A heart without King Jesus..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good, my dear brother and sister. As I said, I want to speak to you about what it is to have a heart that is not ruled by the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are people within the sound of my voice, either present here or online, whose hearts are either ruled by the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, or whose hearts are ruled by themselves. And my dear brother, my dear sister, and my dear soul within the sound of my voice, I hope that only by reading this chapter, and only by recollecting the things that we have read through these 21 chapters of this book of Judges, we will see what the wickedness and unrighteousness of the heart of men is, And that we will not think that we are any different to the Israelites. And that we will not think that we have any type of moral power that will not take us to fall into the ways of the Israelites and all the horrendous things that they have done, especially in these last five chapters that we have read and we have seen. This wicked, very dark, these black stories of the corruption of what it was in the heart of the Israelites. All of this idolatry, this false religion, this murder, all of this sexual immorality, and all of these horrendous things that we have read in these final chapters.

When we arrive here to Chapter 21, my dear brother and sister, we are going to see a continuation of that which started in Chapter 19. If you remember, in Chapter 19, we saw that wicked event that took place at Gibeah, a Sodomite-like, Sodom and Gomorrah-like type event in the people of Israel. And the people of Israel committed such a thing that the Lord will bring judgment upon the tribe of Benjamin through the people of Israel. We saw, as our brother was explaining last week, the hypocrisy that was going on in the midst of the people of Israel and how they were dealing with sins while they were not dealing with other unrighteousness that were happening with the Canaanites. Now you remember also what the response of the people of Israel was.

wanted to destroy the people of Gibeah. And the Benjaminites, they did not accept this accusation of discharge. And for that reason, the people of Israel came in war against all the people of Benjamin. Towards the end of chapter 20, we are told that their result of that judgment, or their result of that war, is that basically, the tribe of Benjamin almost disappeared. 25,000 men of war were struck down with the sword by the Israelites.

Not only that, but the Israelites will go into the cities, take possession of the cities, destroy the cities, destroy the people, and destroy the lands. And we're told that only 600 men were survivors of all of this massacre, if that is the way that you pronounce it in English. Almost a full destruction of the people of Benjamin. And what we have here in chapter 21, my dear brother, my dear sister, and my dear soul, is precisely that problem. One of the tribes of Israel has almost disappeared.

The people of Israel have almost destroyed one of the tribes. And the thing is that now they have realized that it's only 600 men or so that have survived. And because there's only men, there's not going to be future for the tribe of Benjamin. And it seems in this hypocritical ways of the people of Israel that they are contrite in their hearts because of this situation. So they want to find a solution so that the tribe of Benjamin will not disappear from among the people of Israel.

The problem, as we are going to read it here in chapter 21, these 25 verses, is that when they were gathering initially at Mizpah, they had sworn a couple of things that are going to make things very difficult. The first thing that they sworn, an oath of the people of Israel, was that independently of what happened after the war and after the destruction of the Benjaminites, the people of Israel were not going to give to the Benjaminites their daughters in marriage. It did not matter what was going to happen, what the outcome was going to be. Perhaps they did not even think about that. But they were not going to give their daughters in marriage to the people of Benjamin and brethren.

There we see the hypocrisy of the people of Israel. Remember, the Lord God of Israel had said that they were not supposed to enter into marriage with the Canaanites. Yet they had done it now many times. They had entered into marriage with the daughters of the Canaanites. But when he came to their brothers, the Benjaminites, they sworn that independently what happened, they were not going to enter in marriage with the people of Benjamin, trying to demonstrate this hypocritical holiness, not trying to mix themselves with the sin of the people of Benjamin.

So now they find indeed themselves in a big problem and big issue because there's going to be one of the tribes that is going to be basically removed and vanished from among the people of Israel. And remember, that the covenantal identity of the people of Israel depended upon the existence of these 12 tribes who were the sons of Jacob, the representatives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The covenantal identity depended upon the existence of all of these tribes. There was another thing that they sworn, and there was another thing that is actually going to be very important in the reading of these 25 verses, and that is that they sworn that if there was anyone in Israel who did not come to Mizpah, in the original assembly, to decide what to do with the Benjaminites, that the Israelites were going to take vengeance against those people. It happens, my dear brother and sister, as we're going to read in these 25 verses, that there was a city, a town in Gilead, on the other side of the Jordan, Jbeish, Gilead, that these people did not come to the initial meeting with the people of Israel to decide what to do with the Benjaminites.

And for that reason, the wicked and righteous people of Israel are going to try to find a solution for the future of the people of Benjamin through the destruction of the people of Gibiash Gilead. Not only that, my dear brother and sister, but we are going to see how the people of Israel are actually going to take by violence, violence, women, virgins to give them to the 600 men in wicked ways. Remember that they came to judge all of these scenes, all of this unrighteousness that the Benjaminites had caused, these sexual things that had taken place. And now they are going to try to solve the problem of the Benjaminites not having a future through the same wickedness and through the same unrighteousness. And that's why we conclude this chapter, verse 25, by saying that in those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did according to what was right in their own eyes, or using the pronoun that is used in Hebrew, his own eyes, speaking of the whole community of the people of Israel.

This is the wickedness and unrighteousness of these people. So now let us read and pay careful attention to these 25 verses. And after that, brethren, let me please speak to you about what it is to have a heart that is not ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the word of God. Chapter 21 of the book of Judges.

Let us read the word, paying careful attention to each one of them because they are given from God. Chapter 21. Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah. No one of us shall give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin. And the people came to Bethel and sat there till evening before God, and they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.

And they said, O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel? And the next day the people rose early and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the people of Israel said, Which of all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly to the Lord? For they had taken a great oath concerning him who did not come to the Lord to mispass, saying, He shall surely be put to death. And the people of Israel had compassion for Benjamin, their brother, and said, One tribe is cut off from Israel this day.

What shall we do for wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by the Lord that we will not give them any of our daughters for wives? And they said, What one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to the Lord to Mishpah? And behold, no one had come to the camp from Jabesh-Gilead to the assembly. For when the people were mastered, behold, not one of the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead was there. So the congregation sent 12,000 of their bravest men there and commanded them, go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead with the edge of the sword, also the women and the little ones.

This is what you shall do. Every male and every woman that has lain With a male you shall devote to destruction. And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known a man by lying with him. And they brought them to the camp of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. Then the whole congregation sent word to the people of Benjamin who were at the Rock of Ramon, they were hiding there, and proclaimed peace to them.

And Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved the lives of the women of Jabesh-Gilead, but they were not enough for them. And the people had compassion on Benjamin, because the Lord had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. Then the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for those who are left, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? And they said, There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, that a tribe not be blotted out from Israel. Yet we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the people of Israel had sworn, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.

So they said, Behold, there is a yearly feast of the Lord at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel to the east on the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem and south of Libona. And they commanded the people of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards, and watch if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances. Then come out of the vineyards and snatch each man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. And when their fathers of their brothers come to complain to us, we will say to them, Run them graciously to us, because we did not take for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did you give them to them, else you would now be guilty. And the people of Benjamin did so, and took their wives, according to their number, from the dancers whom they carried off.

Then they went and returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and lived in them. And the people of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and family, and they went out from there, every man to his inheritance. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Amen.

Brethren, this is the Word of the Lord. As I said, that last verse, verse 25, is perhaps the principle that tells us what is the whole narration of this Book of Judges, that in those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. When a person does not have a king, that person becomes unto themselves their own authority. The problem of Israel was a problem of authority. They had rejected the authority of the Lord God of Israel who saved them out of the land of Egypt.

The people of Israel had rejected the authority of the Lord God of Israel who was taking them through the wilderness. The people of Israel were rejecting the authority of the Lord God of Israel, who had given them the land of Canaan as their inheritance. These people were rejecting the Lord God of Israel, and for that reason, the Lord God of Israel gave them over to their own hearts. Because in this world, there's only two types of people. Those who have been taken captive by the Spirit of Christ, by the God of this universe, who are led by the King of kings and Lord of lords, and those who are led by their own passions and by their own hearts.

What we have seen, the stories that we have read, the accounts that we have read, especially these last five chapters of the book of Judges, represent and speak to us of what it is, human nature. Brethren, that we may not think that these people are just so separated from us and that we live in some type of moral, ethical society in which we will never end up doing the things that we have read in these last five chapters. What we have read in this book of Judges is the natural outcome of the heart of men when the heart of men has not been generally circumcised by the Lord. The people of Israel were required to be circumcised not so much in the flesh but in the heart and to follow the ways of the Lord God of Israel but they had rejected all of that and they were following their flesh. That we may not be tempted to think that the people of Israel were just simply heavily influenced by the Canaanites.

That the traditions and the religion and the ways of the Canaanites were so strong that they changed these holy people into doing all of the things that we have read. That we may not think, brethren, that the heart of men simply responds to an environment. That we might not think that the wickedness of men is just simply a conformity to our environment. But that we will always remember that the problem of men and the problem of Israel was found inside of them. It was their heart that was corrupt.

That it was not following the ways of the Lord. A heart that was not visited by the Spirit. A heart that was commanded by the passions of the flesh. And for this reason, the people of Israel ended up doing that which was right in their own eyes. That which was right in their own hearts.

And they found agreement in the ways of the Canaanites. In the religion of the Canaanites. In the traditions of the Canaanites. In all the festivals of the Canaanites. In all the wickedness of the Canaanites.

The heart of the people of Israel. for not following the kinship of the Lord, they found point of agreement with that and they ended up doing that which was natural to them. This is what the New Testament speaks about those who are the children of wrath. The description of the heart who is not ruled by Jesus Christ is clearly given to us by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians chapter 2. If you quickly go there, you have these very well-known verses 1, 2, and 3, in which we have the characteristics of a heart that is not ruled by the King of kings and the law of lords, a heart that is ruled by the flesh, by the system of the world.

If you go there to Ephesians chapter 2, we have those verses 1, 2, and 3. And let me point you to a couple of things that are characteristics of the heart of the person that is not ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2, verses 1-3, and this is the word of the Lord, it says, And now you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked following the curse of this world, following the prince of the power of the earth. the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh, or the body, and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Brethren, if there's anyone among us, or within the sound of my voice, or if there's anyone of your family that you know that they are not in Christ, Their hearts, of those people who are not in Christ, their hearts are ruled by themselves, by their own passions and their own ways.

And the first thing that we see here in these three verses, brethren, is that those people who are not ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, spiritually speaking, He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords, but spiritually speaking, those people are dead. If the Lord Jesus Christ is not ruling in your affections, your passions, your mind, in your heart, then that means that you are dead in your sins and in your trespasses. Spiritually speaking, you are dead and there's absolutely nothing that you can do to do church, or religion, or to participate in any event that is going to remove you from your wicked ways. This is what was happening to the Israelites, and this is what happens to those who are not in Christ. There's no amount of illumination.

There's no amount of religion. There's no amount of traditions. There's no amount of festivals, even if they are biblical. There's no coming to church or doing this or that that is powerful enough to give life to the person who is spiritually dead. We are to know that the problem of the human does not start outside, but it starts inside of us.

And that is with a heart that is dead. Second, because of the deafness of the heart of the person who is not ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ, then this person is not so much in bondage to the prince of the power of the year. He's not so much in bondage to the course of this world, but rather, as we have there, follows the course of this world. Did you see it there in verse two, following the course of this world and following the prince of the power of the year? It is the natural response of a heart that is dead, a heart that is being ruled by their own imaginations of the person, by the system of this world, to follow the ways of Satan.

Because it is the spirit of Satan, the one that is working inside of that wicked, dead heart. If Jesus Christ is not the king of the heart of a person, if Jesus Christ has not made a person alive, then it does not matter how beautiful they are. It does not matter how cute they are. It does not matter how nice words they say. It does not matter even if we are blinded with the cuteness of the person or whatever ways the person may have.

That person is dead in his or her trespasses and hence is following the curse of this world. He's following the prince of the power of the earth, and this is the natural outcome of their condition. And thirdly, brother and sister, if being deaf and being a natural follower of the prince of the power of the earth was not enough, this is a person who is in bondage to their flesh. It's a person who lives in the passions of their flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the desires of the mind. It's a person who is in bondage.

You shall know the truth, the Lord says, and the truth shall set you free. And that is because without the Lord Jesus Christ and without the truth of Christ, a person is in bondage to their deafness. A person is in bondage to the ways of this world. A person is in bondage to the ways of Satan in this world. And hence, that person does not have any other outcome or possibility that is to follow the passions of their flesh, brethren.

Who is going to be able to liberate a soul that is death? Who is going to be able to liberate a heart that is dead? Who is going to be able to liberate a person that is in bondage to their own passions? Who is going to be able to liberate a person who naturally and willingly follows the course of his world and the prince of the power of the earth? No one except the Lord Jesus Christ, because we're told there in verse four, by God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace, you have been saved.

my dear brother and sister, that we will never ever be tempted to think or to believe that there is somehow a chasm of separation between who we really are and what the Israelites did in the book of Judges. That we may not think that because we were born in a more civilized society, in a Christianized society, or because we have these principles, or these ethics, or these forms of living, that we are separated from the capabilities of the human heart. Brethren, if it's not because of the restraining grace of God, and if it's not because of the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, even those things that you have not been tempted with, or by, or whatever the preposition is, you will fall into those. It only takes that the restraining grace of the Lord is removed. It only takes that the Lord simply allows you to be who you are, and then you will end up doing things that you have not even imagined.

This should always bring us, brethren, to our knees to know that apart from the condescending grace of God that is seen in the person of Jesus Christ, it is not only that we are not saved, but brethren, we cannot even breathe. Because if we don't have the working of His grace in our lives continually and ongoingly, the wickedness that exists in the heart of men is such that we will just simply implode or explode because of the blackness that is in the human heart. Brethren, as Christians, we will be tempted to think that there is something good in us, that we are strong enough to do this or that, that we may not think that just because we were Christians and prayed a prayer once, or because we have been walking with the Lord for a particular time, the time that we don't need of the grace of the Lord. If there's going to be something that is going to be said about us, humanly speaking and just between people, is that we depended upon the grace of the Lord. Because when we depend upon the grace of the Lord, brethren, We don't do that which is right in their own eyes, but we seek the Lord, trying to conform our will to His, so that whatever we do may not be that which is right according to our own eyes, but rather that we will do that which is pleasing to our King, because He finds Himself in His rightful place, the heart of the believer.

Amen? Let us pray.