Pastor Jim walks us through the lessons of Judges 19 which serve as one of the most graphic displays of sinful humanity’s capacity for depravity. What does it look like when a culture completely abandons God and His ways? What are the consequences of unbridled selfishness, greed, and lust? Don’t miss the hard lessons of history and the hopeful message of God’s grace to the guilty and undeserving sinners, such as we are!
Sermon Notes
The repeated refrain from this final section of Judges is:
“In those days there was no king in Israel and everyone did that which was right in their own eyes” (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25)
“Our civilization is not a parallel with Old Testament Israel, enabling us to transfer any and everything lock, stock, and barrel from the pages of Scripture to today’s political or social debates. We do not live in a theocracy in rebellion against its God who has brought it into special covenant relationship with Himself. We live in a secular democracy, which is multicultural in its life and religious beliefs.”
David Jackman
- Apostasy
- Anarchy
- Assimilation
- Idolatry
Spiritual Chaos and Moral Bankruptcy
1. The Bible’s tendency for truth telling.
2. We don’t always find faith and holiness where we expect to.
“The unbeliever has preferred to be by himself, without God, defying God, having God against him, and he shall have his preference. Nobody stands under the wrath of God except those who have chosen to do so. The essence of God’s action in wrath is to give men what they choose, in all its implications: nothing more, nothing less.”
J. I. Packer
Knowing God
3. Our capacity for depravity.
Human trafficking in our time:
- 27 million: Slaves in the world…more than at any time in history
- $32 billion: Size of human trafficking industry…some estimate $50 billion.
- 2nd largest and fastest growing crime on earth after drug trafficking
- 600,000 to 800,000: People trafficked each year
- 80% of victims are female
- 50% of victims are children
- 2 children are trafficked every minute
State of Tennessee
- 85 counties: Reported at least one case of human trafficking in 2011
- 4 counties: Reported 100+ cases
- 94: Number of children trafficked in Tennessee every MONTH.
Nashville Area
- Over 100: Cases of minor sex trafficking reported in Davidson County (2011)
- Over 100: Cases of adult sex trafficking reported in Davidson County (2011)
“When God gives human beings responsibility he means it. The choices we make, not only individually but as a species, are choices whose consequences God, alarmingly, allows us to explore. He will warn us; he will give us opportunities to repent and change course; but if we choose idolatry we must expect our humanness, bit by bit to dissolve.”
N. T. Wright
Romans for Everyone
4. God’s faithfulness throughout redemptive history.
“Christians follow someone who sacrificed everything to redeem and renew the world. At the heart of the Christian faith is a man who died a victim of injustice and who called for the forgiveness of his enemies.”
Tim Keller
The Reason for God