Amen. All right. Well, we are in 1 Samuel chapter 6, and let's start reading in
verse number 1. The Bible says, And the ark of the Lord was in the country of
the Philistines seven months. If you remember, the Philistines in chapter 5
were being punished severely by God for taking the Ark of the Covenant. And how
did he punish them? Well, with emerods, which we found out it's probably talking
to something that kind of starts with an H there, and it was in their secret parts
and in their hinders parts. It's a serious punishment. Crazy chapter in the
Word of God, but we pick up that story in verse 1 where it talks about how the Ark
of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. Now, number 1
this evening, I want you to notice the delay of action of the Philistines. The
delay of action. Here they've been punished by God, and for how long have
they kept the Ark and allowed this thing to be going? Seven months. Okay, flip back
to the last chapter, and let's kind of refresh ourselves with the
story here. It says in verse number 6, But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them
of, notice, Ashdod, and he destroyed them and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod
in the coast thereof. And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The
Ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand is sore upon us and
upon Dagon our God. They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the
Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the Ark of the God of
Israel? And they answered, Let the Ark of the Lord of the God of Israel be carried
about unto, notice, Gath. So it went from Ashdod to Gath. Then look at verse number
9, it says, And it was so that after they had carried it about, the hand of the
Lord was against the city with a very great destruction, and he smote the men
of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.
Therefore they sent the Ark of God to Ekron. So notice what's happening is the
Philistines, they have the Ark of God, and they're being punished. And what are they
doing? They're just kind of passing it around from city to city to city, but
they're not really making any change. They're not thinking like, Hey, maybe
what we're doing is wrong. They're just kind of passing the Ark from one city to
another. And it says in verse number 1 of 1 Samuel 6 that they do this for seven
months. I mean, you would think that you would get a clue after God smiting you
for seven months what's happening. They just keep shuffling it around. Now look
at verse number 2, it says, And the Philistines called for the priests and
the diviners. Now these aren't obviously God's priests. This is the priests of
whatever weird religion the Philistines have going on here. So they heaped to
themselves their false teachers, and it says that they called for the priests
and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the Ark of the Lord? Tell us
wherewith we shall send it to his place. So notice, finally after seven months of
brutal punishment from God, finally they asked this themselves this question, What
shall we do? What shall we do? And you know, this is kind of just human nature
in general for the saved and the unsaved alike is to delay getting right with God.
And sometimes you and I and the unsaved, maybe they're being punished by God,
we're being chastised by God, obviously there's a difference between the two
there, but sometimes, you know, God's hand will be upon our lives in a negative way.
Sometimes for a month, sometimes for two, sometimes for seven, before we ever just
look up and ask ourselves, you know, What should we do about this? What's going on
in our lives? Why is God's hand upon us? And you know, that is a lesson for us
that we should not delay getting right with God. We should not delay when we
have a feeling that God's hand is against us. Now go to 2nd Corinthians
chapter number 6, 2nd Corinthians chapter number 6, 2nd Corinthians 6,
look at verse 1, it says, We then, as workers together with him, beseech you
also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. For he saith, I have heard
thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I suckered thee. Behold,
now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And of course, the
primary application of this verse is talking about what? Salvation. But even
when it comes to salvation, sometimes people delay getting saved. Sometimes
people think that they'll deal with that when they get older, or, you know, they're
not ready necessarily to face that truth yet. And in their heart, they kind of know
it's true, but something's scaring them about taking that leap to fully trust in
Jesus Christ, and they delay. But let me tell you, that's a very bad idea to delay
getting saved. You know, you never ever know when your last day on this earth is,
and every single person in here, we all have a normalcy bias when it comes to
life, because none of us have ever died before. And so all of us in this room
think, well, I couldn't have, that never happened to me, that's not gonna happen
to me this week, because we've never died yet. We've successfully lived our lives
up till this day, and today all of us have broken our all-time record for
number of days lived. Every single one of us today, so congratulations. But here's
the thing, that could change tonight on the drive home. There could be a drunk
driver out there right now that's just getting wasted, and he's ready to leave
the bar, and he's gonna leave the bar at the same time as we leave this church.
God forbid that would happen. I'm just saying, that could happen tonight. And
thankfully, probably every single person in this room that is of age of
understanding the gospel is probably saved. But you know, that's not the case
in most of this world tonight. That's not the case in most homes tonight. And you
know, someone tonight in Oklahoma City will die and go to hell. And they did
not expect that to happen today. And so the Bible says that now is the day of
salvation. But you know, more than that, more than just getting saved, because
hopefully all of us are saved in this room, you know, when God is punishing us,
when God is chastising us in our lives, we should think that now is the day to
get right with God. Now is the day to repent of our sins, now is the day to
forsake and confess our sins to God, to draw nigh to Him. Why? Because it really
doesn't make sense to have to get punished for seven months. And some
people in this life, they go getting punished by God, not for seven months, but
for seven years. Yay, for 70 years oftentimes. Christians will rebel against
the Word of God, and they'll be stiff-necked, and they live a really
rough life because their entire life is full of punishment. And look, it's not
like, wow, I'm a preacher, so I just have to tell you to do things God wants you
to do. No, I really just don't want to see your life suck. I really don't want to
see your life constantly be that of hardship and turmoil, not because you're
suffering for righteousness' sakes, but because you're suffering because of your
sin. You know, I could sleep at night if I'm suffering for righteousness' sake.
I'll be proud of all of you if I see someone in here suffer for
righteousness' sake. I'll pray for you. I'll rejoice with you. But you know what? It
doesn't make me happy to see someone's life destroyed because they're being
stiff-necked like the Philistines and just continuing in sin and not thinking,
like, what am I doing with my life? Look at James, chapter number four. James,
chapter number four.
Notice what the Bible says in James 4, verse 8. It says,
draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and
purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your
laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in
the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. The Bible says to draw nigh to
God, and he will draw nigh to you. You know, God is not in heaven up there
wanting to punish his children, wanting to make their lives harder, wanting to
take away things from them. No, God is ready to draw nigh to us, but what do we
have to do first? We have to draw nigh to God. And so, rather than going seven
months without reading your Bible and wondering why your life is in turmoil or
going seven months without going soul-winning or going seven months
without going to church or going seven months without praying, you know, rather
what you should do is you should draw nigh to God. How do you draw nigh to God?
Well, you just pick the spiritual activity and do it, and that's drawing
nigh to God. Drawing nigh to God is waking up in the morning and opening your Bible
and reading it. You are drawing nigh to God. And the Bible says that if you do
that, he will draw nigh to you. He will have a stronger relationship with you. He
will have a closer bond with you when you draw nigh to him. Go to Proverbs
chapter number 28. Proverbs chapter number 28. You know, a lot of people, they
live in denial about them and their sin life. A lot of people, they live in denial
because maybe they have some areas in their life that are good. Maybe they do
walk through the doors of a church on Sunday morning. Maybe they even go three
times a week. But in other areas of their life, they've deceived themselves
into thinking, well, because I'm doing good in this area, I must be doing good
in all areas. God must be pleased with me. But notice what Proverbs 28 13 says,
he that covereth his sins shall not prosper. But whoso confesseth and
forsaketh them shall have mercy. So notice there's some people that they
cover their sins. And there's a lot of reasons people do this. One of the
reasons, I think, is people just want to live in denial and they just want to
kind of cover the fact that they're failing in a certain area or they have a
major sin in their life and they don't want to face up to the fact that they've
been wrong about something or that they, you know, are gonna have shame in front
of their friends and family. So they cover it. But when you're doing that,
you're not drawing nigh to God. You're getting farther away from God. You're
covering your sin. The Bible says when you do that, you will not prosper. Notice
what it says in verse 14. Happy is the man that feareth always, but he that
hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief. So notice, happy is the man that
feareth always. You know, when we fear God, that's gonna cause our lives to be a lot
better. And like I said, God is not in heaven just like really wanting to
punish us. He wants to have a good relationship with us and we're gonna be
happier. We're gonna have a happier relationship with him when we fear him.
And of course, we know that fearing God is keeping his commandments. Look at
verse number three. Go back to 1 Samuel chapter number six. 1 Samuel chapter
number six. We're talking about the Philistines delay of action here. Look at
verse number three of 1 Samuel 6. And they said, if he send away the ark of the
God of Israel, send it not empty, but in any wise return him a notice trespass
offering. Then he shall be healed and it shall be known to you why his hand is
not removed from you. So remember, these are the priests and the diviners, the
false priests of the Philistines. But here we actually kind of get a glimpse
that they have somewhat of a head knowledge of the law of God. They are
aware of Christianity. They're aware of the Old Testament religion of the Bible
in some ways. Why? Because they're saying, hey, when we send this ark away, let's not
send it away empty. Let's give the Lord a trespass offering. And of course, if you
read the book of Leviticus, it gives you the specifics of how to perform a
trespass offering. But keep reading looking for what it says in verse number
four. So remember, they want to do a trespass offering, but then this is what
they come up with. This is their idea. This is their trespass offering. Verse
four, then said they, what shall be the trespass offering which we shall return
to him? Now here they should have said, well, let's open up Leviticus and let's
see what a trespass offering actually looks like. But this being a false
religion, this is what the mind of false religion does, this is what they said.
Verse four, they answered, five golden emerods and five golden mice according
to the number of the Lords of the Philistines. For one plague was on you
all and on your Lords. So this is their bright idea to appease God's wrath on
them. It's to return the ark of God and to give a trespass offering to God and
they're gonna make golden images of their emerods. I don't want to know what
that looks like or what was involved in making that or did they have like
someone that they were basing that on? I don't want to know really how that came
about, but this is false religion for you. And the mice, now I'm not a hundred
percent sure what the mice are about, but I'm guessing when in chapter five it
said that the hand of God was really heavily upon them, that there could have
been other plagues that were happening that God was giving them. One of them was
probably just a big old mice infestation, which that would be really terrible,
wouldn't it? I mean most people are pretty afraid of rats and mice. Would you
imagine your whole city is just infested with these things? And they said, you know,
let's just make a trespass offering of our golden emerods and some mice. And you
know the lesson we could draw from this is that false religion is weird. False
religion is just weird. I mean it doesn't really matter what false religion you
pick. You go into one of these churches that's a false religion and it's going
to be weird. And you know one thing I love about biblical Christianity and
what I love about the new IFB is that serving God, going to church, it's just
normal. You know what I mean? You just come to church, you have fellowship with
normal people, we sing songs, we hear some preaching, we pray, we sing some more
songs, we go eat, and we go home. And we just live a normal life. We don't have
all these weird ideas, these weird situations. You know I was actually
approached today by a soul winner and it was the it was one of the weirdest
experiences I've ever had in my life. I was working, she stopped me, I was gonna
be very polite. She says, hey I want you to take a picture of something. She had a
gospel tract but it was her last one so she wanted me to take a picture. I was
just being polite, I was taking a picture. She goes, yeah I'm a soul winner. I'm like,
hey me too, very cool. And then she's like, this was her presentation that she told
me. She's like, I've gotten Satanists saved, I've gotten devil worshipers saved,
homeless people that are high on drugs and alcohol and all this stuff. And I'm
just like, cool. And then she started to drive away but then she's like, oh wait,
wait, one more thing. She's like, the name of Jesus is really powerful and if
you're ever around these Satan worshipers or these drug addicted
homeless people, you know, you use the name of Jesus because it's powerful.
Because let me tell you something baby, these people want to rape you, kill you,
and bury your body in the woods. And then she drove away. What? Where was it
like, where was it like, hey Dylan this is what you should do, like you should
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Or even if she was preaching a false gospel, like
I was expecting her to be like, you need to repent of your sins, you need to come
to church. It was just like, hey here's all the wonderful works that I do. Oh she
also told me that she fills the pews of her church with visitors. See I'm
forgetting some details already. You know, she's just like bragging to me about all
these great things she does and then she basically tells me to like, watch out for
homeless people that want to kill me. And it was like, goodbye. Is that how your
soul winning experiences are? I hope people in here aren't going door-to-door
and acting like that. You know what I love about this church and about the new
IFB is we're just normal people. We just see someone, we approach them, we ask them
if they were to die today, if they're 100% sure they'd be going to heaven, we're
very polite with them, and if they're interested we offer to show them the
gospel where Bible verses are being read and there's no talk of being buried by
homeless people or Satanism and worships of the occult or anything like that. Why?
Because real Christianity is just normal and every false religion is weird. And
the Philistines here, this is just bizarre. Wanting to just make images of
your M rods and of the mice. You know, here's another just weird religion today
is Judaism. Now I have some articles here. This is not from like like Nazi.com
or something, okay? This is not from like anti-semitic material.com. This is from a
website called the Associated Jewish Federation of Baltimore. So this is from
Jews. And they had an article here said that says, unveiling the mysteries,
exploring intriguing Jewish rituals and customs. Now what are we talking about?
We're talking about how false religion is just weird, okay? This is coming from
Jews. Number one, swinging a live chicken over one's head. Caparot. You know what
I'm talking about? Have you ever witnessed folks swinging a live chicken
over their heads? No. Actually I have not because I live in a normal Christian
area. Thank God. Have you ever witnessed folks swinging a live chicken over their
heads around Yom Kippur? That my friends is the tradition of Caparot. We
swing a chicken over our head while reciting prayers, all in the hope of
transferring any potential harsh judgment coming our way before Yom
Kippur onto the unsuspecting chicken. This is weird. And you say, oh this is a
straw man. You're so anti-semitic. This is from Jews. This is Jews telling you
that they're weird. This is Jews telling you here's the weird rituals and customs
that we have. Here's another one. Touching or kissing a mezuzah. Have you seen how
some Jewish folks kiss a little box on their doorposts when they enter or exit
their homes? No, I can't say I have. Probably because I don't have a lot of
Jewish neighbors. That's kind of weird. I mean can you imagine every time you left
your house or went back to your house you had to like kiss this little box on
your door? Isn't false religion weird? That is the mezuzah. Inside is a tiny
parchment with part of the Shema prayer which says, hear O Israel, the sovereign
is our God, the sovereign is one. This prayer is a friendly reminder for us to
carry that sense of holiness and protection as we step into the world.
When people touch the mezuzah or kiss their fingers after, it's a way of
physically transferring that holiness to you and showing respect for the sacred
protector that is the mezuzah. So there's some interesting culture from the Jews
there. It's pretty weird, right? This is from the same website. Ten popular Jewish
superstitions. Number one, don't sit at the corner of the table. Apparently
that's bad luck to them. Number two, don't step over someone. Number
three, never leave your purse on the floor. It says never leave your purse or
bag on the floor if you want to keep your money. I could see why they need to
have that rule around a bunch of Jews. Number four, spit three times. You ever
heard someone say this? This is not a straw man. This is according to them. Spit
three times after seeing, hearing, or learning of something horrible. Now
you've heard people say that Jews spit at the name of Jesus Christ. This is
according to them, to the Jews, that when something horrible is said and they hear
something terrible, they spit on the ground three times. And so to them
something horrible and terrible is the name of our Savior. And I just have to
wonder why so many Baptists love Jews again. Why is it again that so many
Baptists love Jews? Why is it again that so many Baptists think they're God's
chosen people when here's their little rule of superstitions? Spit at the name
of Jesus Christ. It's wicked. Number five, don't take a direct path home from the
cemetery. Number six, bring jam to a housewarming party. Number seven, only
bring an even number of flowers to someone. Number eight, wear a metal pin on
your clothes when embarking on a trip. Number nine, never hand a knife directly
to another person. Number ten, close all open books. Now one thing that I just
found interesting about this is that the New Testament talks about how Jews teach
for Commandments, the doctrines of men, and they believe all these weird
traditions. And even today, even today in 2024, Jews are still like this where they
have all these weird rules where it's not like they said, hey, here's Nehemiah
where it says that we have to avoid sitting at the corner of a table. Or
here's where it says in Leviticus that you must spit on the ground three times.
No. What is this? This is just like God mocking someone for worshiping the devil
is they do all these weird things. You know, false religion is just constantly
making a mockery and fool of itself as kind of a joke from God. I feel like God's
just laughing at them like, wow, you made pictures of your M rods. Wow. Like how
stupid can you be? It's like, hey, look at this little Jew swinging a chicken over
his head. Ha! That's like your punishment for worshiping false gods. It's like you
do all these weird stupid things. It's like I'm just so thankful to be a
Christian where we just wear normal clothes and we're just around normal
people. We just have a normal church. And look, Christianity will make you normal.
Being in the world and being in false religion will make you a total freak. And
even the perversions of Christianity, they're freaks too. When you start
getting away from the Word of God and you get into perversions of Christianity,
you're gonna get people running up and down the aisles barking like a dog.
You're gonna get preachers smacking people in the head and pretending like
they're healing them. You're gonna get preachers holding snakes, dancing around
with the snakes and doing a little Middle Eastern music to them. You know,
it's just weird. And just here's a good rule of thumb. If your church is weird,
it's probably a bad church. I've just learned this over the years that if
someone is weird, it's usually for a reason that you're that you're
perceiving that. And while I will always give people benefit out, when something's
weird, it's usually for a reason. And if you're in a church and you're thinking
like, this is weird. Why do we have to wear magic underwear? This is weird. Why
is caffeine a sin? This is weird. Why aren't black people allowed to come here?
Oh, this is weird. Or the Black Keeper Israelites. This is weird. Why aren't
white people allowed to come here? It's like, when it's weird, run! When it's weird,
it's weird for a reason. And it's just like a token. It's an evident token that
it's not of God. Why? Because Christianity is not weird. Go back to 1st Samuel
6. It says in verse 5, Wherefore ye shall make images of your
emerods and images of your mice that mar the land. And ye shall give glory unto
the God of Israel. I don't know how you're doing that. For adventure he will
lighten his hand from off you and from off your gods and from off your land. Now
remember in the last chapter how we were talking about that I believe that the
Philistines understood that it was God's Almighty's hand that was against
them. That was the God of Israel's hand. Well this is proving that right here
because it's saying right here that says, And ye shall give glory unto who? The God
of Israel. Per adventure he will lighten his hand from off you and from off your
gods and from off your land. So notice, they know who they're dealing with. They
know who the God of the Bible is, but they reject him like reprobates. Verse 6,
Wherefore then do ye, notice, harden your hearts. Reminds me of a group of people.
As the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts, when he had wrought
wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go and they departed? And so
notice, even though these priests are wrong, they're not saved, they are doing
weird stuff, here they're kind of making a good statement here. They're saying
like, Why are you still hardening your heart against the God of Israel? Why are
you still resisting him? Why do you still have his ark? Do you not
remember the story of Pharaoh? It's kind of funny how even the world, even other
religions, they still knew the story of Pharaoh. Why? Because his word has gone
into all the earth and every nation knows about the God of Israel. Every
nation today knows the name of Jesus Christ regardless of where you are in
the world. Now go to, actually let's keep reading here, number two this evening. I
want you to notice the Philistines righteousness test. The Philistines
righteousness test. They're gonna create this little test here to see if they're
right with God. Look at verse 7, Now therefore make a new cart and take two
milch kind, these are just milk cows, on which there hath come no yoke. So these
these milk cows, they've never had to put on any farming equipment, they've never
had to carry anything, they've never had to drag anything, they're not broke in if
you will. And it says, and tie the kind to the cart and bring their calves home
from them and take the ark of God and lay it upon the cart and put the jewels
of gold which he returned him for a trespass offering and a coffer by the
side thereof and send it away that it may go. So notice they're gonna take all
these weird things that they made and they're gonna put it in a little box
kind of attached to the ark but they're not gonna open up the ark because even
the Philistines are a little too afraid of God to do that. Verse 9 it says, and
see if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Beth Shemesh then he hath done
us this great evil but if not then we shall know that is not his hand that
smote us it was a chance that happened to us. Now this is just ridiculous this
is a terrible terrible idea think about it they just got done saying like hey
God's hand is upon us how long are you gonna be like Pharaoh and the Egyptians
and not repent and still resist God but now he says here's what we're gonna do
here's how we're gonna find out if this is really the hand of God against us he
says we're gonna take these cattle these milk cows that have never had a yoke on
them they've never been broken in they're not trained to do this task that
we're about to ask them to do and we're gonna send them on their way and if they
go on the coast to Beth Shemesh then we're gonna know that God's hand is
against us but if not if these milk cows that haven't been trained that haven't
been broken that have never carried equipment if they go any other way then
we're gonna know that God's hand is not against us that it's not his hand that
smote us that it was a chance that happened unto us. Now here is the this is
a very weird story it's a very silly thing that they're doing they're just
creating this test as if they're God and they could just decide if God's hand is
against them or not but people do this today they will make tests in their life
to decide whether or not they're right with God rather than looking at the
Bible they'll say well I just survived a car crash and because I survived a car
crash I know that I'm right with God and they may be going to Joel Osteen's
church they may be believing in a false you know works-based salvation their
life may be nothing doing doing nothing according the Word of God but it's like
but I survived a car crash though so God's with me or you know I'm a war
veteran and because I'm a war veteran because I was in the trenches because I
was being shot at and I survived I know that God's hand is with me if you've
ever been soul winning for a long time you've heard some of the things that I'm
talking about you ask someone if they're a hundred percent sure that going to
heaven and it's like well I had a near-death experience I survived the
school shooting I was a combat vet God helped me through all these things
therefore I'm saved and look this is a ridiculous ridiculous way to look at
your life but the unsaved do this and even the saved do this even the saved
they will be doing something that is just completely in violation of clear
scripture but they're like yeah but I got a promotion yeah but my health is
doing really good yeah but you know my kids just got married yeah but this I
just bought a house and it's like they're in clear violation but because
they're looking at the circumstances of their life they think that they're right
with God go to 1st John chapter number 5 1st John chapter number 5 let's talk a
minute about being saved surviving something scary is not a good way to
decide whether or not you're safe and you have even with this recent shooting
or I guess to now attempts of President Trump you have people saying like well
he must be saved or he must be a godly man because God saved him but look
surviving a scary situation is not what makes you save you don't makes you save
look at 1st John 5 verse 13 these things have I written unto you that believe on
the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that
you may believe on the name of the Son of God you know how you can know that
you're saved is if you believe on the Son of God you know what if I go and
just defy death and God saves me and protects me through all these you know
near-death experiences and tonight I survive a shooting or tonight I I
survive a car bond whatever that's not what makes me say you know what makes me
saved is where I've put my trust because believe means trust and so people today
wake up and realize hey if God's you know brought you through some stuff if
he's protected you through some scary situations it's probably to bring you to
this moment while I'm at your door while you're at their door so that they could
put their faith in Jesus Christ not put their faith in some experience or some
weird righteousness test that they've created because what's going on with the
Philistines we already know they're not right with God we already know for sure
that God's hand is against them how do we know that because the Bible tells us
that and it's like how do I know that I'm saved because the Bible says that
when you believe in Jesus Christ you're saved because the Bible says that when
you put your trust in him that you're sealed that you're saved that you can
never lose your salvation that's how I know I'm saved now go to Psalm 119 in
the center of your Bible Psalm 119 now let's ask this question how do I know if
I'm right with God because people will do this they'll clearly violate
scripture they'll say hey I know I'm about to leave church I'm gonna move to
another town to take this high-paying job where there's no good church but God
must be pleased with me I must be right with God because he's giving me this
high-paying job because he's blessing me in this area how can you know for sure
that you are right with God look at Psalm 119 verse let's just read the
whole chapter okay now verse 9 no worries verse 9 where with all shall a
young man cleanse his way notice by taking heed thereto according to thy
word how do you know if you're living a life that's pleasing in the eyes of God
how do you know that you're being cleansed from your sin as far as being
right with God goes it's that if you're taking heed according to God's Word
that's how you know if you're right with God not if you're being blessed
financially not if you live in a cool house not if you have great health
because let me tell you something there was men in the Bible that had horrible
health job whose family was killed job who had no money job and many of the men
of God lived very austere lives that were not very blessed financially and
you know what those men were blessed why because they were taking heed
according to thy word that's why and you know what we should never look at our
circumstances as the sole basis on which we judge whether or not we're right with
God we have to search the scriptures we have to see if our life is being led
according to the Word of God and the only way you're gonna know if you're
right with God is if you're actually reading the Bible and what's so funny to
me is that the people that have this mentality that I've known in my life are
the same people that don't read the Bible and they want to tell me how much
God's blessing them God's giving them this new opportunity God's giving them
this new way in which they could get farther from God and they think it's
such a blessing in their life why because they haven't been reading the
Bible and they don't realize that what they're doing is actually not according
to the scripture go to Hebrews chapter number 10 Hebrews chapter number 10
while you go there let me read you first John 2 4 it says he that saith I
know him oh I know God I have a good relationship with God me and God are
really close he that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a
liar and the truth is not in him so really I don't care how much money you
have I don't care what a nice neighborhood you live in I don't care
how much you want to tell me to my face that you know God if you're not keeping
his commandments you don't know him and you're a liar and you're not right with
God look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the
more as you see the day approaching oh yeah you know I'm missing church even
though God commanded me to be in church but look at how much money I'm making on
overtime working on Sundays I'm making overtime I'm making double time working
when church is happening or just skipping church for whatever reason and
they think that because they're having fun or because something's being blessed
in their life that they're actually right with God but look what it says in
verse 26 for if we sin you know what forsaking church is it's a sin skipping
church is a sin for if we sin willfully after that we have received the
knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the
adversaries you know you may be able to deceive yourself for a while to think
that your life is so good as you're in blatant disobedient to the Word of God
but you know what there's coming a time where that will change and God will drop
the hammer on your life and you're gonna realize real quick that your life wasn't
as dandy as you thought go to 1st Timothy chapter number 3 1st Timothy
chapter 3 you know people think this well you know I got divorced and God
brought me to this this new lady in my life and she's so beautiful and she's
perfect for me and I just think that God has just brought us together and God
wants us to get remarried who's ever heard stuff like this before okay and
they think that God's blessing them because they found some woman after they
got divorced right okay but what does the Bible say you could say there Luke
16 18 whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery
and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth
adultery you know once you're divorced I don't care how compatible you think you
are with someone I don't care how pretty you think she is or how handsome you
think he is ladies let me just tell you God is not blessing you with another
person when he literally said that if you marry someone who's been divorced
you're committing adultery God's not blessing that relationship God doesn't
want you to get remarried people think this people think well you know I know I
don't tithe to my local church I know I don't give financially to the work of
God but God still pleased with me because I still have lots of money God's
blessing me financially I have a fat bank account I can take all care of all
my needs so God must not care that I don't give financially well let's see
what the Bible says you could say they're Malachi 3-8 will a man rob God
yet ye have robbed me but you say wherein have we robbed thee in tithes
and offerings verse 9 says ye are cursed with a curse for you have robbed me even
this whole nation look you may think your life is blessed for the time but
the reality when you actually put on the spiritual glasses when you actually look
into the Word of God about the truth of the situation of your life you're
actually cursed when you refuse to tithe to God now a situation happened last
week or it was the week before last that really made me think of this mentality
that people have where they look at the situation of their life and they judge
whether or not they're right with God and that is the situation that happened
with Pastor Greg Locke everyone know who Pastor Greg Locke is most people know
who this is now on September 3rd 2024 at 10 30 p.m. there was 40 shell casings
found at his property from a fully automatic rifle that was shot into his
home so someone drove by Pastor Greg Locke's house with a fully automatic
rifle and shot 40 shots into his home I saw the pictures bullet holes went all
the way through his vehicle through his garage through his home through the
headboard on his children's bed and he did have one child that was home during
this shooting thank God the child is completely okay thank God no one gets
hurt and let me just let me just say this like this situation I am thankful
that no one got hurt okay this this is a crime you know I'm not condoning of
murder this would be a serious wicked thing if someone just randomly went up
to Greg Locke and killed his family killed his wife killed his kids look
that's wicked as hell and I hope that whoever did that gets caught gets
arrested and gets charged criminally because I could see something like this
happening to a new IFP pastor someday god forbid I'm just saying I could see
that happening but here's the thing Greg Locke you know went on Facebook he
talked about it and he talked about how God is protecting him and there's this
insinuation there's this feeling with people that they think like God must
really love Greg Locke God must think that Greg Locke is this really great guy
he's probably saved he's probably a great pastor he's probably a great man
of God why because he survived this ordeal and he did barely survive it
because his car was like a minute down the road with his family like he barely
missed this event from happening and so God must like Greg Locke right I told
you to go to 1st Timothy 3 here's how I know though that God doesn't like Greg
Locke even though this happened 1st Timothy 3 verse 1 this is a true saying
if a man desire the office of a bishop that's someone who's a pastor he desired
the good work excuse me verse 2 a bishop then must be blameless notice this the
husband of one wife vigilant sober of good behavior given to hospitality apt
to teach the Bible teaches that one of the qualifications of being a pastor is
that you have to be the husband of one wife meaning that it is unbiblical God
does not approve of a man who's been divorced being a pastor now what did
Greg Locke do well in 2018 Greg Locke divorced his wife that he had four
children with forsook his wife he had four kids with and committed adultery
with her best friend and his employee the church secretary who is now his
current wife so you know he had this wife he had four beautiful children
with his wife he went to his wife's best friend could you imagine that ladies and
decided to just dump his wife as utter trash forsake her and go off and commit
adultery and remarry this other woman you know what if we were living under
the laws of God you know what would have happened to pastor Greg Locke pastor
Greg Locke wouldn't have had his house shot up last week you know why because
pastor Locke would have been in trial for first-degree adultery he would have
been convicted with evidence and he would have been killed by the government
he would have been rather than shot by some weird murderer assassin at his
house he would have been shot by the executioner the official of the state of
wherever he lives and he would already be in hell right now by the way he's an
unsaved false prophet he's a guy that teaches work salvation he's a guy that
denies the fundamental doctrines of the Bible he's a complete devil and don't
feel sorry for Greg Locke like God must love Greg Locke because he survived a
shooting you know what according to God he would have been shot a long time ago
by a court of law why because he's a piece of crap that cheated on his wife
that committed adultery with his wife's best friend and forsook the mother of
his children and decided to still pastor a church you know what that guy's wicked
as hell and I don't care how many plane crashes he survives or shootings I don't
care how much money he has I don't care how nice his house is I don't care what
his wife looks like what his kids look like the guy's a devil and God's not
pleased with him God doesn't like him God's against Greg Locke so you know the
situation with the Philistines it doesn't really matter what way the cows
go Philistines doesn't matter if the cows go to Beth Shemesh doesn't matter
if the cows go some other way God is against you and you know in your life
and in my life and in everyone's life when we are not living according to the
scriptures it doesn't matter how blessed you think your life is God is against
you God is not pleased with you you can go to first Corinthians 11 I'll read
Psalm 119 verse 23 says search me Oh God and know my heart try me and know my
thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way
everlasting you know that's the attitude that we should have in life that whether
our surroundings are great or whether our surroundings are terrible that we
would pray to the Lord and that we would say God search my heart see if there be
any wicked way in me God I'm not gonna look at my house or the surroundings of
my life and decide whether or not you're pleased with me you know what I want to
look into the Word of God I want to pray I want God to reveal to me things that
I'm doing wrong and I want to fix those things first Corinthians 11 now this is
talking about the Lord's Supper but let's just apply it to right now look at
verse 28 says but let a man examine himself let a man examine himself you
know that's what we should be doing on a daily basis as Christians is not let a
man examine his bank account let a man examine his friends know you know what
you should just examine yourself examine the works in your life examine the sins
in your life and see if you're actually living according to the Word of God go
back to 1st Samuel chapter 6 1st Samuel chapter number 6 now of course when
things are going bad in our life we should always consider the fact that it
could be because it's the hand of God not necessarily there's times that were
persecuted for righteousness sake but when things are going bad in our life
yes we should look to the scripture yes we should pray to God but when things
are bad in my life I should at least consider that the reason things are
going bad is because I'm not right with God but you know what I would recommend
is that if things are going bad in another Christian's life in your brother
or sister's life that you would always just extend mercy and give them the
benefit of the doubt and think that well you know they're going through a trying
right now or they're going through persecution or they're going through
something like that you know I would probably think the worst in myself and
judge myself harshly and if another brother is going through something I'd
probably give them grace you know you don't want to be like Job's friends you
know if you are going through something bad don't be Job's friends and be like
well you know of course the reason why this is happening to you is because
you're wicked you know it's like don't be like that give your brothers and
sisters the benefit of the doubt but in yourself I might think that about myself
be like okay this just happened to me that's bad I'm gonna examine myself I'm
gonna ask God to search me I'm gonna try to see if there's any wicked way in me
look at verse 10 and the men did so and took two milch kind and tied them to the
cart and shut up their calves at home and they laid the Ark of Lord upon the
cart and the copper with the mice of gold and images of their M rods and
notice the kind took the straight way to the way of Beth Shemesh so their little
plan you know didn't really mean anything it went along the highway
lowing as they went there mooing as they go there and turn not aside to the right
hand or to the left and the Lords of the Philistines went after them onto the
border of Beth Shemesh and they have Beth Shemesh so now this is the people
of the children of Israel here we're kind of changing audiences they have
Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley and they lifted up
their eyes and saw the Ark and rejoiced to see it so notice I mean the children
of Israel they're getting really excited here the Ark of God was taken by the
Philistine several months ago and so this is a big victory for them they're
getting really excited about this in verse 14 it says in the cart came into
the field of Joshua of Beth Shemite and stood there where there was a great
stone and they clave the wood of the cart and offered the kind a burnt
offering unto the Lord and the Levites took down the Ark of the Lord and the
coffer that was with it wherein the jewels of gold were and put them on the
great stone and the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed
sacrifices the same day unto the Lord and when the five Lords of the
Philistines had seen it they returned to Ekron the same day so now the
Philistines are going home the Ark is with the Beth Shemites here
verse 17 and these are the golden amrods with which the Philistines returned for
a trespass offering unto the Lord for Ashtad one for Gaza one for Ashkelon one
for Gath one for Ekron one so those are all the cities that it went to and the
golden mice according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines
belonging to the five Lords both of fenced cities and of country villages
even unto the great stone of Abel where on they set down the Ark of the Lord
which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua the Beth Shemite now
number three this evening I want us to look at this number three God's
judgment of his own children God's judgment of his own children you know so
far we've been talking a lot about the Philistines but now the children of
Israel have gotten the Ark back and we're gonna see that God is actually
about to judge his own people here look what it says in verse number 19 and he
smote the men of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord
even he smote the people fifty thousand and three score and ten men fifty
thousand and seventy men God killed right here and the people
lamented because the Lord excuse me had smitten many of the people with a great
slaughter now go to Numbers chapter number four Numbers chapter number four
why is it that God once the Israelites get the Ark back all of a sudden he's
smiting them he kills fifty thousand and seventy of them well that is because God
often is more strict and judges harsher God's people than the world now while
God was definitely judging the Philistines to this is more severe I
mean emerods and mice versus fifty thousand and seventy deaths here and
what is the reason the reason why is because the children of Israel looked
into the Ark of the Lord see the Philistines they didn't even do that
even they were not so presumptuous as to think that they could just open up the
Holy Ark of God and look into it they made a little box they made a little
coffer and kind of attached it to the Ark but the Israelites they get so
excited and they just you know get presumptuous and they just start looking
in to the Ark of God now this is something God forbid look at numbers
four five numbers chapter four verse five and when the camp set it forward
Aaron shall come and his sons and they shall take down the covering veil and
cover the Ark of the testimony with it and shall put there on a covering of
badger skins and shall spread it over spread over it a cloth holy of blood
blue and shall put in the staves thereof so notice the ark supposed to
be covered and when it's carried it's not even supposed to be touched it's
supposed to be you're supposed to basically put sticks in through the
rings you're supposed to carry those staves and it's very holy you're not
supposed to touch it verse 15 skip down to verse 15 and when Aaron and his sons
have made an end of covering the sanctuary and all the vessels of the
sanctuary as the camp is to set forward after that the sons of kohath shall come
to bear it but they shall not touch any holy thing notice lest they die these
things are the burden of the sons of kohath in the tabernacle of the
congregation but they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered
lest they die so God was very specific hey don't touch this thing don't go look
at it don't open it up and look inside of it or what's gonna happen you're
going to die and there's just some things that God is not gonna let us get
away with as Christians you know there's things that the world may get
away with there's things you know God might let the Philistines take the ark
and mess around with it for a while and yeah he'll punish them yeah their life
won't be great but when we decide to do the same thing God's gonna come down on
us a lot harder you know the world they can go out they can commit fornication
and yeah sometimes there'll be consequences for them sometimes they'll
get an STD sometimes they'll have ambassador children pastor child but you
know God's people do that you should just pretty much expect that the worst
thing that can't happen probably will happen to you because God is often way
more strict with his own children than with the world you know the world they
go out every Friday some people go out every Friday and drive drunk every
single week and they never crash and they never kill anyone they never kill
themselves now of course that does happen they do do that but you know if
you as a Christian decide I'm just gonna go get drunk this weekend I'm gonna go
drive to pick up my buddy you know what you're the one that's a lot more likely
to go kill someone's mom kill someone's child in a driving accident or kill
yourself or kill whoever's in the car with you why because God often judges
his own people a lot stricter than the world now switching gears real quick
about this verse about verse number 19 and first Samuel 6 so we saw that the
King James Bible said how many people died look at it again
fifty thousand and three score scores twenty twenty times three sixty and ten
men so what is that fifty thousand and seventy men is my math correct on that
can I get a witness a ride I trust you all right fifty thousand and seventy men
were killed now here's what the ESV says okay first Samuel 6 19 in the ESV or the
extreme soy version as I like to call it it says and he struck some of them of
Beth Shemesh because they looked upon the ark of the Lord he struck 70 men of
them and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great
blow now I don't know about you there's a big difference between 50,000 and 70
people dying and 70 people dying but the ESV says 70 people died the NIV the non
inspired version says but God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth
Shemesh putting 70 of them to death the NLT the no longer true version says but
the Lord killed 70 men from Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of the
Lord you know people have this stupid mentality aren't all the English Bible
versions the same don't they all say the same thing I don't know if you saw 70
people dead would that be different than seeing 50,000 and 70 people dead is
there a difference in the casualty right here between 70 and 50,000 and 70 you
know the Bible teaches that every word of God matters the Bible says that the
word of the Lord is pure every word of God is pure you know that means it means
that it's factually and morally correct everything that God says is right both
factually in the sense that it happened the way the Bible says it happened and
and that it's morally right when God says something so here when God says
that 50,000 and 70 people died that God smote that many you know I believe God
smote 50,000 and 70 men of the best Shemites I don't believe he only smoked
70 but you know that should be a problem to you if you don't believe in the King
James Bible if you think that just the modern versions are the same you know
that should be a problem to you when you come to this verse and realize hmm is
there really a big difference between these numbers yes a huge I mean what if
I said hey I have $70 for you and what if I said I have 50,000 and $70 for you
then are you gonna say that's a big difference you know that is a big
difference and the King James Bible is different than the modern versions it's
pure it's right the other ones are wrong the other ones are not correct and you
know when something is just that off actually it just tells me this isn't the
Word of God God wouldn't have messed up like this no I know what God said God
said 50,000 and 70 now go back to 1st Samuel chapter 6 look what it says in
verse 20 says in the men of Beth Shemesh said so this is God's people they said
this who is able to stand before this holy Lord God and to whom shall he go up
from us they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjat Arim saying the
Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord come you down and fetch it
up to you last place we'll go this evening is Proverbs chapter number three
you know I really don't like this attitude that the Beth Shemites had here
where they say who is able to stand before this holy Lord God what are they
doing they're acting like God's too strict God's too mean how dare God's
might 50,000 and 70 of us just because we looked into the ark of God but you
know here's the thing God already gave them specific instructions of how to
handle the ark it's not like God didn't warn them and then God killed them no
God gave them very specific instructions when us when when God's people in
general know what the Bible says and they just willingly disobey it they just
do the opposite of that you know don't don't cry and complain when God
punishes you you know you deserve that and I deserve that when that happens you
know but don't sit here say well who could serve God I mean who could really
stand before this holy Lord God God's too mean God's unfair no God's just and
God's completely fair and he gave you completely fair warning in his word of
what would happen if you looked into the ark or you touch the ark and you know
what the 50,000 people ish 50,070 people that died here they deserved it because
they broke God's law now look at Proverbs chapter number three Proverbs
3 verse 1 it says this my son forget not my law and think think of this as God
talking to you my son forget not my law but let thine heart keep my commandments
for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to you so what is
the fruit what is the result of keeping God's Commandments length of days long
life peace good things God gives us his word because he wants us to follow it
and he wants to bless us when we do so it says verse 3 let not mercy and truth
forsake thee bind them about thy neck write them upon the table of thine heart
so shalt thou find it favor and good understanding the sight of God and man
verse 5 one of the most beautiful verses in the whole Bible trust in the Lord with
all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways
acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths be not wise in thine own eyes fear
the Lord and depart from evil you know what I think the best shemites were
doing in this situation is that they're being wise in their own eyes they were
not trusting the Lord with all their heart they were leaning to their own
understanding they probably thought hey the ark's been gone for seven months ish
and the Philistines the enemies of God have killed our people and now the ark
is coming back God probably doesn't care if I look into the ark I mean this is a
joyous occasion this is a great time God probably doesn't care if I just
blatantly disobey his commandments but what is the Bible saying in Proverbs 3
trust in the Lord with all thine heart lean not unto thine own understanding in
all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths be not wise in
thine own eyes fear the Lord and depart from evil you know not all of God's
commandments are gonna make sense to us carnally especially when you're a new
believer especially when you've never read through the Bible especially when
you've only read through it a handful of times you know there's gonna be
commandments in the Bible that you're just you don't understand and you're
saying like God is that really necessary God is it really matter if I
do it this way does it really matter if I go if I go here if I drink that if I
do this does it really matter that much and you know the admonition I would
leave you with this evening is trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean
not unto thine own understanding don't think like well I don't understand this
commandment so I'm exempt from it I don't understand why God said this so I
don't have to follow it no it doesn't matter if you understand it or not God
has given us very clear instructions in life God has given us very detailed
explanations of how to do everything in life I mean the Word of God the Bible
says is profitable for everything and so the admonition I leave you with tonight
is don't trust in yourself don't trust in your own heart don't be presumptuous
like the bathroom I tear and think that just because you're surrounding you know
life circumstances are going well just because the ark is coming back to you
that that means you can sin against God you know what it's never acceptable to
sin against God it's never acceptable to do wrong even if you feel like
everything your life is going right you know let us as a church not be like the
bathroom I tear and get presumptuous no rather let us always fear the Lord
let's have a word of prayer Lord thank you for this day thank you for the Word
of God and for 1st Samuel chapter 6 and I just prayed that you would use this
series through 1st Samuel 6 to speak to our hearts to help us to become better
Christians and to improve as servants of Jesus Christ we pray that you bring us
all home safely this evening we love you in Jesus name we pray amen