Compound Sin

Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone, and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church,

and it's my joy to bring God's Word to you today.

A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us. We're glad that you're here,

and we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,

but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we've become convinced that there's no one so good.

They don't need God's grace, and no one's so bad that they can't have it,

which is why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in His Word.

We are continuing our series in the Book of Judges, completely unrelated to the Book of Judges.

Today is June the 9th, and I've been reflecting on the fact that it was June the 7th of 2017

that my U-Haul arrived in Colorado Springs.

And it was June the 12th, Monday of 2017 that was my first day of work at Cheyenne Mountain.

So I'm hitting seven years.

Thank you.

And so I've been reflecting on that, and I just wanted to say I'm so grateful to be with all of you

and to still be here in Colorado Springs, Cheyenne Mountain.

We're continuing our series in the Book of Judges.

You'll remember that the Book of Judges is about a number of things.

It's about the need for constant renewal and revival among God's people.

It's about the need for a faithful and true king,

a king who can do what no human can do, which is to change the hearts of men.

And it's about the power of spirit-filled leadership.

And it's about God's mercy to hard-hearted people, people like you and me.

Last week, we looked at Judges chapter 19,

Judges 19 · chapter mention

and I told you that Judges 19 is arguably the most tragic, the most violent,

the most gruesome story in the entire Bible,

out of all 66 books and almost 1,200 chapters.

And we saw that that is, in fact, how it all ends

when everyone does what is right in his own eyes.

That is the end state, the ugly fruit of autonomy and individualism.

And I told you that we cannot have a beautiful community

and also demand what is most convenient for us.

That's the sober warning that comes at the end of the Book of Judges.

Now, this week, as we head into chapter 20,

we're going to see the nature of sin, the ugly nature of it,

and what happens when we leave it unaddressed,

when we refuse to fight it or put it to death.

And with that, I invite you to turn with me to Judges chapter 20.

Judges 20 · chapter mention

You can turn in your worship guide.

You can turn on your phone.

You can turn in your Bible.

No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's Word.

And God tells us that His Word is more precious than gold,

even the finest gold, and it's sweeter than honey,

even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb.

And so that's why we read now Judges chapter 20, starting at verse 1.

Judges 20 · chapter mention

Then all the people of Israel came out from Dan to Beersheba,

including the land of Gilead,

and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at Mizpah.

And the chiefs of all the people of all the tribes of Israel

presented themselves in the assembly of God,

400,000 men on foot that drew the sword.

Now the people of Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.

And the people of Israel said, Tell us, how did this evil happen?

And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered,

answered and said, I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin,

I and my concubine, to spend the night.

And the leaders of Gibeah rose against me

and surrounded the house against me by night.

They meant to kill me, and they violated my concubine, and she is dead.

So I took hold of my concubine and cut her in pieces,

and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel.

For they have committed abomination and outrage in Israel.

Behold you, people of Israel, all of you,

give your advice and counsel here.

Verse 8,

And all the people arose as one man, saying,

None of us will go to his tent, and none of us will return to his house.

But now this is what we will do to Gibeah.

We will go up against it by lot,

and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel,

and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand,

to bring provisions for the people,

that when they come they may repay Gibeah of Benjamin,

for all the outrage that they have committed in Israel.

So all the men of Israel gathered against the city,

united as one man.

And the tribes of Israel sent men throughout all the tribe of Benjamin,

saying,

What evil is this that has taken place among you?

Now, therefore, give up the men,

the worthless fellows in Gibeah,

that we may put them to death and purge evil from Israel.

But the Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers,

the people of Israel.

Then the people of Benjamin came together out of the cities of Gibeah

to go out to battle against the people of Israel.

And the people of Benjamin mustered out of their cities on that day

twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword,

besides the inhabitants of Gibeah,

who mustered seven hundred chosen men.

Among all these were seven hundred chosen men

who were left-handed.

Everyone could sling a stone at a hare and not miss.

And the men of Israel, apart from Benjamin,

mustered four hundred thousand men who drew the sword.

All these were men of war.

Verse 18.

The people of Israel arose and went up to Bethel and inquired of God,

Who shall go up first for us to fight against the people of Benjamin?

And the Lord said, Judah shall go up first.

Then the people of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.

And the men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin,

and the men of Israel drew up the battle line against them at Gibeah.

The people of Benjamin came out of Gibeah

and destroyed on that day twenty-two thousand men of the Israelites.

But the people, the men of Israel, took courage

and again formed the battle line in the same place

where they had formed it on the first day.

And the people of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until the evening.

And they inquired of the Lord,

Shall we again draw near to fight against our brothers,

the people of Benjamin?

And the Lord said, Go up against them.

Verse 24.

So the people of Israel came near against the people of Benjamin the second day.

And Benjamin went against them out of Gibeah that second day

and destroyed eighteen thousand men of the people of Israel.

All these were men who drew the sword.

Then all the people of Israel, the whole army,

went up and came to Bethel and wept.

They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening

and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

And the people of Israel inquired of the Lord,

for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days.

And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron,

ministered before it in those days,

saying, Shall we go out once more to battle against our brothers,

the people of Benjamin?

Or shall we cease?

And the Lord said, Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand.

Verse 29.

So the men set in ambush around Gibeah.

So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah.

And the people of Israel went up against the people of Benjamin on the third day

and set themselves in array against Gibeah as at other times.

And the people of Benjamin went out against the people

and were drawn away from the city.

And as at other times,

they began to strike and kill some of the people in the highways,

one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah.

And in the open country, about thirty men of Israel.

And the people of Benjamin said,

They are routed before us as at the first.

But the people of Israel said,

Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.

And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place

and set themselves in array at Baal Tamar.

And the men of Israel who were in ambush rushed out of their place from Merah Geba.

And there came against Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel.

And the battle was hard.

But the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was close upon them.

And the Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel.

And the people of Israel destroyed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin that day.

All these were men who drew the sword.

So the people of Benjamin saw that they were defeated.

The men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin because they trusted the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah.

Verse thirty-seven.

Then the men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah.

The men in ambush moved out and struck all the city with the edge of the sword.

Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in the main ambush

was that when they made a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city,

the men of Israel should turn in battle.

Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty men of Israel.

They said,

Surely they are defeated before us as in the first battle.

But when the signal began to rise out of the city in a column of smoke,

the Benjaminites looked behind them.

And behold, the whole of the city went up in smoke to heaven.

Then the men of Israel turned and the men of Benjamin were dismayed.

For they saw that disaster was closed upon them.

Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in the direction of the wilderness.

But the battle overtook them.

And those who came out of the cities were destroying them in their midst.

Surrounding the Benjaminites,

they pursued them and trod them down from Noha as far as opposite Gibeah on the east.

Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell,

all of them men of valor.

And they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the Rock of Rimen.

Five thousand men of them were cut down in the highways.

And they were pursued hard to get them.

And two thousand men of them were struck down.

So all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword,

all of them men of valor.

But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the Rock of Rimen

and remained at the Rock of Rimen for months.

And the men of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin

and struck them with the edge of the sword.

The city, men and beasts, and all that they found.

And all the towns that they found, they set on fire.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father in heaven, we do thank you that you haven't left us alone

as orphans in a merciless universe,

but instead you've given us your word.

You've given us the Old Testament and the New Testament.

You've spoken to us to guide us and challenge us and instruct us,

and most of all, to show us Christ.

That we would know and see and understand our need for His grace

and how He meets us at that very same place of need.

And so we ask that you would do that this morning,

that you would use your word in a powerful way,

that we would see your beauty and your glory and your mercy more than ever before,

that it would lead us to love you, to worship you, to follow you.

We ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

You'll remember that our story last week ended on a particularly gruesome note.

As the Levite takes his concubine, who has been violated,

he cuts her into 12 different pieces,

and then sends those pieces all throughout Israel.

And we have this chilling statement at the very end of chapter 19 in verse 30,

which reminds us of how terrible this is.

And it says,

Such a thing has never happened or been seen

from the day that the people of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt

until this day.

Consider it.

Take counsel and speak.

And we see here at the beginning of chapter 20

that this graphic statement that the Levite makes

certainly has the impact that he has intended.

There are a lot of things going on in chapter 20,

and we will certainly not be able to get into all of them this morning.

But if there's one thing that the author of Judges wants us to know,

it is this.

Israel has incredible unity.

And in fact, we hear it and see it over and over.

Verse 1,

All the people of Israel came out.

Same verse.

The congregation assembled as one man.

Verse 7,

Behold you people of Israel,

all of you.

We saw in verse 2,

the chiefs of all the people,

of all the tribes of Israel.

Verse 8,

All the people arose as one man.

Verse 11,

All the men of Israel gathered,

united,

as one man.

You think that we've heard it enough?

Nope.

Verse 26,

All the people of Israel,

the whole army.

And in case we missed it,

we're also told,

verse 1,

they came from Dan to Beersheba.

Dan being the northernmost point of Israel,

Beersheba being the southernmost point.

In other words,

over and over again,

the author repeats this,

so that we know

Israel,

Israel,

in the midst of a book full of their factions

and selfishness and infighting,

are finally gathered together.

With, of course,

one exception.

Verse 3 reminds us,

Benjamin was not there.

Why?

Well,

the men of Gibeon are Benjaminites.

And so they decide not to show up

to answer for the actions

of their own people.

And as we read this

and think and see

that Israel is finally gathered together,

they finally have one mind

and one mission,

there is this sadness

and this irony

that we're meant to feel.

Why couldn't they do this

back in chapter 1?

Why does it take

such a gruesome

and violent action

for Israel

to finally be

what she should have been?

And in fact,

it's not just a question

of why did this not happen

back in chapter 1.

No, even more than that,

there are echoes here

of chapter 1.

Now, I know it's been

a long time,

it's been about a year

since we started

the book of Judges,

and so you have to think

all the way back

to what we saw

at the very beginning.

But the reason that Israel

is in this problem

is because they refused

to do what God

had told them to do.

They refused

to drive out the Canaanites.

And what is it

that we read

at the very beginning?

Not just chapter 1,

verse 1,

they go to God

and they say,

who shall go up first

for us

against the Canaanites?

And God answers them,

verse 2,

Judah shall go.

In case we miss it,

here in chapter 20,

we see the exact same words.

Verse 18,

who shall go up first

for us to fight

against the people

of Benjamin?

Same verse,

Judah shall go up first.

As I've told you many times,

bookends are extremely powerful.

It is not a coincidence

that we see this

in chapter 1

and chapter 20.

The author is telling us this.

You would not drive out

the Canaanites

in chapter 1.

You wouldn't fight

God's enemies

in chapter 1.

Well, guess what?

Now in chapter 20,

you get to fight

each other.

You can either fight

your enemies

on the outside

or you can destroy

yourself on the inside.

Those are the only choices.

Last week,

we said this is how it ends

when everyone does

what is right

in their own eyes.

This week,

we get to see

this is how it all ends

when sin is not

addressed.

You can fight sin now

or you can fight it later,

but you will fight it

one day.

You can face enemies

on the outside

or you can self-destruct

on the inside.

In fact,

the principle

that we've waited

20 chapters to get to

is this.

Sin

does not

just sit there.

It grows

and grows

and grows.

I have

two

personal characteristics

which are

a bad combination.

One of them

is that sometimes

I can be a little bit clumsy

and the other one

is that I like

to drink a lot of coffee.

And when those

two traits interact,

what that results in

is I get a large number

of coffee stains

on my clothes.

The good thing

about that though

is this.

Coffee is one

of the easiest

stains to get out.

It's contained.

It's not going to spread.

It's not red wine.

I can wash it today.

I can wash it next week.

I can wash it next month.

It is going to come out.

As long as I don't wait

six months,

as long as I

don't wait a year,

it's going to be fine.

It's not going to get worse.

I'm going to be able

to address it.

I can do it

on my own timeline.

The problem is this.

Sometimes we think

about sin that way.

It's contained.

It's going to be there

when I want to deal with it.

I can address it

when I want to address it.

And when I choose

to address it,

I'll be able

to get rid of it.

While I wait,

nothing will get worse.

Yet the problem is this.

Sin is not a coffee stain.

Sin is in fact a cancer.

Sin is like mold.

It grows and grows and grows.

The longer it is left unaddressed,

the larger it gets.

There's a domino effect to sin.

Israel refused to drive out

the Canaanites in chapter 1.

They have become

like the Canaanites

in chapter 20.

Their failure,

their refusal

to drive out

the pagan nations

has finally come home

to roost.

They left it alone

and it grew

and grew

and grew.

Israel thought

that she could have

her cake

and eat it too.

She thought

she could have

a halfway compromise

with sin

and still have

all the benefits

of God's people.

And now we see

at the very end

of the book,

you can't have it

both ways.

You deal with sin now.

You deal with it later.

One of those

is much easier

than the other.

And so there's

a sadness here.

What would have happened

if Israel had been

obedient in chapter 1?

How many lives

would have been saved?

How much dignity

would have been retained?

And yet what happened?

They didn't understand

the threat.

Israel didn't see

the urgency.

They didn't see

the need to obey

in hard ways

that God had commanded

them to go

and be bold

in battle

and take out

the foreign nations.

If they had been

this unified

in chapter 1,

the story would have

been very different.

And so there is

a warning here

as we come to the end

of the book

and that's this.

There is great danger

in spiritual complacency.

There is great danger

in refusing

to address sin

because it will

only get worse.

It may be hard

to confront

scandal

and abuse

in an organization

and if you do not,

it will get so bad

you cannot hide it

anymore.

You may shut yourself

off to others

and think that you

can have connection

and community

one day

when you choose it

on your own terms.

and then you wake up

and you realize

that your heart

is hard

and closed off

and you're all alone.

You can face

the consequences

of your selfishness

in your marriage

now

or you can face

it later.

The longer you wait,

the harder

it gets.

We can choose

to ignore

compromise

and error

in God's church.

And not only

will it not go away,

it will get worse

the longer

we wait.

You can refuse

to discipline

your kids now

and the problems

and the challenges

will only grow

with each year.

you can refuse

to reconcile

with your brother

or your sister.

The distance

will only increase.

The challenge

will only be more.

Sin collects

interest

day by day,

year by year.

You'll see this

on page 10

of your worship guide.

Albert Einstein

is famous

for saying

the most powerful

force in the universe

is compound interest.

We might say

that the most destructive

force in the universe

is compound sin.

The longer we wait,

the worse

it gets.

sin

is on a relentless march.

It's not stopping

and when you ignore it,

it gains ground.

The cancer

that has been

killing Israel

for 19 chapters

finally gets so bad

they can't turn

their eyes anymore.

It's finally

metastasized.

It's finally

terminal.

They have become

worse than the nations

around them.

And so the point

is simple.

Christian,

deal with it now.

Obedience

is hard.

Disobedience

is even

harder.

again on page 10

of your worship guide,

be killing sin

or sin

will be

killing you.

If Israel

had done

that very thing

in chapter 1,

chapter 20

would look

very different.

Thankfully,

we don't simply

see a sober warning

in Judges chapter 20.

Judges 20 · chapter mention

we also see

one of our

major themes

for Judges

that has come up

again and again,

which is God's

mercy towards

hard-hearted people,

people like you

and me.

And the good news

is that even

as everything

is finally

hemming in

on Israel,

God

has not

given up

on his people.

God is still

at work

guiding

and protecting

them.

Verse 35

at the beginning

gives us

the author's

interpretation

of this chapter.

He tells us this,

and the Lord

defeated

Benjamin

before

Israel.

God

still brings

justice

to

and for

his people.

God is still

active

in the story

of Israel,

and even more

than that,

God still

gives guidance

to his people.

Note what they

do here

that they

haven't done

for some time.

They inquire

of God

three times.

Three times,

God answers.

Verse 18,

verse 23,

verses 27

and 28.

And in verse 28

he tells them this,

go up,

for tomorrow

I will give them

into your hand.

And then

verses 29

through 48

we see this

ambush

that they set up,

their final move

that brings them

success

and all its

after effects.

Which reminds us

of this,

in the midst

of imperfection

and sin

and failure,

God

still

hears

his people.

In the midst

of Israel's

mess,

God

has not

given up.

Which returns

us

to something

we haven't

talked about

for a few

chapters now

which is this,

no matter

where you are

and no matter

what you've

done,

because of

God's

grace,

there is

still hope.

Now there's

some odd

things here.

There's three

different battles.

The first two

battles,

Israel loses

and loses

a bunch of men.

It's not

until the end

that they

actually have

success and

that raises

this question,

like why is

it that God

doesn't allow

them to conquer

in the first

battle?

There's all

sorts of

different theories

at work.

People have

different ideas.

Ultimately,

we don't know.

We're not told.

What we do

know is this,

God still

listens to

his people.

God listens

to his people

despite the

compromise of

Benjamin,

the fact that

they're not

willing to

hand over

this subset

from Gibeah.

God listens

to his people

even though

the Levite

runs a spin

story and

changes a bunch

of the facts

about what

happened with

his concubine.

God still

listens to

his people

even though

they have

let the

influence of

the culture

around them

twist them

and change

them and

shape them.

That reminds

us of what

we already

read for us

this morning.

Hebrews 10

Hebrews 10:19

verse 19.

Therefore,

brothers,

since we have

confidence to

enter the

holy places

by the

blood of

Jesus.

Why does

God listen

to his

people?

Not because

they've earned

it.

Not because

they deserve

it.

They don't.

No, he

listens to

them.

He stays

in their

story because

and only

because of

his great

mercy and

grace.

His grace

to hard-hearted

people,

people like

you and

me.

Because we

have a

true and

faithful

king.

A king

who can

do what

no human

can do,

which is to

change the

hearts of

men.

It's the

promise of

the gospel.

It's the

promise for

you if you're

in Christ.

If you're a

Christian following

after him and

you know that

you haven't

deserved it and

you haven't

earned it, but

instead you

look in faith

to Christ who

lived the

perfect life that

we should have

lived and who

died the death

that we

deserved, we

know that

God's words in

2 Timothy 2 are

true for us.

If we are

faithless, he

remains faithful

for he cannot

deny himself.

love.

Let's pray.

Our Father in

heaven, we do

praise you and

thank you for

your great mercy

and your grace,

your mercy to

Israel in the

midst of their

failure, your

mercy to us in

the midst of our

failures.

We ask that you

would remind us of

that truth and

that you would

grow our faith and

trust in it, that

we would follow

you more and

more with love

and obedience.

We ask these

things in the

mighty name of

Jesus Christ.

Amen.