An Unsettling Faith: Active Faith finds Security in God Alone

Judges 3:12 - 31

Since the beginning of the year, we have quickly as possible recapped Israels History in preparation for this sermon series. There are themes that we want to draw your attention to, verses repeated, places throughout Judges where there are references to the rest of the Bible. Overall, we want to show you that God is ultimately in control, that

He is sovereign, and that our response to a holy God should be obedience and faithfulness.

One of the things we want to avoid is looking at the this book as simply a compilation of stories. As a young boy, I got excited whenever we got to the Judges portion of the Bible. In some ways, it felt very wild-west like, Unruly people, the hero that rides in and frees the small stricken town from the unruly tyrant, and of course, doing it in a classy, unforgettable fashion, usually proceeded by an awesome catchphrase. so the book of Judges, for me growing up, had this almost romanticized wild-west charm to it. As I have grown in my walk with God, took a class in College, and now having to preach it, it has lost that charm. It an account of real people who lived. Who talked and walked with God, who saw and experienced the debauchery of false worship and all the chaos that follows this choice. You will begin to see, as Pastor and I work through the chapters and the judges, that its a spiral downward, both in the type of judges chosen and Israel's plunge into sin. The stories have more detail, almost as in the writers have to convince the reader, “Yeah, no, he was the judge. I know he was shady himself, but God chose Him and worked His will through him.”

As I have gotten older, I look at the world that we live in and see some of the beginnings of this in the world we live in today. It’s easy to grow discouraged and distracted as we look around and see this. Another thing we want to avoid is just looking at the wickedness of the world without refocusing your attention on our faithful God. There are real world issues that capture our attention 6 days per week, and my desire in going through this is to remind you, and draw your attention to God and the duty we have to reach the people around us with the gospel. We live in a wicked world and the way it’s displayed it different from the century of the Judges, but the same Liar, the same accuser, the same devil wants nothing more than to distract God’s people from the main mission, which is the great commission. I want to point you to the same God, who is faithful, who is sovereign, and who is full of grace and mercy.

All that to say, In way of reminder, Here are some of the thing’s we have talked about and drawn your attention to as we have dug into the book of judges.

Active Obedient Faith must be Properly Placed. We often put our faith in things that we can see, but cannot save. Our heritage, our acts of Christendom, we go to church, we tithe, we do good things to the people around us and all these thins are wonderful, keep doing them but take time to evaluate why we do these things. Are we doing these things to make our selves feel better, or to earn favor with God? Are these things a natural out-flow of our relationship with God and His power flowing through us? Acts of obedience improperly placed are not acts of obedience to God. Cain is a great example of this. He made sacrifices. The act was there, but it was not in accordance to the will of God, therefore he was in disobedience. This leads into a second take away:

We serve a jealous God. We must properly worship this jealous God. We do this by not giving time to things that do not matter and instead, giving time to the things that do matter. What things matter? Our time with God matters. Teaching the next generation about God and prioritizing God in our lives matters. Evangelism and discipleship matters. God displays a fiery burning wrath against sin, and loving mercy toward the sinner. So much so that he poured out his wrath on His Son on the cross so that we might have redemption and freedom from sin.

Another sermon we heard emphasized that God is the ultimate authority. There is no greater authority and the way we showcase our belief in this fact is by living our lives for Him, in obedience to Him. James talks about this faith when he states that faith without works is dead, and again when he says show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works. Over the last couple of weeks we talked about the testing that God places on our faith. we learned that:

God’s refining fire demands a response. Our response reveals our relationship. (Feb 8th). Israel will be and has been tested. They have been through the fire, so to speak, as a test to see where their faith lies. Israel will fail these tests, starting with the first which was to drive out the people of the land, to fully conquer the land, which they did not. Now the nations they left are the nations God uses to test their faith. This parallels to us in the 21st century as a reminder that no matter what wickedness surrounds us, we are to be steadfast in our faith to God. We should not compromise, as Israel did, and worship the idols the world worships. we should not place our faith in national reform, as Israel wanted an earthly king to solve all their problems, we are to have a steadfast focus on God as our Savior and Sustainer.

With that reminder, let’s jump into the text today. It is found in Judges 3, We’ll be starting in verse 12 and reading down through the end of the chapter.

Judges 3:12–31 “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. 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 eighteen years. But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Ehud made himself a dagger (it was double-edged and a cubit in length) and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh. So he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.) 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 with 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 is probably attending to his needs in the cool 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 Seirah. 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. 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 ten thousand 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 eighty years. After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel.”

Active Faith in God does not settle

Does not settle for the sins around them

Does not settle for a shady deliverer

Does not settle for a partial delivery

Active Faith in God does not settle for the sins around them

Judges 3:12–14 “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. 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 eighteen years.”

Right off, it is interesting to note that it took the children of Israel eighteen years to cry out to God. Previously it was eight, the next time it’ll be twenty. already we see that the nation was growing more comfortable with the wickedness around them. The Bible does not specify what the sin was. We can safely speculate that it involved idol worship, Most likely the Moabites, and either intermarriage or sexual immorality of some nature. the Bible does not specify, but history shows us that God will use the nation that the children of Israel embraced to be the ones that God uses to bring judgment. Israel has a long standing history with the Moabites. First we see that they are distant relative's.

History: Moabites; Moab was the son of Lot, who was the the nephew of Abraham, so they were Distant kin to the Israelites. Genesis 19:36–37 “Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab; he is the father of the Moabites to this day.”

When they were traveling to the Promised Land, the Moabites attempted an interaction with Israel, calling a prophet to curse Israel. Numbers 22-24. God protected them from Balak. If you recall, the talking donkey and eventually, Balem instead of cursing Israel, he blessed them. this happens three times that Balak send him to curse Israel and instead he blesses them. It is also important to see that the Moabites are not one of the people that were to be conquered by Israel. They were not one of the listed nations that were in the land that they preserved that God was using to test their faith. The Moabites were outside of the land of Israel. The Israelites were commanded to leave them alone. Deuteronomy 2:9 “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession.’ ””

So Distant relatives who were outside of Israel, but close enough to be neighbors. The text tells us that Eglon, king of the Moabites gathered two nations to himself as they attacked Israel: The Ammonites, and the Amalekites. Who were these people?

The Ammonites were descendants of Ben-Ammi, the other son of Lot, cousins/half brothers to the Moabites. Genesis 19:38 “And the younger, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the people of Ammon to this day.”

The Amalekites were descendants of Esau, so even further distant cousins, known for their viciousness against weaker nations and undying hatred of Israel. Israel will come across the Amalekites many times, but the most memorable will be Haman in Esther was an Amalekite. He was a Descendant of Agag, the King of the Amalekites whom King Saul was supposed to destroy, but Samuel ends up killing instead, at the downfall of King Saul. The Amalekites were supposed to be fully eradicated, but were allow to live by Israel and will be a thorn in Israels history for many many generations.

These nations, Unlike the previous nation, were close kin and neighbors of Israel. Yet God strengthens Eglon to test Israel and grab their attention. He was the unexpected. Ladies and gentlemen, so often its the little sins, the ones that we don't think will be a problem that are often the greater issue. we are wary of the bigger issues, make sure i don't commit adultery, make sure I don’t murder, make sure I don’t rob people, but so often its the little ones that lead to these huge compromises. Israel probably thought, Moab, No big deal, I can handle them. They tried to curse us before and that didn’t work. We were told to leave them alone, so they cant be that big of a threat. I can flirt with them, there won’t be any issues with that. Yet this is who God strengths to test Israel. Not only were they a real threat, They invited others to conquer Israel. The Ammonites and Amalekites were distant relatives. Its almost like Eglon went to the others and was like “Hey, you know cousin Israel, always thinking they are better than us, looking down on us, well, guess what? I've got them eating and dining with me right now, they are weak and don't suspect us, lets go and teach them a think or two.”

Again, the Bible does not tell us what their sin was but there is a past history of intermarriage between Moabites and Israel that was cause for devastation while they were trying to enter the land. It’s safe to speculate that this is happening again and their hearts are being turned away from God and toward false worship. what’s more is that Eglon, after conquering Israel sets up his kingdom in the City of Palms, which is another name for Jericho. why is this significant? This was Israels first battle to begin conquering the Promised Land. Eglon sets up his kingdom at the sight of their first victory. I believe this was purposeful on the part or Eglon, who wanted to rub it in the Israelites faces, “Remember when we first were unable to curse you, and prevent you from entering this land? well, we've got you now!”

I think this was also a reminder from God. Remember how I protected you from the Moabites? Remember How they tried to curse you? Remember how you had your first promised land victory, a miracle that shook the Moabites to fear, and how they saw My power in you? Do I have your attention?

Sin will attack you where and when you least expect it and it often comes in the little, non-threatening ones that should not be an issue. Guess what? An enemy of God is and enemy of God, no matter how big or small, no matter how insignificant. Sin against God is sin against God, no matter how small, or insignificant. Are you actively standing against even the small insignificant sins that are close at hand? What are you doing to take this stand in the next generation? We talked a couple weeks ago about how we have a responsibility to bring up the next generation in the love and admonition of God. do our lives reflect that we fight and stand against sin and do our kids see this?

We can see that no enemy of God is insignificant and that no sin is insignificant. Let’s take a brief moment and look at the human deliverer, Ehud. God is gracious and gives them a deliverer. This deliverer was supposed to be an example of a less than ideal . Just as their punisher was out of the norm to get their attention, so to was their deliverer.

Active Faith in God does not settle for a shady deliverer.

Judges 3:15–16 “But when the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. By him the children of Israel sent tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Ehud made himself a dagger (it was double-edged and a cubit in length) and fastened it under his clothes on his right thigh.”

Let’s take a deep dive into the man Ehud. Here are some things that stand out: He is a Benjamite, from the tribe of Benjamin. He is left-handed. He was the people’s choice to bring tribute to the king. Yes God raise him up, But the people chose him. This is different from Othniel who was raised up and chosen by God and indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Othniel was from Judah and was well known, rich pedigree of faithful men. Ehud was less known, from Benjamin and the peoples choice. Does this sound familiar? Where was King Saul from which tribe? Who chose Saul to be king, the People or God? Where was David from? Was David the peoples choice, or God’s choice? I think the first two judges are in some ways reflective of the first two kings of Israel. When the people choose, they often choose someone whom the would not be God’s first choice. Lets take a deeper dive into Ehud. Why is is significant that He was left-handed? There is irony in the fact that there was a left-handed man from the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin: (Hebrew) Son of the Right Hand or (Son of My Right Hand). Not every account of hands in the Bible has this connection that I am about to show you, but. When there is a connection. The right hand was often associated with loyalty, truth, security, or a steadfastness. In contrast, Left-handed was often associated with slyness or deceit. There was an untrustworthiness associated with the left hand.

David used this illustration in Psalm 144:7–8 “Stretch out Your hand from above; Rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, From the hand of foreigners, Whose mouth speaks lying words, And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” Stating that the right hand of his enemies, the hand that is associated with loyalty, is loyal to falsehood and deceit. Ecclesiastes 10:2 “A wise man’s heart is at his right hand, But a fool’s heart at his left.” When Christ separates the goats an the sheep in the end times, the sheep are at his right hand and the goats at his left. Matthew 25:33 “And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.”

We don’t know if Ehud had this reputation, But it does go deeper than the connotations of the day. Later in Judges we will see that the tribe of Benjamin had 700 men who could sling with the left hand, In 1 Chronicles 12, David was joined by Benjamites who could shoot arrows with the right hand and sling with the left , this was a trained skill not a genetic trait. These people trained to have their left and as skilful as their right for the purpose of having an upper hand in fighting. Most men of war were right handed and did not suspect that their opponent would use their left hand. These would be equivalent to Special Forces, or in their day, Assassins. There are indicators that point to the fact that Ehud was as assassin. He was skilled with his left hand, He crafted his own weapons, He was able to sneak out of the palace without suspicion.

Was an assassin God’s chosen method for delivering Israel? He was raised up by God, but the nation of Israel came up with the plan. There is no indication that the Spirit indwelled Ehud as it did Othniel. Even though Ehud states, “I have a message from God...” it was to deceive, to get the King to stand and receive the gift thus exposing himself to slaughter. In many ways, Israel was satisfied with a shady deliverer. Is he indwelled by the Spirit? Does it matter, he has the cunning and skills. Does God reveal a plan to them? Does He need to, we have a cunning deliverer. God was gracious and allowed Ehud to deliver and utilized Israels plan, But there is a big mistake in thinking that just because God allows something that is means he approves of it. This passage does not give us God’s response. It focuses on the exploits of Israel and Ehud.

Faith in God does not settle for shady deliverers. Israel will continue to show the propensity to rush ahead of God. As I stated earlier, I think there are parallels between these two judges, Othniel and Ehud, and the first two kings. Nationality, the peoples choice but also in that they desired a king so bas that they jumped ahead of God’s plan. God had plane for Isreal to have a human king. He gave them instruction in Leviticus and Deuteronomy for how a king should operate and He chose David. They got ahead of God and settled for a shady king. Here, they got ahead of God and settled for a shady deliverer. Are you thankful that we serve a gracious God? God who will deliver despite our mistakes? Let’s not take His mercy and a sign of complacency.

Active Faith in God does not settle for partial delivery

Judges 3:17–26 “So he brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. (Now Eglon was a very fat man.) 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 with 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 is probably attending to his needs in the cool 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 Seirah.”

Eglon has conquered Israel and now demands tribute. He demands offerings, payment, and gifts from the nation that He has conquered. For 18 years Israel has served Eglon in this manner. Eglon is , as the Bible describes, very fat. He is living greedily off of the riches brought to him by Israel. He is a glutton and a reminder that sin is never satisfied. Sin will demand payment again and again. It will grow and take from you your time, your joy, and anything else that is meaningful to you. He is a picture of sin in the lives of Israel that which grows into an ugly, monstrosity that cannot be ignored or denied. Ehud takes advantage of this greed. After leaving, having given the king Israel’s tribute, he turns back and says “I have a message for you.” This peaks King Eglon’s interest. “A Special gift. For ME??” it’s so special, he demands everyone out of the room. perhaps he thought this was a bribe, or some underhanded dealing. Either way he expected more. Ehud gets closer and this time tells him that it is a gift from God which the king stands to receive. Here again we see signs that Ehud is an assassin. The Sword that Ehud designed was a double edged sword that was about 18 to 22 inches long making it big enough to kill the very heavyset king, but small enough to hide. The delivery of the sword is swift and accurate. The king does not cry out, meaning he dies very rapidly. Then Ehud makes an escape leaving the room locked from within.

No Sin can withstand The Sword. The well placed application of a double edged sword is enough to topple the biggest sins rapidly. Isn’t that a powerful picture? Are you skilled in using God’s word to combat sin? Do you believe that the Word has power to dissuade sin and keep it at bay? Christ used the OT when he was approached by Satan. Are we practicing and practically applying the word of God to combat sin? Faith in God does not settle for a partial victory. After making His escape, He rallies the tribe of Ephraim and surrounds the Moabites, killing all of them, not allowing them to return to their land. Look at the rest of the narrative.

Judges 3:27–30 “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. 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 ten thousand 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 eighty years.”

God delivers completely. Don’t confuse God’s complete deliverance with the personal responsibility to aggressively stand against sin. Active Faith will apply the word of God to combat sin, but it will also embrace the fact that We have a deliverer who has given us complete victory over sin. Jesus Christ, the Righteous Judge who stands at the right had of the Father has conquered Death and given us His word and the Holy Spirit to combat sin. Even though Ehud was not a perfect judge, there is so much application to glean from his story. God is faithful despite our mistakes and can deliver in the midst of imperfect circumstances. God graciously gave Israel 80 years of peace following this punishment. The next judge that follows is even less ideal than Ehud.

Judges 3:31 “After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel.”

Scholar say that Anath is not a Hebrew name. Its Cannanite. Anath was a Canaanite goddess of War. While His power and ability to kill 600 emeny with an ox goad is impressive, there is nothing more about this deliverer. He is mentioneg in the next chpater in the Song of Dehborah, but he is a mystery. Why is the deliverer have a cannite name? Perhaps his mother was simply named this, but some speculate that Shamgar wasn’t even Israelite. It actually follows the downward spiral that the judges take in that Deborah is the next Judge because they could not even find a Israelite man to be a judge. israel will continue to fail, and as Pastor has pointed out, Isreal is an example of the every man, an example us today. Without active faith in God accurately placed with purposful obedience, we too will find ourselves in less and less ideal places with no discomfort for the sin around us. This is sad to think isn’t it?

Thankfully, we have Complete deliverance found in Christ. We have the double edged sword, the Word of God which when accurately place can topple even the biggest sins.

            IS your faith Active? Are you settling for the sins around you or are you taking an active stand against them, no matter how small of insignificant they may seem? Do you place faith in God and the Word if God to combat sin in your life? Are you embracing the Righteous Judge, the one who conquered sin and sits at the right hand of the Father?

You Must have an Active Faith that Does not settle. An Active Faith that is secure in God alone.