Okay, Judges chapter 18. The
definition of religion is the belief in or worship of superhuman
power or powers, especially a God or gods through faith and worship. So we see from the definition
of religion that not all religion is true religion. There's also
a great deal of false religion in the world. Religion can be
faith in a power or powers, plural. It can be faith in a God or gods,
plural. It can be faith in whatever you
believe to be God. Now that's religion, that's not
the gospel. It's not the gospel that saves
sinners, it's just, it's religion. In most cases, this supposed
superhuman object who men and women are said to worship winds
up being themselves. Imagining God to be altogether
like them, as David said, in essence making themselves their
own God. And you tell folks that, they
think you're crazy, but it's the truth. The practice of religion,
not true religion, but false religion, free will works religion,
began immediately after man's fall into sin and continues very
much so today. God promised reproof and to set
things in order before the eyes of them who think God to be like
them. And for some, that's gonna come
in the day of judgment when they stand before God. But thank God,
by His grace, some already have had this great truth revealed
to them. Many of you have. And aren't
you thankful? God could have left us to ourself.
God could have left us in unbelief. God could have left us in religion.
Well, you said, well, Brother Day, I never went to church before
I heard the gospel. You were in some kind of religion.
Religion can be worship of many things. False religion is nothing
new. Adam immediately covered his
nakedness with fig leaves, sewn by the work of his own hands.
A king, Adam's first son, attempted to offer God a sacrifice that
was also accomplished by the work of his own hands. As soon
as sin came into the world, religion began. false religion, works
religion, man doing something by his own work, his own merit
in order to be reconciled to God. And God rejected both Adam's
fig leaf covering and Cain's offering because there was no
shedding of blood. And without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. This is nothing new to you. It's
the heart of the gospel. Only the shedding of blood from
the skins that covered Adam and Eve and the blood of the offering
that Abel sacrificed will suffice. It's got to be bloodshed. And
friends, I cannot stress enough just how specific and particular
and precise and narrow the gospel of God is. There are not many
ways to be reconciled to God. People today seem to think so.
There's only one way. Now there's a broad way that
leads to destruction and many there be that find it. But there's
a narrow way that leads to life and only few find it. Only a
few. And a few compared to many. Yet our warnings seem to go unheeded. And our preaching continues to
be ignored. by the masses. And false religion,
man's religion, free will works religion, continues on and it
flourishes today. I don't know how many churches
you pass by on the way here, but most of them have full parking
lots, even on Wednesday night. And this age old lie that not
many people could be wrong is still embraced and multitudes
perish in idolatry every single day. Now I've so enjoyed our
study of the book of Judges. We've seen so many pictures and
types of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for that, I'm thankful. Yet
the last five chapters of the book of Judges devotes itself
to exposing the awful evil of false religion and idolatry,
showing us over and over and over again that without Christ,
there is no hope of eternal life. The scriptures were given unto
us by God to make known what is the riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles. That's you and I. Which is, this
is the mystery, Christ in you. Christ in you. The hope of glory,
Colossians 127. Chapter 18 of the book of Judges,
just like chapter 17 that we've already looked at, and chapters
19 and 20 were given to show us and cause us to remember the
origin of idolatry. And it's laid out chronologically
and very clearly. And it's not an enjoyable subject
to preach on. I'm telling you, it's not. There's
nothing more than I love to do than to stand here and proclaim
the love of mercy and grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
But God put these chapters in the scriptures for a reason.
And they're to warn us and to teach us and cause us to beware
of these things. And, We're told exactly why these
things occurred, why this religion and idolatry was so prevalent. There was no king in Israel.
And every man did what was right in his own eyes. No king of kings,
no Christ within, no need of a savior. That's the problem
today. And that's why idolatry and false religion continues
on and flourishes today. And because of that, men did
not what was wrong in their own eyes. Men did what they thought was
right. It's much easier to convince someone of something when they
see and understand that they're wrong. But it's near impossible
to convince someone of something when they totally believe that
they're right. We've all experienced that in
one way or another with someone that we love. You can't convince
somebody when they are convinced that they're right. Now hear
me on this. You and I can't convince them.
God can, and only God can. We plant and we water, Paul said,
but God must give the increase. So we have hope as long as there's
breath in a person, as long as that heart beats. There's hope
that God might have mercy. There's hope that God might have
compassion. And that is our prayer. God must
give the increase. Israel's problem is the same
problem the men and women have in the world today. The problem
is not that there is no King, no God, and no Savior, but Israel
and the world today refuse to acknowledge and serve the Lord
Jesus Christ as their God, Savior, and King. That's the problem.
Men say, I won't have this man to rule over me. I hear what
you're saying, but I have a part in my destiny. I have a part
in my salvation. God gave me a will. Well, it's not a free will. It's
in bondage to your sin. It's not free at all. We were talking after services
here a while back, I believe it was Brother Montgomery that
explained free will one time by using a fish in a fishbowl. He said a goldfish in a fishbowl
can swim anywhere it wants to in that fishbowl. He can swim
up here and he can swim over here and he can swim down here
where the rocks are. You got a little plant in there,
he can circle around the plant and go, wee, look at me, I got
a free wheel. But he can't jump out of that
tank and run down to Kroger's and buy a loaf of bread because
his wheel is in bondage to his environment. He doesn't have
the ability to go to the grocery store and buy bread. So our will
is anything but free. It's in bondage to our nature.
It's in bondage to our condition. And friends, if Christ is not
everything to you, if he is not your prophet, priest, and king,
then you too will do what's right in your own eyes. And to believe
and trust in Christ is to cease doing what you think to be right.
and to bow and surrender yourself willingly to His will and dominion. And that's why I'm thankful that
the Scriptures declare a sovereign, omnipotent, and powerful God,
because He's able. I'm not, but He's able, and I
can have full confidence that He is able to save to the uttermost
those that come to God by Him. What a gospel, anyone or anything
that we put before Christ becomes an idol to us. Our Lord told
a story about many who were bidden to a great supper. And the scripture
says, they all with one consent begin to make excuses. And they
were pretty sad excuses. You know, sometimes we make some
pretty sad excuses. They didn't come as they were
bidden. The supper didn't mean anything to them. That's what
it boils down to. It's never a lack of interest,
it's a lack of need. And the Lord said unto his servant,
he said, go out into the highways and the hedges and compel them
to come in that my house may be filled. And that's what we
do in preaching. We're compelling people to come
to Christ. There's no other way to be saved.
There's no other way to have your sin put away. And for the
most part, it's ignored by the masses. And the Lord turned to
the multitude in that day and he said, if any man come to me
and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren
and sisters, yea, and his own wife also, he cannot be my disciple. And whatsoever, and whosoever,
excuse me, doth not bear his cross and come after me, cannot. cannot be my disciple." You see,
any man or woman that prefers father, mother, children, brethren,
sisters, and himself, he added, his own life, cannot be Christ's
disciples. And we can make anything an idol. I mean anything and pretty much
everything. Anything or anyone who's admired
and loved and revered before and more than Christ becomes
an idol. to us and we ourselves are not
above idolatry. This is why the Holy Spirit warns
us again and again and again of idolatry. And that's the warning
that we have again from Judges chapter 18. Now, it's my desire
to cover this whole chapter tonight and I'm gonna move quickly, but
look at verse one. In those days, there was no king
in Israel, And in those days, the tribe of the Danites sought
them an inheritance to dwell in, for unto that day, all their
inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel."
Again, we see that in those days, there was no king, no supreme,
no magistrate, no judge. Remember, these verses beginning
in, or these chapters beginning in chapter 17 are before the
time of the judges. It was after the death, these
chapters occurred after the death of Joshua and before the first
judge Othaniel. Verse two, and the children of
Dan sent of their family five men from their coast men of valor
from Zorah and Eshtoal to spy out the land and to search it.
And they said unto them, go search the land, who when they came
to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, they lodged there."
Now, probably not at Micah's house, but in that neighborhood
or in that vicinity. And when they were by the house
of Micah, maybe just walking down the road, I don't know,
But when they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice
of the young man, the Levite. Remember him, the one that Micah
hired to be his personal priest? They heard the voice of the young
man, the Levite, and they turned in thither, and they said unto
him, who brought thee hither, and what makest thou in this
place, and what hast thou here? And he said unto them, thus and
thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. So here we find the Danites seeking
more land to raise their families, their livestock. They had an
inheritance that God gave them, but God had allotted it to them. But because of their slothfulness
and because of their cowardice and especially their unbelief
and confidence in God's word and his promises to them, they
didn't receive it. They were one of the nations
that didn't enter, or one of the tribes that didn't enter
into their inheritance. And because of their unbelief,
they're now made more ready to adopt the religion, false religion
of Micah, and give honor to his manufactured gods, as we're gonna
see. And it's important to understand
that idolatry doesn't come from outside influences. You're not
going to walk by a tree stump that somebody's carved out that
they're sitting there and bowing down to it and worship that because
it's an outward influence. It comes from an inward principle
of the heart. And most of the time, if not
all the time, it's because you reject the true and living God
and will not have him to rule over you. Verses 2, we're told
that the children of Dan sent of their family five men. They're
said to be men of valor. In this text, it means they're
strong, forceful men. They're not men you want to mess
with. They're tough men. Hard men. And following the pattern of
Moses, who sent out the spies into Canaan, if you remember,
I'm sure that these men were probably from five different
families of the tribe of Dan. They probably picked one from
each of the family, each family, and they're told to search the
land to see if there was a convenient place for them to easily take
for their inheritance or their possession. And instead of courageously
doing what they should have done under the rule of Joshua, they
take the easy way out. That's what men do by nature.
So they search for this land. They come to Mount Ephraim where
Micah lived. We just read all this. And it
just so happened, and we know why, that they heard and recognized
the voice of Micah's newly hired priest. You know, I was thinking
when I read that again today, isn't the providence of God just
an amazing thing? In the purpose of God, they recognize
this young man's voice from obviously a previous encounter with him.
And this led to what happened in the history of Israel. Oftentimes,
what seems to be the most insignificant thing, Turns out to be the very
thing that changes the outcome of history itself. Truly, history
is His story. I love that. That's so true,
isn't it? History is His story, God's story. Everything comes to pass exactly
how God purposes and ordains it to come to pass. It all comes
to pass according to the will and purpose of a sovereign, omnipotent,
almighty God. That's my God. That's my God. And was it his brogue? Was it his particular accent
that caused him to stop there? No. That was just something the
Lord used. It was the will and the purpose
of God that caused them to stop there. Because God is the first
cause of all things. They asked the Levite, who brought
you here? Who sent for you? Why are you
here? They knew that he was from Bethlehem, Judah. They knew that
he was a Levite. They knew that his employment
shouldn't be here. It should be in Shiloh, where
the tabernacle was. He was, how was he providing
himself a living? They're curious. They ask, what
make us thou in this place? What do you have going on here?
And in verse four, he tells them the whole story. He says thus
and thus. He tells them this, he tells them that. The whole
story's given. He tells them how Micah hired
him. He tells them how he had a year's contract. that Micah paid 10 shekels of
silver and that he received a suit of clothes and that he got meat
and drink and living quarters. And then he proudly proclaims,
and I am his priest. You know, I believe that he would
have taken less money, maybe a half suit of clothes and a
shed out back somewhere just in order to be the priest and
say that he was the priest. I am his priest. Men love titles. I'm Pastor Smith. Oh, you're
John Smith. You're a pastor. But you know,
I'm Elder Jones. I'm Deacon Blue. This Levite
was doing his own thing. He was out to make a name for
himself. He was the captain of his own
life. You know, I remember a story I read one time about a captain
of a battleship, and he's on a mission in the ocean, and he
sees lights in the distance and he radios ahead and he tells
the ship to change their course 10 degrees to the south and the
other party replies says no you need to alter your course 10
degrees to the north and that didn't sit well with this experienced
captain so he messaged them again and he said i'm the captain of
the queen's navy You better change your course 10 degrees south."
And again the reply came, alter your course 10 degrees north.
Well, now he's fighting mad. I mean, after all, he's been
with the Queen's Navy for some time. And as the lights grow
closer and now beside himself, he sends the message and he says,
I am the captain of a battleship. and you better alter your course
10 degrees south or else you're gonna be sorry. And the reply
came, alter your course 10 degrees north or else you're gonna be
sorry. And the captain is now enraged and he said, who is it
that dares to defy me? And their response came and said,
this is the lighthouse. You fixing to run into the ground,
into the land. Now the moral of that story or
the point of that story is just because you're a captain doesn't
make you God. In these dark times, people want
to be the captain of their own ships. They don't want to be
under God's rule, under God's dominion. So what do they do?
They do what's right in their own eyes. And it's nothing but
anarchy, absence of being governed, slawlessness, insurrection, Rebellion
and mutiny. No God for me. No God for me. No God to me. No to God. Absence of recognition and authority. Men have made God to be helpless.
You know it so, and so do I. Men have preached a God of no
authority. Men have declared God to have
no power. God must have man's cooperation
to do anything. That's no God. It's obvious when you look at
the world today, both religious and reprobate, it's the same
with both. God is trying, they say. Won't you help him? God wants
to do this and that. Won't you let him? God desires
to be your God. Won't you accept him? That's
no God at all. He's not the God of the Bible.
I read about a poll that was taken a couple of years ago.
given among 100 American adults and 100 American adults who profess
to be Christians. And one of the questions asked
was, do you agree that the best way to find yourself and be happy
and content is to look within? And 91% of American adults agreed
that was true. And surprisingly, 76% of Christians
said that it was true. profess that it did. Another
question was to be fulfilled in life, should you pursue the
things that you desire most regardless of the cost? 91% agreed. And 72% of professing
believers did also. Then they asked the question,
do you agree that people can believe whatever they want to?
and still be okay with God as long as their beliefs don't affect
others negatively in life or society. And 79% of adults agreed,
and shockingly, 61% of churchgoers believed that that's so. I'm
telling you, this world is messed up and confused. And so is today's
religion. Oh, may God deliver men and women
from themselves and not allow them to do what's right in their
own eyes. I don't wanna do what's right in my own eyes. I wanna
do what's right in God's eyes. No wonder that so-called Christian
bestsellers have titles like Become a Better You, Seven Things
You Can Do to Improve Your Life, Self Love. I don't need a book
to help me with that, do you? I love myself way too much as
it is. Another book title, What You
Can Do to Be the Person You Want to Be. Only God can prevent me
from being the person that I am and cause me to be what I should
be. I don't need to read a book.
I need to beg God to help me. And that's what's wrong today.
Too many people are reading books and not seeking God on their
knees. Micah's priest was an opportunist. There's a great deal of that
in religion today. You know, one of the marks of
a false preacher is being an opportunist. Preachers in most
denominations, they are looking for a bigger flock, proving that
they have no real concern at all for the true flock of God.
I remembered telling people years ago about Maurice, Being our
pastor for over 40 years and they couldn't believe it. They
just I'm just Shocked I'm sure that that you got that response
gene on a rescue. How long you've been passenger
40 years 40 years Um, all right, you know we have a preacher new
preacher every three two or three years and 40 years. People are shocked when I tell
them now I'm getting my 11th year here and that I attended
here 20 years before that. Most pastors say two or three
years and then they move on to a bigger church. They're opportunists. With a true preacher, opportunity
is to preach Christ. And it doesn't matter where or
how many. Someone asked Brother Mahan one time to come and preach
at their small church, and the man that called him asked him,
said, how many would we have to have for you to attend, how
many would we have to have attend for you to come here? And Brother
Henry said, two. He said, me to preach and you
to listen. Two. The Danites were opportunists
too. You see, instead of trusting in the Lord to provide them for
them, their inheritance, that he had promised that he would,
they sought to feather their own nest. They preferred a life
of ease and comfort to fighting the battles that the Lord had
called them to fight. When it came time to fight with
Joshua and all, nah. and to ease their conscience
and to feel good about their decision, they began worshiping
idols. That's how all this began. And
they listened to a false priest. Look at verse five. And they
said unto him, that being the Levite, the young man, the hired
priest, ask counsel, we pray thee of God, that we may know
whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest
said unto them, go in peace before the Lord your way wherein you
go. Yes, yes, what you're doing's
right. The blessings of the Lord go
with you. A false gospel, a false religion tells people what they
want to hear. It sure didn't take this Levite
much time to inquire of God. He's just going through the motions.
Well, let me ask God. Okay, you can go. It's all right. You have God's blessings. I can just picture him rubbing
his epod like it's a tarot card or a crystal ball and saying,
go in peace, dear brothers. The Lord's going before you.
You've got God's blessing. But did they? While in the end,
there was proof that they didn't at all. You know, in the book
of 1 Chronicles, when the list of the tribes and families in
Israel is given, Dan is the only tribe which is totally ignored. They're not even mentioned. They
had vanished into obscurity, probably because of intermarriage
with the Philistines. And Dan did not take what God
had given to them. Instead, they took what God had
not given them. And in the process, they lost
everything. Look at verse seven. Then the
five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people that
were therein, how they dwelt careless after the manner of
the Zidonians, quiet and secure. And there was no magistrate in
the land. that might put them to shame in any way. And they
were far from the Zionians and had no business with any man.
They're off into this place, wherever it was, and they just
live in a peaceful life. Everything's all right, no bosses,
no government, just hunky-dory, everything's hunky-dory. And
here's the next point. False religion exploits people
that are vulnerable. These five men, when they came
to Laos, they saw their vulnerability. A tribe of Dan could easily take
this land. They could live in comfort with
no pressure from surrounding enemies. These people were vulnerable. You know, my grandmother used
to send a well-known TV evangelist a fair share of money every month. And herself, she went without
many things. It's nothing but taking advantage
of the vulnerable. It happens a lot in religion
today. And this attitude that the Danites had still continues. The Danites coveted power and
possessions. Look at verse eight. And they
came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshkelah, and their brethren
said unto them, what say ye? What did you find? We sent you
out, what did you come up with? And they said, arise, that we
may go up against them. For we have seen the land, and
behold, it's very good. And are you still be not slothful
to go and to enter to possess the land? And when you go, you
shall come into a people secure, into a large land for God hath
given it into your hands. A place where there is no want
of anything that's in the earth. You see men pass off their personal
coveting as the will of God. They said, God has given it under
your hand. And you know, we can convince
ourselves of almost anything. What gave them this confidence?
All that they had was the assurance of a compromised Levite who told
them what they wanted to hear. The Lord blesses you, and they
believe their own press, as we say. And they said, yeah, the
Lord wants us to have it. Verse 11, and they went from
thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtelal,
600 men appointed with weapons of war. And they went up and
pitched in Kirjath-Jerim, in Judah, wherefore they called
that place Mahanaadan, until this day, behold, it is behind
Kirjath-Jerim. And they passed thence unto Mount
Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah." Now they're back there
at Micah's place a second time. Why did they stop there at the
house of Micah? They wanted some more assurance.
They wanted another blessing of the Lord. Verse 14, then answered
the five men that went, to spy out the country of Laish and
said unto their brethren, do you know that there is in these
houses an ephod, and a teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten
image? Now therefore consider what you have to do. Now, what's
happening here, verse 14 reveals that the God of the Danites,
that the Danites believed were the images that Micah had made. These idols became the visual,
visible manifestation of an invisible God. They said, he's got everything
right here that we need ourselves. Verse 15, and they turned thitherward
and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, and even
into the house of Micah and saluted him. And the 600 men appointed
with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan,
stood by the entering of the gate. And the five men that went
to spy out the land went up and came in thither and took the
graven image and the ephod and the teraphim in the molten image,
and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with 600 men that
were appointed with weapons of war." They just went in and took
all these things. having received the blessing
of the priest, in verse six, having found a city that could
easily be overcome, verse seven. They believed that they could
obtain in the flesh that which was originally and solely promised
to them by the Spirit. And they weren't satisfied with
just taking the city of Laish. They wanted to do it in the name
of God. They believed that that gave
them acceptance and justification in doing what they were doing.
Men justify many things that they do, and they do so in the
name of religion. How sad that someone can need
a God that can be stolen. What kind of God would not be
able to protect himself against thieves? No God at all. Same God that false religion
trusts in. And that God is an idol, it's
an imagined God, a God of man's imagination and no God at all.
Verse 18, and these Danites went into Micah's house and fetched
the carved image, the ephod and the teraphim and the molten image,
then said the priest unto them, what are you doing? And they
said unto him, hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth and
go with us. Go with us. And be to us a father
and a priest. Is it not better for thee to
be a priest into the house of one man, or that thou be a priest
into a tribe and a family in Israel? And look at this, and
the priest's heart was glad. And he took the ephod and the
teraphim with the graven image and went in the midst of the
people. He got a promotion. He got a
promotion. And here we see something very
common in religion. Men let self-ambition overrule
conscience and let personal prestige take precedent over any heartfelt
convictions that they might have. And we see something of the nature
of man. That's the nature of man. Many harling preachers jump
at the opportunity to preach to greater numbers, bigger churches. And this Levite, he gets a promotion. He gets to keep his deities. He gets to minister to these
religious thieves and thugs, a bunch of them. And as the old
saying goes, there's no honor among thieves, it's just as there
was no integrity on the part of this Levite priest. And the
sad thing is, he was happy about it. It says he was glad. Verse
21, so they turned and departed and put the little ones and the
cattle and the carriage before them. And when they were a good
way from the house of Micah, the men that were in the houses
near to Micah's house were gathered together and overtook. And that
just simply means they caught up with the children of Dan.
And they cried unto the children of Dan and they turned their
faces and said unto Micah, what ill have they? What are you crying
about? that thou comest with such a
company. And notice what he said. He said, you've taken away my
gods. You've taken away my gods that
I made. And the priest, you've taken
away my priest. And what have I more? That is
all I had. That was all my hope. What else do I have? And the children of Dan said
unto him, verse 25, let not thy voice be heard among us, lest
angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life with the
lives of thy household. And the children of Dan went
their way, and when Micah saw that they were too strong for
him, he turned and went back into his house. You see, the
religion of this world can be very intimidating. Micah came
to retrieve his priest and his idols, and he was confronted
by an overwhelming force that quickly put him in his place. They asked Micah, what's your
problem? What's your problem? And here
we see the power of idolatry displayed. Now listen, the power
of idols is seen in the number they worship there. The idol
is just a dead thing. whatever it's made like unto. The more in number, power, and
ruthlessness in the congregation under the idol, the stronger
the imagined deity of that idol. But the true child of God has
no power, and he's made strong in his weakness by the power
of their God. The idol worshiper's idol has
no power and is made strong in the strength of its worshipers.
It's just the opposite. Once again, false religion proves
to be just the opposite of true religion. We find our power in
God and the idol finds its power in its worshipers. So the Danites sent Micah packing
home with his tail between his legs. They said, you better go
home before you get hurt. And he went home. Now in the
end, the Danites took the city, they set up their little gods,
and they had a weak and pathetic and a compromised priest to offer
up sacrifices for them. They got just what they deserved.
Men in the end always do. Be not deceived, God's not mocked,
whatsoever a man soweth, he shall also reap. And in verse 30, we're
finally given the name of this vagabond priest. It seems as
though he finally made a name for himself. His promotion is
complete. And then in verse 31, we read,
and they set them up, Micah's graven image, which he made all
the time that the house of God was in Shiloh. What a way for
this chapter and story to end. The Danites were worshiping these
false gods in a false tabernacle under a false priest, while the
true tabernacle was where? In Shiloh. How ironic and typical
of true and false religion today. Christ, who is our Shiloh, is
where God is worshiped. No worship of God apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ. God is in Christ reconciling
the world, his people in the world unto himself, the scripture
says. God is in Shiloh. God is in Christ. For in Christ dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. If you're gonna be reconciled
to God, if you're gonna be If you're gonna appease God, it's
only one way, in the Lord Jesus Christ, no other way. Men and
women in false religion need to throw down their idols, and
they need to worship the true and the living God, because He
is the only one who can be worshiped in spirit and in truth. And that's
what the Lord Jesus said. Those who worship God the Father
must, must, must, must worship Him in spirit and truth. Christ
is the only way. He's the only way. May God enable
us to continually cling to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our
salvation.