“Out of Left Field”
Judges 3:12-30 - June 17, 2017
Message 3 of 11 in the Sermon Series: Judges: “Heroes of the Faith”

Judges 3:12-14—“Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and because they did this evil the Lord gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel. ¹³Getting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join him, Eglon came and attacked Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms. ¹⁴The Israelites were subject to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.”

If you join the sinful they will beat you spiritually.

Good News: God will ultimately judge and destroy sin and wickedness.

Bad News: Each of us have lived in sin and wickedness at one point in our lives.

Great News: Our “Judge”, Jesus, rescues us from the judgement and destruction of our sin and wickedness.

Judges 3:15-25—“Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite. The Israelites sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab. ¹⁶Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a cubit long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing. ¹⁷He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was a very fat man. ¹⁸After Ehud had presented the tribute, he sent on their way those who had carried it. ¹⁹But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.” The king said to his attendants, “Leave us!” And they all left. ²⁰Ehud then approached him while he was sitting alone in the upper room of his palace^[^c^] and said, “I have a message from God for you.” As the king rose from his seat, ²¹Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh and plunged it into the king’s belly. ²²Even the handle sank in after the blade, and his bowels discharged. Ehud did not pull the sword out, and the fat closed in over it.²³Then Ehud went out to the porch; he shut the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them. ²⁴After 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 palace.” ²⁵They waited to the point of embarrassment, but when he did not open the doors of the room, they took a key and unlocked them. There they saw their lord fallen to the floor, dead.

Three Lessons from Left-handed Ehud

1. God will often use our perceived disadvantage for His divine advantage.

Judges 3:15—“Again the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and he gave them a deliverer—Ehud, a left-handed man, the son of Gera the Benjamite.”

“Left-handed” = Bound or impeded by the right hand.

Noah built an ark when he was over 500 years old.
Abraham and Sarah were over 90 when they birthed Isaac.
Moses was over 80 when God used him to lead Israel to the promised land.
Joshua’s best leadership took place the final 30 years of his life.

2. An ounce of faith can produce an ocean of results.

Judges 3:19—But on reaching the stone images near Gilgal he himself went back to Eglon and said, “Your Majesty, I have a secret message for you.”

Joshua 4:19-24—“On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.²⁰And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.²¹He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’²²tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’²³For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea^[^b^] when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.²⁴He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”

Ehud remembered that “God in your past” is the greatest sign of “God in your future”.

1 Kings 11:9—“TheLordbecame angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from theLord, the God of Israel, who had appearedto him twice.”

If God has appeared at any point in your past:

1.You’re more accountable.
2.You’re more able.

3. God will use our faith to signal others to follow.

Judges 3:26-30—“While they waited, Ehud got away. He passed by the stone images and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷When he arrived there, he blew a trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went down with him from the hills, with him leading them. ²⁸ “Follow me,” he ordered, “for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” So they followed him down and took possession of the fords of the Jordan that led to Moab; they allowed no one to cross over. ²⁹At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not one escaped. ³⁰That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.

Judges 3:27—“He blew a trumpet…”

Strong spiritual influencers will engage the attention of the spiritually distracted and discouraged.

Judges 3:28—“Follow me…”

Strong spiritual influencers will set the example for others to follow.

Judges 3:28—“…for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.”

Strong spiritual influencers will encourage others by reminding them that God gives the victory.

Judges 3:30—“That day Moab was made subject to Israel, and the land had peace for eighty years.”

The spiritual “combination” to unlock your spiritual influence is (18-80-1).

18 years of slavery became…
80 years of peace through…
1 person willing to live with a strong faith.

Jesus is the “Better Ehud”

1.Ehud went into a hopeless situation to deliver the nation of Israel in and unexpected way; Jesus came to earth to deliver hopeless humanity in an unexpected way. [Philippians 2:6-8]

2.Ehud used a double-edged sword to defeat the enemy; Jesus taught us to use the word of God to defeat the temptation of sin. [Matthew 4:1-11; Hebrews 4:12]

3.Ehud blew a trumpet to conquer Israel’s enemies; Jesus signaled victory by raising from the dead to conquer death forever [Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:20]

Worship Experience Pastor Christian Newsome

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