Share This Episode
Cross Reference Radio Pastor Rick Gaston Logo

Spiritual Derangement (Part A)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston
The Truth Network Radio
February 2, 2021 6:00 am

Spiritual Derangement (Part A)

Cross Reference Radio / Pastor Rick Gaston

On-Demand Podcasts NEW!

This broadcaster has 1340 podcast archives available on-demand.

Broadcaster's Links

Keep up-to-date with this broadcaster on social media and their website.


February 2, 2021 6:00 am

Pastor Rick teaches from the Book of Judges (Judges 17)

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Renewing Your Mind
R.C. Sproul
Wisdom for the Heart
Dr. Stephen Davey
Wisdom for the Heart
Dr. Stephen Davey

If the church would possess its allotments, if the church would be a church, not an entertainment center, not a place to put band-aids on boo-boos only, not to cater to the culture and the society and the people, but to serve God. If the assembly of believers would possess their allotments, they'd be more honorable, more effective.

And there are churches that do do this because they hold up the Word of God. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. 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. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in Judges Chapter 17 as he begins his message, Spiritual Derangement. Judges Chapter 17, Spiritual Derangement.

That's what we're going to look at this evening. There are a couple of types of spiritual derangement. There is that type that thinks it's giving honor to Christ by acting odd.

That just takes attention away from Christ and makes people say you're odd. And then there is what we have here, which we'll let the story tell itself. Now, I mentioned that when we got to Samson, Samson was like a little book unto itself, four chapters devoted to the one champion of Israel. This section from chapters 17 through 21 in the book of Judges is an appendix. It really is a book to itself also, but it belongs right where it is, and it is masterfully set right here. It is at the end of the book, breaking with chronology. It doesn't follow the story of Samson. It doesn't pick up where Samson left off. It goes all the way back to the first chapter and then somewhere else in between. We know that because when we get to the 20th chapter, it's going to tell us that Phinehas was still ministering in Israel, and that takes us back to the first chapter.

There are a few other time stamps, but that's big enough, that one alone. And so this is actually, again, contrary to following chronology, it goes back. Now, if you're not a Bible student, this is a good place to start, to start learning that there are lessons to be had from the scripture that you would miss out, which you wouldn't get if you were not applying yourself and being around others who also applied themselves. No pastor enters the pulpit with knowledge all of his own.

He has to benefit from countless teachers over the centuries to help him understand what they struggle to understand. Well, Samson is, of course, the last judge, the last God appointed leader. And so the Book of Judges is a book about God sending leaders to help his people survive in an environment where they were trying to be destroyed.

And this section that we come to now is likely long before the 40-year rule of the Philistines, because the events that unfold would have been very difficult, if not impossible, to take place if the Philistines were in such power. And what we'll get in these last five chapters, what we have here, this scoundrel named Micah and his mom, and then the tribe of Dan and the Levite involved and all that just crazy religion. And then in chapters 19 through 21, we get this vulgar story of savagery and slaughter and tribe against tribe, brother against brother. What we get from these last five chapters is that God's word was not important to the people who claimed his name. They insisted upon claiming Yahweh as their God, and they trampled in his face everything he had to say to them. It brings to life this verse from Psalm 138, speaking about Yahweh, you have magnified your word above your name.

Your word is what matters more than what your name. If the people are just dropping your name and not honoring your word, you have demonic activity. Satan understands the covenant name of God.

He's still Satan. And these last two stories, both of them involved Levite or Levitical failures. The Levites are in both these stories, and they are shameful. They had an opportunity to stop this stuff, but they actually were very much a part of it. And the historian who put judges together, likely writing from the age of the kings or right before the kings or as the kings were coming into play in Israel's history, the historian is highlighting the near anarchy that moved through the land because of the idolatry, because there was a failure with the pastors, there was a failure with the people, and therefore there was a failure in society.

And that formula does not change all through history. Jesus dealt with it when he confronted the Pharisees and the Sadducees who were the religious leaders. And so did the apostles as they moved forward. And then, of course, we had all of the infiltrators try to come in and take over the church and kill it. That was their goal, to kill Christianity, whether they knew it or not. That's what Satan was trying to do. To so corrupt the church that he destroyed it completely, and he almost pulled it off. You look at the Dark Ages, and you find entire doctrines of Christianity that we may take for granted were gone.

The doctrine of salvation was non-existent in the minds of people during the Dark Ages except for remnants of people. Satan enjoyed the ignorance that the popes brought on all of Europe. And so this idolatry, this creating gods in your own image or the image of something other than what he is, that is what idolatry is. It brings failure of the worst kind because it hurts lives.

It hurts them severely. Moral collapse due to reducing God to a mascot. That's what God was reduced to. In this very first of the five chapters, God is simply a mascot, a lucky charm that goes before the people to serve them. Not quite the meaning that we have in mind when we come to the Gospel of Mark and Jesus says, the Son of Man came to serve. He is God the servant looking to bring souls into a glorious eternity and not enrich them with the finite things of this cursed world. And so the logic of placing these two stories in the last five chapters without making much of a comment against the anarchy is genius in that he lets the story tell itself. You read these stories and you would have to be pretty wicked to smile and grin and think there was nothing wrong with it. In this chapter, we find a corrupt man, a confused and also corrupt mother, a compromised minister, internal breakdown of what the Bible meant to them.

Now, how rich is that for us? What's the Bible mean to us? Well, most of you, I know what the Bible means to you. It is the high word of God. It is the voice of the Creator to you. It is what the Savior has to say to souls that love being saved. But not everyone feels that way. It's missing, it's a void, it's an emptiness.

There's a damning on the soul because it's not there. And this section, this appendix gives to us the bizarre and the insane religious behavior that makes us ask, is this a joke? Did this really happen? Are people this stupid? Are that many of them this stupid at one time? Listen, we've seen evil take over entire nations, Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany. Demons took over those nations.

Globally, right now, we live in perhaps the stupidest, dumbest generation known to man. There's no reason, there's no cause, at least in the First World War. As misguided as they were, they thought that war would end all wars. At least there was a logic as misguided as it was. You could make sense of it. Okay, they're going to settle this. You could have taken that position. We're going to settle this.

It was wrong, it didn't work. But today, we see even Christians starting to drink the Kool-Aid. The groups that we're facing, this BLM for example, this is anti-Christ. This is not only I don't believe in Christ, this is I hate him, want to destroy him, and I don't want anybody worshipping him.

And if you're ignorant of what these people stand for, you are just that, you are ignorant. And you need to learn what's going on. Because this is Satan, rearing his ugly head, and it is a coming attraction to the Great Tribulation period that is on the doorstep. We Christians must stay focused in this.

We don't run away from our Bible, we run to it, and we get stronger spiritually that we can shine the light in this dark place no matter what the consequences. You want to go ahead and shoot me or persecute me for what I believe in? Get in line.

Well, that wasn't what I was supposed to talk about, but you can't help it. It's just the dumbness of people. Let's get rid of the cops. No, let's get rid of you. Let's get rid of you. They're just so dumb, it's so stupid, it makes you blink hard.

And the young folks are lapping it up. Alright, we got judges to go to. Judges chapter 1. And if you're a Christian and you come to me with any of this stuff, I will rebuke you in Jesus' name because the devil has got you. You cannot be a Christian and serve these fools that are out there right now. It is not possible because they are blatantly against what Christ has to say.

And if you don't understand that they hate Jesus Christ, you're dumber than you deserve to be. Alright, now verse 1. Oh, no, that's enough. Now, there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim whose name was Micah. Now we stop right there.

He was in the tribe of Ephraim. That was in their allotted territory. And that takes us back to the days of Joshua when Joshua was dividing up the lots for the people of the various tribes. This will be your territory and no more. And this will be your territory and no more.

Some of that did change because of the participants. Judah ended up picking up a little bit more territory because Ephraim let it go, for example. But the question then comes is how committed am I to my allotment, to what God has given me in my life? Am I satisfied with it or am I a grumbler against what God has given to me to steward my time and my position and my station in life as a believer?

How committed am I to my allotment? The Jews at this time, many of them occupied God's land without having God occupying their hearts. What's wrong with that? You would think it's basic.

It's basic. How did you get here? Through Moses. You have the law of Moses. He got you here.

Why don't you continue with him? If the church would possess its allotments, if the church would be a church, not an entertainment center, not a place to put band-aids on boo-boos only, not to cater to the culture and the society and the people, but to serve God. If the assembly of believers would possess their allotments, they'd be more honorable, more effective. And there are churches that do do this because they hold up the word of God. So that first clause, now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim.

That tribal allotment makes us pause again and ask ourselves just, well, what about me and my allotment? Because it's very easy to be dissatisfied with what God has given you. And so then he gives you more and then you become dissatisfied with that of your carnal, whose name was Micah.

That is a contraction of Michael. It is a statement. It's like, there's no one like God. It's who is like God. Don't even answer that kind of a statement.

It's rhetorical. A sharp contrast between the prophet Micah and this man. A sharp contrast between the archangel Michael and this man. There's, again, nothing redeeming about this man, Micah. He is one of the scoundrels of scripture.

He's kind of forgotten because we think of Laban and Saul and so many others. But he was a thief and a full blown idolater, verse 2. He said to his mother, the eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, on which you put a curse, even saying in my ears, here is the silver with me. I took it.

And his mother said, may you be blessed by Yahweh my son. Spiritually deranged. There's something wrong with both of these people.

They appear to be irretrievable. How do you get these folks back when they've already gone so far and enjoy it? Well, we'll take the first part, the eleven hundred shekels. That's a lot of money. Remember, Delilah was offered five times this. There were five Philistine lords, and each one was going to give her eleven hundred pieces of silver to betray Samson. Well, in this one household, they have eleven hundred pieces. Nice chunk of change at that time. It'd be a nice chunk of change even now to have eleven hundred pieces of silver. I guess. I'd rather have gold.

But we're talking ounces. But he is unmoved by his thievery. What he is frightened by is the curse she put on the thief. See, I heard you say it.

That's what he says here. The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you on which you put a curse even saying it in my ears. Mom, I heard you curse the thief. So here's the money. I stole it. I don't want that curse.

Not, I'm ashamed of myself. I coveted, I wanted, and I took it, and it was wrong. And the Lord knows I'm wrong.

That would have been nice. But there was no reverence and no reverent fear of Yahweh from either of them. And his mother said, may you be blessed by Yahweh, my son. And you look at, you read that, you say, what? Well, my baby can do no wrong.

You are wrong if you think that, lady. Of course, Christ addresses this very thing because it's easy to do. Because if you love anybody more than God, there's something wrong with your faith.

That would be in Luke chapter 14, I think verse 26. And so he gets to get something from his mom because he's so precious in her eyes. The story's just going to get worse from here. She joyfully neutralizes the curse by then putting a blessing on it. So she says, may you be blessed by Yahweh for stealing from me and bringing it back because you were afraid of the curse. See superstition was all over the place. This is worse than Eli. Eli would not enforce his obedience on his rotten sons, other scoundrels of scripture, Hophni and Phinehas. They were creeps. And God dealt with Eli for that because their sins were over the top. They weren't just, you know, taking the erases and slapping them together and putting chalk dust on people. Now there may be some here that go, what?

What's chalk dust? Not only did she ignore the crime, she spun it into a blessing. How do you do that? How do you take the crime and spin it into a blessing? Well, the news media does it all the time where we shouldn't be surprised. But in this case, what we have here is this long existing presence of a mom spoiling her child, giving him the feeling that he's entitled. He's entitled to her things. And now he's full grown and he's a thief in the home because righteousness is unimportant to these people. What is important are superstitions. Teaching righteousness is not enough. It has to be honored by those teaching it.

It must be pursued. It's something we go after with mercy because we all know we fail. But we all know that we also succeed because of our pursuit of righteousness. We just look at ourselves and we say, boy, what would I be without Christ? That's why Peter says if the righteous are barely saved, what happens to the unrighteous? What about the church when the church pursues obedience? Well, the church is then blessed, not in numbers but in honor and quality. And those not interested in true righteousness, they leave the church and that is a blessing to the church. That departure helps the church remain strong. A lot of people don't understand that.

They think that we have to keep the numbers up to be successful. We have to keep righteousness up to be successful, to be honorable. But again, these two are not the least bit disturbed by their pagan superstitions in Yahweh's name. Bizarre becomes a way of life that paints over that which is from God, trying to make it better. Of course, in so doing, it takes away the truths of God.

Someone who thinks that they are more creative in their writing, takes the Bible and wants to edit it, for example. Like the message, you know, that piece of firewood. Verse 3. 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 Yahweh for my son to make a carved image and a molded image.

Now, therefore, I will return it to you. I tell you, it just gets more bizarre. This is spiritual derangement.

They're spiritually, when it comes to God and religion and faith, they're out of their minds. If he would steal from his own mother, what would he do to others? Well, we won't talk about that.

That's my boy. And so his mother said, I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to Yahweh for my son. And her dedication was a waste of time. Like many today who think that they're dedicated to God, but it's the wrong God. The facts don't agree with their conclusions. Just because they appoint this thing in their imagination as God doesn't mean it's true. Consider Islam.

Islam has no, there's no spiritual feature to the Qur'an or their other writings. There's no, there are no miracles, there are no prophecies. There's just, here's what I say and it's impossible to challenge me without being violently attacked. That's their approach.

How convenient. I'm going to create a religion that makes it impossible to question. Christianity rolls back the curtain. So go ahead, question all you want. Bring your Bibles to church. Ask questions.

Get to the bottom of it. And the world hates that about us. And so here she is, oh, let God bless our disobedience, our flagrant disobedience, I might add. And it is said, what she says here, that she was going to dedicate the silver to this idol.

She says this without shame, without hesitation, without reason, without obedience, without God. Zephaniah the prophet will come along long after these, and he will talk about those who worship the fake gods and then worship also the real God. Zephaniah chapter 1, those who worship the host of heaven on the housetops. Worshipping the stars, not only the stars. Those who worship and swear oaths by Yahweh, but who also swear by Milcom, which was a pagan god. So they mingled it in together, when they were strictly forbidden not to do this. You would think they would say, okay, the law of Moses does not permit me to do this, but I want to do this, so I'm going to leave the law of Moses and go become a full-blown worshiper of Bala, whoever else.

You would think they would do something like that. No, no. We're going to stay amongst the people of God. We're going to then add the gods from the other peoples, and we're going to insist we be left alone. This is what evil does.

This is invasive. And to this day, you think that people would go start their own church? No. I mean, what's up with the Satanists? Where do they get the idea of Satan? Well, they get from the Bible. Well, you would think if they believed that part, if they believed the name of Satan, you would think they'd believe everything else. It's sort of like eating the stem of a banana. It was stupid.

They're throwing away everything else. And I don't even eat bananas, but I wouldn't eat the stem. Well, again, her child was more important than God. It was an insult to God and a sin for her. Not just that when you insult God, the sin is on you. The atheists would think that I'm getting even with him. I'm showing him I'm not looking in his direction. I had a cousin in high school.

I mean, a good cousin. I love him. He's with the Lord now. But in those days, when he would get really upset with you, he would ignore you for like three days. He wouldn't speak to you.

You could set the house on fire. He would just ignore you. And then he'd snap out of it. And we accept that that's how he was. And of course, I was perfect, and I had no problems.

I'm sure he dominated my guts. But anyway, I spotted growing up. 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.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-12-28 23:48:07 / 2023-12-28 23:57:29 / 9

Get The Truth Mobile App and Listen to your Favorite Station Anytime