A Disgusting Story (Part B)

The account draws on the episode in Sodom and Gomorrah.

It is almost parallel. There are differences, but overall it's very close and it's showing that Gibeah of Benjamin had become like Sodom in spite of all of their opportunity to never be like Sodom. The Bible, again, just deals with fact. It's very blunt. This is how it is.

You can't live in a make-believe world without overriding, you know, the system in your head. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Judges. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. A disgusting story is the title of Pastor Rick's message.

Today, he'll be teaching in Judges chapter 19. And afterward, go your way. Let me pause there. Some of this is cultural and it's expected. To me, from our culture, it's deceptive. Like, you know you were trying to get me to stay the whole week, and you just take a little bit and go, but you're really like Laban kind of guy, aren't you?

Not really. This is cultural. This kind of saves face, you know. You give the person opportunities. I'm told in one culture that they fill the tea up on your cup to halfway as you go through the meal. When they fill it up all the way, they're saying to you, it's time to go home. That's a very subtle and nice way.

You try it here, nobody will get it. You pour it until it flows over all over the table, and they're just still staying. Yeah, so tell them, okay, turn the lights off, I'm going to bed. Anyway, verse 6, So they sat down, and the two men ate and drank together. Then the young woman's father said to the man, Please, be content to stay all night, and let your heart be merry.

And when the man stood to depart, his father-in-law urged him, so he lodged there again. So they're enjoying the company. Five days of eating and drinking.

This Levite seems to not be paying a cent for it. It's having a good old time. So much so that three times in this one chapter we read that he ate and drank. He ate and drank, he ate and drank. The father was good with it, he was good with it.

No abuse there. In verse 8, Then he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart, but the young woman's father said, Please refresh your heart. So he delayed until afternoon.

And both of them ate. He's going to be too fat to go after a while. So what we're getting, knowing the man, if we, if the man was noble when the trouble came, we would be looking at this in an entirely different light. We would say he must have been a strong character to, you know, what we end up with, he must have been a fun guy, a nice guy to be with. He just had no courage and no sense of duty. As a Levite, was there a sense in his heart?

Was there a call of duty on his life? You have to have a reason to live. Just, you know, eating and drinking is not enough.

It catches up after a while. Even as you get older, you want a purpose in life. God always says, Well, you know, as a backup plan, you can always pray. You can get serious about praying.

Find out what to put on that list. Anyway, we, of course, Christians, we have a call of duty. We are called to duty in a world of lost souls and Antichrist. I mean, now more than ever, we don't have people who just aren't interested in Christ or disagree with him.

They actually, aggressively, they hate him and they don't want you to like him, as it was during the communist years in Eastern Europe. James chapter 4 verses 8 and 9, Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. So we're saying, is this Levi doing any of this? The same calling was on his life. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn, weep, let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. What James was saying, if you're not serious about saving souls and righteousness, you need to get serious. That's what James is saying. That's what Ecclesiastes 7, 6.

Like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity. No purpose in life there.

There's nothing there that is attractive. And again, not knowing the father-in-law any more than his daughter was a concubine and he seems to just have having a good time with the Levite. We cannot necessarily put him in the same category as this Levite. Verse 9, When the man stood to depart, he and his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the young man's, the young woman's father, said to him, Look, the day is now dawning toward evening. Please spend the night. See, the day is coming to an end.

Lodge here that your heart may be merry tomorrow. Go your way early so that you may get home. However, verse 10, the man was not willing to spend the night. So he rose and departed. He came to Jabez, that is Jerusalem, with him were the two saddled donkeys.

His concubine was also with him and of course the servant. So finally, he says, Enough is enough. I've got to get home.

And he's now determined to leave. It is true some visitors don't know when to leave and you turn AC off of the heat and give them hints. It doesn't work. I don't know. Sometimes, you know, you're having a good time. You don't know when to end it.

I mean, it's honestly, it can be a little tricky thing sometimes. They look like they're really having a lot of fun. I'm having a lot of fun. Maybe I shouldn't leave now. And then all of a sudden the wife and husband look at each other. It's time to go. It's just life. I like the teacup thing.

We should institute that. Everybody, start buying teacups and don't fill them up until you're ready. Yeah, tough crowd. I figured as much. Verse 11. They were near Jabez, and the day was far spent. And the servant said to his master, Come, please let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and lodge in it. Now the Jebus, originally Salem, you know, Melchizedek, the king of Salem, now Jabez, the Jebusites had taken possession of it. And they were a mean lot. They mocked David.

You know, we could defend a city without, you know, those who are 4F, who aren't fit for combat. They can beat you back, David. And David said the man that gets to, you know, open, climbs up the well of Jabez and opens the gate for us, he becomes commander of our army. And Joab, of course, he did it. There were others probably going to make the move and they saw Joab look at them and said, We better just let Joab do it.

If you know anything about him, you do not want to be on the sword piercing side of Joab. So, but that comes later after David is king in Israel. So here, these Jebusites not being Jews, the Levite turns his nose up to them. I don't want to stay with these Gentiles. These are Canaanites.

And they're disgusting. It's five miles from Bethlehem to Jabez and it's about another four to Gibeah, which is the next Jewish village. They're fearing night travel and that's why the servant says, Let's, you know, it's getting dark. Let's turn here. Verse 12, But his master said to him, We will not turn aside here into a city of foreigners who are not children of Israel. We will go to Gibeah.

Hmm. Well, he's racially motivated, not spiritually. And he had a little care for the obedience with God, righteousness.

He simply hated Canaanites. And it would not be these Jebusites who commit this heinous crime that's on the way. It will be the people of God. And that is a lesson for Christianity, for Christians, you know, just be careful.

Don't get filled with pride. Jeremiah, that great prophet, will cut at the heart of religious racism, I guess you could say. Elitism. You know, the Jews, the Gentiles were good for nothing. Racism had consumed them. By the time Christ came, most Jews wouldn't even walk through areas that belonged to the Sumerians. They didn't want to get their feet to touch the ground with the Sumerians, you know, had authority. And Christ, of course, he provoked these kind of confrontations.

He would go into these places and he did a great work there. Well, Jeremiah, he flashes this out because the Jews were, you know, boasting about their... Now, this is not anti-Semitism. These are the facts from the Jewish scriptures about the Jewish people in these days. But Jeremiah says essentially with this word that, you know, you think you're so religious, there are going to be other people that are going to crave the Lord. So he says in Jeremiah 16, the Gentiles shall come to you from the ends of the earth and say, surely our fathers have inherited lies, worthless and unprofitable things. Every time a Christian goes to Israel to visit the various tourist sites, they are fulfilling this verse. This prophecy has been fulfilled numerous times and still being fulfilled. The Gentiles have come from the ends of the earth. And we have said that, you know, the Gentile gods are pagan gods and they are and we've come to Christ.

We've come out of this and those things are worthless. So it would have been nice if any of the Jews in those days had any desire to share the righteousness. Well, some did. The Gentiles were difficult. In fact, one of the heroes of David's mighty men, Ittai, he was likely a Gentile and killed during the insurrection of Absalom, David's son.

But he was certainly a man to follow. Well, verse 13, so he said to his servant, come let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night in Gibeah or in Ramah. Thought he was doing the right thing, being around God's people. Verse 14, and they passed by and went their way and the sun went down on them near Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin. What an ominous word. The sun went down on them. It's eerie. It's quite suggestive knowing the story that as they arrived at this place, darkness was upon them.

And they would be enjoying themselves and then perverted men would surround their home and put an end to whatever joy they may have had. This perverted town would be in the future the hometown of King Saul. In fact, in several passages of scripture, we read Gibeah of Saul. And if you know Saul, you can say, you know what, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Saul was a dark soul and just would be not good to be associated.

So much so, we'll close with Hosea's thoughts about this Gibeah. Verse 15, they turned aside there to go into lodge in Gibeah and when he had went in, he sat down in the open square of the city. For no one would take them into his house to spend the night. Well, that was not a nice how-do-you-do by a little village like this.

They were going to camp out under the stars due to inhospitality. These were again supposed to be God's people. We'll go on to verse 16. Just then, an old man came in from his work in the field at evening who also was from the mountains of Ephraim. He was staying in Gibeah, whereas the men of the place were Benjamites. Well, it's nice that he's specifying these things even to his Jewish audience. So we've got several tribes here. We have the concubine and her father-in-law in Judah. We have the Levite from Ephraim's tribe.

And we also have this old man coming in from the fields, evidently a migrant worker taking, you know, relocates for the season, comes here. He's from Ephraim, but they're in Benjamin's territory. And we talked about the curse that Jacob laid on Benjamin, a ravenous wolf. And he got that right.

Maybe, I don't know. So anyway, there was a tribal camaraderie between the Levite and this old man coming in from the field. But no one, there's no mention of what darkness is in this, the hearts of these inhabitants, verse 17. And when he raised his eyes, he saw the traveler in the open square of the city. And the old man said, where are you going and where do you come from? And, you know, who are you? What do you want?

My wallet? What are you asking me? If you're from New York, don't be asking me these kind of questions.

But anyway, he's just, you know, he's striking up a conversation with him. And so he said, then we are passing from Bethlehem, verse 18, in Judah toward the remote mountains of Ephraim. I am from there and I went to Bethlehem in Judah.

Now I am going to the house of the Lord, but there is no one who will take me into his house. Well, headed to Shiloh, are you? Because that's where the temple was.

It could have bounced around a little bit that we don't know about, but not likely. Anyway, again, being a Levite, he has this land as we read from Joshua. It is unclear why he references visiting Shiloh.

Is he dropping names like I am? They would have known by his tribal markings on his garments that he was a Levite. And so it's perplexing. Why does he drop the name of Shiloh, you could say, by saying they're going to the house of the Lord? When we learn what kind of man he is from the story, we are further perplexed. Verse 19, although we have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for myself, for your female servant, and for the young man who is with your servant, there is no lack of anything.

It's decent enough. We're not looking to mooch off of anyone. We take care of ourselves. We don't want to be a burden.

Verse 20, the old man said, peace be with you. However, let all your needs be my responsibility, only do not spend the night in the open square. Maybe he didn't want to spook them. Maybe because he felt they would have tried to get out of town and met with robbers on the road, be hunted down, I don't know. But the story doesn't tell us that, look, you don't want to stay. You're in the wrong neighborhood, kid.

And you do not want to be found outdoors anywhere in the vicinity of Gibeah. Echoes of lots, days, and Sodom. Genesis chapter 19 verses 2 and 3, and he said, now these are the angels that had come to get Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah so the judgment could fall. It's a type of the rapture of God pulling his righteous ones out before the tribulation starts. And those who believe that the church will go through the great tribulation period, it's just dumb. It doesn't make any sense. It's like close the barn door after the horse is out. It's, you know, bang, halt. It's just everything's backwards. So, I don't know, I think the people who hold that belief just have a lot of guilt and think the church should just get a really nasty spanking.

That's the only thing I can think of. Anyway, Lot being taken, because we can't bring fire down on this place, the angels tell him, as long as you're in the city, this is a type of the rapture. Daniel, not in the furnace. The three, you know, other Jewish men were a type of the rapture.

We see these things, they're inescapable. Anyway, Genesis 19, he said to the angels, Lot speaking, Hear now, my lords, please turn into your servant's house and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise early and go on your way. And they said, No, but we will spend the night in the open square. But he insisted strongly. So they turned into him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread and they ate because they felt safe inside. Well, again, this old man knew. He knew what was going on and he knew that he had to do something. And this was noble up to this point, but still he views women as chattel.

And yeah, in that culture, you can somewhat, it's easier to make room for it. Nowhere near an hour is verse 21. So he brought him into his house and gave fodder to the donkeys and they washed their feet and ate and drank. And there's the third eating and drinking of this Levi. He's just going all over the place, having a good old time.

And here he is, verse 22 now. And they were enjoying themselves. Suddenly, certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door.

They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring out the man who came to your house that we may know him. And of course, carnally is in the context of what will unfold. And the translators have inserted that so we understand they're not looking to just say, Hey, you got friends. They'd like to meet them.

That's not what's happening here. This is dark, where it says that they were perverted men. Again, at least the New King James translators and the others too have it in their own way.

Right on with that. These are sons of Belial. They are worthless men.

That is the Hebrew meaning. But their actions are sexually perverse. And so it is true to the story. It is all of a sudden, here they are just, you know, eating and drinking. Their feet have been washed and have just enjoying each other's pleasure. And these criminals surround the house as if a gate in hell were opened up.

And here they come. And the account draws on the episode in Sodom and Gomorrah. It is almost parallel. There are differences. But overall, it's very close and it's showing that Gibeah of Benjamin had become like Sodom in spite of all of their opportunity to never be like Sodom.

The Bible, again, it just deals with fact. It's very blunt. This is how it is. You can't live in a make-believe world without overriding, you know, the system in your head. You get rid of reason.

And some do. And so we learn that sin may relocate without altering its behavior. It's still sin.

It's still going to do what it does. That's the nature of sin and the fallen nature of men. Perverted men, mastered by a twisted sense of entitlement.

I can indulge myself at your cost. And I don't care what you think. God never intended human beings to behave this way. And of course, we're living in an age where Satan has duped this generation to believe in a lot of kooky things. Sodomy is one of them, encouraging them to rename sodomy as a gay behavior. And it's not.

There's nothing gay about it. And so defensive are they that they are trying to make it criminal to lead people out of this lifestyle who want out. Because sin is addictive. And yeah, the church doesn't back down.

We would love to be helpful. We don't hate the people who are in this. We don't want to hate them. But it's a sin. We're not going to back down from what God calls it to make them feel better. Again, facts don't care about your feelings. And this can get us killed.

And we better face that. So it is one thing to struggle with an addiction or a sin of any kind. It's another thing to celebrate it.

So go around beating a drum and demanding other people give deference to it. And whenever this particular type of sin is allowed to roam without resistance, collapse is inevitable. Consider the Roman Caesars. I mean, there were almost like 40 of them who died violently as Caesar.

Talk about a sale on assassinations. So what they do against us, of course, is they label us haters and attackers and intolerant. They demonize us. They call us bigots. We have to learn to say, I'll be whatever you say I am.

I'm agreeing with God, not with you. And though I give my body to be burned if I have not love. That's the tricky part. It's so hard to love people that get up in your face when you want to knock them out a couple of times.

Carry water with you so you can wake them up again. Come on. Get back. Come on, kid.

I'm going to knock you out again. It's the flesh. And you can't get into a spiritual view without a lot of prayer and love of the Lord.

All right. Well, anyway, that's a part of it. He says, bring out the man who came to your house, I mean, verse 22, that we may know him carnally. And again, there's nothing virtuous or noble about this.

It's criminal. Now, verse 23, now we look at their response to this, and this is the story here. Because, well, let's read the verse, verse 23, but the man, the master of the house, went out to these men, went out to them and said to them, my brethren, I beg you, do not act so wickedly. Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage. Well, the statement confirms that their intentions were diabolical.

As he says, don't commit to do this wicked act. Because you cannot reason with sick-minded people, because their minds are sick, because their hearts are dirty, because they've rejected the only true God. And therefore, someone else has taken his place, and it is Satan, and Satan is the consummate kook.

Anybody that would be in the presence, the throne room of God, and rebel against him cannot be all there. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Judges. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. If you'd like more information about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. You'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick available there, and we encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. By doing so, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app, or just follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. That's all the time we have for today. Join us next time to continue learning more from the book of Judges, right here on Cross Reference Radio.