Judges 2024

Judges chapter 19. In those days, Israel had no king. Now a levite who lived in a remote area in the Hill could of e Frame took a concubine from Bethlehem and Judah, but she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her parents home in Bethlehem.

After she had been there for 4 months, her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him as servants and 2 donkeys. She took them into her parents home, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him His father-in-law, the woman's father, prevailed on him to stay. So he remained with him 3 days, eating, and drinking, and sleeping there. On the fourth day, they got up early and he prepared to leave.

But the woman's father said to his son-in-law refresh a with something to eat, then you can go. So the 2 of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterwards, the woman's father said, please stay tonight and enjoy yourself. And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. On the morning of the fifth day when he rose to go, the woman's father said, refresh yourself.

Wait till afternoon. So the 2 of them ate together. Then when the man with his concubine and his servant got up to leave, his father-in-law, the woman's father said. Now look, It's almost evening. Spend the night here.

The day is nearly over. Stay and enjoy yourself early tomorrow morning. You can get up and be on your way home. But I'm willing to stay another night The man left and went went towards Jebus. That is Jerusalem, with his 2 saddled donkeys and his concubine.

When they were near Jebus, and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, come. Let's stop at the city of the Jebites and spend the night. His master replied, no. We won't go into any city whose people are not Israelite We will go on to Givia. He added come.

Let's try to reach Givia or Rama and spend the night in 1 of those places. So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Givier in Benjamin. There, they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no 1 took them in for the night. That's evening an old man from the hill country of e Frame, who was living in Givier, the inhabitants of the place where Benjaminites came in from his work in the fields.

When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked where are you going? Where did you come from? He answered, we are on our way from Bethlehem and Judith to a remote area in the hill country of a frame where I live. I have been to Bethlehem, I'm in Judah, and now I'm going to the house of the lords. No 1 has taken me in for the night.

Have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves, your servants, me, the woman, and the young man with us. We don't need anything. You are welcome at my house, the old man said. Let me supply whatever you need. Only don't spend the night in the square.

So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink. While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house, pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him. The owner of the house went outside and said to them, no, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this outrageous thing.

Look. Here's my virgin daughter and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But as of this man, don't do such an outrageous thing. But the Ben would not listen to him So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night.

And at dawn, they let her go. At daybreak, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight When her master got off in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way. Their layers concubine fallen in the doorway of the house with their hands on the threshold. He said to her, get up, let's go, but there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

When he reached home, he took a knife and cut off his concubine limb by limb into 12 parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. Everyone who saw it was saying to 1 another, such a thing has never been seen or done Not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Just imagine we must do something, so speak up. Well, this is the word of the lord. Now when you read a novel or when you watch a film, you can often ask the question who is the hero.

Who is the hero in this story, and sometimes we struggle to find any hero in the story at all. And so we come to judges 19, and you may ask the question, who is the hero in the story? And I think if you've just read that with me, you will realize that there is no 1 who is a hero here. In the the book series of Game of Thrones, there is a quote that says there are no heroes in life, the monsters win. That feels appropriate for our passage, doesn't it?

There are no heroes in life, the monster's whim. It's clear As we read through this passage that no 1 is good, all fail, all get it wrong. But as we read that story, I imagine you were very similar to me, and you were probably shocked and and appalled by what you were reading. I got a I got a text from Naomi this week, there was like, what song do you want to sing in response to this? Cause I've read it, and I'm scratching my head, and I'm thinking fair enough.

It's appalling, isn't it? It's a story that you naturally recoil at. I don't really like reading that out. Before this service, my heart has been incredibly heavy because I knew that I had to read this out and that I had to preach it. I I I shy away from this, and and many people could ask if maybe some of you here tonight asked Why?

Why? Why is this in the Bible? Why has God put this here? Is it really necessary god? Is it really necessary for us to have this detail?

But hopefully as we as we open this up. We're gonna see that it is necessary. We're gonna see why it is here. See, in in the book of judges, We've been, we've been seeing this downward spiral of depravity in the people of god with glimmers of hope of deliverance, but since Samsung, that that we haven't got anyone who leads the people. And, just as this book has 2 introductions, This book has 2 conclusions.

This is the second conclusion, and you would have seen, if you've read chapter 17 to 21, 2 repeated phrases throughout the book that throughout these chapters. Number 1, in those days, and you'll see it in chapter 19 verse 1, In those days, Israel had no king. That said 4 times. Twice coupled with that phrase in those days, Israel had no king. It also says, for instance, in chapter 21 and verse 25, everyone did as they saw fit.

Or as other translations have it, everyone did what was right in their own eyes. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. And here's the questions that I'm gonna pose. What happens when people have no king? What happens when people do what is right in their own eyes.

And the answer is judges 19. And so here's my first point. I've only got 2. My first point, no king doing what is right in your own eyes. Doing what is right in your own eyes.

Straight away in verse 1, we're introduced to this character, the Levi It's the second levite in the 2 conclusions. You remember in chapter 17, we've got a levite there where we get another levite here. If you don't know what a Levi is, a levy was meant to be devoted to the service of god. They were meant to serve god in god's temple. They were meant to uphold god's instruction, god's law, and they were meant to be a model of god's holiness to all the people.

So they were meant to teach both by their lip and their life. But it is quite quick that we see in in verse 2, sorry, in verse 1, that this Levi is just the same as everybody else in the culture. For he has taken himself a concubine. A concubine is someone that you're married to They're therefore marriage stuff, but they don't get all the marriage benefits. They don't get protected by the marriage laws.

In fact, they're just there really. Or generally to to produce children for somebody. Usually, you have another wife as well. And that concubine is seen as property for this man. He is not just husband.

He is master. And we see that this woman in verse 2 is unfaithful to him. Now, people aren't sure they argue about this. They think that she's probably committed adultery But it might be that that other people argue that she's had an argument with him. And to be fair, if you look at his his sort of record in this passage, you would have a few arguments with him.

And she's left him. So she's gone back to her parents home. And it's taken 4 months for him to even care. He's he's done 4 months without, and he thinks, well. I'd quite like to have that back.

And so he journeys on, and he says, I want you back probably to enjoy the benefits of sex. And so he goes and he goes to get her back, and he's welcomed gladly. So the father-in-law of this woman, he welcomes him gladly. And hospitality have never seen like this before. It's excessive, isn't it?

This man is the champion of phrases like 1 for the road. Or just 1 more. Or come on. Let's stay for it out for a little bit longer. And and and he lavishes this man with with food and drink.

And it might be because he's a bit a shamed of what his daughter's done, and then it's a big shame thing. But he is over the top with his hospitality. But I think the real reason why we show the excessive hospitality is to contrast the hospitality we see at the end of the chapter. It's meant to it's meant to help us feel more acutely what goes on at the end. So here they are, they're having a good time.

They're drinking. They're eating. They're enjoying themselves. 3 days and then 2 more 5 days of revelry, basically. Now what you would notice though, about these 2.

It's all about them. The concubine or the woman says nothing. Does nothing isn't mentioned. It's just about these 2 people, because that remember that woman is just property. Finally, The levite tears him away from the good time.

He realizes that, you know, it's a bit like those people that promise their wife that they're gonna be home, from the pub. And 12 hours later, they finally get home, and they're in big trouble. Well, this levi finally drags himself away from the house in verse 10, but he leaves at an incredibly dangerous hour that the the time is getting late. It's not the time that you want to leave. You don't tend to leave your house to go journey up to Scotland at 12 o'clock at night, do you?

There's there's there's perils at hand if you do that. Well, just as that's the case, you don't leave a time like this. It's a dangerous hour. It's gonna get dark. And so they do go at this time.

It's an irresponsible thing. And as they go, it gets darker. And darker and darker. Until verse 11, they, they come upon this place. Geebus, what a name that is, by the way.

Geebus, And the servant says, look, look, it's getting dark here. We need, we need to, we better get some shelter, we better get safety because we want to carry on next day. Now notice what does the Levi say? He's saying, no way we stay in here. This is people that aren't people the people of god.

This is our enemies. These are the people that will harm us. This is like, someone from Israel decided to stay in Gaza. There's no way in in the world that we're gonna stay here. Surely, it would be better.

Surely, it will be safer for us to travel 4 miles down the road to Gibia where where the people of god are. I I teach migration through time. And if you look at, the, the, the people's patterns, when they come into this country, They always settle where the people from their own country are. And that's, I think, what he's doing here, he's thinking they're safe d with the people that I know. How wrong this man is And as the sun sets, and as darkness comes on, we're meant to feel that this is about to get really, really dark.

They get to the city square, and it's utterly deserted. Whenever you watch a film and there's complete silence, you know it's not gonna go well. No 1 takes them in. That's incredibly shameful at this time. It shows you the spiritual state of Israel already that they didn't even go out and say come in and stay with us.

That's what they're meant to do, but they don't do that. Now maybe we see why that's the case. Finally, a man comes. He's a he's traveler. He's not from this place.

He's not a native. He's just an old man that that lives there from another place. And he says, well, come on. What are you doing here? The levite then sells himself.

He doesn't go into the details that this woman's my concubine. He doesn't go. He says, oh, actually, I'm just traveling around. I'm going off to be the house of the lord. We've got all the things that we need.

Were a really good guest for you to to bring in. That's what he's essentially saying in Levi. And so the the old man welcomes him in. It says, come and stay with me. But there are these ominous words in verse 20.

Did you see them? Let me supply whatever you need. Only don't spend the night in the square. Don't spend the night there. It's, you know, when you're growing up, you were told to avoid certain areas you.

That is a bad part of town. Don't walk down that street. There's a lot of nasty people down that street. Don't stay in the city square. No.

This is not the place you wanna be. And so they go and they go and stay with us, ma'am. And you might think actually, as you get to this point, are our fears irrational? Where we have been a bit irrational? You know, know when when you you you're in the darkness and you you think everything like, you know, you wake up and you see everything as people in your room.

You think, Oh, no. You think someone's there. You every noise sounds like a burglar. Is that is that what we were doing? There's oh, we're off phase.

A rational here. Because it look, now they're in this home and it's bright and there's light and there's hospitality and look in verse 22 and verse 21. Sorry. They they wash their feet. They have their donkeys fed.

They they're eating. They're drinking verse 22. They're enjoying themselves. Maybe we're wrong to have those fears. Maybe it's gonna be okay.

This is a warm, warm time here now. And then suddenly, banging. The pounding of the door goes. There's a a noise, an excited, a frenzied conversation outside. The the banging gets louder and louder.

And who is this here? Who has come to this man's house? Look at verse 22, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Wicked men. The word wicked means worthless or perverted.

The translations is actually sons of Bellial. In other words, sons of Satan, these are wicked men, and look at their wicked words verse 22, bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him. Here are men of Gibia Cummings and wanting to satisfy by homosexual urges with this levite man. And so the owner of the house at first, we think a hero emerges, don't we? In verse 23?

Oh, great. Finally, someone with a moral compass verse 23. The owner of the house went outside and said to them, no, my friends, don't be so vile. There is right. They're vile.

They're they're wanting to commit an atrocity. Since this matters my guest, don't do this outrageous thing. Finally, a hero. We think but not for long. Look at the horror of verse 24.

Look. Here is my virgin daughter. And his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish however you see fit, whatever you think is right, but as for this man, don't do such an outrageous thing. What are state of affairs when a man offers his virgin daughter The thing that should be so precious to him, and another man's concubine so that people can use them and do to them whatever they wish as if they're just a toy.

This reminds us though of another story. In Genesis chapter 19, you may be familiar with the story of sodom and Gamora, the details, and I think the author is intentionally doing this for us are nearly the same. These 2 angels in chapter 19 come, and they go to spend the night in the square. Lot urges them to come and stay with him. He gives them food, he gives them stuff to eat, and then in verse 4, a 9, all the men from every part of the city of sod and both young and old surrounded the house, they called a lot.

Where are the men who came to you tonight bring them out towards so that we can have sex with them. It's the same. It's the same words. And the and and what what the author of the judges' 19 is saying is that Israel is like sodom, sodom is the ultimate rebel. Sodom is the picture of ultimate wickedness in in in chapter 18 verse 20 to 21 of of, Genesis.

It says, then the Lord said the outcry against Sodom and Gamora is so great and has since so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know. And that place is destroyed. Sodom is ultimate wickedness, and look, Israel Gibbia is so far gone now. They're so far gone spiritually.

They're so far removed from guarding his words. They're so alike the world that they live in like canaan. Like they are sodom resurrected And the sad thing about this story is there's no angels. There's no angels to protect. They're vulnerable.

There's no angels to protect the women. And so these men insist we want to do the things that we want to do to this man, and the levite sensing the danger that he is in takes his concubine and sends her out like a sacrificial lamb. And as you read verse 25, what ensues is hard to stomach. Almost unspeakable as these men use and abuse this woman like she's some piece of meat. As they satisfy their sexual desires, and the darkness that surrounds them throughout the night, symbolize what is going on to this woman, and all the time that that is going on the town does not stir.

The town does not intervene. The town stays silent. Finally, light starts to appear. The ordeal is over verse 26, and she daggers to the door and falls down and doesn't move. Did you notice the heartbreaking detail in verse 27?

Fall in the doorway of the house with their hands on the threshold. Hands or those they're not showing much in terms of facial expressions can show us a lot about someone and the emotions that they felt. Unable to knock on the door, unable to open the door where there is what she would hope to be helped. Absolute hopeless. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes and the levite is included in that.

Did you see his callousness? Do you see how cold he is? Look at verse 27 again. When her master got up in the morning. Can you believe that?

He sent her out, and he hasn't gone to try and get help. He's not going to alert authorities. He sent her out, and he's gone bad. Ignoring of her screams. And then he's got up in the morning.

He's gone out. And what does he say in verse 28? Get up. Let's go. Care for her state.

And then it gets worse because he takes her I mean, an amazing point about this is we're never told actually in in the passage that she die when she dies, which is pretty dark, I know. And then in verse 29, he takes a home, he takes a knife, and shockingly, he cuts her up limb by limited 12 pieces to send them around Israel. Not because he cares for her, but because he cares about his own loss. He wants vengeance. And what is the conclusion?

We'll look at verse 30. Everyone who saw it was say who saw it was saying to 1 another. Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the rights came up out of Egypt. Just imagine we must do something so to speak up. Familiar words almost.

Can't believe this happens in 20 24. There's a court case going on about a famous rapper, and someone said, god, god forbid, god help us all. God help us all. How how has this happened? What unspeakable things We've never seen as the burden.

Nothing since we left Egypt. It's been this bad. Nothing that this sort of this violence against this woman, this maybe this this chopping up of this woman, nothing this this bad has happened. This is this is surely, the darkest day, if not 1 of the darkest days in the history of the old testament, it's so much so that the prophet Jose in his in in in his prophecy, in chapter 6, in chapter 9, and in chapter 10 reminds us of the horrors of judges 19. This is a smear on their history.

This is 1 of those things that you hush-hush Don't tell anybody that this happened. Let's not tell everybody what we did. Let us cover it all up. And so what is going on here? Why has this happened?

Why has this been allowed to happen? How has this happened? Because of those 2 phrases Israel had no king. Everyone did how they saw fit. And now you might be reading this and thinking, that's alien.

This my friends is our world. This is our world. I don't know if you noticed, as we read through that, There is not a single name said in judges chapter 19. I think I think and someone can correct me wrong because they know more than me, but every story up to now has had a name. Now we have no name.

And if there are probably 2 reasons for that. Number 1, in a world where everybody does as they see fit, where the individual rules, where they live in a secular society, actually what happens is that the individual accounts for nothing. It is the individual that is end up abused and tortured and destroyed. But number 2, this allows a wide audience to be read into judges' 19. It allows for a wider audience to be read into judges' 19.

This is not just judges 19 people. This is our world. Our world is a world of genocide Our world is a world of rape and gang rape at that. It doesn't take long to look up some stories online, New Castle, rather. India 20 12, Australia, Brazil.

All over the world, this is our world. This is our world. You don't have to look far to see dismemberment, a man kills his own wife and get rid of the body by dicing it up. You don't have to look far to see this in our world, a little 14 year old boy attacked by a man with a sword. This is our world.

This is our world. And often, It's because people, not just often every time it's because people have no king. They reject god as king, and they say, I will do what is right in my own eyes this has been the case ever since our first father, Adam. Adam said, I am not going to listen to the rule of god. I will reject the rule of god and his commandments, and I will decide what right, and the consequences are catastrophic.

And you want to go down the line, Cain decides what is right, kills his brother. David decides what is right. Sleeps with a woman who's not his wife, kills a man who was 1 of his best servants. That is what doing what is right in your own eyes. You look at the you look at the Nazis.

I know we always talk about the Nazis, but there's such a fantastic illustration of this. People go, well, they were they they looked like they were horrendous people. If you met a Nazi generally down the road, you would probably think he's an alright bloke. The the the com commandant of Auschwitz were was seen as a very civilized man. The reason why they killed millions of people was not because they thought they were doing evil.

It was because they were thinking they were doing what was right. They had rejected god. They had made themselves god in a cult They made Hitler at the top of the demigod, and they said, what is right is to kill these people, like animals, like meat, like toys to be used, and to be abused And so we talked about a death camp this morning, but death camps for the the Nazis wasn't a wrong thing. It was a right thing. And you think our culture is better?

You think UK is better? It's not. In the name of individual freedom, the most poor and vulnerable individuals suffer. 10000000 babies aborted since 19 67, torn apart. That's our world.

Do you see it? Do you see our world? But you know what? What's even more shocking about this story? This is god's people.

This is god's people doing this. These are the people that were rescued from Israel. These were the people that were given the covenants. These were the people that were given the promises of god. These were the people that were given the word of god.

These were the people that were given the tabernacle where god could dwell with man. And it is these people that have committed these atrocities. And so you might ask the question, why is this story in the Bible? Well, this story is in the Bible because it shows us the horror of sin. See, the same reason why these men in this story did what they did is the same reason why we sin.

Because we commit treason. The root of their evil is the same as the root of our evil, that we have rejected god as king, and we have tried to be our own king. We've seen that throughout the book of judges, have we not? And we need to know what treason feels like to god. Every time that we reject him as king, whether that is seemingly good or whether that is so horrific as we see here.

We are saying god I want you nowhere in my life. I want you completely gone. I want you dead. And we need visceral visceral physical pictures that make us feel nauseous that that make us recoil to let us know how God feels about my sin. See, I said that I recoiled from reading that story.

Did you recoil? Did you shy? Because it's so horrendous. But look at Christ and gethsemane. Of course, we recoil.

Why does when Christ is on gethsemane, he he shies away. He recoils. And I guess part of the reason of that is that he's gonna have treason, sin, sin poured upon him, the pure in beautiful, glorious 1, who never did any wrong, who never sinned once, whose sin is against. Takes all of the sin upon himself. And so rightly, he recoils because it's so nauseating.

That's why we need this story. This story shows us brothers and sisters, friends, How god views sin. We need suffering and violence. Because it shows us our treason against god. We need suffering and violence because it shows us just how dark and death it and depraved, we are as humans.

We need judges 19 because it makes us cry out, doesn't it? It makes us cry out that we will have a king who can lead us into righteousness. We can have a king that that does what is right and does what is right always and leaders leads us into doing what is right It makes us cry out for deliverance from this world and deliverance from this sin. We we we pray with with Paul you know, what a what a wretched man I am who will deliver me from this Bosie. We we pray with Paul in in chapter 8 of Romans.

All creation groans at at the curse of this world. And so we we pray and and we groan with creation to deliver us from this, this world of sin. We cry out for a king that can bring salvation, but not just salvation, but justice Is that not our heart cry here? And so here we have seen the catastrophe of what it means to have no king and to do what is right in our own eyes. But let us go to the second point the king we long for.

The king we long for. See, I imagine you think this is a dark story And if this chapter was the final words in the Bible, it would be hopeless, wouldn't it? Just as her hands are hopeless, this would be hopeless. But this is not the final word and believe it or not, this is not the darkest story in the Bible. There is a darker story.

The darker story is the cross of Christ. And if you've forgotten that, remember it because the cross is where the perfect spotless son of god He's in very nature god. He is the creator of the world He is the 1 who committed no sin. There was no deceit found on his lips. He is the 1 who is so pure and perfect that it is he that people reject and put on a cross, the son of god on a cross.

And darkness rains. And you know what? Maybe you thought we'd done with the sin bit. It is at the cross that we see, we are all guilty. See, just as this woman was a sacrifice, Jesus' sack feist by the the pharisees handed over just as she was handed over.

As we looked at her hands, we can see his hands outstretched And as you look at that scene, know that it was you who put him there. That's what Peter says. You crucified him. You, me. See, every time Every time that we sin, we've committed treason against god.

That means that we said I've rejected you as god. I've rejected the son of god as king. I've rejected Jesus. And so, therefore, I said he's not the son of god. He's not the king of the world.

And so, therefore, he deserves to be on that cross. Every single 1 of us in this room reflect on this now. Every single 1 of us in this room are complicit at the cross. Why is he on the cross? For my sin, for my rejection of him.

We're all guilty. Feel this. Please, please. I mean, I might be I might be not saying this right, but feel this. The darkness of the cross is your sin.

It's your sin. But It is this very act of violence that we celebrate. We are those who sing of his blood. In Revelation chapter 5, it says you are worthy to receive all praise and honor why because you were slaughtered. See, the difference between Jesus and this concubine is that she was forced to go out.

The son of god completely off his own volition, was completely willing to march to the cross and to die. Where this woman's hands are so hopeless. Jesus stretches out his hands, and although it looks helpless and know, although it looks so weak and though it looks so pathetic, those hands promise hope. As he welcomes in sinners. See, it is through the death and the resurrection and the ascension of the lord Jesus Christ that he secures his kingship.

That's what we long for in this passage, isn't it in judges 19? We want a king. The great news about judges 19 and judges 20 and 21, it's not the end of the story. The next book is what? What?

Ruth, thank you. And in Ruth, you get the David line and you get David and David has promised a king that will that will save and will judge with with with with glorious justice and that will rain forever, and his peace will will not be known forever. And so this is the king that we long for, and so he comes onto the scene, and the magi realize that he is the king, and then he he is seen as, as Peter looks at him, he says, you are the Messiah and he, but he gets on a cult and he marches in to fulfill the Zechariah prophecy that says, I'm the king that saves and judges. And so then he goes to the cross where he will save, and he will judge, and he takes his throne on the cross and his crown with a crown of thorns. He secures his kingship because he rises to sit at the right hand of the father and reign.

And so his death, his resurrection, his ascension, not only just secures his kingship, but it secures justice. Tom was saying this morning that he has appointed judge of the world that lord Jesus Christ is coming back to judge all sin. Is that not good news? Do you not wanna see these people in this passage brought to justice? Do we not?

Do we not wanna see the man who took a sword to that 14 year old boy? Do we not wanna see him brought to justice? Yes, we do. But the glorious news is that it's not just justice because justice is his chief for us, that we don't have to bear the punishment for our own sins because Christ bears the punishment for us. And so, therefore, he secures our salvation That is unbelievable news, all the darkness, all the sin, all the the filth of of my life, of all times I've got it wrong.

Even this week, even this week when I've got it wrong. Payful. Finish. And so I can sing with the the songwriter. Oh, my sin.

The the the the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in parts, but the whole is nailed to the cross, and I bear it what no more. Praise the Lord. Praise secures by salvation. Christ secures a world that that we long for. Do we not long for a world that that no longer has this suffering that that that that the that John writes in Revelation chapter 21, he says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there was no longer any sea, no more evil.

I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, god's dwelling place is now among the people. And he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and god himself will be with them and be their gods, and just the most, gorgeous verse. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death.

Or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. The darkness, the suffering of the cross secures his kingship. It secures justice. It secures salvation is secures the world that we all long for. And so we come to the cross And we look to the side of Jesus, and who do we see, but a thief, and a thief that goes for I deserve to be on this cross.

I've committed treason. And he looks to the side and he sees 1 who never did any wrong. He sees the hands outstretched of hope. He sees a willing sacrifice. And he says, lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

He sees 1 who secures his salvation, his justice in the world, and so Jesus says to that man, today. Today, you'll be with me in paradise. That's for us. So how should we respond? How should we respond to this?

Well, maybe you're here, and you're not a Christian. And maybe as I've spoken, you've resonated with the darkness of this world, but also with the darkness in your own hearts. Maybe you can feel that today? What can I point you to the glorious shining light that is Christ? And as you look at him, the winning sacrifice with his hands held out, will you accept him, accept his embrace accept his kingship, his rule, accept the salvation that he can offer you.

And for us Christians, let us not stop feeling our sin. We're gonna get it wrong. Let's not be okay with that. Feel it. The puritans used to say that, feel the weight of your sin.

But they're just wallowing that confess your sin. For there is 1 who is faithful to forgive. We can keep coming back get it wrong when we stop living for him, it's great because we we've now been brought under his rule, and he allows us to live for him. But we get it wrong, so we must confess it when we get it wrong. But not just confess.

Celebrate. Praise Christ. Praise Christ. He saved us. Praise Christ for his cross.

Sing about his cross. There's all sorts of things you could boast about in this slide. You could boast about how good looking you some of you could. You could boast about how athletic you are. You could boast about how musical you are.

You could boast about what career you have. You can boast about your family stock. You can boast about the friends that you have and the acquaintances that you've met. None of them are worth boasting in. The only thing that is worth boasting, brothers and sisters, is the lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Let us boast in Him. And as we boast in him and as we live for him, let us long. I hope that tonight, as we've seen the darkness of world and the darkness of our own hearts. It's made us long for his return all the more. Comelord Jesus, That should be our prayer.

Let's pray, and then we'll sing a song, and then we'll do communion. Father, we thank you for this story, and we thank you for what it reveals to us about our dark hearts. We thank you for what it reveals to us about our need for a king. And we thank you that the lord Jesus Christ is that king that we long for. We praise you for Jesus.

We praise you, Jesus, for being the willing sacrifice, who holds out his hands on a cross to save, desperate, vile, poor sinners. We thank you that you will bring justice as a result. We thank you that you bring a world that we all long for. Help us to lift our eyes out of this world, out of the things in this world, help us see our need for Jesus help us see our need for his return, and let us pray in our hearts for his return more and more. We pray this in Jesus' name.

Man. Okay. We're gonna, we're gonna take communion now. And I think that's a fitting way to respond. Communion is is really where we're we're confronted with not only our sin, but also with the glorious hope that we have in the lord Jesus Christ.

And we're reminded of the violence of across for which saves us. And so let us come now and we're gonna read 1 John chapter 1 verse 8, which says this. And after we've read this, maybe a time in just in the quiet of your heart to reflect and to confess. And then steam's going to come off and pray. And then the breads and the juice will be handed out.

It's just a reminder reminds us that Christ has bought us as a people to our fellowship with him. There's nothing special. And if you're not a believer, don't believe in Jesus, let it pass you by, but maybe reflect on the things that you've heard. Let's read 1 John now. Well, John, 1 verse 8 says if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purifiers from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word is not in us. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the father. Jesus Christ, the righteous 1.

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our but also for the sins of the whole world. A moment then to confess, and then Steam is gonna pray for us.