Amen
All right tonight we conclude the book of judges and it's been a great book to study
And to be quite honest with you as I read or as I read through the book of judges
It answered to america which now is okay. It's very reflective of america of today
And especially towards the end of this chapter. We see that ring true even today in our country
But let me just go over what's taking place here in chapter 21
And before I do so, I just want to remind you what took place in chapter number 20
Which is the fact that there's a civil war taking place between the 11 tribes and the tribe of benjamin the tribe of benjamin are characterized
As the sons of belial because of the fact that they desire to rape a man and in turn they actually abused a woman
Killed her this folly was done in israel
The children of israel all 12 tribes they banned together as one man and the civil war breaks out
They overtake the children of benjamin the third time of their attempt and ultimately they destroyed them now
Look at judges 20 and we'll read verse 43
It says thus they enclosed the benjamins roundabout and chased them and trolled them down with ease over against gibeah toward the sun rising
And their fellow benjamin 18,000 men all these were men of valor
And they turned and fled toward the wilderness unto the rock of rimen and they gleaned of them in the highways 5,000 men
And pursued hard after them unto get them and slew 2,000 men of them
So that all which fell that day of benjamin were 20 and 5,000 men that drew the sword all these were men of valor
But 600 men turned and fled into the wilderness until the rock of rimen and abode in the rock of rimen four months
And the men of israel returned again upon the children of benjamin
And smote them with the edge of the sword as well as the men of every city as the beast and of that
Came to hand also they set on fire all the cities that came to now if you remember what they did in the strategy they had
Was they went into the city of the benjamites and they drew them away. They acted like they were going to retreat
Okay, these 11 tribes they basically began to retreat making them think the children of benjamin making them think oh they're retreating
We the fight is ours the battle is ours. We're going to strike them down
But what they basically did was put liars in wait behind the city
So when they drew away the warriors from the city the liars in wait came out
Burned the city destroyed the people they're in and then they were basically caught on both sides
They're right in the middle of you know to the left and to the right of them of their enemies
And that's how they were that's how they were destroyed and that's how they put wickedness away from
The nation of israel is by destroying these sons of belial but it says in verse 47 that 600 men
Turn and fled to the wilderness. So there's 600 men that still survive this now
Were they sodomites? I don't know
Maybe they were the part of the group that decided to back them up
If you remember there was a group that was part of the tribe of benjamin that refused to turn them in
To the rest of the children of israel and in fact decided to join them. Okay
And it potentially could be that these six six hundred men were those people there
So now in chapter 21, we find a really weird story now
There's a lot of weird stories in the book of judges or not a lot of weird events that take place
And chapter 21, which is the last chapter is no exception to that
because if you read that it's like
It doesn't have a happy ending
No chapter
In this book has a happy ending chapter 21 does not end in a happy way. Okay, because what's taking place here? Well
The the tribe of benjamin is mostly destroyed
But this patriotism comes out of the children of israel and basically they don't want one tribe to be lacking
from israel
So they're trying to create a solution as to how can they you know fix this?
How can they give them their wives or what wives can they give them so they can procreate?
And the children of benjamin could basically grow again. Now. Here's the thing who cares
You know, god didn't care
That there was all these people that they were destroyed
God doesn't care that there were 600 god doesn't even care if those 600 did not have wives
You know why because god did not care if wicked people were destroyed because they were the reason why the children of israel were forsaking god
This patriotism that came out of the children of israel was not from a godly sword
It wasn't based upon the bible because god didn't say hey, you need to go look for wives for these guys
So there's one tribe is not lacking from the children of israel. I can care less and to prove that to you today
We don't have any tribes, right?
No one can say they're from the tribe
Of you know, they're from the tribe of manasseh or they're from the tribe of benjamin or they're from the tribe of whatever
And you say well, hold on a second, you know, but there's jews out there. They can't tell where they're from
They don't know where they're from they can claim that
But like when people ask me what race you are
I tell them look just to kind of help them figure out also when my parents are from guatemala, but reality is
I'm, probably more than just guatemala. I got 10 Armenian in me
You know, my great grandfather was you know was from armenia I have a great great grandmother who's from germany
Blonde-haired blue-eyed that's probably why my third son is white
as he is
At the end of the day, there's no pure race
Because god does not care about that. Okay, so he doesn't care
Over the fact that there might be one tribe lacking from the children of israel. That's their fault
Because at the end of the day god can raise up these stones unto the children of abraham
He can raise up whoever to be his people
It doesn't matter if they're part of a race. It matters if they follow the lord. They love the lord. They know the lord
That's what matters to god, but what matters to these patriots is that the tribe of benjamin still exists
They want it to still exist to thrive to be a legitimate tribe. God doesn't care about those things
But here's the thing look at verse number one. It says now the men of israel
Had sworn in miss puss saying that there shall not any of us give his daughter unto benjamin to wife
So they put themselves in a difficult situation
Because they don't want one tribe to be lacking from israel
But then they're also not willing to give of their daughters and their people to basically enjoy themselves to marry these people
You know what? I mean in order for that tribe to survive so they they do this
Excessive oath and this vow that no one should do that. And if they do their curse he says in verse number two and the people
Came to the house of god and abode there till even before god and lifted up their voices in web sore
And said oh lord god of israel. Why has this come to pass in israel that there should be today one tribe lacking in israel
Well, it's because of your wickedness
Because of your idolatry, why are you asking why?
It's like pastors today they're like why is this wickedness come upon america why has america departed from god? Oh, it's because of you
It's because you didn't preach hard enough against sin
It's because you you tolerated sin you took a weak stance on areas that god did not want you to take a weak stance in
You're part of the problem
Okay, so don't ask why?
Ask why me?
Why didn't you do something about it when you could have done something about it?
You know, oh, you know, I remember back in the day all the homos used to stay in the closet
Yeah until you stopped preaching
against the homos
That's your fault
Okay
So it's kind of hypocritical here that they want they want to make sure
That you know the tribe of benjamin, you know does not go extinct
But they're not willing to give up their wives and they're kind of like why is this happening? It's like
Pastors today who want to complain about the moral depravity of america
But they don't want to actually want to preach hard to try to fix it
They want to complain about gay marriages
They want to complain about all the filthiness and the wickedness and all these things that are taking place
But they're not being a part of the solution by actually preaching the word of god
Lifting up their voice like a trumpet crying out loud and sparing not and showing america their transgression
They just want to complain about the problem but not be a part of the solution
Okay
That's basically what the children of israel are doing here. It's like why has this happened because you allowed idolatry
Don't you remember what dan did just a couple of chapters ago?
Don't you remember what the rest of israel is doing how they're serving false gods. It's your guys's fault not gods
Don't give god the credit for something. He didn't do okay because he you know in verse 15
He says the people repent of them for benjamin because that the lord had made a breach in the tribes of israel
God didn't make that breach you guys made that breach
Look at verse number four and it came to pass on the morrow
That the people rose up early and built there an altar and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings
And the children of israel said who is there among all the tribes of israel that came not up with the congregation unto the lord
For they had made a great oath concerning him
That came not up to the lord to miss but saying he shall surely be put to death
So in other words like whoever didn't
Jump in the fight when we're supposed to fight. They're going to be put to death. Okay
You know, whoever didn't participate now that we're not going to go to that extreme for the fall program. Okay
Whoever didn't participate you guys are going to be put to death, but they did they're just like, you know
Whoever wasn't a part of that battle
You know the death penalty
Verse six says and the children of israel repented them for benjamin their brother and said there's one tribe cut off from israel today
How shall we do for wives for them that remain?
Seeing we have sworn by the lord that we will not give them of our daughters to wives
And they said what one is there of the tribes of israel that came not up to miss put to the lord
And behold there came none to the camp from jay bishgilead to the assembly now jay bishgilead
Pertains to the half tribe of manasseh
So you have all these sub tribes that are found within the actual 12 tribes and these people did not participate
They didn't go up to battle. They didn't go up to fight, you know
They numbered the people they realized this tribe did not do that now
I think this was an excessive punishment where they actually went and they destroyed the man
But they also destroyed the women and the children the women who were married or had known man
Were put to death along with the children. This is excessive
The children should not be put to death for the fathers the bible says, right?
They should not suffer for their fathers
But he received that when a people strays away from the word of god
They place a burden on the people that god has not placed
They place a standard upon the people that's not biblically based
You know, they start making the rules as to what is sin
You know what god approves of whereas god said nothing of the sort, okay
God didn't say to put the children to death. They didn't have any
Involvement in that okay, you know the children can't go to fight
Children can't go to war but yet they're putting them to death because it's just this excessive punishment that they're imposing upon the people
Now, why are they doing this? Well
So what they're doing is they're going into jay bishgilead
They're putting the men to death they're putting the women to death
They're putting the children to death and they're looking for all the virgins because that's who they want
For to offer to the tribe of benjamin. This sounds bad
But you know what? This is the state that israel's in at this moment. Okay, where they're making these weird decisions
Look what it goes on to say here
in verse number
10 it says in the congregation sent thither 12 000 men of the valiant
And commanded them saying go and smite the inhabitants of jay bishgilead with the edge of the sword
With the women and the children and this is the thing that ye shall do
Ye shall utterly destroy every male and every woman that hath lain by man
And they found among the inhabitants of jay bishgilead 400 young virgins that had not known. Uh, excuse me that had not
Excuse me
They had no no man
By laying with any male and they brought them onto the camp of shiloh which is in the land of canan
And the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of benjamin that were in the rock women and to call peaceably unto them
And benjamin came again at that time and they gave them wives which they had saved the life of the women of jay bishgilead
And yet so they sufficed them not so basically they get these 400 wives and it's not enough why because there's 600
Of the tribe of benjamin that still survived. So guess what that still leaves 200
Right that still left so it didn't suffice that so they still have a problem here
Look at verse 15 the people repented them for benjamin because that the lord had made a breach in the tribe of israel
now verses 16 to 24
really strange
Okay, and what it is it's when a nation tries to normalize
And make acceptable
You know their failures basically they're trying to normalize and they're trying to mask their failures
Because what they decide to do
Is they decide to go to shiloh and apparently there's a feast in shiloh where the women are dancing
And they this is weird. I don't know. I'm just reading i'm just repeating what the story's saying. Okay
These ladies are dancing and the men of israel encouraged
These 200 men that were left to basically go and kidnap these women. Okay as they're dancing. They just run up
You know and just snatch them and just take them. Okay, and we don't know if it was like a voluntary thing where
That was just part of the culture
You know, it was it was known that you know
Once they took them or whatever that they would marry them or if this was pre-planned
We don't know exactly but it says that they took them
and
You know when the fathers come they're like, hey, what's going on?
Look at verse 22 says and it shall be when the father of their fathers or their brethren come unto us to complain
That we will say to them be favorable unto them for our sakes
Because we reserve not to each man his wife and his in the war
For you do not give unto them at this time that ye should be guilty
So in other words, he's just this is a form of eloping
Where they don't get permission from the fathers. They don't get permission from the parents
They just go ahead and get married and let me just make a quick comment about that in our church. Okay
I'm, not for elopement. Don't ask me if i'm for elopement or not. I'm not for that
I believe
Okay
That if you're going to get married you should ask the permission of the father have the decency to ask permission of the parents
You know why because that is the the authority
You know be a man
And go talk to the dad
Why are you afraid to go go ask the dad to see if you could marry a young lady?
You know if you're afraid then guess what? You're probably not ready to get married
Because you can't be a fearful man if you can't face your father-in-law
And look i'm not just speaking this by by my opinion I live this okay
You know, I had to go to my father-in-law
Obviously, he was not my father-in-law at that time my pastor and ask for my wife and get my face ripped off
And you know get humbled by him and persist to keep going back and keep going back
Because he permitted me to until he just gave in okay
But you know, I believe in that
I believe you should go to the parents because those that's the rightful authority. Don't elope
You know don't just go and look if you've known pastors who have done that in the past
I guarantee you asked them that now they said that you probably shouldn't do it that way
It's not best
You're going out from under authority
You know when my daughter grows up, you know, and some guy comes and he's just trying to steal her heart
You know that guy better come talk to me if he's looking to marry my daughter
And i'm not saying like i'm going to put her in this bubble and you can't even like look at her
Don't even dare even look at her and make friends with her. No i'm saying if you want to marry her
You know if there's a purpose behind you talking to her and you want to marry her, you know, you better come talk to me first
Because I am the god-given authority to protect my daughter from wicked people and I need to filter those people
Now look if you guys if someone here eloped, you know, then
Whatever, you know, it doesn't mean you're a wicked person
But just understand this is that biblically speaking that girl has parents that you should go to to go talk to and ask for it
Okay
It shouldn't be that you just do your own thing
Okay
That's going over like a screen door in a submarine, but that's okay. And look let me just say this
if
If you do that in our church
I'm, not going to like rip on you or anything like that. I wouldn't even go to you
I wouldn't even say anything to you. Now. Let me say this if that girl's parents
If they come talk to me prior to getting you got you know
The couple getting married if they come talk to me and they say this they say hey, we don't approve of this
Then this is what i'll say. Well, i'm not going to marry them then
Because obviously if that person's if that girl's living under your roof is under your authority
I don't want to circumvent that I don't want to bypass that I want to make sure that we're doing this the right way
And you know what? I won't marry him in our church
Now if they want to go get married and do their own thing
This is not a baptist church where we just police people's private lives
Whereas like what are you listening to where you're at home, you know, don't be listening to steve anton where you're at home and stuff
There's people who are like that
weird
Okay for me. It's just like you do whatever you want. You're a grown man
You're a grown woman you guys do whatever you want if you want my opinion if you want my advice i'll give it to you
You know and i'll tell you what's what I think you should do or what the bible says about it obviously
But at the end of the day i'm not going to tell people what to do
Okay, what kind of tie should I wear? I don't care
What girl should I go for the one you believe is the one you should go for I don't know don't ask me
I got sermons to prepare
I'm going to believes. Okay, you're like I got other stuff i'm doing
But here's the thing the balance is this is that I believe in biblical authority
And we never want to take the extreme to that but we want to be balanced in that and look
If anybody comes i'm just going to give you video power i'm going to give it right back
I don't want veto power over your life
Well, I don't have a spiritual dad. I don't have a spiritual mom. Well, then you're going to have to grow up
And learn to make decisions on your own
Okay
Come get advice, but don't give someone beetle power where they just make the decisions for you
I don't believe in that and i've seen that in times past. It's not good. It's not a good template
It's not a good way to live because at that point the person you're giving beetle power to
Becomes the standard of what is right and what is wrong?
Because they're going to tell you what they think is right and wrong
You need to determine that on your own
But i'll just tell you this is that in our church and this is what i'm preaching here
Because this is what I believe. I don't believe in a little bit. I don't believe you should do that
I don't believe you should just run off and go get married at a shotgun wedding over in las vegas or whatever drive through marriages
You know
where you get like a voucher for
All you can eat lobster and shrimp or something
I don't believe in that. Okay. I don't believe you should do that
I think you should always go to the parents and ask them and oh the parents don't like me
Then you better you better try to win them
You better you better win the mom win the dad or do whatever you can to win them over because guess what?
Once you get married, that's family
That's your mama that's your daddy unless you guys live like states away then hey god bless you that's good
Okay
Is that personal testimony back there?
Please guys praising the lord back there. Where's your where's your in-laws? I'm just kidding
Alaska
Good man, all right
What i'm what i'm saying is this is that?
You know, well, I don't get along with them and they don't like me then you need to make yourself likable to them
If you want to marry the daughter
Right make yourself likable and if you don't feel it's worth it, then maybe you shouldn't get married to that person
Maybe you should move on
Okay, be willing to pay the price, you know
And if you feel that the the dad's standards are too high for you then don't complain about it just move on
Okay, you know the standards that were placed upon me to marry my wife in my opinion were too high
But you know what? I wanted her to be my wife. So I paid the price
Paid the price
Okay
And so what i'm saying is this is that hey young men in our church have the stones
Have the guts to go face your in-laws your future in-laws should I say
You know, oh they don't they don't speak my language then you figure it out
sign language
something
You know, you need to make sure because here's the thing you always reap what you sow
You know why I decided to to to just tolerate all those standards that I was placed on her
Because I knew one day i'd probably have a daughter too
You know and I want her to obey me I don't want her to run off and I don't believe she ever will
I don't want her to elope. I don't want I don't want I don't want her to do those things
But I want to make sure that we do it, right
Okay
So that's the standard that I have for my family and I don't impose that standard upon you
But if you ask me i'm going to tell you this is what I believe
And if you're eloping, you know, don't tell me you're eloping
If you want to get married because here's the thing automatically if you tell me you're getting married with someone
And you ask me, you know, can you marry us? I'm gonna say yes. I'm like, yeah for sure. That's great
But i'm not gonna ask questions because I got other things to think about
I'm, not gonna interrogate you
I'm, not gonna be like well, what's your background? You know, what what's up with her dad? What's up with her mom and all these things
You need to figure that out. Okay
But look if they call me
And they say I do not approve of this message
And I and I say who are you and they say i'm the father i'll be like
I'm for you then I won't do it
But here's the thing if the father tells me well, you gotta forbid them to just ever get married. I'm not gonna do that either
Because that's your job dad
You know you need i'm the authority in the church and I kind of dictate what takes place in the church
But at home you need to take care of that
Okay, so i'm not gonna be like, okay, don't worry dad
I'm gonna go ahead and tell that person that you know
They need to go do this and not get married at all. And this is you know, veto
No, that's that's between you and your children and you need to make sure look
That's what look this that's like doing that's like the old IFP with sunday school class where the parents just leave their children
To some other authority to teach them what they should be teaching them
Oh, could you correct my child? No, you correct your child
You do it
Can you teach my child the bible no you do it
You teach the child the bible obviously they'll get it from the pastor in the main service
But you know what the vast majority of the teaching should come from the parent
You know, this is one reason I don't even agree with like bus ministry
I understand the great works have been done through bus ministry. I was a bus captain
I was part of the bus ministry. I saw a lot of kids saved. I saw many children baptized
I discipled a lot of those teenagers and children and you know what it was good for that time
But the philosophy as a whole is is is flawed
Because here's the thing what they're doing is they're going to houses
And picking up the children and basically separating the children from the parents and you know what the parents see it as a free babysitting service
That's what it is
You know, they're just like well come take care of our children on sundays
You basically give the parents a day off on sundays what you're doing
That's what it is
Now obviously they're learning the bible. Hopefully maybe
Hopefully they're learning something and they're learning good disciplines of going to church
But here's the right way to do it. The right way to do it would be to win the parents
The right way to do is to win mom and dad
Disciple mom and dad and guess what if you get mom and dad you get all seven of the mexican kids
Think about that
You know, I remember someone taught me that a long time ago. They're like we don't believe in bus ministry
We just rather just win the parents and the parents bring the kids with them
And then we don't have to worry about you know
Little uh kid little john. Sorry john. I just looked at you. I said, you know little john or a little hike
You know getting into trouble and you have to correct them and then they you know
Not good
What i'm saying is this is that let's go back to the old ways of where parents raise their children
Now where the sunday school teacher did now where the bus captain did, you know
And I understand there's bus captains out there and there's christians out there who are well-meaning
They have a good heart. They love people but you know what it's never right to do wrong to do right
What they need to do is win the parents
And the parents need to decide for their children. Okay
The parents need to be take full responsibility to do that
I don't even know how I got off on that
What i'm saying is this is authority is important
Okay
Don't circumvent the authority go to the parents is what i'm saying
You know if you have a problem go to the parents, okay, if you want to marry a girl go to the parents, all right
now
If a girl wants to marry the guy the girl doesn't go to the parents
And look I don't even recommend for the necessary the girl to pursue the guy
You know that meme it's like
Okay
You know, I don't I don't recommend that at all
And i'm giving you my opinion here. Okay. I'm not giving you bible doctrine. I know okay, but guess what?
This is my pulpit. This is my church. I can give you my opinion
You're stuck listening to me for the next couple minutes. So just enjoy
I don't agree. I don't think you should I think the man should be pursuing
the woman
You know by obviously getting permission, but he should be the aggressor
Okay, he should be the one
Who's seeking out a wife trying to marry a wife find a wife so on and so forth
And so and I know that's not popular in 2019
Where girls are taught to be these feminists who just you know, do their own thing and they go get their boy and all these things
You know, that's not biblical
That's not biblical
And look we shouldn't teach our daughters to be that way either
Look you teach your daughters to just be the right type of woman and she's going to attract the right kind of guy
Yeah
That's just the way it works teach her to walk with the lord to love. Hey, hey
Wives teach your daughters to love and respect their dad
And serve their dad, right?
Well, what's the purpose of that because of the fact that once she gets married that will transfer over to you
Yeah smart think about that
Look however, she treats her parents the way she treats her dad is the same way. She's going to treat you
That's how it is
Okay, and maybe ladies out there, you know
For you if that's you then now, you know like oh, okay
Well, that means I got to make sure that I renew my mind and change my way of thinking
If you know, that's me. Okay, because look
If you have the propensity to do that that can change so you're not just subject to having that type of character flaw or whatever
We can change. Amen. But what i'm saying is this is that let's do it the right way, okay
You know
If people in our church get married they meet like one week and then they're getting married the second week
I'm not necessarily against it, but i'm not for it either
Like I said, that's on you if that's what you want to do
Now if you were to come to me and ask me hey, what's your advice on this? I always tell people this
Well, you're either going to pay for it in the beginning or you're going to pay for it
At the end, you know at the end you're going to pay for it somehow
Because if you get married at the very beginning, hey you get married you got your wife
But you know what now you got to deal with
The problems that often come when two young christians who don't know much about the bible don't know much about life
Don't know much about each other
There's going to be problems that arise from that
or
You can pay for it in the very beginning by waiting a little bit getting to know each other and then getting married afterwards
You know at an appropriate time, what's that appropriate time? You know, it's up to you
Okay
but you're going to pay for it somehow so
And don't don't look if you got married like three days after you guys met
You know, hey, it looks like you're happily married now. So guess what you're the exception to the rule
And i'm not going to i'm not saying these people are wicked or those people are bad for doing that
I'm just saying generally speaking. Okay
This is probably the right way to do it
Don't go to shiloh and go jack yourself a wife and then just like
Marry her. Okay, go kidnap a wife and then just get married right away
That's not the best way to do it because that's when every man did that which is right in their own eyes
There's nothing wrong with getting to know someone over a period of time and even extending that period of time to six years six years
whoa
I'm, uh, i'm having flashbacks of my courtship
You know getting to know each other for six months or whatever
And then planning at that time and by the way if guys if you're gonna get married it'd be good if you have a job
You know, it'd be good if you had a job it'd be good if you can keep a job
It'd be good if you weren't lazy
It'd be good if you had character
And guess what? Let me just take it a step further. It'd be good if you're just in church
Right
Like you have the character to actually come to church
spiritual disciplines
Because leading a wife doesn't just require financial stability. It requires spiritual stability as well
You got to lead your wife spiritually. How are you going to get your wife to come to church?
If you don't even come to church, buddy
Hello
How are you going to get your wife to read the bible if you can't even get your carcass out of bed on sunday morning?
To read it yourself or to even come to church
That's a good place to start
Well, I just don't want to burn. Okay, get some character
But you know what if you're gonna get married get some character first at least
Learn to lead yourself because guess what marriage is leading another human being
Of the opposite gender
A woman who is not like you
Right, so you have to have the maturity the patience long suffering
The spiritual aptitude to be able to lead that person
And inspire that person to follow you and inspire that person to serve the lord with you
Not making them come to church. I don't make my wife come to church. I don't make my wife read her bible
I don't make my wife serve the lord. You know, I try to do I try to inspire my wife to do that
Because I want my wife to have a good time serving the lord with me. I don't want it to be a drudgery. Okay?
So what i'm saying is this is that we need to make sure we follow order and don't be like these people are just like
They're just oh, you know, I just gotta go under the radar
Behind my the authorities back and just get married real quick because if not, it's not gonna happen
You know, you're setting a really bad example for yourself in the future in the long run. You're gonna have problems later on. Okay
So anyways, that was a rabbit we chased but I thought i'd mention that because
You know, I gotta talk about that
Okay, there's a lot of young people in our church young men and I hope every young man if you desire to gets married
You find yourself a godly wife and you know as our church grows
You'll have more options. Okay, but you know do it, right
Do it the right way
Okay, and learn to take advice and you know ask for advice, obviously
But you just got to make sure that you do it the right way. Okay
All right. What verse are we in here?
So they try to normalize and master failure by doing this these women are dancing in shiloh
And they basically come they're like go ahead take the one you want, you know
And they go in they take their wives and they elope with them and they get married
And then then the children of israel try to appease the fathers of these people who are doing this very strange story
Uh, and by the way, this is what happens when you make a bad decision and you just keep making more bad decisions after that
It just gets worse
That's why when you sin or you make a bad decision
Repent and just get it right
So you don't have to do weird stuff afterwards
You know, you don't have to keep lying
You don't have to keep sinning to try to mask the problem. Just fix it
Just fix the problem right then and there. Okay. This is what I would have done like well you guys should have thought twice
You should have thought about it before you joined the benjamins the benjamites
In the fight so you guys go look for why why are these guys playing the courtship police?
To go look for wives. They're playing love connection
Love connection
Those of you who are young don't know
What i'm talking about how many know what love connection is?
Okay
Raise your hand paul
pause all
Okay, if you know love that's from like the dinosaur ears, okay
You know, they're trying to play love connection here
By helping the tribe of benjamin not go extinct
But in doing so they make these weird decisions and then the the story ends there now
Verse 25 is the culmination and sums up
The condition of israel perfectly. Why is it that these weird stories are in the book of judges?
Why is it that these strange things are happening here? Why did they do this weird, you know?
Eloping process where they're kidnapping their future wives. Why are they doing these things verse 25 in those days?
There is no king in israel and every man did that which is right in their own eyes
So this was right for them
They didn't see a problem with this
This was like for them. It's just like this is a great idea. Whoever came up with this was great
This is awesome
Thousands of years later. We're like a bunch of idiots
But to them in their own eyes, they're thinking hey, this is great. We're saving benjamin
You know, we're helping them get wives
We're appeasing the fathers and everyone lives happily ever after no, actually you're a byword and a proverb now
Of what we should not do
now
What does this?
Tell us what is this? What can we learn from this last verse and what can we learn from the book of judges?
Aside from the fact that obviously every man did that which is right in their own eyes. This is called moral relativism
Moral relativism is didn't just you know sprout up 50 years ago 100 years ago or whatever. It's always been around
Just remember this folks. Nothing is new under the sun
You know, sometimes when people will say oh I wish we used to live in the 50s and america was just so great
America was wicked back then too
Look i'm reading a book right now on tombstone. Okay tombstone was is south of arizona
It's a little city. Have you ever heard of tombstone white herb and doc holliday?
Okay, and i'm reading the stories and this this is taking place during the 1800s. It's basically called the last gunfight of the the wild west
And i'm reading this book and you would think that this is just traditional
It's when you know america was just you know
They had this umph and they had vision and they were you know
They were traveling west because they wanted to have so much ambition and all these things but they were wicked
This is during a time when whorehouses were just rampant
You know people say oh, I wish we lived back in the days when you know marriage was valued in the 1800s
It wasn't they had concubines then
That was rampant in the 1800s in the wild west where they would literally have these live-in girlfriends and they would call them their
Wives, but they would never legitimately get married
You know, they would have prostitute houses all over
Okay
So what i'm saying is this there's nothing new under the sun
Don't think that just because it was 50 years ago and you know, it's black and white
That everything was just hunky-dory
You know, they were closer to god back then look folks homos have always been around since genesis 19
Oh, you know america was so great all these homos no, no homos have always been around because sinners have always been around reprobates have been around
Okay, the devils have have always been around
So these sins
You know have always been around you have intervals of periods of time in history
Or maybe a nation turns to god and to become a righteous people but eventually that interval ends
And wickedness begins to reign. That's the interval that we're in right now
Where it's becoming wicked. What is the only difference? The only difference is technology
That's the difference
Back in the 1800s
You know, they didn't have the internet. They didn't have youtube. They didn't have all these they didn't have sin
You know at their fingertips
Necessarily the internet has allowed these things to spread basically. So is there a difference between
Now in the 1800s, the only difference is this is that sin can easily be accessed faster than back then
That's all it is, but it's the same sense
And what i'm saying is this is that
You know moral relativism is not a new thing
We see the book of judges every man did that which is right of their own eyes
They're basically saying well it may be wrong for you, but it's right for me
That's what moral relativism is you say it's wrong for you. I say it's right
This is when people say well you think that's abortion is murder
You know
For us. I don't see it as murder. Then you're basically an idiot
Oh, you shouldn't call people that you're killing the baby inside the womb call it what you will it's called murder
And the bible says thou shalt not kill moral relativism is garbage
Because the reality is at the end of the day there is absolute truth
There is only one god
One bible one way of salvation. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life
No, man cometh unto the father but by me and gandhi. No and buddha. No just by me
That's an absolute truth. You know, it doesn't look more relativism in the days of jesus pilot. What is truth?
Isn't that what he said what is truth mr. Philosopher himself
You're looking at him
What is truth he's right in front of you
He is the epitome. He's the source of truth
Could even see it even though he was right there in front of his eyes, but that's moral relativism
He's basically saying what's true to you is not true to me
That's what he's saying
You know isaiah go with me if you went to the book of isaiah chapter number five
Isaiah chapter number five this offends people and people don't like this but the reality is this no matter what you say
Murder still murder lying is still lying stealing is still stealing
Wickedness is still wickedness and look the bible tells us on isaiah 5 20
Woe unto them that call evil good
And good evil
And they put darkness for light and light for darkness that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight what's that called?
He's talking to people who believe in moral relativism
Because they're putting evil for good good for evil
They're putting bitter for sweet sweet for bitter and they're wise in their own eyes
They're saying this is right to me and god's saying but it's evil to me and you know whose opinion matters most gods
Well, god doesn't exist and you know, that's an ancient book and all this stuff
If you don't believe that murder is wrong
It doesn't make it right even though you believe that
Your opinion does not change reality
Look if you don't believe murder is wrong, then you wouldn't mind if anybody just came up and capped you
But you know what you would have a problem with that now, would you?
You would have a problem with someone killing you
You know why because it's wrong
And look oh, but you know, what about societies, you know, there's there's
Before even christianity came there's all kinds of religions that taught murder was wrong. It didn't originate with god
Well, you know why because the law of god is written in their hearts
So even though they didn't have the written law of god they had the law of god that was written in their hearts
They know it's wrong
And look if someone says that those things are not wrong where god's what god says is wrong number one either they're lying
Because they know it to be wrong or number two
They're so desensitized
And so fooled in this illusion by this world that they've actually accepted the evil is good
Like roman empire the greece the grecian empire where sodomy and pedophilia was just normalized and tolerated
You hear that all the time
You know anytime pedophiles and sodomites try to legalize or they want to push for the legalization of sodomy or even pedophilia
They'll always say back in the days of the romans ancient roman empire and the grecian empire. This was normal to them
Yeah, because there's no new new thing under the sun
But it doesn't matter if millions of people yay billions of people think it's right if god says it's wrong. It's wrong
bottom line, okay go with me if you would to
Go to roman chapter 2 we're going to look at that
And look we're not a church that's going to use
Apologetics to try to prove to people that it's right
We're not going to debate atheists
and agnostics
And critics of the bible to try to win them over to teach them the moral relative, you know be
Moral relativism is wrong. No, we're just going to tell them what the bible says
And if they reject it we reject them
Look what the bible says in roman chapter number two
Verse number 11 says for there is no respect to persons with god for as many as have sinned without law
Shall also perish without law
And as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law
For not the hearers of the law are just before god
But the doers of the law shall be justified for when the gentiles which have not the law
Do by nature the things contained in the law these having not the law are a law unto themselves
Which show the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing
One another in the day when god shall judge the secrets of men by jesus christ according to my gospel. So look
These people who claim that abortion is right. It's funny. It's hypocritical and it's funny that these same people are alive
Yeah
I don't understand feminists. They they're lacking
neurons or something
They're like a choice and you know abortions, you know, we we should have the choice to do abortions
Well, that's funny because your mom didn't choose that
And aren't you a living testimony
Of the people you're actually fighting against
You know, you're fighting against people who want to you know, say that
Who believe that the children are still they're considered people
It's a life and that we should not abort babies and yet you're a testament of that
No one aborted you
You know, you're a hypocrite
So what i'm saying is this is at the end of the day
There is a standard
And the standard is god. Who are we we are the standard bearers
We're the ones that just bring the standard of the word of god and would say this is what god says
No, you know, you need to get with the times. You need to modernize yourself. Nope
Nope
Sticking with the bible and if god says it's wrong it's wrong. No matter what the culture says no matter what television says
No matter what music says we're just going to stick with what the bible says because what happens when we decide to take
That left turn into that way of thinking every man does that which is right in their own eyes
In their own eyes and then you get this stuff
You get all these things that take place in the book of judges a society that just becomes completely depraved
Foolish and and and just sinful and wicked and people die because of it. Okay
So hope you enjoyed the book of judges. I did you know and it's basically a textbook to show us what we shouldn't do
Okay
And how we need to make sure
That we don't tolerate these things that we make sure that we uphold the law of the lord that we continue to make him
Our god right as a nation and we make him our god our savior
We recognize that the word of god is pure and it endures to all generations
And in spite of what all the other tribes are doing we need to make sure we stick in with the word of god. Amen
Inspire heads and have a word of prayer father. We thank you so much for your word
And thank you for the book of judges
And lord even for the mistakes that are found there in because it teaches us even today
Thousands of years later. It's still relative to us today because of the fact that there is no new new thing under the sun
And sin is still sin wickedness is still wickedness righteousness is still righteous
And uh lord, I pray god that you'd help us
Uh to continue to live for you and bless our church lord
Help us to continue to reach people for christ and in jesus name we pray. Amen