From His Heart

Speaker 1

Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, he'll conclude his series Before There Were Kings, the Cost of Compromise by explaining what happens when right is wrong.

Speaker 2

You know, the scripture tells us, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

And the devil is constantly through the world trying to squeeze you into the mold of the world so that you believe the things that he wants you to believe.

Very important. To not be conformed, but to be transformed.

Speaker 1

The Bible says that there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Well, it seems so right, but it's not right. And that makes it our responsibility to see what God says about it. Because truth and what is right is not what we think. It's not what we feel, it's not what we want it to be. It's what God says.

This is from his Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today as he concludes the series Before There Were Kings, the Cost of Compromise with part two of the lesson when Right is Wrong.

Now we're going to learn how important it is to make sure that our lives align with the word of God and not with the world around us. Open your Bible to Judges, chapter 21, and here again is Pastor Jeff Shreve.

Speaker 2

Judges is summed up in the last two verses of Judges, chapter 21. It says in verse 24, the sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and each one of them went out from there to his inheritance. In those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Well, here's the question for you and me. Are you? Am I doing what is right in our own eyes, or are we doing what is right in God's eyes?

And I want to share with you three insights from Judges 17 through 21. There's no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Insight number one, we must never lose sight of our King. Now, four times in Judges, beginning in chapter 17, repeated in chapter 18, repeated in chapter 19, and repeated at the very last verse of the book, there was no king in Israel. No king Little K. But there was a king, Big K. And the king of Israel was God. And so we need to make sure that we never lose sight of our king. You know, the Bible says fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, we need to keep our eyes fixed on him. Look away from everything else and keep your eyes on him.

Now, as we think of Jesus, who is called King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and as our God who dwells in unapproachable light, we need to remember the Lord is our King who died and rose for us. Secondly, our King is the one who lives in us and through us. So Jesus died and he rose again. And he offers salvation to anyone who will come to him in repentance and faith. When we bow our lives and surrender ourselves to Jesus, the King comes to live inside of us and to live his life through us. To be filled with the Holy Spirit means that you're living in the power of the Lord, His Spirit living inside of us.

And then thirdly, the King. The Lord is our king who is coming to rescue us. Matthew 24:44 says, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour when you do not think he will, and he's going to catch away his church. Are you ready? Because he is coming one day soon. So we must never lose sight of our king.

Second insight, we must continually align our lives with the Word of God. We have to consistently and continually bring ourselves before the Lord and His Word and align our lives with His Word. We don't read about that very much. We don't read about people in the Book of Judges spending time in the law of Moses. And because they didn't know what the Word said, they easily got off track. They weren't consistently bringing themselves before the Word of the Lord. The priests and the clergy weren't doing a good job teaching the Word.

Well, here's the truth for you and for me and for all of us. We are prone to wander and we're prone to rationalize our behavior. There's no king in Israel. Each one does what is right in his own eyes. Well, it seems to me this is the right way to go. This sounds good to me. 2 Timothy 3:16 says this: All scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

The Bible, the Word of God, is profitable for teaching. It tells you what's right. It's profitable for reproof. It tells you what's not right. It's profitable for correction. It tells you how to get right. It's profitable for training in righteousness. It shows you how to stay right. And so we have to spend time in the Word of God. Just know that the natural tendency of my life and your life is to veer off of true North. What happened in the Book of Judges? They got away from the truth. They got their eyes off the king, and they got away from the truth. Everyone just began to do what was right in his own eyes.

We're prone to wander and to rationalize, and we're prone to serve the God of self. That's a problem for you. That's a problem for me. That's a problem for all of us. The God of self. In 2 Timothy, chapter 3, the Lord gives us a warning. He says, but realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come. Then he's going to give us 19 negative things about society. He starts off with this: For men will be lovers of self. That's the very first thing. That's the first step on the way down. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips without self-control, brutal haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied the power thereof. Avoid such men as these.

So all these terrible, horrible things. If you want to know more information, just consult today's newspaper. I mean, it's just in the news every single day. The horrible things, things that people do. And it all starts; the starting point is men will be lovers of self. There's no king in Israel. Each one does what is right in his own eyes. Each one does what he thinks is best for him, or what she thinks is best for her. And what's best for you in your twisted, perverted mind is going to be, well, what does self want?

You know, when people live for self, when they become lovers of self, they live for self-gratification, self-preservation, self-glorification. It's all about self. One of the reasons why the last five chapters of the Book of Judges is so ugly, and chapter 19 especially, is a lot like Genesis 19. Genesis 19 is the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah and their homosexuality and wanting to rape the two men who came out, two angelic beings who came into the city of Sodom. Well, Judges 19 is similar to that. A Levite goes with his concubine and he's traveling, and it's getting nightfall, and his servant says to him, hey, let's turn aside to the city of Jebus, the city of the Amorites. He goes, no, we're not going to stay in Jebus. Jebus became Jerusalem. David conquered Jebus in Second Samuel, Chapter 5.

He says, we're not going to go to Jebus because Jebus is not part of Israel, and we couldn't trust those people. So we're going to go to Gibeah, Gibeah of Saul. We're going to go to Gibeah. Those are the Benjamites. They live in Gibeah. And they're like us. They're Jews. They're good Israelites. Well, when he goes to Gibeah, he finds out how wicked the people had become. He is there with his servant and with his concubine, this Levite. They're in the center of the square, and an old man comes. Nobody would take them in.

Now, it is key for the people back in that day; hospitality was paramount. You didn't have Motel 6, where they leave the light on for you, and so people had to take you in, and nobody took them in. This old man came and said, where are you staying? He said, nobody's taking us in. He said, I'll take you in. When he took them into his home, then the men of Gibeah surrounded the home and they said, bring out the man so that we can have relations with him. He said, oh, no, no, no, don't do that. He said, I have a virgin daughter and he's got a concubine. We'll give them to you, and you can do whatever you want to with them, but don't harm this man. Just like what Lot had said to the Sodomites. He said, I have two virgin daughters. They've never been with a man. I'll give them to you. Only don't harm these two people who came under my roof. Because hospitality was like the ultimate virtue.

The men weren't going to have that. Finally, the Levite sends out his concubine, and they abuse her all night until she dies. It is horrible. It is awful. Then he takes her home and he cuts her up in 12 pieces and delivers her to all the 12 tribes of Israel. They see that and they said, nothing, nothing like this has ever happened in Israel before. It was like just a splash of freezing cold water on your face.

Speaker 1

Whoa.

Speaker 2

Look how evil we have become. We're way more evil than the Amorites who live in Jebus. We've become worse than the inhabitants of the land whom the Lord dispossessed so that we could have the Promised Land. God gives us that picture so that we'd see how ugly sin is. When self is on the throne of your life and you do whatever you think is right in your own eyes, and you make up the rules as you go along, and you're not coming to the word of God, saying, "God, what is right in your eyes?" you can do some terrible, horrible, awful things.

And see, the Christian life is all about dying to self because you have a pull, I have a pull. We have a pull to self-glorification, self-preservation, and self-gratification. The battle is between the flesh and the spirit. The flesh still wants to be in charge. And so the flesh—what is the flesh? It's self. And self says, "No, I want to call the shots." That's why it says in Galatians 5:16, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please, so you may not do whatever is right in your own eyes."

And there's that battle. I think it was Major Ian Thomas who said, "In every Christian's heart, there is a cross and there is a throne. When Christ is on the throne, self is on the cross. But when self is on the throne, Christ is on the cross." Paul said in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered himself up for me."

We're so prone to serve the God of self. In the last days, men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, and then it just goes down, down, down from there. And then we're prone to the lies of the enemy. No one is immune to the devil, who is the master liar. Jesus said he is a liar and the father of lies. He's such a good liar that he can make you think that up is down, down is up, right is wrong, and left is right. I mean, he can twist you into a pretzel.

You read in Genesis chapter three, he didn't talk to Eve very long before she was confused. She didn't know which way was up. He got her to believe that God was holding out on her and that God wasn't being right with her. "Oh, Eve, if you eat this fruit, you're not going to die. I mean, God knows in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. This is the greatest thing that can ever happen to you, Eve." And she believed his lie because it sounded so good. You and I are prone to believe the lies of the devil.

Now, in chapter 17 of Judges, we have this guy we read about. His name is Micah. Micah has a great name—who is like the Lord—but he does terrible, horrible things. It says about Micah in Judges 17:5-6, "And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod, which is a vest that the priest wore, and household idols, and consecrated one of his sons that he might become his priest." In those days, there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

He sets up his own religion in his home and says, "Well, I'm going to have one of my sons be the priest." You can't do that. God sets up who is going to be the priest. To be a priest, you had to be in the lineage of Levi, and you had to be in the lineage of Aaron. It narrowed down from there. Well, this guy's an Ephraimite, and he just says, "Well, I'm going to just make my son a priest, and I'm going to have my own little home church here, and we're just going to do things the way we want to do here, and we're going to worship here, and I have my idols." He thought it was right. He believed the lie.

It's easy to believe the lie if you're not careful. First John 5:19 says, "The whole world lies in the power of the evil one." Literally, it is cradled in the power of the evil one. The devil has the world in his arms, and he pushes the world in the direction he wants it to go. Now, he can't do anything unless God allows him to do it. Where the devil rules, God overrules. God is ultimately in charge of all those things.

But, you know, the Scripture tells us, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The devil is constantly, through the world, trying to squeeze you into the mold of the world so that you believe the things that he wants you to believe. It is very important to not be conformed, but to be transformed.

Now, let me give you a little illustration of that. We've all heard about climate change. If you're a liberal, climate change is high on your priority list. We have to do something about climate change. I mean, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told us in 2019 that we're all going to be dead in 12 years unless we do something about climate change. Before she came along to warn us, we had Al Gore in the early 2000s who said by 2015, the world was going to be covered in water. I think he missed it, last I checked.

Right? But you've had all these people coming up, and you go through the climate change people who have been around for a long, long time, predicting doom and gloom and all that stuff. Listen, if you know the word of God, you know that man doesn't have anything to do with the climate. You read when he pours out his trumpets of wrath and bowls of wrath, you see what happens to the environment. Tree huggers, just wait until the Lord gets going on what he's going to do to the trees and to the water and to the environment because he pours out his wrath on a disobedient and Christ-rejecting world.

So what does that mean? It means don't believe the lies that you hear pumped out. And listen, if big government is pushing it, if big pharma is pushing it, if mainstream media is pushing it, life hack: they're lying. They lie about all that stuff, and the devil is pushing that, and the world is trying to squeeze you into its mold.

Hey, we're prone to the lies of the devil, and so we have to combat the lies with the truth. Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth, Father; your word is truth."

And then insight number three: we must remember that it pays to serve Jesus. You have to constantly remind yourself it pays to serve Jesus. First Corinthians 15:58 says, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast and movable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." Though the pathway to glory may sometimes seem dreary, it pays to serve Jesus.

You know, one of the things that you read about in Psalms is the question, "How long, O Lord?" How long before you act? How long are you going to let me languish here, Lord? Psalm 13 is one of my favorite psalms. It says, "How long, O Lord, are you going to forget me forever, having sorrow in my heart all the day? Give me light in the darkness, lest I die."

You might be in a situation right now where it feels like it has been so long and you've been praying, but there hasn't been an answer. You feel like giving up. You feel like throwing in the towel. The Lord says, "Hang on. Though the pathway to glory may sometimes seem dreary, it pays to serve me. It pays to be faithful."

Our job as believers is to be faithful to our Master. That's our job. The moment we give our lives to Christ, we belong to Him, and we are to be faithful to Him. It pays. Just know, hey, it pays. Your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

In Revelation 2, verse 10, Jesus' letter to the church in Smyrna says to them, "Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for 10 days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."

Hey, when you're going through a hard time and you feel like quitting, and you feel like God has forgotten you, just remember: you can quit after you die. Be faithful until death. Just say, "Okay, well, I'm going to be faithful all the way until death. And then after death, I'm going to quit." That's okay. You can have that mindset because after you die, the Lord is going to deliver. As Paul said, "The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed and bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory."

Be faithful until death. And what does the Lord do when you're faithful until death? He gives you the crown of life. Our job is just to be faithful. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

And our job, secondarily or in conjunction with that, is to trust and obey Him no matter what. Trust and obey no matter what. As Job said in Job 13, verse 15, when he didn't understand why the bottom had dropped out of his life, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him."

When Joshua dismissed the people to their inheritance, in Joshua chapter 24, we read that famous passage of Scripture where he says to the people, "Choose you this day whom you will serve? Are you going to serve the false gods all around us? Or are you going to serve the Lord?" He says, "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

Are you going to serve the Lord? Are you going to follow Him? Is your life aligning with His word or with the world? Today is the day to get things right.

Speaker 1

If you're honest, have you been living your life solely for your own self-interests? If so, perhaps you'd like to turn from your sin and back to God today. You know that is what He desires, but He's not going to force you to do that. It must come from your surrendered heart. It must be genuine.

Why not now simply bow your heart and say, "God, here is my life. Take it back and help me to be the Christian person you want me to be. You created me to be. I am genuinely sorry for my sin and I want you to help me turn my life around. I trust in Jesus and Jesus alone to save me. I realize I can't do it myself. I give it all to you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen."

Well, we pray that was the prayer of your heart and invite you to go to promisheart.org. Click the "Why Jesus" link for some material from Pastor Jeff that'll guide you through this wonderful journey God wants you to be on. Again, go to fromhisheart.org and click the "Why Jesus" link today.

You heard part two of the message "When Right is Wrong," the last of 10 in the extensive series "Before There Were Kings: The Cost of Compromise." This series from the Book of Judges provides a sobering example of how God's people repeatedly compromised with the culture around them, embracing idolatry and disobedience. The result? A cycle of sin, suffering, and depression. Yet even in their rebellion, God remained faithful, calling them back to Him.

In the series "Before There Were Kings: The Cost of Compromise," Pastor Jeff reveals the hidden dangers of spiritual compromise and how to stand firm in God's truth no matter the pressure. This series is our gift to you this month for your support of any amount. You can get it in multiple formats. Just make your gift when you call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org. God bless you for helping From His Heart along the way.

Well, our time is gone for today. Thank you for being here. I'm Larry Nobles, trusting you'll be right back here next time as Pastor Jeff Shreve begins a series that will put a smile on your face and assurance in your heart. Join us as he helps us rest in the truth that life is hard, but God is good. Next time here on From His Heart.

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more at fromhisheart.org.