(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Well, here we are in Judges chapter 19. This is one of the reasons why I love doing Bible studies because no matter what the subject is when you are doing a Bible study and you're preaching through, you're going to cover everything that the Bible says. And even subjects that are averse, subjects that aren't pleasant, still need to be dealt with when you do Bible studies like the way that we do. We go chapter by chapter. Every week we're doing a different chapter of the Bible and going through the whole thing. And you know, it's a funny thing about the truth. The Word of God is the truth. It doesn't matter if everybody gets upset and riled up and hates it and doesn't want to hear it. It doesn't change the truth. It doesn't change what is true. And if people want to get me fired or attack me or my family or you or whatever because they don't like the truth, well you know what, that's their problem. And I've got a real simple job to do here and I'm just going to preach what the Bible says right here in this chapter tonight. Judges chapter 19. Now we're going to go into a few different things that I find very interesting in the chapter in its entirety, but this whole story is just about one main event, one huge event and the ramifications of this event and what happens here, it spills over into the next two chapters. Basically it finishes off the book of Judges because of this one thing that happens within the tribe of Benjamin. And like I said, this isn't something, I was asked recently, what's your favorite thing to preach on? It's not the Sodomites. It's not the vile, reprehensible people in this world. I don't personally like thinking about them. It's pretty upsetting. It's pretty disgusting. There's a few stories in the Bible that are very upsetting. But this is reality. This happened. These things happen. These types of events happen and we need to learn from them if nothing else. We need to understand that there are people out there that do these things and what we're going to get from this chapter is what's to be done about it. Because they weren't complacent in the children of Israel in the book of Judges. They actually did something about it. We need to learn to not be complacent either with these wicked, vile acts that take place. That's much, much further in the chapter. Let's get started here in verse number one. The Bible says, and it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel. And remember what I said last week about this phrase kind of keeps coming up, there's no king in Israel. This just reinforces where I think obviously this is specifically referring to there was no king like King David and King Solomon and all the kings, King Saul, all the different kings of Israel. But as God was supposed to be the king and we see in these chapters where these phrases are mentioned in, there's always something really wicked going on. We saw idolatry in the last chapter and now we're looking at what happens in this chapter here. It says that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah. So this is basically the same time frame as the idolatry in the previous chapters. The same general location. If you remember Mount Ephraim is where Micah was, we had his house of gods when the children of Dan were going in to battle, to take over basically what became the city of Dan. Now we see this story also taking place in Mount Ephraim and, or excuse me, that there was a Levite so that he was from Mount Ephraim and the story doesn't take place literally in Mount Ephraim, we're going to cover that in a minute as the story goes into all that, but it's the same general location. This isn't some huge journey that he's taking. It's all in the same area and then we have a Levite that takes a concubine. Now a concubine, sometimes in the Bible a concubine can be referred to as a wife, but it's not your average wife. It's more of like maybe a live-in girlfriend type of person that becomes your wife, or someone who's treated as a wife, but it's not legitimately like your wife, and I'm not going to get into all the details on that, but we can see right off the bat this Levite doesn't seem like a very godly Levite if he's so journeying in his land and takes unto himself a concubine. Let's keep reading here. Verse number two, and his concubine played the whore against him and went away from him unto her father's house to Bethlehem Judah and was there four whole months. This woman goes out and just starts messing around with other guys. She's playing the whore against him. She's his concubine, but not really his wife. She goes and plays the whore and then she flees from him. She runs away and just goes to dad's house. She's staying there for four months. Verse number three, but here's where it says her husband arose, and this is one of those places where concubine is referred to as, it's like their husband and wife, but I don't want to get into all the details. It could probably be an entire sermon in itself, just going into all the details of just that word concubine, but it says her husband arose and went after her to speak friendly unto her and to bring her again, having a servant with him and a couple of asses, and she brought him into her father's house, and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. So basically this guy is deciding four months go by. She's with her daddy and he decides, you know what? I'm going to forgive her and I'm going to go and bring her back home. So he shows up. He shows up. She invites him into her father's house and then the father, of course, is thrilled to see this because I'm sure he's thinking, you know, his daughter screwed up. She played the whore and now she left from her husband and she's going to go and live in his house. He's thrilled to see that this guy comes back to take his daughter and to go and kind of repair their relationship and move forward. So he's thrilled to see this. He rejoices and it says here in verse 4, and his father-in-law, the damsel's father, retained him and he abode with him three days, so they did eat and drink and lodge there. So basically his dad is like, no, no, no, you've got to stay. Be my guest and he's feeding them and everything else and they're staying with their dad's house. And then when he goes to leave, or we're going to see this happen a few times, basically he goes to leave and the dad's like, no, no, no, just stay a little bit longer, right? Just have another meal. You know, you've got a long journey, just get some food and then they're hanging out some more and the day just gets, oh no, it's too late to go now, just stay another night. And this happens a couple of times before he finally just puts his foot down. He's like, no, we're going to go. So verse number 5 says, and it came to pass on the fourth day when they rose early in the morning that he rose up to depart and the damsel's father said unto his son-in-law, comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread and afterward go your way. And they sat down and did eat and drink, both of them together, for the damsel's father had said unto the man, be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night and let thine heart be merry. So he's saying, just enjoy yourself again, have another night. Verse number 7, and when the man rose up to depart, his father-in-law urged him, therefore he lodged there again. So his dad's really just, I don't know what he's doing, maybe just really happy and just trying to make him have a good time here before they end up leaving. Verse number 8, and he rose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart and the damsel's father said, comfort thine heart, I pray thee, and they tarried until afternoon and they did eat both of them. And when the man rose up to depart, he and his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel's father said unto him, behold now the day draw toward evening, I pray you tarry all night, behold the day grow to an end, lodge here that thine heart may be merry and tomorrow get you early on your way that thou mayest go home. But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem. And there were with him two asses saddled, his concubine also was with him. So he finally takes up all of his stuff and leaves. And you notice he kept on trying to leave first thing in the morning and this guy's just detaining him and keeping him, getting him to stay. This whole event wouldn't have happened the way it did if he would have just got up early and left instead of just sticking around longer and longer and longer. Sometimes you just need to know when to say no and when to just go. We need to get out of here. And obviously I'm not saying that this guy caused everything to happen, but when you know you've got a long distance to go, don't let people deter you or detain you from reaching where you need to go. And that's what happens, look at verse number 11 says, and when they were by Jebus the day was far spent. And the servant said unto his master, come I pray thee and let us turn in into the city of the Jebusites and lodge in it. And his master said unto him, we will not turn aside either into the city of a stranger that is not of the children of Israel. We will pass over to Gibeah. So basically what he's doing, he's making this journey and it's taking him all day. Well, he started off in the afternoon at some point and went on his journey and mind you they're walking or traveling very slowly, they're not going super fast. So they come up on Jebus. The Jebusites were the heathen of the land that were supposed to have been eliminated when they came into the promised land. But these people actually never ended up being completely eliminated, they stayed, they remain in the land. So as they're traveling home, they're looking for a place to spend the night and they come up on Jebus and his servant's like, okay master, you know, Jebus is right here, the city, we'll just go, we'll get a room for the night and we'll continue the journey tomorrow. And he's like, no, we're not going to stay in the city of the heathen, we're going to go and be among our brethren, right? He's thinking, we don't want a lodge in a wicked place and among these people, like we're going to go among our people. And you would think that would make sense, right? And that should make sense. Let's be around God's people. Let's not go and spend the night with these heathen people. So he decides to push even further. And he says, we'll pass over to Gibeah because Gibeah was already inhabited by the children of Israel. Now, one thing that's very interesting about all of this is just the kind of proximity of places and how much, I believe, a lot of spiritual wickedness was going on in this place. Last week I pointed out how in Dan is where one of the idols was set up when Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, set up the idolatry, which was also really close to Mount Ephraim where Micah had those house of gods, and that the children of Dan, they basically had worshiped their idols all the way up until the children of Israel were taken captive again. So that's going on there. This is also really close to the valley of the children of Hinnom. So if you know what that is, Topheth, or the sons of Hinnom, that's where people in the Bible was really widely known where they would sacrifice their children. They would give burnt, their children would pass through the fire unto Molech in these places. That's where the abominations was taking place in this valley of the son of Hinnom. In Joshua 15, verse number 8, the Bible says in the border, so when Joshua was giving out their land and telling them where everything was going to go, it says, the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite. The same is Jerusalem. And the border went up to the top of the mountain that lieth before the valley of Hinnom, westward, which is at the end of the valley of the giants northward. So this is just, the reason I bring up that verse is just showing you this is all in that same proximity. I mean, they're traveling basically on foot, and they're going through, and they're in this area. Verse number, excuse me. And in Judges chapter 1, we also see that the Jebusites were not driven out of the land, and I think that's one of the reasons why this area had gotten so wicked and stayed wicked, is because they learned the ways of the heathen. When you read the book of Leviticus, especially when it's talking about in chapters like 17, 18, 19, 20, and it's going over the different aspects of the law and the penalties, and especially when it gets to the death penalty crimes, it says that the people of the land, the heathen of the land, had done all of those things. And that's why God's bringing His judgment against them, and that's why they needed to all just be eliminated, exterminated, because of how grievous their sins were and how wicked they had become. And as a result of Israel not being able to expel the inhabitants of the land, and them remaining among them, they stayed like a cancer and spread their filth among the children of Israel, which is why God wanted them gone. He wanted to start and say, no, you are my people, you're supposed to be sanctified and set apart and different, and when you allow this wickedness to stay in, it's gonna grow. And that's why I think we see a lot of wickedness just kind of concentrated in this area, with the idolatry, with the valley of the son of Anom, and all the false god worship that was going on there, and the child sacrifices. And then also it says here, so in Judges 1-21, turn if you would to 1 Kings 14, I just want you to see a passage there, 1 Kings 14. In Judges 1-21 the Bible says, and the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem. And remember we just saw that Jebus is later going to be called Jerusalem. So the city of Jebus, the Jebusites, that later on, after they're finally conquered, that becomes Jerusalem. But it says the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day. That was back in Judges chapter 1. And this wicked event that happens, this is the children of Benjamin that commit this atrocity in this passage. It's not a surprise that the Jebusites were dwelling among them during this time, and obviously having influence on them. You know, driving out these wicked people or driving out sodomites is something that's necessary for the preservation of the land. And when I say preservation, I mean the preservation of an area. If you want something to remain, then you need to drive out the sodomites. We see this, you know, we're reading Judges chapter 19, and I'm not going to go through all of the parallels, but it's uncanny how many parallels there are between Judges 19 and Genesis 19. Genesis 19 is a story of Sodom and Gomorrah. And when you read through the way that things happen, you've got strangers coming to town in both situations. In both situations, they're going to spend the night in the street, and you say, well, no one's taking us in, so we're just going to stay out here. In both situations, you've got one person, one godly person saying, no, no, no, no, you can't stay here, come in and lodge with me, I'll put you up. And in both stories, you've got the wicked people surrounding the house, banging on the door and looking to defile the man or men that have come into the city. We're seeing two witnesses in God's Word. It's not a coincidence that there are so many similarities. God is showing us truth. This is reality. The television set may try to trick you. The media, the world at large is going to try to deceive you into thinking that sodomites really aren't that bad. I don't know why you have such a problem with them. Oh man, you must be some closet homosexual because you have some, look, no, I want the land to be preserved. I want to be able to stay living here. The reason why Sodom and Gomorrah were burnt to the ground is because there were not five righteous in the land. In the city, there was not five that were righteous. God would have spared all of Sodom if he could find five or ten people. Just a handful of people. That's not many in an entire city. You know what there was? Lot. Maybe one of his children. I don't know. Probably not. It's probably just Lot. So God took him out to destroy all of Sodom and Gomorrah. Why? Because they were sodomites. That's where the name sodomite comes from. And it's not just because they lived in Sodom. It's because of what they did that labels them sodomites. That's why, as we're going to read here in 1 Kings 14, look, Sodom's already been long destroyed at this point, yet it's still referring to sodomites. It's not calling them sodomites because they were from Sodom. Their ancestors were from Sodom. Look, they all got burned up and destroyed. There's no more ancestors from Sodom. It's because of what they did, which is the same reason why people call fags or homos sodomites today. Because that's what they are. Because of what they do. Because they go after strange flesh. Because they hate God. Because they're reprobate. They're sodomites. Sodom could have been spared if it wasn't just overrun with sodomites. Judges 19, we're seeing this story. They end up basically coming in and practically eliminating the tribe of Benjamin. And we're going to see that in future chapters, what happens when Israel comes together and they fight against them. And they do the right thing in trying to get rid of this wickedness and stamp it out before it grows and spreads even further. In 1 Kings 14, look at verse number 22, the Bible says, and Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord. And they provoked him to jealousy with their sins, which they had committed above all that their fathers had done. Verse 23, for they also built them high places and images and groves on every high hill and under every green tree. And don't miss this. Just as in Judges, we were just looking at the idolatry going up. But look at what we're looking at here in 1 Kings 14, idolatry, worship of false gods, and then in verse 24, and there were also sodomites in the land. There is a correlation between the idolatry and the sodomites, and Romans 1 explains very clearly why that correlation exists throughout all of scripture. Because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, but became vain in their imaginations and their filthy heart was darkened. And they worshiped and served the creature more than the creator who was blessed forever, amen. So basically these people made themselves, made gods unto themselves. They make these idolatry, that's where their heart turns to. And then because they've rejected God, because they didn't want to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind. First you get the idolatry, first you get people going after, just making up their own gods, rejecting the god of the Bible, making up their own gods, and then you get sodomites. That's the way it happens. So the Bible says there in verse 24, and there were also sodomites in the land, and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. That's what they did. And again, go back and read Leviticus and you're going to see all the things that they did, all these laws were applicable to them. And the Bible says they broke all these laws, they were guilty of all of them. And that's what they did. So people who are called sodomites, that's who we're talking about. Flip over to chapter 15, verse number 11, where see here the Bible says, and Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. This is clearly spelled out point black. Asa did what was right in the eyes of God. Let that sink in. If you want to do what's right in the eyes of God, well Asa did what was right. God's looking down and he's judging because he's the judge, right? People want to say, oh, don't judge, I don't want you to judge. Well you know what? God makes a judgment with Asa right here. In Asa's actions, it says Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord as did David his father, and he took away the sodomites out of the land and removed all the idols that his father has made. The Bible says he did that which was right. Getting rid of the sodomites out of the land, that's right. According to God, he did that which was right. As I mentioned before, this is truth. This is what the Bible, you could either, you know, love it or leave it. But this is what the Bible says. I didn't write the book, but I can read what it says. If I want to know what's right, hey the Bible says sodomites ought to be expelled out of the land. Why? Because they did all the abominations of the nations. Because that's what they do. Because that's what's in their heart. Because they're wicked to the core. They could put on a front. They could try to make themselves palatable to you. They could try to do all kinds of different things to gain your sympathy. But I'm going to believe God's word in knowing that they're rotten to the core. And that God thought it's right to institute the death penalty. God thought it was right to rain fire and brimstone down on a bunch of sodomites. God thought it's right for Asa to drive them out of the land. Let's go back to Judges chapter 19. Verse number 14, the Bible reads, And they passed on and went their way, and the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belonged unto Benjamin. And they turned aside thither to go in and to lodge in Gibeah. And when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city, for there was no man that took them into his house to lodge in. And again, this just shows the heart of these people that lived there was pretty cold. They weren't being very hospitable to the stranger, the sojourner that comes in, that's just the traveling, wayfaring man, who's of their brethren, he's a brother to them. Nope, we got no place for you here. Turn them out, you could stay in the street all night. That tells a little something right there. The Bible says, you know, in Romans 1, again, read that whole passage, and you can see the attributes of a sodomite, and we're seeing them just played out here in this story. Same thing with Genesis 19, let's keep reading here, verse number 16, the Bible says, And behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at even, which was also of Mount Ephraim. He sojourned in Gibeah, but the men of the place were Benjamites. So you've got this guy, he's not a Benjamite, he's also from Mount Ephraim, and he's just staying in this place, you know, he's working, he's sojourning here. He's of Ephraim, but he's in this land, and everyone around him is Benjamite, but he comes in from a long day's work, right, he's working hard, and he comes across this guy, and he invites him in, verse 17, and when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city, and the old man said, Whither goest thou, and whence comest thou? And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehem Judah toward the side of Mount Ephraim, from thence am I. And I went to Bethlehem Judah, but I am now going to the house of the Lord, and there is no man that receiveth me to house. Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses, and there is bread and wine also for me and for thy handmaid, and for the young man which is with thy servants. There is no want of anything, and he's basically saying, no one's taking us in, and he's like, but we're not even asking for anything. We can take care of ourselves. We brought enough food, you know, for my animals, for everyone that's with us. All we want is just a place to stay, like we're good to go. And verse 20 says, And the old man said, Peace be with thee, howsoever, let all thy wants lie upon me, only lodge not in the street. So we brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses, and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink. Before I even go any further, this wasn't in my notes, but I want to, this kind of popped in my mind, I want to cover this. As I mentioned previously, you know, talk about the man who was getting up early, but then was detained and kind of distracted from just what he was supposed to do. That's one event that happened that, you know, things might have turned out differently if he would have, if he would be able to stay the course. But even a bigger event, how about his wife, his concubine playing the whore? None of this would have happened if she didn't go around and play the whore. And what we see ends up happening to her, obviously what the men did is extremely wicked, but sometimes you're going to see, well, all the time, you're going to see, you know, you end up reaping what you sow. It doesn't always come to you in the same way, right, but in this manner, this woman reaped what she sowed. And it's horrible, it is, but she shouldn't have been going out and playing the whore either. You know, people just get so focused and thinking on themselves, and thinking about what feels good or just not thinking at all and just doing, and have no regard for consequences, and just live in that moment for self, but, you know, sometimes there are really severe consequences. However many times that time or whatever that that woman played the whore, I guarantee you she wouldn't have done it if she thought that all of this was going to happen. Not for a moment. And we need to remember stories like this so that we don't get foolish enough to get caught up in the illusion of sin, because it is just an illusion. No matter what might feel good for a moment, you better be sure that you're going to reap what you sow. And what you sow could just be a little bit, but what you reap is always a lot more than what you sow. So she might have played the whore a little bit, but she got played like the whore a lot. And that does not justify or excuse what these people did to her at all, because that's even worse than what she did. But I'm just saying, had she not done that, this wouldn't have happened to her. It could have happened to someone else, but it wouldn't have happened to her. And it's interesting too, you know, I've watched a lot of those crime documentaries and things, like where they're going through these old case files or whatever. And just time after time after time, because usually like murder stories and how they found people and they use forensic evidence, all this stuff. How many times is there just like adultery being committed? And it's like, and whether it's the spouse killing the person or not, or just someone else, like oftentimes you'll see, oh yeah, this person was getting a divorce because they were having this affair and then just some totally unrelated event happens and they end up getting murdered. And it's like, you know what, this happens so many times, how can you even say that they're really unrelated? They're reaping what they've sown. Let's keep reading here though, in verse number 22, the Bible reads, now as they were making their hearts merry, so he's inside, he's with this man, this man brings him in, and it says, they were making their hearts merry, they were enjoying, they were having fellowship, enjoying a meal. It says, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. Now there's two things I want to point out here. First of all, it says, you know, they're crying out saying, you know, bring this man out that we may know him. That when you say that we may know him, it's not talking about like they're having a good time and they're getting to know each other over a dinner. He's saying that we may know him the same way that Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and was with child. Because that's what the Bible is talking about, it says when they know somebody, it's using that language just to not be really explicit. And that's exactly what they wanted to do, the same way that Adam knew his wife, they wanted to know this man. That is vile and disgusting and reprehensible, but you know why they did that? Well, the Bible says here that there were certain sons of Belial. Sons of Belial, Belial is just a false god, Bel, Beelzebub, Belial, these are all names given to false gods in the Bible, which is ultimately the devil or Satan, because that's what it boils down to. It's either the devil or a devil, doesn't matter. When you're talking about this false god, it's not God, this is Satan. And we know that, you know, false gods don't really, you know, Zeus doesn't really exist or any other, you know, Astro doesn't really exist as a god, as whatever, whatever the people perceive this god to be is not true, it's a lie. It's really just Satan. Good example, just like the Mormon Jesus, that's the devil. They try to make him, dress him up and look real nice and good and holy and proper and it's a false god. Because they don't believe, that's not the god of the Bible, they don't even believe Jesus is a god. They don't even believe he is a god of his own planet or whatever. All kinds of goofy things. But I want to go into this a little bit and just show you, even further proof, going down this trail of the fact that these men are sons of Belial. So the same way that when you become born again, you become a son of God, and you could never lose that salvation, you're born into his family, once you're saved, you're always saved. Once you're born into a family, you are a child in that family forever. Physically, my children will always be my children, they could never be someone else's child. They were born into my family. Other people may help watch over them or protect them or whatever, but they're my children. They've got my blood, my DNA, mine and my wife's, they're our children. When you become a child of God, you're in God's family, you're a child of God forever. Well, the reason why I call them children or sons of Belial is because they've been born again, but not a good birth. They haven't received eternal life, they've already received eternal death. They're what the Bible calls twice dead, we'll get into that in a minute, but turn, if you would please, to Deuteronomy chapter 13. I want you to see these references, I want you to turn all these references with me tonight, because this goes hand in hand, completely, with the reprobate doctrine, and it's really important to just get this from all angles. The Bible covers this consistently throughout scripture, Old Testament to New Testament, and we're going to see what the Bible talks about children of the devil or sons of Belial, because it talks about them more than just in this story. Look at Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse number 12. The Bible reads, if thou shalt here say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, Certain men, the children of Belial, is the same type of people we're talking about in Judges 19, 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 ye have not known. So what are they trying to do? Get them to follow false gods. They're children of Belial, they're children of the devil, trying to get people to worship some other god, some other idol that they've created, right? They've created their idolatry already, and now they're drawing people away from the Lord to serve their idols. And the Bible says that they're children of Belial. Verse number 14, Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently. And behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you, thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword, and thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof, every wit, for the Lord thy God, and it shall be in heap forever, it shall not be built again. Tell me that's not a picture of a reprobate. Children of the devil trying to draw people away from the Lord, he's saying, when you see that, you better make sure, and you know what, that's what God did with Sodom and Gomorrah. He sent his angels down, he said, I just want to hear, I want to see for myself, I want to make sure that what's been coming into my ears is actually the truth. We need to do the same thing. Be diligent about it, don't just do hearsay, and all these people say no. Find out the matter, but if the thing be so, if it's true, if this is the truth, then here's how you deal with it. You burn it to the ground, you raise it, it should not be inhabited again, it's rejected, it's done, it's destroyed, move on from it. No mercy. That is how God deals with children of the devil, and it's important to make this distinction. Not every unsaved person is a child of the devil. You have three groups of people in this world. You've got those that are saved, they're born again. Their eternal destination is sealed. They're going to heaven. They're saved, eternal life. You have children of the devil. Their eternal destination is sealed. They're twice dead. They're going to hell when they die. And then you've got everybody else in between. They haven't been born one way or the other. They're just out in the world. That's how people either eventually become saved or damned. They need to make their choices. They need to figure out what they believe. They need to put their faith somewhere. They need to either accept or reject the gospel. And then they'll become one or the other. But it's important to note that just as there's a minority of people who are saved in the world, the Bible tells us that, there's not many that are saved, there's few that are saved. Well, there's not many that are children of the devil either that are reprobates. Those are also smaller in number. You've got a lot of people in between. It's really important to understand that because this is a specific group of people that the Bible is referring to here. This is why, I mean, you look at sodomites, it's only a couple percent of a population in general are going to be that wicked, reprobate type of person. Now the media is going to try to overblow that and make you think that it's a lot more than that, but it's not. And then in, turn to 2 Samuel chapter 23, where you see another reference to children of the devil, sons of Belial. So Deuteronomy and God's law just tells us what God thinks about it and how it ought to be dealt with. We saw how God dealt with it in Genesis 19. We see how the children of Israel deal with it in Judges 20 and 21, we're going to see how they deal with it. And now let's take a look at another example here in 2 Samuel chapter 23. And again, we're going to see this is coming from the Lord. 2 Samuel 23, look at verse number 2. The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And then he's going to go on for the next couple of verses and just further explain this point, but then look at verse number 6, because he's talking about, there's a difference here between the children of God and how men must be just and doing right. Then in verse number 6 he says, but the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away because they cannot be taken with hands. But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place. He's saying you can't even touch them, you have to put on protection to deal with these reprobates with these children of the devil, you know, you don't want to contaminate yourself or puncture yourself because they're just thorns, they're going to hurt you. Drive them out. You don't want to get AIDS. Drive them out, wear gloves. But this, I mean, this is consistent. He's talking about children of the devil coming from the mouth of the Lord. This is how you deal with it. There is no inconsistency here in scripture. And I'm not going to get into all the verses that talk about loving your enemies and things like that. Those verses are all true, but they're not contradictions because it's not talking about the same group of people. That's why the groups are so important, children of God, unsaved, children of the devil. Those verses that are talking about loving your enemies and everything, that's talking about the unsaved people of the world. It's not talking about the haters of God, the enemies of God that are, you know, reprobate in a child of the devil because there's no more hope for them. Since you're a child of the devil, there's no hope. They can't be saved. Their heart is hardened. It's darkened. Even Jesus Christ in Matthew 23, you don't have to turn to Acts chapter 13. Matthew 23, Jesus is just ripping on the Pharisees, the scribes, the Pharisees, the hypocrites. These were the people, these were the reprobate people He's speaking to in Matthew 23 that had Him killed. Matthew 23, 15, He says, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye can pass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. And you could read that whole passage and He just lays into them, calls them a generation of snakes and vipers. You know, how shall you escape the damnation of hell? He knows that their fate is already sealed and He's saying, you know what, the people that you get, that you proselytize, that you get to follow you, you make them even worse than you. You make them twofold more a child of hell than yourself. Yes, this is the same Jesus that brought salvation. He taught the truth and didn't hold back. And what He's teaching here and what He's preaching against these Pharisees, these false prophets is consistent throughout scripture. Acts chapter 13, look at verse number 8, the Bible says, but Elamis the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Well look at that, we've got another false prophet here trying to get someone not to be saved. Just trying their hardest to just interrupt, to stop somebody from hearing the gospel and getting saved. Deuteronomy, what they're trying to do, draw people from following the Lord and serving the Lord to just go after some other gods. That's what they're always trying to do. They're trying to disrupt people from getting saved, from following the Lord. Go after these other gods. Verse 9, then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him. So now, what is he going to say to him? Well, whatever he's going to say to him is coming from the Holy Ghost, because he's filled with the Holy Ghost. He sets his eyes on him and says, verse 10, and said, O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And he's rebuking him, and he calls him a child of the devil. He doesn't try to give him the gospel, he doesn't try to get him saved, he's trying to get him out of there. Get out of here, you stinking child of the devil, you reprobate. I'm trying to get this guy saved, get out of here. We've got a lot of work to do in Atlanta. We've got a lot of people who want to get saved. We don't need these stinking sodomites screwing things up. They need to just get out of here. Bible says in Jude, verse number 12, these are spots in your feasts of charity. And they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And again, you can read the entire chapter, read the entire book of Jude, and it's going to tell you all about the false prophets, the people who sneak in privily, they come in unawares. They don't want you to know that they're there, but they're wicked on the inside because they're twice dead. They've already become a child of the devil. They cannot receive eternal life. Their heart's already been hardened, and in all these various ways that God can tell us, they don't have fruit. They're twice dead. They're these wandering stars just out in the blackness of darkness that's just been reserved for them forever. They're not going to come to the light. They can't come to the light. They're going to be in darkness forever. That's already been reserved for them. And they're raging, raging waves of the sea. They foam out their own shame. That's why these sodomites have their pride parades where they do the most disgusting, vile, shameful things just out in public. They're foaming out their own shame. They take pride in it. Not only do they do those things, they take pleasure in them that do them. They do all the things that are disgusting and vile and reprehensible, and they love doing it, and they love everyone else that does it. Let's go back to Judges chapter 19. So we've got the sons of Belial. You've got a pretty good idea of what the sons of Belial are. We see how God feels about the sons of Belial and how they ought to be dealt with. The sons of Belial beset the house round about. They're not trying to do good to this man that came in. They're not trying to offer him any help or assistance in what they could do. They're looking to harm him. They're looking to defile him. They're looking to just use and abuse him. Because that's what children of the devil do. That's who they really are. They didn't try to do that in the daytime when they were about their business at work. That's why you're not going to see them try to do these things just out in the daytime. He could come in and get a bite to eat or whatever, but you know what? When the lights go out, when the lightness is gone and when darkness comes in and they could try to cover under the darkness of light, that's when they're going to come out like stinking cockroaches and that's when they're going to do their worst. When they could kind of cover themselves at night and then beset the house round about and then do these wicked things when their true colors come out. The rainbow colors, that's a facade because those are cheerful. Those are bright. There's nothing cheerful or bright about the sodomite. That's their cloak, that's their cover. The real flag should just be total utter darkness because that's what their soul is like. Verse number 23, and the man, the master of the house, went out unto them and said unto them, nay my brethren, nay, I pray you do not so wickedly seeing that this man is coming to mine house, do not this folly. This is exactly what Lot did. This is like the same exact story. Told two times. Maybe we should pay attention to it. Show me the verse in the Bible where anyone is either told or doing anything nice for the sodomites that it's in any good context of doing anything that's right. We've already looked at all the stories where the right thing to do is to get rid of them, the right thing to do is to stamp them out, the right thing to do is to raise the city and burn it to the ground. That's the right thing. You can't show me otherwise in the scripture. Verse 24, behold here is my daughter, a maiden and his concubine, them I will bring out now and humble you them and do with them what seemeth good unto you, but unto this man do not so vile a thing. This is not right. Lot was trying to offer the same thing, but what this shows you is how fierce these people are that both of these men are thinking, I am not going to be able to just make them go away unsatisfied completely. In their mind, they've just got to be thinking there's no hope at all. These people are so dead set on wickedness that they are not going to leave, that they're going to break the house down and we're all going to die. The best that I can think to do is to maybe offer them something, but they already had the mindset and they know, look, don't do this to another man, like that is disgusting. If you're going to do something wicked, at least do it with a woman, which is why they're offering this up. Now, I don't think that's right. They shouldn't have done that, but this again, this demonstrates how extremely fierce and wicked these people are. And Romans one says that they're implacable, unmerciful, they're fierce. These are attributes of the sodomites, of the reprobate, of the children of the devil, that they're just thinking, okay, well, maybe if we could at least just have that happen, that's better than the other. And he's telling them, don't do a vile thing like that. That's exactly what Lot said, because it is vile. Verse 25, but the men would not hearken to him. They're not listening. They're like, no, that's not what we want. So the man took his concubine and brought her forth unto them. So they didn't want it, but he's just like, here. It says, and they knew her and abused her all the night until the morning. And when the day began to spring, they let her go. Just like I said, like cockroaches. They're doing their evil wickedness under the cover of night. As soon as the sun starts to come out, the light's coming, we need to get out of here. Because that's who they really, they don't want people to see who they really are. I had a conversation out so only once with somebody, I was trying to preach in the gospel, but you know, sometimes the subject of homosexuality just comes up, like, they want to bring it up and talk about it. And I usually try to just, you know, give them an answer, but not get in the whole thing about it, because I'd rather just give them the gospel, because it's more, I mean, they need to get saved, right? But you know, some people talk about it. So they were trying to tell me, they're like, well, you know, I was explaining reprobate to them and stuff. And they said, well, I have a friend, you know, and they, I don't think they're like that. I said, okay, well, you know, this, this friend, how much time do you really spend with this friend? Hang out maybe at school, after school as a younger, younger kid, you know, spend some time together. How much are you not with that person? I mean, you're going home and living with them and sleeping in the same room and, you know, like, you have no idea what they're doing. They say, think about yourself. How much about you? How much about what goes on in your mind do they know about you? There's a lot that you don't know about these people, yet people fall for it over and over and over again. Every single time you hear about some serial killer, some child molester, whatever, no one ever suspected them. They all thought they knew him. It would never be that. He would never do such a thing. And people still want to, oh, no, I know them. They would never do that. Foolish. The reason why it's foolish is because the Bible says otherwise. God's trying to expose who these people really are and trying to explain it to us. You can either go off of what you think is your experience of, well, I know this person, they wouldn't really do those things. Or you can go with two witnesses in scripture saying, this is what really happened. This is what they're really like. And yeah, it wasn't in the daytime. It was at night. And when the day came, they all ran. They left. They went back to their jobs. They put on their outward appearance. Let's keep reading here. Verse number, look, this isn't pleasant. I get it. You know, reading about men abusing a woman all night until she's dead, that's not pleasant. But remember that when you need to decide how we're going to deal with these people. I think about the innocent people. I care about them. Bible says in verse 26, then came the woman in the dawning of the day and fell down at the door of the man's house where her Lord was until it was light. And her Lord rose up in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go his way. And behold, the woman, his concubine, was fallen down at the door of his house and her hands were upon the threshold. And he said unto her, up and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass and the man rose up and gat him unto his place. And when he was come into his house, he took a knife and laid hold on his concubine and divided her together with her bones into 12 pieces and sent her into all the coasts of Israel. And it was so that all that saw it said, there was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day, consider of it, take advice and speak your minds. That was a hard thing to do. And you say, well, why, why would he, you know, after all that abuse, after everything that happened, why would he cut up his wife? Why would he cut her up like that and mail her body parts off? Like it sounds kind of repulsive, right? Like I wouldn't want to do that and like I wouldn't want to do that, but he's driving the point home and sending the message out. This is what these people are doing over here. Are we going to stand for this? That's one thing to hear the story, which is bad enough. He's sending off the part. Look, this is, this, this is what they did. This is the innocent blood they shed. This is, this is, well, I mean, she, I couldn't really say that she was innocent with the play in the horror, but, but it's, but look, that's not why they were doing what they're doing to her. They weren't bringing justice. They weren't executing her for some, you know, for some crime, for committing adultery. They were doing wicked, obviously, and very vile things. This drives home how wicked and vile this really is. And this is outrageous. And that's why when these people are getting these packages and going, whoa, you know, and then they hear the story, when it says that there was no such deed done nor seen from the day that children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt, it's not saying there was no one who ever cut up the person. Of course that probably didn't happen, but what it's talking about is the thing that happened to her. They're like, nothing this vile has happened in Israel. This has just gone out of control now. These people have just gone full reprobate. You know, they've learned the ways of the people of the land, and now he says, consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds. So you tell me, what should we do? Think about what happened here. God warned against allowing the wicked to remain in the land. He said it was going to be a snare unto them, and it is a snare, and it was a snare, and look at what happened. You start learning the ways. Nowadays we have kids, see, when it used to be that the homos were in the closet, and it was shameful, and looked down upon, and people would drive them out of their businesses, or drive them out from their company when they found out that someone was a stinking flaming fag, they'd say, get out of here, you fag. But when you allow them in your company, and you allow them to be there, and just let everyone oh, just accept them, and tolerate them, and love them, and everything else, now you get the younger generation, they're dressing like them. And they're not even fags themselves, but they think it's cool to dress like a queer. You've got these metro sexual kids, and growing up, and they're pansies, and they're spineless, and they're a bunch of snowflakes. This is why you're left with what you have, because then before you know it, they're all going to just become these sodomites. Like what happened in the land of Sodom. God's solution, drive them out. There's no hope, there's no restoring, there's no restoration. You hear about the psychopaths, the reprobates, they could go to counseling, they could go to psychiatrists, they could go to all the, whatever the solution that the world's going to have for them. They could go to jail, you could punish them, you could reward them, you can talk to them till you're blue in the face, but it's not going to change their behavior, because they're already given over to the reprobate mind. If God's given up on them, look, no one else is going to be able to help them, bottom line. That's why the answer is, eliminate, go away, ship them off, drive them out of the land, like the righteous kings did. Would to God we could have a God-fearing leader in this country that could just say, okay, we're dealing with this, I want to preserve the land, I don't want God's wrath coming upon our land, we're going to get rid of this cancer right now. You know, I'll probably get in trouble for preaching this sermon, but I don't care. It needs to be said, it needs to be taught. We had to get through Judges chapter 19 in our weekly Bible study, and here we are. There's a lot we could learn from it, especially today. This is the last chapter we need to be skipping over and going, oh, I don't like that chapter. Let's just go. Judges 18, yeah, we're done with the book of Judges now, no, nope, we're not leaving anything out. We're not censoring God. As much as the world wants to censor God's word, we're not going to censor God's word. Let's have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we love you. We thank you so much for all the warnings that you give us, for all the truth and the wisdom. God, I pray that you would please help us to know what's right, to help us have the strength to do what's right. Lord, help us to encourage and edify one another. We live in the midst of a crooked and a perverse nation, Lord, and I pray that you would please just help us to stand for what's right, to stand for the truth, to not be bullied, to not be silenced, but to continue to just preach your word and to reach the lost, dear Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.