Day 198: "What Is Right In Their Own Eyes"

July 17
Today's Connected Readings: 

• Judges 14:1-16:22; 17:1-6;  21:25 
• Deuteronomy 12:1-14 
• Proverbs 14:12 
• Isaiah 56:9-12 
• Jeremiah 13:1-11 [Jeremiah 17:9, Proverbs 14:10, 19:3]

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to the Canon Connected, where we read the connections, see the connections, and study the connections of the Bible. Thank you so much for joining us here on day number 198 of the Canon Connected. And we've just finished up a two-part series on blasphemy in the Bible. And now we're going to do a one-off discussion today on again a very peculiar topic, I would say, personally, something that you've very familiar with if you've read through the Bible specifically the book of Judges, but the quote, What is right in their own eyes, when people do what is right in their own eyes. And not that long ago, a couple weeks ago or more, we studied, you know, the idea of God leads his dear children along. And so this would be pretty much the opposite of that. And if I could have redone the reading plan, I probably would have put those two next to each other, and I probably will next year. But regardless of where we put this in the plan, I think the truth of it is pretty obvious and pretty clear, but it's still very biblical, so we study it. And there's no doubt in my mind, you can look around you, all around the United States, or probably even where you live, if you don't live in the U.S., and you can see that this is a very, you know, dominant way about going, about your life in American culture and I'd guess any culture that's ever existed because of sin, because of the sin nature of humanity. And it is um even true sometimes in the church. We expect lost people to do this, but what we see in the Bible is God's people doing this, and that's why it's so abhorrent, because when if you're a follower of the Christian God, he leads you. You do what he says, he leads you in and guides you into all truth and daily life and application and practice and habits. And so to do what's right in your own eyes, again, it's just it's just its own form of idolatry. And again, there's a whole day's worth of readings on it. And again, it's a phrase that appears at least twice in the book of Judges, truly three times, if you want to count the one I'm going to start with today, and that is from the book of Judges. If you ever read this in a translation like the ESV, but when it says in verse Judges 14, when Samson wants this wife, it says, get her for me, because she is right in my eyes. And the reason why I included all three of these chapters in the story of Samson in this reading was because I think this is again a very dominant theme in Samson's life. This is in large part how he does things. Now, of course, there's interspersed through this. He really kind of goes back and forth. And I have no doubt from Hebrews 11, Samson's in heaven despite all of his sin failings. But one thing you see throughout his life, even though he did act by faith, and even though he God blessed him and God, you know, gave him water, you know, whenever he was thirsty, and he fought the Philistines and he judged Israel by leading them, so much of what you see in Samson's life, especially with women, is him doing what is right in his own eyes. And it really kind of sets the table, so to speak, for how you see it in Judges 17 with Micah and his idolatry, and how you see it at the very end of the book in Judges 21, 25. No, no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Twice the book says that. And we can see that in the human behavior and just how disgusting and repugnant it is. Because while I truly believe lost people can have good morality, God's word is written on every heart according to Romans 2, in Jeremiah 31 for that matter. And generally speaking, whenever you don't follow God, and in whether it's morality that is in the secular world or morality, you know, that's that's supposed to be exclusive to Christianity, and by that I mean like witnessing. I don't expect lost people to share Jesus with people because they don't have Jesus. But we're talking about thou shalt not kill something everybody can agree on. When we go against what the Bible has to say about morality, when people do whatever is right in their own eyes, you're just gonna have chaos and it's gonna end up with absolute dysfunction, you know, division, um, the opposite of shalom. You're gonna end up with murder, you're gonna end up with um with uh with abuse, you're gonna end up every you know awful thing you can imagine um stems out of this one idea, I think. Sin, yes, is the simplest way to say it, but people doing what is right in their own eyes, not listening to God, not following the God of Christianity. God, you and it's not just Judges 21 and Judges 17. God said the same thing in Deuteronomy 12 when he's talking to people. You shall not do according to all we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes. This is hundreds of years again before judges, and God was still telling his people that. That's why we included the Deuteronomy passage. Proverbs 14 doesn't say with that exact phrase, but it says, There is a way that seems right to a man, but the its end is the way to death. Meaning, same thing, when people do what is right in their own eyes, it leads to death. Isaiah 56, which we talked about all the way back in January, with praying and fasting and understanding that trying to get whatever we want out of this world through entertainment, women, you know, feeding our appetites, it doesn't fill us up. That's that's what they were doing. It says the dogs have a mighty appetite, they never have enough, but they are shepherds who have no understanding. They have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all, meaning doing what is right in their own eyes, just with different different phrasology. Jeremiah used the idea of the heart, you know, following your heart, so to speak, which is a predominant thought in American culture. I can't remember who sang it, but 20 plus years ago, somebody even sang a song, listen to your heart. It was a girl. I made the point in a sermon one time when I was preaching a summer camp in Kentucky about, you know, uh one of the things you want to do if you want to live and do right what's right in your own eyes, do what's right in your own eyes, listen to your heart. And somebody sang the song, the first part of the song, and uh it was very awkward. But anyway, doing what's right in your own eyes and listening to your heart are very much an overlap, you know, in the Bible. And um I I don't like to use big words typically, but I think this does matter. You know, over 25 years ago, the college I was at, Bible College, Frubass Bible College, now Welch College, the one of the main professors, one of the best architects of, you know, the Free Will Baptist theology, Mr. Effely Roy Fourlines, he used to preach against what he called postmodernism. And it's a big word that just means everybody does what's right in their own eyes, meaning people tried to find answers in science, you know, in the great enlightenment. You know, we're finding answers because we're so brilliant, you know, and we find we can find meaning and purpose in how smart we are, and then, you know, our understanding of the world, and that did not lead to people finding meaning and purpose. And so people just turn to the idea there is nothing, there's no absolute truth. And so people do whatever they want. And that is definitely something I think we see having played out very, very, you know, clearly in the last 25 years. Mr. Forline was ahead of his time, in my opinion, on understanding this. But you can go all the way back again to the Old Testament to truly understand what this is, because it's always been around. All right. People do whatever's right in their own eyes. And this is what Jeremiah says. These evil people who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincath, which is good for nothing. And Jeremiah 17, 9, very famous verse, says it the same thing. The heart is deceitful above all things, that's why you can't follow your heart. God can speak through your your thoughts and your even through your feelings at times, but God has to lead your heart. He has to lead your thoughts, lead your feelings. If you let allow those things to lead you, you will end up again in sin, the way to death. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick or desperately wicked. Who can know it? Who can understand it? Um we underestimate how powerful our heart is in leading us astray. That's why I don't want to hear Christians say, Well, I just have to look inside myself, you know, if they're if they're up against long odds or whatever. No, look to the gospel, look to truth, look to God, He will guide you, okay? Not whatever you you think your heart or or mind is telling you. And then the heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy. Proverbs 14 10, and then Proverbs 19 3. When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord, all repeating the same thing. So very simple topic, but still a very prevalent topic in society at large in America, outside of the church, but even inside of the church sometimes, I think. So we preach against doing what's right in your own eyes. We preach against listening to your heart because of the the way the Bible speaks about these things. So tomorrow we have a catch up day, a very unique topic of you know, witnessing, sharing faith with people, even in the case of Paul in the public square, and we'll have a special guest on here to talk to us about that, about you know, strategies and why it's important to share Jesus the way that Paul did in Acts 21 through 26, even if we don't get to go before government leaders. But then after that, we're gonna come back and do two days on unequal yoking. So that's a big theme in the Bible as well. So please come back and be with us as we continue to read the connections, see the connections, study the connections. Thank you.