Gooding, David: 7 - Ehud - Part 2

Evening is to read from the epistle of Paul to the Philippians and chapter three. Philippians chapter three. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is. Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If any other man thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more. Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee, as touching zeal, persecuting the church, as touching the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. How be it, what things were gained to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea, verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of mine own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, becoming conformed unto his death, if by any means I may attain unto the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect, but I press on, if so be that I may apprehend that which, that for which also I was apprehended by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal and to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye are otherwise minded, even this shall God reveal unto you. Only whereunto we have already attained, by that same rule, let us walk. Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them which so walk even as ye have us fallen in song. For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is perdition, whose God is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we wait for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. The Lord make his word live in all our hearts and experience. We are currently studying the second captivity to which the Israelites fell into bondage, and which is recorded for us in the book of Judges. The captivity to Moab and her confederates, as recorded in chapter three. We spent our last study together doing the first necessary thing, that is to say, reconnoitering the enemy and trying to find out what kind of a nation Moab was and the kind of things that characterized him and the right gloomy old evening we had. For we found Moab to be marked very decisively by the flesh. So that we turn to consider together what we mean, or at least what the scripture means, when it uses the term flesh in its bad meaning. And we consider together those lower forms of vice and self-indulgence that men popularly call the sins of the flesh. We found that they accounted for part, a bad enough part, but only a part of what God calls the flesh. So we went on to consider those ugly, other ugly sins belonging to the same brood, sins of bad temper and jealousy and envy and spite and evil speaking. And then, looking at our enemy as we dare straight in the face, we found that the flesh is to be seen not merely in the lower appetites, nor even in those things that we have just mentioned alone, but that it is constantly to be found masquerading as spirituality and clothing itself in religion. So we came to the end of our study, as I say, very gloomy of heart, having looked this terrible old enemy in the face, having recognized in him so much of what we frequently find in ourselves. Now, tonight we turn to the happier side of the story, to consider the deliverance that God raised up even in those ancient times for Israel to deliver them from Moab, and more particularly that glorious deliverance that God has provided for us through our Lord and Savior and judge, Jesus Christ. Let me therefore remind you of some of the details that we read in Judges chapter three about the man whom God used as deliverer on this occasion, and about the tactics that he adopted. We are told to start with that he was a Benjamite, of the tribe of Benjamin, that is. And that, as the Hebrew quaintly puts it, he was shut off his right hand, which simply means that he was left-handed. Which, as we shall see, he put to an advantage when he came to dispatch his enemy. Hm. But it was an odd thing, wasn't it, because he was a Benjamite, and you know Benjamin was given his name because it means son of my right hand. But, uh, this Benjamite, this son of the right hand was left-handed. He was chosen by his people, so we read, to convey what they euphemistically called a present to the king of Moab. Well, you could call it what you like, couldn't you? Sounded better that way. Actually, it was enforced tribute. Who would tithe you if you didn't give it? But they called it a present, and they made out it was voluntary. And Ehud was selected to go with this present, to take it to the king of Moab. And even as we pass by, we should allow that little detail to remind us not to fool ourselves. It is a tactic sometimes adopted, isn't it? That the way to keep the flesh under is to, uh, give it a little bit, and then it won't want much more. You know, give old Aegon a present, and that'll keep him satisfied. But that left him there, didn't it, in control. That left him there as king. And the present technique would have left them in bondage forever. And so we are told that this Benjamite, this man that was left-handed, this man that was selected to take the so-called present of appeasement, the constant and regular tribute to Moab's king. He made himself a dagger of a cubit's length. Took some time over it. A cubit is, uh, your forearm, isn't it? Yeah. He made his dagger of a cubit's length so as to be handy in the fight. Didn't want some mighty great sword about six feet long that the king of Moab would have seen, even if he had tucked it up under his skirts. And he wanted, moreover, a nice neat dagger that he could use conveniently. Wise thing to do, isn't it? We have in the word of God, doubtless, the sword of the spirit. It's a very big sword, isn't it? But when it comes to fighting at close quarters, sometimes we were well advised to make of this big sword a small dagger or two. Particularly, if I might, uh, digress a moment, in our personal work, you know, if we're going to be efficient, we do need to make some daggers that we can use, don't we? Do you know the situation? Perhaps you don't. With the awkward situation when you say to your unconverted friend, yes, old chap, you can be sure that you you're saved, you know, for it says it in the Bible, for instance, that that we know we're saved. Now let me see now, now. Oh, now it isn't there. Oh, well, it's here somewhere. I I know where it is. I did see it once. But no enemy gets impressed by I did see it once. If we really want to do some fighting, we shall need to make short daggers that we can use. It's wise to have them ready to our hands. And he strapped his dagger on his thigh, the crafty man. And you'll see, since he was left-handed, the king wouldn't suspect what he was going to do, would he? The king wouldn't immediately tumble to it that the man that came into his presence was left-handed, and if there had been any swords about, the king would have expected the man to reach out his right hand, you see. So he concealed the old dagger underneath his shirt. A small dagger, ready to be used all of a sudden, when the king was least expecting it. We do well to prepare ourselves in our every encounter, don't we? That we have a word of God ready to hand that can be summoned instantly, both when we are fighting enemies within and enemies without. I do remind you of our Lord Jesus Christ and how he fought his enemies. There was that fearful occasion when Satan himself dared to approach our Lord and tempt him, saying, make these stones bread. How did he fight? In an instant. A word of God. It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. And when Satan replied with another temptation, then cast yourself down off the temple, for it is written thus, misinterpreting, of course, the Holy Scripture, Christ answered him and fought back with another word of God. It is written. When the third temptation, temptation came, he fought likewise, and always and constantly with the it is written of God's holy word. Of course, on the divine side, he was its author, and on the human side, he had been brought up in a home where, according to Mosaic regulation, they had the word of God written on their doorposts, they bound it on their arms, they spoke of it when they got up and when they went to bed, when they sat at table and when they got up from table, when they came in and when they went out. And they didn't say to the young folks then, oh, it's no good putting old heads on young shoulders, you can't expect them to know Holy Scripture. They believed in preparing folks for the battle of life against the foe that is coming and devilish. They adopted the technique of the psalmist who says, thy word I hid in my heart, ready to resist therewith any sudden or subtle attack. So if you can't manage the whole of Ezekiel all for one go, at least get your little daggers, won't you, your John three sixteen s and, uh, all the rest that go with it. And the positive, clear statements of God's word that tell us what is right and what is wrong. So that when temptation comes and our emotions are all upside down and inside out, we have a word of God at hand, ready to fight the battle. But there came a turning point in this campaign, if we might proceed collecting these details, this Benjamite, man of Benjamin, who was left-handed, who made himself a dagger. There came a turning point in the whole campaign, didn't there? For we read he went into the king and delivered the presents, and then he went out again, and he dismissed the servants, but he himself turned again. There came a turning point in the campaign when he determined that there was going to be no more presents. That is to say, forced tribute, and Moab's king should feel the cold steel and die. The turning point, it seems to me, is significant. He turned back by the carved images, not quarries as you have in some of your translations, but carved images that were by Gilgal. Those carved images, in all probability, were the boundary stones of Moab's dominion. And in the ancient world, the ancients not only marked their boundaries, but their boundary stones were regarded as sacred objects and part of their religious observances. And therefore, those boundary stones would be carved to make them, in Moabite eyes at any rate, things of beauty and significance in their religion. And there stood those boundary stones. Eloquent of all that Moab stood for. But him and his type of religion means simply of gratifying the threat. And they stood opposite Gilgal. Famous name, Gilgal, isn't it? Famous name in Israelite history. There may thereafter have been many Gilgaals. You know, like we have Sunnisides in Belfast, goodness says, says everybody, bar one or two, aren't they, call the house Sunnyside. You see it here, you see it there, you see it everywhere. Well, of course, there are lots of Sunnisides, but... if you see a road here that's called Churchill Road, and some other city's got a Churchill Road, well, very probably it even could go back to Winston Churchill. And when you see many Gilgoals in Israel, many of them probably go back to the original Gilgoal. In that very part of the world, when Israel came over, or rather through and under and up again Jordan, and into the land, and there they circumcised themselves and rolled away the reproach of Egypt at Gilgal. There their knives came out, there they cut off the flesh. There Ehud stood between the two, to mark the two utterly different kinds of religion, if I may use the term for the moment, Israel's and Moab. The use of the knife in Moab to carve those images that make religion attractive to fallen flesh. And the use of the knife in Israel, or that symbolic and eloquent ritual for doing away with the flesh. And he had to make up his mind, what kind of religion he was going for. Circumcision, as we know from our New Testament, was abused. It was so perilously easy for Israelites to go through the outward and physical right to have the symbol marked upon their persons and not to live in the good of what that symbol stood for. Just like we as Christians can be baptized and celebrate the Lord's Supper, and alas, can do it as a mere outward ordinance and not be living in the good of what those things symbolize. But while that is so, let us think tonight of what circumcision meant for those people. It meant no less than an obligation to do the law, to keep it in all its holiness. That's what it meant to be an Israelite. And he had got to decide, was it going to be Moabite's religion with all its self-indulgence of the flesh, or was it going to be the law of Moses and its standards of holy living? And he turned back. In the name and fear of God to make his attack on this king of Moab, that very fat man who tended to bulge in the middle. Then he went into him, and he was sitting in his summer parlor, as we saw last week, taking life very easy. It was delightful. He was very fat, he was very lazy. And Ehab said, he said, you know, my, your majesty, I tend to take a slightly different view of things from what you do. Oh, no, no, no, no. Such arguments would have got nowhere. It's not a question of difference of points of view, not now. Your majesty, he said, I have a message from the Lord to you. Oh, said the king, let everybody else go out. I'm on a secret, you're on a secret errand. Right, let everybody else go out. And His Majesty rose to meet this word of the Lord and found it was a dagger through his belly. Quite like the way he would do it, did it, didn't you, don't you? The scripture, shall I say, descends to details on this occasion. Nice, short, sharp dagger with two edges. And he put it in, I should say he did. He didn't just go, ooh, I don't want to hurt you, Moab. No, not on your side. In he went and out the other side, for he didn't draw it out, he didn't intend to. Right in. And he did another very wise thing. He went out as quietly as he could and shut the door and didn't tell anybody. Then he start blowing bugles, dancing around in Moab, told I won a victory over the flesh. Well, no, indeed he didn't. For you had all the servants of Moab, uh, crowding around, wouldn't he? Oh, do you be careful if God gives you a victory over the flesh, be careful about blowing trumpets about it. Well, having got, uh, a victory over one form of the flesh, if you're not very careful and you start boasting about it, you'll find it's flesh again blowing the trumpet. No, he sneaked out as quietly as he could. And he blew no trumpets until he got to a part of the countryside there called Sera, called Sera because it was forested, where you could easily hide up. Then he blew the trumpet. And gathered together his fellow soldiers, now to round up all the minions of Moab. They were, of course, somewhat delayed, for they waited and waited and waited and didn't know what to do about this whole affair, and waited till at last they said, well, something's happened, and they opened the door, and there was their Lord falling down upon the ground. Before they came to attack Israel, but Ehud knew a thing or two. And he led his brethren down to the fjords of Jordan, where Jordan was very easily crossed because there were some fjords. Interesting, isn't it, when Israel came into the land to f- to fight Jericho and some such places, they didn't come over any fjords, you may remember. They came over Jordan when it was at the flood and went right down to the very bed of the river and up again, with the water standing on both sides. But Moab didn't agree to doing that kind of thing. He had nice falls across the Jordan, just got his toes wet and nothing more, skipping merrily backwards and falls from one side to the other. You'll catch them there, said Ehad, bound to come there, and they stood there and slew them as they came. So Moab was subdued under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest. And is there any counterpart for us? We think of the words of that saintly bishop, this cruel flesh, ah, how it strives to gain mastery. And therefore makes his prayer to God, my savior, thou hast promised rest. Oh, grant it then to me the rest of ceasing from myself to find my all in thee, dears cruel son. There a counterpart for us? There is indeed. And I call you, therefore, to this passage we read from the New Testament. It'll be the safer, safest exposition of Judges that I can give you. It too was written, you may have noticed, by Benjamin. A man who tells us that when it comes to the world of religion, well, if anybody else was entitled to trust in the flesh, he was entitled to trust in it more. Oh, look at the grand parade of things that he can offer. There is the ritual side of it all, a Pharisee of the Pharisee, of the seed of Israel, of Abraham, a Benjamite. Circumcised the eighth day and all the paraphernalia of the ritual and symbolism of Israel, and more. A full-hearted attempt to observe the very law of Moses, and touching the righteousness which comes by trying to observe that law of Moses, found blameless, not perfect, of course, but blameless in that he did everything he possibly could to keep that holy law in order to make himself holy. And found, found at length that it was impossible to do it. He tells us his own wretched experience, doesn't he? Or at least I think he does. Some don't. He tells us his own experience in Romans chapter seven Of the times he had striven to conquer this thing called the flesh. And how he had tried to keep God's holy law and to be holy. For Saul was no mere externalist, content with mere empty rituals, but an honest man trying to be holy. Although tonight we won't deal, shall we? We won't deal with those lowlier things. We won't ask somebody from the red light district of Soho. Let's ask Saul, in whom you will see flesh at its strongest, at its most cunning, trying to keep God's holy law in its own strength, and masquerading, therefore, and hiding itself, because it's put on a, a holy front. And behind it, that still fallen flesh, turned to religion, but flesh nonetheless. Paul tells us that he found that in spite of a will that determined to do God's will, in spite of an intellect that agreed that God's law was right and holy and attractive, in spite of affections that loved to do the law of God, found he couldn't do it. And had to admit in the end, I find that in me, that is in my flesh, there dwelleth no good thing. Then what the way of release? Not to become an even stricter Pharisee. Not in that sense more violent effort. For see it now, even in Saul of Tarsus. Two of us are worthy to tie the man's bootlaces for the seriousness with which he took this matter of living holy lives. Now I sometimes think that Saul of Tarsus would shame us, even though we're Christians, by the sincerity and the determination in which, even in his unconverted days, he tried to live holily before God. Trying to think through his ethics, his business ethics, his religious ethics, and all the rest of the ethics, where alas, we so often leave things very blurred. Hey, what? But But what watch it in him that when he's done his best, he had to admit that religion in him had made him a bigot and proud, oh, ghastly proud. So much so that he would persecute with torture and death those that didn't agree with him in religion. Proud in his own achievements. The desperate danger of the flesh in the realm of religion. Working in its own strength and proud of itself and its accomplishment. Proud of itself and its accomplishment. For the way of deliverance is not there, is it? That is but to perpetuate the enemy. Then what is the way of deliverance? Well, to Gilgal. Ah. Ehad, those centuries before, had come to a turning point in his campaign, hadn't he? As he stood by the carved images that were by Gilgal. The right and wrong roots of the knife, we called it, the knife taken to carve the images of Moab God and make it attractive before them flesh on the one side, and Gilgal with its rite of circumcision on the other. Paul sits down to write his letter, and he says, I want to tell you, brethren, and I want to tell you straight. Please get hold of it. This question of the right and wrong use of the knife. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. You say, who on earth is that? A concision? Well, that's... the false, and that is the wrong use of a knife, that is a perversion of circumcision. Beware of the concision. We are the circumcision. This is the true use of a knife. Who worship in the spirit of God and our boast is in Christ Jesus, and we have no confidence in the flesh. When God first gave the right of circumcision to Abraham, said God Abraham, walk before me and be thou perfect. And he gave him this sign and ritual of circumcision, eloquent symbol. Man's power to do God's will, to keep God's law, to walk before God and be perfect, lies not in the flesh, but alas, Judaism thought it did, by and large. Until it became an emblem of their pride of heart. Oh, what a good boy am I? I'm circumcised the eighth day. I'm of the seed of Benjamin. I wouldn't go near those ungodly sinners over there. Oof. Huh? So proud that when Jesus Christ walked among them, they accused him of being a sinner. Because he mixed with fa- with Republicans and sinners, they called him a sinner. They, they were so proud of their attainments. They felt themselves infinitely better than that poor fallen man down there in the gutter. And yet learned that the flesh in them was no better than the flesh in him, hadn't yet learned that in the sight of God their flesh was just as fallen as his. If ever they were to be saved, it must be on the same terms of grace as the other man. Paul now, therefore, has to write, because it became very evident by the preaching of the gospel that there were these two things. That kind of religious attitude that bases itself in the efforts of the faith. And that other way, it's really the only way, that finds initially its justification, not by its own effort of the flesh, but through faith of Jesus Christ. But learn really to apply tonight and come to that basic repentance. Not merely that this particular sin is wrong and that particular sin is wrong, but that I am bankrupt, sold under sin, helpless to save myself, and lost. And then to proceed to the Savior and receive from him, in all humility, a gift of righteousness. But if I do that, it's an end of my pride, isn't it? End of my pride. At least it should be. And sometimes to watch some of us, you know, we have a feeling back of our minds that folks think we're marvelous. And, and, and where we get it from, I don't know, because if we're Christians and have behaved ourselves, we have been baptized. Hey, what? You do remember what you told us all, don't you, when you got baptized? Hope you haven't changed your mind since. You told us all that you were so rotten, that God had used to sentence you to be executed, dead and buried, and that you had discovered this was true and just, in token whereof you now got yourself buried. Are you sure putting on airs and graces after that and pretending that you're somehow better than everybody else. Sinners, saved simply as bankrupts, justified by grace, utterly dependent on God's mercy. Thus it will always be, my brethren, thus always. As we start, so we proceed. But secondly, Paul found not merely an initial justification through this basic repentance and faith, but the way to ongoing and developing holiness. Which way is it? Well, to use Old Testament language for a moment, it's not hopping over the fjords of Jordan, it's going right down and through and up. When Israel came out of Egypt, God took them through the Red Sea. They were baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea, but then they w- when they would enter into their inheritance at the other end of the journey, they had to go down, down, down, down through Jordan and up the other side. Figure maybe, if you will allow it, and even if you don't, well, never mind, because the fact is stated in the New Testament, indeed in this passage before us. What is the secret of, of holy living, of apprehending that for which I am apprehended of God, for laying hold of that for which God has laid hold of me? What is its secret? Not my effort so much, but to be conformed to his death, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. And here is a paradox. We are called as believers, we are called upon to fight. Let us never forget it, it remains true. We are called upon to put to death, to mortify the deeds of the flesh. It will be a lifelong battle. Let nobody persuade you that you'll get to a point where it happens automatically and you won't have to fight. You will have to fight. You will have to struggle. Listen to Paul. This one thing I do, I follow after. Here is a man in earnest, a man with a concentrated purpose. And as life slips by, he isn't just coasting home to glory. He is deliberately plodding across the wilderness. He hopes to arrive at the Lord's presence, holier then than he is now. Well, brethren, we shall have to fight, and we shall have to travel, and we shall have to follow, and we shall have to concentrate. The pilgrim path in front of us is not merely a chronological journey, is it? You know, getting saved at seventeen and a half, and then sort of saying, well, Lord, well, I should be about when you call me, round about eighty eight. that's all right then, and I should be here when, you know, at eighty eight, then come and call me. It isn't just a question of passing the years, proceeding chronologically merely. And the roadway to heaven isn't geographical either, is it? Or at least it's not primarily geographical. It's a journey of progress in holiness. I follow after, says Paul. I'm pressing on. Oh, how easily Moab comes along, doesn't he, with all sorts of charming excuses and tells us we don't have to fight. We just sit down and enjoy ourselves, and it will all happen when the Lord come. Yes, when we see him, we shall be like him. What there is of us. What there is of us. A little baby is like his father, so is a grown-up boy of twenty-one. both like their fathers. But there ain't much of the little chap. And we shall all be like Christ who are his people when we see him, what there is of us. Now is the time for change, now is the time for progress, now is the time for moving forward, and I push forward, says Paul. I concentrate on it. We shall have to fight. Oh, but when we say that, there's another side to it, isn't there? Not thank God in our own strength. If I would fight well, I must learn this matter of Jordan. I must learn what it means to be conformed to his death, if by any means I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. Pray God that he show us in our actual experience, that we can't, that our most devoted flesh, our most determined efforts cannot, will not suffice. So that we stop merely trying in our own strength, and we stop trying to use the law. And we come to an end of ourselves in that sense, and learn what it means to rise again in the power of somebody else's life, the life of Christ within us. I'm not talking of mystical visions. God give you all the visions that you're capable of receiving and can profitably use. I'm talking about the ordinary grind of every day week from Monday right round to the next Monday. Because I find in my own heart, uh, an unpleasant tendency. When I'm meaning to be ever so holy, I sort of regard the Lord as a kind of a superior petrol pump. You know, when the car is getting a bit low in, in gasoline, that's the stuff that makes it go, you know. Any sensible driver sort of drives it along to the pump, doesn't he, to fill the thing up? But he doesn't let the petrol drive. No, no, he's a driver. Uh, he just uses the old petrol pump. We mustn't start thinking of the Holy Spirit like that. He's not petrol. He is, to be sure, figured as oil in Holy Scripture, but he is a person. He doesn't want to be used. Our blessed Lord is not there to be used. He's there to use us. He's not there merely to help David Gooding do what David Gooding purposes to do. He's there, if David Gooding will have it, to come into that very part that is the innermost personality that is David Gooding. As Paul put it, I live, yet not I. Now Christ lives in me. So that I may well be honest with him and frank constantly and say, Lord, Lord, I, I don't want to do what you tell me to do. And over pretending. Lord, you know, I know it's right to read Holy Scripture, but I don't want to. Then whoever thought you did, haven't you come round to see that there is none that seeks after God? No, not one. Do not believe God yet, that in and of yourself you don't seek God. Let me own it to him. Lord, I don't want to witness for you. Of course I don't want to. Lord, I don't want to go to the prayer meeting. Lord, I do want to do this and that that isn't right. Ooh, give me five minutes off. I'd love to have my own back on him. And then to say, Lord, but there's no two ways about it. Your word condemns it. Do not make any excuses. Ah, but you know, he's no better than I, and he I he deserve what's coming, and all that kind of nonsense. No excuses. That sword right in. And saying, Lord, what I can't do and don't want to do, you can do. Decision over to you, Lord. Live in me. Not I. Yet it is I. But the curious thing is that the more Christ lives in me thus, the more does he make me what God intended I should be. And far from losing control of myself, I find developed in me more control, more self-control. As he comes in to live in me and progressively loosens me from the old bonds that shackle. The right and wrong use of the knife then. Oh, it will constantly make me sore, won't it? Instead of puffing me up. But it will lead me constantly to that repentance that God seeks, and constantly to the following after, what God has held out in his glorious program, being eventually totally conformed to the image of his son. Of course, there are some people that think differently, says Bo. But if anything, anyone be thus mind- uh, be thus minded, the Lord shall reveal this also to him. Oh, look out. When Ehud came into Egon's presence and started talking about, I have a message from the Lord to you, it wasn't two seconds after that that the old dagger came out and went right to his belly. Listen to Paul, will you? And if anybody be otherwise minded, this also shall the Lord reveal to him. For this I told you before, and I tell you again, that some walk whose God is their belly. Who Who mind. mind earthly things, enemies of the cross. Their glorying, their confidence is in their shame. Our purpose tonight, brethren, is not to cast stones at anybody else, but to look at our own hearts. Have I found that what I am pleased to think my progress in the things of God has made me proud? And I want to look out lest Moab has come up when I haven't been looking and infiltrated himself. God save me from glorying in what is my very shame. Walk as I walk, says Paul. Concentrate on God's program for developing holiness. For we're marching. We're marching to Zion. One day we shall be there. For we look forward to the same. Our citizenship is no, not in any Jericho here on Earth. We have seen it by and large, and in the end consigned to God's judgment under his curse. Our citizenship is in heaven. Thither we journey, waiting in expectation for the Savior to come, and when he comes, praise God, oh, what blowings of trumpets there then shall be of a victory finally won and the war conquered. He shall come. He shall change even the bodies of our humiliation, scene of so many defeats, instrument of so many sad and sometimes shameful things. Citadel that often traitorously harbored the enemy. And he shall change it. Yes, even here. Even this poor old body of our humiliation, he shall change it like to the body of his glory, according to that power whereby he is able to subdue everything to himself. So finally and forever shall Moab be subdued, and we shall have entered on the rest of God forever. Now we pray. Now, Lord, we thank thee for thy word. Lord, we are aware that in having called us to glory, to the goal of being one day fully conformed to the character of thy son. Thou hast called us to arduous pilgrimage in areas where our own mind and intellect is utterly insufficient as a guide. Therefore, we thank thee for these Old Testament stories and illustrations that help us to think with our imagination. And we thank thee for the clear statements of the New Testament that help us to think with our intellect. And now, Lord, we pray again for the enlightening of thy Holy Spirit. Oh, give us, we beseech thee, that deeper understanding of thy word that comes by the illumination of thy Holy Spirit in our very hearts, and even as we receive it, conveys the power to do what thou thyself has willed within us. That like men and women learning to swim, we may not struggle too hard in our own effort, for thus we shall sink. But learning to rest upon thy power may find that support that shall help us to strive and struggle effectively, and fight the good fight, and make progress in the Christian path until the Lord comes. Oh, how we praise thee, we who are pilgrims still. And in the midst of our triumphs, know our defeats. How we praise thee that he comes. And comes as deliverer. We magnify thy name this night for the hope thou has put within us that gives us courage in the fight now and in the midst of the battle, that the Savior shall come, change these bodies of our humiliation and fashion them like unto the body of his glory. And so we praise thee. With our praises, we commit ourselves to thee now and seek that what we have learned, by thy grace and power, shall make us holier men and women in the days to come than we have been in the days that are past, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Could we just take time to sing three hundred and ninety? three nine zero. Jesus, keep me near the cross, there a precious fountain.