Dirty Jobs

Judges 3:12-30

Ehud

Have you ever had to do a dirty job? Every time I go and work in the yard I come back in covered with dust and dirt. It reminds me of the old show that use to come on, dirty jobs with Mike Rowe.

You remember him, having to do some of the dirtiest jobs around. From cleaning animal stalls, to working in a sewer system, he experienced some of the grossest and dirtiest jobs around.

Now I am grateful for people who are willing to do the hard jobs in life. I mean, just those who work at a paper mill, I respect. But there are some other jobs that aren’t so pleasant. And in fact, sometimes God calls us to do some hard jobs.

And that is what we find in our passage tonight. Tonight we are going to be introduced to the second judge of Israel. A man named Ehud, and though Ehud may not be one of the most recognizable men from scripture, he stood for the Lord and helped a nation find freedom once more.

Let’s read the scripture and see this individual’s story and how it relates to us today.

(Read Scripture)

Now as you can tell, this is a very graphic story, but ultimately it is a story of deliverance. And when we look at the nature of this event, we find some things that really stand out.

The first thing I want you to notice is…

The Decent of Israel (vs 12a)

· The first judge Othniel had led the people into freedom from their captors, but it was led by repentance. Othniel is now dead, and what do we find happening in the nation?

· We find a nation that is reverting back to sinful living.

· Why does the nation revert back? Well, they got their eyes off of God and onto the world.

· What does this show us, well a couple of things. First the value of godly leadership.

· First, having a mature Christian in our life that we can follow, helps us to follow the Lord.

· As long as there was a faithful servant of the Lord leading the people, the nation served God.

· And the second thing, when we don’t have someone, we are likely to fall into a worldly lifestyle.

· There are many people who claim to be Christians, but they live like the world. And one of the reasons they are like this, is because they have lacked biblical focus, and have not been discipled.

· Anytime, we take our eyes off the Lord we will fall into the decent of sinful living.

The Dominion over Israel (vs 12b-14)

· Now we see the decent of Israel, and in the next few verses we find the dominion over Israel.

· When Israel began living like the world, this put a strain on the relationship with the Lord.

· Now understand, the Lord wants us to live godly lives, to grow closer to him. But Israel wasn’t growing closer with the Lord, they were drifting away.

· Now when Israel drifted away, a king of Moab rose up to enslave the nation.

· The king is named Eglon, and the scripture makes note of the man’s weight. It says that he is a fat man.

· Now Eglon is a man overweight, but I also believe that he illustrates the life of the people.

· That they just give in to what looks appetizing, that is what Israel had been doing. And now a literal fat man has come and conquered them.

· I’m sure many people looked on this man with the mindset, that he couldn’t beat them. But what happen? He beat Israel.

· Today, there are those who are battling Eglon. And he has conquered them. Things that they look at on the surface and say, there is no way that this can control me.

· They look on it with the idea, that they are stronger, faster, and more agile. But what is happening is king Eglon is actually beating them.

· Who is king Eglon in our lives? Well, he is our addictions, our lust of the flesh. Things that we indulge ourselves in and refuse to refrain from.

· For some it is addiction to food, for others it is addiction to drugs, some are addicted to work, and some are addicted to entertainment.

· These having the mind that they can be enslaved by such things, only to find that it has come and took dominion in their life.

· Understand, when we take our eyes off of God, when we neglect his word and godly counsel, we are on the same path that Israel was on here.

The Distress from Israel (vs 15a)

· Now the third thing we can takeaway from this passage is found in verse 15, and this is the distress from Israel.

· Israel has been living under the rule of Eglon, they want freedom, they couldn’t provide it. So, they call out to the Lord.

· To Yahweh. They were in agony, the misery of the foreign rule made life horrible.

· I think of people today who are chained to pain-killers, to alcohol, to narcotics, to pornography, to mental issues, to so many agonizing things of this world.

· I think of man named Nathan who went to church and got saved when he was just a teenager. But got into early adulthood and fell out of church. His life being influenced by social drinking quickly became a life that needed alcohol all the time. Nathan all ways thought he could quit, but he kept finding himself going to the store and buying a case of beer each day. Nathan was enslaved to king Eglon and he wanted to be free. AA & worldly friends were no help. The only one he could think of to free him was the God he has accepted into his heart when he was young. So, Nathan sought the Lord, and the Lord heard.

· Just like Nathan, there are so many people who want freedom, but they don’t know who to call to. Friend, you must call unto the LORD.

· The pain and agony was too much for them to free themselves from, and in fact, without God they would have never been freed.

· And that is what must be understood by the one who is in such bondage. To call out to the Lord, he will hear your cry, he will see your distress.

· And when you cry with true sorrow and seek the Lord for your help, he will move on your situation.

· Listen, it is okay to ask God for help. The mindset of the world today is, you made the problem you fix it.

· But that is not what the Bible teaches. Though we may create the problem with sinful living, it is God who works in solving it.

· That is the kind of God we serve. And so, we must cry out for help. Letting him know of our bondage, letting him know we need him.

The Deliverer of Israel (vs 15b-26)

· Now we have seen the distress of Israel, but that brings us to the fourth thing we can find in this passage, and that is the deliverer of Israel.

· God raises up a judge, and in this passage we find his name to be Ehud. Now Ehud’s name has a double meaning. The first meaning means “to praise” and the second meaning is “united”.

· This man who has no lineage identification, no regal status, no great deeds, or anything else that marks him of importance is called by God to be the deliverer.

· And just as we find in the scripture, this man Ehud, goes to Eglon, and assassinates him in perhaps one of the most illustrative ways.

· As we learn, Ehud smuggles in a dagger that he has attached to his inner thigh of his right leg.

· And after the attendants and all have left the room, we find that Ehud has linger behind.

· Now the king goes to him summer parlor, and this is basically a private bathroom, and he has gone in and sat down to do his business.

· But Ehud sneaks into the bathroom and puts that dagger right into king Eglon. Now remember, Eglon is a hefty size man, and when Ehud puts that dagger in him, there is no coming out with it.

· And so when Ehud kills Eglon, he leaves the king basically on the potty, and that is what is meant in verse 24 about him covering his feet. And Ehud escapes.

· Now this was a dirty job. Ehud had to go into an unpleasant environment and get rid of the one who held the Israelites down.

· Now in life we realize that there are king Eglons that hold people down and we need a deliverer.

· While Ehud stuck the enemy with his weapon, it was Jesus Christ dying on the cross to defeat they enemy.

· Jesus stuck it to sin, and friends death could not hold him, he defeated death and rose again.

· Now the Eglon of your life has no hold on you if you allow the Lord to defeat it in your life.

· While it is not a dagger that Jesus uses, it is the life that he gave on an old cross, that severs the head of the enemy.

· Ehud made sure the job was done, and friends Jesus Christ made sure that the job was done as well. Eglon didn’t get back up, and in like manner sin cannot stand to Christ.

The Decimation by Israel (vs 27-30)

· Now the deliverer of Israel allows Israel the opportunity to fight back. And this is the last thing we find in the text, the decimation by Israel.

· Israel had been in bondage for 18 years to this king. And when God used Ehud to kill the king, this allowed for the people to rise up with strength in the Lord to oppose the remaining enemy.

· You see, the enemy was still there, the armies of king Eglon still roamed the land. But when the king was killed, it put the army into disarray.

· This gave Israel to opportunity to fight back, and fight back they did. We find in verse 29, that the killed 10,000 men.

· Now these men they killed, they are not pushovers. These men are strong, large, and well trained. How were the Israelites able to overcome them? God.

· None of those men survived, because the Israelites were able to beat them because of God.

· You know, in like manner, there are times when we thrust the dagger in Eglon ourselves, but the army is strong and we become fearful and fall right back into where we were at.

· And if we face them in our own strength we will be defeated. But, when we face them with the Lord on our side. Victory can be ours.

· Listen, the enemy is not just going to let you walk out of bondage, but victory can be won if we go in the strength of the Lord.

· Israel after this found peace in the land for 80 years.

· You know, there are many lives today, you want peace, your want deliverance, you want victory.

· Well friend, the only way you can truly have lasting peace in your life, is to turn it over to Jesus.

· Allow him to free you from the oppression you have been under, allow him to free you from addiction, allow him to set you free from all the things that have chained enslaved you in life.

· Ehud was just a nobody who listened to the Lord and led a nation back to God.

· It was a dirty job, and in like manner that is what Jesus did for us as well. Don’t be enslaved to king Eglon, to sin anymore.