What Lies Beneath

A.W. Tozer

LIGHT IS NOT SIGHT

Religious instruction, however sound, is not enough by itself. It brings light, but it cannot impart sight. The assumption that light and sight are synonymous has brought spiritual tragedy to millions. The Pharisees looked straight at the Light of the World for three years, but not one ray of light reached their inner beings. Light is not enough. The inward operation of the Holy Spirit is necessary to saving faith. The gospel is light but only the Spirit can give sight

Big Idea: Don’t be children of the day acting like children of the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:5

For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

I know that everyone that has been following the book of Judges was waiting for the happy ending, where the prince rides in on his white horse and saves the day. You know the ending scene where they ride off into the sunset with the birds circling their heads singing their song. But we must now be prepared for a shock wave of an ending!

Well, not going to happen here in the land of the Judges. The gruesome inhumane events we will read about today, which probably happened soon after the Israelites had taken possession of the Promised Land - expose the extent of the decay. ‘Everyone did what was right in his own eyes’ (21:25)

Judges 19-20 is a two act drama that provides some shocking twists.

The first act begins with a touching scene of domestic reconciliation which turns to violent tragedy (ch 19); and the second act (ch 20-21) begins with a tribal assembly and concludes with a massacre that almost wiped out the tribe of Benjamin.

NARRATIVE HIGHLIGHTS

We find reports of wife abuse, blatant homosexuality, gang rape leading to murder, injustice, brother killing brother, and even kidnapping.

ILLUSTRATION

Events like this are daily food for our modern culture. We experience a daily diet of t.v. violence of enormous proportions. Researchers tell us that what happens on screens is often duplicated on the streets. According to the study by the American Psychological Association, there are five violent acts per hour in prime-time TV programming and on Saturday mornings when the children watch cartoons, violent acts per hour multiply five times. When a nation and culture is entertained by violence, is there much hope for that nation?

1.When evil isn’t dealt with it has a tendency to grow.

Why are we surprised to find such tragedy when disobedience and compromise have been our way of life?

NOTE: The sin is the city of Gibeah eventually infecting the tribe of Benjamin leading to war in the land of Israel.

(19:1-9)

Entertainment factor in Bethlehem

If you thought that the Levite Jonathan that we looked out last week was bad, then you probably have not met the Levite in our story today.

What is a Concubine? She was a lawful wife who was guaranteed only food, clothing, and marital privileges. Any children she bore were legitimate, but because of her second class status they were not awarded the privileges of the family inheritance.

Abraham, Jacob, Gideon, Saul, David, and Solomon all had concubines.

The Levite supposedly missed his wife and went to find her after she had been unfaithful to her husband. Fleeing to her fathers house in Bethlehem for protection.

However, he spends five day’s partying with his father in-law before returning to his home. Judgement is right around the corner but these people think of nothing but eating, drinking and enjoying life.

Having a careless attitude towards sinfulness lulls us to sleep.

The Levite should have been mourning that his nation was so far from God, but instead he wastes his time eating, drinking, and partying like it’s 1999.

James 4:9

9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Romans 13:14 ESV

14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a time to laugh and enjoy the gifts that he has given us. But for some Christians that is all the time.

THE HOLY HUSH OF WORSHIP HAS BEEN REPLACED BY RELIGIOUS ENTERTAINMENT

Many Churches get together each Sunday to salve their own conscience, we have a “short devotional” before the fun time ends, and we piously thank God that we’ve had such a good time in Worship.

NOTE: No one appreciates laughter and having a good time more than I do, but, do we take time to weep and mourn over the state of the Church, or the sins in our own lives.

When is the last time you hit your knees in prayer before a Holy God. If your answer is never, then you have some work to do my friend!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Levite has been walking in the light, praying, and seeking God’s will, he would have made other plans and saved his wife from shame, abuse, pain, and death.

2.When morality leaves Bankruptcy takes over.

Gibeah had become no better that Sodom and Gomorrah that God wiped off of the face of the earth in fir being thrown down from heaven.

Immoral practices that were contrary to nature.

Romans 1:24-27

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Humanity's nature and relationships are intended to be a visible expression of God.

God created man in His own image. Genesis 1:27

JOHN PIPER -

In what sense are we in the image of God? And historically, people have said things like our morality; our sense of right and wrong, or our rationality; our ability to reason, or our spirituality; our ability to relate to God; our aesthetic sense — you don’t find too many monkeys creating a Mona Lisa; or our judicial sense — the whole legal system that we have created, a sense of right and wrong and justice and injustice.

But the simplest thing, the plainest thing, and, in fact, for me the most practical thing, and the way it has an actual effect on my life, is to say images are created to image. If you create an image, if you make a sculpture of someone, you do it to display something about that someone. You put it in the square in the middle of town, and you want people to look at it, notice it, think about that person, think something about them — that they were noble or strong or wise or courageous or something.

I was created like a mirror. And a mirror that was supposed to be 45 degrees with the clear reflective side pointing upward so that as God shone on it at the 45 degree angle, it would bounce off, and it would make a 90 degree turn and be reflected out into the world. And at the fall, Satan persuaded me that my image is more beautiful than God’s image, and so I flip the mirror over. Now the black back side is toward God. It doesn’t reflect anything. Instead, the mirror casts a shadow in the shape of itself on the ground, and I fell in love with the shadow. That is what happened. And we have been loving ourselves ever since.

And in salvation, two things happen. The mirror gets turned around, and we see the glory of God again, and the defilement that had gone over the face of it gets wiped off gradually, and we begin to reflect God. So I think being created in the image of God means that we image God. We reflect God. We live in a way, we think in a way, we feel in a way, we speak in a way that calls attention to the brightness of the glory of God.

So, the host, to keep his guest safe and comfortable offers the men of the city his two virgin daughters. How in the world does this make any sense.

This shows the low dignity that the culture placed on sexual purity. We look at this an say, how could a father do this to his own daughters.

NOTE: But do we not do the same thing with our son’s and daughters today by the movies, or television that we allow to come into the hearts and minds of our children. MOM and DAD you are the guardian’s of your children’s purity. When you open the doors up to all kinds of vile things to come into your home and influence your children’s hearts and minds, it’s much like the father saying, here are my two virgin daughters do with them as you please.

NOTE: Now the worst act of all is the Levite who throws his concubines out to pacify the mob, like throwing a dog out into the cold. Even worse, the Levite retreats inside and goes to sleep with little or no concern for the horrific abuse his concubine was undergoing in the street. How calloused can a man be.

Coming out the next morning all he is focused with is getting back on the road. He told his concubine to get up, when she did not respond he threw her on the donkey and continue on his way.

NOTE: We do not know if she was dead or alive for sure. Some commentators have speculated that since she did not answer she must have been dead.

Evil is the opposite of humanity.

Evil is not human; it is the defect and opposite of the human; but the suffering that follows it is human, belonging of necessity to the human that has sinned: while it is by cause of sin, suffering is for the sinner, that he may be delivered from his sin. For that they were indeed created

NOTE: He desecrated and mutilated her corps by cutting her into twelve parts to distribute to the twelve tribes of Israel. Of course he wanted to mobilize the support of the tribes and punish the men of Gibeah who had killed his wife, but in fact he was the one who had sentenced her to death.

ILLUSTRATION

The inhumanity that takes place today is a stark reminder that nothing has changed in the heart of man over the centuries. It has just taken on a new sense of common place in our culture. Does it get bad enough where we say like the Israelites, such a thing has never been done before. (Man travels from Kentucky to Chicago with body parts in his suitcases, police shot at point blank range in their patrol car, then protesters blocking the ER entrances chanting, “we hope you die.”

Does our heart break over the sinful state of God’s creation. Do we daily pray and mourn over the loss of shema or peace with God?

3.When sin is not exposed, confessed, and punished, it pollutes society and defiles the land.

20:1-11

The verdict was that the men of Gibeah were guilty and should be handed over to the authorities to be slain. The vow was that none of the men in the tribes would give their daughters in marriage to the men of Benjamin.

20:12-17

They sent men throughout the tribe of Benjamin to call the people to confess their wickedness and hand over the guilty men. Since the man willingly handed over his concubine the crime could hardly be adultery. However the penalty for rape was death, and gang rape even worse.

NOTE: Whatever law they were obeying, the tribes were concerned to “put away evil” out of the land, a phrase that is found nine times in Deuteronomy.

The people of Benjamin would not admit that Gibeah had sinned, nor would they turn over the men who had done the wicked deed.

1 Corinthians 5:6

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

What is the bigger problem here?

Obviously this sin has been going on for awhile in the tribe of Benjamin. How is it that they all the sudden seem clueless, or want to reign things in and call them out for their wicked behavior.

When God’s people refuse to obey God’s word the result is always tragic.

The spiritual life of the Church is crippled and eventually destroyed when the congregation turns a blind eye to sin and will not discipline offenders.

THERE CAN NO LONGER BE UNITY AMONG PEOPLE OF GOD AS LONG AS SOME OF THEM COVER UP SIN

ALLOWING IT TO INFECT THE BODY.

It’s like a small infection, if not treated it can move through the whole

body and infect all of it.

Illustration

Researchers in Mexico have identified a new species of spider with venom that is capable of rotting human flesh.

A team from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) found the spider, dubbed Loxosceles tenochtitlan, in the Valley of Mexico—a highland plateau in the center of the country where Mexico City is located.

The spider was named after Tenochtitlan, the ancient capital city of the Aztec Empire.

The arachnid belongs to a genus, or group of species, known as Loxosceles—which are commonly referred to as recluse spiders, violin spiders, brown spiders, fiddle-backs or reapers. They are known for their venomous bites which, while not fatal, can cause necrosis in the skin, leaving a permanent scar.

Sin will always be exposed when brought into the Light. Just like the spider bite, it may not initially prove fatal, but the scars are left it it’s wake as a reminder of what lies underneath.

20:18-40

God gave them permission to do battle with the tribe of Judah leading the attack. The first day, God allowed the Benjamites to win and kill 22,000 Israelite soldiers.

It gave them the opportunity to reflect on the fact that they were fighting their own flesh and blood. But on the second day of fighting Benjamin won again killing 18,000 men.

The eleven tribes sought God again with sacrifices and tears. The Lord answered their prayers not only telling them to attack again but this time they were assured a victory.

The Benjamite army met the Israelite army drawing them out, they killed 30 men, but were exposed by an ambush and over 25,000 Benjamites were killed on the battlefield.

NOTE: At the first census after the Exodus from Egypt, there were 35,400 men of war in Benjamin, and this increased to 45,600 by the second census. During the 3 day war, the Benjamites were left with only 600 men standing on the rock of Rimmon.

When God’s people fail to rely on God’s wisdom the result is always chaos.

Judges 21:1-25

Results:

The 600 men left from Benjamin would need wives to re-establish the tribe. (remember they had sworn not to give them wives)Problem solved by killing more of their own people. (Jabesh-gilead did not participate in the war when called. The executioners found 400 virgins in the city, women who could become wives to two-thirds of the soldiers on the rock. The feast of Shiloh kidnapping of 200 women by the remaining 200 Benjamite men. It was a matter of semantics but, they agreed to the plan.

REMEMBER: All of this carnage and craziness happened because one Levite didn’t have the courage to stand up for what was right and treat his concubine honorably. Once again, as with Jonathan, Micah, and the Danites, the problem started in the home. And goes the home so goes the nation.

People are still looking for a king today, someone to rule them, someone to rescue them. There is only one man who provides what we are looking for. We must look to the greatest King, ultimate Judge - or we will most definitely serve the False one!

CONCLUSION

Today there is no king in Israel because the nation chose Barabbas instead of Jesus . They said, we will not have this man rule over us. The people still rebelled against God by doing whatever Pleased themselves.

And it will continue to be this way until the King returns and takes His throne on earth.

GODS PEOPLE TODAY LIVE IN THE LAND OF RUTH

The Story of Ruth, it’s difficult to consider that the story narrated in the book of Ruth takes place in the time of the Judges.

It’s a love story (about a man seeking his bride)Its a redemption story (about a wealthy man willingly paying the price for his beloved bride). It’s a harvest story (about the Lord of the harvest bringing in the crops or sheaves).

Look at the end of the book of Ruth. Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed who fathered Jesse, who was the father of King David, from whose line will eventually come the redeemer of the world. Now, tell me that God is not good, so very Good.

In which book are you living today?

The Book of Judges - or - The Book of Ruth

The World of Darkness - or - The light of God’s Glory