be your deliverer Or will he be your retributive justice? Will he be your savior or will he be your executioner? Now, now is the time for mercy Now is the time for grace If you have never cried aloud for deliverance Do so now Do you not know, do you not know that you are wretched Miserable, poor, blind and naked? Naked, come to thee for dress Helpless, look to thee for grace Foul, I to the fountain fly Wash me, savior, or I die Amen, amen Let's pray Father in heaven, Lord, we praise you And thank you that you in unspeakable grace In unfathomable mercy With infinite love We have made provision for our sin Made provision for our redemption In the person and in the work and the sacrifice Of your only begotten son We praise you, God, that you sent him Into the world to save sinners And Lord, we are sinners We need salvation, we need redemption We need God, that that's simply not anything That we can even attempt to earn on our own According to our own works or by our own will But praise be to you that it is entirely finished Entirely accomplished by him By his work, by his perfect life And his perfect sacrifice And thank you, Lord, that that is ours by faith This is wondrous in our eyes Our conquering King We praise you and we worship you And look forward, Lord, to his soon return I pray if anyone is here, it has not turned To trust him alone for salvation They would do that now, tonight, even, Lord Even sitting here this evening They would give up their rebellion against him They would give up living life for themselves And would turn by faith to him Who is able to deliver them Out from bondage to the wicked one Out from bondage to their own sin And can set them in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus We praise you and thank you for this blessed grace And pray, Lord, that you would be glorified And worshiped and magnified for it for all eternity We love you and we thank you for this time together To consider these things from your word Help us, Lord, to apply them Help us to meditate on them To think according to them To live according to them For your glory, for our good In Jesus' name, amen