ut in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night and behold an angel of the lord stood before them and the glory of the lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid then the angel said to them do not be afraid for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for there is born to you this day in the city of david a savior who is christ the lord and this will be the sign to you you

will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising god and saying glory to god in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men so it was when the angel had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherd said to one another let us now go to bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass which the lord has made known to us I feel we’re

qualified to speak about the joy of a new baby this past summer our daughter and son-in-law brought us good tidings of great joy that they were going to have a baby as with the world’s wait for the baby jesus kendall and alex waited a long time for this great news and when baby celie was born we followed the sign of the text message and the guiding star of google maps to seattle of course we came bearing gifts for the newborn babe what an answer to prayer

it was a miracle we enjoyed our beautiful new granddaughter in her swaddling clothes for about a week before we came home though we have plenty of photos and videos I noticed that now a month later it isn’t hard to retrieve that feeling of great joy we had in those first days with celie even without looking at photos at all all I have to do is think about her joy and seeley hasn’t done anything for us except to be adorable how much more then should I should

we be able to feel the joy and wonder of the baby jesus our savior god incarnate who came into this world innocent taught us how to live bore the weight of our sins on the cross to give us life and left us the holy spirit to aid us on this earthly journey a savior who has done so much for us what a gift god gave us when he opened the door to him through an innocent baby I don’t think we need pictures or videos to feel

that our wonder either the joy of our lives in christ simply stop and think about the birth of baby jesus over 2000 years ago and when you do may you feel god’s powerfully feel god’s joy advent season now amy will light the candle let’s pray heavenly father we thank you for this season for the joy that comes in baby jesus we thank you that we have this time to stop and pause and just consider what all that means I pray that that joy is not just

for the world but it’s for each and every individual person in their hearts during this time that they carry that joy with them for the rest of the season and and well beyond we thank you for that gift in jesus name amen congratulations grandma and grandpa that’s the new identity you go by I’m sure but what a thrill and what a reminder strange to think that we need a reminder you know the world was a very dark place when jesus came into it and the bible

makes a lot of points about the arrival of jesus but nothing more sort of poignant and reality check ish than to say it wasn’t a good time he didn’t come to join the party he came to bring light in darkness he came to bring hope in a hopeless world you know the pessimism of those days is only rivaled in my memory from experience we had in eastern europe we were there after 40 years of communism and they weren’t done with the soviet control yet but it

sure showed on their faces they were a broken people the hungarians they were beautiful people but broken and we got there and thought why why what do what are you seeing we’re talking to the team that we had taken the first of several summers and we talked about what stands out to you right now what are you seeing among these people and and the overwhelming response was they’re they’re sad they’re they’re they’re defeated they’re crestfallen we would say and it was true because they they don’t

have a single war in their history where they prevailed they were beaten and beaten and beaten often times it was just their country was the playground for other bigger armies that came in and did terrible things so it was a hopeless place it earned the label most a highest suicide rate in a modern society because of that so it’s that kind of joy that we’re talking about here today it’s a joy that is unspeakable when the holy spirit comes into the heart of every single person

who bows their knee to jesus so if you’re watching live this morning from some other place or you’re here in the house just know that truth it’s I’m going to say a few things today and try to keep you awake but the truth is there’s a joy that is that is remarkable and thanks christopher drawing our attention to slowing down and the friars for just appreciating the joy that you have as grandma and grandpa and that’s really a wonderful thing I have joy as well and

I have it in the midst of something that’s not easy and not fun and but we’re in a persevering time in our lives and I want to thank you for your continued constant care and support and prayers for little deb and good morning honey she’s watching along with others this morning and she I can report to you has a real joy deep in her soul so the songs we sang today have they resonate with us they really do and I want to ask you something that

kind of goes into the idea of darkness and takes you into the question for you for me that I’ve had on my mind a lot this week in this the final message in a series called choices doing what is right I want you to I want you to answer a question or at least consider a question this morning how do you define what shapes right and wrong when it comes to you and you don’t need to shout it out I actually made a list of things

that I thought well at different times that shaped my view of what is right and what is wrong because it occurs to me that in order to choose what is right you got to make a decision there between right and wrong so let me start just kind of was thinking about our world today and my journey in this world I was thinking about political parties okay you you might say well I’m a republican therefore and you can finish your sentence or you might say I’m a

democrat and democrats do and you finish your sentence you might choose another party an independent party or a libertarian party something like that and that may in fact inform much of how you live maybe not but that’s one possibility another possibility is teachers do you sometimes or often refer to teachers who taught you in grade school middle school high school college post grad whatever it is a teacher that said something that framed a truth for you at least at the time and you’ve you followed that

I’ll refer to one a little bit later in my message that’s a possibility I you can’t go far in this questioning without thinking about friends right so we have peer groups people at school or people in our teens that I’m not sure it’s ever a formal kind of thing but it’s a shared they’re doing it I’ll try it you know I may do it they think that way well maybe that’s the right way to think so some would answer that’s part of how you sort of

decide you make your choice between right and and wrong then then I got to thinking about my work life and a boss has a pretty important point a voice for many of us right actually some of us it’s not true today because if you lose your job you’ll find a new 100 options tomorrow right but that’s not normal normally you actually hold on to your job because you’re not sure what you’ll do if you lose your job right so it tends to point to I listen

to what my boss says now I’m not going to follow him off a bridge or that kind of thing you know of course but your boss you kind of make make sure he wins at that golf game you’re playing with him right you know that that joke so boss might be one of those and then it got real personal I was thinking of my parents and my family life is it is it your parents and if you’re thinking your parents you might even have the support

of scripture behind you in your thinking because ephesians 6 says children honor your mother and father obey your parents for this is right and it’s my dad’s interrupting my message right now and saying amen preach that brother preach it and so I will but you you honor your you obey your you embrace your mom and dad because the bible actually supports you in doing that and says to you it’s the first commandment with a promise there’s a payoff for that keep that in mind too dad

but anyway so then I thought of culture I went real wide at this point and maybe you need to as well to think through your answer what shapes how you or you your standard for doing right and choosing that over wrong culture seems to me the core ethic of culture is is basically it’s okay if nobody gets hurt so you’re free to do and choose whatever you want can you see the boundaries going big you can choose anything you want as long as no one gets

hurt so what that looks like today gets bigger and bigger all the time you can smoke pot if you want today don’t do it in church that would be really tacky but you can you can snort coke and if you’re cod it might be a misdemeanor it might be a ticket even in some places enlightened places like portland oregon right so that’s just okay today let me get get a little more uncomfortable right now if porn is your thing then as long as no one gets

hurt knock yourself out that’s the society that’s the culture that’s that’s trying to help us with this defining right and wrong frankly there’s no help at all there take promiscuity since we’re thinking in those terms same thing no one gets hurt our culture might say no big deal I can’t leave that list without mentioning abortion or other kinds of sins homosexuality all have a place in a pluralistic society we’re told as long as no one gets hurt I knew that would stop us from breathing right

now let me get one more that’s really in play I think in all of us is itself is that how you you consult yourself because you are autonomous and we are the land of the free right so put those two together and that means I’m free to decide for me and many people say that’s exactly and emphatically true pastor so what’s your source for deciding what is right I told you I’d mention a professor friend of mine he became a friend because he was that guy

willing to meet with me in other places and just sitting there hearing a lecture so I would golf with him and things like that and I got a lot of good input but nothing better than neil anderson’s words by the way he has a ministry called freedom freedom in christ ministries really outstanding because at the core of it is this book we call holy bible the truth from god okay so neil anderson says this about my question this morning the truest thing that could be said

about you is what god has to say I’m going to modify his word slightly this morning sorry neil the truest thing that could be said about anything amen is what god has to say that’s right so that means by definition if we embrace that if you say that’s good pastor and that means things like cnn and fox news and twitter and facebook and instagram is he taking a shot at all of them well if the truest thing that could be said about you I hate to

break the news if it is is what god has to say then what we’ve been told that well I I looked it up it was on the internet might not be so true I I after all it’s it’s going viral must be true so it’s particularly true when it comes to defining right or wrong what anderson told me long ago the truest thing that could be said about anything is what god has to say that’s right it’s a it’s an amen point every time we hear

it so you realize for example that just because you have a right as an american doesn’t make it right you understand that we all understand that don’t we we have lots of rights as an american for example cheating on your spouse is legal did you know that it’s legal but gosh I’m out of words to describe how immoral that is there’s there’s more on my list watching pornography I mentioned it earlier is absolutely perfectly legal and completely immoral that’s why we live we we support ministries

that help people overcome that if you’re struggling with that you don’t have to struggle with that and there’s help to help you overcome that because that’s god’s bias and belief and hope for your life that you will let me take some other things that are just I’m just picking on all kinds of sins this morning but let’s go lying gossip cursing hating none of those things listen to me now will put you behind bars you can do it all but they’re wrong and I said it

earlier and I need to say it again abortion is is supported by government and legal and available almost everywhere in this country and it’s an unspeakable evil it is so don’t don’t give me the exceptions and the exemptions that baby has a right to live done sorry yeah it’s done all right I’ll get mail that’s okay I’ll get and I won’t get it from most of you that’s that’s also okay so which raises a question how do people who make wrong choices manage the stab in

their conscience over what I just did was wrong how how do you do that there’s one word and you can write this down and take a conversation or two to process it it’s called rationalization all right listen to me now rationalization we rationalize when we do something that is wrong I’ve listed plenty of them today and we come up with explanations read excuses to to sort of reduce that sense of guilt for what we did that’s rationalization it probably won’t surprise you when I tell you

that that’s not new that actually comes right out of the third chapter of the bible the book of genesis I’m not going to have you turn now I just want you to hear this okay go with all the little pieces of information that float around in our minds because we’ve heard about genesis and we get when the first couple shows up chapter three and they’re they’re in the garden okay a couple of facts that will jump out at you adam and eve were put there with

a clear definition of right and wrong ready not done with my sentence from god okay so they don’t don’t don’t add things to the story when you read it again in genesis they were put there by god with an absolute airtight clear understanding of right and wrong that is a fact secondly second fact both adam and eve chose bad anyway both of them did and and that’s right eve grabbed the fruit and ate it gave some to him who was standing there and he ate it

adam ate it they did it both that makes both of them sinners but remarkably incredibly without any tutoring with no facebook instagram or or twitter they found a way to answer a simple question by god hey started with adam adam did you and his answer should have been yes or no but his answer started with the woman that’s rationalization are you hearing it and so god gives up on that and moves her direction and says to eve did you and her first answer was not yes

or no it was the serpent she actually adds that you put here wow what a what yeah it’s crazy right so that both of them rationalize their behavior by inventing explanations meant to give a valid reason for choices that they made clearly in plain view to make them feel not so well bad about what they did so from the garden I want you to turn in your bibles to isaiah chapter 5 for just a moment from genesis 3 to isaiah 5. Okay and I’ll just tell

you in a sentence what we what I had you imagine in the garden it wasn’t much longer before it became sort of the practice that caught on and became a nationwide habit of ancient israel that’s how people rolled in that day you might have blown it but don’t admit it is kind of the thinking and it brought a not so subtle rebuke by isaiah the prophet in chapter 5 quoting god verse 20. Would you please look at these words woe to those who call evil good

and good evil verse 20 who put darkness called darkness light and light darkness who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter so what’s he saying he’s saying just as night is different than day and he uses the word bitter let’s say just as dill pickles are different than sweet pickles with me that brings it home right so too evil is different than good that’s what he’s saying right there in verse 20. That means that switching labels changes nothing I can I can grab a jar

that says dill pickles and I open it up and I reach in and get a pickle and bite into it and immediately know I’ve been had if it’s in fact wrongly labeled and they’re really sweet pickles on the inside you getting that right we understand that kind of thinking you can call evil behavior good wow is that our world or what you can call it good all you want but that doesn’t change the core dna of evil behavior so we come today to this conclusion in

a series that was spawned by the book of judges if you’ll turn back to I want you to turn to chapter two of judges just one last time this morning so it’s the seventh book of the bible a little easier for you to find judges chapter two and it’s a book that describes what we’ve referred to along the way these last three months the dark ages of ancient israel was not a good time the time stamp that judges captures these 21 chapters goes from the great

life and leadership of joshua all the way to the first king of israel saul that span is centuries 325 years to be exact so I titled this three-month study choices doing what is right and it’s inspired by this alarming pattern presented in judges where where god’s people would start out well they would do what is right and then they’d leave the path you know anybody like that are you raising your hand for you or for somebody else right we all get that it’s like people have

woken up the morning after they did the most unthinkable sinful things and called me and said something to the effect what in the world did I do and then they expounded on their wrong turn and and the bible has beautiful words but it’s a painful path back so these people of god the israelites started out well and then they wandered from god and now you’re ready to just kind of hear it again that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors this is verse 10 of

chapter 2. He’s referring to the people that were alive during the days of joshua and now they’ve faded off the scene they’ve died one by one and that generation is now gone another generation grew up who knew listen to this neither the lord nor what he had done for israel lots we could go into and we have along the way then the israelites did evil in the eyes of the lord and served the the idols bales was one of the idols they forsook the lord the

god of their ancestors who had brought them out of egypt they followed and worshiped various other false gods the gods of the people around them in canaan they aroused in doing so the lord’s anger because they forsook him and chose phony gods that don’t even exist they’re idols made of wood they’ve got ears but they can’t hear eyes they can’t see the what are you doing was the tone that we’re reading here verse 14 in his anger against israel the lord gave them into the hands

of raiders who plundered them and he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around whom they were no longer able to resist they were powerless of their own making when it whenever israel went out to fight the hand of the lord was against them to defeat them just as he had sworn he would do and they were in great distress look at verse 16 then the lord raised up in their distress raiders judges rather who saved them out of the hands of these raiders

yet they would not listen to these judges but prostituted themselves to other gods false gods and worship them they quickly turned away from the ways of their ancestors who had been obedient to the lord’s commands do you hear the thing repeating here whenever the lord raised up a judge for them he was with the judge and saved them out of his hands of the enemy as long as the judge lived for the lord relented that means changed his mind because of their groaning under those who

oppressed and afflicted them but when the judge died the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors following other gods and serving and worshiping them they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways and the very next word in this saga repeat and repeat and and they were in great distress of their own making that’s what verse 15 saying they they were in a spot and the videotape would suggest no would insist it’s of their own making and this becomes

a pattern this is crazy to even say this for 10 generations folks that’s as long as we’ve been a country you can almost play this whole thing out in america but but these people for 10 generations that’s children grandchildren great-grandchildren on and on and on it went they lived out this pattern it was a pattern that was captured by an 18th century young man he was 23. His name was robert robinson he was a troubled teenager in in his day and he hung around with some

pretty we would say bad influences you ever said that to your kids nobody I heard it plenty from my parents anyway moving on he had plenty this robert robinson had plenty of I’m going to call him sin stories that he could tell by the age of 17. Then one day there was a man a jesus loving evangelist named george whitefield who came to the city this young man lived in in london and and he preached a message inspired by some really kind of convicting words that

amos the prophet of old it’s also in our bible in chapter 4 verse 12 of his writings amos said this prepare to meet thy god this young man sat out there and his jaw fell and his heart sank as he realized he was anything but prepared to meet his god all right he’s 17 years old realizing he wasn’t prepared he repented of his sin and he surrendered to jesus christ so six short years later from 17 to 23 very short amount of time he realized that

his choice to follow jesus back when he was at 17 year old and heard the message of the gospel it didn’t stay with him he was he was afflicted by this problem he had this stubborn penchant for repeating sin habits he goes back often to when he was 17 going what was what was that and why is this you ever done that and it’s it’s a self-deprecating thing you just go what is it’s romans 7 the apostle paul going what kind of guy does what I’m

doing and then he wrote a song that seemed to resonate with a whole bunch of people about the fount of every blessing called come thou found and in the song these three sentences bind my wandering heart to thee came up that great statement make that your prayer if you’re the guy that goes off the path you’ve done some of these things but you can go back to when you met jesus and you’re going what pray what robinson prayed bind my wandering heart to thee and then

he says prone to wander lord I feel it I I have this thing inside me I feel the tendency to go I want to walk straight and I wander off prone to wander lord I feel it prone to leave the god I love I don’t I can’t tell many times I’ve poured those words out from a heart that’s self-sick like god what is my deal this isn’t five years ago people this is bad drivers today that make me lose my religion half the time I’m just

like you man leave this state now you know I mean you know I I say that to help you laugh but I also say it to admit to you only the very acceptable sins of my life do those words describe you prone to wander lord I feel it prone to leave god I love then then pray it as a prayer lord bind my wandering heart to thee don’t let anything get between you and me jesus nothing perhaps it’s because if if that’s sort of your story

too it’s because you you haven’t settled a single truth that israel failed to settle for centuries what is that well it’s it’s actually stated four times in judges I want you to just see the most obvious and you’ll remember me telling you go to the last verse in the entire book would you turn to judges 21 and it’s verse 25 trust me when I tell you it’s in your notes there’s three other places that these exact words appear but it’s this final verse that really kind

of captures it the assessment the judgment is made verse 25 in those days israel had no king everyone did what’s to say as they saw fit can I give it to you in another translation we’re talking judges 21 25 new living translation says it this way all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes talk about a fitting description of our days remember it’s okay no one gets hurt our culture today is now suspect of the suggestion that there is a set and settled

standard with certain moral mandates that applies to all people take that in imagine yourself talking to somebody in our world today about certain set and settled standards that have moral mandates to them and they will come back strong with ridiculous that will be the response and they will say it was scoffing tones god’s absolutes are thought by many today to be arrogant and controlling and and frankly audacious how dare you suggest that what I’ve done is not okay but that’s the tone of words that have

driven my ministry for 40 years now in second timothy 4 last chapter paul ever wrote and he wrote it to young timothy and in those days I thought of myself as young timothy and he says I solemnly charge you in the presence of god and of christ jesus to preach the gospel reprove rebuke exhort and teach with great patience for the time will come when people will no longer endure sound doctrine they will go what they will say what that’s cool for you but not me

instead they will gather instead of teachers that teach the truth they will gather teachers who will say what their itching ears want to hear they will turn aside their ears from the truth and they will turn to the ways of the world and myths and then he finishes but you steve put your name in there if you dare you endure hardship do do the work of teaching truth and being an evangelist and fulfill your ministry drop the mic and duck when people gather teachers who say

what their itching ears want to hear they are repeating a practice that we’re talking about that’s 3 000 years old the pattern of judges it’s being lived again and I want you to look these these verses up they’re all in your notes as well seven times throughout the 21 chapters so about every three chapters of judges seven times this assessment is made of people who chose wrong or right based on what they wanted them as the absolute source it says these words seven times they did

what was evil in the eyes of the lord you get that seven times in judges proverbs agrees emphatically with certain words like proverbs 12 15 the way of fools seems right to them john mcarthur has observed quoting today’s truth is regarded as a matter of personal perspective many believe today that nothing can be known with settled certainty so common phrases like my truth and your truth suggest that all truth claims are really nothing more than personal opinions and they deserve to be treated that way this

is the practice that’s the end of that quote this is the practice I hear with a growing number of counselors counselors maybe you’ve talked to some and you need to talk further about this question of truth and you’ve heard you’ve told them I need I need help I need counsel and in going to them they might even have it on some sign or they’ll say it very comfortably in the early going that I’m I’m committed to truth that’s my counseling approach I’m committed to truth but

if you press further as I have on more than a few occasions you find out what they’re really saying is my counseling vision is to help my clients embrace their truth I’ve had too many people come to me and say I went to a counselor and this is what I heard is that really true well it’s their truth and those counselors false teachers may I label them are giving garbage out and saying well as long as you embrace your truth you’re good to go I’m not

saying I’m not throwing counselors and therapists under the bus as a group but I’m saying be careful and find out if this is the truth they’re talking about or not and if they’re not just comfortably pay your 200 an hour bill and leave just don’t even go there it will it will entrap you in more ways than you know so doing what is right is only consistently possible if we embrace the god that declares what is right and wrong it’s true don’t waver from that because

the truest thing that could be said about you or anything is what god has to say don’t deny that ignoring or rejecting god’s truth let me just say it to do so you say well pastor why is that because I think you’re trifling with eternity when you do it’s giant I read some words this week that I want to close my talk with that describe the time of the judges that’s why I was deep in my research and and study and they’re also a warning for

people like us as I’ve tried to make clear throughout this series judges isn’t just a book about long ago it’s a book about this week in our lives isn’t it yeah lots to take away there’s this warning for people like us who are tempted to as I’ve said throughout this talk do what is right in their own eyes quote it is critical to understand and embrace god’s absolute truth in all areas of life why why is that critical to embrace god’s truth in absolute truth in

all areas of life why because life has consequences for being wrong giving someone wrong amounts of medication can kill them having an investment advisor advisor make a wrong investment a monetary decision on your behalf can impoverish your family boarding a wrong plane will take you to a place you do not wish to go and trust me I’ve heard stories it still happens but nowhere are the consequences more important than in areas of faith and religion and I conclude eternity is an awful long time to be

wrong don’t don’t trifle with eternity so you say pastor I’m with you a hundred percent right now I wanna I don’t wanna I don’t wanna guess at my eternal destination we talk about the gospel it’s called the gospel is a kind of a formal word for good news it’s good news but it starts with kind of bad news if I can be bold it’s bad news about the fact that humans who do what is right in their own eyes is what the bible calls sin and

when we do that once twice or habitually it makes us sinners according to the definition of the bible they haven’t gone god’s way but they’ve gone instead as isaiah 53 says their own way and for those of us that think well that’s not entirely true of me then you’re disagreeing with the bible because it says each of us has done so and it’s in the notes again psalm 14 psalm 53 and romans 3 all agree that there’s no exception in this room or those hearing far

and wide when we do what is right in our own eyes we are defined by god as sinners sinful humans and there’s a consequence for doing what they want what I want what we want while ignoring what god wants and this consequence is according to the bible in romans 6 verse 23 for the wages the consequence of sin is death deserved banishment from god forever and no one’s doing you any favors if they close the story at that they completely deny the whole purpose for jesus

coming they ignore the whole reality of a cross 33 years later that involved the same baby born in bethlehem only this cross had him hanging from a tree and suffering for sinners like you and me god because he loves sinful humans a hundred percent of us he loves us and because he

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 6,174 words.