The dangers of false Religio..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Very good. Brother and sister and friend, as I said, I want to speak to you about the dangers of false religion.

And I want to do this from these 13 verses that we have in the book of Judges in chapter 17. Now as we are progressing through this book, we arrive to the final section of this book. We have five chapters in front of us that are going to be very different to what we have discussed and read so far. Up to this point, we have seen this pattern of disobedience and judgment and deliverance of the people of Israel. The Lord, in His mercy, has chosen a deliverer, a judge, so that the people of Israel who were under the judgment of the Lord will see the sin that they had committed.

And through the judge, they will be delivered. Twelve different judges we have contemplated and studied. through this book of Judges. And now, we arrive to the final chapters of this book, which are going to be very dark. Brother, sister, friend, and children.

The stories and the narratives that we have in the following weeks ahead are going to be very dark. We're going to see the unrighteousness of the human heart. We're going to see sexual immorality. We're going to see theft. We're going to see people killing each other in ways that not even the hidden, at times, will do.

Yet, in these chapters that we're going to be reading in the following weeks, by God's grace, we are going to see one very important thing, my dear brother and sister. The nature of the heart of humanity when the Lord Jesus Christ is not their King. Because it is in these five final chapters that we are going to find that verse that is repeated many times. That in those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did according to their own eyes, what was right in their own eyes. That famous verse is contained primarily in these five final chapters of this book.

And as I said to you, my dear brother and sister and friend and children, as we're reading these things that are so difficult even just to speak and to mention, as we read all of those dark things, children, one of the important things that we learn is the depravity and the corruption of our hearts. apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. What we are going to be reading in these following five chapters is us. apart from the condescending grace of our Lord, all the wickedness and unrighteousness and perhaps even things that we have not even imagined that we are going to read in these chapters, is inside of us. And if there's going to be one thing, brother and sister and friend and children, that we ought to learn from these chapters that we're going to be reading in the following weeks, is that we utterly depend on the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are not to think that we are somehow different to the people of Israel. We are not to think that they are just simply the disobedient and the rebellious people. But brother and sister and friend, we are to see ourselves and the human nature in these chapters that we are going to be reading. As I said, in chapter 17, we start with a new section. And these stories are going to be perhaps divided into two different types or two different categories of stories.

The stories that are related to the tribe of Dan. You remember that the people of Israel were divided in 12 different tribes. We have the tribe of Dan and also the tribe of Benjamin. And the stories are going to be related primarily to the tribe of Dan in chapter 17 and 18, and then to the tribe of Benjamin in the following chapters. In the chapter that we have in front of us, 13 verses, we start with a story of a person whose name is Micah.

This is a person from the tribe of Ephraim, from the hill country of Ephraim. And his name means, who is like God. The name of Micah is actually a praise that says, who is like God? And as we are going to read, brethren, these verses in chapter 17 and 18, we're going to see that the name of these men, even though it's a praise unto the Lord, it speaks much of the character of these men, not so much on the side of the praises unto the Lord, but more on the question of who is like God, of ignorance of God. Because this man is going to think that he knows God, and he's actually going to try to worship the God that he has in his mind that is not the Lord God of the people of Israel.

This man is a covenant breaker. This man is a thief. This man is an idolater. This man is actually going to steal silver from his mom. He's going to return it and use that silver to carve unto themselves or make unto themselves an idol, put it into his house, and worship there a household of gods, calling that almost his own temple, and thinking that by hiring a Levite and bringing him as a priest, that he is pleasing the Lord.

This is why I want to speak to you, my dear brother and sister, about the dangers of false religion. Because the man that we're going to be reading here in chapter 17 is a man who thinks that he's worshiping the Lord, and he has been so canonized, if that is a word, he has been so conformed to the world, the world of the canonized, that now his mind, brother and sister, is just completely confused. And unless we might be tempted to believe that chapter 17 and onwards is the result of all the cycles of disobedience that we have seen in the past, unless we might think and be tempted to believe that this is not a corruption of the hearts of men, but rather just the result of the many cycles of disobedience and judgments of the generations of the people of Israel that are basically filling the cup of judgment, Let me tell you that the narratives that we read from Chapter 17 up to the end of the book are narratives that, when it comes to time, happened not long after the death of Joshua. We're going to be told in chapter 17 and 18 that those who were ministering as the priests in Shiloh were only two or three generations from Aaron. That is just people who were living after the death of Joshua.

Yes, these chapters are placed towards the end of the Book of Judges, but the narratives that we're going to be reading here are things that took place not long after the death of Joshua, the commander of the people of Israel. Brethren, these are the people of Israel to whom the covenant was given. If you remember, these are the people that renewed the covenant in the end of the Book of Joshua. These are the people to whom mighty preaching was given. These are the people that received the renewal of the covenant yet.

This generation and the future generation and the ones that are going to be given to practices that are even shameful to speak and very difficult to read. So let us read now, my dear brother and sister, these 13 verses that we have in front of us and the story of Micah, this idolatrous thief man. And may the Lord help us to apply this to the dangers of false religion. Judges 17. there was a man of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah.

And he said to his mother, The 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you, about which you uttered, I cursed, and also spoke it in my ears. Behold, the silver is with me. I took it." And his mother said, Blessed be my son by the Lord. And he restored the 1,100 pieces of silver to his mother.

And his mother said, I dedicate the silver to the Lord from my hand for my son to make a carved image and a metal image. Now, therefore, I will restore it to you. So when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took 200 pieces of silver and gave it to the silversmith. who made it into a carved image than a metal image. And it was in the house of Micah.

And the man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod, and a household gods, and ordained one of his sons who became his priest. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Now there was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite. And he sojourned there.

And the man departed from the town of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And as he sojourned, As he journeyed, he came to the hill country of Ephraim to the house of Micah. And Micah said to him, Where do you come from? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn where I may find a place. And Micah said to him, Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver a year, and a suit of clothes, and your living.

And the Levite went in. And the Levite was content to dwell with a man. And the young man became to him like one of his sons. And Micah ordained the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. Then Micah said, Now, I know that the Lord will prosper me because I have a Levite as priest.

Amen. This is the words of the Lord. Terrifying, brethren. Terrifying words. Terrifying situation and confusion.

This is the depravity of the heart of men, brethren. Unless we will disconnect ourselves from Micah, unless we might think that we are somehow better, or we have better understanding, or we're in a better position than Micah and the people of Israel at that time. Let me tell you, my dear soul, that the Bible is very clear. It does not matter how old you are. It does not matter if you're a kid.

It does not matter if you're young. It does not matter if you're old. It does not matter if you're experienced or not. Your human heart is completely and totally depraved and broken. We have been taken in full bondage of sin and we belong to the system of this world in and of ourselves.

By nature, our heart is deceitful and nobody can understand it. By nature, we have a wicked heart and nobody can understand it. And the only way that our heart can be liberated from the oppression of our sin and our corruption is through the work of the Holy Spirit in the Lord Jesus Christ. Within the sound of my voice, there are two types of people. People who are slaves to their sin and unrighteousness and in bondage to their condition as fallen humans.

And people who, by the grace of the Lord, had been united to the Lord Jesus Christ and, hence, liberated from that bondage of the heart, that bondage of the will, that bondage of the soul. And if you happen to be in this category here of those who are sons of Adam or daughters of Adam. And you know that you are not in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you know that you have not received the grace of the Savior, let me tell you that your conscience, your heart, and your full being is taken in bondage to this unrighteousness of this world. And your only hope is to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Religion is not going to liberate you. Traditions of men are not going to liberate you. Efforts and ethics and morals are not going to liberate you, are not going to free you. The only one who can free your soul, your conscience and your heart is the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you happen to be in that condition today, it is the day of your salvation.

Today is the day in which you're going to be taken out of Egypt to come and cross the Jordan River by the hand of the Savior. Today is the day in which you can go out of the wilderness, leaning on your beloved, the one who loved your soul and gave himself for you. And His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh dear brother and sister, but if at the sound of those words and at the understanding of those statements that have just come out of our mouth, you may believe that just because by the grace that you have received and the salvation that you have, now that you are not to worry about the presence of sin, or that you're not to worry about falling again into bondage, or that you're not to worry about the power of sin, let me tell you then that you are very confused. Because even though you have been saved and you have received the grace of the Lord, and you have been united to the Lord, the Bible is very clear that still within you there is an ambassador of Satan.

That still within you is the presence of sin. And if you do not abide in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, then your corruption and your waste and the passions that are within you are going to make war against your soul And if it's not because of the sustaining grace of the Lord, they will have victory over you. Thanks be to the Lord that we have the promise in Romans chapter 6, that sin will have no dominion over us, not because there's something good in us, but rather because this is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. But your soul, brother and sister and friend, you who are in Christ, you are to abide in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ so that you will not be taken by the passions of your heart and end up in practices similar to the practice of Micah. Do not think that because you have read the Bible many times, or because you've been attending church for many Sundays, or because you prayed a prayer 20 or 40 or 50 years ago, or because you know so much theology, that you are not in danger in following the path of your own heart and your own corruption.

We are in danger of following exactly the same paths of Micah and all of the people that we're going to be reading in these chapters if we do not abide in the person of Jesus Christ. And let me submit to you that the reason why we open our eyes and we see a church in these times that is more like the world and less that what is written is is because those who are seated in chairs in that which is the visible church are not more than people who have their hearts attached to their sin in the same way that Micah had. Many people who from their mouths said that they are in Christ, yet when they come into the inside of their hearts and inside of their minds, their lives are a slave to sin. Thoughts cannot be removed. Seeing cannot be overcome.

Why? Because many people speak the words and utter the sounds with the mouth, but they are not abiding genuinely in the person of Jesus Christ. That which is the cause of false religion is false Christians. Because when there is a genuine believer who is walking in the power of the Spirit, and when the Lord Jesus Christ is triumphing in the heart of the believer, the Scripture speaks of the bride as someone beautiful and pure that is being conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is going to come out of this wilderness leaning on her Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. False religion is the result of false people who are seated in chairs in many different churches being pleased with the preaching of the Word, only wanting to hear what they want to hear, with preachers, many times men and women, that only speak to the itching ears of those who are seated so that perhaps they might put some money into their boxes and the pastor might be able to buy a better car or have a bigger house.

brother and sister. These are the dangers of religion. First one, if we do not have a regenerated membership of the church or members of the church, if we do not have a church that is comprised by those who have been genuinely saved, we are going to end up in idolatry. It does not matter that we put ourselves the label of a Christian church. It does not matter that we have a website that calls a Christian church.

It does not matter that we have the Bible on our pulpits. It does not matter that we do Christian things. If we do not have a church that depends upon the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we don't have souls that depend upon the lordship of the Lord Jesus Christ, if we do not have people that are seated at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we're going to have churches that are doing that which is right in their own eyes, just like the people of Israel did, and that is going to end up in idolatry. In the case of Micah and his mom, they just took that which was valuable unto them. Two hundred pieces of silver to carve unto themselves images and to make them their gods and to make them in their little temple.

In this time, we only simply take that which is valuable unto us and we make unto ourselves gods. That we put the label of Christianity. People make unto themselves buildings and big structures and big schools and books and reputation and names unto themselves just as a golden cow that they worship putting in the name of Christianity if we don't have the kinship of Christ ruling in our hearts we are going to end up with false religion that is idolater in nature But not only that, my dear brother and sister, if the kinship of Christ is not in the heart of those who profess to be teachers of the law, of those who profess to be preachers of the Word, if the Lord Jesus Christ is not ruling in those who are supposed to shepherd the people of God, then we are going to end up like this priest here. that came to this man who offered him ten pieces of silver per year, and he was contempt, to have gone and entered into the house to minister in this church, in this temple. We are going to have what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 6 and Titus chapter 1, shameful gain.

Pastors and shepherds and people leading the people of God in idolatrous ways that want to do things for a shameful gain. That their service to the temple, that their service to God is based upon shameful gain. Money that they make out of the souls. Money that they make out of the church. Money that they make out of the temple that they have built unto themselves.

But beyond that and worse than that, my dear brother and sister, if we don't have the kinship of the Lord Jesus Christ ruling clearly in your heart, if we don't have the Spirit of Christ ruling clearly in the members of the church, we're going to end up with a worse thing. And that is a great delusion. Did you pay careful attention to the deceitful words, or better, the very confused words of Micah in verse 13? After all the things that he has done, after all these idols that he has built unto himself, and after he has made this temple for him, all of these practices of hiring even a Levite, he is fully convinced, if you see there in verse 13, now I know, that the Lord will prosper me, because I have a Levite as a priest." Brethren, blind!

How is the blind going to know that he is blind if he cannot see? Blind, complete delusion, mine is given over. You think that he knows that he's in the wrong? He thinks that he's completely doing the right thing. He has departed from the Lord.

The word of the Lord is not in his heart anymore. The presence of God is not in him anymore. And as a result of that, there is now from this separation, confusion, idolatry, shameful gain, that is taking these people to practices that are going to be heavily judged by the God that they proclaim to worship. Oh brethren, apart from the condescending grace of the Lord, apart from the condescending mercy of the Lord, All of us that are gathered here together on this day and that we hold these scriptures and that we think that we have the truth are going to end up in a month or two weeks or whatever time in the future denying the truth that we profess to believe today. Apart from the grace of God, apart from the genuine presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts, apart from the kingship of Christ upon our lives and our souls, we will end up in the same delusion, idolatry, and the same unrighteousness of the people of Israel.

If you think that you stand firm, take heed lest you fall. It says the apostle in 1 Corinthians 10. Our lives are simple. Give up self and set your mind on the Lord Jesus Christ. Die to self and set your eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because when you look inside, or when you try to find a solution in your mind, or when you think that you are strong enough that you can go about your day without praying and without being in the presence of the Lord, without reading the Scriptures or going to church from time to time, when you are so strong in your own eyes, then you have no king other than yourself. And when you make your own king, then you do that which is right in your own eyes. And if there is a person that is doing that which is right in their own eyes, what a fearful place to be. Because we do not know that which is right. We do not know that which is righteous.

The only one who knows that which is right and that which is righteous is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the only hope of the soul is to give up to self and to come before the Lord and to make Him, by the grace of the Spirit in surrender and humiliation, the Lord and Savior of our lives. If that is your case, my dear soul, if you hear the words of this Colombian as I speak, If you children are hearing and receiving these words, let me tell you that your only hope is to believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one who can protect you from yourself. Don't you know that you have a false prophet in your own mind? Don't you know that you have a false prophet in your own heart?

That if you pay attention to your own heart and to your own mind, you have a false prophet that is ready to tell you to take the path of unrighteousness. But if you are being led by the Holy Spirit and if you are surrendering yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the only one who can take you through ways of righteousness and the one that can conform you to his image and give you compassion for the souls of those who are walking in darkness and empowering you to die to self so that you will be of any service to the church and to the one that is lost. May the Lord give us the grace that is needed so that we will not end up walking in the ways of Micah but rather walking in the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen? Amen.

Let us pray.