Gooding, David: 1 - Introduction; Othniel

It is a very great pleasure to be with you here again, and thank you very much for turning out on this grievously cold evening. We have four occasions in the will of God to be together, and on those four occasions I hope to be talking with you about certain matters in the book of Judges in the old. Now, obviously, in four evenings, we shall not be able to cover, uh, the whole of the book of Judges or anything like it. What I hope to do, therefore, is to take the story of three of the capti- uh, four of the captivities and four of the deliverances which the book of Judges records, and so to deal with them that we may be able to see together some of the basic principles with which the Book of Judges deals. And if it should be, most unlikely, I should think, but if it should be that you have not studied the Book of Judges in any detail before, I trust that God, through these studies, will open for us a window on this part of his word. So let us begin our study by reading, first of all, from the New Testament, the epistle by Paul to the Ephesians and chapter six. The epistle by Paul to the Ephesians and chapter six. And I read there in the English Revised Version from verse ten: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Wherefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, with all taking up the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, with all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the Spirit and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints, and on my behalf, that utterance may be given unto me in opening my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. I read this passage because, as I say, it is the book of Judges that I want us to study together tonight and in the coming three weeks. And I want to use the book of Judges with you that we might learn from it certain spiritual, uh, certain principles of spiritual warfare. And so, right from the very beginning, I want to make the point that there is a tremendous contrast between the warfare to which the ancient Israelites were called by God and the warfare to which we are called of God in this present day. In the warfare to which the Israelite of old was called, he was required to use carnal weapons, literal swords and very sharp spears, not to talk about battering rams and other instruments of cruelty. His warfare was very much against flesh and blood, for in those days it was not yet ready for them to distinguish necessarily between evil principles and the people that embodied those evil principles. We are called upon to warfare on a much higher field. Forgetting that has been the source of endless sorrow, tears, and bloodshed in the course of many centuries of Christendom's history. For alas, there came periods in Christendom when the church seems to have forgotten the words of the Lord Jesus to Peter, put up your sword into its sheath, for they who take the sword shall perish with the sword. Times when, as I say, Christians seem to have forgotten the Lord's prohibition to Peter, as he told him not to try and defend the Christ with literal weapons. And so it came about that in some centuries the church collected her armies and went and slaughtered the flesh and blood of Turks. There were other centuries, were there not, when the infamous Inquisition in the country of Spain rooted out Jews because they were unbelieving Jews and put them to death with a sword. In ancient Israel's time, because Israel was a theocracy governed directly by God, and all those who were in Israel stood under the covenant that God had made with his people, then we are told that in those days, if the authorities heard that certain people down the street living in such and such a town had given way to idolatry and had gone after other gods. Then after due warning, if the people of that city did not repent, then the religious leaders of the nation were ca- were to call upon the civil power, and they were to take out their armies and physically destroy those heretics. Thus it was in those far off days of Israel's history. Alas, here too, there have been centuries when the Christian church has imagined it was meant to be doing exactly the same as Israel, and has forgotten how different the church is from Israel. And so Christians joining up the church with the state had to look around from time to time to see whether there were any heretics lurking here or there. And when they found what they thought were heretics, the church called upon the civil authority to get out the army, and with the armies and the carnal weapons of the day, to physically destroy those whom they judged to be heretics. And oh, what rivers of tears and oceans of blood and dark infamy on the name of Christ was perpetrated through failure to make this basic distinction. I trust that nothing I shall say in these studies shall encourage us to think that we as Christians in this day would do right in the last analysis to defend the faith by taking to the sword. We follow one whose command is clear. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight to defend me. But now my kingdom is not from here. Our weapons then, just let me remind you of them from the passage that we have just read. The weapons of our warfare. Now, which way round do I have to come? Here we are. There we have them. And you may care to be thinking about them as we proceed. The weapons of our warfare, says Paul, are not carnal. They are not physical weapons. Nonetheless, they are mighty through God, spiritual weapons, mighty through God, to the pulling down of strongholds and fortresses. So as we read our ancient book of Judges, then, and learn its basic principles, we shall find that we in our day are very often fighting the same evil spiritual powers that they were fighting. But when it comes to the weapons that we use in fighting those battles, we shall find our weapons are different. How then was it that the book of Judges comes to be so full of stories of battles and warfare? The answer is as follows. Judges tells us how God had brought his people out of their bondage in Egypt, across the wilderness, and now at length into their inheritance in the Promised Land. When they first arrived, the armies were collected under Joshua, their captain, and they made a united assault on the various enemies that were to be found throughout that country, seeking by their swift lightning raids to break the backbone of the opposition. And when that was done, then says the book of Judges, they gathered each in their tribes, or sometimes two or three tribes together, now to go round to the areas that they had been given so that they would take possession of their inheritance. As they did so, God warned them that they were not to compromise in any way with the Canaanites, with the pagans that they found, but they were to drive them all out so that they might enjoy their inheritance. And that may remind us of our own position, surely. We too have been redeemed, though with the blood of an infinitely more precious lamb than Israel. We too have an inheritance, and in one sense we are waiting to enter upon that inheritance, for, says Peter, it is reserved in heaven for us, and we look one day when the Lord comes to enter upon that great inheritance. Yet it is true from another point of view that even while we live here in this earth, we may enter spiritually into our inheritance. That surely is the force of Paul's remarks in the letter to the Ephesians that we read, when he tells us that as believers in the Lord Jesus, we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, already entered upon our great spiritual inheritance. But when we look at things from that point of view, we shall find another similarity between us and the Israelites. When the Israelites entered into Palestine, they had a land that God had given to them, and they came backed by his promise that every bit of ground upon which their foot should tread should be theirs. At the same time, they soon found that while the inheritance was theirs, they could have it as a gift, have it for the taking. There were enemies galore encamped upon that inheritance and determined to fight to the very last ditch to stop the Israelites coming in and enjoying the Promised Land. So surely is it with us today. Redeemed and in one sense seated in Christ in the heavenlies, our inheritance open to us to begin to explore it in all its wealth. And yet, at every corner almost, old, hoary old enemies, ugly with beard and spear and armored mail, trying their worst to stop us entering into the joy and gathering the grapes and the figs of our great inheritance. If we would enjoy our inheritance, we shall have to be prepared to fight for it, as the Israelites were prepared to fight for theirs. Some of them did it very well and cleared out the enemies that held their particular part of the country. Others not so well. Of some, it says, they did not cast out the enemy. Of some, it says, they tried to, but they couldn't. And I suspect in those remarks we recognize ourselves. Is it not true that at some periods of life, maybe, and with some enemies, we've not tried all that hard to get rid of them? We rather enjoy being a little sarcastic on times. It's rather clever, we think. We've not tried too hard to get rid of it. And you more than I may be. You say, ah, but that's not true of me. I have my weaknesses too that spoil my enjoyment of spiritual things, and before God, God knows I've tried to drive out the enemy. Oh, how many times I've tried. And I can't. So God tells us both those things happened with Israel. Then he tells us what happened next. Because they couldn't drive them out, then they began to compromise with them. And they began to worship their gods. And in the end, they fell into bondage to these enemies. That too has its analogy with us, doesn't it? Will you remember what Paul says in Romans chapter six, Wherein he's telling us the wonderful provision God has made to deliver us from the power of sin. And he comes down to his tremendous climax when he says, and sin shall not have dominion over you. It shall not keep you down in servitude and bondage. How not? Because you are not under law, but under grace. Because Christ has paid all the expense of our transgressions and all the cost of our failures. When as believers we fall and we fail, that's not the end. That's not sin got the final mastery. For in Christ, because we are not under law but under grace, we may get up and go again. We may confess our sin and know ourselves forgiven and start again. For we are not under law, but under grace. Says somebody, well, if we're not under law but under grace, then, well, when all comes to all, sir, does it really matter if I sin? I don't suppose you've ever been tempted to think like that, of course not. But one of these days you might conceivably meet an Eskimo or somebody who has begun to think like that. And he said to himself, but the preachers have told me that there is no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus, and I'm in Christ Jesus, you see. So there's no condemnation, how blessedly true. And through Christ, every believer shall be saved from the wrath of God. That's magnificent. And you say, that's what I thought. And seeing that is so, you know. Tell me really, what does it matter? What difference does it make, uh, if I fall into sin? When after all, you've just said there's no condemnation, I shall never be lost. What does it matter? And what difference does it make? Oh, says Paul, I shouldn't sin if I were you. Why not? Why, there's no condemnation, of course there's not. But you see, says Paul, don't you realize that to whomsoever you yield yourselves as servants to obey, you become that man's slaves. Oh yes. If as a believer redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and assured that I shall never come into judgment and I shall be saved from the wrath of God, if, uh, nevertheless I yield my members to bad habits and to sin. Paul warns me that while there is no penalty, there will be consequence. And the consequence is that I too shall find myself bound by habit. And the more the practice is indulged in, the stronger will be the bondage. So we learn our lessons too from this ancient book. We have enemies that stop us enjoying our great inheritance. We are to fight them and not compromise with them. Some of them we shall get victory over very soon, and some of them will prove to be very persistent and difficult enemies to deal with. We must not give up. Or if we yield ourselves servants to obey them, we shall become their slaves. When Israel thus fell into bondage, then in their misery, we are told, they cried unto the Lord, and the Lord raised up deliverers for them. And that's the happy side of the stories we shall read. The delightful provision that God made for his erring and wayward people, that when they came to their senses and they sought his forgiveness, then in his kindness he had a savior waiting for them and raised him up and so delivered his people. Oh, what a lovely God God is. Shining out of this remote part of Old Testament are a half a dozen stories than more that point us to the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, our Savior deliverer. It is a tremendous privilege to be able to preach the Savior to men and women who are as yet unregenerate. Let us not forget that we have a Savior that saves his people as well. I cannot read your heart, my brother, my sister. I don't know from the look on your face whether you are enjoying peace like the Israels did this last forty years, and are marching, uh, on your mountaintops of victory, or whether tonight, in your innermost heart, you feel defeated, and life has become complicated, and you can't seem to undo the muddle. Or my brother, my sister, God has a savior for you as well. Savior of sinners, ah yes, but savior of saints. Into the bargain. It is of those people that we are to think in these studies. So let me just now give you a list of them, or a list at least of the major deliverers in the book. Oh, ah, the bed is not long enough. The major judges, it says on the top. Have you got that bit? Then we'll cut him off. And there they are, and you may care to take a moment just to refresh your memory of the leading judges, the leading deliverers in the Book of Kings. And, and the Book of Judges. And what we shall be doing is this. We shall be taking four of those men and considering the bondage from which they delivered the people of God. Just four of them. Tonight, God willing, we shall deal with Othniel, the first of them. Next week, God willing, with Ehud, and the week thereafter with Deborah, Beirak, and Jael, and then finally we shall deal with Samson. In our studies, we shall be looking for four things where we can find them. We shall be asking ourselves, each occasion, does the word of God give us any hint as to the cause of the trouble? Any particular cause besides this general one of compromise with the enemy. And then, having studied the cause, if we can find one, then we shall consider the nature of the enemy. You will observe that the enemy was different on each occasion. In the first bondage, the enemy were the Mesopotamians. They came from Syria of the Two Rivers. In the second bondage, the enemy was Moab in particular, though he got, uh, uh, helpers from Ammon and Amalek. And then on the third occasion, Deborah, Beirak, and Jael, they fought the Canaanites, and particularly the Canaanites in the north of the country, round Harthor and other such places. Whereas Gideon was called upon to lead the armies of the Lord against the Midianites. Abimelech really got things topsy turvy. You may suspect he lived down in Australia, where they have everything upside down because he was meant to be fighting the enemy, but in the end he turned around and fought the Israelites. Alas, what things can happen if you're not careful. Whereas Jephthah had to face the Ammonites as the main enemy, and finally Samson fought the Philistines. So a right old bunch of enemies, if ever there was one. Yes? You'll not be bored. Ha. Not all enemies are the same. You'll find different ones at different times in life, you know. You'll not be bored by them. Satan has a tremendous variety of enemy to come at our heels. And we shall be asking each time the nature of the enemy. What does he represent? And you'll see the ancient nations were somewhat like the modern ones, surely, in this. If I said to you, so and so is a typical American, uh-huh, would you know what I mean? Perhaps you'd object, there isn't such a thing. Every single American is different. Well, in a sense, you're right. And yet, uh, I think some people would know what I meant if I said so and so is a typical American. Aren't they charming? And if I said, uh, so and so is a typical Englishman, your face would say, yes, yes, that's right, that, that, that's right. We needn't go further. I shan't be inquiring what you imagine a typical Englishman to be. Ha. Would you happen to know what a typical Moabite is like if you saw one? Or a typical Mesopotamian? It is these people that we're going to meet, and I shall be suggesting that they are different because of their historical circumstances, because of their national characteristics and their history, and so forth and so on. They are different. We shall have to do, then, a lot of reconnoitering of the enemy. And when we've done that, we shall turn to consider the deliverer that God raised up. And we shall ask, first of all, what were his qualifications? Why, for instance, did God raise up Othniel to fight the Mesopotamians, and not Othniel to fight the Moabites. Was there anything special in Othniel that fitted him for that occasion? Because we have our vested interest in these stories, haven't we? We want to be as Timothy exhorted, as Paul exhorted Timothy to be. We want to be good soldiers of Jesus Christ, not only able to reconnoiter the enemy and say, ha ha ha ha, ah, if my eyes don't deceive me, that is an old Ammonite speaking there. Mm. But we are to be able to prepare ourselves as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, so that we may be ready when God calls upon us to deliver his people. And finally, we shall have to look at the tactics that they employed for dealing with the enemy. If you haven't strong nerves, well, perhaps you oughtn't to come the next few weeks, because the tactics are rather colorful. Othniel, you're right tonight, he just went out and warred in straightforward warfare. Ehud, he fought as well, but he had a particular technique. He came into the king saying, I have a message from God unto thee, and when the king rose up, he drew his, uh, s- his short dagger from his right thigh and pushed it right through the belly of the fat old king of Moab and killed him through his belly. Uh-huh. It's quite effective, of course. Whereas Sisera, commander of the great Canaanite armies, he was killed, but not by a sword through his belly, but by a tin peg through his skull. I have a notion that God goes for the strong place each time, and of some it is true that their God is their belly, as Paul says, and with others the God they worship is their intellect. Be that as it may, all sorts of different tactics are employed, and we shall be asking ourselves how the tactics fit the particular situation that we might instruct ourselves on being good soldiers and know what tactics to use on what occasion. Now we are told in our first story, and you'll find the details in Judges chapter three, Judges chapter three, you'll find that on the first occasion of their bondage, it is told us in chapter three verse seven and eight that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cusham Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years. We ask, therefore, for the cause. What was the cause of this bondage? And here, God the Holy Spirit has been pleased to tell us explicitly, the cause is given us in verse six of that chapter. The Israelites took their daughters, that is the daughters of the Canaanites, to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. Where did they go wrong on this occasion? They went wrong in their hearts. And they lost their first love to God, and lost their hearts to the girls of the Canaanites, married them, and went after their gods. Just like God had told them to. Says he, don't go and marry those girls of the Canaanites, for if you do, they will prove a snare to you, and sooner or later you'll be w- you will be worshiping the gods that those girls worship. So it happened. It was their heart that went wrong. If I had all the wisdom of my older brethren in this church, I would here stop and preach you a sermon. Not all of you, but to my younger and yet unmarried brothers and sisters. For this ancient ploy of the enemy is still used by our enemy. Our blessed Lord has told us, has he not, not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Oh, my dear fellow young Christian, do watch your heart. Marry the right girl. She'll make you spiritually. Marry the right husband. It'll be the secret of your success, a tower of strength to you. Marry an unbeliever. You can spell disaster. Why so? You can imagine, can't you, the young Israelites coming home, you'll see, and saying to Mama and Papa, like Samson did on an occasion, oh, I've just seen a smashing girl down the road, Mum. Invite her round to tea, can't you? Can I bring her home, Pa? And Pa says, who and what is she then? Is she a good Israelite? Well, no, she, she's Mesopotamian. Oh, says Papa Mama, no, you can't do that. What's wrong? Yes. Oh, well, Moses said, oh, Moses, I mean, that's how you used to think in, in your days, you see. But the world has changed since then. Moses' long old beard and his strict kind of ways. I mean, the girl is a smashing girl, very nice girl, likes all the nice literature like I like. What's wrong? If I married her, she might even get converted. Or she mightn't. What's wrong? She serves other gods, but she's not a believer. The fundamental interests are different. That young man that you're sweet on, all but if he's not a believer, his interests are an eternity different from yours. The danger is that when a believer marries an unbeliever, in the end, the believer gives in and adopts the same standards of life and the same goals of life. In other words, they worship the unbeliever's God. But I'm not as old as my good elders and nowhere near experienced nor qualified to talk of these things. Let me talk of other matters. I shall feel more relieved. For not only do I hear the New Testament warning us believers against marrying unconverted partners, uh, but I hear scripture telling us to watch our love and affection, that we love not the world, says the New Testament. The Apostle John says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. James is even more stern, and he says, my brethren, I want you to know this, that friendship with the world is enmity with God. If therefore you will, you deliberately will be a friend of the world, you are thereby constituted an enemy of God. So we are to watch our love. Did you notice the prohibition? Let me quote it again. What is it we're to do with the world and not to do? Love not. It's a matter of our hearts, our affections. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. You say that's a very funny thing, you know, that word world in the New Testament, isn't it odd? I mean, it starts off life as a very nice word, doesn't it? God made the world and all that is in it and said it was jolly good. How is it that this lovely good world that God made comes to be something bad that I'm not to love? Well, at this point, let me just introduce to you the geography of the matter, and we shall find perhaps it helps. When these people lost their hearts to the Canaanites and married them, then the Lord sold them into the hand of the king of Mesopotamia. Pray look where that country is or was. Mesopotamia is the name given to the land between the river Tigris and the river Euphrates, meaning the land between the rivers. In the time of the Book of Judges, the name was given to this upper part here, called Syria of the two rivers, Aram Naharaim. In later Hellenistic times, it, uh, w- was extended to cover this southern part between the two rivers. And so that is why Stephen in Acts chapter seven says in his address, the God of glory appeared to our father when he dwelt in Ur of Chaldees, when he dwelt in Mesopotamia, and said, get out and leave your country and come into the land that I will show you of. And stage by stage, Abram responded to that call, and he left Ur down here in the south, and he came and dwelt in Haran. And then after some years, he came to his final decision, and he moved on and crossed over from Haran across the river and came down through Syria into Palestine here, to the land of his inheritance. Here was the very beginning of the nation. That nation had its beginning in Abram's experience of conversion, when the God of glory appeared to him, and in the light of the surpassing glory of God and the reality of God, he left his homeland amidst its idolatry and set forth to come at last into the glorious inheritance that God gave him. I see what's happened. Now the Israelites are in the land. But you say, what use is it? Now they are in the land of their inheritance, and if you please, the old, old enemy of Mesopotamia has come creeping up behind them and got them enshained. They might as well be back in Mesopotamia. Could happen, couldn't it? Conversion can be expressed in this, says Paul, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Conversion is leaving the world side, coming over to the side of Christ. It's possible to stand on the side of Christ and to look back, isn't it? And let the world recapture our hearts once more. What's wrong with the world? Two things are wrong with the world. One of them is its temporariness. The Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter eleven that when Abram came out of this land and came at last to Canaan, he could have gone back had he pleased, but he refused to go back, and so did the other patriarchs. They that say such a thing, says the writer to the Hebrews, make it clear that they are seeking a fatherland, a heavenly fatherland. They look for the city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Point number one with the world. Even at its best, it is only temporary. Love not the world, says John. Why shouldn't I love the world, John? For the world passes away, and the desire for it. Use the world, though don't abuse it, says Paul. Enjoy all the gifts that God gives us. But my dear brother and sister, says John to each one of us, don't you love the world? Why shouldn't I love the world? Because every drop of love and affection you put on this transient world, in the end you'll lose it. The world is passing away. Oh, what a sad thing that would be if we didn't know the God of glory who appeared to Abram, who has appeared to us surely, and opened our eyes to that great eternal world, and the city that hath the foundations whose builder and maker is God. And like Abram, we've begun our pilgrimage to that glorious eternal city. Oh, it's important, isn't it, that both husband and wife here, to revert to our previous topic, have the same objective. And not one living for the world, now, here. And the other living for... eternity. There's something worse wrong with the world than that. It's not only temporary. To cut down the long story to as short as I can, it is that the world now is evil. But let me, let me bethink myself. Our story tells us that when God brought up the Mesopotamians and brought the Israelites in bondage, they had as king over them a king by the name of Cushan Urishathayim. Now that's a funny name to go to bed with. Cushan Rishathayim is so odd that even the pundits can't tell us what Aramaic word that really represents. Because it looks as if the dear Hebrew scribes had taken the word Rishathayim, or whatever it was beforehand, and they supplied it with vowels that make Rishathaim mean in Hebrew of double wickedness, which wasn't very complimentary. Cushan Rishathaim, King Cushan of double wickedness. I don't suppose he felt flattered if he heard what the Hebrews called him. And it may serve to remind us that there's a sinister thing about this world. The New Testament tells us not merely that it's temporary. The New Testament says that over this world there is a prince. The prince of this world. And that prince is our s- our satanic enemy, the devil himself. How has the world got its bad name? Well, I tell you, because right from the very start, when Satan came to the Garden of Eden, he took the world that God had made, the lovely world, with its beautiful trees and its flowers and its fruits, and he did a very dastardly thing with it. He used the lovely world that God had made to draw Eve's heart away from God. Thinking about that, I was tempted to do a little modern art, and if you'll not, if you'll promise not to come clamoring round to purchase it afterwards, I'll put it on its first exhibition. Ha. It's really modern, isn't it? Uh, John reminds us that there is the Father and there's me. And it's a question of the Father's love for me and my love for the Father. And the great Father in his mercy, showing us his love, gave us all practical gifts, the world, if you like, and all the lovely things that are in them, as they come circling from him down to me, showing me his love, and are meant to go back to him in gratitude and service and sacrifice, and all the while these temporary gifts going through, strengthening this central love between me and the Father. That's delightful. In that sense, God has given us all things richly to enjoy, that they might express his love towards us and bring our gratitude back to God. And supremest of all the gifts is Jesus Christ, God's son. But what Satan did was this. He took the lovely world, but he sowed into Eve's mind the idea that in order to enjoy that world, you had to abandon God, and you had to defy his word and take no notice of what his word said. Oh, God's word, said Satan to Eve, my dear woman, grow up into nineteen eighty six, do. Goodness me, my woman, nobody round here believes God's word anymore. You want to enjoy yourself, my dear. And he spread in her mind the idea that to enjoy this lovely world that God in fact had created, she must neglect God and his word. And that she did. And in disobeying God, put that vast gap between her and the Father and turned her back on Father. To love the world, now controlled by the prince of this world, who uses all its desires, lust of flesh, eyes, and pride of life to chain the woman's mind and to chain her feet, and to keep her from the father. That's why the world is sinister. It's not that the things in themselves are necessarily wrong, but when Satan takes them and holds them up as the goal to live for, such that it takes us from the Father. That is the worst tragedy that can possibly befall us. Oh, love not the world, for if that's the situation and you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. Now it comes a choice between the Father and the world. In that situation, God raised up a deliverer. Let's spend just five minutes on him, and then we can go. A deliverer from the king of Mesopotamia, from the world. And God raised up Othniel. You say, what were his qualifications? Ah. They are told us in chapter one of the book, and you may care to read it some time or other, chapter one, from verses eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen. And you're told the delightful story how that when Caleb and company were trying to possess their inheritance, uh, Caleb said, whoever fights and takes the city Kirjath Sepher, to him I will give my daughter Exar to wife. Ha. And Othniel, he was thinking it was about time he got married, and he'd been scratching his head to know who, and then he heard this story. Ha. And he had a look at Caleb, eighty years and plus, and still chasing giants off his inheritance. He said, goodness me, when I'm eighty, I should like to be like Caleb, tremendous chap Caleb. Always pioneering, always getting hold of new territory, always new things to enjoy. What a tremendous chap Caleb is. He said, you know, if his daughter is anything like him, wow, you know, I wouldn't mind her. And then he had a look at the giants, woof, woof, woof, they were giants. And his legs began to wobble a bit, until he turned round and had another look at Axar. That settles it, he says. He lost his heart to the girl. Ah. And up he went to Kiryas Sefer, and the old giants didn't stand a chance. Because Ax- uh, Othniel was fired by the love of Axar. Yes, you see, if they went wrong because they loved the wrong girls, then God will raise up a deliverer, not a peevish old bachelor, too many of them around, doesn't understand these things, huh. But as somebody whose heart is full and warm and living and vibrant and loves the right kind of girl. What a girl she was. She not only fired him to go and take that city of the giants, but when they got it, she had to look round. She came in one day, you know how delightfully they do these things. Ah ha. The lamb chop was beautiful. She said, offie, dear. Yes. Papa is coming down next week. Oh yes, so what about that? Well, I've been thinking, she says, you know. Not grumbling, but this bit of inheritance we've got here, it is rather dry, isn't it? Haven't you thought it very dry? You know what she says? Ask, you ask. Better from you. Ask Papa when he comes if he'd give us the upper and nether springs as well. She didn't want much, did she? What ho. Some are a little bit like that, gentlemen. I won't num- name them, but some are just a little bit like that, you'll see. Ask Papa for the upper nether springs, says she. So Papa came, and before Othniel plucked up the courage to ask Caleb, for Caleb was a little bit fierce looking. Ha. Axar, dear soul, she couldn't wait. She asked him. And what could he say to her? She got what she wanted, the upper nether springs as well. Dear soul. Oh, what things Othniel got when he loved the girl. Axar. Ah, well, I hope you've got a wife like that. But what we're getting at, isn't it the state of our hearts? What are you in love with? Oh, young man, young woman, have you got any senior folks that you look to and you say, ah, that godly woman. Ah, oh, look what she knows about the Lord. Look how she came through that trial. Look at the work she's done for the Lord. Oh, I would love to be like her. You got any heroes, gentlemen? You got a Caleb? Cor, I should like to be like that missionary, like that man of God. Finally in love beyond all them, aren't you? Aren't you in love with the Lord Jesus? You love him. And you love the Father. Why is it you're not going in for the world? Because the love of Christ is more real and has won your heart. And your desire too is to know the upper and the nether springs, to know what it is to be seated with Christ in heavenly places, and what it is to have the Christ dwelling in your heart by faith. If ever we're going to help the Lord's people overcome the world, you will not do it, shall we, by issuing negative prohibitions. Don't go here, don't go there, don't do that, do this, do the other. No, sir. The commandments and the prohibitions are necessary, but oh, where shall we be unless our heart be inflamed with the love of Christ, with the love of his word, with the love of the Father and the Holy Spirit. Oh God, make it real. It's all too possible, isn't it? To sing on Sunday, now none but Christ shall satisfy, and on Monday, when we're challenged to go into our inheritance here in this book, say, but it's so dry, you know. And God give us his Holy Spirit to f- make it fertile, that the great inheritance he's given us may bring forth Israel. By, by love for that girl and for the inheritance, he now was qualified to go and deliver the Israelites, to judge them and show them what poor choices they'd made when they chose to marry the Canaanites and follow their gods. And now to war, and he went out and fought. And his hand was strengthened against the king of Moab. The way to uh, to to to deal with the world remains precisely that, and on that note we can finish. Listen to the Lord Jesus. Satan, the prince of this world, offered him all the kingdoms of the world, if he would fall down and worship him. No, said Christ. The prince of this world comes and has nothing in me, said he. Subsequently to his disciples, he added, in the world you shall have tribulation, abie kupchia, I have overcome the world. What our Lord did, we are called upon to do. I write unto you, young men, because you are strong, says John. The word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one, then love not the world. So then may this ancient part of God's word speak to our hearts in practical fashion and help confirm the direction of our heart towards Christ and help us, loving him, to be of help to those whom the world may temporarily have entangled. Shall we pray? Lord, we thank thee now, if like to Abraham of old, so to us, thou hast revealed thyself in all thy glory, and brought us out to follow the Lord Jesus, and brought us into our great spiritual inheritance. Only guard our hearts, we beseech thee, lest in a careless moment the dark prince of this world beguile us, and entice and enslave us again in love of the world. Save us from being like Demas who forsook Paul, we do beseech thee, and forsook him, having loved this present world. The rather so fill our eyes and hearts with the glories of the great salvation that we have in the Savior, that we may follow him with undivided hearts and be used of thee in our day and generation for the liberation and salvation of others. We ask it through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.