God is Judge

[Music][Music]wasn't thatbeautiful people truly need the Lord anduh I was just remarking to brother Reneeum before the worship started today thatthe Bible says that the two shall becomeone but I would say in their case thetwo shall become one voice as well umwhat a blessing that song was so we'dlike to give you a warm welcome heretoday on this beautiful warm sunnySabbath day um I think summer hasfinally arrived and uh many of us are upat the Michigan camp meeting today uhbut still it's a privilege to gather andshare here today to worship our Lord andSavior Jesus Christ Christ uh for thoseof you I see some visitors in our midstwelcome today to our congregation andfor those of you who are watching onlinewe give you a warm welcome wherever youare joining us from on the internet souh for our first service this morningI'm going to preach on a topic a storythat is rarely spoken about at least inpoliteSociety uh when I was growing up my uhfather was a preacher he had a fiveChurch district and so um having hearduh the first sermon once in the thefirst service um I could then lookforward to in the next two sabbaths arepeat of the same sermon and I got toknow my father's sermons very well butas a small boy um my mind was was proneto wonder and I would be searching thescriptures during my father's sermonsfor interesting stories this is one ofthe stories that my eyes came across andI particularly liked the Book of Judgesas a small boy um because there are someprofound spiritual lessons containedwithin it so a story to today uh this asermon toight today is entitled God isJudge and uh as we're going to gothrough this sermon I hope you realizethat this story is actually a story ofgood news not necessarily for theconcubine but it is for us today solet's bow our heads and ask for God'sblessing upon us this morning heavenlyfather as We Gather in your house onyour day father we are mindful of thefact that we living in troubltimes well there is an old proverb Ibelieve from China that says may you mayyou live in in interesting times andLord it's not really a blessing it's acurse but father we know that beforeJesus comes in the Clouds Of Glory weare in for a roughride and so father as We Gather heretoday in your house I pray you lift oureyes from the chaos of the worldoutside father may we realize aresh thatyou indeed are judge that your throne isbased on righteousness and Justice thatyour eyes are searching the Earthseeking for those whose hearts arestrong towards you and I pray father aswe go through this study here togetheron this your day I pray that the samespirit that inspired the writing of thestory will bring to our hearts and Mindsfresh conviction and conversion I prayLord you speak through me you speak forme May my words be taken from yourthrone of grace and in all that is saidand done today may you be glorified inJesus name name we prayamen all right so um I think it's Ithink it would be true to say that werarely preach on the Book of Judges ingeneral and we even more rarely speak onthe story of the concubine who waschopped into 12 pieces um it's easier tospeak as a preacher on the Beatitudesyou know blessed are the peacemakers forthey shall be called children of Godit's easier to speak on more upliftingtopics than that than the story of thewoman who was chopped into 12 pieces andnow um I have I have a wife and um I wasrunning this sermon by her the otherday and I said I think I'm going to goto neighbor to neighbor and pick up amannequin and lay it on a table acrosshere and I'm going to pre- chop her into12 pieces and cover her with some ragsand I'm going to chop put her into intoa bucket here and my wife um being avery wise lady cautioned me not to dosuch a thing so I didn't do such a thingand um so uh but anyway why is thisstory in the scripture and what lessondo we have for it today so um let's justfinish off the story first so the Le theconcubine has been cut into 12 piecesher body parts have been sent to the 12tribes of Israel and if you open yourBibles um we're going to be looking atjudges 20 and 21 sages going to brieflylooking over these this passage here wesee that all of Israel gathered atmispah other than the Tribe of Benjaminto hear the levite present his side ofthe story now the word and the RumorMill had already worked it way throughIsrael people knew the essence of thestory they knew there was a woman whowas divided into 12 pieces they musthave heard about the knife thedismembered body but they wanted to hearit again and people today are alsoattracted to The Sensational To the Goryand to the incredible and the levitedecides to tell an edited version of thestory and so let's come to it herefinishing the story this is what theLevites says to the people of Israelother than the Tribe of Benjamin whohaven't come um to to hear the story hesays this the levite the husband of thewoman who was merged answered I came togiba that belongs to Benjamin I and myconcubine to spend the night the Lordsof gibba rose up against me andsurrounded the house at night theyintended to kill me and they raped myconcubine until she died then I took myconcubine and cut her into pieces andsent her throughout the whole extent ofIsrael's territoryfor they have committed a vile outragein Israel so now you Israelites all ofyou give your advice and your counselhere so this is the levite telling hisversion of events and you notice that inhis version of events this is a heavilyedited version of the story he does nottell the fact that he he he delayed for5 days on his return trip coming backfrom his father-in-law's house he doesnot mention the fact that he had theoption of going to stay in the city ofthe jebusites on his way home when itwas late at night he does not mentionthe fact that when he came to gibba hehad no place to stay and so he was goingto stay out in the Public Square he doesnot mention the fact in verse chapter 19andverse2 the text is very unclear was ithim that forced his concubine out to thecrowd of men or was it his host thatforced the woman out the text is veryunclear the text is also very unclearwhen the woman actually diedwhen she came when he found her the nextmorning and he came out of the house andhe saw her lying there knowing what hadhappened to her he does not mention thefact that he he showed no care for herno interest in her personal well-beinghe didn't say how are you doing dear howdid you survive the night do you needmedical care he just said get up thereis no in no indication of personalinterest in her well-being and theactual story itself other than what hesays here doesn't make it clear when sheactually died was she dead when he foundfound her on his doorstep or was shedied when he took took a knife and tookturned her into 12 pieces this is aheavily edited version of the story hetells the truth yes but he doesn't tellthe whole truth now the tribes werehorrified they were infuriated and theyimmediately vowed an awful revenge onthe people of Benjamin and so the storygoes on chap 20: 12- 17 it says therethe tribes of Israel sent men throughoutall the Tribe of Benjamin saying whatcrime is this that has been committedamong you now then hand over theseScoundrels in giba so that we may putthem to death and Purge the evil fromIsrael but the benjaminites would notlisten to their kin foke the Israelitesthe benjaminites came together out ofthe towns to gibba to go out to battleagainst the Israelites on that day thebenjaminites mustered 26,000 armed menfrom their towns besides the inhabitantsof IA of all this Force there was 700picked men who were left-handed everyonecould sling a stone and a hair and notmiss and the Israelites apart fromBenjamin mustered 400,000 armed men allof them Warriors and so the tribes wereangry they were horrified they wereinfuriated each tribe had its portion ofthe concubine's body and they wantedVengeance they wanted to wipe out thisevil that had taken place Among TheTribe of Benjamin and they demanded didthe benjaminites simply hand over themen of gibba for judgment summaryjudgment without hearing their side ofthe story now we may say but they wereguilty yes but with the levite giving aheavily edited version of the story fromhis side there is always a presumptionof innocence even the mo in the Mosaiclaw and so the people of Israel don'tbother to hear the other side of thestory they immediately jump to aconclusion and they're immediatelycalling for blood the benjaminitesrefused and what was originally a brutalcrime spirals out of control into acivilwar twice in the story the Israelitesinquired of the Lord twice they went upfor battle and twice they were defeatedwith heavylosses eventually on the third battlethey managed to defeat thebenjaminites and uh not just the men ofBenjamin were wiped out but almost theentiretribe but there was a Remnant left inBenjamin600 men escaped that final battle andthe story goes on to say in verse 47 ofJudges 20 but 600 that is 600 survivingbenjaminite men turned and fled towardthe Wilderness to the rock of rimen andremained at the rock of rimen for 4months you see in the battle that tookplace the men have been wipedout and uh many of the women andchildren were also gone so we have 600UND remaining benjaminite men whoescaped to the Wilderness and they hideat the rock of rimon for 4 monthswondering what is going to happen tothem and the people of Israel start tohaveremorse what was a bloody limited crimespiled into a vengeful Civil War whereone of the 12 tribes had almost beenexterminated The Tribe ofBenjamin and the people of Israel startto have remorse and sorrow they couldn'timagine Israel reduced from 12 to 11tribes they not only wiped out most ofthe men of giba but they' also wiped outinnocent benjaminite women and childrenthere were no benjaminite women alivefor the remaining 600 men and so thisthis the the pebble dropped in the pondthere these that there's an Everwidening circle of violence from thisoriginal Brutal and bloody crime andeventually innocent men women andchildren are being slaughtered in largenumbers so what happens well in chapter21: 8 through 12 the people of Israelare struck with a terrible remorse andthey said you read it on the screen isthere anyone from the tribe of Israelwho did not come up to the Lord inmispah it turned out that no one fromJes gillad had come to the camp to theassembly for when the role was calledamong the people not one of theinhabitants of jabish Gilead was thereso the congregation sent 12,000 soldiersthere and commanded them go put theinhabitants of jabes gillad to the swordincluding the women and the little onesthis is what you shall do every male andevery woman that is laid with a male youshall devote to destruction and theyfound among the inhabitants of jabishgillad 400 young virgins who never sleptwith a man and they brought them to thecamp at Shiloh which is in the land ofCanaan and so the people of Israelhaving White out most of the men ofBenjamin and all of the women andchildren they decide to find wives forthe remaining 600 men of Benjamin inorder that tribe will not die out and inorder to find those wives they go andSlaughter the men women and children ofof jbes Gilead which is in the farNortheast of Israel near the modern dayGolan Heights and they bring back 400young girls and say to the 600 menhere's your newwives it's a brutalstory it's a horrific storybut they still needed 200wives so the Israelites as The StoryGoes On they said to the 200 remainingmen they said every year there is areligious Festival up at Shiloh everyyear at that religious Festival thegirls come out to dance and celebrateyou go up there and you hide in thebushes when those girls come out eachone of you snatch a girl foryourself and that girl will be your wifeand there will be no there'll be noconsequence for you because we want tomake sure that the 600 remainingbenjaminite men each has a young wifefor himself and that's what they didthose 200 men of Benjamin they went upto Shiloh they abducted 200 teenagegirls and they forced them to becometheirwives now it's a horrifying story isn'tit if you out up the Innocents whosuffered there's the concubine there'sthe women and the children of Benjaminthere are the inhabitants of J B gilladmen women and children there's the 400abducted girls from jbes gillad who areforced into marriages and we don't knowwhether it was with their will oragainst their will but they were forcedinto marriages then the 200 girls fromShiloh who were kidnapped and forcedinto marriage with the remaining 200benjaminite men from that originalbloody limited crime of one woman beingraped by the men of gibba we have thisever widening cycle of Vengeance andviolence and bloodshed and heartbreakand sorrow all across the people ofIsrael so how do we understand thisstory why is this story in the Bible wemay say well you know wouldn't it benice if we were just New TestamentChristians wouldn't it be nice if wejust had the Sermon on the Mountwouldn't it be nicer if we just readabout the when Jesus comes again that'swhen judgment is brought upon the wickedwhy do we read these bloodthirstystories in the Old Testament why did theHoly Spirit think it important for us tohave this story in the scripture wellthe Book of Judges is an interestingbook in the Book of Judges God's peoplego through a cycle they go through acycle of rebellion against God then thatturns into retribution God bringsjudgment upon them that leads to a formof repentance and then uh God sends ajudge who brings them restoration so youhave Rebellion retribution repentanceand restoration and with each of thejudges through the book of Book ofJudges you see this cycle laying outtime and time and time again but witheach cycle what you realize is that aspeople go into God's people go intoRebellion they're just sinking lower andlower and lower into sin and with eachjudge that comes along we find thejudges are more and more um morallyambiguous so we start out with othneilthe first of the judges um a man whochews on the word of God he's from GEthat mean he choose he choose on theword of God so when God needs a personto restore his people he finds a man whois chewing on the word ofGod and the last of the judges becausethere is no judge in this last storyhere the last of the judges in the Bookof Judges isSamson a man who fell for every woman heeversaw a Serialadulterer much like Israel was engagedin serial spiritual adultery and as wego through the stories of the judgeswith each cycle of rebellion retributionrepentance and restorationas Israel sinks deeper and deeper anddeeper into sin throughout the Book ofJudges so we also see that the judgesthat God raises to restore them theybecome more and more morally ambiguousand so with Samson you're basicallyIsrael is looking in themirror the judges are interestingcharacters with each story we learnsomething new about God throughout theBook of Judges in the book of story ofothneil we read we read about a God whoblesses those who are obedient to himand who step out in faith in the storyof ehad the man who was it doesn't sayhe was left-handed he was just witheredin his right hand and so he he he killsthe egong king mobites with his lefthand we read that God does not work aswe expect but he reserves a sovereignright to act in ways that we do notexpect in the story of Deborah andBarack uh we see that God works throughthose whose faith is weak in the storyof Gideon we see that God performswonders when we only see human Frailtyin the story of jeffa we read of a Godwho keeps his vows his promises can betrusted no matter what happens in thestory of Samson we read about a God whodelivers his people despite the failingsof their spiritual leaders but we comeback to the question how are we tounderstand this story in the Book ofJudges 19 20 and 21 why is this storyhere well this story ends with this veryfamous phrase judges21:25 it says in those days there was noking in Israel all the people did whatwas right in their owneyes that describestoday everybody in America now does whatis right in their own eyes nobody can betold that what you doing iswrong if somebody stands today andrebukes sin you are a bigot you areprejudiced you are whatever whateverwhatever the the the the the um the theabuse is whole to anyone who stands upand calls sin by its right nameand this story here shows a picture of anation that has lost her moralMoorings now this story here is an echoof Genesis19 um as as sister leet read thescripture reading for us today some ofus would have noticed would we have notthat that the story of a stranger cominginto a city square and going intosomebody's house and the men of the citygathering around demanding sexualrelations with a visitor to ises that toring a bell withanybody it's the story of Sodom andGomorrah from Genesis 19 all over againand when you compare those two storiesof Genesis 19 and judges 19 it may notbe obvious in the English but in theHebrew it is clear the Hebrew of gen ofJudges 19 is almost a cut and paste ofthe Hebrew of of Jud Genesis 19 thestory of the benjaminite that sorry thethe levite in giia of Benjamin and thesex attempted sexual assault of the ofthe the guess there is almost a word forword mirror of the story of of Sodom andGomorrah and the two angels and theattempted rape of the angels in Genesis19 so you first of all have a picture ofGenesis 19 where Sodom and Gomorrah areright for judgment God is about to bringjudgment on these Wicked Canaanites fortheir wickedness and then in Jud injudges 19 you have a story of Israel andthe people the men of Israel are doingthe exactly the same sins that theCanaanites did before them and in Sodomand God brought judgment upon Sodom andGomorrah so the question is what is Godgoing to do with his people when hispeople are morally no different to thosearound you follow me on this okay therethis is a question here the sermon isentitled God is Judge in both of thesestories Genesis 19 and judges 19 aresident alien offers Hospitality to astranger which in those days was againstthe law the men of Sodom said to lotwhat right have you to allow these twomen to stay in the house they knew thatlot against the law to allow those twoangels to stay in the house because hewas what is known as a g or a residentalien he wasn't a citizen of of Sodomand in this story of uh Jud judges 19the old man who invites the levite intohis house is not a benjaminite fromgibba he is an ephraimite who happens tobe living in the city he's a residentalien in both of these stories neitherlot nor the old Ephram might beingresident aliens had the right to offerHospitality to a stranger and from theirinitial hospitalityin both stories there is a series ofincreasingly violent events both ofthese stories show the pile Dynamicsbetween men and women they show therelative powerlessness of women in thosesocieties a world where women would besacrificed including by their husbandsor their fathers in order to resolveconflict among competing groups ofmen we may use the treatment of women inthe Book of Judges as a proxy moralbarometer of the moral status of God'speople in Judges chapter 1 othneilperforms actions on behalf of his brideAXA and that leads to a positiveresolution for the problems of Israelwhile the actions concerning thenameless concubine of Judges 19 lead toCivil War Mass abduction Mass rape andsocial Anarchy and so if we look at thisfemale oriented Benchmark throughout theBook of Judges we see that as as God'speople treat their women using that as amoral Benchmark we go from othneil injudges 1 and 2 to this story in judges19- 21 and we see the moral clench andmoral decline of Israelite Societythrough how they treat theirwomen and we are seeing in our societytoday a decline in how we treatwomen I read a website the other day onthings ladies do things the way thatwomen change their lives how they altertheir daily patterns of behavior toavoid sexualassault there were hundreds and hundredsand hundreds of things posted by womenin modern day America of how they adjusttheir lives to avoid sexual assault Iwashorrified women live in a differentworld to men men go out jogging withoutfear of anything women go out joggingand they take their life in theirhands when we understand this story umFrom perspective of homosexual rape theanthropological understanding ofhomosexual rape is not for sexualgratification but to establish powerrelationships men much like what happensin modern day prisons likewise theheterosexual rape of a female dependentmay also be understood from ananthropological perspective asestablishing relative power and honorrelationships amongmen but when we understand the story inthe overall context of the laws ofLeviticus and God's definitions andprohibitions on sexual immorality we seein the contravention of the laws onsexual morality including those relatingto homosexual relationships this leadsinevitably to breakdowns in personalrelationships family relationshipsCommunity relationships and Nationalrelationships I saw a picture yesterdayof a pride parade somewhere in Americaand at the front of the pride parade wasa large Banner that says Satan loves allgenders and on the t-shirts it saidJesus take a seat then there was apicture of baffet manifestation of Satanthis belongs toSatan this is where we've reachedas we as we say you a man can do as hewishes there is no sexual moralityanymore you ultimately end up in thecamp of Satan this is where this isopenly going in our nation and as it ledto National breakdown and familybreakdown in the time of the judges itwill lead to that kind of breakdown inour nation today judges19 Echoes almost word for word the storyof Sodom andGomorrah and the writer of Judges isessentially saying this is that God'speople have have departed so far fromthe ideals of the Deuteronomy Covenantthat they are morally no no differentfrom the Canaanite inhabitants at thetime of theconquest God brought judgment on thepeople of Canaan for their sexualimmorality that was one of the explicitreasons God brought judgment upon themand now that Israel is morallyindistinguishable from those CanaaniteNations how is God going to judge hispeople are you following me on thiswill God judge Israel as God judgedSodomso let's see where we are on the screenhere we don't we passed that say God isJudge throughout the Book of Judges asalready mentioned we see the slow moralcollapse of God's people so by the timeof this story in judges 19- 21 we reacha nation where every man does what isright in his own eyesand God's people are morally nodifferent from the Nationsaround and despite the increasing moralambiguity of the judges themselves weknow that ultimately as Gideon told theIsraelites when they pressed him tobecome king this is what Gideon said tothe people of Israel he said judges 8:23I will not rule over you my sons willnot rule over you the Lord that isJehovah will rule over you so behindthese human judges of Samson and othneiland Gideonand jeffa there is an ultimate judgethat ultimate judge is God himself sothe question is how does God judge whatdo we learn about God's justice andjudgment in thesestories painful the stories are what dowe learn about the Judgment of God whenwe compare the story of Sodom andGomorrah in Genesis 19 with the story ofthis levite and the woman chopped in 12pieces in judges1920 and 21 so I've put together acomparison of how God judges compared tohow God's people judge and on the screenhere you see on the left hand side acolumn that talks about this is the Desscripture this is kind of the the aspectof judgment and in the central screenyou see the story of Genesis 18 through19 that's the story of Sodom andGomorrah on the right hand screen you'vegot the story we've read for ourscripture reading and been reflecting onthis morning the story of the womanchopped into 12 pieces and thesubsequent Civil War and all the painand blood and bloodshed that went alongwith it and so um in the middle screenwe have you see in the story of Sodomand Gomorrah this is how God judges andin the right hand screen we see howGod's peoplejudge and uh so we see for instance thatthe initiator ofjudgment um in Genesis Chapter 18 God isthe initiator of judgment because hesays to Abraham I must go down and seewhether what I've heard is true aboutthe people of Sodom and Gomorrah Godwants want to find out the facts whenGod brings about judgment um in Judgeschapter 19 we see the the tribes ofIsrael they initiate judgment on TheTribe of Benjamin in response to theLevites speech and they haven't botheredto hear the other side of the story andthey pass judgments on the entire Tribeof Benjamin not just the men whocommitted this awful crime when we andwe ask was there a concern to assess thefacts in and there was in Genesis 18 thestory of Sodom and Gomorrah God saysthis he says I must go down and seewhether they have done all togetheraccording to the outcry that has come tome so in the story of Sodom and GomorrahGod who's going to bring judgment hedoesn't bring judgment until first hehas ascertained the facts that the thethe the the actual things happened hereGod wants to know the facts before hebrings judgment and in the story of ofthe Levites and the concubine in judges19 we see there is only a partialconcern to understand the facts theyaccept the evidence of one witness thelevite that is viewed as efficient toreach your judicial verdict contrary tothe levitical laws because you need twowitnesses to establish the matter in theeyes of the in the Mosaic law and thedefense needs to have their chance toexplain their side of the story so eventhough we not know the men of Benjaminare guilty the The Tribe of Benjaminnever had a chance to uh give their sideof the story was there an objectiveassessment of the evidence before averdict is reached in the story of Sodomand Gomorrah yes there was why becausein Genesis chapter 19 God sends twoangels down into Sodom and those twonon-human Witnesses are dispatched toSodom to assess the evidence God isconcerned about knowing the facts Godfollows due process in the Judgment ofman on the right hand column there thestory of the concubine of the levite wesee that there is not an objectiveassessment of the evidence before averdict is reached a verdict is reachedon the evidence of one man alone whom ishimself partially guilty for whathappened because he didn't defend hisconcubine at any stage in the story andall the communication with the Tribe ofBenjamin was after the verdict had beenpassed by the people of Israel you carryon in these these um aspects of judgmentum the status of the of the um legal umI missed out a word there status oflegal verdict okay it's the lines on thescreen that are confusing me okay thestatus of legal verdict according toGenesis 8 18 the wicked are condemnedSodom and Gomorrah based on what we knowfrom the book of Moses is a verifiedjudicial evidence and Jew legal processwhereas in the story of Judges thewicked are condemned followinginsufficient evidence and an improperlegalprocess what is the impact on therighteous or the innocent in the processof judgment well when God judges inGenesis 18 and 19 Solomon Gomorrah therighteous that is lot they are saved nowlot doesn't come across as a righteousin individual in Genesis 18 and 19 Iunderstand that but in Hebrews 11 he'sconsidered among the righteous so inwhen God judges the righteous aresaved but when man judges when thepeople of Israel judge we read thatthere was in this story Jud judges 19-21 there was almost no focus on theconcubine and the levite simplydisappears from view he Fades out of thestory completely so when God judges heacts to save The Righteous what is theimpact on thewicked when God judges the story ofSodom and Gomorrah the wicked arecompletelydestroyed when man judges in judges 19and CH through chapter21 the impact on the wicked is kind ofincomplete the wicked that is The Tribeof Benjamin who wouldn't hand over theguilty men they're allowed tocorporately survive they're allowed tosurvive as atribe not only that but the impact onthe wickedis that the not only the Tribe ofBenjamin allowed to survive but um a lotof innocent girls get forced intomarriages against their will the exactorof judgment in the story of Genesis andSodom and Gomorrah is God the exactor ofjudgment in judges 19 through 21 isFallen humans themselves when every mandoes what is right in his own eyes andwhat's the relationship to the Covenantin judges in Genesis 1819 the story ofSodom we see that God brings executivejudges J M on the wicked and Redemptivejudgment upon therighteous Genesis 19:30 tells us thatGod remembered Abraham that is Godremembered his Covenant with Abraham andthus God saved lot from Sodom theabrahamic Covenant was crucial to thejudicial act in judges 19 throughthrough 21 we see that Israel respondspurely to H humancircumstances the Covenant ofDeuteronomy between God and his peopleis alluded to in the story but theevents show that Israel is operatingwithout a legal mourning without a moralabsolute best described in verse 21chapter21:25 as in those days there was no kingin Israel all the people did what wasright in their own eyes so when wecompare the story of Sodom and Gomorrahand the story of J judges 19 which arealmost word for word the same in theHebrew identical stories one among thepeople of Sodom and Gomorrah one amongthe people of Benjamin one among theCanaanites who are about to be destroyedby God for their wickedness one amongamong God's people who have fallen tothe same moral depravity of theCanaanites how is and how do they dealwith matters among themselves when wecompare these two stories we gain aclear picture of the differences betweenjudgment from God and the Judgment frommen God does not act capriciously whenhe judge but he acts within the terms ofhis Covenant with human within withHumanity Genesis 19 God operates withinthe terms of the abrahamic Covenant injudges 19 they are supposed to beoperating within terms terms of thedeuteronomic Covenant the purpose ofboth covenants though differentlyexpressed was forgiveness and salvationfor all the families on planet Earth inthe story of Sodom and Gomorrah God isdefi is shown as um verifying the factswithin a duw legal process while in thestory of Judges 19 God acts improperlyand Israel acts improperly and hastilyin their legal review and their judgmentprocess in the story of Sodom andGomorrah God's judgments are portrayedas validwas in the story of Judges 19- 21Israel's judgment and the process andall that happens after it is invalid interms of the Mosaic law in the story ofSodom and Gomorrah God acts to save TheRighteous that's Redemptive judgmentwhile in the story of Judges 19 Israelacts to bring retributive judgment uponthe wicked God's judgment has a finaland eternal impact on the wicked inSodom and Gomorrah while Israel'sjudgment oper ends up with a concern tosave the wickedand to hurt the innocent the 600 girlsin order that those wicked men mighthave wives forthemselves God acts redemptivelyIsrael acts retributively God acts us tosave The Righteous Israel ends up savingthe wicked God ends up destroying thewicked Israel ends up preserving thewicked there's a complete differencecomplete contrast between the Judgmentof God and the Judgment of men God actsin Mercy towards the righteous in thestory of Sodom and Gomorrah according tothe terms agreed between God and Abrahamlot and his family should have perishedin the Flames because God did not find10 righteous individuals in the city ofSodom so God acts in Mercy towards therighteous when he brings judgment whileIsrael shows Mercy towards thewicked these are very interestingstories when you place them side by sidethey give us a picture of the failure ofhuman Justice and they should bring givebring confidence in the Judgment of Godso what does it mean that God is ourjudge because the story isn't justwritten as a as a historical um point ofInterest the fact of the matter is it'seasy for us to look back on theIsraelites God's professed people andwonder how they could have fallen so farfrom God's ideal that they wereeventually morally indistinguishablefrom the Pagan Nationsaround and let me be clearwe celebrate the fourth Commandment inourchurch that's thing that says they keepthe Commandments of God the remnant ofGod but when among God's people we arecelebrating the breaking of the seventhcommandment which we are doing in ourchurch in NorthAmerica as we are pro lgbtq in many ofour colleges and many of ourpulpits we want the acceptance of sodomyin modern day Remnant Israelwe are morally indistinguishable fromthe nationaround how does God bring judgment uponhis people we tend to forget that justas God was judge of Israel back then Godis also our judgetoday we know this because this passagehere says it very clearly when why doyou pass judgment on your brother orsister or you why do you despise yourbrother your sister for we will allstand before the Judgment seat of God 2Corinthians 510 and this this is Paultalking about the the final judgment forall of us must appear before theJudgment seat of Christ so that each mayreceive recompense for what has beendone in the body whether good or evilone day God will judge each one of usand when God judges there will be aneternal outcome nobody can avoid God'sfinal judgment whether we like it or notwhether we believe in it or not Jesussays at the end of revelation 22 some ofhis last words that he gave in the inthe Bible he says behold I coming comingsoon my reward is with me to repayaccording to everyone's work now thisverse tells us a number of things one isthat there is a judgment one is thereare Eternal consequences for how we liveour lives it also tells us that thatpunishment for the wicked iscommensurate with the crimes thatthey've committed that there there is umthat the crime the penish punishmentwill fit the crime it also tells us thatwhen Jesus comes again the determinationhas already been made on who is savedand who is lost because he says myreward is with me that means beforeJesus comes again there is what we calla pre-adventjudgment where every man and woman'sEternal Destiny is to bedecided when did that begin when didthat begin that pre-advent judgmentbegan at the end of the 2300 propheticyears which was October1844 so we don't talk about it muchthese days but this is Gospel truth weare now living during what the Biblewould would imply is the pre-adventJudgment when God is determining forevermore whose names are in the Lamb's Bookof Life and whose names are not in theLamb's Book of Life so how are we tolive ourselves during this time of thepre-advent Judgment God's people are notto assume any Endtime Advantage with Godover Fallen Humanity we are not toassume as did the tribes of Israel andthe people of Benjamin that even thoughthey were morally indistinguishable fromthe the sodomites and the people ofGomorrah that God would not bringjudgment upon them as he did upon SodomandGomorrah that would mean that God is NotJust God treats all people the same andwe have immense spiritual blessings andspiritual light the people of Sodom andGomorrah may or may not have heard of acoming Messiah but we have the whole ofscripture we can look back at Salvationhistory we understand the workings ofGod we understand revealed morality andwe still engage in willful sinso how we to live our livestoday it's easy for us today to do whatis right in our owneyes to claim that we are morallydifferent from the worldaround and to assume that God will nottreat us the way he treats those whoturn their backs onhim sister white put it in Greatcontroversy you see the quote on thescreen she says while the investigativejudgment is going forward in heavenwhile the sins of penitent Believers arebeing removed from the sanctuary thereis to be a special work of purificationof putting away of sin among God'speople uponEarth you know when you're asked topreach Pastor kayy asked me a few weeksago he says could you cover this sabbathbecause everybody's going to be up atcamp meeting I said sure I'll cover thatpreachingappointment when you asked to preachfrom the pulpit you are not you Don'tPreach for the good of your own healthyou might say You Preach because soulsare precious and sin is deadly andsalvation is eternal and eternal life isa prize worth striving for am and thereis nothing in this life nothing no sinno temptation no cherished habit nobehavior that maybe sometimes we flauntit sometimes we keep it hidden awaythere is nothing in our life that shouldcome that outweighs the Beauty and theblessings of what God has prepared forthose who love himamen so I'm preaching the sermon todaybecause everyone here is precious in theeyes of God and we need to hear a freshtoday there is a judgment it is going onright now God is determining whose nameis in the Lamb's Book of Life and we canhave the Assurance of Salvation when weturn to God with repentance andconfession and we ask for the coveringof Christ's righteousness and we receivehis righteousness in our lives today weask God for the grace to overcome thosebesetting sins that that stick to uslike glue on a difficult day thereforeprepare your mys fraction said theApostle Peter discipline yourselves setall your Hope on the grace that ChristJesus Christ will bring you when he isrevealed like obedient children do notbe conformed to the desires that youforly had in ignorance indeed as he whocalled you as holy be holy yourselves inall your conduct for it is written youshall be holy for I am Holy and thispassage is particularly applicable todaybecause where Peter is quoting from isfrom the Mosaic law where God is talkingabout sexual morality and in this monthof June it's important we talk aboutsexual moralityit brings God's judgment upon a nationupon a family upon an individual when weturn our back to God and we sin againstour own selves through the sexual sinrampant in our nation today for thosewho desire life and desire to see gooddays let them keep their tongues fromEvil and their lips from speaking deceitlet them turn away from Evil and do goodlet them seek peace and pursue it forthe eyes of the Lord are on therighteous and his ears are open to theirprayer but the face of the Lord Lord isagainst those who do evil so today weare called on this sabbath day to searchourhearts to examineourselves to ask God to reveal to uswhich aspect of my life is not inharmony with his holy will the what partof my life I cannot give as a holysacrifice to a living God and I ask Godtoday for the grace to take that out ofmy life so it will no longer be a shadowthat may ultimately hold me away frometernal lifeno sin today is worth exchanging foreternal life amen amen don't play withsin salvation is too precious for allpeople to be Tri to be um traded awayfor a pottage of of lentils as didEsau so what do we say in conclusiontoday what well as we look through theBook of Judges we learn about thefrailties of humanleaders we've learned about Jeff wehaven't learned about Jeff but maybe oneday they will preach about him a man whomade a rash vow and whose daughter paidthe price we read about Barack thegeneral afraid to fight without a womanat his side we read the story of Gideonthe man who wasn't sure what God wantedeven when God spoke directly to him weread the story of Ehud the man ofextreme violence who was also a man ofGod we read the story of Samson thatMacho machismo leader of Israel whocould kill thousands with his bare handsbut who fell for every woman he sawin This Book of Judges that we've justbeen looking through we also learn muchabout our heavenly father in the storyof oil God blesses those who step out infaith in the story of Ehud God does notwork as we expect but he reserves TheSovereign right to act as he sees bestin the story of Deborah and Barack thatGod works through those whose faith isweak in the story of Gideon God performswonders where we only see human weaknessin the story of jetha God keeps hispromises his promises can be trusted andare for our benefit no matter whathappens and the story of Samson Goddelivers his people despite theirspiritual failures we see in these ThisBook of Judges that despite thefrailties of human leaders God is stillin control and he is the ultimate judgebehind every imperfect human judge amenwe see that in a world in which everyman and woman does what is right intheir own eyes a world of moralrelativism which described the time ofthe judges and describes America todaywe live therefore in a world of moralchaos which leads to social chaos familychaos and Nationalchaos we see in this story here that itis possible like Caleb like Anne likeAxel like Deborah and the story of Ruthand Boaz it is possible to live in anera of social relativism and physicalviolence and moral breakdown it ispossible to live in eras like that andstill to be faithful to God to representhim Faithfully in a violent morallychaotic bloodthirsty Societyif Ruth and Boaz could live in thisSociety so can we if othneil and AXAcould live in that kind of society socanwe if um Deborah and Barack could livein that kind of society so can wetoday we don't have to be defined by thenation around us because God has calledus to a higher plane the Church of Godthe word church it means Ecclesia that'sthe Greek word uh the word Ecclesia isan old Greek word from way before thegospels were written in the city ofAthens you had free men and you hadwomen and slaves in the city and whenthey wanted to make a decision becauseit was democracy they called an Ecclesiathe word Ecclesia means those who'vebeen called out and the free men werecalled out of the city of Athens to theplane outside the city walls theydiscussed things they made a decisionthen they were sent back into that Cityin order to implement that decision andwhen Jesus says uh Upon This Rock I'llbuild my church in Matthew chapter 16and Matthew chapter 18 there um um theword he uses is Ecclesia it means I'mcalling people out of the world that youare not slaves to sin you are now freein the gospel and when you've beencalled out I'm going to send you backinto the world with a task todo that's what the word church meansit's not a building it means God hascalled us out in order that he mightsend us back with a heaven sent purposeand a Heavenlytask soI'm not sure where that text is there inconclusion sincetoday we are surrounded by so great acloud of witnesses these stories fromthe OldTestament today in the village churchand for those watching online let us layaside every weight and the sin thatclings so closely and let us run withperseverance the race that is set beforeus looking to Jesus the Pioneer and theperfector of our faith who for the sakeof the joy that was set before himendured the cross disregarding its shameand has taken his seat at the right handof the Throne of God there's much wecould say about thispassage everybody has their ownparticular sins that cling so closelybut we are each called to run withperseverance that's the word theendurance the race that is set before uswe don't all run the same race each oneof us runs our own race in life each oneof us struggles with our own complex ofsin in our own life but nobody can makean excuse according to this passage herethere is a solution for sin sick dyingsouls and is looking to Jesus as thePioneer and the author and the perfectorof ourfaith and he endured what he did for thejoy that was set before him that was thechance to meet with his bride at thewedding supper of the Lamb we encourageyou today to endure the course that Godhas set before you to run the race thatGod has set before you to cast asidethose weights that hold you backwhy because we also have the same joy tolook forward to when we will meet ourSavior Jesus Christ in the weddingsupper of the lamb and receive the giftof eternal life this is a beautifulthing to look forward to I hath Not SeenNor Ear heard nor have entered into theheart of the man the things that God hasprepared for those who love him amen Godis Judge God is a just judge there isnothing in my life or your life todaythat he does notknow so put on the Robes ofrighteousness and run with perseverancethe race that God has set for you inlife trusting that one day he will sayto you well done good and faithfulservant enter into the joy that is beenprepared for you amen amen