If you'd open your Bibles, please, to the 19th chapter of the book of Judges, Judges chapter 19. We're going to look at the text tonight. We'll read the text as we go through the passage this evening. And before we do, let's bow and look to the Lord in prayer. Father, we thank you for your precious inspired word. And this passage of scripture is an interesting one, and you've said we're to consider it, we're to take counsel by it, we're to speak out this text. And we pray as we do tonight that your Holy Spirit will honor it, and we'll thank you for that in Jesus' name, amen. On May 21, 1960, one of America's worst serial killers was born in West Ellis, Wisconsin. From 1978 to 1991, he murdered 17 men and boys. His murders involved rape, dismemberment, and cannibalism. His name, of course, was Jeffrey Dahmer. He was sentenced to serve 15 consecutive life terms at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin. In February of 1994, Stone Phillips interviewed Dahmer for a program called Dateline. And during that interview, he said he didn't believe in God. He said that he felt that humanity was here by pure natural causes and death ended everything. And since he didn't believe in God, he did not see any need to modify his behavior. Supposedly, in the aftermath of that interview, he said he had become a born-again Christian. On November 28, 1994, while doing some janitorial work in a prison gym, Christopher Scarver took a broomstick handle and beat Jeffrey Dahmer to death. But that raises an interesting question. Would it be possible for someone who lived a life as if there is no God, who's totally given over to corruption and evil and depravity, to actually end up having some distorted relationship with Almighty God? Would it be possible for one who's been given over to evil and demented depravity to have any connection with God at all? What we're about to see in this chapter is depravity that's going to make you sick. I like what one writer said, when you get to this point in the book of Judges, you figure it can't get any worse and then you discover it does. This text reaches a new level of depravity which comes supposedly from God's people. What we're learning here from this text tonight, what you're about to see, does not come concerning Canaanites and it doesn't come concerning Amorites. This comes from Israelites. And there's a lesson for you and I to learn from this. When people who claim to know God do what's right in their own eyes and they don't follow the Word of God and they don't follow the will of God, they can end up doing very evil and depraved things. Mr. Miles used to say time and time again that he thought that any Christian who gets out of fellowship with God and gets out of fellowship with the Word of God was capable of anything. When you take a trip through Judges 19, you're forced to admit it's possible for God's people to become totally dominated by evil depravity. Judges 19 gives us an honest look at people of God who have become totally and completely immoral. They've lost all sense of right and wrong and decency, and they're living their lives in, as one writer said, a moral fog. Judges 19 teaches that if you don't pursue a relationship with the Lord, if you don't stay focused on the Word, if you don't stay focused on the will of God, if you don't confront sin, you can begin to spiral downward to the point that you reach a degrading level of depravity. Now before we journey through the text proper, I want to bring out something here prophetically about the book of Judges. Judges is a book that features the climate in Israel's history just before God starts raising up his kings. And there are two prophetic applications I want to make about that chronology. First of all, this text shows what the world is going to be like during the tribulation just before the arrival of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. I'd like you to go over to Revelation chapter 9. And I want you to notice verses 20 and 21 of Revelation 9. Here is the way the world is going to be just before the king comes. In Revelation 9, 20, the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk, And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their immorality, nor of their thefts. That will be the world that will exist in the Tribulation just before Jesus Christ returns. I also think that what we're seeing here is the climate of depravity that we can expect to see as the Church Age winds down just before we get to that time. There will be many man-made religions that will seem to flourish. There will be a rise of homosexuality. There will be a rise of immorality. And as we'll point out tonight, there's going to be a rise in these evil, bizarre things, and it is happening right before our very eyes. Now there are 16 facts that I want to draw your attention to right out of this text of Judges 19. Number one, this took place when there was no king in Israel. Notice what you read at the first part of verse 1. Now it came about in those days when there was no king in Israel. Of course, Israel had a chance at having the best king possible guide her. She had a relationship with the King of Kings, the God of the Bible. She could have governed her nation, nationally speaking. The leaders, the religious leaders, could have taught the people that we have God to follow. We can follow his word and when we do it, he'll bless us. But there weren't any leaders at that time that were interested in challenging the people to get serious about the word of God and get serious about obeying it. Oh, you had a lot of priests in existence. You're going to meet a priest tonight. I mean, the problem wasn't with religious leaders. There were a dime a dozen. There were religious leaders all over the place. But there wasn't anyone pointing them in the true, pure ways of God. And when you do not have a leader to point you in the true, pure ways of God, you'll have injustice, you'll have immorality, you'll have idolatry, you'll have evil stuff. And that's what they have. Which brings us to the second fact, the religious leader took a concubine for himself. We learn from verse 1 that there was a certain Levite staying in the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim who took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah. Now the first thing we learn about this Levite is he's not living where he's supposed to be living. He was supposed to be in one of those Levitical cities, but instead he's living in a remote area of Ephraim. He literally is living in a remote backcountry area out there in the land of Ephraim, not where he's supposed to be living. And the second thing we learned about him is he had a concubine who was from Bethlehem. Now, a concubine was a woman that a man kept around for pleasure purposes. She was almost like a high-priced call girl. He would provide her with all of her expenses and all of her living expenses, and she would provide him with physical pleasure. But a concubine was not a wife. So the first thing you learn about this priest is he is involved in immorality. You have to ask yourself, well, why doesn't this guy do what's right before the Lord? Why doesn't he marry this girl? Well, it's quite obvious that this liturgical priest is living life his own way. He doesn't care what the Word of God says that he ought to do. He's just doing what he wants to do. He's not doing what God told him to do. He's not in any way interested in obeying the Word of God or will of God. Having some woman to have an affair with that's not your wife is not new to our day and age. These religious creeps are all over the place. They're here in the book of Judges. He was involved in this immoral behavior right here. This is a religious leader who cannot discipline himself to even stay away from immorality. Which brings us to the third fact, the religious leader's concubine was immoral, she went back home to dad. Notice verse 2. But his concubine played the harlot against him and she went away from him to her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah and was there for a period of four months. Now let's face it, he hasn't selected this girl on the basis of biblical principles. So this is not a God-honoring girl interested in pleasing God. This priest is not interested in pleasing God. This woman was not a moral woman. This was a woman who liked immoral sex and the text says she played the harlot. She went out and she got involved with other men. And apparently the priest found out about it, so she just took off and said, I'll go back to dad's house in Bethlehem. And there she went, and she lived there for four months. Which brings us to the fourth fact, a religious leader decided to go get his concubine and take her back home. That's what we learned from verse three. Then her husband arose and went after her to speak tenderly to her in order to bring her back. Now that's interesting to me. The Levite decided, I want that girl back, so I'm going to go to her dad's house and get her. He took his servant and a pair of donkeys. And when he got there, the text says he didn't appear to be mad or angry. But it's very interesting that he brings out, he spoke tenderly to her, he wants to win her back. I think there's a real problem here. I mean, I don't believe that he's really after her because he necessarily wants her. This is some method of sweet-talking her back into the relationship that he had with her that didn't require that he marry her. There are some husbands that do that kind of thing. They physically abuse their wives and they talk in a tender way. Oh, I'm sorry, dear. It'll never happen again. I really didn't mean to do it. And they just go on so they won't call the police. Well, if that happens to you, call me. I'll call the police for you. The fifth fact that brought out is the concubine's father liked the priest and they partied together for five days. Notice what you read in verse 3. The text says, he spoke tenderly to her, so she brought him to her father's house. And when the girl's father saw him, he was glad to meet him. His father-in-law, the girl's father, detained him and remained with him three days. So they ate and drank, and they lodged there. Now on the fourth day, they got up early in the morning, and he prepared to go. And the girl's father said to his son-in-law, sustain yourself with a piece of bread, and afterward you may go. So both of them sat down. They ate and drank together. And the girl's father said to the man, please be willing to spend the night and let your heart be merry. Then the man arose to go, but his father-in-law urged him so that he spent the night there again. On the fifth day, he arose to go early in the morning. And the girl's father said, please sustain yourself and wait until the afternoon. So both of them ate. When the man arose to go along with his concubine and servant, the father-in-law, the girl's father, said to him, Behold, now the day has drawn to a close. Please spend the night, lo, the day is coming to an end. Spend the night here, that your heart may be merry. Then tomorrow you may rise early for your journey, so that you may go home. This father-in-law seemed to like this Levite. He welcomed him into his own home as his son. They ate together, they drank together for five straight days. In fact, the father-in-law did not want the Levite even to leave. Six times, six times in the context, verse 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. This father-in-law tries to persuade this Levite to stay longer. Now it's possible that this dad had more wits to him than what you think. I mean, I'm sure they became drinking buddies. In fact, that is emphasized in the text. They partied together, and he had finally a guy he could sit down, as it were, and watch a game with. And he could sit there, and they could just down a few together. I'm sure that was part of it. But it's also possible that this father sensed, I don't know if this Levite really is serious about treating my daughter right. And after all, she was unfaithful to him. And I'd like to see her just stay around a little bit so that I could smooth things over. The fact is, he was hospitable to this Levite, something he's about to lose, that great hospitality. Which brings us to the sixth fact, the religious leader decided to leave for home with his concubine in the late afternoon on the fifth day. Notice verse 10, but the man was not willing to spend the night, so he arose and departed and came to a place opposite Jebus, that is Jerusalem, and there were with him a pair of saddled donkeys. His concubine also was with him. I want you to notice they'd already saddled the donkeys and they were ready to go. It's late in the afternoon on the fifth day. Now a donkey is related to a horse. It has shorter legs than a horse, but it can carry a human of up to about 150 pounds, and it can carry a human of about 150 pounds for quite a distance. This leaving late in the afternoon is going to turn out to be a bad move. It's interesting to me that the sovereignty of God allowed this man to spend four-plus quality days with his daughter, because this will be the last time this dad's ever going to see this daughter. And this will be the last time this daughter is ever going to see her father. So perhaps it's appropriate that several additional days at her dad's house did take place because she's going to end up dead. A Levite would have been better if he'd have spent the night that night and then taken off early in the morning, but he decided, no, I've got to get out of here even though it's late in the afternoon, so off he went. Which brings us to the seventh fact, they traveled five or six miles to Jerusalem, but the leader would not stay there because they were not Jewish. Notice verse 11, when they were near Jebus, the day was almost gone and the servant said to this master, please come and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it. However, the master said to him, we will not turn aside into the city of foreigners. Now, at the time this happened, Jerusalem, or Jebus, was an alien city. It was not an Israeli city. And this Levite, in some form of pseudo-self-righteousness, said, oh, I can't stay there because it's a city filled with foreigners. Now, I can be immoral. I don't have to obey the word of God on anything else, but I don't dare stay in that because he's living by some self-righteous legal code. The truth is he would have been better if he would have stayed in that non-Israeli city because there weren't too many cities that will do what happens to him in Gibeah. It's a terrible thing when people who are not in a relationship with God have more scruples than those who are. I'm convinced that he stayed in Jerusalem. Those people in that city would have never done what will happen up the road just a few miles. You know, in our church in Idaho, and I've told you about this guy, we had a police officer who was an investigator for the state of Idaho. And as he was working his way through the ranks, he was an undercover cop for a while, and he would have to go undercover to try to make drug busts. So he would grow his hair long and he'd look rugged and ragged and he'd go out and he'd have to go into these places to meet with these guys to set up an arrest possibility for them. And he said, when it would be Sunday, I just really wanted to go and worship. He said, I just felt that I needed to go to the people of God to hear the word of God. And he said, when I would go to church, he said, of course, I can't cut my hair and I can't shave because I'm undercover as a cop. So he said, I can't change my look because I'm dealing with people that I'm trying to arrest. He said, when I would go to church, he said, I discovered I was treated better by the drug dealers than people at church. Isn't that sad? They never even gave him a chance to talk with him, to get to know him, to understand what he was all about. They simply judged him by the way his hair looked. But I tell you, this particular priest would have been far better to stay in Jerusalem than go down the street to where the Jews were. Because that brings us to the eighth fact. They decide to go on another three to four miles from Jerusalem to Gibeah. We read in verse 12, we will not turn aside into the city of foreigners who are not of the sons of Israel, but we will go on as far as Gibeah. He said to his servant, come and let us approach one of these places, and we will spend the night in Gibeah or Ramah. So they passed along and went their way, and the sun set on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. The tragedy of all of this is that to the Levite, this really seems to be the right thing to do. Let's spend the night in Gibeah where our Israeli brothers live. But you remember, he's not interested in governing his life by the word or will of God. He's flying by the seat of his pants. He's doing what feels right to him. He's not analyzing this in light of scripture. You know, you can convince yourself that you're doing what's right when in fact you're doing what's wrong. These donkeys can travel at about three to four miles an hour. In hunting in the western mountains, I've literally traveled hundreds of miles on the back of a horse. And if a horse is in good shape, it can do five miles in a little over an hour. If you're in good shape, you can walk about that same distance in a little over an hour. A typical pace for a horse in a mountain hunt is about 20 minutes a mile. But horses in good shape can rack off a mile in 12 to 15 minutes. And a donkey can go three to four miles per hour. So you can assume that the time that it would have taken those donkeys to get from Jerusalem to Gibeah is just a little over an hour. And by the time they get to Gibeah, it's getting dark. And so they have to make a decision, this is where we're going to spend the night. And that's what they decided to do. We're in Israeli country, this isn't a foreign city, so we'll spend the night here. Which brings us to the ninth fact, they sat down in the city square, but nobody invites them into their home. We read in verse 15, Then they turned aside there, in order to enter and lodge in Gibeah. When they entered, they sat down in the open square of the city, for no one took them into his house to spend the night. Now, hospitality is a critical part of biblical life. Hospitality, according to Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy, was a critical part of biblical law. If you're interested in obeying the law of God, you were supposed to be hospitable people. God's people were to be hospitable people to others, especially other people of God. But remember what the theme of judges is. Everybody's doing what's right in their own eyes. There isn't anybody here who's interested in obeying the word of God. There isn't anyone here who's interested in obeying the law of God. Not one person went to these three and said, hey, why don't you come stay at my house? It's doubtful that any priest had even taught these people the word of God honestly. He probably not taught them about the fact, you know, the law says that we're supposed to be people who are hospitable people, so they didn't even think in these terms. So here's what you have. You get these three visitors sitting in a city square. It's getting dark. They probably decide we need to make our next move or we pitch our camp and we stay here for the night. Which brings us to the 10th fact, an old man questions them, what are you doing here? Notice verse 16. Then behold, an old man was coming out of the field from his work at evening. Now the man was from the hill country of Ephraim, and he was staying in Gibeah. But the men of the place were Benjamites. And he lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the open square of the city. And the old man said, where are you going? where do you come from and he said we're passing from Bethlehem to Judah to the remote part of the hill country of Ephraim for I'm from there and I went to Bethlehem in Judah but I'm now going to my house and no man will take me into his house now it's interesting that this old man comes out of the field from work because when you're in a society where everybody's doing right in their own eyes it's usually the older people that recognize the value of hard work not the younger guys And this older man was still out in the field, still looking his field over, still involved in work, and when he came into the city, he spotted this group sitting in the square, and he wanted to know what they were doing. And the old man was from Ephraim, and the men of the city were Benjamites, and what this means? We're all Jews here. I mean, the story you're about to see is so incredible, it's so evil, but this is all about God's people doing all of this. All the depravity you're about to see are coming from people who are supposed to be God's people living in the Promised Land. And this Levite said, well, I'm on my way home. I've been to Bethlehem, and I live in a remote spot up there in the hills of Ephraim. And I'm on my way home, and nobody's taken us in. I've got my own supplies. All we need is a place to stay. Which brings us to the 11th fact, the old man took them to his house to take care of them. Verse 20 says, the old man said, peace to you, only let me take care of all your needs. However, do not spend the night in the open square. So he took him into his house and gave the donkeys fodder, and they washed their feet and ate, and they drank. Apparently, the Levite was just simply intending, I can pitch a camp here. We can spend the night here. I've got food. I have all my supplies. I have fodder for the animals. I can feed the donkeys. We can eat ourselves. And so we'll just camp right here, but the old man said no. No, you come to my house. Let me take care of you. And they took care of the animals, they washed their feet, and they ate and drank. Which now brings us to the twelfth fact. The wicked men of the city surround the house, and they want to have sex with the Levite. Verse 22 says, while they were celebrating, behold, the men of the city, the men of the city, certain worthless fellows, surrounded the house pounding the door and they spoke to the owner of the house the old man saying bring out the man who came into your house that we may have relations with him now in Hebrew the word wicked men worthless fellows and wicked men refers to literally sons of Belial these are sons of Belial and Belial is a name used by Paul as a reference to Satan So I want you to be very clear on this point. Don't get lost in political rhetoric of the United States of America. Biblically speaking, and you need to know this from scripture, homosexuals are sons of Satan. And what's worse is these are Jewish men who are supposed to have a relationship with God, and what they are are homosexual perverts, and they're after homosexual gratification. There's no hint at all that they knew that the man was a Levite, but there's also no hint that had they known, it would have mattered. This was, as one commentator said, a shocking display of depravity. And you need to be aware of this and you need to understand this point. There are men and there are also some women who come from Christian homes. There are men and women who stand in pulpits, who claim to have a relationship with God, who are homosexual perverts and sons of Satan. And frankly, what these homosexuals do, most homosexuals don't do. These homosexuals are so depraved that what they want to do is gang rape a new man who came to town. These are free men in a city. They're not locked up in some prison, but they're free men and they're using their freedom to do this evil. And you have to ask yourself, how do you get to this level? How do you get to such a level of moral depravity when you're supposed to be the people of God? How do you reach this level? Well, if you track that question through the book of Judges, the answer is simple. You just start doing what's right in your own eyes. That's where it starts. You just start drifting away from the Word of God. Start indulging your flesh. Start doing what makes you feel good. Go out there and flaunt your sin. Get involved in sin. Don't ever analyze what you're doing in light of scripture. And you can end up just as depraved as what they're telling you happened right here. If you don't care what the Word of God says, if you don't do what the will of God says, you can put yourself on a course of action that will end in the worst kinds of depravity. Which brings us to the 13th fact. The old man begs them not to have sex with this man and offers them his own virgin daughter and the Levite's concubine. Notice verse 23, Then the man, the owner of the house, went out to them, and said to them, No, my fellows, please do not act so wickedly, since this man has come into my house. Do not commit this act of folly. Here is my virgin daughter and his concubine. Please let me bring them out, that you may ravish them, and do to them whatever you wish. But do not commit such an act of folly against this man. Hey, when you have a society that drifts away from God's Word, you'll end up with people who are cowards. They don't dare stand for anything. They don't dare fight for anything. They don't dare stand up and stand up for what's right and stand firm against what is evil. These men inside this house, because they're so out of tune with God, they don't have any backbone to them. Both of them, as far as I can tell, are wimpy cowards. They're too afraid to stand up against a bunch of effeminate losers. You talk about a society that's lost chivalry. This old Ephraimite comes up with his own depraved solution to a homosexual gang rape. I would have loved it if they just went to that door and said, hey, you girly men, fag boys, you come in this house, we'll kill you all. You're not going to rape anybody here. You try it. I may die, you may die, but I'm going to tell you this, you aren't going to rape anybody. You're not having sex with anybody, but they don't have that kind of backbone. And then I want you to notice the pathetic solution that that old man comes up with. He says, instead of indulging yourself in homosexual rape, why don't you indulge yourself in heterosexual rape? And he offers these evil men his own virgin daughter. And then without even consulting with a Levite, he offers them his concubine. So not only does he offer his own daughter, which is one thing, but he offers the concubine, which is another. And it's so just bizarre because he says, look, don't act wickedly because I'm trying to be hospitable to this guy. He doesn't even know this guy, this guy's woman isn't his wife. And so he just figures out, let's throw him my daughter and let's throw him his wife. That's how sick this society had become. This is open depravity. It shows you how evil society can become when it drifts away from the word of God and people do what's right in their own eyes. Which brings us to the 14th fact, the Levite gives them his concubine, they gang rape her all night. Verse 25 says, but the men would not listen to him, so the man seized his concubine and brought her out to them and they raped her and abused her all night until morning and let her go at the approach of dawn. And I want you to notice verse 27, when her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way. Apparently this Levite gave his concubine over to these lust crazed men and they gang raped her all night and he just went to bed and went to sleep. And the text says they abused her. That's an interesting Hebrew word. It's a word in Hebrew that means they tied her up, they bound her fast, they raped her all night long until their lust had been quenched, and at daybreak, being the nice guys they were, they let her go. Now this is happening among Israelites. This is happening among people who say they have a relationship with God. Gentiles don't do this stuff. I mean, people who don't know the Lord don't do this kind of thing, but this is happening to people who supposedly know God. Which brings us to the 15th fact, the concubine fell down dead at the man's house. Verse 26 says, and as day began to dawn, the woman came and fell down at the doorway of the man's house where her master was until full daylight. When her master arose in the morning and opened the doors of the house and went out to go on his way, then behold, his concubine was lying at the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. He said to her get up and let's go this Levite is a piece of work Look at what is stated here. He opens the door. He's just ready to get going He says that the concubine get up and let's go he doesn't even care how she is And the next morning when he went out to head for home With no emotion with no feeling he says all right. Let's just get up and let's go He doesn't say how are you doing? He doesn't say, I'm so sorry. He just said, let's get up and get out of here. But apparently, most assume he discovered she was dead. Actually. There is some debate as to whether or not she was dead or just passed out from exhaustion. The Hebrew text doesn't specifically say she's dead. The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, does say she was dead. So does the Latin Vulgate. We can assume she probably was, because if what happens next happened to somebody not dead, I suppose in this context it wouldn't even be that shocking. But we must assume that she was dead. Which brings us to the 16th fact, the Levite packs her on a donkey. He takes her home and he cuts her into 12 pieces and he sends one piece to each of the 12 tribes. Notice verse 28, then he placed her on the donkey and the man arose and went to his home. When he entered his house, he took a knife and laid hold of his concubine and cut her in 12 pieces, limb by limb. By the way, literally in Hebrew, that means according to bones. Limb by limb, according to bones. He cut her and sent her throughout the territory of Israel. Now, I don't want to get too gruesome here, but the text says he literally cut her limb by limb or according to bones. And if you've ever studied the skeletal system, you can pretty much figure out what he cut. And if you just analyze what goes on in the skeleton and you say, well, what would be the easiest bones to cut? You're going to cut the head off. You'll cut the shoulder to the elbow, the humerus. You'll cut the elbow to the hand, which will be the radius. You'll cut the hip socket to the knee, which is the femur. You'll cut the knee to the foot, which is the tibia. Then you either have to cut off two feet or two hands, and then you're left with the torso or the sternum, and that gives you 12 parts. And apparently, he cut that girl up into 12 parts, and he sent one part to each of the 12 tribes. Now look at what is said in verse 30. All who saw it said, nothing like this has ever happened or been seen from the day when the sons of Israel came up from the land to Egypt to this day. Consider it, take counsel and speak up. God says I want you to carefully consider this matter I want you to understand this matter and I want you to discuss it. I want you to understand the story that is taught here. Why? Why does God want us to understand this story? Because it shows you how depraved a nation, a state, a city, a church, an individual can become if you drift away from the Word of God. And let me make six simple observations right out of this context. move away from God's Word and there will be an increase in false religion. I ask you, is there? Are we seeing an increase in false religion right now? You bet we are. Some churches are exploding in numbers and they are not exploding because they're dedicated to carefully expounding the Word. Last night, between 8.30 and 9, I was watching what is called Christian television, and I was watching a program, and the place was packed, and the minister was lying on the floor, and a woman was bellowing like a sick cow, and Mary said, what are you watching in there? And I said, well, this is Christian TV. You want to come watch it with me? It's bizarre stuff. There was nothing there about teaching the scriptures, about feeding people the flock, and the numbers were huge. That's kind of what happens when you move away from the Word of God, just false religion increases, the numbers increase. Secondly, move away from the Word of God and there's going to be an increase in immorality, bizarre immorality. Is there? Well, just look at what happened in Kalamazoo in a courtroom this week. There's a man who's going to trial because he broke into a home and raped an 80-year-old woman. Another man is going to trial because he was involved in raping little girls. Is there a rise in immorality when you move away from the Word of God? Is that happening? Just read the newspaper. Thirdly, move away from the Word of God and there will be an increase in homosexuality. Is there? The first to ordain a homosexual as pastor was the United Church of Christ in San Francisco. In 1983, the United Church of Christ sanctioned homosexual ministers. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Netherlands promote the idea that practicing homosexuals can be ministers. In the year 2000, the Episcopal Church endorsed the new policy that featured homosexuals. In Atlanta, Georgia, the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches calls itself the gay denomination. In New York City, in Los Angeles, in Rhode Island, in New Orleans and Mexico City, there are now homosexual synagogues that have been formed. And a couple of weeks ago, the Pentagon of the United States sanctioned same-sex relationships. We're back in the days of judges. You move away from the word of God and look what happens. Homosexuality rises. Just someday drive over to saugatuck. Somebody tonight in our pre-service prayer meeting said, you know, we were in for a shock when we went over there this weekend. We couldn't believe it. That's where we're at when you move away from the Word of God. When you move away from the Word of God, there will be an increase in violence, is there? You know, I read an interesting statistic this week. It's almost unbelievable to me, if it's true. And I'm assuming it is because the source was reliable. In all the wars that have been fought in the United States since it has been formed, 550,000 people have died. Since 1900, 800,000 people have been murdered. In Detroit, this past week, two bodies of a man and woman were found tied up with bullet holes in their head. 45 years ago, people would hitchhike all around the country. 30 years ago, I would pick up hitchhikers and give them a ride. Would you do that now? Would you go hitchhiking? Would you pick up a hitchhiker? Why? Why wouldn't you do it? Because there is a rise of violence. Something is going on in this world, and it is a drifting away from the Word of God. When you move away from the word of God, there will be an increase in abuse of women and children. Is there? Watch the news. Husbands kill lives. Mothers kill children. And it doesn't even hardly shock us anymore. And when you move away from the word of God, God will let that society become totally perverse. Would you say that's happening here? You bet it is. Now let's look at our present culture. What has happened here in this country? Where have we gone? We've gone the way of judges. Everybody does that which is right in their own eyes. J. Verne McGee said in 1982, this book parallels our own contemporary society in a striking way. And Dr. Warren Wiersbe said, all you have to do is read this chapter and scan your newspaper and you realize nothing has changed. We're in the same boat. We're living in the days of judges. And that is why it is so important, ladies and gentlemen, that we get back to the Word of God. And we need the Lord Jesus Christ to return because, frankly, He is the only one who can put an end to any evil depravity. May we pray. Now perhaps you're here tonight and you've been involved in some serious sin in your life. You've done some things that have been morally depraved. Perhaps you've been involved in things that have been evil. Perhaps you aborted a baby. You killed a baby. Listen, I've got some wonderful grace news for you tonight. One of the reasons why God didn't wipe Israel out is because he was gonna bring through that nation a savior who could save you from all your sins. If you will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, all of your sins will be forgiven you and you will be put on a path of having a wonderful relationship with a wonderful God, no matter what you've done. And if you will purpose to go to work on understanding the scriptures and applying it to your life, you will become a beautiful reflection of the glory of God. Our Father, we thank you for the precious word. We realize, Lord, that our world is just about a mirror of the days of judges. We are grateful for grace. What amazing grace you have. in that you allow sinners time that they might yield themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. For anything that you've accomplished here today, we thank you and praise you. In Jesus' name, amen.