Brother Merrill Hart may not
remember this. Twenty-three, twenty-four years
ago, I stood here and preached from Romans chapter one for nearly
an hour and talked about preaching the gospel and missed lots of
good opportunities to preach it. After everybody else had
left, Merrill and I were standing right here chatting. He said
to me, and you know your father, he doesn't say much. He said,
I thank God that you don't so much talk about preaching the
gospel as just preach it. I'm determined to preach to you all the time. the message of this book in every
place in this book. And that message is the glorious
gospel of God's free and saving grace. I would consider it utterly, utterly traitorous on
my part to stand before any congregation of men and women to speak in
God's name and not preach the gospel. I'm not talking about
just say something about it. I'm talking about preach Christ. I would hate to think you came
here today, not knowing my God, and walked out those doors and
walked into eternity to meet God, still having heard nothing
about how God saves sinners by Christ His Son. And we're going
to look this morning at Judges 17, verses 17 through 21. But before we do, I want you
to turn back to the passage we read earlier in Deuteronomy chapter
8. Deuteronomy chapter 8. Now, here's my subject. When
people do what they think is right, how often we commend people.
for doing what they think is right. And I guess that's all
right, sort of. I admire anyone, we say, who
tries to do what he thinks is right. How often you've had folks
tell you or you've told others, if you think something's right,
don't let anybody keep you from doing it. Last week, Doug and
Faith had dinner with A friend of theirs works in the cabinet
in Frankfort, and he said that anytime policy matters are discussed
with Governor Fletcher, he said he has just one question. He
said, what's right? What's right? We are told that
Mr. Bush constantly asks this question,
what's right? It doesn't matter what's pragmatic,
it doesn't matter what's Most popular, doesn't matter what's
going to get us re-elected, what's right. I hope that's the motive
by which they attempt to govern this state and govern our land.
I'm thankful for such men. But what happens when people
do what they think is right? And before we get to our text
in Deuteronomy 17, or Judges 17, here in Deuteronomy 12, The Lord gave some commandments
to Moses to give to the children of Israel, and these commandments
related to the worship of our God. He said, this is how you
have to worship me when you come into the land of Canaan, which
I have promised to give you the land of your rest. They have
specific reference then to this gospel day in which we live.
The rest God gave to Israel in the land of Canaan was typical
of that blessed rest of faith that we have in Christ by the
power of God's grace. In this chapter, as our God does
throughout the sacred volume, he tells us this thing. Now,
please get this. If we would worship God, if we
would worship God, We must worship God alone as God, and we must
worship him in precisely the way he requires that we worship
him. God cannot be worshipped by us
worshipping anything we imagine to be God, and he cannot be worshipped
in any way that we choose to worship him. If we would know
and worship the God of glory, we must worship Him alone as
God, and we must worship Him in precisely the way He requires
that men worship Him. Now, we cannot worship God if
we do not worship Him alone as He is revealed in this book as
God Almighty, holding all imaginary gods all other religions, holding
them in utter contempt, having no regard for the religion and
the gods of this world. God says, overthrow their altars,
hew them down, give no place for them. Now that does not mean
that we are to do as these civil people did in this civil nation,
that is, in this political nation and political state, I'm not
suggesting that we go and burn down other churches. If I thought
it'd do any good, I'd say burn them down. I'm not suggesting
that you go and every time you see a statue of Mary and a halo
and some little picture of Jesus, you kick it over. If I thought
it'd do any good, I'd say tear them down. But that's not what
I'm suggesting. I am saying this. Hold all such
things in utter contempt. Give no credibility to it. Give
no acceptance to it. Do not nod your head toward it. Do not show any approval of such. If we would worship our God,
the one true and living God, we can only worship Him in one
place. In just one place. In just one
place. You cannot worship God at a Baptist
altar. You cannot worship God at a Catholic
altar. You cannot worship God at a family
altar. You cannot worship God at any
altar of your making. God said, I will meet you at
the mercy seat between the cherubim. I won't meet you anywhere else.
You'll only worship God in Christ. Did you hear me? You will only
worship God by faith in the blood and righteousness and person
of Jesus Christ, God's darling Son, who accomplished redemption
for us by the sacrifice of Himself. We can only worship God on His
altar. We have an altar whereof they
have no right to eat who minister in the tabernacle. If you attempt
to worship and serve God through some earthly man-made altar,
if you attempt to worship God and serve Him at some altar of
your choosing, you want to come to the church because it's a
holy place. Oh, I feel so holy when I come to the church and
worship God at the altar. It feels so good when I kneel
down at the altar. I've known churches to fight,
split, and break up because they wanted to tear out a mourner's
bench where Grandma was saved. You can have your altar and your
mourner's bench. I wouldn't give you a nickel
for either one. As a matter of fact, I'd give you a nickel for all
of them so I could burn them. You can't worship God and worship
in a material altar. You can't worship God and worship
in a material holy place. It can't be done. The only way
you worship God is by faith in Jesus Christ, His Son. On the
altar God chose, on the altar God made, He said, Worship Me
on an altar of earth or of stone, and don't you lift up your tool
only. If you do anything, I mean anything, if you do anything
by which you hope to approach God, I don't care if you call
it worshiping Christ. If you lift up your tool in the
beginning, in the process, or in the end, you polluted the
whole thing and God will send you to hell. You can't climb
up this altar on steps. No, sir, if you do a sin to the
altar, as you do, you'll expose your shame, your nakedness and
your sin, and you'll be rejected of God. The only way you come
to God is in Christ with nothing of your own, falling flat down
on this rock, this rock which God's laid in Zion. The Lord
God says, the place which the Lord God shall choose, there
your tribe shall come. Look in verse 13, Deuteronomy
12. Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings
in every place that thou seest." Oh, I believe I'll do this for
the Lord. Doesn't it sound good? I believe I'll just worship God
here. I believe I'll do this to worship
God. The Lord's called me to be a
shoe salesman for Jesus, the Lord's called me to be an insurance
salesman for Jesus, the Lord's called me to serve Him as a counselor,
the Lord's called... Folks think it sounds pious and
good to put Christianity or the Lord called on anything. God
called you to worship at the footstool of His free grace on
the altar of His dear Son, nothing else. We worship God by faith
in Christ. Now watch this, but in the place
which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribe, there thou
shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that
I command thee. You mean do everything God commands
in this one place? Yes, sir. This is His commandment
that we believe on His Son. Now if we would worship Him,
the living and true God by faith in Christ, If we would be saved
by Him, we must worship God with willing, joyful hearts of faith
in Christ. In verse 70, it says, You shall
rejoice in all that you put your hand to. What's he talking about? Well, when you cut into a piece
of steak and start to put it in your mouth, you say, Bless
Jesus, this is good steak. No. Well, when you start to get
in your car, you say, well, bless the Lord, we're going to have
a good drive. No. No. As you come to worship God in
this one place, on this one altar, oh, thank God we have an altar. Christ Jesus the Lord, and we
will rejoice in Him. Thou shalt rejoice before the
Lord thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands to, he says
in verse 18. What does that mean? It simply
means this, if we are to be accepted of God, if we are to be accepted
of God, we must be delighted, tickled plum to death, to trust
Christ alone for acceptance with Him, casting away all personal
worth and righteousness. delighted to bring our sacrifices
of praise to God by the blood and righteousness and merit of
Christ, bringing nothing but Christ to the holy God for salvation
and acceptance with Him. Offer not thy burnt offerings
in every place. The Spirit of God gives us excellent
commentary on this. Hold your hands here. Look at
Philippians chapter three for just a moment. Paul says, finally, my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you,
to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it's safe. Beware
of dogs. Beware of those prostitutes who
prostitute themselves and prostitute God and prostitute the gospel
of His grace in the name of Christ. They're evil workers. The concision,
those who preach salvation by works. Now, here's Paul's explanation,
the Holy Spirit's explanation. For we are the circumcision.
We are the true people of God. We're the people of God's covenant,
the people of God's choice, the people God has called and circumcised
in heart, which worship God in spirit. We don't need images
and won't have them. We don't need physical things
and won't have them. We don't need stained glass windows
and won't have them. We don't need pictures of Christ
and won't have them. If you have those things and
you need those things, you can't worship God in the Spirit. Can't
be done. Can't be done. You can't have
a physical God and God. You can't have physical worship
and true worship. We worship God in Spirit, in
the Holy Spirit, by the Holy Spirit, and in our hearts. And
we rejoice. Rejoice. That's it. Rejoice in
everything you put your hand to. Rejoice! In Christ Jesus
the Lord, we place all confidence in Him, and we're tickled to
death. That's the way it is. Bless God
I have no hope but His Son, and that's all I want. And I won't
have any other. And have N-O. You spell that in gigantic capital
letters. No confidence. No joy. No satisfaction, no hope before
God Almighty in anything felt, done, seen, or experienced in
this flesh. All right, look at Deuteronomy
12 again, verse 8. Now, here's a very strict prohibition,
a prohibition that must be continually observed if we would worship
and serve our God. To fail to observe this prohibition
is to apostatize from the faith and from the worship of God.
We cannot worship God if we don't heed this prohibition. Look at
it. You shall not do, after all the things that we do here this
day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. Nothing is more dangerous, nothing
is more certain to ruin our souls than doing of that which is right
in our own eyes. He that trusteth in his own heart
is a fool. Of this you can be sure. Everything
that is right in our own eyes is dead wrong. Everything that is right in our
own eyes is dead wrong, everything. And that is most especially true
when it comes to spiritual and religious matters. The wise man
says the way of a fool is right in his own eyes. Twice he tells
us there is a way which seemeth right unto man. This is the way
all men go in by nature. Sometimes they call it the Baptist
way, sometimes they call it the Catholic way, sometimes they
call it the Protestant way, sometimes they call it the Mohammedan way,
sometimes they call it the Buddhist way. But it's all the same way. It is the way of free will works
religion. It seems right to a man, it just
stands for reason. Gotta reward a man for doing
good, punish him for doing bad. That just stands for reason,
doesn't it? Why, it just stands for reason a man's good works
got to count for something. It just stands for reason that
God will accept a fellow on the basis of what he does if his
good works outweigh his bad. That just stands for reason.
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man. But the end
thereof, it's all the same way, and the end is all the same,
are the ways of death. Every way of man, the wise man
says, is right in his own eyes. You don't believe that? Ask him.
I don't care who he is. I don't care what he's doing.
I don't care if you're talking about a pedophile raping a child,
or you're talking about a man raping a woman, or you're talking
about a man robbing a bank, or a man murdering another. It doesn't
matter what he's doing. Ask him. His way is right in
his own eyes. He'll justify it by one means
or another. He'll say, now I realize this
is not so good, it's not such a good thing to do, but... Because
it's right in his own eyes. It's right in his own eyes. And
so it is with religion. Whatever men do is right in their
eyes. Now with that as a background,
let's go to Judges 17. I want us to look at these five
chapters. and see what God teaches us. These five chapters are not
written just to fill up space. God wasn't giving us a book that
the authors got paid by the letter. They were not written just to
give us historic information. You can get the historic information
in other places. These five chapters are written
by divine inspiration to teach us the things of Christ and to
bring us to Christ, our King, our Redeemer, our God, and our
Deliverer. Now, these last five chapters
in the Book of Judges are things that took place after the death
of Joshua, before the first judge in Israel, Othniel. They're recorded
here after the death of Samson, but they're not recorded in chronological
order. Now, I have lots of books in
my library, and sometimes it is useful to study chronological
order, as I'm going to point out here. But if you read the
book of God, you will find out rather quickly that usually,
usually, those who wrote by inspiration did not follow chronological
order in revealing things. That has caused many to have
great confusion when they read the Gospels, because Matthew
records an event and says it's here, Mark puts it here, Luke
records it and puts it there, and Mark records it and puts
it there, and John records it and puts it somewhere else altogether.
And they say, well, there's such confusion. These fellows must
not have written by inspiration. They'd have got it all right.
They did get it all right. They did get it all right. It
was not the intention of God the Holy Spirit that things be
revealed in chronological order. It was the intention that they
be revealed in such a way as to reveal the person and work
of Christ. Now this, obviously, what we
read here in Judges 17 through 21, took place at the time described
back in Judges 2. Hold your hands here and turn
back to Judges 2. Sometime after the death of Joshua, sometime
before the first judge, Othniel. In verse 10, we read a description
of exactly what's set before us in Judges 17 through 21. Judges 2.10. Also, all that generation
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. 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. of the gods of the people
that were round about them, and bowed themselves to them, and
provoked the Lord to anger, and they forsook the Lord, and served
Baal and Ashtoreth." Now, let me show you several things. First,
I want you to see that the things recorded here in Judges 17 through
21 took place at a time when there was no king in Israel.
And every man did that which was right in his own eyes. You see it in verse 6 in chapter
17. In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man
did that which was right in his own eyes. It's repeated in chapter
19, verse 1. Or chapter 18, verse 1. Chapter
19, verse 1. And then it's repeated again
at the very last verse in the book. Judges 21, 25. In those
days there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. Now that's the explanation for
the behavior that's here revealed. But actually there was a king
in Israel. There sure was. There sure was. They didn't have
a physical king. They didn't have a visible king
like the other nations did. But we're told in 1 Samuel 12,
12 that the Lord God was their king. There was a king in Israel. The problem was not that there
was no king, but rather that they didn't know their king,
and they refused to bow to and acknowledge and serve the Lord
God as their king. And any time men and women refuse
to bow to, obey, and worship Jesus Christ the Lord as their
king, the result is what we have described in these five chapters.
Everyone does what's right in his own eyes. Now let's see if
we can identify that. When men do what's right in their
own eyes, they're practicing idolaters. That doesn't mean
they're not religious. There's never been a more religious
age in the world than the age in which we live. Everybody's
religious. Everybody's got lots of gods.
Religious as all get out. But they're practicing idolaters. We live in a land of idolatry
among the people who are idolaters. The nation is consumed with idolatry. And everything is done by the
judgment of pragmatism. What works? What works? You hear a lot of talk these
days. I'm thankful in God's good providence. He's given us the
leader. He's given us for our nation.
I'm thankful. But the, and I'm not here to
promote Republicans or Democrats. I don't give a flip about either,
but I, uh, I find it interesting and you should repulsively interesting
that the Democrats are really interested in getting reelected
and they have hired a conservative evangelical preacher to teach
them to have to talk religious. Why? Because they think talking religion
will get them elected. Let's talk pie. Let's talk about
God and country and apple pie and everything will be all right.
Magnetism. What works. Don't you ever allow
yourself to be governed in any choice you make. Deciding what's
right about what works. Don't do it. Don't do it. They
are governed by utter hedonism, just hedonism. I use that word
deliberately so folks won't think I'm plumb dumb. That means the
utter service of personal pleasure. How often do you hear folks say,
well, I'm not happy. I'm not happy. I'm going to kick
that woman out because she doesn't make me happy anymore. I'm going
to leave my husband because I'm not happy. Well, I feel so sorry
for you. Not happy. What's happiness,
your happiness, got to do with anything with regard to what's
right? Nothing. Nothing. This world
wasn't made for your pleasure and mine. It was made for God's
glory. And your happiness will be found
when you find yourself in submission to God's will and God's glory.
Remember the Lord Jesus Christ, He is God our King. These people got into the mess
they were in not by every man doing what he thought was wrong.
They got into the mess they were in because every man did that
which he thought was right in his own eyes. because he refused
to acknowledge Christ the Lord and the King. That means when
we say Christ is our Lord and our King, Jesus Christ, God our
Savior, is our ruler, He's our Lord, He's our Savior, He's our
provider, He's our protector, He's our defender, He's our deliverer. Oh for grace, God give me grace. Force me by Your sweet grace
to be willing in every day of Your power to bow to Him as my
Lord and King. I spent long enough doing what
was right in my own eyes, trying to please Me. And you
know what I did? I ruined my life and everybody's
life I touched. I finally found happiness for
my soul in bowing to my King. Now let me tell you something.
Faith in Christ, faith in Christ is not just believing that Jesus
died on the cross and was buried and rose again. Faith in Christ
is not just believing that Jesus put away your sins. Faith in
Christ is not just making a decision for Jesus. Faith in Christ is
the surrender of your life to Jesus Christ as God your King. Whosoever will save his life
shall lose it. Whosoever shall lose his life
for my sake in the gospels shall find it. Whosoever he be of you
that forsaketh not all that he hath, our master said, cannot
be my disciple." The events in these five chapters are out of
order chronologically, but they are exactly in the right order,
in the order of divine revelation. You see, Moses is now dead. He died in the wilderness because
the law cannot save him. Joshua has brought Israel into
the land of Canaan to possess all the promise of God. And when
he brought them into the land of Canaan, he said, now, I take
you to record this day. You can read it for yourself.
I take you to record this day. God has fulfilled everything
He said, everything He promised, everything He gave in His covenant.
I take you to record this day when God Almighty revealed His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in you. He fulfilled everything
He promised in His covenant and gave you everything, everything. The Lord Jesus Christ, our God,
has given Israel now twelve judges, twelve different people by whom
our Lord Jesus was typified. These judges, remember, were
kings and deliverers of Israel. The last one, whose name was
Samson, He delivered Israel in an act by which he sacrificed
his own life for the saving of his people. Our great Samson,
the Lord Jesus, by his one great sacrifice has obtained eternal
redemption for all the Israel of God. And then in these seventeen,
eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, these chapters We see man's depravity,
his corruption, his ruin, his idolatry, his continual going
or whoring after other gods, his continual hedonism, his continual
pragmatism, serving his own pleasure, doing what's right in his own
eyes. But then we get to the next page
in the book. Chapter 17-21, show us what we are by nature. Yes,
before God called you by His grace. These chapters describe
you and me. You see, God's elect, just like
everybody else, God's elect are children of wrath, even as others
by nature. But then when we get to the next
page, we see our great Samson again, typified. typified this
time by a man in the name of Boaz, our kinsman redeemer. All right, now let's look briefly,
and I mean very briefly, at least five chapters. First, in chapter
17, and I'm not going to try to read these, I just, I can't
do it, time won't allow it. I hope you'll read these five
chapters before you go to bed, make you some notes here as we
go along. We'll look at Micah the Ephraimite. and his family. What happens when men do what's
right in their own eyes? Well, Micah's mother is the first
character we meet with. Micah's mother cussed him in
his own face because she suspected he had stolen her money. She
had eleven hundred shekels of silver that she said, I had wholly For you, my son. I had wholly
consecrated it to the Lord to make an image of the Lord for
you. You see, when men do what they
think is right in their own eyes, they pretend far greater spirituality
and devotion and holiness than they know is real. They fake it. I already told
them that picture. When she got her 1,100 shekels
of silver back, the 1,100 shekels she had wholly consecrated to
the Lord, I gave this all to the Lord. This was, oh, somebody
stole my money. Now I can't do what I was going
to do for Jesus. I was going to do it all for
Him. She got her 1,100 shekels back, stuck 900 shekels in her
pocket, and gave 200 to the Lord. She pretended holiness and devotion
and spirituality and consecration that she knew was fake, wasn't
real. God's people don't pretend devotion,
but rather they lack devotion and lament their lack of it. I hear people make comments,
sometimes get letters, actually put it in paper. On paper, you'd
think they'd have better sense. I've got a question. I'm a very
spiritual person. You are. I had a fellow come up to me
one time, I was preaching at another place, I think Shelby was standing beside
me, I don't remember. And he started to talk to me a little
bit, and he said, you'd be astonished at how much I know about this
book. And I looked at him and I said, I'm sure I would be. I'm strong in the Lord. Paul said, I'm weak. I'm the chief of sinners. I don't know anything right.
You see, God's people are honest before God and before men. Micah, he thought it was right
to worship God any way he saw fit, so long as he said it was
worshiping God. He thought that repentance arising
from a sense of guilt that had been exposed, and the fear of
wrath was true repentance. His mother, she said, I'm going
to curse, curse the fellow. I'm going to curse the fellow
who stole this. And she's looking at her son. I've been there.
I know exactly what Micah was thinking. Uh-oh. She knows I
got in the cookie jar. She knows I got in the cookie
jar. And best thing for me to do is come clean. He said, Mama,
I'm so sorry. I took your money. Here it is.
And he thought it was repentance. Because his mother approved of
it, because he was afraid of punishment, and he had been caught
in his guilt, and now he had to confess. That ain't repentance. Repentance does not come from
fear and terror. Repentance does not come from
guilt exposed. Repentance comes from Christ
revealed in you. Repentance is not believing God
because you have to, it's believing God because you want to. Repentance
is not loving Christ because you don't have any choice, it's
loving Christ because you want to. Repentance is not coming
to God because you've got no choice if you're going to get
out of hell. Repentance is coming to God because you've got to
have it. Micah thought it was fine to worship God in his own
house. There's a place God appointed
for worship over yonder shallow. Micah said, I'll stay home and
worship. We'll play church today at my house. He didn't call it. That's what he did. He thought
it was fine to worship God any way he wanted to. Pay no attention
to what God says. God's house? Why, I'd have to
walk a few miles to get over yonder. God's house? Why, it's
raining today. Go over there? It's shallow!
How come? They just worship over yonder
in a stinking tabernacle. Look here, boy, I've got a house
for God. I've got a house for God. A beautiful,
splendorous house. And you know what he did? He thought he could come to God
wearing an effort that he made. You know what an effort is? An effort is a robe. That's what
the priest wore when he came to God. Look here, my fine robe. Boy,
I made that myself. Isn't that pretty? I don't lie
and cheat and steal. Well, I stole my mother's money,
but that didn't count. I lied to mama, but that don't count.
I don't do it much. Look here, my brother. Look here.
I worship God. I don't worship anybody but Jehovah. Don't you tell me I'm an idolater.
Well, I don't, but God did. He said you worship somebody
else and call it worshiping God. It's idolatry. I worship God. I pay my tithes. Pay them on
everything. Not as shallow like God said,
but that doesn't count. I think it's right. See my effort? See my righteousness? You can't
come to God in your righteousness. I don't care how good it is.
You come to God in Christ's righteousness. Micah thought that he could worship
Jehovah by worshiping Terathim. You know what the word teraphim
means? It's actually a plural word. It means many images. He didn't have just a house for
God. He had a house for God, and it was plumbed full of gods.
He had gods of all kinds. He made lots of gods, and he
worshipped Jehovah. Well, I've got this... I had
this little concept of mine about Jesus. He's so sweet. I'll be
Bob. Here's one picture of him. But
that's that's not enough to say at all. I think Jesus, he loves
everybody. He's so sweet. I've got this
other picture of him over here. I think of Jesus as a gentleman
standing outside the heart's door, knocking for entrance.
And I've got a statue of him like that over here. I think
Jesus wants to save everybody. And I've got a picture of him
here crying because everybody won't let him save him. I've
got all kinds of images of Jesus. But now, don't forget, I'm worshiping
Jehovah. No. You worship God. as he's revealed
in his son, in his true character, that you will worship him. Micah
thought he could come to God and be accepted of God by any
priest he wanted to. God's got his Levites over there
in Shiloh. God's got his Levites dwelling in Bethlehem, Judah,
who serve him in Shiloh. God's got a whole family of Levites
that He's appointed to serve the people, serving Him in the
tabernacle, in the holy place, offering sacrifice to Him. Micah
said, My boy Johnny, he's as good as any of them. And he consecrated
him to be his priest. Well, he might not be the best
priest. He might not be the most gifted preacher going, but he'll
do to, like, find a better one. And he made himself a priest.
You'll worship God. by faith in His priest, Jesus
Christ alone, or you won't worship Him. And then Micah found him
a priest, another priest. You see, when people do what's
right in their own eyes, they find preachers for hire. And
as it was in that day and as it is in this day, so it has
always been and always will be, there are plenty of preachers
for hire. Plenty of it. There was a young Levi from Bethlehem,
Judah, who had left Bethlehem, Judah, and he was looking for
a place. There you are, the preacher goes
looking for a place. He's looking for a place where
he can compromise. I promise you. He's looking for a place. He had a place, but he wouldn't
have that place. He's looking for somebody to
take care of him, so he wouldn't have to build houses for a victim. He's looking for somebody to
provide for him. And she walks along by Micah's house, and he
sees Micah's house of gods, and he sees Micah there, and Micah's,
man, that folks got a little money. You know, I believe maybe the
Lord might send me to this place. And Micah said, where do you
come from? He said, I'm a Levite from Bethlehem, Judah. I'm looking
for a place. Micah said, well, Wonder what it'd take to hire
him. And he hired him for minimum wages, a place to sleep at night,
and a new suit once a year. Ten dollars, victuals, and a
new suit of clothes. God's servants aren't hirelings.
And God's servants aren't looking for a place. And if you get yourself
a hireling, he can always be hired by somebody else. This
preacher, when you go to chapter 18, there were some Danites who
came over and they said, we'll make you a better offer. Here,
you're the preacher to just one man and his family. We'll make
you a preacher over a whole tribe. And buddy, you can't imagine
the money to come in. He said, well, let's go in view
of a call. Let's see if the Lord's in this. And they put him to the test.
They said, you go inquire of the Lord for us. And that preacher
came back and told them just what they wanted to hear. He
said, go in peace before the Lord, for the Lord is in your
way. God's with you. God's with you. And when they finally got him
over into Dan, got him locked into a place, He started to say
something to them as they came to steal Micah's gods. He said,
what are you doing? They said, you shut your mouth.
We pay your salary. And you know what he did? I'm
sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I didn't mean to offend
you. No. If I dared tell you the truth,
it split the church. Y'all wouldn't pay me my salary
anymore. When men and women do what they
think is right in their own eyes, they find peace, security, and
satisfaction in empty religious ceremonialism. Look at verse
13 of chapter 17. I'm going to have to quit. I'll
come back to it another time. Listen to Micah. He said, Now
know I that the Lord will Do me good. I know it'll do me good,
because I've got a Levite now to be my priest. Boy, I was out
of the way before, but I found out that I wasn't in the right
church. Now I've got in the church, got
a historic background, and the Levites, you know, they've always
been blessed of God. And now I'm in the right church,
doing the right thing, the right ceremonies, in my own way, in
my own place, where I want to, but I'm doing right. God's going
to bless me. Get in chapter 18. And you'll
find those people at Lakers were careless, secure, with no magistrate
to put them to shame, and they were so holy they didn't do business
with anybody else. A people secure in a large land
where there's no want of anything. Religion without Christ will
make you careless, quiet, secure, and shameless while you go to
hell. Oh, come to Christ, the altar
of God's choosing, the altar of God's making, the altar of
God's accepting, and worship God Almighty. Amen.