Christian Atheism

I want to thank all you some a church all of our campuses for making server.

Are you such a success. For now, 10 years in a row so Marty you began over a decade ago as an effort for us to be able to bless our community to be able to make the gospel tangible and felt in ways that they would understand her the last several days, more than 2000 of you have served our city and somewhere near 10,000 volunteer outer at 10,000 volunteer hours. We gave our 1700 backpacks full of supplies to teachers and the students may be most impressive to me on Tuesday night more than 1200 of you gathered in Durham Central Park to pray for the city and the rain and alas it did not stop you. The statistics are always inspiring to me.

But maybe even more moving and entertaining are some of the stories that get associated that are just beginning to come in, I know of at least one family that rearrange their vacation so that they can be a part of just blessed in serving our community. The Chapel Hill campus someone over there. I was scraping Dom off of the desk a Chapel Hill high school in the pulled out a tooth out of the garment they scraped off so I'm not sure what that means but were glad to serve in any way that we can now that we've been doing this for a decade.

We are launching on ask you this weekend, something we are going to serve 365 you know that the vision has always been a not for us to know, take three or four days and go out and do something nice and come back and pure our hands and go back to work. Safe communities. It's basically precious to get this is a way of life for us and so many of you that this is something that God is going to put on your heart is a way of constantly demonstrating the love of Jesus for our community and serve 365 would be the way that you do that you can find out that more on that on the website and let me just really quickly say some of you have asked about this, you've noticed that I do have a new book that just came out much of a copy of it. I'm not preaching from it, but it is called gaining by losing what the future belongs to churches that sin by the way, make sure you get the subtitle right. It's not churches that sin not sin.okay that would be a great book also churches the sin, but that's not the book that I wrote. It is really is your story. This book, it is a story of how God transformed our church into becoming a sending church, when I started pastoring this church some 13 years ago have a goal that we had the goal why I gave was we want to grow this church is big as possible, and I remember one afternoon up to the capital to the store before one afternoon I was praying for our city and I was praying that God would send an awakening to our city, but nothing Raleigh-Durham had ever seen the kind of things that 100 years from now, you would write about the movement of God that took place and it was mother's moment for the Holy Spirit spoke to me, not in an audible voice, but in a voice that was louder, more clear than audible. The Holy Spirit is it okay okay what if I say yes to that prayer and what if I do send an awakening like nothing Raleigh and Durham have ever seen. But what if I don't use the summit church to do it if I bless somebody else's church and they're the ones that grow and get the attention and not yours. I know I know I knew what the right answer was persistent and say oh yes Lord you must increase and I must decrease. But I knew it was the right answer, but I would in the real answer. The real answer was no. I'm not okay with that. I want archers to grow in a did I realize, all in a moment that my prayers for thy kingdom come.

What I really meant was my kingdom come, and so was about eight years ago I stood in front of the church and I said I'm I think of what you wrongly, our focus has been on growing the big church and really our focus audibly on reaching our city and getting the gospel in the places where it's never been. And so if God wants to grow a big church in the process of doing that, then so be it. But if he wants to take out some of our best resources and best leaders and send them out. The plan of the churches in our city or cities around the United States or across the world and were to be okay with that too. And so really this is the story of how all that happened you know that every single year we sent out over 100 people in church planting teams to cities, whether it's in Raleigh-Durham are in there somewhere else in the United States right now 200 over 200 of our members live overseas on one of our church running teams come over there, works out about one in every 20 summit members arm has an overseas address and is on one of our church planting teams the international mission board, which we do a lot of our missions through the one, a vice president's there told me said not only does your church and more people to the international mission more than any other church in the southern Baptist convention. He said you send more by a significant margin.

He says like three or four times as many as that is the next church come to this book is your story. Some of you are mentioned by name in this book cover most of you, it is positive, but you'll have to see what's in there. If you're interested you can pick one up at one of our any of our campuses and just a reminder every thing we ever fell here ever. Not me or any other pastor here makes a single dime off of that God has allowed me a great privilege of being your pastor and I do not write books to make money off of you. I'm so all the good things that go from selling a book here at the church goes back into the ministries of the church that we can do things like serve are you so you got a Bible.

Now the time to take it out and once you open it to the book of Judges, the book of Judges. Every good book every good TV series got a come to an end this weekend we come to the end of our study on the book of Judges.

I honestly am not sure whether to be sad or relieved of your relieved. Raise your hand. You can be honest, I believe my hands up.

It is been AWOL and challenging book. Judges 17 we give you a warning as we begin. These are some of the darkest and most gruesome stories in the Bible, like a Quentin Tarantino movie there all darkness and seemingly no hope. Let me also mention if you are a parent and you have a young child in here.

My kids are normally set to the service are not in here this morning your kid is less than 13 years old.

This might be a great week for you to acquaint yourselves with the excellent give programming we offer here the summit church not to be risqué, but the stories are just disturbing, I can find. By the way, very few sermons that have been preached on these chapters, and I think you'll figure out why here in just a few moments time back maybe when I get done to be like.

I wish you hadn't preached a sermon on these chapters, but I felt like there some things are really important and I know they're in the Bible for a reason. They depict a state that I like to refer to as Christian atheism Christian atheism. These people in these stories believe in God but practically speaking, as I'll show you they live like atheists, try to show you that we had a lot of people in our culture and maybe eat some of you that fit in that same category as I tell the stories they remind may remind you of of kind of the time of the age that we live in. And what I've picked up is that most of us, regardless of which side of the political aisle that you sit on, most of us are genuinely concerned about where our country is headed.

This is certainly been one of the most morally turbulent summers that I can remember. Seems like every time I turn on the that the new users some mass murderer gun violence or racial turmoil seems like it's as bad as is been in my lifetime people are asking legitimate questions about our justice system and whether it treats people of color fairly. A lot of Christians feel like the sky is falling morally come couple of weeks ago, we watched as Bruce Jenner who is changed to be in Kate. When Jenner got the SB award for courage.

ESPN's annual awards and is his speech. He basically says you know we gotta get beyond what we say that any issue of sexuality as a matter of right and wrong.

We just had a treat this as as as registered agent.

Everything's okay and all play stands to their feet and not in applause, standing ovation in the message seems be pretty clear that if you don't accept this is normal then you have no place in the longer and civilized discourse. And then of course there's the recent revelation of what goes on behind the scenes at Planned Parenthood at confusion over the moral outrage that takes place at the death of a lion on a different continent, but the seeming indifference of the little boys and little girls that are dismembered in the womb.

It seems like the one thing that both right and left have in common is that both the like. This country is in turmoil and it's in trouble. Judges 17 to 21. These five chapters are to describe an age very similar to ours, and I hope that it will not only show you that there is nothing new under the sun that we were living in is not a new age, but it shows you where our hope lies in how you and I were supposed to respond in an age like this one. Judges chapter 17 Sampson the last Judges just died so chapter 17 opens up with a story of a seemingly random man named Micah who overhears his mom under a curse on the person that stole her money well was Micah Micah's the one who stole his mom's money and he believes in God, just enough to be scared of the curse.

So he goes to his mom is like a mom. Sorry it was me.

Please use your money. Please they got back to curse and so is mom is so grateful to get the money back that not only did she lift the curse.

He says were for. I solemnly consecrate the silver to the Lord for my son Micah to make an image overlaid with silver.

In other words to say thank you God forgive me, give me back the stolen money by making a statue of God, not notice. This is not a statue of Baylor Astro author, a Canaanite God. This is a statue of Jehovah, Israel's God verse five. So Micah makes a shrine and he installs one of his sons as priests. A priest in those days Israel had no king. Everybody did what was right in his own eyes.

In other words, they had no ruler everybody has become his own ruler. Christian atheism nearly ardent characteristic number one Christian atheism redefines God rather than submit to God. What this woman did was in direct violation of the second commandment that we not make any images, graven images or likenesses of God not only stop here for just a minute because a lot of believers say.

You know I get the first commandment that we shouldn't you have other gods besides God. But what's the big deal about making an image out of God. Maybe it helps you worship or make you feel good or whatever. Here is why that commandment God. God gave us that commandment, an image of God cannot possibly capture the full range of God's glory so inevitably in your image that you make you will highlight the parts of God's nature that appeal to you and you will conceal the parts that don't. For example, you will magnify his strength, but obscure his compassion, or you will celebrate his grace while ignoring his purity and his justice and what you end up with is a distortion of God God not as he actually is but a God as you would prefer him to be which is not really God in all it's really just a deified version of you. It is a rejection of God and a choice for yourself. Hand-in-hand with that always goes a redefinition of morality receiver six, when there was no king in the was no rule everybody did what was right in our own eyes just as you redefine God, you will redefine right and wrong according to your preferences as well. Now, in many ways this is the primary sin of our culture is not. It's not that we completely reject Jesus. We just want him to be a certain way. I will essentially make same as I will my Jesus is like this and I would never believe in a God who would say this for a God who would do that. The problem is that the full-scale rejection of God. I tried to illustrate it to you before like this if somebody came up to you and said hey I find you to be a fascinating person and I want write a biography about your life you would be flattered while here I am pizza Monday night dead yes mom was write a biography, I say yes, but let me tell you in this biography you're a strict vegetarian and you you to see, but you are me unicycle about it and you always vote independent and you're angry about it and you try to be an astronaut but you failed out of it and you're a loser and you are lonely and you live with 18 cats and you're like, well, a dozen conniption person, but another thing to truly am scared of heights and I don't vote independent and not lots of meat and in this okay yeah but but but but but I'm a vegetarian and I'm independent and I really want you to be there things is a make you more interesting. Naturally, would be insulted because they are rejecting the real you for a version of you that they find to be more palatable more interesting when you and I begin to redefine God and say God you offend me. When you say this I'm my God is good to be this is not really got it all, all it is is a deified projection of your self.

When that happens, you will inevitably begin to redefine morality as you prefer it to be as well.

As a worshiping of your own preferences and by the way, when I say that I'm not just talking about the pundits on MSNBC doing this, people in churches like ours do it when they decide, for example, that there been asleep together before they married.

Even though God's word very clearly says that the sexual relationship is reserved for marriage. Some will even have the audacity to say I know that we prayed about it and God gave us a piece as if that has any relevance at all. Just admit to yourself that what seems right in your own eyes has more weight to you and what God says you say S I am a Christian and I believe in God but practically speaking, you are an atheist because you reserve the right to define what God says is right and wrong according to your own preferences. Let me continue on with the story and show you the second thing the Christian atheist. Do verse seven. After Micah makes a statue puts it in his house.

He needs a Levite who they are part of the priestly class traveling through town and Mike's is all good look a priest.

I got some extra money for my mom I can hire him to be a priest for my statue of God. And so the priest says, well, you technically shouldn't even do that, but how much you pay in and Mike is a lovely light come on, give me a lot of money and the free says. Money prayed about it. My so I got a call me to say yes.

Verse 13 Micah said now I know that the Lord will be good to me since the Levite this Levite is become my priest and I got on the hook. Now he's obligated to be good to me. Second characteristic of Christian atheism.

Christian atheism uses God uses God rather than worship Sam she Micah assumes two things here. He assumes first that his God exist to serve him and secondly he assumes that if he does the right things in this God is obligated to bless them. I told you this before but the great substitute for true faith in God is this kind of religiosity is not faith in God at all and it is built on two premises printer someone is a God exist for you. Number two if you knew the right things. God is obligated to bless you he owes you. By contrast, true faith, says God, I exist for you. You don't know me anything I owe you to religion will ask questions like how can I get God to help me out in my business. How can I get God to give me good family. How can I get God to keep me healthy. And when you do whatever you think it is he is telling you to do and those things don't happen. You look at God and shake your fist in his face and say God I did everything that you have. I gave the money here and I will hear this many times and I said the things that I behave and obeyed these things and you let down your part of the deal. True faith never make statements like that true face is God. It all belongs to you what you want to do it and when God sends pain into your life or frustration you you end up saying is that my God I still can't believe I get a chance to know you and be saved. How can I glorify you through this day. False religion seeks control of God. True faith surrenders to God.

Religion seeks access to God to get him to do what you want true faith gives God access to your heart so that he can tell you what he wants.

Here's my question for you. What kind of relationship with God. Are you seeking me show you what happens real quick. When you shrink God down to a size you can control in the next chapter. Chapter 18 it is good to be another group of Israelites show up Micah's house. They are more money than Micah does, so they hi they convinces priest to go with them and the steel statue into the reason is that you leave a Micah went up morning figures out what happened. So he was chasing after him and he's just yelling at them as I got to bring that my priest in my statue and they're like oh now bro don't get bent out of shape will place the money for whatever what's wrong for 24 Micah says but if you take the God that I made my last if you take these gods when I got nothing left. You see when you shrink God down to a size you can control. You will always live in fear of losing him, when you have surrendered to the true God, you quit worrying about losing him because you know that he'll never lose you. It was and I honestly tried this week to come up with a story that would better illustrate this than this one.

I'm about to tell you, but I've only had semi things happen to me throughout my life I can't just make stuff up right so you can take some missing stories you know couple times so this one that because it just so perfectly captures this sentiment here on this. It took place in an airport which most muscle racing to take place in airports in Atlanta airport. I'm in the waiting room because that's what you know, Delta, Stanford doesn't really be airport and I'm just sitting there and that in the waiting room and the waiting area and I thought of his conversation with his woman confines on the pastor, which always leads to interesting places and she's one religious leader to. She says what I do is I have a shop where I sell. I collect different religious 10 artifacts in different religions and I try to take the best of every religion in my shop is what religious smorgasbord you come in to skin a bit confusing, but your own religion and pump like you don't got I got I want to be that guy likes our pre-scenario sounds like a Citroen be polite and and yes were on time for her turn the conversation when the people right across the aisle from us is an older couple and they were talking to each other but there were 10 at the age where they think or talk to each other but the really talking to the entire Atlanta airport and she half the woman is read the newspaper and she said her husband. She's like, I'll let you know is a horoscope says that if you're a Taurus then unity you can have safety today and she says I am a Taurus so that means that our plane is going to be safe from is not, cannot you not listen to what is woman. She, she perked right up and she says that's awesome she reaches into her bag and she says I've got this little thing that I call a rosary ring. This is what I get from the Catholics is my favorite part of the Catholic religion. She says this is a rosary ring it's got all these beads around it and is Jesus crucified and and if you hold onto it when you fly many guarantees that you'll be safe. And so the older couple, shaking their heads and and and and she's like this is my favorite thing. Well, you know, I watch and get them to start process when when all of a sudden the person next to the older couple you know he's in the conversation he suddenly perked up, unzips his carry-on bag and pulls out a statue a little statue of St. Christopher.

He says this is St. Christopher, the patron saint of traveling. I always travel with him in my carry-on before we take off our rub his head and that means that I'm going to be safe and how like episode of Star Trek that is to be then to how to be things happen and so I'm going to days and nights are calm and so means woman walking on the jetway_like a witness veil and this woman really just inside of her pocketbook and she says you don't have have two of these and NC says in that the people behind us and she says she says yelled. You are also lucky we are. She's a horse consider to be safe.

I got a rosary ring he's got St. Christopher get a Baptist pastor with us on this flight it's going to be awesome and she says here's this rosary. I got two of them. She ends when the me and she says your Christian I know that you want to have this. She said if you withhold takeoff on the land and everything will be okay and call after I don't want to be that guy and I'm like a Micah to be that guy and so I said ma'am I say I no offense to you. This is really sweet gesture. I will gladly receive your gift but I guess that you see the sky got crucified on top yes it that's the God of the universe and he spoke all these things we see into existence and the reason they haven't crucified a Bears because is because when he saw that we were in danger and we saw that we were perishing. He actually came himself to give his life to die for us and see when I trusted him as my Savior, John chapter 10.

He said that he literally put me inside of his aunt. What that means is that when this plane takes off it. If error doesn't permit Lane if it ever takes off, to be in his hand, and when we land wherever going I'm to be in his hand, and if we blow up in midair. I'm still going to be in his hand, and no offense to you and your rosary ring. But if the God of the universe hold me tightly in his hand.

I don't have to hold so tightly to him in my what you're seeing. Listen, is a picture of how different you can approach God differently there. Some people were always concerned about my doing the right things to get God's blessing and it always ends with you being very anxious, doing this or that. The other ways you surrender to God and you say God I belong to you cannot surrender myself to your love because you save me you died for me and there's this feeling of peace and safety that come in. That keeps you from being someone like Micah here is the question. Which way do you try to relate to God which way are you seeking to relate to God the next several stories are going to show you what happens when you redefine God. And when you try to use God. They show you what life looks like on a cultural scale and on an individual scale when God is absent, try to summarize them as best I can to move the will, but you cannot hang on you ready chapter 19 verse one. Now another priest to differently by different God took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. Copy bonds a fake wife and so story got off the bat start, but she was unfaithful to him.

She left and went back to her mom and dad's home in Bethlehem so he goes and tries to convince her dad to make her come back with him.

You know, since he purchased are fair and square. And so she make a long story short, he commences her dad to let her come back and he puts on his donkey and start the journey back up to where he lives. Well, as the sun is about the set as their traveling.

They get near this town called Gibby and the tribe of Benjamin. When they stop there to spend the night they go out of the city square because that's what you did before Embassy suites shooting on the city square and will semi-invite you to come and stay with them have anointed the member. The night discount rate. Finally, an old guy shows up and he says, verse 20 you're welcome at my house, the old man said, whatever you do, do not spend the night in the city square whether settling in for the night when suddenly verse 22. Some of the wicked men of the city's around the house pounding on the door. They shout to the old man who owns the house bring out the man who came to your house so that we can have sex with him will the old man and the priest now scared all throughout the concubine and say why don't you take her leave us alone.

You have her write her instead. Verse 25 to the Levite to his concubine and center outside of them and they raped her throughout the night.

At daybreak the woman went back to the house for her master was staying and she fell down with her hands outstretched on the fresh threshold of the door and she lay there until daylight when the master got up in the morning and open the door the house and stepped out to continue on his way. Apparently with no thought for her at all their lay his concubine falling in the doorway of the house with her hands on the threshold. Many said her get up.

Let's go. There was no answer when the man put her on a donkey and set out for home. 29 when he reached home.

He took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb into 12 parts and sent them in all the different areas of Israel. Verse 20 then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba came together as one and assemble before the Lord in a place called Mizpah and they said to the priest Levi tell us how this awful thing happened to the Levite explains the story conveniently leaving out the part where he said his concubine out to get Ray to save his own skin. While the story provokes moral outrage verse 11 so the Israelites get together and unite as one against the city and they amass an army of 400,000 soldiers to march against the Benjamite and they demand that the Benjamite surrender of the men of the city who did this thing. But the leaders of Benjamin will do it to this massive fight breaks out and at first the armies of Benjamin or Winnie verse 26 all the Israelites, the whole army goes up the Bethel where they sit weeping before the Lord and the Lord response to them go again, for tomorrow I will give them in your hands, and God did it was about verse 48 minute Israel put all the towns of Benjamin to the sword killing the animals and everything else they found they did leave a single thing alive.

All the towns they came across a set on fire. Only 600 Benjamite's escape and are all male soldiers. They bullion and they go hide in some caves in the mountain. Chapter 21 the Israelites knowing that the 600 have escaped take about they say, not one of us will give his daughter in marriage to a Benjamite of these guys ever emerge well few months go by temper school. The 600 Benjamite come out from hiding, and I say look, all of our wives and daughters rolled dad were a bunch of guys and so we have nobody to marry and have kids and continue on our lineage of our tribe. Well, another in a pickle because all the Israelites have made this vow that nobody can ever marry a Benjamite, but now they pulled down. They don't want this tried to go extinct. Is it part of their heritage servers to the people go up to Bethel again where they sit before God until evening weeping bitterly, Lord God of Israel.

They cry wise. This happened to us. Why should one try be missing from Israel today as if it's God's fault. What you can do God, why did you let this happen while they not God. They come up with a plan birthday.

They say what it was there any tribe of Israel, that when we sent out a summons to go to war was and it probably didn't show up in any region that instant representatives and a figure of those is one region called Jabez, Gilead, the didn't send anybody to the Ward Council riser for they do verse 10 today sent 12,000 of their best warriors to Jabez Gilead who didn't send any representatives with orders to kill everyone there, including women and children.

This is what you are to do kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin, so they do that but they keep alive 400 virgin girls to serve as wives to be Benjamite but that's not enough, there still 200 short so verse 20 they tell the minute Benjamin, there's this other region in Israel, where they have a tradition where every fall they come out before the harvest, and they do this ritual dance but they don't bring them in with them to want to go hide in the woods. And when these women verse. We were 21 we see the young women come out for their dances and rush out from the vineyard in each one of you can take home one of them to the land of Benjamin to be your wife.

We call that kidnapping and so they do that and then the book of Judges, just dance. Verse 25.

In those days Israel had no king.

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes/verse when God is absent, smutty lives like an atheist.

Atheism always results in two things, always strong to press the week and despair when God is absent, the week or abused the inevitable result of casting off the rule of God is defining morality in a way that benefits the strong what rhymes through these last chapters is a horrific callousness for the week. Israel is mercilessly oppressive toward weaker tribes and weaker groups like Israelite women. One scholar said that you could evaluate Israel's relationship with God in the book of Judges how they treat women at the beginning of the book of Judges.

They are the protectors of women by the end of the book of Judges, there are the ones who are oppressing women themselves is not the Canaanites doing that they're doing it. What's even worse, they seem oblivious to what they're doing. They talk like the right with God like you're just trying to do the right thing. But where is the Levite rebukes Brett may have in a concubine and be sending her out as a peace offering to a group of men looking for a gang rape that part disorder gets brushed to the side because women are not as important as the men. Where's the concern for the women that they kidnap provide brides for some of the men where's the concern of these chapters for the innocent people that the Israelites kill in their process of perverted justice when you take God out of the equation. The strong in evitable.

He began to oppress the weak, the most profound achievement of the American Constitution was to ground our rights not in democracy not in the will of the majority, but in God's created order. We are endowed by our Creator. They said with inalienable rights. They are inalienable because they don't come from the majority. They come from God and the majority didn't storm the majority can't take him away to the not subject to the whims of the majority is why they was Ben Franklin who said democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what out for lunch. The liberty is the Lamb having grounds before God on which to contest the boat so a guy like Martin Luther King comes along, he could say that the American majority was wrong and how it treated black men and women, even though it was the law of the land of the will of the majority. If violated, he said the higher law, the law of the creator. Martin Luther King had only had the will of the people to appeal to. He would've had no leg to stand on. He said there is a higher law that gives inalienable rights and no majority, no matter how strong can ever take them away because they didn't give them in the first place.

It was the law, the creator. When a society or a person dismisses God the strong, inevitably will begin to oppress the weak.

Phyllis asked this question.

Who are the weak among us today. For many years in our country. It was people of different races for a large part of our history, the African, Native American, Hispanic, was subject to a different standard of justice than the majority was even today the laws themselves have been corrected. We who are in positions of strength ought constantly to make sure that justice is not being skewed toward the strong, because that happens inevitably and very easily and we ought to empathize with those around us who have not enjoyed the same positions of strength throughout history that we have read an article recently on the Gospel coalition site caught my attention because it was written by guy named Isaac Adams. The reason it caught my attention is because Isaac Adams came to faith in Christ. On the fourth row sitting right there.

He was an African-American Chapel Hill University student came to faith in Christ in our church. You hung over from being drunk the night before. Scott say the next Sunday morning here in our church company was writing on the anniversary of the death of Eric Garner theme is not trying to pass judgment on the merits of the case. He was just trying to urges white brothers and sisters in Christ to at least put themselves in the place of their black brothers and sisters and try to see some of the situations through their eyes. He says and I quote. Imagine being white and every copy surrounds you with black the cops pulling up their credit alert are up there in their car to your once peaceful scene while their black to you the only guy in this situation who was white. One of the cops just descends on you did to abandon three of them begin to pin you down as imagine this happening to you. You wouldn't think twice about whether race were a factor, imagine them saying I can't breathe. I can breathe only to have your face further pressed into the unforgiving sidewalk and now imagine all of this in the context of having seen the slain of 12-year-old Tamir Rice and the brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmett till in the memories of situations like Rodney King or the lynchings that took place throughout history. Might you be even just a little weary of the police, maybe a little discouraged now. He is not saying that the police are bad. He is not saying the police or even guilty in each of those situations he's not in a place to judge that and he knows that and he supports the new processes of law. He just wants those of us in the majority culture to consider things from the viewpoint of somebody who has not walked in our shoes and speak up for them the way that we would want someone to speak up for us or our children. Why, why do we think that because all people black, white, brown or whatever color are created in God's image and are given the same inalienable rights and ought to be subject to the same due process of law of anybody else and are to be treated like such, there is another group on the fatherless, the fatherless in our country. One in every three kids in the United States is growing up in a single-parent home in most cases it's the absence of a dad in Durham County alone, 20,000 kids will never know what it's like to have the love of the father that grew.

By the way, would fill the Durham Bulls athletic baseball stadium twice foster kids, many of them are in the foster care. There 716 children in foster care in wake County alone. It's up to hundred from last year. Many of them bounce from one house to another constantly feeling like nobody wants them or loves them every year, hundreds of them age out of the system were 99% of the time they say they end up on the streets.

Do they not deserve the love of a parent are they not created in the image of God. Just like your kids are, would you not want your kids to know that kind of love are these kids invisible to us how we felt their pain that we treated them like people made in the image of God like us and our children, the homeless tonight in Durham in wake County, 333 children will go to bed homeless recovering prisoners read a study recently talking about how one of the primary predictors of whether somebody was back in the crime when they're released primary predictor is whether they have healthy relationships with people on the outside but 40% of prisoners and runaway County have no one. Not a single person come visit them. A single time when they're in prison. My family not friends, not somebody from church we have a ministry this church that does just that. In fact I found out last night we got 53 prisoners who have signed up and said I'm ready to have this kind of relationship with the people to bring me to church.

We still have the volunteer families that are already to escort them and be a part of that process about the unborn. The revelation that Planned Parenthood traffics in, but the body parts of aborted babies ought to make us ask a very uncomfortable question. What is it say about us as a society that we have a use for aborted human organs but not a use for the baby that provides them only process a little farther because I know this is controversial you in one sense, Planned Parenthood's logic makes sense. They maintain that the unborn is not human, just a piece of tissue.

It's a piece of hamburger.

If that's true then nobody should have any problem destroying it or selling it. A woman does have a right to her body and she wants remove part of her body and sell it that's on her. What does not make sense is when somebody says you with none of your moan is human being, but a woman still ought to have the right to kill it but selling it minutes barbaric. Listen, if the unborn is not human, then no justification for abortion. No justification for selling body parts is really necessary if the unborn is a human being, then no justification could we ever give would be adequate. Our children in the womb, human beings made in the image of God. If so, then how could we ever be okay with a human being being killed simply for convenience and if you say well I don't know if it's really human life, life is both science and logic demand that it's a human organism is human life. It is life in wake County alone. There are 23 abortions every single day and we need to be brokenhearted about it when we need to be righteously angry and we need to do something. Why because every human created in the image of God has the same right to dignity and respect and love is any of the rest of us. We cannot do is be silent and I should see in the face of every aborted unborn child. The face of my own children because their children that are killed in the womb are not any different than my own children. They're both made in the image of God. If there is no God. We do not need to be worried about anybody's pain but our own, but if there is a God and we recognize that each person created in the image of God is worthy of respect and dignity and to be ought to be loved.

We believers we Christians ought to speak up for anybody in the position of weakness.

That's how you can measure whether or not we understand God and the gospel that we switch here from in high school students you speak up for those who being picked on in the lunch room there a few times were more like God than when you stand up for someone who is being oppressed and there a few times that you anchor God, like when you participate in or sit silent during the bullying of somebody else to give one more Christians for us.

We know that there are millions of people in the world who never heard the name of Jesus each one of these people is made in the image of God just like you and me. They know what it's like to feel pain and I was like to feel lonely.

They notice like to be afraid for them.

Going to hell would be every bit the tragedy that it is would be for you or me for our kids is announcing we talk about people around the world that have no access to the gospel.

We cannot just put it into the category of statistic 2.2 billion people never heard the name of Jesus.

Joseph Stalin, who typically don't hold during sermons. But Joseph Stalin said the death of one is a tragedy, the death of the millions just a statistic. This is not a statistic.

These are people made in the image of God and what that means is that we ought to love them, the way we want somebody to love us because they are eternal suffering will be no different than if it was for us or our children. I realize some a church that each of you cannot be involved in all of these ministries. But one thing is true of people who really believe in God and really understand the gospel that they give themselves away for the week is the sign that you have met God you can't be involved in all of them, but you should be involved in some of them.

That's what serve 355 is really all about you a seminar. Do you.com there ought to be a way that you can point to and say I am giving my life to restore dignity to the oppressed time giving my life to take healing and gospel to the week because that is the sign that you know God hears that the last thing here when God is absent.

We live with despair when God is absent. We live with despair as I noted, this book ends with a note of desperation.

It tells these horrific stories in the author, put his hands up and mentor says in those days Israel had no king. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes so appealing at the beginning was not.

You want to swim.

I cannot always get to make his own God is like. He wants God guarantees it is, life is good is going to blast it always ends in darkness, I get to define God as I wanted to be. He becomes my lucky rabbit's foot, but it ends with hell on earth as it is for the story takes a turn. The book of Judges does not exist by itself in the Bible. In fact, listen, there is another book in the Bible that is written in parallel with the last chapters of the book of Judges, you know this but there's another book was right after Judges that actually overlaps with judges when chapter 17 begins there is this book and the book is called the book of Ruth. Ironically enough, Ruth is a woman is not even an Israelite and she's a widow when you're a non-Israelite widow in Israel.

That's about as low on the totem pole you can get. But unlike the Jewish heroes of faith.

Unlike Samson she's gonna trust God in the face of impossible odds, and though she is weak and there she is poor. Her book ends with this verse before 21 number Judges ends with, there's no king. Everybody's doing what's right in his own eyes. Ruth ends this way and Boaz, who married Ruth through her father guy named Obed know that father Gunning Jesse Jesse father Gunning David and David when they would have a son who would have a son would have a son would have a son would have a son whose name would be Jesus.

These books written in parallel show you that were the strength of Israel fails, God would save the one considered weak like Ruth one who was an outcast like Ruth the king that Israel did not have, but clearly needed would come not as one who is strong like Samson not as one who would force people to obey, like Samson did, he would come as one who was weak like Ruth, it would be an outcast. Like Ruth, who would not force people to obey, but he would change their hearts so that they wanted to obey his death would be a horrible gruesome thing a distorted version of justice just like we see here in the last chapters of the book of Judges. You see, though these chapters in Judges are dark and they are gruesome, they are not the darkest and most gruesome chapters in the Bible the most gruesome, perverted, distorted, dark chapters of the Bible about the crucifixion of Jesus. The Roman historian Cicero said that when the Romans crucified somebody. Their goal, their goal was to send a message that would make somebody terrified of the thought of ever ever rebelling against room so they come up with a way of torture that they thought was was sufficient, they would be the man before they crucified him with a cat of nine tails that would basically rip the flesh off of the abdomen in the back. Cicero, the historian says it was not uncommon during the beating to see a rib go flying off of me of a man's framed or in the scourging they say that Jesus was almost surely at least partially disemboweled after the beating the prophet Isaiah said that he was beaten to a point that he didn't even look like a man. He was unrecognizable. You wouldn't you know you read in no way was to tell that it was Jesus. They would choose a public place to crucify because they wanted to humiliate in the strip them naked. It was so painful that men would weep and vomit and urinate all over themselves. All the while the Jewish leaders putting themselves in the back saying were doing justice were doing God's work. Why why are those chapters are dark and bloodied and gruesome. He's going into Judges 17 to 21. That's why dark is the stain I cannot hide what can avail to wash it away. Look, there is flowing a crimson tide brighter than snow. You can be today. The reason the cross was so bloodied was because our sin was so bad in the price that Jesus paid for our sin had to be equal to or greater than the wickedness of our sin. So yes dark was the stain that I cannot hide what can avail to wash it away. Grace, grace, God's grace grace that can pardon and cleanse within grace grace God's grace grace that is greater than all of our sin you see is death not only pays for our sin, it transforms us to be in the kind of people who begin to obey because we love not because we have to, but because we want to is his love and his gift for us, that makes thoughts into the graceful, loving people he always wanted us to be. You saw this played out recently. One of these horrific stories from the summer. Few weeks ago when Dylan roof went into Emmanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina killed nine non-African-Americans there, you remember some of you that at Ruth's hearing his arraignment. When they brought them in several of the families stood up and said to him you took something from us that we can never get back. Jesus is forgiven us. We forgive you what give somebody the power to do that. It's not a general sense of morality is not even really a belief that God exists, nor then it compels that is a belief that in your moment of weakness when you deserve of condemnation of Judges 17 to 21.

He took it for you. He became weak for you so that you can live grace grace God's grace grace that will pardon the cleanse within grace that is greater than all of our sin, marvelous, infinite, matchless grace freely bestowed on all who believe you who are longing to see his face, will you this moment his grace receive is maybe you're living in Judges 17 to 21.

You kind of are when you realize it or not, it may not be as gruesome as Judges 17 to 21 but it's it's only different by degree not different by by substance you redefine God average of you always have said that I want you to be decimal. Change this and I want to do this I like to hear some as phenomena on opt out of that use God even more concerned is God blessing. What I'm trying, then you have saying.I want to be on your agenda.

I wanted all belong to you. If you look closer you live to see that at times you could do it get away with it. You've abuse a week you distorted justice and fairness in the things God given a U turn it into work yourself. All we like sinners. All we like sheep have gone astray. We turned everyone to his own way with the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. Dark is the stain we cannot hide what can avail to wash away. Look, there is flowing a crimson tide primer than snow. You can be today. Then come the religiosity comes to surrender religiosity redefines and uses face surrenders the whole book of Judges is about their Savior King Tinker safes, you know, you know, I want to bow your heads IS by your heads never surrendered to them never surrendered him for not inviting you to become more religious. I'm inviting you to lay down full and total control of your life at the throne of Jesus and say Jesus I can't save myself. You gonna save me. No longer will I live using you on the live worshiping you surrender to you, and I surrender all to you right now