Amen. All right, well you're there in Mark chapter number three and I'm so glad that you're here and my wife and I are glad to be here as well.
We appreciate you coming here and we are excited about what the Lord is doing here in this location.
And I want you to know that we are praying for all of you in Sacramento every week and want to get to know you better of course.
But we are praying for you, you're in our thoughts and I do want to encourage you to come to the conference in July if you can.
I know it's going to be a little bit of a culture shock for you, you know, with the heat, all right, because it's hot in Sacramento and it's cold here.
I don't know if it's this cold all the time, but it's cold for us.
But we would love for you to come and I think we're going to have a much bigger crowd this year than we did last year and we're trying to figure all of that out.
We're in a bigger location now in our new building.
So this is how it's going to work. I think what we're going to have to end up doing, if as many people come who say that they're coming actually come,
we're probably going to just have to lock the doors and not allow people in because we're only going to be able to allow a certain amount of people.
And so this is how it's going to work, you know, about 30 minutes before we're going to just make an announcement.
If you are here from Verity Baptist Church Vancouver, come to the front of the line, all right?
So I'll make sure you guys get in. Then anyone who's considering moving to Sacramento can also come to the front of the line.
And anyone who's planning on moving to Texas needs to go to the back of the line.
No, I'm just kidding. We're not going to do that. We'll figure out how to get everybody in. I'm sure it'll be fine.
But we'd love to have you and you're doing a great work here.
And Brother Aaron, thank you. Thank you, thank you for all the work that you do here.
And of course, your wife and your family. And Brother Aaron and I work together. We work well together.
I think we work well together. And I think it's because we complement each other, you know?
If you take our sizes and average them out, you get a normal sized person, you know?
And so that word, God, it's like a match made in heaven, I think.
But Mark chapter number three, I want you to look there, Mark chapter number three, and look at verse number 22.
Mark chapter three and verse 22, the Bible says,
And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
This is the Lord Jesus Christ doing miracles, doing ministry.
And the Pharisees were fighting him. They were arguing with him.
And here in this passage, they accuse him. They said, He hath Beelzebub.
They're actually accusing him of being possessed with the devil, being demon possessed.
They said, He hath Beelzebub.
But I want you to notice that Beelzebub is not just a regular false god or a regular idol.
Because here they say, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
So what they're saying is Beelzebub is the prince of the devils.
In other passages we're told that Beelzebub is the chief of the devils.
If you look at verse 23, the Bible says,
And he called them unto him and said, so this is Jesus, and said unto them in parables.
Now notice what Jesus says. He says, How can Satan cast out Satan?
So they said, You have Beelzebub, alright, and in the Old Testament this same false god comes up.
He's called Baal, he's called Bel, he's called Belial, or Belial, however you choose to pronounce it there.
And here they said, He hath Beelzebub, I'll talk about the same false god.
But they said, Beelzebub is the chief of, he's the prince of the devils.
And then Jesus kind of lets us know who Beelzebub is, because when they said to him,
You have Beelzebub, and he says, Well how can Satan cast out Satan?
So what I want you to get from this passage, what I want you to see from here,
is that Beelzebub, or Baal, or Bel, or Belial, is talking about Satan.
According to the Lord Jesus Christ, that is Satan.
So it's not just a false god, like there's many false gods that are mentioned throughout the Bible in the Old Testament.
They're just idols, they're just made up.
This one is actually a reference to the being Satan, Lucifer.
Now you're there in Mark, go to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter number 6.
You've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians.
2nd Corinthians chapter number 6.
Now I want you to notice another name for Beelzebub is Belial.
Or like I said, Baal, Bel, throughout the Bible, that's what he's referred to.
In 2nd Corinthians chapter number 6, if you look at verse number 14,
You've got the famous passage where it says, Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.
And then you've got the apostle Paul, and he gives us a list of things that are opposites.
Notice what he says, he says, For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
So obviously the opposite of righteousness is unrighteousness.
What communion hath light with darkness?
You've got two opposites there, two things that are opposite of each other.
Then he says this, What conquered hath Christ with Belial?
I want you to notice, the opposite of Christ is Belial.
Now Belial is not equal to Christ, he's not the same as Christ, but they're on opposite sides.
You know, if you've got a battle, if you've got a war, you've got Christ heading up one part of that.
And then you've got Belial heading up the other part.
Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
The difference, an infidel is someone who does not have faith, does not believe.
So the opposite of believer is an infidel.
What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
So you've got all these opposites, and I want you to notice that here in 2nd Corinthians 6,
We're told that you've got Christ on one side, and you've got Belial on the other side.
And why is that? Because Belial is Beelzebub, it's Satan.
I want to just start the sermon by kind of laying that foundation.
When we use the word Belial, when we use the name Belial,
We are speaking about Beelzebub, we are speaking about Satan.
Now go with me just real quick back towards the gospels.
You were in Mark, go to Matthew, chapter number 5.
Matthew is the first book in the New Testament, should be fairly easy to find.
Matthew chapter number 5, and while you are turning there,
I'll read for you out of 1st Peter chapter 5 and verse 8.
So you go to Matthew chapter 5, and I want you to listen as I read out of 1st Peter 5-8.
1st Peter 5-8 says this,
Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil,
as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
The Bible refers to the devil, Satan, Belial, Beelzebub,
as our adversary.
And here's what I want you to understand.
You and I are engaged in spiritual warfare,
or at least we should be engaged in spiritual warfare,
with none other than Satan and his forces.
We are at war. The Christian life is a battle.
You find that all throughout the scriptures.
It's not a walk in the park, it's not the prosperity gospel,
it's not the Joel Osteen, you know, your best life.
Now we are engaged, if you engage in how the Bible tells you to live your life,
living, you know, like in Ephesians 6, we're told to put on the whole armor of God,
we're supposed to be witnessing, we're supposed to be engaged in the battle against the devil.
But here's what I want you to understand.
Satan is the great counterfeiter.
That's what brother Ryan Gallagher was preaching about yesterday morning at the soul winning meeting.
He started preaching and I thought, man, he's going to steal my sermon, you know.
And he started talking about Satan being the great counterfeiter,
and how Satan will often, he preached a great sermon about the Antichrist and Christ and similarities.
In fact, I've got his notes and if this sermon doesn't go well, I'm just going to switch that up and read his.
But we're talking about that, you know, how Satan will often counterfeit God.
And here's what I want you to understand.
The work of God is done here on earth through his children.
God works through his children.
God is not going to come down and preach the gospel to anybody today.
God has commissioned you and God has commissioned not.
If we are saved, if we are born again into the family of God, he does his work through his children.
It is the children of God that fulfill the great commission.
It is the children of God that preach the sermons.
It is the children of God that disciple believers.
It is the children of God that start the churches.
The work of God here on earth is done through his children.
But Satan, the great counterfeiter, also has children.
And I want you to understand in the same way that God does his work here on earth through his children,
Belial, Satan, does his work here on earth through his children.
He has children.
He has people that are born into his family that are, that he is their father and he does his work through them.
Now, if you're there in Matthew 5, and I know you're familiar with these passages,
I'm kind of just laying the foundation for the sermon this morning.
If you're there in Matthew 5, I want you to notice the famous verse that is often thrown at people like us,
or people who believe like us.
Matthew 5 and verse number 43, the Bible says this,
Ye have heard, this is the Lord Jesus Christ, ye have heard that it hath been said,
Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you,
do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.
And here's what I want you to understand, amen and amen to that passage.
We don't deny that, we don't disagree with that.
People will often look at us, or preachers like me, when we preach against, you know, the children of Belial in this world,
when we preach against those that are attacking God and hate God,
and they'll say, well, aren't you supposed to love your neighbor, and here's the thing, or love your enemy, and here's the thing,
absolutely, you and I are supposed to love our enemies, and here's what I want you to understand.
Unsaved people, or just run-of-the-mill, your general, run-of-the-mill unbelievers,
those people are not our enemies. We're supposed to love them.
Even when they hate us, even when they count us as their enemies, we're supposed to love them,
we're supposed to pray for them, we're supposed to care for them,
but here's what I want you to understand.
The children of Belial, the children of Belial, the children of Satan, the children of the devil,
those people are the enemies of God. They have made themselves the enemies of God.
Like I said, I know you're familiar with these passages, but let's look at them real quick.
Go to the book of Psalms, Psalm 139.
Psalm 139, if you open up your Bible just right in the center, you're more than likely following the book of Psalms.
Psalm 139, and look at verse number 21.
Psalm 139, see, you're supposed to love your enemies.
Jesus said, but I say unto you, love your enemies.
Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you.
Pray for them which despitefully use you. Praise the Lord for that.
That's what we ought to do.
But in Psalm 139, David, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost,
and you know, you'll find many passages throughout the Bible where David tells us
that he spoke the words of God through the Holy Ghost.
In Psalm 139, the Bible says, verse 21, he says,
Do not I hate them, O Lord, here's the difference, that hate thee?
Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee?
And am not I grieve with those that rise up against thee?
I hate them with a perfect hatred.
He's saying there, there's nothing wrong with that hatred.
It's perfect. It's complete.
I count them mine enemies.
And then just to prove that he's not speaking in the flesh
and he's not speaking out of turn, he says,
Search me, O 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.
Here's what I want you to understand.
Unbelievers that don't like you,
unbelievers that come against you,
unbelievers that you have problems with, maybe at work,
or maybe they're your neighbors, or maybe you're related to them,
or maybe you're even married to them, you know.
Whatever it may be, hey, you're supposed to love that enemy
if they are your enemy.
But here's what I want you to understand.
The children of Belial are the stated enemies of God.
Those people are supposed to be our enemies
not because they are enemies to us, because they are enemies to God.
And we are engaged in battle, and I'm not talking about physical,
I'm not talking about going out and hurting anybody physically,
but here's what I want you to understand.
In the same way that you and I grab a King James Bible,
we train, we mobilize soul winners, we plant churches,
and we engage in a spiritual battle through physical children of God on this earth.
Satan is training, and recruiting, and mobilizing,
and engaging his children to fight on the opposite end of the same battle.
You and I are at war, spiritually speaking,
we're at war, yes, in a spiritual battle,
but there are physical children of Belial in Vancouver, Washington,
in Portland, Oregon, in Sacramento, California,
and all over this country, and all over this world
that are engaged on the opposite end of the battle that you and I should be engaged in.
What does this have to do with this morning's sermon?
Here's what it has to do with.
I want to spend a few minutes this morning.
I want to spend some time this morning.
Go with me to the book of Judges in the Old Testament.
You've got Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Judges 19.
I want to spend a few minutes this morning,
and it's going to be very much like a Bible study,
although we'll get into some preaching here, of course, as well.
I want to give you some characteristics of the children of Belial throughout the scripture,
because the Bible actually talks a lot about the children of Belial,
and we can learn about the characteristics of these people,
and you say, why would we learn it?
Because we are engaged in battle with these people,
and we need to figure out, what do these people look like?
What do these people act like?
How do these people think?
And then that way, we can learn what the children of Belial are,
so that we can be on the offense, so that we can be on the defense,
so that when a child of Belial walks in this building,
you know what you're looking for.
And again, we're not talking about an unsaved guy that just walks in,
doesn't know what's going on.
We're not talking about that.
But here's the thing.
There are enemies.
There are wolves.
There are people out there that want to destroy this church
and want to destroy your life,
because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walking the mile,
seeking whom he may devour,
and he does that through his children.
In the same way that God seeks to save and reconcile unbelievers,
and he does that through his children.
So let's look at the characteristics of the children of Belial.
What makes up, what can we see in Scripture
that we see from the children of Belial?
Well, the first thing I want you to notice, in Judges chapter 19,
is that the children of Belial are predators.
The children of Belial are predators.
They are perverts that seek to defile innocent people.
Judges 19 and verse 22, I know you're familiar with the story,
but let's look at it.
Judges 19 and verse 22, notice what the Bible says.
Now as they were making their hearts merry,
behold the men of the city, certain, notice what it says,
certain sons of what?
Certain, you're going to have to wake up if this is going to work, right?
Certain sons of, let's say it together, Belial.
That's what we're looking at, right?
That's what we're studying.
Certain sons of Belial beset the house round about
and beat at the door and spake to the master of the house
the old man saying, notice what they said,
bring forth the man that came into thine house
that we may know him.
And that word know there is the same know
that is used throughout Scripture when Adam knew his wife
and they ended up having a child.
They're talking about having a physical relationship
and in this case, taking physical advantage of this man.
So here you got men, certain sons of Belial
who are coming around this house and they're saying,
hey, give us that man that came into town
that we may know him.
Notice what they do.
Verse 23, and the man, the master of the house,
went out unto them and said unto them,
nay my brethren, nay I pray you do not so wickedly.
So what they want to do is a wicked thing, right?
This is not just a, you know, a welcoming party
into the neighborhood.
We just want to welcome you into the neighborhood.
No, these people want to do something evil and wicked.
Notice he says, do not so wickedly seeing
that this man is coming to mine house,
do not this folly.
Behold, here are my daughters.
A maiden and his concubine, them I will bring out now
and humble ye them
and do with them what seemeth good unto you
but unto this man do not so vile a thing.
Notice it's a vile thing they want to do.
Verse 25, but the men would not hearken to him
and the man took his concubine
and brought her forth unto them
and they knew her like a bunch of animals.
They just took her and abused her
and the night until the morning
and when the day began to spring, they let her go
like a bunch of cockroaches.
When the sun comes up, they go off running.
Look at verse 26.
Then came the woman in the dawning of the day
and fell down at the door of the man's house
where her Lord was till it was light
and her Lord rose up in the morning
and opened the door of the house
and went out to go his way
and behold, the woman, his concubine
was fallen down at the door of the house
and her hands were upon the threshold
and he said unto her, up and let us be going
but none answered.
Then the man took her up upon an ass
and the man rose up and got him unto this place
and she died.
She literally died after this night
when these sons of Belial took advantage of her
and had their way with her.
I want you to understand
and people don't like to hear this
and people don't like to come to grips with this
but these were sodomites.
These were what our society called homosexuals
and in the Bible, and listen to me,
in the Bible, you never find,
and I often challenge people,
show me in the Bible the positive reference
to these people.
Show me in the Bible where it says,
oh no, they're just quirky,
you know, they're just flamboyant,
they're just kind of nice.
Every reference in the Bible,
they are taking advantage of someone,
they are hurting someone,
they are defiling someone,
they are wicked, they are predators,
they are murderers, they are rapists.
And here's the thing,
when you're a Bible-believing Christian
and you say, well,
everything that God wants me to know is in the Bible
and you say, well,
everything that God wants me to know about these people
is in the Word of God,
then that's all I've got to know about them.
I know what Obama said about them,
I know what Hillary Clinton said about them,
I know what the whole world says about them,
but this is what God says about them,
and God says that they are predators,
God says that they are filthy,
God says that they are animals,
God says that they defile and they hurt.
And here's what I want you to say,
this is what the children of Belial are?
And here's what I want you to say,
I believe that all of these sodomites,
they're all a bunch of reprobates
and they're all children of Belial.
They are predators.
And here's what's interesting,
and I know you've heard,
this is going around recently
and I just kind of learned about it myself,
but there's an agenda today.
I believe there's a conspiracy,
I'll use that word.
I believe there's a conspiracy today
in the independent fundamental Baptist movement
to bring these sons of Belial into churches.
And not just to bring them,
to accept them,
but almost just to like bring them,
I mean there are ministries.
You've heard of this born that way ministry.
All these Baptist churches are accepting this thing
and bringing it in,
and it's a ministry.
The whole point of the ministry
is to find these sons of Belial
and bring them into church.
Now they call it,
they say, you know,
oh they're eunuchs
and look, they don't know what they're talking about.
You study a eunuch out in the Bible,
it's not that.
That's right.
Okay, and that's pretty clear
and I'm not gonna cover that.
By their standards,
the apostle Paul would have been a sodomite.
You know, the guy who wrote Romans 1.
All right, so they don't know what they're talking about,
but here's what I want you to know.
Whenever you listen to these people,
you know, these born that way ministry,
whenever they use the word eunuch,
you just need to understand
they're not taking a biblical definition
of the word eunuch.
When they say eunuch,
what they mean is sodomite.
When they say eunuch,
what they mean is a queer.
What they mean is a predator.
What they mean is a pervert.
That's what they're talking about.
And so I go on their website
because, you know, I started hearing about this
and I thought I want to check this out myself
and my wife and I,
one of these nights we were on the computer
and we went on this born that way website
and there's an article they had on there
and we started reading the article
and the article is entitled
Seven Things You Didn't Know About Eunuchs.
Now, of course, what they mean
is seven things you didn't know about fads.
That's what they mean,
but they, you know, they titled it
Seven Things You Didn't Know About Eunuch
and, you know, it's this agenda.
This guy, what's his name?
Johnny Nixon and his partner Joshua Agan, okay?
And I don't mean business partners,
but, you know, they've got this agenda
to bring these people into church
and here's what they say.
There's this article on this website,
Seven Things You Didn't Know About Eunuchs.
Here's how the article starts.
It begins like this.
Pastor, they are sitting in your pews every week.
They are men and women in your church
who have remained single.
Now, look, I don't know about whatever church they go to,
but they're not sitting in my church, you know,
and they're not sitting in these pews, all right?
But, you know, they say they're in your church already.
They're already there and they're like,
there's seven things we need you to know
about these perverts, these pedophiles.
There's seven things we need to know.
Now, tell me if you don't think
this is an agenda and a conspiracy.
Number one, the number, the first thing out of seven things
I need you to know about these eunuchs
and that they're referring to these sodomites,
these homos, these queers, these perverts
is that the first thing I need you to know
about these people is this.
Number one, they can be trusted.
That's what it says.
Number one, they can be trusted.
They can be trusted.
You don't have to be suspicious of them.
You don't have to, you know, worry about them,
just bring them in.
And they give seven things
that you don't know about these people.
But here's number four.
Number four, they say they have a deep
and sincere love for people.
And in that little paragraph,
because, you know, they give you the seven points
and they give you a paragraph.
In that paragraph, here's what they said.
I'm quoting from their article.
They are usually excellent working with children.
So here's what Johnny Nixon
and his partner, you know, Joshua, whatever his name is,
Joshua Agin, you know, they decided,
hey, let's make a ministry
where we trick all these pastors
to go out and purposely look for perverts
and bring them in and then let's teach them,
let's teach them, hey, the number one thing
you need to know about these people
is you can trust them with your children.
Put them in the Sunday school class.
Put them in that Sunday school class
by themselves, you know, with Johnny Nixon
and Joshua and whoever, you know.
Put them in there because you can trust them
and the best place, the best place, they are excellent.
They are excellent working with children.
Now look, don't you think,
I mean, doesn't it sound like a bunch of sons of Belial
are sitting around in a dark room somewhere saying,
man, how can we just get access to these people?
Because, you know, that pastor Jimenez
and that pastor Anderson and those people, you know,
they're kind of making it hard for us
to get close to these kids now.
You know, because they started preaching all these sermons
and now everybody's worried about us.
So, you know, how can we figure out a way
to allow our sons of Belial not only into churches
but give them access to children?
Well, I got an idea.
Let's write a book called
They Are Born That Way After All.
Let's start a ministry where we specifically go out
and look for perverts and then let's tell them,
hey, you can trust them.
Number one thing you should know about them
is you can trust them, especially with your children.
They are excellent workers with your children.
I'm just here to tell you,
if you just follow what the Bible says,
if you just listen to the Bible,
these sodomites are all children of Belial
and these children of Belial are perverts.
They're with men, they're with women,
they rape, they murder, they kill.
That's all you need to know
and this eunuch idea is so ridiculous
it's not even worth, you know, trying to dispute.
I mean, you should be able to read the Bible
and understand that that's not what they're talking about
and, you know, on their website, they're like,
and here's their little thing,
on their website they're like,
these people, they don't have a desire to be with men
and they don't have a desire to be with women.
They just don't have any desire at all, you know.
Well, here's the thing, if that were true,
you know, I don't know that that's true
but I don't have an issue with that.
The problem I have with these homos
is that Romans 1 says they burned in their lusts
one towards another, okay.
So don't sit here and tell me,
oh no, they just don't have a desire.
No, according to Romans 1,
if you believe the word of God,
the problem is they burned in their lusts
one towards another.
The problem is that they're attracted to the same sex
or whatever you want to call it.
That's the issue and these people are sons of Beelah
because here's what I want you to understand,
the first characteristic we see of these people
here in the Bible is that they're predators,
is that they're rapists,
is that they're the last people you want in your church,
they're the last people you want
sitting next to you in the pew
and they're dead sure the last people you want
with your children.
These people are recruiters.
These people are taking advantage of children
and look, there's only one answer
for dealing with these people.
You say, I'm going to start a ministry
and we're going to counsel them
and we're going to try to,
no, no, there's only one answer.
There's only one way to deal with them
in the Bible.
In the Bible, there's only one way to deal with them.
You say, what is it?
Well, it's there in the Bible.
Look at Judges 20.
Look at verse 12.
Judges chapter 20 and verse 12.
Notice how the men of God dealt with these people.
Judges chapter 20.
Look at verse number 12.
Notice what it says.
Judges chapter 20 and verse 12, it says,
and the tribes of Israel sent men
through all the tribe of Benjamin saying,
what wickedness is this that is done among you?
Now therefore, deliver us the men,
the children of what?
Belial.
The children of Belial,
which are in Gibeah,
that we may put them through a counseling session.
Is that what it says?
Because I read this book, you know,
and it turns out they were born that way anyway.
No, is that what it says?
No, no, no, that's what it says.
That we may put them to death.
That we may put them to death
and put away evil from Israel,
but the children of Benjamin would not harken
to the voice of their brethren,
the children of Israel.
And people are like,
oh, I can't believe you say that.
I didn't say anything.
I just read the Bible.
That's hate speech.
I just read the word of God.
They said that we may put them to death.
Why would they say that?
Because that's what God said you got to do with them.
Leviticus 13,
Leviticus 13, I know you know it.
It says if a man also lie with mankind
as he lies with a woman,
both of them have committed abomination.
They shall surely be put to death.
Their blood shall be upon them.
And of course,
I got to make, you know, the statement
because of course, you know,
people always want to,
I'm not saying we should go do it, okay?
I'm not saying we need to go out there
and round them up, all right?
If you study the Bible,
this is something the government should be doing.
It's something that God,
it's a task that God gave to the government.
But here's what I'm telling you.
That's how God says to deal with them.
God places death penalty on these people
because there's no reforming them.
There's no fixing them.
They've been given over to a reprobate mind
when this happened.
And people say,
oh, in this story,
they weren't being put to death
because they were homos.
They were being put to death
because they raped and killed.
Okay, well look,
I don't got a problem with that.
And people say,
they're never going to pass along
in the United States
where they're going to put sodomyces to death.
Okay, that's fine.
Can we at least put the pedophiles to death?
I mean, the ones that we know for sure
because you don't want to take the Bible at its word.
But the ones that you know for sure
have defiled children,
are pedophiles and they've raped children
and they've taken it back.
Instead of putting them in prison,
give them a five-year sentence
when they really get out in two and a half
and then they go off
and then we put them on some website with the blue dot.
Why don't we at least just put them to death?
Can we start with those people?
I mean, are we that far gone that we would say,
hey, if you hurt a child,
if you rape a child,
you deserve to die.
You deserve to die.
I mean, can we at least say that?
Yeah, yeah.
Are independent final Baptist
at least willing to go that far?
Say, how do you deal with them?
You don't reform them.
There is no reform.
Once they're the children of Belial,
see, Satan offers,
just like God offers eternal security,
Satan offers eternal damnation,
eternal insecurity.
Once you're born again into the family of Satan,
once you're a child of Belial,
there's no going back.
Right.
There's no reprobate.
See, he's a great counterfeiter.
God gives you eternal security.
You get born again.
You get saved.
You're a child of God.
You can never quit.
You can never stop.
No matter what you do,
you will always be a child of God.
And guess what?
Once you're a reprobate,
once you're born into the family of Satan,
once you're a child of Belial,
there's no going back.
That's right.
It's done.
There's no reformation.
There's no counseling.
I don't care how much counseling you do, Johnny.
It's not going to help.
It's not going to fix it.
You're there in Judges 20.
The first characteristic we see of the children of Belial
is that they are predators.
Let me give you another one.
You're there in Judges.
Go to the book of 1 Samuel.
You're going to go past Judges, past Ruth,
into 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter number 1.
1 Samuel chapter number 1.
And let me just give you some encouragement.
We've got a great crowd here this morning.
And I'm glad you're here,
but let me give you some encouragement.
This type of preaching doesn't scare people off.
The only people that get scared off
with this type of preaching
are the kind of people you want scared off.
That's right.
Do you understand that?
I got a report this morning down in Sacramento.
We had 177 people in church this morning.
Say, with this type of preaching?
Look, people want the truth.
People want the truth.
You don't have to be afraid or scared.
Are they going to come and get us?
Yes.
Eventually they are.
What do you want me to say?
It's called the tribulation.
Eventually they're going to come and get all of us.
Okay?
Just live with it.
Just realize, instead of living in fear,
just say, well, we better get as much done.
We better get as much preaching in.
We better get as many people saved as possible
before they come and round all of us up.
Because that's what God said is going to happen.
It's a great tribulation.
It's coming to a town near you.
1 Samuel 1.
Look at verse 13.
1 Samuel chapter 1.
Look at verse 13.
Notice what the Bible says.
1 Samuel 1, 13.
Here you've got the story of Hannah.
Remember Hannah?
She was barren and she wanted to have a child.
And she's praying to God.
And in 1 Samuel 1, 13 the Bible says this,
Now Hannah, she spake in her heart,
only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard.
Therefore Eli, he's a high priest,
thought she had been drunken.
Right?
So I want you to understand,
Hannah's not drunk, but Eli thinks she's drunk.
Because she's there.
She's praying and she's just speaking in her heart,
but her lips are moving.
And Eli's like, you know, what's going on with this lady?
She's a little tipsy.
He thinks she's drunk.
Okay?
Notice the last part of verse 13.
Eli thought she had been drunk.
Look at verse 14.
And Eli said unto her,
How long wilt thou be drunken?
Put away thy wine.
You said, would wine there?
Okay, he doesn't say beer bottle.
He doesn't say hard liquor.
He doesn't say, you know, whatever.
I don't know what people drink.
I'm not.
I don't drink.
You know, but he says, put away thy wine from thee.
Oh no, wine is sophisticated.
Well, he said put that away too.
Notice what he says.
Notice verse 15.
And Hannah, and Hannah answered and said,
No, my Lord.
Now Hannah's a godly woman.
Okay?
And she just got accused falsely
because Eli doesn't know what he's talking about
and he thinks she's drunk.
He says, hey, put away your wine from you.
And she says, no, my Lord.
She said, no, my Lord.
I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit.
I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink,
but I poured out my soul before the Lord.
Notice what she says in verse 16.
Count not thy handmaid for a daughter of what?
You got, you're going to just wake up.
All right, please.
Bilio.
Let's say it together.
A daughter of what?
Bilio.
I know you smell the Mexican food downstairs.
I smell it too.
Okay.
If you cooperate with me, we'll be done fast.
All right.
She's the daughter of what?
Bilio.
All right.
Here's what I want you to know.
She gets accused of being drunk.
She says, I'm not drunk.
I'm not a daughter of what?
Bilio.
You know what that tells me?
Children of Bilio are drunks.
What's the characteristic of a children of Bilio?
I'm not saying everybody has a drunk as a child of Bilio,
but I'm saying that's where that came from.
Satan's the one that came up with that.
That's why the New Testament would later say,
be not drunk with wine wherein is excess,
but be ye filled with the spirit of God.
Why is the opposite of being filled with the spirit
being drunk?
Because when you're drunk,
you're filled with the spirit of Satan.
Do you understand that?
He says, you're drunk.
He says, I'm not a daughter of Bilio.
And today you got wine sipping Baptist.
Today you've got so-called Baptist preachers
that want to get up and say,
well, it's okay to drink a little bit socially.
That came from the devil.
That's what Satan and his people do.
Hey, put away thy wine from you.
Hey, you know, children of God ought to be nowhere.
The closest you ought to ever be to a bar
is this building right here.
That's just because there's a bar next door, all right?
That's the closest you ought to ever be to a bar.
You know, because it's not something,
the Bible says, look not thou upon the wine.
The Bible says that we're not to drink.
Hey, don't get drunk with wine,
get filled with the spirit of God.
That's what the Bible says.
Because the children of Bilio are drunks.
And it's a characteristic of,
it's a characteristic of Satan to be a drunkard.
And I'm just telling you, I'm just telling you,
we've seen two things so far.
They're predators and what are Baptist doing?
Bring them in.
Eunuchs, have at it.
Here are my children.
You know, we see the second thing.
They're drunkards.
And what are Baptist saying?
Let's sip wine together.
Let's get drunk together.
It's no big deal.
Let's just do it socially.
Hey, let me explain it to you.
Every drunk was once a social drinker.
You don't wake up one day and you're just a drunk, okay?
You don't just wake up one day, you're a drunkard.
You first go to the Baptist church
where your pastor says, have a sip of wine.
And you sip a little bit of wine with your pastor
and then you sip a little bit more
and before you realize it, you're a drunkard.
And you're a daughter of Belial.
You're a son of Belial or you're at least acting like one.
Because the characteristics of these people
is that they're predators.
The characteristics of these people
is that they are drunkards.
Let me give you another one.
Go to, you're there in 1 Samuel chapter one.
Go to 1 Samuel chapter two.
1 Samuel chapter two, look at verse 12.
1 Samuel chapter two, verse 12.
Notice what it says.
Notice what the Bible says.
1 Samuel chapter 12.
Now the sons of Eli,
now the sons of Eli were the sons of, you ready?
All right, let's say it together.
Were the sons of what?
Belial, all right?
The sons of Eli were the sons of Belial.
They knew not the Lord, okay?
The sons of Belial don't know the Lord.
They're not saved.
They're not believers.
But notice what they also were.
And the priests' custom, they were priests.
You see that?
They were priests, but they were sons of Belial.
I think there's some priests running around,
call themselves father, they dress like their mother, right?
Aren't there some priests running around
in the Catholic church?
Sip wine, take advantage of children.
They're sons of Belial.
I'm just telling you about the Bible.
I'm just reading the Bible.
I haven't even commented yet.
I mean, this is what it says.
Look what it says.
1 Samuel two, look at verse 12.
1 Samuel two, where am I?
Good night.
1 Samuel 2, 12.
Yeah, look at verse 13.
And the priests' custom with the people was that
when any man offered sacrifice,
the priests' servant came while the flesh was in seething
with a flesh hook of three teeth in his hand
and he struck it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot.
All that the flesh hook brought up,
the priests took for himself.
So they did it in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came hither.
Also, before they burnt the fat,
the priests' servant came and said to the man that sacrificed,
give flesh to the roast of the priests,
for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.
And if any man said unto them,
let them not fail to burn the fat presently
and then take as much as their soul desireth,
then he would answer him,
Nay, but thou shalt give it me now,
and if not, I will take it by force.
So I want you to understand what's going on here.
There was a process.
The priests were supposed to be paid basically
when they brought sacrifice.
There was a process in which they were supposed to take food for themselves
and then part of it was sacrifice.
But these sons of Belial, they were giving into the flesh.
They were giving into the lust of their flesh and they said,
No, no, no.
We're going to do it the way we want to do it.
And we're going to take more than we are supposed to take
and we're going to take it before we're supposed to take it.
And if you're not going to give it to us,
look at the last part of verse 16,
I will take it by force.
Look at verse 17.
Wherefore the sin of the young man was very great before the Lord.
Here's why it was great.
For man abhorred the offering of the Lord.
You've got priests who are sons of Belial
and a result of these priests' ministry makes normal men
abhor the offering of the Lord.
You know that there are preachers today that are sons of Belial?
You know that there are priests today that are sons of Belial?
And when it gets found out that they've been taking advantage of children,
when it gets found out that they've been committing adultery,
when it gets found out that they've been stealing from the church,
when people find out about all these sins,
you know what it makes normal people want to do?
It makes them not want to go to church.
It makes them not want to be involved in religion.
They look at these Catholic pedophiles and they say,
Well, that's why I don't go to church.
And they lump all of us in that.
They lump everybody in there.
Because you know what the children of Belial do?
Not only are they predators, not only are they drunkards,
but they also pose as believers.
They act like they're the children of God
when they're actually the children of Belial.
They're priests, they're prophets, they're pastors,
they're spiritual leaders.
Keep your place there in 1 Samuel.
Go to 2 Corinthians 11.
In the New Testament you've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans 1 and 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 11.
Look at verse number 13.
1 Corinthians chapter number 11.
And look at verse number 13.
These children of Belial, listen to me,
not everybody that knocks on your door
and says, Hi, my name is Elder Billy.
I'm 19 years old, but I'm an elder.
And here's my friend Bob.
And we're Christians.
We come from the church of the Latter Day Saints.
You know, hey, I'm just here to tell you,
not everybody who says they're religious is of God.
There are some people out there that act like they're priests,
they act like they're believers, they act like they're religious,
they act like, where are you just witnessing about Jehovah?
We're on your side. No, you're a child of Belial.
And I'm not saying every Jehovah's Witness is a child of Belial,
but I'll tell you, the people that created that religion,
the people that run that religion are children of Belial.
And it's Satan that runs that church, and it's Satan that runs that religion.
2 Corinthians 11, look at verse 13.
2 Corinthians 11 and verse 13, notice what the Bible says.
2 Corinthians 11, verse 13.
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Just be very careful. Be very careful.
When Johnny Nixon, or whatever his name is,
says, oh, well, here's a believer, and they're an open sodomite,
or they're a sodomite, we reform them, no, that's a children of Belial.
Well, he says he's a Christian.
Sometimes children of Belial pose as believers.
Sometimes they act as Christians.
It's what the Bible, it's what Jesus called wolves in sheep's clothing.
You've got wolves that are acting like sheep,
and it's hard to see them nowadays,
because most churches have sheep in wolves' clothing.
Most churches are trying to act like the world,
so they don't even have to try that hard to come in here.
And I'm not talking about here, I'm just talking about churches in general.
But here's what I want you to understand.
These people are predators, these people are drunkards,
these people will often pose as believers,
because, hey, no marvel, Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
And their goal, their goal is to draw people away.
They're religious so that they can do things
that make people abhor the offering of God.
Their goal is to actually draw people away from the truth.
I'll give you a perfect example.
Go back to Matthew, chapter number 23.
Matthew chapter number 23, remember the Pharisees?
Remember the Pharisees?
In John chapter number 8, you go to Matthew 23,
but in John chapter number 8, Jesus said to the Pharisees,
he said, ye are of your father the devil.
Those Pharisees were very religious people,
but they were children of Belial.
They were children of the devil.
They were doing the work of Satan.
Well, they're very religious, and they're very conservative,
and they're very clean, and you know, look at them.
I mean, could they be evil?
Yeah, even religious people.
Because the children of Belial are often,
they're transformed into angels of light.
And notice what Jesus, what the Bible says in Matthew 23,
look at verse number 15 about these Pharisees,
who Jesus told us that their father is the devil.
Matthew 23, look at verse number 15.
Matthew 23, verse 15, notice what Jesus said about,
he says, wo unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites,
for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte,
and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of,
notice, hell, than yourselves.
You know the children of Belial are often sometimes
more disciplined and more engaged in making converts
than the children of God?
I mean, wouldn't it be great if that was said of us?
That we compass sea and land to make one,
that we'll go anywhere, anytime, to reach people
and make them the children of heaven?
But he says these Pharisees, these children of Belial,
they'll work overtime.
They'll sacrifice, they'll do whatever needs to be done
so that they can get one proselyte, and when he is made,
you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
Because oftentimes the children of Belial
are not only predators, oftentimes the children of Belial
are not only drunkards, oftentimes the children of Belial
pose as believers, and here's what I want you to understand.
I'm not saying every child of Belial does these things,
but you can find these characteristics.
Sometimes they're a religious person named Joel Osteen,
and sometimes they're just a pedophile,
and sometimes they're the same.
Sometimes they're both.
Sometimes they look nice and they're very religious,
and sometimes they're just a pervert taking advantage of people,
and sometimes they're both, like I said.
But their goal is to draw people away from the truth.
Deuteronomy chapter number 13.
Go to Deuteronomy 13.
I know we're looking at a lot of passages,
but there's so much the Bible says about this,
I want you to just see as much as we can.
Deuteronomy chapter 13.
You got Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy chapter 13.
Look at verse number 12.
Deuteronomy chapter number 13 and verse number 12.
Notice what the Bible says.
If thou shalt hearsay in one of thy cities
which the Lord thy God hath given thee
to dwell there saying.
Now notice what he says.
Are you there?
Deuteronomy 13.
Look at verse 13.
Certain men, the children of what?
Let's say it together.
Belial.
Certain men, the children of Belial,
are gone out from among you
and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city
saying let us go and serve other gods
which ye have not known.
See the children of Belial,
their job is to draw people away from the Lord.
Whether it means defiling them as children
in a place that they considered a church
so that those kids will grow up and hate God.
Whether it's just being an influence,
getting somebody drunk
and getting them hooked on drugs and alcohol
so that they can't serve the Lord.
Whether it's being a religious leader that hurts them
and maybe when they're found out
people abhor the offerings of the Lord.
Whatever it might be,
their goal is to draw people away from the truth.
Let's go back to the first time.
I got to move quickly.
I've got several of these that I want to show you.
Go to 1 Samuel chapter number 10
and then we got to finish up here fast.
1 Samuel chapter 10.
Look at verse number 24.
1 Samuel chapter 10 verse 24.
So what have we seen so far?
These children of Belial, they are predators.
What have we seen so far?
These children of Belial, they are drunkards.
What have we seen so far?
These children of Belial,
they are oftentimes religious.
But I want you to notice another one.
These children of Belial,
they always promote rebellion.
1 Samuel chapter 10.
Look at verse number 24.
1 Samuel chapter 10 and verse 24.
Notice what the Bible says.
And Samuel said to all the people,
See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen,
that there is none like him among all the people.
And all the people shouted and said,
God save the king.
This is when Saul was made king.
Samuel, Samuel said that the Lord chose Saul.
Now, you know, we understand that the way they got a king
was because of their own rebellion.
We get that.
But at the end of the day,
it is God that chose Saul.
It is God that appointed Saul.
And Samuel said, hey,
this is the man that the Lord has chosen.
Look at verse 25.
Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom
and wrote it in a book and laid it upon before the Lord.
And Samuel went and all the people away,
every man to his house.
Look at verse number 26.
And Saul went home to Gibeah,
and there went with him a band of men
whose hearts the God had touched.
Look at verse 27.
Wake up.
But the children of what?
Belial.
But the children of Belial said,
notice what they said,
How shall this man save us?
And they despised him, Saul,
and brought him no presence,
but he held his peace.
You know, when God gave them a king,
everybody said, hey, praise the Lord.
Let's get on board.
Let's follow him.
But you know who didn't get on board?
The children of Belial.
They said, is this guy going to save us?
Is this guy going to rule over us?
Is this guy?
I don't care if he's our God-given authority.
I don't care if this is a man that God has chosen.
The children of Belial always promote rebellion
against God-given authority.
It's not just in this passage.
Let me show you another one.
Go to 2 Samuel chapter number 20.
2 Samuel chapter number 20.
You're there in 1 Samuel.
Just flip over to 2 Samuel chapter number 20.
Look at verse number 1.
2 Samuel chapter number 20.
Verse number 1.
We're fast-forwarding in the history
of the children of Israel.
2 Samuel chapter 20 and verse 1.
This is when David, remember,
David had to leave town because of his son Absalom.
He's beaten Absalom and he's come back.
They've reinstated him as king.
David was chosen by Samuel.
David was their God-given leader,
their God-given authority.
Notice what the Bible says.
2 Samuel chapter 20.
All right.
Wake up.
Look what it says.
And there happened to be there a man of what?
Belial.
There always happens to be there a man of Belial.
It just so happens they're always around.
And there happened to be there a man of Belial
whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichrai, a Benjamite.
He blew a trumpet and said, notice what he says.
We have no part in David.
Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse.
Every man who ascends to Israel.
So every man of Israel went up from after David and followed Sheba.
He brings rebellion because the children of Belial always bring rebellion.
When it's Saul, they're like, we're not going to follow him.
And when it's David, they said, we're not going to follow him.
Let me give you another example.
Keep your finger there in 2 Samuel.
We're going to come back to it.
Go to 2 Chronicles.
You're there in 2 Samuel.
You're going to go past 1 and 2 Kings into 1 and 2 Chronicles.
2 Chronicles chapter number 13.
Look at verse number 5.
2 Chronicles chapter number 13 and verse number 5.
2 Chronicles 13 and verse 5.
Notice what the Bible says.
What time is it?
Good night.
What time am I supposed to be done?
What time is lunch?
All right.
I'm making up for not being here last month when it was snowing.
We'll go fast.
We'll go as fast as we can.
2 Chronicles 13.
Look at verse 5.
2 Chronicles 13, 5.
Notice what it says.
So David gathered all Israel together.
Am I in the right place?
I am not in the right place.
2 Chronicles.
I'm in 1 Chronicles.
2 Chronicles chapter 13.
You're slowing me down.
2 Chronicles.
No, I'm just kidding.
2 Chronicles 13.
Look at verse 5.
Notice what it says.
2 Chronicles 13, 5.
I ought to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever,
even to him and to his sons by a covenant of Saul.
Okay, so who gave the kingdom to David and to his children forever?
God did.
Right?
It was God.
God ordained that.
Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, the servant of Solomon, the son of David, is risen up and
he has rebelled and he has rebelled against his Lord and there are gathered unto him,
wake up, there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of what?
Belial.
Let's say it together.
Belial.
And have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam.
Isn't it interesting how whenever there's rebellion, you can find a child of Belial?
Let me tell you something.
One day when there's church and we can cut the umbilical cord and there's a pastor here
that's full time, you know, that's the pastor of this church and you don't have to, you
know, and you have him here all the time and people come in here and they start criticizing
the pastor or they start saying, well they're not, or even now, you know, brother Aaron's
running and leading this as a leader here, you know, and people come and say, well I
just don't think Aaron.
Hey look, you know what?
I chose Aaron as the leader of this satellite and I'm the pastor that God ordained for the
ministry called Verity Baptist Church and when people come in here and they criticize
him or they come in here or they, in Sacramento, I'm fighting it right now in Sacramento, you
know, and we're always fighting it and people come in and they want to criticize the leader
or teenagers want to criticize their parents or wives want to criticize their husband or
you want to criticize your boss at work.
Hey, I'm just telling you this, when God has ordained authority over you and you rebel
against that authority, that didn't come from God, that came from the devil.
It's the characteristic of the children of Belial to rebel against their God given authority
and whether it's a wife that doesn't want to submit to her husband or whether it's an
employee that doesn't want to submit to his boss and I never get that.
Now if you don't like your boss then quit.
If you're smarter than your boss is then you go start the business and you go, you know,
make more money than he does.
But there's a spirit of rebellion given by these children of Belial.
Go to 1 Samuel 25.
If you kept your place there in 1 Samuel, go to 1 Samuel 25.
1 Samuel 25, let me give you another one.
So we saw that these children of Belial are predators.
We saw that they are drunkards.
We saw that they are religious.
We saw that they are rebellious.
Let me give you another one.
These children of Belial, 1 Samuel 25, are often railers.
1 Samuel 25, look at verse 3.
1 Samuel 25 and verse 3.
Now the name of the man was Nabal.
Remember Nabal?
And the name of his wife, Abigail.
And she was a woman of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance but the man
was churlish and evil in his doings and he was of the house of Caleb.
Now we're going to skip some of this for sake of time but basically David comes to Nabal
and he says, hey, we took care of your guys when they were with us.
We protected them.
We had a wall around them and his men said yes, they took care of us.
And they said, can you help us out?
Because he's running from Saul at this point.
He said, can you help us out?
Can you give us an offering?
Can you give us something to take care of us with?
But I want you to notice how Nabal reacts.
Look at verse number 10.
And Nabal answered David's servants and said, who is David?
It's like really?
Remember the guy that killed Goliath?
Everybody knows who David is.
Right?
And he said, who is David?
And who is the son of Jesse?
There be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master.
Shall I then take my bread?
Notice how covetous this guy is.
My bread and my water and my flesh that I killed from my shears and give it unto men
whom I know not whence they be.
And of course David gets upset and he acts a little bit in the flesh and he wants to
come take care of this.
But I want you to notice, look down at verse number, let's see.
Look at verse 17.
This is the young man going to Abigail now and trying to get this resolved
so that David doesn't come and kill all of them.
Look at verse 17.
Now therefore, no one consider what thou wilt do.
For evil is determined against our master and against all his household.
Okay, wake up, wake up.
Notice what they say.
For he is such a son of what?
Belial that a man cannot speak to him.
You know, you ever met someone who just can't talk to them?
They're just so rude, vulgar, always cursing, always mad.
You might be dealing with a child of Belial.
One time I had to go deal with someone when we were dealing with these protests.
I had to go meet with someone about the lawsuit or the landlord or whatever.
You know, someone that I knew like this person hates us, he's always angry or whatever.
And I went and met with them and you know, we had our meeting or whatever
and I came back home and my wife, she asked how to go.
And I said, you know, that guy is such a son of, and I said,
and she said, honey, don't say it.
I said, such a son of Belial.
And she's like, oh, I thought you were going to say something else.
You know, I'm like, good night.
You know, but it's just like sometimes you just meet people and they're just so angry.
And I just think to myself, I wonder if you're a son of Belial.
You know, that ought not be a characteristic of Christians.
Especially sometimes we men, you know, we get a little, you know,
the Bible says to fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.
We need to be careful and realize the Bible says that God is gentle with us.
The Bible tells, the Bible says, let your words be always with grace, seasoned with salt,
that you may know how you ought to answer every man.
In our lives, we ought to try, you know, when we're dealing with people in person
and we're out sowing and we're, let's make sure that we are gentle with them
and let's make sure that we are kind.
The Bible says, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,
even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you.
We know that that's a characteristic that we show in our lives
because it's a characteristic of the children of Belial to be railers,
to be rude, to be mean, to be upset.
You've met people like that, they're just always angry, always mad,
nothing's ever going good in their lives.
That's a characteristic of Satan.
They're railers.
Let me give you, let's look at one more.
We'll look at two more, but look at first time at 30.
First time at 30.
These people are also vindictive.
They practice revenge.
First time at 30, look at verse 21.
We're going to look at two more, okay?
First time at 30, look at verse 21.
First time at 30, verse 21.
And David came to the two hundred men,
which were so faint that they could not follow David,
whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor,
and they went forth to meet David and to meet the people that were with him,
and when David came near to the people, he saluted them.
So David goes off to battle.
There's two hundred men that are too weary to go to battle with him,
so he allows them to stay back,
and now they're coming back with the victory.
Notice what verse 22 says, right?
Be ready, let's say it together.
Then answered all the wicked men,
and the men of, let's say it together,
Belial of those that went with David and said,
notice what the men of Belial, the wicked men said,
because they went not with us,
we will not give them all of the spoil that we have recovered.
They said, you didn't go with us,
and we're not going to let you be part of those spoils.
They're vindictive people.
These are not people you want to be friends with.
These are not people you want to reach out to.
We don't want to have a ministry to the sons of Belial, alright?
I don't care if you call it, you know, born this way or whatever.
You don't want to have a ministry where you're reaching out to people,
they're rebellious, they're railers, they're vindictive, they practice revenge.
Let me give you one more.
1 Kings chapter 21, you're there in 1 and 2 Samuel,
and then you got 1 Kings chapter 21.
These sons of Belial are also false accusers.
I'm not saying everyone who brings a lie is the son of Belial,
but these people have no problem accusing someone falsely.
Let's look at the last example.
1 Kings chapter 21, look at verse 1,
And it came to pass after these things,
that Naboth the Jezreelite at a vineyard,
which was in Jezreel,
hard by the place of Ahab, king of Samaria.
I like the story of Ahab,
because it just shows us how a lot of guys are just whiners.
And if you're a man here, don't be like Ahab.
Notice how Ahab acts, look at verse 2.
And Ahab spake unto Naboth saying,
Give me thy vineyard, that I may give it for a garden of herbs,
because it is near unto my house,
and I will give thee for it is better,
and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it,
or if it seem good to thee,
I will give thee the worth of it in money.
Okay, now that seems like a reasonable deal.
He says, I'll give you a better vineyard,
or I'll give you the money's worth.
And Naboth said to Ahab, the Lord forbid it be,
that I should give the inheritance of my father unto me.
Naboth said, no.
He said, it's my vineyard, the Lord gave it to our family,
I can't sell it.
Now that's where it should have ended.
But notice Ahab, verse 4,
And Ahab came unto his house heavy and displeased,
because the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him,
for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my father,
and he laid him down upon his bed,
and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.
You know what he's doing?
He's throwing a fit.
He won't sell me his vineyard.
And then, and it gets worse.
Look at verse 5.
Some of you, this is your marriage.
I mean, I hope not, but look at verse 5.
But Jezebel his wife came to him,
and said unto him, why is thy spirit so sad?
Why is thou eating no bread?
She's like, you know, babying him.
And he said unto her,
because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite,
and said unto him, give me thy vineyard for money,
or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it.
And he answered, I will not give me my vineyard.
He doesn't want to play with me.
He took his toys and went home.
Now notice what she does.
These are wicked people.
She goes down to verse 10, just for sake of time.
Or look at verse 9.
And she wrote in a letter saying,
Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.
Now wake up, right?
This is the last one, right?
Verse 10.
And set two men, sons of what?
Belial, before him, to bear witness against him,
saying, thou didst blaspheme God and the king,
and they carried him out, and stoned him that he may die.
She finds two sons of Belial.
She finds two sons of Belial,
that are willing to be false accusers and accuse this man.
He did nothing wrong.
He doesn't have to sell his vineyard.
You don't have to sell your vineyard to anybody if you don't want to.
All right?
And he did nothing wrong.
But these sons of Belial, they lie about him.
They accuse him falsely to get him to die
so that they can take his vineyard.
I'm just telling you, these are the characteristics of the sons of Belial.
Say, why are you telling us this?
Because I want you to understand who we're engaged in war with.
We are engaged in a spiritual warfare against people
that have no problem lying about you to get you in prison or get you killed.
We are engaged with people that have no problem taking advantage of your children.
They have no problem rising up in rebellion.
They have no problem being drunkards.
They know how to play religious.
They know how to pray.
Father God.
They can pray with the best of them.
They can preach with the best of them.
And they're children of Belial.
And we need to wake up.
We need to realize not everybody out there
is just our friend.
Look, you got a problem with someone.
They're your enemy.
You love them.
That's what the Bible says.
Love your enemies.
You love them.
But these children of Belial, they try to come into the church.
You just look for these characteristics.
You just realize that these people are engaged.
They are working, doing the great commission of their father, the devil.
Trying to bring as many people on their side.
And you and I are actively engaged against them.
And we need to know who we're dealing with.
These are not good people.
These people will lie.
These people will take revenge.
These people will take advantage.
The children of Belial are on this earth doing the work of their father.
So here's a question I have for you.
Are you engaged?
Are you engaged as a child of God on this earth fighting against them?
Because it's sad sometimes.
It's sad when it seems like they're better at soul damning
than we are at soul winning.
And they're better at recruiting than we are at falling up on our converts.
And they're more zealous and they're more sold out for their cause
than often we as Christians are for our cause.
And look, they serve their father, the devil.
We need to serve our Heavenly Father.
And make sure we're engaged.
And make sure we're excited.
And make sure we're ready.
And make sure that we are engaging these people
and our eyes are open and we're not deceived by ministries
like, you know, born that way after all.
You know, they're going to burn that way.
They weren't born that way.
God didn't burn, you know, and it makes no sense.
Why would God make them be born that way
and then put a death penalty on something that he gave them
in Leviticus 20, 13?
We need to have our eyes open because we are under attack.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you Lord for your word.
Thank you for the Bible, Lord.
I know there's so much there for us to look at.
And I pray that you would please bless us, Lord,
as we have a fellowship now and have a meal, Lord.
I pray you bless the soul wedding that will go on this afternoon
and the second service as well.
We love you.
In your precious name I pray. Amen.