 Our sermon title this evening is One for All, One for All. We're in Judges chapter 3 verse 31. And you can say that the title of the sermon tonight could be interpreted to mean one verse for the whole sermon, for all the sermon, and you'd be right about that one verse for all the sermon. But that's not the point behind the title this evening. Tonight we see the story of the third warrior judge who delivered Israel in the record of the judges. This is one champion for all the people. One warrior. One governor for all the people. One savior. One deliverer. One man sent by God, empowered by the Spirit to save the people of God out of bondage. And he uses an unexpected means by which to do it. He achieves an unexpected victory through that means. A Shamgar, the son of Anat, is legendary. It would have been legendary to the people of Israel and the annals of their history together. And his victory here emblazoned forever on the pages of the Bible in one verse. Judges chapter 3 verse 31. As we consider the one verse exploits of the one verse wonder Shamgar, we see that the ultimate warrior champion, deliverer and savior of his people in this account has got himself. And we'll see that as we work through the text together. But our text now begins in judges chapter 3 verse 31 with the words then after him. After him. Well, after who? We have to ask the question, right? Well, obviously after Ehud, the south paw from the tribe of Benjamin, who took down Eglon king of Moab in chapter 3 verses 12 through 30. Shamgar came after Ehud. Before Ehud was Othniel, the lion from the tribe of Judah who defeated that twice son of hell, Kushan Rishithaim from Mesopotamia. And we have then after Othniel, after Ehud comes Shamgar. Now, two points at the outset that I want us to look at from the words that we can infer from the words after him at the beginning of verse 31. Two points that we can infer from the words after him. One, from after him we can infer that the nation of Israel has continued in their ongoing rebellion against God. They've continued in their rebellion. And point two that we can infer from after him is that God has continued to demonstrate his mercy in delivering his people. God has been very gracious with the Israelites and the after him signifies the Lord's gracious deliverance yet again. So under the leadership now of Ehud in chapter 3 verse 29, and all due to the grace of God, the Moabites have been delivered into the hands of Israel. We saw that in the victory last week of Ehud over Eglon king of Mesopotamia. And 10,000 stout men of Valor had been killed, not a man of all that army had escaped. 10,000, a large number of completion, meaning that entire army was wiped out. These are 10,000 stout men of Valor that had been killed. And in verse 30, under Ehud the judge, the land then had rest for 80 years. So now think about the setting with me. 80 years has since passed. Ehud has since died. And the people once again, we know from the text, once again, plunged themselves headlong into idolatry. This is according to the pattern. It's been well established for us in the book so far. And it's a pattern that we were introduced to in chapter 2, verse 19, where the Bible reads it came to pass that when the judge was dead, that they, the children of Israel, reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers by following other gods to serve them and to bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way. So what we see vividly portrayed in the words after him is that the people continue to rebel. God pours out retributive justice in their rebellion just as he told them that he would. The people cry out in response, cry out for delivery. They plead for mercy in their misery. God hears their cry, raises up a judge to deliver them, gives them rest, and then when the judge dies, what happens? The people revert to sin and idolatry, behaving even more wickedly than they had behaved before. It's like that parable, isn't it, of the man who sweeps out his heart, demon leaves, he sweeps it out, cleans it up. When the demon returns, he finds it swept and cleaned and so he bites seven of his buddies to come and inhabit that man with him. Just increasing wickedness, increasing devastation. They behave even more wickedly than they had behaved before. Notice, it's not only a pattern here that's being repeated, but the pattern is being repeated along a downward spiral. Increasing wickedness, they're not remaining level, right? It's increasing devastation. It's not remaining status quo, it's not remaining level. Wickedness is increasing, the destruction is going to increase. And we're going to see that as we work through the Book of Judges, these circumstances growing worse and worse and worse over time following the pattern. Now, in verse 31 then, the arrival of Shamgar after him or after Ehud, verse 31, indicates that this pattern of rebellion, this pattern of judgment has continued. And the Lord continues to send deliverers and judges because this pattern cannot continue, okay? The Lord continues to deliver his people, to be merciful to his people, continues to send judges because this pattern cannot continue. It cannot continue in Israel, it's going to get progressively worse. We'll see that in the Book of Judges. When we get to the monarchy, it continues to get progressively worse. Eventually, there's civil war in Israel, the southern kingdom provided from the northern kingdom. The northern kingdom goes off into exile in Assyria, gets wiped out by the Assyrians, never recovers. The southern kingdom taken off in exile to Babylon, things get worse and worse and worse. It doesn't just remain level. Sin never does, rebellion never does. It follows this downward spiral. The wickedness of the nation here in the Book of Judges continues to increase. The judges themselves become more and more morally compromised. We'll see that when we work through the Book. Monarchy fares no better. Eventually, the northern and southern kingdoms are exiled. And when the Messiah comes, He came to his own, and what does John say? His own received him not. The Lord says, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, given to a nation that bears the fruit of it. They had lost their inheritance, so to speak. He tells them that their house is left to them desolate. This is the way that sin works. This is the way that sin works. If you are entertaining sin, if you are entertaining compromise, and you're not taking aggressive action against it, if you're not cutting off and plucking out that which causes you to sin, there will come a time when you're no longer shamed by it. There will come a time when you become complacent with it. Where you just aren't embarrassed by it, just aren't convicted by it, just aren't ashamed of it. When you just don't feel conviction any longer. When your convictions become dulled. When your heart becomes dulled and cold. When your conscience becomes faint. Sin spreads like eleven. It always does. It will spread until it consumes the one it spreads in. It'll consume a person. Sin can consume a church. Sin can consume a people. We see that here in the book of Judges. Sin continues to spread until it destroys its host. Sin spreads like eleven. It will not stop its defiling spread until you are destroyed. James says that sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Now listen, for Christians, even today, for people who profess the name of Christ, you may think to yourself, I've turned from sin. I don't want my sin anymore. I want to follow Christ. And yet you are entertaining sin in your life. Maybe it's just indifference. Maybe your sin is apathy. Maybe you have a secret sin you're not willing to give up and you continue to entertain that secret sin. Listen, sin will take you. Sin will continue to spread. It may seem to you like it's neutral. Or you may think that there's just a period of pause, for example, or maybe it's plateaued. Things are just remaining level. It's never level with the spread of sin. It's never level. Sin begins to grow. Sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Have you noticed how everything in the created order, how everything decays into filth and then death and then the Lord renews and restores it? Have you noticed that pattern in Scripture? Everything apart from the Lord decays. Everything apart from the Lord is destroyed, is decays until death. The Lord has to come along and the Lord is the one who has to renew it and restore it. You and I are no different. You and I must be made what? New creations in Christ. We have to be born again. We need a new heart. We need a new spirit to indwell us. You and I must be made a new creation. Because there is no hope in us that things will get better apart from a miraculous intervening work of a living God, you and I need the Lord. We need reformation. And everything does. This world will one day be made over. The elements will melt with the fervent heat and this world will be remade. A new heavens and a new earth wherein righteousness dwells. Amen? Things are not going to get better. We need the Lord. That's why we need the Lord. Things are not going to get better for Israel. This should point them forward to God's ultimate and final deliverer, the ultimate Savior that God would send. Things are not going to get better. Now notice, again, the nation of Israel has continued in their rebellion. That's one thing that we get from after Him. But the second observation we can make from the words after Him is that God has continued to demonstrate His mercy in delivering His people. God is seen in the book of Judges as the constant and consummate Savior. God just continues to pour out mercy and continues to deliver His people even in the midst of their sin. Judges chapter 3 verse 31, after Him came Shamgar, God's appointed deliverance. Shamgar, the son of Anat, who killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox code, and He also delivered Israel. So think with me now. After God raised up Ehud, after God delivered His people by Ehud's hand, and after the people again did evil in the sight of the Lord, after they once again forgot the Lord their God and served the idols of the land, after the anger of the Lord, then burned hot again after Israel, and after the Lord delivered them into the hands of their Philistine oppressors in judgment, after they once again cried out in their misery, after that God raised up another warrior judge after Ehud, after Him was Shamgar, the son of Anat. He also delivered Israel. After God displayed His mercy and power and might through Ehud, God displays His continued mercy and power and might through Shamgar. Our God is a saving God. Our God delights to save. Our God plans and purposes to save. Our God, there's a record of God's delivering acts throughout the Bible. Genesis to Revelation, God is a saving God, planning and purposing to save. Ultimately, ultimately that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ, our ultimate Savior. He is going to glorify His name through the redemption of His people. Now God shows Himself to be uncompromisingly set on this decreed purpose. He is going to save His people. God told the people during Jeremiah's day, He said in Jeremiah's day, I have sent you all my servants, the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying do not do this abominable thing that I hate. God is pictured as one who rises early for the deliverance of His people. He rises early to send His prophets. He rises early to save. The Lord told Isaiah. He said, my counsel shall stand. I will accomplish all my purpose. The Lord told Ezekiel. I am the Lord. And the word which I speak will come to pass. You see it in the Lord raising up Shamgar, the son of Anat. Ultimately, you see it in the Lord's inexorable march to Calvary. The Lord set His face like a flint toward Jerusalem. You see it in the Lord's promise under the New Covenant. Listen to this from Ezekiel chapter 36, beginning in verse 23. The Lord says, and I will sanctify my great name. The Lord intends to do it. It will come to pass. He says, my great name, I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. The Lord of hosts will do it. You see then Shamgar is a picture. Shamgar becomes an episode, so to speak, in a more grand narrative in which God is setting about the salvation of His people. Shamgar becomes a picture, an illustration. Shamgar points to a greater redemptive reality. Shamgar is a shadow of God's greater and ultimate saving and delivering work in the person of His only begotten Son. By the one man, think with me, by the one man, Shamgar, the Lord delivered His people from their bondage to the Philistines. Much more, as Paul would say, the grace of God and the gift of the grace by the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. Shamgar is a picture of that gracious outpouring of God's mercy in Jesus Christ. Listen to Romans 5 verse 18. Paul says, therefore, as through one man's offense, judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation. Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience, many will be made righteous. You see the picture, can't you? Make the connection. One man, Shamgar, through an unexpected means and unexpected instrumentality, so to speak, Shamgar delivers God's people from oppression under the Philistines by killing 600 Philistine soldiers. One man champion for all. We see that as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we? Through one man's disobedience, Adam, sin entered the world and death through sin. But through the one man's righteous act, the Lord Jesus Christ, God delivers his people. God saves his people. Shamgar kills 600 Philistines. The Lord of glory destroys our worst enemy, sin and death. Jesus Christ, Colossians 2 verse 15, having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. The Lord Jesus Christ has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. He is able, as Paul says, He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, our glorious Savior. Like Israel, like Israel, you and I deserve to be under the judgment of our sin. We deserve to be under judgment. We deserve hell. That is our just reward for our sin against Him. Like Israel, deserving judgment, we are utterly powerless to save ourselves. Paul describes us as dead in trespasses and sins, dead. We are sons of disobedience, children of our Father the devil. We are under the prince of the power of the air as those who are apart from the Lord Jesus Christ in their sin. Like Israel, we deserve to be under the judgment of God. Shamgar comes along then, empowered by the Spirit of God, goad in hand, right, faced down 600 Philistines. David, later, empowered by the Spirit of God, slain in hand, faced down the giant Goliath. Jesus Christ, our Lord, empowered by the Spirit of God also, taking the cross in hand, faced down all our enemies forever and ever, amen. Principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places, the dragon that serpent of old called devil and the Satan, all of our sin, the wrath of Almighty God, poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation and the last enemy which is death. And he triumphed over all of them in the cross. All when you and I couldn't stand before God with even one of our sins standing against us. You and I can't stand. Lord, if you should mark iniquity, who could stand? Not a man alive, not a person. No one could stand if God should mark iniquities. All of us would fail to stand before God with even one of our sins arrayed against us. One said this, he says, your sins stand in hostile, stand hostile to you, arrayed in impenetrable armor. Your sins are fiercer than your wildest warrior, each one of them threatening to bear you under the fires of hell forever. Think about just one sin. Just one sin. That sin that plunged the human race into darkness in the garden. Can you face your own sins? Can you face God with one sin accounted to your record? One sin on your ledger, the guilt of one sin standing against you. Can you strike them down? Not one sin, not one shred of guilt. One said I'd rather face anything else than face one of my sins before a holy God. So in matchless love, in abounding grace, God from the riches of his mercy sends forth his conquering and triumphant savior. And he wins his great victory in a way that confounds the wisdom of the wise. That's the picture we see of Shamgar. He wins a victory in a way that confounds the wisdom of the wise. Has God not made foolish the wisdom of this world? Paul would ask, for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. Ford has written, he catches the wise in their own craftiness. Here he does so with Shamgar. How does he do it with Shamgar? In verse 31. Shamgar's very likely a Gentile. It's interesting to think about that. He's obscure. We can't be certain exactly who he is or where he came from. But he's described here in verse 31 as the son of Anat, the son of Anat. Now if you remember from a sermon in the earlier part of Judges, Anat was the consort of Baal. She was a pagan Canaanite fertility goddess. And this pagan cult goddess was eventually recognized by Egypt, was thought to have served Pharaoh as the goddess of war. In other words, that pagan idol Anat, the consort of Baal, was absorbed into the pantheon of gods in Egypt, and the Egyptians worshipped Anat just like these Canaanites did. Now archaeology, it's interesting. Archaeology uncovered evidence of a small army of mercenary soldiers serving Pharaoh. It's about 800 men. They were called Ben Anat, or sons of Anat. And these mercenaries fought primarily for Pharaoh against what was called the Sea Peoples, and these people we know today as the Philistines. So you have a small band, about 800 men, of mercenary soldiers who served Pharaoh fighting against the Philistines. Now think of this, the message then that this sends. Israel, what's the significance of this? If Shamgar was a Gentile son of Anat, a mercenary soldier fighting for Pharaoh against the Philistines, and God used Shamgar as an instrument by which he would deliver his people, what kind of message does that send? What's the purpose of that in God's redemptive plans? He's sovereign over all these circumstances. What would that mean? Well think of the message that this would send. Israel is rendered so impotent by their sin, rendered so weak, so hopeless by their idolatry that they can't do anything for themselves. They can't lift a single finger in their own deliverance. They are devoid of any power of their own. They have no power from God in their faithless condition. They've been delivered over to judgment. And God shows them how destitute of any hope they are, how shameful their condition really is by raising up a single Gentile man to deliver them. It's amazing, isn't it? It shows them their shame, shows them their impotence. How does God make foolish the wisdom of this world? He shames it with his own infinite wisdom. How does he cast down the arguments of the proud? He shows himself to be alone wise. So Shamgar very likely a Gentile. How else does God confound the wisdom of the wise using Shamgar here to deliver his people? Secondly, Shamgar wins with an ox-goed. He wins with an ox-goed. An ox-goed was a pole about eight feet long, six or so inches around the handle in circumference. Often there was a small iron spade at one end that you could dig or run around with. And there was an iron tip on the other end of that pole used to drive or goad oxen. Essentially, the ox-goed was a glorified stick. Sometimes that's all it was, was a stick. If they had a little bit of money, they would have put an iron tip on the end, right? Matthew Henry said, very obscure, but eminently serviceable for God's glory. You're going to beat them with a stick, okay? And Shamgar here collects 600 notches for his ox-goed. I'm not sure if eight feet is enough to put 600 notches on it. Shamgar gets 800 notches for his ox-goed. In other words, the victory here belongs entirely to the Lord. Entirely to the Lord. The Lord uses an obscure man, an obscure instrument. He uses an obscure means, an unexpected means. And ultimately you can set all your armies in battle array. You can line up all your chariots. You can line up all your horsemen. You can put all your stealth bombers, all your F-35s in the air, right? God's going to humble you with a stick. That's the way it works. God is sovereign. God is all-powerful. God is the one who decrees and his decrees come to pass. With the breath of his mouth, he could destroy the wicked in a moment, right? At the end of the day, Shamgar didn't really even need a stick, did he? And at the end of the day, God didn't really even need Shamgar, did he? But God delights to manifest the work of his spirit through his instruments in that way. Zechariah chapter 4 verse 6. Zechariah says there's a rubble, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. The Lord of hosts delights to gain victory in ways that confound the wisdom of the wise. That's what we see with Shamgar here in Judges chapter 3. So God delivers his people. God wins a great victory and accomplishes all his will through an unexpected deliverer under unexpected circumstances using unexpected means. Well, if we think about that and we think about the fact that all Scripture points in some way or another to the Lord Jesus Christ, how did the Lord win our victory through Jesus Christ? Well, first, he won our victory through an unexpected deliverer. God the Son. God himself. 100% man, 100% God. Fully God, fully man. Not yet as a conquering king, but first as a suffering servant. An unexpected means. An unexpected deliverer using an unexpected means. Listen to Isaiah 53. Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? It would have been unimaginable, unbelievable if it hadn't been told to us, right? If it hadn't been revealed by God, this would be exactly how he would deliver his people. We wouldn't believe it. But because it comes from the Word of God, this is how we know, right? It's been revealed to us. Who's believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He has no form, no comeliness. And when we see him, there's no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised, rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised. We did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. And the Lord saves through unexpected means, right? Through unexpected circumstances, through an unexpected savior, through an unexpected instrumentality. It's amazing, isn't it? The wisdom of God. Jesus would show his disciples that he must, quoting the Lord, that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day. And his disciples at the time didn't believe it, didn't understand it. It was unimaginable to them. They couldn't have seen how the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled all that prophecy in Scripture of the suffering servant. The truth of the matter is that Jesus Christ is also coming back. As much prophecy as we have of the Lord's first advent, where through an unexpected deliverer, through an unexpected means, under unexpected circumstances, through an unexpected instrumentality, God miraculously and gloriously glorifies himself in the salvation of his people. Also, there are prophecies that say the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back. As literally fulfilled as those first advent prophecies are, will be as literally and as exacting as the prophecies of his second advent are. Those prophecies will be fulfilled. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming back. And when he comes back, he comes back as the conquering warrior king. He will come back to deliver his people, to cast out the wicked. There will be in the new heavens and in the new earth no one who defiles. The Lord will be ultimately and totally and completely victorious. Like God's people, under Shamgar, when Shamgar won his victory against the Philistines, he gave the people of God rest. Of course, the people described by the pattern that we saw in Judges chapter two did not listen to their judges. And when the judge died, the people reverted, behaved more corruptly than their fathers had behaved before them, plunged themselves back into idolatry and incurred the judgment of God. What will you do? The Lord has given us a testimony of his saving purposes. We see that illustrated in Shamgar. We see that in Technicolor Splendor in the Lord Jesus Christ. What will you do? The Lord Jesus Christ offers you grace and mercy in his only begotten son. If you will put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have him as conquering Savior king. You just need to trust him. Turn from living life for yourself. If you don't turn from living life for yourself, then you're one of the Philistines. You're one of the Canaanites. You're one of those against whom the Lord Jesus Christ has arrayed himself in glory and power. Turn from your sin. Turn from your sin. Put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And when the Lord comes back, we'll enjoy our victory together with him in the kingdom. Amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for this brief testimony of your conquering deliverer, Shamgar. And thank you, Lord, for how that points us, causes us to look beyond him, look beyond the the ox-goad, look beyond those circumstances, and look to the one whom he signifies, the one whom he illustrates, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we praise you and thank you, Lord, for how you illustrate these truths that have moved us by giving us these accounts and these records to help us to understand what it is that you've done in the Lord Jesus Christ, his person, his work, all that he's accomplished. And from the lesser to the greater, from the lesser to the infinitely greater, Lord, we're grateful to you for showing us all the blessings that have been won, that victory that has been secured, and all that comes down to us, your people who put our faith and trust in him for salvation. Thank you, Lord, for delivering us. Thank you, Lord, for saving us from our sin. Thank you, Lord, for saving us from the wrath of God. And thank you, Lord, for the inheritance that we now have with the saints in glory. Please, Lord, we pray that you will preserve us, Lord. Keep us from being like that dog that returns to his vomit. Keep us, Lord, from being like that pig to its wallowing in the mire. Preserve us, Lord, in the way. Help us to endure to the end and be saved. Help us, Lord, fastly abound in the work of the Lord. Keep our forehead like flint in the cause of Christ and help us, Lord, to live faithfully, diligently, fervently for you until you're done with us, Lord, until you call us home. And thank you, Lord, that it is you who preserve us and not we ourselves that were left to us, Lord, we would certainly repeat the pattern over and over and over again, Lord, until sin spread like a leaven at the point it brings forth death and destruction. We praise you, Lord, that you are the one who does the work. You are the one who wins the victory. You are the one who confounds the wisdom of the wise, confounds the wisdom of this world. We praise you, Lord, that you've done it all in the gospel through our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son. To him be all praise and glory and honor. Lord, to you be all praise, honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.