Chapter 17-18 |The Book of Judges: From Destruction to Deliverance

We're going to give the judges 17 and 18.

But before we jump in.

Have you ever shared or thought.

I am trying to do it right

here, almost with your hand.

I'm trying to do it right.

Everyone here? Been there?

It's usually when something's not right.

It's usually when we want to make sure that people

understand our intention, even if they don't agree with our action.

I'm a I'm just.

I'm just trying to do what's right.

You've been there, haven't you?

You've had that feeling, that sentiment.

Here's the problem with that.

Unless you have a standard by

which right is judged,

you're going to do what's right according to what you think is right.

Where you become the standard

of what's right.

Unless we have a standard that judges what is right and what is not right.

We're going to be the ultimate say of what is.

And that's why we say I'm trying to do what's right.

As if there's no necessary standards.

Just like, as far as I'm concerned, I'm trying to do what's right.

It's a dangerous place to live,

and there's way.

To do right according to your own standard,

can be very wrong.

Right?

Right.

But I'm just trying to do what's right.

Well, great

sentiment doesn't make it right.

And unless there is a standard

that says this is right and this is not right.

We can be very wrong.

Scripture gives us the standard.

And the point of the Bible is to say,

here's the standard.

So that it can reveal in us where we are not right.

Not for

condemnation, but for correcting and training.

And so this morning in judges 17 and 18,

I just need to tell you upfront it might step on some toes

because that's what it's supposed to do.

Second Timothy 316 says, All Scripture is God

breathed, it's inspired, and it's useful for teaching,

rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness that the person of God

will be equipped for every good, whether that's what it does.

In fact, I think I have that verse up here.

All Scripture is God breathed.

It's useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training and righteousness.

And so when I teach Bible, this is what we

what I try to do, because it's what the Bible does teach it.

Let's see what.

Let's understand what the Scripture says.

And when we understand what the Scripture says, it will rebuke error.

It will rebuke.

That means it'll call out.

I know you're trying to do what's right

in your own eyes, but it's in your own eyes.

And that first it has to be rebuked

so that it can be corrected.

You can't correct something that you don't admit needs correcting.

That make sense?

For so it can be corrected

so that training can take place.

So I can be trained

in righteousness and following God.

But it has to start with teaching God's Word.

So rebuke can happen not in a shameful,

demeaning way, but just in the exposing of error.

This is how we used to think, how we used to live.

So I can be corrected.

And trained and equipped and so.

17 and 18 this morning I need to let you know that chapter 17 through 21.

The rest of this book is really an addendum

to the book of judges. Like the

we can think of it

as, as, as it ending after Samson.

And then there's some

there's some other story, there's some other history that's given

just to, to to give light to and to flesh out

the degradation of God's people and how far they have fallen.

And we will certainly see

that in these next chapters

17 and eight. Chapter 1718.

There's a few main characters you have to understand, you have to know,

and I'm going to introduce them to you will look at them in these two chapters.

One of them is a man named Micah became Micah,

Nathan, and many Micah and his mom.

And there's a there's a person

known as a Levite.

And then there's the tribe of Dan.

Those four,

Micah, his

mom, a Levite in the tribe of Dan.

I need to give you some, some, some foundation from which to understand this.

Regarding the tribe of Dan, there were 12 tribes of Israel,

and the 12 tribes came from the 12 sons of Jacob,

each tribe bearing the name of one of the sons.

Dan was one of the sons of Jacob.

Thereby the tribe was known as the Tribe of Dan,

one of the 12.

In the Bible, and there's lists in both the Old Testament

and the New Testament of the tribes of Israel.

It lists different names,

and in some lists

it's the 12 sons of Israel.

They just simply list the genealogy.

And that's the that's the 12 tribes in other lists.

The Bible tells us their land allotment in the Promised Land.

And that's a different list than just the 12 sons.

And the reason why it's different is this.

Because when God was apportioning the land to the 12 tribes,

one of the tribes of the tribe of Levi and the Levites were the priestly tribe.

And God said, as priests, you don't have land

that is yours to inherit and pass on to your family members.

You will be taken care of by the people you minister to,

and they are responsible to care for you and take care of you.

Meet your needs and so you will have cities in their tribes

that will be your cities, but you won't have land for yourself.

Does that make sense?

Joseph is another one of the sons of Jacob,

and he isn't listed in the apportionment oftentimes.

And, and, and, and some of these lists.

And instead of listing Joseph, Joseph had two sons, Ephraim and Manasa.

And so sometimes in the list of the 12 tribes, Ephraim or Manasseh are listed.

And it's a throwback to their father Joseph,

who was one of the sons of Jacob

I they're just list different lists for different purposes.

That won't mean anything to you right now.

It will mean something to you at the end of this message, I just setting this up.

Okay, we're setting the table before we start the feast, okay?

And we'll feast at the end.

And all these tribes stuff will start.

It'll start making some sense,

but I just need to give you some basic understanding ahead of time.

The key for the book of judges, and especially for chapter 17

and for the rest of what we see, is this verse.

In those days, there was no king in Israel.

Everyone did what was right.

They just don't do what's right,

right now.

The problem, the interesting with with that verse, there was a king in Israel.

It was God.

He was to be their king.

He was to be the one that they followed.

And he gave all these rules and regulations on how to do it right.

But they didn't want that.

It's almost as if, you know, I know we got God,

but good gracious, can we have somebody else?

Like if we just have the right ruler?

Well, if we can just get the right person, the white House, we'll be okay,

right?

Right.

Well, now you know.

Like, in the end, we think like, if, if,

if we got the right person leaving us and God says, I'm the one.

They will have a king.

And it would be just as screwed up as it is now.

Guess what?

So do we.

And it's still going to be messed up,

just in different ways.

So everyone did not like and I appreciate the fact that they wanted

to do what was right, because I feel like we want to do what's right.

Right, right.

We we really do.

But the problem is when there isn't the standard that judges what's right,

you and I like them end up doing right

in our own eyes, which can be

very wrong.

Two keys to understanding.

They wanted to do what was right just in their own eyes.

Not in God's eyes.

Very similar to us.

Second thing is, is

there a problem? Was an issue of compromise

leading to greater and greater compromise?

It's the same thing with us.

Little compromises here, a little compromises there.

We don't think add up. And they do

at least a greater, greater compromise

and great destruction.

And so chapter 17,

the first two verses of chapter 17 say this.

Now a man named Micah

from the hill country of Ephraim said to his mother

the 1100 shekels of silver that were taken from you,

and about which I heard you utter a curse.

Yeah, I took it.

And in response to this kid

stealing a year's worth of wages from his mother,

which, by the way, parents,

would any of you be upset?

Look what she says.

Oh, bless your heart, sweetie.

Micah and his mom.

He stole this money.

And then, apparently,

she uttered some curse,

as if she has some type of special spiritual power

that could curse somebody and make bad happen to him.

And he wasn't scared

or remorseful about stealing the money until

he heard the curse.

So spiritually ignorant are these two

that he believes

he could live under the curse of an angry mother.

So spiritually,

he's superstitious.

She's superstitious.

They have no bearing on what it is to follow God

and God's authority.

And when he's confronted, and when he admits his error,

instead of being a parent

who disciplines and corrects,

instead of being a parent who says, here's the lines of what is right

and wrong, and this is what our family will do

and won't do, and there'll be consequences. What does she do?

Oh, sweetie, I, I know your heart.

I know you're a good boy.

It's all right.

I mean,

parents.

How many times have we made excuses for our kids?

No, you don't understand their heart.

They're a good boy.

They're a good girl.

I mean, they might be misunderstood. And,

like, things aren't fair for them, but they're not.

They're not bad.

I tell parents all the time.

Looks at you, discipline your kid with love or the world

of discipline them without love,

right.

And what we see here

is these beginning little slips of compromise.

Skin knows what's right and wrong.

You knows you shouldn't be stealing from his mom, yet he does.

She knows what's right and wrong.

She every helicopter and bulldozer parent knows

this is stupid

little thing and it just

it starts to grow and grow and grow.

Spiritual superstition.

Leads to great compromise.

Watch what happens

when he return the 1100 shekels of silver to his mother.

She said, I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord.

Okay. Wait, wait.

You're going to call down curses as if you have some type of spiritual

for you to to utter curses that has any type of power.

And then you're going to say, what I have is consecrated to God.

Watch what she says.

I saw him, he consecrated my silver to the Lord

for my son to make an image overlaid with silver.

I'll give it back to you.

So after he returned the silver to his mother, she took 200 shekels of silver

and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make an idol,

and it was put in Micah's house.

This this compromise

and slide little bit leads to more, leads to more, leads to more.

So not only does she not parent well,

she doesn't lead spiritually.

Well, she says, honey,

you're a sweet boy.

I'm going to take what you stole,

and I'm going to have someone make an idol,

and then you're going to take that idol and put it

in your house.

The problem with that,

she's invoking the name of God to make an idol,

to worship something other than God.

She apparently had forgotten God's command in Exodus 20.

You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven

above, on earth, below, or in the waters below.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them.

For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

But God doesn't play.

This little compromise leads to greater

compromise, leads to greater compromise.

After all,

all she's doing is what is right

in her own eyes.

I don't think she would say,

yeah, I'm really bad.

I don't think she would say, I am completely turning my back on God.

She wouldn't say that.

All she would say is, look, I'm just figuring to stuff.

I'm just trying to do what is right.

Verse five and six.

Now this man Micah had a shrine.

And he made an effort

and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest.

In those days, Israel had no king, and everyone did as he saw fit.

So here's this guy, Micah,

who has a shrine in his house

that he uses as his connection point to God,

and he makes an effort.

An ephod was the breastplate for the priest,

that God had given very clear instructions for the high priest

to wear in representing the people before God,

he makes one for himself

and sets his son up to be his quote unquote priest.

Not only that, he makes the Hebrew word his terrifying

little household got little family gods

to help protect him, he thinks,

and that he uses as avenues through

which to go to get to God.

It's called idolatry.

Anything we use as an instrument in worship

to go through to get to God is idolatry.

Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth.

I am a life.

No one goes to the father except through me.

So the way is a person of Jesus, and every Christ

follower has direct access to the father through the son.

We don't need medallions, we don't need statues,

we don't need any trinket

through which we go to get to God.

And using any medallion, trinket or patron

saint to go through them to get to God

is idolatry.

And this is what they're practicing.

Now we would say,

what's wrong with the little.

Medallion?

What?

What's wrong with the little?

You call it superstition.

I call it, you know, my faith background. But

what's wrong?

It seems like that should be all right

in our own eyes.

Right.

Remember

that this is what the Bible supposed to do.

Teach, rebuke so we can correct.

Be trained.

If you go on and you read, I just want you

to see the slight of compromise throughout this, these two chapters.

I didn't put it on the screen, but let me let me just read this.

Verses seven and eight.

The young Levite

from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been living within

the clan of Judah, left that town in search of some other place to stay.

On his way he came to make his house in the hill country.

From this this is.

It just gets worse and worse and worse because, you know,

there's a Levite from the town of Bethlehem.

Here's what you got to know.

A Levite was from the tribe of Levi, which were to be the priests.

That was the Levitical tribe.

They were the priests.

And I told you earlier they weren't given territory to inherit.

They were given cities in which to live.

Bethlehem was not one of their cities.

And so you have this man who is called by God

to be a Levite and a priest living outside of the will of God.

He should have been in Bethlehem.

You see that?

He says, the Bible says, a Levite from Bethlehem.

He should never been there.

He had his place as God called him to live.

And he rejected that and was going out on his own.

He the Bible says it was

he was in search of some place to stay.

He didn't want to be where God had placed him.

He didn't want to do what God had asked him to do.

He didn't want the parameters around his life that God has said.

And so he's going out searching for a better place, a better, a better thing.

He's compromised

the call and the will and the way of God

for greener pastures.

He's looking for a job.

Verses nine through 13,

Micah asked him, where are you from?

I believe from Bethlehem and Judah.

Right there.

Micah should have said, boy, you're

in the wrong neighborhood.

One you shouldn't be from Bethlehem.

Two, you need to go back to where God has called you to be.

But Micah is a man of compromise,

and he doesn't mind other men of compromise.

He said, I'm looking for a place to stay.

Then Micah said to him, Will live with me in my father and be my father and priest.

What?

I'll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes and your food.

So the Levite agreed to live with him,

and the young man became like one of his sons to him.

Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest

and lived in his house.

Micah

thinks I'm just going to circumvent

everything the way God said to do it.

This seems more right to me

to set this guy up as my priest

again.

I don't think Micah would wake up that day and say, you know what?

I just I think I'm just going to.

I think I'm just going to reject God.

I think he's just saying, you know what?

Just this just seems right.

And so he did what was right in his.

One compromise after another.

And I don't even think Micah realizes where this is headed.

He doesn't realize the compounding interest

associated with compromise.

It's a such a dangerous place for us to be.

The moment we take

what God has said and add anything to it,

the moment we subtract anything from the moment

we set up God and

God and.

We're on really dangerous ground.

God says, this is who I am.

This is how I will be worshiped.

This is the priority I will have in your life.

And the moment we say, well, God is it is you.

Certainly.

And it's

Isaiah 42 eight.

We got to know this verse.

I am the Lord. That is my name.

I will not yield my glory to another on my praise to idols.

Micah.

You don't messed up.

God will not share his priority

with any of your idols, trinkets, medallions, or priests.

Him and him alone.

So that's the end of chapter 17.

So watch chapter 18.

This is.

This is the ever increasing degradation and death of compromise.

Watch how bad this thing gets.

I want you to watch the the deepening ramifications

that begin with a guy and his mom.

Just personal compromise and watch how this compromise just spreads.

Verses chapter 18, verse one and two.

In those days, Israel had no king.

I feel like the writer just wants to keep reminding us

that listen, listen, listen, it wouldn't be so bad.

Yeah, it would.

And in those days, the tribe of the Knights

was seeking a place of their own where they might settle

because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.

So the five of their leading men

from Zorah and steal to spy out the land.

And it's for these men representing all the Dan.

They told him, hey, go check out the land.

The Bible

says that they hadn't yet received the land of their inheritance.

Yes, they had.

They just didn't like the allotment God had given them.

They already had their allotment.

They already had their blessing from God.

They just didn't like what God had given them.

They wanted to look at what God had given somebody else.

See, what God had given them was the land.

That kind of border was the Philistine the first thing to take over these five,

these five cities?

It bordered the Philistine land.

And for them to take full possession of the of the land they had given them

means they had to do some hard work.

God had called them to that, though.

But following God

and being where God placed them was too difficult for them.

It was too arduous for them.

They didn't want to trust God fully for his deliverance

of that which God could have done.

The judge who just got done studying his name was what?

Start the ends with amps.

Amazon.

The starts was Samson.

Samson was a day night.

He was from the tribe of Dan that lived right next to the Philistines.

God was taking care of the Philistines if the damage just trusted him to do it,

it was too hard for them.

So they said, let's go look for somewhere else.

When we don't embrace where God has placed us and what he is

right now, you may be in a tough spot, but I am your God,

and I will take care of you,

and I will conquer every foe.

I will throw down every game.

Just trust me.

It may be hard, but it won't be too hard

if we don't trust him in that and go looking for greener pastures.

That's called compromise

or compromise in our

faith, or compromise in our trust, or compromise our obedience.

And it will always go bad.

They had a place they didn't like. It.

When they were near

Micah's house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite.

See, they.

So they turned in there and asked him, what brought you here?

What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?

They knew he should be there.

They recognize his accent.

A Levite,

they know he's in the wrong spot.

Isn't compromised.

So easy to spot in somebody else, but not ourselves.

Right.

It's easier to call out in somebody else.

He told him I done for him and said, hey, he's hired me and I'm a priest.

And then he said to him,

okay, since you're a priest, inquire of God to learn

whether our journey will be successful. But

it you're not.

Where are you supposed to be? You're not doing what you're supposed to do now.

You're going to ask for God's blessing over your disobedience.

And so this idiot, the priest answered, go in peace.

You know your journey has the Lord's approval.

What do you.

What's this guy thinking?

This.

He's a priest.

Sometimes people

just want to hear their pastor say what they want to hear.

Make them feel good.

Right?

And sometimes pastors just want to see what their people want to hear,

to make them happy.

But that's not the role of a pastor.

That's not the role Scripture.

And he says, y'all go ahead.

The Lord's approved of your journey.

You didn't even ask God.

You didn't even. You did. Why?

Because you. I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why.

We don't ask God for God's opinion, because we don't want to know it.

Because we're fearful he might rebuke us

and correct us.

Look at verse seven and follow him.

I didn't put it up there. There's too much for you to put up on there.

So I couldn't type all this stuff.

I expect you bring your Bibles and follow along.

Verse seven, chapter 18.

So the five men left and came to lay.

They saw that the people there were living in safety,

unsuspecting and secure.

And since their land looked, lacked nothing,

they and they were prosperous,

they lived a long way from the.

And who could protect them? They had no relationship with anybody.

So the they go to these people in less than they think.

This land is fantastic.

These guys have no allies.

They're unsuspecting.

They'll never see us coming after them.

So they say,

come on, verse nine, let's attack them

and we'll see.

Because we've seen that the land is very good.

Don't hesitate to go there and take it over.

And when you get there, you'll find an unsuspecting people

and a spacious land that God has put into your hands.

A land that lacks nothing whatsoever.

They went to the hill country of Ephraim

and came to Micah's house.

They're terrible people.

They're acting as if God is being gracious and good to them.

All the while they're living in disobedience.

They've compromised God's place in for them in this world.

They've compromised their obedience to God, and it's leading them down

this dark path of destruction and abuse.

See, most times

we don't realize the increasing nature of compromise.

And compromise leads to greater

compromise, leads to greater compromise,

which leads to abuse and destruction.

Every time.

These five men who spied out the land.

They come to make this house.

And they turned into to his house.

This is verse 15.

And the young Levite is there at Micah's place.

He greets them.

The five men who had spied out the land went inside

and took the carved image of the ephod.

The other household gods and the cast idol.

While the priest and the 600 armed men stood at the entrance.

When these men went into Micah's house and took the carved image

the evening in the other household gods, and they cast out all.

The priest said to them, what are you doing?

Like I can't,

you shouldn't be here.

You're stealing.

Micah's got. Let me just tell you this.

If your God can be stolen, he's not a very good God.

You're saying that?

And they answered him.

Shut up.

I think, I think the literal translation is

they put the put your hand over your mouth, like, just shut up.

My Bible says, be quiet, don't say a word.

Come with us and be our father and priest.

Isn't it better you to serve a tribe and a clan in Israel

as a priest, rather than just one man's household?

Here's what they're saying.

You got a real little congregation.

Why don't you come with us?

You have a big old church.

That's why.

That's what they're saying.

Like, just

compromise a little bit more.

Because you'll have more if you do.

And this wonderful Levite priest,

the Bible says the priest was glad. Why?

Because he wants a bigger paycheck.

He wants a bigger congregation.

He wants more notoriety, a greater following,

wants to build his brand.

You stand, compromise after compromise.

Everyone from all of them.

Verses 22 through 29.

Watch what happens to these people.

When they had gone some distance from Micah's house, the men who lived near

Micah were called together and overtook the dentist.

So Mike was like, hey, these guys stole some stuff and let's go get them.

So they go in the fight against the dentists.

As they shouted after them, the dentist turned and said to Micah,

what's the matter with you that you called him in the fight against us?

He replied, you took the gods I made and my priest and went away again.

If your God has to be defended, he's not a very big God.

Did you know I never try to defend God?

That's not my job.

God can defend himself.

He doesn't need my assistance.

All I have to do is say, here's God.

I'll explain it to you.

I'll let God handle how he wants to handle you.

If you have to defend your God,

he's not a very big guy.

If your God can be stolen and taken away from.

He's not a very big god.

Verse 27.

Then they took what Micah had made and his priest,

and went to lash against a peaceful and unsuspecting people.

They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city.

The dentists rebuilt the city and settled there.

Verse 29, they named it their.

So they have compromised so much

that they left where God had placed them.

They rejected what God had given them.

They went and stole it from somebody else and renamed

that place Dan, as if that was God's plan for them.

And in the

meantime, they destroyed person after person after person.

That's what compromised us.

That was all set up to get us to this point.

That gets us to this point in verses 30 and 31.

And this is what I want you to pay attention to.

There the DeKnight set up for themselves,

the idol and Jonathan, son of Gershom, the son of Moses.

So this is right in the lineage of Moses.

Look how far this family's fallen.

And his sons were priests

for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land.

They continue to use the idol.

Micah had made all the time.

The house of God was in Shiloh.

All that I've said before is meant to get us to this point right here.

I want you to know

that they set up the idols that Micah had had,

and you were stripped them and use them to try to get to God.

The Bible says all the time while the house of God was in Shiloh.

What that's telling us is they were supposed to worship at Shiloh.

That's not very far from where they were,

but it was too much for them to do it God's way.

God's time and God's pace.

And so they circumvented God's commands, compromise,

and did it their own way.

Compromise after compromise.

Such a conference led them as a tribe

to compromise the sole worship of God alone.

To compromise

that and to fall into idolatry.

God and.

The ultimate consequences of this.

Are profound.

And I

started this message by telling you about the 12 tribes of Israel.

And we can't understand the dire consequences and nature of compromise

and idolatry without understanding where this led and to understand

where they said, we have to understand the 12 tribes of Israel.

So, like I said in the beginning, the 12 tribes

named after the 12 sons of Jacob,

chronologically,

here they are.

Reuben, Simeon, Levi,

Judah, Ishaq, Zebulun, Dan,

Naftali, Gad, Asher, Joseph, and Benjamin.

Those are the 12 son, Jacob.

Those are the 12 tribes of Israel.

Sometimes they're listed like that in the Bible.

Other times are listed differently.

For instance,

when the Bible tells us about their tribal

allotment of land, this is the list of the 12 tribes.

Reuben, Simeon, Ephraim, Judah,

Zebulun, Dan, Naftali, Gad, Asher, Manassa, and Benjamin.

There are two names that are different from the 12 sons.

Those

names are underlined Ephraim and Manasseh.

There are two names that are taken out.

One is Levi because they don't have

a tribal allotment of land.

They have cities in the other tribes.

And the other one is Joseph, who's taken out.

And in their place is Ephraim and Manasseh.

Those were the two sons of Joseph.

So there's still 12 tribes.

Joseph is listed through his sons,

and his two sons are given there in place of Levi and Joseph.

Does that make sense? You follow me.

So far there's still 12 tribes.

They're just listed differently now

this all comes to a head

when you get to revelation chapter seven.

And in revelation chapter seven,

the Holy Spirit, through John the Apostle, lists for us

the 12 tribes of Israel, who are, who are, who are listed for

and given to the world as testimonies and witness to the true God.

After the six seals have been opened in the interlude

between the sixth and the seventh seal, which is a whole another study

done, a whole study on the Book of Revelation.

It's all in our media stuff.

If you want to go through chapter by chapter, verse by verse,

but in the in the end, the 12 tribes are listed

there, who are left as a testimony of the witness of the worship of the true

God to the world.

These are the tribes that are listed

Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh,

Simeon, Levi, Iscariot, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin.

Different list.

What do you notice about it?

This is so interesting to me.

Monalisa is listed, which is one of Joseph's sons

and usually when that happens, Joseph isn't listed.

But Manasseh and Joseph are listed here,

which means Joseph's other son Ephraim isn't listed.

As well as the tribe of Dan.

So for some reason, the Holy Spirit, God himself

has written out of the record of the tribes of those who will represent

him and be a witness to him, to the world written out of the record.

Ephraim and Dan, why?

Let me suggest this.

God is not going

to give the privilege of the testimony to his preeminence

and sovereignty to the world, to those who have rejected

him, and idolatry.

It was through Dan

that idolatry infected the nation of Israel.

They set up these islands.

They were the first tribe to idol worship in the Promised Land.

They set up these idols and led the nation

to worship.

Idolatry and idolatry in the Old Testament is the sin

that God is the most severely punishes, the most severely.

To understand.

This little compromise

led to being written out.

In the last days.

But Ephraim is also not included. Why?

I don't know if you caught this when I was reading it.

I bet you missed it.

Micah was in the hill country of Ephraim

is enough for my.

Through his compromise

that infected the tribe of Dan.

LED the nation of Israel into idolatry,

compromising the worship of God alone.

And he, too, is written out

of the biblical record.

Please don't forget this.

Compromise is costly.

And oftentimes,

you don't know how costly until the bill comes. Do.

I do not know

what God may write out of my life

if I live and compromise.

And I am fearful of living and compromise

because I'm fearful of God's response.

And I know that it's not very kosher

to say that I am afraid of God.

I don't think that's a bad thing

to live in fear of God.

Why would I say that?

Because the Bible says that

the fear of the Lord is

the beginning of wisdom.

You know, the only reason you and I will live wisely

before the Lord is because we fear Him

and His judgment of our sin.

And when I live with the holy fear

of a loving and a just God,

I will live wisely and flee

sin and compromise.

There's been

and I understand, and I'm part of it, this push towards God's mercy and grace.

Without it, I'm damned.

That's part of my tattoo.

On my arm is mercy and grace.

Like I have God's mercy and grace, and I need it.

And so do you.

And he doesn't remember our sins when we repent.

He washed away our transgressions when we repent.

But without repentance,

he's greatly to be feared.

And I think that the pendulum

has swung so far over in the mercy and grace

we kind of think God winks at our sin and compromise.

He doesn't.

And it will get very costly

unless there's repentance.

So wisdom says,

because of the fear of the Lord, repent.

Turn from compromise.

Make it Christ and Christ alone.

Be right with the father through the son.

To understand.

Onto your perfect father.

Thank you. Thank you that you love us.

And thank you that you don't leave us.

To our own devices.

I think that you have made the way for us

to repent.

That you speak to us,

rebuke and correction so that we can be trained in righteousness,

and that our way to righteousness is not just simply through our own self

effort and behavior, but through your son and the work that Jesus

did on the cross.

So would you hear our hearts this morning?

Father, there are some in this place

who are coming to you

in confession of sin and repentance,

knowing full well of our compromise.

God, we don't want you

to write anything out of our life.

And we want all that

your grace would allow us.

And so we say, father, forgive me.

Friends, I implore you in the name of Jesus to take this step of faith

right now in your own heart, before your God.

Jesus, thank you

that you died on the cross so I can be forgiven,

that I can have a right relationship with the father.

And I accept you. Jesus,

in my life,

you and you alone.

I admit

compromise in my life.

You've rebuked me.

You've corrected me.

I accept that,

train me

in righteousness. Now.

In my failure.

Forgive in my weakness.

Give strength in my fear.

Give faith.

Today, once again, I am yours.

Father, as your people

who are called by your name,

humble themselves and pray and repent.

Bring him.

And in our repentance,

and give us every thing

that your grace will allow.

Give back everything, as the Bible says, that the locust have destroyed

everything that we've sold, everything

that we've given up, everything that we've destroyed

in repentance.

What you recreated and give it back.

That your loving kindness and goodness

would lead us to even more repentance.

You're a good God

and we love you,

and may we live for an audience of one Christ in Christ alone.

No turning back,

no turning back.

In your name I pray.

Amen.

Listen.

Next week we're getting close to the end.

The judges.

Next week.

One of the most brutal accounts in all of Scripture.

It is horrific.

And so read it ahead of time.

I guarantee you it will be disturbing

and we'll unpack it and see what God's truth says through it.

But right now, I asked

Jeff if we could sing this song, and so we're going to do it.

And it is a throwback.

There was a time

in this nation, in this last great awakening,

this revival times in the 70s and 80s.

When I got to experience the tail end of that awakening

and this incredible move, the Holy Spirit, and there's a song

and part of the that was popular time and part of those,

the words are,

I will follow and no turning back.

Although none go with me, no turning back.

The cross before me. The world behind me.

No turning back,

no turning back.

That can be sung

by a life who says no more compromise,

right?

I'm not turning back.

Though none go with me.

I'm not turning back

the crosses before me.

No. Turn back

I'm gonna leave the world behind me.

No turning back.

No more compromise.

No turning back.

Listening.