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Great Sins Produces Great Losses

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• Judges chapter 20, we will read verse 21 and then verse 25. The title of the message is "Great Sins Produce Great Losses," and I think you shall understand shortly. Judges 20 and verse 21: "And the children of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites that day twenty and two thousand men." Now if you'll skip to verse 25, this is the second day: "And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men."

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• All these drew the sword. Oftentimes we excuse what are known as little sins. We overlook them. We ignore them. And yet little sins are exactly violations of God's law, just like great sins. The Bible tells us in the Song of Solomon chapter 2 and verse 15 that little foxes spoil the vines, but little sins kill equally as do great sins, as sin is sin in one sense of the word. And yet there are some sins that are far more wicked and more criminal than others; hence we have varying degrees of punishment in the Bible for sin. For instance, theft is punishable by restitution anywhere from a two-fold restitution to a seven-fold restitution based upon Proverbs 6 and verse 31. But sins like murder and rape and kidnapping are always punishable by death. Now, when you read Judges chapter 20, you find 40,000 Israelites were killed in two days. That certainly does not include the Benjamites that were killed on the third day. In order to understand Judges chapter 20, you have to understand Judges chapter 19.

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• Because in Judges chapter 19, there was an exceedingly wicked, grievous, and horrible sin that was committed. It would certainly be classified as a great sin, and it demonstrates the depth of depravity into which fallen man can actually sink. So if you look in your Bibles to Judges chapter 19, there was a Levite out of Mount Ephraim that had taken a wife out of Bethlehem, Judah. And the Bible tells us that she left him, she deserted him, and she went to her father's house for four months in Bethlehem, Judah. So look in Judges 19 verse 1: "And it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim, and he took to him a concubine of Bethlehem, Judah. Now the concubine played the whore against him and went away from him into her father's house to Bethlehem, Judah, and was there four whole months." Now the word "whore" here actually is the Hebrew word "zanah," which means to fornicate, to play the whore, or to play the harlot.

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• And here is something that most of you probably have not really considered, but in the context it is desertion here that is classified as fornication or playing the whore. She went down to the father's house. She just simply deserted her husband. Now 1st Corinthians chapter 7 makes desertion very clear. But the interesting thing is, I know if you will look in verse 2 she is called his concubine, but if you read on in the chapter, you will find she's also called his wife. Then if you'll skip down to verse 4 and look: "And his father-in-law, the damsel's father, retained him; and he abode with him three days. And so they did eat and drink and lodge there." So she's only referred to as his concubine and his wife, but also her father is referred to as his father-in-law. So she left him, she deserted him, went down to her father's house, and so he goes after her. And the Bible tells us that he speaks friendly to her to restore her and to bring her back. Now what happened was this: the father-in-law, since evidently it was the first time he had met

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• his son-in-law, said, "Stay with us." And so he talked him into staying. And so the second day when he got up to leave, he said, "No, no, no, no." He said, "Just get comfortable and make yourself at home and let's eat together." And they did. So he didn't leave the second day. Third day, the same thing. And it kept going until finally the Levite says, "Look, I've got to go. I've got to get away and I've got to return back."

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• This time it was late in the afternoon. His father-in-law said, "Just stay tonight and you can leave early in the morning." "No," he said, "I've got to leave now." And so he and his wife and his servant left. And they got close to Jebus, which was Jerusalem. It was called Jebus because the Jebusites had control of it at that particular time. So I want you to look, if you would please, beginning there with verse 10 in Judges chapter 19: "But the man would not tarry that night, but he arose and departed, and came over against Jebus, which is Jerusalem."

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• "And there was with him two asses saddled. His concubine also was with him. And when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent. And the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn into the city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. And his master said unto him, We will not turn aside hither into the city of a stranger that is not of the children of Israel."

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• "We will pass over to Gibeah." And he said unto his servant, "Come and let us draw near to one of these places to lodge all night in Gibeah or in Ramah." And they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down upon them when they were by Gibeah, which belongeth to Benjamin. So obviously now they have turned into Gibeah and they're in the street, waiting for someone to invite them into their home.

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• You have to remember in those days there were no motels. No Howard Johnson's, no Holiday Inns. And the custom was if a stranger came along, you just simply invited them into your home. So they're in the street. No one invites them in until finally an old man comes along after a day's work. So note if you would please beginning there in Judges chapter 19. And let's begin reading in verse 20. The Bible says, in fact, let's go back to verse 16: "And behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at Even, which was also of Mount Ephraim."

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• "And he sojourned in Gibeah, but the men of the place were Benjamites. And when he lifted up his eyes, he saw a wayfaring man in the street of the city. And the old man said, Whither goest thou, and whence comest thou? And he said unto him, We are passing from Bethlehem Judah toward the side of Mount Ephraim; from thence am I. And I went to Bethlehem Judah, but I am now going to the house of the Lord. And there is no man that receiveth me into the house."

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• In other words, nobody has invited me home. Verse 19: "Yet there is both straw and provender for our asses. There is bread and wine for me also, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man who is with thy servants. There is no want of anything." We've got it all taken care of. Verse 20: "And the old man said, Peace be with thee. Howsoever let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street." So he brought him into his house and gave provender unto the asses, and they washed their feet and did eat and drink. So now the old man has invited him into the house and he gave some real sound advice. He says, "Do not lodge in the street." Well, the truth of the matter is this: just as they got into the house, were making themselves comfortable, beginning to eat, all of a sudden some men surrounded the house and wanted the man to be brought out to them. So look if you would please, beginning there with verse 22 of Judges 19.

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• "Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him. And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them, and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you do not so wickedly, seeing that this man is come into mine house. Do not this folly." So here these men come around and here is the euphemism "that we may know him."

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• They actually wanted to attack him. But note if you would, the old man says, "No, no, you are not going to do this wickedness. Do not do this to this man." Now, this Levite had come under the protection of this old man. Now, I'm going to explain this just momentarily, but I want you to look, if you would please, at verses 23 and 24 at what the old man said. "And the man, the master of the house, went out unto them and said unto them, Nay, my brethren, nay, I pray you, do not so wickedly, seeing that this man is come into mine house, do not this folly." Now watch what he says.

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• "Behold, here is my daughter, a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you. But unto this man do not so vile a thing." But the men would not hearken unto him. So the man took his concubine and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning. And when the day began to spring, they let her go. Now here is something that I have mentioned in times past, but I want to mention it to you again. Cultures differ. And it was certainly a different culture in Bible times. If you took a man, if you took anyone into your home in Bible times, it meant that they were under your absolute total protection.

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• It meant that you were to do everything to protect them, even giving your own life is what it amounts to. Now, the only way that you can understand what this old man did, and what the Levite did, in one sense of the word, is to understand this culture. So, when the men besought to bring out the man, he says, "No, no, don't do this. This is wicked."

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• He said, "Behold, here is my maiden daughter. Here is my virgin daughter. Here is his wife. You take them, do as you please with them, but do not touch this man." How in the world could any father give his maiden daughter to a bunch of perverts? How could any man give his wife to a bunch of perverts? Well, the interesting thing is the old man was trying to save the man, and the man who gave his wife was trying to save himself.

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• Here's what John Gill said, and listen carefully. He said, "So the man took his concubine and brought her forth unto them." That is not the old man, but the Levite took his own wife or concubine and put her forth to them, very probably with her consent, to try if that would pacify them, she being a fair and beautiful woman, as Ben Gersom and Abarbinel suggest, and Josephus intimates, that some young men of the city had seen her in the street, and were captivated with her beauty, and came on purpose for her, and would not be satisfied unless she was delivered to them, upon which her husband perceiving this laid hold on her by her main strength, as the word signifies, and brought her out whether she would or whether she would not. In other words, what he's saying is the husband put her out whether she went willingly or whether she did not go willingly. Now there's one other quote I want to give you, and that's by Adam Clarke. Here's what he said: "The men of Gibeah who wished to abuse the body of the Levite, and the Levite who wished to save his body at the expense of the modesty, reputation, and life of his wife, and the old man who wished to

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• save his guest at the expense of the violation of his daughter, are all characters that humanity and modesty wish to be buried in everlasting oblivion." And that's true. When you stop and think about that, any man or any Christian man should be willing to fight for his wife, even die for his wife. And for someone to do this, you and I would think this is absolutely insane. So these men took his wife and abused her all night.

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• Actually to the point that they murdered her. I mean they killed her. So if you look at Judges 19 beginning there with verse 27: "And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way: and behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, and her hands were upon the threshold. And he said unto her, Up, and let us be going. But none answered. Then the man took her up upon an ass, and the man rose up, and gat him unto his place. And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his

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• concubine, and divided her, together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel. And it was so, that all that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day." And here's what he said to the twelve tribes: "Consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds." So he took his wife, he took his concubine, he divided her into twelve pieces and he sent a piece to each one of the twelve tribes. He said, "This has never happened since we came out of Egypt."

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• What in the world are we going to do about this? Now, let me just point something out. If this incident happened in our day and time, the perpetrators, the rapists, the murderers, would probably—especially if they were illegal aliens—get off scot-free. And the man who divided up his wife would be charged with mutilation of a corpse and go to prison. Now if you don't believe what I'm talking about, just go on the internet and read what happened to the Muslim who raped two women in Canada. They caught him. And now the Canadians are sending him to college. Boy, what a punishment. The taxpayers are paying his way to college because he raped two women. Now, I'm just simply pointing out the fact here, this situation is totally different from today.

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• Now, if you look in chapter 20, because this is where we're going to start: "Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together, as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in Mizpah. And the chief of all the people, even all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen that drew the sword." So 400,000 Israelite soldiers have now come together in order that they might avenge what has happened in Gibeah.

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• Now, here's an interesting thought. If you read Judges chapter 20, you're going to find that during this short war, in approximately three days or so, there were over 66,000 men killed. None of those men needed to be killed. Because all the Israelites asked for were the wicked men who had done this horrible deed, that they might be executed, that they might be brought out. Look if you would in Judges 20 beginning there with verse 11. Here it is, Judges 20 verse 11: "So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that is done among you? Now therefore deliver us the men, the children of Belial, which are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and put away evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. But the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities of Gibeah, to go out to battle against the children of Israel."

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• Now, here's something that we need to consider. This war is being fought because the Benjamites are willing and desiring to protect the wicked.

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• Now, if they had just delivered up the men who deserved death and were worthy of death, this war would not have happened at all. So, let me put it to you very plainly. The Benjamites have to bear the blame for the deaths of over 66,000 men. Not all of the Benjamites were Sodomites, just these few in the city here of Gibeah. But the sin of the Benjamites was in protecting the Sodomites.

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• Now, let me read to you Romans 1 and verse 32. I want you to think about this. The Bible talks about those individuals who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. So here are people that may not commit such horrible sins, but they have pleasure in those that do so. And God says if they have pleasure in those that do so, they deserve to be judged as well. Well, if someone deserves to be judged with the wicked just because they have pleasure in the sins of the wicked, how much more does someone deserve to be judged who is protecting the wicked and defending them

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• against that which is right and holy? So here the war breaks out. There are men of the tribe of Judah chosen to go up first against the Benjamites, and on the first day, according to verse 21, the Benjamites came out of the city and slew 22,000 Israelites. That's quite a devastation. You lose 22,000 men in one day. And so they renew themselves and go out the second day. And on the second day, the Benjamites come out and they kill 18,000 more Israelites. That is 40,000 men in two days. Wow. Well, verse 25 says that "Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the children of Israel again eighteen thousand men; all these drew the sword."

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• So when you add 22 and 18 you get 40. Have you ever considered the number 40 in scripture? Whenever you look at certain scriptures, you will find that the number 40 is a number of testing and judgment. May remind you first of all of Genesis 7 and verse 4, where God said to Noah, "Yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance which I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth." When you get to Deuteronomy 8 and verse 2, God said, "And you shall remember all the way that I led you in the wilderness those forty years." So the children of Israel wandered 40 years in the desert. You get to Deuteronomy 25 and verse 3, talking about punishment, talking about judgment, God says, "Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed."

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• So a man could be whipped, a man could be chastened up to 40 stripes, not one more, lest he seem vile to his brothers. May I remind you of this, that in 1 Samuel 17 and verse 16 it was Goliath who taunted, humiliated, and defied Israel for 40 days. And when you get to the book of Judges chapter 13 in verse 1, Israel was in bondage to the Philistines for 40 years. And I don't have to repeat this one, but I will mention it: in Jonah chapter 3 in verse 1, what was Jonah's message as he ran through Nineveh? "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." And I don't know if you remember this or not, but in Ezekiel chapter 4 in verse 6, Ezekiel lay on his right side for 40 days to bear the iniquity of Judah's sin. And then it was Ezekiel 29, God said He's going to judge Egypt for 40 years. And when you get to the New Testament in Mark chapter 1 and verse 13, the Bible talks about Jesus Christ and He was 40 days in the wilderness being tempted of Satan and with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto Him.

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• So, all I'm trying to tell you is the number 40 is very significant. So, now in two days you have 40,000 Israelites slain. That does not count over 26,000 Benjamites that were slain within the next day or so.

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• Now, here's my question, and this is what this sermon is all about. Listen carefully. Why would God suffer the Israelites to have so great a loss in so good a cause? I mean, come on, yes the Israelites finally won the war, that is true, but they lost 40,000 men and the wicked only lost 26,000 men. Why? Well, let me remind you of a principle some time ago.

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• I preached a message actually from this passage which I entitled "Clean Hands Doctrine Exemplified." And the principle is this: if you're going to accuse someone of a sin and if you're going to judge someone of a sin, your hands must be clean in the sense that you're not guilty of the same sin, for in doing so you just simply condemn yourself. If you will hold Judges chapter 20, but look in your Bibles to the book of Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. You're going to find our Lord enunciating this principle. It's a passage that everyone is familiar with. In Matthew chapter 7, notice if you would please verses 4 and 5. Look what He says: "Or how wilt thou say to thy brother,

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• "Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." In other words, if you're going to start picking motes, you better make sure there's no beam in your own eye. If you're going to try to judge and correct your brother, you better make sure that you're not guilty of the same sin. Now, here is the point that I want to make right now.

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• Most modern day Christians are exactly like the Israelites in Judges chapter 20. We are quick to denounce, denigrate, and fight against what we know as external and physical wickedness. Well, let me—we're quick to fight against that, but we're slow to fight against that which is internal and spiritual wickedness. We can see something that is physical. We can see something that is external, and we can say very quickly, "That's wrong," and we're ready to fight against it, but we're not as quick to fight against something that is internal and spiritual. Many years ago, I preached two messages, which I entitled "Spiritual Fornication and Adultery." Spiritual fornication and adultery. And I showed in the very first message that the word fornication, the word adultery, harlotry, whore, whoredom—all of this not only were interchangeable words, but here was the shocking thing: when you looked up those words in the context in which they were used, very seldom do they refer to physical sin. Most often they refer to spiritual sins, particularly idolatry. Let me just show you one passage.

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• I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 3. Hold Judges chapter 20, but look in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 3 and watch verses 8 and 9. Jeremiah chapter 3, verses 8 and 9, and you could multiply passages like this. Jeremiah 3, look in verse 8: "And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks." So here's the word adultery, whoredom, adultery, harlotry, and all of these refer to what you and I would call idolatry. It is spiritual wickedness. And so let me put it to you very plainly: idolatry is spiritual adultery. It is a forsaking of God. You remember back in Judges chapter 19.

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• What did the Levite's wife do? She deserted him. She played the whore against him. Well, when you get to Jeremiah chapter 3, this is exactly what people are doing to God. They are deserting Him. They are forsaking Him. They are turning their back upon Him. They are turning to idols. They are turning to flesh. They are turning to self. They are turning to the world. And so when you look in Judges chapter 20, you are going to find that the children of Israel were very quick in one sense of the word to want to vindicate this Levite and his wife and punish the wicked, and yet at the same time they're very slow to do the same thing when it came to spiritual adultery. Now you've heard me say context is everything. You cannot understand Judges 20 without understanding Judges 19, and you cannot understand Judges 19 without understanding Judges 17 and 18. So what happened in Judges 17 and 18? Well, if you will turn back in your Bibles to Judges chapter 17 and let's begin reading there with verse 1. You're going to see the stage being set in 19 and 20.

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• But look if you would in Judges 17 verse 1: "And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah. And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver which were taken from thee, about which thou cursest, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it." In other words, I stole it. "And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son. And when he had restored the eleven hundred 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 two hundred 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." Now watch: "And the man Micah had a house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest."

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• So here is spiritual adultery. Here is this man who's made all of these molten images, and he's consecrated his own son to be his priest. Now look in verse 6: "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." 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 of Bethlehem Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And he came to Mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and he sojourned. 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 a father unto me, and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals."

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• "So the Levite went in." So now, Micah is saying—and he says it on down in there—"I know God is gonna bless me because I have a Levite to be my priest." In other words, "I've got a real preacher. I've got a real teacher. It's not my son. Yeah, I've got somebody that's been ordained and certified. I mean, this man, I know God's gonna bless because he is a real Levite." Now so Micah has made this false god, and the Levite—his name is Jonathan.

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• You will find that when you read the scripture—dwells with him. Now when you get to Judges chapter 18, there were some men of the tribe of Dan who needed more land. They had not really occupied all the land that they had been given, and so they're going out to find a larger place to dwell. So look in chapter 18 verse 1: "In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for to that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. And the children of Dan sent out of their family five men from their coasts, men of valor from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it. And they said to them, Go search the land: who when they went, and came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, they lodged there. When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man, the Levite."

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• "They turned in thither, and said to him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest. And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whither our way which we go shall be prosperous. And the priest said to them, Go in peace: before the Lord is your way wherein ye go." So they go out and they look at the Zidonians or the people of Laish, and they find that Laish happens to be, you know, there is no one there to really protect the people.

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• And so they go back and report to their brethren, "It's an easy take." And so the Danites then send 600 armed men that they might come and conquer Laish. And of course they do conquer Laish, that is for sure. But the interesting thing is when they come to Micah's house, they stop. Look in verse 14 of Judges chapter 18. Now remember, 600 armed men. Notice if you would Judges chapter 18 and let's say verse 13: "And they passed thence unto Mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah. Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image?"

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• "Now therefore consider what ye have to do." Now watch. "And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate. And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. And the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war. And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then the priest said unto them, What do ye?"

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• "And they said unto him, Hold thy peace. Lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people."

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• "So they turned and departed, and put the little ones, and the cattle, and the carriages before them." Oh, the priest ended up helping to steal everything that Micah had as well. Well, the reason his heart was glad—I mean, he's getting a promotion. He's going to get more money. He's going to be able to minister to more people. I mean, my goodness, he's happy at that.

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• Now, here's the interesting thing. The tribe of Dan and this Levite have stolen all of these false gods. You can read what happens when Micah chases after them. The men turn around and says, "Are you belly aching?" He said, "You stole my gods." They said, "Shh, better hold your voice. Let some of these angry fellows run upon you and you lose your life. You know, you're not up to fighting 600 men." And so Micah goes back. Now, here are two interesting things. Number one, I told you earlier, this young Levite, his name Jonathan. Now that doesn't mean anything to you, but let me tell you this: his father was Gershom. You say, "Well that doesn't mean anything to me." Ah, well, if you'll hold Judges chapter 20, but look in your Bibles to the book of Exodus chapter 18. Exodus chapter 18, and let's begin reading there with verse 2. You're going to see the significance of Jonathan and his father. Exodus chapter 18 verse 2: "Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, and her two sons; of which the

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• name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land: and the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh." Ah, so Jonathan is actually a grandson of Moses. He is in the lineage of Moses. How quickly apostasy raises its ugly head. May I remind you that when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, you remember in Exodus chapter 32 where they made the golden calf. You remember that? You study it. They had not been out of Egypt for four months and they've already made a golden calf. So the interesting thing is this: Jonathan, the Levite, was in the lineage of Moses. Now if you look in Judges chapter 18 in verse 31, you're going to see something else that is shocking. Judges 18 verse 31: They had stolen all of these images which were contrary to God and His law, and the Bible says, "And they set up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh."

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• Can your mind comprehend this? Jonathan, a descendant of Moses, and here they're setting up all of these idols, this false religion, while the house of God is in Shiloh. The tabernacle was still in existence. What is happening in Judges 17 and 18? And the answer is Israel is ignoring the worship of God and establishing its own worship, its own idolatrous worship. I told you earlier that sins are sins in one sense of the word, but there are some sins that are greater than others. There are sins against man and there are sins against God, and ultimately I understand that all sins are against God because even David said, "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight." But there are specific sins that are directed at God, for instance idolatry, blasphemy, and unbelief. All of these sins are a direct challenge to God. They are a war against God, they're an insult to God, and a provocation of God. And so when you see Judges 17 and 18, now you realize what is happening in 19 and 20. And now you see that Israel is very quick to what you and I would call deal with physical adultery,

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• and they wanted to remove that out of their sight, but they were very slow to deal with spiritual adultery, which was idolatry. Now, let me say this, I'm going to show it to you a little bit later, but I want you to understand this. The physical adultery actually is the product of the spiritual adultery. So, this adultery, this spiritual adultery had not just affected one man, it affected the entire tribe of Dan, and probably went throughout Israel as well.

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• So, when you get to Judges chapter 19 and you're seeing what is happening, it's happening because of what happened in 17 and 18. Now, I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Hosea chapter 4. Daniel, Hosea, Hosea chapter 4. And let's begin reading there with verse 10. Here's a very interesting passage. Hosea 4 and verse 10. Watch carefully. Hosea 4 verse 10.

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• God says concerning these people, He said, "For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the Lord." They're not listening to Him. They've committed spiritual adultery. So now they're going to commit physical adultery. He says, "Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the heart."

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• Now watch carefully: "My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused them to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery."

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• In other words, here it is. Physical sexual sins are the result of spiritual sexual sins. We commit adultery against God. Consequently, there's adultery against us.

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• Now, look what he said in verse 14: "I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores." In other words, you're spiritual whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall. Now, verse 14 is very important. God said, "I'm not going to punish your daughters when they commit whoredom. I'm not going to punish your spouses when they commit adultery." Why? Because you have done it. You are the ones that are responsible for their actions. Now He said, "Therefore I'm not going to punish you." Listen carefully. Where there is hope, there's always punishment. There's always correction. There's always chastisement. Where there is no hope, there is no correction. There is no chastisement. There is no punishment. Do you remember what God said to Israel in Isaiah 1 in verse 5?

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• He asked, "Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." If there was hope, God said, "I would punish you." But if there is no hope, I won't punish you.

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• Now, I want you to hear what God is saying, because God in this passage is extremely provoked. If you don't understand what He is saying, I'm going to explain it to you. I want to explain it by scripture. Look in your Bibles, hold Hosea, but turn in your Bibles to the book of Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 and let's begin reading with verse 5. Hebrews 12 verse 5. Here's a very clear passage. Hebrews 12 verse 5: "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" Are you looking? "But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." God is saying, if you don't get punished, you don't belong to me.

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• You're not mine. And He said, "The people that doth not understand this shall fall." And the word "understand" includes those that do not understand and those that will not understand. Matthew Poole, in talking about the word "fall"—"therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall"—Matthew Poole says the word "fall" means you shall be utterly ruined, broken into pieces and scattered, broken at home first by intestine wars, next by foreign invasions, and carried away at last by conquering enemies. Here is the important thing for you and I to grasp: what happened in Judges 19. Judges 19 demonstrates a people that had sunk so low that their sexual perversion was open, public, flaunted, and unashamedly accomplished. Whenever you have open, flaunted, unashamed perversions in public, it is indicative of the death of a people, of a society, and of a nation.

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• All you have to do is read Romans chapter 1 over and over, "Wherefore God gave them up." Now, listen to me very carefully. The physical acts of whoredom, fornication, and perversions are the result and the evidence of spiritual whoredom and fornication. The greater the apostasy, the greater the spiritual adultery, the greater the physical acts of immorality and wickedness. If you have ever wondered why we are swamped on every hand with every perversion imaginable, from pedophilia to fornication to adultery to transgender, wonder no more. All of that is just simply the evidence and the result of a spiritual fornication and adultery. We have forsaken God, we have committed spiritual adultery, and we are reaping what we have sown. And I'm going to tell you something.

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• I don't know that it will, but if all the revelation and all the documents concerning this Jeffrey Epstein comes into clear focus and is made public, you and I will be so horrified at who is involved. It will amaze you and astound you. And if you don't believe that, you just go back and read Senator John DeCamp's book, "The Franklin Cover-Up," that was written probably 20 to 30 years ago, where the same thing took place in the Democratic Party. John W.

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• Whitehead is a constitutional attorney and an author. He is also the founder and the president of the Rutherford Institute. In his article, "The Heart of Darkness: The Sexual Predators Within America's Power Elite," he wrote this, just three short paragraphs. He said, "As I documented in the in-depth piece I wrote earlier this year, child sex trafficking, the buying and selling of women, young girls, and boys for sex, some as young as nine years old, has become big business in America. It is the fastest growing business in organized crime and the second most lucrative commodity traded illegally after drugs and guns. Adults purchase children for sex at least 2.5 million times a year in the United States. It's not just young girls who are vulnerable to these predators, either. According to a 2016 investigative report, boys make up about 36% of the children caught up in the U.S.

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• sex industry, about 60% are female, and less than 5% are transgender male and females." Wow. You're in Hosea. Look in Hosea 9 and verse 9. I'm just trying to explain to you why 40,000 Israelites died in two days. You see, if you're going to judge someone, you better make sure that you are free of the same sin. In fact, the Israelites were guilty of a far worse sin because their worse sin produced the physical sin. Look in Hosea 9, verse 9.

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• God is speaking of Ephraim: "They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins." They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah. Now look in Hosea 10 in verse 9. He says it again: "O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them."

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• In other words, you didn't really get punished the way you should have gotten punished. And God is saying, "I'm going to finish the job. I will deal with you."

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• Now, the whole point is this: what we are seeing in our land today is the result of spiritual adultery and fornication. Let me make some applications. The first one is this: God's judgments are a great deep, that is for sure. Clouds and darkness are round about Him, the Bible says, but justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne. We may not understand everything that God does, but when there is just a cursory reading of Judges chapter 20, you wonder how in the world could 40,000 Israelites get killed over something that they were trying to correct? Until you see the greater picture that they were far more guilty of a greater sin against God than these people were of their wicked sin against a woman and a man. One thing we should always know: we may not be able to understand everything, but everything that God does is absolutely righteous and in truth.

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• Here's a second lesson that we should learn from this. We should learn that the race is neither to the swift nor the battle to the strong. And we're not to confide in our flesh, no matter how great our power is. When you stop and think of 400,000 warriors, men of valor, drawn up against 26,000 Benjamites, you begin to think there's no way those Benjamites have any chance. And yet those Benjamites kill 40,000 Israelites before they were defeated. When you think of 40,000, that is a 10% loss of a 400,000-man army in two days. Here is the third application: I believe in this God is teaching us that we should not think it strange sometimes that which is good and righteous suffer setbacks.

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• I mean when you look around the world today and you understand that Christianity is under attack—did you know according to statistics Christians are the most persecuted people on the planet today? And you look around and it seems like Christianity is on the run, that Islam is on the gain and all these other isms and systems are marching left and right while we're sitting still or being run over. But the truth of the matter is this: God is still sovereign and God is still in absolute control. And like I've said before, everything is going wrong just right. And we know, we know that we are going to be ultimately victorious because Jesus Christ is the victor.

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• He's King of kings and Lord of lords and God of gods. In fact, the Bible tells us that we're more than conquerors through Him who loved us. And therefore we should not be depressed or discouraged because sometimes it looks like everything is against us. You remember old Jacob said that all these things be against me, and everything that he said was against him turned out to be for him. So we're more than conquerors through Jesus Christ. Here's my last application.

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• You have to understand that we have sinned as a nation. We have sown the wind and we're reaping the whirlwind. We must repent. We must turn back to God. We must turn back to His word and we must live our lives in obedience to Him. We must begin the work of repentance. Listen carefully: individually, familially, ecclesiastically, and nationally. Now, let me break this thing down for you. If you and I do not begin repentance personally, if we do not personally repent, there will never be a familial or family repentance. If there is never a family repentance, there will never be an ecclesiastical or a church repentance. And if there's never an ecclesiastical repentance, there will never be a societal or national repentance.

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• Everything begins with the individual. We have to make sure that our lives are brought in conformity to the Word of God and that we're living our lives in obedience to God. If we continue the way we're going without repentance, if you think it is tough now, all I can say is you better tighten your seatbelt and hold on. Because it will get worse. Because God is not mocked. And what we're seeing is nothing more than the physical reality of a spiritual reality. The physical evidence of what we've done to God is being exhibited right before our eyes. Let's pray.

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• Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. We pray, Lord, that You would indeed give us repentance, give us faith, help us love Thee and live for Thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T22:44:03Z