to the book of Judges, chapter
17. Judges chapter 17, and there
was a man of Mount Ephraim whose name was Micah. Before we read
on, I want to remind us of several things concerning the book of
Judges. It is a book which contains the
history of the nation of Israel after Joshua had died. Now God raised up Moses and sent
him to bring his people out of Egypt. And when Moses died, God
raised up Joshua in his place to take, to lead the nation of
Israel into the land of Canaan and to divide the land by lot. Now this book covers a period
of time after the death of Joshua. actually covers about 300 years. And the first 16 chapters in
the book of Judges is a chronological history of the nation of Israel. And during that time, we see
a continual forsaking on the part of the nation of Israel.
There's a continual forsaking of God and turning to idolatry
And God raised up judges, thus we have the name of the book,
a number of judges. And God delivered the nation
of Israel. And then after they were at peace
again, prosperity, they turned to idolatry. And when they were
in straits, when they were suffering because of their sin, then they
cried unto the Lord. What we see in these first 16
chapters of the book of Judges is the faithfulness and the mercy
of God, time after time, after the nation of Israel sinned and
disobeyed God. And then the last five chapters
of the book, the book of Judges, beginning with chapter 17 through
chapter 21, we have records of several incidents that happened
during the time of the judges. And you notice the book of Ruth
follows. If you turn over just a few pages,
you see that what is recorded, this is an incident also, that
happened during the time of the judges. Ruth chapter 1 begins,
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled. The book
of Ruth contains an incident that took place during the time
of the judges, but it is such an important incident because
it is a beautiful picture of the kinsman redeemer, the Lord
Jesus Christ, how he had to be bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh to have the right of redemption. And he came, Boaz
redeemed Ruth, of course, with money, but the Lord Jesus Christ
redeemed his people Not with money, not with corruptible things
such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus
Christ as of a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. But this incident that we're
looking at today took place sometime during the time of the judges. And what I want us to look at
I want us to look at his words in verse 13. This man by the
name of Micah. His words in verse 13. Now know I that the Lord will
do me good. Now know I that the Lord will
do me good. And in those words I see his
knowledge. Now know and his assurance, the
Lord will do me good. So we see knowledge and assurance,
and the title of my message is False Assurance Versus True Assurance. Many people have false assurance. Many people, you've probably
heard maybe Someone say, I'm so sure I'm saved I could walk
across the top of hell on a tightrope. Many people claim to have assurance,
and all assurance is based on knowledge of some kind. We may
be sure of that. But I want us to think this morning
about false assurance versus true assurance. There are three
things for us to see. First of all, let's look at Micah's
knowledge which gave him this assurance. Let's look at his
knowledge which gave him his assurance. He said, Now know
I. I know this. I know this. I know this. Now know I. I'm assured the Lord will do
me good. Let's look at his knowledge,
at the knowledge which gave him his assurance. There are three
things that we see his knowledge was based upon. And the thing
to say if we miss everything else is his knowledge was based
upon his works. His knowledge was based upon
what he had done. And this knowledge of what he
had done assured him that the Lord would do him good. Now, what are the three things
that he had done? Well, first of all, he had made
himself some images which he called his gods. Now, the chapter opens up by
telling us that Micah's mother had 1,100 shekels of silver,
and they went missing. They went missing. And she, I
believe, suspected her son of stealing the 1,100 shekels of
silver because he mentions the fact that she cursed She pronounced
a curse upon whoever it was that had stolen her 1,100 shekels
of silver, and Micah tells us in speaking to her that she made
sure that he heard it. He heard that she had cursed
whoever it was who had stolen her 1,100 shekels of silver. Well, I'm sure he had some some
guilt he felt in his conscience. And it's an awful thing for children
to be disobedient unto their parents, isn't it? Children ought
to obey their parents. And you look in the New Testament,
in Romans chapter 1, the Apostle Paul mentions that disobedience
to parents along with adultery and idolatry and murder and all
sorts of wickedness. People take it lightly. Parents
do take it lightly that they allow their children to be disobedient. And children, you children here
this morning, remember God has blessed you with a father and
a mother. He has set you in their home
to watch over you, to care for you, to love you, and you must
obey them. I know you think you know better,
especially when you get up to 14, 15, 16 years old. You think
you know better than your parents. But trust me, the day will come,
if the Lord allows it, when you will realize, no, they knew better
than you. But this man stole from his mother,
and he felt guilt, which he should have. He was guilty. And so he
restored her the 1,100 shekels of silver, and she said, you
know, I had dedicated that money to the Lord. I'd already dedicated
that money to the Lord, but then we read she only took 200 shekels. She said she had dedicated 1,100,
but she took 200 shekels, and with those 200 shekels of silver,
I suppose, melted it down, a molten A graven image did he make, Micah
made. And I want you to look in chapter
18 at one verse. In chapter 18 and verse 24, because
if you read the history here, you will find that the tribe
of Dan, some of them came along and they stole his images. But notice what he says in chapter
18 and verse 24. And he said, you have taken away
my gods, which I, notice that, which I made. Now that's the
first thing. His knowledge was based upon
what he had done. What had he done? He had made
his own gods. He had made images, his own gods. That's the first thing that we
see that he did. Let's read this in chapter 17.
And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
And he said unto his mother, the eleven hundred shekels of
silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursest and
spakest of also in mine ears. Behold, the silver is with me. I took it. And his mother said,
Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son. And when he had restored
the 1,100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said,
I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for
my son, to make a graven image and a molten image. Now, therefore,
I will restore it unto thee. Yet he restored the money unto
his mother, and his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave
them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a
molten image, and they were in the house of Micah. So the first
thing he did, he made himself some gods. He made himself some gods. Now
I know. This knowledge, his assurance
is based on this knowledge. I know. I know that the Lord
will do me good because I have made myself some gods. If one is good, two or three
will be better. So I've made several. That's
what he did. Now the second thing we see that
he did, he had a house of gods. A house of gods. If you notice
in verse 5, And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made
an ephod, and a teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons who
became his priest. So the second thing he did, he
had a house. I don't know if he built this
house, if this was part of his house, he dedicated it to his
gods. And not only did he have these
gods, he made an ephod. Now what is that? Well, we know
the high priest, the garments of the high priest of Israel.
There was an ephod, and it was a breast in which there were
the 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel. And the
high priest carried those stones upon his breast, but also in
that ephod was the Urim and the Thummim. And some way, and I
can't explain this, I don't think anyone truly knows, but somehow
People would divine the future. Now God gave it to the nation
of Israel for the high priest, a way of knowing his will. But this ephod, he made for himself. We're not told it had the stones
in it, but surely it was used to foretell the future. Like tea leaves. People look
in the tea leaves, or people read the lines in the palms of
their hands. They look at the tarot cards,
or whatever. They judge by the stars, the
way the stars are aligned. All of it is witchcraft, sorcery,
and wickedness before God Almighty. That's what it is. Man always
wanting to know more than what God has revealed. Man always
wanting to know the future, what is in the future for us. God
has revealed all we need to know. Scripture says the secret things
belong unto our God. And the things which are revealed
unto us and unto our children. The things that are revealed
in the Scripture. Now the third thing, he also
made a teraphim. Let me just mention what this
was. It was some kind of an idol also. But it was an idol that they
believed that it could foretell the future. It had some special
ability to tell the future. And then he ordained one of his
sons to be a priest. And then the third thing we are
told that he did, He hired a Levite to be his own priest. Notice in verse 7. And there
was a young man out of Bethlehem, Judah, of the family of Judah,
who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. And the man departed out
of the city from Bethlehem, Judah, to sojourn where he could find
a place. And he came to Mount Ephraim,
to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. And Micah said unto
him, whence comest thou? And he said unto him, I am a
Levite of Bethlehem, Judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find
a place. And Micah said unto him, dwell
with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give
thee 10 shekels of silver by the year and a suit of apparel
and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. He hired a Levite to be his own
priest. Now when this Levite came by
and Micah met him and asked him who he was and where he was from,
Micah may have thought providence has smiled upon me today. Surely providence has smiled
on me today. Here comes this Levite. You know
people must be careful about reading into providence God's
will. God's providence will never lead
us to do anything contrary to His Word. When Jonah went down
to Joppa, there just happened to be a ship there. that he could
buy a ticket on and flee to Tarshish. He may have thought, boy, this
is providential. Here's a ship going away the
opposite direction from Nineveh. God's told me to go to Nineveh.
But here's a ship. I don't want to go to Nineveh.
And here's a ship going in the opposite direction. Surely God's
providence has smiled on me today. And Micah may have thought the
same thing. Here's a Levite. Now the tribe of Levi, that's
the tribe from which the priest came. God has smiled upon me
today because here comes a Levite and I want to hire him and I
do hire him. He agrees. He's a hireling. Isn't that what he is? He's a
hireling. And you remember in the New Testament
our Lord warned about hirelings. They're false shepherds. false
pastors. And if you read on through this
history, we won't do it today, but you will find that this man
surely was a hireling because when this tribe comes by and
they appeal to him, why would you want to stay here and be
a priest to one man when you can go with us and be a priest
to a number of people? Here's a pastor of a church,
and we see this in our day all the time. Church comes along. Why would you want to remain
here and be a pastor when there's a larger congregation over here
where you could go and minister to more people? No, our Lord
said the hireling flees. He flees because he is a hireling. But the good shepherd, he doesn't
flee. He stays with his flock. He guards
his flock. I'm reminded of the Hymn writer
John Fawcett, I believe it was, who wrote that hymn that we sing. See if I can remember now the
title of the hymn. Well, I can remember the story,
but I don't remember the title. But he was called to a larger
church and got ready to go and people loaded his stuff up on
the wagon, you know, and he got up, climbed up on the wagon.
There was a small flock and they were weeping because their pastor
was leaving. And he got down off the wagon
and went back. He couldn't leave his church. But anyway, this man was a hireling,
this Levite. Some of you know the name of
that hymn. Bless be the tie. I was hoping one of you would
help me out there. Thank you. Bless be the tie that binds.
And there is a tie that binds between pastor and congregation,
isn't there? There's a love. Well, anyway,
this man, he was a hireling. But Micah, this just kind of
sensed it for him. You know, when you're putting,
nailing two pieces of wood together, some of you've done this, I've
done it. You nail that nail through one piece, and that goes through
the other piece, and then you turn that nail over. There's
enough of it hanging out on the other side, you turn it over,
you clench it. And boy, that makes it sure.
And this seems to just clench. The knowledge for Micah. He knew. This clenched it. I've got a
priest of my own and he is a Levite. I know the Lord's going to do
me good. Look at the rest of verse 13.
Then said Micah, Now know I that the Lord will do me good. See,
this is how I know it. I know it because I have a Levite
to my priest. I just cinched it for him. His assurance, the point I want
to make to you and to me. And by the way, this Levite,
this wasn't just any Levite. According to chapter 18 and verse
30, this Levite, his name was Jonathan, and the writers tell
us he was the grandson of Moses. The grandson of Moses. I've got
him. The giver of the laws grandson.
I've got him to be my priest. I know the Lord will do me good. But I want you to look secondly
at the inspired comment in the middle of all of Micah's works. In verse number 6. Here's the
inspired comment after we are told of all that Micah does here
in this chapter, right in the middle. In those days there was
no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right
in his own eyes. Every man did that which was
right in his own eyes. All of Micah's knowledge which
gave him his assurance that the Lord would do him good, it was
right in his eyes. It was right in his eyes. It seemed to Micah, it just seemed
right. It felt good. I'm sure he had
some good feelings. But you say the question is not
what is right in our eyes, but that which is right in God's
eyes. God commanded, thou shalt not
make unto thee any graven image. Oh, that seemed right to Micah.
But that's not the question. Was it right with God? Of course
not. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven images, nor bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. But Micah did. But he did. He did exactly contrary to the
Word of God. But it seemed right. It seemed
right to Him. God commanded. And God chose
the family of Aaron. Now this man, this Jonathan,
this Levi, it is true that the priest came from the tribe of
Levi, but only from one family. Only from one family. And that
wasn't Moses' family, it was his brother Aaron. The Levites
served, they served in the tabernacle and in the temple, but they did
not have the right to be a priest. Only the tribe, only the family
of Aaron. And they were made priests who
typically, you know this is true, Aaron's family, his children,
His descendants were priests who typically showed that there
has to be a mediator. There has to be one who mediates
between God Almighty and men. There has to be one who is able
to go to God on behalf of those for whom he is mediating and
offer a sacrifice that God will accept. that will please God. And yes, Aaron and his family,
they did this typically, but not just any Levite. It had to be of the family of
Aaron. His knowledge, let me say this,
his knowledge upon which he derived all of his assurance that the
Lord would do him good, it was all based on what was right in
his own eyes. If it had not been right in his
eyes, he wouldn't have done it. Yeah, it was right in his eyes.
But that's never the question. Is it right in God's eyes? Now
here's the third part of my message. Let's look at knowledge on which
true assurance must be based. True assurance. True assurance
must be based on particular kind of knowledge. First of all, the
knowledge to give true assurance must come from the written word
of God. The written word of God. It's not the word of church councils. It's not man-made creeds. True assurance must be assurance
that comes from knowledge that is based upon the written Word
of God. It is not what I think. It's
not what you think. It's not what's right in my eyes
or what is right in your eyes. It is what saith the Lord. Now that's just so. That's just
so, and it's not going to change, I know. People think, well, surely
you don't believe that old book that was concluded over 2,000
years ago, that we're still supposed to go by it. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's God's Word,
and it is a word that is different from all other words that we
read or hear. It's God's Word. It is inspired
by God Almighty. And after all, it is God with
whom we have to do. We better listen to Him and His
Word. His Word reveals that there is
one God. This man had several gods. But
God's Word reveals that there is only one God. Hear, O Israel! The Lord, your God, is one God. There's only one God. There's
not room for another God, because God Almighty fills all space
and all time. There's not room for another
God because God is omnipotent, all-powerful, and there cannot
be two all-powerfuls. The Bible, the written word of
God, reveals that there is one God and that there is a trinity
of persons in the Godhead. You cannot read the scripture,
read the word of God, and not see that, yes, the Father, He
is God. And the Son, who is our Redeemer,
He became man, He is God, and yes, God, the Holy Spirit, who
convinces us of sin and leads us to Christ. And once we are
converted, He lives in us. You cannot read the Word of God
and not see that in the Godhead, in the essence of deity, there
are three persons. I don't understand that, you
say. Well, you don't have to understand it. I don't have to
understand it. But we do have to believe it,
because this is what is revealed in the Scripture. This one God,
He is eternal. He is infinite in every attribute. Any attribute that God has, remember
this, whether it's His justice, His love, His mercy, His truthfulness,
He's infinite in that attribute. And He's infinite at all times
of each and every one of His attributes. Micah may have thought, I don't
know, but he may have thought that he could worship the true
God under an image. Under one of these images that
he had made. But that's a big mistake. Not
only is it a big mistake, but it is idolatry. And it is an
affront to God Almighty. Because there is nothing that
we could make to be compared to God. He said that Himself. God did. He said, to whom will
you liken Me? Who are you going to liken Me
to? Make me an equal, and compare
me that we may be like. God in, I believe it's Psalm
50, said, thou thoughtest that I was altogether such in one
as thou art. And you see, man, today, we wouldn't
make a graven image. I don't believe any of you would.
I certainly hope, by the grace of God, I would never do that.
But I want to tell you something, all of us are capable and many
times guilty of making an image in our mind of God. And when
we do, and men do all the time, we always liken Him unto ourselves. With this exception, we always
make Him smaller than we are. Now that's just so. We make a
God who is like us, who doesn't know what's in the future. We
make a God like us, who may be frustrated. We make a God like
ourselves, who works with no plan, with no purpose. Anytime and every time that men
imagine God and they go away from the Scripture, what is revealed
about God, We always, as Brother Ralph Barnard used to say, whittle
him down. Whittle him down. Whittle him
down until we've got him in our hands and under our control and
we can tell him what he can do and what he cannot do. True knowledge that gives true
assurance must be based upon the written Word of God. Number
two, the knowledge to give true assurance must be that of the
work of the one and only mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus. Micah was convinced that once
he had a Levite for his priest that God would do him good. But
as I've already said, the tribe of Levi was a priestly tribe,
but only the sons of Aaron were priests. Their service was only
typical because they offered sacrifices which could never
take away sin. But knowledge that gives true
assurance must be of him whom God chose. And not only did God
choose him, but God made him a priest with an oath. God swore,
can you imagine that? God of truth, that He took an
oath that He swore. Why would He do that? To give
you and I a strong consolation and assurance. Thou art appraised
forever after the order of Melchizedek. Who's he speaking about? About
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one mediator between God
and man, who is not only priest, but he's king and he's prophet. He reveals God unto us. He appeared once in the end of
the world, the scripture says. You say, well, the world's been
going on for the end of the Jewish world. It ended, my friends,
that old dispensation, it ended. And once in the end of the world,
Christ appeared. And why did he appear? The scripture
says he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Knowledge, knowledge of Christ. of who He is and what He has
done, what He has accomplished for His people. He finished the
work which the Father gave Him to do. This is what gives real
assurance, not what I've done, not my decision, not my prayer,
not my experience, but Christ who He is. what He did and where
He is today at the Father's right hand ever living to make intercession
for all who come unto God by Him. Number three, the knowledge
to give true assurance must be that which causes grace, God's
grace to shine. It must cause God's grace to
shine. You know, in the Minor Prophet
of Zechariah, we're told that Zerubbabel, who was a type of
Christ, he builds a temple. But the Lord Jesus Christ builds
a spiritual temple. And his temple is not made with
mortar and bricks, it's made with living stones, those who
are saved by the grace of God. But he tells us that the capstone,
the headstone, When it's brought forth, when this temple, His
temple is complete. When the last one of God's chosen
people is saved and brought to trust in Jesus Christ. The scripture
said it's brought forth with shoutings of grace, grace unto
it. And from the first stone in this,
in this spiritual temple, the first one who was saved. Abel? I don't know. The first one who
was saved until the last one that God calls. Everyone is saved
in the very same way. By God's marvelous, wonderful
grace. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done. And the last thing The knowledge
to give true assurance must be that which gives all the glory
of the Lord doing us good. I know that the Lord will do
me good, not because I have a Levite to be my priest. I know the Lord
will do me good for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. And that's the only reason. That's
the only reason. He will get all the glory. He
said, I am the Lord, that is my name, and my glory will I
not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. True assurance must be based
on the knowledge of God and what God has done. As David, we read
his last words Although my house be not so with God, yet hath
he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
and sure, for this is all my salvation." Ordered in everything
and sure. What God has done. Assurance
like Micah's. He had assurance. There's no
doubt about that. He said, I know. I know. He had
assurance. But his assurance, which was
based on faulty knowledge, is like that boat in Pilgrim's Progress
named Vain Hope. Remember that? Vain Hope. And when ignorance got to the
river, just like Pilgrim, he climbed into that boat called
Vain Hope and was ferried across the river and taken to destruction. Micah's assurance was just like
that boat named Vain Hope. It was assurance which was not
based upon the word of God and the work of Jesus Christ. The
hymn writer said it like this. How firm a foundation, you saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent Word. What more can He say than to
you He has said, you who unto Jesus for refuge have fled? Amen. Let's sing a couple of
verses of that hymn, David. How firm a foundation, you saints
of the Lord, I believe it's number 268. Number 268. And let's stand
and sing and then we'll be dismissed.