Certain men who were wrong

Judges chapter 19 and we'll read at verse number one. And it came to 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 that took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem Judah. Chapter 20 verse 4. And the Levite the husband of the woman that was slain answered and said that I came on into Gebeah that belonged to Benjamin.

I had I and my concubine to lodge and the man of Gebeah rose against me and beset the house round about upon me by night and thought to have slain me and my concubine have they forced that she is dead. I took my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. Further down verse 20.

The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin and the men of Israel put themselves in array to fight against them at Gebeah. Verse 46. So that all which fell that day of Benjamin were twenty and five thousand men that drew the sword.

All these were men of valor. And so on. Now we'll move from that sordid business over to Acts chapter 15.

Please Acts chapter 15. Acts 15 verse 1. And certain men. That's what I want to talk about.

Certain men. And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses it cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem on to the Apostles and elders about this question.

Now come further down to verse 13. And after they held their peace James answered and said men and brethren hearken on to me. Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name and to this agree the words of the prophets as it is written.

Verse 30. So when they were dismissed they came to Antioch and when they had gathered the multitude together they delivered the which when they had read they rejoiced for the consolation. Now come on over to the little book of Jude.

Jude and we'll read at verse 4. For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turning the grace of God into lasciviousness licentiousness and denying the only Lord God or the only master our Lord Jesus Christ. Now down to verse 21. Keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ on to eternal life and if some have compassion making a difference and others saved with fear pulling them out of the fire hitting even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Now on to him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty dominion and power both now and ever amen. Now the Lord will bless to us the reading from his word. Certain men with quite a bit of ground to cover and we'll try and summarize as we go the background to these situations.

We'll come then to what we have read. Certain men in Judges chapter 20. We're thinking about the men of Belial that committed that heinous act.

We're thinking of wrong in Benjamin the tribal land of Benjamin. When we come to Acts chapter 15 we read again of certain men and here they were wrong in belief, wrong in doctrine, wrong in belief. And finally from Jude chapter 1 verse 4 we've read again of certain men that crept in on a wares and these men were wrong in behavior.

They were acting in a very licentious sensual way wrong in behavior. Now it's interesting in each of these cases names are not given. They're just unidentified individuals.

They're called certain men but they cause problems amongst the people of God. Names are not given because in heaven's view and heaven's value system these men are not worthy of recognition. They may have been even seeking place some of them but they're not recognized so far as heaven is concerned.

Now in Judges chapter 20 we read in chapter 19 verse 1 there was no king in Israel. So that sets the scene and that that phrase is repeated several times in those closing chapters of the book of Judges. Israel is in a terrible condition.

Things are going from bad to worse. There's an atmosphere of a lack of authority and spiritually they are at an all-time low and that is seen in this story incidentally in this way. It's interesting there's a lack of care and a lack of hospitality and that is the symptom of what pervades in the nation and is causative to what follows in the story.

There's a certain man a Levite. He and his servant and his concubine they leave Bethlehem Judah and they're on their way north and they come to this place called Gabia which is a town in the land of Benjamin. There's no one that will take them in to give them a place for the night until one old man comes out of the field a man of Ephraim he's not even of that country originally and he brings a man into his house.

Certain men, men of Belial gather around. They demand the man comes out first but as you know in the story they send out his concubine and those wicked men abused the concubine all night so that she's left for dead and after that heinous crime is committed we find the Levite quite openly unashamedly takes her corpse takes a knife cuts up the body into 12 pieces and sends the pieces throughout the land of Israel. Now Israel gathers together they're in shock at what has taken place.

They come together to judge rank evil that has been performed in so many levels. They come together for vengeance and we can tell already as we read through the story this isn't going to end well. You see Israel there were times when they should have come together they should have come together to three times a year you remember go up to Jerusalem to worship God.

We don't read about that happening in the book of Judges but they almost seemingly gladly come together to carry out vengeance. Now evil must be judged but evil will never serve as the glue to hold the people of God together. There may be outrage even righteous outrage at things that take place but at the end of the day Israel was not left united over this and in fact at the end of the day a part of the nation was almost exterminated.

Almost the whole tribe abandoned. There's one thing that is needed when judgment is being carried out when discipline is being carried out and that is first of all a spirit of self-discipline and if Israel had it taken heed to what they ought to have been before God perhaps might have been handled differently. Now the Lord Jesus taught that take the plank of wood out of your eye before you start taking the little moat out of your brother's eye.

A need for self-judgment. It is only the Lord Jesus himself who can attract us and win our hearts and warm our souls and draw us by his grace and enable us and empower us to care in a kindly way for our brethren for their recovery for discipline with a view to restoration but where there is a spirit of harshness where there is a spirit of bitterness where there is self-serving pride that will only bring disaster only bring disaster. Now this town of Gebeah as we've been pointing out belongs to the tribe of Benjamin.

There was provision in Deuteronomy for tracing evil to its source and for dealing with it. Everything had to be done deliberately and quietly and the portion I'm thinking of at city level with due meditation and above all with a sense of the presence of God. So judgment was to be carried out with a sense of subjection to the will of God.

Sadly in Israel at this point they have not been used with a sense of the the presence of God and so they seemingly take a shortcut and they think the matter is simple enough for them to handle. So they just all gather together and they send a message right away to the tribe of deliver over these men of Belial and we'll deal with that. Well as you might expect Benjamin digs in and the whole tribe is on the defensive but Israel is out for blood and the lines are drawn and positions are taken and the battle begins and sadly that is too often the way things escalate when difficulties arise amongst the people of God.

As a result there are tens of thousands that are killed in Israel over several days and the incident continues for several months affecting other areas of the country and the tribe of Benjamin is almost wiped out as a result and could it not have been different? That's my question this morning. Could the nation not have handled this differently? What if the Levite had not involved the whole nation immediately? What if Gebeah, the men of Gebeah, not the certain men but the others in Gebeah, there were men of valor in Gebeah, what if they had dealt with that condition appropriately? What if God's way had been carried out? What if it had been dealt with at the city level not even at the tribal level and not even at the national level? If it had been dealt with according to God's mind there would have been much less bloodshed and those guilty parties would have been brought to judgment but there was a disastrous escalation of things and it was a reflection of the terrible condition of the people as a whole and it's brought into the story in the book of Judges to show us the nation's departure from God and it results in these disastrous conditions of things. Now moving on from that sad story let's come to Acts of the Apostles and chapter 15.

Here we're reading about certain men that are wrong in belief. Certain men came up from Jerusalem to Antioch. The only other, there are two assemblies now planted seemingly.

There's the assembly in Jerusalem and the Word of God has gone out and assembly has been planted in Antioch. There are visiting brethren that come up, certain men, certain men, to stick with the text, come up from Jerusalem to Antioch and they teach that in order to be saved the Gentiles must be circumcised. They really believed it.

I mean after all the Gentiles are being brought into an inheritance that were the scriptures that they have are the Old Testament scriptures. So they have inherited that from the Jews. So it only makes good sense then that these Gentiles as it were be turned into Jews, into Jewish proselytes and that they too would be circumcised.

But good sense and logic are not always enough and there needed to be a scriptural judgment on this matter. And what I want to notice here is that this difficulty that has arisen is taken back to the place where it originated. It's taken back to the assembly at Jerusalem and then we find that the solution that's found in Jerusalem is accepted by Antioch.

Now there's a man called James who's very prominent here and the Lord had appeared to James, you remember, in resurrection. James was a man who would never forget the glory of the risen Lord. It would characterize him.

He would move in the consciousness of that for the rest of his life. And James was a man to bring the scriptures to bear and with sound biblical wisdom, James is giving the mind of God in this matter. And so the grace of God in the gospel, the gospel of the grace of God rather, is preserved in its purity.

I want you to note that there was communication between the affected assemblies here of Antioch and Jerusalem. As these brethren take the problem back to its origin, back to Jerusalem. And there's a wisdom in that.

You know, even, was it Elvis Presley back in 1962 sang that song, some of you may be familiar with it, Return to Sender. It was a case where there was no such person, no such number, no such zone. And my point is that even the world recognizes the wisdom of taking a problem that causes confusion back to its source to deal with it.

In the book of Deuteronomy, there was a body found dead in a field between two cities. And the question would arise, who's going to take responsibility for this problem? Who's going to deal with it and bring the necessary sacrifice? Well, the provision was made that it would be taken to the closest city for the elders to to deal with. They would be deemed, in those circumstances, they would be deemed to be responsible to handle it.

Because it was deemed that that was the source of the problem. Now bring that to Acts 15. We'll note a few things here.

First thing is that it was dealt with at the place where it originated. And by doing that, the autonomy of each of the assemblies was preserved. It was guarded.

And furthermore, the interfellowship between the two assemblies was assured. It was preserved. So those two things.

The autonomy of each assembly was respected and the interfellowship between the assemblies was preserved. When we come to Jerusalem, we find that responsible brethren gather together and they discuss the issue. Peter has something to say.

James has something to say. And the whole assembly at Jerusalem is therefore represented. And the whole assembly at Jerusalem will abide by the decision that's reached by those responsible brethren.

It was not the ambit of each member of the assembly in Jerusalem to throw in their two bits to give their little opinion. And then if it didn't go their way to jettison the assembly, if it reached a different decision from what they thought ought to be reached. So we just notice these things in passing.

There was sound judgment given. The inquiry is made as to what has taken place. Peter states what he knows, how that God has already reached out to the Gentiles.

He says what he knows. The facts therefore are all known. And then James brings the scripture to bear.

And as the scripture is brought to bear upon the situation, a resolution is made. So the facts are all known, the scriptures brought to bear, and a resolution is made. Now what we find happens is this.

There is communication from the assembly at Jerusalem, there is communication of what they have decided, back to Antioch, back to the affected assembly. And we find that when that letter arrived in Antioch, the saints were greatly comforted. They gladly accepted the decision that had been made back at the source when those responsible brethren dealt with the issue that had originated from their assembly.

Antioch didn't call a secondary conference their court of appeal. They accepted the judgment that had been decided in Jerusalem from where the problem came. Those men in Jerusalem incidentally knew those certain men, they had lived with them.

They knew their background, not only what they believed and what they were teaching, they knew all about them. And they were the ones that were equipped to deal with the situation. Antioch gladly accepts.

I take it that men like James are very badly needed today, so badly needed today. Thank God for those that are still around. Men that act with meekness, act with wisdom, men that act in the fear of God, men with the knowledge of the scriptures that can bring the relevant scriptures to bear, to deal with issues that may arise from time to time amongst the people of God.

James will in his epistle later on, he will speak about that wisdom. Chapter 3 verse 16, he says, for we're envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work. And sadly the enemy is busy at that today, isn't he? Causing confusion and causing every evil work.

But the next verse says, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits. Listen, without partiality and without hypocrisy, without hypocrisy, those that are handling the situation are clear from the charge of such guilt themselves, without hypocrisy. So James was used of God on that occasion to deal with those certain men that were wrong in belief.

Now quickly let's come to the little book of Jude. You remember that Jude was also the Lord's half-brother like James. And Jude is very similar to the second chapter in 2nd Peter.

You remember we handled that in the Bible reading at Mount Sterling last March. Now it's often pointed out that second epistles are for last-day conditions. But when you come to the little book of Jude, which is similar to Peter, but Jude is written after 2nd Peter.

So it's almost like the third level. Because Jude quotes in verse 18, Jude seemingly quotes from 2nd Peter chapter 2. So certainly we're looking at the last day conditions when we come to Jude. Now Christianity was under severe attack, not only politically from Rome, but also Gnosticism that Peter had warned about coming in has arrived when you come to the book of Jude.

And it will be further developed and be further dealt with in the epistles of John perhaps 25 years or so later. But Jude is rallying the saints to earnestly contend in these conditions, to earnestly contend for the faith. Now as has been mentioned in prayer, brothers and sisters, we recognize that testimony for God today is under special attack by the enemy.

And we can be assured of this, that apostate Christianity will become worse and worse until the Lord comes. Apostasy will continue and will develop and blossom until the apostate one appears, the Antichrist himself. And that happens after the rapture of the church.

So we're in the last days, very last days. And we too need to earnestly contend for the faith. Now very quickly, these certain men that had crept in verse 4, they had penetrated the ranks of the saints evidently.

But these men proved by their actions to be apostate and evidently by their rationale and what was going on in their head. Maybe I should just clarify for a moment, when we talk about apostate and apostasy, we're talking about those that will turn away from the Bible, from the truth of the Bible, they turn away from it. So for instance, verse 4, they are ungodly.

They're morally perverted. They are denying Christ. Verse 8, they are dreamers.

They defile the flesh. They are rebellious. They are revilers of angels.

Verse 10, they're ignorant. They act like animals. They are corrupt.

Verse 16, they're grumblers, fault finders, self-seeking, arrogant talkers, flatterers. Verse 18, they are mockers. Verse 19, they cause division and they are given to sensuality.

Now none of those things ever ought to mark a true believer. So what is to happen when these things take place? Here's the point in Jude now. Jude is not a church epistle as such.

It's a general epistle. In this epistle, we do not see church discipline being carried out, but what we do see is this, and what is emphasized in Jude is this, that man will stand before God and God will judge him. God will be their judge.

He will go on to cite three examples of God intervening in judgment on believers who came out of Egypt, were judged by death. Angels that kept not their first estate, they are judged, they're kept in darkness. And then Sodom and Gomorrah, noted for their immorality, they are judged by God, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

You can see the progression there. Death, kept in darkness, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. So God, the point is, God will judge these false professors too.

God will judge them. There are some situations that arise and affect the people of God, and sometimes even they seem to be beyond the reach of discipline, but we can be assured of this. God will judge.

God will judge on righteousness. So Jude is writing to encourage the saints not to be put out in their thinking when evil seems to blossom. But come with me to the end of the chapter, the end of the little book, as he talks about judgment coming, and ultimately when the Lord returns, as Enoch prophesied, he'll take vengeance and so on.

But come to the end of the book, verse 17, but beloved, now he's addressing the believer. Remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember the words.

Be in the word of God. Be in the scriptures. This will build you up, verse 20.

This would build them up in their most holy faith. Again, verse 20, praying in the Holy Ghost. So notice these two things.

Number one, they're hearing the word of God from the scriptures. And then number two, they're speaking to God in prayer. So it's a two-way street.

There's communion going on here. There's listening to what God says. And then there's speaking to God in prayer and independence upon him for the necessary spiritual power to carry out his word.

Verse 21. This would amount to keeping themselves in the love of God. Keeping themselves in the love of God.

Isn't that the most important thing, brothers and sisters? In days when there are most distressing things that occur and things that seemingly are beyond our control. Keep yourselves in the love of God. In the warmth and in the joy of communion with him.

Knowing that God will judge evil. He will deal with it. And verse 24, as we sit down, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling.

That's what we want, isn't it? That each one of us would be preserved, that we would be kept. He's able to keep us from falling. And to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

To the only wise God, our savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Let's enjoy something of his greatness, his power, his majesty, his glory in our souls.

That will preserve us in dark days, in dangerous days, in days of departure, in days that are distressing, and even in days that are discouraging. Let's keep ourselves in the love of God.