in a world of conflicting values, when questions are more common than answers. God's Word provides everything we need to live a God-centered, truth-driven life. Now, here's the Word for Life broadcast, brought to you by Brookside Baptist Church. Well, good morning. Thank you for joining us on Word for Life. My name is Mark Widmer, and I'm joining Pastor Ken Keltner, who is taking us through the book of Judges, specifically chapter 17. We're going to take a break in the book of Judges after today's broadcast. as we are today beginning our church's mission conference here. And so for the next five broadcasts, you're going to hear interviews with the five mission families that we have coming in to join us. So that will be a real treat. And as Pastor Ken and I were talking a moment ago from all the despairing and depressing chapters here of the book of Judges, it'll be a great encouragement to you to hear the testimony of these great families that we have coming in. But Pastor Ken, take us through chapter 17. 17. Well, we're just seeing all of the violations being taking place here in just these first few verses of chapter 17. Again, a picture not following Samson chronologically, but just a total picture of what was happening through this whole book of why the author wrote, Every Man Did That Which Was Right in His Own Eyes. And we see it with what's taking place here in the home. The home was spiritually bankrupt. Why don't we pick up, and I know we've read some of these passages or verses often in our last broadcast, but let's remind you again, Pastor Mark, why don't you read verses 3-5 for us? Mark So, when he had returned the 1100 shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a molded image. Now, therefore, I will return it to you." Thus, he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took 200 shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image, and they were in the house of Micah. The man Micah had a shrine and made an ephod and household idols, and he consecrated one of his sons who became his priest. You notice, friends, how many times in just these first few verses, how many commands of God have been violated. So, here we have a violation of the first two commands of the Ten Commandments. So, not only did this mother not correct her son, but she led him right into idolatry, to put something as an image in front of God. And so, he makes a carved image and casts an idol. Do you remember when Aaron made this golden calf in the wilderness? I was just reading that section this past week, Pastor Mark, and he was getting scolded by Moses, and he says, well, you know how these people are, and this is what they demanded, and so I told him to give me all their gold earrings, and I put them in the fire, and then, whoa, look what came out. I mean, you chuckle at how we try to hide our sin, but the image was supposedly this way of them to picture God and worship Him. But while the calf in Moses and Aaron's day could symbolize an image, it could not show God's righteousness or his love. And God said, do not make any image in the form of God. You don't make the infinite into any finite thing. And so God was angry that he had Moses, if you remember, he pounded out the golden calf into powder. He spread it out over the surface of the water and he made the people drink it. The Levites answered the call from Moses to take action against these idolaters, perpetrators, and the Levites understood that neutrality was not an option, and when good and evil were at stake, and 3,000 men were killed by the sword of the Levites at that time. And here, though, you have Micah making a shrine in his house. If you remember, the tabernacle was at Shiloh. You know, so a quick look at a map reveals the fact that Shiloh was in the hill country of Ephraim, only a short journey from Micah's house. Micah's idolatry here had nothing to do with the unavailability of God's house. It had everything to do with his refusal to follow God's way. You think about it, you know, Pastor Mark, anything in our lives to which we attach worth and importance that belongs only to God becomes an idol in our lives. You know, for me, I tell you, it could be sports. Even growing up as a kid, it could be sports, and I'd like to say, you know, God keeps chiseling away, saying, that's not supposed to be in front of me. But, I mean, people will forge a reason of not going to church to go to a Packers game, you know, or whatever it might be. And I'm not against sports, but, man, when we're staying home from church because, well, I gotta watch this. And then many times, folks doing that get on their hands and knees before the game, they pray that God will help the Packers win the game. So, Let me just share this case study that has happened over and over in churches for decades. A young woman who's grown up, let's say, in a church and has professed Christ as her Savior is about to move in with her boyfriend. Her parents are very concerned about this. They want the pastor to make contact. He calls and calls and finally gets ahold of her. Hey, let's listen in on the call for this is so typical how it'll go. I can't believe my parents are making such a big deal out of this and they called you pastor. She kind of says with a nervous laugh. You can probably even picture her rolling her eyes as she's saying this to her pastor. The pastor says, well, hey, I appreciate you talking to me and taking my call here for a few minutes, but I have to ask you, do you think it's possible that you have this backward? What do you mean? Well, that instead of making a big deal out of nothing, it could be that you're making nothing out of a big deal. There's a little bit more nervous laughter from this young lady. It's just not a big deal pastor. The pastor concludes with, yes, it's a big deal to God. He asked her, which God are you going to choose? For God is what we sacrifice for and what we pursue. Dear young lady, from where I sit, you have the Lord God on one side saying one thing and you have your boyfriend on the other side saying something else. And you, young lady, are choosing your boyfriend over God. The Bible calls that idolatry, and that's a pretty big deal. I mean, how often does that scenario take place? Well, he loves me. Well, if he loved you, he would do it the right way. Israel was not to make little personal shrines that they could worship right there at their house. They were to worship at the tabernacle of God. That's why, friends, to just say, I don't have to go to church, and I'm just going to worship God in my house today, is not the way God had it designed. No. Micah takes his house, and he makes it into a makeshift temple, and he put his homemade idol in his house temple. Now, his shrine may have been beautiful, but God hated it. It was the homemade worship of a man-made God. Can't you hear the reasoning? Really, I mean, there's nothing wrong here with me making a little shrine. We're all living among the Sidonians and the Philistines, and everybody has idols. Mine is especially made in a good way. Well, you cannot reject God and believe that all is well in your family or even in our nation. Our country, and especially my friends, the next generation is rejecting God and His plan for worship. How many times, Pastor Mark, do we see articles in the paper saying, you know, the following generations, whether it's Gen Z or, well, Millennials or Gen Z, or even that they're leaving church by the droves. They don't want to, you know, I mean, families who have really taught their kids and brought them up in church who are just totally turning away from God today. We're seeing this next generation just totally reject God and His plan for worship. And then they only want to go worship where, well, I like this, you know, this is what I would call worship. And the survey tells us we're losing the 19 to 31-year-olds from church today. And should we be surprised? There's so much confusion about God and what He expects. He expects us to live holy lives. That's what He calls us to. As Peter said, quoting back in Leviticus on a great book on holiness, be holy for the Lord your God is holy. And so, how is our country doing? Friends, we are in a mess, and I think most people would agree. So, I want to ask you this question. Why do you think God hates idolatry so strongly, you know, and that He forbids it? and it's because no picture, no image can properly honor God. John Calvin said it well and I quote, a true image of God is not to be found in all the world and hence His glory is defiled and His truth corrupted by the lie whenever He is set before our eyes in a visible form. Imagine fighting over a God that you can make and a God that you can steal. Our problem is not so much carved idols as it is mental idols. And then here in verse 5 of chapter 17, again, misled parental direction here with Micah. Like mother, like Micah. Grandmother to grandson. He takes one of his sons and he consecrates him to the priesthood. I mean, you can't do that either. He consecrated, we're told in verse 5, one of his sons who became his priest. He actually even made an ephod, an imitation of the high priest's shoulder dress with two stones in order to cast lots for divine decision-making. The high priest would serve in the temple, and it was the temple that was consecrated to God. He is not a priest, and his house is not consecrated by God. We see total moral decline here with the moral sin, domestic sin, covetous sin, idolatrous sin, and now he's going to have his son use an ephod for superstitious purposes for divine guidance. I mean, you talk about absolute moral confusion in the days of the judges, and this is what we see. And yet they think they're still serving God, that they're right with God. Jesus said there's a broad way leading to destruction and a narrow way which goes against the flow of the broad way. Here is a family stealing, cursing, blessing, dishonoring parents, getting involved in a dollar for in all the rest of it still believing i'm okay i'm serving god friends don't kid don't kid yourselves we are kidding ourselves if we think god is pleased with that and we're seeing a generation of unloved and discipline and uncared for kids how does the nation get to this point verse six is the answer national bankrupt There was no king, there was no acknowledgement of God, as he had requested. They had religion, but they have ignored, forgotten, refused his revelation to them. The distinctiveness of Israel has always been to know God and to know his covenants with them. And so the statement here in verse 6, that Israel had no king, suggests that the presence of a king would have provided a standard for the nation to follow. I mean, this statement reflects the Deuteronomy ideal of a king who promotes the law by his teaching and by his example in Deuteronomy 17. And so, if you remember, when they entered the land, they were to destroy the shrines and the idols and worship the Lord and choose only Him. And so, our writer and judges clearly has in mind a particular kind of king, a king who would uphold God's covenant standards, and that's the question we end with today. Who's your king? Jesus Christ should be the King who rules us and the one whom we love and we submit to. And friends, if that needs to be a recommitment on your part, may it be done today that you would say, no, Jesus is Lord and King of my life. And so join us for our next broadcast as we'll be visiting with some of our missionaries that are here for our conference. We hope you enjoyed today's program. If you have a question we can answer or would like information on the Word for Life, would like to donate to continue to produce this broadcast, or need resources for your Christian walk, Contact us at Brookside Baptist Church, 4470 North Pilgrim Road, Brookfield, Wisconsin, 53005. You can also visit us at brooksidebc.org. That's brooksidebc.org. Or call us at 262-783-6180. That's 262-783-6180. Thanks for listening today, and please tune in again as we bring the Word of God to your life.