Those of you familiar to seeing me at Church of the Messiah, I always bring my black book up.
And you're going to need your Bibles at some point in time for this.
We're going to be looking at Judges chapter 19, 20, and 21, because we're going through the book of Judges.
And let's just pray.
Father, we're going to look at a very, very hard passage of Scripture.
We ask that the Holy Spirit would bring your word deep into our heart,
and that you would fan into flame within us a deep longing and yearning, Father, to know you and to be known by you.
And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
I always start my timer as well at this point in time.
You know, it's really, really hard to believe that on March 14th, I think that's like 15 days ago or something like that,
March 14th, I was sitting in one of my favorite coffee shops working on my sermon.
That seems like so long ago.
And I think a lot of us have this sense of longing and wishing that things could go back to the way they were.
And it's not just sort of like a nostalgia type of thing.
We actually have a type of longing and yearning, I think, many of us.
So we could just go back to the way it was.
Many of us maybe wish we could just go see our friend or sit in a favorite restaurant or something like that to hug somebody.
I don't know, because we're missing physical contact.
But a lot of us right now have a longing to get back to before.
So here's the thing which is very, very interesting is that I think that most of our longings are stopped too short.
Like it's as if a longing is a bit of a direction or an arrow that goes somewhere.
And I think if you think about it, we not only do we have a bit of a longing just maybe to get back to the way things were before, but our longings are deeper than that.
They go further.
Like, I don't know, I'm going to give you a couple of analogies.
And it just depends a little bit, I guess, how you're wired and everything like that.
But, you know, some of us, we've all had experiences where everything just seems to be right.
And at the same time that everything seems to be right, excuse me, we have a sense that there should be more, that we're on the edge of something more.
Maybe for some of you, you're by yourself, you're somewhere in Algonquin Park or some other provincial park or even in some non-provincial park, some area of wilderness.
And you're in a canoe, in a canoe all by yourself.
And it's early in the morning and there's the steam rising off the river.
And you're just there and it's still and you can see the sunrise.
And you just have this profound sense of how at one you are with everything.
And at the same time, you have this great sense.
You have a sense that there must be something more.
You know, maybe for some of you, it's not something like that off in nature.
It's at your favorite patio and you have your friends.
And I know sometimes when you have friends, it can be not go very well.
But this is one of those times when you have just your best friends.
Everything is just fantastic.
The food, the drink, the day, the temperature, the ambiance, the music.
And you just have this profound sense.
And you almost wish that this moment could go on forever.
Or maybe for some of you, it's you're in a car, whether it's with your family or your best friends.
And it's just you're together.
Everything is just so wonderful.
And you have this sense of just the rightness of things.
And you wish and you long that it could go on forever.
We're going to look today at what most scholars...
This is a text that virtually nobody ever preaches on.
You virtually never have Bible studies on it either.
And most scholars acknowledge that it's maybe one of the darkest parts of the Bible.
A very, very, very, very hard text.
It's Judges 19, 20, and 21.
And it's 103 verses.
It's too long for me to read from cover to cover.
So what we're going to do is I'm going to tell part of the story.
And we are going to look at a couple of parts of it just so you can see it.
But you might want to have Judges 19, 20, and 21 open.
And you can follow along with it as I sort of tell the story.
But it's a very, very dark text.
It talks about genocide.
It talks about rape.
It talks about murder.
Very, very dark.
And sort of the way it begins in Judges 19,
it's sort of a little bit like if you were to connect last Sunday's sermon with this,
because we looked at the story before this.
It's as if, just imagine two men in a bar.
Corner in the bar.
And they get talking to each other.
And then one of them says,
So let me tell you a story.
And then I want to tell you a story about there was a Levite
who went from Bethlehem to Ephraim.
And the other one says, after they tell us a story, and it's a dark and terrible story.
And then the second guy said, well, that was a really interesting story.
But let me tell you an even darker story.
I'm going to tell you a story about a man who went from Ephraim to Bethlehem.
And that's where we are with this particular story.
It exactly sounds, it is exactly how it works.
In this story, there's a man who's a Levite.
And you might not know much about this,
but in what Christians called the Old Testament,
and our Jewish friends called the Tanakh,
Levites, back when there were such things,
there are no longer such tribes.
Israel used to be in 12 tribes.
There's a special group of people set aside for God,
set aside to worship God, to help with the worship of God,
and they have a special obligation, in a sense,
to maintain his word, his command,
and the religious ceremonies and the prayers and the sacrifices,
which were important to the people.
And there's this man who lives up in Ephraim,
and he has a concubine.
Now, here's one of the things you have to notice about the story.
Just about it, nobody in this story is going to look good.
Everybody does terrible things.
This Levite shouldn't have a concubine.
Why? Because a concubine is sort of a half-wife.
It's a person, a woman, who's both the man's slave,
but also a second-class wife.
And the Bible doesn't condone that.
It doesn't permit it.
And he shouldn't have one.
But anyway, his wife, it's not clear in the original text
whether she commits adultery,
cheats on him,
or whether she just flies into a blind rage, or both.
But something like that happens,
and she runs away from him,
and she goes back to her home in Bethlehem.
The Levite, four months later,
decides he wants to go and get her back.
So he makes a trip down to Bethlehem
to go get his concubine back.
Now, this is another part of the story,
which is just really weird.
Let me tell you,
if some man married one of my daughters,
first of all,
made my daughter a slave,
and then married her,
that wouldn't be something,
I wouldn't be happy about the man,
to put it very mildly.
But when this Levite goes to see,
to find his concubine,
the concubine's dad welcomes him warmly.
They spend three days eating and drinking
and having a great old time.
Then the Levite wants to go home,
and the dad says,
no, no, stay and party a little bit longer.
Same thing the next day.
And then finally, on the fifth day,
the Levite said,
listen, I really have to be going home.
And so even though it's late in the day,
and we can't travel that far,
he gets off on the road.
And as he's walking with his servant
and his donkey and the concubine,
and it's starting to get dark,
he comes to what we now call Jerusalem,
but used to be called Jebus.
And the servant says to him,
let's go and spend the night in Jerusalem, Jebus.
And the Levite says,
no, I don't want to spend time
with a group of people that aren't Jewish.
I want to go to a Jewish community.
So let's keep going and get to Gibeah.
They come to Gibeah,
and they come to the square of the village,
the small city,
and nobody welcomes them into their house.
There's no hotels or anything like that back then.
And nobody welcomes them into the house.
And they start to set up
as if they're going to spend the night
in the town square.
But an old man comes
and he looks at them and says,
listen, you guys shouldn't spend,
and there's actually a bit of an ominous part
in the original text.
If you're looking at it,
it's as if there's something evil
about the town square.
And the man wants to rescue him from that evil
and says,
you should come and spend the night with us.
And so the Levite does,
and they start to have a great old time
eating and drinking,
et cetera, et cetera.
And then something absolutely terrible happens.
A large group of men from Gibeah
come and start banging on the door,
trying to break into the house.
And they say,
that man that's come to visit you,
that Levite,
we want him to come out.
We want to assault him and rape him.
Now, this old man,
who sounds like he's a really good man,
you now start to realize
that he's not actually that good a man
because what he does
is he shouts out through the door
and says,
listen, this man's a guest of mine.
You shouldn't come and rape
and assault him.
But how about if you take my young daughter?
Instead,
we're the man's concubine.
And then the Levite doesn't say,
no, you can't do this.
I mean, really,
these two men should be defending the women.
They should try to sit it out.
Like, why is nobody in the community
trying to stop some terrible thing
like this happening?
The end of the day,
what happens,
or the man, the Levite,
sends his concubine,
quickly throws her out the door,
maybe when the crowd is looking
for some other way to get in.
And this crowd of men
sexually assault her
and physically assault her
all night.
And in the morning,
the Levite very callously opens the door
and says,
okay, dear, so to speak,
let's keep going.
And he finds that she's dead.
What he does then is even more callous.
He picks her up,
takes her the rest of the way to go home,
and when he gets home,
he cuts her into 12 pieces,
12 pieces,
and connects each piece
with some type of a message
and gets 12 couriers
to go to each of the 12 tribes of Israel
so that,
to say,
look at,
with a message
of what the people in Gibeah have done.
Now, this ends up enraging
the entire nation,
all except Benjamin,
which is the tribe that Gibeah is in.
And it enrages the nation.
And so they gather from all over
to see what on earth they should do.
And the Levite gets up and speaks.
And if you go back and read it
in the beginning of chapter 20,
you'll see that what he does
is he tells part of the truth,
but he fundamentally lies
about his own role in what happens.
He doesn't tell them about the fact
that he actually voluntarily
gave the concubine.
He tells some things which are true
and other things which paint him
in a very good light
and are fundamentally a lie.
And the result is
that the entire nation is enraged.
They send messages to Benjamin
saying,
give up the people in Gibeah
who did this.
And for some reason,
Benjamin,
who hasn't been present at this,
they say,
no way,
we're not going to give up these guys.
We're going to defend these guys.
And so war ensues.
The tribes decide
that they're going to invade Benjamin
and try to deal with it.
Now, one of the things,
those of you who know me at all
know that I never want to hide
hard parts in the Bible
from the congregation.
I'm not going to skip over something
because as you're going to see
for the rest of the story,
there's something that happens
in this story
which at least at first blush
doesn't make the Lord look very good.
Because the fact of the matter is
is that the tribes consult the Lord,
that is the God,
about what to do.
Look at chapter 20, verse 18.
The people of Israel arose
and went up to Bethel
and inquired of God,
who shall go up first for us
to fight against the people of Benjamin?
And the Lord said,
Judah shall go first.
So the Lord says
Judah should go first.
Now you'd have to look at geography
as to why they,
if you see how narrow
some of the valleys are,
et cetera, et cetera,
you could figure out
why this is a bit of a thing
one tribe at a time.
But the bottom line is
they go and attack first
and Benjamin beats them.
They all come back
wailing and crying.
And our story continues
at verse 23.
And the people of Israel
went up and wept
before the Lord
until the evening.
And they inquired of the Lord,
shall we again draw near
to fight against our brothers,
the people of Benjamin?
Note what they say,
our brothers.
And the Lord said,
go up against them.
So the people of Israel
came near
against the people of Benjamin
a second day.
And once again,
they end up losing.
They end up losing.
And so they come
and they cry before the Lord
again another time.
And this time,
if you jump down
to verse 28,
and Phinehas,
the son of Eliezer,
son of Aaron,
ministered before it,
that's the shrine
in those days,
saying,
shall we go out once more
to battle against our brothers,
the people of Benjamin,
or shall we cease?
And the Lord said,
go up for tomorrow.
I will give them
into your hand.
And they do.
They go up.
And this time,
and you can read the story
about how they set up
an ambush,
et cetera, et cetera.
And this time,
the army of the 11 tribes
of Israel
defeat the Benjaminites.
But once again,
this very, very awkward
and telling phrase
in verse 35,
just skipping down
once again.
And the Lord defeated
Benjamin before Israel.
Note what it said.
And the Lord defeated
Benjamin before Israel.
And then note this next bit
because it's very important.
I'll explain it more
in a moment.
And the people of Israel
destroyed 25,100 men
of Benjamin that day.
All these were men
who drew the sword.
Now, if you go back
and you read the story
from here on in,
what happens is
there's a bloodlust
which is unleashed
amongst the tribe of Israel.
And they end up committing
basically genocide.
They not only destroy,
it's not just that
they defeat the army,
they destroy the army.
They kill all of the army,
all but 600 men.
And they go into the villages
and the cities of Benjamin
and they kill everybody.
They kill all the men,
women, and children.
It is literally
a description of genocide.
And then,
and this is,
this is the story
just gets crazier
and crazier
and crazier and crazier
because then
after the genocide is over,
the people of Israel,
the troops,
they gather together again
and they start to cry
that the genocide has happened.
And if you read the story,
they actually make it look
as if the Lord
is responsible for it,
but they're the ones
who actually did
all of the killing.
And then you discover
that the stupidity
and the evil
gets deeper and deeper.
They'd made two
very foolish vows.
And one of the vows
was that none of them
would ever give
any of their daughters
to a person
from Benjamin in marriage.
And the second vow
that you discover
that they made
was that anybody
who didn't join them
in this battle
and in this fight,
they were going to kill them.
And so here they're all
trying to think,
how are we going to,
there's only 600,
only 600 men of Benjamin
have survived the battle.
And so they're crying
about this genocide.
As if they have
no responsibility for it.
So they go to the 600 men
of Benjamin
and they come up
with a brilliant plan.
But it's a terribly,
terribly,
terribly evil plan.
And the terrible,
evil plan is this.
They realize that there's
a little tiny area
of Israel
where nobody from that area
came to the battle.
So they come up
with this plan
and they go
and they kill
every man,
woman,
and child
in that area
except for 400
marriable
or marriageable
women,
young women
who are of the
marriageable age
and haven't been married.
They kill
all of their family,
all of their friends.
They kidnap
these 400 women
and they give them
to the men of Benjamin.
In a sense,
they allow the men of Benjamin
to rape them.
That still leaves
some 200 short.
Once again,
bound by these vows
that they should have
repented of,
that were evil
to begin with
and they should have
repented of,
they come up
with a brilliant plan.
And the brilliant plan
is they tell the other
200 soldiers
who don't yet have a wife
that there's this
celebration taking place
just down the road,
so to speak,
just down the valley
and just hide
and when the celebration
happens,
you just rush out
and you kidnap
the young woman
that you want.
And when the men
and the families
come to complain
we'll just basically
tell them to be quiet.
And so once again,
remember this all started
over the rape and murder
of one woman.
And now we have
these people
murdering
tens of thousands
and by the end of it
600 women
have been kidnapped
and raped.
And the crazy thing
is when they leave,
and this is all terrible,
and when they leave
at the end of it,
they think they've done
a good thing.
They're all pleased
with themselves,
and this is in the Bible.
So,
it's a terrible story.
It really, really,
really, really
is a terrible story.
So,
here's the first thing.
Some of you
are going to say,
George,
you say this is
a terrible story,
but you know,
I've been following along
and I'm familiar
with this text
and when I look at the text,
here's the problem,
George.
You say it's a terrible story
and that's a really good thing.
I'm really glad you said
it's a terrible story
because it is a terrible story,
but the Bible doesn't say
it's a terrible story.
You're saying that
because you have virtues
and values different
than what the Bible says.
So,
George,
how can you say this?
Well,
here's the thing.
It's not the case
that I said this
just because I'm a good person
and the Bible
doesn't say
that it's terrible.
I left out one verse,
the very,
very,
very last verse
in the story
and if you turn with me
to 21,
25,
the very last verse
in the book of Judges,
it says this,
it says,
in those days
there was no king in Israel.
I'm not going to cover that.
The very last words
are the ones
which are very important.
It says this,
everyone did
what was right
in his own eyes.
Not everyone did
what was evil
in his own eyes,
but everyone did
what was right
in his own eyes.
In other words,
the text itself
is telling us
that what they did
was wrong
and that the problem
is that
they did
all these wrong things
because they were
only doing
what was right
in their own eyes.
The Bible tells me
to recognize
that the things
that go on in the text
are terrible things.
They're evil things.
But,
and you know,
if you think about it
for a second,
isn't this fundamentally true?
Like,
just think of the terrible,
terrible things
that are going on
in the Middle East
and in Syria
and failed states
which are down there
and in Iraq.
And in every particular case,
people do what's right
in their own eyes.
All the bloodshed,
all of the stealing,
all of the pillaging
and raping,
they always do
what is right
in their own eyes.
And you just think
of so many problems
that we have in life
all over the place.
Like,
look what happens
right now in the United States
as they're trying to figure out
what to do about this
and what to do about that
and there's,
you know,
a hold up of this
and a hold up of that
and denouncing of this
and denouncing of that
and everybody's doing
what is right
in their own eyes.
Think of what just went on
in Canada
where the liberal government,
I'm not being political
about this,
but they made definitely
a power grab.
Everybody says that,
but they did what was right
in their own eyes.
But here's the thing.
How do we discuss
these issues
when we have people
doing what is right
in their own eyes?
What we would do
is we try to have
a discussion about it,
don't we?
If you think about it,
we have a discussion.
And when we have a discussion,
like, you know,
like you just think
what happened
in the House of Commons,
right?
Well, we want to do this
and everyone says,
no, that's terrible.
And you have a discussion
back and forward about it.
And what happens is
if all you have in life
is doing what is right
in your own eyes
and all you have to do
is have recourse to power
and whoever can punch
the other person the most
or hurt or kill
the other person wins.
But they don't really win.
They just win
because they've eliminated
the opposition.
But what do we do
when we have two people
doing what we both think,
two groups doing
what they both think
is right in their own eyes?
What they do
is they appeal,
we appeal to a moral realm
or order
that is over both,
that is good
and is binding.
That's what we do.
We think,
no, no,
this is the principle
of justice.
This is the right way
to do this.
And the other person says
this is the right way
to do this.
And we have a discussion
about it.
But in both cases,
we're appealing to,
in a sense,
a moral realm
or a moral order
that's over both me
and the other person
and both groups
or all three groups
or all five groups
and there's an appeal
to a moral realm
and moral order
that we should abide by
that's bigger
than the individual
or the party.
But this opens the door
to an inconvenient truth
in Canada.
You see,
you think about it
for a second.
What could that order be?
Well,
it can't be completely impersonal.
It can't just be
something like energy.
Energy,
in a sense,
is no different
than a rock.
It can't be like a rock.
I mean,
a rock is just a rock.
It's not right or wrong.
It's just completely
and utterly impersonal
that whatever this moral order is
that we both appeal to
can't be like a rock
but it also can't be
something like an animal
because,
I mean,
you think about it for a second.
What do animals do?
Like a lion eats the gazelle
because it's hungry
and it can catch it.
It doesn't care
if the gazelle's mother cries.
It doesn't feel guilty about it.
It doesn't do any type
of moral reflection.
The moral order
can't be like animals.
But it can't also be like nature.
It can't be like everything
which is a very popular way
of trying to understand
how the world works.
It can't be like everything
because like,
well,
in everything,
everything includes,
well,
it includes cancer.
It includes COVID-19
which is no respecter of person.
It includes Parkinson's
and disease.
It includes lions
eating gazelles.
Like everything
doesn't give us
a moral order
or a moral realm.
And it can't be society
because,
I mean,
just look at the story
that we just looked at.
I mean,
society made,
the Israelites
make this terrible decision
to commit genocide
amongst their brothers
and then make
continual ongoing
terrible decisions.
And we just look
at the world order
and groups
and nations
and laws
make terrible decisions.
so,
if you see,
it has to be something
that's transcendent,
that's over and bigger
than just us
and it has to be personal.
It has to be
a person
because we're the ones
who know
about the fact
that there is something
called right and wrong.
And if that's the case,
we've opened
an inconvenient truth
to Canadians
that there in fact
might be a transcendent,
a bigger objective reality
to which we can appeal
that fundamentally
is a person
at which some of you
might say,
George,
that's a very,
very clever argument,
but here's the problem
you have,
George.
It can't be the God
of the Bible.
I mean,
you just read those parts
and that the Bible itself,
George,
shows that the Lord
is implicated
in all of those stories.
So,
I mean,
you know,
maybe it's going
to have to be
some person
or whatever
that we don't
entirely know,
but what we can know
is that because
the God of the Bible
is implicated
in this terrible story,
it can't be
the God of the Bible.
And if you said that,
if you're thinking that,
that's a very,
very,
very good point.
It really is.
But we need to just clarify
what actually happened
in the story,
and if you want,
you can go back
and read it later
very,
very carefully
about what it says
and what it doesn't say.
If you think about it
for a second,
remember there's no police,
there's no overarching government,
there's just these tribes
which are all loosely linked.
You have a terrible evil.
I mean,
we can't deny
that the original thing
is a terrible evil.
You can't deny
that if you have
a large group of men
who are able
with impunity
within this community
to barricade a house,
try to break in,
threaten this man
and end up going ahead
and raping
and assaulting
and murdering his wife
and nobody,
the concubine,
and nobody does anything
and if on top of that
that neither,
the village doesn't do anything
to bring the people
to justice
and that in fact
when they go
to the larger area,
if you're Americans
the state
or Canadians the province
and in fact
the province
doesn't do anything at all
that they in fact
are either turning
a blind eye
or in fact
are supporting
in what they've done
that there's a problem here.
So what exactly
did the Lord do
in all of this?
All the Lord did
in all of this
is he said,
yes,
you should begin
a military action
against these people
to defeat them.
Now,
in war,
defeating them
doesn't mean
that you kill
every person.
I mean,
when the Allies
defeated the Nazis
it didn't kill
every soldier,
they didn't kill
every German.
In fact,
as we know
from the Marshall Plan
that they in fact
afterwards
the Allies
invested millions
and billions
of dollars
into the German
and Japanese economy.
So in fact,
the Lord did
a very,
very reasonable thing.
He said,
yes,
we need to deal
with this
so go ahead
and invade them
and I will
help you win.
But the genocide
is on the people.
The bloodlust
is on the people.
At no point
in time
in the story
does the Lord
okay that.
In fact,
at the end
of it,
the commentary
is that the problem
is they were doing
what was right
in their own eyes.
But some of you
might say,
George,
this doesn't help.
Like,
why just Benjamin?
But George,
by your telling
of the story,
I mean the Levite
has done wrong
in terms of having
a concubine.
By your telling
of the story,
the dad of the concubine
has done wrong
by allowing his wife
to go back,
his daughter
to go back
into slavery.
The Levite
incites
all this violence
by not telling
the truth
and the people
perform,
the people
of the other
tribes of Israel,
they commit genocide
and then actually
they're very complicit
in murdering
another group
from within
their own thing
and kidnapping
600.
Like,
George,
like,
this,
the Lord,
why did the Lord
only pick
Gibeah?
Like,
why doesn't
the justice
go everywhere?
Once again,
that is a very,
very,
very good point.
It really is.
But here's the thing.
You know,
because what we're
saying is
that you see
some justice
but you don't
see perfect justice
and that real justice
has to be closer
to perfection
and real justice
goes all the way
and isn't just
limited to this
one particular group.
I mean,
that's a very,
very,
very good point
about this story.
But there's an
unforeseen problem
with your point.
You see,
if perfect,
real justice
visited
this story,
everyone would die.
Because if perfect,
real justice
visited,
it would look
equally at
every person
and then
who could
stand.
But can you
start to see
the problem
that your good
question
and observation
is introduced?
Like,
if we,
in fact,
long
and think,
because you see,
one thing that
the story shows us
is that at the
very fundamental level,
each one of us
has a longing,
not just for
itsy-bitsy pieces
of justice,
but for real justice.
That's what we long.
That's why when we
read the story,
we get mad at it.
We get mad at
what happens.
I mean,
if you don't,
you have another problem.
You get mad at
what happens to the woman.
You get mad at
what happens in the story
time and time and time again.
It shows that we have
a longing,
not just for a
bitten piece of justice,
but for real justice,
which is equal.
But once we realize
that we're longing
for real justice,
which would actually
come and visit
and actually
touch
every person
equally,
then the question
is for you and me,
if real justice
visited us today,
who could stand?
Now,
as we all know,
there's very proud,
self-righteous people
who think they could stand,
who think their poop
smells better
than everybody else's,
and the rest of us
don't like people
who are proud
and self-righteous.
But some of you
might say,
okay, George.
George,
George.
That's a Christian.
You've just described
a Christian.
like you've just
described a Christian.
That's one of the reasons
so many of us
don't like Christians.
There's so many,
like,
so here's the thing.
I agree that there's
many proud,
arrogant,
and foolish Christians,
but actually all this
conundrum,
only the gospel solves it.
Really,
truly,
only the gospel solves it.
You see,
because what you've come
to acknowledge
is if you acknowledge
that what you're really
looking for is
perfect justice to come
and visit
and touch everybody,
and we acknowledge
that if perfect justice
came,
no respecter of person
that no one could stand,
all you've done
is agreed with something
in the book of Romans
which says,
as my first point,
for all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God.
For all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God.
And it's a bit of
a longer sermon,
but you can just take it
that part of God's glory
is his justice.
In other words,
all have sinned
and fall short
of the justice
of God.
You see,
it's a central part
of the gospel,
and here's the other thing,
that the story,
there's another possibility
about why it is
in this case
and in any case
that perfect justice
hasn't yet visited
every single human being.
And the possibility
is that maybe
it has to do
with God showing mercy.
There's a very interesting text
in 2 Peter 3,
verses 8 and 9.
You can check it later on.
2 Peter 3,
verses 8 and 9.
And Peter says this,
but do not overlook
this one fact, beloved,
that with the Lord
one day is as a thousand years
and a thousand years
as one day.
It's talking about God
being eternal
outside of time.
Here's the point.
The Lord is not slow
to fulfill his promise,
as some count slowness,
but is patient toward you,
not wishing that any
should perish,
but that all
should reach repentance.
Listen to that again.
The Lord is not slow
to fulfill his promise,
as some count slowness,
his promise of perfect justice,
but is patient toward you,
not wishing that any
should perish,
but that all
should reach repentance.
This is a very,
very important text.
You see,
if all we had in the Bible
was Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,
and then Joshua and Judges,
these seven books,
it would leave us
with a problem.
But the fact of the matter is,
I mean,
it would leave us
with riddles,
problems,
conundrums.
It really would.
But the fact of the matter is,
is if you read
the book of Judges,
you'll see that Judges
points beyond itself.
If you look at
the Samson story,
the key verse,
and one of the key parts
of the Samson story
is that God is beginning
to deliver through Samson,
and it points beyond itself.
It points,
in a sense,
to David.
And if you read
the story of David
in 1 and 2 Samuel,
you'll see that David
can't be that justice
and that deliverer
that we need,
that it points beyond itself.
And the riddles
and the conundrums
and the paradoxes
and the problems
which the book of Judges
poses to us
are all pointing beyond
to something that God
still has to do.
You see,
what you see in this story
is this.
My second point
is you have a yearning.
You have a yearning
for perfect justice
and mercy,
for perfect goodness
and love,
for perfect truth
and strength
in some place
with someone
not in this world.
Remember,
I began with the story
of our having,
you know,
the canoe,
the patio,
and it's just so perfect.
It fits,
but there must be
something more.
And then the whole thing
about the moral realm
and the one
has to be a person.
That has to be that more.
And then for this
perfect justice,
the fact of the matter
is that these stories
reveal to us
that you have a yearning
for perfect justice
and perfect mercy,
for perfect goodness
and love,
for truth and strength
in some place
with someone
not in this world.
Here we go back to Peter.
Peter,
that part that I read
to you about Peter,
it happened
just before he died.
And we're all familiar
with people dying
for causes,
for ideologies,
for all sorts of reasons.
But what we aren't
familiar with
and is very unique
about Peter
is Peter,
like the other apostles
who died martyrs death,
he died because of a fact
that he wouldn't give up on.
Like that's very unusual
and uncommon.
He died for a fact
that Jesus died
and then the grave is empty
because he rose from the dead.
He died for that fact.
If he just gave up for,
gave up that fact,
he could have lived.
See, here's the third point.
Why did he not give up
on that fact?
The third point,
in the death of Jesus
upon the cross,
human yearning
became fact.
In the death of Jesus
upon the cross,
human yearning
became fact.
What do I mean?
See, the story of Jesus
is this,
his sinless life,
his profound teaching,
his miracles.
But those are all
very, very, very significant.
And in the midst of them,
he continually predicted
something that
he couldn't possibly fulfill
or just manage
to orchestrate.
He predicted
he'd die a particular death
that he couldn't orchestrate,
that had to be,
in fact,
done by imperial Roman power,
which is to crucify him.
And he predicted
that he would die
a death upon the cross
of crucifixion.
And he predicted
that he would be dead
for three days.
And he predicted
that on the third day,
the grave would be empty
and that he would rise
from the dead
and he would prove it
to his disciples.
And Peter is an eyewitness
of that fact.
And if he, in fact,
did, Jesus did,
predict such a death
and such a resurrection,
it vindicates
who Jesus is.
It vindicates his message.
And what is his message?
His message is this.
That he is, in fact,
God, the Son of God.
That he, in fact,
is the image of...
I'm going to get some...
Just make it clear.
If you go back
and you read it,
what you see is this.
Every human being
is made in the image of God.
That's why it's only
in the scriptures
that you actually have
a true basis
for human rights.
That true basis
for the dignity of woman
and every different people group
and every different race
and ethnicity
is because
every human being
is made
in the image of God.
Every human being
is made
in the image of God.
And Jesus
is the image itself.
We are made
in the image of God
and the image itself
comes and walks amongst us
and that means
that when Jesus lives
his sinless life,
his miracles,
his teaching,
what he does,
it can count
for every person
because we are made
in the image of God
and he is the image
in which we are made.
If something happens
to him
and he offers
something himself,
that can count
for everybody.
And so what do we see
if we listen
to the message of Jesus?
We see this,
that he,
his sacrifice
can be for all.
So on the cross,
Jesus who doesn't
deserve death,
has lived a sinless life,
is in complete
perfect relationship
with the Father
and he dies
upon the cross
and we know
that he comes to die
and what he is
in a sense saying
is this,
you cannot stand
before the perfect
justice of God
because I love you.
I came and sought you
and as I die
upon the cross,
I am bearing
in my person
and in my body
the perfect justice
that if you need
to deal with it
will lead in your death
but I don't want you
to die.
So the justice
that should fall
upon you
will fall upon me.
I'm willing
to take your place
and I'm willing
to not only
take your place
but offer you a trade
that as I take
your place,
you can take my place
my relationship
with God.
I take upon myself
the doom
that perfect justice
would demand of you
and I offer you
the destiny
that is proper to me
and I,
you can't earn it.
It's completely,
just,
it's just mercy.
It's just grace
and I offer it to you
and that's what happens
in the cross.
You see,
on the cross,
the perfect justice
of God
that should fall
on you
at the same time
the perfect mercy
of God
says,
that which you cannot
survive on your own,
I will provide
a way by which
my justice is maintained.
Justice is still justice.
The mercy isn't
weakening that
for a moment
but my mercy
is perfect as well
which is why
I offer you
this profound exchange.
Isaiah puts it
that the punishment
that brought us peace
was upon him.
By his wounds
we are healed
and we receive that
by faith.
So you see,
what we can do
is we can rename
the longing
that you have
and to rename
the longing
that you have
is this,
you have a yearning
to be with others
at home
in the garden
walking with
the triune God
in the cool
of the day
naked
and unashamed.
You see,
in a sense,
what you sort of
just know
is an abstraction
that there must be
have a longing
for justice,
a longing for goodness,
a longing for love,
a longing for mercy,
a longing for truth,
a longing for strength
and it's not just
abstractions.
what you're ultimately
longing for
is the source
and the ground
for all of those things.
You're longing
to be with others
at home
in the garden.
It's the description
of the Garden of Eden.
Walking with the triune God
in the cool of the day
naked
and unashamed
and only
by putting your faith
and trust in Jesus
where
yearnings
became fact.
Can you know
that
right relationship
with God
that begins
as you put your faith
and trust in Him
and continues
beyond
the veil
of this life
into death
and into the end
of all days
when a new heaven
and a new earth
when the garden
will once again
be real.
I urge you
to receive it
if you haven't
received it.
You see
to understand this
and to be gripped by it
is to begin to live
in a different story.
It's to begin to live
by which
there is a different
set of facts
that you understand
what is going on
in your experiences
and how the life works.
It begins
as you think about
the cross
and you think about
the garden
and the destiny
which is now in yours
when you put your faith
and trust in Jesus
and He takes you
as His own
and He never lets you go
and He is with you
through this life
every day of this life
and He's with you
as you enter the valley
of the shadow of death
and He's with you
in death
and onto the far side
of death
and into eternity
and into the garden
that once again
will be created by God.
When this begins
to grip you
the story
of what He's done
on the cross
and the destiny
that you have
in Jesus
as this begins
to grip you
it gives you humility
it gives you courage
it gives you a heart
to care for others
and it gives you
a confidence and joy
not rooted in yourself
but in Him.
I urge you
to consider Jesus.
Let's bow our heads
in prayer.
Father we ask
for those of us
who have received
the Gospel
that you will once again
grip us with the Gospel
with how mercy
and justice
became fact
in the death
and resurrection
of Jesus
and how those
longings and yearnings
that we have
have been both fulfilled
in His death
upon the cross
and that they are
pointing us
to this eternal destiny
that we have
in Him
and only in Him
when we put our faith
and trust in Him.
And so Father
grip us with this truth
and if there are any here
who have not yet
been gripped by it
Father may you help
them today
and put their faith
and trust in Jesus.
We ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.