(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, we're in Judges chapter 18, and let me get a bit of a review of chapter 17. If you remember from last week, we read a peculiar story in chapter 17 having to do with a man by the name of Micah from Mount Ephraim, a Levite, their graven image, and they're basically what I refer to as their house church, right? Because what we see here is that a man of the man of Ephraim whose name was Micah basically had these graven images, the Teraphim. He had these molten images made, and he consecrated his own sons to be priests unto him. And then later on, we see that a man of Bethlehem Judah of the family of Judah who was a Levite came to sojourn there, in other words, he was just passing by, and he ran into this guy named Micah. Micah hires him, and he says, hey, you know, you're a Levite, why don't you become my priest? I'll give you 10 shekels of silver throughout the year, I'll give you a suit of apparel, and I'll give you vittles, I'll give you food. And the Levite basically said, man, this is a good deal here, you know, I got it made right here. I get some clothes, I get some food, and I get paid every year just to be a priest into this guy's house, sounds good to me. And this story is very peculiar, and you're just like, what in the world is going on here? They're talking about using golden, or excuse me, images and graven images, molten images, Teraphim to worship the Lord, right? And you kind of wonder what is taking place here, and one of the motives that Micah had for hiring this Levite, you see at the latter end at verse 13, he says, now I know that the Lord will do me good, seeing that I have a Levite to my priest. So he simply thinks just because he has a Levite in his house, that God is going to bless him for that. Now, in chapter 18, it starts off by saying, in those days, there was no king in Israel. So we know right off the bat, that this is a continuation of chapter 17. Obviously, we see Micah in chapter 18, as well as the Levite, they play an integral part in this chapter here. But before we get into chapter 18, let me just mention something that I was actually wrong about, okay, when it came to the book of Judges. And what I was wrong about was the chronology of the book of Judges. And what I mean by that is that I've always read the book of Judges, and I never really thought about this. I taught this in Bible college, and even in the beginning of the book here, when we began to study it, I simply thought that chapter 17 all the way to 21 was the culmination of all the wickedness that we had seen previously in chapters 1 through 16. We see that the children of Israel go back, and they rebel against God, they're worshiping false gods, a judge rises up, he delivers them, and then the cycle continues, right, which that is correct. However, I believe that chapter 17 through 21 does not take place after the death of Samson, or even after any of the judges, okay, and I'm going to explain to you why in this introduction that I'm going to give to you here. Now, why is that? Well, let's read verse number 1, it says here, in those days there was no king in Israel, and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in, for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. So what is this saying here? Well, what's being referred to here is the disbursement of the lots, the inheritance that they were supposed to receive when they went into the promised land. But what do we see here in chapter 18? We see that the Danites had not yet received that inheritance. Well, if we're to take it from a chronological perspective, this does not take place after the judges have ruled, rather it takes place in the book of Joshua, actually more specifically Joshua chapter 19. In Joshua chapter 19, you have the disbursements of the inheritance for, I believe, two and a half tribes of Israel along with the Danites, okay? And so we see here, and he says, the inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. I don't believe this is referring to that they had it, then they lost it, then they were going back to get it again. I think this is literally referring to when they did not have it to begin with at all, okay? Now let's further prove this, okay? Because I think this is important, and there's a strong point that I want to make about this after I give this introduction. Look down at verse number 7 in Judges 18, it says, then the five men departed. These are five men from the tribe of Dan that are going out to basically survey the land, what they're going to take over, et cetera. It says, then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelled, careless after the manner of Zidonians, quiet and secure, and there was no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything, and they were far from the Zidonians and had no business with any man. So we see the first city that they go to is the city referred to as Laish, okay? So they're looking for an inheritance, they're coming to this area to get their lot. The first city they go to is referred to as Laish. Skip down to verse number 29, if you would, verse number 29. Now spoiler alert, what happens to Laish? It gets burned up, right? The Danites come, they basically pillage the land, they destroy it, they light it on fire, and they take over that land, okay? Look at verse 29, and they call the name of the city Dan. After the name of Dan, their father, who was born into Israel, howbeit the name of the city was Laish at the first, okay? So keep this in mind. And just remember this, often in the Bible, the Bible often give two names for the same exact area or whatever, a variation of a name. Now as I mentioned in the beginning, I believe this is not taking place after the judges, nor is it taking place at the latter end of this period known as the time of the judges. It's actually taking place, in my opinion, during the disbursement of the inheritance in the book of Joshua, possibly prior, just prior to Joshua dying, okay? Now hold your place there, and judges, go to Joshua chapter 19, if you would, Joshua chapter 19. So what happens to Laish? They overcome Laish, and they rename it to Dan, right? Now look at Joshua chapter 19 and verse number 47. It says here, in the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them, therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem. That sounds kind of similar to Laish, right? Well, I don't know, that doesn't sound like it's the same exact thing. Okay, let's keep reading. And took it and smote it with the edges of the sword and possessed it and dwelt therein and called Leshem Dan, after the name of Dan, their father. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages. So bam, point blank right there, there you go. Leshem is simply called Laish, but you know what, at the end of the day it doesn't matter because at the end of the day it was called Dan. You know, it's like you can call it Laish, you can call it Leshem, you can call it whatever you want. Because it's taken over, now it's called Dan. So I believe this is strong proof to show that what we see in chapter 17, 18, 19, 20, all the way to 21 is that these events that we see here, yea, even the civil war with the sons of Belial, the homos, in chapter 19 is all actually taking place after the disbursement of the inheritance, but possibly a little bit prior to Joshua dying. Now why do we, what's another proof of that? Well another proof is the fact that, the emphasis on the fact that there was no king in the land. So from the going out of Exodus up until the crowning of King Saul, you have the period of the judges, but even prior to that there is no king. There is no earthly king. And so this is strong evidence to prove that this is actually taking place during the time of Joshua. For sure 17 and 18 is taking place during the Joshua, but what about chapter 19, right? Because chapter 19 is a story, the famous story of the sons of Belial that we can cross reference with Genesis chapter 19, strong evidence to prove that homosexuals are wicked and vile in the eyes of God, and we'll get into that story next week, I'll blow some steam then, but let me give you the timing first here, look what it says in chapter 19 verse 1, and it came to pass in those days. So what days is it referring to? Chapter 18 and 19. Now there's two school of thoughts that we can take when we read this though. We could either say well when it talks about in those days, it's just referring to the days of the judges, that era, okay, that period of the days of the judges when all this wickedness was taking place, this is what's taking place here, but I believe this is actually referring to in those days 17 and 18, yea even Joshua chapter 19, okay, and the reason for that is because this main chapter emphasizes homosexuality, sodomy, which by the way is a result of rejecting the true God which we see in chapter 17 and 18, idolatry being taking place that automatically go into chapter 19 where you see reprobation take place because that's exactly what happens when you reject Jesus Christ, when you reject the true God. Now here's the interesting thing about this, and I believe that obviously there is no coincidence in the Bible, correct? Here's the interesting thing about these three chapters in particular, okay, because in chapter 17 and 18, or excuse me, in chapter 17 first, who is one of the main characters there, other than Micah? You have the Levite, right, and the Levite obviously is supposed to have this reputation of being a spiritual leader, okay, you know, these are the ones who are the only ones designated to even be part of the priesthood if they met those qualifications, but what do we see the Levite doing in chapter 17, committing idolatry, being a priest unto one man, just acting like a fool, right, just serving God, so this basically shows you that the leaders of that day were garbage. I mean even the Levite is committing idolatry, correct? Now is it any coincidence that in chapter 19, look down at your Bibles, look at verse 1, and it came to pass in those days when there was no king in Israel that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the side of Mount Ephraim who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem, Judah. And what do we see now? We see another Levite, this guy's not committing idolatry, he's committing fornication. What's a concubine? It's a living girlfriend, you know, it's his ruka, you know, this is his living girlfriend, this is the spiritual leader of that day and he has a concubine. So you say, what's the significance of that? Well, first and foremost, notice that both the Levite in chapter 17 and the Levite in chapter 19 are both sojourning into the land, okay? They both come to Mount Ephraim, that seems to be the place where all the sin is taking place, okay? And they're both Levites, they're both spiritual leaders. You say, well, what's the significance of that? Why is God telling us this in chapter 17 through 18 or chapter 17 through 19? Why I believe what it's doing is just setting up a platform for our understanding of the spiritual level of where Israel is at this time. Now you ask, why would God do that? Why would he put chapters 1 through 16 highlighting all the judges and all these crazy stories and then, you know, go to 17, 18, all the way to 21 with the civil war and the sodomites and all this, why would he do that? Well, I think it's just because the same reason why movie directors often make prequels, right? You guys know what a prequel is? You know, you have like a saga, a trilogy of movies or something and then like years later they'll come out with a movie that is a prequel to those movies and it basically fills in the blanks for you, right? So it kind of fills in what the story, why these people were so stupid and wicked and evil. Well, this is the prequel to judges 1 through 16 because when they're entering into the land this is already taking place. Now here's the thing is that to further prove this, okay, because we see crazy idolatry taking place here, right, with the Ephah, the Teraphim and the graven images, to further prove this in Joshua chapter 24 when Joshua was about to pass off the scene he gives them a talk, right? He says, choose you this day whom you will serve and he's telling them, put away the gods which are among you. So even after they disperse the inheritance and the lots and they already have their land and their ranches and their vineyards, Joshua's still telling them, hey, you need to choose you this day whom you will serve because you need to put away the gods which are among you, okay? Now there's a select few obviously that are still serving God but others like the Levi, others like Micah, others like the Levi that we see in chapter 19 are living wicked lives and there is major idolatry taking place here which leads into reparation. Oh, now we know why all that foolishness and wickedness took place in Judges chapter 1 all the way through 17. It's because of this right here. This is the prequel to fill in the blanks as to why people were acting the way they acted because don't you read the stories of the judges like what in the world is wrong with you guys? This makes no sense why you're doing this. Jephthah, why would you do that? Gideon, why would you make that graven image? Why would you guys do this? Well, this is why. This is the blockbuster hit, right? The prequel that explains and it fills in the blanks to help us to understand that, okay? So Judges 19, you see the story of the Sodomites. Judges 20 up into 21 is the civil war that takes place and look, this is not the first time this happens. God does this throughout the Bible. I mean, think about this. What's the book right after the book of Judges? Ruth. But when does Ruth take place in the days of the judges? We don't know exactly when but obviously it's a book that comes after the book of Judges but they are events that take place throughout the book of Judges during that time period so to speak. So I was wrong about the chronology. I always thought that, you know, it's just all in chronological order, even 17 to 21 and I just thought that chapter 19 was basically the culmination of all the wickedness that has been taking place whereas it's not the culmination, it was the beginning. It was actually the catalyst, so to speak, for all the nonsense that took place in chapters 1 through 17. Very interesting, is it not? And if you didn't like that, I liked it. I thought it was good. I learned something new. So let's read on here. So with that in mind, that's why it's saying that the inheritance had not fallen among them to the tribes of Israel. Verse 2, and the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coast, men of valor from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to search it and they said unto them, go search the land, who when they came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, they lodged there. When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man, the Levite, and they turned in thither and said unto him, who brought thee hither and what make his style in this place and what has style here? So they're so journeying, they come to this area where Micah lives and they recognize the voice of the man, the Levite. Whoa, that actually threw me off, I'm just kidding. What book are we in? I'm just kidding. Let's read this again. What was I saying? Oh, okay, yeah. So they come there. And they recognize the voice of the Levite and they're like, what are you doing here? Because it's a random place to find this guy in just abiding with this one guy and his mom, this dude who's living in his mom's basement kind of thing and he has like a shrine and he's like a priest to him and he's just like, what are you doing here? And look at verse number four, and he said unto them, thus and thus dealeth Micah with me and hath hired me and I am his priest. He's basically saying, well, you know, I got some vittles, I got a new suit, got a nice tie, you know, I'm getting paid here and I'm his priest. And they said unto him, ask counsel, we pray thee of God that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. So they just completely ignore everything that they say, which shows you they don't even care regarding the idolatry and regarding the desecration of the office of a priest. They're just like, whatever, is our way prosperous or not? Can we take over this land? He says in verse number six, and the priest said unto him, go in peace before the Lord is your way wherein you go. What do you know, Levi? You're just throwing that out there like you know what God is actually saying. Verse seven, then the five men departed and came to Laish and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure and there was no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything. And they were far from the Zidonians and had no business with any man. Let me just stop right here. We're going to make some comments, some application regarding the story here. So obviously we understand that Laish and all these Canaanites, all this area that they're taking over, it's supposed to be taken over. God told them they can take it over, right? But there is definitely some principles that we can learn from this in a sense where we can put ourselves in position of those at Laish and see Dan as our enemy and what we can do to make sure that our enemy doesn't overcome us. Now what do I mean by that? Well, why is it that Laish was overcome? Why is it that they were conquered? Why is it that the tribe of Dan was able to just destroy them? Well, it lays out specifically why in this chapter, first and foremost, they dwell carelessly. That's number one. And the five men departed, came to Laish, saw the people that were therein, how they dwell carelessly. What does that mean? They didn't have a care in the world. They're just careless. They're not vigilant. They're not alert. And look, during these days, it's important to be alert because you have enemies besetting you from all sides. You never know when someone's going to try to come in, come through your walls and conquer you, destroy you. You know, like we today have a lion who walketh about seeking whom he may devour, right? And we as Christians cannot be like Laish where we're just careless or just having fun all the time, just kind of slouching around, doing nothing with our lives. Just let life happen to you. You just kind of go about your day without having any goals, without reading your Bible, without praying, without being alert, being vigilant. You cannot be careless. Why is that? You have an enemy that's worse than the tribe of Dan. And that enemy is Satan and his minions. And who's he looking for? He's looking for those who are not walking circumspectly. He's looking for those who are not alert, those who are not vigilant, those who are not in the Word of God, those who are not walking in the Spirit, those who just are careless about their Christian lives. If I go to church, I go to church. If I don't, I don't. Whatever, you know. If I read my Bible, it's okay. If I don't, it's okay. If I pray, if I don't, it really doesn't matter. You're careless. And the tribe of Dan is going to destroy you, you understand? Now look, the Bible tells us, be careful for nothing but in all things by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God and the peace of God that passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ our Lord. So the Bible tells us, if you don't want to have a heart that is full of care, we pray with thanksgiving. We make supplication and God gives us the peace of God that passeth all understanding. But this does not mean that we're careless because someone who is careless does not pray. You know, the Bible says, great peace have they which love thy law and nothing shall offend them. That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, the Bible says. You know, the Bible says to let the peace of God rule in your hearts, well, how do we get that peace? By praying. Making sure that we're constantly vigilant, that we're watching and praying as the Bible says. We cannot be careless Christians, especially on a day like this. You know, we need to make sure we're taking on the whole armor of God, that we're not making provision for the flesh to fulfill the luster of, that we're making sure that we are putting on the breastplate of righteousness, gird our loins with truth, have the sword of the spirit, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and praying with all supplication as the Bible says. We cannot be careless. We need to make sure that we're on guard, okay? So number one, we see that they were overcome because they were careless after the manner of the Zydonians, quiet and secure. Not really. The only reason you think you're quiet and secure is because no one's come to you yet to try to take you over. It's like Christians are like, well, I'm good, you know, I'm strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Take heed lest he stand. I'm quiet and secure, hey, the battle could come tomorrow. Are you ready? The fight can come tonight, art thou ready? You know, the fight can come in any moment and we can't have this, you know, this attitude where we're just quiet and secure, nothing is ever going to happen, nothing will ever befall me, okay? The Bible talks about that sudden fear that can come about. It says they dwell careless after the manner of Zydonians, quiet and secure. But look what it says here, and there was no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything. So what is a magistrate? Well, a magistrate is basically like a leader. It could be a king, or in this case, it could be a judge, right? So what is the magistrate saying? Why did God specifically put this? Because he's saying that the leader is there for what? To put you to shame. To shame you of your sin, right? But here's the thing, they had no magistrate, so why is this an element that caused them to be destroyed that they had no leader? Because of the fact that God has ordained human beings, organizations, and institutions to have leaders, whether in government, in the church house, or in your family. It's what you would refer to as the umbrella of protection, the authority. The magistrate in the home is the dad, right? Is the father, is the husband, but wives, but you know what, well I don't have that protection, I don't think I need that protection, well you know what, you're going to end up just like Laish. You're going to end up just like Eve. You're going to end up just like Laish because of the fact that you need that magistrate in your life to protect you, to guard you, to correct you when needed. You know, children, you need a magistrate. I don't need anybody, I can take care of myself, no you can't. You could even wipe your own butt when you're a little kid. You probably still don't know. You need a magistrate. You need a father figure. You need a person to tell you what to do and yea, to even put you to shame. You say, why does it say shame, why would God do something like that, isn't he a God of love? Yea, that's why he shames us, because when we're ashamed we want to change our ways, you know. What does it mean to be ashamed? It means to be embarrassed. You know when I preach on your sin and you get all red in the face because you know that I'm talking about you even though I don't know that that's what you're doing. What does it do? It shames you. You're like, I got to change my ways in that area, okay. That's what the magistrate is there for. So look, the magistrate in the home is the father, the husband, in the church it's the pastor. I would be considered like a form of a magistrate here to put you to shame. That's why we preach on sin. That's why we preach on character flaws and bad habits. You're like, man, I thought you were talking about me that one time. Yea, that's the reason I got the sermon idea. I probably got it from you. I probably got point number three, letter A, the dot under that from you. But I don't do it just to like, you know, I don't do it to destroy you. I do it to shame you so you can correct it, you know. Don't be like Laish where you're like, I don't want authority. I don't want people telling me what to do. You know, I don't want my dad telling me what to do. I don't want my mom telling me to go throw out the trash. I don't want my husband telling me I need to wear long skirts, to dress modestly. I don't like that. Well, you know what, then you're going to end up just like Laish then. Okay, and Dan's going to take you over. Because that's what the magistrate is there for, it's to put you to shame. And look, there's many institutions out there, people. Those of you who buck the authority, those of you who don't like me, or you don't like your parents, or you don't like your boss, or you don't like whatever, you know, there are people out there that have magistrates and they're weak magistrates, they're weak pastors, weak husbands, weak fathers, and you know what happens, they still become like Laish. Because the magistrate is there to put them to shame, okay. So why are they being taken over? Look, and by the way, it says there, there was no magistrate in the land that might put them to shame in anything. But look, the magistrate is not only there to tell you that you're wrong. Look down at verse number 27. It says, and they took the things which Micah had made and the priests he had and came unto Laish and unto a people that were at quiet and secure, and they smote them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire, and there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidam. Who's the deliverer, the magistrate? So guess what? Just as your dad is there to tell you what to do, your dad is there to protect you as well. He's there to deliver you when you're in trouble. Hey wife, you know, you may not like the fact that your husband is your magistrate, he's your boss, you know, and he's leading you about, but you know what, he's also your deliverer to deliver you from those imaginations that you might have. You know, when ladies get these imaginations and they start thinking that people don't like them and they're like, is this person gossiping about me and all, and you just start coming up with all these random thoughts, your husband's there to say, hey, hey, hey. You know, she didn't say it that bad, all right, you know, her like, you know, I agree with you. No, I'm just kidding. You know, they're there to kind of give you buoyancy in your thought life and say, hey, you're imagining things. Everything's a-okay, okay? That's what the magistrate is there for, amen? Hey, the magistrate in the church is here to preach hard on sin, but is there to deliver you from doubt, is there to deliver you from being insecure, to instill boldness with you, to go preach the gospel, to stand up for truth, to be the man that you need to be. They are there to deliver you from these things, you know, the clutches of bad habits and laziness that enthralls men of today. You know, the pastor or the magistrate is there to deliver you from that by putting you to shame. Say, well, I don't want to be a lazy Christian, I'm going to go ahead and get a job. I'm going to go ahead and start working hard, I'm going to go ahead and start waking up early, I'm going to go ahead and start reading my Bible, I'm going to go ahead and start doing this, because I don't want to be put to shame. And once you're delivered from that, guess what? The magistrate who puts you to shame before now becomes your deliverer. And then like man are the parents. See, we cannot buck authority, we need authority in our lives. Now look, there are people out there that take this concept and this principle of authority way too far, where authority even gets into the realm of like what do you do in your household, you know, you can't listen to Pastor Anderson in your own house, all right, make sure you're not listening to him, you know, and they try to dictate every single aspect of your life. That's not authority, that's like a dictatorship. Now look, I'm a dictator in my house. You know, I'm a nice one though. I'm not like, you know, Stalin or Hitler or anything like that, you know, but what I say goes, okay. But you know what? I only have that right to exercise that authority in my household, no one else. No one else has the right to try to spank my kids, okay, no one has the right to try to lead about my wife or tell me what I can and can't do in my own household. That's my business, okay. Now in generalities, we can definitely preach on that stuff here though, you know, if you're doing something, by the way, if you do something and I preach on it, it's not because like your wife or your husband told me, okay. Sometimes people think like, did you tell him, he told you, me and you, you know. What I'm saying here is that, you know, we need authority in our lives and we cannot take this extreme view where it's just like the authority dictates everything that you do, who you listen to, what you wear, where you work, I mean, they just need to know everything about you, that's weird, you know. And everything has to be filtered through them, every decision that you make needs to be filtered through that person, no, that's weird. At that point, you just become the spiritual vegetable who's dependent on other people to make even the slightest decisions for you. We need to learn how to exercise our own decision and make good decisions on our own. Even when we make bad decisions, well, guess what, now you just learn what decision not to make the next time, you know. We cannot be so dependent on authority that we just can't even make our own decisions, okay. And again, we don't want to take either extreme, okay. We don't want to take this, I don't ever need authority, you know. I never want to ask for counsel, I'm not for that either. Can you, whoever's texting, can you tell them that I'll just contact you later? I keep hearing this dingy noise from somewhere. So, you know, we need to make sure that we accept authority and we're not so much like, well, I don't want any authority in my life, don't even tell me what to do, I don't even want counsel, you know. Hey, if you have a difficult decision to make, there's safety in a multitude of counselors the Bible says. You know, a man of understanding shall draw out that water of knowledge and wisdom if you seek it, okay. And look, I'm 33, I haven't been around the block as long, but I've been here for 33 years, I've been faithful as a Christian for good night in the morning. I'm about to like blow up, whose phone is that? Either answer the text message or turn off your phone or go throw it somewhere. So I got bad ears, so I don't know where it's coming from. I was going to put that person to shame, all right, I'm just kidding, if I can deliver you from that phone. I keep getting thrown off in my, what was I just talking about, anybody know, is anybody paying attention? Council, was that what I was talking about? Safety in a multitude of counselors, yeah, you're almost there, what else, is that it? I lost it, okay, what, what, oh, there you go, thank you, brother Albert. So look, I'm 33, I haven't been around the block much, but look, I've been faithful for years to the Lord, I've learned from men who've been in their 50s, 60s serving the Lord for 30, 40 years, so, and look, if you come to me for council, I'm not prideful in the sense that if I don't know the answer, I'm just going to give you an answer just to make you think like that I know something. I'll just tell you, I don't know, sorry, I don't know, you know, but if I know the answer, I'll give it to you, you know, and I think it's wise to go ask for council on certain things, okay. Now don't ask me what tie you should wear, don't ask me on the minuscule things, some of those things you just got to figure out on your own, you know, but what I'm saying is we need to just be balanced, okay, have authority, not a dictator, okay, where they try to run every aspect of your life, whereas we just need to make sure that we have a biblical authority where they put us to shame, recognize us, recognize that they are our deliverers in a time of need, okay, and not try to buck them because look, that's what happened to Laish. Laish was just no magistrate, they're just like hippies, just dwelling on the land, eating up the land, you know, and just hanging out, careless, just paradise, well that didn't last for very long, okay, and look in this church, we believe in authority, hey, we believe in governmental authority, amen. Now obviously the government even exercises a certain authority, they're like the dictator now, right, that extreme aspect, and when it comes to those matters, we reject that. Well ask the government, you should take your vaccines, no, I'm not putting thimerosal in my body, no thank you, I have enough of that already from my childhood, all the vaccines and all that, you know, when the government tells me to do something that's contrary to the word of God, at that point, they don't become the authority, at that point, we go to the higher powers, which is God, the word of God, okay, so, you know, we don't want to be this anarchist type Christian, you know, I get comments like that all the time on YouTube, we're like, we need a fighter, bear arms against the government, yet they never want to be the first one to go up and do it though, a bunch of stupid cowards, you know, we should bear arms, okay, go for it, you first buddy, that's right, because you're a little sissy, you're a little keyboard warrior is what you are, you're the guy who, in high school, who wanted to start the fight but wanted to get everyone else to fight first and then you go in and hit the guy who's already on the ground, you're just like, and then you just take off or whatever, you know, it's foolishness, we're not called to bear arms against the government, you won't find that in the Bible, okay, but that's a different sermon for another day, why was Laish overcome? Because they dwell careless after the manner of the Zydonians, quiet and secure, there was no magistrate, there was no deliverer, no one would put them to shame, this is a sad thing, you know, no one was there to say, hey, this idolatry is wrong, you guys are a bunch of whores, that's biblical, God would often call nation cities whores, because they were selling themselves to hoard them, spiritual hoard them by committing spiritual adultery, which is idolatry, okay, no one was there to do that, and look what it says, and they were far from the Zydonians and had no business with any man, why is that significant? Because they didn't have anybody to help them, they were so separated from everyone, they didn't have a homie to come help fight them when they needed it, right, they were far from the Zydonians, they had no business with any man, what does this remind me of today, it reminds me of Christians who don't want to make friends with other Christians, or how about Christians who don't congregate with the church, we need that, hey, you need to be close to the Zydonians, I mean the Christians, right, and have business with people in the church, why, because Dan's coming, Dan's coming to take over, you know, Satan's coming, the enemy's coming, and you know what, there's gonna be a time when he comes and you're weak, you lack faith, maybe you're not as strong as you used to be, you're recovering from a spiritual downfall, and if you're not careful, Dan can come in and just wipe you out, however, if you have close friends, if you have a church to go to, guess what, they can help you out, you know, brother David and I were going soul winning today, and we're walking down the street with his wife, and this lady just calls out to me, she says, hey, you guys Christians, and I'm like, yeah, we're Christians, you know, and I'm like, this is an opportunity to witness, or whatever, now let me just say this, I don't rebuke bums, like when I'm out soul winning, I will rebuke them when they're here though, okay, I will put them to shame here, especially the guy who constantly asks for stuff here, and as he's blowing marijuana smoke into the faces of my family, you better believe I'm gonna put that guy to shame, but this lady, you know, and she's like, you know, I need some help, and all these things, and I was like, well, what church do you go to? She's like, well, I go here, I go here, and I go all these other places, and I'm thinking, well, that's why you're in the trouble you're in, because you have no church to actually go to, where you have some people to actually deliver you, and she's like, well, you guys, can you spare some money, I'm really struggling with my sons, and I said, silver and gold have I none, but such as have I give I thee, I was like, I have the gospel, and she was like, no, no, no, I already know that stuff, I was like, all right, well, see you later, you know, so can I call you? I'm like, sure, but I'm thinking, I'm like, I'm not gonna answer, why? Because you know, this will not happen to someone who has a church, you know, I'm secure in the fact that I know that if something were to happen to me, I have plenty of friends right here that were willing to help me out, I have multitude of men that I can go to, that can help me out, men that I confide in, men that I love, men who are my brethren, I know that if my car breaks down for whatever reason, if I'm like coming back from the airport at three o'clock in the morning, I break down, I know I can call one of you guys to come help pick me up, and I'm pulling that out there just in case it ever happens, right? Just remember that, all right, I said it, I believe in you. You know, in like manner, in reverse as well, now, however, if you don't feel like that, then you need to enjoin yourself to someone in this church and make friends. You know, you need to make sure that you're not far from the Christians in our church. Well, I'm just here for the preaching of God's word, and bless God, I'm just trying to, you know, I'm just trying to grow spiritually, I don't need friends, you know, I'm good as I am. No, you're not. You're like Laish. Oh, you mean, I mean, you're secure, is what you're saying, like you don't need anybody, you're quiet and secure. Well, how did that work out for Laish? Not very well. You know, they needed someone to come help fight off the Danites, but were not able to because they didn't have business with any man, you know. It would do you well to get to know everyone in our church. Why not? Hey, if this is your church for the rest of your life, you better get comfortable because guess what, you're not only going to know the people here at this side of eternity, you're going to see them in heaven as well, so you better get comfortable talking to them, getting to know them, befriending them. Why not? This is a church, the pillar and ground of truth, but it is also a social club to a certain extent. The problem is, is when it only becomes a social club and not the pillar and ground of truth. Hey, but we got the pillar and ground of truth already, let's do some socializing. Let's make some friends because it will benefit you, it'll benefit me when the Danites try to come and overtake us, we can go, look, hey ladies, make friends in the church because ladies sometimes have issues, man, the pin dropped there, whoa, that went over like a screen door in a submarine, look, ladies have issues sometimes and you know what helps when ladies talk to other ladies. I'm only going to talk to my husband, yeah, but he doesn't know what you're talking about. He's just like, okay, point number one, have you read your Bible? Point number two, have you prayed? Point number three, are we tithing? Okay, we didn't know, what's the problem then? You know, we like, just the problem, we solve it, right? Girls they have the problem and they want to keep the problem, they want to keep crying and they just want to talk, they need misery, your misery loves company. Men are like, you know, just, let's fix it, what do you need, money, here's money, you know? What do you need? You know, what the ladies need is other ladies, so they can talk and stuff like that, but that requires for you to do business with other ladies. What I mean by that, by talking, fellowshipping, getting to know one another, okay? It says there that, I might put them to shame, they were far from the Zydonians and had no business with any man. This is the formula for a downfall even in the life of a Christian, okay, and look, this is also a downfall for churches, you know, we as a church cannot alienate ourselves from other churches, okay? Now here's the thing, we don't alienate ourselves from other churches, churches alienate themselves from us, they rather just have nothing to do with us. Now thank God that we have tons of churches that we can fellowship with, now unfortunately they're like miles and miles away, I have no church, we have no church in the Los Angeles area that would touch us with a 10-foot pole, it's unfortunate, you know, and we used to have one somewhere over there, but then they started, they took a left turn and they disassociated themselves with us, you know, there's churches that they separate themselves from us, but you know what, there's people out there that are not ashamed to be called our friends, they would say that they know me, they would say that they love First Works Baptist Church and thank God for them, you know, California, amen, we got two churches, one in central California now, Verity Baptist Church of Fresno, and then we have Verity Baptist Church Pastor Jimenez in Sacramento, California, who openly says that he's our friend, thank God for that, now it takes like eight hours to get there, so by the time I need help, you know, I might be dead by the time he comes, but you know, I'm just kidding, you know, hopefully within the next couple years we can have more churches, they could just put those differences aside and befriend us, even if we can just find common ground on soul winning or something like that, that'd be great, so let's keep reading here, so this is the downfall, and they came unto their brethren, to Zor and to Eshtol, and their brethren said unto them, What say ye? And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them, for we have seen the land and behold it is very good, and are ye still, be not slothful to go and to enter to possess the land, you know what I'm saying, hey, the only reason you would not be able to overcome this land is because you're lazy, so don't be slothful, just go get it. In ye go ye shall come unto a people secure, into a large land, for God hath given it into your hands, a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth, skip down to verse number 14, Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses, and he fought a terraform and a graven image, and a molten image, now therefore consider what ye have to do. So they're like, they're about to overcome Laish, and they're like, hey guys, did you guys see what's in this house? There's like an entire temple in here, there's a terraform, graven image, and to the person who just doesn't know what's going on, you would think, oh, they're like, hey, we gotta do something about this, this is wicked, you know, man, we gotta like destroy these things, no they're like, man, we gotta take these things, these are some nice graven images here, nice Ephod and terraform, weird. Verse 15, and by the way, look at what it says in the letter in verse 14, now therefore consider what you have to do, he's like, so what do you think we should do? In other words, he's like, he's trying to put the ball in their court to take the initiative to go take it, you know what I mean, the stuff. Verse 15, and they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man of Levi, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him. And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the entering of the gate, and the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the Ephod and the terraform, the molten image, and the priest stood in the entering of the gate, with the six hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war. And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, and the Ephod, the terraform, and the molten image, then said the priest unto them, what do ye? So what's going on here, they're like, alright, this is what we're gonna do, six hundred men stand outside the gate, five men just go in and fetch it, basically, right? The reason they're doing that is so to show, like if they take it, no one's gonna come and do anything, because there's six hundred guys there, you know what I mean? And then, you know, the priest comes out to Levi, and he's like, what are you guys doing? Verse 19, and they said, hold thy peace. The translation of that is like, shut up, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, shut your mouth. He says, and go with us, and look what he says, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? So what does he tell him, he's like, look, be quiet, shut up, look, what do you think is better, for you to be a priest unto one guy, or to be a priest unto the tribe, basically, your original calling, the way you're supposed to do it? Now, given, the Danites are pretty idolatrous, are they not? But you know what, they make a really good point here, because the Levi is not fulfilling the office of a priest in the correct manner. He's doing it to one guy. He's wasting his life for some vittles, some shekels, and a suit of apparel. And what did the Danites come to, they're like, look, come on, let's be reasonable here. Don't you think it would be better for you to come with us? Instead of being a priest to one guy, you can be a priest to a tribe. And what does the Bible say? Verse 20, and the priest's heart was glad. And then he took the ephod and the terra from the graven image and went in the midst of the people. So what does he do? He takes, he's like, yeah, that's true, let's do it. Now, what is the application here? Well, this makes me think of Bible college students. Why? Because they're serving for 10 shekels of silver, some vittles, and a suit of apparel, and a diploma. But here's the thing, to those of you who are Bible college students, which is better? To do that for the rest of your life and be like a bus captain for the rest of your life? Or to actually start winning people to Christ and doing something great for God? Which is better? You know, I remember reading this years ago, and it smote my heart because I thought about the same thing. I was like, is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? I want to go do something great for God. I didn't know how to get there, but I understood I don't want to be a Levi until one man, until one household, where I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels. I want to go do something great for God. I want my life to count for something. I want to do something exciting with my life. I want to see people saved, I want to preach great sermons, I want to die on the battlefield. How good is it to die, not on the battlefield, but at Micah's house, because you're eating an unhealthy diet of vittles, you get a heart attack, you get fat, you become like Eli. Why don't you instead go with them, go with Israel, and see what may become, because originally that's the original plan for these guys, for the Levites, to actually find purpose and do that. So I think this is a very good question that Bible college students should ask themselves sometimes. What's better? And look, there's some college students that the only reason they're in ministry is because of the vittles, the 10 shekels of silver, and the suit of apparel. What is that? Job security. That's what they're there for. It's like, well, I don't know how to do anything else. They say they'll give me a nice suit. They say they'll pay me less than minimum wage, or they'll give me something, they'll give me a position or something. Screw that. I'd rather just work a secular job and do something great for God. I'd rather just live for the Lord, see a lot of people saved, go so when he preached sermons, do documentaries, be a part of a great church, be hated of reprobates, sodomites, the enemies of God. I prefer this over Micah's house. Any day. Yeah, but what if you die? So be it. That's great. That'd be a great way to end my life is by someone just killing me because they don't like what I'm preaching, what I'm saying. Hey, at least I didn't waste my life in the house of Micah getting all fat on bittles. This is a great question that's posed, and not to just Bible college students, how about just Christians just in general who just listen on YouTube? Are you content with just listening on YouTube and just like ... By the way, it's exciting to listen on YouTube when you first start off, but after a while get yourself into church. Just come to the screen, crawl into the screen and sit right there so you can receive the spit that comes out from the preaching of God's word. Be a part of the congregation, which is better. YouTube is great. Being in church is greater. Be now in the middle of nowhere listening to the preaching of God's word, great. And to be a part of the action, even better. Fighting off the non-denom church that you're in because they believe all kinds of false doctrine is great. Being in the church that has the right doctrine, has the right Bible, is greater. So what do you want? You want Micah's house, or do you want the tribe of Dan? We see that he chose Dan, and we're done. So what happens here? It's pretty self-explanatory. Micah comes out, and he's like, what are you guys doing with my stuff? And the guy's like, shut up, or else we're going to kill you. That's what he basically tells him. He's just like, you better hold your peace, or an angry fellow is going to come upon you and slay you. And Micah's like, all right, this goes back or whatever. They basically punk him is what they do. They punk him. And they destroy Laish, they overcome it, and then they rename it the tribe of Dan. And then obviously we understand that the Danites are very idolatrous. We see that affects them later on in the long run. Next week we'll get into chapter 19, the famous passages of the sons of Belial, and how this has to do with that. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word, and God, we're thankful. I'm thankful that the Holy Spirit is still teaching me, and Lord, I know I've been wrong on a lot of things, Lord, throughout the years, but I'm thankful that the Bible is inexhaustible. It's deep, and we're always learning, and so thank you for that. And God, I pray, Lord, that you'd help us not to be like Laish, quiet and secure, careless, without magistrates, and having business with no man. If we're going to succeed, there's not one key to success in the Christian life, but we could definitely say that there are many keys, and these are some of them right here. In order for us not to be overcome by the enemy, we can't be careless. We need to make sure that we have friends in church. We need to make sure that we enjoin ourselves into a church, and Lord, that we have authority over our lives that can guide us, direct us, and help us in a time of need, and we love you so much, Lord, and we thank you. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.