 Let's turn now in the Bible and let's come back to God's Word together and it's a joy to be able to consider the Book of Judges with you as we're working through the Essentials series on Sunday morning. I really have enjoyed being able to look at these texts, these narrative texts in the Old Testament and sort of go pericope by pericope, section by section through the Book of Judges. And so I pray it's been a blessing to you. It's good to be in books of the Bible this way. And soon, we're nearing halfway through the Book of Judges, I guess we're halfway now. And soon we'll be through with our Essentials series, we'll be back to a book of the Bible on Sunday morning, but it's just a joy to be able to spend time in the Word of God that way. And we have much to learn and the Lord is gracious to us that we get to learn it. You know, just we, this is not a sprint, it's a marathon. So week in and week out, we just, as our brother was praying about the Word a minute ago, we just keep coming back to the Word of God for more and more. And there's just no plumbing the depths of it, you know, it's, it is a bottomless well of God's grace. So we're grateful to him for it. Okay, we're in Judges chapter 10. The title of this sermon this evening is, Despise and Rejected by Men, Despised and Rejected by Men. Our text, Judges chapter 10, verse 17 through Judges chapter 11, verse 11. If you remember the original text, there were no chapter divisions. So we have an unfortunate chapter break here between chapter 10 and 11, but the text flows from chapter 10, verse 17, right into chapter 11, down through verse 11. So that would be the subject of our consideration tonight. So read with me now as we consider Judges chapter 10, verse 17 through chapter 11, verse 11. Hear the Word of God. Then the people of Ammon gathered together and encamped at Gilead, and the children of Israel assembled together and encamped at Mizpa. And the people, the leaders of Gilead said to one another, who is the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. Now, Jephthah, the Gileadite, was a mighty man of valor, but he was the son of a harlot, and Gilead begot Jephthah. Gilead's wife bore sons, and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, You shall have no inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman. Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, dwelt in the land of Tav, and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him. They came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel, and so it was when the people of Ammon made war against Israel that the elders of Gilead went to Jephthah from the land of Tav, and they said to Jephthah, Come and be our commander that we may fight against the people of Ammon. So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Do you not hate me? Did you not hate me and expel me from my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you are in distress? And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, That is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. So Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head? And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, The Lord will be a witness between us if we do not do according to your words. Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead and the people made him head and commander over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah. This is the word of God. Amen. Amen. Let's pray and ask the Lord's blessing on our time together. A father in heaven, we do, Lord, we come to you now asking your blessing on our time together tonight in your word. Apart from you, Lord, there are just words on a page, but you, Lord, by your spirit, by your mighty working through them, they are alive, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to pierce the division of joint and marrow of soul and spirit. And we ask you, Lord, now to drive your word home or through our minds into our hearts and help us, Lord, to take heed to it. We have much to learn from this book and much to apply in these lessons that you present to us and Lord, always so much to apply, so much to consider that we can easily be forgetful. We can easily sort of let it roll in one ear and out the other. Pray, Lord, you protect us from that. Let us not receive the grace of God in vain. Help us now, Lord, by your spirit as we consider your word together and have your way in our hearts for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Again, the title of our sermon, despised and rejected by men, Judges chapter 10, verse 17, through Judges chapter 11, verse 11. What has been amazing to me during these months of coronavirus? It's been amazing to me about our news cycle, right? If you consider our news cycle right now over the last couple of months. What's amazing is that every time you come back to the news, they're talking about the same thing, right? Every single time you come back to the news, it's the same story over and over again. You can miss three days, you can miss five days a week, a couple of weeks, and you come back to the news only to realize that you haven't missed anything. You catch a quick snippet of the news between commercial breaks and you're entirely caught up over the past two weeks or however long it's been. Well, someone reading through the book of Judges might be tempted to think the same way about the book of Judges. They might get the same impression, right? What are the Israelites doing today? Well, they're back to their idolatry. They're back under the judgment of God. They repented for a while. They had a little period of peace, but then they're right back to their sin. God has delivered them from judgment now and there's been a stunning deliverance. And after a short commercial break, they're right back to idolatry, right? But as we slow down through the book of Judges, by God's grace, we've been able to do that. We've been able to consider all the lessons that are to be learned here. And there are many lessons that are driven home time and time and time and time again through these chapters. This book is driving home profound lessons, lessons about the nature and character of man, lessons about the nature and attributes and character of God. The progressive, shocking, decline, and destructive power of sin in the heart of man. And it is a destructive force, isn't it? The futility, the hopelessness of the fallen human will, a part of an act of God's grace, the hopeless condition, the fallen human heart. It's just a repeated cycle of failure and failure and failure and sin. And in the midst of that, against that black backdrop, we have God's enduring, immutable, faithfulness to his own word. Unshakable, unflappable, unflinching faithfulness, steadfast, covenant, loving kindness, unbending justice, holiness, boundless patience, boundless patience, mercy reaching into the heavens, all these lessons we learn from a simple reading through the text of the book of Judges. But when we last left the Israelites now in chapter 10, they'd been enjoying the patience of God, the mercy of God under two, what are called minor judges because they're given less verbiage in the book of Judges, not because they're lesser judges, but because they're given less information, given less time in the book of Judges. When we last left the Israelites in chapter 10, they were enjoying the patience and mercy of God under Tola and Jair. 45 years between Tola and Jair of combined peace in Israel. It's amazing, consider all the sin of Israel, right? That 45 years of combined peace entirely, entirely, entirely undeserved, undeserved. And the Israelites despite having that 45 years now of combined peace were entirely, entirely ungrateful, such ingratitude toward the Lord who delivered them. In verse 6, we come back to Israel and the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtarists, but not only the Baals and the Ashtarists, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, the gods of the Philistines, and they forsook the Lord and did not serve him. As we discussed last week in looking at the text, what is essentially happening here is the bride, that's how Israel is described in the Bible, the bride is coming out of her dressing room to play the harlot. And now she is multiplying her acts of harlotry, not just playing the harlot with the Baals, but with the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, the gods of the Philistines, and virtually anyone who would come by and have her, she is multiplying acts of harlotry with anyone who will pay her any attention. Verse 7, so then, as you would expect once again, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon. And so what then ensues, we've come to expect the Israelites cry out to God for mercy. They're in great need now. They're in great distress. They need the Lord. They need the Lord's grace. They need the Lord's mercy. But listen, God has heard it all before, hasn't he? We've heard it before in our study through the Book of Judges. This is now offensive in God's sight. He's seen their crocodile tears over and over again. The harlot bride runs back to her husband, and as soon as her husband gives her the deliverance, the peace, the prosperity that she wants, then she's right back to whoring after other lovers. That's what she does. And so the Lord says essentially in verse 14, I'm not going to do it anymore. I'm not going to listen to you this time. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen. Let them deliver you in your time of distress. But it's amazing, isn't it? Amazing that despite her utter wretchedness, despite the abject overt betrayal, God remembers and is faithful to his word. It's staggering, isn't it? I mean absolutely staggering. The patience, the faithfulness, the covenant keeping love of God set upon Israel. Not because she's lovely, not because she deserves it, not because she has in any way deserved, earned, or merited his love or favor, but because God himself, in and of himself, has simply determined to set his love upon her for no other, for no other reason. The reason is entirely within God himself. And now having set his love upon this wayward, stiff-necked and rebellious people, God's people, the Israelites are the apple of his eye and God is simply unchanging. God is simply immutable, faithful to his covenant promises. In our last section of text from Judges chapter 10 ends with these words in verse 16 that communicate that truth where it says that his soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel. Why? Because of God's covenant keeping love, his steadfast faithfulness to his word, because God had determined within himself to set his love upon these people. Well the kind providence of God that would then follow remains a mystery to the Israelites at this point in time. They're not given any indication that God will deliver them. It's a mystery to them that God will not endure their misery any longer. It appears as though it may appear to them that God has determined to abandon his people in their idolatry. He's not going to deliver them this time. Once again though, once again it looks as though agents of God's just and righteous judgment are beginning to gather at the beginning of our text now in chapter 10 verse 17. Look there with me. Then the people of Ammon gathered together and encamped at Gilead and the children of Israel, really with no other choice, right? The children of Israel assembled together and encamped in Mizpah in response. And so the people, verse 18, the leaders of Gilead said to one another, we've got to do something about this. Who is the man who will begin to fight against the people of Ammon? We don't even have anyone to lead us. He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. So the Ammonites gather, this enemy army, they gather their army to Gilead. Israel forced to respond, gathers in camps in Mizpah. Notice, verse 17 and 18, there's no attempt here to seek the Lord. They don't go back to the Lord. In other words, it calls into question their genuine repentance so to speak in the verses that precede this, doesn't it? There's no attempt made to seek the Lord. They act as though they are entirely on their own. They don't even have a man among them that they can point to to lead them. The Lord has not raised anyone among them. They're basically asking for a volunteer here. Who's going to lead us? They certainly don't hold out much hope that someone would be willing to bail them out because they have to then appeal to pride, appeal to power in order to lure someone in to doing it, don't they? Offering them rule over all the inhabitants of Gilead. Listen, if you'll come and lead us in the fight, if you'll come and lead us in the battle, we'll give you, we'll make you head and commander over us. And what generally happens when people resort to that kind of motivation to get a leader or a commander for themselves? Generally it doesn't work out well. Abimelech is a chief example of that, isn't he? What do you get when someone wants to rule and wants to use power to rule versus using God-given authority to serve? You get somebody who's entirely self-interested, self-involved, self-absorbed, selfish. And so all this represents in verse 17 and 18 is an act of desperation on the people of Israel. This is an act of desperation. The armies have gathered, the people of Ammon have come together, they're encamped in Gilead, and we've got to do something. Things are bad right now for Israel. They have no confidence whatsoever that the Lord is going to deliver them. They have no thought whatsoever that the Lord is going to help them. And so what do they do? They take matters into their own hands, essentially abandoning the faith. This is a faithless act of desperation. And yet at the very same time, if you think about the circumstances, this is exactly, exactly the kind of circumstances that most requires faith in God's people, isn't it? When Saul was faced by a gathering Philistine army and Samuel delayed in coming to you. Remember the story? Samuel delays in coming to Saul, what does Saul do? Saul, faithless. He takes matters into his own hands and he sins against the Lord by offering the burnt offering that only Samuel could offer. Faithlessness. It's an act of desperation. He simply will not wait upon the Lord. Why? Because he simply does not trust the Lord. He's not willing to entrust himself to the God who has time and time again delivered him. He won't do it. He takes matters into his own hands. He offers the burnt offering and he loses the kingdom. Just because you and I may not see the Lord's work in our circumstances does not mean that the Lord is not at work in our circumstances. Just because we don't see it, Saul should have waited. He should have waited on the Lord. He should have put his faith and trust in the Lord before making rash decisions, before making hasty judgments, but Saul acted foolishly and lost the kingdom. What does the Lord say? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. Sometimes in our lives, you and I will simply have to wait. Many times in our lives, we simply won't know what the Lord is going to do. We don't know. Many times in difficult circumstances, particularly, especially in difficult circumstances, we don't know how it's all going to turn out. We don't know what the Lord is going to do. It's been amazing to me to see that over the years. We would have never thought that it would have turned out this way and yet that's exactly the way that it's turned out. And we see that in the rear view mirror as entirely good. The Lord has worked all things together for our good. We were singing to him this morning. We have no regret in anything the Lord has done. We know that everything he's done has been good to us. And yet in times of difficulty and adversity, what do we do? We doubt. We're faithless. We're impatient. Think of the circumstances under which Esther trusted the Lord. Amazing. Think of the circumstances under which Joseph trusted the Lord, sitting there in prison waiting. The cupbearer forgot me. But if you're in Christ through faith, then God is always for you, never against you. Do you believe it? If you're in Christ through faith, God is always for you, never against you, always and in every case promises to do us good. So don't go running off, sinning your way into circumstances. Now you're going to have to face as a result or as a consequence of your sin against him. Israel isn't thinking that way in verses 17 and 18. They are entirely in self-preservation mode. They're acting like they're entirely canonized. We've seen a process of canonization in Israel. And one has said that the Lord's silence throughout this episode is deafening. The Lord's silence. He sits back and he's allowing this to go on. Does that mean that he's not sovereign? No. Even though the Lord is silent, the Lord is sovereign. Even still, God is at work behind the scenes to show compassion to his people. We see that beginning in chapter 11 verse 1. Chapter 11 verse 1, Jephthah comes on the scenes. Jephthah, although God appears to be silent, is raised up by God. Although it appears that Jephthah is raised up by Gilead. Look at verse 1. Now Jephthah, the Gileadite, was a mighty man of valor. But he was the son of a harlot and Gilead begot Jephthah. Gilead's wife bore sons, and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, You shall have no inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman. And then Jephthah fled from his brothers, dwelt in the land of Tav, and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him. So Jephthah, the Gileadite, judge over Israel will occupy our attention now over the next two chapters in the book of Judges. And what begins in verse 1 really is a biographical sketch of Jephthah, given in verses 1 through 3. First in verse 1, Jephthah is described as a Gileadite. Now Gilead was his father, and it's interesting, Gilead is also the location where Jephthah is from. What is that saying? It's the same location here where the enemy army is now gathered. The people of Amon have gathered themselves together at Gilead. So Gilead, likely a family name, it's been passed down from generation to generation. It's the name of the place where they're from, and Jephthah's father, likely leader of the clan. His name is Gilead. Jephthah's father described as a Gileadite. Jephthah himself a Gileadite. Jephthah is also described in verse 1 as a gibore, a mighty man of valor, a warrior. Now who else do we know that was described that way? Just prior, Gideon. Gideon was called by the angel of the Lord, a mighty man of valor. He didn't live up to it at the time that he was called that. The Lord had to work that in him. It appears as though from this text that Jephthah has already earned that title. Jephthah is a mighty man of valor. He's a gibore. Now although Gilead had many sons by his own wife, Jephthah it says here is the son of Gilead by a harlot. That means that dad was immoral and Jephthah's mother immoral. Possibly a Canaanite or a Jewish woman breaking obviously the law of God in Israel by herself becoming a harlot. His other sons, Gilead's other sons, merciless as they were, despised Jephthah. They deemed him illegitimate, not a rightful son. He was a usurper. They treated him as an outcast. They cut him off from the family, cut him off from any inheritance with them. Very likely that was purposeful. They were greedy themselves. Didn't want Jephthah to have any part of their inheritance and so they cast Jephthah out. In verse 3, Jephthah then flees to Tav. Tav is a Hebrew word meaning good and he started running with a crowd that was bad. That's interesting, isn't it? Jephthah flees to the land of goodness and starts running with a crowd of badness. The word is rake in Hebrew. It means empty. They were shallow, unprincipled, morally reprehensible. That's what the word means. These were morally reprehensible men. It's the same word used to describe the type of guys that Abimelech hired to help him kill his 70 brothers. Do you remember? Unprincipled, morally reprehensible men. The whole family grossly immoral. The men that he falls in with in the land of goodness are immoral. They've been canonized. All this implies that Jephthah himself wasn't all that morally upright either. These are morally reprehensible men and Jephthah is their leader and they go out, it says, raiding together. They're like mercenaries for profit. Again, what's fascinating about this biographical sketch of Jephthah is that although God appears to be silent and absent from the action here, we know that the Lord is the one who is orchestrating these events to deliver his flawed people by the hand of this flawed man. And God is going to bring about a great deliverance. It's interesting. Israel is playing the harlot with Canaanite gods and God raises up the son of a harlot to deliver her. And Jephthah ends up in the Hall of Faith. Jephthah ends up in the Hall of Faith. Again, what we see in the Bible time and time and time and time again is it's not the man. It's the God wrought faith in the man that is the testimony of God's greatness and goodness and triumph, the glory of his grace, right? Jephthah ends up in the Hall of Faith. Well, verse four then, it came to pass after a time now that the people of Ammon made war against Israel. And so it was when the people of Ammon made war against Israel that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tav. What's going on here, right? Back to Gilead's faithless act of desperation. They are desperate. There wasn't anyone in Gilead to take the job. They offered him head and commander over all the people. No one in Gilead would take the job to be their leader, to be their commander. So what are they forced to resort to? I mean, listen, they are really desperate. They don't fall on their faces before God, cry out to God for help. What are we going to do? Let's track down Jephthah. Now we know Jephthah. These elders in Gilead are saying to themselves, he's got a reputation for this kind of thing. He is a mighty man of valor. But think with me for a moment, who were these elders of Gilead? Who were they? They would have been the very sons of Gilead who drove Jephthah out the first time. It's the same men, the very brothers that threw Jephthah out and cut him off. Now they're coming to Jephthah in their time of need. Wow, right? Talk about having to eat humble pie here. Verse six, then they said to Jephthah, come be our commander that we may fight against the people of Ammon. Now imagine the scene with me, right? These are the very people that had abandoned him before, they cast him out, they treated him spitefully, they had despised him, rejected him. And now when they're in need, when they need something and rest assured it's only because they're in need, they would never go to Jephthah. If it weren't for this great need, they run, they run to the one they had formerly rejected. They don't love him as their brother, do they? They don't love him, they despise Jephthah. That's obvious, but they need him. But they need him. They need his help. And so they go to him, they're using him, aren't they? And it becomes apparent to Jephthah pretty quick, he knows he's being used. You can figure that out. You know when you're being used. Let me ask you the question. Who else, who else have they treated in exactly the same way? Who else? God. That's right. They've treated God in exactly the same way. This example in the text is a living illustration of exactly what Israel had been doing to the Lord all along. Do you see the connection between the two? We pondered in chapter 10, verses 15 and 16, whether their repentance was real or not. It looked like just more of the same, second verse, same as the first. This is a living parable of where the heart of Israel is with respect to God. And we see now it being acted out in their relationship to Jephthah. They'll turn to the Lord in desperation when they need something. They'll trust him. They'll obey him. They'll seek his face when it looks like they might, may not continue to enjoy the peace and the prosperity that he's given them, that he's been gracious to give them. And then they'll turn right back around and betray him when they've gotten what they've wanted. The Lord has seen it before. The Lord who looks on the heart sees right through it, and it's written here on the pages of scripture so that we see right through it also. Right? He says to them in chapter 10, verse 11. Listen to what the Lord says to them. Chapter 10, verse 11. Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians? Look at what I've done for you. Did I not deliver you from the Amorites, from the people of Ammon, from the Philistines, from the Sidonians, from the Amalekites, from the Maonites? I delivered you and you were ungrateful and faithless. That's essentially what's being said there. Do you see? Go and cry out to the gods you've chosen for yourself. Let them deliver you. Where is the love? Right? Where's the love? Jephthah might say the same thing. Where's the love? You guys have treated me this way and now you come back to me when you're in need. I didn't fall off the turnip truck yesterday. Jephthah essentially responds just like the Lord responds. Look at verse 7, chapter 11, verse 7. Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, did you not hate me? Did you not expel me from my father's house? Why have you come to me now when you're in distress? Well, it makes sense, doesn't it? This is a response that makes sense. He knows when he's being used. Anyone can see it. How degenerate the wayward heart of this brazen harlot. Jephthah says, you despised me. You rejected me. Now you want to pretend as though none of that actually happened and you're coming to me now for help? And Israel essentially says, yeah, that's the way of it. Verse 8, the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, that is why we have turned again to you now, that you may go with us and fight against the people of Ammon and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. There's a shamelessness to it, isn't there? Their response and their actions now. Notice in verse 6, the initial offer was for Jephthah to be their kassin, their military leader. It's what the word means. Kassin means a military leader. Here in verse 8, Jephthah pushes back just a little. And so they set up to sweeten the deal. In verse 8, they offer Jephthah to be Rosh, which is head or ruler over them. It's back to the original offer. They might have thought to themselves, we can get away with a little bit less with Jephthah. Let's just offer him to be our military commander. And then when Jephthah pushes back a little bit, okay, okay, okay, you can be our head. Well, all this sounds pretty good to Jephthah. Jephthah is motivated here by pride and power, and he's thinking to himself, I'm going to get what's coming to me from all this. No doubt he likes how the tables have now turned. Their motives aren't faithful, but neither really are his. Nevertheless, Jephthah here wants to be really clear about the arrangements. Verse 9, so Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, listen, I want to make sure we're clear on this. Did I hear you right? If you take me back home. Interesting how he uses that terminology, right? If you take me back home. If you take me back home to fight against the people of Ammon and the Lord delivers them to me, shall I be your head? I want to get this straight. You're going to subject yourself to me, the one you cast out. I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. Let's clarify the terms together. And the elders of Gilead, verse 10 said to Jephthah, the Lord be a witness between us if we do not do according to your words. It's the first time that the elders here have invoked the name of Yahweh. First time that they mention the Lord. And it's because the elders of Gilead are desperate. They're desperate. Jephthah actually mentions the Lord delivering the Ammonites into his hand in verse 9. But all of this at this point really sort of has the feel and the sense of a fake formalism, doesn't it? We see through it. It just seems like nobody really means what they're saying. There are other motives involved. Jephthah has other motives involved. Israel has other motives involved. The Lord is left on the sidelines. No one is concerned whatsoever with going to the Lord or with repentance or with seeking His face. It all has a feel and a sense of fake formalism. Everyone seems to be entirely out for self-interest. And what we're doing here is we're putting a nice religious veneer over the whole affair, a fake religiosity painted over the whole. We're shlacking the circumstances with a fake religious shine. And considering their actions, considering their motives, this is little more than using the Lord's name in vain. If the Lord delivers them to me, Jephthah in verse 9, the Lord be a witness between us, the Israelites or the Gileadites in verse 10, verse 11 seems to affirm that. Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and commander over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before the Lord in Mizpah. There's no sacred significance whatsoever to Mizpah. Nothing of any sacred significance that we know of was there. It's interesting for this little ceremony of making Jephthah head and commander over them that they didn't go to Shiloh or that they didn't go to Shechem before the Lord in Shiloh or in Shechem. What was in Mizpah? Why would they go to Mizpah? What was there? If you remember, from the beginning of this text, the army was there. The army was in Mizpah. Jephthah was less concerned about the Lord's witness than he was about making sure that the army knew who was in charge. So Jephthah had other motives here for going to Mizpah. The whole affair has the recommended religious shine on it, but the Lord himself is silent. Do you notice the Lord himself sits on the sidelines? He has been spitefully treated in the same way. The Jews would one day, once again, be faced with seeking deliverance through one that they had shamefully despised and rejected. Interesting, isn't it? The Jews would one day be faced with seeking deliverance. They would be offered deliverance only through this one, and it was one whom they despised and rejected. They cast out. They cast them out. They actually accused the Lord Jesus Christ himself of being born of a harlot, didn't they? They said to him in John chapter 8 verse 41, we were not born of fornication, implying that he was. We have one Father God. The Lord Jesus Christ there says, you do the deeds of your Father. Jephthah surrounded himself with worthless men. The Lord Jesus Christ was accused of being a glutton and a wine-biber. What? A friend of tax collectors and sinners. Although Gilead calls him, Jephthah is ultimately God's judge. We'll see that as we work through the text. And as God's judge, Jephthah points to the one who would eventually come and deliver his people from their sins. He would be head over his body, the church. We think about the parallels there between Jephthah and the Lord Jesus Christ and God's people, the time of the judges and God's people, the church now. We are the ones who are born illegitimate, aren't we? We are the ones who are born illegitimate. We are the worthless ones, the rake. We are the morally reprehensible ones. We are the ones who deserve to be despised and rejected. And yet he, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the one who is despised and rejected for us. And he is the one who calls us friends. This should compel in us a love for the Lord Jesus Christ, a love for our God, a gratitude for all that he has done for us wrought within us by his spirit. This should cause us, compel us to cling to him, to lay hold of him for far more than merely what we can get from him. I remember growing up and hearing basic truths associated with the gospel and having no interest whatsoever in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. No appreciation for, no awe and wonder over the excellency of his person, the greatness of who he is. I just wanted to be in heaven. Heaven sounded good, hell not so good. And so really had no concern with whether Jesus would be there when I got there or not. I just, in it for what I could get from him. And many, sadly to say, it's tragic, many have those very same thoughts. I don't want to go to hell. I want to go to heaven. Looks like this is the way to do it. I'm going to put a religious veneer. I'm going to put a shine, a religious shine on the whole thing. And I'm just going to go along, to get along. It is what I want from him. It's for me, it's what I want. And when the going gets tough, when the heat of the sun comes out and beats upon that little so-called plastic plant, it withers and dies under the heat of persecution, under the heat of worldly cares, under the heat of adversity. When that one is tried in the fire, it comes out tested and proven worthless. We must live for the Lord Jesus Christ as more than simply a spiritual pes dispenser. Some fall out of line and out of fear, they cry out to have their selfish need met to have a guilty conscience placated. When they get to the place where they feel as though they have it, they're right back like the brazen harlot living for themselves. And the tragic pattern repeats itself all over again. Where's the love? Where's the love? Until such a time, when the Lord finally says, no, I will give them over to a debased mind. I will give them over, the Lord says. It's the wrath of God's abandonment. Go, go, let the idols of this world that you've given yourself to, let them deliver you, go to them, delight in them to save you. The Lord is worthy, worthy of our lives, worthy of our worship, worthy of our love, worthy of our devotion, worthy of all that we are and we should in love and in gratitude give it and pray, God, God, please, please change my wretched heart, change my wayward heart. Lord, I am prone to wander. You know it, God, please work in me steadfast faithfulness, steadfast love and devotion to you. And the Lord is the one who does that. Amen. We should cry out to him and serve him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. He's worthy of that. Let us not fall into this pattern of treating him like these Israelites, treated him. The Lord is not silent. He doesn't sit on the sidelines. The Lord is near if you will call upon him in faith. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we love you. We look to you, Lord, as the one who has created us, given us life and breath. You sustain us, Lord. You've done so much good to us, for us. And we look to you, Lord, in gratitude and thank you, Lord, for all these many kindnesses, these examples of your immutable goodness, your immeasurable goodness and kindness to us. And we, Lord, turn to you from our sin and repentance and in faith, trusting you, Lord Jesus Christ, for what you have done for us on the cross, the perfect life that you live, fully satisfying the just demands of God's law, taking the sacrifice, the penalty that we deserve, taking that upon yourself, bearing that in our place, Lord, and we just in awe of that grace and mercy, we look to you in faith, trusting you, Lord, in all things. Give us the strength to trust you. Give us the strength to persevere. Give us the strength by your spirit, Lord, to cling steadfastly to you and not to presume in times of difficulty or adversity to take matters into our own hands, like frankly, like these faithless Israelites, not turning to you in dependence upon you, not seeking your will, your face, and protect us from such foolishness, Lord. Protect us from such sin and help us to depend upon you. Preserve us, grow us, mature us in these things we pray in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen.