The story of Ehud and Eglon is not one you’d expect to find in the Bible. It’s not just that the story is violent. It’s also crude and darkly comedic. But through the unexpected details we get a picture of the God who inserts himself into the messy lives of his people to turn their mourning into laughter.

This chapter introduces what’s typically called the Judges cycle. It’s a pattern that most of the individual stories follow and it’s the key to the meaning of the whole book.

Judges begins where Joshua left off. Israel has entered the land God promised them. They’ve been charged with removing the Canaanites still living there. But why was this so important? Why was it even ok? And then there is the driving question of the story: will Israel be faithful?

This overview sermon sets up our fall preaching series. What is Judges about? It’s about Israel’s disobedience–and ours. It’s about God’s holiness–his perfect justice and his relentless love. And it’s about Jesus, who is the only answer to the questions raised by this book.

When we recognize the scale of our debt to God–the debt he has canceled through Jesus–there’s no way we can withhold forgiveness from others.

Christian hope is the confident expectation and desire for the promises of God to be true. In the context of 1 Peter, this hope is the confident expectation of Christ’s victory over death. Peter gives us three reasons for why we can be so confident in this hope. 1) Our hope is anchored in the past: Jesus has been raised from the dead. 2) Our hope is secure in the future: we have an eternal inheritance being kept for us in Heaven. 3) We are now being guarded by God through faith as we wait.

Jesus brings his sermon to a close with a vivid appeal to respond well to what he has said. The choice is clear. The stakes are high. Now what will you do with Jesus?

With this warning Jesus raises a question that hovers over the entire Sermon on the Mount: who will enter the kingdom of heaven? His answer: it’s not just what you say that matters, but what you do. And it’s not just what you do that matters, it’s whom you know.