But we draw your attention to the book of Judges tonight. Judges chapter 17. Judges chapter 17, few verses long. Judges 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 are very similar passages of scripture. I find as we read through there, we're gonna find out that these chapter continue to declare the complete and total fall of our father, Abraham, and every one of, it's not Abraham, Adam, Adam and every one of his children are in the same position. And it's just reflected in this past, these chapters, as we've noticed, looking at these other chapters, chapters one through 16. In looking at these five chapters, I've come to the conclusion that they're probably not in chronologic order after chapter 16. They are probably a commentary on what life was like throughout chapters one through 16. And these incidents may have repeated themselves many, many times through chapters one through 16, because we have, there is a great problem in Israel, just like there is everywhere else. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. So that's just a problem.

So as we look at this, we find that in Judges chapter, let me get over there, Judges chapter 17 and verse one. All right. And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said unto his mother, the 1100 shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursed and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me, I took it. And his mother said, blessed be thou of the Lord, my son. And when he had restored the 1100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord. Now, did you notice the twice the word Lord is capitalized? We don't have any question who that is, but let's go on here. I wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten image. Now, therefore, I will restore it unto thee. Yet he restored the money unto his mother, and his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image, and they were in the house of Micah. And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod and a teraphim. and consecrated one of his sons who became his priest. And in those days, there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

Now we're going to stop there as we look at this chapter, but between chapters two and chapter 16, I would think that probably incidents like this and the rest of what we're going to read in these last chapters could have happened hundreds of times. We have about 350 to 385 years between the death of Joshua and the first judge that came along and then King Saul. And Samuel is kind of a continuation of the judges. He is the last judge, but he's a prophet.

In chapter, would you turn with me to chapter 2 of the book of Judges, chapter 2, verse 6 through 13, we have here in this passage what's going to be happening on the rest of this book through chapter 16, but also over and over and over as we read with regard to what Micah did, his mother did, and his son did. In Judges 2, verse 6, we have this recorded that kind of sets the tone for what we're going to find in the book of Judges. Very, very, very few times in the book of Judges do we have a bright spot, and the only time we have a bright spot is because of God's grace. Nowhere else will we find a bright spot. We're going to see some judges chosen by Almighty God, and that was a bright spot for Israel. But it's interesting that they would get to a point where they cry out for God to come in, but they never cried out that He would take away their gods. They'd cry out to take care of the pain they were in, the suffering that they were going through because of the oppression from outside, but not once did they ever ask God to take care of the problem. And that was the idolatry that they had.

So here in the book of Judges chapter two, and we read this some time ago, But let's look at it for just a moment. And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua. I can't help but think that they were only doing it as a favor to Joshua, the bulk of them. They were just going along because It's not long and they're all serving idols.

So they've had this in their mind who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he did for Israel. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord died being 110 years old. and they buried him in the border of his inheritance, Mtnatharas, in the Mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Ge'esh. So also, and also, all the generations were gathered unto their fathers, and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

I don't know what had happened to the education, because it certainly broke down. And there's not much here that would give us any idea that they had much knowledge of their own history, that they could not remember or didn't have in their vocabulary what God had done for them for those 40 years of travel, as well as for the settlement of the land. It goes on to tell us here, it says, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. They didn't have that. in their thought processes.

Now, natural man can have some things in their mind, but they're not things that will lead them to salvation unless those things are from God. So just having some knowledge about things, some historical knowledge, does not mean salvation. Almost every religion has that as part of their training. You're going to have a, we're going to put you through a training process, a catechism process or something and ask you. And I remember before they baptized me, I nodded consent. I didn't say a word. Do you believe in Jesus? Yes. I didn't even say yes. I nodded my head. And then it just went down the road and okay, you've heard this young man's profession of faith. Well, I knew some facts, I didn't know Christ. And I think that that's what we have here is just the same thing. They knew, and most of them had forgotten facts.

And then it goes on to tell us there, and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Balaam. And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt and followed other gods, the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them and provoked the Lord to anger. And they forsook the Lord and served Baal in Ashtroth." So as we read that, there's quite a compilation of things that they had done. It tells us, first of all, the children of Israel did evil. They served Balaam. They forsook the Lord. They followed other gods, bowed themselves to those gods, provoked the Lord to anger. They forsook the Lord. They serve Baal and Ashtar and there's not one positive thing in that whole list. And here we have the problem of Israel after Joshua dies. And this is the problem we're going to have all the way through to chapter 16. Now we're going to notice that problem in a little bit different way. We may in chapters 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21, there's some incidents that take place, but they're all foundation upon this problem right here. They all could go right back to here and we find that that is what is brought out through the 16 chapters to begin with.

The first 16 chapters of the book of Judges is a record of the people adopting the ways of the people that lived in the land. They adopted their gods and it's so easy to adopt foreign gods when you don't have the God. And we see that all around us. Most of my relatives are religious to some degree, but they have no knowledge at all of what God is or what salvation is. The gods of the surrounding neighbors, they incorporated these idols into their pagan worship. And yet we find as the mama in the scripture that we read tonight, she made reference to Jehovah. She made reference to Jehovah, how pleased she was, her son had repented of stealing her money. It was a false repentance and it was a false view of Jehovah, but we have that reference. God is on the lips of many people, but the God that is of the scriptures, even though we may use his name, by nature, we don't have any knowledge about him.

These chapters that we have gone through already, the result was they always, 16 times, they wound up whining to God. about the oppression of those nations that came into Israel. God would raise the floodgates, the people would come in, they would be oppressed. Lo and behold, they'd have enough of it and they'd cry out to the Lord. And as we mentioned, they never once prayed that they would be delivered from the idolatry that they had so pronounced in that land. Now I'm thankful that in the new birth, God gives us a victory over those idols. And we'll look at that in just a moment.

One of my favorite passages, 1 Thessalonians 1. We might even say that we have in chapters 17 to 21 is exactly what began with the death of Joshua. And we're just going to have a repeat of that and a repeat of that and a repeat of that through time. That's what the judges were dealing with all the time, was this very thing, that there was just a constant repeat of what was going on. The book of Judges chapter three, verse seven. Let's just take a look at some of these verses in Judges that bring us to mind that this was just a common thing, a common occurrence. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. And in Judges chapter three, verse seven, it says, and the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. I don't have in my Bible one of the things that Bibles have where they give kind of guess on a date, and then two chapters later you can look at a chapter and it says, here's another guess on a date. But we're gonna have a little bit of time between chapter two and chapter three here, and we find the same issue is going on. The same problem is going on, and that's the same issue that we deal with today when we're taking the gospel to anybody. We have this problem that people are worshiping other gods, and they may use Jehovah's name, but they have no knowledge of Him. He hasn't been revealed to them.

So in Judges 3, verse 7, the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served Balaam and the groves. And in chapter 3, verse 12, same chapter, verse 12, And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. So here we go, one of the instances when the Lord opened up the gate and let the enemy come in. And you know, the Lord knew the outcome of all of that. I just think how patient God was with Israel, even in this condition.

And we find that very few, but a few of Israel, God revealed himself to them. And we have some people who know something about God, even in those perilous times. In chapter four and verse one, would you join me there? Chapter four and verse one, we have this, and the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. When Ehud was dead, So the judge dies, here we go back to almost the same pattern. They prayed that God would come in and deliver them from the problems that they were having, but they never once, do we find ever, they prayed that God's would be taken away from them, that they would not be a problem to them or to the next generation.

In the book of Judges chapter six, would you turn there with me, Judges chapter six, There in Judges 6, verse 1, we have almost a repeat. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. One more time, they did evil in the sight of the Lord, the Lord opened up the gates, let the Midianites come in, and they were oppressed. And then they're going to cry out to the Lord, and the Lord is going to deliver them through a judge.

Well, we're thankful that in the regeneration that he reveals who the truth of the gospel is found in, and that's in Jesus Christ.

In Judges chapter 9, would you join me over there in Judges chapter 9? In Judges chapter 9, as we go through here, we find out time and time again. Is it? It is verse 57. In Judges 9, verse 57, it says, And all the evil of the men of Shechem did God render upon their heads. And upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Zerubbabel. the evil of the men of Shechem and God gave them this payment.

And then going to the next chapter, chapter 10 and verse six, we have this recorded. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord and served Balaam and Ashdod and the gods of Syria and the gods of Sidon, you know. I don't think it would be that difficult to say that things were getting worse and worse because we have more gods listed now that they're following after. And the introduction to these various gods came in and it tells us there, there's quite a number in this passage of scripture, Balaam and Ashtroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the children of Ammon, the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord and served not him. So this is constantly going on during the time of the judges.

And in chapter 13, Judges chapter 13, and there in verse one, we have this, Judges chapter 13 in verse one, and the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. Natural man will never ever get better on his own. It doesn't matter how many bad things we go through. It doesn't matter how much oppression we go through, how much persecution we go through, how many good blessings the Lord gives to us, just as he did Israel as they were out there in the wilderness, how much good, clean water he brings out of a rock, how much good food he sends down from heaven, how many quail he sends to be eaten, how he took care of them through Moses, all of those things never improved their heart one bit.

And all of this through the times of the judges. Here we have, you could just graph it, just up and down. Got a judge, things go well. He dies, it goes back down. Got a judge, he does well, it goes down after he's dead, and on and on it goes. So we're gonna see that that pattern is something brought out in this chapter 17 and the rest of the book. It's just a common thing that goes on.

And with the incident of that mama and that son and that grandson, and then a little bit later a Levite, Those issues are just common among the people during this 380 year period of time. It doesn't change. Do you remember what God told Samuel when it came, they wanted a king? They've not forsaken you for him being king over them or ruler over them. They've forsaken me. Now he felt bad because I'm sure he was a pretty good leader. He knew something about the gospel and how sad it was when he saw the nation just depart from his care and concern. And then God gave him a king, just like they wanted. And what kind of king was that guy? Well, God had promised that there was going to be a king coming, and he was. David was the king later. So this whole thing we find in Judges chapter 17 is not an isolated incident. We're going to find out that this probably was going on and on and on.

Now going over to Judges chapter 17, let's pick up a few things out of these verses of scripture that we've looked at here. We just read in Judges chapter 17, verses one through six. We have in verse one, there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And then in verse two, and he said unto his mother, the 1100 shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursest and spakest also in my ears." Now, do you think for a moment that she didn't know who took her money? I think she knew exactly who took the money. And I think he heard some words that were not civil to hear. Mama is cursing him because he did this. Now he's got it hidden and he's done a good job of hiding it, but she has mother's intuition. I cannot help but think that similar issues just like this happened hundreds of times in those 300 plus years that we have the Book of the Judges. That this is just a rotation. This is going on and on and on.

Now, it may not have been shekels of silver. It may have been something else, but we're going to have this kind of life. There's going to be thieves. There's going to be mamas getting after the thieves. There's going to be a little bit of repentance. And mama is going to be so proud. Let's notice this. Mama gets real proud. About which thou cursest and spakest of also in my ears. Behold, the silver is with me. I took it. Oh boy, we have repentance. We have somebody that's done something really bad, repenting of doing something really bad to mama. You know, repentance is not confessing sin. Repentance is a change of mind about God. And that will change our view of sin. We're not going to change our view of God by having a little repentance. Repentance, like Judas had, is sorry I got caught. Can you hear this young man say, I'm really sorry I got caught? Yeah. 1,100 pieces of silver, how much that's worth? Well, today's price of silver is worth quite a bit.

Well, he goes on here and it says, and Spacus also in my ears, behold, the silver is with me, I took it. And his mother said, blessed be thou of Jehovah, my son. She had heard something about the God of heaven. But I think he was more of a byword than he was an important value in her life. Because she goes right on and says in verse three, and when he had restored the 1100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto Jehovah. And how do I dedicate the silver unto Jehovah? I'm going to have an idol made. I'm going to worship baptism in the Lord's Supper. I'm going to worship a preacher. That first Corinthians chapter one has just been an issue. Not an issue. I've been going over that and chewing on that. We brought it out at the VA home about I'm of Paul and I'm of Cephas and I'm of Paulus. Well, how that can happen? But it does.

And here we have a woman here. She knows something about the name Jehovah. She has that in her vocabulary, but notice the result. Now, she is so proud of her son for confessing that he's done wrong. She's gonna help him out and she's gonna give him a God. She doesn't share the gospel with him. She doesn't know it. All right, let's go on here. It says, behold, the silver is with me. I took it, verse two, mother said, blessed be thou of the Lord, my son. And when he had restored the 1100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver unto Jehovah from my hand for my son to make a graven image. I wonder how the author of this book led of the Holy Spirit, felt about what he was writing with regard to this mama, I wholly dedicated unto Jehovah? And what's the outcome? To make a graven image and a molten image.

Now the author of this book, I'm convinced, knew something about the gospel because holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, knew something about the gospel, knew something about the error of those idols, knew something of the problem that Israel was going through time and time again. He knew something about the problem.

And here he is called on to write about a woman, a mother who has a son and she's going to honor his honesty and praise Jehovah by what? To make a graven image and a molten image. Now, therefore I will restore it unto thee. You cussed me out, I gave it back, and now you're rewarding me.

Now, originally she was gonna take 1,100 pieces of silver and make an image. But now she's changed her mind. She's gonna do 200. She slipped on her dedication to Jehovah. Verse four, and yet he restored the money unto his mother. His mother took 200 shekels of silver. She had 1,100, 1,100 were stolen, 1,100 are returned. She said she was gonna dedicate that to Jehovah and have a image made. Well, it cut back quite a bit.

You know, it kind of reminds me a little bit of an incident in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, about Ananias and Sapphira. Their heart was not right with God. This woman's heart is not right with God and she will do anything. It goes, she gave them to a founder. She brought those 200 shekels of silver and gave them to a founder. And a founder is man who melts metals.

Now there was probably, in this day and time, I can just suspect a lot of founders in Israel at this time, because there's a lot of worship of idols. Idolatrous worship is taken over, and very few.

I just am so thankful for grace because in chapter we read about Samson, his mama and his daddy got to know what grace was. They got to see God. They got to hear God. God got to tell them and told them what was going to happen. They were going to have a baby. This is not the normal thing going on in Israel at this time. We have thousands of people bowing down before an idol and in the book of the Psalms we find out that they'll build an idol out of anything. And it has ears that can't hear, and eyes that can't see, and hands that can't do anything, and feet that can't walk, and yet they will bow down before it. They're no different. These gods are no different than Ashtroth that fell on its face there in that temple when they brought in the Ark of the Covenant. God just put his, if he'd have had flour on his hands, you could have seen flour on the back of that god as he pushed it over. God took, I tell you who God is. He's more powerful than Dagon.

Well, they restored the money. She takes it to a founder who made thereof a graven image and a molten image. Now, the graven is chiseled out of stone and the molten is metal that's been melted and poured into a form. So she, whether she got two, But she's doing something that she didn't have any business as an Israelite doing. And that's making, having idols made for her. In verse, Judges chapter two and verse 11, let's just go back there and read that one more time. We read it tonight, but I want to read it again. Judges chapter two and verse 11. It says there, for the children of Israel, did evil in the sight of the Lord and served Balaam. It doesn't matter whether she knows the name Jehovah or not. She served Balaam. He served Balaam. And we're going to have him appoint his very own son as his priest until someone better comes along.

All right. So we have The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. Now travel with me over to that passage of scripture in the book of 1 Thessalonians 1. 1 Thessalonians 1, as Paul writes to the Thessalonians and shares with them how thankful he is that the word came not in word only, but in power. And he mentions a word in this chapter. That is a word that the church has always been thankful for, and that is God's election. If it wasn't for that, we would be in the place that all those folks in the book of Judges found themselves without God, without hope, without anything, and worshiping other idols. They knew the name Jehovah that had come down to them.

Here in the book of First Thessalonians chapter one and verse nine, it says in verse one, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus under the church of the Thessalonians, which are in God the Father and in Jesus Christ, grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.

Did you notice here what Paul begins to delineate? What happens when God saves people? There's a lot. It covers many bases. And that's just another sign that those people over there in the book of Judges didn't have any idea who God was, even though they used the name Jehovah. Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. You know it. I know it. God's purposed it. This is why you have what you have. Our gospel came not unto you in word only, and I'm thankful that the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace comes to His lost sheep. It comes in power, resurrecting power. It comes gloriously to them. It's not over the top of them. it's going to be to their heart.

Now, it may have been over the top for a season, like we find with Saul of Tarsus, as he heard Stephen go through that long message to those people on that council, and then killed Stephen, took off, beat the church up, scattered it abroad, and then you read about, well, they took the word of the Lord with them, and then the Lord saved him. Now, to begin with, it looks like whatever Stephen had to say was not effectual. But don't count it out. It's not on a time limit. And there on the road to Damascus, Christ appeared unto him. and let that gospel have free course, power and not word only, but also in the Holy Ghost and much assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Ghost, so that ye were examples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God were to spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had with you.

This is true repentance. mentioned right here in this verse. How ye turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Now were they just as idolatrous as those people over there in the book of Judges? Absolutely. All you have to do is go to Thessalonica or Corinth or Ephesus or any of those communities over there. All you have to do is go over there and find out the number of temples dedicated to how many gods and goddesses. And yet, out of that whole mess, God saved a group of people in Thessalonica, and God saved a few, according to the election of grace, there in Israel during that book of Judges.

You turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Now, in this incident, they turn from God to serving idols, Oh, Jehovah has been such a blessing, now I'm going to make an idol. Just backwards. And so, to wait for his son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

So this, this, chapter, the beginning of this chapter, shares with us that probably these incidents happen time and time again. Maybe a little different names, maybe a little different God, but the principle is going to be found here throughout these 300 plus years that we have the book of Judges, the record that goes on there. And the rest of these chapters also fit that very same thing.

You know, it just shares with us and turn with me in closing to the book of Matthew chapter 7. In Matthew chapter seven, the Lord Jesus shares this passage of scripture with regard to the name Jehovah, to the name of the Lord. Matthew chapter seven, verse 21. I have it in red. It says there, and we're not gonna read the whole chapter, take time to, but verse 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven. Now, what is that? Worship God, worship the Lord, not gods.

Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

Now, those who died in the wilderness, those 38 years of traveling, they died in unbelief. is not just those 38 years we're going to have people dying in unbelief. We're going to have them dying in unbelief for the 380 years or so between the time of Joshua and the time of King Saul. And you know what? Many died in unbelief during the times of Joshua when he was the commander of that army that took over and threw out all of the pagan kings that were there. There were many that died in unbelief. There were many that died in unbelief in the book of Judges. We're going to find that many died under Saul, many died under David, many died, many still continue to die in unbelief.

God is the only one that can supply the faith that we can believe. And when that happens, we're sold out to Christ. He is the important one.

All right, we'll stop there tonight and we'll pick this up next point of time here in the book of Judges chapter 17.