 The title of our sermon tonight is, Wade and Found Wanting, Wade and Found Wanting. This is Judges, chapter three, verses one through six. So it's our privilege, it's our joy tonight to come back to the Book of Judges. It's been a little while now. And as we come back to Judges to examine chapter three, specifically verses one through six, this first paragraph of chapter three serves as the last paragraph of a lengthy two-part introduction to the Book of Judges. We're about to get into that section of chapter three, where we begin to look at the life and experience of the judges themselves in Israel. This is the last paragraph, if you will, of a two-chapter introduction to the Book, okay? And next week, Lord willing, we'll look at the judges themselves. Now the opening chapters here of Judges record the failure of Israel to faithfully obey the Lord's commands. The Lord has given them strict commands, clear commands. The Israelites have compromised, they've failed to obey. These chapters also record the rise of the next generation then, forced to live with the compromise, the consequences of the awful compromise of that first generation, the inheritance generation, and now that next generation, having been raised up, making tragic compromises of their own, living with the consequences of their own compromise. And these chapters together now culminate in Judges chapter three, with God's judgment on the nation and God's intention now to test them by the nations that dwelt among them. So our text this evening, Judges chapter three, verses one through six, further explains or further clarifies the Lord's pronouncement in Judges chapter two, verse 20, look there with me. Where the Bible says in Judges chapter two, verse 20, then the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel and the Lord said, because this nation has transgressed my covenant, which I commanded their fathers and has not heeded my voice, I also will no longer drive out before them any of the nations which Joshua left when he died. So that through them, I may test Israel, whether they will keep the ways of the Lord to walk in them as their fathers kept them or not. Therefore, the Lord left those nations without driving them out immediately, nor did he deliver them into the hand of Joshua. The subject of that test is the subject of our text tonight. He continues then in Judges chapter three, verse one, with the continuation of that thought and explains now in verse one, these are the nations then which the Lord left and he left them that he might test Israel by them, that is all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan. Now what follows, we know, is the very dark foreboding record of the canonization of Israel. This is God's people we're talking about and the worldly pagan influences around them now become the worldly pagan influences among them and eventually become the worldly pagan influences that change them. They become pagan idolaters themselves. Israel fails the test. Now what follows is the continuing depravity of man and that continuing depravity providing a very bleak backdrop to what we see as the patience and grace, mercy, salvation, deliverance of Almighty God. God in covenant faithfulness to his people just continues to pour out mercy upon them. Now, far from merely relating historical facts, these texts preach, don't they? They preach to us. They're written for our admonition. God is at work judging and redeeming and delivering them from their enemies all around and in the process of teaching them, the Lord is teaching us as well. Don't forget the Lord your God. Put your faith in the Lord your God. Don't follow this generation in unbelief. The Lord does that in the New Testament. We see examples all over the New Testament where the Lord draws our attention back to those in the Old Testament who failed to put their faith and trust in the Lord, whose bodies are scattered in the wilderness because they were unbelieving and faithless and the Lord calls us to faith. Now the text itself points us to Israel's failure and in their need, we're to see our need. In their failure, we're to see our need in God's provision. And God points us here to our redeeming savior, the ultimate judge. And we're to see that in our texts and I hope we do as we work through the verses together. This history then, these examples, what's going on here is meant, it's intended to point them and to point us to our savior, to our deliverer, to the Messiah. And we must learn to look to him in faith. Now if I remember the story correctly, and that's a big if, slippery and slippery or my memory gets. I believe it was James Montgomery Boyce who told a story about a job that he had as a young man working on utility poles with a telephone company. As a young man, he worked with a telephone company and the job that he got as a young man was to climb the utility poles. He would have to climb the poles to work on the lines, to fix connections, restore service, install new telephone lines. Guess what you have to do? Those things that you have to do at the top of a utility pole. Now he described those utility poles as jagged things. Old, jagged, splintery poles. Jagged wooden poles covered in splinters. Such that it was hazardous to belly up to one of those poles and attempt to climb it with your belly pressed against the pole. Couldn't do it. You'd certainly end up with a shredded front side and a belly full of splinters, right? So in order for him to climb the pole, the telephone company gave him a pair of boots and a belt. And what he would do is he'd strap that belt around the pole, he'd anchor his boots at the base and what he had to do in order to climb was lean away from the pole and lean back on that belt. As he would lean back on the belt, he'd pop the belt up, press up with his legs, pop the belt up, press up with his legs, leaning back on the belt as he climbed. Now James Montgomery Boyce used this as an illustration for faith. He was to lean back away from the pole in order to begin his climb. He had to trust in the belt, so to speak. He had to put his weight against the belt and away from the pole. Now, if he began to climb and he got scared, he wasn't sure the belt was gonna hold him and he reached out to grab that pole, he got a belly full of mark, didn't he? A belly full of blisters, belly full of splinters. He had to trust his belt. When we face difficult circumstances, we often reach out to cling to that which we believe is our safety, is our security. When we face adversity, when we face difficulty, we often seek to grab on to the first thing that we can grab on to that isn't the Lord and that thing is not good for us because it's not the Lord. We're putting our trust in that thing, we're not putting our trust in him, we end up with a belly full of bark, right? Splinters, a front side, scarred up. Rather than leaning back on him who truly is our rock and refuge, we have to put our faith and trust in the Lord. We can't trust worldly wisdom, we can't trust worldly solutions, we have to put our ultimate trust in the Lord. We can't trust our own instincts, right? It's an instinct to wanna reach out and grab that pole, so to speak. We can't trust our own impulses, our own wisdom, we can't trust in worldly security. If we do, we're likely to end up with a belly full of bark. Israel, in our text in this history, has failed to trust the Lord. They failed to trust in him, they failed to obey his word. They're leaning on their own wisdom, not on his wisdom. They're not allowing him to direct their steps, they are directing their own steps. Now they're found in the unenviable position of being filled with the bitter fruits of their own fancy, and they have a belly full of bark. The Canaanites have become splinters, thorns in their side, just as the Lord had promised that they would. And they must learn, they've gotta learn the very difficult, sometimes very hard lesson, of dependence upon God by faith in him through obedience to his word. They have to learn this lesson. Now this is a lesson that God intends to teach us through the terrible example of this generation, this next generation of Israelites who have forgotten the Lord their God. They are tested by God, they are weighed in the balance, so to speak, and before our eyes, they are found wanting. We are to take example from them and not follow after the lusts which they followed after. We have to learn to trust in the Lord. Now I want us to take note of two points from our text. One is the purpose of the test. The purpose of the test. We'll see that as we look at verse one together. Secondly, we'll look at the results of the test. The purpose of the test and the results of the test. Consider with me the purpose of God's test in verse one. Where the Lord says, now these are the nations which the Lord left so that he might test Israel by them. That is all who had not known any of the wars in Canaan. This was only so that the generations of the children of Israel might be taught to know war, at least those who had not formerly known it. As we think about verses one and two together, remember where we're at in the history of Israel, right? Where we're at in the history here. This is the next generation that arose after Joshua and the elders had died. Remember Joshua and the elders, those were the ones, that was the generation that went into the land and took it, right? This generation that arose after that inheritance generation, this generation didn't know war. That generation had taken the land. They were this generation born in the promised land. They were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, so to speak, right? This was the generation described in chapter two, verse 10, who did not know the Lord, nor did they know the work that he had done for Israel. So the inheritance generation, that generation under Joshua, under Caleb, that generation knew war. They followed the Lord into Jericho. They marched around the city seven times. They saw the city walls fall and God delivered the city into their hands. That generation took the battle to AI. The first attempt lost 36 men. The second attempt, God gave the city into their hand. They had conquered great Canaanite kings. They took the promised land city by city by city, waging war. That generation knew how to fight. This generation, however, this next generation grew up after the battles had ceased. They had not seen the mighty works of God in those battles. They had not had the opportunity, so to speak, to trust the Lord as the armies fought. They had no idea what it meant to trust him. They trusted fully in themselves. And they may have had heard the stories of those victories, but they simply hadn't experienced those victories themselves. So one of the reasons that the Lord sovereignly leaves these nations in place then was to put this next generation to the test. They had not known war, and so they had not learned through war, learned through battle, difficulty, adversity, and defeat, and victory. They had not learned lessons through that to trust alone in the Lord their God. Would they trust in their own strength? Would they trust in their military prowess? Would they trust in their weapons or trust in their chariots? Or would they put no trust in those things and put it where it belongs? Would they trust in the Lord? That remains to be seen. The Lord intends to put them to the test, and the Lord says, I'm gonna leave these nations in place in order to test this generation who's not known war. You and I, we have our own battles to fight, don't we? We have our own battles to fight. We often grow most in the dirt of difficulty. That's just the way it is, right? We're going to grow most in the soil of adversity. Prepare your mind, prepare your heart, right? Gird up your loins, be a man. You're gonna grow through difficulty. You're gonna grow through adversity. So be prepared for adversity. What do you do when adversity comes? You trust in the Lord. Are you gonna put your trust in your checkbook? Are you gonna put your trust in your family, your friends? You're gonna put your trust in worldly security? Or are you gonna put your trust where your trust belongs? Are you gonna put your trust in the one who alone is trustworthy? We've gotta learn to trust the Lord. We will go through difficulty. You'll go through adversity to put your faith to the test. I've often thought about this when someone new comes and they'll come, they'll listen to the preaching. They'll, the Lord will save them, right? Gloriously saved and they are just fresh out of the oven like one of those squishy rolls, you know, fresh hot out of the oven. It's brand new, you know, baby Christian. Just the joy of the Lord on their face, having faced no difficulty, no adversity yet. You wanna encourage them, right? You just trust in the Lord, trust in the Lord. When difficulty comes, listen, it's going to come. It's gonna come, it's gonna come, it's gonna come. Trust in the Lord. Don't turn away from following the Lord, right? You're doing well. Follow Him by faith. And when difficulty comes, you trust Him that much more. You pray, and what inevitably happens as the difficulty comes, their faith is put to the test. Now, genuine, genuine faith is not a fragile faith. That test is not to see if the faith is going to pass or not. If it's genuine, if it's spirit produced, God-given faith, that faith is going to victoriously triumph through that, it may not feel all that victorious at times because sometimes it's really difficult, but that faith will persevere. It's going to persevere because the Lord is the one who preserves that one through it. But we have to learn, sometimes don't we? We have to learn through difficulty to trust the Lord. We have to trust Him, especially when times get tough. Easy to say, isn't it? Often when we face difficulty, oh yeah. You don't have to worry about me, right? Peter, you don't have to worry about me. Though all of them depart from you, Lord, I won't. I'm not going to leave you and cock crows three times and Peter's devastated, right? We grow in the soil of adversity. We grow in the soil of difficulty. When difficulty comes, you need to have the mindset ahead of time. This is what I'm going to do. When it comes, not if it comes, not if it comes. When it comes, I am going to trust Him. I'm going to put my faith in Him. Stop compromising with the world. Stop compromising with your own desires. Stop compromising with all these influences from the outside. You trust the Lord. How do you trust the Lord? You do exactly, exactly what He says for you to do. You obey His word and you trust Him with the results. You faithfully obey Him and you trust the Lord to see you through it. And the Lord is faithful, amen. The Lord is faithful. Working all things together for your good. You remain steadfast. We have to understand, as we look at this part of the text, verses one and two, we have to understand that the main battle here is not a fight with the Canaanites. All right, the main battle is not a fight with the Parasites or the High Vites or the Hittites or the Jebusites. That's not the battle. The fight with the Canaanites here is merely a means to an end. Where's the real fight? Where's the main battle? The main battle is for the heart of God's people. That's where the battle rages, right? That's where the battle is. It's for the heart of God's people. If you can remember the Israelites standing on the boundary of the promised land, right? They've sent out the 12 spies. They've gone into the land. They've looked at the land. 12 of them come back. 10 of them with a miserable, faithless, unbelieving report. And they discourage the hearts of the believing. Two come back, Caleb and Joshua, right? With a pronouncement of faith, we can take it. Why can we take it? Because we're so much stronger than they are. No, we're actually weaker than they are. Because we're bigger than they are. No, we're as locust in their sight. Because they're so unprepared. No, they're fortified in cities. Why can we take the land? Because our Lord is with us. Our Lord has delivered the land into our hand. The Lord is the one who wins the battle. That battle for the promised land was lost before they ever left Kadesh, Barnea. Why? Because the battle took place first in the heart of those people. They were faithless and unbelieving and their bodies were strewn out, their corpses strewn out in the wilderness because they would not trust the Lord to go in and take the land, right? The battle here is not with the Canaanites. The main battle is for the heart of God's people. And it essentially is won or lost right here as these people decide, am I going to trust the Lord or not? Am I going to follow Him by faith or not? It's the turn now of this next generation to come to their own wilderness crossroads. Maybe it's your turn now. Maybe you're facing your own wilderness crossroads now. Some decision that you must make, someone that you know is in a position with a decision that they must make. Maybe you've just come out of one of those wilderness crossroads. Maybe you're about to go into one. We all face wilderness crossroads where with those that stood at the boundary of K-Barnia, we must make a decision. Are we going to put our faith and trust in the Lord or are we not? Will you be faithful or will you be faithless? What will you do? What does the Lord do here then? He leaves the nations in the land. He leaves them sovereignly dwelling among the people. He leaves them in this vulnerable, weakened condition. In such a condition, in such a place, He leaves them where it would be futile to trust in themselves. They couldn't get away with trusting in themselves. If they attempted to trust in themselves, they would miserably fail. That's the position that they're in. Apart from the Lord, their position is hopeless. What are they to do? They're to trust in Him alone. It's only refuge they have. Trust in Him alone. They have no strength of their own. They're hopeless against their enemies. This generation doesn't know war. They don't know how to fight. They have no military experience. This should leave them, their position, dwelling amongst this wicked, godless, pagan peoples with no military experience, no strength of their own, should drive the people to trust in God. They should put their faith in Him. Psalm chapter 20, verse seven. Some trust in chariots. Some in horses. But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Some trust in checkbooks. Some, the people still have checkbooks. Some trust in their debit cards. Some trust in their online bank account. Some trust in jobs. But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Some trust in friends. Some trust in families. Some trust in career advancement. Some trust in their salary. Some trust in their boss. Some trust in some world that's godless friend who can't give them wisdom, can't give them good counsel. Who's our trust in? Who are we going to trust in? We're gonna trust in the Lord our God. This is a commitment of the psalmist. This is the battle, right? This is the battle. We are to embrace our own weakness. We're to acknowledge our own inability. We're to acknowledge that. And we're to embrace the strength and power that we have in God by faith. And we just finished our verse by verse exposition of 2 Corinthians. We're in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse nine. The Lord tells Paul that his grace is sufficient, that his strength is made perfect in Paul's weakness. So what does Paul say? Therefore Paul says, most gladly then, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and needs and persecutions and distresses and difficulty and adversity. I take pleasure in those things, right? Indistresses for Christ's sake, why? Because when I am weak, then I am strong. That's how we experience the power of God in our lives through faith, depending upon him. This is the place that the Lord brings us time and time and time and time again in our Christian lives. We're brought here many, many times, are we not? If you follow the Lord any length of time, this is a common experience of the Christian. Why? Because our faith must be refined in the fire. It is more precious than gold, which perishes, right? And it must be refined and bolstered and built up and matured. That happens in our difficulties in trial and adversity. We must be in a place of dependence upon him, a place where our faith is cultivated. Our tests come in many various shapes, forms, and sizes. The test for the nation of Israel here in Judges chapter three came through these pagan nations that the Lord had left among them. Namely, verse three, five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, the Hivites who dwelt in Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal-Herman to the interests of Hamath. And they were left, the Lord says, that he might test Israel by them to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. We've looked at those texts where the Lord commands the Israelites, exactly what they're to do. Now comes the time when the Israelites must say to them, I'm going to obey the Lord. From the heart, I'm gonna put my faith and trust in him. I'm gonna listen to his word. Now understanding the sovereignty of God here in verse three and the fact that he works all things after the counsel of his own will, we have absolutely no problem do we seeing these nations as those that God sovereignly left in Canaan that he might put Israel to the test. We have no problem seeing that the Lord is sovereign over all these things. However, the Lord being sovereign also uses means. We also know that the Lord, this was a judgment of God upon the nation of Israel because they failed to drive those nations out. So God said that he would leave them around them, among them to be thorns in their side as a judgment against their sin and disobedience. There's a pattern here of sin and compromise and unbelief that has led to this circumstance, but now sovereignly God is going to use even these circumstances for their good. Without being the author of their sin, without being responsible for their sin, the Lord continues to sovereignly use their sin, their compromised circumstances to put them to the test to draw their attention back to their greatest need. Would they draw near to the Lord then? Are they going to do it? What's going to be the result? You'd have to say, I think if Israel here passes the test, the book of Judges comes to a close and that's right, but that's not what happens and the book of Judges continues. Would they draw near to the Lord their God by faith and then him know and the remaining chapters in the book of Judges, a test of that fact? He says in verse four, they were left that he might test Israel by them to know whether they would obey the commandments of the Lord which he had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. Well, we've seen the purpose of the test, right? That's the purpose of the test. What God intends to do through the test, what were the results of the test? Look at verse five. What were then the results of the test? Verse five, thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Parasites, the Hivites and the Jebusites and they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons and they served their gods. In other words, the Israelites fail the test in dramatic fashion. It's the circumstances that precede God in mercy, sending the judges to deliver his people. We'll see God acting in mercy to deliver his people through the rest of the book and we'll continue to see the persistent failure of the nation of Israel. So here as we look at these verses, what gives us an indication then that the Israelites have failed the test? What tells us this? Well first, look at verse five, worldliness. Worldliness, verse five alludes to the worldly influences of those nations around them and we're gonna see the continued downward spiral that begins with that worldly influence. The first indication they failed the test is worldliness. In other words, they became influenced by the nations around them and they became like those nations. Look at verse five, thus the children of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites. That word for dwelt among literally means sat down. They didn't separate themselves. They didn't stand up and fight. They didn't resist. They sat down among those nations and became like them. We are called, aren't we, to be in the world, not of the world. This is an indication of worldliness. Worldliness, the people of God are called to be a holy, separated, consecrated people. Bad company corrupts good morals, right? We see that lived out here in Canaan. When the Bible speaks of holiness, we've spoken about this before, there's often a twofold sense to the word. God's people are one to be holy, meaning set apart to God. God's people, you and I, were to be set apart to God, set aside to God, consecrated to his use, consecrated to his service, set apart to him, were to be unique, that's what it means to be holy, were to be distinct, were to be uncommon, not as the common peoples of this world, were to be uncommon, set apart to God, set apart to his use. There were vessels in the temple that were holy unto the Lord. In other words, they were set aside for the Lord's use in the temple. The Levites themselves were set apart, they were made holy, they were consecrated to serve the Lord in the temple. They were holy to God, separate from the world, not in league with the world, right? Separate from sinful influences in the world, not of the world. Now first, the Bible says were to be a holy people, meaning set apart to God. Secondly, God's people are to be holy, meaning they are set apart from sin, set apart from sin, living a holy life, putting off sin, putting on righteousness. How difficult is that when you're surrounded by people who are putting on unrighteousness and have no interest whatsoever in righteousness? It's a lost cause from the beginning, isn't it? God's people are to be holy, meaning set apart from sin, putting off sin, putting on righteousness, pursuing holiness, pursuing righteous living, cleansing yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. John Calvin describes the worldly influence of ungodly men as a disease. Listen, he says all physicians pronounce the nature of the disease to be such that if it not very speedily be counteracted, it spreads to the adjoining parts, penetrates even to the bones and does not cease to consume till it has killed the man. Worldly influence, worldliness will kill the man. Do you see? We've got to cut it off, cut off worldly influence. The Israelites don't do that, they sat down in it. They sat down in it. They became influenced by it. The first indication they failed the test is an insipid worldliness. Secondly, living in the world, becoming of the world leads to fellowship with the world. The second indication they failed the test is fellowship of light with darkness. Look at verse six. And they took their daughters to be their wives and gave their daughters to their sons. Here is the tragic intimacy of this worldly fellowship, this fellowship demonstrated by the intermarriage of their sons and daughters with pagans. Second Corinthians chapter six, verse 14. Loving being able to reference second Corinthians and we're done with the book, still thinking about it, right? Second Corinthians chapter six, verse 14, do not be unequally oped together with unbelievers. Why? For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? You are the temple of the living God. God almost put a exclamation point at the end of that statement and say, live like it, right? You are the temple of the living God. Now, live like it. Cut off worldly influences. Don't be unequally yoked together. Yoke is that wooden contraption they put on two animals. Yoke them together at the neck for the purposes of plowing, pulling a cart, right? Compound word in the Greek. Any wise farmer would understand that you don't yoke an ox to a donkey. Can't yoke cows and cocker spaniels. They've got nothing in common, cows and cocker spaniels. No hope for productive cooperation, right? What harmony, what symphony is there between cows and cocker spaniels? They have different sizes. They'd have different stride. They have different capacities to pull. They're mismatched pair, mismatched counterparts, unequal partnership. They're not gonna pull in the same direction. You're gonna get crooked furrows. So the idea behind the use of the word is to avoid getting yourself into a yoke with an animal that doesn't have the same purpose, the same mind, the same temperament, the same makeup. Don't yoke yourself with the worldly ungodly. Don't yoke yourself with someone who is pulling their boat, so to speak, in a different direction that you're going. The idea of the word is don't yoke yourself together with unbelievers. Same thought expressed by Leviticus chapter 19, verse 19, where the Lord says, you shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed, nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you. Let me ask you the question that Paul asked New Testament believers. Is God really concerned with mixed fabrics? Is it mixed fabrics that God has, is God just that angry at polyester? No. He's concerned about you and I. This is a principle from scripture. It's a principle from scripture. And you see how Paul applies that principle in the New Testament, right? How the New Testament author interprets the Old Testament text. Stay out of any kind of yoke with unbelievers. Well, the Israelites don't do that. They begin to yoke themselves with the people of those nations giving their daughters to their sons, right? Taking their sons to their daughters. Terrible. It gets worse. First indication they failed the test is worldliness. The second indication they failed the test was this fellowship with the ungodly. Third indication they failed the test is their own idolatry. They get influenced by the worldliness of those nations around them. Then they begin to have fellowship with those worldly nations around them. Now they've become idolaters just like those worldly nations around them. Do you see? Verse six, at the end, and they served their gods. Having gone to bed with the worldly and ungodly, many professing Christians today are serving the gods of this age. Many professing Christians are serving the gods of this age. They believe somehow they're being relevant or relational. They are serving the gods of this age. They believe that they are. It's their liberty to participate in those things. They themselves have become ungodly idolaters. First Corinthians chapter 10 verse six, Paul begins by referencing the example of Old Testament Israel, the example of Old Testament Israel as a way to admonish the Corinthian church to flee idolatry. That was for the Corinthian church to flee idolatry in their day. We are called to flee idolatry in all its forms and fashions in our day. These things, he says in verse six, their deplorable conduct in the wilderness. Now, their deplorable conduct in the period of the judges. These things, Paul says, became our examples to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. Now, what are the evil things that they lusted after? Here, they lusted after the sons and daughters of those pagan nations. They lusted after a false sense of peace and security as they fellowshiped with pagans in those pagan nations. Or they lusted after rest. They lusted after peace from war. They lusted after complacency. They lusted after worldliness. They lusted after their own sinful pleasure, sinful indulgence, because they had not been faithful to obey the word of God. They lusted in their own comfort. And here, they became just like those pagan nations. Idolaters. He said, and do not become idolaters as were some of them as it is written, the people sat down to eat, drink, and rose up to play. Nor let us commit sexual immorality as some of them did. And in one day, 23,000 fell. Nor let us tempt Christ as some of them also tempted and were destroyed by serpents. Nor complain as some of them also complained and were destroyed by the destroyer. All these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. He says, therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. That world at that time, that city was steeped in idolatry. Listen, our world, our time, our city, your neighborhood is steeped in idolatry. Your TV set is absolutely full of it, overflowing with it. Your radio, brimming with idolatry, brothers and sisters, flee idolatry, right? Flee idolatry. Doesn't mean you have to turn the radio off. Listen to stuff that's not idolatrous. Don't yoke yourself with worldly influences that will teach you to be worldly, that will lull you into a sense of complacency with worldliness and then turn you into an idolater. Watch that evil influence do not be yoked together with unbelievers. We're gonna face tests in our Christian life. Those tests have a purpose. Often those tests come in the form of worldly, ungodly, pagan influences. What will we do? Will we consecrate ourselves to the Lord through faith or will we compromise with the pagan idolatrous gods of this age? These tests have a purpose. Some tests are meant to teach us how to know war. We gotta learn how to battle, gotta learn how to fight. And so our battling, our fighting, our ongoing difficulties and adversity meant to teach us to know war, to teach us to fight in faith. We gotta learn that lesson, right? Other tests meant to teach us to depend upon the Lord alone. All of the tests are meant to teach us to depend upon the Lord alone, right? But we need to have opportunity to put that into practice, to trust Him alone, to obey His statutes, to keep His judgments and do them. All of our tests meant to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's faith that will have victory over this world, right, by the word of our Lord. Our faith will be victorious. Will we pass the test? Settle it in your heart and mind now before you find yourself in the midst of the test, before you find yourself in the heat of the battle. Settle it in your mind now. Like the Israelites before us, we will not pass the test apart from faith in the one to whom all the tests point us. We will not pass the test apart from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're to look to the Lord from whence comes our help. Amen. Psalm 121, I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel, despite all of Israel's failures, right? He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil. He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and even forever more. Now that's a promise from the living God, amen. Why would we not put our faith and trust in him? Amen, amen. Let's pray. Father in heaven, you are trustworthy. You are faithful, Lord, and we put our faith and trust in you alone. Help us, Lord, strengthen us. Remind us of these truths. Help us, Lord, to meditate on them, to commit them to our hearts and minds, to remember you in all our difficulty and adversity. Lord, help us to trust in you. Grow, mature, and bolden, and fire, fuel our faith. It is, I know, Lord, precious. And we want to honor you and obey you and please you and glorify you in this. Please, Lord, be with us. We rest and trust and rejoice in the promise that you've made that you are with us to the end of the age and, Lord, help us to live according to and by that faithful promise and trust you when we come to difficulty. If there's anyone here, Lord, who's never put their faith and trust in you, never turned from their sin, I pray they would see the futility of living for themselves in this world. It is a recipe for disaster, at least the damnation. I pray, Lord, that you would open their eyes to show them the worthlessness, the hopelessness of that rootless existence, Lord, and that you would change their heart, save them from sin, forgive them of sin, cause their eyes to be opened, give them a new heart and dwell them with your spirit, forgive them of their sin, Lord, and cleanse them in the blood of the Lamb and save them, Lord, as a trophy of your grace and cause them to follow you by faith. We love you, we thank you for this work that is glorious in our sight. Thank you, Lord, that you've saved us. Help us, Lord, now to live faithfully and fervently for you. Preserve us, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.