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Amen all right we're in Judges chapter number 20 and let me just give you a concise history what just took place in judges chapter 19 the famous passage that we see in judges famous story that we see in judges 19 is the story of the sons of Belial and how they had committed this horrible crime of raping a woman and murdering her killing her and she was a concubine of a Levi we see there in chapter 19 and it's one of the strangest chapters in the Bible is it not you know you have these wicked people who are of the tribe of Benjamin specifically of the city called Gibeah and these men who were sodomized or homosexuals they come to try to basically rape the man but instead the man gives over his concubine they abused her all the night and they end up killing her she comes in the morning after they're finished abusing her falls on the threshold of the house he picks her up she's dead and he basically divides her body into 12 pieces to send her out to the 12 tribes of Israel as a basic as a sign to show hey this folly is taking place in Israel he's trying to rally the troops to come and really put these people to death because of the crime that's being committed and very strange story but it's during a time in the history of the children of Israel where they're given over to idolatry and I don't want to get ahead of myself but this is the main reason why this has taken place within Israel now let's pick up on verse chapter 20 verse number one and look what it says it says then all the children of Israel went out and the congregation was gathered together as one man from Dan even to Beersheba with the land of Gilead unto the Lord and Mizpah and the chief of all the people even all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God four hundred thousand footmen that drew sword now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizpah then said the children of Israel tell us how was this wickedness so they get these body parts these limbs and automatically for some reason they know that something horrific has taken place in Israel not necessarily associated with the dismembering of the body but they somehow understood that the the folly and the abomination that was taking place was the fact that these sons of Belial had murdered this woman had abused this woman and they basically decide to rally together and I want you to notice the phrase you see there is that they gathered together as one man and this is a great battle strategy when when they go to war it's a great battle strategy for us as Christians is that when we go out to war when we're going out to battle we need to be as one man you cannot have division within a church when you go out to battle you know you need to be unified endeavoring to keep the spirit of unity and we need to make sure that we're always on the same page right you know when we go out there we're going out there to divide are we not we have the Word of God we're teaching people the way of salvation we're teaching them that's by faith alone that it's not by the Mormon Jesus that it's not by the Jehovah's Witness Jesus it's not by any other Jesus but by Jesus Christ we're creating a sword that divides the beliefs but you know what that's the only kind of division we're supposed to be doing right when we go out there when we teach our people the right and wrong way of the doctrine that people teach but within the church we need to be as one man you know we cannot effectively fight and battle and go to war if there's division in the church that's why it's important that we're on the same page and here we see that the eleven tribes they come together they are rallying together they're teaming up and they're basically saying like what is this wickedness that's taking place you know whatever differences they had they put aside and they rallied together for this one battle now keep in mind as I mentioned in weeks past that judges 17 18 19 20 and 21 are actually a prequel to judges chapter 1 through 16 so judges 1 through 16 actually takes place after this judges 17 through 21 takes place prior to all of this happening okay and I proved that extensively in chapters past but just to reinforce that look at verse number 28 it says in Phinehas the son of Eliezer the son of Aaron stood before it in those days saying shall I yet again go out to battle against the children of Benjamin my brother or shall I cease you see Phinehas the son of Eliezer was a character that was in the book of Numbers so we know that this man is probably old already but this is you know coming out of the wilderness going into the promised land so this is how we know that this is actually taking place prior to chapters 1 through 16 now because it's so fresh on their mind you know they still have the law of God they know that what they're doing is wrong but then banding together as one man is actually an instruction that God gave to them specifically to weed out the sons of Belial so when they hear the sons of Belial they know what the Bible says about that in fact let me show you go to Deuteronomy chapter 13 Deuteronomy 13 go to do not hold your place there in judges go to Deuteronomy 13 and look what it says because remember who are we dealing with who are the antagonists of chapters 19 and 20 it's the Benjamite specifically of this of the city of Gibeah but it's the sons of Belial now when the Bible talks about the sons of Belial we automatically think of you know sodomites which is true but sons of Belial are just sons of the devil who are capable of any type of type of crime they are filled with all unrighteousness according to Romans 1 now look at look at Deuteronomy 13 and verse number 12 it says if thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there saying certain men the children of Belial are gone out from among you and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city saying let us go and serve other gods which he have not known then shalt thou inquire and make search and ask diligently and behold if it be truth and the things certain that such abomination is wrought among you thou shall surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword destroying it utterly and of all that is therein and the cattle thereof with the edge of the sword so what is he saying hey if you find out there's any sons of Belial this is how you solve it you put them to death now hold on a second says you know if they're encouraging them to serve other gods in Judges 19 they're not serving other gods they're committing sodomy well here's the thing here's the link sodomy is a result of idolatry why because idolatry is when you forsake God you reject God you have other gods right and the byproduct of that according to Romans 1 is reparation you know professing themselves to be wise they became fools the Bible says they worship the creature more than the Creator they changed the image of the corrupt of the uncorruptible God made like into an image of corruptible man a four-footed beast and creeping things so when people reject God in the Old Testament they are serving another God and when they're serving another God according to the Bible the Bible says that that person is supposed to be put to death amongst the children of Israel okay now this is the same thing with us today okay in society today if a person rejects Jesus Christ who's God right what happens well the Bible tells us they've committed idolatry because they're not just forsaking God they're actually worshipping the creature more than the Creator and the creature that it's talking about there is man human beings right and God gives them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient they're they're filled with all murder now that's not true we just got a story right here of rape murder sodomy filthiness that's the byproduct of committing idolatry and look this is what they did the children of Israel they remembered Deuteronomy 13 that's where because some people will look at it as a man they're they're a little extreme are they not God said destroy them all destroy the city destroy the cattle why because if it's the sons of Belial God knows that they're filled with all unrighteousness including fornication bestiality therefore the land is polluted it's filled with disease it's filled with sickness and God wants to quarantine that city that is filled with all unrighteousness and just destroy it look it's the same thing when they went into Canyonland right God told the children of Israel when they went into Canyon land wipe them all out even the animals why because of bestiality all everything is supposed to be destroyed that's what God told him to do and he's telling him here hey certain men the children of Belial verse 13 are gone out from among you and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city saying you know let us go and serve other gods you say well hold on a second still that's idolatry it's not reprobation but here's the thing the reason the reason they're dealing with it the way they would deal with it in Deuteronomy 13 is because they already let it get that far you see they were supposed to take care of the sons of Belial when idolatry was taking place right they're supposed to cut the the rose at the bud right they were supposed to take care of the problem a long time ago and look the children of Israel were involved in idolatry and the byproduct of that was that Benjamin the sons of Belial were produced and now they committed his wicked crime verse 16 says and now shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof and thou shalt burn it with fire the city and all the spoil thereof every wit for the Lord thy God and it shall be a heap forever it shall not be built again what does that sound like sounds like Sodom and Gomorrah you know it's like it shall not be built again he wants it destroyed he wants it gone he wants it wiped off from the face of the earth verse 17 and there shall cleave not of the accursed thing to thine hand that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show thee mercy and have compassion upon thee and multiply thee as he hath sworn into thy fathers God is saying here hey if you show pity to these wicked people I will not show pity to you he goes you want to evoke my compassion my mercy then you just destroy everything that's not very popular today you know you know we need to make sure that we always side with God and what God calls wicked we call wicked what God hates we hate and we never try to we never try to just blend the lines between that which God hates and that which God loves we need to make sure that you that love the Lord are always hating evil and then it says when thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord thy God how can that be right you're killing all the animals and all the people hey if God says it's right it's right if you don't do it now it's wrong you're not doing it it's sin if you don't obey God in that area okay go back to judges so the thing I want to point out there is that what they're doing in verses 1 through 4 is exactly what Deuteronomy 13 is talking about because they're making diligent inquiry they say what's going on what happened here and look this is a good principle that the Bible teaches us that we're to make diligent inquiry and a practical application that we can get from this in context of reprobation is that we don't want to just flippantly call anybody a reprobate we need to diligently inquire to make sure that someone is a reprobate because you know hey you know I know there's guys out there they call each other