Tonight, I ask that you turn with me to Judges chapter 19. Judges 19, as we consider this chapter as the close as well of our series on the book of Judges. Really, chapters 19, 20, and 21 go together. we're going to consider together tonight the episode that we find in chapter 19. Hear now the Word of God. In those days Israel had no king. Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her father's house in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her father's house, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. His father-in-law, the girl's father, prevailed upon him to stay, so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking and sleeping there. On the fourth day, they got up early, and he prepared to leave, but the girl's father said to his son-in-law, Refresh yourself with something to eat, then you can go. So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterward, the girl's father said, Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself. And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the girl's father said, Refresh yourself, wait till afternoon. So the two of them ate together. Then when the man with his concubine and his servant got up to leave, his father-in-law, the girl's father, said, Now look, it's almost evening. Spend the night here. The day is nearly over. Stay and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning you can get up and be on your way home. But unwilling to stay another night, the man left and went toward Jabez, that is, Jerusalem, with his two saddle donkeys and his concubine. When they were near Jabez and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, Come, let's stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night. His master replied, No, we won't go into an alien city. whose people are not Israelites, we will go on to Gibeah. He added, Come, let's try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places. So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. There they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no one took them into his home for the night. That evening, an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was living in Gibeah, the men of the place were Benjamites, came in from his work in the fields. When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, Where are you going? Where did you come from? He answered, We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord. No one has taken me into his house. We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves, your servants, me, your maidservant, and the young man with us. We don't need anything. You are welcome at my house, the old man said. Let me supply whatever you need, only don't spend the night in the square. So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink. While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him. The owner of the house went outside and said to them, No, my friends, don't be so vile, since this man is my guest. Don't do this disgraceful thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish, but to this man, don't do such a disgraceful thing. But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door, and lay there until daylight. When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, Get up. Let's go. But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home. When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine limb by limb into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. Everyone who saw it said, Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it. Consider it. Tell us what to do. Beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ, These last chapters of the book of Judges, as we said last week, are sobering, to say the least. In many respects, the author tells these stories that we find here without any sort of emotion, without us sensing that there's any sort of a shock value, we might say, that's to be included. And in some ways, we sense a numbness as the rot and the rust and the decline of God's people is set forth. the Israelites were wasting away from inside out. In chapters 17 and 18, we talked about the spiritual cancer that was growing as lawlessness attacked the true worship of their covenant God. And now in chapters 19 through 21, it's clear that a moral cancer was claiming the life of Israel. But that's no surprise, is it? because when God is treated as dead, that inevitably leads to the moral death of a nation. Again, the compelling theme of these last chapters, actually the theme of the whole book, says it all. In those days, Israel had no king. Everyone did as He saw fit. This story in chapter 19 is no doubt one of the most, if not the most, gruesome episodes we find in Scripture. And once again, we just wonder, why is it there? What good is it for us? And these last three chapters make it clear that there was a collapse in society. There was moral and civil anarchy, again with men being laws unto themselves. And since there was a breakdown of law and order, wickedness was no longer restrained, it was no longer punished. Israel had backslidden to the point where immorality was an epidemic that spread like the common cold. Like the flu. The theme of in those days Israel had no king became such a fitting proverb to this time in Israel's history that the latter prophets were still talking about it many years later. Hosea, for example, refers to this situation with Gibeah three times in his prophecy. For example, in chapter 9, verse 9, he says, they are deeply corrupted as in the days of Gibeah. And Hosea 10, verse 9, Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel, and there you have remained. Did not war overtake the evildoers in Gibeah? People of God, this moral cancer affected not just a few, not just a few scattered people here and there, but it appears that all were twisted throughout the whole nation. And the root of the problem was that they were seeing things through blind eyes, as He saw fit. God's people, you see, were working from a faulty standard, their own standard. And therefore, we consider together the ripe fruit of lawlessness displays total moral depravity. We want to consider together the prelude of the abomination, the act of abomination, and the report of the abomination. Now, of course, when we read this episode, no doubt most often what sticks in our minds is what we read beginning at verse 22 on through verse 30. What we find there, you see, is horrifying to say the least. It's definitely, it's truly an abomination in the sight of God, but we cannot overlook the fact that most of chapter 19, verses 1 through 21, sets the stage for the rest of chapter 19, as well as for chapters 20 and 21, which describes the aftermath, how the nation dealt with this atrocity. And therefore, we cannot overlook the prelude of this abomination. starts out similar to chapter 17, just as in chapter 17 we find here, just as there we find a Levite who was not content with his lot in life. He lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim. In other words, remember from last week, he was out of his territory. He was outside of a Levitical town. He wasn't where he should have been. He was supposed to be devoted to the service of the house of the Lord, But there is no indication that he had anything to do with it. And actually, Scripture does more to tell us that he was self-seeking. He was pleasure-seeking. He was sensual. We read that with his concubine's father, he ate and drank with the intention of enjoying himself. You say, so what? Another translation uses these words, making his heart merry. He does it for five days. Then a little later, with the old man, he was again enjoying himself. or making Mary when the men of Gibeah came calling. They were high in spirit. You see, to make Mary was an indication of excessive drinking of strong drink. In other words, they were getting drunk. This Levite, as we know, obviously also had a concubine who becomes the star of this episode as her fame is literally spread piece by piece throughout the whole nation. You see, beloved, a concubine was a slave woman who was the legal property of her master and who could enter into legitimate sexual relations with him according to the standard of their day, of course. And that's part of that faulty standard. She was not as low as a mere servant. Yet, she was not free. And she did not share in the same rights of a free woman. But we know that from the dawn of history, God established marriage to be between one man and one woman. That's always been His design. Of course, we also know in Scripture He has, at times, allowed some of His people to have multiple wives and concubines. Yet, if you think about it, in every instance like that, the Bible is clear that there was always trouble. There was punishment in that all by itself. We see that with Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon to mention a few. And we would expect God's religious leaders, after all, don't we always place them on some sort of a pedestal? We would expect God's religious leaders of all people to be obedient even with regard to marriage and morality. This Levite, you see, had no business having a concubine. To put it in our terms today, this Levite having a concubine would be like one living with his girlfriend. And therefore, this Levite is a picture of the total moral depravity that existed among God's people and had even filtered to the spiritual leadership. But even the character of this concubine speaks against this Levite. She had been unfaithful to him. She stepped out on him, played the harlot against him. And according to the law, she should have been put to death. Because she was a disgrace to this Levite and to her father. But notice, neither of them is interested in doing what God commanded. Instead, they party for five days, and they figure that tomorrow it will be business as usual. And of course, as the story goes, their desire for merrymaking changes the Levites' travel plans, and the travelers are forced to make an overnight stop. Now, it's interesting that this Levite didn't want to spend the night in Jebus. Again, that town, as it says, was later known as Jerusalem, but at this time, the Jebusites were still running the city because if you recall from the early chapters of Judges, Israel had not yet finished taking over the land. But this Levite didn't want to stay there overnight because it was filled with Canaanites, aliens, wicked people. He figured that an Israelite town would be safer. But as it turned out, this Canaanite town might have been safer. Indeed, a sad, sad commentary. Gibeah belonged to the Benjamites, and surely these travelers would be able to find some refuge there for the night. Because, you see, hospitality was an important part of life. It was considered an honor to provide hospitality, and providing it became a highly esteemed virtue. It was considered a privilege to provide shelter and safety for weary travelers, especially since, you never know, one day you might need the favor in return. Hospitality was also commanded by God in Deuteronomy 10. Therefore, love the stranger. And he says, why? For you were strangers in the land of Egypt. But these Benjamites of Gibeah had no virtue. This Levite and his traveling party were ignored. Nobody talked to them. Nobody invited them to their house for a cup of coffee. Ironically, how often haven't some of us experienced or heard others tell of experiences when you visited a church for worship, maybe on vacation and afterward, no one said a single word to you. May that never be the case here among this people of God. I remember that. I think I was about eight. I think it was in the same vacation. One town we were at, one church we visited, no one said a word to us. But in another one, they invited us over to their home after the evening service. Ironically, the oldest son in that family is now a URC minister. But I was eight years old, I still remember that. But here it took an old man who himself was out of his territory. This was not his hometown, you see. But it took him, himself, really a visitor in this town, to seek to provide refuge for these travelers. The Levite says in verse 18, We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord. No one has taken me into his house. That's interesting. The Levite says that he is going to the house of the Lord, but there was no house of the Lord where he was going. Again, the Levites were supposed to be about the work of the service of the house of the Lord. You see, with hypocrisy in his voice, this Levite basically says to the old man, I am called of God to the service of his house, but I am not considered worthy by anyone here in Gibeah to be a guest in their home. Notice he was using his position, which he didn't take seriously, but he was using it to try to gain sympathy. How many of us haven't done that in some way to use our Christian status or the fact that we're a member of a church in some way to gain some sort of an advantage. I have to confess, I did a couple of times when I got caught speeding, not in California here, but a few years back, and trying to butter up the officer by telling him I just happened to be a minister. The Lord didn't go for it. Not at all. He said, that's nice, but here's your ticket. You see, we could say with regard to this Levite that he who had rejected his call in the house of God was now himself being rejected. But he does have a point, beloved, when it comes to respecting office, especially the offices that God has placed in the church, the offices of minister, elder, and deacon. You see, we may not always like the person in the office, but we are called to respect that office and therefore respect that person. You see, by rejecting a man of God in this case, one who represented God no matter how poor of a job he may have done, the people of Gibeah showed disrespect and rejection for God. Congregation, in this prelude, we find that moral depravity was not limited to the men of Gibeah, but to the entire nation as represented by these few characters we've talked about so far. The Levite, his concubine, her father, indeed the men of Gibeah. But the story quickly changes gear as the ripe fruit of lawlessness displays total moral depravity as seen in the act of abomination. You know the story well. As the old man and the Levite are once again making merry, some of the wicked men of the city, the text says, surrounded the house, pounding the door. Another translation calls them perverted men or worthless fellows. In the Hebrew, it literally says, sons of Belial. Belial means without profit. It means worthless. The sense here is describing an extremely ungodly individual, a sinner of the very worst type. And still later, Belial became known as a reference to Satan, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 15, and what accord has Christ with Belial? You see, these men who were supposed to be sons of God by virtue of the covenant had become sons of Satan. And these worthless fellows were pounding the door. The idea literally throwing themselves at the door like wild beasts. Their appetite for homosexual activity was so strong that they were reduced to acting like animals. They wanted to have relations with this Levite. Beloved, homosexuality is a rejection and a reversal of God's design of and definition of and purpose for human sexuality. It is a true defacing of the image of God by His image bearers. And as Leviticus 18 verse 22 and Romans 1 point out, it is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. Leviticus 18 says, you shall not lie with a male as with a woman, it is an abomination. In 1 Timothy 1, verse 10, Paul includes sodomites as being contrary to sound doctrine. And then in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 9, we read that homosexuals and sodomites are included in those who will not inherit the kingdom of God. You see, no matter how much man tries to mess with that verse of Scripture, they cannot change it. They will not inherit the kingdom of God. The men of Gibeah 1 of the Levite, they settled for his concubine, which basically guaranteed their terrible and brutal treatment of her. And I trust that you've also noticed the resemblance here with Sodom and Gomorrah in the episode of Lot with his visiting angels. Like Lot, you see, the old man tries to protect his guests from such a shameful crime by an appeal to the sacred rights of hospitality. Again, it was customary that a guest could remain in a host's house in safety for three days and also receive protection for a given period of time after the guest left. But this appeal didn't work, so like Lot, the old man offers the men of Gibeah his virgin daughter as well as the Levite's concubine, and apparently this still wasn't good enough. But for some reason, they accepted the offering of the concubine as she was pushed from the house into their abominable hands. Like Lot, the old man was willing to sacrifice his duty as a father to the sanctity of hospitality. But his duty as a father should have been more sacred. And in the end, he committed the sin of seeking to restrain sin by promoting alternative sin. By offering his own daughter, the old man showed that he believed that the rape of his own daughter was preferable to sodomy with the Levite. You know, the lesser of two evils. Sometimes we have to make decisions based on that, don't we? The lesser of two evils. Both are sin. The concubine dies, we know, and in the end, receiving, we might say, the death penalty that she deserved for her harlotry. But what a horrible picture. Doing what is right in one's own eyes marks a collapsing society. And a symptom of this is widespread sexual immorality. The lust of the men of Gibeah was totally unrestrained. People of God, Sodom and Gomorrah, really, we might say, are not so shocking because they were God's enemies. We might expect behavior like that from them, but these were supposed to be God's people. And notice the difference between Lot in Sodom and the old man in Gibeah. Lot entertained angels, while the old man entertained a guilty Levite. Again, the men of Sodom were God's enemies, but here in this text, this sin is committed in the sphere of God's covenant and in the midst of God's covenant people who were expressly commanded to stay away from such abominations. The Israelites had the ark of God in Shiloh, but it didn't do them any good with Sodom in their hearts and in their streets. We might ask, why weren't these sons of Belial struck blind as the Sodomites were? Why didn't fire and brimstone rain from heaven upon their city? Well, we see in chapter 20 that God left it to Israel themselves to punish their countrymen by the sword. But as well, God reserved His own punishment for them as we read in Jude, as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Again, in those days, Israel had no king. Everyone did as he saw fit. We began this series with that. And we end again because that's the problem here, you see. Everyone did as he saw fit. Lawlessness. we might ask, well, what about the church leaders? Where were they with God's Word, God's law which restrains evil? We've already answered this with regard to Micah's idolatry and the Levite's consent in chapters 17 and 18, but also with the character of this Levite. This Levite here demonstrates that sexual sin had become common and even socially acceptable for the ministers of God. In chapter 20, we read that Phineas, the grandson of Aaron, was high priest at that time. And if we think back in our Bible history, in Numbers 31, verse 6, we read that Phineas was a warrior. The same Phineas was a warrior for the Lord against Israel's immorality with the Moabite women. You may recall that he rushed into the tent after the Israelite man and Moabite woman and thrust a spear through both of them, killing them both, nailing them to the ground. But Phineas had changed. The Word of God hadn't changed. But Phineas had changed. You see, now the ministry of God was weak. It was unbelieving. It was compromised by its own sin. It was defeated. It was without a message of salvation. It was without an eschatology of victory. In other words, they were without a living faith in the Lord. Beloved, this is a call to pray for the church universal. This is a call to pray that every pulpit might herald the unvarnished and undiluted truth of God's Word and that people might believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and live sacrificially and fearlessly and righteously in Him according to God's standard. You see, beloved, how we live is important. There are so many, even professing Christians, who say, I can live like I want. I can go on and sin that grace may abound. I can live like I want because I'll just ask for forgiveness in the morning and God will give it to me. But we may not have that attitude that we can live like we want just because I'm saved, but instead because I'm saved by the grace of God. I'm called to live like God wants. To live as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven according to the rules of that citizenship. You see, moral death, beloved, is a symptom of spiritual death. Do you pray for the revival of Christ's church? Do you pray for the faithfulness of your ministers and elders? Do you pray for gifted men to be raised up for ministry? Are you pleading with God that His messengers will be kept uncompromised and fearless in their ministries, that yes, they will step on your toes once in a while? Now, are you ready to see the issues of the day addressed from the Bible? In this prelude to an act of abomination with all of its component parts, we also see a low regard for human life. It begins with the Levite pushing his concubine into the hands of these wicked men, and it continues in the last two chapters. It continues through to the Civil War, wiping out all but 600 men of Benjamin, as well as the massacre of Jabesh Gilead. There was a low regard for the loss of life. They made oaths which demanded unwarranted killing. We consider this whole episode, and I'm sure it's crossed some of your minds, so what's different today? Really, what's different today? I mean, after all, sexual immorality is not only practiced, but it's suggested. It's even recommended. Don't leave home without your birth control. Don't forget to put on your OrthoEvra patch. You're covered for a whole week. Let's put condoms in the school so our young people can enjoy safe sex, safe from sexually transmitted diseases. The world is blinded to the fact that the only safe sex between unwed couples, of course, is no sexual relations at all. And I don't even have to mention homosexuality today. The list of homosexual rights is growing daily. Abortion has become a household word. Terrorist bombings and massacres grace our TV screens and newspaper headlines as well as the radio headlines. This Levite in chapter 19 as well demonstrates even the selfishness of today. He did not love his concubine as his own body. or he would not have pushed her out to the men in order to save his own skin. The more we are bombarded with violence and misery and death in the newspaper, on TV, in the movies, the less we are horrified by that misery. The shock is gone. Finally, notice the report of the abomination. The Levite demonstrates his unfeeling character or when he finds his concubine on the front step and says, get up, let's go. Maybe he even gave her a little nudge with his foot. Let's go. What are you waiting for? And you see, when he determines that she's dead, we're not told whether he grieved. We're not told whether he was remorseful or anything like that. We're simply given a picture of hard-heartedness. And what we consider to be the most gruesome part of the story is the fact that He cuts her body into twelve pieces and has them delivered by parcel post, one piece to each tribe. And again, we don't really know what the Levite's motive was here, whether it was personal or whether it was sorrow for the nation, except that He wanted the whole nation to see and hear about just how abominable the nation had become. Of course, there's so much that we could say with regard to this, but allow me to say that even as a nation, But chapters 20 and 21 show us they continued, even after this, to do what was right in their own eyes. The civil war that takes place, the massacre of Jabesh Gilead, everything else may seem justifiable given the situation. And even though they called on God, asked God, should we go attack the Benjamites? Seeking God's counsel, yet it's clear that they still followed their own thinking to get revenge. They weren't remorseful. They weren't sorry. They just wanted someone to pay. You see, the Levite challenges the nation to take notice of and decide how this crime should be punished. And he sends the pieces of the concubine's body before their very eyes to stir them to punishment, to anger them. Reminds me a little bit of a movie that came out the other day that I'm sure we've all heard about, Fahrenheit 9-11. They say, of course, that the Democrats embrace the movie. The Republicans despise it. But it's interesting in the reports that I've heard, even in the interviews that I've heard, that the author of it, the one who put it together himself, said he doesn't really care about the truth. He doesn't really care about setting forth the facts, of course. All he wants to do is anger the American people, in essence, to get them to vote so that President Bush will no longer be in office one day. Same sort of situation here. Anger the nation. Get them to act. Well, today our nation is informed of our total moral depravity by way of TV and Internet. We think of how quickly the news of those beheadings came to us over the past month. and how quickly we hear about those who are popular, those in professional sports or whatever, when they commit a gross sin, and how quickly it's pasted all over the headlines. How many times don't you hear the headlines for the evening news and story after story, headline after headline, you just shake your head and say it's all terrible. It's just terrible. You see, the writer of Judges tells these stories in such a way as if to say, do you wonder, do you really wonder why we need a godly king? And now we too must ask, beloved, where is the grace here? That's clear after our consideration this morning of the grace and mercy of God that it certainly was not deserved. But where is the grace here? You might be surprised when I tell you that chronologically, in order of time, the activities of Judges 17-21, even though it's at the end of the book, most likely come before even the first judge was sent. It's how the author tells the story. And one way we know that is that Phinehas was high priest, grandson of Aaron. He was a contemporary of Moses. You see, this was the despicable situation into which God sent deliverers to point forward to Jesus Christ. This situation is not the aftermath of the judges, but it's the soil for the judges. When you think about that, and then you think about the fact that God sent deliverers, that's grace. This wretched condition for Israel and for us, you see, it would crush us, it would cast us into irreversible despair were it not for the wonderful paradox of the Gospel that Jesus Christ came not to save the righteous, those who think they are righteous. But He came to save sinners, as He says in Matthew 9, verse 13. And Paul reminds us in Romans 5, verse 20, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. See, it doesn't get much darker than the period of the judges, but even there, a light dawned. Israel had a need for a righteous king, and they got one, Jesus Christ. You see, it was when Israel was broken and cried out only then that the Lord raised up judges. In the eyes of the world, they were ripe for judgment. But in the eyes of the Lord, they were ripe for revival. It's only when one understands their hopelessness by the illumination of the Spirit that they then see that there is hope. This period in the history of Israel gives us a glimpse of each of us apart from Jesus Christ, doesn't it? totally depraved, spiritually, morally, following our own standard as we see fit. But God in His grace reached down and when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons. And those who are in Christ are no longer slaves to sin and to the lusts of the flesh, but they demonstrate by the grace of God the fruit of the Spirit. There's a faulty idea or belief that says that God saved us before we were totally depraved. But the truth is God saves His people because we were totally depraved. You might say, well, I would never do what the men of Gibeah did. And I certainly don't approve of the immorality in our day. But be warned, beloved. Those who sit by idol and do not fight against God's enemies by their silence prove that they are with God's enemies and they too are guilty. We are called to take up the cross of Christ and labor for the revival of godliness. And it begins at home. It begins in your heart and in my heart. Whom do you serve? Remember, in essence, judges is about who will be God over God's people. Who will be God? Whom do you serve? To whom are you obedient? You see, only in Jesus Christ is life known for what it really is. God made us in His image to bring pleasure to Himself, to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. Lawlessness leads to destruction. And that's what's in store for those who are a law unto themselves. But Jesus Christ brings redemption. The King has come. He lives and reigns today forevermore. His church will live and reign forever with Him. And if you live in the comfort of His salvation, may you consider where you were in sin and where Christ has brought you through His precious blood. And may you confess with all of the saints what a great Savior. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we thank You and praise You once again that You have given to us Your Holy Word including this portion of Scripture that we have considered tonight. We pray, Father, that we would be content being obedient to Your law. Your law, O Lord, which You have set in place to protect us as Your people, to keep us from sin. And again, Your law, through which we give thanksgiving and praise to You for such a great salvation. Father, may we indeed be conscious how we live day by day. And may we indeed glorify You and enjoy You forever. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.