This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Avalon Park, Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar driving directions and more audio recordings. Good morning, everybody. I think you know we're determined this morning. We are just starting last week, studying the book of Judges. So go ahead and turn that. It's in the Old Testament there. And as we quickly reviewed just as we get going here, I think we have a slide up here coming with our theme. And it's just a second. Next one. We learn that in Judges, the very last verse of the book of Judges, and this phrase has repeated different places in Judges, it kind of tells you what the book is all about. The book is about telling us that in those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. And the reality of it is true, that this is true, that if you do not have a king in your life, you will do whatever seems right in your own eyes. In fact, you will make yourself king. Or you will make something else other than God king in your life. That was true for Israel. It is also true in 2008 for us in looking at this. So everything we want to look at in the backdrop, as we study through these 21 chapters of Judges over this entire fall, you need to have this idea in mind that there is a message, there's a point in this book. And it is reminding us of this truth. The tendency to want to do things as you see fit in your own eyes, which certainly is true of us today as a culture and a society, and even within the church, but without a king we will do that. And of course the converse would be true then. If you have a king, you won't be doing that. You'll be doing what's right in his eyes. And according to the promises of God, that is what brings the blessing that God promises for us. The blessings that every human being seeks to find joy, to find love, and peace, and all the things we're seeking for in life has just become us as human beings. It is answered by God, but it is answered by his rules, obeying him, trusting him. Now I need somebody to volunteer for something this morning that's going to be a little different out of the ordinary. I need somebody that has a watch, one, two, that has a pretty good loud voice, and three is willing to read this verse every five minutes throughout the sermon. And I'm dead serious. So I have anybody that has a watch, has a pretty good voice, and is willing to read this verse as a reminder, every five minutes throughout the sermon. And we can't go on until I have somebody. Any volunteers? I'm a patient man. Is that a volunteer, Jerry? Or is that a Kathy volunteer, me volunteer? All right. So you understand every five minutes that's not going to be on the screen. You're going to have to look it up every five minutes. You raise your hand, okay, and I might have to finish a thought real quick, but then I'll point to you. Okay. I'm just glad to have somebody willing to do it every five minutes, okay? Does he need a mic? All right. That's going to help us stay on track, stay on course here this morning with that. Well, let's review what we talked about last week. We talked about what sets up the whole rest of the book, talking about this famous group of judges. Remember the word in Hebrew could be translated also leader. It could be translated deliverer. In fact, deliverer might be a better translation to use of it, because the term in the way we use the term judges is very different than what's being talked about here. There's no judicial system. There were so much looking at here as much as here is somebody that's going to come and deliver the people in a time of crisis. So we're looking at these famous guys like Samson. Famous women like Deborah and other people like Gideon. Most of us, if you grew up in church, probably have heard about it. Most of you have probably all heard about Samson the most famous. But as we go along, by the way, we start off with some of the best judges and they get increasingly mediocre to even worse. Interesting. Samson's the most well-known, but probably the worst of all the judges, at least character wise. We'll see as we get there. So anyway, as we move ahead with that, let's be reminded of what we talked about last week. The whole context of this in the Bible is that God has led, remember, the days of Moses, he has led his people out of the bondage of Egypt. He has promised them this promised land. They were heading that way. They didn't believe God when it was time to take the promised land. So God said, took you all as far, took you across the Red Sea. You can wander in the desert for 40 years. And they did. And it's their children that will receive the blessing with just a few of the older ones that are still around, like Joshua, like Caleb. And so we are just at the point where they have come in now and started to take over the land. For the first time, it's been promised. And here we have in judges now. They've come into the land as we talked about last week. This was the time to experience God's blessing, but they experienced instead barriers to God's blessing. Those were three things we talked about. One, I think these are on the next slide. The blessing barrier of doubt, we talked about last week. They came in as strong as good and as powerful as God has been. They came in and said, ooh, these people have iron chariots. Well, God had already defeated iron chariots in the past. God had already taken them across the Red Sea. God had already given the plagues on Egypt for the beginning to doubt God's power. Or doubt God's willingness to be powerful on their behalf. Number two, the blessing barrier of partial obedience. They came in and God had said, hey, come in and totally wipe out the people. Drive them out of the land. Do whatever it takes to come and take possession. But expel the people who will undoubtedly lead you into sin later on down the road. But I thought, that's an awful lot of work. We can enslave these folks. They can work for us. And so on went the rationale probably. And they didn't drive out all the people. And they experienced then the third barrier, the blessing barrier, the consequence of sin. Now those very things they didn't do because they're only partially obedient. They begin to experience consequences from that. Those people begin to take over and would begin to oppress them. So as we look at that in quick review there, you have the theme of judges. We talked about the barriers of it. And that right there takes the first cycle of what continues to happen over and over again in this book. The first cycle is this. God tells them to do something. They disobey doing it. They have problems. Well, begins this week. We talked about the second part of the cycle. They cry out to God. God raises up a deliverer, a judge. God restores them to peace and prosperity. So you're going to see that happen throughout this entire book. You're going to see cycle one begin. Problems emerge. Cycle two, deliverer comes. Peace comes to the country, to the land, to the people. So looking at that as a cycle here, we're looking at specifically how the second part of that cycle begins here. So I'm going to read that text as I'm about to read the text. Are you about to say something? All right. You go ahead and interrupt me. This is Judges chapter three, follow along with me. This is God's word. So don't hear it as my words. Hear it as coming from the eternal creator of the universe. These are the nations, the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan. He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had had previous battle, who had not had previous battle experience. The five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Cedonians, the Hiivites living in the Lebanon Mountains from Mount Baal, hermen, to Libelhanath. They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord's commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses. The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Parasites, Hiivites, and Jebysites. They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods. The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They forgot the Lord, their God, and served the Baals and the Asheras. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of the cushion, Rishafiyam, King of Aram, Nahrayam, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer. Ophneil, son of Kenes, 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 cushion, Rishafiyam, King of Aram, and to the hands of Ophneil, who overpowered him so the land had peace for forty years until Ophneil, son of Kenes 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 Moeah power over Israel. Getting the Ammonites and the Amalakites 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 Moeah for eighteen years. Again, the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer, Ehead, a left-handed man, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon King of Moeah. Now Ehead 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 Moeah, who was a very fat man. After Ehead 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. Ehead 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, Ehead reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into the King's belly. Even the handles sank in after the blade, which came out his back. Ehead did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it. Then Ehead 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 fall into the floor dead. While they waited, Ehead got away. He passed by the idols and escaped to Sarah. Then he arrived there. He blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and Israelites went down with them 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 forts 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 Ehead came Shamgar, son of Anath, who struck down 600 Philistines with an oxgoed. He too saved Israel. Well, this is God's holy and inspired word as we read in Judges 3 here. Well, as we've read that, again, we're looking at this second half of this cycle that will be repeated over and over again in this book. But you see here an emergence of a few good men that begin to step up. The first three judges that we're going to look at here in this text. Well, if you're following along in your outline there inside your bulletin, number one is this, the cries from the isolation of sin. This starts the second part of the cycle, the cries from the isolation of sin. If you look at verse 9, you see it for the first time. But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised that for them a deliverer. Then you'll see it also again in verse 15. Again, the Israelites cried out to the Lord and he gave them a deliverer. This is the first part of really the turning point in this cycle that happens is the people. After they've experienced the barriers to the blessing that God had promised that had been caused by doubt, the barriers that had been caused by partial obedience, a set of full obedience. As they experienced the barriers that were coming out as a consequence of sin, their enemies were rising up over them. They do what? They do what? We all do when we get in trouble. They cry out. And they cry out to God here. Well what led to their crisis? Let's not zoom past that. Let's look at that a little bit more closely here. We see the first thing that began to lead to that crisis happened in verse 6. You look back in chapter 3. They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods. You see, God had specifically told them to come in and to not do this, to not enter Mary at all. But they did just the opposite that. And you can imagine what some of the problems, one were told that they served their gods as a result of that. But you can imagine other problems. There was mixed traditions that now begin to happen. People from a totally different tradition, the people of God trusting Yahweh, now a totally different group of people with totally different gods. There was mixed values that no doubt came along with it. Now all you have to do is be married sitting here in the room today. And you know how hard that is within our own culture. You marry into somebody and there's a whole different set of traditions and values. Many of those are good and some of them aren't so good. But they were experiencing that. Can you imagine the in-law situations around the holidays and this set of... Can you imagine the in-law situation that they were experiencing here and this? People were doing what was right in their own eyes because there was no king at the time. Well, not only was intermarriage a problem here but we're told in verse 7 serving other gods. The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God. They served the Bales and the Asheras. Common gods of the culture and the society that was there before them. Very common gods. And by the way, common gods of it continue to be a problem for centuries to come in this day and age. They did that. Now one thing that's always true about false gods that you got to read into this and understand about this is that false gods always let you down. Because they're false. A true God has power and he works on your behalf if you're obeying him and following him. But if you have a false god, one, you got to figure out how to please a false god. But if he's not a real god in the first place, you're kind of wasting your time. So you can imagine the disappointment that would have begun to follow from this. And the Israelites start following these false gods and things start getting worse for them. Disappointment always leads to some form of depression. So depression came as a result of that. And depression, if it's left, uncured, always leads to even something worse called despair, the lack of hope. And they were on that way. Fortunately, they don't go all that way. But they were certainly depressed. And we see the third part of what was going on here that caused them to cry out was oppression by their enemies. Look at verse 8. The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushion, Risha Tham, King of Ahram and Ahram, to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. Subject meaning they were the ones now that were serving him. They were the ones that were, if anybody was doing forced labor, it was them. They were the ones that were being oppressed at that time. It meant bondage, it meant slavery, mistreatment, the some degree or another. So you see what led to their cries, but let me ask you what leads to your cries. Here's centuries later, 2008. East Orlando. What leads to your cries as you think about that? Let's just look at some of the same categories that they were experiencing. Think about God absent marriages, which is really what the inner marriage problem created for Israel. That continues to be a problem for us today. God absent marriages. Those will continue to leave desperate spouses on the wake, on the tracks. Any marriage that doesn't come in and doesn't seek to be God-centered is out for trouble. Because you know what God says? God says marriage is supposed to be a visible reflection of my relationship to my church. I created Avenue. I'm the one that said it's not good for a man to be alone. I'm the one that said what God has brought together and joined. Let no man separate. God is at the heart of what marriage is all about. And all you have to do is look around to our country today. All you have to do is look around to your neighbors perhaps and see the detriment. See the attack that is on marriages in our culture here today. It is unbelievable. It continues to be a problem when marriages are God absent. Well, not just marriage being a problem but similarly to them. They were serving false gods. We continue to serve false gods here today. We serve and we are disappointed. And that disappointment leads us to depression or despair. You might say, well, I'm not bound down to any gods in my house. Well, I'm not talking about in your house. I'm talking about in your heart. What do you hold allegiance to in your heart? What is the thing that gives you the greatest joy? What is the thing that gives you the most security? What is the thing that if it was taken away from you, you wouldn't want to live anymore. Or you'd be thrown immediately into depression and soon to spare. Whatever that is is what God is ultimately saying you really is your God. Is really what you're trusting in with that. I mean, think about it. In the first place of our, when we think about false gods, I think about the rich, the popular, the powerful, the beautiful. These are people who in our culture and society have put this as the essence of what their life is all about. And if you think of the people that are most that way who are the wealthiest, who are the most popular, who are the most powerful, who are the most beautiful, they are often the ones that we see the first who are the first to experience depression and lead to despair. They're the ones that become addicted to substances to come and ease the pain. They're the ones that lose it all or they even worse, they get what they're going for and they find it's empty. And they didn't deliver what they wanted. But a close second behind those that are actually experiencing, those idols are the ones that are right and track trying to follow it. It's the ones who maybe haven't achieved the wealth in the richest yet. Maybe the ones who haven't achieved popularity and the power and the beauty like they like but they're right on track for it. They're the ones looking for it. They're not the ones that you're going to find on the news but they're the ones that live next to you and me. And sometimes become us who are on that same track who are saying this is what's most important. Who are serving and bowing down in their hearts to a God that is not the God of the Bible. There's something else that they think that's going to get them satisfaction and peace which can never deliver. And as it does it always leads to disappointment because those gods will always disappoint you. Whether it's wealth, popularity, whatever. And that disappointment, if not gone in check, will lead to depression. And that depression will ultimately lead to despair if it's not stopped. Big depressions are a problem in our culture and society today. I want some sobering statistics. Just from 1994 most of us were still alive at that time. To 2002 the consumption of antidepressants has tripled just in those that span of time. Now that's 2002 is the most current statistics I could get. We're 2008. I bet it's still in the same pattern with that. What was shocking to me is that to know that 6% this is in 2002. 6% of children are on antidepressants including some as early as age 3. Now help me here. How are you depressed as a three-year-old? I mean what does food and a nap not fix when you're age 3? Something is scary going on. Something that's in its instinct when you see them, nobody in these articles wants to speculate as to why. That question is left in mystery. In fact sometimes they'll even say it. It's amazing when you see that. One third of all office visits by women involved an antidepressant prescription. Now it's not picking on women. Men just don't go to the doctor. And that's a whole nother problem. But it is amazing to see what is going on there. And I'm not saying there's not legitimate cases in times that antidepressants might be rightfully prescribed. But I'm saying it's tripling in eight years. And I'm sure the pattern is still going that way. Something is going wrong. Something is not being satisfied that people are craving to have satisfied with that. Well it's not only serving false gods but like them as the oppression of sin. They visualize we're feeling the oppression of their outward enemies. But you know what God has revealed in the course of time is that there's a bigger enemy. And the greatest enemy is not an outward enemy. It's an inward enemy. It's called sin. It's called Satan and his kingdom and his reign of darkness. A very real spiritual reality and attack on the human heart. Here are some of the common less acceptable forms of this oppression. Slavery of lust. Slavery of addiction. Slavery of bitterness. Well here's some that are even more common but unfortunately more acceptable. Slavery of control. You got to have control. Slavery of approval. Whatever it takes as long as you're approved by others. Slavery of having to be right. Just as deadly as the first three I mentioned but much more acceptable for some reason. Well they're acceptable or not though. They lead the heart to a cry out because of isolation of sin. Sin always leaves you isolated. And you say well from who? From your creator. From God. And you know what by virtue and by automatic default, therefore also from others. Because what establishes right relationships with other people and marriages and families and neighbors is a right relationship with God. And if you don't have that right there's going to always be isolation to some degree or another experience with people. But it leads to isolation. I continue to think though that the hope that's in here is that there is still the cry from the Israelites. And if you are crying out this morning, the beautiful thing about it is that you still have hope. My greatest concern for the group of people you all sitting here this morning is that there are some of you who no longer have this strength to cry out. And that would be by far a greater tragedy. Because you've lost hope. And if that is the case, let me tell you this morning there is hope. And re-energize, give life to that part of you that wants to cry out again this morning. And I can't help but thank you. And I've shared this example before. Here's a picture of it. The, whatever it was, 2020 I saw years ago about the orphanages in Romania where they have so many children that cannot be adopted. Nobody is adopting them. And what is the common characteristic of these kids in these orphanages? And I hope by the way the years has gotten better. I don't know. But they said they no longer cry. To walk in a room that has 16 cribs in it with babies. And it's silent. There's something wrong when babies don't cry because they've lost hope that any parental figure is going to come and do anything to love them. Cry out like the Israelites did. And if you're crying out this morning, don't stop. There is hope. Because when we look to God and hope, God responds. And that's number two this morning. He responds, number two, the deliverance by men filled with the spirit. The deliverance by men filled with the spirit. The first set of judges and livers are listed here in chapter three. Let's talk about each of them real quickly here. One was off nail. You know one thing is interesting about him? Who's his older brother? Caleb. And what's so interesting about Caleb? Anything? All right. He was one of the spies that initially had been sent in. The 12 spies to scout out the land. The first time with Moses. And 10 out of 12 came back and said, oh man, these guys are big. We look like grasshoppers compared to them. Let's reconsider the plan. But Joshua and Caleb came back and said, let's do it. Hey, if God can part a sea, what is the big deal about these people? They both saw the same facts. But it was Caleb who had seen the power of God as bigger than his circumstances. Here's Caleb's younger brother. So he was not only brother of Caleb, but he had proven and came into a family of his faithful. He had a heritage of that. In fact, we already read in chapter one last week that he had already gone faithfully. Joshua said, hey, I'm going to give my daughter the one that goes in and conquers this first town there. And off nail goes, hey, I'm up. I'm in. He'd already faithfully gone in. He wasn't one that had been unfaithful to only be partially obedient. He'd already been fully obedient. No wonder he should be the first deliver that God raises up. And he's a proven warrior. Well, not only off nail, but also e-hud. Now, e-hud's a great story. Kids, you got to admit, among stories, this is a good one in the Bible. You know, when you got a knife going into a really fat king and it swallows up the knife, that's good stuff. So here is e-hud doing that. You know, he's a modern day Rambo. All right. If you've seen the Rambo movies, and I'm not recommending them because the quality is not the best. But you get the idea, here's a guy that by himself makes a difference in the entire battle against all odds. Here's e-hud. And where, by the way, is Israelite army? They're back waiting somewhere over the hill. And here he goes then right into the king's chamber. With a sword strapped to his thigh, which if he had been found, he would have been killed immediately on the spot. A left handed guy on top of it all. My wife's left handed, and I just had to throw that in there. But anyway, he, God, can use anybody. You know, he comes in and he comes in the situation and God raises him up. He's courageous to lead his people and to go in by example, by himself, to do that. He's ingenious. The plan was masterful. Well, it wasn't just that. We also have the third one who's not much as said about by the guy Shamgar, who's mentioned briefly. He also says in verse 31, struck down 600 Philistines with an oxgoed. You know what an oxgoed is, by the way? It's a sharp stick that you use to prodding the ox. All right, we're not talking about a sword. We're talking about a guy with a sharp stick. Goes in and wipes out 600 people. All right, now that's rainbow material, too, wouldn't you say? These are the kind of people that are raised up here. And he obviously, strong warrior, mighty warrior. God raises up three men to do this, to lead the people. What sets these men apart, though, that's so interesting, is that they were filled with the spirit and they were sent by God. Now, let me challenge you here this morning. Your enemies don't look like ten nights in Philistines. It'd be so much easier if you could see what your enemy is and go there. They are. There it is. Your enemies crawl around the quiet, dark places of your heart. Your enemy is the propensity to continue to do what is right in your own eyes. Rather than the fall of the living, active, alive Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that continues to go out there. But it is by God's spirit that he's still delivering people from their enemy. It is still that way. What is so important about the spirit? Well, the spirit, first off, it represents the presence of God. The Holy Spirit always represents the presence of God. When the spirit comes upon somebody, it is the Holy Spirit coming and empowering and equipping people to do that. Philippians 1-18, by the way, when the apostle Paul is writing, he talks about this. He says, yes, and I will continue to rejoice. By the way, he's writing from prison. I will continue to rejoice as a prisoner, for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. The apostle Paul knew that it was the spirit of Jesus Christ, his presence that was ultimately his deliverer. Secondly, the spirit reminds us of the truth that God conquers doubt. Remember, barrier number one to blessing? Doubt. The spirit is God's number one tool to conquer doubt. Look to one of the scriptures, say there in John 1613. Jesus speaking, he says, but when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will guide you into all truth. The remedy for doubt is believing the truth, and that's the Holy Spirit's role. Well, the spirit not only is the presence of God himself, the spirit is not only the one that guides us in truth, the spirit is who empowers us to reject what? Partial obedience. Partial obedience, which is barrier number two by the way we talked about. Acts 6.5 says this, talks about a guy named Stephen. Remember that, the first Deacon, the first martyr from the time the spirit's poured out at that point? They chose Stephen, a man full of faith, and of the Holy Spirit. And he stands up against the Sanhedrin who are coming down. He gives a testimony that's unbelievable led by the spirit about the power of God. And they are so struck, they are so incredibly, you know, into his message that they pick up stones and they stone him to death on the spot. But he was a man filled with the Holy Spirit. He was empowered to give testimony in the face of death. In his last words were what? Like his Savior, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. That's power to live a life like that, to lay it on the line. And in your dying breath to cry out like your Savior, that's amazing. His spirit continues to deliver those who trust him. Here's a big point. If you are at a place of despair this morning, be ready to cry out to God, because he is ready to deliver you, but he will deliver you by his spirit. Don't take a pseudo-deliverer this morning. Don't take a pseudo one. Let me give you some examples of pseudo-deliverers who will let you down every time. Self-help books, self-help theories, and there's a lot of them out there. And by the way, there's a lot of them in the Christian bookstore. Be careful to put in your trust in self-help books and theories. 12-step programs, unless you truly look to God as the only higher power, those programs say find your higher power. If it's not God, you don't have a higher power. If it's not God in his Holy Spirit. Believing God is just one of many ways to heaven, and the one you maybe you've chosen. I mean, if that is what your Christian faith stands on here this morning, then you think, oh, God's really one of many, and I'm in the Christian realm. I've chosen the way of Christ. You're not serving Jesus Christ. He's the one that says, I am the way, the truth in the life. No one comes to the Father, but through me. You can't buy into that. There are many ways to God and still be serving Jesus Christ. You've found a different God that you're worshiping and serving in his spirit. And that spirit will not deliver you. Only the Spirit of Jesus Christ has the power to deliver you from your enemy. Trusting a professional counselor over God, and I'm in favor of counseling, and I've been, and I think many of you ought to go. But if that becomes, that came out kind of wrong. Many of you who might need it might need to go. But if your trust is in a professional counselor, then you're missing the Holy Spirit. And if you're going to a good counselor, they're going to point you to where the power lies and trusting the power of Jesus Christ through his spirit. That's the only kind of counselor you ought to be going to is the one that tells you stuff like that. And there's a lot of good stuff there, but you can't be trusting in that. Trying harder to fix yourself. Man, where are Americans? Put yourself up by your bootstraps, right? Do what it takes. Not going to happen. A wrong God. Or how about this one? You know, you got the whole thing. Jesus is my co-pilot, kind of thing. Tell you what, if Jesus is not your pilot, okay, your plane is going to crash, all right? And the point is not for you to be a co-pilot. Jesus doesn't need any help. But there's an algae. The best analogy for you would be a flight attendant. In the back, they're to serve the pilot. Get out of the cockpit. It's all about the power of God and his Holy Spirit working your life. Nothing about you. Now, some of you might be offended by that here this morning because I may be picked on some of your pet peeves, but you ought to be set free by that. That you are not dependent on any man-made human institution or effort other than the Spirit of God. And organizations and people that point you in that direction. And his power is available to you right now as you cling to him, as you look to him. As I cry, a 4-6 says this, it's not by might, it's not by power, but it's by my spirit, says the Lord. He makes it very clear. Well, how do we experience the Holy Spirit? I've talked about how not to. How do we experience the Spirit? We put all of our hope in him. All of our hope in him. Not partial. That would be partial obedience again. God says, you've got to put all your hope in me. Not 90%? Not even 99%. You've got to put all your hope in me. That my promises are true. That I will deliver you. That I will forgive. That I will empower what you need. We've got to hunger for his word. That the Bible is not just a book for reference. The Bible is a book for daily life. We've got to pray for our first resort. Not a last resort. We've got to look to step out in faith daily. That means stepping out of your comfort zone. What do you call me to do? What do you call me to be here today? What can I do that's not only going to do, because I believe you are real in your life. That's stepping out in faith. We value the community of other Christians because we know that we are stronger together than a part. You want to kind of church or your small group Bible study or whatever because you want to be around God's people because you know you're going to come out strengthened by it. Those are the kind of things that means to trust God and follow His Holy Spirit. That's only by His Spirit. As He did then, He does today and He will do tomorrow. In this deliverance leads to number three, the restoration of the blessing of peace. Number three, the restoration of the blessing of peace. Let's look back at these three delivers real quick. Often hell leads the people out of eight years of oppression. Now eight years is a long time. You think about it. That's two terms in office if you're the president. That's a long time. What were you doing eight years ago to now? If you're under heavy oppression, that is a long time. But from eight years of oppression, after often hell leads the people trusting God by the power of the Holy Spirit, 40 years of blessing. 40 years. God didn't say, hey, I'll give you eight back. God says multiply that by five. That's the kind of God we serve. He had leads the people out of 18 years. Anybody here, 18 years old? 17? 19? 21. You get 18 years is a long time. Some of you haven't even lived that long. 18 years of oppression. God delivers them what into 80 years of blessing because they trusted it and they followed God. God responds exponentially greater when his people cry out to him in repentance and hope. That is an awesome truth, an awesome power that God takes the mess that we made with our lives. He turns into something amazing. God restores through a blessing of peace and he lavishes it upon his people. When we look to him and his spirit for deliverance, we experience his deliverance. Think about a few people that might come to mind. How about an ex-con from the Watergate scandal? God turns into the founder of prison fellowship that serves prisoners around the country, a strong national leader in his church. God name, Chuck Colson. Think about a desperate woman who finds herself at the center of the nation's debate on abortion. The Jane Rowe of Roe v. Wade. She finds the forgiveness of Jesus Christ and then devotes her life to the pro-life movement. That Jane Rowe was norm on the Corby. There's some I experienced power and deliverance. How about a military deserter who was suicidal, who was a slave trader by profession? He finds grace in Jesus Christ. And it's his him that's best known around the world called Amazing Grace. I was John Newton. God has been and is and will always be in the power and the business of delivering people, taking what messes up they had done with their life, and turning them into something glorious, taking people like you and me, and taking the places where we veered away from God and we ve sinned and we ve gone ourselves in our own mess, which is, by the way, it's time for us to own up to the problems in our life or not God's fault. There are fault. Let's just be honest about it. He comes in and says, I will change that and what has become disgustingly gross your life, I will turn it into a trophy of grace. And I will bring something beauty out of it. Beauty out of ashes, his word says. God is faithful to restore his blessings on us. Well, before we close, I tell you what the point is. Ultimately, let me tell you what is not the point. This is not the point. The point is not that you need to be more like off-male, e-hud, or shamgar. That's not the point. These are the very best judges as this book starts with. It's going to go downhill from here to varying degrees. But these are the very best ones to start off with. But you know what the problem was? The spirit was poured out in those moments, but the spirit didn't remain on any of those three as leaders. The people rebelled again. What happened after off-male and 40 years of peace? Well, the people went back and did the same thing all over again. What happened after e-hud in 80 years of peace? Well, the people went back into the same thing over again. And let me kind of give away the rest of the book. They're going to do it again and again. After God delivers them amazingly, they're going to still go back and do it over again. The people lost the blessings of God and found themselves experiencing the curses of sin over and over again. God is not looking for a few good men. Maybe the military is, but God is not because here is the point. There is no one who's good. Roman three tells us there's no one who seeks God. There's no one who's righteous. There's no one fits that description unless you include the only 100% God, 100% man Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the king, is the deliverer, that the Holy Spirit, it is His Spirit. The Spirit never leaves, never left, never leaves Jesus. Spirit Jesus is faithfully following and serving. He is the only true righteous king, because as we're being reminded of, the problem in judges is that there was no king. Jesus is the king that they needed, but there's still a further problem because Jesus is the king, but it doesn't mean that you're following Him. It doesn't mean that you're faithfully following Him. Jesus came here to earth. Jesus came to deliver the people. Jesus's own disciples would betray Him the very night that He needed the most. So it's not just the magic of having the right king because Jesus is the right king, but Jesus' people, His followers, His citizens of His kingdom had to be transformed as well into His likeness. The making of Jesus' king in your heart brings the promise. When you make Jesus' king in your heart, it makes the promise that He will pour out His Spirit on you as He promises to do. And when He says it's good for me to go back to heaven because God was sending the helper. And when the scriptures testified that the Spirit was poured out on all believers, those that trust in Him, Jesus said, you know, here is the winning formula. The righteous king and the people now who have His Spirit in them, but although they still are not perfect, they continue to follow Him as Lord and Master. This is the point of judges. This is the point of the gospel. You've got to have the right king and you've got to have the king's spirit inside of you as His people. And that is the winning combination that makes for the fullness we're looking for. So you've got a choice. You can try it your way and do everything as you see right in your own eyes. Or you can make Jesus' king. And until you make Him king, by the way, He doesn't come in as any other, wearing any other hat than a crown. When you make Him king, He brings His Spirit along with them. And He pours out His Spirit into our lives. And as we have faith, and as we trust in that, He sets His free. So who's your king? That's the last question. Who's your king? If you don't need to know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, if you've never trusted Him with your life, if you've never made Him king, it's time. Today is a day of opportunity. The day of salvation is always today when you hear the word of God. Invite Christ into your life. Make Him say, Jesus, come out and be king. I'm not sure what all that means except forgive my sins. Cleanse me from the inside out, take control of my life because I've only made a mess with it. And He invites you to do that. Or if you've already invited Him to be king in your life here this morning, don't as a scripture say, suppress His Spirit. Don't fight His Spirit. Don't say, hey, you're my king, but your kingdom can't reign. That's what that means to quench the Holy Spirit. It's like, God, come in. You are my king. Ask for His broken assay, let your kingdom reign in me. And I tell you, if you tell Him, if you ask Him to do that, He will point out very specific areas of sin in your life right now. Some you know are there. Some you maybe don't even know. He's going to reveal to you the next few moments if you do that. Invite Him to speak there. It might be a relationship needs to change in your life. It might be a value system that you've had going on your life or at home that needs to change. It might be areas that you've been living a life of deception that needs to change. It might be something in the secret dark places of your closet that nobody knows about except for your king. And He wants in. Whatever the case is here, you have a choice to make. Let's pray. Father God, as we are here this morning, as we come as your people, and as we prepare to come to your table in just a moment, we remind us of the reality. God that we are prone to do what is right in our own eyes if you're not king in our hearts. So God come. We enthrone you in Jesus' name that you would be the Lord and Savior and the reign of our hearts. God, for those that are here this morning that haven't made that decision yet before, were you getting the faith to respond to that? That side of the bulletin says, explains a little bit more how you can do that specifically. But would you encourage them and give them the faith to believe and to cling out and to say, God, Lord Jesus, be my king, be my Savior, forgive me, cleanse me, empower me to live for you. God, for those of us who have you as have made you king, but resist your reign, God, would you come and give us faith to say, God, may your reign come and fill my heart and take over those places where I resisted. God, would you give us the grace and mercy to experience that here this morning? Will you make us more like the king that we serve? We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen.