Dud gods (Part C)

There's just no respecting fake gods. If you worship the true God, we have no respect for the fake gods.

The people, we have to love the people. There is where our respect may well be found. But we don't have, we don't respect, I don't respect what Hinduism believes. I don't respect what Islam believes. I don't respect what the Jehovah's Witnesses believe. I would love to preach the gospel to them, to save them from a fiery judgment, an eternal judgment.

But I don't admire, I know where it comes from. It's made up. 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. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Judges chapter 18 with the conclusion of his message called Dud Gods. Entering there, they took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols and that moldy image.

No fear of consequence for stealing again. No, you know, what could anybody say in the land? What could Micah, Micah couldn't even say, hey, thou shalt not steal because thou shalt not make these graven images either. So if all this religious gear could not protect Micah from this band of temple raiders, what would make the temple raiders think that all this religious gear would protect them on the battlefield or anywhere else? So the madness of it all, the spiritual derangement since the days of Cain. And it will be that way till the end of the millennial age when God wipes out those who dare to join against his people. A man without God here seeking damaged gods, damaged goods to pay for what? Why? Where's the logic in it?

It is none. And that's what sin does. Sin steals logic from us. It stops us from making sense.

We get in a fog. Verse 18, when these went into Micah's house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household idols and the moldy image, I'm going to say it that way because that's what it is. The priest said to them, what are you doing?

Well, the obvious answer is we're ripping you off. I mean, that's just saying, where's your discernment now? Nothing noble in his challenge.

No rebuke. He knew what they were doing. That's, you know, but anyway, he's compromised and the prophets deal with this throughout. Isaiah hammers this. The Psalms go at it, stealing gods that cannot keep themselves from being stolen from idol nappers. And that's what they are. They napped their idols.

Not nap, but napped. Verse 19, and they said to him, be quiet. Put your hand over your mouth and come with us. Be a father and a priest to us.

Is it better for you to be a priest to the household of one man or to, or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel? Well, there's a lot of, it's almost comical. They said to him, be quiet and put your hand over your mouth. And then they ask him a question to which he has to go because then nobody can hear him. So, rather forceful.

An unfortunate outcome. This is what God, how God told the priest Ezekiel to deal with mean people. Ezekiel chapter 3 verse 9, behold I have made your face strong against their faces and your forehead strong against their foreheads.

God says they want to butt heads with you, they're going to lose. He's like Adam and Stone, harder than flint. And incidentally Ezekiel, your head's pretty hard.

That's me. Like Adam and Stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are rebellious house. You see that when he adds that though they are rebellious house, he's saying these people aren't, they mean, they're nasty people.

They can hurt you, but I've got you here. And we get none of that from this Levite because he's totally sold out long time ago. Had he been a man of God in Israel at this time, been like Elijah. If I'm a man of God, let fire come from heaven.

And he had singed britches all over the place. He says, and come with us and be a father and a priest to us. So shut up and come be our spiritual leader. This is just madness. Now they're going to actually reason through this madness. Better for you to be a priest to the household of one man, or that you be a priest to a tribe and a family in Israel.

That's their logic. Anyway, verse 20. So the priest's heart was glad. And he took the ephod, the household idols, the carved images, and took his, well they left out the moldy thing. But anyway, and took his place amongst the people. So whoever witnessed this or preserved it, the priest said, you know, this is a good deal. And because they had already peeped him out that he was for sale, they bought him.

And it's amazing how easily we can do wrong when we have no allegiance, when we're not loyal. He wasn't loyal to God. He took the ephod, it said, the household idols, the carved images, etc.

Yep, he did. He was the one carrying these idols. Man carrying and protecting their appointed gods rather than God carrying them, protecting them. Micah, many centuries later, comes along and he has to deal with the corrupted priest. And he writes this in the second chapter of his book. For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge.

The people should seek law from his mouth. For he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts. Now remember, we're a royal priesthood. That applies to us.

It should keep knowledge. He's the messenger for Yahweh of hosts, not this guy. He is an idol tier. It's like a puppeteer, not a musketeer, but he's an idol tier.

He's just, you know, into idols. As a witch would wave her wand, he would go to his little figurines. Sad story. Verse 21.

Well, let me pause. You know, we see, we see some today in the garb of holiness, the robes, the sashes, the hats, the necklaces, medallions, and they don't care anything about God's Word. People kiss their hands and send them money and come to them and tell them what their sins are. But the Bible, the Word of God, there's nowhere to be found.

Not seriously. Verse 21. Then they turned and departed and put the little ones in livestock and the goods in front of them. Well, why did they do that? Well, because Micah finds his idols are gone, he's going to rally the village people and they're going to chase them. And so, rather than having the, you know, the people in the rear picked off, they're going to be back there waiting for them because they're anticipating this and that is exactly what happened. So they're the rear guard. They did not know, they weren't that large of a force anyway. They didn't know what Micah would bring at them, so they decided they were going to be in force in the rear. Verse 22.

It doesn't tell you, I'm going to pause here. I've envisioned them on horses. I just can't see walking all over the place, all those hills in Israel, all the time, you know. And camels, as silly looking as they are, maybe some of you think camels are cute, but, you know, they're hard to ride.

Just watching. Have you ever seen Lawrence of Arabia? I mean, I don't want one. So, I don't know, I just envisioned them on horses with six guns. Verse 22. When they were a good way from the house Micah, from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah's house gathered together and overtook the children of Dan. See, I just can't see them running and catching them.

They had to be on horses. I just wish the Bible would tell us more like that. Not a complaint. So, he catches up to those who stole his gods. Idle hands are the tools of the devil.

Not idle, but idle. Verse 23. And they called out to the children of Israel, pardon me, and they called out to the children of Dan. So they turned around and said to Micah, what ails you?

That you have gathered such a company. This is almost comical. And they called out to the children of Dan, it's Micah, you hoo, Mr. idle robber. So they turned around and said, what's your problem? Now, he's probably in the first few instances realizing this is not going to go favorably for him. When he sees their faces, there's no shame.

They're hardening themselves up against him. Verse 24. So he said, you have taken away my gods, which I made, and the priest, and you've gone away.

Now what more do I have? How can you say to me what ails you? It's pathetic. It's a tragedy. I mean, how does, if you, you know, some folks, well, they really didn't believe the idols were God. Oh yeah, they did. I mean, you know, how, the semantics at this point. Even if they didn't, they believed it was directly connected to their spiritual force.

And they turned around saying, what's your problem? Here, this is a reverse of Genesis 1 26, which God made man in his own image. Here man is making God in his image. Man is carrying God. God is not carrying man. This is a perversion.

It comes from hell. And the priest, he stole, you stole my priest. Actually, he was glad, Micah, that had to double her because Micah thought he was like, you know, they bonded.

Remember in chapter 17, there was that bond between them. Well, that's gone. And he says, now what more do I have?

Well, I'm sure mom's got more silver you can steal, like you did last time. It's not God if you have to protect it. If it's not divine, if man has to protect God, I mean, it's something that other religions, they think they have to kill people to protect the honor of their God. Then he's not God. That's why we're his witnesses, not his bodyguards.

How can you say to me, what ails you? He's trying to reason with these people and beyond that, lacking fire superiority, he's going to, of course, retreat. But in chapter 17, the story of Micah was introduced to us as a corrupted son with a confused mother, or compromised mother, and certainly a compromised priest. You had these three characters last chapter. Micah, his mom, and the Levite.

All of them were corrupt, confused, and compromised. Here in chapter 8, developing that story, we find Micah is mortified. He's shamed in front of everybody. They stole his God. And he says, what more do I have? And there's nothing he can do about it. And this materialistic minister works out the alliteration, the follow it.

Mortified Micah, materialistic minister, murderous marauders. It just comes out that way. It does. It really doesn't have to make much effort to make it work.

Some commentators really push it. They have to make everything alliterated with the first letter, you know. But this one works, because it's mine.

And that's why it works. Verse 25, and the children of Dan said to him, do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry men fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household. You have to say in the Hebrew, did they really talk that way before angry men fall upon you? Well, they're pretty clumsy.

I mean, why are they falling on me? Anyhow, too bad they didn't have this approach with the Philistines. Too bad they couldn't stand up to them. No, they saved their harshness for their brothers. You know, there's a lot of Christians that are very nice to people who want Christians and very mean to people who are Christians. I think it's because they fear that the non-Christians will beat them up, and the real Christians will just suffer them.

I hope that's not ever the case with any of us. Anyway, you are trying to take away the Levite, my damaged gods, and worship, and he's just a mess. Verse 26, then the children of Dan went their way, and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house. So it reads, verse 26, as though they just turned their backs on him.

Like, yeah, whatever. They just moved on down a line, and he's just standing there ignored, mortified. The knick-knack gods, they weren't worth dying for.

So he turns away, too. Verse 27, so they took the things Micah had made, and that's appropriate, that's what they were, the things, the junk. And the priests who had belonged to him and went to Laish to a people quiet and secure, and they struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire.

They took the things Micah had made. There's just no respecting fake gods. If you worship the true God, we have no respect for the fake gods.

The people, we have to love the people. There is where our respect will be found. But we don't have, we don't respect, I don't respect what Hinduism believes. I don't respect what Islam believes. I don't respect what the Jehovah's Witnesses believe.

I would love to preach the gospel to them, to save them from a fiery judgment, an eternal judgment. But I don't admire, I know where it comes from. It's made up, and it's not even made up on earth.

You can't even say made on earth. And, you know, these people that try to have this approach, well, you know, you have to be respectful. Well, how do you mean that? I can be polite, I can be decent and civil, but I'm not going to lie to you and say I have honor for your God. Why?

He's so impressive. Anyway, verse 27. It's okay, in other words, to tell somebody, I don't believe that. That's not what I believe at all. Verse 27, so they took the things Micah had made and the priests who had belonged to him and went to Laish.

Okay, I read that. Here in the northern settlement now, they slay the people. This is what Jacob prophesied about Dan at the very beginning of the tribal rule when Jacob was going to die and his sons were going to be left as a people. Dan shall be a serpent, by the way, a viper by the path that bites the horse's heels so that its rider shall fall backwards.

And that's exactly what happened. They were not detected, they slithered into Laish, they learned the people were vulnerable, there were no rulers there, and then they slithered out and then they came back and they bit, they struck and the rider fell backwards. And now verse 28, there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon and they had no ties with anyone. It was in the valley that belonged to Beth Reob, so they rebuilt the city and dwelt there. Verse 29, and they called the name of the city Dan. After the name of Dan their father who was born to Israel, however, the name of the city formerly was Laish.

Well, they wanted to remain connected. See, we're still part of the, you know, we're still part of the tribes, he's just not part of the god of the tribes. And verse 30, and the children of Dan set up for themselves the carved image and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, the son and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. So this last verse has got some controversy in it. Some, I think the Septuagint, for example, has Moses instead of Manasseh in some other translations. The idea being that they feel a zealous scribe wanted to shield Moses from any association with such idolatry.

I don't buy that. There's no way to do that. I mean every Jew would have, that's like, you know, I don't know, I don't want to come up with one right now. It's just, you just can't, a revisionist sort of, you know, I'm going to revise the history. I think that this was Jonathan, if that's the name of the priest who we've been reading about, his father's, one of his father's, some were in his line because the Jews weren't strict with that. We get that in Matthew's Gospel, the first 17 verses, with the lineage of the kings.

It's not strict. They omit some of the names because they understood the Jewish people had the records, they could find it, they wanted to make a point, and they made their points. And here this Manasseh was probably, I think it's right, I don't think it's wrong, and I don't like that the scholars are so quick to capitulate. They surrender, white flag!

When they come across something they can't get through, they surrender. Anyway, it says, until the day of the captivity of the land. It would not specify what captivity. Some think it was, you know, the defeat and loss of the ark in the days of Samuel. Others think it's the Assyrian. Who knows? We don't know. But anyway, there's the story.

We don't really need to know. Those at the time understood it and it was likely a benefit to the righteous at that time in history. Verse 31, so they set up for themselves Micah's carved images which he made and the time that the house of God, and at that time the house of God was at Shiloh. Such a proud event to establish your religion on stolen goods. I mean, how do you tell your kids, let's go to, let's go worship in front of these little statues that Micah made. You know, we stole them from him. Well Father, why couldn't you make your own? Because we don't. We steal things from people.

Son, when we want them really badly, we just steal them. And whether intentional or not, there's a touch of satire in this verse. He made his fake images, but at that time God's house was in Shiloh.

It's a contrast. In other words, this was not God's house. No matter that these were people of Israel, God was not their God. They had disowned him and he allowed it.

Well, what else is he supposed to do? Shiloh was the true center of worship for the Jews. At this time, it's where the Ark of the Covenant would have been and the altar, tabernacle itself. And that was a connection, to be a connection in their worship with the Lord. The nation's strength was to be connected to their worship at Shiloh. And some of the Jews did because, of course, others came along and did worship there.

And the Book of Samuel begins with Elkanah going up to Shiloh to worship. And so not everybody was abandoning Yahweh. This religious thing was deeply embedded in the minds of the people. Micah just had to have an altar, a shrine, a priest. The Danites just had to steal that altar.

They had to have one too. And man is incurably religious and we are supposed to take advantage of that. In other words, man is, there's a spiritual element inside of him. Even the atheists, in my view again, there may be those genuine atheists that just have no knowledge of God. Maybe if you were born in the Soviet Union somewhere and you were just bombarded with that, other places of the world.

But the practicing atheists, they know there is a God and they want to thumb their nose at him and their anger, but they are spiritual also. So this is a flagrant rebuke from God to them that Shiloh, which was 85 miles, just 85 miles south of this place. In fact, it was only 20 to 40 miles from Dan. There was a lot of territory.

It was closer to Shiloh than Laish was, the new place they settled. But that didn't matter. So I'm going to close with just a few verses because as we preach Jesus Christ, it still comes down to this. There's one true God. And if you're not worshipping him, willfully doing this, once you've been exposed to the light, you're going to pay for that.

And we're trying to help you not do that. You shall not set up a sacred pillar which Yahweh your God hates. You heed the word of God. Deuteronomy 27, 15, cursed is the one who makes a carved or molded image, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of craftsmen, and sets it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

You've got to love the book of Deuteronomy. He recaptures the law that he's been giving to the people, and he does it with a little bit more force than when it was first given to the people. And he says, the work of a craftsman. God does not appreciate creativity when it comes to him.

He's not interested if he forbids it. This is what Cain did not get. Cain felt that he could take these liberties and worship God his way, not God's way, which is the whole story of the last five chapters of Judges. And we'll close with this one from Exodus. This is from the Ten Commandments. You shall not make for yourself a carved image. Or in modern language, you're not supposed to imagine things about God that he has not revealed. They go taking these, you know, I think God is this. And I think, well, what does God say he is? And he continues, you shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water underneath the earth.

Which, of course, people like the Egyptians were notorious for doing their fish head gods and all the other things that why do people gravitate so quickly? Sin. 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.