would open your Bible to the
book of Judges, chapter 19. While you're turning, I appreciate
your pastor. I mentioned Mexico and I will
count that time we had together very dear. It was such a blessing. I really enjoyed it. I was so
apprehensive about going when he asked me to go, I was about
scared to death. But I'm so glad I went. I'm so glad the Lord
allowed us to be here this evening. We can rejoice in our great God.
Like that song said, I need thee every hour. Every hour I need
thee. And I think our whole life as
a child of God, he keeps teaching us that because we just can't
seem to learn it. But I need thee every hour. Judges
chapter 19, I'm going to read I'm going to actually read this
whole chapter, which is 30 verses. Would be like an introduction
to get us over into Chapter 20. This happened in the time we
see here in verse one. It came to pass in those days
when there was no king in Israel. We know from other scriptures
that in the judges, then during the time of the judges, and I
think it was approximately maybe a 400 years. That everyone did
that which was right. in their own eyes. Can you imagine
that? This is talking about Israel.
This is talking about God's chosen people. We read this, and this
is a strange book. We read one time about this left-handed
fat man who goes to this man and shoves a dagger in him and
then it just covers up the dagger. And then we read another place
where a woman goes in a tent and drives a stake through his
temple and then cuts his head off. I mean, and this is the
children of Israel. God would send affliction and
they would cry out to God and then God would send them a judge.
He would send them a delivery. And that's just a picture of
our life. Our life. It came to pass in those days
and it comes to pass in the days in which we live that there was
a certain Levite sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim who
took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem, Judah, and these verses
deal with these two people. This Levite who was from Mount
Ephraim who married and calls her a concubine. But later on,
we find out that her husband, I mean, her father was called
her father and his father-in-law. So it must have been his wife.
And he had married her. She was in a covenant relationship
with him. And what did she do? Verse two, and his concubine
played the whore against him. You see what that is a picture
of. There's so many types and pictures here. I think that's
a picture of Israel. how that they left their God,
how they had committed spiritual adultery against the one that
they were in a covenant relationship with. And they played the harlot,
going after other gods, going after the gods of those nations
around them. And she went away from him. That's
how we always do, into her father's house, the Bethlehem Judah, and
was there four whole months. He knew where she was at, the
Levite did, that's his wife. He knew that she was at her father's
house. Why did she go back to the father's house? I believe
she felt comfortable there. That's us. We always, if God
leaves us alone for a minute, we'll run back to the world,
back to our father's house. Verse three, we see grace. For
sin did abound, grace did much more bound, and her husband arose
and went after her. Isn't that amazing? Where'd he
go? He went after her. Why? He loved
her. He never stopped loving her. He ever has loved the people,
he's always loved them. That beautiful book of Hosea
there, it pictures it again. She played the harlot, but he
loved her and bought her. She was his. He went after her. And what did he go after her
for? To speak friendly unto her. And to bring her again, having
his servant with him, and a couple of vases. And she brought him
into her father's house. And when the father of the damsel
saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. Watch this, verse four,
his father-in-law, the damsel's father, retained him. And he
abode with him three days, so they did eat and drank and lodged
there. They found a place to stay for
a little while. Verse five, and it came to pass
on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that
he rose up to depart. He didn't come here to stay at
this house. Why did he come? Why did he even come to this
man's house? He came to get his bride. That's
why he was there. But what I see here, her father
is trying to hinder him. Her father is trying to retain
him. And the damsel's father said unto his son-in-law, verse
five, comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread and afterward
go your way. And they sat down and did eat,
and drank both of them together. For the damsel's father had said
unto the man, Be content. Why don't you just stay? You
don't need to leave. Why don't you just stay here?
Be content. I pray thee and Terry all night, and let thine heart
be merry. Verse 7, And when the man rose up to depart, his father-in-law
urged him therefore, and he lodged there again. You see it, he just
doesn't want him to leave. Verse 8, and he arose early in
the morning on the fifth day to depart. He got up early, packed
his bags, we're leaving today. And he's not leaving alone, he's
taking her with him. When the man rose up to the party,
and his concubine, his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel's
father, said unto him, Behold, now the day draweth toward evening.
I pray thee, tarry all night. Behold, the day groweth to an
end. Lodge here. Stay here, that thy
heart may be merry. And tomorrow get you early on
your way, that you may go home. This is not his home. This is
not our home. This is a place where we lodge,
a temporary place. That's all he came here for.
He came to get what he came for. He came to get his bride. And
he's getting ready to leave. Well, how did this man know he
wanted to go home? He told him he wanted to go home. As I thought
about this, I couldn't help but think about Genesis chapter 24.
When Abraham's going to seek for Isaac a bride, and he sends
the servant back to Laban's house to get a bride, and he finds
Rebekah, And he tells Rebecca and her parents and her brothers
and sisters why he's came. And you know what they did the
next day? They said, let her stay about five to 10 days. Just
let her stay. You know why they wanted her
to stay? They wanted to try to talk her out of it. And he called her in. He said, let's
ask her what she wants to do. And they said, will you go with
this man? She said, yeah. And then he said, don't you hinder
me. Don't you hinder me. I see here this man, he wants
to hinder him. Verse 10, that the man would not tarry that
night. But he rose up against Jebus,
which is Jerusalem. And there was with him two asses
saddled, his concubine also with him. And when they were by Jebus,
the day was far spent. And the servant said to his master,
come, I pray thee, and let us turn into this city of the Jebusites
and lodge in it. Where are they looking? They're
looking for another place to lodge. They're looking for another
place to stay. They're looking for a place to spend the night.
And they come to this place called Jebush. Why is it called Jebush
and it says it's also in Jerusalem? Because at this point in time,
Jerusalem is occupied by the Jebusites, who are strangers,
who are uncircumcised people. That's who they are. We see them
that they, you said, did they occupy Jerusalem, the place of
peace? They did to you see in first
Samuel till David took it over. I love that story that David
comes up to the city and you know what they said, David, you're
not coming in here. You can't come in here. They
had their gargoyles and things all over the top of the wall.
They had their blind and their lame and they said to you can
conquer these blind and lame. You ain't coming in this city.
You know what the next verse is? David took it. I tell man,
his stupidity, he thinks that you can keep out Christ. When
Christ wants to come in, he's coming in. But here at this point,
God has allowed these Jebusites to dwell in this place. And this
man comes, I picture in my mind, he comes to the gate of Jerusalem.
And his servant said, well, we can go in here. He said, no,
we ain't going in there. Why? It's not safe to lodge there. It's not safe. And the master
said unto him, verse 12, we will not turn aside hither into the
city of a stranger that is not the children of Israel. We will
pass over to Gebeah. We're going to another city.
And the reason we're going to go to Gebeah, you know who lives
there? The Benjamins, who are children of Israel. And he assumes
that if he goes to this city, that they will receive him, that
they'll offer him lodging. And he said, verse 13, and he
said unto his servant, come and let us draw near to one of these
places to lodge all night in Gebeah or in Ramah. And they
passed on and went their way, and the sun went down upon them
when they were by Gebeah, which belonged with the Benjamin. I
can just see it. The sun's getting ready to go
down. It's just getting dark. They're going to have to stay
and spend the night here. And they turned aside, now watch
this, verse 15, and they turned aside thither to go in and to
lodge in Gebeah. And when he went in, he sat down
in the street of the city, for there was no man that took them
into his house to lodge in. He came into his own, and his
own received him not. Mary and Joseph come to Bethlehem,
and there's no room for him in the end. A man asked our Lord
one day, he said, where do you live? He said, the boxes have
holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man
hath nowhere to lay his head. He comes to this place. These
are Benjamins, the youngest son of Jacob, and nobody offers him
any lodging. Nobody, not only just not him,
not even his wife or his servant or none of them. This is Israel. You say, what a sad condition
upon that day, sitting out in the street. Verse 16, and behold,
God takes care of his people just in the nick of time. And
behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field
at evening. There's so many ways you can apply this. I think it
was Gil where Hawker said that this old man could represent
that he's coming from his work. At the end of the day, our Lord
rose from his work too after he had finished it. You say,
why is he pictured as an old man? He's not an old gray-haired
man. He's as old as eternity. And this old man, he's coming
from his work, which also was a Mount Ephraim. Where's the
Levite from? Mount Ephraim. And he sojourned in Gebeah, but
the men of the place were Benjamins. And when he lifted up his eyes,
he saw a wayfaring man. He saw this Levite in the street
of the city, and the old man said, where goest thou, and whence
comest thou? Where are you headed, and where
did you come from? And he said unto him, we are passing from
Bethlehem, Judah, toward the side of Mount Ephraim. From thence
I am, and I went to Bethlehem, Judah, but I am now going to
the house of the Lord. That's where I'm headed. Better
to be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents
of the wicked. And then he said, and there is
no man, there is no man that receives me to house, no. Verse 19, he says, I won't be
a burden to anybody, yet there is straw, both straw and provender
for our asses, and there is bread and wine also for me and for
my handmaid, and that's for the young man which is with thy servant.
There is no want of anything. We're not gonna be a burden to
anybody. But look at verse 20. And the old man said, peace be
with thee. Howsoever, I want you to see
this, y'all to underline this in your Bible, let all thy wants
lie upon me. Let everything you need be right
upon you. I'm going to take care of everything.
Isn't that salvation? You don't have to worry about
nothing. Looking for a place to stay.
Wandering in sin, wandering in darkness. No one cared for our
soul. And this is where he found us.
And he said, let all thy want lay upon me, only lodge not in
the street. Verse 21. So he brought him into
his house. He gave provender unto the asses
and they washed their feet. They did it anyway. These men are from the same place.
I can see them. They're resting. They're relaxing
from a day's journey, from a tiring day. They have something to talk
about. They're from the same place.
Reminiscing. And while they're sitting there,
he said he washed his feet. You know what this man did? He
showed him hospitality. What is hospitality? It'd be
like if you come to my house, you don't have to pay or do anything.
Now I can't cook, but I'd make sure Sandy had you a meal. I'd
tell you to go sit in the recliner. If you need a cup of coffee,
whatever you needed, everything would be there. There's a clean
bed in there. There's clean sheets. And in the morning, you let me
know when you're going to get up. We're going to have coffee and there's
going to be breakfast on the table. Anything you want. That's
hospitality. And you don't you don't have
to pay a dime. It's all for that's grace. That's what this man did
to this man. And while he's sitting there
just rejoicing. Something happens. Something
happens. Now the story turns. Now as they
were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city,
certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about and beat
at the door and spake to the master of the house, the old
man saying, bring forth the man, the Levite, that came into thine
house that we may know him. Does that not remind you of Genesis
when they came to Lot's house? This is what I need you to think
about. This is not Sodom. This is Gebeah. This is a city
of Benjamins. And these men lived together
with these Benjamins. And the man The house went out
unto them and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray
you, do not so wickedly, seeing that this man is coming to mine
house, do not this folly. Almost exactly what Lot did.
Lot said, Don't do this. I've got two virgin daughters
and I'll bring them out to you. Don't do this folly. You know
why? This man's come under my roof. Behold, here is my daughter,
a maiden, and his concubine. Them will I bring out now, and
humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you. But
unto this man do not so vile a thing." We read that and go,
oh my goodness, why would he even offer his maid or this concubine? I don't know, I can't explain
it. It's beyond me. Verse 25, but the man would not
hearken unto him. Let me tell you, you can't reason
with him. You can't. Pardoned him sin,
pardoned him sin. And so the man, the Levite, what's
this, took his concubine, his wife, and brought her forth unto
them, and they knew her and abused her all night unto the morning,
And when the day began to spring, they let her go. Then came the
woman in the dawning of the day and fell down at the door of
the man's house where her lord was till it was light." I said, how horrible. How sad. I've looked at this several times
and someone made a good point. We was talking about this the
other day. We read that and we just almost cringe. And I think
where we have the issue is that this man would give his wife
to these men and let them abuse her all night long. You know
why we have a problem with that? We always see ourself as the
victim. It's like God said, Adam, where art thou? And you know
what we do? We don't blame somebody else. It's not my fault. I'm
the victim here. I'm not the criminal. No, we're
the criminal. Now, where we really cringe is,
we're not in that mob over there. Apart from God's grace, that
is us. Listen to me, we're in that mob,
that's exactly what we did to the Son of God. Crucify Him! Isn't that right? That's exactly
right. We would have spit in His, we
did spit in His face. We did warn Him. We said, turn
thumbs down on Him. But here, I can't explain this,
I don't know. There's, I don't know. But I
know he did. And they abused her all night.
But what I see also, her last breath, where's she going? She's
going back to her master. The last time I see her, she's
almost dead. Her breath's almost left, but
she knows where he's at. And she begs for forgiveness.
If you're a child of God, you always go to where he's at. Verse 28, and what says he said
unto her up, let us be going. He gets out and gets ready to
go the next morning, but there was no answer. She's dead. Don't you see this? Then the
man took her up upon an ass and the man rose up and get him into
his place. And when he was come into his
house, He took a knife and laid hold on his concubine and he
divided her together with her bones into 12 pieces and sent
her to all the coast of Israel. We're just cringed, aren't we?
You go, Shirley, did we just read that? You say, why was this
recorded? Why are we reading this tonight?
All things were written for our learning and our admonition. that we through comfort of the
Scriptures may have hope. You mean preacher, I can some
way find comfort and hope from this? Oh yes. Is there any accidents
with God? None. All this is happening on
purpose. God has a reason for this. You
mean even allowing this woman to be cut up? And you know what
he did? He took an individual piece and he sent to every tribe
of Israel. Judah, Issachar, Ephraim, even
Benjamin, they all got a piece. And can you imagine what happened
when they opened it up? What does this mean? What is
all this about? I guarantee this, God's got their
attention. Let me tell you this, if God
intends to get my attention and to get your attention, He'll
get it. Remember Joab, He wouldn't come to Solomon. Solomon called
him two or three times and he wouldn't come. You know what
Solomon did? He said, it's already filled on fire. And when Joab
finally came to him, he knew exactly why he said it's filled
on fire. He said, you wouldn't come. But he did come, didn't
he? God makes us willing in the day
of his power, don't you see? God has a people that he's determined
to save. Israel is as bad as she is, as
far as she had forsaken her God. She's still his people and he
will not forsake her. Because in verse 30, and it was
so that all that saw it said there was no such deed nor seen
from the day that the children of Israel came up by the land
of Egypt unto this day. Consider it. Consider it. Take advice. Consider this. Take advice and speak your mind. What we see, now we're going
to begin chapter 20, is God vindicating, God's bringing
justice. You remember in Genesis, when
the angels came, when they were at Lot's house, what did God
do? When those men came to Lot's house, God struck them with blindness.
I don't see him striking them with blindness here. What did
he also do to those cities? When God brought Lot out, he
destroyed those wicked cities. He let them go on, didn't he? Just because sentence against
an evil work is not executed speedily don't mean that God
won't execute justice. He will. Verse one of chapter 20. Then
all the children of Israel went out And the congregation was
gathered together, don't you see this, as one man from Dan
even to Beersheba in the land of Gilead and to the Lord in
Mizpah. You know what he did? He brought
them together, hadn't he? They're gathered together. I
can see them probably just dispersed. Every one of them doing that
which is right in their own eye. They have no king over them.
So this tribe does what it wants to do, and this tribe does what
it wants to do, and Benjamin does what he wants to do. But
they're all one. They're all one. They're his body. They're
his body. One. And he's brought them together.
And the chief of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel,
presented themselves in the assembling of the people of God. I want
you to see this. They were 400,000 footmen that
drew the sword. 400,000. Almost a half a million. Now the children of Benjamin
heard that the children of Israel were gone up to Mizbah. They
heard what? The rest of them, where are they
going? Why are they going up to Mizbah? There's something
to talk about. There's something to have to
deal with. There's something we've got to face. They heard
about it and they didn't go. They didn't go. Then said the children of Israel,
tell us how was this wickedness? You can imagine, you know what
he's saying? Explain to me what this all means. And what we do when we preach
the gospel by God's grace, we explain by God's grace what this
means and what Christ has done. They said, tell us, tell us what
this is all about. They're interested now, ain't
they? Has he got their attention? Yeah. Tell me what this is all
about. Verse four, and the Levite, the
husband of the woman that was slain, answered and said, I came
into Gebeah that belonged with the Benjamin, I and my concubine
to lodge. I want you to see this, verse
five. And the men of Gebeah rose against
who? They rose against me. And they
beset the house round about upon me. by night, and brought and thought
to have slain me." So who did they come after? Who was their
malice against? It was against Him. This world
hates Him. They hate Him. They despise Him.
They don't love Him. And you know what? They hate
you too. Because you're in union with Him. You say, would God
allow His church to suffer by the hands of the world? Oh, yeah.
James, the very first apostle, to die, remember? Was it Herod
who took him and he killed him? And he saw it pleased the Jews.
Oh, it made them happy. You know what they did? They
locked up Peter. And if God hadn't delivered Peter, they'd have
killed Peter. Every one of them, except for John, was beheaded
or killed. And he was exiled to the Isle
of Patmos. What did God do? He allowed them to touch his
bride. And the only reason they did
it was because they hated him. He said, they hated, they wanted,
they wanted to kill me. If this world had its way tonight,
they would jerk God off the throne. That's right. Verse 6, And I took my concubine
and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout all the country
for the inheritance of Israel. I could not find out from reading
who the they are here. For they have committed lewdness
and folly in Israel. Now it could be talking about
Benjamin and Gebea, but I lean to the side that says, I've been
talking about all Israel. For they have committed lewdness
and folly in Israel. You know when you will confess
your sin? When God brings it before you. And then when you
see it. When the Spirit of God has come,
he will rebuke the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.
And when you see it, then you'll cry out for mercy, and not till
then. We'll cover it up. Woman, I'm just being honest. Behold, you're all children of
Israel. I give here your advice and counsel. You're all children of Israel.
Children of Israel. You know what he's saying? What
are we going to do? What are we going to do? And
the people rose as one man, saying, we will not, any of us, go to
his tent, neither will any of us turn to his house, but now
this shall be. The thing which we will do to
Gebea, we will go up by lot against it. And we will take 10 men of
100 throughout all the tribe of Israel, and 100 of 1,000,
and 1,000 out of 10,000 to fetch vigils for the people that they
may do when they come up to Gilgal for Benjamin. Gilgal of Benjamin,
according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. So all the men of Israel were
gathered against the city knit together as one man." That's
three times he makes mention, the Spirit of God makes mention
that they were gathered together as one man. Here he says, they
are knit together as one man. When one member suffers, they
all suffer with him. When one rejoices, we all rejoice
together. Why? Our hearts, we're knit together. We're knit. I used to work in
a knitting mill. I know what it is to knit something
together. You take one piece of thread and you can knit it
together and make a whole glove out of it. And if you pull one
thread, you'll tear it all to pieces. But it's knit together. And the people of God, all the
elect of God, we are knit together by the Spirit of God's grace.
And God brought them together. How blessed it is for God's people
to dwell together in unity. I believe they're gathered together
for His honor and for His glory. Well, look what's happened in
Israel. Do we not mourn over sin? I think
about Nehemiah. Nehemiah was in, he was in the
palace. He had a fine job. He had everything
he could want. Why should he be concerned for
those Jews? Somebody comes back from Jerusalem
one day and he said, what about them Jews? He said, the city's
walls are torn down. It's in a mess and they're in
reproach. And he said he sat down and wept. Why? We are knit together. Knit together. What brought them
together? Trouble. Didn't it? Trouble. Pain. Heartache. Trouble. Trouble. The Tribal Benchmen sent me and
watched this throughout all the Tribal Benchmen. saying, what
wickedness is this that is done among you? Speaking to Benjamin, they actually
sent men to Benjamin to this city. And they said, now therefore
deliver the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gebeah,
that we may put them to death and put away evil from Israel.
Or are they saying, those men deserve to die. The wages of
sin is dead. They said, deliver those men
unto us. We're going to put away folly
from Israel. We're going to put it out of here. We're not letting
it go on. That's justice, isn't it? That's
justice. But the children of Israel would
not hearken to the voice of their brethren. The children of Israel
would say, we ain't doing it. We're not turning them loose.
You say, why in the world would Benjamin, this is Benjamin, why
would they protect these men? They're defending them. They
said, you're not having them. You can't take them. We're not
giving them up. But the children of Benjamin
gathered themselves together out of the cities into Gebeah
to go to battle against the children of Israel. We'll fight you for
it. So what's this mean? I can't
help but think about James chapter four. From whence comes fight
at wars and fightings among you? Come they not of your lust at
war in your members? Inside of us, there's a war. Isn't that right? There's part
that says we won't give it up. I ain't turning it loose. That's what I see. We won't do
it. Give me a couple of scriptures.
We're talking about the Jebusites. In Joshua 15, verse 63, and it
says, as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the
children of Judah, could not drive them out. But the Jebusites
dwelt with the children of Judah in Jerusalem unto this day. In
Judges chapter 1, verse 21. And the children of Benjamin
did not drive out the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
but the Jebusites dwelt with the children of Israel in Jerusalem
unto this day. That's why this happened. They
took up their gods. This is not the first time that
Benjamin has acted this way. Somebody from Benjamin. I want
you to turn with me to 2 Samuel 20. I want to show you this.
They said, give these men up. They said, we're not giving them
up. You remember when David was king and Absalom rebelled against
the throne and he was king for a while, but then Absalom was
killed. And God brings David back. Not everybody's happy about
it. Not everybody's happy that he's come back. In 2 Samuel 20,
verse 1, and there happened to be there a man of Bilal. Isn't that what we just read
in Judges? A man of Bilal, he's a child
of the devil. That means they're one without a yoke. Whose name
was Sheba, the son of Bikri, a what? Benjamin. And he blew
a trumpet and said, we have no part with David, neither have
we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tent,
O Israel. What's he doing? He's rebelling
against David. He said, we ain't gonna have
no part with him. So what did they do to this man? God sent,
David sent Joab after this man and they're hiding him in this
city. And the city don't understand
that there's confusion here. They don't understand why Joab's
come. Now Joab was, under the law, supposed to proclaim peace,
and he didn't. He just come start attacking
the wall. He thought that they intentionally meant to hide this
man, and they're seeing Joab, and they don't know why in the
world Joab's out there. And then this woman in wisdom talks to
him. She said, why do you want to destroy one of the cities
of Israel? He said, the reason I come is
for that man that Bikra, Sheba, I've come for him. She said,
OK, is that what you want? Yeah. She said, we'll throw him
over the wall. And you know how they spared
the city? They threw him over the wall. Justice was satisfied. Justice was satisfied. So this
is not the first time Benjamin's done this. We ain't doing this. We're not giving him up. OK, so you see the picture. Benjamin. Benjamin's one of the smallest
tribes of Israel. If you read on in the Book of Kings, when
it talks about Israel and Judah, Israel is the ten northern tribes.
That's the one Ahab was over, Hezekiah and Amos, they were
over Judah, which is the southern tribe. The ten northern tribes,
when they were dispersed, they went and they never came back.
They were the ten northern tribes. And then you always talk about
Judah. What happened to Benjamin? I believe he was absorbed into
Judah. But what I want you to see is
just a small, small tribe. And they're going to take on
11 tribes, 400,000 men. Verse 15, and the children of
Benjamin were numbered at that time out of the cities, 26,000
men, 26,000 to 400,000. and that drew the sword beside
the inhabitants of Gebeah, which were numbered 700 chosen men,
and among all the people there were 700 chosen men, left-handed,
everyone that could sling a stone at a hare's breath and not miss."
See, what does that mean? I don't understand all that that
has reference to the left hand, but you know what Benjamin's
name means? The son of my right hand. It's kind of ironic, isn't
it, most of those from Benjamin were left-handed. Isn't it? I
don't know the significance of it. There's something, I'll let
you chew on it. But they were left-handed and they could, they
were so good with the sling, they could just throw it at a
hare's breath and not miss. And the men of Israel, besides
Benjamin, were numbered 400,000 men that drew the sword and all
these were men of war. And the children of Israel rose
and went up to the house of God and asked counsel of God and
said, which of us shall go up to the battle against the children
of Benjamin? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first. They
have no king, who's to go up first? Judah. And the children
of Israel rose up in the morning and encamped against Gebeah.
And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin. And
the men of Israel put themselves in a raid to fight against them
at Gebeah. And the children of Benjamin
came forth out of Gebeah and destroyed down to the ground
of the Israelites that day. Benjamin killed 22,000 men. Benjamin
lose none. Don't you think that's strange?
Boy, I thought that was strange when I read it. They asked God,
and God said, go up. Well, they go up, and they get
defeated. Lose 22,000? Well, then look in verse 22,
and the people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and they
set their battle again in a ray in the place where they put themselves
in a ray the first day. They said, hey, we just shake
that off. That wasn't that big a deal. We can handle this. Isn't
that how we act? You know what we think? we think we can handle little
Benjamin. You see where I'm going? We think we can handle him. Verse 23 is in parentheses. And
the children of Israel went up and they went before the Lord
into Eden and asked counsel of the Lord saying, shall I go up
again to battle against the children of Benjamin? My brother, weeping
before God, asking counsel, direction. And the Lord said, go up against
him. And the children of Israel came near against the children
of Benjamin the second day. And Benjamin went forth against
them out of Gebeah the second day and destroyed down to the
ground of the children of Israel again, 18,000 men of the Google
sword. They killed another 18,000. 18
and 22,000 is 40,000. That's one-tenth of all Israel's men in two days. Don't you know they thought the
second day we'd go out, it'd be different today. You deal with your flesh
today, and it'll be the same way tomorrow. You are no match
against it. You are no match. Isn't that right? We think we
can handle it. You can't handle it. We can't. Can you imagine? Don't you know
he's got Israel's attention now? Why in the world? What's wrong
here? What's wrong here? God's getting
ready to teach them something. I read all this to bring us to
this point. This is the point I wanted to
make. God intends to teach them and us a lesson. God, I wish
I could learn it. Verse 27, and the children
of Israel inquired of the Lord. For the ark of the covenant of
God was there in those days. That's the first time it's mentioned.
Where does God deal with sin? Right here. Blood atonement. Sacrifice has to be made. The
sin has to be paid for. It must be put away. There must
be reconciled. This is the only place of reconciliation. You see what I'm saying? God
has brought them to this place and God must bring us to his
feet. And we must bow before Him and
look to Him because till we do, we're going to keep looking to
ourselves. What did you read Philippians
3? We put no confidence in the flesh, not yours or mine or anybody
else's. Paul said, I used to. I can handle
this till he was really faced with what sin was. If you just
think that something's just a little bad attitude or a wrong thought
or something, but when you see sin as sin, when you see that
it's who you are, when you understand that it's not just the total
depravity, but you see that you are totally corrupt, it takes
on a different story. I can't deal with this. I can't
put it this way. None of my efforts, none of my
praying, none of my reading of the scriptures, nothing I do
can put away. When you see, and you know, I
know exactly what you do, because you're just like me, you think
you can deal with it. You think you can remove it.
When you, when you, when you see in our hearts, our conscience
is smitten and it ought to be. And we think, well, how are we
going to ease this? The only thing that can ease your conscience
is the blood of Christ sprinkled on your conscience. And then
your conscience says that's enough. They could have fought Benjamin
every day till they lost every one of them. And it wouldn't
have changed a fact because they're no match for him. And that's
what God's teaching. As long as we can think we can
take care of it ourself, we will. And Phineas was the son of Eliezer,
the son of Aaron. You say, but where did this fit
in the book of Judges? Joshua's probably only been dead
about 20 years because Aaron's grandson is high priest. Aaron's
grandson is high priest, yeah. Why is he high priest? Why is
he here? Because that's where the ark's at. God's brought him to this place.
He brought him to the high priest. He brought him to this place.
It said all the children of Israel, verse 26, and all the people
went up and came to the house of God and wept and sat down
before the Lord and fasted that day into the evening and offered
burnt offerings and peace offerings unto the Lord. Godly sorrow works
repent us not to be repented of. Let me tell you another secret.
You can't make yourself sorrowful over your sin. You can't do it. Preached a message
on the radio for the radio for Sunday. from Genesis 3 about
the fall. You remember what did Satan tell
Eve? He said that you take of the tree of knowledge good and
evil and the eyes will be opened. You'll know good and evil and
they were. You know what they were opened up? Their eyes were
opened to see the good and they saw that there was no way they
could attain it. And they saw the evil and saw that there was
no way that they could resist it. And that's what we see. Verse 28, and Phinehas, the son
of Eliezer, was there, the son of Aaron, stood before it in
those days, saying, watch this, shall I yet again go up to battle
against the children of Benjamin, my brother? Shall I go against
my brother, or shall I cease? I want you to see this. And the
Lord said, go up, for tomorrow will I deliver them into thine
hand. It's gonna be different now.
Why? Because I'm gonna take care of
it. I'm going to subdue them. The children of Israel went out
against the people that were drawn away from the city, and
they began to smite other people and kill us at other times in
the highways, of which one goeth up to the house of God and the
other to Gebeah in the field, about thirty men of Israel. And
the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before
us as at the first. But the children of Israel said,
Let us flee and draw them from the city into the highway. They
drew them out of the city. And all the men of Israel rose
up out of their place and put themselves in a ray at Bethpomar. And the liars in the way of Israel
came forth out of their places, even into the meadows of Gebeah.
And there came against Gebeah 10,000 chosen men out of all
Israel. And the battle was sore, but they knew not that evil was
near them. They had no idea what was happening. You know what they did? They
sent an ambush for them. They drew these people out of the
city. And God drew them out where he could kill it. When he drew
them out, Israel started running from them. And Benjamin thought,
we've got them on the run again. But you know what happened when
they run from the city? Some more Israelites ran into
the city and set it on fire. And they turn around and look
now, and the city's on fire. Our place of refuge is gone.
There's no place to hide. And you know what happens? God
kills every one of those Benjamites except for 600 men. If it was not for a very small
remnant, we'd be all like Sodom and Gomorrah, but God had a very
small remnant that he saved from Benjamin. And you know where
they ran? Over there in verse 45, and they turned and fled
toward the wilderness and to the rock, and there they gleaned
of them in the highway, 5,000 men, and pursued hard after them
and took a bend, and slew 2,000 men of them. And verse 47, but
the 600 men turned and fled to the wilderness and to the rock
rim. And where did they run? They run to the rock, a place
of safety. But what I see in all this, I
know this took us a while, may God enable us to see this, we
can't handle anything on our own. And he must teach us day
after day after day that we must come to Christ every day. to
whom coming. We have to repent of our repentance. Without him we're nothing. The
brother prayed in the study just earlier, God don't leave us alone.
If you leave us alone, we see what we've become. We'll even do it in religious
zeal. I can see Peter when he's in
the garden that day. He takes that sword, he meant
to cut that man's head off for what he believed in. You notice
I said, for what he believed in. I heard Henry make a statement,
and I know you probably heard him make it. He said, here's
usually how it works. He said, we come from our head,
learning a few doctrine. We think we're smart. We're going
to five points of grace. We come to our hand, we get busy,
and we let you. We're like Peter, we're willing
to cut a man's head off for what we believe in, and then God breaks
us, like he did Peter. And then he says, Peter, do you
love me? He goes from our head to our
hand, to our heart. It's unhearted. And we have to
seek. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Christ. We come to him every day. I come
to him. He's my mercy seat. The law is
satisfied. Justice has been settled. Does
this make any sense? I pray the Lord blesses it and
enables us to see and rest in our Christ. I don't know why. Just specks of dust
like us have to be taught that lesson every day. There's nothing
we can do. We're helpless. How often do
we ever see we're helpless? Then we'll be candidates for
mercy. Salvation. Accomplished injustice. That
comforts my heart. Let's bow in prayer before Mike
Levis and we'll close with him. Father, how we thank you for
another opportunity to meet together and hear your word and to worship
Father, how we pray, we beg of Thee that You'd apply Your Word
to our hearts. Give us faith to believe Thee,
to look to Christ, to rest in Him and Him alone. Deliver us
from the constant desire of this flesh to rest upon the arm of
the flesh. Give us a heart that rests in
our Lord Jesus Christ. He's accomplished everything
perfectly, completely. Give us the faith to rest in
Him. Pray that you bless the walkers as they travel back home. Give them traveling mercies.
Continue to bless Mike and his preaching there. Continue to
get glory to your name, to bless and comfort and courage and save
your people there. Bless them, Father, in the richest
way, we pray. For the precious name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, for his glory, we pray and give thanks.