Deliverance is in Your Hand
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 7 viewsNotes
Transcript
31 And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, And the travellers walked through byways.
Introduction
Introduction
We hear a lot about Shamgar from Judges 3:31, but Shamgar wasn’t always a fighter.
1. The Need for Deliverance.
What a picture of weakness, failure and fear, that in the promised land, the inhabitants were afraid to travel on the highway, because there was no deliverance.
You know, the Philistines, then, every man did what he wanted to do. So we find out that the Israelites had raised up a whole lot of crop, and the Philistines would set back over there, and gambled and let them slave for them.
And here they'd walk right in (no unity among them), go right on in and say, "Well…" take their crops. Year after year they did that. 62-1125M - Convinced And Then Concerned
4 And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass.
5 For they came up with their cattle and their tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it.
If you can keep the land from producing, you can keep the people of the land defeated.
In 1864 General William Sherman decided to make Georgia howl. He recognized that the reason the South was able to keep fighting was their land. If he could destroy the increase of the land there was nothing they could do but give in.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
Instead of going in the middle of the road, timid Christians are found in the byways.
Illustrate: Christian, Timorous and Mistrust.
So I saw in my dream that he made haste and went forward, that if possible he might get lodging there. Now, before he had gone far, he entered into a very narrow passage, which was about a furlong off the porter's lodge; and looking very narrowly before him as he went, he espied two lions in the way.
Now, thought he, I see the dangers that Mistrust and Timorous were driven back by. (The lions were chained, but he saw not the chains.) Then he was afraid, and thought also himself to go back after them, for he thought nothing but death was before him.
But the porter at the lodge, whose name is Watchful, perceiving that Christian made a halt as if he would go back, cried unto him, saying, "Is your strength so small?" Fear not the lions, for they are chained, and are placed there for trial of faith where it is, and for discovery of those that had none. Keep in the midst of the path, no hurt shall come unto you. - Pilgrim’s Progress.
1. Shamgar’s Battle
Shamgar lived in this land, and in his days, the highways were unoccupied. What a window into the mental condition, and the lack of faith that Shamgar had.
The greatest battle of Shamgar’s life was fought before he ever picked up an ox goad. Nothing changed on God’s side, from the time Shamgar sat in his house, afraid to witness to his neighbor, until he was swinging an ox goad at 600 Philistines. God didn’t need to change, Shamgar needed to change.
Shamgar needed to believe in who he was, but first he had to become tired of the habit of being subordinate to the enemy.
Maybe all of his life he had been subject to the Philistines, he didn’t know what it was like to live free.
He was a seed of Abraham.
17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
He didn't have time to go train how to duel, you know, and how to use his ox goad or a sword. But he remembered one thing, I believe, that he was a circumcised Israelite. He was the seed of Abraham. He had a right to the promise that he would possess the gate of any enemy. Amen. Both sides. He told Rebekah the same thing, and Abraham the same thing.
There he was, the seed of that couple, and he had a right to it, for he was circumcised. He was a Israelite. He was a seed of Abraham. He had the promise of God that he could possess any gate of any enemy. Hallelujah. 62-0624 - Super Sign
Satan’s job is to go about causing destruction. To steal the increase of your land.
Satan's army brings diseases, and God's army is commissioned to cast them out. Amen. There you are. Every time Satan throws any on, onto you, God's army is to cast him out. Amen. Cast out!
That's the very technique that God used. Satan used the army of destruction, to disbelieve God's Word, and set him up a better kingdom than Michael had, and God cast him out.
God's method, is, cast out the evil. Cast down reasoning. Cast down superstition. Cast down worry. Cast down diseases. Cast down sin. Amen. You're above it, resurrected in Christ Jesus, setting in Heavenly places, with every devil under your foot.
You know, you are dead. Your life is hid. What is dead? You're dead to your senses. You are dead to your conscience. Your own human will would say, "Yes, I guess I…" Dead to your reasoning. Dead to all those things. And you are buried in the Name of Jesus Christ; and raised with Him. And wherever He is, there you are also.
What happened when them, one of them doubters, got in Heaven? God kicked him out. And what did He say to the soldiers that's raised in Christ? "When a devil comes along, kick him out. Cast him out." 62-0311 - The Greatest Battle Ever Fought
In order to get in the right frame of mind to believe God’s Word about himself he had to get sick of the current condition of his faith.
Shamgar’s refusal to get involved had an effect on his family.
He looked down at his kids. He looked at his wife. He was concerned. But what was he? He was helpless. He's not a swordsman. Now, he didn't say, "Now, wait a minute. Maybe I better go to school and learn how to duel the creeds." If he'd have done that, that's all he'd knowed about.
But here's one thing that he knowed. He happened to think. "By birth I'm an Israelite. And God promised Abraham my father, that his seed would possess the gate of his enemy." Amen. That's enough. Amen. 62-1125M - Convinced And Then Concerned
1. Deliverance in Shamgar’s hand.
Shamgar began to look around for a weapon.
Weapons were scarce.
19 Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears:
20 But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock.
21 Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads.
Heb. Shamnar', שִׁמְגִּר, possibly sword [comp. Samgar];
His attack is what? Disbelieve God's Word, that's his attack. There, can you see the greatest battle was ever fought? There's only two forces; Satan and God. And what is Satan's weapon against you? Is to try to get you to disbelieve your Weapon.
He disarms you. If he can get you to disbelieve your Weapon is equivalent, if he gets you to believe that your Weapon is not strong enough, he has disarmed you. 62-0311 - The Greatest Battle Ever Fought
Shamgar had got enough of it. He said, "I am convinced that He is God. I am concerned with my family." You know what he did? He taken that ox-goad, and jumped out there in the middle of the road, and slew six hundred Philistines. 62-0118 - Convinced Then Concerned
Shamgar had an ox goad. Moses had a rod.
2 And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.
Use what you have in your hand.
Don’t wait for a special gift, use what you already have.
On the day of Pentecost a rushing mighty wind fell out of the heavens above and armed every man with a weapon. And I say today my brethren, that every man, whatever you got, let's do the best we can with what we got, and fight to the last man, because we got the enemy's lines broke.
Christ defeated Satan, stripped him of everything he ever had, and he's nothing today but a bluff. When he tells you we can't have another old fashion Holy Ghost outpouring of the Spirit, we can have it today because the lines of the enemy is broke, and God rules and reigns today. 56-0916 - Azusa Jubilee
Use what you have, and keep using it until He comes.
14 Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down unto him, and wept over his face, and said, O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.
15 And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows.
16 And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king’s hands.
17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.
18 And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.
19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.
Shamgar had to strike 600 times. Strike until he calls you home.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Are you waiting on deliverance? Deliverance is in your hand. Take the Word of God and fight every battle.
