1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:04,600 Our sermon title this morning is It All Counts. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:11,080 It all counts. On July the 5th and 2013, late 3 00:00:11,080 --> 00:00:14,400 in the evening, towards midnight, around 11, an 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:18,200 eastbound freight train stopped in the town of Nantes, Quebec. 5 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,240 The engineer of the train had ended his shift and another 6 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:24,720 engineer was to come and take over for him and continue the 7 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:27,560 journey. The train consisted of five 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,800 locomotives pulling 70 plus tanker cars loaded with crude 9 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:33,880 oil destined for a refinery in the east. 10 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:40,360 The track at that place was a 1.2% downgrade slope. 11 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:45,400 The lead locomotive on the train had a mechanical problem but had 12 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:49,040 been fixed with a Band-Aid repair with some epoxy material 13 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:52,160 to save cost and temporarily stay operational. 14 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,600 Another thing, the train was supposed to have two engineers 15 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,160 but had only 1 due to saving costs. 16 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:03,640 This engineer had stopped the train, shut off 4 locomotives 17 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:06,760 and left the lead locomotive idling to keep up the air 18 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:11,240 pressure in the brake system. He put on the hand brakes and 19 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,280 the locomotives and a few other cars trusting that would be 20 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:18,280 sufficient. He did a test pull on the train 21 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:20,400 to see if it would brakes would hold and they did. 22 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:25,400 He called and called a taxi, left the train, went to a hotel. 23 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:30,160 Everything seemed OK. Sometime later, someone saw a 24 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:33,440 fire on the lead locomotive that was still running and called 25 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:36,680 911. The fire department showed up 26 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:39,960 and one of the procedures firefighters have is to shut off 27 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:42,800 a running motor if it's on fire to stop the gas flow to the 28 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:44,520 motor. They did that. 29 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:48,920 They put out the fire and outwardly everything looked 30 00:01:48,920 --> 00:01:52,160 fine. But those of you who know 31 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,400 anything about mechanical machines and air brake systems, 32 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:01,120 they don't stay. They need to be kept up to 33 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:03,600 pressure continually. While the engine was not running 34 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:08,639 and the air was leaking. Sometime past midnight, with no 35 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,080 engines running in, the air pressure system was dropping. 36 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,680 They came to the point where it was just the handbrake on the 37 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:15,360 locomotives that were holding the train. 38 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:18,320 But he had done a test pull, and it had work. 39 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:21,280 But never thinking that it was the air brakes that were holding 40 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:27,080 it, the train started moving. It gained speed. 41 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:30,880 Later estimates said that it had gotten to a speed of 105 42 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:34,240 kilometers an hour, much faster than was even safe for the 43 00:02:34,240 --> 00:02:36,800 track. Well, 11 kilometers down that 44 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:39,560 track, there was the town of Lac Migantique. 45 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,520 The train barreled into town and around the curve. 46 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:48,200 The locomotives made it, but the tanker cars didn't. 63 of them 47 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,880 derailed, piled up and exploded in a huge inferno of flame. 47 48 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:57,680 people died, houses were destroyed, oil contaminated, 49 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,280 part of town had to be demolished in the aftermath. 50 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,320 Of course there was illegal battles, a lot of finger 51 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:07,600 pointing in blame, but what came abundantly clear was that the 52 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:12,120 railway company had neglected and bypassed numerous safety 53 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,840 checks. They had compromised here and 54 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,760 there, one neglect after another, a Band-Aid fixed here 55 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:21,160 and a Band-Aid fixed there. It all added up, resulting in a 56 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:25,520 devastating crash costing the lives of 47 people and millions 57 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:30,920 of dollars of damage. You see every compromise, every 58 00:03:30,920 --> 00:03:35,520 shortcut, no matter how small, once they pile up they make a 59 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:37,960 difference. And it all added up to the 60 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:42,440 snowball effect of breakdown and costing loss in life and 61 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:46,320 property. When people become comfortable 62 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,600 with shortcuts on safety, it's only a matter of time before a 63 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:54,200 boundary is crossed. In this situation, they had 64 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:58,560 become used to doing it the easy way, the quick way, the saving 65 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:03,640 money way, the saving time way. OK, maybe we're not driving 66 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:07,920 trains and we're not having big dangerous equipment under our 67 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:09,680 hands that we have to be careful for. 68 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:11,920 And that may be the case. That's fine. 69 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:17,760 But what about our moral lives, our spiritual lives? 70 00:04:17,959 --> 00:04:22,440 What about what we take into our eye gate and our ear gate and 71 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:24,920 what we do with our hands? What about that? 72 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:28,040 Do we take safety precautions in life? 73 00:04:29,280 --> 00:04:32,040 Why is it when it comes to the moral safety standards of 74 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,520 society, there's not this urgency or the strict 75 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,120 guidelines? I have news for us. 76 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:44,120 It all counts. When big things go wrong, it 77 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,560 often starts with little minor things that on the circums, on 78 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:50,000 the surface, seem of no consequence. 79 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:55,120 Culture tells us do what's easy, what feels good, what makes you 80 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,040 happy. When it comes to the moral 81 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,720 landscape it's today. It's like walking in a 82 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:03,520 minefield. It doesn't matter what subject 83 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:06,280 is brought up. Any conversation in the area of 84 00:05:06,280 --> 00:05:08,680 morality is stepping on land mines. 85 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:13,040 Someone's offended, someone disagrees, you're judgmental. 86 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,720 Why am I starting this way? We've been going through the 87 00:05:17,720 --> 00:05:21,240 book of Judges and this morning we're coming to the final sermon 88 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,960 in this series and the whole book covers the time span of 89 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:27,600 roughly 350 years in the life of the nation of Israel. 90 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:32,520 It is a sad book has many stories of people falling away 91 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,040 from God, then experiencing the consequences of their cumulative 92 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:39,360 decisions. So how do nations and cultures 93 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:43,440 fall? Often times when a people group 94 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:48,280 or a nation's destroyed, it's not from the outside in, it's 95 00:05:48,280 --> 00:05:50,400 from the inside out. It's like a tree. 96 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,680 It grows tall and strong and it may be good and healthy. 97 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:56,800 Over time, maybe insects may make their way in or the tree 98 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:01,080 gets damaged somehow and on the inside a rock starts to form. 99 00:06:01,360 --> 00:06:04,480 Over the years the rock grows. It may still look strong and 100 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:07,240 healthy, but one day in a storm, the tree just breaks and you can 101 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:12,240 see the insides all rotted out. Judges is a book where there are 102 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,800 periods of rot on the inside of the hearts of the people, adding 103 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:19,000 up to rot on the inside of the community and the inside of the 104 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,680 nation. What's interesting is that in 105 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:27,360 every case when the nation of Israel fell, they fell first on 106 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:31,080 the inside before they fell on the outside. 107 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,080 And this is something we don't find just in the book of Judges. 108 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:38,720 This is something we find in civilization. 109 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:41,920 I love reading history. History is my my cup of tea. 110 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:44,000 I just bought another history book yesterday. 111 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,720 And oh, I love the stories. And there's the tragedies and 112 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:50,200 there's the highs and the lows. And they could have avoided that 113 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:52,520 one. They could have avoided that 114 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:57,880 one. And one day it all falls down. 115 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:02,760 You see, the path to destruction happens one small step at a 116 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:06,280 time. The book of Judges is a book of 117 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,080 of success and failure repeatedly. 118 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:13,480 I want to read this morning that of Judges beginning chapter 19, 119 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:15,720 verse one. Again, this is a sad story, but 120 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:17,480 I want to end on a positive note this morning. 121 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:18,720 I'll just tell you that in advance. 122 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:22,720 Verse 19, chapter 19, verse one begins. 123 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:25,720 And it came to pass in those days when there was no king in 124 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,000 Israel. We've heard that before, that 125 00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:30,920 there was a certain Levite staying in the remote mountains 126 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,560 of Ephraim. He took for himself a concubine 127 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:36,760 from Bethlehem in Judah, but his concubine played the harlot 128 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:41,360 against him and went away from him to her father's house at 129 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,320 Bethlehem in Judah, and was there for whole months. 130 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:47,120 We've seen this phrase a number of times. 131 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:50,280 There was no king in Israel. It means there was a lack of 132 00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:55,000 leadership, spiritual leadership in the land, this Levite living 133 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:56,600 in the remote mountains of Ephraim. 134 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,400 He may have been somewhat of a loner, we don't know, but kind 135 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,840 of secluded up in the north, goes to Bethlehem, a town in the 136 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:07,640 southern parts and looks for a wife and, and he has a, he takes 137 00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:10,920 himself a concubine. A concubine was not a wife in 138 00:08:10,920 --> 00:08:14,720 the sense of a full legal wife. It was a kind of a secondary 139 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:18,080 wife, had the rights somewhat, somewhat, but not full rights as 140 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,120 a as a wife. We won't go into that this 141 00:08:20,120 --> 00:08:24,440 morning, but she was his wife as a concubine, but she was 142 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:26,280 unfaithful. She cheated on him. 143 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:28,160 She left him. And going back to her father's 144 00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:32,240 house, it tells us further on that he goes back to Bethlehem 145 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:34,280 to get her. And the father of this woman was 146 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:38,200 glad to meet this Levite. He invited him in and stayed a 147 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,919 number of days. And on day #5 the Levite says, 148 00:08:40,919 --> 00:08:43,400 well, I got to go. And so he saddles up his donkeys 149 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:45,920 and takes the concubine and his servant and off he goes heading 150 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:49,560 back N to Ephraim as the travel gets toward evening. 151 00:08:49,560 --> 00:08:51,880 And the servant says to the Levite, well, maybe we should 152 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:54,400 stop here in the city, the Jebusites, that was a Pagan 153 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:56,200 city, Let's stop in for the night. 154 00:08:56,680 --> 00:08:59,800 The Levite says, no, we don't do that. 155 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:02,960 And let's read verse 11 to 21. Let's continue. 156 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:05,440 They were near Jebus. That's the Jebusite city. 157 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:08,520 And the day was far spent. And the servant said to his 158 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:12,160 master, come, please, let's turn aside into the city of the 159 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:16,600 Jebusites and lodge in it. But his master said to him, We 160 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:20,280 will not turn aside here into a city of foreigners who are not 161 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,640 of the children of Israel. We will go on to Gibya. 162 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:26,720 You can hear his convictions and his, his thinking about sleeping 163 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,000 in a Pagan city. Verse 13. 164 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:31,800 So he said to his servant, come, let us draw near to one of these 165 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:34,400 places and spend the night in Gibya or Rama. 166 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,600 They were Israelite places, and they passed by and went their 167 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:40,560 way, and the sun went down on them near Gibya, which belongs 168 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:43,280 to Benjamin. They turned aside there to go 169 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:45,560 into lodge in Gibya, and he went in. 170 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,200 When he went in, he sat down in the open square of the city, for 171 00:09:49,200 --> 00:09:53,360 no one would take them in into his house to spend the night. 172 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:55,800 Hospitality was lacking in that city. 173 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:00,040 Continuing on, just then an old man came in from his work in the 174 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:03,040 field at evening, who was also from the mountains of Ephraim, 175 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:05,520 where the Levite was from. He was staying in Gibya. 176 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,160 Where's the men of the place were Benjamites. 177 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:11,680 When he raised his eyes, he saw the traveler in the open square 178 00:10:11,680 --> 00:10:13,640 of the city. And the old man said, where are 179 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:15,280 you going and where do you come from? 180 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,400 So he said to him, We are passing from Bethlehem and Judah 181 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:21,080 toward the remote mountains of Ephraim. 182 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:23,680 I'm from there. I went to Bethlehem and Judah. 183 00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:26,720 Now I'm I'm going to the House of the Lord, but there's no one 184 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:30,120 who will take me into his house. Although we have both straw and 185 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,120 fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for myself, for your 186 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:35,120 female servant, and for the young man who's with your 187 00:10:35,120 --> 00:10:36,760 servant, there's no lack of anything. 188 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:39,000 The old man said. Peace be with you. 189 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:42,520 However, that all your needs be my responsibility only. 190 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:44,840 Do not spend the night in the open square. 191 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:47,960 So you brought him into his house, gave fodder to the 192 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,400 donkeys, and they washed their feet and ate and drank. 193 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:57,040 So far, so good, nothing wrong. Yet they had a good time this 194 00:10:57,040 --> 00:10:58,680 leave. It was a conscientious man. 195 00:10:58,680 --> 00:11:03,160 He had some morals in certain areas, in certain ways where he 196 00:11:03,160 --> 00:11:04,880 slept and so on. He wasn't going to sleep in a 197 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:07,360 Pagan city. And then he in this town of 198 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:09,880 Gibeah, this Ephraimite who comes into town from a day of 199 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:11,320 work. Well, he's up from Ephraim as 200 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,560 well. And so now he, he sees them and 201 00:11:15,560 --> 00:11:18,160 he takes them in and it says they have a good time. 202 00:11:18,760 --> 00:11:22,080 Things are going really well. Let's continue reading verse 22. 203 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:26,280 Now as they were enjoying themselves, the old man and the 204 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:30,440 Levite, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, 205 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:32,640 surrounded the house and beat on the door. 206 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,440 They spoke to the master of the house, the old man saying, Bring 207 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:38,920 out the man who came to your house, that we may know him 208 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:42,280 carnally. But the man, the master of the 209 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:45,120 house, went out to them and said to them, No, my brethren, I beg 210 00:11:45,120 --> 00:11:48,680 you, do not act so wickedly. Seeing this man has come into my 211 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:51,120 house. Do not commit this outrage. 212 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,400 Look, here's my virgin daughter and the man's concubine. 213 00:11:54,560 --> 00:11:57,600 Let me bring them out now. Humble them and do with them as 214 00:11:57,600 --> 00:11:59,760 you please. But to this man do not do such a 215 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:03,240 vile thing. But the men would not heed him. 216 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:07,120 So the man took his concubine and brought her out to them. 217 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:10,520 I think this was the Levite, and they knew her and abused her all 218 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:13,080 night until morning. And when the day began to break, 219 00:12:13,080 --> 00:12:16,840 they let her go. Then the woman came as the day 220 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:19,560 was dawning, and fell down at the door of the man's house, 221 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,880 where her Master was till it was light. 222 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:27,120 As the story goes on, I won't read the rest here for a bit. 223 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:29,680 It tells us when the Levite woke up and wanted to get his 224 00:12:29,680 --> 00:12:31,960 concubine to head out again, she was dead. 225 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:35,520 He picked her up, put her on a donkey and headed home. 226 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:38,680 At home he took a knife, cut her into 12 pieces and sent the 227 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:41,680 pieces to the tribes of Israel to get a reaction. 228 00:12:41,680 --> 00:12:45,800 And he did. Words fail to describe the level 229 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:50,160 of moral debauchery these people had dropped to They were the 230 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:55,720 people of God, but they were completely corrupt and wicked. 231 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:59,920 Let's pause for a moment. We might say, well, that was 232 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:02,160 then. That doesn't happen now, does 233 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:04,400 it? Does it not? 234 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:09,360 What about today? What about the moral sin online, 235 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:14,560 The screens we open and watch it as if it's only minor, No 236 00:13:14,560 --> 00:13:19,280 consequence. Remember, it all counts. 237 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:23,600 It all builds up little by little, incrementally, to a 238 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:27,440 point where it takes on a life of its own and one day it flips. 239 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:31,440 Read a story many years ago of a young man who was a youth pastor 240 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,520 in his in his community. He had a good ministry, but he 241 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:38,280 was addicted to porn. He didn't think it was a big 242 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:42,240 deal, not harming anybody, no danger. 243 00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:48,520 He writes the story long after he lost his ministry. 244 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:52,840 He wrote how how it happened. One day he was in a parking lot 245 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,600 in some big box store somewhere, the huge parking lot. 246 00:13:55,760 --> 00:13:58,320 And there you saw a beautiful, attractive young woman. 247 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:03,240 He wrote, he wrote in his, in his, in this piece that he, he 248 00:14:03,560 --> 00:14:05,680 published, that somebody published for him. 249 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:09,080 He wrote that without knowing what he was doing, he somehow, 250 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:11,640 something flipped. He physically went for this 251 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:13,960 young woman and wanted to violate her. 252 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:20,320 He didn't get that far, however, because she resisted somehow and 253 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:22,880 he realized what was happening, but it was too late. 254 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:28,880 It was done. He had violated his ethics, his 255 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:30,960 beliefs. He was caught. 256 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:35,200 He had never intended to do this, but then he saw what he 257 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,840 had been doing to his mind, to his heart and to his soul. 258 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:43,880 He had fed himself this moral rot and it was inside him and 259 00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:47,160 weaken him to the point where he one day just hadn't resisted. 260 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:51,800 It had taken his life. And of course there was 261 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:53,960 consequences and I don't know what they were all were. 262 00:14:53,960 --> 00:14:57,320 He lost his ministry, his reputation, everything. 263 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:00,240 But he said he was thankful he got caught. 264 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:06,360 These men in the city of Gibeah, they didn't start out that way. 265 00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:10,880 Nobody does. But they were at this point, 266 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:15,360 wicked, evil, corrupt men. The Levite himself, he wasn't 267 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:18,360 innocent either. He was complicit in all of this. 268 00:15:18,600 --> 00:15:22,360 He gave up his concubine for self preservation, handed her 269 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,120 over to these men, knowing full well what they were going to do 270 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:28,000 to her. You see, folks, it all counts. 271 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,040 The nation of Israel had drifted far from God. 272 00:15:33,240 --> 00:15:36,280 They were not ignorant of God. Even though they fell into sin, 273 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:38,400 they still knew right from wrong. 274 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:41,040 See, it's often interesting how people are. 275 00:15:43,480 --> 00:15:46,160 It's interesting how often we have far more problems with 276 00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:48,240 somebody else's sin than our own sin. 277 00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:54,880 And he doesn't take ownership. Well, let's continue reading 278 00:15:55,680 --> 00:16:00,240 Judges chapter 19, verse 30 to 20, verse 7. 279 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,680 And so it was that all, all who sought being the 12 parts that 280 00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:08,960 he had cut his wife into sought. They said no such deed has been 281 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,960 done or seen from the day that the children of Israel came up 282 00:16:11,960 --> 00:16:13,600 from the land of Egypt until this day. 283 00:16:13,760 --> 00:16:18,880 Considerate confer and speak up. Verse 1 of chapter 20, verse 1. 284 00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:21,960 So all the children of Israel came out from Dan to be or 285 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:24,360 Sheba, that's from the north to the South, and from the land of 286 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:27,640 Gilead, that's on the east, that's on the East Coast across 287 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,080 the Jordan. And they gathered together as 288 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:32,240 one man before the Lord at Mizpah. 289 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:35,560 And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of 290 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:38,320 Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of 291 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,560 God. 400,000 foot soldiers who drew the sword. 292 00:16:42,840 --> 00:16:45,120 Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of 293 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:47,560 Israel had gone to Mizpah. Then the children of Israel 294 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:49,840 said, tell us, how did this wicked deed happen? 295 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:54,000 There's unity here. They're ready. 296 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,240 We're going to deal with this, deal with this issue, but 297 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:00,720 there's something that's missing here that should have happened 298 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:02,520 before they start talking about the problem. 299 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:06,319 They should have all woken up, looked inward into their own 300 00:17:06,319 --> 00:17:09,720 hearts, into God's Word, and then start processing and 301 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:12,040 dealing with the issue. We don't find they did any soul 302 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:15,040 searching whatsoever before they get to work on the issue. 303 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:18,800 We will see shortly later on in the passage when things got 304 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:22,040 difficult, then they do go to God in prayer, but now it's not 305 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:25,880 the case initially. It's almost like anger. 306 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:28,359 We're going to take care of business. 307 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:32,120 Verse four. So the Levite, the husband of 308 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:34,200 the woman who was murdered, answered and said to the 309 00:17:34,200 --> 00:17:37,200 Israelites, My concubine and I went into Gibeah, which belongs 310 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,920 to Benjamin, to spend the night. And the men of Gibeah rose 311 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:42,800 against me and surrounded the house at night. 312 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:45,720 Because of me. They intended to kill me, but 313 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:48,200 instead they ravished my concubine so that she died. 314 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:51,520 So I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her 315 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:54,280 throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, 316 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:56,760 because they committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. 317 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,640 Look, all of your children of Israel give your advice and 318 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,040 counsel here and now. Look, I'm innocent. 319 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:06,040 He was not innocent. Nobody was innocent. 320 00:18:07,880 --> 00:18:10,840 He was not being honest. He left out some parts of the 321 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:13,000 story. He left out what his what he 322 00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:14,760 did. He gave her up for that. 323 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:17,880 She had died. That was a tragedy. 324 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:23,040 What is just as disturbing is that he himself was complicit. 325 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:26,880 He was responsible too. He gave her up for self 326 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:31,040 preservation. So he shared his doctrine change 327 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:33,800 story. Now the nation responds verse 328 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:39,000 verse 8. So all the nation, so all the 329 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:42,760 people rose as one man saying, none of us will go to his tent 330 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:44,560 nor will any turn back to his house. 331 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:46,640 In other words, we're going to take care of this. 332 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,320 They were not sure yet what they're going to do necessarily, 333 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:50,520 but they're going to do something. 334 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:54,480 As we read on, they approached the people of Benjamin and they 335 00:18:54,480 --> 00:18:56,800 demanded hand over the guys who did this. 336 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,600 We'll bring him to justice. It tells us in the chapter that 337 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:03,880 instead of giving up the evil men in from the Benjamites, the 338 00:19:03,880 --> 00:19:06,320 men of Benjamin joined together to protect the evil doers. 339 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:08,800 This was just getting from ugly to uglier. 340 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:12,520 There are many parts to stories like these, and we can't look at 341 00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:14,840 all of them in one sermon. But here are a few thoughts that 342 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,280 come to my mind. I don't believe they were 343 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,560 humble. I don't think anybody was 344 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,880 humble. I don't think they were so much 345 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,000 grieved and saddened by what had happened as they were angry. 346 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:30,960 They were offended that this happened in truth and should 347 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:34,200 have been upset. That's true, but where were the 348 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:37,080 roots of all this immoral living? 349 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:39,840 This had been a long time in coming. 350 00:19:39,960 --> 00:19:42,680 You see again, these events don't just spring up out of 351 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:45,880 nowhere. These things are thoughts long 352 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:47,360 before they come. Words. 353 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:49,920 They're words, and then they turn to deeds. 354 00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:55,040 You see, folks, it all counts. The seeds of sin had germinated 355 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:57,720 perhaps years ago. The roots of sin had been 356 00:19:57,720 --> 00:20:00,320 growing and spreading and infecting the nation for many 357 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:03,640 years, maybe decades. Only here now, it produced the 358 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:06,960 fruits of violence and depravity and debauchery and death. 359 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:11,320 Now the rise of indignation and anger. 360 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:15,760 We're going to fight a war. I'm thinking of our own culture. 361 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:21,280 We see the moral confusion, the chaos of our times, and as wrong 362 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,280 and sinful as it is. Hate and anger are not the 363 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,200 answer. Violence is not the answer. 364 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:31,440 God loves every human being the same. 365 00:20:32,320 --> 00:20:34,720 True, in that day and age under the old covenant, there were 366 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,160 some moral sins that demanded the death penalty. 367 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:40,840 But we are thankfully, thank God we are not under that old 368 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:42,640 covenant. We're not supposed to go and 369 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:45,440 hurt people. We're under the new covenant. 370 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:48,920 We're never commanded to meet hate with violence and death. 371 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:54,480 The moral decline should have caused them grief and sadness, 372 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:56,560 and it should cause us grief and sadness. 373 00:20:56,800 --> 00:20:59,520 In this story, the men of Israel, sinful and fallen as 374 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:01,200 they were, we're going to go to war. 375 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:07,960 Verse 18 Then the children of Israel rose and went up to the 376 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:12,680 House of God to inquire of God. What timing they said, which of 377 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,160 us shall go up first to battle against the children of 378 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:17,640 Benjamin? The Lord said Judah, Judah 379 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,200 first. I find this fascinating. 380 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:23,680 Who said anything about going to battle? 381 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:26,840 They go to church and deal with it there. 382 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:31,520 We don't find any soul searching and any repenting that happens 383 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:36,080 prior. Where are we in our relationship 384 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,480 to God when we see the sin around us? 385 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:44,640 Maybe we don't commit these sins, but at what point are we 386 00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:47,400 responsible? And, and maybe we've already 387 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:48,800 been playing and oh, you know what? 388 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,920 This movie is not too bad and that website's not too bad and 389 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:54,520 those pictures are OK. And that lifestyle is OK and 390 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,160 that dress codes OK. And we start changing. 391 00:21:57,280 --> 00:22:04,680 You see, folks, it all counts. These people missed some very 392 00:22:04,680 --> 00:22:07,200 important steps. All they know is we're going to 393 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:08,280 go to battle. Who's first? 394 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:14,160 We will fight and God went along with it. 395 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,400 Why did God not stop it? Why did God not point and say, 396 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:19,680 hold on, hold on. Before you fight, before you do 397 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:21,680 anything, first you need to repent. 398 00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:23,520 You need to humble yourself. You're all guilty. 399 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,880 Why did God not do that? Well, this may just be my 400 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:31,800 opinion, but I believe that God was watching, said, hmm, you're 401 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:34,760 so fired up. But the men of Benjamin and they 402 00:22:34,760 --> 00:22:37,200 need to be held responsible. But you yourselves need to learn 403 00:22:37,200 --> 00:22:39,560 something too. You men of Israel are not clean 404 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:40,760 either. The Levites not clean. 405 00:22:40,760 --> 00:22:42,960 The old man's not clean. You're not clean either. 406 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,040 You're self-righteous. You're proud and arrogant. 407 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:47,640 Now you're mad. OK, go ahead and fight. 408 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:51,800 I don't know if that's what God was thinking, and I don't know 409 00:22:51,800 --> 00:22:58,160 all the answers, but I believe the nation of Israel had 410 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:02,120 compromised on so many levels for such a long time on the 411 00:23:02,120 --> 00:23:04,320 moral field. They had sunk so low. 412 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:08,680 There was nothing holding them back, and now they would suffer. 413 00:23:09,120 --> 00:23:11,720 Not just the Benjamites, the whole nation would. 414 00:23:13,200 --> 00:23:16,120 Sometimes I wonder, thinking about our culture and our times, 415 00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:17,800 why should God spare us suffering? 416 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:20,760 Why should God spare us hard times? 417 00:23:21,360 --> 00:23:26,000 As a faith, faith community, as a society, we're not much better 418 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,920 on the moral scale. Oh, we're not killing people in 419 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:31,640 the process, but we're defiling God's image. 420 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:38,120 We're a morally corrupt society. Remember it all counts. 421 00:23:39,640 --> 00:23:42,720 We must always look first at ourselves in the mirror before 422 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:45,760 we deal with another person. This doesn't mean that we 423 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:47,760 shouldn't deal with it doesn't mean we shouldn't confront. 424 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:50,520 We should. But out of a surrendered, 425 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:55,720 repented and humble heart, pride has no room in this kind of has 426 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:58,080 no room anywhere, but especially not in this. 427 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:02,960 Let's continue reading verse 21 and I'm just tell the story. 428 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:07,480 See, the next day they fight, the battle has joined Israel and 429 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,840 there are 400,000 men, Benjamin 20 under less than 30 thousand 430 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,840 26,000. Some surprisingly, the men of 431 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,920 Israel get beaten. They had not expected that 432 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:22,800 vastly superior numbers, but they lost Israelites lost 22,000 433 00:24:22,800 --> 00:24:24,480 men. The first it was a slaughter. 434 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:29,440 The confidence was shaken. We read the wet before the Lord 435 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:32,280 asked should we go up again. Now there's some doubt. 436 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:35,920 God said yes, go up again. The second day they went up the 437 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:39,360 second time and they lost again. This time 18,000 men died. 438 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,680 Now they're disheartened. God had given them the green 439 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,800 light to go to battle, but then wasn't giving them the victory. 440 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:49,680 But now they're learning some painful lessons. 441 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:53,160 It tells us in the story, they went up to the temple or to the 442 00:24:53,160 --> 00:24:56,200 worship, choice of worship and they wept before the Lord and 443 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:58,560 they burnt offerings and they fasted till even they asked 444 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,560 should we go again? Then God says go again, but 445 00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:04,240 tomorrow I'll give you victory. And then they beat the 446 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:10,000 Benjamites, and they slaughtered them. 25,100 Benjamins died All 447 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,920 in all, out of the nation of Israel, 65,000 and 100 soldiers 448 00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:17,440 were killed. The Benjamites were now beaten. 449 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:20,040 Well, that's what, Let's see what happens next. 450 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:24,360 Verse 47. But 600 men, the Benjamites 451 00:25:24,360 --> 00:25:26,480 turned and fled toward the wilderness, to the rock of 452 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,840 Ramon. And they stayed at the Rock of 453 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:31,320 Ramon for four months. And the men of Israel turned 454 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:33,720 back against the children of Benjamin and struck them down 455 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:36,840 with the edge of the sword From every city, men and beasts, all 456 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:40,480 who were found, they set, they also set fire to all the cities 457 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:42,960 they came to. Now it's genocide. 458 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:48,200 They're just as mad as ever. They're, they're, they're, 459 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,360 they're angry. We don't know how many days the 460 00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:54,240 killing continued, but it was. It was brutal. 461 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:58,760 The Benjamins had been beaten. That they were now done. 462 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:03,040 They were finished. Men, women and children accept 463 00:26:03,040 --> 00:26:07,200 600 men. They had been losing for years 464 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,520 and years already, morally, but now it was physical, you see. 465 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:15,240 They lost every time they compromise God's standards, you 466 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:16,200 see. It all counted. 467 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:21,200 They almost eradicated the whole tribe except the 600 men that 468 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:26,440 escaped. You see, sin is never a benign 469 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:29,600 thing. Once it puts down roots, there's 470 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:32,760 no telling what evils it will give birth to. 471 00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:39,200 Sin, in the end, brings death. It all counts, one would think. 472 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:41,360 But this time the children of Israel would had enough. 473 00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,160 They would now look at saving lives instead of killing. 474 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,040 In chapter 21 they gathered before the Lord. 475 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:48,440 They weep. They're sorry for how things 476 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:49,800 turned out. They want to fix the problem. 477 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,840 But again, the ways in which they go about fixing the problem 478 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:56,240 leaves us shaking our heads. Let's continue reading verse 1 479 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:59,160 of chapter 21. Now the men of Israel had sworn 480 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:02,800 an oath at Mizpah saying none of us shall give his daughter to 481 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:05,320 Benjamin as a wife. Then the people came to the 482 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:07,800 House of God and remained there before God till evening. 483 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:11,280 They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly and said, oh Lord 484 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:14,200 God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that today 485 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:16,040 there should be 1 tribe missing in Israel. 486 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:19,960 So it was the next morning the people rose early and build an 487 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,200 altar there and offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. 488 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:28,040 Yes, finally, right? No, this was good. 489 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:30,440 Not the end of the story. Let's continue reading verse 5 490 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:33,720 Then the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the 491 00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,160 tribes of Israel who did not come up with assembly to the 492 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,320 Lord? For they had made a great oath 493 00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:41,440 concerning anyone who had not come up to the Lord admits by 494 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:43,160 saying he shall surely be put to death. 495 00:27:43,360 --> 00:27:45,120 That was not a wise thing to say. 496 00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:49,480 But that said that verse 6 and the children of Israel grieved 497 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,080 for Benjamin, their brother, and said one tribe was cut off from 498 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:55,160 Israel today. What shall we do for wives, for 499 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,560 those who remain saying, seeing we've sworn by the Lord, that we 500 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:02,280 will not give them our daughters as our as wives? 501 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:05,800 I'm wondering if by this time they thought, yeah, that promise 502 00:28:05,800 --> 00:28:08,040 was perhaps not the best promise or the best oath. 503 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:11,680 Well, they made it. They're going to keep it. 504 00:28:12,720 --> 00:28:14,720 Verse 8. And they said, what 1 is there 505 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,520 from the tribes of Israel who did not come from optimism of 506 00:28:17,520 --> 00:28:20,200 the Lord to Mis, but to the Lord. 507 00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:23,560 And in fact, no one had come to the camp from Jabish Gilead to 508 00:28:23,560 --> 00:28:25,680 the assembly. For when the people were 509 00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,920 counted, indeed not one of the inhabitants of Jabish Gilead was 510 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,440 there. So the congregation sent out 511 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:35,400 their 12,000 men, of their most valiant men, and command them go 512 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:37,600 and strike the inhabitants of Jabish Gilead with the edge of 513 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:40,160 the sword, including men, women and children. 514 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:42,600 And this is the thing you shall do. 515 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:46,840 You shall utterly destroy every male, every woman who is known a 516 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:50,000 man intimately. So it's men and women and 517 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:53,440 children, except the girls who've not had relationships 518 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:55,400 with man. Verse 12. 519 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,240 So they found among the inhabitants of Jabish Gilead 400 520 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:00,560 young virgins who had not known a man intimately, and they 521 00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:02,880 brought them to the camp of Chilo, which is in the land of 522 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:05,880 Canaan. This is just bizarre. 523 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,800 Of course this is wrong, but this is a window into the 524 00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:15,760 culture of the time. They had no problem with 525 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:19,280 defending their oath at the cost of innocent lives. 526 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:23,920 It would have been far better to go before God and confessing 527 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:25,520 Lord. We sin by making this foolish 528 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,400 vow. It was wrong, we repent. 529 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:30,200 That would have been far more nobler. 530 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:34,720 But what we find here is these people now committing sins to 531 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:41,760 fix issues they caused. It was always a difficult thing, 532 00:29:43,920 --> 00:29:45,640 but it's never right to do wrong. 533 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:51,160 Up and wrong. Well, let's continue verse 13. 534 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,320 Then the whole congregation sent word to the children of Benjamin 535 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:56,520 who were at the Rock and rim and announced peace to them. 536 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:59,560 So the Benjam, the Benjamites came back to at the time, they 537 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,120 gave them the women whom they had saved the life of, the women 538 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:04,800 of Jabish Gilead, yet they had not found enough for them. 539 00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:06,800 There's only 400. They need 600. 540 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,120 Just think of for a moment that the trauma for these young women 541 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:14,120 whose families had been slaughtered. 542 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:18,840 Verse 15 And the people grieve for Benjamin because the Lord 543 00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:20,440 had made a void in the tribes of Israel. 544 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:24,640 No one talked about grieving for the innocent ones, but there 545 00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:27,360 were not enough wives yet. They needed a few. 100 more. 546 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:29,440 Let's move on. Verse 16. 547 00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:32,320 Then the elders of the congregation said, what shall we 548 00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:36,360 do for wives, for those who remain, since the women of 549 00:30:36,360 --> 00:30:38,840 Benjamin have been destroyed. And they said there must be an 550 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:41,640 inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe may not 551 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:44,120 be destroyed from Israel. However, we cannot give them 552 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:46,160 wives from our daughters, for the children of Israel have 553 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:48,200 sworn an oath saying cursed be the one who gives a wife to 554 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:50,560 Benjamin. Again, this oath is more 555 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:52,560 important than actually doing the right thing. 556 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,120 Verse 19. Then they said, in fact, there's 557 00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:57,800 a yearly feast of the Lord and Shiloh, which is north of Bethel 558 00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,560 on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to 559 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:03,960 Shechem and South of Le Bona. Therefore they instructed the 560 00:31:03,960 --> 00:31:07,160 children of Benjamin saying, Go lie and wait in the vineyards 561 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:09,960 and watch just when the daughters of Shiloh come out to 562 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,480 perform their dances. Then come out from the vineyards 563 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:14,640 and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters of 564 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:16,800 Shiloh, then go to the land of Benjamin. 565 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,560 Then it shall be when their fathers or their brothers come 566 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,600 to us to complain, that we will say to them, be kind to them for 567 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:26,320 our sakes, because we did not take away for any of them in the 568 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:28,120 war. For it's not as though you have 569 00:31:28,320 --> 00:31:31,360 given that woman to them at this time, making yourselves guilty 570 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:35,640 of your oath. Do we see the manufactured 571 00:31:35,640 --> 00:31:39,520 loopholes? This sounds like our time 572 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:42,760 fishing through the Bible. But it says here. 573 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:50,880 But it says here. But it's OK if I no, it says it 574 00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:52,680 was 23. And the children of Benjamin did 575 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:56,120 so they took enough wives, kidnapped their wives for the 576 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:57,880 number from those who danced, whom they caught. 577 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:00,840 And they went and returned to the inheritance, and they 578 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,680 rebuilt the cities and dwelt in them. 579 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:07,320 So the children of Israel departed from there at that 580 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:09,960 time, every man to his tribe and family. 581 00:32:10,240 --> 00:32:13,640 They went out from there, every man to his inheritance. 582 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:17,680 There's one final verse. In those days there was no king 583 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:21,560 in Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes. 584 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,320 Early in this book we learned that the beginning for a time 585 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:30,840 under the leadership of Joshua, things were good and and even 586 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:35,440 the elders that outlived Joshua. But then the cycles of sin and 587 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:39,600 degradation and moral collapse began and up and down, up and 588 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:41,920 down. What is sad in the book is that 589 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:45,360 as the years passed, these cycles repeated themselves, ever 590 00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:47,640 increasing lower and lower spirals. 591 00:32:48,000 --> 00:32:50,320 There were better times and then the whole nation slipped again 592 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:54,480 into another lower spiral. And the book does not end on a 593 00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:56,960 good note. We have these stories in 594 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:01,440 Scripture for our benefit, to teach us on the importance of a 595 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,760 relationship with God. So what difference does it make 596 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:08,200 for us today? I said earlier, I want to end on 597 00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:11,520 a positive note. We don't have to live there. 598 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:16,480 Even though our culture is corrupt, morally going astray, 599 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:20,160 we don't have to live there. We can have a relationship with 600 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:25,200 Jesus, and if we live like he's sitting beside us, then what we 601 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:28,320 watch, what we do, He will help us. 602 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:33,360 You see, it all counts. Are we doing things we think 603 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,560 don't count? Let me assure us it does count. 604 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:40,400 The videos, the places we go, the events we participated, it 605 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:42,560 all counts to an accumulative total. 606 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:44,560 And in the end, it produces fruit. 607 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:48,040 And that's something. What will that something be? 608 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,960 Will it be a blessing that glorifies God and lifts us up 609 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:55,680 and draws us all closer together? 610 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:58,680 Or will it be something that's morally corrupt and rotten, 611 00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:03,480 leading to destruction? And maybe we think we're not 612 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,960 doing too bad and we're doing OK, but what about our children? 613 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:09,040 I think about our children and grandchildren. 614 00:34:12,159 --> 00:34:15,520 Let's live our lives, folks, in a way that we're never 615 00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:20,199 embarrassed or ashamed of Jesus. Let's live our lives and grace 616 00:34:20,199 --> 00:34:23,120 and humility and surrender to him, walk with him in peace and 617 00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:25,480 harmony. The culture can be what it is. 618 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,280 It is what it is. We don't have to live that way. 619 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:31,520 We have a much better thing to do. 620 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:34,440 We can live in, we can live in relationship with Jesus. 621 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:36,120 Yes, there will be spiritual battles. 622 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:38,639 There will be struggle. Yes, we will falter and struggle 623 00:34:38,639 --> 00:34:43,920 and have to repent and confess. But Jesus is here to rescue us. 624 00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:48,199 Think about it this week, what we're celebrating his death and 625 00:34:48,199 --> 00:34:51,199 resurrection for exactly those things. 626 00:34:52,159 --> 00:34:55,560 He came to this world to rescue us, for himself, a people from a 627 00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:58,960 sinful world to extend his grace to us and love and compassion. 628 00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:01,640 We can leave all that behind and walk with him. 629 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:07,280 We must remember in the end, it all counts. 630 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:10,640 Let's pray or thank you for your grace. 631 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:16,720 Thank you for your Son Jesus, that we're not under the law. 632 00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:20,360 You came to fulfill the law to pay the penalty for sin, to 633 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,800 redeem us for yourself. I pray Lord, for anyone who's 634 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:26,840 here struggling this morning, you'd reveal yourself to this 635 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:29,280 person, help this person to walk with you. 636 00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:33,120 Thank you Lord for your word. The scripture is difficult, but 637 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:36,320 as difficult it is, it teaches an important lesson how we need 638 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:37,680 to walk with you and live for you. 639 00:35:38,240 --> 00:35:40,000 May we experience your grace and mercies. 640 00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:41,480 We thank you in Jesus name.