[0:00] Thank you.
[0:30] In the news of a person who went to siphon some gas out of a motorhome and he was doing it in the middle of the night, he put the hose in the wrong slot and the good old Blackwater and so the police found him in the morning curled up on the side next to the motorhome with puke all over the place and he learned that sin stinks.
[1:10] That's not a true story, by the way, but it gets passed around a lot and it makes the point. So I looked it up on Snoops to make sure because I kept hearing the story and I'm going, is that true?
[1:25] I like to check for facts, but it's fun. So sin stinks. God hates sin. We all know that.
[1:35] Why does he hate sin? Well, he knows what it's going to do to us. He knows that it enslaves us.
[1:46] He knows that it has an insatiable appetite. Our sin does. And that it's destructive to us. Isaiah 65 tells us that sin is a stitch to God's nostrils.
[2:06] So sin stinks. But we also know that sin is fun. It's pleasurable, Hebrews 11 tells us.
[2:18] And Proverbs 14 says that it may be pleasurable in a way that seems right to a man. Seems right.
[2:29] It's okay. What could be wrong with it? But that it leads and comes to destruction. Something's going on there.
[2:41] Sin is initially joyful, so to speak, and then it leads to destruction. Because the byproduct of sin is rotting.
[2:52] It's decay. It stinks like refuse. Is that a word? Refuse? Yes. You guys get it. Even though we agree that sin stinks, we all have what I've called a pet sin.
[3:12] One that we hang on to. One that we go back to. Time and time again. We all have it. Whether we want to admit it out loud or not. And we just, even though right after we've committed the sin, and we say, why can't I shake this?
[3:31] Why does it get a hold of me? So easily, all the time. And it just, I can't escape this. I want to shake this sin. I don't want to be a slave to it.
[3:43] I'm tired of it. Oh. This sin. Just when I think it's quiet, it demands to be fed. It wants to eat.
[3:55] It wants just a little something that tells you, just a little bit. Oh, it'll be okay. And then the path starts, and it's that slippery slope.
[4:05] And then when we feed it, what happens to the sin? It becomes a big, fat giant in our life. Ugh. Others may not see it, or know of it, or realize that it even dominates our life at times.
[4:26] Because we keep it hidden so well. We don't share those things with people. How do we get rid of it? Who will deliver me from it?
[4:37] Well, that's where the good news comes in in our reading today. So, if you would follow along and stand, if you are able, for the reading of God's word.
[4:49] We will be, again, in Judges chapter 3, and we'll be reading from verse 12 through 30. So, here we go.
[5:02] Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord.
[5:17] And he gathered to himself the sons of Ammon and Amalek. And he went and defeated Israel, and they possessed the city of the palm trees. The sons of Israel served Eglon, the king of Moab, eighteen years.
[5:33] But when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud, the son of Gerah, the Benjamite, a left-handed man.
[5:45] And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon, the king of Moab. Ehud made himself a sword, which had two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his cloak.
[6:01] He presented the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab. Now, Eglon was a very fat man. It came about, when he had finished presenting the tribute, that he sent away the people who had carried the tribute.
[6:15] But he himself turned back from the idols, which were at Gilgal, and said, I have a secret word for you, O king.
[6:27] And he said, Keep silence. And all who attended him loved him. Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, I have a word from God for you.
[6:41] And he arose from his seat. Ehud stretched out his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.
[6:53] The handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly, and the refuse came out. Then Ehud went out into the vestibule, and shut the doors of the roof chamber behind him, and locked them.
[7:11] When he had gone out, his servants came and looked, and behold, the doors of the roof chamber were locked. And they said, Ah, he is only relieving himself in the cool room. They waited until they became anxious.
[7:22] But behold, he did not open the doors of the roof chamber. Therefore, they took the key and opened them, and behold, their master had fallen to the floor dead. Now Ehud escaped while they were delaying, and he passed by the idols and escaped to Syrah.
[7:40] It came about when he had arrived that he blew the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. And the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was in front of them.
[7:52] He said to them, Pursue them, for the Lord has given you your enemies, the Moabites, into your hands. So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan opposite Moab and did not allow anyone to cross.
[8:08] They struck down at that time about 10,000 Moabites, all robust and valiant men, and no one escaped. So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel, and the land was undisturbed for 80 years.
[8:26] So reads the word of God. Father, we thank you for your word again, and we ask that your word speaks to us, that it does fall down like rain on us and cleanse us.
[8:39] And let us see what you have for us this day, what this story means for us spiritually, how we can apply it in our life, and that we would apply it.
[8:53] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. This story is an allegory about our walk with God.
[9:08] When we read it and we see the opening line, now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. We can get smug about that or something and say, psh, those Israelites, what is their problem?
[9:24] Man, they're just constantly doing this. But be careful not to condemn the Israelites when you read anything about them, because the scripture just lays it all out there.
[9:37] It doesn't hide anything. It shows it all. We're lucky that our own life isn't displayed in scripture. We would be embarrassed. We would be, other people would be pointing their finger at us, because when we are criticizing women, we're judging the stories that we read and project it onto them as far as doing bad, we have to remember the old Nathan thing to Daniel.
[10:09] That man is you. We're no different. We are the same. So when we read these types of stories, we need to take the time.
[10:20] It's an unusual story. You see the story in here, and you're going, what does this got to do with anything? What a weird thing to have in here. At least it is to me. When you first read it, it's like, it's just weird.
[10:32] Strange story. Why is that in there? But when you start dissecting it and looking at it and asking the Lord, what does this mean for me?
[10:42] All of a sudden it begins to unfold and takes on meaning and something that can become a practical application for us and a warning for us too.
[10:53] So that's why I like these, what I call obscure stories that are placed here and there in scripture. To me, it's almost like how Jesus, when he spoke, he told parables.
[11:10] And he said the reason why he speaks in parables is so that those who don't know wouldn't know. But the other people, his followers, would know its true meaning and that he would also explain them.
[11:25] Well, I think that's what's happening in these stories of like the Old Testament, these stories that are in there that that first glance, it doesn't mean anything. But if you're a true follower, that you want to take the time to find out what does that mean?
[11:40] It's hidden. There's something that's in there. And God wants us to dig into his word. I mean, if we don't seek, we're not going to find.
[11:50] We have to seek it out. If you've heard of a treasure someplace, you don't just walk through the area and think you're going to find the treasure.
[12:01] Oh, no, you have to dig for it, too. I mean, X smart spot, you dig for it, and then, ooh, there's a treasure. Cool, you find little nuggets of gold and stuff. And that's what we're doing. We're digging out the nuggets of gold out of this story.
[12:14] So the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord again. And verse 11 tells us that they had, prior to this, that they had rest in the land for 40 years from a previous time that they had been under subjugation to another ruler.
[12:42] And they cried out at that time, and the Lord heard them and gave them a deliverer. That's what the judges are. They're deliverers through different periods of time.
[12:54] So they had rest from a previous deliverance, and now they're back at it again. It's been 40 years that they're back at it again.
[13:09] They're committing their pet sin. Which, for them, always goes back to idol worship. Man, they just couldn't stay away from that stuff.
[13:20] And they just fell into that trap over and over and over. We just read in just the different stories. And so they fell back into idol worship.
[13:30] They did evil in the sight of the Lord. What does God do? He punishes them. Hebrews 12, 26, or 12, 6, tells us, whom the Lord loves, he chastens them.
[13:47] You know what? If he doesn't discipline you, you're not his child. Because we're told that he will chasten those whom he loves, and he loves his children.
[14:04] See, I don't go disciplining my neighbor's kids. I discipline my own. Right? You guys know that. You discipline your own children.
[14:15] You don't go disciplining somebody else. Same thing with God. He disciplines those who are his, his children. So, if you are getting away with sin, don't be smug.
[14:28] You should be very concerned. If you find yourself getting away with sin over and over and over, you need to ask yourself, what's happening here?
[14:39] What's going on? So, how does God punish? Romans 1 tells us, one of the ways is that he gives you over to your sinful desires.
[14:55] Scary. He does it for a season, for a limited period of time, and we'll find out what that time is. Well, I guess I wrote it down.
[15:07] It's my next point. We're going to find out right now. That he does it until you get sick of the stench in your life. Psalms 81.12 tells us that he will give you up to your stubborn heart to follow your own devices.
[15:30] See, God cares about his kids, so he disciplines them by sending who? Eglon, the king of Moab. And Eglon gathers two other nations, and they defeat the Israelites, and they rule over them for 18 years.
[15:49] Now, who is this Eglon guy? Who is this ruler, this king? His name means circular or calf.
[16:00] All right? That will all make sense in a little bit here. It's... It's... It's... I read commentaries and stuff about this passage, and so many of the commentaries talk about this being a...
[16:18] that it's... a joke, so to speak. Ha ha. It's making fun of. And it's like, no, they're missing the point.
[16:30] Yes, it has some humor in here because it has play on words and play on things that are happening, but this is no joke of what's going on. And those commentaries are going, really?
[16:41] You guys are kind of missing the mark there. You're a little bit on the surface here. You're missing something. So I say that as a warning to... When you are reading something and you look to the commentary for an answer, be careful, because not always are the commentaries correct.
[17:00] Especially if they're just surfacy, because there's so much more deeper into here. Anyway, Eglon, the king, his name means circular or calf.
[17:10] He is a king of a godless people, the Moabites. I didn't... I'm not going to say all the things about the Moabites. We're just skimming over this stuff.
[17:21] So he's a king over the Israelites, just like sin is a king over us, rules over us.
[17:33] Sin rules over us. The king, or sin, enslaves them. The king, or sin, demands to be served.
[17:45] The king, or sin, wants tribute, wants to be fed. The king, or sin, grows because of being fed to an overwhelming size.
[18:02] The king, or sin, has dominated over them again for 18 years. The Lord let this go on to punish them, to teach them.
[18:15] Verse 15 says, finally, finally, after the 18 years, the sons of Israel cry to Yahweh.
[18:27] They cry out to him. They finally said, enough. I've had enough. I'm sick of this. It stinks.
[18:37] It's got to die. This sin. It's overtaking my life. I'm committed to it now.
[18:48] I have to serve it. I have to feed it. It's such an ugly thing. I'm so tired of it. Like you and me, when we're sick of this sin, we cry out to the Lord.
[19:04] But it's got to be in all sincerity when we cry out. I'm sure there was a lot of grumbling during those 18 years. Why do we have to do this?
[19:15] We don't like doing this. Boy, you know, we can't do this. We don't have our own whatever, however they were being oppressed and being kept from doing the things that they did as a nation, Israelites, to, you know, that identified who they were, what was held off.
[19:33] We're not quite sure. It's not told. But, so they're grumbling, but they finally, after the 18 years, finally got to that point in sincerity crying out to the Lord.
[19:47] Are you guys, does this ring true for any of you guys? Do you guys get to that point where your sin, and you just cry out to the Lord, and it's like, I'm tired of it.
[20:00] I'm sick of it in all sincerity. You're crying out to the Lord for a Savior, for a deliverer. Well, because of they cried out, verse 15 still, then God begins to move.
[20:18] Verse 15, then the Lord said, or then the Lord, the Lord, notice who did this, the Lord raised up a deliverer for them.
[20:30] Ehud, a deliverer. Ehud, now we got another, the next character in here. Ehud means song of praise, and when I hear that, I just think of, hallelujah, a deliverer is sent.
[20:47] It's a song of praise. Yay, a deliverer is coming. Ehud. He's a Benjamite, and this is, this is where some of the comedy plays in, to me, anyway, if you want to find comedy in here, but it's, again, serious.
[21:05] He's a Benjamite. The, the word Benjamite, or the, uh, clan, the Benjamites, it means, son of my right hand.
[21:19] Anybody catching it yet? Son of my right hand, and what is, what are we told in verse 15 here? Verse 15, and, uh, huh, Ehud is a left-handed man.
[21:33] That's comedy, man. Son of my right hand, it's, it's like, you know, when, when Abraham was, uh, or Abram, had his name changed to Abraham and had no children, and father of many nations is what the name means, and he, there's comedy in there.
[21:53] That's because the Lord's going to do something, obviously, later on. So, you've got Ehud that is a left-handed guy, and I just wonder if, when he was growing up, did he think, God made a mistake?
[22:10] Because, if you were left-handed back in that culture, that it wasn't a good thing. You weren't looked upon favorably. Um, something was wrong with you.
[22:22] Okay? Uh, so, it wasn't, they're, they're going, uh, so I, I wonder, did, did any who think that growing up? God, you made a mistake.
[22:33] Why? Why am I left-handed? I don't get it. Huh. God does not make mistakes. There's some of us here, we wonder why we are the way we are.
[22:48] Why am I shy? Like I said earlier, why am I emotional? I don't know. But there's a reason for it. Why am I too smart?
[23:01] Why am I too tall? Why do I have brown eyes? On and on. You can fill in the blank for yourself. You wonder, I'm sure you have at times, at one time or another.
[23:13] Lord, why is, why do I have this personality? Why do I, you get the idea. God, the point is, God does not make a mistake. And we're going to see how all this unfolds too.
[23:27] Back to verse 15. And let's see. So he's a left-handed man. And by the way, the sons of Israel sent tribute by him, meaning Ehud, sent tributes by Ehud to Eglon, the king of Moab.
[23:46] So Ehud, Ehud, however you want to say his name, he is one of the guys that brings tributes to the king of Moab, Eglon.
[23:58] There's a reason again for that. Verse 16. What's happening now? Ehud made for him, made himself a sword which had two edges.
[24:12] A sword with two edges. Does that ring a bell? It should, of course. Hebrews 4. The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword.
[24:27] And we know what it does. We know what its purpose is. Ephesians 6 tells us, take the sword of the spirit, the word of God.
[24:39] You see how the words are playing in here and how things symbolize one another. John 1 says, so we know that the word is the sword and who is the word?
[24:55] John 1 tells us it's Jesus. Jesus is our sword. So is the word. Okay? If you just think about that and just how all that works together, it's that connecting the dots thing that Bill's been talking about and it's just really neat when you just meditate on this stuff and say, wow, it's just so neat how God, your word just, it's interwoven and everything connects.
[25:25] It's just, it's eye-opening and here's the big part. The sword was made by Ehud to kill Eglon, to kill sin.
[25:41] That was the purpose that the sword was made. Again, connecting the dots. Jesus came to do what? Connect the dots, connect the dots.
[25:54] Then again, the bottom part of verse 16, that, that, that sword that he made, it was approximately 18 inches long, in case you're wondering what a cube it is, with the handle and stuff.
[26:10] And he bound it on his right thigh under his cloak. Again, under his cloak, taking the word and hiding it.
[26:22] Again, that ring a bell. Does that click for some scripture out there? What is, I've heard that someplace. What does that mean? He bound it to his right thigh under his cloak.
[26:36] Psalm 119, 11, your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. Again, more connecting the dots, more of it going together.
[26:49] I love it. I'm going to give you one of the shortest sermons over here. I know you're probably going to be happy about that one. It's only three pages long.
[27:01] Normally, it's ten. Anyway, carrying on, moving on to verse 17. So, he presented the tribute to Eglon, king of Moab.
[27:15] Now, Eglon was a very fat man. So, it was time to bring the tribute to Eglon, or remember who Eglon is.
[27:26] He represents sin. He is the ruler over them, and sin is demanding a tribute to be appeased.
[27:37] That's what's going on here. And so, what happens, again, happening spiritually with about sin is that we think, to appease the sin, we need to feed it just a little.
[27:56] We need to bring the tribute to it just a little. Just one more look. Just one more touch. Just one more drag.
[28:08] Just one more, again, fill in the blank with your pet sin, the thing that's got a hold of you, the thing that rules over you from time to time. Just one more. I need to appease it.
[28:20] If I just feed this thing that dominates me, maybe, just maybe, it will be appeased for a while and just back off. But the only thing that's really happening is Eglon, your sin, all that's happening is he's getting larger.
[28:39] The problem becomes weightier. That's what's going on. Let's look at verse 18 through 20 again.
[28:50] It came about when he had finished, meaning he, Ehud, it came about when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, that Ehud sent away the people who had carried the tribute.
[29:03] So he's in charge of other people carrying the tribute. So he sent them away. Okay? But he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal and said, I have a secret word for you, O king.
[29:20] And he said, keep silence and all who attended had left him. So what's happening here is that Ehud is leaving 13. And there were some idols set up by Gilgal.
[29:32] By the way, I didn't tell you that the, because we're told that up in verse 13, they possessed the city of palm trees. And if we'll remember from some descriptions of that area in Deuteronomy, it's actually Jericho.
[29:50] So the very first city that the Israelites take over when they first cross the Jordan, now all of a sudden the enemy has control of that.
[30:02] So that's telling you something, how, I mean, that they've slipped this far. What do you do in your life? What slips you that far that you've given up territory, that we've given up things that we've gained at another battle, and now we're giving it back up?
[30:18] Think about that, too. Anyway, so, and of course, right outside of Jericho, there was Gilgal, and Gilgal was where they set up the stones that they took from the river, and now almost out of a mockery that what's happening here is that, that, verse 19, but he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal, so now idols are set up at Gilgal, now either Eglon set them up, or the Israelites did, you know, because that's part of their idol worship now.
[30:52] They've married the foreign women and stuff, and now, hey, we'll set up, so it's, and I think what's happening here is that Ehud, as the entourage is leaving, that he passes by these idols, and now remember, he's made this sword, okay, does he have it on him yet?
[31:14] I don't know. That part probably doesn't matter so much, otherwise we'd be told, but I would suspect that he didn't have the sword, and maybe he has it put aside, and so he gets the sword at that point because he sees these idols, and it just strengthens his, and reinforces his, I'm gonna go get this king of Moab, you know, this guy needs to go down, and remember, that's why Ehud made the sword, was to kill, he had that, he knew what he was going to do when he made that sword, it was to defeat the enemy, so anyway, he gets, and he sees the idols, it strengthens his resolve, he turns around, and he goes back, and because he had already been before the king, most likely, the guards, now he has the sword on his, strapped to his right thigh, and so, because most people, almost everybody, was right-handed, they always carried their weapons on their left side, you always carried on the opposite side of what you would draw from, so here he is left-handed, he would have hit it on his right side, and so the guards or something, they would check his left side, right, it would make sense, and that's why he got past the guards and stuff, and plus, hey, he just came back for a minute, he was already in here, he had the tribute for
[32:56] Eglon, our king, so, but anyway, he got past the guards, however that looked, all right, and I think it's neat when, but he, verse 19, but he himself turned back from the idols which were at Gilgal, and said, I have a secret word for you, O king, what's the word, it's a sword, I got a secret sword for you, O king, again, play on words, I love it, I don't think it's comedy, but I love to play on words, and he said, meaning the king, keep silence, meaning don't say anything more, don't say anything more, I got to get rid of all these other attendants in here, because this is a secret message for me, it's me, me alone, and nobody else gets to hear it, and I'm enticed, I want to hear what it is, that's just how I pictured in my mind how this is playing out, so keep silence, and all who attended him left him, so now Ehud is alone with him, make sure I didn't leave out anything, nope, not yet, so verse 20, Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber, and
[34:07] Ehud said again, I have a word from God for you, and he arose from his seat, I love this part, verse 21, Ehud stretched out his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and he thrust it into his belly, and I wonder if that moment Ehud went, I get it, I now know why I'm left handed, it's so that I can get past the guards, and now I'm able to do this, otherwise I wouldn't be able to do this, it just, I just think that it probably clicked for him, or even maybe while he was making it, and he first strapped it on, at some point within this, I think that that's when it clicked, this is why God made me this way, he didn't make a mistake, that's why I'm left handed, that's why
[35:12] I'm shy, that's why I'm tall, that's why my eyes are brown, you guys ever hear the story of Jan Morrison, she was a missionary to India, I think it was India, and she tells, she tells this story of when she was a little girl, and she had a friend who had blue eyes, and she went, why don't I have blue eyes, I want blue eyes, God made me, God please give me blue eyes, I don't know why you gave me brown eyes, I want blue eyes, they're so pretty, brown eyes are so boring, and she cried to God, I mean, because little girl, she really wanted blue eyes, I mean, just begged God for blue eyes, and of course she knew she wasn't going to get them, but she still, why God, why, why did I not get blue eyes, well, as she grew up, she became a missionary, she went to
[36:15] India, while she was in India, that gorillas, not those guys, you know, the bang bang gorilla guys, they were coming through the area, and they were on a mission to kill missionaries, to kill, to persecute, to anyway, to kill the missionaries, and as she tells the story, the group, tribe, I don't know how to say it, the people that she was ministering to, and telling about God and everything, they really liked her, and so they heard of the gorilla groups coming through from place to place and doing, killing people, and so they decided to dress her up in their garb, and then they put dye on her face and on her skin so that she would look
[37:18] Indian, and so when the gorillas came to that village, that they lined up all the people, and because they'd heard, there's a missionary here working, and we're going to find her, and we're going to kill her, so they lined everybody up, and they went from person to person to person, and they looked in their eyes, because that was the quickest way to tell for them, and besides the skin color, but everybody had the same skin color because of the dye that was put on her, and so they're going from person to person, they stop right in front of her, they look, one of the guys looks at her, and then continues on, and right then and there, she says in her story that she tells, that's why God gave me brown eyes, because if she had blue eyes, it would have been a dead giveaway, and she would have been dead.
[38:17] We don't know why God made us the way he made us, but there is a reason, and I just want to encourage you with that, and so there we go.
[38:28] So he thrust it into his belly, the handle also went in, verse 22, the handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly.
[38:44] Here comes the good stuff. And then the refuse came out. The sin came out, the stink, the stench.
[38:56] You put the sword in, and the sin comes out. You see the connection, I know you do. You put the word of God in you, you put it deep inside you, and you leave it there.
[39:12] You don't pull it back out. You leave it there, and the sin comes pouring out of your life. That's how you do it. That was the Savior. That's the deliverer that happened.
[39:25] The word, the word, the word, that is our deliverer. That is our Savior from sin. Now, of course, because we live in our human bodies, with our sin nature, the old man, even though he's dead, he's still strong.
[39:45] We don't realize that until later. So we still struggle with this stuff, but hopefully it would be fewer and fewer times that that happens. right? Thorn went in, and the refuse came out.
[40:00] I could stop on there for a little bit. The refuse that they're talking about is that when, yeah, I'm going to go there. Why not? that when somebody dies, that you lose all bodily functions, and so things come out, shall we say.
[40:22] that's why later on in the story there, that it says that the attendants were thinking that he was relieving himself. Some, some, what do you call it?
[40:38] Anyway, other, if you haven't, King James Bible or something like that. What do you call that? Anyway, the different, huh? What? Translations. The what? Translations. Yeah, thank you.
[40:48] Translation, that's the word. Some translations say that he had his robe covering his feet or something like that. That means he's got his pants down and he's going to the bathroom.
[41:01] I'm just saying that because I researched it all. What the heck? I got to give it out there. I had to live through it. You guys have to. Anyway, I just give him the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
[41:14] And so that's why they said he must be relieving himself because I'm sure it didn't smell so good in there because all this stuff came out of him. Right? And so I just thought I'd throw that out there.
[41:25] What the heck? All right. So the word goes in and the stinky sin comes out. Are you tired of your pet sin? Tired enough to cry out to God in all sincerity?
[41:36] Are you tired of feeding it? Tired of it getting larger and larger ruling over you? Put the sword in. Put the word in deep inside you and watch the sin come out.
[41:51] I got one last thing here. If you guys want to hear it, I can stop right there. But some people say, this reading the word thing, it's difficult.
[42:04] It's difficult to read the Bible every single day. So I'm going to go there. Just a few more points here. But I want you to really hang on to that sword in and the refuse comes out.
[42:16] You get the word inside of you by reading it every single day. You need it to read it consistently.
[42:30] And you can say, oh, but there's times when it's dry. I don't get anything or I'm dry. Well, I'll remind you of the story in 2 Kings chapter 3, the story of Jehoshaphat when he's battling in the desert.
[42:46] His men and him are battling. And of course, because they're in the desert, they're thirsty, right? They're in the desert. There's no water anywhere. They don't know what to do.
[42:57] So they call for Elisha, the prophet Elisha, and said, what should we do? He says, dig in the sand. Dig some trenches.
[43:10] What? No. No, this is the desert. You're not getting it. I'm dry. I'm thirsty. And you want me to dig in the desert? Yes, dig in the desert. When you're dry, when you're feeling dry, when scripture is dry, dig anyway.
[43:27] Doesn't matter. Dig. Because what happened in the next morning when they got up? Those trenches were full of water. Dig anyway. Dig when it's dry.
[43:39] something's going to happen. The Lord will use that. So, read consistently, and also read conversationally.
[43:50] Now this one, in, in, just so you know real quick, the sermon that I'm giving today, I heard it a long time ago from a preacher, and it really touched me, and so I wanted to share it.
[44:07] So, I'm not the one who came up with this stuff. This preacher, this other guy did. And, so, he says, read conversationally also.
[44:18] And, and I'd never heard this part before, and so this one kind of, it's kind of neat. Read conversationally. That, how he does it is that he reads a little bit, then he stops, and then he asks God.
[44:37] He starts, he starts talking to God about it, and then he waits to hear, will God say something to him in his heart, not audibly, but maybe it's, sometimes it's just a word, sometimes it's a phrase, sometimes, sometimes it's the big, the bigger concept that's happening here, the bigger story, but something strikes him.
[44:57] And, he talks to God about it, just back and forth. So, conversationally, I have to give that a try, because I don't, I mean, a lot of times it's just read, read, read, read, read, okay, I got to go off to work, or I'm tired, I'm going to sleep, and so read, and anyway, read conversationally, and then read expectantly.
[45:24] This is a big one. Read God's word expectantly, just like you're supposed to come to church, expectantly.
[45:36] And what does that mean? That means that you expect to get something out of reading his word. Again, it may just be a phrase, it may be a word, whatever, it may be an idea, and he just puts it in there, and it may not make any sense at the moment, but at some point, it will, and then you're able to connect the dots.
[45:59] You say, I read that someplace, where was that, or that I remember, and then you pull it up on Google, and hey, there you are. So, reading it expectantly that you're going to hear something.
[46:14] Now, how do you know that you're reading it expectantly, or that you're coming to church to receive something expectantly? How do you know? Well, you should have a piece of paper and pencil, or on your phone, a note thing, so you can take notes.
[46:35] That's how you know that you're reading expectantly, because if he gives you a word, if he gives you something, you've got to be able to write it down, right? Right?
[46:46] Right? I'm trying to think of the story. I don't remember the guy's name.
[47:01] Hang on here. Never mind. Anyway, he was told to go up into the, he was battling with something, and he was told to go into the high tower and wait for the Lord to give him an answer.
[47:20] That's who it is. Thank you. Habakkuk. Habakkuk, however you say his name. And thank you. And so he went up, and, but he, and God told him, write down what I tell you.
[47:34] Well, if he didn't have a piece of paper and, and pencil, so to speak, his chisel and, I don't know, but he was supposed to write down what the Lord told him.
[47:47] So he went up there expecting an answer. And so, again, that's how you know that you are reading expectantly. I know that there are times when we come across, everybody turn to Genesis 5, if you would, while I'm saying this.
[48:07] Genesis 5. There's times when we come across passages that we go, this is boring. This does not interest me in the least. Other people, yes, I think that God has it in there because it does interest people.
[48:21] And the thing we're going to be looking at is the good old, everybody's favorite, genealogy. Now, watch this.
[48:31] This is cool. The genealogy or the descendants of Adam. I'm not going to read the whole thing here. We're just going to look at the highlights. And, um, all right, so we have, we start out with Adam.
[48:48] Okay. Adam's name means man. Okay. Adam had Seth. Seth names means appointed.
[48:59] Seth had Enosh. Verse nine. Enosh, his name means subject to death. He had a son, Kenan.
[49:11] I guess that's how you say his name. His name, his name means sorrowful. The next name or the next one down the line is our first Hawaiian, Mahalala.
[49:24] There's a joke in there. And, uh, his name means one blessed of God. Then we go down to his son, Jared.
[49:37] Jared's name means comes down. Then we get to Enoch. Enoch's name means dedicated. Then we go from Enoch to Methuselah and his name means dying.
[49:53] He shall send. And we know that after Methuselah died is when the flood came just so you can connect those two. Pretty cool. He had Lamech and Lamech's name means poor and lowly.
[50:10] And then we get down to Noah. Noah's name means rest or comfort. So you take all these names and their meanings, you put it all together, and we got the gospel message.
[50:25] It says, man appointed to death sorrowful. From the presence of God, one comes down dedicated.
[50:37] Dying, he shall send the poor and lowly rest in comfort. Pretty cool, huh? Genealogy. Boring.
[50:50] I don't know what other genealogies do, but that's pretty cool. It's like, who took the time to do that? That is amazing. But that's when you take the time to dig into God's word and you seek and you go, why do they have these things?
[51:06] You question it. You say, why is this story here? What a weird story. What a weird thing. Why are these? Is it just for a genealogy? Is it? It is for that. I mean, to, so that we can trace the lineage of Christ.
[51:20] This is part of it. It's, that's part of it. But scripture is so much more than that, isn't it? We know that. And so we dig. It's cool.
[51:30] It's cool. And you guys may be wondering, wait a minute. It still says, uh, verse 32, uh, Noah, meaning rest and comfort was 500 years old and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.
[51:43] So you're going, wait a minute. There's three other people in that genealogy. How come we're not talking about them? I challenge you to figure that out yourself. Because there's a reason for it or what their names mean and how it goes with this picture.
[51:56] So it's pretty cool. And, uh, but I will leave that up to you anyway. So read expectantly, even in the obscure stuff, even in the boring stuff.
[52:08] And then lastly, read it obediently. Do what it says. You know, God doesn't move along, move us along to the next thing until we do the one thing he does.
[52:19] You had one thing to do. That's what he'd be saying. That's what he says to Mark all the time. You had one thing, Mark. Yeah. Still don't get that down yet. Well, how do you expect me to move on to the next thing for you in your life and grow you and build you?
[52:37] If you don't do this one thing, I'm asking you, you're, this is a stumble for you. You stop right there. Yeah. You're right, Lord. I do. All right. Let's pray.
[52:49] Father, again, we thank you for your word. And we just, the sword. God, the word that goes deep inside of us if we would only put it there.
[53:04] And that will keep out sin in our life much more than it does right now. It is at least for us as living here on this earth, a starting point.
[53:18] Things that we struggle with. You're giving us a way out. You've given us the, not formula, but the solution. May we use that.
[53:30] Holy Spirit, I just ask that you remind us of this over and over and just quicken our heart to remember this passage and what it means and how there is success in applying the sword, the word to our life so that we can get the refuse out.
[53:51] Thank you for your love, for disciplining us. Thank you forNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNING