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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Benjamin Ng

The Spiritual Rat Race

Before I came to United States and I took up the call to dedicate my life in full-time ministry to the Lord, I was working for a company called PricewaterhouseCoopers.

It's an international accounting firm, and I was working as an IT consultant in computers, and they outsourced us to other companies where they would ask us to build systems that would be specific to their company's needs.

And I worked for the Department of Justice.

I wrote a program called an imprisonment program.

Fortunately, I wrote a program to put people in prison.

But my point of this story is that I was working professionally from the age of 20, earning close to $50, 000 a year.

And I, like many others out there, were caught up in what you call today a rat race.

At the age of 18, I purchased my first car, and by the age of 20 I paid it off.

Then I got into work, and from there I started having all this extra money.

So with that money, I went and bought an apartment.

You see, the nature of a rat race is 1 where you can never get out of it.

You go round and round and round until you go to the grave.

And many people stay in this rat race all their lives, not realizing it, but somehow not content with their lives either.

You see, for me, my possessions were very important.

And that is the center of what we call the rat race.

When you have money, you look for things you can buy and you don't realize you need them until you see them.

And then you put a loan on them and you earn money to pay it off and when you pay it off you look for something else that you need that you didn't think you needed in the first place.

As I read in the publishing ministry by our prophet, she says many learn how to survive on $400 a year, whereas others have $800 and they're still not content.

I'm not here to talk about finances this morning, But many of us are in a spiritual rat race sometimes.

And I want to look at the Bible and look at a group of people that were in such a circumstance that their spiritual lives just kept going round and round in a circle.

The book of Judges and we're going to try and go through this book pretty quickly.

But This book describes to us a spiritual rat race.

And that is the title of my sermon this morning.

But before you read from the inspired word, I would ask you to bow with me for a word of prayer.

Father in heaven, Lord, we're so thankful for the Sabbath.

And Lord, thank you that we can gather here under the same roof to open your Word this morning.

And Father, you have promised where 2 or 3 are gathered.

Lord, there are more than that here today.

So Father, we are expecting a blessing of the Holy Spirit, 1 that we desire not in just this room but in our hearts also Lord and I pray that you lead us into all truth.

Guide us is my prayer in Jesus name, Amen.

We're looking at Judges chapter 2 and we're starting with verse 16.

These few verses that we're about to read sum up the whole theme of Judges.

So keep this in mind as we read verses 16 to 19, okay?

The Bible says, Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them.

So judges were raised to deliver God's people out of the hands of the enemies surrounding them.

And of course at this point in time, if you go back a few verses with me to Judges chapter 2 and verse 11, we find that the children, pardon me, verse 6, and when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance and to possess the land.

And then we find later in verse 8, the Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died.

So this time when we come to verse 16, Joshua that faithful leader who had taken leadership over Moses and led the people into the land of Canaan, he passed away.

And verse 16 we see that judges were raised nonetheless.

Although Joshua passed away, God raised up other faithful people to lead his own faithful people on.

But verse 17, And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a-whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them.

They turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the Lord, but they did not so.

But watch this, verse 18, And when the Lord raised them up judges, then the Lord was with the judge and delivered them out of the land of their enemies all the days of the judge for I repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them verse 19 and it came to pass when the judge was what dead when the judge died that they returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers in following other gods to serve them and to bow down unto them they cease not from their own doings nor from their stubborn way This is the theme of judges and I'm going to show you a multitude of examples just from this book how many times the children of Israel though they were delivered from their sin by raising up a godly judge that God sent them when this judge died what happened?

But yet again they would cry out and God would send them another judge and when that judge died they went back to their sin again.

Come with me to Judges chapter 3 and verse 7.

In verse 7 we read this, And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgot the LORD their God, and served Balaam and the grove.

The people of Israel forgot the Lord and they went back to their sin.

But then it says in verse 8, Therefore the anger of the Lord was hard against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Husharih, king of Mesopotamia.

And the children of Israel served this king 8 years.

So when the children did evil in the sight of the Lord, what happened?

So when we do evil per se, the Lord brings us into captivity.

Verse 9, And when the children of Israel did what?

Cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.

So the children of Israel did evil and what happened?

They went into captivity but what happened?

The children of Israel cried out unto the Lord and what did God do?

Now read with me verse 10, And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war.

And the Lord delivered this king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and his hand prevailed against this king I'm not going to try and say his name so God raises up this deliverer, his name is Othniel and he delivers the children of Israel out of their hand and then we read in verse 11 and the land had rest how many years?

40 years, and Osniel the son of Kenaz died.

So as all human mortals do, they pass off the scene.

But while this man was alive, this faithful deliverer was alive, the people of Israel had what?

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord.

In the beginning when the children of Israel did evil, then they went into captivity under this king from Mesopotamia.

And they cried out to the Lord and the Lord sent him to deliver it.

His name was Aphneal and Aphneal delivered them out of the hand of this king and they had peace 40 years and this deliverer what died and we read in verse 12 they went back to their sins coming me to verse 13 now And He gathered unto Him the children of Ammon and Amalek, pardon me, yes that's right, verse 13, and went and smote Israel and possessed the city.

So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab, what?

But when the children of Israel did what?

Cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer Ehud the son of Gerah a Benjamite what's his name?

Ehud how we like to call his name so once again the children of Israel went back into sin, but they cried out after their captivity of 18 years, and God raised up the deliverer.

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The Spiritual Rat Race

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