When Weapons Turn Inward

We've now reached some of the darkest times in

Israel's history. The last two weeks we have

looked at particularly dark, dreadful, horrible

encounters where God's people have hurt themselves,

really walked away from the Lord. And we looked

at last week and I mentioned how Really, we need

to remember that everything that's about to happen

happens not amongst a people that are like God's

covenant people, called to be God's people and

focused on God, but a people that are going home

from whatever they're doing to worship their

false gods that have taken concubines, that have

idols in their house, that worship all over the

place in the high places instead of where God

has called them to worship. Thankfully, that

means that there is no reason why we have to

fall into the traps that we're about to see today.

And yet, I will caution you that in many cases

the church has. You may even see some of what

we're about to read today in our own midst. And

I think if that is the case, we need to repent

of that and instead trust in the Lord. So grab

your Bibles and go with me, if you would, maybe

a little who to holler amen as we go to Judges

Judges 20 · chapter mention

chapter 20. Amen. Thank you so much. This is

God's word. What we read today and we are going

to read 28 verses is part of the larger story.

And then if you will listen to what God has to

say, you will for sure be affected. God's word

does not not affect people. It always affects

people. OK, so Judges chapter 20, beginning in

Judges 20 · chapter mention

verse one. We ended with last week. Consider

it. Make a plan and speak up. The Levite was

calling them to act upon the horrible. action

that he was telling them that the benjamites

had done where they killed his concubine we know

that there were more details than that we looked

at them last week but the bottom line is asking

them to act and now they're going to act verse

chapter 20 verse 1 then all the sons of israel

from dan to beersheba including the land of gilead

came out and the congregation assembled as one

person to the lord at mizpah so they're all there

represented not everybody but all there many

representing all the tribes pretty much are represented

And the leaders of all the people and all the

tribes of Israel took their stand in the assembly

of the people of God, 400 ,000 foot soldiers

who drew the sword. Now the sons of Benjamin

heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to

Mizpah. Now remember, the wickedness that happened,

the thing they're about to discuss that they're

concerned about, happened amongst the Benjamites,

right? So the sons of Benjamin now are, uh -oh,

they're talking about what happened. And the

sons of Israel said, Tell us, how did this wickedness

take place? So they're asking the Benjamites

to answer for how what the Levite says happened.

How did that happen? So the Levite, the husband

of the woman who was murdered, answered and said,

I came with my concubine to spend the night at

Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. But the citizens

of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the

house at night, threatening me. He leaves out

the detail about what they actually tried to,

would like to have done to him. He says, they

intended to kill me. That may or may not actually

be true. We know they intended to have relations

with him, but whether they would have killed

him afterwards is unknown. Instead, they raped

my concubine so that she died. And I took hold

of my concubine and I cut her in pieces and sent

her throughout the land of Israel's inheritance,

for they have committed an outrageous sin and

a vile act in Israel. Behold, all you sons of

Israel, give your response and advice here. Then

all the people rose up as one person, saying,

Not one of us will go to his tent, nor will any

of us go home. But now this is the thing which

we will do to Gibeah. We will go up against it

by lot, and we will take ten men out of a hundred

throughout the tribes of Israel, and a hundred

out of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten

thousand, to supply provisions for the people,

so that when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin,

they may punish them for all the vile sin that

they have committed in Israel. So stop there

for one second, make sure we understand what's

happening. So out of this, this huge army is

going to go up against Gibeah where the evil

thing happened. And one tenth of it is going

to be responsible for supplying all the goods

so that they can do that. Somebody's got to feed

the soldiers, right? Day two, people start getting

hungry. So they have a plan. One tenth of them

will provide for all the other 90 % so they can

go up against Gibeah and produce justice or their

version of justice. Okay. Verse 11 says, So all

the men of Israel were gathered against the city,

united as one man. So that four thousand man

army is going to go against this one city. It's

way more than enough to destroy it, raise it

to the ground, whatever. Not sure that's their

plan just now. They want to see justice done,

supposedly. So they don't necessarily have to

destroy the city to make that happen. They want

to deal with the people who committed that grievous

crime. That's what they're trying to do. Notice

also that they did make an oath. And they said

that no one would go home until this problem

is dealt with. So when you make that kind of

a promise before God, now you're kind of stuck,

right? You're kind of committed into it. So they're

pretty heavily committed to this. Or otherwise,

in theory, they would answer to God. Mind you,

at the same time as they did that, they're also

into idolatrous worship, syncretism, sinning

against God in so many different ways. And so

maybe breaking the oath wouldn't necessarily

mean anything to them. But they made the oath

as a larger group of people all together. The

tribes of Israel sent men through the entire

tribe of Benjamin, saying, What is this wickedness

that has taken place amongst you? So they're

asking everybody. They're getting to the bottom

of it. Now then, turn over the men, the worthless

men who are in Gibeah, so that we may put them

to death and remove this wickedness from Israel.

So this actually doesn't sound too horrible.

They have the manpower. They're standing on right

ground. And they're saying, turn over the criminals,

right? Let's deal justice. But the sons of Benjamin

would not listen to the voice of their brothers,

the sons of Israel. Instead, the sons of Benjamin

gathered from the cities to Gibeah to go out

to battle against the sons of Israel. So the

one tribe, Benjamin, is now gathering up their

soldiers to go and fight against all the others.

From the cities on that day, the sons of Benjamin

were counted 26 ,000 men who drew the sword.

Besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were counted

700 choice men. Out of all these people, 700

choice men, so not specifically the 700 from

Gibeah, but across the 26 ,700. Out of all these

people, 700 choice men were left -handed. Each

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

which is to say they were very dangerous, right?

Verse 17. Then the men of Israel, besides Benjamin,

were counted 400 ,000 men who drew the sword.

All of these were men of war. So we've got one

side 26 ,700, the other side 400 ,000. Verse

18. Now the sons of Israel set out, went up to

Bethel and inquired of God and said, who shall

go up first for us to battle against the sons

of Benjamin? Then the Lord said, Judah shall

go up first. So I want you to see the question.

We're not going to drill down on it too heavily,

but look at the question. They asked God, who

shall go up first to fight? Did you notice anywhere

in the story whether they asked God whether or

not they should fight? Whether or not they should

gather together 400 ,000 strong? So that didn't

happen. So they're now already sort of in the

midst of doing this. They've already gathered.

They've already made their threats. They've made

their oaths, etc. And now they ask God, who should

go up first? And God says, Judah shall go up

first. So the sons of Israel got up in the morning

and camped against Gibeah. The men of Israel

went to battle against Benjamin, and the men

of Israel lined up for battle against them at

Gibeah. Then the sons of Benjamin came out of

Gibeah and struck to the ground on that day 22

,000 men of Israel. I want to be real clear,

so you get this picture in your head. That means

that outside Gibeah, there was nowhere that you

could stand that was sure footing. that you were

not either standing between bodies or literally

standing on bodies. The math of it is they were

standing on dead bodies. From now on in the story,

as they're fighting, they might pile the bodies

up overnight so that they could have places to

stand to fight the next day and the piles will

get higher and higher. Okay? 22 ,000 men. And

by the way, it was 22 ,000 men killed by the

men of Gibeah and the Benjamites. So they are

winning. against this massively superior force

currently their wing. But the people, the men

of Israel, showed themselves courageous and lined

up for battle again in the place where they had

lined themselves up on the first day. And the

sons of Israel went up and wept before the Lord

until evening and inquired of the Lord, saying,

Shall we again advance for battle against the

sons of my brother Benjamin? So basically, they

lost 22 ,000 guys. Now they're going to ask God

if they should fight. And the Lord said, Go up

against them. So the sons of Israel came against

the sons of Benjamin on the second day. And Benjamin

went out against them from Gibeah the second

day and struck to the ground again 18 ,000 men

of the sons of Israel. All of these drew the

sword. So now they've killed 40 ,000 men from

Israel. Remember, they were 26 ,700 strong themselves

to start. And they've surely had losses, although

we're not tracking what those are, really. Right?

But they've now killed 40 ,000 men, bodies from

all the tribes of Israel, strewn across the ground

for miles in every direction from this relatively

small town that could only field 700 soldiers.

Okay? Then all the sons of Israel, all the people

went up and came to Bethel. Now Bethel is right

by Shiloh, and this is kind of like where the...

Tabernacle was in that day. And they wept and

remained there before the Lord, and they fasted

that day until evening. And they offered burnt

offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

And the sons of Israel inquired of the Lord,

for the Ark of the Covenant was there in those

days. So they bowed down before the Ark of the

Covenant, begging God, asking God, what do we

do now? What do we do now? 40 ,000 men. The countryside

is covered in the bodies of our brothers. What

do we do? 28. And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar,

Aaron's son, stood before it to minister in those

days, saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle

against the sons of my brother Benjamin, or shall

I stop? And the Lord said, Go up, for tomorrow

I will hand them over to you. So after they lost

40 ,000 men, they begged God, Shall we go up

again? And God says, yes, go up for tomorrow.

You will have victory. Now we stop there with

our text for the day. But there's a couple of

things that I want you to see. So first of all,

before we get into the actual application of

it, I want you to realize that there are some

battles that God literally calls us to. Things

that you're actually supposed to stand up for

that matter. Some things that we should say,

I'm not going to be part of that. I'm not going

to participate. You're on your own if you're

going to do that. But I entreat you, please don't.

It does not honor the Lord. There are moments

when compromise is not faithfulness. But you

can't say, okay, well, I'll come halfway with

you. We'll do this. We'll do it my way. Or we'll

avoid going too deep into this. We'll do a little

bit of it. You can't do that. There are moments

when somebody has to say, no, this is wrong.

But there is another danger. And I submit to

you that it probably more often occurs. Sometimes

while we are standing up or fighting against

evil, We can become so sure and convinced that

we are right that we stop checking ourselves.

We stop asking, as I fight this battle, as I

stand up for what's right here, am I right? Not,

am I right to fight? We already covered that.

It's the right thing to do. But am I right as

a person? Am I right by God? And the Israelites

went up against Benjamin, as we see in this text,

a perfect example, not right by God, and suffered

day after day tens of thousands of losses. And

so that ought to be a precedent for us to realize

that you need to check yourself. Without getting

too deeply onto that, we need to realize that

the real problem here in this text is not that

everybody's wrong, even though that appears to

be the case. So the Israelites, when they're

sinning against God, they're worshiping idols,

they're not right. The Benjamites are protecting

the guys who would have raped this man all night

long and eventually did rape his concubine all

night long and killed her, and they're protecting

them. Nobody's right. There's nobody in the story,

in the two sides of the battle, that are right

by God. But I submit to you, that's not actually

the problem. The problem is not that they're

both wrong. That might be why they suffer so

heavily, right? Because they suffer the losses.

because they are in the wrong place. But the

real problem is that they think they're right

because they see that the other side is wrong.

So when the Israelites come out against Gibeah,

was there an atrocity? Yes, there was. Did that

wickedness need to be removed from Israel? Yes,

it did. And that's why they came out, allegedly.

But I submit to you that similar atrocities were

occurring all over the 11 tribes. That there

were men there who were out to battle who had

concubines, wives with no rights, at home that

they were keeping. There were men who had come

out there to battle who were falsely worshiping

God. They were in evil. They were wicked to the

core. But, you know, Gibeah is so bad because

they did something wrong that we can unite and

go and destroy them. That's the real problem.

That they could find justification, to go and

destroy them because they're wrong while themselves

also being wrong. And you could reverse the other

side of it. You could say Gibeah. Gibeah was

right. Should they allow brothers in the kingdom

of God, covenant brothers, to be destroyed? No,

they should not allow the Gibeahites. How do

you say that? The people from Gibeah. Let's just

say that, right? Those people to be destroyed,

they should defend them, especially because they

have some really good warriors there who would

fall on... Like my brother from Gibeah, I'm not

going to let him die. He fought alongside me

at the battle of so -and -so. And I stand up

for him no matter what. I don't care if he did

rape that woman all night long. Nobody's going

to touch him. Him and I stood together in battle

or whatever. So somehow or other, they justified

defending these people who had committed this

wicked crime because the people that were coming

were coming against Israelites. They're saying,

not against my family. Is my family wrong in

this? Yeah, they're wrong, but I'll not let you

touch my family. Because they were all part of

a larger family, and those who were coming were

also family. They were just family from a little

further away. And so we wind up with a huge battle

between two sides who essentially both think

they're right, and they justify, they could know

that they're not right with God, but they justify

the battle and the action because the other side

appears to be wrong. So then there's two applications

out of this text. And the first one is I want

to show you and I'm going to show it to you kind

of a little tongue in cheek because it's how

to do it, but don't ever do it. OK, so I'm going

to show you how to do it, but don't ever do it.

The process of spiritually becoming the judge,

jury and executioner. Now on the surface, you're

like, I don't ever want to do that. I don't want

to be the spiritual judge. I don't want to be

the spiritual jury. I don't want to be the spiritual

executioner. Right. But in reality, in life,

sometimes we're doing it. And so you need to

sort it out and figure out, am I doing it? If

it is, you repent and turn away from it. In Judges

20, we see Israel gathering together. They come

together as one people. They hear what has happened.

They ask, essentially, how did this evil happen?

They get motivated. They ask then for Benjamin

to deal with the problem, and they don't. Then

later, they'll ask for Benjamin to actually give

them the men so they can deal with the problem.

Judges 20, verse 13 says, That's what they asked

Judges 20:13

for. Sounds reasonable, sounds righteous, sounds

like justice. Benjamin says no. That begins then

our first application. How to become the spiritual

judge, juror, and executioner. There's a process.

And it usually doesn't begin with murder or anything

like that. It begins with self -righteousness.

You think of yourself as right. So step one to

becoming the spiritual judge, jury, and executioner

is this. Sound right rather than worrying about

being right. So we're in church on Sunday and

we use words like baptism, sanctification, preaching.

We quote verses from the Bible. We talk about...

Good things that we do. Maybe we speak out an

inspirational moment. We preach a sermon, whatever.

But our lives, not right. We sound right, but

then we're not right. So step one is to sound

right because that's how you get people to rally.

That's how you get people to agree with you.

Yeah, he sounds right. That makes sense. We elevate

our behavior by our intentions. And then we let

our intentions kind of like sit in the background.

But God looks at our intentions, meaning God

judges our heart. So we say, I'm going to go

and I'm going to give peace of my mind. I'm going

to tell her. Or I'm going to get her kicked out

of the church. That's what we start thinking.

But our actual heart, our motivations behind

that, that's all wrong. But God is not. If you

say she did something wrong, he did something

wrong, and now you're cutting them out or you're

saying you've got to go on your own. I'm not

going to help you. I don't want nothing to do

with you anymore. You're pushing them away from

you. And you're doing that out of a wrong heart.

God sees the wrong heart. It doesn't matter if

the reason, like the person was actually in sin,

they did wickedness, whatever. They might be.

You might say, I'm not going to be part of the

wickedness that you're part of. But God is looking

at your heart. And then you can say, well. Yeah,

I did. I did cut them off or I did say that mean

thing or whatever, but I didn't mean to hurt

them. I was just trying to show them that they

were wrong. Or you could say to somebody else

who sees you being mean or vicious, why are you

being like that? And you're like, well, you don't

understand what happened. You know how bad they

hurt my feelings, right? Or they came after my

kid or they came after my friend or they came

after my buddy, right? Or they came after me.

And you can express that you have good reasons

for why you're doing what you're doing. But God

is looking at your heart. Being able to explain

yourself because the other person is wrong does

not make you righteous. Which is why when somebody

does something wrong to you, there is literally

no excuse to do something wrong back to them.

Because if you're doing something wrong, it's

still wrong. Once it comes out of you, your heart

is in a messed up place. Being able to explain

yourself does not necessarily make you righteous.

Step one then would be to profess or to speak

like you're right while not actually being right

in yourself. Step two then is to do what the

world knows is wrong while still claiming a connection

to God. So, yeah, I'm doing this. Let's use the

story for an example. Israel is wicked. They

are idolatrous. They're synchronistic, which

means they're adding other religions to... following

God at best. And a lot of them were just cutting

God out completely. They were taking concubines

and condoning sin all over the place. But then

when another evil looks bad enough, they all

get together to point fingers, draw weapons,

and start to kill people, right? These people

still knew the name of Jehovah. They still knew

who God was. He was the God who parted the river.

He was the God who parted the sea. He was the

God who sent the plagues. He was the God who

gave the Ten Commandments. He was the God who

struck down those who dishonored him. He's that

God. And yet they claim the name of Jehovah,

but they're living in daily wickedness. But then

they unify to go and cut down Benjamin when Benjamin

will not provide the bad guys so they can cut

them down. It's a sobering warning that as a

Christian, you can say, I am a follower of Jesus.

But then you can be living in wickedness at the

same time. I love Jesus as my Lord. A Lord is

a person who tells you what to do when you do

it. That's what a Lord is. If you say Jesus is

your Lord and Jesus tells you to do something

and you don't do it, that is a lie. And lies

don't save people. And so that's what happens

in Christianity when we think we are right and

then... We call on the name of Jesus and we keep

doing the things that we want to do or fulfilling

our own desires. It's possible to have the right

vocabulary, to say the right things about Jesus

and actually have wrong behavior in your life.

It's possible to say, I love God while refusing

to obey God. Jesus said this in Matthew 7. He

said, not everyone who saith unto me, Lord, Lord,

will enter the kingdom of heaven. So he already

knew in his day, in the midst of him being crucified,

buried, resurrected, feeding the 5 ,000, feeding

the 4 ,000, walking on water, calming storms,

bringing Lazarus back to life. While all of that

was going on, there were people who were saying,

Lord, Lord, but they didn't actually have a Lord

in Jesus. Calling ourselves God's people does

not make everything we do work. It doesn't make

everything we do righteous, and it doesn't make

everything we do God's way. Then all of a sudden,

you find a group of evildoers who can be differentiated

from you. So we've got three steps so far. The

first one was sound right rather than be right.

The second one was speak it, speak the words,

and you start doing what the world knows is wrong.

So Christians are doing what the world knows

is wrong, but you still speak the words and claim

the connection to God. And then the third one

is... You find somebody that you can, a group

that somebody can hammer against. We got some

really big groups like that in the world right

now. And there are pastors who will be in the

pulpit this morning. They'll preach against a

certain political agenda. And their churches

are growing. Because people want to hear that.

They want to hear me stand up here and bash a

certain thing that people don't agree with. Whatever

it might be. And it doesn't even have to be in

the Bible. Right? We can do that. In fact, I

once had a woman accost me after service on a

Sunday and said, next Sunday, you need to preach

against smoking, smoking cigarettes. You need

to preach against smoking cigarettes. And I said,

well, first of all, why would I do that like

ever? And she said, well, because a lot of people

are dying from it. People are getting sick from

it. People are getting addicted from it. It's

a bad thing. It's an evil. And you need to preach.

Your next sermon needs to be preaching against

smoking. And I said, I'm sorry. I can tell you

right now that ain't going to happen. I said,

I might preach what the Bible says, you know,

your body's a temple, that kind of thing. But

the odds are I probably won't mention smoking

at all because that's not even a very good example.

That's taking those verses out of context. Now,

should you smoke? Probably not. Could it be a

sin? Almost certainly. But the Bible doesn't

address it directly ever. And I'm not going to

preach a sermon against it because the Bible

never addresses it directly. Exactly. So we're

going to let Jesus teach people those kinds of

things, not me. That's not my job. And she wasn't

very happy with me. And our relationship did

go south from there. And then she eventually

left the church. But the bottom line is, you

can find a group of people to hammer. And then

as you hammer them, other people who want to

feel like they are in the right will jump on

board with you and hammer them. Just like these

guys were going after Gibeah. Just like these

guys were going after Benjamin. And suddenly

everybody has an enemy. And if we can have a

common enemy, there was one couple a long time

ago. that I was doing marriage counseling with,

and marriage Bible study, I don't do counseling,

I was doing marriage Bible study with them, and

about two -thirds of the way through marriage

Bible study, I realized they really weren't,

you know, they weren't really on board, they

really weren't doing the text, which we just,

all we do is read the Bible, and what does it

say, what does it mean, that kind of thing, and

they really weren't with me. And then it blew

up, and I found out that I had offended her.

And I found out that similarly, at the same time,

I had offended him. And they both decided, overnight,

just like that, that they hated me. Just like

that. One day we're working together, we're trying

to figure out what the Bible says, and overnight

they decided that they hated me. And guess what

happened? No. Their marriage became fine. They

no longer had any trouble in their marriage.

Because now they had an enemy. They decided together

that they became unified in attacking me. And

they were fine. I said, I'm praying about that.

I asked the Lord, what on earth? He said, you

know what? You did it. You succeeded. You brought

about peace in their marriage. All they needed

was a common enemy. Think about the Pharisees,

the Sadducees, Herod, Pilate, all of them. They

were in constant political bickering all the

time. And the first time they ever had peace

was when they crucified Jesus. You don't need

a common enemy. What you need is a relationship

with the God of the universe. And he'll get you

right. If you need a common enemy to go after,

then you're probably more on the road to becoming

a spiritual judge, jury, and executioner than

you are a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus did not come to condemn, and nor should

we. needs to ask, who is my enemy? Because sometimes

the person that's facing you, sometimes a person

who disagrees with you, sometimes a person who

corrects you, they're not your enemy. Faithful

are the wounds of a friend, scripture says. A

faithful friend might hurt your feelings. They

might tell you something that you don't really

want to hear. They may say something that's hard

to adjust to. But that very wound might then

become an evidence of their love for you. The

person will take the time to correct you when

you're screwing up. There's somebody you should

probably trust, not trust like you trust the

Lord. Don't trust any humans like that, right?

Because we all have our weaknesses. But if they're

willing to talk to you and get you back on the

right course, then they are of value to you in

your life. The next step then is to consult God

midstream to authorize what you have already

decided to do. You notice that's what they did.

They finally inquire to the Lord after they already

were moving against Gibeah. And you can do that

too. You can decide, I'm going to go, I'm going

to attack this person, or I'm going to go on

this course of action, ignoring this person,

what they have to say, and then you can, along

the way, ask God. And here's the funny thing,

as we see in this text, God may say, go ahead

and go. You got it in yourself already, a plan

to do it, you're going to do it, go ahead and

go. And I'm saying it like that way on purpose,

because they win. back out and they lost 22 ,000

men. And every one of those 22 ,000 men wished

they had not gone to battle that day. And all

their wives and all their children, probably

even their concubines, and all their servants,

every one of them, and all their would -be descendants

for generations to come. And God said, go. And

they went and they all died. 22 ,000 of them

died. And sometimes God may let you do that.

If you've decided to do what you're going to

do anyway, regardless of whether or not God authorizes

it, then God's going to say to you, all right,

go ahead. Knowing that after you suffer some

more, eventually you're going to turn back to

God and say, okay, God, now what? And that's

what God is waiting for. God is waiting for you

to actually ask him, now what? And finally they

do. They ask God whether to continue. And finally

he says, yep, now you see what I've decided to

do. We have to learn the difference between consulting

God midstream of what we are already doing and

seeing whether or not he's going to authorize

it and asking God in advance whether we should

do something. And the latter is permissible in

the kingdom of God. And the former may be permissible,

but it certainly is not profitable. Trust the

Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own

understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge

him. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Get out of

bed tomorrow morning and say, Lord, I don't know

what the heck I'm doing here. Because that's

the reality, isn't it? I'm just following you

the best I know how. Leave me wherever you want

me to go. And I'll not do it in my own strength.

I'll do it in yours. And then I'll give you glory

for it. Everybody pays in this story for the

pride of the people who refuse to humble themselves.

Who refuse to go to God and say, God, should

we go up or not? But they're on both sides of

the battle. They're on both sides of the battle.

Once you've found that group of evildoers differentiated

from you, you can feel fully authorized. You

can complain against them. You can unite against

them. And then you'll be perfectly fine. You

may not be right by God, but you'll be fine for

months or years even. You might be sitting here

today because you think Christianity is so much

better than those idiots over there at the mosque.

Or at the temple. Or in their living rooms this

morning streaming more TV. Now if that's your

position, that's not right. Let Jesus sort that.

Follow the Lord. Then, there is another action

plan that is clearly laid out in this text. There's

another action plan that's clearly laid out in

this text. And you can go just the other way.

Right. And the people of Gibeah, they decide

essentially to stand up for something that they

believe in. And in standing up for something

that they believe in, they dismiss justice. They

dismiss mercy. They dismiss humility. When in

reality, we need all three. They come out and

man, they do a good job of it, don't they? Those

26 ,000 men that kill. 40 plus thousand of the

Israelites before they quit fighting. And all

day long, both of those days, they were thinking

to themselves, see, see, we're right. It doesn't

matter how many of you there are. While they

were defending the wicked. And you could be doing

that same thing, sitting where you're sitting

right now. There's wickedness in your life. There's

something that you're doing that's not right.

And all the while I'm preaching, you're saying

to yourself, Ah, it's okay. Nobody knows about

that. Or it's no big deal. It doesn't stop me

from being faithful to God. Jesus came to die

for all my sins, not just my sins of the past

or the future, but my present sins too. And you're

justifying not faithfully following the Lord.

And if someone would start to call you on it,

you might get your craw up a little bit. You

might defend yourself. Just realize that when

you do that, you might be defending yourself

against the God of the universe. We were once

objects of wrath, and we have no desire to be

that now. So we can come to the point then where,

just like they did, we turn the weapons at our

disposal against an enemy who was never meant

to be the enemy. Either somebody who was doing

something wrong. And you start to judge them

and you start to attack them. You say things

that makes you feel better about the things that

in your life that you're doing that are wrong.

You're not coming humbly. You're not trying to

constructively help them. You're not coming alongside

them. You're not caring about them. Maybe you're

not praying for them. By the way, the surest

way to make sure there's a little mercy in your

relationships is to pray first for the person.

Pray for their genuine needs. And that'll help

you find a little compassion when you do go to

talk to them. Or you might be on the other side

of it and say, yeah, I'm doing the wrong thing.

and they don't like what I'm doing, and I don't

want them to think of me. You get mad because

they think of you a certain way, or they say

a certain thing, or maybe they correct you, begin

to get you going in the right direction, and

you defend your wickedness. And the same thing

can happen during a sermon. It happens during

a Bible study, right? Sometimes it happens when

we're praying. God is convicting you and bringing

something out that you're doing, and you're saying

back to God, no, God, that's no big deal. Yeah,

I'm trying to fix that. And by the way, yeah,

I'm trying to fix that is not an excuse. So,

that brings us then to action plans, neither

of which we want to be a part of. But notice

then God says, in the middle of the text at a

certain point, it's too late for reluctance now.

There is another detail in Judges 20, after the

first battle, after 22 ,000 men, then another

18 ,000, and only after they fall down before

God, they weep. That's good. But think about

how much better it would have been if humility

had arrived before they went to battle. 40 ,000

men. There is a kind of humility that comes before

consequences. You need to hear this. I needed

to hear this. There is a kind of humility that

comes after consequences. which do you have?

Do you have the kind of humility that says, God

is in charge, and I want to do what God wants

me to do, and I want to be right by God, I want

to serve God, let God live in me, let God reign

in my life, before you start to do things that

don't honor God? Or do you wait until after you've

done things that don't honor God, and God corrects

you, and now you're humble? And you're like,

oh, Lord, I knew all along that I need only you.

Only you can sustain me, Lord. Praise you. Only

you are God. I'm not God. But your actions hours

before or days before were saying you are equally

God. Because you were not coming humbly to the

Lord before you set about on your course. Both

types of humility like that are better than pride.

It's better to be humble after you get chastised

than it is to be prideful. It's better to be

humble before you get chastised. It's best. One

of those types of humility costs far less. You

can learn humility from scripture like this one

and others, or you can learn it from disaster.

You can accept correction from God, or you can

wait until your decisions produce consequences

that you cannot undo. 40 ,000 men died, and they

walked on the first 22 ,000 all day long while

they fought again. wickedness in their hearts,

not humble before God. You can bend your knee

voluntarily, or eventually life may force you

to your knees. The wise person chooses the first

way, humility before destruction. The reality

is that civil wars kill kingdom citizens. Israel

was... not fighting to fulfill the boundaries

of their kingdom. Realize this is the book of

Judges. They're still supposed to be conquering

the surrounding enemies, not taking them as wives.

They're still supposed to be moving the borders

back and finding the full land that God has given

them. They have a 400 ,000 man army that instead

is pitted completely to destroy one city. for

one sinful act while they themselves are indulged

in sinful acts so often. That same army could

have expanded the territory to where it was supposed

to get. They weren't conquering new territory

even though God had commanded them to do that.

They weren't fighting an invading army even though

they have fought those time and again. By the

way, throughout the book of Judges at this point,

how many times has Israel been warred against?

How many times have they been abused? How many

times have their crops been stolen? And in all

that time, how many times did they sum up an

army of 400 ,000 men? Only a couple. And it took

a powerful judge to do it. They are not advancing

the kingdom in this fight. They are fighting

themselves. Civil wars kill kingdom citizens.

That principle is still true today. Every church

conflict over anything at all, it doesn't matter

what it is, never ever produces righteousness.

When five or six people get their craw up about

the pastor won't preach a sermon on smoking,

or the pastor talks too long on Sunday, or the

room color isn't right, or the carpeting, or

the instruments, or the music is too loud, or

it doesn't matter what it is, and people get

together and they decide that they're upset,

they get a poster child of a problem, those disagreements

never bring about justice or righteousness. In

fact, Every disagreement does not need an enemy.

Every correction does not need a war. Sometimes

the greatest victory is not defeating the person

who disagrees with you. Sometimes the greatest

victory is keeping the relationship with the

person who disagrees with you. If you and I sat

down, everybody in this room, every one of us,

if we sat down and talked for a couple hours

looking for something to disagree over, we'll

find it. I guarantee it. Because I'm an opinionated

person and I'm looking around this room and I

see opinionated people. 100%. We would all find

something if we sat down and worked it. You sit

down with your wife and say, okay, let's talk

about it. Let's find something to disagree with.

You will find something that you think and he

or she disagrees. And then you've got to either

come to a conclusion where the two of you can

work it out and figure out where your actual

position is or one of you has to give up their

preferences or you have to agree to disagree,

which is not biblical. Every family argument

does not produce justice. Every disagreement

does not need an enemy. And every correction

does not need a war. Get off your soapbox unless

you are talking about Jesus and God's word. In

fact, Proverbs 15 .1 says, A soft answer turns

away wrath. James said it this way in chapter

3, The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace

of them that make peace. There are people who

know how to win arguments. Some of you will debate

me under the table. But God calls us to become

people who know how to make peace. Blessed are

the peacemakers. And that brings us then to a

conclusion. What they didn't have was a king.

I'm not talking about a human king. They had

God as king, and then they gave that up. They

quit having God as king. We are called to one

king, one standard, one way. Judges is ultimately

a book about what happens when Israel does not

have righteous leadership. We have righteous

leadership. We have Jesus Christ, the Son of

God. We have God the Father, God the Son, God

the Holy Spirit. Literally, we have the definition

of righteous leadership. Again and again, the

big problem of Judges comes out. In those days,

there was no king in Israel. Every man did what

was right in his own eyes. Except there was a

king. It was God. And the reason there was no

king that was God was because every man was doing

what was right in his own eyes. It's not like

God stopped being king, and then they started

doing what was right in their own eyes. God was

king, and they stepped away from him. They stopped

following God, stopped letting God be king. And

they began to do what was right in their own

eyes. And it has led them to this point, the

worst probably point in the history of God's

people in the promised land, where they're not

being killed by enemies. That was terrible in

the Philistines. That's terrible. When all the

other tribes gathered together and formed an

army, there was camels as far as the horizon.

That was terrible. But when it's Israelites killing

Israelites, that's terrible. When it was the

United States Civil War, it's said to be the

most. Damaging war in the history of America.

Because everybody that died was an American.

And some history buffs will escalate that number

far beyond the actual track number, which is

like 600 ,000. And they think in reality it was

maybe millions who died in the Civil War. And

it was Americans killing an American. And everybody

that died pretty much was an American. This is

what happens. When people do what's right in

their own eyes, rather than doing what God calls

us to. Benjamin did what seemed right to Benjamin.

Israel did what seemed right to Israel. Everybody

had a justification. Everybody had a grievance.

Everybody had a reason. But the goal is not for

everybody to become better at defending their

own version of righteousness. To say, well, I'm

going to learn what the Bible says so I can be

right. And then people will think I'm right.

You should just leave off the last part. Learn

what the Bible says so that God can make you

right. Don't worry about whether other people

think you're right or not. There's only one advantage

in that. If people think you're right, they might

be a little more likely to listen to you about

Jesus. That would be advantageous. They might

be a little more likely to glorify your Father

when Jesus comes again. That would be advantageous.

But the truth is, all you've got to do is speak

for Jesus and let them decide whether or not

they're going to listen. The goal is to come

under God's standard of righteousness. We need

authority in the right places. We need accountability

practiced by all. If someone you know is in sin,

you go to them in kindness and speak with them

about it. Go to them in peace. I get it. It's

going to put you out of your comfort zone. You

might be frustrated. You might be upset. You

might want to go in strained because you feel

like, oh, I feel terrible that I have to have

this conversation. But the problem is, that's

you being reluctant. You're only feeling that

way because it's you being reluctant to do what

God commanded you to do, which was go and show

them their sins so that they can repent. So it

has nothing to do with their sin, but you'll

go, feel it all consternated, all upset, all

frustrated, right? And you'll get mad all over

them, sloppy. Say it wrong because you're frustrated

because you have to do what it is that God called

you to do. Whose problem is that anyway? We need

humility. We need repentance. We need truth.

We need mercy. And ultimately, we need one king.

Not me, not you, not our group, not our feelings.

One king, Jesus Christ. There is one king and

one standard of righteousness. There is one way

we receive that righteousness. Not by you doing

better today than you did yesterday. That's not

how that works. Not by proving that we are better

than somebody else. That's not how that works.

We receive the righteousness through faith in

Jesus Christ. Even the righteousness, the Bible

says in Romans 3, of God, which is by faith of

Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that

believe. That changes the way we fight. Because

when I know that my righteousness was received

from Jesus, then I don't have to manufacture

righteousness by defeating you or anyone else.

Let me say it this way. If you're spending any

portion of your time thinking about whether or

not somebody else is wrong, you're missing. Your

purpose in life, which is to become right yourself,

to walk with Jesus. You don't have time. Now,

should we also be concerned about other people?

We need warriors. We do. We need to take the

gospel. We need to take right living to other

people. We need to show up in the midst of people's

trials and lead them to a life that is Jesus

Christ and help them. Maybe bring food. Bring

support like from the police or from somebody.

Get them out of a difficult situation, whatever.

We need warriors. But we need humble warriors.

We need people willing to stand. But we need

people willing to kneel first. We need people

willing to advance. But we only want the advancement

in the direction that God has commanded. We need

people willing to confront sin. But we also need

people willing to repent of their own sin. We

need people willing to fight. But we need people

who know what is worth fighting for. And we need

people who don't just want to win. We need people

who want to help somebody else find the way home.

God has given each one of us the heart of a lion.

In getting saved, your regenerated heart became

the heart of a lion. And with that heart of a

lion, you can conquer every little sin, everything

that ever held you back, your flesh, your crazy

mind that goes all over the place sometimes or

seeks after things that aren't good for you.

Your heart can reign over it all. Your heart

has the heart of a lion, the kind of heart that

can create universes. They can destroy difficulties.

They can move mountains. You have the heart of

a lion. And so you want to fight. But you're

called to humility to the God of the universe

first. The next time you think about saying something

that sounds a little bit mean, don't say to yourself,

well, it may sound a little bit mean, but I've

got, you know, there's a reason for that. Just

realize it's just mean. It just actually is mean.

It doesn't just sound a little bit mean. It actually

is mean. And you're called to gentleness and

kindness and goodness and self -control, which

are all fruits of the Spirit. You can't produce

them, but by embracing God through the spiritual

disciplines and His Word and spending time with

Him, those things grow in you. The next time

you see somebody who's doing something wrong

and you feel compelled to correct it, a little

bitterness in your voice might do the trick.

They'll slam a pot or a pan or a door, right?

Or turn your back on them. Or give them what

for? You should have realized those are all weapons.

And they are given to you for your use, but they

are not meant to be turned inward. You know who

needs you to kick his butt super bad, like every

day? Satan. You know who needs you to step on

his throat, to crush his skull? Every demon,

evil spirit that ever rose, fell, would be a

better verb there, right? That ever came to walk

the earth. And your heart of a lion, that's what

it's for. Don't you turn the weapons that God

has given you against your loved ones, against

the church. Don't be divided. Wrath of man never

brings about righteousness. Come in love. And

bring peace. Jesus said, my peace I give you.

Not as the world gives, but forever. In this

world, you will have trouble. But fear not, for

I have overcome the world. I'm going to close

with an illustration and I'm done. The United

States of America Civil War, I mentioned it earlier

on. The president... During the Civil War and

immediately after for a short time. No, I got

that backwards. The president at the beginning

and throughout the Civil War was Abraham Lincoln.

I'm not a historian, but I'm going to quote him

anyway. In 1865, Abraham Lincoln gave an inaugural

address. And he was addressing the fact that

the United States of America was fighting against

the United States of America. And in the end

of his inaugural address, he used this phrase.

He said that they would fight the fight, that

they will win the war, that they will reunite

the nation. And I'm paraphrasing that part. But

then he said this. He said, with malice toward

none, with charity for all. And that is how you

and I need to learn to fight. Because the goal

is not victory over what someone is doing or

what you don't like or what's bothering you.

The goal is peace. Peace that passes understanding.

Peace that leads to an eternity with God in heaven

forever. Before you fight the fight, make sure

that you're fighting the right way. And don't

turn the weapons that you have, whatever you

have at your disposal, against those who you

should be loving. A legitimate cause does not

guarantee a righteous response. Instead, humbly

come before the Lord. Is this my fight? How will

I fight it? How far am I meant to go? And then

do what he tells you. I ask the praise team to

come forward. And lead us in exposing him. But

as we are singing today, maybe the Lord is impressed

upon you. Maybe you've been. It's the very thing.

You've turned your weapons against your loved

ones or against the church, these people that

you know, and you realize that's not meant to

be those weapons. We're defending you. We're

defending the church. We're defending the kingdom.

We're attacking the enemy that actually is the

enemy, which is not a community, ever. Repent.

repent and humbly come before your God and just

say, okay, God, from now on, when I see something

that needs to be dealt with, I want to deal with

it in you, by your strength, by your methods,

and that's the only way. Maybe God has come to

you and said you have some sin, something that's

in your heart. It's wickedness. And you've kept

it. You've held on to it. You even defended it

to him over the years. Maybe you've begged him

to forgive it over and over and over again. And

God is now saying, repent. repent of that thing

and be done with it. Repent and turn to me. Repent

doesn't just mean turn from a sin. It means turn

to God. Think differently now. Now I'm turned

to God. Because if you turn from one sin, you're

likely to just turn to another one. But if you

turn from sin and turn to God, then that's different.

So you know what that thing is and you've been

defending it, stop it. Say no more to that. I'm

done defending it. I'm going to submit it to

the Lord and let him deal with it. Or maybe the

Lord's calling you to start a ministry or go

talk to somebody specific about Jesus or whatever

it might be. He's saying, whom will I send? And

you say, okay, Lord, you can send me. I don't

know what that's going to look like, but you

can send me. And you let him know that today.

Maybe you need this to be your church home. Maybe

you need to be baptized. Maybe you need to be

and serve whatever. You make your decision publicly

so that God can support you, so that God can

come out and Pour on the resources. And you and

everyone else in the world. As we sing this song,

the Lord is speaking to you and wants you to

respond. And you come forward, share with me.

Otherwise, you just sing and give God the glory.

Right? Stand and sing with me. But that thy blood

was shed for me. That'll get it done. That was

enough. Come to me, O Lamb of God, I come. You're

here today and you're giving your life to Jesus

Christ for the first time right now. In your

heart, you still got pride? You say, yes, Lord.

And then you come to me, and we'll pray together

right now.