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[0:00] Now, if somebody were to go out and kill a bunch of people, that person's life would be reduced! But, in verse 31, in a very different way, Shamgar kills 600 people and has his life reduced!

[0:30] On the account of Shamgar, it's a short account, but remember that this is the Word of God. And less words of God are of no less authority or significance. So, even just one sentence can testify of Christ. So, if you'll turn with me in Judges chapter 3. Again, our text this morning is just verse 31, but we will read from verses 12 to 31.

[1:00] And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So, the Lord strengthened Eglon, king of Moab, against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord.

[1:17] Then he gathered to himself the people of Ammon and Amalek, went and defeated Israel, and took possession of the city of Palms. So, the children of Israel served Eglon, king of Moab, 18 years.

[1:33] But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them. Eglon, king of Moab, 18 years.

[2:09] And when he had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried the tribute. But he himself turned back from the stone images that were at Gilgal and said, I have a secret message for you, O king. He said, keep silence. And all who attended him went out from him. So, Ehud came to him. Now, he was sitting upstairs in his cool private chamber. Then Ehud said, I have a message from God for you. So, he arose from his seat. Then Ehud reached from his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. Even the hilt went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the dagger out of his belly, and his entrails came out. Then Ehud went out through the porch and shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. When he had gone out, Eglon's servants came to look, and to their surprise, the doors of the upper room were locked. So, they said, he's probably attending to his needs in the cold chamber. So, they waited till they were embarrassed. And still, he had not opened the doors of the upper room. Therefore, they took the key and opened them, and there was their master fallen dead on the floor. But Ehud had escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the stone images, and escaped to Sarah. And it happened, when he arrived, that he blew the trumpet in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel went down with him from the mountains, and he led them.

[3:54] Then he said to them, Follow me, for the Lord has delivered your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand. So, they went down after him, seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab, and did not allow anyone to cross over. And at that time, they killed about 10,000 men of Moab, all stout men of valor. Not a man escaped. So, Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest, for 80 years. After him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who killed 600 men of the Philistines with an ox goad. And he also delivered Israel. Lord, we thank you for your word, that we have supernatural revelation. As we seek to sit under your word this morning, we pray that you would illuminate your word to us, that you would lead us into all truth. I pray that you would use me in the preaching of your word, and that you would attend the preaching, and make your word effectual to all the hearers. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[5:04] Our text this morning, it's just one verse. And in this one verse, what's going on, what we can see, is that people are prone to wander, and require divine intervention, moving them in the right way. So again, people are prone to wander, and require divine intervention, moving them in the right way. So there is, within our text, the, within the context, and what is seen in the text, is the canonization cycle, as that continues. We see the agent of deliverance, and we see the means of persuasion. So, first of all, the canonization cycle. From what we've read before, and what we've worked through before, as we know that God delivered the Israelites from the house of bondage, from slavery, from Egypt, he led them through the wilderness, he brought them into the land of promise, into Canaan, and there they began to settle. And in doing so, they failed to drive out the evil that was in the land, and the evil had this canonization effect on the people, as they established life in the promised land.

[6:21] And this land was to be, it was to be a theocratic land, that is a life, a nation living under God, where God was to be, to them, their God, and they would be his people. The covenant relationship between God and his people is where God says, I will be your God, and you will be, you shall be my people. But, because they failed to obey God's commands, and failed to drive out the evil, which is described through the pagan religions, the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and they syncretized their homes by amalgamating various religions, by amalgamating the worshiping of the Baals, of the pagan gods who aren't gods, and being a people of God, which they would have soon found out that God's commands in worshiping God gets in the way of pagan worship, and the immorality involved in their forms of worship, and their temple prostitution, and so forth. So, Canaanization begins, and the people forsake God, and the people worship false gods, and engage in immorality. And then we learned that they then forgot God, just the next generation, by just one generation. And so the cycle is that covenant sanctions then kick in. So covenant sanctions are God's threats, because this covenant with Israel is that it's blessings based on obedience, and it's threats based on disobedience. So these sanctions, or these threats, are that when the people forsake God, then he will raise up their enemy against them, and hand them over to their enemy. And this is to prevent them from going further into sin, going further into danger, and away from God. So these covenant sanctions kick in, or these covenant threats, and then as such, the people of Israel are oppressed, and under oppression, they cry out to

[8:28] God for deliverance, and then God raises up a deliverer. And then the deliverer will defeat the enemies, and then we read that the land had rest, and the land having rest with no oppression, they use their freedom to return to their sin. They do not repent, they return to their sin. So the first cycle that we read of was of Othniel, and that Othniel was a faithful man, Othniel was a battle-tested man, and that God raised up Othniel, and Othniel defeated the oppressive, double evil enemy, and delivered the people from oppression. And then of course, were they faithful and fully devoted to God? No, they used their freedom to return to sin. And then having forgotten God and forsaken God, again, covenant sanctions now kick in, and then God raises up their oppressive enemy. They cry out to God, and God raises up

[9:28] Ehud. In Ehud, God's southpaw, or left-handed deliverer, delivers God's people from the oppressive evil enemy, the fattened calf, fattened for the slaughter, and then the land has rests. But yet, the Canaanization cycle continues yet again. So we find ourselves with Israel now in a place where they need to be delivered. They need to be saved. Now remember this covenant relationship that is to be between God and his people when they are to settle in the land, and they are to obey God, and God is to bless them. The covenant relation is that he to them is, he says, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. But yet, they don't look to God. They don't serve God. They serve false gods. They serve pagan gods. They are not God's people. Now, notice in verse 31, it's only one sentence. There's not a lot of details that are given. In the account of Ehud, there's many details given. There's details about blood, and guts, and gore, and dung, and deliver, details about deliverance, and details about rest. But there's very little details that are given to us in verse 31, which is pretty significant.

[11:00] There's no reference to the Canaanization formula. There's a formula where we can see throughout, especially in the previous two accounts of, if you could call the stages, of the formula.

[11:11] But notice, in verse 31, it doesn't say, there is no mention of Israel doing evil again. There is no mention of the divine sanctions, of the Lord giving them over to the hand of their enemy.

[11:25] There is no mention of Israel crying out to the Lord. And there is no mention of the Lord raising up a judge to deliver them. And there's no mention of the oppressive enemy being subjugated or subdued.

[11:39] And there's no mention of the land having rest. There's few details that are given. But because there's so few details, it draws our attention to what those details are, and why they are given.

[11:54] These details of deliverance get our attention this morning. Now, we mentioned the covenant sanctions, that with the Canaanization cycle, when they are Canaanized, and they forsake God, and they serve the false gods, and covenant sanctions kick in. Sanctions are the threats. God's threats, that based on this covenant, this old covenant with the ethnic people of Israel, that if they do not obey God, then he will raise up their enemy. And if you remember in Joshua, in Joshua 24, 20, it says, If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you after he has done you good.

[12:41] So these covenant sanctions are that when they are failing to obey God, there are consequences, there are threats, there are sanctions. So for there to be the outworking of these threats, it demonstrates what was anteceded to it, that is, their disobedience. Because should they obey, God would protect them and God would bless them.

[13:10] And in our text, we know that Israel needed to be saved. They didn't have rest, they needed to be saved. So experiencing these covenant sanctions or threats means that they forsook the Lord, they forgot the Lord, they served the gods of the nations, and they forgot the Lord. This is what we see all throughout preparing for this, and even in Judges, in the Canaanization cycle, the cycles of the judges and the oppressive enemy, is that they forsook the Lord and they forgot the Lord.

[13:46] Now, many so-called churches today, or perhaps nominal churches, that is by name only, I think it's fair to say that many of them today have forgotten the Lord.

[13:58] And instead of worshiping God according to God's way, in the land of promise, Israel was to worship God, and they were to worship God in His way.

[14:10] But instead, they embraced the ways of worship and the culture around them, trying to import that into the worship of God. Many churches today have forgotten the Lord, and instead of worshiping God by God's way, they import the ways of the world and the ways of the culture and the entertainment, and import that into the church, into worship.

[14:32] So instead of worshiping God, what they worship is their own wills. And there's a term called will worship, and will worship is, really can be summed up in the way in which Judges is summed up, in that everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

[14:49] Instead of obeying God's commands, they sought to entertain themselves. They did what was right in their own eyes, for themselves. So this will worship is, instead of worshiping God according to His commands, really worshiping one's own desires.

[15:08] So, back to Judges, how do we understand God in this Canaanization cycle? God raises up and delivers, the land has rest, but yet they don't repent, and they find themselves having forsaken God, and then under oppression of an evil enemy.

[15:30] So how do we understand God in this cycle? Why is this continuing cycle, why does it continue on of having rest, but then followed by rebellion against God?

[15:44] Does God change? Does God change as Israel changes in their relation towards God? Is God and His solutions inadequate?

[15:55] Or are people fickle? So, when we describe things, we describe things that are outside of our reach, according to our perception of it.

[16:10] So, for example, if we were to explain the sun, we would explain it as though the sun rises, and the sun gets hotter, or the sun gets brighter, and then the sun sets, and the sun is gone.

[16:22] But this isn't the case. The sun doesn't get hotter or colder, the sun doesn't get brighter or dimmer, the sun doesn't go away. We explain it according to our perception of something that is out of reach, according to our perception of having our feet firmly planted on earth.

[16:37] Similarly, with the moon, we might say it's half a moon this evening, or the moon is gone, or it's a full moon, or it's not a full moon. But the moon is always round.

[16:50] The moon doesn't change. It's according to our perception. It's our perspective that changes. So the moon's always round, but our current situation may obscure our ability to see the fullness of the moon.

[17:07] So also at times with scripture, as it deals with how God works, it's explained in order for us to understand as creatures in language that accommodates our understanding, according to our perspective.

[17:20] Now, Petrus Van Matrik, he wrote, God alone has all essence, while all other things have only some small part of essence, and they also exist only for a moment or a flow of moments, in which past things are no more, future things are not yet, and what remains is nothing but a moment.

[17:42] Whereas God, or the eternity of God, is the possession, at once whole and perfect, of boundless life. When we read accounts about how God works, according to the perspective of people, what we want to do is we want to take that, which the Bible tells us about God, God's essence, God's existence, God's attribute, his perfection, and bring that idea of God with us, to understand then God's, who God is in his workings, as is explained, to accommodate us in our creaturely experience, because we can't relate to God, so we can't relate to how God works on a one-to-one way, or in a way which is equivalent to who God is.

[18:29] It is out of our reach. Now, what I'm getting at, is that it's not that God changes, as Israel forsakes him, and forgets him, rather, Israel, is distancing themselves, from his favor, such as our earthly perspective, of the heat of the sun, or the fullness of the moon, depending on our earthly location, depending on our circumstances, depending on our perspective.

[18:54] God doesn't change, it's not that God changes, it's that Israel forsakes him, forgets him, and is distancing themselves, from his favor. The deficient factor, in this covenant relationship, isn't God.

[19:09] The deficient, the deficiency factor, in this covenant relation, is people. Which brings us then, to our next point, that as the nation's condition deteriorates, there is an increased demonstration, of the need, for divine intervention.

[19:28] Did you catch that? As the nation's condition deteriorates, there is an increased demonstration, of the need, for divine intervention. So our second point, is the agent, of deliverance.

[19:39] And our agent, of deliverance, in this cycle, is Shamgar. Now, starts off by saying, after him. Which, means, after who?

[19:51] Of course, after Ehud, who was a deliverer. So, after him, after this deliverer, the next to come, is Shamgar. After him, we have Shamgar.

[20:02] Now, something that's interesting, is that Shamgar, was probably, actually not, an Israelite. So after him, was Shamgar, the son of Anath. And Anath, is actually a pagan name, and Anath, is the Canaanite, goddess of war, who was, supposedly, the sister, and cohort, of Baal.

[20:23] And it can also be read, that Shamgar, the worshipper, of Anath. So, this is, a pagan name. We'll come back, to the significance of that, but, Shamgar, and scholars agree, that Shamgar, was not, actually, an Israelite.

[20:42] Shamgar, was likely, a semi-nomadic, mercenary, who would have been paid, likely by Egypt, to fight off, Philistines. It is likely, then, that Shamgar, was not, actually, intentionally, seeking to deliver, Israel, but, Israel, directly, benefited, from Shamgar's victory.

[21:05] Shamgar, he just appears, out of nowhere, he accomplishes, this incredible victory, and then, he disappears, without saying goodbye. So the fact, that Israel's, deliverance, depends, on an outsider, it speaks, to their state, in the canonization, cycle.

[21:24] It speaks, to their shame, and it speaks, to their distance, from God. But their deliverance, is not relying, on the Lord, as their covenant God, where he, to them, will be their God, and they, to him, will be his people.

[21:41] there, there is not even, mention, of them, crying out, to the Lord. Do you, ever feel, like, you can't, cry out, to God?

[21:54] Israel, was, in this, canaanization, cycle, where the ways, of Canaan, the evil, the pagan religions, the idolatry, the immorality, where it took over, and consumed them, so much, that, they forgot, the Lord.

[22:11] And, here there's no mention, of them, even crying out, to them. In previous mentions, they did cry out, to the Lord. But here, there is no mention, of it. Do you ever feel, like you can't, cry out to God, because of your sin, or because of your, complacency, as though, you don't, deserve, to call, on the name, of the Lord?

[22:33] The Bible tells us, that God, saves, the chief, of sinners, and all, who call, on the name, of the Lord, and believe, on him, for salvation, will be saved. And all, who are saved, in Christ, and represented, by Christ, have full access, with boldness, to approach, the throne of grace, in our time of need.

[22:53] Remember, God, is faithful. God, is a faithful, covenant, keeping God. The covenant, of grace, is conditional, not upon, our perfection, it's not, it's not based, on your perfection, and your worthiness, or deservingness, to call, on the name, of the Lord, or your worthiness, to approach, the throne of grace.

[23:11] But it's on God's, immutable faithfulness, and his once, and the once for all, finished work of Christ, on behalf, of all believers. So he, back to our text, Shamgar, says he too, saved Israel.

[23:26] And Shamgar, in his, saving Israel, is, a shadow, which points to Christ. And you might think, how can you call him, a shadow?

[23:37] How can you call him, a deliverer? How can you call him, a savior, which points to Christ? He wasn't even an Israelite. And something that's important, to remember, as we work through this, and we see much flaws, in Israel, and we see much flaws, in the deliverers, is that these, deliverers, aren't the hero, of the Bible.

[23:55] It's not about, the human deliverers. It's not about, the human hero. They are not, the true heroes, in which it points to, but they're, in typology, and seeing the shadow, or the type, or the copy, it can be, that there can be, an institution, or an event, or a person, or a place, and the details of it, which paint a picture, of the substance, which is Christ.

[24:22] So there may be, some details, or small details, which point to Christ. So remember, Shamgar, is not, the promised, skull crushing, seed of the woman, in Genesis 3.15, the promised one, who'd, who'd crush the skull, of the serpent.

[24:36] That's not Shamgar. But in Shamgar's, event, in this event here, there is something, within it, that points us, towards the gospel. Now, Israel, we know that, the setting, in which this occurs, that Israel, was in difficult times, they were hard pressed, under oppressive enemies.

[24:56] They needed to be saved, they needed to be delivered, from the Philistines. We didn't read this, in today's text, but if you read ahead, in chapter 5, verse 6 to 7, it says this, In the days of Shamgar, which is, our text, In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, the highways were deserted, and the travelers, walked along the byways.

[25:22] Village life ceased, ceased, it ceased, in Israel. As you read that, you can almost, kind of even, picture the tumbleweed, slowly making its way, down the street. The Lord, the covenant, faithful God of Israel, he saved his people, by extraordinary means.

[25:42] But this was just, temporary liberation. There's no mention here, of the land having rest. And we know, that they returned, to their evil ways, because as we continue, to read, in chapter 4, it says, When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel, again, did evil, in the sight of the Lord.

[26:03] So, the Lord sold them, into the hand of, the next evil, oppressive enemy. This was a temporary, liberation, and, there was no rest.

[26:18] Now, what's important about this, is that they didn't repent. These people, the people of Israel, they did not repent. And the cycle continues, and they again, did evil, in the sight of the Lord.

[26:29] The children of Israel, again, did evil. And so, the Lord sold them, into the hand, of their enemy. Now, with Shamgar, not being an Israelite, we have, an unlikely deliverer, and this unlikely deliverer, uses, an unexpected weapon.

[26:50] There's very few details, in this verse, that are given to us, of this account, but one of the details, it gives us, is the weapon, in which he used, to defeat, the enemy. And that is, an ox goad.

[27:03] Now, ox goad, this, this account, where it says that, he killed 600 men, of the Philistines, with an ox goad, it actually anticipates, Samson. Because Samson, killed a thousand, with a jawbone.

[27:17] But what exactly, is an ox goad? Back for a text, and to draw out, the details of it. An ox goad, is essentially, a pointy, prodding stick, for moving oxen. When I say, when I say stick, probably more like, a club, that it wouldn't break, under the pressure, of its use, but it was, it was a club, or a stick, that would be, made with wood, with a pointy end, that would be used, to prick, or to, to prod the ox, to, to, to keep it, from going the wrong way, to, to cause it, to persuade it, to go in the way, in which it should go.

[27:53] Now, if you've ever been, walking around the back, of your truck, and your shin happens, to meet the hitch, at the back, then, I think you can probably, understand the concept.

[28:05] You might, try to, kick against the goad, and kick the hitch, or yell at it, and call it names, or insult its intelligence, but, you're going to learn your lesson, you're not going to continue, to try to go that way, you're going to start, going the right way, and going around it.

[28:21] So, if you have, kicked your shin against the hitch, you get the point, if you haven't, when you do, think of this, because it probably will happen. So, the ox goad, it wasn't made of the same material, as a hitch, it was made of wood, and it usually had, an iron point, on the end of it, which was used to, to prick, the beast of burden, the ox, of course, would have a, a yoke on it, it would be under burden, and being worked, so this, it would prick the beast of burden, and move it where it needs to go, not in the wrong way, but, move it where it needs to go, contrary to its, stubborn nature, that doesn't want, to go, the right way.

[29:01] It doesn't want to go, the right way, it wants to go, the wrong way, according to its nature, so it needs to be, to be pricked, to move it where it needs to go. Now, further, in verse 31, we see that there's a victory, of 600 Philistines.

[29:16] Now, the Philistines, would have been terrorizing, Israel, but, not just Israel, it wasn't exclusive, against Israel, the Philistines would have been known, to terrorize, other nations, so they weren't just the enemies, of Israel, but they would have been, the enemies of Canaanites, they would have been, the enemies of, of Egyptians, and they would conduct raids, and in these raids, it's not like they're just, running down the streets, and writing graffiti, on the walls, and skateboarding, where there's a, no skateboarding sign, what they are doing, with these raids, is terrorizing the cities, they would be, burning homes, they would be killing people, they would be, stealing from them, plundering, and kidnapping, women and children, to be taken, for the slave trade, so it was very oppressive, these terrorizing raids, of the Philistines, and it says here, that Shamgar, killed 600 of them, now 600, would be a common reference, to a military force, under a commander, which it doesn't, state how organized, it was, but it gives us, a visual, of the force, of which Shamgar, had victory over,

[30:29] Shamgar, took 600 on, Shamgar took on, this oppressive force, single handedly, he single handedly, killed 600, raiding warriors, in a superhuman, feat of strength, and power, and it says, he too, saved Israel, or it might say, he too, delivered Israel, the implication of course, for Israel to be saved, to be delivered, is that they needed it, they needed it, to be delivered, they were in a vulnerable place, where they needed to be saved, Israel could not, defeat their enemy, on their own, they needed, a supra, human, not superhuman, but supra, as in above, or beyond, a superhuman, intervention, against 600 warriors, and God's covenant, promised to protect them, remember, it was conditional, upon their obedience, to him, so, why did they require salvation, why did they require, being saved, or being delivered, from their enemies, it was because of their sin, the Philistines, weren't the true problem, the Philistines, were a result, of their disobedience, of sin, because, had they obeyed God,

[31:45] God would protect them, and bless them, as a nation, under God, so the Philistines, weren't actually, the true problem, the true problem, was their sin, which they, failed to repent of, but returned to, they used their freedom, to return, to their sin, the true problem, therefore, was their sin, but Shamgar's victory, we see here, saved Israel, or delivered Israel, the work of one, and conquering a force, to save many, God's work of salvation, is through one man, representing the many, if you read Romans 5, 19, and Matthew 20, 28, you see also, in the work of Christ, that in the place of many, Jesus is the one, in the place of the many, who saves his people, from their sins, so that brings us, to our third point, Shamgar, was not the gospel solution, that was proclaimed, in Genesis 3, 15, so our third point, is the means, of persuasion, in our text, the institution, is Israel,

[32:55] Israel as God's covenant people, or Israel to be God's covenant people, the event that's occurring, is salvation by a deliverer, and the truth, is that people, are prone to wander, yet, God is a saving, covenant keeping, faithful God, now as we, we move on, from the account of, of Ehud, over to the account, of Shamgar, we move from, an unlikely, and unexpected assassin, to an unlikely, and unexpected weapon, and that weapon, again remember, there's very little details, that are given in verse 31, but the details, that are given, includes the weapon, that was used, and this, unexpected weapon, is an ox code, a tool, that's used, in plowing, to persuade, an ox, a beast of burden, to go straight, to go in the way, in which it ought to go, and we probably don't, use the word goad, too often, but we have heard it, in the Bible before, haven't we,

[33:59] Ecclesiastes 12, 11, it says, the words, of the wise, are like goads, do you get that, the words of the wise, are like pointy prodding sticks, to move people, in the right direction, and Jesus, we know from scripture, is the wisdom of God, the words of the wise, are like goads, Jesus, is the wisdom of God, and Jesus, the power of God, the work of redemption of God, in Christ, the words of Christ, the wisdoms of Christ, is the point, and, his ox goad, like words, move people, Acts, 26, 14, tells us the account, of Paul, Saul of Tarsus, and his conversion, and Saul of Tarsus, was persecuting, the church, if you recall, and 14, says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me, it is hard, for you to kick against, the goads,

[35:05] Saul, is the chief of sinners, he called himself, the chief of sinners, he was under, the stubborn, burden of sin, he was a beast of burden, under the yoke, of the slavery of sin, and he was trying, to kick against, the prick of the goad, but the effectual work, of the word, and spirit, pricked his soul, and moved him, in the right way, moved him, in the way, he was to go, now back to our text, the Philistines, would have said, it was hard, to kick against, the goads of Shamgar, as such, how much more, effectual, are the words, of Christ, when they prick, sinful mankind, who are beasts, of burden, under the yoke, of the slavery, of sin, and maybe you're thinking, but I thought, the word of God, was called the sword, I thought the word of God, was metaphorically, referred to as, a sword, so, why, why a goad, why not sword, well, can you guess, what the name,

[36:09] Shamgar means, the name Shamgar, means, sword, the sword, by God's power, single handedly, destroyed, the burdensome, oppression, saving God's, people, by instrumentally, using a tool, that pricks, a beast, of burden, to move them, in the right way, so, to tie this up, Christ's, wise words, scripture, the word of God, contains, what is necessary, to move sinners, who are by nature, beasts, of burden, under the yoke, of the slavery, of sin, contains, what is necessary, to move sinners, in the way, they should go, remember in Romans 10, it says, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by, the word of God, the hearer of the word, is moved, or pricked to the soul, by the spirit of God, making the word, effectual, hence, the sword of the spirit, so, what do we, what do we conclude, from, from this verse, on Shamgar, a few concluding uses, first one, think about the ox gore, and that would have been, made out of wood, if you try to, to picture, what it would have been, like 600, raiding warriors, who are trained, and experienced, in killing, and terrorizing, and in war, and one, with an ox gore, a wooden stick, coming up against them, it's not like, these Philistines, would be running up, with their, with their arms, out to the side, and just stop, and stand there, and wait for him, to do some fancy move, and drive them through, with a wooden pointy stick, now I imagine, that 600, trained, and experienced, warriors, who were out, to kill, and terrorize, that they would be, coming, with weapons out, and swords, swinging, and whatever, they would have had, so, if you picture, a wooden club, or a wooden stick, made of wood, and, the attackers, let's say, they came swinging, and if, if, if each, if each Philistine, were to swing, at least once, against Shamgar, and he would have to block it, all he'd have, was this wooden ox goad, let's say, he blocked, just one, strike, one blow, from each of them, that would be, that would be 600 blows, do you think, a wooden stick, would stand up, to 600 blows, of trained warriors, who are out, to kill, and terrorize, so, what is, what is this, what is this, what does this tell us, there's something more, going on, than just the fact, that there's this, wooden stick, and this Shamgar, and what that is, is that it's not the power, of the instrument, it's not the power, of the instrument, of the ox goad, which, which gained victory, over 600 Philistines, killing them, and thus, delivering Israel, the instrument, is unlikely, and the instrument, is undistinguished, just like us, just like us, whom God uses, instrumentally, by his power, by his wisdom, by his strength, and to his glory, for battleground, gospel advancement, whether that, be through our prayers, or through, the preaching of the word, or through gospel conversations, it's his power, his wisdom, his strength, and his glory, and he uses us, instrumentally, second concluding use, is that John Owen, you've probably heard this,

[39:45] John Owen famously wrote, be killing sin, or it will be killing you, so, how does somebody, go to battle, against their, their many sins, some people will try, to take the old testament, and, and spiritualize it, or moralize it, and, and say that, this, this person, this hero, is, it points to us, and the enemy points to, points to, to all our sins, but that's, that's not what's going on, all of scripture, all, from, from, from Moses, to the prophets, doesn't testify, about me, it doesn't testify, about you, it testifies, Christ, is fulfilled, in Christ, so, how does someone, go to battle, against their sins, the point of Shamgar, it's not that, that Shamgar, is a shadow of us, Shamgar doesn't point to us, it points to Christ, having victory, over, the forces of darkness, it's not your strength, or your righteousness, or any form of asceticism, it's the gospel, it's the work of Christ, revealed in the word of God, the story of the spirit, and according to the words, power, made effectual, by the spirit of God, and the words, function to prick, the beast of burden, under the yoke of slavery, of sin, and move it, in the way, in which it should go, so that brings us, to our third concluding use, that God's covenant blessings, with the nation of Israel, in the Old Testament, was conditional, on their obedience, and the Old Covenant, is not the New Covenant, we are not in this Old Covenant, our covenantal relationship, with God, is not conditional, upon our righteousness, or our works, or our obedience, and this, with the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, the fact that it was dependent, upon their obedience, this is why, they needed to be delivered, it was to their own shame, that they needed to be delivered, by an outsider, but, praise God, that the covenant of grace, the New Covenant, is not conditional, on our righteousness, it's not conditional, on our asceticism, it's not conditional, on our perfection, and in Jeremiah 31, verses 31 to 32, it says this,

[41:56] Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make, a new covenant, with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant, that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them, by the hand, and led them out, of the hand of Egypt, my covenant, which they broke, though I was a husband, to them, says the Lord, but this, is the covenant, that I will make, with the house of Israel, after those days, says the Lord, I will put my law, in their minds, and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people, now our justification, neither forensically, nor finally, because there is no difference, contrary to what Rome, will try to teach, or other roads, which lead back to Rome, for example, we'll say that there's, an initial justification, of a clean slate, but then, your final justification, is based on, your preserving, or your, or your, your works, or your righteousness, to maintain that justification, which is horrific, it is absolutely wrong, and unbiblical, it is a different gospel, it's not the gospel, there is no, there's no dichotomy, between an initial justification, when being saved, being justified, and a final justification, the day of judgment, it's the same justification, it's the same thing, and it's based on the same thing, so our justification, our final justification, it depends, not, on our righteousness, so, from the point, of our salvation, our being justified, before God, is not based, on our righteousness, and our, our justified, being in a right standing, before God, on the day of judgment, is not based, on our righteousness, righteousness, it does not depend, on us, does not depend, on our righteousness, but praise God, it is entirely, based on the righteousness, of Christ, imputed to us, and received, by grace alone, so the fourth concluding use, is what does that mean, for you, where, are you today, are you, as Saul of Tarsus was, kicking against the goads, according to the burdensome, nature of sin, remember that Christ, came, to save sinners, none of these, human heroes, none of these judges, none of these deliverers, they were not the promised, skull crushing, seed of the woman, they did not bring, eternal rest, they did not, bring repentance, they did not, deliver the people, from their sins, from the penalty, of their sins, from the oppression, of their sins, or from, from the dominion, and power, of their sins, but it is Christ, people are not the heroes, and that is why, it is so significant, that the son of God, the word, or the wisdom of God, being eternally God, took to himself, a body, in our nature, in human nature, and in our nature, did what we all failed to do, he perfected that obedience, what is required, to inherit eternal life, perfect, exact, entire, perpetual obedience, none of us, have done that, we've all failed, to do that, which is required, to merit, or to inherit, eternal life, but Christ did, the person of Jesus Christ, did perfect obedience, he did do that, which we all fail to do, and he did it perfectly, a positive righteousness, which is imputed, to the account of the saints, so that, on the day of judgment, when we're brought, before our maker, when we're brought, before our God, we do not stand, based upon, our righteousness, but the perfect righteousness, of Christ, which is accredited, to our account, and then the sin, the sin which condemns us, the burden of sin, under which, we are oppressed, he suffered and died, to pay the penalty, of that sin, to satisfy divine justice,

[45:56] in our place, that we would have, a full pardon of sin, because God doesn't, set aside his justice, he doesn't set aside, his holiness, he doesn't set aside, his righteousness, instead, he satisfies justice, by the payment of penalty, in Christ, on the cross, so, where are you at today, are you kicking against, the goads, as it were, according to the burdensome, nature of sin, if you are still, under the burden of sin, remember Christ came, to save sinners, receive Christ, rest on Christ alone, look to Christ, for salvation, and you will be saved, let's pray, our great God, we thank you, for the work of salvation, we thank you, our Lord Jesus Christ, that you, came to save sinners, that you did, what we could not do, and that you, fixed the sin problem, that you deliver, your people, from their sins, we thank you, for this work of redemption, which does not bring, temporary rest, but that it brings, eternal rest, and as those, whom have been saved, those, whom have, justification, by the righteousness, of Christ, accredited to us, that we, while we are, as it were, still in this, wilderness, wandering, that we are on our way, to the land of promise, to the eternal rest, we thank you, for your word, and the hope, in which we have in it, because of Christ, and the hope, which we have in Christ, which is a living hope, we pray,

[47:19]  Lord, that you would help us, to think upon these things, that, that the word, which we have heard, will not quickly, leave our minds, but that we would think upon it, and contemplate these things, and that we would overflow, with proper responses, to you, whether that be responses, of confession, and repentance, and turning to you, or whether that be responses, of praise, for your glorious gospel, you indeed are worthy, we pray these things, in Jesus name, amen, amen, well take your, word,