The Corruption of Men

Judges 18:1–6 ESV

1 In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them. 2 So the people of Dan sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, “Go and explore the land.” And they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. 3 When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. And they turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” 4 And he said to them, “This is how Micah dealt with me: he has hired me, and I have become his priest.” 5 And they said to him, “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.” 6 And the priest said to them, “Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord.”

Introduction

Sermon theme:

As people we compound our errors by making decisions off of previous bad decisions.

In chapters 17&18 we see the religious degradation of Israel...

17:1-6 corruption of an Israelite home

17:7-13 corruption of the Levitical Priesthood

18:1-31 corruption of Israelite Tribe (Dan)

17:1 reminds us that Israel had no King

No human Monarch

Nor God ruling the nation

everybody did what was right in their own eyes...

In those days doing what was right would have meant following...

Deuteronomy 13:6–11 ESV

6 “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

Israel’s actions repudiate God is sovereign in their affairs...

We cannot point a blind eye at them without looking at ourselves.

Do we spiral out of control as they did today???

It would serve as well to understand that God will not abdicate His sovereignty just because men reject Him.

[So let us deal with the corruption of Men…]

I. Wickedness of Men Greatly Increase on the Earth

The result of man not following God and His commands...

Genesis 6:5–8 ESV

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

The Psalmist laments the condition of God’s people and the world...

Psalm 14:1–4 ESV

1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. 4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the Lord?

[Due to this corruption men make decisions on faulty premises…]

II. Faulty Foundations

When we begin wrong it is difficult to end up right...

Wrong teaching does not lead to right living...

Faulty doctrine will not conclude with salvation,

that is the purpose of the term lost...

Judges 17:7–13 ESV

7 Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. 8 And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. 9 And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place.” 10 And Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year and a suit of clothes and your living.” And the Levite went in. 11 And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man became to him like one of his sons. 12 And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as priest.”

Faulty Foundation: The Levite in this passage knows where he can go because towns of refuge where given to Levites all throughout Israel...

Faulty Foundation: Micah in Ephraim is selfish wanting his own priest…this is not how the Priesthood works...

Faulty Foundation: The Levite is to serve at the greater Israel not this one man.

He falls prey to the offer of good living...

This is not the foundation to be making decisions from, particularly spiritual decisions where we seek the will of God...

III. Making Decisions from Bad Premise

Just as God used Babylon; Medes & Persians; Greeks; and Romans to bring judgement on Israel

He uses the tribe of Dan to bring judgement on the house of Micah

Judges 18:22–31 ESV

22 When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan. 23 And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?” 24 And he said, “You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’ ” 25 And the people of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.” 26 Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home. 27 But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. 28 And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it. 29 And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was Laish at the first. 30 And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. 31 So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.

Micah demonstrated his corruptness in idols and a personal priest thinking to curry the favor of God, a faulty premise

Dan demonstrates their corruptness in pursuing and setting up idols and images forbidden by God.

They choose to interpret God being with them by the word of a priest who was not serving Israel but serving Micah.

He told Dan in verse 6 that God’s eye was on them.

This was not about their journey to gain a homeland, this was about their use as judgement against Micah.

History and scripture teach us, that later Dan continued this idolatrous living

turning in the righteousness of God for pleasant living in the land..

Later in the days Israel did have a King and the Kingdom was split

King Jeroboam would establish Dan in place of Jerusalem as a capital for the Northern Kingdom of Israel

There he continued what they already had started an idolatrous religion like that of the people around them

It’s purpose was to keep men from returning to the true religion that was in Jerusalem of Judah the southern Kingdom

Jeroboam should have pursued restoration and returned back to God and His Way...

And the cycle that continues the corruption of men continues...

The Bible often uses the term from Dan to Beersheba

this speaks to the pilgrimage of Dan the most northern of the tribes of Israel, bordered by Dan to the North and Bethel to the south

A Golden Calf was setup in both areas and people were led to worship it...

The land of Dan changed hands several times invaded by Armenians until it’s ultimate conquest of Assyria

And the most northern of the Kingdom Dan would never exist again...

[Let us seek restoration and return to God and His way, not building any longer on a faulty foundation that only continues the corruption of man…]

God’s Plan of Salvation

Hear

Romans 10:17 ESV

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Believe

1 Corinthians 1:21 ESV

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

Confess

Philippians 2:9–11 ESV

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Repent

Luke 13:3 ESV

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Be Baptized

Acts 2:41 ESV

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Remain Faithful

Revelation 2:10 ESV

Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

My Decision Today

I would like to be baptized today

I would like to renew my life to Christ

I would like to learn more about Jesus and the Bible

What are my next steps?

Come forward to be baptized

Request a Bible Study to learn more

Attend Bible Class to grow and mature

Find a place to serve others