Judges 3:7-31, How Do You Know Who Your Savior Is?

Judges chapter 3, starting at verse 7, using the

NIV version, but try to follow along if you have another version. We have NIVs against the wall if you want from that table. The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the

Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. The anger of the

Lord burned against Israel so that He sold them into the hands of Kushan Rishatayim, king of Aram Naharaim, to whom the

Israelites were subject for eight years. But when they cried out to the Lord, He raised up for them a deliverer,

Othniel, son of Canaz, Caleb's younger brother, who saved them. The spirit of the

Lord came upon him so that he became Israel's judge and went to war. The Lord gave

Kushan Rishatayim, king of Aram, into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him.

So the land had peace for forty years until Othniel, son of Canaz, died. Once again the

Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil, the Lord gave

Eglon, king of Moab, power over Israel. Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him,

Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the city of Palms. The Israelites were subject to Eglon, king of Moab, for eighteen years.

Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and He gave them a deliverer, Ehud, a left -handed man, the son of Gerah, the

Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. Now Ehud had made a double -edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.

He presented the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab, who was a very fat man. After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way the men who had carried it.

At the idols near Gilgal, he himself turned back and said, I have a secret message for you,

O king. The king said, Quiet! And all his attendants left him. Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his summer palace and said,

I have a message from God for you. As the king rose from his seat, Ehud reached with his left hand and drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly.

Even the handle sank in after the blade which came out of his back. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over him.

Then Ehud went out to the porch. He shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

After he had gone, the servants came and found the doors of the upper room locked. They said, He must be relieving himself in the inner room of the house.

They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them.

There they saw their lord fallen to the floor dead. While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the idols and escaped to Seirah.

When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them.

Follow me, he ordered, for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.

So they followed him down, and taking possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab, they allowed no one to cross over.

At that time, they struck down about 10 ,000 Moabites, all vigorous and strong.

Not a man escaped. That day, Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for 80 years.

After Ehud came Shamgar, son of Anna, who struck down 600 Philistines with an ox goad.

He too saved Israel. Thank you. The question is, how do you know who your savior is?

That is, who solves your most important problems? Who do you think gives you life?

Now, we know the who, right? We're in church, and we know the answer we're supposed to give,

Jesus. So let's just move on. But really the question is, how do you know who your savior is?

In religion, you know, there are two basic ways that people decide who to follow. Either one, what they call charisma, a person has a great personal magnetism, a sense of power about them, a kind of authority.

Some people call it an anointing, that they have been touched by God. Or institutionalism.

That is, the right organization says that this is the one. You know, they met in secret, and out comes the white smoke, and then we've selected this guy.

He's the one to follow. And it's like that in politics too, you know. Some people, you know, figure out who are they going to follow, who are they going to vote for in a democracy.

Some go by charisma, personal charm, that he or she has a kind of a sense of greatness, of attractiveness that draws you to respect him or her and support them.

Again, maybe for some people it's institutionalism. The party that they believe in says this is the one.

Or maybe the voters say this is the one. Some people, of course, couldn't care less about politics. It's so boring, isn't it?

It's just so boring. They're following the newest singer, the newest movie star, you know, the celebrity, who has that special something that proves that he or she or they are the one.

And they will go hysterical if they ever get to see their savior, that person that they, you know, the anointed one or ones.

You know, 50 years ago, this coming February 9th will mark the anniversary of the

Beatles first appearing on the Ed Sullivan show. And if you've ever seen the video, you know, particularly when the

Beatles, I think on that show when they first came, and particularly these girls just kind of screaming in ecstasy.

I don't know how they do it. They get to hear their saviors, you know, the band that makes their life worthwhile.

And, you know, for them it's far more than just kind of admiring a great musician. I mean, you know, it's really not that because for them it's really just an overwhelming spiritual experience.

And the weird thing is they're screaming so loud they can't possibly be hearing the music that they supposedly admire and love so much.

And so how do they know that the Beatles are the one?

Because they can feel it deep down in their souls. Of course, for many other people, they look at that and think, you know, that's just crazy.

It's not as though they're Elvis. How do you know who your savior is?

Of course, it all depends on what you think you need salvation from. If your biggest problem in life is that you're kind of bored, life is just humdrum, and, you know, your savior then is the band who will give you a thrill.

If you think, as a lot of Hollywood movies or love songs portray it, or at least imply, that your biggest problem, your real need is that meaningful relationship, romance, a soulmate who will finally complete you, then your savior is that one, the one.

And it's the cult of romance. Life is about finding that special someone.

And then when you finally do, and only then, then can you live happily ever after.

And your heart will always be restless until you can rest in him or her. Like the

U2 song, I still haven't found what I'm looking for. She's got to be out there somewhere. I think that's one reason why the argument for homosexual, quote, marriage has been so successful.

You know, people are first given this myth of romance, even sometimes a Christianized version of it.

You know, go sign up for Christianmingle .com so you can find God's match for you. And I suppose, you know, there's nothing really wrong with that, per se.

God can use that if he wants, that there's nothing wrong with, you know, using that website, whatever, to be introduced to people.

But sometimes the message is conveyed through things like that, that this relationship is the meaning of life.

And the company is saying, we'll deliver you from the worst fate that could ever befall you, singleness.

So once you've accepted that myth, once you've embraced that, then how can you say that some people can't marry the one they feel will complete them?

You heartless beast, you! Don't you have any sense of compassion? What's wrong with you? Denying people what is most important in life.

But it's not. As great as a spouse can be and as wonderful a gift as a loving marriage can be, still your spouse is not your savior.

Because having romance is not the thing that you need most. Of course, some rugged individuals will say, sure.

They're not going to go screaming after, you know, their favorite band or live for romance because they think they really don't need anyone.

They are self -sufficient, they think. And they'll pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

They'll be self -made men or women. And so they don't really need a savior.

Now, maybe they would say maybe they need a guru, they need a life coach.

I like that phrase. Or they need some advice, some help, maybe education. But they really don't need a savior.

Now, in a superficially Christianized society like ours, they will probably never say that outright.

They'll say the right words. They'll say Jesus is the savior. After all, this is church. That's what we're supposed to say, right?

But if you look at their life, you look at their unattachment to a church, their lack of accountability, that they may go to church, but they resent the idea of needing to belong to a church or being a part of a body.

They don't go scream at bands or desperately search for Mr. or Mrs. Wright or join a church because deep down they don't think they need a savior.

But as we'll see, we all need a savior. And it's vital that we understand how to know who the savior is.

And we see that right here, believe it or not, in Judges chapter 3. In three very uneven parts, about three small

S saviors, Othniel, Ehud.

Actually, it's Ehud that has the high -pitched voice, isn't it? I said Othniel earlier. It's Ehud with a high -pitched voice. Shamgar.

Now, the first judge of Judges is a man we've already been introduced to, the man who won his bride by conquering this city called

Kiriath -sephir. In chapter 1, verse 12, we read last week Caleb, the famous Caleb, one of the two original spies all the way back to the time of Moses, who, along with Joshua, believed that they could take the land when everyone else was saying, no, we can't do it.

And he says that anyone who conquers this Canaanite city of Kiriath -sephir will get his daughter as his wife.

Good motivational tool. And Othniel apparently liked the prize so much, she must have been a good -looking woman because she was an incentive, that he thought it was worthwhile taking the risk.

And so he does. He then becomes the first judge. Now, remember, the judges aren't these,

I probably shouldn't even translate it as judges, but they do, whatever. They aren't these judicial figures sitting in black robes behind a, what do they call it, a bench.

They call it a bench, but the judges seat and comes to a verdict with a gavel. They are saviors.

They save the people. We see in the story of Othniel from verses 7 to 11 that the five steps that will be repeated, probably repeated in all the judges, but specifically in most of the other judges, and we see them laid out here pretty clearly.

There's five steps, kind of a cycle they go through. One is rebellion. Second is retribution.

Then repentance, rescue, and finally rest. It all starts with R, feel good about that.

First, rebellion. In verse 7, the Israelites do evil, and they do evil by doing two things.

First, they forget, and then they serve. But first, forget.

They forget the Lord. Now, to forget doesn't mean forget something. To forget is to let something slide out of memory.

It's passive. You passively forget something. We can't really intentionally forget.

We can't intentionally stop reminding ourselves. We can do that. Like if you stop reminding yourself of something that was done wrong to you, some insult that you were given or some way you were cheated or hurt, that can be a useful thing to do, stop reminding yourself of that, and so hopefully over time you'll forget it.

But we forget not by actively forgetting, not like you can delete a file from your computer and the computer has forgotten it, but we forget by stopping to remind ourselves.

Last week on 60 Minutes, they had a report on a rare skill that a few people have, very small percentage of people have, that they can remember every single thing that ever happened to them every day of their life.

They call them memory wizards. And if you ask them, hey, what did you do on January 19, 2004, 10 years ago, they'll be able to remember exactly everything, the day of the week, the clothes they wore, what they ate, every detail, no matter how far back.

For me, I have to think hard, where exactly was I living? What state was I in? For them, they can remember all kinds of details.

Now the professor who was studying them said that when it comes to remembering what happened just yesterday, they're really no better than the rest of us.

If you could probably think yesterday, what did you do? The clothes you wore, you probably remember.

The meals you ate and all that. But as the days get further away for most of us, they kind of just blur.

After a while, you forget completely. Unless you do something to remind yourself intentionally.

It's like when we have holidays tomorrow, Martin Luther King Day, celebrate what Martin Luther King did for the

U .S. If we don't, we might forget it, and we don't want to do that. Last week, I didn't remember until after the service was over, right here, that it was

Mary and I's anniversary. I just forgot. We have anniversaries, of course, to remember special dates.

Otherwise, we might forget. Now these people have forgotten. They forgot the

Lord. That means that they neglected to remind themselves of the Lord, because that's how you forget, right? You neglect to remind yourself.

They stopped taking the Passover. They didn't go to the tabernacle and offer their sacrifices.

They didn't instruct their children in the law of God like God told them to. Now when they first stopped doing those things, they probably had a good excuse.

You ask them, hey, why aren't you doing the Passover this year? Oh, we're too busy. Too busy this year. Crops to take care of.

You know, we did it last year anyway. And it's the same old thing every year. Skip it this year. What about raising the kids?

Well, we'll let grandmom tell the kids about the Lord. We have a farm to look after, you know.

We don't have time for all that. And like today, people will drop out of church. They'll stop reading their Bible. They'll stop praying.

And at first they think, you know, I'm too busy right now. I'll remember the

Lord when the time comes. But they won't. They'll forget. These people here, they forgot.

And when the time came, they served two different gods, Baal and Asheroth. Now, Baal and Asheroth are fertility gods, meaning that they're gods who promised you, your crops will grow, your animals will multiply, your children will be healthy and safe.

And those are exactly the kind of gods that are most attractive to farmers, right?

You need things to grow, and it's kind of out of your control. So you want some supernatural power to help things to grow and to live, especially even

Israelite farmers who had forgotten the Lord. They stopped doing what they were supposed to be doing to remind themselves about the

Lord. And so when the time came, when they felt they needed some religion, some faith, some power, when they were in need, you know, maybe there was a drought.

The crops are getting brown in the field. There's a disease among the cattle. They're dying off. Or their baby has a fever.

And what do you do? Well, they forgot about the Lord, and so they went to, guess where?

The gods who specialize in these things, Baal and Asheroth, because they were promising them what they wanted.

Now, today, people will drop out of church. They'll stop reading their Bible. They'll forget about the Lord. And then they'll have kids, and they'll think, hey,

I want them raised right. Or maybe they'll have a crisis in the family, maybe a death or a divorce.

Maybe they go bankrupt or worse, worse than bankruptcy. They get rich and want something else.

So now what do they do? They've forgotten about the Lord because they've stopped reminding themselves, the true

God of the Bible. And so they go after what? Maybe a prosperity gospel?

Promises them health and wealth? It tells them if they're rich, they can keep all of that.

God's not only fine with them keeping it all, he's blessing them for it. Or maybe he promises them they're looking for God's match for them, promises them perfect matchmaking.

Or tells them there's no problem living for money, for things. Or maybe they go after some kind of moralistic, therapeutic religion in which

God exists up there to charm their kids into being good kids, being decent.

And it makes them feel warm and fuzzy on Sunday morning. Or maybe they just cut out the phony religion altogether and go chase the almighty dollar.

And when other people may be seeking some kind of God, probably really a prosperity gospel, they just double down on self -sufficiency and materialism.

They forgot about the Lord, and so they serve something else. Merely themselves, their ego, their bank account.

And that is rebellion. Now, if they are not one of God's people, they may happily or miserably live that way for their whole life.

But if they are one of God's people, then comes, second R, retribution.

Therefore, in verse 8, see that in verse 8? Therefore, it was caused by what comes before it.

As a result of their rebellion, two things happen. First, the anger of the Lord is kindled against them.

That is, God gets mad at them. And the Father in heaven, he's not afraid when he's angry that he might be excessive and do something wrong.

And so he is not a parent who will wait until his anger cools down before he starts spanking. He'll spank you right away, even when he's mad.

He will discipline you in his anger, kindled. That word is a picture of a fire, right?

Fires are hard to start. If you're out there in the woods trying to start a fire, it's hard to do. But they're also hard to put out once they get started.

God is slow to anger. He's not flying off the handle every time you think a bad thought. But you don't want to test him either and get that anger burning.

Because he'll burn you with it. As a result of his anger being kindled, God, it says here, sold them.

To sell is to give something in exchange for. Sold them into the hand of Cushon Rishathayim.

I don't know how the guy writing it, he pronounced it a little differently. But the name means, literally means

Cushon. That's actually the name part. The Rishathayim means of double wickedness. Double wickedness.

So this guy's a bad dude. In other words, no matter how you interpret this. People are calling him double wickedness.

I mean, he's not a wimp. He's a bad dude. And so the Lord sold Israel to him.

That is, Mr. Double Wickedness gets Israel. And the Lord, I guess, gets them off his hands.

I guess that's what he gets back. Double wickedness dominated them for eight years. And the people had to serve him.

In verse 8. Think of that, though. They began by serving these gods who promised them what they want.

The fertility, the prosperity. Because they forgot the Lord. That's how they began.

They ended by serving an oppressive tyrant. By serving double wickedness.

Then in verse 9, after eight years of that, it says they cried out to the Lord. Notice that they didn't just cry.

A lot of people will cry. Or cry out. Or maybe just, you know, shut their mouths and live lives of silent desperation.

Because life hasn't turned out so well. The romance that Hollywood promised them was the meaning of life turned bad.

Even if their marriage is good, they, you know, like you too, they still haven't found what they're looking for. They're empty.

And they may cry out. But if they don't cry out to the Lord, they can't expect a savior.

Now here, finally, they cry out to the Lord. And that is, third R, repentance.

Repentance is more than just remorse. You know, feeling sorry. A lot of people who have destroyed their families because they had an affair or whatever, you know, have remorse.

Because after a while they found out the one they cheated with wasn't worth it. Now they're stuck. But they won't repent.

Repentance is more than feeling sorry that what you did didn't turn out so well.

It's turning away from and turning toward. Here they cry out to the

Lord. And so they are turning to Him. And this is repentance. And repentance results in their, fourth

R, their rescue. In the middle of verse 9, the Lord raised up a deliverer.

That's what a judge is, he's a deliverer. For the people of Israel who saved them. Then in verse 10, the spirit of the

Lord was upon him. Now how do you know? How do you know the spirit of the Lord was upon him?

How do you know he's a deliverer, a savior? That the Holy Spirit is on him? Because he fell over unconscious?

Is that it? Is that the sign? Because he did something wild and ecstatic? Maybe handled snakes?

Danced around? Is that how you know? How do you know he's a savior? It tells us right here in verse 10.

First he judged Israel. Now what does that mean? That means he went out to war. And the

Lord gave. The Lord gave that bad dude. Cushion double wickedness.

Into his hand. Now in case you missed the point, it says it again. Next verse. His hand,

Othniel's. That is his power. Othniel's power. Prevailed over. The now prince.

Formerly known as double wickedness. We know Othniel is a savior. Because he saved.

So the final result. The final evidence of a savior. Is the fifth

R. Is rest. In verse 11. So as a result of what

God did through Othniel. The land. It really means the people of the land. This is God's promised land given to God's promised people.

Had rest for 40 years. God's true savior. Gives his people rest.

Now if a so called savior. Gives you a list of rules. You know you got to make these positive confessions.

To make the destiny you want come about. Or a you know. We have a new prophet.

Who gives you another testament that he found in the woods. That tells you how you can become a God too. Over your own planet.

If you only follow these rules. Or tells you you got to go to that kingdom hall. And don't eat this and drink that.

And don't celebrate Christmas. All in these list of rules. That's not rest.

Because that's not a deliverer. A true savior. Brings you rest.

Now after Othniel. The cycle starts over. After that 40 years of rest.

The people rebel in verse 12. And so the Lord gets his retribution. The cycle again.

Going through over and over. And so a new story starts. And now this time. In six parts.

There's the misery. The man. The mission. The message. The mandate. And the manifestation.

Now first there's the misery. Notice in verse 12. The Lord strengthened Eglon king of Moab.

This is the second cycle. The Lord strengthened Eglon. Now first notice.

That verse. Verse 12. What it tells us. It tells us God is in absolute control.

God strengthened Eglon. Now if he said God strengthened Ehud. We would understand that.

But no God strengthened Eglon. The oppressor. The rise to power of Eglon.

This pagan king of Moab. It wasn't some random event. You know.

Outside of God's control. That's how many people think. Many people think that much of what goes on in the world.

Is just totally outside of God's control. And God is sitting up in heaven. Kind of wringing his hands.

He's feeling really sorry for us. Feeling really bad. That these things are happening to us. But there's really not much he can do about it.

Because he just left it all up to us. But notice here. The Lord strengthened

Eglon. The reason that this oppressive tyrant. Has gotten power over Israel.

And he's put it under his heel. Is because the Lord. All capital letters.

Yahweh. The true God. Enabled him. Eglon didn't know it.

Eglon didn't acknowledge it. Eglon did not praise the Lord. For his great victory. But it was all the

Lord's doing. Now the Lord empowered Eglon. It says against Israel. Against his own people.

And it says. Because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Now the result was. That he not only led.

That is Eglon. Not only led the Moabites over Israel. But Eglon gathered allies.

From the Amalekites. Some others there. And they united.

And they defeated Israel together. And he took first. It says the city of palms in verse 13. And that's

Jericho. And Jericho is an oasis. And so it grows palm trees.

With all the nice water there. And so it's known for its palm trees. It's the city of palms. So the first city. Remember back in Joshua.

The first city that Israel took. When they entered the land. Is now taken back.

From them. To humiliate Israel. To show them how far they've fallen.

So they have to serve. Eglon. For 18 years. Now how could the

Lord do that to his people? Remember the Lord strengthened Eglon. To do all these things. How could he do it to his people.

Whom he loves. God's steadfast love. You know celebrated in the

Psalms. Many verses. Will pursue them. In their rebellion. And he may as the good shepherd.

Use misery. To bring them back. Like a shepherd might use a crook.

Drag them back. So if you were one of God's people. And you choose to rebel.

Against them. You get tired of denying yourself. These pleasures these things. That you can have in the world.

You walk in the flesh. You live like the world. God will make sure.

You are miserable at it. The world may be promising you. The flesh the devil may be promising you.

This will make you happy and satisfied. It might work for other people. Who are not his people.

But for you if you're one of his. You'll be miserable at it. So if you're afraid of falling away.

You're praying like in our song today. That you're prone to wander. Lord I feel it prone to leave the God I love.

Well there's good news here. If you're one of his people. Rejoice. He'll make sure you're miserable.

If you wander. So don't worry he'll get you back. So again in verse 15.

The people of Israel cried out to the Lord. In their misery. And they repent.

So next is the man. The next small s. Savior. Is Ehud.

Ehud. The man with the squeaky voice. Now he's a left handed man. And the way it's actually literally put in Hebrew.

Is that he is impeded in his right hand. And that suggests that either. He is left handed.

Because his right hand was handicapped. Maybe a shrivel or whatever broken. Or alternately.

That the people of that day. They saw being left handed. They interpreted left handedness.

As being handicapped. As a handicap. That is not being able to use your right hand. Which most people can.

As well as his left hand. They thought that was a disability. Well either way. That means that Ehud is an unlikely deliverer.

He's looked at. As someone with something wrong with him. This guy has a disability.

He has a handicap. So he's one of those weak. That God uses to shame the strong.

By this man. The people of Israel send their tribute. Their taxes. Literally in Hebrew it says they sent it by his hand.

By his left hand. To their oppressor. So there's the man.

And the man Ehud has a mission. Strike the shepherd. And the sheep will scatter.

That's his mission. And he makes a small sword. Really we'd probably call it a dagger. In our language today.

It's only 18 inches long. What about that? Probably about that big. Double edged. And he puts it where it's easiest for a southpaw.

Like him to get at it. Inside his right thigh. But where the guards probably won't look. They're not used to lefties.

Now the mission is to give a message. To Eglon. Now Eglon as it turned out has gotten fat.

Off of oppressing Israel. Very fat. And so the tribute. After the tribute is presented.

Ehud says in verse 19. I have a secret message for you. Literally the word message is word.

I have a word for you O king. And so he does. He has a very pointed message. For Eglon.

Because it's secret. Now Eglon doesn't want any of his staff to hear. So he tells everyone quiet.

Ehud don't tell me now. Get everyone else to leave. And so it's just Ehud and Eglon and the fat king.

In a room. On the top floor of his house. Of his palace there where it's coolest. The breeze will blow through up there at the top.

And the passage slows down. And gets very detailed here. Odd details isn't it? Ehud repeats.

I have a message. And he adds this time. From God for you.

Now think about this. Eglon has been strengthened by God it says. He has gotten a palace with a cool roof chamber.

I mean this is a nice place he has. And attendance and tribute. He has gotten power. All because Eglon.

Because God enabled him to have it. And now he is about to get a personal message from God.

Delivered by the left hand. Of Ehud. Ehud draws out his dagger. From his right thigh.

Plunges it into. Ehud's fat. The fat that he had packed on.

Off the backs of Israel's misery. Kind of a gruesome scene there. Can you imagine that?

It's explained. The blade goes all the way in. Apparently his intestines come out. That's God's word for him.

But to be a savior. Ehud will have to escape with his life. So he locks the door behind him.

And because the attendance waits so long. Thinking their king is using the bathroom. That gives Ehud time to escape.

It's kind of comical here. In verses 24 and 25. The servants are waiting outside.

And they're whispering among themselves. What's taking them so long? It's meant to be kind of funny. It's a very dark humor.

The joke is on the oppressors. Eglon has in fact. Relieved himself.

As the bible says. Just like they think. Well maybe not just like they think. He's done it with the help of Ehud's dagger.

When they finally open the door. They get a key and get it open. It says in the end of verse 25. That they find their lord dead on the floor.

You know you're in trouble. When your lord. Your savior is dead.

The mission. Successful with the escape. Gives to the unlikely Ehud. The mandate.

In verse 27. He sounds the trumpet. And the people gather. And he is their leader.

Now how do you know. Who your leader is? Well he's the one.

Who takes out your enemy. So Ehud challenges them in verse 28. Follow after me.

For or because. The lord has given your enemies. The Moabites.

Into your hand. He has the mandate of heaven. To be their leader. And he's proved that.

He took out their enemy. Now they should follow him. And they do. But how do they know?

Now people today go. Screaming after the Beatles. Or looking for some charismatic political leader. Or looking for love in all the wrong places.

Because they don't know. What is the manifestation. Of the savior.

Here Ehud. He manifests. That is he displays. He demonstrates. He proves that he is the lord's deliverer.

To take them out of their misery. That's probably not the right way to put it. To take them out of misery.

Yeah. He leads them to seize the fords of the Jordan. Which is the place where it is shallow enough.

People could cross over it. As the Moabite troops were retreating. Back across the

Jordan. From Israel. Israel is west of the Jordan. Their home Moab is east of that river.

And so they would have to cross. In that particular place. And so they stop them. The Israelites do.

And eliminate the Moabite troops. So they can't go back to Moab. And rally under a new leader.

And then come back to oppress them some more. And the result is in verse 30. That they have rest for 80 years.

Free of oppression. And misery. So Ehud manifests. That he is a.

Small s. Savior. How do you know. Who your savior is.

Well Shamgar shows us. Shamgar is the third judge. He gets all of one verse.

Kind of a short verse. For that matter. To tell his story. But that's enough.

In fact that's just right. For making the point that needs to be made. We need to strip away.

Really all the clutter. The gory details. Of a left handed assassin. Using a double edged sword.

To disembowel a fat tyrant. We need to get right to the heart of the matter. How do you know.

Who your savior is. Well Shamgar killed 600 Philistines. With an ox goad.

Basically a long pointed stick. Kind of like a spear. But not that sharp. It's used for prodding an ox.

When it's pulling the plow. Now if the ox just decides to stop. In the middle of plowing.

They would want to poke it. With an ox goad. Get the thing moving. So it wasn't meant to pierce the ox's hide.

It's not that sharp. Just enough to irritate it. To get it going. So it would take a great deal of force.

To use that. As an effective weapon. But that's exactly what Shamgar does.

He defeats the enemies of God's people. With a farmer's tool. And so it says.

He also saved Israel. He also. Is a savior.

And that simple sentence. Leaves us no doubt. As to the answer to our question. How do you know who your savior is.

It may not always be the one who gives you a tingling sensation. As his voice captures your feelings. Or the one that the institution.

The denomination. The electoral college. Says he's the one. It's not so complicated.

Shamgar shows us. How simple it is. Your savior. Is the one who saves you.

Then when finally we see. What our need is. What we need saving from.

That is not really. Our humdrum lives. We're just kind of bored. And we need a band that will thrill us.

With their music. They'll thrill us so much we'll scream with delight. So loudly we can't even hear their music.

Or that what we ultimately need. Is saving from those scoundrel politicians. We need a political leader.

Who will finally give us an economy. That will make everyone rich. And who will reform all the criminals.

Just with the force of his personality. And bring peace to the world. That our ultimate problem isn't singleness.

And so what we really need is not. No matter how much Hollywood. Makes it look like it's the meaning of life.

What we ultimately need. Is not a soul mate who will finally complete us. No our greatest problem.

Is sin. We have kindled. God's anger against us.

Because of our sins. Indeed it's precisely. When we think that. The greatest thing in life.

Is that band or that politics. Or that romance. Even though good bands. And good political leaders.

And good loving relationships. Can be great blessings. But it's precisely because. We look to those things.

To save us. To complete us. It's precisely that feeling.

That idea. That angers the Lord the most. That is the essence of sin.

That God isn't. Good enough. What I really need.

I need money. Riches. I need power. I need a thrill. I need a romance.

That sets on fire. God's anger. Against us. And putting that fire out.

Is our greatest need. Now that ultimate. Enemy. Of sin.

That's given us. Our last enemy. Of death. Death.

Just like Eglon. Has been raised up by God. To separate us from all those things.

That we loved instead of God. To give us. Some misery.

So we'll cry out. To God. And death has gotten fat.

Off of devouring. Nearly every person. Taking them away. From the thrills and the power.

And the pleasure. The relationships. That they live for. On earth. Death opens wide.

It's mouth. And consumes every one of them. You need a savior.

Who will defeat. That enemy. Jesus did.

Like Shamgar. Who defeated the enemy with. Farmers tools. Jesus defeated them first.

With carpenters tools. Hammers and nails. By them he was nailed to a cross.

And took God's just anger. At our sins. On to himself. Jesus put out the fire.

Of God's wrath. Against us. By being burned by it. Then he defeated that last enemy.

He rose from the dead. He conquered death. He did it all.

To save his people. To bear the punishment that our sins deserved. To finally stick it to death.

That had gotten fat. Off of consuming us all. And by doing that.

He saves us. So. How do you know.