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[0:00] It really is. I'm here. I am five years. Actually, I was just thinking to myself, it's been! Six years coming, consecutive years, to Kingdom Life Church. I remember the first year I came! Was to visit with the Bunting family, Keith and Kristen and their daughters, with my wife by my side. We were here, and that kicked off the next five years, leading to this morning that I've been coming to do music camp. So just speechless. I'm blown away that here we are, half a decade plus later, that I've been coming among you and have really, truly grown in relationship and love and appreciation and respect for you, for your family, this church family is, what this church family is becoming, and just great respect for Cedric and Alexine and Clarence and Demetria and so many others that we've partnered with and love so much. So thank you for welcoming us. Thank you for opening your hearts and the whole middle section for our team here. This is a great group. We've been together on the ground in Bahamas, and for some of us, we've only ever really met each other a couple hours. You know, we've known each other since yesterday afternoon. So here we are for the first time, mixed and mingled from three different states, and looking forward to what the Lord has for us this coming week at music camp. So as has been asked, I definitely put my word in there for that as well as for your prayers as we look to share the good news of Jesus Christ through music and through the gathering of so many servants in the church. I know, I know there's going to be rich opportunities to talk to little ones about Jesus Christ, to explain to them the way to eternal life is only through him, just as we memorized or should have memorized. I told Cedric, that's cheating to have that up there when it's time to like, you can't give the license. You've got to have it off, brother, in the future. Just my one critique. Just shut it off. We want to hear them do it.

[2:04] You know, that's right. No more of that cheating. Yeah. But if you could pray, you could look to opportunities to pray. We appreciate it. And I do bring on behalf of the pastors of CrossFit Church and the people of CrossFit Church. And as well, I really speak on behalf of the team and their churches. Thank you for welcoming us. Thank you for, again, partnering with us. That's what we're doing. We're invading. We're coming into your midst. But we're all partnering together for the good news, to bring Jesus to the Bahamians, to bring Jesus, which you have been so faithfully doing for decades as a church body. You have brought the Lord Jesus Christ and word and deed together to this neighborhood and to the surrounding region. And we're joining with you now. We're jumping on board and we're looking for an opportunity to help serve to that end. So thank you for opening up.

[2:56] And I bring greetings on behalf of these churches and for CrossFit especially. It's great to be here. So thank you. Let's turn in God's word, if you will, to Judges chapter 3, the book of Judges.

[3:09] Much could be said about the book of Judges. It is not a pleasant book necessarily to read. It is certainly an exciting book of the Bible to read. It's a historical narrative, an account of God's people, of Israel, in and through the time before the installation of the monarchy. So this is the time after Moses and Joshua would die. They're no longer judging Israel, no longer providing leadership. And all of a sudden there's this vacuum, this time, this space while Israel is in the promised land. They have settled as the tribes in the land, but there's no centralized government. There's no judge. There's no king.

[3:56] There's really nothing that unifies them. And as you find throughout the book of Judges, that the fruit of that is tragic. And the people of Israel, it says constantly, a refrain within the book of Judges, the people did what was right in their own eyes. That Israel constantly were going about business as they thought it should be done, each individual family and each tribe unto themselves.

[4:22] And we know when that happens, nothing goes well. Nothing goes well. So the lesson, the lessons there are many throughout the book of Judges and one that we'll be focusing on this morning from Judges chapter three. And this is the title of our sermon. And this is the lesson I pray that God would lay on our hearts or press on us from his word. And that is this, that we'd be keeping from cozy in Canaan.

[4:47] Keeping from cozy in Canaan. I realize it's probably not correct English, but it's good alliteration. Keeping from cozy in Canaan. And you're going to remember that now. Keeping from cozy in Canaan.

[5:03] And this is, I pray that God would drive to our hearts this morning, that theme. And that's something that we're going to draw from in Judges chapter three, verses seven through 31.

[5:14] But before we get there, just a question for you. Who in this room enjoys a midterm exam or a final exam? Who in this room enjoys preparing for a test, whether it's a driving test or a colonoscopy?

[5:33] Who of us enjoys that kind of experience where we've got to face the unpleasant reality of I've got to be tested?

[5:45] I've my knowledge, my skills, my health, my well-being, whatever the test might be. None of us. I mean, I've met a few and they're these are the kind of people you you wonder about.

[5:55] You know, you really enjoy midterms. Really, you enjoy preparing for testing. That's not the regular. That's not me. Certainly, I know for most of us, that's not you either.

[6:09] But there is something very important that a test provides us. Again, whether it's a medical exam or an examination in school, it provides us with real, clear data to what's actually going on.

[6:22] You know, certainly in the classroom, it provides the teacher with the do the do the students understand what I'm teaching. Are they getting the material? Are they understanding it? Are they applying it?

[6:33] That's critical. And in the case of a CAT scan or a colonoscopy or heart catheterization, the doctor is able to get right in there and understand what is going on here. Examination provides real, raw data that brings truth, brings clarity.

[6:50] So none of us enjoys the process. Certainly none of us do. But what the end result is, it provides us with critical information for our progress and for our well-being, certainly as individuals.

[7:05] The book of Judges, and I think we'll see here in chapter 3, it presses this point that we're in the middle of a test. We may not be aware of that. We may not be wired to think this way. But brothers and sisters, as believers, Scripture tells us, you are being tested.

[7:24] You're in exam right now. You're in the middle of it. The pencils are on paper. You're filling in those dots. You're doing a test. And that's what the book of Judges shows us.

[7:36] Now, unfortunately, humans have lived for millennia thoughtlessly detached from that reality. That there is a God who scrutinizes humankind.

[7:48] There is a holy creator who actually keeps track of all of our thoughts, our words, and our deeds, and who relentlessly cares about what we do with our lives and what we do with our thoughts and how our tongues speak.

[8:06] We're in the middle of a test. And so much as humans have forgotten that reality, that is the truth. And that's what the book of Judges leads us to. I'm going to read starting in verse 1 here to read kind of the background before we get up to the first judge.

[8:24] The first judge that the book of Judges brings to us is Othniel. In chapter 3, verse 7, we are introduced in the story of Othniel. But before we get there, I want to set the context for this situation in Israel's history.

[8:40] And this describes the test that Israel was under. Now, verse 1, chapter 3, God's Word. Now, these are the nations that the Lord left to test Israel by them.

[8:53] That is, all of Israel who had not experienced all wars, all the wars in Canaan. It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not yet known it before.

[9:08] These are the nations, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal-Hermon as far as Lebo-Hammoth.

[9:20] They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. So, the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hivites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

[9:36] And their daughters, they took to themselves for wives. And their own daughters, they gave to their sons. And they served their gods. There's the test.

[9:49] There's the test. The test has been set for Israel. Israel, God leaves these unconquered nations. If you're familiar with the history of Israel, Israel was meant to conquer the promised land from head to toe, from left, from east to west.

[10:02] Every side and every square inch of the promised land was meant to be a conquered place. Israel was meant to rest in the promised land. But God, as we see here, as a result of Israel's rebellion, really, before God, they failed to pass the test.

[10:19] They failed to conquer these Canaanites, these pagan nations. And so God, we are just told here in verses 1 through 6, that God tests Israel through these nations being left in the promised land.

[10:33] And this leads us right to this story of Othniel. Right to this story that we're going to be kicking off with this morning. So, how will Israel fare? Will they pass the test?

[10:44] And I think our experience this morning is going to be one of a slow, kind of a revealing, like watching a slow motion video of someone failing a test. You know, watching kind of the painful, moment by moment, of this person failing something.

[11:01] Failing to have prepared well, and then facing the consequences of failing to prepare. It's like a slow motion disaster, the train wreck of Israel. So, we're going to see this in this text.

[11:13] And here's our theme. For keeping from cozying Canaan, we're going to look at this. Pay attention. The test is on. Every soul must quit drifting and call on Christ.

[11:26] Say that again. Pay attention. The test is on. And every soul must quit drifting and call on Christ. And our three points are going to follow the first three judges of Israel.

[11:38] Okay? Othniel, and Ehud, and finally Shamgar. So, this is chapter 3, the book of Judges. So, pay attention. The test is on. And every soul must quit drifting and call on Christ.

[11:52] Let's look at Othniel. And Othniel shows us that we need deliverance. And Othniel's story is the first judge. He's the first one.

[12:02] In a sense, he kicks off a series of 12 deliverers and seven different cycles of oppression and deliverance in the book of Judges all the way through chapter 16.

[12:14] So, chapter 3 to 16 is the seven different cycles of Israel falling on their face, bashing their faces on the concrete of false gods and disobedience before God.

[12:27] And God coming along, scooping them up through a deliverer or a series of deliverers, 12 deliverers to be in fact, to be truthful, and rescuing Israel from the wreckage, bringing them back to health.

[12:43] And then the cycle repeats itself. We see that time and again through chapter 3 all the way to the end, really, of chapter 16 in the book of Judges. And that is the main part of the narrative of the book of Judges is to show that repetition, that downward spiral of Israel getting up and then smacking their face on the concrete yet again until they're amassed, a pulp, by the end of the book of Judges.

[13:10] It's a downward spiral, washed, rinsed, and repeat. Down and down the spiral goes. There's the book of Judges. It's not a fun book and it's not meant to bring delight or joy in one sense.

[13:25] But in another sense, it's meant to test and show where our joys really are and to give us true joy in God our Savior. So, starting in chapter 3, verses 7-11, we read of Othniel and he really sets the paradigm for what's about to be shown throughout the rest of the book of Judges.

[13:43] So let's read chapter 3, verses 7-11 about Othniel. Verse 7, look with me. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forget the Lord.

[13:53] They forgot the Lord their God. They served the Baals and the Asheroth. Therefore, the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he sold them into the hand of Cushon Reshethim, king of Mesopotamia.

[14:08] And the people of Israel served Cushon Reshethim eight years. But when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel who saved them.

[14:19] Othniel, the son of Canaz, Caleb's younger brother. The spirit of the Lord was upon him and he judged Israel. He went out to war and the Lord gave Cushon Reshethim, king of Mesopotamia, into his hand.

[14:34] And his hand prevailed over Cushon Reshethim. So the land had rest forty years. Then, Othniel, the son of Canaz, died.

[14:47] And there goes the cycle. And the whole cycle is right there. Oppression. They forget. Then they're oppressed. God sends an invasive army. Conquers them.

[14:58] And they cry out after eight years. And God raises a man named Othniel who's Caleb's younger brother. We are introduced to this gentleman, Othniel, in chapter one of Judges. He's the man who actually wins the hand of Caleb's daughter after he captures Debir.

[15:14] So he goes on an act of courage and wins the hand of Caleb's daughter in chapter one. So here's a very brave militaristic figure in Israel's history. God raises them up here in chapter three as a response to Mesopotamia and their threat.

[15:29] They're taking over Israel. Then we get to the end of the story. After 40 years, Othniel dies. And what do you think happens? Do you think Israel continues on in obedience and love and devotion to their God?

[15:45] Is that what happens? No. Unfortunately not. Unfortunately not. That is the story of Judges. And the story of Othniel reminds us that mankind will always be true to form.

[16:00] Okay? There's a few things that you will always find true wherever you happen to drill down into human history. If you take a core sample anywhere, you're going to find many things to be true about humankind.

[16:15] And Othniel, the story of Othniel in the book of Judges shows us some of those immovable realities that have to do with our human race, our sinful, broken race. And that is that we're sinful and broken.

[16:28] So it doesn't matter where, it doesn't matter how glorious this civilization happened to be, if you take a core sampling and you pull it up, the human heart remains desperately sick, deceitful.

[16:43] Who can understand it? So says Jeremiah in chapter 17, verse 9. That's what you're going to find. So Israel's history here and its problem is one of depravity.

[16:57] It's not just a theological breakdown. It is a depravity breakdown. It is our MO, our mode of operation, our method of living.

[17:09] It's what comes out of our sinful proclivities. And the problem of Israel, think about it, the problem of Israel is the problem of worldliness, really. Worldliness. They shifted and slid into the world and the forms and the substance of the world.

[17:28] They fell in love. In fact, we read in verse 6 that their daughters they took to themselves for wives, meaning the pagan surrounding nations. So Israel's even intermarrying with the pagan tribes, which God said, don't do that.

[17:44] God made it very clear. Don't do that because the minute you do that, you will begin to adopt their pagan worship. You will begin to take on their idols. And sure enough, God is never incorrect.

[17:56] Sure enough, when Israel intermarried, then we read in the second half of verse 6, and they served their gods.

[18:09] So they began to become very cozy in the land of Canaan. Israel was not meant to be cozy in Canaan with the Canaanites.

[18:20] But that's exactly the problem. That's where our depravity takes us. So worldliness, think about this, worldliness, looking to our today, is not merely a concern with don't drink, smoke, or chew, or go with girls that do.

[18:37] You ever hear that? That's the statement that often people will say about what worldliness is. It's about avoiding certain things. It's about not smoking or chewing tobacco or watching particular types of movies.

[18:50] That's kind of the strict definition of what worldliness is. That's not the concern necessarily at its heart, certainly. And that's not what we see here in chapter three.

[19:02] Worldliness in Israel, think about it, and worldliness in our day, it's a very pragmatic concern. It's very pragmatic. It's the gravitational pull towards comfort, towards ease, towards pleasure and happiness and relief from suffering apart from God.

[19:23] So it's any of those things, comfort, ease, pleasure, relief from suffering, in such a way I'm pursuing those things apart from God.

[19:35] You can put anything, fill in the blank, what are you seeking? If you're seeking pleasure in a particular form, whether it's a sexual form or intellectual form, whatever it happens to be, if you're pursuing that, without God, there's worldliness.

[19:50] or if you're suffering, if you're experiencing great emotional or physical suffering and you're placing your hope in other things apart from God, without God, without reference to the living God, that is worldliness.

[20:08] You're seeking relief from pain without Christ. So it's any of those things. So worldliness is a very pragmatic affair. It's when we're seeking our pleasures or our reliefs without reference to God.

[20:22] It's seeking to take matters into our own hands. Our fulfillment on my turf, right? My time, my turf, my terms, with or without God.

[20:34] Whether God is involved or not really doesn't matter because what really matters in worldliness is that I'm just getting what I want, whether it's relief or joy. And whether God's in the equation at all, it's an afterthought.

[20:48] In fact, I can maybe rubber stamp God later. I can just stamp it on what I want later and say God's in it. But that's not how it works. We're not dealing with idols of stone or wood, canaanite gods, Ashtaroth or Baal or Enos.

[21:04] We're not dealing with those kind of things. We're dealing with I want fulfillment or relief and I will get it in whatever way I see best fit for myself.

[21:17] That's worldliness and that's precisely what Canaanite the experience that the Israelites were having in Canaan. They were getting comfy cozy in Canaan.

[21:30] Now we can justify these worldly tendencies. We can say things like this God wants me to be happy so therefore I will do this and whatever that is where God doesn't want me to suffer God doesn't want his children to suffer so I will go about getting relief any way I see fit or we'll say things like bad feelings or bad circumstances can't possibly be from God so therefore I must seek relief or I must seek my pleasure on my terms on my turf in my timing so we end up overreaching we go for pleasure or relief without really caring to think about what God thinks and there lies the trap of worldliness it's without thought it's thoughtless it's restless it's inconsiderate of the living God we just seek out our relief for our pleasure on our terms and the story of the book of judges is one of pervasive worldliness it's

[22:32] Israel taking the world on their turf on their terms without thought of God without thought of God so with that mind it's not too difficult for us to empathize with the problems that we're reading here about Israel we don't sit on a high horse looking down on Israel we don't think to ourselves boy oh boy I would never get caught in that trap right now when we understand that their problem is one of worldliness which is our concern as believers this morning then we can more empathize and more humbly recognize that God is speaking to us through their experience through the book of Judges so it's not difficult for us to empathize so question for you what might you be drifting to are there particular forms of relief anesthesia whether you're watching television or giving yourself to entertainment on untold hours are there ways that you're pursuing relief for your pursuing pleasure whether it's on a laptop in a darkened room looking at images you shouldn't be looking at what kind of relief or pleasure are you seeking without

[23:47] Christ without reference to God where might you be drifting that's a question that the press of God's word calls you I call you this morning to quit your drifting and call on Christ because the test is on God is testing us he is testing our hearts are we going to obey and love him hold him high we're going to call on Christ or are we going to look to other things our own pleasures our time our turf our terms what are we doing the test is on so the story of us Neil shows us the humans!

[24:36] today but also we're going to see that God remains true to form as well and we read this in the book of Judges how God responds with pity with compassion to Israel at the time of their oppression there they are they're getting their just desserts right Judges 3 tells us they forgot God they serve other gods well does God have therefore is he pressured to have to make a decision to treat them with mercy does God owe them love and mercy for the way that they have responded faithlessly to him does God owe them mercy does God owe them kindness and patience and long!

[25:20] God should have relegated to total oblivion to destruction at the hands of their enemies he should have allowed them to be wiped out by the Canaanites to oppress them the king of Mesopotamia should have if Israel is going to get their just desserts the king of Mesopotamia should have leveled Israel should have destroyed them but as it is God responded!

[25:47] to the cries of God's! We read this in verse 9 but when the people of Israel cried out to the Lord what does the Lord do to respond does he say no you're getting it you're getting what you deserve no what he does and this shows the mercy of God God raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel who saved them so what they could not do themselves God did he sent a messiah a little m messiah mind you a temporary savior one who would save them for about 40 years and his saviorship would come to an end with his death and he would turn to dust and no one knows where Ophniel's grave is today he's a forgotten person except for this story little story in the book of Judges so his saviorship was very limited the expiration date was only 40 years later but yet what that story shows us is the compassion the mercy of

[26:51] God God delivers his people from their sin and what does he do in the test we need to understand this is God first to save his people God first sends an evading army do you realize that the story of Judges shows us that is the fact that the kushan reshethem that's some special gift of the Lord to be able to say some of these!

[27:16] I can't! do it!! kushan reshethem I probably even saying it wrong but that's the way I'm going to say kushan reshethem the king of Mesopotamia was sent by God do you understand that God sends this invading army and why does he do that well it's part one plan of saving Israel do you realize that God sends an invading army in order to be the step one of actually saving Israel by testing them by showing them they need a savior not just one more idol on their shelf no they need an overhaul they need the Lord Yahweh so God sends kushan reshethem and the king the king of Mesopotamia and the people there cried out under the weight of their service and God responds in that cycle we see grace his faithfulness his deliverance and then he sends

[28:20] Ophniel to deliver them so this brings us to Ehud the second story in Judges 3 so we learned about Ophniel and the test is on pay attention right wake up pay attention the test is on every soul every soul must quit drifting and call on Christ and this brings us to Ehud so we looked at Ophniel who shows us that we need deliverance and our deliverance comes both by God sending troubles and trials and invading armies but also by God sending a deliverer right and now we come to Ehud who shows us that we should relish our deliverance because it's in the second judge Ehud that things get pretty heated quickly things escalate this is one of the more gruesome detailed violent stories in the Bible this is the kind for a very exciting reading for your quiet time it's hard to understand why this would be included in the canon if you don't understand its purpose and what

[29:23] God is showing us here let me read it I'll let you hear all of the details yourself verse 12 from God's word chapter 3 and the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord he gathered to himself to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites and went and defeated Israel and they took possession of the city of palms and the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer Ehud the son of Gerah the Benjaminite a left handed!

[30:13] the people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab and the Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges a cubit or about eighteen inches in length and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes and he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab now Eglon was a very fat man and when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute he sent away the people who carried the tribute but he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said I have a secret message for you oh king and he commanded silence and all his attendants went out from his presence and Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber and Ehud said I have a message from God for you and he arose from his seat and Ehud reached with his left hand took the sword from his right thigh and he thrust it into his belly and the hilt also went in after the blade and the fat closed over the blade for he did not pull the sword out of his belly and the dung came out then

[31:28] Ehud went out onto the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber! When they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked they thought surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber and they waited until they were embarrassed but when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber they took the key opened them and there lay their lord dead on the floor Ehud escaped and lab was to do that day under the hand of

[32:38] Israel and the land had rest for eighty years what a story huh what a story and I think the temptation when I faced it with this text is to take out the lysol spray right and just clean things up a bit is that really required Lord all these gross details why is this here Lord well I think if we're!

[33:01] understand why! this story is written in the way it is we're going to have to read it like an Israelite would have okay we're going to have to look at it through the eyes of an Israelite I think what we're seeing here in gross detail is the routing of the powers that had conquered Israel and don't you think there would be a certain relish a certain rejoicing for an Israelite if this was the conquering enemy to hear of just how humiliated their enemies were that Yahweh the Lord would see to their deliverance in such a way that their big fat king is now in a pile in his own blood and dung on the floor and don't you think the Israelites would rejoice to read that again and again and again to their children and to rejoice in the salvation of their God to say this is what happens to the enemies who trifle this is what happens to those who would dare try to conquer God's people don't you think there would be a relish about this to read this chapter again and again it's almost like a concentration camp survivor in the time of

[34:11] World War II would relish in re-reading! the story of Hitler's suicide in Berlin that they would read again and again of V-Day and the conquering of the Axis powers in 1945 don't you think that that would have a similar effect this relishing in salvation this relishing in their deliverance and that's precisely how we're meant to read this is these details gross as they may be they show just how conquered their conquer would become that God did such a decisive squashing of the enemy that this man is crumpled in a pile and more than that we read in verse 29 the cherry on top not only was Eglon the fat and mighty left for dead we read in chapter 3 verse 29 that not a man escaped approximately 10,000 of Moab's strongest and most able-bodied soldiers are also dead with their king so we read of a complete devastation of

[35:29] Moab's power in Israel so reading it that way we can understand and almost join with Israel in relishing right we can rejoice with them and let's consider our own reasons to relish in salvation because think about it the book of Judges as we all know Othniel Ehud Samson all the judges they die all of them in fact the writers here make a very strong point every time there's a judge to highlight for us that they die we read in verse 11 so the land had rest for 40 years and Othniel the son of Canaz died and we read in chapter 4 verse 1 about Ehud and the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord after Ehud died and we read again and again in the book of Judges these judges these deliverers these little m messiahs lowercase m messiahs that God would send all of them die and they're done right their deliverance was short lived the longest deliverance actually is Ehud for 80 years of all the judges in the time of the judges the longest span of time there was peace in the land of Israel 80 years under the hand of Ehud delivering them from

[36:52] Moab and that's the expiration date I mean 80 years that's all they can have under that messiah under that deliverer but listen to what we have to relish in brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ let's consider just how great we have it we have we have a deliverer we have a judge we have a messiah whose work and whose deliverance is perfect and is permanent what Jesus Christ has done in the routing of our enemies is perfect and it is permanent and more than that Jesus Christ think about what he did he died but what did he go beyond the judges to do our Lord and Savior our judge and deliverer would rise again to everlasting immortality as our Lord and as our messiah king

[37:52] Jesus is alive that's our king we're not dealing with a dead judge who no one knows where he's buried anymore no Jesus rose the grave was empty on the third day and now he sits to the right hand of God the father almighty who and he will come to judge the living and the dead Jesus Christ is alive this is our God and this is our deliverance the one we ought to be relishing day after day as believers that we ought to be telling one another reminding each other just how good we have it as believers that our sins!

[38:36] are paid in full the very same depravity that we see in the book of Judges is in your heart the core sampling of your soul is found wanting you are a wicked person in the sight of God but God has made it possible that he might be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus that those who are ungodly would be welcomed into his holy presence forever!

[39:07] God has made written for us in the word that is the gospel and that is the story we must retell and relish together and that's in part why God gives us the Lord's supper and why the Lord's supper must be a regular part of the Christian diet so when you approach the Lord's supper when you approach communion on a Sunday we go for the food for God's food not just any old food we go for satisfaction in Jesus Christ reminding and remembering and relishing the salvation of Jesus Christ that is pure perfect and permanent we come and we receive from the Lord's supper the bread and the juice and we're receiving them more than just symbols and they are symbols right they're symbolic of our Lord and Savior his body and his blood but they're more than that there is a spiritual food a spiritual reality that when we take those things into our lips that

[40:15] God would bless those things as grace to us and that we would receive in his presence a feeding of a feasting in the Lord that we would come to God and receive food God's food for our souls the kind of bread that Jesus promised If you eat of this bread you will never hunger again or if you would drink of this water you will never thirst that's the kind of spiritual food and drink that our Savior offers to his church and we receive gladly don't we and also we come to the scriptures we come to the Bible as God's very word his very food to us and it is more than simply religious idealistic thinking of what Jesus did for us no this is actual food for us this is your livelihood this is your hope this is your food so I do ask are you eating are you partaking are you feasting on the words of

[41:20] God brother sister do not neglect your Bibles and I respect you so much for your memorization of scripture that you would take that to heart run with it even with all the cheating going on keeping that thing on behind I tell you that's now we come to the scriptures as God's food his pure and precious food and now brothers and sisters we make our way to Shamgar to the final judge in our chapter three this judge gets one verse he gets verse 31 so I'll read verse 31 for you after him after Ehud was Shamgar the son of Anaph who killed 600 of the Philistines with an ox goad and he also saved Israel there he is there's Shamgar we have no other information about this gentleman

[42:21] Shamgar the son of Anaph so what can we possibly conclude why is he even included if there's really no story what's going on here I think there's a few things I'm going to drill down here from this brief encounter with this final judge and I think it's this small deliverance does matter to God small deliverances matter to God so here in one verse we're introduced to this gentleman Shamgar son of Anaph and this man by the way he's not a Hebrew decisively not Hebrew he's not Jewish his name is not Jewish and son of Anaph is actually a title most likely having to do with a military place placement in military he's an efficient within the military or he is a temple servant and Anaph is the goddess of war a Canaanite goddess of war so we're talking about a pagan who actively is serving the goddess of war either in a military way or as a temple servant so he's not even a

[43:31]  Jewish he's not pretending to be Jewish he's not having any interest really it seems just by his name alone in Yahweh it seems he's not a in that sense he's not pretending to be he was my guess is he would not go by the name son of Anaph that title he would not be known that way he would be known by a Hebraic name he would change his name to reflect his commitments so this guy is not the stuff of godliness he's not going to make the top ten list the most godly guys in the very unlikely deliverer very unlikely just as with Ehud being a left-handed man from the least of the tribes in Benjamin so we read now of Samgar being a very unlikely deliverer and we read in verse 31 simply that he saved Israel killing 600 men by the use of an ox goat an ox goat was a pole we don't know the exact length have